We have seen it throughout history, where secret infiltration is a tactic of an enemy to gain advantage in battle. In some cases, there has been victory using these tactics. A great example of this is the legendary conflict of the Trojan War between the Greeks and the people of Troy. As many have read this legend, there is one thing that the people remember. The war was won by the Greeks in a strategic way and in a way that was once called a friendly gesture. If one recalls the legend, the Greeks retreated and left a gift of a wooden horse for the Trojans. While the Greeks were seen sailing home, the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. Little did they know that something else was about to happen. At the right time, Greek warriors broke through the horse and infiltrated the city and the Greeks arrived in force to overtake the city and no one ever knew what hit them. At this point the Greeks, who supposedly was on the ships going home, arrived and Troy fell due to a Trojan Horse.
The reason why this story is so important is because there is a force, an enemy, that has been trying to use the same tactic to destroy Christianity from the start of the Christian church and has been unsuccessful in all their attempts. Although humankind has witnessed history and Greek mythology like the legendary conflict of the Trojan War, there is also a spiritual presence attempting to bring Christianity to its knees through the same tactics as the Greeks used to infiltrate Troy. This enemy brings the war in a fashionable presence and it is full of good news, but it is a huge issue infiltrating the churches and the lives of Christians of America and quite possibly, the world. There seems to be an issue with Christianity today and that issue is the trojan horse of Satan which is a trojan horse of false news and progressivism today.
The issue of progressive agendas has become an especially important issue in the life of the church and Christians because it brings conflict inside the four walls of the church and the hearts of God’s people. It creates confusion and chaos within the body of Christ and has no problem attempting to change the very foundation of how Christians should live and breathe through the blueprint of life, which is God’s word, The Bible. Paul tells Timothy:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.”
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV)
This scripture, in the time of Paul and Timothy’s days, can perfectly describe a time that is coming where another gospel, not the true gospel, will be pushed. This will be a gospel that people want to hear, manipulating its very structure to fit the desires of people who want to serve two masters, but it is not the truth. Paul was speaking of a progressive movement, as we are seeing today, that results in a gospel message without Christ.
Bill Hull, the author of The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Hull, 2012), made a statement that can really grasp what Christianity is about. He quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” Progressive Christianity deals with this very issue. The issue that people want to be saved, but they do not want to take the time to live like they are saved. They recognize the gospel and salvation but are unwilling to change their lifestyles to claim the salvation that Christ requires to gain access to eternal life with him.
What is Progressive Christianity? First off, one must look at the terms separately to understand the definition. The word progressive means “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities. As a person, it is one believing in moderate political and social improvement by government actions, and it is derived from a post modernism and humanism worldview.” Post modernism takes a route that says humankind can be good without God or his laws. It is the very source of people who choose to see unrealistic ideas or things and replace reality with it. As a matter of fact, what postmodernism does is change the truth to false narratives and brings confusion to the company it associates itself with. Humanism plainly puts humankind before God.
Fredrich Nietzsche, who is considered “The Madman” and was a famous German philosopher, studied culture within a morality and a religion aspect.[He puts post modernism and humanism into perspective with a quote he said from his book Gay Science and was also quoted in James Sire’s book The Universe Next Door. He said:
"Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him -- you and me. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. “How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” (Sire, 2009)
What Dr. Nietzsche is implying is that the more postmodern the world goes, the more we are removing God from our presence. In essence the more progressive the world and the church goes, so goes God and his presence.
Christianity has come a long way since the days of the early church. Christianity is the belief stemming from the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Stephon, 2018) True Christians not only believe that Jesus Christ is their savior through his actions here on this earth as God in the flesh, but also live like Jesus lived. Christianity is the belief in the doctrines of Jesus Christ and how He lived (Lexicon, 1987). The church that Jesus spoke of, was built upon the rock of faith that Jesus spoke of through Peter and it came after two events. Those two events are the ascension of Jesus and when the Holy Spirit filled the upper room as recorded in the Holy Bible in Acts chapter two. This is an amazing event that had happened and is the foundation of Christianity. On this day Peter preached the first sermon and the congregation were the very same people who yelled to crucify Jesus and Peter gave the message to over 3000 people who accepted Jesus Christ and were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These were the very same people who killed Christ on the cross and Jesus saved them through the Holy Spirits message of the gospel through Peter. This was the start to the church and Christianity as Jesus stated:
“Upon this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not Prevail in it.”
Matthew 16:18 (KJV)
Now that Progressive and Christianity has been established, the term Progressive Christianity can be established. As stated, Progressive agendas are always slated to bring new ideas to the table and adding or taking away from society. Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and resurrected three days later to bring salvation to all humankind. This would mean that Progressive Christianity is a belief that takes away from the moral ideas and the examples of Christ and focuses more of the ideas and examples of what people want instead of following the guidelines of The Bible. If one wants to get more technical regarding this issue, Progressive Christianity is summed up as a religion compared to a relationship with Christ which focuses on adding and taking away from scripture which is forbidden to do by God himself. The issue with this is that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God the Father through His son Jesus Christ.
Progressive Christianity was developed by liberals and it is the belief that The Bible should be read but not taken literally. It is the belief that Christianity, not Jesus, is their path to God and there is no other while supporting and accepting the sins of The Bible (itsssaa, 2020). It was started as far back as the St. Augustine period around A.D. 354-430 and a group of people called the Manicheans adopted Progressive Christianity after Jesus’ resurrection. Just like Christianity came from Jesus, Manichean ideas came from Mani, who was an Iranian religious leader born on April 14, 216, in southern Babylonia in Iran. (Brittanica,1998) He brought on a doctrine that includes forms of Gnosticism and “a key belief in Manicheanism is that there is no omnipotent good power. This claim addresses a theoretical part of the problem of evil by denying the infinite perfection of God and postulating the two equal and opposite powers mentioned previously.” (Theopedia, 2021) Basically God is imperfection and humankind are the ones who decide their fate. Although people do decide their fate by the choices that they make, they fail to realize that God is perfection, and He alone allows them to enter eternity through His Son Jesus Christ.
Although the topic is Progressive Christianity, Gnosticism has been mentioned many times within the scope of this false gospel and it should be recognized for its role. Gnosticism is the belief that God is not part of his creation, is not anywhere close to it, and that He is too perfect for His Creation thus creating a void between Him and His creation. “They reject the idea of God becoming incarnate (God becoming a man), dying, and rising bodily.” (Theopedia, 2021) What is an interesting comparison to Progressive Christianity, is that Gnostics change the way the scriptures read and made their own versions to live by as their scriptures supposedly brought authority to their lives. This is where the progressive Christians get the idea to view The Bible and interpret to the version they want to live by, not the way that God wants them to live. This is exactly the way society is treating the word of God now and unfortunately it is not a good habit to get into nor is it spiritually healthy to do.
As mentioned before, Progressive Christianity came in the St. Augustine Period. This is a fascinating issue because if one studies St. Augustine, they will know that St. Augustine converted to Christianity from the Manichean belief system. As a matter of fact, He was considered “the greatest Christian philosopher of Antiquity and certainly the one who exerted the deepest and most lasting influence.” (Stanford, 2021) He constantly fought with the Manicheans over the viewpoints that they had toward real Christianity and it seemed as though he had the same issues in his day as we are having in ours. The difference is that in society today, Progressive agendas are being pushed against the people much harder from the Government, the world, and unfortunately some churches and it is getting completely overwhelming at times to understand the truth in society.
Progressive Christianity does several things to society and is encouraged by the liberals in the Government as well. Unfortunately, this encouragement comes in a negative aspect resulting in: love replaced with acceptance; justice is replaced with vengeance; relationship with Jesus Christ is replaced with religion; correction is replaced with judgement; truth is replaced with opinion; and good is replaced with evil while evil is replaced with good. It takes the morality out of society and causes conflict with those who truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ and who are following him daily.
C.S. Lewis, who is a British author, former atheist turned Christian, and who was the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, wrote a book called Mere Christianity (Lewis,1980) . It should be noted that this book is one that should be read regarding the actions of society of today. This book speaks of the Laws of Human Nature and he discusses the issues of morality and hypocrisy. Basically, the Laws of Human Nature are being forgotten and people have a habit of trying to correct each other when they are literally doing the same things. He wrote on how the Law of Human Nature is instilled in all of us and that Law has a much greater master that controls this. Why does this matter? Well because Progressive Christianity seems to want to take away the Laws of Human Nature and replace them with laws of their own to get through life. Morality is slipping away in this so called “Cancel Culture Movement” and Progressive Christianity is allowing it to happen in the aspect of Christian lives while more and more Christians are turning to this false gospel every day. This is an extremely dangerous movement and is attempting to destroy all ways of live in all aspects of the way society lives and sees God for who He truly is.
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Lewis said that we have a cause to be uneasy because “God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still playing only with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger- according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.” (Lewis,1980) This is a powerful statement by C.S. Lewis. When reading this, it brings a whole new perspective on Christianity and the way a Christian should live. The question is are they living in truth or the false narrative of the progressive agenda?
The progressive agenda comes from all sorts of places, but there is one that really need to be discussed. People have said that religion does not belong in politics, but there must be a big disagreement regarding that statement. When it comes to the statement religion should not be in politics, it means is that God should not be involved politics. Religions do cause strife, but Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the creator of all things, including politics. As a matter of fact, this can be read in 1 Samuel 8 in The Bible when Samuel pleaded with the people and God to not make a king.
At this time God allowed there to be a king and this is when government was formed, and politics was made. God made politics so there is no reason to take him out of politics. How can something be taken out of the very existence of its forming? If God Is taken out of politics, the very formation of what He made will wither away and die. Unfortunately, it will kill itself because there is no fear of the Lord and His decrees. At this time, the United States Congress has attempted to get rid of God from the oaths and even go as far as bring a progressive form of Christianity into the United States. They feel as if they get Christians on board with their false narratives, they can own God in all they do.
Years ago, before the election of President Donald Trump, government officials were very silent about what they were doing and the deals that are made, but it seems as though since Donald Trump became President, government officials have not held back on their willingness to present progressive views and promote lawlessness in America. For example, On Feb 28th, 2019, Rep Cohen allowed “So Help me God” out of the oath.[16] In June of 2015, the Supreme Court backed President Barack Obama’s same sex marriage law as legal in all states across the United States (BBC, 2015). On February 25th, 2021, the 117th Congress passed a law called the Equality Act, which is not about equality at all, but more about submission to Christian entities attempting to force churches to preach that homosexuality is okay and that it is not a sin (Library of Congress, 2021).
The government is attempting to institute it’s all out plan to turn Christians from its true faith and true meaning and bring them into the light of progressive liberalism disguised as Christianity. All of this is part of the progressive movement and some churches have taken these and accepted them as good. For example, Gracepoint Church in Nashville Tennessee has accepted the homosexual agenda and declared that “The Bible is not the word of God." (Urbanski, 2021) They Stated that “We are an inclusive spiritual community seeking to live out a more just and generous Christianity” (Gracepoint, 2018) This is one of man churches accepting sin and preaching that one can enter the kingdom of God with sin in their lives.
Progressive Christianity is an inclusive movement which tells people that God accepts sin, and that people can live the way they want. Pretty much what it is saying is once saved always saved. There is an issue with this philosophy. “Despite what Progressive Christians and the world want to tell you, God is not an inclusive God. He is exclusive because He excludes sin from his Kingdom.” This statement is so true, and people need to realize that it takes salvation and acting in righteousness to be saved. That means to repent of sins and live a holy life before God. Some of the reasons why Progressive Christianity is running ramped is because people accept salvation and do not want to do a discipleship class to learn how to be a Christian, they do not want to give up their lifestyle of sin for Christ, and people see how Christians are acting whether it be of Christ or of the world. They do not want to renew their mind and stay with the ways of the world. Paul told us in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Liberty, 1988) What this world is seeing is that Christians and some churches are compromising and conforming to the world more than to God. This makes them unacceptable to God and not moving into the perfect will of God. They put time limits on God, expel His Holy Spirit and have people in charge that do not live by the doctrines of Jesus Christ fully. They want to place a checkmark in a box on Sunday and think that they can live in their own desires throughout the week. This is unsatisfactory to God and the example He requires Christians to set for others.
In a sermon I did on July 5th, 2020, I think there was something that every believer needs to hear. The message I had brought was called Freedom while Waiting and I felt that the Lord spoke to me to tell people who believe in Jesus that we may be walking in fear and emotion instead of walking in the Spirit and allowing God to take over in the situations that we are facing. This is true because Christians should use that grain of a mustard seed of faith and apply it to their lives trusting that God will take care of the situations they are being pulled into on the account of others and the laws being passed that are against God’s law. Therefore, churches who allow this form of Christianity in their churches are in danger of hurting the body of Christ. This is what Jesus said would happen when He mentioned false prophets and Paul mentioning that people would not want to hear the truth regarding God and his word. This is slipping into our churches just as the Trojan horse in Troy and progressive Christianity is Satan’s trojan horse to God people.
A lot of can be said from The Bible starting from the Old Testament regarding issues with progressivism. Since the beginning of time Satan has tried to hurt God by getting to his people because he cannot touch God. He knows how powerful God is and he is in a losing war. When looking at Eve partaking of the fruit in the garden and then insisting that Adam eat as well, there is something that humankind kind look at regarding that event. What looked good was not good for them. A lot of people would go as far to say that Satan lied to Eve and that is how she decided to partake of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately, this is not the case and Satan did not lie to her but merely told her the truth in a twisted way as he loves to work. He told her that she would not die, and she did not, however, what he did not say was that she would die in a spiritual aspect and see things a different way after eating the fruit she had. He did not tell her that their relationship with God was going to be compromised and there would soon be a void between them and God resulting in generations of sin for the rest of the world. She found something that looked good, but was it good for her and Adam? The answer is no, and the reason was disobedience to God’s word on not eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:3). The choice that Adam and Eve made that moment changed part of history and they found that what looked good was not, but it was what they wanted, and God’s word did not matter until their eyes were opened and they had committed the first sin from disobedience.
Then same instance can be looked at with Abraham as well when Sarah was discouraged because she could not be pregnant with a child. Instead of being patient with God, she insisted that Abraham have sexual relations with her servant Hagar. Abraham did not refuse this “good” gesture and he was given Hagar to be his wife. He then had sexual relations with her, and she conceived (Genesis 16:1-6). Looking at this event, there can be no argument that this action that seemed “good” had severe consequences on the world for generations to come due to wars with Arabs against the Jews. Not only do the Arabs have an issue with the Jews but God said that Ishmael (Abraham and Hagar’s son) would be a “wild man and his hand would be against every man and every mans against him (Genesis 16:1-12). This is where the nation of Islam comes from (even though it was formed in A.D. 570-632 by Muhammed) after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Islam is disguised as the nation of peace when according to their Quran (Muslims equivalent book to The Bible) they must rule over everyone. The point is what looked “good” was not of God. Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Sarah came across progressive ideas in their day to where they made a choice to live in a time of goodness and what they wanted regardless of the consequences to their actions. The difference between then and now…. they feared the Lord regarding their actions.
The Bible says, “Then fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7) The reason why progressivism is running crazy in the world and the church is because people have lost the will to fear the Lord as their ancestors did in the days of the Old Testament. It seems that if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then not fearing the Lord makes one a fool. People are being willfully disobedient to God and not caring about the ramifications of the consequences to their choices just as Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Sarah did before they sinned against God. Christians are no exception to this for it seems that more of them are turning to what is good rather than to what is God.
The thing to remember is that Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Sarah literally knew God. They were his children and He visited them and spoke to them. Progressivism can be expected from the world, but what about the church and the body of Christ who are his children? Again, Paul wrote “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2) Progressivism is now affecting the physical aspect of the church and it is attempting to destroy the spiritual aspect of the church more than ever. The reason why this is such an issue today is because many more churches are compromising God’s word and doing the opposite of what Paul instructs Christians to do. It appears society is infiltrating the body of Christ through churches more than God can infiltrate it himself. They are conforming to the world, preaching, and teaching doctrines that come from other sources that the body of Christ. For example, Oprah Winfrey stated that “there are millions of ways to be a human being, and many paths to what you call God.” She also spoke about herself and said, “Well I am a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God than Christianity.” (Christian Podcast Central, 2021) As Oprah believes this, Jesus - who formed Christianity – was noticeably clear when he said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Basically, what Oprah is implying is that people can live and act the way they want, they can and will make it to heaven. The issue is that good without God is not good enough and Christians are starting to conform to the worlds views instead of renewing their minds.
There is a reason why Progressive Christianity is the Trojan Horse of God’s people. It limits God to move in people’s lives, people tend to care more about religion, religious ceremonies, and traditions more than God moving inside the four walls of the church and people’s hearts. Not only are Christians caring more about religion than relationship with Christ, but they also allow the churches to bring progressive views from the world to enter its doctrines. The new doctrine that sin is allowed and as Oprah stated, there are other roads to God. It brings discourse among true believers while replacing moral values with lies. Right now, the world has replaced love with acceptance; justice with vengeance; correction with judgement; absolute truth with opinions; accountability with excuses; and last and probably most important, they have replaced Christ with Religion. All of this and many people do not know it is happening.
Reading Christianity and World Religions: An Introduction to the World’s Major Faiths (Cooper, 2013) , Derek Cooper implies that humankind fabricates religion. This could be an agreeable statement considering that people are steering towards the itchy ears message turning away from the truth. Here is what Paul says to Timothy regarding progressivism to come in the future:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.”
2 Timothy 4:2-3
Paul knew what the world was going to go through today and he instructs not just Timothy, but Christians to be ready at all times. To not only defend the gospel, but to preach the true gospel. Society is at a time where they only want to hear what pleases them and anything else is an offense factor and Christianity seems to be taking a turn towards this as well, but little do they know they are playing into the hands of the enemy and doing exactly what Paul spoke of. They are choosing teachers who will teach them their own version of the truth, scratching their itchy ears and not settling for the message of the true gospel.
What about the physical church and the individual hearts of the church? There is the physical aspect of the church which is the four walls and the spiritual church which is the hearts of the believer. In Revelations, John was introduced to seven churches and the angels from none other than Jesus Christ in a vision. Now there is a remarkably interesting connection to a certain people and a certain spirit that controls progressivism. Over in over in the epistle letters of John, the Anti-Christ has been mentioned, but there is something else that Christians need to be aware of. First in Revelations 2: 1-7, Jesus brings up a group of people in which deeds he hates. As a matter of fact, He also brings up this group later in Revelation 2:12-17 within the church of Pergamos who was known as the compromising church. This group of people are called the Nicolaitans, and it is no surprise that Jesus mentions them in the fashion that he does. Why does He hate their deeds? Simply put is because they made up their own doctrines of God and did not follow God’s laws unless it benefitted them.
“Some think Nicolas is the same man who appears to convert to Christianity in Acts 6:5, but lost his way to a teaching known as Gnosticism, a heretical teaching that swept away many members of the church in the second century.”[33] This is the same Nicolas that was appointed to the council of seven and he was said at one time to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The doctrines of the Nicolaitans stated that it was “lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication.” (Laymans Bible Encyclopedia, 1964) The god of Baal was also served during this time of pagan worship and it brings people back in memory that the nation of Israel did not see victory because they compromised morality and God for pagan values (Keener, 2000). They are also believed to hold onto the Canaanite practices like child sacrifice to the god Moloch.
The Nicolaitans believed that they can change the laws of God and live the way they chose to with no consequences in the end. The willfully disobeyed the teachings of Christ and the law of God while successfully turning Jews from their faith from Christ because their idea of God fit their narrative. Progressive Christianity is creeping in the churches and the narrative does fit the same narratives that the Nicolaitans had, but it goes a little farther than even the Nicolaitans. Progressive Christianity “Seeks community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to: Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics; believers and agnostics; women and men; those of all sexual orientations and gender identities; and those of all classes and abilities.” (Progressive Christianity, 2012) This movement is now preaching that sin is okay and God is inclusive to the persons actions, when that is clearly not the case. God is not allowing sin into heaven and people are going to get a rude awakening that sin exists, and it does keep them away from God and eternity in Heaven.
The issue with Progressive churches and Christianity is that they literally believe and teach feel good messages that can be misconstrued as justification to sin. These are sins like “a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) Even though these are sins that do not seem big, they are still sin. Solomon tells us that these sins the Lord hates, but He hates all sin. Paul spoke of sins as well and named a few off that churches teach are okay. He says:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
This is where the issues come into play when it comes to churches and progressivism. Progressive Christians are trying to justify sin and believing that God will be the inclusive God that they believe He is. The issue is that God does not mold his ways around people, but people should allow Him to mold them in His ways.
How does this Trojan horse of Satan through progressivism work? It distracts and moves from a relationship with Jesus Christ to a religion without Jesus. It brings a false doctrine that destroys the soul if it is allowed. One has heard the saying “The devil made me do it!” This is fabrication of the truth when the truth is that the devil cannot or even have the power to make anyone do anything unless they allow him to. A tactic of Satan through progressivism is twisting up scriptures to meet narratives. For instance, Peter says:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
1 Peter 5:8
Notice this verse does not say the devil is a lion like some would interpret, but it says he is like a lion seeking whom he may devour. To call him a lion would compare him to God and Satan is in no comparison to God. There is a reason why he has no power unless someone allows him and humankind, especially Christians, should be thankful for God’s mercy on this issue. He cannot infiltrate certain parts of the soul, meaning he cannot touch a person will or emotions. Those are parts of the soul the individual controls, but the mind different. The eyes, mouth, and ears are the entrance to the mind which is the access point to the soul. If an individual allows Satan to come into their mind, then that person makes the choice to accept or reject him and his temptations which is vital to the soul. If that person accepts sin, they have been compromised, but if they do not, they stand firm on their faith. This is how sin enters or gets thrown out. Therefore, it is so important for one to renew their mind in God’s word and not the filth of the world.
The progressive movement also comes in the form of pure pressure. Cliques inside the church hurt the church. One has heard it said, “If you leave the church because of you being hurt by people, your faith was in people and not in God!” This is a true example of the justification of sin in disobedience in not loving their neighbor to blame it on the person that left the church. If people in the church are not treating people with God’s love, then they should re-evaluate their position and ask themselves if they are true Christians. The cliques inside churches are not healthy. They are like Pontius Pilate and the religious leaders to Jesus. People in cliques do not want outsiders in because they are too prideful, and they always choose to keep people inside their clique because they all believe the same way ousting the beliefs of others. They want no disagreements to keep up their agenda and it ultimately persecutes and ultimately crucifies someone’s spirit who is not in their circle of cliques. After people in cliques hurt others, they wash their hands of innocent blood thinking they are not wrong. The point is if Christians are not living the example of Christ as said by Paul, then they are completely disobeying God’s second commandment of loving their neighbor (Mark 12:30-31). Progressive Christianity has no place in the churches and the churches should recognize and defeat this silent trojan horse Satan has deemed necessary to use more than ever at a time like this.
How can the church eradicate Progressive Christianity that is running ramped in culture and society today? First off, even though the physical church’s responsibility for discipleship of their individual congregations, its mostly the family’s responsibility to teach and manage their households in the ways of the Lord through the discipleship of the church providing the church is preaching and teaching the true Word of God. The churches must investigate the scriptures to not only find their way of life, but to get the model of how to raise their church and sustain it. One can start by looking at the early church in Acts chapter two, but there is a much more definition and expectation of the churches according to the one and only Jesus Christ. Revelations chapters two and three shine light on the true characteristics of the churches. Keep in mind, there are many interpretations of what people thing the churches represent, but ultimately Jesus was trying to tell the church something and it was not just for one generation, but many to come.
Revelations 2 starts with Ephesus which is considered the loveless church and speaks of the Nicolaitans. This is no mistake as progressive Christianity follows suit with what the Nicolaitans believed and lived by. Jesus said “Nevertheless, I have found this against you. You have left your first love.” (Revelation 2:4)The next church Jesus speaks of is Smyrna. In this church, they were persecuted and seen blasphemy of false Christians, somewhat of what society is also seeing today (Revelation 2:9). Revelation 2:12 goes on to speak about the church of Pergamos which is a remarkably interesting church and can be said of where the nature of progressiveness infiltrates the churches and Christians. Notice this church speaks about the Nicolaitans again, but keep in mind the Nicolaitans beliefs are believed to come from the Canaanites law, which not only allowed them to live the lifestyle they wanted with no consequences mocking God, but they also allowed sacrifice of children to the god of Molech. Society today is sacrificing children based on convenience and love for themselves committing the sins of breaking the commandment of “Thou shalt not Kill!” (Exodus 20:13). Jesus specifically points out something about this church in general and that is they are practicing in the way of the Nicolaitans, and this includes false teachings within the church as Paul noted to Timothy regarding the last days.
The interesting aspect regarding the church of Thyatira is that this church has the name Jezebel mentioned. She was a false prophetess who led prophets in her time before Jesus. This is a huge part of the Trojan Horse because people receive the spirit of Jezebel and do not even know it exists in their life. The Spirit of Jezebel is one of the hardest spirits to detect and one of the worst spirits that is hard to get rid of. This spirit can infiltrate churches like they have never seen and will destroy individuals in a heartbeat if not taken seriously. This spirit also coincides with the Anti-Christ spirit as well and is helping Christians grow further and further away from Jesus due to the actions of other Christians not setting the example of Jesus. Some of the main affects from the Jezebel Spirit are fluent in society today and they are fear, isolation, exhaustion, and depression. The world is pushing fear and isolation through Covid-19 while people are getting exhausted and depressed due the result of that fear and isolation. The issue is that society and government is pushing the progressive issues through the church and attempting to close them down. This cannot happen or the churches will be like the next church in Revelation that that is the dead church of Sardis.
Reading on in Revelation, the church of Philadelphia is faithful, and Laodicea is lukewarm, and Jesus said he will spit the people of God out of his mouth if they are lukewarm (Revelation 3:16). What is the reasoning for all the churches and why they are mentioned? Because they have characteristics that the church should and should not follow. The true church has characteristics and if they do not meet these characteristics, it may be a progressive church. These characteristics of the true church is that the church: loves; is fearless; does not compromise; is incorruptible, is alive, is faithful, and is not contempt but on fire. The true church does not replace Jesus and their relationship with religion and traditions.
To fix and eliminate Progressive Christianity, 2 Chronicles 7:14 is a good place to start to see the blueprint of how a holy life should be lived and how to get back on track with God. This is not just a suggestion, but a blueprint to get back into God’s presence. It says:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
When looking at this verse one can apply it to any aspect of life. It can be used for work, business, and personal life all together. It can be used for many people, nations, or in an individual aspect. God may have been speaking to Solomon, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and what He says to his people can also be applied to his children today in faith. The churches must bring back the fear of the Lord and disciple others while maintaining a holy atmosphere to allow God to move on his time and no theirs.
With regards as Christians in general, they must fear the Lord and live righteous and holy. They must imitate God in all they do and show the example of love while living a holy life inside and outside others presence because God sees all. There is an issue with 2 Chronicles 7:14 which the world hears so much about, but there is no change in people’s lives, America, and possibly the world. That issue is that Christians are praying but they do not want to stay away from their wickedness for God to move. There is a reason why God says to be humble, pray, and turn from their wicked ways. It is a conditional standard to not only heal their land, but their individual hearts and souls as well.
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