Truth Really Matters

My wife, Bonnie, who has written much of her own perspectives on this site, was raised in a variety of Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches, as her dad’s army career moved him around the country.  But she wasn’t saved until after we were married, listening and processing the teaching we heard in a conservative, Bible-believing Baptist church.

She had never properly understood that she was a lost sinner, that she personally must humble herself, admit her lost condition, repent from her sins, and trust Christ, depending on Him and Him alone for salvation, as a gift not to be earned.

We would now call those churches progressive, but even then a faithful Bible believer would recognize what they taught as old-fashioned apostasy.  The apostle Paul called out such soul-damning apostasy in his letters, the one to the churches in Galatia, for example.  The  apostle Peter called out false teachers quite explicitly in his second letter, as did Jude in his part in Scripture.  In fact, much of the New Testament consists of warnings against the kind of false teachers who “compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”  (Matthew 23:15)

When I taught engineering in Michigan’s UP, I often ate lunch at a local Taco Bell, and would leave a Chick tract on my seat when I left.  Months after I started doing that I got to know a fellow in another department who mentioned that his wife had just gotten saved.  She had been raised Lutheran.  She had found the tract, brought it home, read it, and became deeply disturbed.  She confessed to her husband that she had never understood the Gospel before and suddenly realized that she was lost.

As I knock doors (in Louisiana now) and share the Gospel with America’s religious lost, I marvel at how the simplicity of the Gospel has been perverted so thoroughly that somehow, lifelong churchgoers believe that their lives are sufficiently righteous to warrant a ticket to Heaven.  Yes, the Devil provokes a fair number in the West to atheism, pantheism, and the occult, but his best strategy is to build his own churches, so-called Christian churches, that teach that the Christian life is about being nice, charitable, tolerant, affirming, and everyone goes to Heaven when they die.

I just read Michael J. Kruger’s 2019 book, The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity, just 55 pages, a wonderful summary of Satan’s doctrinal strategy for western churches.  Kruger cites Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 book in response to the rise of liberalism in the mainline denominations of his day.  He argued that ‘liberal’ Christianity was not just a variant version, but an entirely different religion.  “Put simply, liberal Christianity is not Christianity.”

As Solomon wrote, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done:  and there is no new thing under the sun.”  (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

The names may change – “emerging,” “progressive” – as the newest false prophets pretend that they have discovered . . . after all this time . . . something new, “but it is simply a rehash of the same well-worn system that has been around for generations.”  Indeed, since Satan first challenged the authenticity of God’s words in the garden.

Kruger was inspired to respond to ten principles gleaned from a devotional by Richard Rohr, principles in turn drawn from a book by Philip Gulley, If the Church Were Christian:  Rediscovering the Values of Jesus.  Kruger declares “they are, in effect, a Ten Commandments for progressive Christianity.”  Kruger’s book is then a critique of these principles.  He notes that these apostate principles are partially true, half-truths so to speak.  As Benjamin Franklin quipped, “Half the truth is often a great lie.”

I heartily endorse Kruger’s book.  It should be on your shelf for quick reference.  Let’s briefly summarize some of his points.

1^st commandment:  Jesus is a model for living more than an object for worship.  The priority about Jesus is his moral example.  The implication is a rejection of His deity.  A lot of modern churches won’t explicitly deny the deity of Christ.  But they neglect this truth so consistently that the typical lost churchgoer sees ‘the faith’ as merely a preferred set of moral, social, and political choices.

I won’t belabor the Scriptural support for the deity of Christ.  It’s everywhere.  If you’re unsure about this, read the Gospel of John (in the KJV).  Jesus’ deity shows up pretty quick.

Kruger observes the oddity of progressives highlighting the moral example of Jesus at the expense of His deity.  “If Jesus is just an ordinary man, why would we think his particular moral code is any better than anyone else’s?  Why should we think his moral code matters at all?”  Further, aren’t the progressives the ones who despise people who make absolute moral claims?  Isn’t morality fluid and culturally determined?  “Don’t push your morality on me!”

Kruger cites Matthew 19:5-6 regarding Jesus’ teaching that marriage is one man and one woman, and John 14:6 that He is the only way of salvation.  Are progressives willing to follow  those teachings?

No, the Christian faith isn’t a pick-and-choose behavioral code; rather it’s about eternal life, beginning now, by trusting in the only One who can save us, by grace.  In our trust, then, we should be humble enough to follow what the Creator, the Lord Jesus, says about how to live.  (Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5-8)

2. Affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their brokenness. The issue of buy prednisone tablets sin is a big divide between progressives and born again Bible believers.  Yes, people have potential.  But the potential to live a life that glorifies God and helps others begins with forgiveness of the sins that condemn us, that separate us from a holy God, and that hurt ourselves and others.

The Cross and the Resurrection conquered sin and death, but we must seek God on His terms to access His grace.  The Holy Spirit indwells the born again member of God’s family and enables him to fulfill the potential that God designs him for.

Kruger notes that Gulley argues that churches are guilty of ‘spiritual abuse’ when they teach that people are sinners.  Gulley grew up “in a tradition that emphasized sin and the need for salvation, hadn’t found it helpful, and had resolved to leave it behind.”  Gulley denies that Adam and Eve were real people and denies the historicity of the Genesis creation account.  He even laments hymns like “Amazing Grace.”

If you’re in a church that resonates with Gulley’s perspective, that denies the truth of 1 Timothy 1:15 – “. . . that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners . . .” – then you are lost, in need of the Savior.

3. The work of reconciliation should be valued over making judgments. We mustn’t judge each other.  We should just be helping each other.  Don’t worry about how people relate to God; it’s all about people helping each other.

Doesn’t Scripture tell us to admonish each other on occasion?  Yes.  See Matthew 18:15, Galatians 6:1, and James 5:19-20, for instances.  Ironically, those that condemn judging are judging, too, declaring ‘judging’ to be bad behavior.  Ironic, also, is that the progressive wokists who dominate our culture are the most dogmatic and judgmental in history.  Also, unforgiving.  There is no mercy or grace in cancel culture.  In the last generation, the Christians have been told not to judge, while all the anti-Christians have moved past the ‘tolerance movement’ to gleefully engage in hair-trigger anger, judging, and public humiliation.

If progressives really want reconciliation, they can have it, but only under Biblical principles, “when wrongs are acknowledged, owned, and repented of.  And in order for that to happen, judgments must be made about people’s behavior.”  Right and wrong aren’t arbitrary, either;  the Bible must be the standard.  Reconciliation necessarily includes forgiveness, restoration, and love . . . ideas foreign to progressives.

4. Gracious behavior is more important than right belief. Really?  This one is too easy.  Just a couple of points . . . Should you just be sweet and understanding and ‘affirming’ as your teenage daughter immerses herself in drugs and immorality?  Or insists she wants surgery to change her sex?  How about your atheist or Muslim neighbor?   Perhaps if you’re simply polite and nice and avoid any controversy, somehow they will miss Hell and wind up in Heaven.

5. Inviting questions is more valuable than supplying answers. The idea is to present yourself as humble and inquisitive.  You’re just a pleasant seeker; it’s the other side who are mean, entrenched know-it-alls.  (Like those Bible-thumping fundamentalists.)

But sometimes “I don’t know” is not the right answer because it is possible to know some things, especially if God has revealed truth to us . . . like . . . in a book called the Bible.  Kruger suggests that it is a false intellectual humility to answer “I don’t know” if a friend asks, “Did Abraham Lincoln sign the Emancipation Proclamation?”

The progressive would agree – of course we know that Lincoln signed that!  But somehow they don’t know that Jesus rose from the dead.  But you don’t know the Resurrection is true only if you do know that the Bible is not the reliable word of God.  Well, how do they know that?

On same-sex marriage, progressives claim to know that it’s right and Bible-believers are wrong to say it’s wrong.  Those progressives are so dogmatic!

Back to basics, though – the stakes of this life are infinite, Heaven vs. Hell.  To survive the Great White Throne Judgment, you’ve got to know some things and act on them, dogmatically and deliberately.  If you know how to be saved, you also know that you need to tell others precisely how they can know that, too.

6. Encouraging the personal search is more important than group uniformity. Gulley’s concern is about ‘free thinkers’ who are disfellowshipped or shunned, kicked out of churches for certain behaviors or beliefs.  “They were just trying to think for themselves!”  The main thing is the spiritual “journey.”

According to progressives, everything is in flux.  But not according to God, who has become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ and has revealed His explicit will for us, including how to live this life and how to be saved for eternity.  On the big stuff there are plenty of answers!  Those who reject Biblical answers don’t belong in fellowship, week by week, with believers in prayer meetings, Bible studies, evangelistic outreaches, and other spiritual activities.

I (and other Christians) certainly want to answer the questions that skeptics and seekers have.  That’s what this web site is all about!  But then they’ve got to decide whether they like the answers that the Bible explicitly offers.  If they don’t, that’s all right, but they don’t get to be part of the family.  “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” (Titus 3:10-11)

7. Meeting actual needs is more important than maintaining institutions. You can see the plausibility of such a statement.  But the underlying thesis is to despise the church and its primary mission – the Great Commission.  Progressive churches tend to act like secular charities, at the expense of preaching the Gospel and saving sinners.  So, are you really helping  the homeless when you give him a cheeseburger without sharing the Gospel?  He’s a little more comfortable on the road to Hell and, in fact, he’s a little more inoculated against his need for salvation because the ‘Christians’ who gave him the cheeseburger counted that as the important thing.

8. Peacemaking is more important than power. Well, who could disagree with that?  Gulley is ranting about dysfunctional leadership in churches, and there is plenty of that to go around!  I’ve written much on the subject in the ‘church’ articles in the Discipleship section of this site.

The bigger issue for Gulley is that the churches should promote pacifism and peace among nations.  Ok, good luck with that.  See what the Bible has to say about prophecy, the end times.  What is in the wheelhouse of local churches is to promote peace between individuals, within families, within communities.  But that starts with the Gospel.  Two individuals who have peace with God, their sins forgiven, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and with strong desire to do God’s will, are lined up in the same direction, because they’re both oriented toward God.  That is the basis for peace between those two individuals.  They have the same worldview and the same desire and the same God.

Kruger says it this way:  “Horizontal peace (between man and man) begins first with recognizing our need for vertical peace (between God and man).  And only Jesus can provide such vertical peace with God.”

9. We should care more about love and less about sex. Kruger’s summary on this point is that progressives believe “you can maintain any questionable sexual activity even as you congratulate yourself on your moral superiority.”

Gulley’s arguments for complete sexual ‘freedom’ include examples of nice people who engage in all kinds of sexual sins, but they still have ‘wonderful’ lives.  Example:  “The home they created was one of deep love and mutual respect . . . nothing about any of that felt like sin to me.”  Q.E.D., apparently.

Sin is only sin when committed by unpleasant people.

Another argument from Gulley is that God has bigger things to worry about.  Ok, as long as Gulley knows that, I guess everything goes.

A big point from Kruger is that sin harms people.  Sin is addictive and destructive.  It is loving to confront sin.  See again James 5:19-20.

10. Life in this world is more important than the afterlife. “Let’s not worry ourselves about what happens after death, we are told, because no one really knows anyway.  All that matters is helping the poor, feeding the hungry, and relieving human suffering.”

I’ve asked multitudes in 1-2-1 evangelism if they ever think about life, death, Heaven, Hell, etc. and what do they believe will happen to them if they die today.  Almost everyone confesses that they “think about it all the time.”  But what they mean is that thoughts of eternity intrude, but they quickly push them aside.  The years go by, death inevitably pounces, and then it’s too late.

Progressive churches major in avoiding thoughts of death and judgment.  They are Satan’s principal means of damning westerners to Hell.

Gulley mocks the church’s “preoccupation” and “overemphasis” on the afterlife and how “fortunes are spent saving people from the imaginary dangers of imaginary places.”  Hell isn’t real, so don’t worry about it.

Jesus was a bit preoccupied, though:  “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”  (Mark 8:36)

buy Gabapentin 300mg capsules Finally, I’ll offer a specific takeaway . . . You and I cross paths with members of progressive (to some degree) churches every day.  Recognize that you’re dealing with lost people.  They don’t just need the Gospel.  They need to realize that they need the Gospel.  So give it to them.  At least via tract.  And if they hesitate at all, ask them a question, “So where do you think you’ll be one minute after you die?”  If they can’t give you a definite answer and back it up with a definite and Biblical testimony, then tell them what you know.

• drdave@truthreallymatters.com