Jude 1:3

“Beloved, while I was diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

I have observed that Progressive Christians do not wish to contend for the faith. They simply follow their hearts and refuse to see things for what they really are. Paul states in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “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.” Sadly, progressive Christianity has brought the church to a point where all that matters is love and light, irrespective of how it compromises the truth. Godly love based on the Word of God is now replaced by human love, accepting all sorts of lies. The Bible says we should be sanctified by truth. John 17:17 emphasises, “Sanctify them through the truth: thy word is truth. This highlights the transformative power of truth in spiritual growth.” So, what is progressive Christianity? It is defined as a movement within Christianity that emphasises a modern, inclusive, and socially conscious interpretation of Christian teachings; they often view the Bible as a guide rather than an authoritative text, focusing on love, compassion, and social justice.

This deviation and rejection of the Bible have been experienced for centuries. Martin Luther, who was a key figure in the Protestant Reformation, asserted the Bible as the supreme authority. He emphasised that scripture alone is the true source of Christian authority; he also rejected traditions and interpretations of the mediaeval church. He was a very firm figure in contending the faith against Roman Catholicism and ecumenism. Martin Luther held strongly to his belief, as noted in this statement:

“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”

This modern version of Christianity, known as progressive Christianity, compromises the truth to serve the purpose of presenting a more “relatable Jesus” to wider audiences, thus allowing for growth and expansion in the church. It doesn’t matter on what doctrine people are brought to Christ and thus saved by God, as long as they get saved. These churches no longer call out heresy, blasphemy, or apostasy. Something which the early 2nd-century apostolic fathers spent much of their time doing. Even the Council of Nicaea was called for this very purpose. The idea that the Council of Nicaea was formed to canonise the Bible is a myth and historically incorrect. They were formed to contend the faith against the heretical movement known as Arianism, a group that denied the Trinity and believed that Jesus was a created being and not divine.

Progressive Christianity teaches that you can make Jesus to be whatever you want Him to be. In other words, your own “personalised Jesus”. These ideas come from manipulating the word of God. These Christians seem to love the gifts of the spirit but reject sound doctrine. “Charismatic churches” focus on the following as their basis for “holiness” or “righteousness”: healing abilities, speaking in tongues, and prophetic ministry that is centred on giving the congregation a form of “fortune telling” rather than biblical prophetic words that Paul taught. It is not to say that a word of prophecy cannot be spoken over someone’s life specifically. It most certainly can; however, prophetic ministry should be centred on biblical prophecy so as to prepare the congregation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It should focus on God and His Kingdom come. Paul’s teachings gave instructions to the church on how to conduct church, but it seems to be met with utter disregard. He also taught that speaking in tongues should be done with proper interpretation for the congregation so as to glorify Christ. Scripture is also clear that not all will have the gift of speaking in tongues, since this is given through the Holy Spirit. Proper interpretation edifies the body of Christ and Paul emphasised order within the church (1 Corinthians 14:40). He also pointed out that “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church” (1 Corinthians 14:4). The testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy; this means that all that was written about Christ first coming was fulfilled, thus fulfilling the Word of God, and all that is written about His return will also be fulfilled (future). For this reason, Paul taught that prophecy is ranked higher than speaking in tongues because it edifies the church.

The manipulation of the word can be broken down into the following categories (it is interesting to also note here that water represents the word of God, and Jesus Christ is the Water of Life or Living Waters, so it’s not hard to see why there’s a war against the Word of God):

1. Heresy
2. Apostasy
3. False prophets

In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul warns against distorting the gospel. Yet in Progressive Christianity, scripture is constantly taken out of context and reinterpreted so that it means something totally different. For example, “Christ is in you” is taken to mean we are “little gods” or we can become like God and Jesus Christ was just an example of how to obtain Christ consciousness. This is predominantly taught in most Word of Faith churches. However, that verse is explained by Jesus in John 14:15-20. The Lord explained that if anyone loves Him, they will keep His commandments and that He would ask the Father to send us a helper to be with us forever, the spirit of truth, which the world cannot receive, because they do not see Him nor do they know Him. Because Christ lives, we live. We are sanctified through the spirit of truth and thus Christ lives in us. It does not mean we are “little gods”. Rather, we are adopted sons and daughters of God (2 Corinthians 6:18).

We, as the body of Christ, are allowed to disprove incorrect teaching through scripture. This is not new and has been done throughout Christian history. It is known as Christian apologetics. The disproof by the apostolic fathers was not to cause division but to edify the body of Christ through the word of God that we may be made complete and thus create unity. By saying that disproof causes division, as most progressives believe, they are ultimately saying the word of God divides us. It certainly does not. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

“All Scripture is breathed out of God profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

This “touch not the anointed one” ideology, where believers are not allowed to disprove or accuse a “man of God”, is commonly seen when false prophets try to sell you spiritual gifts by saying they either have healing abilities or they have “secrets” to unlock spirituality or “a spiritual awakening” in the life of a believer. This lie came to light when Benny Hinn’s ministry was exposed for false teachings and false prophecies.

In an interview I watched with popular evangelist Billy Graham on the Hour of Power show hosted by Robert Schuller. Graham stated the following: “People don’t even need to know the Bible or know the gospel to be saved; all paths lead to one God, all people are saved, even those who have never heard of Christ.” Naturally, I was very shocked by this. It is heresy of the highest degree! I researched it further to see if maybe we misunderstood Graham; I desperately wanted it to be some misunderstanding or misinterpretation. After all, this man is the biggest evangelist of our time who brought 3.2 million people to Christ, but truth is truth, no matter how much it pains us to hear. To my dismay he repeated the statement on several occasions, including in an interview with the very popular Larry King. He seemed to have preached the gospel he thought was applicable to whichever audience he wanted to reach, thus preaching many gospels, causing confusion, and distorting the Word. If he wanted to preach the truth, he would have done so consistently no matter the place or setting and not caused confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

When Graham first started his ministry, he preached against modernism, Catholicism and ecumenical ideas, but he soon dropped the ideas, as he did not want to be seen in a negative light. In doing so, he rejected the Bible because the Bible is not a tolerant, neutral, positive-only type of book. In May 1957, in an issue of Newsweek, Graham stated, “I have many friends among Catholic priests, and a number of New York Catholic leaders have written me stating that they believe New York needs a “spiritual awakening”. If you understand Catholicism and the Jesuits, you will know exactly what kind of “spiritual awakening” they meant. Graham did not reject this and thus contend the faith, but he embraced it. You would think he would have tried to bring them to Christ but sadly that’s not what he did. He further stated, “The important thing to us is that these people are unchurched. We want them to accept Christ, whether they think of themselves as Catholics or Protestants.” In other words, they can be “Catholic Christian”, which is impossible since Catholics do not believe in the atonement and worship the Pope above Christ, instead believing in purgatory for redemption rather than redemption through the blood of Christ, as Protestants believe. In summary, Catholicism is in direct contrast to Christianity. Before the reader incorrectly assumes I am just simply attacking a “man of God” here, let me leave you with a direct quote from Graham himself in an interview he did with Tony Snow.

SNOW: When you get to Heaven, who’s going to speak first, you or God?

GRAHAM: When I get there, I’m sure that Jesus is going to say that he
will welcome me. But I think that he’s going to say: Well done, our good
and faithful servant. Or he may say: You’re in the wrong place.

SNOW: You really worry that you may be told you’re in the wrong place?

GRAHAM: Yes, because I have not — I’m not a righteous man. People put
me up on a pedestal that I don’t belong in my personal life. And they
think that I’m better than I am. I’m not the good man that people think
I am. Newspapers and magazines and television have made me out to be a
saint. I’m not. I’m not a Mother Teresa. And I feel that very much.

His conviction is evident in this interview. While many may have heard of Jesus Christ through Graham and his ministry, he unfortunately preached a false doctrine contrary to the Bible. On the other hand, many could have rejected his teachings and honestly sought God. As we know, it is God who draws people to Him, not man. The students of Graham and these beliefs were Robert Shuller and currently Rick Warren, as seen in their false “Word of Faith” and “Charismatic” movements that have dominated the televangelist realm. It is important on what doctrine people get saved. The core fundamentals of the Bible are sadly no longer important or, worse, completely rejected. As long as they spread the message of love, it’s all okay. But the Bible says sound doctrine does matter:

2 John 1:9-11 says, “He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

It is an evil deed to preach any other doctrine except the gospel of Christ. Thus preaching a “more relatable” Jesus is heresy. TV shows are now deliberately doing this to attract people to a “different Jesus.” Shows like The Chosen and House of David are very deceptive in their methods. Sadly, since progressive Christianity is more about seeing and feeling (emotional experience), they are easily captivated by the false Jesus presented in these shows. It is all about making you feel good while misrepresenting Jesus and His disciples. They cleverly remove the divinity of Christ by humanising Him. In The Chosen, the actor Johnathan Roumie (a Catholic and Jesuit) who plays Jesus directly quotes from the Book of Mormon. Mormonism is a heretical belief that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers. The religion was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, who published The Book of Mormon. Smith claimed the Book of Mormon to be divinely given by God. Thus they do not see the Bible as the only inspired Word of God. To make matters worse, Johnathan Roumie promotes an app called Hallow. This app leads people to convert to Roman Catholicism and promotes universalism.

False prophets and false teachings or ideologies, whether propagated through TV shows or televangelism, are clearly leading the flock astray. I urge you to contend for the faith that was once delivered to us. Do not choose the wide and broad path that the Devil is promoting but choose the narrow path. We have hope in Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Saviour and our good shepherd, to lead those who diligently seek Him back to Him. Seek Him and meditate on His Word for He is the Spirit of Truth. If you believe in Jesus Christ, who was the Word manifested in the flesh, who came and died so that we may have eternal life through Him, then you will be saved. May God save the remnant of His people.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)