Progressivism poses a fatal danger to the moral clarity, the practices, and the doctrines of the church. We must stop its infiltration. We transform culture, not conform to it.

Most of the brief points, really just quick summaries, have links under them. Click on them to go deeper into Scripture and the arguments. This post is a summary of longer ones.

Let’s begin with identifying the source of the problem.

I. Postmodern Roots of Progressive Policies

A. Roots

Progressivism, commonly called “wokism” or “wokery” today, is rooted in Modernism and Postmodernism. These are two huge, influential, and long-lasting movements. Or maybe it is true to say that Modernism and Postmodernism are rooted in nineteenth century Marxism. But whichever way the feeding went, the results are toxic.

The gigantic movements aim to destroy wholesome and beneficial traditions, sound judgment, standard Evangelical theology and ethics. They endeavor to destroy our respect for and the absolute authority of the Bible.

All churches must resist the infiltration of progressivism.

B. Traditions and moral law

In contrast, biblical and traditional or conservative policies have served and benefited society over the centuries. Therefore, we must follow biblical moral law and standards. The church should be openly and emphatically socially conservative because this is what the Bible teaches. We seek to transform culture, not conform to it.

Begin a series here:

1. Postmodernism and the Bible: Introduction

II. Yes to Caring for the Poor the Biblical Way

A. Main principle

The main principle that comes across clearly is that the ordinary citizen participated in charity.  Call it participatory charity, both from the giver and receiver.

B. No centralized government welfare

This principle also appears in the biblical text: since the ancient Hebrews did not have a centralized powerful government early in their history, which comes later in their theocratic monarchy, they had to work out a system that bypassed bureaucrats doing charity in their place.

Even the numerous Old Testament verses relating to the poor, written during the monarchy, do not necessarily assume a centralized government doing charity in place of the people of means (e.g., Psalms 10; 12; 15; 72; 82; 112:5-9; Proverbs 13:23; 14:21, 31; 17:5; 21:13; 22:3, 16, 22-23; 28:3, 15, 27; 29:13; Isaiah 1:2-5:30; 58:1-14; Jeremiah 7:1-15; Amos 2:6-8; 5:21-24; 8:4-6; Micah 6:6-8).

C. The best charity is local.

Incidentally, though much of poverty, according to the Bible, is caused by no fault of ordinary people, the Bible directs some criticism at those who become impoverished due to their own laziness (Proverbs 6:6-11; 24:30-34), greed (Prov. 11:24; 28:22), and failure to follow counsel (Prov. 13:15-18).

However, these self-inflicted poor are not the concern of this section; rather, we are talking about the genuinely poor.

D. Summary

The solution is participatory charity. The poor work on farms (or modern businesses), and the giver gives directly or to a local charity. The best charity is local.  That’s true and full Biblical justice. That’s the moral high ground.

For a detailed look, more than I can produce in this small section, please go here:

The Biblical Way to Care for the Poor

III. No to Socialism

A. Honesty in politicians

Many Democrats today see themselves as socialists, but of course they hide the term. (Only Bernie Sanders has been consistent about it.) This ideology explains to a large degree why they want as much control over our lives as possible.

B. Examples:

• ObamaCare. Still in existence, it’s a third health insurance program we can’t afford (Medicare and Medicaid are the first two). Not a single Republican voted for it. Good for them.
• Socialists want to control the education of children through powerful teachers unions (the tools of the governmental Few), without representing the proletariat’s (the Many) free choice to send their children to the right school for them.
• They control (wrest) private property through the EPA in the name of protecting the environment, by stopping property development without compensating the landowners.
• They slap business with heavy-handed regulations, which is another way to control them without actually taking them over.
• Some are suing religious business owners who don’t toe the leftist line, denying through the courts and commissions (the State) the free expression of the owners’ deep religious convictions.
• The IRS, an extremely powerful arm of the State, attacked conservatives.

It’s difficult for me at least to figure out where to draw the line between European-style socialism and the American Left and the Democrat Party, but those examples say the line should be drawn far on the left side. Maybe they should be called neo-socialists.

C. Liberty v. Restrictions

Please understand that the Left minimizes your liberty by concentrating power in the hands of the new governmental Few (flawed, powerful humans) who pass laws or sign executive orders implementing their power.

The Right maximizes your liberty by devolving power away from a centralized Few towards the fifty states and many flawed but equal humans before the law.

D. Fatal flaw

Control by the powerful, imperfect governmental Few is the fatal flaw in socialism, and it must be stopped in the land of the free and in churches.

The Earliest Disciples Did Not Practice Modern Communism or Socialism

Does Book of Acts Teach Modern Communism or Socialism?

Socialism Is Wrong for Society

IV. Yes to Opposite-Sex Marriage Only

A. Values then and now

We no longer live in the 1980s or 1990s when many democrat politicians were gentlemen or shared certain common values. Consider the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. It proclaimed that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Act was supported by democrats and Bill Clinton. However, The Respect for Marriage Act (2022) canceled DOMA and says marriage is between any two persons. It was supported by certain Republicans and of course the democrats. Biden, when he was cognizant, signed it into law.

B. Jesus defines marriage

The Pharisees asked Jesus a question about divorce: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” (Matt. 19:3).  The phrase “any and every reason” is another way of saying “any cause.”  So the issue of broken marriages prompts the discussion.

Jesus replied that the Edenic model was the norm:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matt. 19:4-6)

Jesus recognized that humanity had fallen from the norm, so he aimed to remind people what that norm was by referring to Eden.  He appealed to the greatest intimacy that a man and woman can experience — one flesh.  Since they are one, humans must not separate them.  God himself put them together.

C. Timeless principle

The basic, timeless principle: protect and honor womankind as equal before God (cf. Gal. 3:28). Divorce that is not of her choosing should not destroy her.

D. Biblical roots

To do that, Jesus again hearkens back in that latter passage to the “beginning” in Genesis before the Fall.

Thus, marriage had sacred, stable origins.

The Biblical Norm for Marriage

V. No to Same-Sex Marriage

A. God’s original plan

Jesus says that originally God’s plan for marriage was one man and one woman, and they alone can have a union that makes them one flesh. Two women cannot, nor can two men. The physical union between male and female touches the core of the soul, and two women and two men cannot have this.

B. Hierarchy of sexual pleasure

This pleasure is God’s gift to humanity by virtue of how he anatomically made them. Why? He intends them to have children or to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). Yes, it is true that sometimes a couple chooses not to have children, and God gave them freewill to go in this direction. But it may not be the best for them or humanity in general, but let’s trust they are listening to God and not to their own egos; however, for most couples God wants them to be fruitful and multiply.

C. Extreme cases make bad policy

And yes, it is true that sometimes a couple cannot have children because something has gone wrong with the reproductive side of things. We can pray for God’s healing, either supernaturally or by treatment. But if they cannot have them naturally even after prayer or treatment, then we should not let these extreme cases set biblical norms. As the saying goes: extreme cases make bad policy. The good news is that this couple can adopt and give a wonderful home to needy children.

D. Same-sex adoption

No. A child needs a father and mother. But if various states pass laws that (wrongly) permit same-sex couples to adopt, two men should involve a trusted woman (e.g. a sister or mother) to be involved in the child’s life. And two women should get a trusted man in the child’s life.

VI. No to Transitioning

A. Verses often misinterpreted

Here are verses that some use to justify transitioning kids:

¹⁰ His disciples said to him, “If the case of a man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But he said to them, “Not everyone accepts this word, but to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who are born that way from the mother’s womb. And there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. Let him who can accept this accept it.” (Matt. 19:10-12)

B. Three cases from the above passage

Jesus mentions three classes of eunuchs, which in one category seems to be celibacy. But the implied,  better path is to get married and have children.

1.. Eunuchs were born this way, presumably without sexual organs or with malfunctioning ones;

2. Eunuchs who were made this way by people, presumably to watch the harem in royal courts;

3. “Eunuchs” who gave up sex or lived the celibate life for the kingdom of heaven, much as Jesus and Paul were doing and Paul recommended, with reservations (1 Cor. 7:7-9). The verb “it is given” is in the passive, so some scholars (Turner) say this is the divine passive or an understatement of God working behind the scenes, giving power to be celibate.

C. Modern society and excesses

In modern society, certain advocates push the idea that Jesus endorsed self-mutilation of certain body parts, as we see among the trans advocates. But this interpretation takes things far out of context. “Making oneself a eunuch” instead means that a person gives up everything, even marriage and family, for the kingdom of God. No one has to mutilate himself or herself to fulfill God’s kingdom call on his or her life to be single and serve him wholeheartedly and single-heartedly.

D. Bottom line

No one should advocate transitioning children. It is abusive. It is time for the mind virus to stop.

Jesus Teaches on Eunuchs

Do Not Deconstruct Gender Differences

VII. No to Abortion

A. The Bible’s clear teaching

The Bible is unambiguous and consistent about preborn human life. The legal portion or the narrative or story portion of the Torah, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Gospel of Luke – along with the flow of the entire Bible – uphold the highest human status for the spiritual and moral and biological life in the womb.  According to the Bible, God sees pre-born babies in the future as adults fulfilling special callings he places on them.  And God says they are blessed in the womb, just as grownup Elizabeth was blessed and pre-born baby John the (future) Baptist responded (Luke 1).

In God’s eyes, the prenatal baby is just as sacred and deserving of a right to live as the postnatal baby.

B. If you had an abortion …..

All you have to do is ask for God’s forgiveness, and pray to receive Christ into your life. Say these words: “Lord, I messed up and missed out. I repent. Come into my life  by your Spirit and change me from the inside out. I give you my entire life. Make a new plan for me.”

C. Life-changing verses

Here are some verses you can read aloud or from the heart that will guide in giving your life to God through Christ:

 ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-13)

Always remember God loves you and wants to know your personally and redeem you.

Redemption means he takes you out of your condemned state (think of a condemned house) and makes you fit for his purposes. He repairs your life.

The Bible Speaks on Prenatal Life and Abortion

VIII. No to Climate Change Alarmism

A. Grim predictions

Are you all for electric vehicles? Living on small farms? Trashing the economy to stop the oceans from warming up 2-3 degrees Celsius over the next 50-100 years (as if this would really happen, and as if predictions so far into the future are always right)?

B. Major report

In reply, click on “World Climate Declaration.” Note how over 2000 real scientists and science adjacent types (not just concerned citizens or celebrities) declare: THERE IS NO CLIMATE CRISIS. Many people don’t know about this recent declaration because the leftwing media (= the mainstream media) do not report on it. It does not fit the narrative, which is that leftwing solutions are always and obviously right. No. They are obviously wrong.

IX. No to Unrestrained Mass Immigration

A. Millions in four years

What about mass migration, to the tune of millions in four years? (Legal immigration, yes. But not this.) Sojourners website or the organization, to cite only this one example, is all about rescuing immigrants from oppressive ICE because this is justice, according to it . No doubt the Feds have made mistakes (and there are numerous lies reported, too), but they have also deported real-life criminals.

B. Obama administration

You can google each of these points:

(1) He deported 3.1 million. (2) He built the cages. (3) Fifty-six people died in ICE and immigration custody. (4) He awarded Tom Homan, the head of ICE, with a Presidential Rank Award for his efficacy in 2015 for keeping Americans safe and securing our borders.

(Source)

The Left did not go crazy when Obama was the president, even though Homan was doing the same thing back then that he is doing now. But the leftwing mayors cooperated with Homan because Obama was their leader. Now under Trump the leftwing politicians and billionaire lefties who fund the protests have turned this into a major campaign issue. Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is real.

C. Biden’s cynicism

The Biden administration orchestrated this cynical ploy to change the vote towards its own party, in the near future. It was an American democrat power grab, as the left is prone to do. It was never about economic justice and compassion.

D. Child trafficking

And it’s a sure thing that Sojourners (and other lefty religious organizations) has started looking for 300,000 kids that have been lost in the darkness during the mass migration, right? I imagine the kids are not living the American dream. ICE raided a marijuana farm in central California, where children were working, and there were at least two adult pedophiles in the group. Sojourners celebrates the rescue, right? Sojourners celebrates the deportations of rapists, murderers, and pedophiles, right? They have written about this at their website, giving these positive reports equal time, right?

No doubt Sojourners and other social justice warriors celebrate the fact that as of December 7, 2025, Tom Homan, leaders of ICE, says his organization has rescued 62,000 children from human trafficking so far. Let’s hope we hear more positive news.

E. Clearer perspective

The fact is that Mexico has the 12th largest economy in the world and 120 million citizens. They should be able to handle no- or low-skilled workers in their own nation. Mexico currently has a leftwing president, and for the left sending government checks to such unemployed (and probably unemployable) workers is the answer.  Apparently not, however. The leftwing Mexican government allowed millions of them to crash our gates and migrate up here. Now they are our problem. (I can easily imagine the Mexican politicians high-fiving each other behind closed doors when they saw all the low-skilled or no-skilled workers walking northward.)

X. No to Cannabis

A. Health risks

Here is a summary of the risks to health and of altered behavior and diminished achievement.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry issued this statement:

Use of marijuana can lead to:
• School difficulties
• Problems with memory and concentration
• Increased aggression
• Car accidents
• Use of other drugs or alcohol
• Risky sexual behaviors
• Increased risk of suicide
• Increased risk of psychosis
Long-term use of marijuana can lead to:
• The same breathing problems as smoking cigarettes (coughing, wheezing, trouble with physical activity, and lung cancer)
• Decreased motivation or interest
• Lower intelligence
• Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, anger, moodiness, and
• Psychosis
• Decreased or lack of response to mental health medication
• Increased risk of side effects from mental health medication

B. Human lives at risk

Kevin Sabet also summarizes the risks in terms of emergency room admissions from using THC-intensified marijuana: “The nationwide total went from an estimated 16,521 emergency room visits in the United States related to marijuana use in 1991, to exceeding 374,000 emergency room admission in 2008—a nearly twenty-five fold increase in just seventeen years” (35-36).

Most importantly, behind these policy statements and scientific findings and convenient hyper-skepticism about motives and science are human lives.

Think before you take up this drug. Your quality of life will be negatively affected. If you currently take it, be persuadable and stop.

Given these health risks, states must no longer vote to legalize recreational marijuana.

And states that have legalized recreational use must reverse their unwise decision.

C. Scriptures about intoxication

Here is a long list of vices. Note drunkenness in bold font:

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19-21, emphasis added)

Intoxication from regular cannabis smoking or ingestion can exclude someone from the kingdom of God in the future, the eternal kingdom. God is willing to work with you until you break the habit.

Jesus warns against it and partying, just before the Second Coming. People have to be vigilant and sober-minded:

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. (Luke 21:34, emphasis added)

Jesus tells this parable to be vigilant. But the servant in charge of the household strays from the master’s warning:

⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. (Matt. 24:48-49)

The Second Coming has not happened yet. So do not get morally and spiritually lazy. Stay sober until the Blessed Hope, the Return of the Lord, happens.

Other verses: Proverbs 20:1; 23:20-21, 23-35; Isaiah 26:7-8; 56:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8; 1 Timothy 3:3, 8; Titus 1:7; 2:3.

1 Twelve Health Risks from Smoking Cannabis

2 Ten Marijuana Myths that Damage Society and You

3 Do Not Legalize Recreational or Medical Marijuana

XI. Summary

A. The world system

It is corrupt, and getting worse by the day. Solution:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:2)

B. Follow Scripture

The best way to renew the mind is to get it saturated with the Scriptures. Don’t follow the patterns of the world. Once we deny the inerrancy and authority of Scripture in faith, morals, and ministry practices, of course we will drift from biblical standards and moral law. So the solution is to go in reverse and back to the Bible in our churches.

3 Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible

The 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

C. Live in the Spirit.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want.  (Gal. 5:16-17)

D. Stopping the leftward drift

Churches must be clear about stopping the leftward drift. They can do this by putting the warning in their statements of faith. Pastors and priests can proclaim moral law from the pulpit. They can tell the people that Scripture is authoritative, and we deny its ancient and timeless and God-inspired wisdom to our peril.

E. Straightforward calling

The church is called to transform culture, not be conformed to it. We don’t follow the latest trends. We set them, based on the old ways, namely the timeless and cross-cultural truths found in Scripture.

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