Progressive: One who promotes or performs change. Today we hear much rhetoric concerning the “progressive” politics of political liberals, meaning that those on the left want to change the way the nation conducts its business by rejectinng those parts of the U.S. Constitution that prevent them from fulfilling their agenda. Not wishing to wax political, I will apply the concept of “progressive” ideology to the subject I do want to explore–professing Christianity. As is chronicled in both the Bible and church history, religious progressivism is not a new phenomenon. What Satan instituted in the Garden of Eden was practiced throughout the Old Testament era and, as the New Testament reveals, into the church era. Today’s version of progressivism is expanding exponentially due to the various methods of information dissemination. What at one time took months or even years to become a global movement now takes only a matter of days.

I will use a physical example–the concept of “plumb”– to illustrate the Institutional Church’s historic fall into spiritual progressivism. Plumb: A term used to describe the exact perpendicular–the perfect alignment of point A and point B. In this illustration I will use a nail, a string and a weight. Jesus Christ is the nail; the Bible is the string; the church is the weight. Drive a nail into a rafter, attach a string to it, then tie a weight to the end of the string. This creates a “pendulum” whose angle can be manipulated by a push on the weight in either direction. When in its natural state the weight (church) will remain in perfect alignment with the nail (Jesus) as long as the string (Word) remains unchanged.

When the Lord established His New Covenant Church on the Day of Pentecost, 31 A.D., He designed it to be perfectly perpendicular (plumb)–His Word (string) making a perfect connection between Himself (nail) and His church (weight). As the Scriptures reveal, that connection did not remain inviolate for long. Soon the church began to experience internal upheaval as power-hungry men began to pull people away from plumb by moving the church away from her foundational principles. They would accomplish this by either interpreting certain Biblical passages to make them mean what they wanted them to mean, or by rejecting the offending passages altogether. The once-perpendicular pendulum began to swing to the right as Word-rejecting men began to instill doctrines which the Lord had not dictated and His Word did not reflect. By the time the fiery Apostle Paul came on the scene the spirit of Antichrist was well established in the church. Progressivism had been born.

The rightward swing of the church continued to grow in size and strength. A careful study of the New Testament reveals that the apostles waged unrelenting warfare against the progressive movement in order to keep it from destroying the church. Following their deaths, Word-rejecters began to grow in both numbers and power. Their relentless push to take over the church resulted in the creation of a mega-organization calling itself the Universal Church. “Universal” means “Catholic.” This self-proclaimed “church” in no way resembled the Body of Christ established by Him on the Day of Pentecost in 31 A.D.

Backed by the power of Constantine’s Roman Empire, the apostate church was soon filled with heathen who, threatened with death, “converted” to Catholicism by the tens of thousands. Though having been supposedly “saved,” the pagans insisted on retaining their gods, doctrines and customs. In an attitude of appeasement, church fathers granted their wishes and incorporated their religious practices into church orthodoxy. It was a marriage made in hell. Upon reading the introduction to this website one will see that today’s Counterfeit Church system has as its foundational principles many of heathenism’s beliefs, rituals, etc. With the church’s increasing rejection of God’s Word the next step away from plumb came automatically–progressivism had reached maturity.

After a while there arose within Catholicism a few individuals who began to question the anti-Bible dictates and practices of the organization, thereby initiating a leftward push of the “weight”–the church. With the advent of the Protestant Revolution/Restitution a segment of the church began to move in the opposite direction that Catholicism had taken her. Eventually the descenting group arrived back at plumb by obeying God’s Word (string). Now she was in direct alignment with the Nail (Jesus). However, as is the case when men forget Who is in charge, various power-hungry churchites began to show the people a variety of “better ways.” Over time various groups formed and separated themselves from each other, eventually becoming what are called “denominations”–hundreds of Satan empowered, man-controlled religious cults which God expressly condemns in His Word. Having spent many years inside that system I can attest to its anti-Bible, anti-God ideology. At this point in time the church had gone from plumb (God-controlled) to Catholicism (centralized control), back to plumb, then to denominationalism (group-controlled). Today progressivism has morphed into a two-headed entity–Catholicism and Protestantism–at the head of a singular monster–the Institutional Church.

Progressivism continues to lure church people by the multiplied millions into rejecting the Lord’s founding principles in favor of the doctrines of men. Though touted as “the Word of the Lord,” what the masses are hearing from pulpit and podium are the words of their hirelings who simply repeat what they have been programmed to speak. Progressivism is the wave of the present and the future in both political and religious realms. To be continued. L.J.