They Progressed From Us…

If the Apostle John were to write his epistles today, perhaps 1 John 2:19 might read more like this:

They progressed from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

Seems like a lot of people are progressing away from us today. By “us” we mean the Christian faith. We are not suggesting that those who have shifted toward or even fully embraced Progressivism are no longer Christians. That is, of course, between them and God alone and not something we can really judge. All of us are prone to sin, rebellion, and often judgmentalism for that matter. When we are addressing certain issues, we often think about the comment the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee made in one of his sermons:

If you knew J. Vernon McGee like I know J. Vernon McGee, you wouldn’t be listening to me. But don’t get up and leave because if I knew you like you know you; I wouldn’t be preaching to you.

Sometimes the church acts more like a circular firing squad than a family of believers, it seems. Yes, there is such a biblical remedy such as “Church discipline” for obvious sin. Yet, we are called to live holy lives and to keep our eyes less on the faults of others and more on “the founder and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2). And yet, an extremely essential area of our faith is the call to be like the Bereans in the Bible, practicing discernment and guarding ourselves and others against being deceived. And there are many deceivers out there, just as there were back in the first century. It has been said that to that end, all of the New Testament, with the exception of Philemon, was written to address and correct false teaching, false prophets, and bad behavior and to clarify sound teaching and proper behavior. The Apostle Paul took great pains to instruct and warn the Ephesian Elders:

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, (Acts 20:28-31a)

We note the Apostle started by telling them they must guard themselves first and then guard the flock against outside influences seeping in and from individuals in the sheepfold rising up among them with false teaching. The growing progressive movement within the evangelical church has changed the way many understand and interpret the word of God. As George Yancey points out:

For progressive Christians, Jesus is primarily the model of inclusion and tolerance. For example, one progressive Christian drew a cartoon of Jesus saying, “The difference between me and you is you use Scripture to determine what love means and I use love to determine what Scripture means.” Progressive Christians focus on the actions and teachings of Jesus that reinforce their values of tolerance and inclusion, which they see as examples of love.¹

Feelings or “inner knowingness” about an issue are now asserted to be the truth. Elements like the context of a text, facts, evidence, and reason are jettisoned in favor of their new narrative. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a former Marxist who is now a prominent black conservative, addresses this issue:

It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.²

This moral superiority shows up in the claims of Southern Baptist Pastor J.D. Greer, who speaks of the “closet racists and neo-Confederates” inhabiting the Southern Baptist churches:

“We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,” he thundered from the platform of the SBC’s national convention in 2021. Of course, the megachurch pastor did not back up this shocking accusation with evidence or identify these rank and unrepentant sinners.³

No evidence is offered, just assertions. Was J.D. Greer informed by an inner knowingness or some other magical power? The church closets may be inhabited by all sorts of miscreants, we might suppose. Because people in closets are somewhat difficult to see, let alone judge, we might think they should be given the benefit of the doubt as to whether they are worse than possible sinners in other closets if no evidence is presented. Because we are all sinners, saved by grace, correct?

As the new narrative of Progressives and CRT activists has infiltrated both the church and culture, a sharp division has been forced into the equation. The new faith is human-centric, not God-centric. Since reading people’s hearts has proven to be very difficult over these many centuries, if not impossible, people can now be pronounced guilty or innocent of some egregious sins based solely on skin color, which may be, we admit, easier to determine. Sadly, in this new religious narrative, there is no provision for repentance, forgiveness, and restoration for the sinners. People who are guilty of white skin cannot by any means expunge their guilt. In Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham points to some important statistics many have forgotten and then asks an important question:

More broadly, Americans’ views on white-black relations are now at their lowest point in twenty years. In 2005, 72 percent of Americans rated race relations as very or somewhat good. By 2020, this was down to only 44 percent. As pollster Gallup noted, “until 2015, large majorities of both [blacks and whites] thought relations were generally good.” We are being trained in fear, suspicion, bitterness, and resentment. Why would the Church ever want to synthesize such ungodly lessons with the Gospel that reconciles men to each other by reconciling them first to Christ?⁴

“Why would the Church ever want to synthesize such ungodly lessons?” Good question. We would suggest some or perhaps many of the shepherds have not paid careful attention to themselves first before closely examining the rest of the flock, hopefully without vilifying one entire skin shade more than the rest. These views have largely infiltrated the faith through intellectual osmosis and pressure to conform to the Progressive narrative. This is not to say there is no racism in churches or culture, but it should be pointed out there are racists of all ethnicities and skin shades, some perhaps in a closet, and some right out in the open. Megan Basham asserts:

Racism is real, it is ugly, and it should be opposed wherever it is found. I have seen the hateful messages my friend Samuel Sey, a black Christian essayist, receives when he posts photos of himself with his white wife on social media. When a draft of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs opinion leaked showing that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, pro-abortion actress Amanda Duarte tweeted, “I do wonder how these white supremacist lawmakers would feel if their little white daughters were raped and impregnated by black men.” The immense backlash Duarte received from people across the political aisle who called her remarks “racist” and “vile” was well-deserved. The fact that white supremacist leaders like Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer are attracting a large audience of young men is a legitimate crisis. It takes no special knowledge for Christians of any color to look at these issues in light of Scripture and recognize them as an abominable affront to the image of God stamped on every human being equally.⁵

In his excellent 2021 book, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe, Voddie Baucham Jr. spoke to the issues of CRT, Progressivism, and, most importantly, racial reconciliation and interracial church attendance:

When I got to Southwestern Seminary, I immediately looked for another black SBC church, then combed the job-placement boards until I found a position at another black SBC church. And I had only recently stopped wearing Black Power paraphernalia. Now here I was speaking at PK [Promise Keepers] events that highlighted racial reconciliation!

Eventually, this conviction led to action. I was not aware of, nor had I ever met, a black pastor who was working for or even passionate about racial reconciliation. Not one had ever lamented the fact that their church was 99 percent black, or that the remaining 1 percent included exactly zero white members. I am not saying that was the entirety of the black church experience, or that those leaders were evil or ungodly—only that for the first time, I was coming face-to-face with brothers who, through tear-stained eyes, were begging God to diversify His church, and all of them were white. ?⁶

Are there possible, perhaps probable, reasons why, in Voddie Baucham’s experience, the black churches were 99% black, unrelated to White (or black) racism? What about Ukrainian churches, Korean Churches, and any number of other ethnic groups that tend to form churches made up predominantly of their own ethnicity for reasons entirely unrelated to racism? Why is it that in Voddie Baucham’s experience, he “was coming face-to-face with brothers who, through tear-stained eyes, were begging God to diversify His church, and all of them were white”? Is it possible that their well-intentioned effort ran into roadblocks, more of “comfort zone issues” than racism? The church we were attending at the time of this great effort, was one of those that was aggressively seeking to draw people of all races into the church. They were upfront and completely open with their desire to be completely integrated. The effort, at least in that church, failed in large part. Why? We don’t think it was racism that was keeping people out, and we likewise don’t believe it was racism that motivated the people who “rejected” our invitation to attend. Instead, we feel that all churches should make it their goal to welcome all people who come in the church door, regardless of race, whether pink or brown or any of the other colors out there. And the main effort must be to preach the gospel – lifting up God’s love and grace – the wonderful grace that covers all our sins.

We have certainly felt welcome in black churches we have spoken in, and we have been in quite a few. One thing we learned and really loved is that, in our experience, black churches very often “talk back” to the person who is teaching or preaching. It makes you, as a speaker, know you are being truly heard, for one thing. In reverse, our friend the late Poray Casimier came and spoke some years ago at our church about the new book he had just written, Islamic Impostors, about the false teachings of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Afterwards, he told us he felt like the people did not like or welcome him because the congregation was so quiet. We assured him “NO, that’s just the way we are!” We may seem strange to him, but we were not rejecting him!

We do wish the church could completely break free of the seeming barrier of race. We can personally attest that Blacks and Whites both make wonderful friends and Blacks and Whites, on the downside, are all just sinners saved by grace. We need to remember the wonderful and freeing truth that “If God be for us, then who can be against us?” Who indeed?

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:27-29)

As believers, we are to honor and serve other believers regardless of ethnicity or gender, treating them as we would our savior, Jesus Christ.Ω

They Progressed From Us…

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