Greetings!
Grab a cup of coffee, this critical review is a long one! I suggest dark-roasted. We call it GTTR - "Going Through The Roaster."
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves
.
(2 Peter 2:1)
Due to popular request, we are in need of revealing a quick historical timeline of the history of the Social gospel.
Since the “new” Social Gospel is being presented on the internet as the dominating religion, it would behoove us to detail how this deception has been brewing for many generations. As Solomon said, “
Nothing is new under the sun
.” This is certainly the case with the Social gospel.
Below is the historical data
regarding Social Gospelites. The following is the overview of over 30 years of study I have conducted on church history regarding this not so new religion.
Social Gospelites have multiple phases to their history. Interesting enough, the Social (society) Gospel evolved around the issue of water baptism – external confession of salvation. After the fourth century, the localized church went through a major face-lift. The Gospel went from a focus of the standard Jesus and the disciples used for salvation (belief, baptized and coming from the water to receive the Holy Spirit) to that of external religious ceremonial creeds.
The second phase
was propagated around the 5
th
and 6
th
century, where baptism evolved into an educational instruction of symbolism as well as a ceremonial sacrament (profession of faith) – all resulting in the recitation of a creed (salvation conformation prayer). During this time, the Catholics introduced laying on of hands and infant baptism by a priest, which introduced baptism of the Holy Spirit before the age of accountability (cognitive admission of being a sinner). It was right around this time that the authentic church lost control over the original formula of confession of belief (baptism of John the Baptist) and the filling of the Holy Spirit (baptism of the Holy Spirit).
One of my key contacts within the Vatican's historical library, who we will call Cardinal J, tells me it was a mission of their state church to shift the focus away from the proactive movement of the Anabaptist to that of the Catholics – stating baptism is the pivotal theological point to do this. It was during this time period that, as Cardinal J says, the Roman State-Church declared the Anabaptist & Jesus people as “Pro-testants,” which the term did not become historically popularized until the Reformation. This all resulted in the authentic church, and its history, to fade into the society (external Christianity) of the Roman State-Church. Years later, this became Martin Luther’s primary mission to separate the two.
Note:
The Anabaptist were the "original" group that propagated our modern methodology of church baptisms - believe, ask for church sponsored water baptism, come out of the water, and read your testimony (confession of faith).
Most generalized Christians today don't realize that Luther was a priest in training with the Roman State Church. During his studies of the Scriptures, the Spirit revealed to him that the Catholic church was seeking to dominate society as THE church for global "believers." He further reveals that the erroneous ideology of "believing" didn't make the people vessels of the Holy Spirit. He clearly depicted the error of infant baptism. Secondly, revealing the church had no power to baptize "believers" into the Life of Christ - resulting in proving that the Roman State Church was baptizing "believers" into their church - not Christ. This single revelation ignited the greatest Holy war of all centuries.
The third & final phase(s)
was through the denominational movement after the Reformation. Even though Luther’s greatest contribution to authentic church history was in separating authentic believers from the influence of the Catholic church, Gnosticism (root movement of the Social Gospel) grew like wild-fire. Martin Luther, because of his unshakable trust in God and personal relationship with Him, stood against any teaching that did not rely absolutely on the promises of God's Word for personal indwelling salvation. This beginning spark would later evolve into the Lutheran denomination, which ignited the denomination movement.
Note:
The nominal belief that Martin Luther started the Lutheran denomination is simply untrue. His once "best-friend," Philip Melanchton, a leading scholar of his day, was the driving force of the establishment of the "Lutherans." Authentic church history records that after Luther's acts of separating authentic believers from the state church, he lived a reserved life. He was also known for dwelling with the "Jesus people" - a term used back in his day for "indwelt believers." It was primarily Philip who ignited the Lutheran movement, who later integrated many Catholic liturgical practices into their church modalities. This is why many Lutheran churches today look like white-washed Catholics.
Keeping in mind that the primary organized group of “Christians” outside of Luther’s reformation was the “old school” group of Anabaptist. The other group noted during this time, mostly hidden from society, minimally their public worship of Christ, was the original indwelt believers from the “Jesus group,” who was on the run from the Roman State church. This was due to the amount of slaughtering that was going on by the official Roman State Church (later confessed by the papacy in 2016).
Luther’s actions were about to surface the Jesus group into society. Needless to say, this period was the beginnings of the external religious practices of Christianity. While the Anabaptist followed the modality of the denominational movement, the "Jesus people" group never supported this movement.
The basic timeline is as follows:
(30-70 AD) The Time of Jesus and the Apostles
- The death and resurrection of Christ.
- The Day of Pentecost ignited the New Testament modality of salvation (belief, be baptized & be filled with the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of Christ Life).
- The authentic Christian faith is birthed and the Gospel of Grace is preached and multiplied.
(70-312) The Age of Catholic External Christianity
- The spread of the authentic Christian faith prompted persecution by the Roman State Church of the early believers.
- Early heresies sprouted; first church councils and the Catholic canonizing of scripture began.
- Catholic church dominates society with the teachings of Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:12-17)
- John’s writings warn the original churches of the teachings of Pergamum, the throne of Satan (Rev. 2)
- The original Jesus people were forced to go underground.
(312-590) The Age of the External Christian Empire
- Constantine declares the Roman State Church as the official religion of the Roman empire; Age of Great Councils of the priestly intervention of church management.
- Catholic Christianity became a faith for the masses; start of Monasticism (monk-hood), which further advanced the Catholics, while establishing, or advancing Buddhism, Anglican related Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and Taoism.
(590-1517) The Middle Ages
- The fall of Rome and the Byzantine empire.
- Benedictine Catholic monks deployed as missionaries; the pope becomes the "ruler" of the global church, declaring the Roman church as the “authentic” Christian church. All of “church history” begins and is rooted by their influence upon global Christianity.
- The Crusades: The Catholic church gains the world by the loss of lives of protesters of the Catholic church.
(1517-1648) The Age of Reformation
- Martin Luther and the movement of protesters - protestants.
- The revolution of individualized interpretation of Scriptures emerges.
- The start of denominationalism - Examples: Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican – to date 18,000.
- The papacy loses its global power and influence over the church as a whole.
- As noted by many theologians, the age of the "Great Apostasy" begins.
(1648-1789) The Age of Reason, Masonic Enlightenment, and Revival
- Secularism -- The mind becomes a god; people begin to ask, "Who needs God?"
- Social Gospel – Also known as the Masonic Age of Enlightenment (Universalism). Denominational revivals such as Lutheranism, Pietism, Methodism and the Great Awakening seek to restore God to a socialized public life.
- The Age of the Social Gospel is born.
(1789-1914) The Age of Progress
- The individualized denominational message of Christ is carried to distant lands, while the original Jesus group does a slow-fade in the socialized public life.
- Pluralistic and totalitarian societies see no relevance for non-denominational Christian groups. Groups not associated with denominations are considered heretical, which removes the authentic Christians from societal influence. Indwelt Christianity does a slow-fade in society while growing exponentially through the underground church.
(1914-2016) The Age of Ideologies
- Denominations lose their ground in influencing society.
- Society’s ideologies move in front of Christianized thought.
- Most denominations merge society’s ideologies into the church beliefs and church decrees.
- The nondenominational church movement surfaces to replace the self-perceived impotent denominational church era - "Age of Apostasy."
- Catholic church revitalizes their original mission, announcing their plans for One World Religion.
- The authentic believers, now formerly known as the "Jesus People," revitalize through movements such as the Keswick Movement, emphasizing the Higher Life, Exchanged Life or Abiding Life in Christ.
- Denominations become known for evolving into the Post-Truth church.
(2016-Present) The Age of Post-Truth
- Denominations, non-denominational, and Abiding Life groups replaced by the new founded internet Social Gospel (social justice). Truth becomes adopted by the global community as “relative.”
- Propagators of “truth” shift from Truth being a person (Jesus) to individualized perceptions of “truth” (facts).
- Denominations, non-denominational, and the replicated church (lukewarm denominations) are forced to prove Christianity by way of “facts” vs. Life. The Age of Christian Worldview is born.
- Social Gospel is merged into the politically-correct Social Justice movement – advancing “Christian Homosexuals, Christian Lesbians, Christian Muslims, Christian Mormons,” etc.
- Global "believers" deemphasize the original beliefs related to the first-century formula of indwelling salvation (belief, baptism & filling of the Life of Christ - Holy Spirit).
- The internet church is birthed and begins to replace localized fellowships.
- The conservative/traditional theologians make the claim,"The church has entered the final phase of the 'Great Apostasy' era."
I have learned through 45+ years of ministry, few Christ followers and/or indwelt Christians take the time to look into the past to understand the present. The primary challenge with this irresponsibility is that the Church in the present is unable to look into the future for warnings, resulting in viewing eschatology as
symbolic & confusing rhetoric
. The people of God must be prepared for the adversities of the day in order to embrace the eschatology of tomorrow.
Even though the Social Gospelites claim
their gospel is based on grace, this group is actually an enemy of the original Gospel OF Grace. They attempt to incorporate modern deceptions of the enemy into authentic Christianity, which deludes it into demonic doctrines, resulting in a demonic religion – now embedding into the title of “Christian.” I personally believe the Social Justice movement is the platform Satan WILL use to usher in his short-lived reign – the Tribulation.
Eschatology is a tough bone to pick. I certainly don't claim to have all the answers to this cultural demise, but by looking at the progressive timeline of the past, we can easily see the progressive actions of the future. "One World Peace" is right around the corner. If I remember correctly, this is a misnomer. Our global society has shifted into methodologies of madness, proclaiming to heal the world with superficial elements of perceived peace. Even Pergamites know this is a lie.
"They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace." (Jeremiah 6:14)
The movement of the Social Gospel is predictable. It demands common faith, while killing-off the believers of authentic faith.
Next Week:
"The Missional Movement."
