Social Justice Theology | The Social Gospel
Dr. Stephen Phinney
Our passage does not say, But examine your social networks carefully; hold fast to the most trending good of the world; abstain from the darker-side of evil.
Biblical discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking by assessing it with the mind of Christ. Of course, this requires us to have the indwelling mind of Christ while studying the authentic Gospel. Ironically, Christ-followers can only evaluate their thoughts by way of the “bible” they adhere to. Since their “bibles” tend to lean toward social justice translations, the comparison becomes erroneous, extending itself from gay bibles to social justice reform. Meaning, each compares their beliefs and thoughts to that of their morbid worldview.
Authentic Bible scholars know the gig. Those of us who study the Bible understand that the mind(s) of humanity can be altered by the translation they read. Modern depraved Bible translators figured this out, manipulated the organic codex of the Scriptures, and then re-write the Bible via the state of their social justice focus. While these translations appeal to the masses, it matriculates into heresy.
What is their method of doing this? I speak from experience. I discipled one of these translators. They first gather the top 10 trending social justice issues, like, same-sex marriages, gay rights, feminism, animal rights, and a drove of others. After they meticulously convert Biblically offensive words into a social Justice friendly rhetoric – they go to print. Anyone can do this. Before you know it, society has a "gay bible," a "gender-neutral bible," or the now populating "social justice bible."
Do not be fooled by these translations, nor the professing Christians who prefer either "progressive Christianity" or "social justice Christian reform." These "scholars" are not necessarily authentic, indwelt believers. It matters not what trendy terms people use to describe Jesus Christ or themselves, a progressive thinker by any other name is still a left-wing church liberal, minimally in their translation modalities. So it should not come as a surprise to learn that research reveals that the majority of these translators often have the overtones of Carl Marx. Marxism is, "politics and religions of atheists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that holds that 'actions and human institutions are economically determined, that the class struggle is the basic agency of historical change, and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism.'” This is their definition.
To validate what I am saying, the Center for Progressive Christianity’s homepage makes this statement, “By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.”
The way to God’s realm? You got it, relativism at its best. The bottom line to their claims is, Progressive is simply a euphemism for socialism. Relativism doesn’t hold to a high standard of Scripture being infallible, thus believing the Holy Scriptures are self-interpretive because a human wrote the Bible’s earliest versions. They emphatically reject the notion that all Scripture is God-breathed, inspired, inerrant, and infallible. That, of course, leaves the Bible up for grabs for post-truth translations.
Social justice people hold to a non-traditional view of the Bible because they question authority & traditions. This is why they are willing to re-write Scripture to ensure that the God they perceive remains on the cutting-edge of their political & social views.
Culture has always matriculated from translations. As the US Constitution is the “bible” for its citizens, the Bible has remained the moral compass for the masses until the church’s recent convergence with the post-truth era - 2011. Today we live in the post-convergence era. Thanks to the Catholics, the focus has shifted from traditional Bible beliefs to emphasize caring for the poor through social justice. Thus, birthing the environmentally-conscious movement. This challenged the “followers of Jesus” to adjust their focus to be the Earth's guardians – not the Church. A fellow author, Marsha West, addresses this issue wisely:
Progressive Christians are ubiquitous, aggressive liberals, many of whom are renowned pastors, authors, conference speakers, missionaries, televangelists, radio hosts, and CEOs of Christian organizations. As of late, even some of our most beloved evangelical leaders appear to be morphing into theological liberals. The movement's extent to liberal ideology varies with each individual, but they have gone completely off the rails in certain cases. False doctrine abounds in books, Bible studies, and Bibles authored by notable Christians and promoted by so-called Christian publishers and booksellers. We have been duly warned about this sort of thing happening.
Yes, Marsha, we have been forewarned.
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
After the convergence of Social Justice Theology was cemented, the Social Gospel was born. Social Gospel advocates advance ideas such as racial justice, open borders, and left-wing political ideology that has morphed into the new Millennial Jesus – a replicated Christ figure to match the social justice thinkers' morbid minds. Instead of being transformed into the mind of Christ Jesus, they transform Jesus into being as their depraved minds. This culture shift's their horrid convergence into opening the door to a Christ figure that will ultimately advance global governance - socialism. Well done, Satan – for now.
Moreover, Social Justice is not a missing piece of the original Gospel that has been recently populated by progressive elitists in the evangelical worldview. It’s a mass effort to appease the masses who view Christianity as restrictive and or negative. At the same time, appealing to their sense of self-entitlement, and permission, to self-interpret the Bible. As you might guess, Progressive Christianity rampantly propagates their ideology within their liberal circles. The results come from their bottom line - It’s all about what society can do for me and how society can take the blame and responsibility for my wrongdoings instead of me. Where is the not I, but Christ? Unfortunately, It has faded into the Social Gospel.
Following this movement, your average person knows the religious left demands the redistribution (transfer) of wealth under the guise of social justice. Beware when you hear terms such as “social reform” and “social justice” because those terms are doublespeak for socialism. Since this is true, the Church needs to be aware that the same objective is true for spirituality – demanding redistribution of religious thought under a one-world religious leader's agenda.
There are seven primary ideologies the authentic church should look for:
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Critical Race Theology – racism is at the core of their communications. Claiming institutional racism describes the organized church.
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Intersectionality – the church allows discrimination to interact and overlap with each other. Claiming all religious institutions must unite under a single set of freedoms, religious expressions, and beliefs.
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Christianized Marxism – the traditional church advocates sources of oppression in the modern world while refuting Marxist beliefs.
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Black Liberation Theology - reveals that members of traditional churches refuse to contextualize Christianity to advance their cause of helping African descendants overcome religious oppression & biases.
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Deconstructionism – claiming that the historical church needs to be deconstructed. Further stating the church’s language must be deconstructed and rebuilt to adapt their gender, racial, economic, political, cultural expressions, and language. Affirming their beliefs in the need for one-world religious peace.
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Social Justice – demanding that the church advocates fair and just relations between the individual and society. Furthermore, the global church must redistribute their wealth to the generalized public through taxing the church.
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Rauschenbuschism - converting the traditional church from capitalism to Christian socialism by rebuilding the different sectors of religions into unions that support a single religious leader’s socialist ideologies.
If you think the Progressive Christians are ignorant of a future one-world religious leader, you are misinformed. Item number 7 is not only the most dangerous; it’s their objective. Why? Because it sets up for a one-world religious leader. Although, item 7 cannot occur until 1 – 6 has been accomplished in their plan.
Some might say this will never happen. This is not true; it’s already well on its way through the World Council of Churches. Last month when the Roman State Church adopted the Muslims into their church, the global religious shift began. Now it is WCC’s turn to keep their part of the pact.
What is the true Gospel?
The true Gospel of Christ has NOTHING to do with social justice, as progressives would have us believe. Jesus is not a Progressive – He never was, AND since Jesus is the same yesterday, today & forever, He will never adopt or converge with this modality.
The heart of the authentic indwelling Gospel is basic and simple. Due to Adam and Eve sinning in the Garden, Holiness was removed and separated from their reach. They were removed from the Garden so that they could not access the Tree of Life. Once out of the Garden, God the Father began confronting human hostility and rebellion as an act of love. Throughout the Old Testament, God Himself was the Holy representative of the Tree of Life. While being this representative, He set the stage for His Son to come as the Redeemer and Restorer. Sure, His focus was the Jewish people, but His Son opened the door for the Gentile people – offering to graph them into His Body & Jewish linage. The Father sent His Son to be the one and only Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).
While the Jewish people await this Messiah, God already sent Him AND provided the path of Redemption. They missed it. The Jews' problem. Since Jesus was born a mere human, they disregarded all His signs of the times. The book of Revelation became the book of warnings and explanations of “it’s not over until it's over.” Since the prophecies in Revelation match the Old Testament's prophecies, God continues to maintain the Orthodox Jews' interest.
As for the real-deal Gospel, the New Testament's fullness was 100% focused on the Life, actions, miracles, and solutions of Jesus to a fallen, depraved humanity, which includes the Jews. He left no stone unturned. Every jot and tittle OF the New Testament reveals the Messiah indeed DID come, to provide the promised way of Redemption & Restoration. BUT, here was the catch. The only way the Jewish people could experience this Redemption was my way of being filled with the Holy Spirit – who is God, what we call indwelt Christianity. That closed the deal for the orthodox Jews. They consider it heresy to have the God of the universe live inside humanity. The very reason they rejected Him as He was on the Earth – as a man. Therefore, we find in this problem why God sends two prophets, in the end, to lead the final Jewish remnant unto Christ Jesus – as was the case in the Old Testament, through Hebrew Law (Revelation 11 & 12).
God cares NOT about Social Justice. However, He is preoccupied with justice – a Justice that admonishes those who refuted the system, governance, and Monarchy of the Living God. Question. How much of the Progressive Christian’s theology has affected your beliefs? It might be more than you think.
©2020 Eschatology Series, Dr. Stephen Phinney
