Many so-called Christians today have abandoned the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and taken on a belief system that denies the power of the cross and the infallibility of the Word of God. In his new book, Hope for This Present Crisis, Dr. Michael Youssef writes, “Why do they deny 2,000 years of orthodox Christian doctrine and tradition? I believe it’s because many of today’s false teachers want to be accepted and admired by the world. They don’t want to be lumped in with all those ‘rigid,’ ‘narrow-minded,’ ‘intolerant’ evangelical Christians. They want to be admired for their ‘enlightened,’ ‘open-minded,’ ‘inclusive’ approach to religion.
“These false teachers often label themselves ‘progressive Christians’ or ‘postmodern Christians’ or ‘post-evangelical Christians’ or ‘the emerging church.’ It sometimes takes a great deal of discernment to distinguish a progressive Christian from an orthodox, Bible-believing, evangelical Christian. Why? Because progressive Christians use the same words we use—but with very different meanings.”
Youssef points to the following progressive Christian “facts” that his readers should consider:
— Progressive Christians say they believe the Bible is divinely inspired, but they do not mean it is the Spirit-breathed, infallible Word of God. They mean it is inspired the same way the plays of Shakespeare and the poems of Emily Dickinson are “inspired.”
— Progressive Christians say they believe that God is love. But progressive Christians do not believe the cross is an expression of God’s love. Instead, they teach that a loving God would never punish sinners or judge sin or condemn an unrepentant, unbelieving sinner to hell.
— Progressive Christians say they believe in the authority of Scripture. But they claim that Scripture has been misunderstood and misapplied for the last 2,000 years of Christian history. They see themselves as the first Christians in history to understand what the Bible means and which parts should be obeyed or ignored.
— Progressive Christians say they believe in the Resurrection. But if pressed, they will tell you that the Resurrection of Jesus is a powerful spiritual metaphor, and a metaphor doesn’t have to be literal and historical to convey important truth.
“Our fallen, dying culture loves and approves of progressive Christianity, because this false form of ‘Christianity’ makes no moral judgments against sin and is perfectly aligned with a worldly, secular-left political agenda,” warns Youssef. “If you want to be approved by this dying world, simply abandon the foundational truths of Christianity: The Bible is the Word of God; we are saved by grace through faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ; Jesus arose and is seated at the right hand of God the Father and is coming again to judge the world. Then replace the Christian gospel with a secular-left agenda of identity politics, climate change, unrestricted abortion and infanticide, LGBTQ politics, Darwinism and on and on. Then tell the world, ‘This secular-left political agenda is real Christianity—those 2,000-year-old dogmas from the Bible are fake.’
“If you adopt a secular social and political agenda, the world will love you. You’ll have many friends in this fallen and dying world. But the price you will pay is a state of enmity between you and God. Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples’ (John 8:31, NIV). These so-called progressive Christians do not hold to the Lord’s teaching. They openly reject everything Jesus said about His blood, His death and His atonement for sin. They openly reject His claim to be the way, the truth, the life—the only way to God the Father. To them, Jesus is a way, but not the way.
“Jesus warned against false prophets, claiming that though they appeared to be sheep, they were in fact wolves, seeking to devour their prey (Matt. 7:15-17),” Youssef says. “Today false teachers who claim to be Christians attack the foundations of Christianity. Wolves disguised as sheep are devouring the church from within.”
Hope for This Present Crisis is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BAM, Christianbook.com and Leading The Way.
Dr. Michael Youssef was born in Egypt and lived in Lebanon and Australia before coming to the United States and fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming an American citizen. He holds degrees from Moore College in Sydney, Australia, and Fuller Theological Seminary in California, with a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Emory University. He founded The Church of The Apostles, which was the launching pad for Leading The Way’s international ministry. Youssef has authored more than 40 books, including popular titles like Jesus, Jihad and Peace and Saving Christianity?
Youssef is the host of the popular TV and radio broadcast Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, which airs more than 13,000 times every week across six continents in 26 languages—reaching audiences in nearly every major city in the world. His programs attract tens of millions of viewers weekly in the U.S. on major TV networks, including TBN, Daystar, Fox Business, Lifetime, GOD TV, CTN, NRB TV and more.
Equipped with a keen understanding of the Bible, the Middle East, sociological trends in the Western world, and popular Christian worldview issues, Youssef is a sought-after voice whose expertise is regularly requested on both secular and Christian media, including Huckabee, Fox & Friends, Eric Metaxas, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Christian Post, Fox News, Hannity, Glenn Beck, The 700 Club and more. He and his wife reside in Atlanta and have four grown children and 10 grandchildren.
Hope for This Present Crisis is published by FrontLine, an imprint of Charisma House. {eoa}
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