Introduction:
-To read the whole book as my notes just cover the surface of the content of the book. Megan Basham is an excellent reporter who deserves a lot of credit exposing how money can corrupt church leaders. How power and government can infiltrate a church and destroy the believers. Basham asks the questions on how did the church get so twisted?
Church leaders should never ignore, stray, or oppose:
Biblical Ethics
Bibles’ Moral Standards
Unchanging wisdom of the Word
Scripture dictates the content of their teachings
Prioritize sobriety, marriage, sexual purity, and protecting the innocent
Biblical morality enacted in the public
Faith lived out in the public square and into policy making processes
Christians should steward their voting rights as citizens to reflect biblical priorities
Priorities for Progressives: To solve the problem of Christians:
Climate Change
LGBTQ rights
Workers’ rights
Trans men in women's’ sports
Immigration reform
Racial Justice
Abortion
Me Too movement
Letting the culture lead
Preaching trendy social issues
Patriarchal gender roles
Christian Nationalism
Atheistic communists intertwined in in social-justice
Socialism, Marxism, and Communism
Black Lives Matter (portrayed as a gospel issue)
Reforming the police system
Politicizing the church
Culture-Warring
Evangelical Institutions: divide by distorting the clear Word of God:
***using the Bible for cheap sloganeering
***becoming public accusers of the sheep
Ex. push for equity (which guarantees outcomes) rather than equality (which guarantees opportunity) simply repackaged version of Marx’s politics of enby
-lobbying for fossil fuel regulations
-dismantling white privilege
-call Christians to compromise or be silent
-falsely claiming to be intellectually and morally advanced
-seeking cultural approval over Biblical morality
-desiring for worldly status
-reject clear Biblical morality
No: manipulation of the Gospel:
Jesus requires them to get COVID-19 vaccinations as you should love your neighbor
Jesus requires us to have welcoming open border as you should love your neighbor
Jesus requires us to support cap-and-trade carbon emissions limits as you should love your neighbor
Jesus requires us to support laws that allow gender-confused children to mutilate their bodies under the principle of love your neighbor
Jesus requires the selling of pride “tuck-friendly” swimsuits and queer themed kids clothing as you should love your neighbor
“Eventually, thoughtless usage had so cheapened Jesus’ profound teaching to meaningless catchphrases that political and media leaders who had no role in the Church also began to use it like a Swiss army knife–a convenient tool to unlock any policy preference.”
“Here the gospel has been reduced to a program for transforming social structures. THis is the Marxist line. It does not mean that those who take this position are Communists. But it does mean they have made a complete confusion of the kingdom of God with the basic socialistic concepts” (theologian Francis Schaeffer, 1983)
Guilty:
“American Peace Mobilization is one of the most seditious organizations which ever operated in the United States. And pastors , claiming to speak for the church, were part of it.”
George Soros: Open Society Foundations (OSF)
National Association of Evangelicals:
-took money from planned parenthood to promote
Evangelicals for Social Action:
-changing economic structures is the means of salvation for modern man