Brian traces progressivism from its Enlightenment roots to its expression in modern politics and the church, exposes it as a demonic counterfeit to the Kingdom of God, and points to the real future — the City of God coming to earth and the New Heavens and New Earth.

Real freedom is downstream from truth. The kingdom is here. And the real Eden is not the one progressivism is building.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: The Eden Lie: Progressivism as Demonic Counterfeit

Real Freedom Is Downstream from Truth

Truth is upstream from freedom. Freedom is a wonderful value — one we all want. The human being is created to be free. Here's what Jesus said in John 8. He said to the people who believed in him: "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." The Amplified has it as continually obeying his teachings and living in accordance with them. Then in verse 36, Jesus says, "So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free." And in John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." According to the Jesus worldview, the Christian worldview, truth is ultimately a person.

So if you can go upstream and say there is no ultimate truth — if you can say there are many truths — then downstream from that you can affect human freedom. This is a core question. When Jesus stood before Pilate at his trial, just overnight before his crucifixion, at that critical moment when the Son of God was being offered as a sacrifice, Pilate asked: "What is truth?" That question echoes throughout human history.

A Quote That Rocked Me

I was sitting on the couch recently doing old school newspaper reading — the kind that makes your fingers gray from the ink. I've been reading the Epoch Times. All I needed was a pipe, a fireplace, and a dog sleeping nearby. I'm reading this article, "Looking Through an Adversary's Eyes: A KGB Agent's Prophecy," and I come across a quote that stopped me cold.

It's from a French liberal politician and journalist who lived from 1830 to 1888 — very influential, very progressive. The article used his quote to illustrate what they called the arrogance of intellectuals taken in by radical ideologies. Here it is: "Beside the divine garden from which I have been expelled, I will erect a new Eden. At its entrance, I will set up Progress, the personification of progress, and I will give a flaming sword into his hand and he will say to God, thou shalt not enter here."

Can you imagine that? The human quest has set up a counterfeit Eden. Instead of being removed from God's Eden because we were grasping at what is right and wrong, God is now removed from our Eden. And the guardian is not an angel of God. It's the personification of Progress — that is progressivism.

What Progressivism Actually Is

This is a primer, and I want to be clear — I'm on a continuum of learning here. Progressivism is rooted in the European Enlightenment. In America, it has been at least a 100-year struggle between progressivism and traditionalism. It began as an intellectual rebellion against the founding political philosophy of America — constitutionalism — rooted in the thought of John Locke and the founders of the republic.

The founders saw the authority of government depending on observed limitations on its powers. Progressivism rejects that. Its vision is a linear path in history toward absolute equality, a utopia. Social justice as equality of outcomes — in everything. And progressives want to liberate individuals from history. They want to release them from religion. They want to redefine gender and marriage. They want to dismantle the family. Progressivism believes that social conditions can change human nature.

If there is anything in you of the Christian worldview, that will run against the grain. You understand that human nature cannot be changed by social conditions alone. It requires spiritual regeneration and development as a Christ follower. And what begins as soft totalitarianism will eventually evolve into total totalitarianism — a form of government that asserts total control over the lives of its citizens through coercion, suppression, and repression.

Progressive Christianity vs. Historic Christianity

Today's modern church is not exempt from this. Jude 3 says to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Progressive Christianity affects Bible interpretation, theology, teaching, and practical living. I'm grateful that emerging voices and young apologists are addressing this. One of those is Alicia Childers. I'm dropping a link on the show notes page to an interview she did with Rod Dreher, who wrote Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents. Highly recommended.

Progressivism is a distortion of Christian ideals. The ideal society will not be realized this side of the new heavens and new earth. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:13: "According to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

The Real Future

Jesus spoke of the Ekklesia. I've been using the Greek word more because the word "church" has become misconstrued and loaded for many people. Dallas Willard calls the church the Society of Jesus. And the Society of Jesus is set within the society at large. Jesus said, "You are a city on a hill." A hill is elevated topography — everyone can see what's on top. Jesus means for his society to be a model of what it looks like to follow him, what his kingdom looks like.

And I want to say this: the city on a hill is meant to be a precursor to the City of God coming to the earth in the future. It's meant to be a sampling — partial, and yet carrying the dynamic of the City of God in contrast to the City of Man. To use Augustine's framework: the City of God is meant to be an illustrative precursor to what is coming. Can you see how this immediately contrasts with the vision of progressivism?

Progressivism is a demonic counterfeit to the real future. Following the new birth, how should we be developing and living now in this age in light of the age to come? That is our experience in the Society of Jesus. We get on the continuum of developing as apprentices of his kingdom. We begin to live now in the light of the age which is to come. We in and of ourselves become a sign, a wonder, a precursor to the real future.

God is restoring the Edenic dynamic. Beware of the demonic counterfeit. Go back to that quote: "I will erect a new Eden... and he will say to God, thou shalt not enter." That is counter-programming to the true kingdom of God, which God spoke of at the very outset — at the fall of man in Genesis 3. The Messiah would come and crush the head of the serpent. The proto-evangelium. The first mention of the gospel. And the gospel is the good news of the kingdom.

Pray It In

Here is the prayer priority Jesus gave us in Matthew 6 and Luke 11: "Hallowed be your name. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It's about things coming here. The kingdom of God will be completely realized at the coming of Jesus Christ — but it's already here now. Already penetrating and expanding like leaven (Matthew 13).

William Gibson coined the term cyberspace in 1984. He said: "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." I want to say that the real future is here right now. It's just not widely known and not widely distributed yet. Hebrews 6:4–5 says that we can taste the heavenly gift now, partake of the Holy Spirit, taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.

There is a difference between normal Christ following and average Christ following. Don't take your reference point from the average of Christian life around you. Let your reference point be the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, your vital connection with the ascended head Jesus Christ, and your connection with other believers who want to run with the normal Christian life.

This is part of the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10: "I have come to give life and life more abundantly."