By: Elwin Ransom
Anyone attempting to understand modern American evangelicalism, will quickly recognize that many of its prominent leaders have jumped on the “Woke train” without noticing the “bridge out” sign blurring past them. Many of these ambitious men don’t consciously desire to destroy Christianity as we know it. They’re just joining a trendy movement. But, in the words of Ravi Zacharias, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” Thus, many well-known evangelicals are on the verge of finding out just how much this trendy movement will cost them.
It is now common in progressive evangelical circles to loudly insist that men like George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards were not Christians because they supported slavery or owned slaves. This argument is derived from the heresy of Black Liberation Theology, which teaches that God is always on the side of the oppressed, and all slavery is oppressive. There’s just one problem with that argument: Romans 4 is explicitly clear that our salvation happens the exact same wayas it did under the old covenant.
In the book of Genesis, God Himself comes down to earth and seals His Covenant by walking between the carcasses of recently slaughtered animals that have been cut in half. The implication of this act? God is saying “may I be cut in half like these animals if I do not keep this covenant.”
The recipient of that covenant? A slave owner.
The American slave system rested on unbiblical and evil assumptions. Many of the laws governing it were evil and certainly serious injustices occurred. It was bad. But, being against something bad does not give someone license to teach anything they want in opposition to that bad thing. Woke Christianity destroys the very foundations of our faith, and it does so in about 30 seconds. Not all of the progressives currently pushing this heresy have connected all the dots. But, the fact is that “all slave owners are not Christians” leads to one inescapable conclusion:
Abraham wasn’t saved either, since he was a slave owner. Neither were his slaves, who received the sign of the covenant. And if Abraham wasn’t saved, then Romans 4 means that we are all still in our sins.
If you’ve ever wondered why Woke Christianity rapidly devolves into “salvation by the work of ‘antiracist’ political activism” (Southern Baptist Professor Jarvis Williams teaches this in his classes), it’s because the true believers have recognized that their teaching destroys salvation by faith alone, so they need something to replace the gospel of Jesus Christ. So they swap out Christian orthodoxy for James Cone (the father of Black Liberation Theology).
There has been a lot of ink spilled on what motivates progressive evangelicals, but much more important is the impact of their leadership. Even if we concede that Russell Moore does not desire to replace Orthodox Chrisitanity with a slightly modified version of Black Liberation theology, the fact is that he is helping put us on that path.
At some point, it no longer matters if these men are sincere or well-intentioned. It no longer matters if they intend to replace the faith once for all delivered to the saints with a different religion entirely. It doesn’t matter, because that is their project. That’s where this road leads. This can only end one way: the bridge is out, and we’re headed over the cliff.
The question before us: how many sheep will go with them over that cliff?