The Only Thing Progressive About Progressivism is Tyranny

For five decades I have watched liberalism morph into progressivism–and that’s not a good thing.

Being “progressive” sounds forward thinking and cool. However, the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic with its lock downs and numerous governor/mayor edicts has exposed this dangerous philosophy as anything but positive or in favor of progress.

We now see plainly that the only thing progressive about progressivism is tyranny.

Here’s the evidence.

The Only Thing Progressive About Progressivism is Tyranny

We must understand the worldview conflict we face in what’s becoming a chaotic 21st century. That battle remains as intense as I’ve seen in my lifetime.

As I discuss in my recent book, River of God, on one side of the fight stand Satan and his demons who’ve used four primary deceptions to lead people astray on earth. These false religions include polytheism (many gods), pantheism (all is God), Islam (a warring God) and atheism (no God).

Atheism/secularism is the primary mental lie the satanic forces have used to fool and destroy people in the Western nations. 

We will return to that deception in a moment.

On the other side of the cosmic battle stands the True God and his principles. The Bible reveals amazing stories and truths for living–from the creation of the world, to the founding of the nation of Israel, to coming of the Messiah–Jesus Christ, to the age of the Church sharing his Good News on earth.

I became a missionary 46 years ago to join that glorious cause.

God’s principles for just and healthy societies (including the Ten Commandments, Golden Rule and New Testament teachings) created the freedoms and blessings of Western civilization over the past two thousand years. The primary reason for Western prowess in liberty, prosperity, literature, invention, and human rights is found in the superiority of its ideas–straight from God’s book, the Bible.

Because of the faith of the Pilgrims, spiritual revival and our courageous founding fathers, the United States of America put more of these biblical axioms into practice than any nation in history (except ancient Israel). 

Therein lies American exceptionalism–more godliness in law and in life than any other modern nation. 

God used Thomas Jefferson to etch those truths into the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness–That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed…”

Note the words Jefferson capitalized as was customary in his day. Men (People)–Creator (there’s a God)–Rights (that come from Him)–Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (the three primary needs of human beings)–Governments (God’s instrument of order/justice in a fallen world)–Power (control, regulation)–but only with the Consent (approval) of the Governed (people).

Got that? 

It’s Civics 101 in all nations longing for freedom.

Liberalism–being free and fair-minded, even generous in its opinions and tolerant of others–sprouted from this biblical worldview. Until the 1960’s a liberal person was “open-minded,” maybe a little more “lenient” in his or her thoughts than those who were ideological.

For hundreds of years, liberalism remained anchored to God’s truth–until the wheels blew off in the 1960’s. The catalysts were a widespread youth rebellion (The Age of Aquarius) and an unpopular war (Vietnam) that eventually gave liberalism a new name to keep it relevant.

Progressivism. 

Sounds noble, positive, moving forward–progress! Not true. In most moral areas, progressives are regressive. They turn the hand of time back to paganism and destructive behavior.

Biblical faith stands tall as the engine of real progress in the world. Until the coming of Jesus Christ and the growing influence of biblical ideas in Europe and the Americas, most people lived under tyrants, had little or no rights, children were killed mercilessly for convenience, slavery was common, and private property rarely existed.

It was the light of the Gospel that reversed these dark practices, with its crowning moment being the “5000 Year Leap” of the birth of the United States. George Washington refused to be king. The Bill of Rights enshrined humankind’s deepest desires in law. And eventually a war was fought and won to rid the nation of slavery.

God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (property) became the norm–not the exception in America (though never perfectly). 

Incredible progress.

Progressives are now systemically trying to erase those rights and regress us back into barbarism.

They began with the cruelty of abortion in 1973. Over sixty million human beings in the USA alone have been denied the right to life. Today’s progressives not only demand the freedom to kill their babies, they openly celebrate this perverse regression. 

If they ever come to full power in our nation, other groups of people (under the guise of compassion, public safety, the greater good, or the Final Solution II) will be killed.

Progressives don’t believe in a God-given right to life.

They also don’t believe in private property (the pursuit of happiness). For example, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to take your money, property, business etc. and give it to others. The euphemism he uses is “wealth re-distribution,” from the rich to the poor. Progressives call that “fairness.”

God calls it theft (the Seventh Commandment).

When progressives take leadership positions in government, they almost always become authoritarian. They remove God-given rights.

We are now seeing an assault on the third human right–liberty. Colleges and universities, run by progressive administrators and professors, don’t allow free speech on campus. Conservatives are banned. Christians are silenced–all in the name of “hate speech” and tolerance. Progressive groups like Facebook and YouTube censor biblical content and expression. The progressive media pumps out fake news and fear mongering to promote the progressive agenda.

This is nothing but regression from the “free speech” movements of yesteryear. 

And now the coronavirus scare has given some progressive governors/mayors the power to keep people in their homes, destroy their livelihoods, tell them when can attend church, “watch a sunset,” go to the beach, buy mulch or seeds, go to their cabin, or visit their grandparents.

They’re using the “power of the sword” to deny liberty (under the guise of public safety). 

Nicole Russell shares one example (of many now taking place): 

“In a shocking tweet, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened that police would issue summons or make arrests after 250 Hasidic Jews gathered for a funeral service in violation of the city’s social distancing measures.”

“In an appalling display of incompetence and authoritarian progressive politics that some might see as anti-Semitism, de Blasio showed just how intolerant he is of deeply religious New Yorkers and how much he disregards the Constitution’s First Amendment protections for all.”

“In encouraging or even mandating efforts to squelch the spread of COVID-19, many local and state government officials have displayed an ugly, even surprising, authoritarian bent. This is particularly so as it relates to Americans of faith.”

Thank God the American people are “civilly disobeying” their progressive overlords from the beaches of California to the Capital steps in Lansing, Michigan.

If Dr. Martin Luther King were still alive, I’m sure he’d be leading the peaceful protests.

I hope we remember come Election Day that the only thing that has “progressed” in progressivism over the past sixty years is its tyrannical bent. The only rights that progressive philosophy produce are the rights to be sinful in moral areas and poor economically.

Most people don’t call that progress.