From Marx to Pride: The Rise of the Identity Gospel

🌈The Identity Gospel Article 9D of The Age of Counterfeit Kingdoms

When Categories Replace Christ

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The Mirror Made an Altar

The most seductive idol of our day is not carved from wood or stone. It is carved in the mirror.

The Identity Gospel tells you that salvation comes by discovering, affirming, and expressing your true self. It baptizes race, sexuality, and gender into sacraments. It cloaks itself in empathy, preaches in the language of compassion, and promises liberation from oppression. But behind the mask is slavery.

From Marx’s class war, to Rauschenbusch’s social gospel, to BLM’s protest gospel, every counterfeit has prepared the way for this final heresy: the gospel of self.

And many churches now bow before it.

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The Genealogy of Rebellion

False gospels do not emerge in a vacuum. The Identity Gospel is the predictable end of a century-long trajectory:

Karl Marx (19th c.): Sin = class oppression. Salvation = revolution.

Walter Rauschenbusch (early 20th c.): Sin = social structures. Salvation = political reform.

Martin Luther King Jr. (mid-20th c.): Sin = racial injustice. Salvation = activism. (But King denied the virgin birth and resurrection in his own writings—proof his “gospel” was not Christ crucified but justice redefined.)

BLM (21st c.): Sin = systemic racism. Salvation = protest. (Its founders called themselves “trained Marxists” and its charter rejected the nuclear family.)

Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989): Sin = privilege. Salvation = dismantling identity hierarchies.

Queer Theology (1990s–present): Sin = repression. Salvation = affirmation of sexual desire and identity.

This arc is not random. It is the consistent redefinition of sin and salvation apart from God, until man himself becomes savior.

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The Religion of Identity

Make no mistake: the Identity Gospel is not just a set of ideas. It is a rival religion with its own creed, sacraments, and demands:

Original Sin: Privilege—whiteness, heterosexuality, maleness, cisgender identity.

Law: Be “authentic” to your self. Affirm all identities—except Christian holiness.

Priesthood: Activists, DEI officers, Side-B theologians, and progressive pastors.

Sacraments: Pride parades, pronoun rituals, DEI training, social media confessions, rainbow flags in pulpits.

Martyrs: Victims turned into icons of secular sainthood, whose deaths become liturgies.

Heaven: A utopia of equity and affirmation where God’s Word is silenced.

Hell: Being “canceled,” exiled from the new woke communion.

And like all false gospels, it offers no forgiveness. There is no “such were some of you” (1 Cor. 6:11). There is only endless penance, perpetual affirmation, and the damnation of those who refuse.

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Scripture Shatters the Identity Gospel

The Word of God is unflinching:

Galatians 2:20 — “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” The gospel crucifies self. Identity is not savior. Christ is.

Colossians 3:9–11 — “Here there is not Greek and Jew… but Christ is all, and in all.” The gospel does not divide by categories—it kills them at the cross.

James 2:1 — “Show no partiality.” Identity politics institutionalizes partiality; God condemns it as sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — Paul names sexual identities and practices, but then declares: “Such were some of you. But you were washed.” The gospel does not affirm rebellion—it transforms rebels into saints.

Genesis 9 — The rainbow belongs to God as a covenant sign of mercy, not man as a banner of rebellion. Its theft is blasphemy.

The gospel does not affirm the self. It slays the self and raises new life in Christ.

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How the Church Fell for It

The Identity Gospel has infiltrated not only liberal churches, but evangelical and even Reformed pulpits:

Racial affinity groups — celebrated by denominational leaders (like Irwyn Ince in the PCA), fracture the body into identity camps instead of uniting it in Christ.

Side-B theology — legitimizes “gay identity” as a permanent marker, even if behavior is restrained, in direct contradiction of 1 Corinthians 6.

Progressive denominations — ordain “queer pastors” and drape sanctuaries in rainbow flags.

Evangelical pulpits — chant BLM slogans and demand repentance for skin color, confusing representation with redemption.

In every case, the church affirms identities that the cross came to crucify.

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The Pastoral Crisis

The Identity Gospel is not simply “another angle” on the gospel. It is another gospel entirely (Gal. 1:6–9).

It replaces union with Christ with union to self.

It replaces forgiveness with endless affirmation.

It replaces repentance with pride.

It replaces Christ’s covenant family with affinity groups and identity blocs.

Christ says: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

The Identity Gospel says: “Affirm yourself, take up your flag, and follow us.”

Only one path leads to eternal life.

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The Cost of Silence

Why must the church speak with clarity here? Because silence is surrender.

When pastors hedge, sheep are devoured.

When churches drape pulpits with rainbow banners, the gospel is eclipsed.

When seminaries teach Side-B identity theology, generations are poisoned.

To leave the Identity Gospel unchecked is to betray Christ’s sheep to wolves. The world will call this “hate.” Christ calls it love.

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A Pastoral Plea

Beloved, do not be deceived. Do not kneel at strange banners.

Stand firm on Christ as your only identity. Every race, sexuality, and politics must die at the cross.

Refuse partiality disguised as compassion. James calls it sin.

Show true love for your neighbor, not by affirming rebellion, but by pointing to Christ’s redeeming grace.

Guard pulpits from activists masquerading as pastors. Preach repentance, not representation.

The world does not need an “identity gospel.” It needs the only gospel—that Christ died for sinners, rose again, and now unites His people in Himself.

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Closing Vision

The rainbow is God’s covenant, not man’s rebellion. The fist is man’s revolution, not God’s redemption. The protest banner fades, the cross endures.

The cross is not a rainbow, nor a clenched fist, nor a protest banner. It is the place where every false identity dies and the only true identity is found—in Christ.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post