57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
The Bible teaches that we sow what we reap in Galatians 6, and God's Word teaches us that we are not to be deceived - ultimately, the soul who sins will die - that's why we need a Savior, because we are sinners and cannot save ourselves. But, if we live from a perspective of thinking we have all the answers and are devoted to mixing our philosophies with Scripture, we end up with confusion and self-deception. We can go to the Word of God to bring the clarity we need.
The enemy, through his opposition to God and His ways, attempts to distort and discredit the truth, and we have to examine how he does that in our own lives, taking necessary steps to embrace God's power. 1st Peter 5 states:
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The transgender agenda has continued to morph and now represents a clear and present danger to our culture, as Biblical ideas of sexuality and the authority of our Creator are being trampled by those who believe that gender is fluid and that people can actually change their biological sex.
Fortunately, as I documented in the Top 10 Topics of 2022, people are pushing back - the outspokenness of those who are called "detransitioners," who faced physical harm because of their decision to follow the path of attempting to change their sex, coupled with the revelations that these treatments and surgeries are more common that we've been told by the media, have resulted in states taking action to curb the lunacy.
And, commentators are continuing to take note. In the Christian space, Brandon Showalter is perhaps the most learned and outspoken journalist on this topic. He writes for The Christian Post, was involved in a podcast series on the gender transition movement, and was even involved in the production of a film on the subject.
Carl Trueman of Grove City College, writing for WORLD Magazine, in considering "what issues the evangelical establishment might be misjudging today that will lead to future disdain towards this generation of evangelical leadership," said, "Here is my suggestion: the issue of transgender ideology."
But, Trueman seems to indicate that the Church might be behind on this issue, writing:
Yet, for all of the evil that is being done to confused children and vulnerable women, it is some feminists who are speaking out on this. Kathleen Stock, the feminist philosopher, remains one of the most consistent and vocal opponents of the trans madness, even at the cost of her academic job. Abigail Shrier is another. And most famously author J. K. Rowling continues to speak courageously on the matter, though woe betide any who defend her, as Pamela Paul can now testify. It is right and proper that Christians give thanks for these voices.He calls on "flagship evangelical organizations" to address the issue, writing:
It would be wonderful if Christianity Today were to run a series of detransition narratives, or Wheaton College host a conference on the damage that trans ideology is doing to children and to families. Such things would help confused parents and pastors. Then there are evangelicals with easy access to the pages of The Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. If they were to use their platforms to speak out about this institutionalization of child abuse and misogyny, it might—no, it would—make a huge difference.
Tucker Carlson actually called out the Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today and other so-called "Christian leaders," according to a piece on FoxNews.com, in the face of pro-life Christians being arrested for standing for life. He named other, what he termed, "professional Christians," asking if they would stand for a Canadian pastor who was arrested for protesting a drag queen story hour at a local library. I would venture to say that point was that so-called Christian leaders who have a platform are unwilling to speak out on issues in which other believers are being persecuted for their public stands.
Michael Knowles is someone who is speaking out and facing the wrath of media outlets. He is with The Daily Wire, and at a recent conference, according to that website, he said: "For the good of society and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely, the whole preposterous ideology — at every level..."
The article goes on to say:
Although Knowles’ words were clearly a call for ending what he considers a dangerously flawed ideology, California State Sen. Scott Wiener accused him of calling for “genocide” of people who consider themselves transgender.
It went to to note:
Rolling Stone, Yahoo News, Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast all similarly misconstrued Knowles’ words as a call for eradicating people, not an ideology. The Daily Wire promptly demanded retractions and apologies from each of the publications, and Knowles himself reacted similarly to the Rolling Stone headline stating, “CPAC Speaker Calls for Transgender People to Be ‘Eradicated.”
In his podcast, according to the Daily Wire, Knowles continued to address the subject, saying:
“… If you want to deal with the transgender issue, it’s kind of all or nothing. Furthermore, the argument that the liberals make for trans the little kids is they say, transgenderism is real. A man can be a woman secretly, or a woman can be a man born into the wrong body.”
“You’re born that way. And so if you’re born that way, if it’s real, if that’s a true anthropology, then it’s got to be real for everybody. If transgenderism is real, then we certainly should trans the kids because the kids are already trans. And so to deny their true nature would be cruel.”
“The issue is transgenderism is not real for anybody,” Knowles concluded. “A man can’t really become a woman, and a woman can’t really become a man.”
It's. Not. Real. And you have pastors like Derek Reimer in Canada willing to take a stand against this agenda to the point of being arrested. You may remember last year, pastors inside and outside Canada stood against a ban the government enacted in which it inserted itself into the counseling room, saying that counselors, presumably including pastors, could not counsel someone dealing with same-sex attraction to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to deal with it. Thousands of pastors stood for God's plan for sexuality and preached on the topic on one Sunday, led by John MacArthur and Canadian pastor James Coates.
But, considering that, according to George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, just over one-third of American Christian pastors possess a Biblical worldview. And, the sheep without a shepherd are reaping the consequences - that could be a factor why according to the study I discussed yesterday with the CRC's Adam Rasmussen, only 13% of born-again Christians have a Biblical worldview.
God's plan for sexuality began at creation - marriage is ordained as male and female in a one-flesh relationship. Sexual purity is prescribed in Scripture inside of marriage - so bash "purity culture" all you want - God is very clear that He has ordained sex for marriage - between a man and a women; see Romans 1.
And, a person is not born into the "wrong" body - we have been created male and female. I quoted from detransitioner Oli London yesterday, whose discovery of God and His principles have propelled him to discover who God has made Him to be.
There are a myriad of cultural influencers that would attempt to get us off track from the simplicity of living for Christ. Because we as humans want to live our own way, we fall prey to the tendency to mix what we think, our own opinions, with God's standards, and the mix leads to confusion. The Bible, God's Word, brings clarity - and when we are clear on what He says, then we can live - and stand and proclaim - what He has declared.
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