Episode 127 - Transformed to Call Evil, Evil 1 - Be Transformed Part 8

Everything we have looked at in the past 7 episodes of our series, Be Transformed, are connected. In this episode, our transformation takes a slightly different turn, but it's no less connected. In this episode, we look at being transformed to call out evil as evil. The world is changing rapidly. So many things that are evil are being touted as good, while true good is being denounced as evil. And this is true even in some of our churches! Christians need to have the courage and wisdom to call evil out, stand firm in Biblical Truth, while continuing to glorify God. It seems an impossible task, but Jesus tells us it is possible, but we need to be prepared. Join us for this episode and the next episode as we look at how we prepare ourselves to stand firm against evil and shine the light of the Gospel into an ever darkening world.

Memory Verse - Isaiah 5:20 - “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who call dark light and light dark, who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter.”

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Transcript

Transformed to Call Evil, Evil part 1

Welcome Back. We have delved into quite a lot in the last 7 episodes. And just a reminder, everything ties in together. They are all part of being a whole Christian and all are directly tied to our theme verse for this series, Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that by testing, you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In this episode and the next episode, the journey in our transformation takes a slightly different turn yet is no less connected. 

And we will say upfront that this episode and the next episode are going to be pretty hard hitting, so buckle up. Along with grasping the greatness and goodness of God and the incredible rewards and fruit we receive from being one of God’s elect, we also need to be aware of and understand the forces that are against us – the world, the flesh and Satan. And as we’ve said several times, the world and our flesh rarely need any help from Satan to fall into sin, but as we’ve also looked at, those who do not belong to God are wicked at their core and have Satan as their master.

          That’s why they are referred to as the wicked in Scripture in verses like Daniel 12:10, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.And it is them who Isaiah is referring to when he says in Is. 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” You can call them “the world,” “the wicked,” “unbelievers,” whatever. Paul gives a very graphic description of them in 2 Tim 3:1 – 5, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

This has been true since Jesus’ ascension. Many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world have seen this and lived with this their whole lives. For those of us in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other parts of the world, it has been subtle for many decades. Although we have seen prejudice against Christians and mocking of God, we have also enjoyed relative freedom to worship Jesus and freely express our faith. For us, the hate has been subtle. However, that subtlety is no more. Now, everywhere, Christians are in a full-on assault having evil thrust at us and forced upon us. 

Here's one example. We googled, “Is wickedness a sin?” And here is the top answer that came up, “No. Sin can either refer to a specific behavior prohibited by a religion or a state, a condition where one is out of grace. Wickedness just means being evil. Sin, very generally, is a choice or act to disobey God.” The most prevalent way the world calls evil, good and good, evil is to brain wash and indoctrinate people. And one of the ways they do that is to moralize sin – make sin seem normal, or at least not as big a deal. Just look at what Big Tech did here. Wickedness is just being evil, it’s not a sin. Sin is intentionally choosing to disobey God. So if you are evil, but aren’t intentionally choosing to disobey God, you aren’t sinful. Besides that being a blatant lie, it doesn’t even make any sense! But making sense is not consideration on the things we are going to look at.

So what do we do about it? How can we be transformed to handle the onslaught of evil being touted as good, and true good being denounced as evil? Is it possible to fight against the evil, stand firm in Biblical Truth, and glorify God in our reaction all at the same time? Jesus tells us it is, but we need to be prepared. In Matthew 24:9 – 14, he says, “you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 

We are going to spend the next 2 episodes on this. People, groups, governments, Christians and even pastors and churches that are celebrating what they call good, but what is, in reality, evil. Things that are in direct opposition to God’s Word. We need to arm ourselves with Biblical Truth, because make no mistake that anyone who puts themselves in direct opposition of God, is an enemy of God and therefore, an enemy of ours. James 4:4 says anyone who makes friends with the world, is an enemy of God’s

Like you said, Chris, sad as it is, there are a lot of professing Christians and churches who are embracing friendship with the world at the expense of the Truth of God. It is imperative that we are educated about and aware of what we are up against, so we will be able to stand firm in our faith when we need to. We need to be transformed to have the courage and ability to call evil, evil. Who knows if God will use our faith and courage to help transform others? Maybe bring a wayward Christian back to repentance or maybe even be a part of bringing an unbeliever to faith in Jesus 

Those who hate God and hate us are attacking the very Truths of God – perverting His Word and mocking Him. And sometimes, its coming from within the church. And we know that’s a pretty bold statement to make. So let’s look at exactly how that is happening. We start with how the world is trying to destroy the family. And this is a complex plan that includes attacking it on several fronts and in several different ways including redefining marriage, devaluing parenting, questioning our identity, and indoctrinating our children. 

Chris, speaking of bold statements, I’m going to make another one. The radical left is trying to destroy the nuclear family so that they can destroy family ties and teaching, and make atheists out of the next generation. And I can just picture some of you getting ready to make a derogatory comment or shoot us an angry e-mail, but before you do, just listen. First, just to define a nuclear family – it’s a 2 parent household (mother and father) and their children. Let’s start with a little known fact about the organization BLM (And understand we are talking about the organization BLM, not the sentiment that black lives matter) Although it was taken down last Oct., at one time, the website of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation blatantly stated its desire to dismantle the nuclear family It said, “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another,” Among other reasons listed was the need to destroy the heterosexual domain. Despite their rhetoric about their mission being to crush white supremacy, BLM’s ultimate goal is to create a new world order—a Marxist distopia. And that requires the destruction of the traditional family and the abandonment of traditional values.

This was an article in The Atlantic from in March 2020 titled, The Nuclear Family was a mistake. It’s a long article, but they sum it up in one line, “The family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. It’s time to figure out better ways to live together.” Just an FYI, Atlantic, the family structure has not just been held up as the cultural ideal in the last 50 years, it has been held up as the cultural ideal since creation. 

Another article used stats to prove their case that the nuclear family is on the outs. In 1970, 40% of couples were married with children. 2013 marked a new low as only 19% of households were married with children. The nuclear family is rapidly on the decline in the United States due to couple living together and not marrying, couple not having kids, high divorce rates, and the rise of LGBTQ families. 

Here is a statement that Google just anonymously throws out there, “Negative effects of the nuclear family include the isolation and emotional dependency of the husband-wife and parent-child relationship, which produces tensions and may lead to marriage breakdown in the former instance and juvenile delinquency and other juvenile problems in the latter.” Now this is very perplexing because the Heritage Foundation did an extensive research paper titled, “The Breakdown of Marriage, family, and Community.  Here’s what they concluded: Over the past thirty years, the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers and high-crime neighborhoods are characterized by high concentrations of families abandoned by fathers.

On the other hand, they found that Neighborhoods with a high degree of religious practice are not high-crime neighborhoods. And even in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable homes do not become delinquents. By contrast only 10 percent of children from unsafe, unstable homes in these neighborhoods avoid crime. A mother's strong affectionate attachment to her child is the child's best buffer against a life of crime, and a father's authority and involvement in raising his children is also a great buffer against a life of crime.

All over the world and throughout history, families have been the source of economic and social stability. Particularly in the west, two-parent nuclear families are the leading preventers of poverty and abuse. A February 2020 article in the Atlantic, found that, “children living in a household with an unrelated adult were about nine times more likely to be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused than children raised in an intact nuclear family.” So even secular research shows that destroying the nuclear family and replacing with a community of collective strangers is not only not a good idea. It is potentially very dangerous and damaging for our children.

What does the Bible say about family and the importance of it? Well, first people were identified in the ancient world by their family. “Simon, son of Jonah; Joshua, son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim, etc.” Matthew and Luke make it a point to trace Jesus’ family all the way back to Abraham on Joseph’s side and Adam on Mary’s side. So family mattered. In Gen. 18:19, God says about Abraham, “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

God tells Moses to instruct the Israelites to pass down the Law to their children and instruct them on the ways of the Lord so don’t fall into idolatry. Proverbs exhorts us to train our children, teaching them about God, so they have the best chance of staying in the faith.

And of course, the biggest argument that God is “pro family” is that when we are saved, we become part of the family of God. A family that will last forever and can never be broken up or destroyed. 1John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” And Romans 8:14 – 16, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs.”

We said that the attack on the family is multi-faceted. And one way they attack it is by attacking the foundation of the family – marriage. Dismantling marriage is one of the quickest ways to destroy a family. One attack that is being waged against marriage is called egalitarianism. The idea that women can do anything men can do. Women and men are interchangeable. On the surface, many might think, well what’s wrong with that? That doesn’t seem evil. Men and women should be equal. We went into this in depth in our episode on Radical Feminism, but Chris, why don’t we give a summary and why this is an evil being called good and how it is destroying the family.

Genesis 1:27 says that God created both men and women in His image. That means that they are both of the same worth in God’s eyes. One is not superior to the other. However, they are not equal. Men and women have been given different strengths for the purpose of glorifying God, helping encourage and sanctifying each other, strengthening families, and building up the church. God is most glorified, Christians are most edified, the family is the securest, and the church is strongest when men and women are operating in their Biblical roles. And, like you said, we did go into this in Radical Feminism, so I won’t go into great detail. But why it’s evil is because from creation, God has given equal worth to men and women (Jesus, especially, lifted women up to show that God deeply values them) However, men and women are given different roles. Roles that glorify God and build up the church. But not only has the world rejected this notion, over the last 70 years, the narrative has gone from women can do anything men can do, to women don’t need men for much more than a sperm donor or to watch the kids. Men are helpers at best, and at worst, bumbling idiots who need a woman to tell them what to do just to get through the day. 

Here’s a quote from an article liberal website on what’s wrong with “mainstream Christianity gender roles” as they call it. “Men are always awarded power, authority and dominance, women are relegated to the roles of service, nurturing and adoration, and non-binary or gender non-conforming people are not even recognized. This needs to change” Notice the twisting of words. This is a huge lie wrapped in a very measly strand of truth that men are given authority in Scripture, and women are nurturing. And just to note, of course non-binary and gender non-conforming people aren’t recognized! But more on that shortly. Have you noticed on t.v. shows, movies, and commercials that men may chide each other, but never do they chide a woman? Women are never portrayed as ever being wrong or having weaknesses. But women have no problem chiding men, pointing out men’s mistakes and short comings. And the men meekly accept it, even thank them for it. And this is even true within the confines of marriage – although more and more marriage between a man and woman is very rarely portrayed. 

We have turned the healthy, godly relationship between a man and a woman that God graciously gave us into a war zone. Colossians 3:18 – 21 says under the heading of “Rules for Christian Households, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.  Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” A godly marriage, which God invented and defined, is a wife letting her husband fill the role he was called to – leader, protector, and provider, while a husband is to let his wife fill the role she was called to by loving her and supporting her. The point is not that one is superior to the other, the point is that both are committed to each other, both are looking to God as their authority, and both are practicing sacrificial love by putting their spouse’s best interest first.

The Institute for Family Studies posted a research paper recently on modern marriages.  It said that more and more marriages are becoming less institutionalized and more individualistic. Here’s a quote from the paper, “Spouses are more and more likely to do things like live apart; keep their resources separate; have separate bank accounts; maintain separate social networks; opt not to have children with each other; maintain independent rather than interdependent paid work and caring roles; have separate family names; and not consider their marriage a permanent relationship… Such behaviors make it possible for spouses to maintain independence, personal freedom, and a unique identity that is separate from their spouse. This is important for fulfilling individual goals and needs while in the relationship, but it also makes it easier to leave the relationship if and when desired.”

Over the past two generations, people have spent less and less time in marriage—they are marrying later, if at all, and divorcing more. In 1960, 72 percent of American adults were married. In 2017, nearly half of American adults were single. Four-fifths of American adults in a 2019 Pew Research Center survey said that getting married is not essential to living a fulfilling life. 
 And even amongst those who do marry, things are changing. In 2012, most American family households had no children. There are more American homes with pets than with kids. 

And we only have to watch tv or the movies to see that this is being promoted. Less and less are we seeing traditional marriages and families. Instead, men and women relationships are more likely to be shown as a once in a while pass time activity, living together, having an affair, or divorced. And I say men and women relationships, because as any of us who owns a t.v. knows, the predominant relationship that is more and more being promoted is homosexual. Ironically, these relationships are often portrayed as loving and committed. It seems like there are more monogamous homosexual marriages portrayed in the media than heterosexual ones. A gallup poll in Feb. 2021 said that 5.6% of the population identifies as LGBQT. Really? Going by how many homosexual relationships are on t.v., the movies, and commercials, I might have guessed it to be at least 50%. 

And if you wonder why that is, again it’s because they are moralizing sin. They are saturating the big and small screens, as well as books and articles with homosexuality so we will be completely desensitized to it. So our kids will grow up seeing it everywhere and think it is normal, acceptable, and good. And even darker, by portraying homosexual relationships as stable and committed while the heterosexual relationships are unstable, unequal, and often tense, it may lead our children into desiring a homosexual relationship over a heterosexual one. 

We mentioned this a few episodes ago, but Canada has passed a new bill call C-4 which prohibits what they call “conversion therapy” on the LGBQT community. Pastor James Coates, a Canadian clergyman who was jailed last year for refusing to close his church in compliance with public health guidelines, told Fox News that Bill C-4 is "anything but loving" if it aims to "shut the LGBT community off from the saving and transforming message of the gospel of Jesus Christ." According to text of the bill, conversion therapy is defined as "a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual, or to change a person's gender identity to cisgender."

Critics of Bill C-4 say it is broadly worded and could even encompass private conversations about the topic, such as when a pastor or any Christian shares what the Bible teaches about sexuality. Notice the language. Conversion therapy. Something with very bad connotations but in this bill it means having a conversation with an LGBQT person and showing them what the Bible says. Also, notice it is not against the law to try and persuade a heterosexual to be LGBQT. You can talk someone into being transgender or gay, but you can’t talk someone who thinks they may be homosexual or transgender into being heterosexual. 

As Jon MacArthur said, “The Canada law, if enforced in its broadest scope would criminalize private conversations with people trying to help them with their homosexuality. Ultimately, the dissenters, the ones who will not cave in, are going to be those who are faithful to the bible.” And, Chris, there are those who claim to be Christians, even whole denominations, that have caved – caved big time.

Yep. This is a Statement from the Covenant Network of Presbyterians – (PCUSA we should say) defending that homosexuality and same sex marriage as Biblically acceptable, “The good news (the Gospel) always comes wrapped in culture and it falls to us to sort out what is the good news, and what is the culture. The apostle Paul writes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves” (Romans 8:22).  It is as if the gospel is being birthed, Paul writes. Being birthed and coming into being amidst changing cultural norms and expectations. And it is our job to sort out what is gospel from what is culture. And further, we should admit, as Christians, that similar arguments appealing to the Bible were used against interracial marriages”

This isn’t just one pastor or one church – this is a statement from the network of PCUSA churches. We need to spend a minute on what they are saying because this is lie heaped on lie heaped on lie. First, the good news (the Gospel) is wrapped in culture. UGH!! In Gal. 1:6 – 9, Paul says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

          And speaking of Paul, the statement lies about Paul’s words. The Romans 8 passage is not about groaning and birth pains of the Gospel, and as we just saw in the verses you read, God certainly doesn’t need us to sort out the Gospel. There is and has always been one Gospel message. It is an essential truth, Scripture is completely clear on it, and there is absolutely no excuse to get it wrong. As far as Romans 8:22, you only need to read the verses directly before to know what Paul is talking about. Romans 8:19 – 21 say, “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” The groaning is creation groaning – groaning because we live in a fallen world and creation is not as it should be. All of creation is longing for the time when Jesus comes back, reveals all who are His, and God reconstructs creation back to where it was always meant to be. And that has nothing to do with altering the Gospel to include homosexuality and same sex marriage as Biblical.

          And the last lie – that Christians used the same Biblical arguments to oppose interracial marriages as they do for same sex marriages. I don’t know if there were some Christians who tried to make that case at some point in history. If they did, they were dead wrong. Nowhere in Scripture – nowhere – is there a prohibition to interracial marriage. We’ve talked about this before. The Bible makes no distinction between ethnicities. The only distinction is between believers and unbelievers. When the Israelites were told not to intermarry with Cannanites and others, it wasn’t because they were ethnically different, it was because they were pagan! We see in Exodus that some of the Egyptians had converted to Judaism and joined the Israelites when they left. That was completely fine and acceptable. So, sorry to say, but this guy speaking on behalf of a whole network of churches, is a clown.

What does Scripture say about homosexuality? 1Tim 1:10 – 11, “The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching 11 that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.” Dr. Voddie Baucham says it comes down to this, Hath God said? If God hasn’t said, then we can debate and even move the goal posts once in a while. If God has said, then there is absolutely no room for compromise. When it comes to homosexuality, God has clearly said. And He said no.

And there, of course, are other passages that prohibit homosexuality. So what is the radical left’s answer to this? Create a new Bible. In The Queen James Bible, also call the Gay Bible was published anonomously in 2012. It is based on the 1769 King James Bible. And they chose Queen James as the title because they say King James was bi-sexual, hence the term queen. We have no idea if that is true or not, but King James didn’t write the King James Bible – Biblical scholars that King James commissioned did. Anyway, the editors, who choose to be anonymous, claim that there was no reference in the Bible to homosexuality until it was written in in 1946. (also not true). So what they have done is replace all the Scripture that points to homosexuality and replaced it with different language. 

          And just a quick example, that 1 Tim verse we read, they have replaced with For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” What they have done with this verse and all the verses they changed is say that Scripture is not talking about the physical act of homosexuality, they are referring to idol worship. Now, granted, there are several places where idol worship is likened to sexual sin, but when you look at the original language, context, and surrounding Scriptures, the verses they changed were talking about physical sexual immorality, homosexuality being one, not spiritual idolatry.

In that same sermon we just quoted, Dr. Voddie Baucham – never one to have difficulty standing firm in truth – said he is disgusted with how many pastors, who when preaching on homosexuality start off by qualifying their sermon with things like, now I don’t hate homosexuals or I have a lot of wonderful friends and family who are homosexual, or things like that. He said if you want to see how ridiculous that is, substitute “adulterer” for homosexual. Now I don’t hate adulterers. I have a lot of wonderful friends and family who are adulterers. 

Dr. Baucham’s point is not that we should hate those who are gay, of course we shouldn’t. And probably almost all of us do have family or friends that are homosexuals and we do love them. The ridiculousness is in that we waffle on God’s Truth in it. Rose, if you were an adulterer, I would not waffle. I would say, Rose, I love you, but you are sinning against God and your husband and you need to stop. 

God created us. God gets to set the rules. God invented marriage. God gets to define it. God created sex. God gets to set the rules. And as with every rule God has set, it is truly what is best for our well-being. So how do we stand against the evil of homosexuality when it is so accepted and pervasive in our culture? We can start by having the courage to not hem and haw when asked if we are against same sex marriage or homosexuality because we know its going to cause controversy. Knowing the world is going to call us hateful and bigoted. 

There is no doubt that when it comes to the LGBQT agenda, the radical left is out for blood. No only that, but they are trying to manipulate the world around us as much as they can, beginning with big tech. Usually, if you Google “verses on forgiveness,” for example, the top sites that come up is “open Bible,” and “Bible Study Tools,” and some other similar sites. These are sites that have organized Scripture into categories so you can quickly find all the verses on a particular subject. But when you google verses on homosexuality, the first 5 ½ pages (pages, not sites) were all things like the Bible doesn’t actually condemn homosexuality, or Jesus never condemned homosexuality, or homophobe Christians have it wrong. Finally, 5 ½ pages later (roughly 60 sites later) one of the verse sites that usually come up first, came up. 

So let’s look move onto the T in the LGBQT agenda that is being celebrated as good – Transgenderism. And just so we have our terms correct, a transgender is someone who identifies as the opposite of what they were born as. However, the only physical change they make to their body is by either taking estrogen or testosterone depending on which gender they are pretending to be. However, if they are pre-pubescent, puberty blockers and hormones are given to them to stop natural puberty of their real gender. Nonbinary means they don’t identify as either male or female. And the term they use for those of us who live as the gender we were born with is cisgender. And that’s just a made up word. It doesn’t mean anything. 

We turned to Google again – and understand its not that we support or even like Google, but that’s what our children are using, and we want to be educated on what our kids are seeing. When you do a Google search on Transgenderism, radical liberal site after radical liberal site comes up either strongly affirming transgenderism or bashing Christians and conservatives for their bigotry, hatred and cruelty. This is what the first site that came up said, “We are fluid human beings—free to change and evolve at any given time. No matter what sexual orientation you identify with now, it is completely okay for that to change throughout your life.

The NY Post reported that children as young as 5 are being encouraged to disregard their anatomy and choose their gender based on their feelings. In December, a Cal. Mother raged at the Spreckels Union School District board for allowing teachers to coach her 12-year-old daughter on becoming a boy, choosing a boy’s name and hiding the plan from the family. The Post also reports that a book that school libraries are offering to kids ages 4 to 8 reads, “This is Ruthie. She is a transgender girl. That means when she was born everyone thought she was a boy. Until she grew a little older — old enough to tell everyone that she’s actually a girl.”

Although studies have shown that Gender dysphoria, a medical condition that makes people feel mismatched with their birth gender is extremely rare, educators are confident that this number will rise dramatically now that its safe to come out and transition at younger ages than in years past because of greater public awareness of the issue. Rose, they are using books like you mentioned and teaching elementary-school children words like “nonbinary” and “transgender” even before they teach them addition.  Kids as young as 4 years old are being groomed that they are transgender. If a boy picks up a doll or a girl plays with trucks in the classroom, they are being primed by their teachers and school psychologists that perhaps they were born the wrong sex and would feel better changing.

Maine requires public-school teachers to explore the achievements of LGBTQ+ individuals, not just in health class but also in history and social studies. What’s the result? Maine’s Department of Education reports that between 13 and 18 percent of public high-school students say they’re “lesbian, gay, bisexual or unsure” of their sexual identity. In school it’s cool to be anything but heterosexual.

According to pew research, and this won’t surprise most of us, most Christians and Jewish people say that whether someone is a man or woman is determined at birth while agnostics and atheists are more likely to go along with gender ideology. So that brings us right back to a statement we made earlier - The radical left is trying to destroy the nuclear family so that they can destroy family ties and teaching, and make atheists out of the next generation. And we definitely see this in research that has been done on why so many pubescent kids are experiencing a sudden onset of gender dysphoria. The conclusion is that possible causes may be social influences, maladaptive coping mechanisms, parental approaches, and family dynamics.

So the very thing these kids need – healthy social influences, healthy coping mechanisms, healthy parental relationships and healthy family dynamics – all things that Bible teaches – are the very things the radical left is trying to destroy. And they are having an influence on our children as the research shows. But how about after they decide they are transgender? Are they happier knowing that they are finally the gender they are meant to be? Nope. According to Forbes and other sites, 52% of all transgender and nonbinary young people in the U.S. seriously contemplated killing themselves in 2020, and that number is on the rise. An LGBQT website itself says that, “Transgender persons are at increased risk for certain types of chronic diseases, cancers, and mental health problems.” 

And the physical health issues may be due to the hormones and puberty blockers they take. The left isn’t too concerned about that it seems. But they do have a solution for the exceedingly high suicide rate. It’s an app! They developed an app called Translife. And listen to this, this is from the Translife website, “Transgender people are at a high risk of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and deaths. 77% and 41% engage in suicidal ideation and suicide attempt respectively which exceeds the general population rates of 9.2% and 2.7% respectively. Translife is a suicide prevention phone app that primarily aims to obtain preliminary data from user engagement to understand the immediate precursors of suicidality through the assessment of behaviors and moods in real time.

          Candace Owens, a professing Christian who was a former nanny, but is now a conservative commentator said recently, “Children do not possess the “mental authority” to express a gender identity different than the one they were assigned at birth. She compares children claiming transgender identity to them pretending to be a superhero or a mermaid, a childhood act of make-believe.” She was attacked, labeled a dangerous hater, and received death threats. But that’s nothing new for her. I’m sure all of us know that transgenderism is directly opposed to God’s Word, which makes it evil. At its core, it devalues human life. Owen Strachan, author of Christianity and Wokeness goes in great detail about how Wokeness which encompasses CRT, BLM, and the LGBQT agenda tweaks the doctrine of “Imago Deo”(being made in God’s image) and causes humanity to lose the image of God as their identity, and instead their identity is found in skin color, sexual orientation or sexual identity. He says they call transgenderism good, perverse and deviant behavior are good, but call modesty and sexual morality are bad. How’s that for calling evil, good and good, evil? 

          And the verse Owen Strachen is referring to is Gen. 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Our Almighty, Sovereign, Holy Gracious God created us in His image. This doesn’t mean we physically look like Him – at creation, God was not a physical man. That didn’t occur until Jesus took on flesh – so it doesn’t mean that we physically look like him, it means we are to represent Him and reflect His glory. Being disgruntled in the gender and sexual design you were given by God is certainly not reflecting and bringing God glory. It is perverting the work of God and mocking God.

          And Owen Strachan has some advice on how we can stand and call evil, evil. He says, “There are two ways to fix this – one, expose the lies and show how it doesn’t even bring what it promises it will (racial equity) This is just Marxism and discrimination and two, preach the real Gospel.” He continues soberly, “The church needs to ready it’s members for civilization collapse. Pastors, get your people ready for darkness. Treat this like wartime. Help them build smaller institutions. Don’t retreat but do prepare for winter. Yes, we are called to be salt and light, but we have no guarantee that this civilization will hold. We need to be ready, have a plan.”

          God has given us a plan. The purpose of transformation is grow more and more like Jesus. So Jesus is the model for our plan. He called out evil, false teaching and hypocrisy when He saw it. Matthew 23:25, for example, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” And Paul, John, Peter, Jude, and James show us that calling out wicked and false teaching is appropriate and necessary.  

And the other part of the plan Jesus gives us is what He replaces false teaching with - The Gospel! What do all the guys you mentioned, and more teach most about – the Gospel! What does Jesus call us to teach about most in the Great Commission? The Gospel! You know it can be pretty discouraging to see how quickly the darkness and evil of the world seems to be taking over. When its dark, what is most needed? Light! The darkness of this world needs the light of the Gospel! The darker it is, the more effective and more illuminating light is! So instead of being discouraged by darkness, we should think of it as an opportunity.

          Pastor Brian White, of Harvest Church in Carmel, IN said, “Faithful proclamation produces opposition which if you leave it long enough produces persecution, which if you leave long enough produces fruit.” Now is not the time for the feint of heart. It is not the time to cower or cave because of fear. Now is the time to contend. In order to indoctrinate and control someone, you have to make them afraid. And the more fearful you can make them, the more you can control them. And you certainly don’t want people united – a united group standing together, supporting each other is almost impossible to control – just look at the convoy of truckers and the parents rising up against schools all over the country to see this.  But someone who sees themselves as autonomous and not part of or supported by a group is much easier to convince and brainwash. 

And that’s exactly why a healthy family is important and why being part of a local church is important. God has given us all we need to contend in the absolute worst of circumstances. And He will use the evil that is all around us for our good and His glory. He has promised that implicitly! Now is the time for us to be bold contend. We need to not be afraid to call evil, evil and good, good. We need to shine the light of the Gospel in a dark world that desperately needs it. And most of all, we need to stand united in the Truth in God’s Word. 

          Be sure to join us next week for part 2. Have a blessed day everyone