Transgenderism is a Cruel Lie

“So God created man in his own image. In the image of God He created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
If I were the devil, I doubt I could think up a more insane or destructive hoax than the idea that human beings can choose the gender of their choice.
But that’s now the “lie of the year” in American education, and even becoming standard fare in grade school curriculums in places like Washington State.
You determine your gender, your identity. Not God. Not your created biology. You are the master of the universe and can be anything you want.
But here’s the truth: trangenderism is a cruel lie.
This all exploded when the current US administration sent a directive to the schools in America stating they needed to protect the rights of transgender students. Boys could use girl’s bathrooms and vice versa. Boys who “thought” they were girls could shower in the girl’s locker rooms.
The directive erupted into the national consciousness when the city of Charlotte spoke up against the guidelines while liberal CEO’s and entertainers threatened to boycott North Carolina over “transgender discrimination.”
Let’s dissect the rhetoric and listen to some voices of sanity–starting with the One who really understands.
God
Look at the Bible verse above once again. “God created them male and female.” To get the full context, read Genesis 1:23 through and end of chapter 2. This beautiful story of the origins of man centers around the Loving God creating two complimentary human beings, purposely designed to physically join together (marry) to enjoy, create and perpetuate life.
Maleness and femaleness are by design. They are as fixed as the earth is round and orbits the sun. No amount of fibbing to yourself that “you know better” can change the facts. Your identity begins with your creation and becomes complete when you are born again via God’s Spirit through salvation in Christ.
Yes, some women are strong women. Some men are sensitive men. But they’re still men and women, made in the image of God and find their true identify in Christ’s redeeming love.
Dr. Paul Mahugh
The distinguished service professor at John Hopkins University and former psychiatrist-in-chief at John Hopkins Hospital says that transgenderism and sex-reassignment surgery is a “mental illness” and that enabling it is tantamount to “collaborating with madness.”
“We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure and ultimately prevent it… After the early major research was concluded, we at Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Department eventually concluded that human sexual identity is mostly built into our constitution by the genes we inherit and the embryogenesis we undergo…We psychiatrists would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia.”
The Bible calls “fixing your mind” repentance and faith.
Walt Heyer
Listen to the sobering counsel of a man who once bought the transgender lie.
“As someone who underwent surgery from male to female and lived as a female for eight years before returning to live as a man, I know firsthand what it’s like to be a transgender person–and how misguided it is to think one can change gender through hormones and surgery.”
“What has arisen is a new breed emerging among young people that falls outside the purview of the LGBT: the gender nonconformists. Gender nonconformists, who constitute a miniscule fraction of society, want to be allowed to designate gender on a fluid basis, based on their feelings at the moment.”
“I call this group ‘gender defiant’ because they protest against the definition of fixed gender identities of male and female…The gender defiant group doesn’t want to conform, comply, or identify with traditional gender norms of male and female. They want to have gender fluidity, flowing freely from one gender to another, by the hour or day, as they feel like it.”
“Under the cover of the LGBT, the anti-gender faction and its supporters are using the North Carolina bathroom bill to light a fuse to blow up factual gender definitions. [President Obama] does not grasp the biological fact that genders are not fluid, but fixed: male and female.”
“One fact will remain, no matter how deep in the tank Obama goes for the gender nonconformists: gender cannot be changed. Biological gender remains fixed no matter how many cross-gender hormones are taken or cosmetic surgeries are performed. No law can change the genetic and biblical truth of God’s design.”
Roger Severino
The director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation wrote an article on the transgender bathroom debate in the Chicago schools. You can read it here.
He says, “Put concretely, boys now have the ‘right’ to undress in the girl’s locker room before gym class so long as they say they would feel more comfortable doing so. Kids and teens have many things to worry about as they grow up into adulthood and get an education. But having to deal with people of the opposite sex in their bathrooms and showers shouldn’t be one of them.”
Pat Robertson
I worked with the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and the 700 Club some years ago. He has this issue right when he questions:
“Why does the Justice Department get involved? Why does the federal government come in with the mandates? I mean what in the world is this? It’s the constant driving of the agenda of anti-Christian bias. We’re going to destroy any semblance of the Christian morality that exists in our country, and our government is going to be at the forefront of it.”
Erick Erickson
Now one of my favorite pundits who puts his faith before politics:
“The left tells us that sex and gender are two different things. The law, in other words, refers to what one is born as, not what one through mental issues decides he is.”
“Make no mistake about this, the issue of transgenderism, which affects only three tenths of one percent of the nation, is just the cover for this new front in the culture war. Really, what is at stake here is reality itself. If the left can convince courts and the American people that boys can be girls and girls can be boys, they can convince you that right is wrong, wrong is right, up is down, down is up, and anything else they can get a judge to decide.”
Matt Barber
A constitutional lawyer and founder of Barbwire takes aim at President Obama and his education department:
“What we really need to worry about is the dignity and innocence and purity of young girls who are being placed in harm’s way by this lawless edict…This president knows that what he is doing is lawless. He knows that at best it is disingenuous; at worst, completely dishonest. Transgenders suffer from a mental disorder called ‘gender dysphoria’.”
“With this president, it makes you wonder about his own mental health. The fact that he is so delusional that he would push this through. He is either delusional, or it’s pure evil. I think it’s more sinister than just a president suffering from a mental illness and a delusion.”
Glenn T. Stanton
The director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family lectures on college campuses about issues of gender and sexuality. He begins his talks by saying:
“My primary premise is that humanity exists as male and female; they are different; and they need each other.” For this, he’s routinely greeted with boos, sarcastic laughter, even hissing.
But the actual research in anthropology shows that Gender Studies professors are wrong — as Stanton explained in an Family Research Council lecture called “The Scientific Objectivity and Universality of Gender Difference.”
“Cross-cultural research shows that certain male-female differences are universal to virtually every human society. It even shows that in more advanced countries — where, because of greater wealth, men and women have greater freedom to structure their lives as they choose — gender differences actually grow more pronounced than they are in more primitive societies. And despite politically correct scorn for the ‘gender binary,’ no third (or fourth, or fifth) sex has been discovered.”
Yours Truly
I was tempted to give this article a number of titles. One of the choices was “Forcing Atheism on the Public Schools.” Sexual confusion, including transgenderism, is the sexual creed of the religion of atheism.
Another possible title was, “Time to Flee the Public Schools.” With the American federal government turning atheistic (liberal, secular, leftist, progressive are all pseudonyms), it’s time for followers of Christ to flee the system that wants to destroy your kids’ faith, sexuality and worldview.
The transgender bathroom issue is really a battle of worldviews. The forces of atheism, inspired by Satan, are desperately trying to destroy the image of Christ and his ways in the Western World–especially through education and government edicts. This deception is cruel because identity and sexuality are crucial to happiness in this life and hope in the next. They are central to your God-given destiny.
What should we do about it?
Know and fight for the truth. Lovingly share your faith with those who are wavering. Remove your children from the public schools. Rejoice that you are fearfully and wonderfully made as a man or woman–in Christ.
And speak out against the cruel lie of transgenderism.
ir
Orlando Massacre: The Two Sided Truth
My new book, The River of God, (which is currently being perused by a publisher), describes the worldview battle taking place in our time.
The Western Front of that war–primarily in Europe and the United States–is a titanic struggle between biblical faith (our heritage) and secularism (atheism) which is trying to topple it. On the Eastern Front, the Islamic worldview rules in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It’s at war with all infidels (non-Muslims).
That particular worldview inspired a man to kill fifty people in Orlando, Florida this week. And now proponents on the Western Front are spinning their solutions.
Here’s my two-sided take on the truth behind the Orlando Massacre.
I will focus predominantly on the battle between biblical faith and secular atheism. We understand the simple strategy of Islamic jihad: kill anybody who resists Mohammed and Allah.
But the Western World battle is more subtle and nuanced. After the horrific murders in Orlando by a killer I refuse to name, I want to shed some light on who is saying what, why they are saying it, and analyze where the truth lies. Knowing and living the truth should be the great goal of our lives. Truth brings freedom (John 8:32).
In the search for the truth, I will discuss the Orlando Massacre from four angles:
- Guns and National Security
- Sexual Lifestyles and Liberty
- Koranic and Cultural Islam
- The Depravity and Ideology of the Killer.
Guns and National Security
There have been a number of terrorism attacks under the current Administration. When most of them occurred, the voices of secular ideology–including that of the president–focused primarily on the need to limit or ban guns in the United States. The POTUS said so again emphatically this week.
Why do secularists always blame violence on guns and try to legislate gun control? Because the secular mind-set is all about control–liberal fascism is a fair term for their view of life. Fascists have always taught that the way you control societies is to take away their arms. A nation without guns is one that can be ruled by tyrants. This is the secular end-game though many refuse to admit it.
Biblical faith, on at least a governmental level, stresses self defense against evil (a concept the secularists don’t appear to understand). National security in all its forms is a legitimate response against evil forces, whether they be armies or the government itself. America’s 2nd Amendment concerning the right to bear arms was designed to protect Americans from all forms of tyranny.
So when terrorists strike, biblical voices say “We need to defeat evil and help people protect themselves!” Secularists say “We need more gun control and regulation of firearms!”
I believe the truth has two solutions here. The 2nd Amendment is a good idea and America’s military should destroy the terrorism source (currently Isis). Also, if we really want to protect lives, let’s use metal detectors in schools, security guards in other public places (retired police?), and ban no carry zones. If one person had possessed a gun at the club in Orlando, many lives would have been saved.
Congress should declare war on Isis and cut off the “head of the snake.” On the home front, we should act to protect more people with more fire arms for defensive purposes and more metal protectors–not less. Both of these would have stopped or hindered the Orlando murderer
Lifestyle and Liberty
Secular folks believe there is no God to whom we are accountable. They believe that all sexual activity is okay and God is not the author of marriage or healthy sexual relationships. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality and pedophilia are simply “lifestyle choices.” There’s no right and wrong in sex.
On the other hand, faith folks believe God is wiser than people–that all sexual relations outside of a man and a woman in marriage are personally and corporately destructive. People of biblical faith cannot condone the sexual choices of those who rebel against their Creator. In that one regard, biblical faith and Islamic teaching are similar.
But that’s where the similarity ends. In the Old Testament period, God prescribed severe penalties for sexual sin (even death in some cases), but that’s because unleashing venereal diseases in a primitive world was a death sentence to whole societies. New Testament grace and modern medicine removed those penalties–but not the view of what is immoral.
Islam never changed. Practioners of the Koran still condemn sexual sin–they believe it should still be punished by death. This was apparently one of the motives of the evil Orlando killer.
Followers of Jesus do not. We condemn the sin but love the sinner. We believe in liberty–even for those who sexually sin. God will be the final judge. In the meantime, we must live and share the truth just as many Chick Filet outlets did in Orlando the day after the massacres.
Jihadists kill sinners. Followers of Christ serve them to bring them to salvation.
Koranic and Cultural Islam
Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have all said that “we are not at war with Islam.” At the least, that is misleading. At the worst, it could get us all killed.
It’s true that many Muslims are not violent people. They’re normal human beings who want to live their lives in peace. In essence, these folks are nominal Muslims just like some Christians are nominal in their faith. This really means they don’t practice their religion–it’s just a thin cultural veneer.
Let’s call these “peaceful” folks cultural Muslims.
But the real strain of Islam–the historical one that was embodied in Mohammed and written about in the Koran–has never been peaceful for those who refuse to conform. The Koran contains over 100 war verses that motivate devout Muslims to hate all those who refuse their terms. These views are not “perverted” as President Obama tells us, or out of the Muslim mainstream.
Whereas cultural Muslims are the bigger group, the ones who take Mohammed and his Koran might number as many as sixty million. Not all will kill with impunity. But many are sympathetic to it.
Let’s call the jihadists Koranic Muslims–because it is from their holy book that their terror ideas derive.
Two things must happen to win the War on Terror. Just as the West united to defeat the Nazis seventy years ago, we must unite again to crush Isis and all its affiliates. Then we must convince he remaining peaceful Muslims of the world to reject the Koran and worship the true God in peace and civility.
The Depravity and Ideology of the Killer
The man who committed mass murder in Orlando was quickly labeled a terrorist because he identified with ISIS. Secularists tried to avoid that label because they have sympathy with diversity–even when it’s lethal. But the outlets with a more truthful biblical worldview saw it for what it was: he killed in the name of religion. He was a Koranic Muslim.
Many people said he specifically targeted the Pulse nightclub because Sharia Law pronounces death to homosexuals. That could have been part of his motivation.
But we later found out that he was either engaged in a homosexual lifestyle or at least had homosexual tendencies. Those tendencies indicated he’d given in to temptations we all face in different ways due to our human depravity–in this case, those of a sexual nature.
So, did he kill because as a jihadist he hated homosexuals, or because he hated himself or been rebuffed at the bar by other patrons?
Only God knows. But both human depravity and ideology are in play.
There are a few practical lessons to learn from the Orlando Massacre:
1) We must militarily defeat the Islamo Nazis–ISIS.
2) We must better protect ourselves from those who devalue life.
3) We should trust God and follow His wise commands regarding human sexuality.
4) We must report evil when we hear about it, and
We must fervently pray for a moral and spiritual awakening in our world to restore God’s blessings and protections.
Whoever Will Be the “Greatest” Among You
Muhammed Ali, one of the world’s best known sports figures, died last week at the age of 74.
After his passing, many broadcasters, athletes, government leaders and entertainers lined up to pay their respects. Ali had famously shouted “I am the Greatest” after winning the heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in 1964.
The Sunday after Muhammed Ali’s passing, I spoke at a church in Oregon about what the Bible says about being the greatest.
So what is God’s take on Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali? Was he really the “greatest” and worthy of our adoration and imitation?”
I have to admit that as a young man, I was fascinated by both boxing and Mohammed Ali’s rise to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
But when he died last week, I was greatly saddened by the lack of honest critique of his life, accomplishments and role in history. It’s as if every celebrity and commentator wanted to get on the bandwagon of nostalgia and simply declare him “the Greatest” without any reference to his character or influence.
I will not make that mistake today.
But first, a little history on what I consider the tragic life Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali who was one of the most recognizable sports figures of our time.
Early Life
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist, Cassius Marcellus Clay. His father painted billboards and signs, and his mother was a housewife. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed his wife to bring up both Cassius and his younger brother as Baptists.
We don’t know how deep his faith went, though he commented in his autobiography:
“My mother is a Baptist, and when I was growing up, she taught me all she knew about God. Every Sunday, she dressed me up, took me and my brother to church, and taught us the way she thought was right. She taught us to love people and treat everybody with kindness. She taught us it was wrong to be prejudiced or hate. I’ve changed my religion and some of my beliefs since then, but her God is still God; I just call him by a different name.”
He was first directed toward boxing by a Louisville police officer and boxing coach who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to “whup” the thief. The officer told him he had better learn how to box first.
Clay made his amateur boxing debut in 1954. He won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Italy.
Young Cassius Clay was feisty, mouthy, and a very good boxer.
Professional Career
Clay made his professional debut on October 29, 1960, winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. From then until the end of 1963, Clay amassed a record of 19–0 with 15 wins by knockout. In each of these fights, he vocally belittled his opponents and vaunted his abilities. He called Jones “an ugly little man” and Cooper a “bum”. Madison Square Garden was “too small for me.” Clay’s self-centered behavior provoked the disdain of many boxing fans.
By late 1963, he was the top contender for Sonny Liston’s title. The fight was set for February 25, 1964. Clay was a 7–1 underdog. Despite this, he taunted Liston during the pre-fight buildup, dubbing him “the big ugly bear”. “Liston even smells like a bear”, Clay said. “After I beat him I’m going to donate him to the zoo.” Clay turned the pre-fight weigh-in into a circus, shouting at Liston that “someone is going to die at ringside tonight”.
The outcome of the fight was a huge upset. In the sixth round, Cassius Clay dominated, hitting Liston repeatedly. Liston did not answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner. Following the win, a triumphant Clay rushed to the edge of the ring and, pointing to the ringside press, shouted: “I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived.”
He went on to fight for another 16 years, losing the heavyweight title on two occasions and winning it back. Famous fights included his matches with Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
Conversion to Islam
Soon after becoming heavyweight champion, Cassius Clay came under the influence of Elijah Mohammed and the Nation of Islam, converted to the Muslim faith and changed his name to Muhammed Ali. Elijah Mohammed was an evil man–the Osama bin Laden of the day. He was responsible for the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965 and extracted much of Ali’s boxing wealth to advance radical Islam in America.
Ali changed from the Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam in 1975. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca on two occasions–in 1972 and 1988. By 2005, Ali had become more “spiritual” than religious. He embraced Sufi Islam, which means “wisdom”, and is not classified as a religion. In his later life, Ali continued to try and convert others to Islam, but he spent more time doing charity work. His daughter Hana explained:
“It was important for him to be very religious and take the stands he did in earlier years. It was a different time. He still tries to convert people to Islam, but it’s not the same. His health and his spirituality have changed, and it’s not so much about being religious, but about going out and making people happy, doing charity, and supporting people and causes.”
Mohammed Ali also became America’s most famous draft dodger during the 1970s saying “I won’t fight no Viet Cong!” You may not know that he was married four times, had numerous affairs, and fathered at least seven daughters and two sons, some out of wedlock. Those facts did not make the nostalgia reel.
So what is God’s take on Mohammed Ali?
Here are my conclusions based on reflections from the Bible:
1. For much of his life, Ali’s character was opposite of greatness. Jesus likened true greatness to servanthood (Matthew 23:11), humility (Philippians 2:1-11), childlike innocence (Matthew 18:3), and lovingly deferring to others (1 Corinthians 13). Mohammed Ali’s life reeked of egotism and pride.
2. His rebellion against authority (1 Samuel 15:23) and draft-dodging set a bad example in the US, and helped cause the death of many people in Viet Nam. Ali could have been a humble conscientious objector and served in a non-combat role. Instead he publicly led the parade of America’s first defeat in war. The communists won and millions were slaughtered. That’s why the Left adores him.
3. He rejected the Christian faith of his parents (Proverbs 1:8, 9), and embraced radical Islam, then Sunnism, then finally philosophical spirituality. Probably more than any other figure, he lulled America to sleep in the 1960’s about the evils of Islamic jihad–then bailed out himself in later life.
4. Mohammed Ali was an immoral man that used many women and did not live for family values (Ephesians 5:3). His life was about himself–not loyalty to others.
5. He reaped what he sowed from boxing–early-on-set Parkinson’s due to continued trama to the head (Galatians 6:7). He lived thirty years of his life as a pale shadow of himself due to his choice of vocation.
6. He was involved in much philanthropy and seemed to like children. In this way, his life was similar to Elvis Presley’s. He had a big heart and relational gifts that could have been used greatly in the lives of others and for Christ’s kingdom. But pride and destructive behavior limited it.
The Greatest?
So why was there so much Ali worship after he passed? That’s an easy answer.
In our new post-Christian world, he’s a shining worldly (satanic) example: Arrogant, famous, boastful, rebellious, anti-authority, self-consumed, immoral, anti-Christ, pro diversity in religion, and with a veneer of good works.
That makes him “great” in our growing secular society where self expression rules. But not in God’s kingdom where death to self, humility and servanthood are the true measures of greatness.
It is Jesus who is truly the Greatest in what He said, what He did, and who He is (book of Hebrews).
Follow, adore, and imitate HIM.
