Jesus, Have Mercy

My heart is heavy; I have no words to express the sorrow in my spirit.

“Who’d a thunk” that Genesis 5:2 would mean so much in this day and age? “Male and female created he them; and blessed them.”

It  is  God  who  created humanity; and He made them male and female. Hmm … male, one gender. Female, a second gender. Yet, if  you google  “How many  genders are there?” you  know what  you get? Seventy two. Not one, not two—seventy-two. From two, seventy-two? How can that be?

In a word, it happened because we now live in an era characterized by no knowledge or fear of God. If there is no acknowledgment of God, His precepts are moot. Anything is game. Believe what you will. In the great scheme of things, what will it matter? Live however your heart leads you. Do whatever makes you “happy”.

But those who honor God and acknowledge His Lordship, heed Jeremiah 17:9-10 that says,“The heart is deceitful above all things,  and  desperately wicked: who can  know  it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” They also know that true joy is found in Him and Him alone. "Thou wilt show me the path  of  life;  in  thy  presence    is  fullness  of  joy;  at  thy  right  hand  are  pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 26:11). In Him. In His precepts. In His ways.

What  does  this  translate  to  in  practical  terms?  For  one,  if  my  body  wants  to  “identify”  as something  other  than  male  or  female,  it  is  my  God-given  duty  to  bring  its  desires  into submission to the Word of God. Our body is carnal. Its desires are carnal. If all we live for are the desires of our body, we could say that it is “natural” to deviate from identifying as a male or female.  But,  brethren,  we  are called  to  be  spiritual  (1  Corinthians  2:14).  We  are called  to  live above and beyond the natural inclinations of a corrupted body.

Can it be done? Yes, it can. I have known Christian friends who, upon coming to Christ, were convicted of their LGBT lifestyle and did a successful 180. Unfortunately, there are those who choose alternate lifestyles who do not have spiritual mentors with integrity. Yes, it is true that these poor souls can seek God on their own. Yes, they can find answers in the Bible on their own.  But  when  their  own  parents  and  teachers  give  them  a  green  light  …  their  spiritual confusion is all but guaranteed. Not to mention the confusion engendered when such concepts hit hearth and home.

I worked with a dear Christian colleague who reversed her beliefs about homosexuality when her  son  embraced  that  lifestyle.  Instead  of  lovingly  showing  him  the  truth  of  God’s precepts, her love for her son caused her to capitulate in false love (a love that refuses to guide or correct is not true love --Hebrews 12:5-6) and say that such a lifestyle must be okay.  “Must” in whose book?

Love is not going down the path of least resistance and letting   a child have his way. Love is showing him the right, godly path, despite how hard that might be. Showing a loved one what God says in His Word does not mean that you quit loving them. It might be a hard row to hoe, but with God's help we can combine love with standing true to His precepts.

Recently God added to our family and I have had the unalloyed joy of caring for one of the new babies  in  our  family  every  other  month.  On  Facebook  I  was  thrilled  to  see  a  family  member sharing a baby/toddler program her littles loved. Yay! A quality learning show for our new baby!  The baby and I watched several of those videos (in small increments spaced out over several days). I wish I had a picture of the baby’s face to show you when the show would come on! His little baby mouth would stretch into a beatific smile, his eyes would light up and twinkle,   and he’d laugh and gurgle with enjoyment. But then I noticed something that made me uneasy. The  gender  of  an  off-again/on-again participant  in  the  videos  seemed  questionable.  Surely they wouldn’t include a person purporting to be non-binary in a baby show, would they? I was able to learn that person’s name and look up their bio. Sure enough. That person identifies as non-binary,  among  other  things.

I  was  heart  broken. With my area of expertise being in early childhood, I was well aware that the  quality  of  those    videos  is exceptional, well adapted to young age groups. But do I want to expose our newbie to gender confusion? No, I do not. Good program that it is, it is now history in my viewing playlist.

Dr. Oscar Brooks spoke of a book called When the Ball Ends that gives a play by play list of how the minority homosexual community set out to infiltrate the “straight” population. The first thing  on  their agenda: desensitize  people.  Hasn’t  that  happened? It is a rarity for a movie not to include a homosexual in its characters.  The result? What  was  once  universally spoken of as a deviation from God’s plan for humanity is now lauded and celebrated. In 2012 only 3.5% of the population identified as homosexual. By 2020 it was 5%. Some statistics put it at over 7% currently. Desensitization, then … acceptance.

As my pastor pointed out, it would be one thing if the alternative lifestyle people followed the “live and let live” policy. But they don’t. They do not want us to believe what God’s Word says. And they will not rest until we capitulate, say their lifestyle is okay, and even embrace it. Did you know that there is, in fact, a movement to declare pedophilia an acceptable lifestyle? It is not out of the realm of possibility in the foreseeable future to have a pedophile abuse your baby with the government’s complete approbation.

It’s the sad truth that once  we embrace something outside of God’s precepts, it takes on a life of its own. It increases more and more, snowball-like, with no end in sight (James 1:14-16). That poor, deceived person who caused the demise in my household of the baby show I thought wonderful ?  (I  might  add  that  there  has  been  such  a  strong backlash  in  the general population about that very thing that production of those videos has been suspended.) In their bio they (he? she?) says that when they expressed their unconventional feelings to their father, he told his child  that such feelings were fine. No, “Let’s see what God’s Word says”. No, “Let’s realize that ‘feelings’ per se should not be our guide”. That father will have a lot to answer to before God. Then the person in question was guided further along the path away from God’s precepts by a teacher who lived an alternative lifestyle and was “happy”.  She, too, will have to give an account for this to God.

“Happy”,  huh?  The  Williams  Institute  at  UCLA  School  of  Law  made  a  study    of  transgender suicide  and found that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, with  42%  actually  attempting  it.  A  study  published  in  The National  Library  of  Science  found transgender  suicides  in  youth  significantly  higher  than  cisgender  adolescents  (cisgender adolescents  are  those  who  identify  with  the  sex  they  were  assigned  at  birth).  Is  this phenomenon due to “bad” people (Christians who believe we should stay within the confines set out in God’s Word) making the transgenders feel badly about themselves? Or could it be that deviating  from  God’s  purpose  for  their  lives  brings  with  it  an  intrinsic  sadness?  I  sincerely believe  the  latter.  

Whether  we acknowledge  it  or  not,  every  human  being  is  made  to  honor  and fellowship with God. There is a longing in every human heart for the fullness that comes only from knowing God (Colossians 2:10). Without God, without walking with Him and honoring His precepts, the human heart is empty, void … open to every sad and destructive emotion.

Coward that I am, I never, ever wanted to blog about this.   I   fear being shunned by part of  my  family,  those who  have family  members  who have  embraced alternative  lifestyles. Not to mention the fear that some alternative lifestyle person might read this and  make it their mission to come after me in some form or another. Yet , as I  pray for the scales to fall off their eyes, God whispers to me, “I have not given you the spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). If God has put a burden on my heart, shame on me if I let fear silence His Words.

How wonderful   it would be to dwell solely on Philippians 4:8, to think only on things that are pure and lovely. After all, that would be scriptural, right? But the same God who admonishes us to think on lovely things also says, “But if the watchman see the sword come,  and blow not the  trumpet,  and  the  people  be  not  warned;  if  the  sword  come,  and  take  any  person  from among  them,  he  is  taken  away  in  his  iniquity;  but  his  blood  will  I  require  at  the  watchman's hand” (Ezequiel 33:6). As well as, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe” (Philippians 3:1).

If the protectors, the parents and teachers, do not provide godly guidance, guess what—it is up to us. Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  whether  we  are  vilified  or  not,  we  must  let  it  be  known  there  are Scriptures that say those who embrace “alternative” lifestyles (and that includes every kind of sexual immorality) will go where none of us want to go (1 Corinthians 6:9 for one). If you truly love a child, you do not let them touch a hot stove, even if they fuss and cry at the restraint. Not because you are “mean” but because you love them and want to keep them from suffering pain. Same difference with the lifestyle thing. Not saying anything is the easy way, but we will end up being like the father and teacher who caused  that misguided person to rationalize that alternative lifestyles are okay.

No matter how much I would prefer to skirt this topic, the  love  of  God constrains me to speak of this difficult and divisive issue. The thing is, if I in my little world am having to make life decisions because of these issues, I think it is the heart of God that I encourage you to prepare for your own battle in this arena. By battle I do NOT mean “going after” nonconformists but to standing firm on God’s precepts. I am referring to the courage it takes to stand on them when one is accused of being a hater and a bigot.

If the need to know how to confront such issues hasn’t come your way yet, rest assured, it will. Just today I read the following article in CBN news: “Mom Sues NY School District for Treating 12-Year-Old Daughter as a Boy Without Parental Consent”. It was district policy to conceal how the district was helping the child transition to another sex. The mother could not figure out why the child was struggling with depression until the truth came out.

It's coming. If not to you, to your children and grandchildren. Get ready. Put on the whole armor of God. And when the arrows of the enemy (You’re a bigot! You’re a hater!) come at you, arm yourself with God’s Word … and stand. It’s not easy. But it’s the loving and right thing to do.

“For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he  that soweth  to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).

“And this is love, that we walk after his commandments ... ” (2 John 1:6).

"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:8-11).