I have had two personal experiences with Christian friends recently that has truly opened by eyes to the confusion that exists within the Christian community. Sadly a big part of this confusion stems from either being in churches preaching woke theology or in a church not bold enough to call out what is happening within our society. If the last two years has revealed nothing else, it has revealed that people suffer from a lack of critical thought and are stirred only by emotional consideration.
The first conversation was regarding the man posing as a woman swimmer, Leah Thomas. My friend was convicted that he had a ‘right’ to do this out of sensitivity to his gender dysmorphia. I asked her, did God make a mistake when this man was born?? Did God give this man male genitalia erroneously?? I then posed the question, what if a 16 year old decided he identified as 21 years old….does that mean he can go get a drink with his buddies at the bars? Both of these questioned stumped her and got her thinking.
I went on to describe a dysmorphia that was very common late last century. Body dysmorphia afflicted many women and some men to the point of starving themselves to death. These individual would identify as fat. I asked my friend if she would tell a starving anorexic that she was fat and agree that she should keep dieting because that is how she identified. NO! No one would do that! Giving in or acknowledging and accepting gender or body dysmorphia is ignoring the much bigger emotional instability the individual is experiencing. It’s like giving an alcoholic another glass of whiskey, going along with their condition is doing nothing to get to the heart of the issue and help this person out of the hell that has captured their mind and body.
The second conversation was with a friend from church. She could tell I was upset after our Sunday school class and she inquired about what was bothering me. I asked her if she had been following what was happening in public schools and the teaching of gender ideology or if she had seen news coverage of how Disney is planning to incorporate 50% of their casting characters as LGBTQ. She was aware of both and said we must pray. I could not agree more but I told her we also need to take positive action against the machine that is pushing this on our children. Sadly, she thinks voting in the fall is all it is going to take. But for those of us awake to what is happening, we realize just voting in the fall is EXACTLY WHY WE ARE WHERE ARE!
Likely because Christians prefer to be peacekeepers (going along with the flow as not to ruffle any feathers), not peacemakers (standing up to what is wrong, sadly losing friends along the way but taking action for what is right). I am so guilty of this! Prior to COVID, I went along to get along and now I can see the damage and destruction this passive attitude has created. We can’t simply just rely on our vote to make a difference. We need to get involved!
This recent article was a powerful one: Three Reasons Pastors Need To Bring Politics Into The Pulpit.
Pastors, I get it. The idea of “keeping politics out of the pulpit” sounds noble. It seems like a strategy to reduce division. But the reality is, that strategy is probably not helping your congregation.
When I refer to politics, I’m not talking about dividing ourselves into Democrats and Republicans or endorsing one political candidate over another. That’s too narrow of a definition of the word “politics.” I am talking about “politics” in a more classical sense: “affairs of the city.” In other words, How does my faith connect to real life? How do I apply Scriptural principles to how I live--whether in my job, in my marriage, in educating my children, or at the voting booth? The Bible has quite a lot to say how Christians ought to conduct themselves in the public square—and it’s not just a little side issue, with only a few verses. Jesus has come to announce His reign, that all authority in heaven and on earth now belongs to Him (Matt. 28:19-20). What then, is the responsibility of the Christian to bring all things in subjection to His reign (1 Cor. 15:24-26)?
1. "My pastor isn't teaching us how the Bible applies to real-life situations."
The events of the last two years have served as a global pop quiz. Christians had to get up to speed very quickly what the Bible says on a variety of topics, including justice, freedom, economics, race relations, civil disobedience, the relationship between church and state, looting, diversity/equity/inclusion, homosexuality, transracial adoption, gay marriage, shouting your abortion, and even the definition of a boy or a girl.
Unfortunately, the quiz was administered at a time when basic Biblical literacy in our country is very low. According to a recent Barna study, 60% of Millennials (ages 18 to 36) identify as Christian—but only 2% actually have a biblical worldview. The figure goes up to 5% for Generation X (ages 37 to 55). This means that very few Christians have robust, ready, biblical responses to the issues above. Pastors who avoid conversations on these topics because they are deemed "too political" are leaving their congregants ripe for the mind-shaping influences of culture and the media.
2. "My pastor doesn't seem to be aware that our family is being beat up by the culture and are feeling confused and hurt."
Pastor, some in your congregation have been fired, are in danger of being fired, or have left their job because they are hesitant about receiving a newly developed injection that they believe hasn’t been properly vetted yet. Even if you disagree with their decision, or even if you think they are misguided and confused, how will you continue to love and minister to them?
Some people in your congregation likely have their job performance connected to their participation in "woke" book clubs or DEI trainings. Others are being required to put their pronouns in their email signature in an effort to normalize the trans movement. Have you given them enough training so they can respond to these situations in a way that's consistent with the Christian worldview?
Some teachers in your church have likely been required to attend DEI trainings where they must publicly declare, and in some cases publicly post, “allyship” statements affirming people who are engaged in habitual, unrepentant, sinful lifestyles. We received a letter yesterday from a public school teacher who is now on leave because she refused to withhold information from parents that their child is using a different name and gender while at school. What guidance could you give your church about how to stand up to this pressure in a Godly way?
Some children in your congregation are probably being groomed by their teacher for sexual perversion, while others are being labelled racist oppressors simply because of their skin color. What could your church do to open up more education options for these families?
Last summer while discussing this with one of our adult children, she said that about 20% of her age bracket does not identify with their birth gender. I could not believe this at the time but sadly, it is becoming all that much more obvious she was correct. This graph above demonstrates this growing trend.
Sadly, many Christians don’t understand that this needs to be called out as wrong. Many are oblivious to the destruction of a generation with this ideology being pushed on them at a very young age. We need our pastors to be brave and call out this abuse of children! We need our pastors to remind their congregations that this is wrong and God did not make a mistake. I know it seems obvious to my readers that this is wrong but so many passive Christians believe that this is OK and we should cater to the dysmorphic idea that someone identifies as a gender other than the one that was God given. We need to pray about this but we also need to get involved in our public schools and erase this from the curriculum.
3. "Some in our congregation are drifting into the errors of the Critical Social Theories, Social Justice, and Progressive Christianity."
Pastor, there are people in your congregation––right now––whose souls are on a dangerous path to significant biblical compromise. They are trying to blend Christianity with ideas rooted in the Critical Social Theories. They have been trained by the culture to believe that the only way to relate to others is through the lens of power dynamics, gender, class, and race. And they are bringing these ideas into your small groups and to your youth.
There are some in your congregation who are physically still there, but spiritually drifting into dangerous waters, well on their way to deconstruction. They have become blind to biblical truth…..
What is most curious about the gender dysmorphia, is how many children are falling prey to it. This Twitter thread helps to explain how CRT and gender ideology are so corruptly woven together.
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2, ESV)