History is strewn with the wreckage of many great nations that have risen to power, prosperity and prominence, only to decline and implode due to truth decay and moral corruption. In recent decades we have witnessed a slow but steady decline of America. In Romans 1 the Apostle Paul explains this phenomenon – when a nation abandons God, God abandons that nation.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Rom. 1:21-27)
Notice the steps leading down to the cesspool of sin: ingratitude leads to idolatry, idolatry then descends into immorality, and when immorality has run its course, you are left with insanity.
Theologians have called this the passive wrath of God, as opposed to the active wrath of God which is God’s direct and cataclysmic judgment (Think of fire reigning down on Sodom in Genesis or the ten plagues which brought mighty Egypt to its knees in Exodus). God’s passive wrath is when He removes His hand of blessing and protection and allows a people to be devoured by the consequences of their own sins. Like a termite infestation in the basement of a house, sin works to erode a nation’s moral foundation gradually and even imperceptibly.
If we were inspecting America (and most Western nations) we would have to say that we are on the last rung of that ladder into lunacy. When your government is sending out free crack pipes to addicts, then you’ve read a new low. It’s the age of anything goes. Part of that insanity is not knowing right from wrong anymore, even to the point where a person’s gender is fluid.
As Paul points out, a major force pushing the slide into moral chaos is when God’s guardrails protecting human sexuality are removed. In the 1960s and 70s America went through the sexual revolution. “Make love, not war,” was the mantra of the Woodstock generation. From the 1980s through the 2000s we saw the homosexual revolution, where “coming out of the closet” as gay was normalized and accepted. AIDS became a worldwide issue. Since the early 2000s up to the present we have observed the transgender revolution. The current generation now enjoys pride month, picking their pronouns, drag queen story hour and trans-men getting “pregnant.”
According to a nationwide Gallup poll taken in 2020, Roughly 5.6% of US adults, or 18 million people, identify as part of the LGBT community. That number is up from 4.5% in 2017.[i] The transgender population has also increased concurrently, although there are not yet any hard figures. However, research has shown that Millennials and Gen Z are the “gayest generation” in US history. A 2021 Washington Post article reported that 7% of Millennials identify as LBGT, while 1 in 6 (or 16%) of Gen Zers identify as LGBT.[ii]
What this means for Bible believing Christians and churches who wish to stay true to the Gospel, is that holding to God’s definition of sexuality and family is going to be tested like never before in the West. Many believers have already caved to the culture and many more will adopt the spirit of the age. Society is slouching towards Sodom every day. The sooner we realize that “doing church” and preaching the Gospel is going to be much more difficult than before, the better prepared for the challenge we will be. Parents must talk to their kids about gender and sexuality early. Pastors must preach on basic issues such as the Creation order of male and female. And Christians must be ready to practice radical love the lost who seem far, far from God.
In this new struggle, we must not lose hope in the power of the Gospel. The narrative on transgenderism is currently riding a wave of media popularity. But there is a deep spiritual need. Transgenders have the highest suicide rate of any US group, 41% attempt suicide.[iii] Despite what the culture says, these folks are deeply confused and live as tortured souls. They desperately need the healing touch of the Great Physician to save them and make them whole.
There is also another side of the story not usually talked about: “de-transitioning,” that is when trans people become dissatisfied with their gender choice and revert back to their original biological sex. We could call it “transgender regret.” According to Human Life International “those who have lived life as a transgender male or female and who have de-transitioned claim that the numbers are much higher and that people are afraid to speak out.” Regardless of the numbers, the pain is real—and the numbers don’t really matter to those affected by a decision that they now regret and who feel misled by either doctors or families. As followers of Jesus, it is our job to treat the transgender with compassion, helping them understand their inherit dignity as we point them to Christ and the Gospel.
When the bankruptcy of sin is seen for what it is, we can witness conversion miracles like Laura Perry. The Baptist Press carried Laura’s story. She lived for 10 years as a transgender man, named “Jake.” Laura or “Jake” pursued hormone therapy and even sex reassignment surgery. Laura said, “I bought into the lies of Satan, believing that my rebellious sinful choices against the way God made me would make me happy. But, inside, I was miserable and searching for lasting peace.”
Laura Perry and mother Francine
Eventually Laura’s confusion and depression brought her to an all-time low. However, her mother was the pianist at a Baptist church, and never stopped praying for her or inviting her to come back home. Totally disillusioned, Laura finally gave in to her mother’s pleading and went to her mother’s church, but dressed up as Jake. The sermon that day was on the Prodigal Son. Laura fell under deep conviction for her prodigal ways and turned her life over to Christ who gave her the peace she desired. Through the love of that church, Laura experienced a cathartic de-transition. Today, Laura travels across the country sharing her testimony and she said, “I am living proof that God’s love is greater than the devil’s lies.”[iv] -DM
<https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/540487-new-poll-finds-record-number-of-americans>
[ii] Samantha Schmidt, “1 in 6 Gen Z adults Are LGBT. And this Number Could Continue to Grow,” Washington Post, 24 February 2021 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/02/24/gen-z-lgbt/>
[iii] Jaime Grant et al, Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Washington: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011.
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