Transgenderism: The Need for Grace and Truth

Transgenderism, the need for grace and truth. That is the topic we'll discuss today right here on The Christian Worldview, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. Now before getting to our topic of the day, I want to follow up on our program last week about James Coates, the pastor from just outside Edmonton who was imprisoned for continuing to hold church services against the government mandates of shutdowns and only 15% capacity of church attendees during worship services. As from Faithwire, Coates' wife Erin told Faithwire last week that her husband was quarantined alone for two weeks upon his incarceration.

During that time, he had only two 15-minute blocks outside his jail cell. He has since been moved to general population and gets about three hours out in one-hour chunks each day. The pastor's wife says she is unable to visit her husband, though, due to COVID-19 restrictions. Well, the good news is since last week that it turns out that the pastor is likely to be released this week sometime. The Edmonton Journal is reporting that the pastor accused of violating COVID-19 health restrictions will likely be released from jail this week, so maybe this weekend or right around now, after prosecutors agreed to withdraw one of the charges against him, his lawyers say, quote, I hope that the courage displayed by Pastor James Coates will be emulated by many, many people, Carpe said in an interview.

I hope that people will recognize that it's the charter, like their constitution in Canada, that is the supreme law of the land, not these judges, Jason Kenneen, not Dina Hinshaw, and not the police force. Now, in the meantime, this pastor, James Coates, sent a letter to his church that was read in—the church services are still going on—by the, I guess, the associate pastor, and was read in church this past Sunday. Thank you for the many letters of encouragement you have sent. They are critical to my joy and perseverance. Some have moved me to tears.

Pray for my release, but also that I would be given the opportunity and boldness to proclaim the blessed gospel, making it clear to the hearers. Pastor Jake, Paul, and the elders in development, shepherd the flock of God among you. This pastor, James Coates, is still going to have a trial ahead of him in May, and there's still a long way to go legally in what's going on here, but I think his church said it well in that statement that I encourage you to read last week.

We still have it on our website if you look up last weekend's program. They said the science being used to justify lockdown measures is both suspect and selective. In fact, there is no empirical evidence that lockdowns are effective in mitigating the spread of the virus. We are gravely concerned that COVID-19 is being used to fundamentally alter society and strip us all of our civil liberties. By the time the so-called pandemic is over, if it is ever permitted to be over, Albertans will be utterly reliant on government instead of free, prosperous, and independent."

That from the church. As I mentioned, they have been incredible from a theological standpoint, knowing their call to meet in person together as a church family, but also just from a legal constitutional standpoint, they have not left any stones unturned there either. They know this is about civil liberties and stripping people. And again, they never said the virus wasn't real and people haven't died and it's not concerning. They just say it's been way overplayed.

It's both suspect and selective, and with no empirical evidence that lockdowns are effective. Good for them for standing on the Word of God and on science itself for wanting to continue their church services. And this is just a little glimpse of what Christians have suffered all around the world for millennia, and much worse than this, killed for their faith. And again, going back to that passage we referenced last week from 2 Timothy 3, this is going to become much more the case in the Western Hemisphere.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution or will be persecuted, and that certainly has been the case already. Okay, so now on to our topic of the day. It's easy for Christians to watch the incoming tidal wave of transgenderism and hope we can just keep out of the way or push back and make it go back in the closet.

Well, unfortunately, neither is an option. On the heels of our nation's affirmation of homosexuality has come transgenderism, the mistaken, sinful, and unscientific idea that one can change their sex or gender. It's everywhere in media, entertainment, in schools, politics, being pushed and affirmed everywhere. One of the very first things President Biden did was sign an executive order affirming transgenderism. Now believing one can become the opposite sex of what God determined for each one of us is another step down in man's rebellion against God. As with any sin, love for the sinner and the saving message of Jesus Christ is the only rescue, rather than trying to accommodate the sin and the sinner, as many in evangelicalism are doing today. So this weekend on the Christian worldview, MD Perkins joins us to discuss the new documentary film he produced, In His Image, delighting in God's plan for gender and sexuality. And we hope you tune in and gain from this important to understand topic.

MD, it's great to have you back on the Christian worldview radio program to talk about your new film that you produced In His Image. And let's start out with the term transgenderism. Is that a biblically accurate term transgenderism? Is that what Christians should be calling it?

I don't see that word in the Bible. I mean, after all, clothes and hormones can be injected and names can be changed and preferred pronouns can be used. Body parts can even be surgically altered, but no one can change their actual sex. So is the word transgenderism accurate from a biblical standpoint?

Well, I would say no, it's not accurate. I mean, the Bible only speaks of male and female. And it says that God created us that way in the beginning.

In fact, that's part of Christ's—when Christ is defending marriage and talking about all of those things, he hearkens back to Genesis 1 and 2, and God made them male and female in the beginning. So when Christians start thinking in terms of transgenderism, they're thinking of someone who has, well, it could be any number of things at this point, but from a supposedly medical point of view, we're talking about something called gender dysphoria, which is the idea that psychologically a person doesn't feel at home in the body that they were born with. But of course, your feelings are so subjective and so malleable, really.

Your feelings are always changing. So to take a term and to attach it to what you're really calling as gender fluidity, this feeling that you can't even be certain of who you truly are, it's bogus. It doesn't make any sense. And there isn't really any biblical backing, I could say, for why Christians should feel the need to endorse that kind of terminology and to embrace that kind of language.

It really sets us off on a bad course by taking us all the way back to just human psychological feelings and all of these things that are all in our head that can fluctuate and change over time. So no, I would say we shouldn't be committed to any sort of idea of transgenderism as an idea. So what is the term? You use the term obviously in the film, because that's the recognizable term, but what do you think it should be called or where is it referred to in the Bible? Is it the effeminate in 1 Corinthians 6? Well, yeah, I believe that passage certainly does speak to that. I mean, the term effeminate within 1 Corinthians 6 is actually the Greek term malakoi, which means soft man. And there is some debate on exactly what that word is specifically referring to, but it is clear throughout early ancient writing that that term would refer to men who dress themselves up to feminize their bodies to appeal to male suitors, typically within a temple prostitution kind of context where they actively are pursuing homosexual relationships, so they feminize themselves in order to make themselves more feminine.

This could include the removal of body parts. This could mean the addition of makeup and women's clothes and all of those kinds of things. But this concept of the psychological state that you're born with and you're not really sure who you are, I mean, that's foreign to so many ancient cultures. And that's really a very 20th and 21st century idea that builds on this whole psychological kind of mindset that I think this way, therefore I am this way. And so that kind of language, the Bible speaks very much in terms of behavior and actions, and it also speaks in terms of thought, but it speaks in terms of our thoughts being able to be changed and altered as we are confronted with the truth and we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. Our thinking does change. So, you know, this whole concept just seems quite foreign from how the Bible talks about it.

We'll use the term just because it's a recognizable term in the conversation today. Emile Perkins with us today on the Christian Real View, the producer of a new film entitled In His Image, Delighting in God's Plan for Gender and Sexuality. Homosexuality has been mainstreamed over the last, I mean, 20 years or so or more. It's culminated in the Supreme Court decision legalizing homosexual so-called marriage because not marriage the way God defines it in 2015. Do you think there's a progression from how homosexuality rose to prominence? But now it's really a lot about, I mean, homosexuality is still there of course, but now it's a lot about transgenderism.

It is, and it's fascinating how quickly that progressed. I mean, as you pointed out, if you remember back in the day when we were having these kinds of debates in cultural circles in the early 2010s and even back in the 2000s, the question of, well, what would come next? Many conservative people would put forward this idea that there will be new things on the horizon, transgenderism, pedophilia, bestiality, and all of these things. And people said, well, no, no, no, we're not talking about all that. We're just talking about equal rights for homosexuals to get married. We're not talking about these things even infringing on religious rights. We're not talking about the loss of religious freedom. And of course, we saw that quickly erode with some of these other decisions related to how Christians relate to now gay people who want to get married and have these weddings and so on and so forth.

So, you know, the progression of this stuff all moves quite rapidly. And honestly, David, it's ironic that the T within the LGBT moniker is actually at odds with the L and the G and the B because L means lesbian. It means you are a woman who is attracted to someone of the same sex. G means gay. You're a man attracted to someone of the same sex.

B means you are bisexual that you are attracted to someone of the same sex or the opposite sex. All of those things are biologically sex-determined. But the T comes in there and says, well, sex is a social construct and gender is what you make of it and all of these kinds of things. And so we've even seen this immersion, the emergence of a term called trans exclusionary radical feminists, where radical feminists, many of whom are lesbian, are completely offended at this whole transgender ideology that has emerged because it's completely countered, they say, to who they are.

You know, I'm attracted to the same sex. And you're saying that I don't exist as a person when you, as a transgender person, say that you can just be a woman because you have decided that you are in your mind. And so it's ironic then that these end battles and things will happen. It just shows you the cognitive dissonance of this whole ideology that this isn't a coherent system of thought. This isn't based on fundamental biological realities. This is based on people's feelings, people's personal interpretation of their own feelings, which is his own level of elusive and subjectivity. And so all of these things just flow out of, of really the internal landscape of people's minds.

So of course it's going to be all kinds of crazy and it's not going to make sense. You know, I've just recently heard a term called heteroflexible. Many people haven't heard this new sexual orientation. They're holding it out as a new sexual orientation category. It's people who identify as heterosexual. And yet they say that I'm attracted to, and sometimes want to have sex with people of the same sex, but I don't call myself gay and I don't call myself bisexual. I'm heteroflexible.

I'm just interested in these other things. Well, you know, see just how elusive even this category, the supposedly firm fixed category of sexual orientation is in this. But when you expand it out into this whole gender conversation, then people are all kinds of, it becomes so elusive and so ephemeral and so hard to really even nail down exactly what people were talking about. And it is, it does seem to be a clear progression from, from 2015.

And these things have just ramped up since Obergefell seems almost purposeful that there is such ambiguity involved in it and the terms change and it keeps people kind of off balance of trying to logically understand what is taking place. The Christian worldview with David Wheaton returns in just a moment. The new year has brought new features to the Christian worldview radio program. First, good news for those who don't have an affiliate station in their area and those who subscribe to our free podcast. The latest program will now be available at our website, thechristianworldview.org or via our podcast feed at 8 AM central time on Saturdays. Short takes will also be released on Mondays following the weekend airing of the program. These bite-sized highlights are great for those who don't have time to listen to the full 54 minute broadcast.

Short takes can be heard at our website, podcast feed, and our social media pages on Facebook and YouTube. For more updates, program previews and resources, be sure to sign up for our free weekly email by visiting thechristianworldview.org or calling 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or visiting thechristianworldview.org. There's an abundance of Christian resources available, but the reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. While there's only one perfect book, a key aim of The Christian Worldview is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages, adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts, and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group, or church.

You can also order by calling toll-free 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Welcome back to The Christian Worldview. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianworldview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print newsletter, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Now, back to today's program with host David Wheaton. MD Perkins with us today on The Christian Worldview, the producer of In His Image, and we're offering this film as our current offer right now. You can go to our website or give us a call to get a copy. It's 110 minutes long.

You can get it for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. Okay, so I'd like to play a soundbite from early in the film that characterizes what the contentious conversation that goes back and forth over this issue of transgenderism that we hear in the media today. You want to be a drag queen and your parents don't let you? You need new parents. I'm a man. I just say female, he's being rude. Know your pronouns. Know your pronouns.

In his name. L-G-G-B-D-T-T-T-I-Q-Q. My two moms.

The hips on the drag queen go swish, swish, swish. The issues are unavoidable. They're on the news.

I did not have a chance to comment on how good the White House looked in rainbow colors. They're in our legislation. The Texas bathroom bill. In our schools.

Drag queen story hour. Our entertainment, our social media. They're even reaching into our churches. Let us be the church together. They're causing families to question everything they thought they knew. I was being asked to choose my child and my church.

I chose my child. And they're pushing everyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ to wrestle with the question, what does God think about all this? Can you be gay and Christian? What if you genuinely feel like you're trapped in the wrong body? Did God make you this way?

Is change even possible? In that soundbite toward the beginning of the film, M.D., it deals with some of the common discourse that you hear in the midst of this issue of homosexuality and transgenderism, the culture war, so to speak, on this topic. But the film doesn't deal so much with that, actually, pretty minorly with the culture war political battle over these issues, but deals with the issue of transgenderism in a very personal, compassionate and biblical standpoint. Even the title, In His Image, that's the foundation for understanding why this can be overcome and the Gospels made clear and the scriptural foundation for who God made you. Why did you put so much emphasis on that and not so much emphasis just on the culture war things we see on the news every night?

That's a great question. Well, obviously, if you are familiar at all with American Family Association, the ministry that I work for that put this documentary together, you'd know that we're certainly not silent when it comes to the questions of issues in the culture, Christians being involved in politics and all of the things that are emerging within the civic arena. But when it came to AFA leadership wanting to make a film that would speak to this issue, they realized we have made such a consistent and clear stand when it comes to the culture war questions, and we continue to do that through our radio programs, our broadcasts and our articles and things like that.

And of course, those things are constantly changing and you kind of need to have your finger constantly on the pulse to pick out the nuances. But there needed to be some kind of presentation that would clearly define for us as an organization, for our viewers, for our donors, for the Christian church, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Why do we talk about these things?

It's the question underneath the question. It's the question that Christians start to get upset about something in the culture with gay marriage or something, and you're hearing two sides of the debate. But what often is lacked and what many Christians honestly, David, are lacking is the biblical foundation for why they even believe what they believe.

Sometimes they're just following along because they feel like, well, this is what trusted people I know are saying, and so we should be opposed to this. But Christians should be rooted and grounded in truth, so we should understand the reasons why we believe what we believe. And so that's what AFA wanted to do with this documentary. We wanted to get in and to see what did the scripture say.

We wanted to be able to present some scientific evidence that backs up the scriptural truth. We wanted to be able to point to stories of hope and change of people who really have come through these things. Because that's the other narrative that we're hearing is that, well, people can't change.

They're just born that way. And the transgender question is such a new one that, honestly, when we were getting into the process, we didn't even know if we could find stories of people who had gone in and come out of it. I mean, we knew that God was at work in people, but would the stories be there? Would someone be able to come forward with a clear, credible testimony and be able to talk about the amazing work of God's restoring and redeeming grace in their own life? And in God's mercy, he brought those people to us, and so we were able to highlight that in the film. But that was the reason for the focus, really, is the church needs to be called back, and we need to sometimes be called back to first things. We need to remember why we do the things we do instead of just getting into the pattern of, well, I'm just a conservative politically, and I just need to follow along with this. Bearing witness in the culture is important, and it's a very essential part of the Christian life.

But we need to understand why God called us to bear witness, and if we're not clear on that, then we're really opening ourselves up to deception and to error and to easily be led astray into other things, and you're seeing that a lot, especially in the younger generation of so-called believers. Very much. And I thought that was so well done in the film. We hear so much of the culture war over the back and forth, you know, it's sin, or this is who I am. We hear all these kind of catchphrases and bumper stickers on this, but the film does so well because it goes to the biblical basis and presents it, as we title their program today, The Need for Grace and Truth on the Issue of Transgenderism. Again, MD Perkins with us today on the Christian Reel of Your Radio program. You can get the DVD of this film in his image for a donation of any amount to the Christian Reel of You. Just contact us in the usual ways, we'd be glad to send it to you. We also have a five DVD pack as well.

More information again at our website on that. Here's another clip from the film by Pastor Kevin DeYoung, and I'll follow up with a question. Genesis 2 shows clearly that the man and the woman are created each for each other. There is a fittedness, that's the language, that looked out and there was no animal fit for this man.

So he makes one fitted. It is not only the union, but in a way the reunion, that she was taken out of man, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, a reunion of the man and the woman. We see this in Ephesians 5, when Paul talks about the mystery of the gospel and marriage between, as a picture of Christ and the church.

Well, there you have union with differentiation. That analogy doesn't work with Christ and Christ, church and church, just like the analogy doesn't work with man and man, woman and woman. The whole reason it's a picture is because you have a man and a woman who are each fit for each other with different roles, with different purposes, complementary functions who are coming together in the same way that Christ and the church. It's not just that Christ and the church each love each other or two men can love each other, but there is a unique fittedness. This is why Romans chapter 1 uses that same language, that they have exchanged natural relations for unnatural relations. It is part and parcel of the way God created us, that we would be in our sexual organs, in our very lives in marriage joined together in this organic union.

Kevin DeYoung in that soundbite we just played, M.D., talks about the word he uses, the fittedness between man and woman. In the film, there was this notebook that was shown where a young woman was taking notes and it was that man was created, number one, man was created first. Man was created to work and to keep. This is going all the way back into Genesis, and man was also created, number three, to give spiritual instruction to his wife.

And then woman, woman was created, number one, from the man, taken from the man, and number two, for the man. Now those are fighting words in today's culture. We know that's why it's resisted by the broader culture because they're unregenerate and they don't reverence God and they reject his word. But that's even rejected within many Christian circles today. Why do you think that is so resisted?

God's perfect design for the fittedness of a man and a woman together? Well, it's resisted because Satan, our enemy, is crafty and he's deceitful and he feeds us lies. And we want to be autonomous. We want to be able to determine our own destiny and we want to be able to—this whole notion of just kind of self-rule and self-reliance and this idea that you are the one who's in charge and the whole impact of feminism on Christian thinking, I think, is something that few people have been able to really highlight with the depth and the weight that it needs to be recognized as. This is a demonic ideology that leads women into bondage to feel like they have to create their own life and they have to sustain themselves in all of these ways. And it puts them at odds with men and it invites this rejection of God's authority because the question of authority and even the question of a wife submitting to her own husband is one that God gives the authority to the man in that relationship. And God says that it's related to the pre-fall condition that God made Adam first and that God gave the commands to him with the expectation that he would then share them with her. And so this is part of a rejection of God's providence really in our lives, that we want to be the ones to determine what's right and what's wrong for us. And of course, because of sin and the nature of the fall, men do abuse this idea too. And there is this chauvinistic mindset and people can act in really wretched ways toward women or toward their own wives or toward the women in their life. And that's certainly not what Scripture calls us to either.

But the whole feminist movement and the idea that you have to claim your rights and you have to take this up, this is something that is deserved and this whole patriarchy needs to be dismantled and the whole thing needs to be completely undermined so that you can rise up and acquire what exactly? It's a sad day in which when people start rejecting the fact that God made you a certain way, and he made you that way for a purpose, and there's a goodness in our ability to accept God's providence in his leading in our life. I didn't choose to be born a man.

My wife didn't choose to be born a woman. We didn't have any vote in this process, but that's how God made us. And so part of our life as believers is to recognize that fundamental fact by nature that God intended for us to live out our life.

He intended for me to live out my life as a man and for my wife to live out her life as a woman, that that is good for us to embrace God's design and intention for us in that way. And what else it does is it undercuts a lot of things that we would normally, that culture might tell us that we need to seek out or try and acquire for ourselves. It's able to undercut that kind of restlessness of the human heart that always feels like it has to be filled with something else, something else, something else, when really there's a contentedness that comes when we rest in who God made us to be, what God wants for us, what God plans for us. And once we give up the reins and we stop fighting God on that, there is a lot of peace that actually comes to us. So yeah, it's something that Christians should recognize, not only the destructive power of it, but also the benefit and the good that it offers us when we follow in line with what God intends.

That's very well said. God's ways are not burdensome. They're beneficial for us. They obviously bring glory to Him.

And as you mentioned, they bring great satisfaction and fulfillment, and that's really the ultimate in life, to have a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, that you're in a right relationship with God and you're living for the purpose for which you were created, to be in right relationship with Him and be obedient to Him. Again, MD Perkins with us today on The Christian Real View, the producer of In His Image, Delighting in God's Plan for Gender and Sexuality. This is an excellent film. It's 110 minutes long. We have it for a donation of any amount in DVD form to The Christian Real View.

Just go to our website or give us a call at our office. We also have a five-DVD pack of the film if you're the kind of person who likes to hand them out. This would be a great film to do that. The Christian Real View with David Wheaton returns in just a moment. David Wheaton here, host of The Christian Real View. For over 15 years, our mission has been to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We pursue that mission on air through radio programs, in person hosting events, and online through audio, video, and print resources. We are an all-volunteer ministry but have monthly operating expenses, the most significant being the cost of airtime on the station, website, or app on which you hear the radio program. We are looking for monthly partners so that each station or website is supported by its own listeners.

The level of financial support for a given outlet is a key decision point whether we continue paying to broadcast there. To become a monthly partner of any amount, call us toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Thank you for listening to and supporting The Christian Real View. The New Year has brought new features to the Christian World View radio program. First, good news for those who don't have an affiliate station in their area and those who subscribe to our free podcast. The latest program will now be available at our website thechristianworldview.org or via our podcast feed at 8 a.m. Central Time on Saturdays. Short takes will also be released on Mondays following the weekend airing of the program.

These bite-sized highlights are great for those who don't have time to listen to the full 54-minute broadcast. Quick takes can be heard at our website, podcast feed, and our social media pages on Facebook and YouTube. For more updates, program previews, and resources, be sure to sign up for our free weekly email by visiting thechristianworldview.org or calling 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or visiting thechristianworldview.org. Thanks for joining us on The Christian World View. Just a reminder that today's program and past programs are archived at our website thechristianworldview.org. Short takes are also available and be sure to share with others. Now back to today's program with host David Wheaton.

A couple more sound bites to play before the next question here. The first one has to do with clips that we hear about homosexuality and transgenderism trying to make inroads into the church. And then it follows up with a comment by, again, Pastor Kevin DeYoung about just the audacity of misinterpreting scripture to accommodate these sinful endeavors. The problem for most people is not a matter of understanding what the Bible says, but of accepting it. And that's where we get the tsunami of gay Christianity that's hitting the church. So rather than allowing the word of God to change us, many are trying to change the word of God. And make no mistake about it, efforts to change God's eternal word are coming to a church near you. There's no such thing as a gay Christian. Hello?

I'm right here. Let's talk about being transgender and Christian. Love and acceptance and inclusion.

They are legally married. This is a queer read. Sodom and Gomorrah is a queer, positive story. Same sex love is in the Bible. Jonathan and David.

Ruth and Naomi. There are those scripture passages that have been used to beat up on people like me and other queers. Is homosexuality a sin? I've come to really resent that question. I have lots of things I disagree with about the Bible.

And we've decided it fell from the sky, and now we've got to run it, like a manual for how to run the earth. We're being told that Ruth and Naomi were a lesbian couple. That Jesus affirmed a master-slave homosexual relationship. That Paul would have been okay with today's understanding of gay Christianity.

There's a gay Christian network, gay Christian conferences, gay Christian pastors, and seminary professors. But in the end, the problem has to do with the authority of God's word. Just as the serpent asked in the garden, did God really say, tempting Eve to question the clear commands of the Lord, that same spirit is speaking today, tempting us to question what is plainly written.

Whose voice will we listen to? When you understand that for all of Christian history, until like last week, Christians have held homosexual behavior to be sinful, it is the height of audacity to suggest that now we're understanding the Bible in a way that they couldn't. I have much more sympathy actually to liberal scholars who are just honest and say, well, obviously that's what the Bible teaches and we've just come to disagree with the Bible. In that soundbite we just played, MD, is some of the things we hear now about how the LGBTQ movements trying to press into the church. The idea that you can be a same-sex attracted Christian or a gay Christian.

Kevin DeYoung in the follow-up soundbite to that says, I mean, the audacity of just misinterpreting scripture like this, I mean, when scripture is so clear. So how are homosexuality and transgenderism making such strong inroads into the evangelical church today when the Bible is just consistently and from front to back so clear about God's standard for sexuality and gender? Okay, we're sorry to leave you hanging, but we're going to play the rest of the interview next week with MD Perkins and he'll answer that question about how homosexuality and transgenderism are making such inroads into the evangelical church, despite the fact that the Bible is so clear about these issues.

The title of the film is In His Image, and again, you can order the film for a donation of any amount for a limited time from The Christian Worldview, just get in contact with us through our website, thechristianworldview.org, just call us at our office at 1-888-646-2233, or you can write to us at Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331, and all that contact information is repeated immediately following the program today. Now, just thinking about this whole issue of transgenderism, as we pull back and think about where this is going and where we've come in this country, this is an extremely bad sign for our society. Not that it's taking place because homosexuality and transgenderism and, of course, heterosexual immorality like adultery have been taking place forever.

The bad sign is that these things are affirmed, they're encouraged, not just tolerated like people do it in private, but they are affirmed and mainstreamed in our society now. And it goes right back to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 1, and I'll just read a portion of that passage in a nation or a society that's been given over, and that's a judgment by God being given over where He just withdraws His restraining grace on a nation. It just descends down this spiral staircase into more and more sin, depravity. In Romans 1, verse 26 says, For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions.

These are unbelievers. Look how it starts here with homosexuality. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their heir. Again, homosexuality has been around forever, but the difference is now in the last 20 years, it's been fast-tracked and mainstreamed to affirmation in this country.

And if you disagree, you're a terrible person, you're a hater, you're a discriminator, and you need to be pushed to the margins of society. Verse 28, Romans 1, and it goes even deeper now, it goes down deeper, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind. So it goes deeper, it goes beyond homosexuality.

What other depravity can we find? To do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil. Not only when you're involved in homosexuality are you saying, you know, God may have designed a man to be with a woman, I'm going to go against that for my own personal pleasure, but transgenderism says, you made me thus, God, I will be something different, and then my sexuality will go whatever way I want it to go. And this is not to condemn those who struggle with homosexuality or transgenderism.

It is to warn those who are advocates of it in pushing this evil on society. There are some who are just victims of this temptation, and this wicked ideology, but then there are those who are purveying it. And that's what I think this passage is talking about in Romans 1, it says, they are haters of God, insolent, arrogant, inventors of evil. And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. And that's from Romans 1.

So there's this encouragement, there's this affirmation, it's forcing it down the throats of society, encouraging those who are enslaved to this to keep on going with it, not trying to help them get out of it, and that's the wickedness there. And this is going on now all throughout our government. I read a news release this week from the American Family Association, which said on March 17th, the US Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee voted to advance President Joe Biden's nominee for Assistant Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, by a vote of 13 to 9. American Family Association, AFA, opposes this nomination and is urging you to contact your senators and ask them to vote against Dr. Levine, who is a radical advocate for the homosexual and transgender agenda, just what we're talking about today.

He is a—proper use the pronoun there—he is a biological male who identifies as female or a transgender female as the politically correct culture defines it. It goes on to say, our friends at Family Research Council have produced an analysis of Levine's radical views on adolescent sexuality that includes genital mutilation for sex change purposes and the normalization of an advocacy for transgender ideology among school-aged children. And you think, wow, that's pretty insidious.

Well, it is. Have you heard about Drag Queen Story Hour? It comes to libraries all over the country.

It's been right here in near actually where we live as well. They come into public libraries and bring transgender people in and read storybooks to little children advocating and promoting transgenderism. How much more wicked can it get than that, trying to corrupt the most innocent among us? Now, meanwhile, the Equality Act, which we've been talking about in the program as well, which has now passed the House of Representatives and will be coming before the Senate fairly soon, and this would add homosexuality and transgenderism to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and thus setting a situation, a zero-sum game between the LGBTQ movement and those who any organization or any person who won't participate in what they know to be sin. It's going to be a zero-sum game.

One side will win and one side is going to lose. And so when homosexuality and transgenderism get codified in law as part of the Civil Rights Act, it's going to put at jeopardy those who hold to biblical morality. Now, there was an amazing speech made on the floor of the U.S. House when the Equality Act was being debated by Greg Stube. He's a congressman, Republican from Florida, and instead of getting up there and speaking about the scientific studies that transgenderism is bad for someone's health and they have a higher rate of suicide, and all those things may be true, Greg Stube did something that I haven't heard done in probably many, many years on the floor of the U.S. House. He used a biblical foundation why the Equality Act should be rejected. Here's what he said.

Like most speeches you'll hear on this floor today, I'm going to start with the truth. Deuteronomy 22 5 states, a woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this. Now this verse isn't concerned about clothing styles, but with people determining their own sexual identities. It's not clothing or personal style that offends God, but rather the use of one's appearance to act out or take on a sexual identity different from the one biologically assigned by God at birth. In his wisdom, God intentionally made each individual uniquely either male or female. When men or women claim to be able to choose their own sexual identity, they are making a statement that God did not know what he was doing when he created them. I'm going to quote directly from Dr. Tony Evans' Commentary Bible on this passage of scripture. Men and women equally share in bearing the image of God, but he has designed them to be distinct from and complementary toward one another. The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God's good design. Whenever a nation's laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences.

And I think we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God here in our country today. And this bill speaks directly against what is laid out in scripture. Our government, through this bill, is going to redefine what a woman is and what a man is.

It can be anyone who identifies in that gender at any time. You're going to single-handedly end women's sports and all of the gains for women's rights contained in Title IX that was passed in this body since 1972. Single-handedly destroying women's sports in the name of equality.

How ironic. If biological men can compete in women's sports, then it's no longer women's sports at all. We might as well just have one sports team per event and women, transgender women, men, transgender men can all compete against each other. How is that for equality? If biological differences didn't matter, we would never have created and funded separate teams for men and women. We know science supports the idea that there are performance differences between biological men and women in competitive sports. And it's just common sense to the vast majority of Americans.

Just not common sense to this democratic majority. In Connecticut, three high school female track runners have had to file a lawsuit because their Title IX protections were violated by biological male athletes competing against them. They had no choice but to file suit after they were forced to compete against biological male athletes. And after those biological male athletes brought home 15 women's state championship titles, I could stand up here and give you example after example of this happening throughout our country in all sports categories.

But I don't have near the time. If you want to protect women's sports, then vote against this bill. I yield back. And then in the spirit of Romans 1, Jerry Nadler, the Democratic congressman, had this to say in response to Greg Stube's speech. Mr. Stube, what any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress. Did you hear that?

I'm going to play it again. Mr. Stube, what any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress. That, my friend, is exactly what is the problem, what has gone wrong in our country, that we have no concern as a nation. Yes, there are some people who do have concern about the things of God, but those in leadership and a vast, sizable part of our population has no concern for the things of God. And when that takes place, there is a consequence of God's judgment for rebelling and shaking our fist in His face.

But here's the good news. The country may be a sinking ship, and we don't know exactly what's going to happen. God can do amazing things, there can be revival, who knows? But certainly the direction is one away from God. But God on that sinking ship is still saving souls from being sunk. And if you are listening today, and you understand who God is, that He is your Creator, you are accountable to Him, He's going to be your just judge someday. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, the Bible says, that Jesus Christ is Lord. In other words, we can bow to Him willingly now in repentance and faith, or you can guarantee it that you'll be bowing to Him later on, after you die, unwillingly, but all will bow. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the Spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

That is what the Spirit is, the spirit of transgenderism and homosexuality and all sexual immorality, is the Spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. This says in verse 3, It implicates us all in this, we're all sinners. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. I stand here today as one who has been saved by the grace of God, not by my own good works. I indulge the desires of my own flesh, but thank God, thank God, that He reached down and showed me my sin and led me to repentance and faith in Him. Verse 4 is the greatest transition in Scripture, But God, being rich in mercy, God intervened because He's merciful, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, not by works, good works, but by God's grace, unmerited favor, you have been saved. And He raised us up with Him, and He seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. What a powerful passage.

What a great passage of hope. We talk about the sin of transgenderism and homosexuality and heterosexual immorality and every other kind of sin there is in the world. But God can save us when we repent of our sin, turn from it, confess to God, agree with God over our sin, and put our trust, our faith, and belief in who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God, in what He did for us on the cross.

He died to pay the penalty for our sin, so we could be forgiven and made right with God. That truly is the good news, no matter how much the bad news is in our world. We do live in a challenging world, a world in which the tidal wave of sin becomes ever more apparent and present in this nation, even within the church, very, very sadly. If there is one thing Christian, we can always count on and trust in, Jesus Christ and His Word are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, pray without ceasing, rejoice always, and stand firm. The mission of The Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, or to sign up for our free weekly email, or to find out what must I do to be saved, go to our website, thechristianworldview.org, or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener supported ministry and furnished by the Overcomer Foundation, a non-profit organization. You can find out more, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner, and contact us by visiting thechristianworldview.org, calling toll free 1-888-646-2233, or writing to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.