Introduction
The recent shooting in Nashville is one more instance of how the USA is not only a bit frayed along the edges, but it is unravelling. This tragedy is a tragedy on a number of fronts, and this tragedy has been a mask-off moment for the entire Trans/Woke project. We should all be praying for the family of the victims, as well as the family of the shooter, and the authorities as they work through this difficult time. The police are to be lauded for acting so quickly and running to the danger. That is precisely what you want to see law enforcement do during a moment like this.
An Apocalypse
But it shouldn’t escape our notice that we are living through an “apocalypse”. This is a time of unveiling. All our dead works, all the sneaky, secret sins done in the dark are coming to the light. From Trump’s election, to COVID19, to the Summer of Riots in 2020, to the chaos that was the 2020 presidential election, J6, Mar-a-Lago raid, train derailments, Russia/Ukraine, etc.. Welcome to the world in the year of our Lord 2023. When Covid-19 came on the scene, and we all were trying to figure out what on earth was happening, I remember Pastor Doug reminding our congregation that we should pray something along the lines, “God don’t let up until we repent.” All of this is a revelation of what we get when we forsake Christ & His Word.
This recent tragedy, and more so the reaction to it, is showing how far down the rot goes. A Trans shooter targets a Christian school she once attended, and the media contorts in every which way to avoid stating the obvious facts of the case. Every other shooting gets the “Gun Control Now” treatment, this one gets a “Christians caused this” treatment.
The arguments have ranged from “Tennessee passed anti-trans laws, and thus they only have themselves to blame,” to “Gee, that Christian school must not have had enough thoughts and prayers to protect them.” News networks are offering apologies for misgendering the shooter. Christian outlets are chiding evangelical parents about how to talk with their kids about school shootings, as if all our kids needed was a good chat in praise of center-left gun policies.
Our nation is like a bungee cord stretched over too much junk in the back of an ’84 Ford F150. This event is like shoving one more box in, it’s all about to go sproing. The trans movement now has a martyr messiah, if they so choose. The conservatives now have a scapegoat, if they so choose. One side can choose to deify Audrey Hale, the other side can pour all their fury upon her. And so it will go on. You can’t put the Girardian toothpaste back in the tube.
What Then Should we Do?
But here is what conservative, Evangelical Christians (which is my target audience) must realize. The Trans movement has successfully evangelized and now is mobilizing a generation. They fear that the planet is going to perish in draught and floods. They hate their material bodies. Our Christless culture insists on sacrificing their offspring to demons. They will not stop their diet of porn, psychotropic drugs, and escapist recreational drugs. They will not stop until you applaud them, and join in their madness.
This is not a time for playing cute. This is not a time of peace, but it is a time to have your feet shod with the Gospel of Peace. The madness which has engulfed our culture will not be stayed by insipid praise choruses or trite sermons with no substance. It won’t be cured with bandages, this will take the surgery of true sweeping repentance.
We are adrift in the flotsam and jetsam of moral relevance, subjective truth, and gnostic philosophizing. The foundations are removed, and this is the fruit of what we’ve sown. But the Good News is good news for this world. All the rivalry, all the Marxist dialectic, all the shame, all the warfare is ended because of Good Friday. Christians must not retreat from their commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel and the subduing of the nations to obey all of Christ’s commands. Rather, we must repent that we have been so anemic in our own obedience to Christ’s commands.
Through Christ, your sin is forgiven. Eternal life is your inheritance. Christ has made you complete in Him, binding you fast in the cords of His eternal love. So, stop dilly-dallying with your sin. Stop resenting your neighbor. Stop fearing the edicts of tyrants. Pick up your Bible, take your family to a church that preaches and sings from that Bible, and tell the world: Christ is Lord. Do it with joy. Do it even when they threaten, mock, and deride. Stand firm, quit yourself like a man. There is an incoming tide of human wreckage, the result of the lies of the Trans agenda, and we must be ready to minister grace & peace, by resisting the lies with the truth of God’s word.
A Word to Trans
But in all this I want to clearly say to trans folks, no matter how mangled your body, no matter how empty you feel, no matter how angry you are at your parents & society, no matter how fearful you are of laws being passed to ban puberty blockers, Christ has a word for you. It is a word which rings with compassion, and stings with truth. You will not be complete trying to escape your body. Testosterone or estrogen will not bring you fulfillment. Plastic boobs or a grafted penis will not result in joy.
Christ died to give you life, to take your shame, to make you truly human. If you regret the steps you’ve taken to transition, the church will happily bear the burden of your sin, and welcome you to Christ and the forgiveness He offers. Christ died so that you might die in Him, and He arose so that you might live in Him. Christ invites you into the joy of His Salvation, but leave your sin, leave your pride, and be free of your burden.
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