A Better Transition

The first time I heard of someone having a sex change was while listening to “American Top 40” in 1979. Casey Kasem talked about a musician named Walter Carlos who was a pioneer in electronic music (his 1968 album “Switched-On Bach” was one of the first successful recordings to feature a synthesizer). Walter dropped out of the public eye for a number of years and had gender reassignment surgery before emerging as “Wendy Carlos.” I was shocked when Casey wished “her” luck and looked forward to “her” upcoming work. At 15 years old, I couldn’t believe someone changing their sex was something to be taken seriously. 

Fast forward forty years later. We now live in a society of gender fluidity. Individuals of all ages can suddenly change their sexual identity at the drop of a hat. Facebook now offers users 58 different ways to identify their gender. The proofreading app Grammarly recently published a blog article about “how to use gender pronouns respectfully” because “it’s Pride Month.” 

People who won’t address transitioning individuals by their preferred gender can find themselves in trouble. One Virginia high school teacher lost his job for refusing to call a female student by male pronouns. Peter Vlaming (who is a Christian) offered to use the student’s new name and avoid feminine pronouns, but the school wouldn’t accept his compromise. Other God-fearing people have been harassed, threatened, and censored for not calling transgender people their preferred pronouns.

I refuse to conform to this lunacy. The Bible makes it clear God created man male and female…period! There are no alternative genders. Nor does Scripture accommodate individuals wanting to change their sex. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Sadly, some parents have encouraged their children to become transgender. As Charisma columnist J. Lee Grady stated, “This is not just an attack on family values; it’s an attack on basic intelligence.”

If you happen to be someone struggling with gender identity, please don’t interpret this article as hateful. I’m speaking the truth in love plus using common sense. To identify a biological male with a feminine pronoun (or vice versa) is like calling a dog a cat. It doesn’t change who they really are. A few years ago I did street ministry with a man who admitted he used to wear women’s clothes until he was set free from gender confusion. As 1 Corinthians 14:33 points out, “God is not the author of confusion but of peace…”

Are you seeking to change your identity? A better transition is to become a new creature in Jesus Christ. 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let Boys Be Boys

During my childhood, I was never a Boy Scout partially because of my lack of interest in camping and other outdoor activities. Nevertheless, I believe in the ideas the Boy Scouts of America have promoted for over 100 years. Their well-known motto is “be prepared.” Sadly, the BSA didn’t prepare for what Christina Hoff Sommers calls “The War on Boys.”

Five years ago, singer Carly Rae Jepsen and the band Train were scheduled to perform at that year’s National Scout Jamboree. Both backed out because of then-BSA policies forbidding homosexuals. Jepsen stated, “As an artist who believes in equality for all people, I will not be participating in the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree this summer.” If I was attending that jamboree, I’d rather hear Fred Flintstone sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”

The Boy Scouts of America have since amended their policies. First, they allowed “openly gay youths” to join at the beginning of 2014. Then in July 2015, the BSA ended their blanket ban on homosexual leaders and employees. Church-sponsored Scout units can still maintain exclusions for religious reasons. This compromise has resulted in some churches disallowing Boy Scout groups from meeting in their buildings.

If I was a parent, I’d be leery of any homosexual leader installing ideas in my children that are contrary to the word of God. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Fortunately, there are Christian alternatives to scouting such as Royal Rangers.

Earlier this week, it was announced the Boy Scouts of America are changing their name to “Scouts BSA” since girls will be welcome to join starting next year. This wasn’t because of mass protests by young females demanding equality. There is already a club for them called the Girl Scouts. Instead, the BSA has succumbed to corporate funding pressures by feminists, leftists, and other organizations aiming to homogenize and blur gender distinctions.

The BSA slogan is “Do a Good Turn Daily.” One good turn they should do is stand up for their own oath which states, “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” Accommodating homosexuals and children’s gender confusions contradicts this oath and will have negative consequences for eternity. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 warns that the effeminate will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Boys and girls were designed differently so that most of them eventually complement each other in marriage. While it’s good for the sexes to do certain activities together, they also need time apart. Boys need to learn to become men and girls need to learn to become women. 

Let boys be boys!

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Genesis 1:27

Transformation by Christ

It’s often been said we are our own worst critic. Many of us have characteristics about ourselves we wish were different. When I was younger, I often got permanents because I liked how I looked with curly hair. Eventually I stopped getting those because I grew tired of the time and expense involved. Besides that, Psalm 139:14 says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...” All of us should be thankful for how God designed us.

However, we now live in a day where people are celebrated for changing their gender. This past week the media has been bombarded with reports of a former Olympic athlete becoming a woman. Bruce Jenner now prefers to be called “Caitlyn” and be addressed by feminine pronouns. Because of this gender reassignment, Jenner has been awarded this year’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award by ESPN. Even more disturbing is Jenner professing to be a Christian and claiming God gave him “the soul of a female.”

As a minister of the gospel, I cannot accept this claim. God designed Bruce as a man...period. If only he would spend more time studying the Bible. Romans 12:2 commands us to “...not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...” It’s ironic the gay community embraces sex change operations yet they demonize former homosexuals who through God’s help overcame same-sex attraction.

One who truly submits himself to Christ becomes “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and can continue “...being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) Just yesterday, I watched a powerful testimony of a man who had lived as a woman but then realized he was living a lie.

I pray Bruce Jenner will draw closer to the Lord and again become the man he was created to be. Mutilating one’s body parts is never the solution. It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a cancer. Godly change comes from the inside out.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” - Psalm 139:13 (NLT)

Cross Dressing

Two days ago while waiting for a friend to pick me up at the Minneapolis Public Library, a man with a beard walked in wearing open-toed high heels plus short denim shorts. The latter in itself was bizarre considering the temperature outside was at the freezing mark. This man ended up causing a ruckus at the library. A couple of times I heard him defiantly challenge people to touch him. Because he refused to leave on his own accord, three security guards tackled the man to the floor and hauled him away in handcuffs.

I recall at least one incident when witnessing to a crossdresser. Again this happened in Minneapolis. While walking towards the downtown area, I encountered a homeless person sitting outside. He claimed to know Jesus but wasn't going to church anywhere because of not being accepted dressed as a woman. This man even claimed God told him it was okay to be transgender. If that was true, God would be contradicting His own commandment in Deuteronomy 22:5...

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.”

On the other hand, there are preachers who go the other extreme by proclaiming man-made dress codes. Years ago while working for Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures, I called one female pastor who wouldn’t show any of our films. Her reason? “Women shouldn’t wear pants.” What would this pastor do if God called her to minister in Scotland? She might have a hard time seeing Scotsmen wearing kilts.

I’ve also heard ministers preaching against men having long hair. Personally I’m not fond of women with really short hair but that’s between them and the Lord. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “...man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Nevertheless, God expects men to act like men and women to act like women. 1 Corinthians 6:9 (KJV) states that effeminate men will not inherit the kingdom of God. Anyone who lives a lifestyle as the opposite gender is rebelling against God’s word. 

There is one type of “cross-dressing” acceptable for Christians...wearing the cross of Christ.

“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” - 1 Peter 5:5

Born This Way?

Since I’ve worked as a disc jockey and keyboard salesman plus owned my own recording studio, I still have an interest in what’s going on with the secular music industry. During last night’s Grammy Awards, Lady Gaga hatched out of a giant egg as she performed her new release, “Born This Way.” The song’s lyrics (inspired by the old Whitney Houston hit “Greatest Love of All”) promote a message of loving one self. Sorry to say, “Born This Way” also endorses homosexuality and people who live a “transgendered life.”

Surely God wants everyone to have a positive sense of worth and not live in condemnation. But apart from the lordship of Jesus Christ, self-esteem can take people down a destructive path. 2 Timothy 3 says that in the last days “…men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

Psalm 139:14 does say that we are all “…fearfully and wonderfully made.” However, we live in a fallen world resulting in some individuals born with diseases and birth defects. God didn’t make them this way. Just like in Bible times, people born blind and crippled are being healed today.

God also didn’t make people born with deviant sexual desires. Personally I know individuals delivered from homosexuality and transvestism. 1 John 5:4 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

We were all born with a sinful nature and in need of the Savior. I pray Lady Gaga will someday recognize the necessity of being born again. The “Poker Face” singer could become a powerful (and definitely an interesting) witness for the Lord if she totally submitted her life to Him.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” - John 1:12-13