4 Recent Events That Should Wake Christians From Their Slumber
Have you ever watched a movie where the good guy got framed for what the bad guy did and you felt morally indignant, desperate to see justice done and the horrible wrongs made right? That's how I feel when I see social madness in our country, wondering to myself, "How can this go on in front of our eyes? What kind of craziness is this?"
Let me give you several cases in point.
In Texas, a 17-year-old girl who identifies as a boy is taking testosterone supplements as she begins to "transition" to being male. (She currently identifies as a boy named "Mack" Beggs and is referred to as "he" in a relevant article about her.) She is in the news because she wrestles on the girls' team and just won a tournament when her opponent in the finals forfeited because the other girl's parents protested the match.
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And they had every reason to protest.
Beggs is taking performance enhancing drugs, and in a physically-taxing sport like wrestling, the differences are all the more tangible. That's why the lawsuit brought by the parents' of another female wrestler urged the governing body to suspend Beggs "because of the use of the steroid. The suit claims that allowing the wrestler to compete while using testosterone exposes other athletes to 'imminent threat of bodily harm.'"
This is not rocket science, and Beggs would not be allowed to compete in a college-level or Olympic or professional match while on steroids. (Is this why Beggs is undefeated this season?)
Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are banned for logical, obvious reasons, yet logic seems to stop at the door when it comes to transgender activism.
Accordingly, Beggs grandmother (and guardian), rather than recognizing how unfair this all was to the other girls who worked so hard to be there, could only say, "Today was not about their students winning. Today was about bias, hatred and ignorance."
This is absolute nonsense, and while my heart goes out to young "Mack" and I truly want to see her find wholeness without sex-change surgery and a lifetime of hormones, I reject the notion that her struggles should now be imposed on the other female athletes.
Shame on the school system for letting this happen.
To give another example from the sports world, we are constantly reminded of the struggles experienced by gay athletes, to the point that Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by the NBA, blamed the NFL's alleged homophobia on his failure to make it at the highest level of the sport.
Of course, it makes perfect sense that other players would be uncomfortable around him once he announced he was homosexual. After all, they are strong young men in the prime of life who work out together and play together and shower and undress next to each other and who horse around in manly ways. Why should they be expected to feel perfectly at home with an openly gay player, even if they did their best to ignore this and behave as professionals?
Today, however, we're hearing about something very different.
An article about former WNBA player Candice Wiggins states, "There is a 'very, very harmful' culture running throughout the WNBA, she says, which saw her get bullied during her eight-year career because she is heterosexual."
She claims that, "Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge. I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they [the other players] could apply."
And, she alleges, "People were deliberately trying to hurt me all of the time. I had never been called the B-word so many times in my life than I was in my rookie season. I'd never been thrown to the ground so much. The message was: 'We want you to know we don't like you.'"
Could this be true?
If it is, even if her estimate about the percentage of lesbian players is too high, don't expect her story to get much traction in the news. After all, straights are never the victims, only gays are the victims, and because Wiggins is straight and therefore part of the dominant culture, she can't be the victim. Straights are the bullies, so suck it up, lady, and stop complaining.
As this story gets more responses, we'll see if my theory holds true.
How about one more from the sports world before I get to the most egregious example of all?
Back in Texas, the NFL and NBA have warned the state that if they pass a bill similar to North Carolina, which, among other things, forbids boys who believe they are girls from playing on girls' sports teams or using the girls' bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers, the state will be severely punished by the leagues.
Responding to the NFL, which was the first to threaten Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said, "The last thing the NFL needs to do is to get into the business of telling states how to operate their own political operations." Indeed.
And what will the NFL and NBA (and NCAA and others) do if state after state does the right thing and protects the privacy and rights of its citizens? Hopefully, we'll find out in the years ahead as the pushback against radical LGBT activism continues.
Finally, in Michigan, a Christian business owner experienced an absolutely outrageous example of government overreach.
As explained by Tony Perkins, "Donald Vander Boon has been operating a meatpacking center in Michigan for almost 15 years — but thanks to the federal government, it's his freedom that's getting butchered."
What happened is truly shocking (and should send shockwaves across the country).
When USDA officials were touring the plant for an inspection, "they noticed a handful of brochures on the breakroom table about natural marriage. As Don tells it, the article was mixed in with the stacks of newspapers celebrating the recent Supreme Court decision redefining marriage. Even so, the on-site officers took offense to the literature, walked into Don's office, closed both doors, and told him they'd call off the inspection if the material wasn't removed."
So, the Christian owner of a meatpacking center employing 45 workers was given an ultimatum by USDA officials – who were there to inspect the meat operation, not the beliefs, of Vander Boom – telling him that if he didn't remove the material on marriage, there would be no inspection, as a result of which the center would be shut down.
Yes, "According to inspectors, Don's article was 'offensive' and had violated a new rule from the Obama administration that gave government officials (including these inspectors) the right to take 'immediate and appropriate corrective action' when dealing with anything they considered 'harassment.' Vander Boon's position on marriage, he was told, qualified."
In his own words, "It's made me realize how quickly we can lose our religious liberty. I never dreamed that I would have this experience, and that I would have USDA personnel telling me that I had to choose between putting an article on the breakroom table or my business."
Today, more than 18 months after this event took place, despite ongoing legal efforts by the ADF, the Department of Agriculture has not changed its policy or responded to Vander Boom's rightful concerns. Perhaps this is coming to your business next?
There's a reason I and others have been sounding the alarm for years now, seeking to wake up a slumbering church and a complacent society.
If these latest examples don't jolt readers into reality, I wonder what will.
Honestly, I hate to imagine.
So, let's pray and act today lest tomorrow's news makes today's news look relatively mundane.
God have mercy on America.
