Transgenderism: A Study in Power
No one actually believes in Transgenderism.
What I mean is, no one actually, truly believes that men and women can be born in the wrong bodies. No one actually believes that men can become women, and women can become men. No one actually believes that doctors assign our birth genders.
No one actually believes it because its not true. It’s an outright denial of truth. It undermines everything we know to be true. It tells us not to trust what seems most basic and real. It tells us not to trust our eyes, ears, and our gut instinct.
And if we can’t trust those things — those very natural, honest and truthful senses — then we really can’t trust that we know anything.
Transgenderism is an ideology. It’s absurd. Insane.
At the end of the day, when Will Thomas looked himself in the mirror having been crowned the NCAA “women's national champion,” he knew he was a fool. He knew he was engaging in a lie. He knew everyone else knew too. He knows he is a man.
Bruce Jenner knows, in his heart, that despite what he claims and what he has done to his own body…he knows he is a man.
When Judge Katanji Jackson refused to define the word, “woman” before the Senate Judiciary committee on March 23rd, stating that she is a Judge and not a biologist, she knew in her heart that she was engaging in dishonesty. She’s being hailed as the first “black woman” nominee to the High Court, but she refuses to even define what that means.
So, what gives? Why is the world losing its mind over this? Why are celebrities, government institutions, cultural institutions, sporting teams, religious denominations, and more…why are they all coming out in support of Transgenderism when it is so self-evidently false?
"Transgenderism is the currency of Power..."
Because Transgenderism is the currency of Power in the modern world at this present hour. If you want power in the world, if you want to maintain your place, you have to play the game. Having power, influence, and standing in the world today means affirming transgenderism.
A Lust for Power
Power is what the world is after. Power, influence, prestige, control, assurance, notoriety, fame, etc. These are all forms of power, and power is how you get noticed, and how you get things done in the world…or so the world thinks.
In his voluminous writings, author Robert Caro offers an incredible study of power and its various manifestations. He looks at power through the lives of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom were known to be men of power; and both of whom were known to be real jerks.
It has long been said, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And there is plenty of evidence to show the truth of that statement. But, an interesting insight from Caro is that power also reveals.
Both Moses and Johnson became men of substantial power in their respective fields. But, as they were just beginning their careers, and as they were climbing through the ranks, both men had to conceal certain aspects of their character for the sake of power. Had they come right out with their true character, intentions, desires, etc., no one would have tolerated them. After all, both men were widely despised and hated by those who knew them best at the end of their lives.
Caro points out that these men so desired power, control, and prestige that they willingly changed themselves for the sake of that power. They were dishonest about who they truly were and what they truly believed for the sake of power. In fact, they willingly changed their own beliefs for the sake of power.
It was power they desired, and it was power that they worshiped. Therefore, their lives became subject to the demands of power.
I think this is what we are seeing across the culture today. No one really believes the facts of transgenderism in their heart, but so many people are too beholden to their own personal power and status in the culture to let it go…even when faced with absolute insanity.
Just think, what does the NCAA have to gain from affirming transgenderism? Nothing really to gain, but they do have everything to lose… but only from the standpoint of objective reality. If women start competing with men, as I’ve noted, nothing much will happen. Women just cannot hang with men physically. But, as we have seen with Will Thomas, when men enter the female arena, women will just disappear.
But that doesn't seem to matter to the NCAA. What matters more to them is that the shapers of law and culture are telling them to affirm transgenderism. They stand to lose contracts if they go against the revolution. And contracts means money…and money is everything. Money is power.
What did Will Thomas gain by calling himself a woman during his senior year of college after 3 years of swimming on the men’s team? He was catapulted from a mediocre swimmer to the Nation’s champion. He was a nobody who became somebody overnight. He was just another male swimmer that is now being called a hero of the human rights movement. Power.
What does Judge Jackson stand to lose if she answers the question “what is a woman” honestly and truthfully ? She stands to lose the support of the Democratic party, which is her ticket to a chair on the High Court. She stands to lose power.
The world lusts after power. The world lusts after influence, prestige, honor, and fame. And as we are seeing, the world loves power so much they are willing to affirm something that is self-evidently false. Men are not, and cannot be, women. And vice versa. And yet, the most powerful, most prestigious, most educated of our culture are saying they can. The President of the United States of America, the most powerful man in the world, is saying that men and women are fluid in their gender…
Why? Power.
Anything to gain and maintain power.
A Different Kind of Power
But then, we remember a nobody from Nazareth of Galilee, Who came along preaching the Kingdom of God, proclaiming Himself the King. And He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”
Jesus is the King over all. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus is, Himself, the Creator of the universe (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17). He created all things, and He owns all things. He dictates the reality of all things.
And when it comes to power, He is omnipotent — He possesses all of it. But He tells us that His Kingdom and His power are other-worldly. In other words, we ought not measure His power and His influence by what it gains Him, or His followers in the world. In fact, He told His followers that the world would hate Him, hate His power, and hate His followers.
Jesus did not come with the kind of worldly power that the world lusts after. He did not come seated on a spectacular throne. He did not come with cultural might. The throngs didn’t attach themselves to Him except for the sake of what He could immediately do for Him. At the height of His power, when He hung on a cross dying, He was essentially alone.
His power —true power — He tells us, is contained and demonstrated in a message. A seemingly small message. He compares it to a mustard seed, in fact (Mark 4:30-32). And what is the message? The message is that we are all made in God’s image; that we have broken God’s law in our sin; that we stand eternally condemned before God because of our sin; but that God, in His mercy, sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place, atoning for the sins of all who would repent of their sin, and that God raised Him from the dead! Salvation is for those who trust in Jesus, the King.
A small message that has the true power to change the world. Transgenderism might have the power to coerce behavior, but the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change hearts and minds. It makes dead people live.
Real Power
The Bible tells us that real power is in God. Real power is found in hearing the gospel message of salvation, believing, and being made spiritually alive. Real power makes dead people live again.
That means there is real power in saying, “No, men cannot be women.”
There is real power in saying, “Men ought not compete against, and dominate women.”
There is real power in saying, “A woman is a female; having the bodily parts of a female; the physical composition of a female. A woman is not a man.”
There is real power in saying, “Jesus Christ, crucified for sins, buried, and raised forevermore.!”
The reality, friends, is that this real power is not worldly power…