Know Your Foe Vol. 7 - The Trans Battle Rages On - We Are The Watchmen Weekly, May 25, 2024
In This Edition, We Look At Two Stories Crafted To Weaken The Ekklesia, And What We, As Watchmen, Can Do About It. Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAreTheWatchmen.org
In this week’s edition of the newsletter, we take a look at two stories that show how bold the enemy has become - first, a story about conservative Christians “stepping away from the gender wars,” and then a story about a Catholic monk “coming out as trans.”
They have said “Deal With Us!”
That’s EXACTLY what we plan to do.
We’ll get to this week’s piece right after this.
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We Are The Watchmen Weekly is our look at what’s happening in the world, and what we, as Watchmen on the Wall, are responsible to make people aware of.
Each week, we dig deeper into the stories that matter most and connect the dots with scripture.
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EDITORS NOTES:
Underlined Text Is Clickable For Scripture Reference & Additional Information. You can use the “search” function in your web browser, normally ‘Ctrl+F,’ to search for the scriptures we reference in our articles.
We invite you to actively participate in this newsletter with your contributions. Please email your thoughts, sermons, or studies to us at wotw@usa.com so that we can consider them for use in a future edition as reference material.
This Spiritual Battle Requires Your Attention: Evil Is A Habitual Line Stepper
In previous editions of We Are The Watchmen Weekly, we’ve documented Satan’s war on the family.
The first destabilization came with the removal of the father from the home through LBJ’s “Great Society” program, which incentivized having the government act as the father. When combined with a twisted doctrine of feminism and the portrayal of fathers as weak and stupid in modern media, we now have a society where the covering for women has been eliminated.
Then, the war on women was allowed to rage, resulting in men who think that they are women wanting to be called women, taking away from actual women, and the perception that being “cis” - or an actual woman - is a crime.
That’s left the door wide open for going after the real target: Our Children.
A few verses to keep handy when looking at this week’s stories:
6 If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
14. And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light.
15. Therefore it is no great thing, though his ministers transform themselves, as though they were the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
26. Furthermore God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth and moveth on the earth.
27. Thus God created the man in his image: in the image of God created he him: he created them male and female.
We’ll take a look at the first article in a moment.
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“Andrew and Debbie James are evangelical Christians. Born in England, the couple moved to Denver years ago and raised their children there. Mrs. James had a profound religious conversion experience early in parenthood, and their large nondenominational church quickly became the focal point of their lives. They used to say that if the doors were open, they were there.
‘We always joked that we had this perfect little scenario,’ Mrs. James said. ‘We had our boy, then we had our girl, and they were two years apart and they were just perfect.’ They were strict parents — too strict, they say in hindsight, with the goal to ‘shield them from absolutely everything.’
When the couple’s older child was 19, living at home as a college student, Mrs. James got a call from the pharmacy informing her that her child’s prescription for estradiol, or estrogen, was ready. In a panic, she searched the teenager’s room, confronting her that evening.
It went badly. They initially refused to use their daughter’s chosen name, Lilia, and Mrs. James could barely be in the same room with her when she was wearing a skirt. Then a pastor at the church encouraged them to kick their daughter out of their home.
Hard Stop. Commentary:
Sadly, by trying to shield their children from everything, they ended up shielding them from nothing… which isn’t biblical, as we can see in multiple verses:
6 Teach a child in the trade of his way, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.
And in Proverbs 13:24:
24 He that spareth his rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betime.
Thing To Ponder: Without preparing a child for the world, you prepare them to be corrupted by it.
Let’s continue.
‘“A space of curiosity’
Many progressive and Mainline Christian congregations have moved to affirm transgender and nonbinary members.
But for many conservative Christians, the rise of transgender identities in both visibility and in sheer numbers, particularly among young people, has been a profoundly destabilizing shift. Almost 90 percent of white evangelicals believe gender is determined by sex at birth, according to the Pew Research Center, compared with 60 percent of the population as a whole.
Austen Hartke realized he was transgender in seminary, where he was studying the Hebrew Bible; he came out as soon as he graduated. It was 2014, the same year that Laverne Cox was on the cover of Time magazine, and it felt to Mr. Hartke that the culture around him was steadily improving, that awareness and acceptance would go hand in hand, including in conservative spaces.
That is not what happened. If trans people in conservative churches encountered clumsiness and ignorance around issues like pronouns back then, he said, now they face outright hostility.
‘If you’re afraid of change, that’s what trans people now represent,’ he said.
Hard Stop. Commentary:
Once again, we can see the sleight of hand of the enemy here.
First, there’s this:
Many progressive and Mainline Christian congregations have moved to affirm transgender and nonbinary members.
But then, there’s this:
Almost 90 percent of white evangelicals believe gender is determined by sex at birth, according to the Pew Research Center, compared with 60 percent of the population as a whole.
Is it many, some, a whole, or a few? Satan is the master of confusion, and he uses willing vessels like the New York Times to spread it.
Fortunately for us, scripture is always right on time.
Starting with Isaiah 5:20:
Woe unto them that speak good of evil, and evil of good, which put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for sour.
Homework: This verse allows you to connect the dots with those you’re speaking with about this, to help them understand why they feel (and can’t explain) why the trans agenda gives them a weird feeling. It’s evil being twisted as good… an easy talking point that will spark more questions.
Then, there’s this:
Austen Hartke realized he was transgender in seminary, where he was studying the Hebrew Bible; he came out as soon as he graduated…
…and it felt to Mr. Hartke that the culture around him was steadily improving, that awareness and acceptance would go hand in hand, including in conservative spaces.
That is not what happened. If trans people in conservative churches encountered clumsiness and ignorance around issues like pronouns back then, he said, now they face outright hostility. If you’re afraid of change, that’s what trans people now represent,’ he said.
Notice how the normalization of something that isn’t normal is trying to be normalized here?
That’s a lot to digest… here’s what it means:
The paragraph starts with the “affirmation of a realization,” which is designed to put your mind in a place of acceptance of his decision.
Then, Mr. Hartke felt like the world “affirmed” what he thought to be true, even though it is impossible.
Then, Mr. Hartke felt like the “big, bad Christians” were out to get him… and anyone like him…
And finally, Mr. Hartke makes his “declaration…” if you are afraid of change, that’s what a mental illness represents now.
And that’s narrative control in a nutshell.
Fortunately for us, our heavenly Father always knows what’s coming, and prepared us for this:
In 2 Peter 2:1:
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
And in Genesis 1:27:
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Pretty clear, right?
But not for everyone, because Satan also uses idolatry as a weapon.
Being “non-cis,” “trans,” or whatever other thing has now become like a god being worshipped as something “loving and accepting…”
But scripture tells us different.
In Exodus 20:3-5:
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Homework: As believers, Satan using these twisted and empty vessels in such a ridiculous way provides us a perfect opportunity to have meaningful conversations.
If you are genuinely concerned about this, you can bring that up in conversation. Example: “You know, this really worries me. It’s like they are trying to make women subhuman to please other people...”
We’ll take a look at the story of a catholic monk who “came out as trans,” next.
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“A Catholic monk came out as transgender this month, saying the church had ‘to deal with’ trans Catholics.
On May 17, Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic monk in Kentucky, told Religion News Service, ‘This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I'm planning to come out publicly as transgender.’
‘You've got to deal with us, because God has called us into this church,’ Matson told the outlet. ‘It's not your church to kick us out of—this is God's church, and God has called us and engrafted us into it.’
Hard Stop. Commentary:
Mr. Matson is correct: We have to deal with you and it is God’s church.
But, he missed what that really means…
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 tells us:
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
God is pretty clear here.
He’s also clear on how to deal with things in Matthew 18:15-17:
15 Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast won thy brother.
16 But if he hear thee not, take yet with thee one or two, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be confirmed.
17 And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the Church: and if he refuse to hear the Church also, let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a Publican.
Pro Tip: This is a great example to use with people in conversations as a twisting of scripture by someone like Mr. Matson, and how it should be properly understood.
Let’s continue.
In April, the Vatican published "Infinite Dignity," a 20-page declaration that discussed the Catholic Church's view on transgender individuals. The declaration, which was approved by Pope Francis, said God created men and women as biologically different beings, and that no one should try to alter that plan or ‘make oneself God.’
The document describes gender-affirming surgery as violating God's gift of human dignity and as attempting to play God on the surgeon's table during a ‘sex-change intervention.’
In a statement this week, the Catholic Diocese of Lexington in Kentucky said: ‘On Pentecost Sunday, Brother Christian Matson, a professed hermit in the Diocese of Lexington, has made it public that he is a transgender person. Brother Christian has long sought to consecrate his life to Christ in the Church by living the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.
‘He has consistently been accompanied by a competent spiritual director and has undergone formation in the Benedictine tradition. He does not seek ordination, but has professed a rule of life that allows him to support himself financially by continuing his work in the arts and to live a life of contemplation in a private hermitage. Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., accepted his profession and is grateful to Brother Christian for his witness of discipleship, integrity and contemplative prayer for the Church.’
Hard Stop. Commentary:
So, it looks like the current Pope did the right thing (for a change) but then a local bishop accepted the profession from Mr. Matson?
That’s not of God.
How do we know? Because he tells us:
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as we see in all the Churches of the Saints.
Then, he tells us who is the author of confusion:
14 And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light.
And in John 8:44:
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he hath been a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, then speaketh he of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
This is a dangerous precedence that needs to be dealt with.
We, as Watchmen, are called to address this and to use the word as our sword in dealing with it.
We’ll wrap up this week’s edition right after this.
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We are in a VERY DANGEROUS time. Satan has largely unmasked himself and operates openly, as he believes that he’s deceived enough people and nothing can be done to stop him.
As he’s always done, he underestimates the power of God, and those who serve him. As you have this conversation with people, share with them the simple and clear scripture that connects these dots. It may be the one thing that they hear that brings them to Christ.
We Are The Watchmen Weekly provides easy and practical ways to tie scripture into what’s happening right now.
Use Wisdom, Use Discernment, And Use The Word!
We invite you to actively participate in this newsletter with your contributions. Please email your thoughts, sermons, or studies to us at wotw@usa.com so that we can consider them for use in a future edition as reference material.
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