Thoughts on Transgenderism, Part 3

Remember, I mentioned in Part 1 how the spirit of confusion is associated with transgenderism?  You know how the devil tries to get us to overcome this issue? He uses the spirit of compassion against us. It is through compassion that the devil tries to get people to embrace transgenderism.

Let me show you what I mean.  When God brought Israel to the border of the Promise Land, He gave to them instructions on what they were to do with the Canaanite inhabitants.

Deut. 7:2:  When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy (compassion). 

Notice, God said to show no mercy or compassion to such people. Why? Go to verse 16: To do so, "would be a snare for you."  In other words, if you allow your compassion and mercy (emotions) to get the best of you, it will be a snare to you and remove you from staying in the will of God.

Just think for a moment, how many times can you recount the moments you allowed your compassion to get you to make a decision you later came to regret while the truth was starring you in the face? You bought something from a salesperson that felt sorry for and later came to regret it. You allowed a friend or family member who literally begged you to stay in your home. Your better judgment told you it would not be a good idea. Later you kicked yourself while saying, "I knew I should have said no." But you allowed your compassion to embrace a bad idea. And on and on. . .etc.

So, when we hear of the struggles, heartaches, traumas, internal conflicts, bullying, depression and near suicide attempts from those who are transitioning, our heart goes out to them and we want to extend mercy and compassion. Many do, and in so doing, their emotions turns into a snare and they embrace a behavioral lifestyle that God does not endorse.  

So Satan uses both the spirit of confusion and a wrong application of compassion to cause Christians to embrace transgenderism. And this become doubly hard for those within the same household -- such as family members.

The tricky part for all Christians is to love and show compassion for the person, while not getting ourselves caught in a snare so as to embrace their sin and wrongful behavior.  When Christians do this, they compromise their faith. And you cannot be a beacon of light to bring someone up from the pit of unholy mire, when you are embracing both wrong thinking and wrong behavior.

"But Pastor Rich, compassion is a God-given emotion. We need to use more of it."

I agree, but we need some guidelines to help guide us in our use of compassion. So let's go to the Bible and get some help.

I am thinking of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. When you read this story, you'll see that it is more about the compassionate father than it is about the wayward son. The prodigal son illustrates us who stray from God the Father now and then and the Compassionate Father illustrates God the Father.

The story begins with the son asking his father, "Give me my share of the estate that belongs to me" (v. 12).  The idea here coming from the son is, "Father, I want to come out from under your authority and live my life. I choose to leave and do what I want. I need money to do it. I cannot wait until you die. Give to me my share now."  The father grants the son's request.

Days later the son took off to a distant land engaged in loose living (v. 13).  He then ran out of money and needed money to buy food and shelter (v. 14). He then went to look for a job and got hired tending to pigs which was against his Jewish beliefs. But what could he do?  He was desperate (v. 15). In fact, he was so desperate that food fed to the pigs seemed good to eat.  But no one showed compassion in order to help him (v. 16).  And then, he came to his senses and realized it was time to return home to his father. It was then that he realized he made a terrible mistake (vv. 17-19). 

His father saw his son returning home from far away and with a heart full of compassion, he hugged and kiss him. The father ordered his servants to prepare a big celebration, so big that the older brother said to himself, "Wow, I was never given a party like this!" (vv. 20-32). 

Now, what are some vital lessons on compassion we can take away from this story?  Here are two very important principles: 

First, notice that the father's compassion was NEVER expressed VISIBLY until AFTER the son repented and came home (vv. 18-23). The father had compassion for his son the whole time, but the father did not expressed his compassion in a visible manner until the son came home with a heart of repentance.

You see, if the father had shown compassion to his son during the time of his rebellion and giving the son the understanding of acceptance for his choice that he wanted, the father would have embraced his son's rebellion and become a partner along with it.  No, the father was deeply sad and deeply compassionate, but he did not expressed his heart's compassion toward his son until the son came home with a change of heart.  By showing compassion to his son when he returned home, the father was not glorifying the son's time in the world fulfilling his fleshly lusts, but instead the father was magnifying his son's return home showing a heart full love and acceptance awaits those who come to their senses and repent.

Principle: Compassion needs to be shown on the back end of repentance and not on the front end.

Second, by not embracing the son's rebellion, and by not even stopping his son from leaving home, and by not even running after the son to go looking for him, the father removed himself from being in the way and allowed consequences to do its work.

Too often we get in the way with our enabling and our rescuing, that the work of consequences are postponed and never given the full opportunity to do its job.  Even God prohibited others from showing compassion to the son in his state of rebellion - "and no one was giving anything to him" (v. 16).

We know how hard it can be to simply "wait on the Lord." We feel that we just got to do something.  We got to try. We can do something -- we can pray.  The bible says that "while the son was still a long way off he saw him" (v. 20).  The son never left his father's heart. The father prayed for him and waited for God to bring his son home in His timing using His ways.

Principle: Get out of the way and let God use consequences to bring the wayward sinner to his or her senses.

Understandably, it is difficult for us to not show compassion to someone we feel sorry or pity for. But remember this:  Satan is a great counterfeiter. We all know how he counterfeits, Christians, the church, preachers and teachers, love, etc. So it ought not to be surprising if he also is able to counterfeit emotions, one of them being, "compassion."  The struggle that we face with our emotions goes back to how the devil uses the spirit of confusion to derail us.

End of Part 3