As the emphasis on transgenderism, same sex attraction, and sexual identity continues to grow in America, we need to know what God says about these things so that we know we have firm footing wherever we stand.  Our senior pastor is about to preach on these issues so some of our discussions around his sermons has prompted me to share some of my thoughts in this blog.

The first time gender is mentioned in scripture is in the first chapter of Genesis where we are told, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen.1:27).  

God created two sexes, both of which have been made in his image. In the beginning, before sin shattered our relationship with God and our environment, God made men and women.  If we follow the science (real science) we are told that there are vast differences between men and women – not just physically but also in their hormones, brain chemistry, and so forth. There is a real sense in which men and women complete and compliment each other.  That was God’s plan from the beginning and there is no biblical suggestion that God was ever going to change his mind about his creation, the nature of marriage, or that there are more than  two genders.  A man is to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they are to become one flesh. Jesus quoted the same scripture in his teachings about God’s intent for marriage.

Now, we have to account for all the views on sexuality, gender confusion, transgenderism and so forth that we see championed around us these days. The confusion around sexual identity was not introduced by God, but by sin when Adam and Eve stepped into Satan’s trap in the Garden and forfeited their authority over the earth.  At the point of their ejection from the Garden, not only did they lose their intimate spiritual connection with God, but became subject to both death and sickness.  The natural realm became subject to decay (Rom. 8:21). Satan took authority over the earth and began immediately to distort God’s creation. 

In my forty years of ministry, I have seen several things that contributed to gender confusion in men and women.  One is trauma.  When a boy or girl is molested at a young age, especially by the same sex, it seems to create questions about the individual’s sexual identity as he or she grows up.  Typically, shame and fear are both attached to the experience. None of that is brought about by God, but by sin and Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy. 

A second source of gender confusion and, eventually, homosexual relationships can be spiritual.  I have personally ministered to several people (men and women) who were afflicted by a spirit of homosexuality or lesbianism to the degree that they pursued the lifestyle.  In these cases, deliverance set them free from their confusion and their God-given sexual identity was restored.

A third source I have seen is misinformation.  I have also personally ministered to individuals who decided that they must be “gay” because they had developed emotional ties to others of the same sex.  Scripture is clear that both men and women (David & Jonathan / Ruth and Naomi, etc. ) could be extremely close emotionally and relationally without being homosexual. Our culture has put a sexual imprint on every relationship so that we confuse love with sex.  We think that if we love someone, that love must have a sexual expression.  It does not.  Scripture says that David and Jonathan’s souls were knit together, but both were healthy heterosexual men.  One of the young men to whom I have ministered thought he must be gay and, therefore, became homosexually active with a friend although he had no sexual attraction to the other man.  After discovering that he could have deep friendships with men and not be “gay,” he was able to leave the lifestyle.  Solomon said, “There is a friend, who is closer than a brother.”  In our culture, Satan has perverted both sex and friendship.  The church needs to redeem both from a broken culture sl that men and women can love one another without a perverse sexual component.

We must also acknowledge a fourth source of gender confusion.  When the earth was cursed because of sin and became subject to decay, genetic damage and sinful predispositions also became part of the gene pool that gets passed down from generation to generation.  In the same way that birth defects are a side effect of sin and decay in the natural realm, due to genetic distortions that vary from God’s original intent, gender confusion can be experienced in the same way. Research suggests that we can be born with a propensity toward alcoholism or other addictions.  It also suggests that even emotional predispositions such as fear, anger, or depression can be transmitted generationally through genes.  It may also be that gender confusion is passed down through genetic codes. 

Each of these sources of gender confusion arise from the effects of sin on the world.  There is something so holy about our sexuality, that Satan has targeted that part of God’s creation with a vengeance.  Lust, pornography, human sex trafficking, sexual abuse, molestation, incest, transgenderism, and even homosexuality are a distortion of God’s intent for our gender identity and our expression of God-given sexuality. 

The first key to dealing with these issues is to understand that these are not part of God’s plan for his people. We don’t have to demonize those who have been victimized by sin and Satan.  In fact, we should love and have great compassion for who struggle in these areas.  Many of these men and women are truly tormented. Having said that, we cannot enable the pursuit, normalization, or even glorification of these things that depart from God’s intent.

For every sin, God has a solution.  For every wrong path, God has a way back.  Whether truth sets us free, deliverance, emotional healing, physical healing or simply the grace to say “No” to sin, as believers we cannot bow to cultural pressures orchestrated by the enemy to compromise God’s intent when it comes to gender and sexuality.  If we come into agreement with Satan on any of these issues, we empower him in our nation and our own lives. We must have faith for a solution so that every person damaged by sin can be redeemed and walk in a right relationship with the Lord. To do less, is to miss the mark.

Among other things, Satan is described as “the accuser of the brethren” who accuses them day and night before God (Rev. 12:10).  In the Old Testament, we find a detailed account of him accusing Job before God (Job 1:6-11) and again we find him standing before God to accuse Joshua, the high Priest (Zechariah 3:1).  Jesus revealed to Peter that Satan had asked to sift him like wheat (Luke 22:31).  I think we can safely assume that Satan had stood before God accusing Peter and wanting to unleash hell in his life.  Those accusations take place in the courts of Heaven, but Satan is even more active shouting his accusations on the earth.  

How often must the accuser whisper accusations in our ear about our spouse, about our neighbor, about our boss, about our church, or about our leaders.  He makes accusations about their motives and intent – that they are withholding what is due to us, that they are taking advantage of us, that they are liars and manipulators and want what is rightfully ours.  How often do we judge others because we presume to know their hearts and motives?

But not only does Satan accuse those around us, he also accuses us to ourselves.  He accuses us of being unworthy of love, unworthy of success, unworthy of God’s blessings, and unworthy of fulfilling a great destiny that God has already written in his book for us. He schemes to make us feel unloved and disqualified from every blessing of God…even his grace.  

Through his accusations, we can come to a place in which we believe that someone is beyond help, beyond transformation, beyond forgiveness, beyond grace, and beyond hope.  We may even believe that about ourselves.  When we get to that place, we give up on others or ourselves.  We feel so condemned that we feel hopeless and at that point we give up and give in.

A young man, we’ll call Gary, came to our church several years ago.  In a counseling session, he revealed that he had been in bondage to a homosexual life style for years.  His family, including his wife, knew nothing about his “other life.” For months he had been telling his wife he was working late but instead he had been having liaisons with other men he was meeting online.  He had grown up in a conservative church and the shame he felt for his deceit and his homosexuality was overwhelming. He despised himself and was certain that God despised him as well.  His words were,” This is my last stop.  If I can’t get help here, I’m giving in.   I’m going to leave my wife and family and give into the lifestyle.  Resisting is just too hard.”

I asked him if he had ever heard God speak.  He said that he thought he had once or twice, so I asked him if we could ask Jesus to speak to him.  He very reluctantly agreed and I simply asked Jesus to speak to him and tell Gary how he felt about him.   We sat quietly for a moment and then Gary burst into tears and began weeping.  After another minute, I asked him what Jesus had said to him.  Gary said, “He didn’t say anything, but I literally felt his arms around me.”

Gary had believed the accusations of the enemy that he had gone too far … even beyond God’s grace, but a gentle hug from the Savior ignited his hope and his faith again.  

Within four weeks, Gary had learned to treat the compulsion as a spirit that he commanded to leave whenever it pressed in on him. One afternoon, spirits of rejection, unworthiness, and homosexuality were cast out and he was free from his bondage. He fell in love with his wife and his Savior again.  Years later, he was still walking in freedom.

When our life or the life of someone we know spins out of control, Satan wants us to believe that God is through with us or them.   It is a lie.  No one is beyond God’s grace whether it is a Mary Magdalene with seven demons or a Gadarene tomb-dweller filled with a legion of demons.  We must learn to treat Satan’s accusations as lies when he whispers them about those around or when he accuses us in our own hearts.  To do less is to deny the immense love of God and the immense power of the blood of Christ.