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Islam, Muslims and National Security

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Islam, Muslims and National Security

James R. Aist

“Islam is not a religion but a political system based on religion.” – General Mike Flynn

Disclaimer

In this article, I will tell the truth and share many important facts that you need to know about Islam and its adherents, Muslims. While Islam is inherently violent, especially toward Christians and Jews, many claiming to be Muslims are not. I am in no way condoning or promoting violence or discrimination against truly peace-loving Muslims that do not support Jihad, Caliphate and/or Sharia Law; they are not our enemies, and we should not view or treat them as such.

Introduction

My aim here is to present certain core facts and truths about Islam and Muslims and to provide links to a few, key, on-line, source articles that you can access easily to both verify what I have to say and to flesh out the main points for yourself. This is a very important topic for you to become fully aware of, so I strongly urge you take the time to read my source articles. Radical Islamists, representing Islam, are dead set on Caliphate (world-wide political and religious domination) and are already actively carrying out Jihad (holy war) and establishing their Sharia Law here in America, so you really do need to know the facts and the truth about this.

Islam versus Muslims

It is important here to keep in mind the distinction between the religion (Islam) and the people (Muslims). As Matt Barber has so succinctly pointed out (click HERE), “Islam is about control. The word itself means “submission.” It is a socio-political pseudo-religion based upon the incoherent scribblings of one man – the “prophet” Muhammad, a warring tyrant who, as even the Quran concedes, was a murderous misogynist and pedophile.” Radical Islamists, representing Islam, are dead set on Caliphate and are actively carrying out Jihad and establishing Sharia Law. They have been doing this since the founding of Islam by the false prophet Muhammad around 600 A.D. For a thorough and authentic account of the history, aims and methods of Muhammad and Islam, click HERE.

Islam is a religion of violence, not peace, because their holy book, the Quran, repeatedly instructs true Muslims to carry out violence against all infidels (non-Muslims). In fact, “The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with non-believers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called ‘hypocrites’ and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter (Click HERE).” Many of these calls to violence and murder are specifically aimed at Christians and Jews who refuse to convert to Islam. Recall that the Arab countries bordering Israel are sworn to the annihilation of Israel at all costs, and note the ongoing slaughter of Christians by ISIS in Islamic countries and elsewhere. You can find HERE an extensive list of the ongoing acts of violence and murder perpetrated against non-Muslims in the name of their false god, Allah. Truth be told, Islam is a false religion with a false prophet and a false god. And we can know that their “god” is not the God of Christianity, as the Roman Catholic Pope says it is, because their “god” does not have a Son called Jesus Christ and their “god” requires them to persecute and/or kill Christians and Jews who refuse to convert to Islam. Think about that for a moment.

Now let’s turn our attention specifically to Muslims, the adherents of Islam. There is a wide spectrum of folks who call themselves Muslim, ranging from actively radical terrorists (such as ISIS), to so-called moderates (inactive supporters of Jihad, Caliphate and Sharia Law), to actually peaceful Muslims (non-supporters of Jihad, Caliphate and Sharia Law). Worldwide, Muslim support for Jihad, Caliphate and Sharia Law varies greatly from one nation to another (click HERE). Even in America, there is an alarmingly high level of Muslim support for these goals of Islam, as 51% want Sharia Law and 33% believe that Sharia Law should be supreme over the U.S. Constitution! These are the so-called “moderate” Muslims. Among the actively radical, Muslim terrorists groups in America are ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and radical Imams (religious leaders), to mention a few. They have either celebrated or perpetrated the many Islamic terrorist attacks reported in the news over the past several years in America. These are the American Muslims who hate America and want to kill us if we refuse to convert to Islam, as ISIS is currently doing around the world. It has been correctly said that a radical Muslim wants to cut your head off, and a moderate Muslim wants the radical Muslim to cut your head off…in compliance, of course, with the will of Allah as revealed in the Quran.

David P. Brown (citation not available) has explained this difference between a radical Muslim and a “moderate” Muslim like this: “Where is the practicing Muslim who will declare that he/she does not believe any or all of the following quotations (Koran 2:191; 3:28; 3:85; 5:33; 8:12, 60, 65; 9:5, 30, 123; 22:19; 47:4), or other quotations teaching the same thing, from Islam’s holy book, the Koran??? All of the foregoing passages from the Koran demand that those Muslims who will be faithful followers of Allah must oppose and kill those the Koran declares to be Infidels. Just because many Muslims do not personally and directly practice what is taught by these passages from the Koran by no means proves that what these quotations declare are not a part of Islam. The foregoing is the case whether or not Muslims personally and directly practice them or not, or, in other words, whether they are the ones who personally “pull the trigger” to shoot Islam’s infidels or not. Clearly, these passages must be obeyed by Muslims in order for a Muslim to be pleasing to Allah and for them to go to the Islamic Paradise when he/she dies. Moreover, a Muslim is as much a part of Islam’s militant activity when he/she silently supports his/her fellow Muslims without ever wielding a knife, shooting a gun, or blowing himself to pieces in directly killing the Islamic infidels. For every active soldier on the front lines there are many support troops and civilians (did anyone ever hear of the “home front”?) who never engage in personal direct fighting with enemy combatants on the front lines. But support soldiers and the important support of “home front” are as necessary to successfully fighting an enemy as is the combat soldier who personally and directly, actually fires a weapon at an enemy combatant. Anyone who can see through a ladder and read the Koran can know what Islam teaches and what many Muslims are taught to practice.”

What now?

President-elect Donald Trump and his generals know about this and will, very shortly, begin to take action to prevent the Islamization of America; they need our support. We need to stop dealing with Islamic terrorists with “kid gloves” and pursue them aggressively and decisively. This is not the time for “political correctness”, folks. It will suffice to destroy the Islamic terrorists and their terrorist networks both here and abroad, because, without them, the so-called moderates will have no one to do their “dirty work” for them. And the truly peaceful Muslims will continue to live peacefully with the rest of us.

Summary

Truly peaceful Muslims represent about half of the Muslims in America, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. The others – “moderate” Muslims and radical Muslim terrorists – must be prevented from spreading their holy war, Sharia Law and political domination to America. This will require a long, concerted effort – both domestic and foreign – to defeat all forms of radical Islam that threaten the constitutional freedoms and rule of law in America. We have no choice in this matter, as Islam is, in fact, a political system based on religion and dedicated to world domination. In other words, Islam is, by definition, a one-world-order theocracy and an imminent threat to our democratic republic.

(To read more BIBLICAL TEACHINGS by Professor Aist, click HERE)

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Either Way, We Die for Christ

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Either Way, We Die for Christ

 James R. Aist

“For to me, to continue living is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21

There has been an apparent uptick recently in the persecution of Christians for their faith in Jesus Christ. This persecution has taken many forms, including loss of property and/or livelihood, jail time and fines. Many have even lost their lives for refusing to renounce Jesus. These martyred believers have clearly died for Christ. But, what about the rest of us? Are we, too, called to die for Christ, even though we live?

Indeed, we are all called to die for Christ. While we live, we are to be dead to sin, so that we might live for Christ (Romans 6:11, 1 Peter 2:24). We may also have to suffer loss of property and/or livelihood, serve jail time or pay fines for our Christian faith. Jesus put it this way: “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24).

For our further instruction, the Apostle Paul elaborated considerably on these points:

2 Corinthians 4:8-11. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; and always carrying around in the body the death of the Lord Jesus, that also the life of Jesus might be expressed in our bodies. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that also the life of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh;”

Colossians 3:3-4; 8-9. “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then you also shall appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death the parts of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. But now you must also put away all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie one to another, since you have put off the old nature with its deeds.”

So, you see, believers who are executed (martyred) because of their Christian faith die physically for Jesus and go immediately to be with Him (2 Corinthians 5:8). And, those who live on become dead to sin, make tangible sacrifices, live righteously and eventually go to be with Jesus as well. Either way, if you are a born-again Christian, you will die because of your faith in Christ and receive your reward in heaven when the time comes.

In the eyes of God, you and I are “to die for”, and Jesus did just that: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Our fitting response, then, is to die for Christ, one way or another.

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Spiritual Encounters with God: A Witness, Two Prophecies and a Parable

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Spiritual Encounters with God: A Witness, Two Prophecies and a Parable

 James R. Aist

“‘In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” – Acts 2:17

Introduction

This is the final article in a three-part series on “Spiritual Encounters with God.” You can read the first two articles HERE and HERE. They describe visions, voices, and dreams that I have experienced and understand to be direct communications from God to me. In this article, I describe three other personal encounters with God: the witness of the Holy Spirit, as mentioned in the Bible, two words of prophecy I received concerning my children and a renter, and a parable illustrating the sanctification process. Such spiritual encounters with God are not uncommon among contemporary, born-again Christians, and they are certainly not unique to me by any means. In fact, I believe that, because the Holy Spirit is present in all true believers, all of us have spiritual encounters with God of one sort or another. We just don’t always perceive them as such. Among Pentecostal and Charismatic believers, such personal, revelational encounters with God are commonly referred to as “Rhema.” As you are reading, please keep in mind that God interacts with each of His born-again children however He chooses, and one’s lack of a corresponding spiritual encounter with God does not lessen the validity of another’s.

That said, let’s jump right into the remaining four of my spiritual encounters with God: a witness, two prophecies and a parable.

A Promised Witness

This encounter happened in the mid-1980s, when my first wife and I were struggling with an impending divorce. For me, these were times of incredible stress, anxiety and depression. I could see my most cherished dreams – dreams of a lifelong marriage, a stable and lasting family life, and three children brought up to know and love God – I could see all of that disintegrating before my very eyes. And there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I had already tried everything I could think of, to no avail.

It was when I was at my lowest point, crying out for relief from the stress and confusion, that Satan literally spoke into my mind one day, as if he were sitting on my left shoulder. He said “Jesus isn’t the son of God. You don’t really believe that he is, do you? Look at how much stress that’s causing you. Why don’t you give up on that and just go along with the flow? That will make things a lot easier for you.” And he kept repeating the same message, over and over. But, whenever he would say this to me, something interesting would happen inside of me. The Holy Spirit would simply speak into my mind saying “You believe that Jesus is the son of God. Don’t ever let go of that; it’s the most important thing you have left.” When this spiritual battle between Satan and the Holy Spirit was over, I was still holding on to my faith in Jesus: Satan was defeated!

I found out later that this internal witness of the Holy Spirit was a direct fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in John 15:26, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me…” And Romans 8:16 says “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” That witness of the Holy Spirit was the only thing that got me through that dark and sinister time of testing. What’s more, that witness of the Holy Spirit helped me hold on to the only real friend I had at that time, Jesus Christ. I believe that Proverbs 18:24 is speaking of Jesus when it says “… there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

The lessons I learned from this encounter with God are these: When everything and everyone else has failed you, remember that you still have Jesus. He is all you need to see you through! And, the Holy Spirit in you will ensure that Jesus will remain your friend no matter what, or who, attacks your faith.

A Prophecy of Promise

In mid-June of 1992, I was at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International Men’s Advance at Lake George in upstate New York. One day when they were baptizing some of the participants, in the lake, I stepped forward to be immersed by Pastor Don Yarborough. We had never met, and he knew nothing about me. As I approached him in the water, he just stared at me straight in the eye with a blank look, and kept staring. I thought to myself, “That’s strange; he doesn’t seem to even see me coming.” Finally, as I drew near to him, he reached out his hand to me, we shook hands and I introduced myself. Then he said that something very unusual had just happened; it had happened only once before in his ~20 years of baptizing people.

He said that as I was approaching him in the water, he received a prophecy for me, in the form of several Bible passages from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. They all had to do with the head of the household being saved and all of his family with him. He then proceeded to share with me all five of those Bible verses. When he had finished with that, he gave me the interpretation: God wants me to stand on and hold fast to these promises, which he is confirming to me and my children. Wow! Through this prophecy, God had just told me that all of my children will be saved! Needless to say, I was a “happy camper” the rest of that meeting.

Now, as it turns out, my daughter, Liesel, was visiting with me later that month. She knew nothing of the prophecy I had received just a few days earlier. The day before she left to go home, we were having a discussion about the things of God, and, to my utter amazement, she asked me if I had ever received any indication from God as to whether or not she would someday become a Christian! I was, for a moment, speechless. How in the world did she even know to ask me that? When I regained my composure, I told her about this prophecy. She was visibly pleased and very encouraged to find this out. God had arranged a “divine appointment” for sure!

About five years later, Liesel was, tragically, struck and killed by an automobile while crossing an intersection. In the days just before and after her death, I learned – from two, independent, reliable witnesses – that during the two weeks prior to the accident, she had given testimony of her faith in Jesus! God is good, and He is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

A Prophecy of Provision

I received and gave this prophecy in the late 1990s when my wife, Janet, and I were renting our basement apartment to a veterinary student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Her name is Penny. She had developed a pattern of not having enough money to fully cover the next month’s rent, and we always worked with her to pay the balance in a couple of weeks, and she always did. But, Penny was embarrassed to always have to ask us to extend this grace to her. One morning, when the rent was due in full the next day, she came upstairs and knocked on the basement door. When I opened the door, I saw that she had been crying. She came into our living room and, tearfully, explained that this time she didn’t have any rent money, and asked us to let her pay the full amount, $300, in two weeks. So we comforted her and agreed to let her be two weeks late for the full amount. She was relieved and very grateful as she returned to the apartment. After seeing her to the door, I turned and walked back into the living room. My wife and I looked at each other, said something to the effect that we are, after all, able to carry her debt for two weeks, and were about to get on with our daily routine, satisfied that the matter had been settled. Then, suddenly, something stopped me dead in my tracks. God spoke into my mind saying, very clearly, “No, she is going to have the money and will NOT be late with the rent payment!” While I was processing that message in my mind, God spoke again very clearly and with urgency, “Say it out loud, speak it out, now!” So, I made sure my wife was listening and boldly spoke the message out loud, “No, she is going to have the money and will NOT be late with the rent payment!” Then I had the sense that it was this prophecy that really settled the matter.

And, sure enough, that same afternoon, when Penny walked to the mailbox to get the mail, there was an envelope in the mailbox with her name on it. Inside was $300 in cash and a note saying something like , “I just felt that you might need this at this time.” Bam, prophecy fulfilled!

A Parable of the Wood Chips

This encounter with God happened in the early 2000s, and is told in a bit more detail HERE. I had, for many, many years, stacked into two neat and straight rows, the pile of cut and split firewood left in my yard by the dump truck. Then I cleaned up the mess of firewood “trash” that remained on the lawn where the pile of wood had been, and nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened. True to form, I had developed a routine for the tedious, but necessary, task of cleaning up the “trash” after the firewood was stacked. I would begin with the largest pieces, those that were too small to stack with the normal firewood but very easy to spot and gather into a box to use as kindling whenever I needed to build a fire in my wood stove. With those larger pieces removed, I could then more easily spot fragments of a smaller size and gather them into the box. And so on and so forth, until there was nothing left but tiny bits and slivers that I was not even aware of until all of the larger pieces had been removed. I would then rake together as many of these minuscule remnants as possible and deposit them into the trash. Finally — applying the concept of “good enough” — I would declare the project finished, even though, if I looked closely enough, there were still left even tinier fragments that I had not noticed before. Oh well.

One cool, crisp, spring day I was busy cleaning up the trash after stacking the firewood for the next winter. First the larger pieces, those that were easiest to see, then the next-largest pieces that were now, themselves, the easiest to see, and then the still-smaller pieces which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere when all of the just-larger pieces had been removed. Then, I paused briefly to rest and catch my breath. I was standing there, looking out over the “debris field” and thinking about how I could see the next-smaller pieces only after the just-larger pieces had been removed, when God spoke into my mind: “This is exactly how I clean the sins out of your life after you are born again! I begin by showing you the most conspicuous sins. These are the ones you are probably already painfully aware of, but have not yet dealt with for some reason. When these sins have been taken care of, it’s easier for Me to show you the less conspicuous sins, and we set about, together, to deal with those. And with those sins now out of the way too, it’s possible for you to see sins that you didn’t even know were there, and so on.” Wow! I thought I was just was cleaning up the trash in my lawn, but God was showing me how He was cleaning up the trash in my life! We commonly refer to that process as “sanctification”, and the Holy Spirit is in charge of it.

With this article, my three-part account of spiritual encounters with God is complete. I hope you have found them interesting, edifying and encouraging. Perhaps you are eager to discover how God has arranged spiritual encounters with you as well. If you do, you will be blessed. I’m sure of it.

(For more of my articles with biblical themes, click HERE)

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A Christian Perspective on Gender Identity Disorder

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A Christian Perspective on Gender Identity Disorder

James R. Aist

“A woman must not wear man’s clothing, nor is a man to put on a woman’s clothing. For all that do so are abominations to the Lord your God.” – Deuteronomy 22:5

Preface

In a previous article on the transgender movement (1), a comprehensive and scholarly review article (6) by the Family Research Council was presented. The purpose of the present article is to present a Christian perspective on Gender Identity Disorder (GID) itself. (The numbers in parentheses are keyed to the numbered references listed at the end of the article.)

What is Gender Identity Disorder?

Gender Identity Disorder – often called “Gender Dysphoria” to de-emphasize the mental delusion involved – is a mental disorder characterized by the feeling and belief that you are not really the gender of the body you were born in, but that of the opposite gender. Thus, a person born a male feels and believes that he is really a female trapped in a male body and identifies his gender as female, and a person born a female feels and believes that she is really a male trapped in a female body and identifies her gender as male. Such a person is said to be transgender, because he/she perceives their real gender to be opposite (trans) their birth gender. Conversely, a cisgender person feels and believes their real gender to be the same (cis) as their birth gender. Transgender people experience intense anxiety, distress and inner conflict, because their perceived gender does not match their actual, birth gender. These feelings and beliefs are, themselves, very real to the person experiencing them, but they do not correspond to the actual, biological gender. Therefore, they represent a virtual, rather than an actual, reality. That is to say, persons with GID are delusional with respect to their gender. The best estimates of the prevalence of GID put it in the range of 0.33%-0.47%, or less than one-half of one percent, of the general population (7). Thus, GID is not “normal.”

What is a Christian Response to GID?

What does the Bible say?

Let’s begin with Genesis 1:27 (with Mark 10:6) and Genesis 1:28. God makes mankind, including transgender persons, in His own image as male and female. Recall that God Himself created the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. Thus, as male and female, mankind can manifest the image of God by participating with God in the continuing creation of new, male and female, human beings. GID can prevent this manifestation of the image of God in us and keep us from being the complete man or woman God desires us to be. Therefore, GID is not natural.

Now, let’s move on to Deuteronomy 22:5, where God gives us instruction concerning a common manifestation of transgenderism; namely, “cross dressing”: “A woman must not wear man’s clothing, nor is a man to put on a woman’s clothing. For all that do so are abominations to the Lord your God.” (Note that this Old Testament instruction is a moral law, and, as such, is fully in force in today’s Christian church.) The Hebrew word translated “abomination” in the KJV and MEV translations is translated in many other modern English versions of the Bible as “detestable”, disgusting”, “abhorrent”, or “hateful” to God, leaving no room for doubt that God does not approve of transgender acts. But notice further that the verse says that “all that do so” are, themselves, abominations (hateful) to God. “But”, you may object, “doesn’t God love sinners?” Indeed He does, but, at the same time, He also hates those who are sinning (Psalms 5:5, Psalms 11:5, Proverbs 3:32, Proverbs 11:20). This may be a surprise to you, but remember the good news: God’s perfect love has made a way for His hatred of sinners to be cancelled, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This good news is for all who sin against God in any way, including transgender people.

Finally, we come to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God.” Professor Robert Gagnon, one of our most prominent, contemporary, evangelical Bible scholars, had this to say about this passage, and I quote: “Paul includes “soft men” (malakoi) in the offender list in 1 Cor 6:9-10, which in context designates men who attempt to become women (through dress, mannerisms, makeup, and sometimes castration), often to attract male sex partners. The fact that Paul includes such persons among those who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” suggests that acting on a desire to become the opposite sex can in fact affect one’s redemption” (4). Fortunately (for them and us), the same passage goes on to say that the power and authority (i.e., the “name”) of Jesus is able to both rid them of their sinful behavior and save their souls!

Let’s look into this aspect a bit further. I see a parallel here with the condition of homosexuality. God does not hate homosexuals because they develop same-sex attractions; they do not choose to have them. But He does hate them when they choose to act on those feelings by having homosexual sex (a sin). Likewise, God does not hate transgender persons because they develop GID; they did not choose to be gender confused. But, when they choose to act contrary to His design and purposes (sin, e.g., by cross dressing, undergoing so-called “gender re-asssignment”, etc.), that’s when He hates them. And, this is the same manner in which God deals with mankind concerning any other kind of sin, is it not? We sin and trigger God’s hatred, not by being tempted to sin, but by giving in to the temptation and choosing to commit sinful acts. With that perspective, it should be easier for us to refrain from condemning transgender persons; for we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

And, here is a further, often overlooked, ramification of Deuteronomy 22:5 and 1 Corinthians 1:6-9. If a male-to-female transgender person has sex with a man, he is committing a homosexual sin, because he is, in reality, still a man. Likewise, if a female-to-male transgender person has sex with a female, she is committing a homosexual sin, because she is, in reality, still a woman. Do not be deceived: God will not be mocked by anyone masquerading as a member of the opposite gender. After all, He is the one who created man with the XY sex chromosome configuration and woman with the XX sex chromosome configuration, and no amount or manner of pretending will ever change that.

That brings us to my final point in this section. Some transgender activists accuse God of making people gender confused. So, let me be very clear about this: God does not make anyone transgender! What kind of a “god” would create human beings that he purposely made to be an abomination to himself?! The God of the Bible is neither sadistic nor self-defeating. While it is true that God does not make mistakes, it is also true that God, for the time being at least, does allow mistakes to be made. For example, does He not allow us to sin? So then, how is it that transgenderism developed in a world created by a sovereign, morally perfect God? The answer is right before our eyes: like homosexuality (2), transgenderism came about as the result of original sin (16) and the resultant curse under which all of creation will continue to be compromised until the return of Jesus Christ to restore God’s creation to its original, perfect condition. Until then, let us not slander God by accusing Him of creating in us the sin nature that we struggle against, regardless of how that sin nature is manifested!

How should Christians respond?

In short, we should not condemn transgender persons themselves, and, at the same time, it seems to me, we should not affirm their gender delusion. In this regard, however, Yarhouse (7) recommended the following approach : “If Sara shares her name with me, as a clinician and Christian, I use it. I do not use this moment to shout “Integrity!” by using her male name or pronoun, which clearly goes against that person’s wishes. It is an act of respect, even if we disagree, to let the person determine what they want to be called. If we can’t grant them that, it’s going to be next to impossible to establish any sort of relationship with them.”  In any case, we must treat transgender persons with dignity and respect, be honest with them, have compassion for their suffering, and pray earnestly for them. We should not try to “fix” them (7). If the opportunity arises, we should encourage them to seek God’s help through prayer and/or psychotherapy in order to work through their underlying psychological issues and concerns. As with all ungodly conditions and behaviors that afflict fallen mankind, God can say the word, and healing will come. Of course, whether, or how, He chooses to heal is up to Him.

Perhaps you would like to read what several, prominent, evangelical Christian leaders have recently written about a Christian response to transgenderism. If so, I refer you to references (3, 4, 5, and 7) at the end of this article. These are all potentially helpful articles for anyone who sincerely wants to be Christ-like in their response to the transgender movement. I especially recommend that you read the article by Yarhouse (7) and then the article by Gagnon (4), which is a response to it. As Christians, we must be careful to reach out to transgender people on our own terms, not theirs, if we want to help them find redemption in Jesus Christ. And that should be our end game.

A good, Christian website with personal testimonies and lots more information on GID is “Help 4 Families” (8).

(For more articles by Professor Aist on HOMOSEXUALITY, click HERE)

References Cited

1. Aist, J. 2016. The Transgender Movement: A Comprehensive Review (click HERE)

2. Aist, J. 2014b. God Does Not Make Anyone Homosexual! (click HERE)

3. Brown, M. 2015. Can the Church Embrace the Transgender Community? Charisma News. (click HERE)

4. Gagnon, R. 2015. How Should Christians Respond to the Transgender Phenomenon? First Things. (click HERE)

5. Moore, R. 2015. What Should the Church Say to Bruce Jenner? The Christian Post. (click HERE)

6. O’Leary, D. and P. Sprigg. 2015. Understanding and Responding to the Transgender Movement. Family Research Council. (click HERE)

7. Yarhouse, M. 2015. Understanding the Transgender Phenomenon. Christianity Today. (click HERE)

8. Help 4 families. (click HERE)