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Friday, November 25, 2022

The “Transgender” Lie: How We Got Here

In The American Conservative recently, in a piece entitled “The Coming Storm Over Trans ‘Tuskegee Experiment,’” Rod Dreher highlights a telling Twitter thread that reveals the tremendous angst and anger of a dad whose daughter’s life is now a “living nightmare” due to “demonic barbarity” of those behind the evil “transgender” agenda. In describing his daughter’s tragic mutilation, the father rightly declares,

We all know trans is a lie. Scientific American, the AMA, the pediatricians, none of them have even a fig leaf of an excuse. They will come to us for a do-over, but for the victims of their demonic barbarity, there will be no do-over and we will all be able to see that.

He continues:

 



Mr. Dreher declares,

There will be no justice until every damn doctor, hospital, and medical association responsible for this atrocity has been sued into the ground, and some of them imprisoned. Forgiveness? Yes, in time (though that's easy for me to say, as I have not suffered what this father has suffered) -- but only after full lustration, only after Nuremberg-like tribunals, only after the trials, only after utter and complete shame shattering all the luminaries and the institutions -- including the Democratic Party, the TV networks, the major newspapers -- which brought this evil onto the lives of American children and their families.

Mr. Dreher is exactly correct, though, given the condition of our country, I’m not convinced we’ll see justice in this world. Whether or not that happens, no one should be surprised that we are now having to debate who is a male, and who is a female. The truth on sex was long ago abandoned by the American left—and those like-minded—and with their numerous perversions on this matter, they have led millions astray.

The truth on sex was an early casualty in the American left’s long-waged war on the truth. For those who have foolishly decided to rule their own world—the age-old problem of humanity—going one’s own way in the sexual realm is a popular, and typically very early, decision. In America, around the middle of the twentieth century, “liberation” and “sexual freedom” were typical battle cries for those who wanted to pursue a life of sexual promiscuity and other hedonistic activities.

Long before the evil LGBT agenda was popular in the U.S., those devoted to the “theology of self” were peddling pornography and abortion on demand. Thus, rightly discerning followers of Jesus as a roadblock to their wicked pursuits, whether prayer in schools, public displays of the Ten Commandments, and the like, truth-deniers in America feverishly fought to remove any vestige of Judeo-Christian values from American culture.

As the “theology of self” began to prosper in America, divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates sky-rocketed, and the widespread destruction of the family was well underway. As a result, children being brought-up in America were not only subjected to an increasingly godless worldview in their schools and the culture at-large—entertainment, news media, corporations, and so on—their homes were largely devoid of the truth as well.

In addition, as more and more U.S. children were being brought up in single-parent homes, their parent—almost always a mom—was typically forced to rely on the godless government and culture to act as a co-parent. Of course, this disturbing trend continues throughout America today.

After getting like-minded fools in the U.S. judiciary (the left has never had to rely on winning elections to get their way) to back their evil agenda, pornography, abortion, and the like, spread like wildfire through America. As abortion dominated the moral wars in America, the left soon targeted marriage itself. Again, though losing election after election on the definition of marriage, the courts began to give the left what it wanted on same-sex “marriage.”

This culminated in a 5-4 decision at the U.S. Supreme Court that legally redefined marriage throughout the U.S. Thus, the oldest institution in the history of humanity was redefined by five liberals. As I’ve often noted, marriage (the union of one man and one woman for life) is older than God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, older than The Law, older than the church. Marriage is one of the earliest truths revealed by God. If ANYTHING is true, marriage as the union of one man and one woman is true.

Yet, here we are, and the left’s war on the truth rages on. Because when one abandons eternal truth, there is virtually no limit to the extremeness and no end to the amount of folly that will follow, we now find ourselves regularly and passionately having to debate who is a male and who is a female.

Ignoring virtually the only thing with more precedent than marriage, the left throughout America is making laws and policies that redefine male and female. Schools, corporations, states (where democrats are in control), the federal government (when democrats are in control), the military, and so on, are pretending that we don’t know who is a male and who is a female. Of course, leftist judges are agreeing with this absurd evil.

I hope there is a reckoning on this grave matter. But given the quick and broad surrender on homosexuality and marriage, again, I’m not so sure that we will see it. One thing I am sure of: one of the biggest reasons that we are where we are on these issues is because the church has not taught and preached the truth frequently and loudly enough when it comes to sex and marriage. If you’re a follower of Jesus, it is your duty to boldly tell the truth on all these things. The silence is killing us.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2022, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

The History of America’s First Thanksgiving

On May 14, 1607, headed by a seven-man council, which included John Smith, 144 men settled Jamestown. Because of their misguided efforts it was a disaster from the beginning. These men battled the elements, disease, Indians, starvation, and one another. The lone minister on the adventure, Robert Hunt, did his best to keep the others focused on God. His sermons went mostly unheeded; however, he persevered. By February of 1608 only 38 of the 144 remained alive.

The death rate did not abate with time. As Peter Marshall and David Manuel note,

For example, of the 1,200 people who went out to Virginia in 1619, only 200 were left alive by 1620. Why this horrible continuing death rate? There is no logical explanation, except one: year after year they steadfastly refused to trust God—or indeed to include Him in any of their deliberations.

The next settlers to cross the Atlantic would not make the same mistakes. They were not seeking wealth and prosperity, but a new home. They believed that America was their spiritual destiny. The Pilgrims (dubbed “Separatists” by the Church of England), and the Puritans who followed them, knew better than to undertake anything without God.

Aboard the Mayflower were 102 passengers, less than half of whom were of Pastor John Robinson’s Separatist flock. After a grueling two-month voyage, on November 11, 1620, they dropped anchor in Cape Cod, and heeding the advice and wisdom of their pastor, the Pilgrims drafted a compact that would embody the same principles of government upon which American democracy would rest. It read,

In the name of God, amen. We whose names are under-written…Having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic…constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony…the 11th of November…Anno Domini 1620.

A replica model of the Mayflower. Created by Norbert Schnitzler.

Though their efforts were “for the glory of God,” the Pilgrims were not immune to the many hardships of an untamed America. Before long, many started dying. William Bradford’s wife Dorothy was among the casualties as she fell overboard and drowned. (Initially, while dwellings were being built, the Pilgrims lived mostly aboard the Mayflower.) Due in part to a brutal winter, dozens would die in those first few months, including 13 of 18 wives. In spite of hardships, the Pilgrims were undeterred and drew ever closer to God.

The months turned into years and saw the Pilgrims develop good relations with the local natives including Massasoit, a wise and welcoming chief of the local tribes, Samoset, and especially Tisquantum, or Squanto.

Squanto’s life is an amazing tale of God’s provision that very closely resembles the account of Joseph from Genesis, chapter 37. Soon after Samoset introduced Squanto to the Pilgrims, a meeting with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag people, was arranged. Massasoit, Samoset, Squanto, and dozens of Wampanoag warriors traveled to Plymouth to meet the Pilgrims. With Samoset serving as the interpreter for Massasoit, the meeting was extremely fruitful. A peace treaty and a treaty of mutual aid were struck with Massasoit that would last for decades.

Massasoit and his party returned home, but Squanto remained with the Pilgrims. Being a man without a tribe, personally witnessing the desperation of the Pilgrims, and already having adopted their faith, Squanto took pity upon his new-found English friends and wanted to help them succeed in their New World. He taught them how to fish for eels and alewives, plant corn and pumpkins, refine maple syrup, trap beavers, hunt deer, and other skills essential to their survival.

Squanto was instrumental in the survival of the Pilgrims—so much so that, according to William Bradford, the Pilgrims considered Squanto “a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation.” Massasoit also was an amazing example of God’s providential care for the Pilgrims. Like Powhatan had been at Jamestown, Massasoit was probably the only other native chief on the northeast coast of America who would have welcomed the white man as a friend.

The summer of 1621 was beautiful and, thanks in no small measure to the help of Squanto, bountiful. Governor Bradford declared a day of public Thanksgiving to be held in October. Massasoit was invited. Surprising the Pilgrims, he showed up a day early with 90 of his tribe. To feed such a crowd, the Pilgrims would have to go deep into their food supply. However, Massasoit did not show up empty handed. He had instructed his braves to hunt for the occasion, and they came with several dressed dear and fat turkeys. The Thanksgiving turned into a three-day celebration filled with feasting and games.

The First Thanksgiving, by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

The winter of 1621-1622 was as difficult as feared. The Pilgrims entered what has been described as their “starving time.” Some reports reveal that at times, food rations for each person were a mere five kernels of corn per day. Miraculously, that winter not one Pilgrim died of starvation.

There was no Thanksgiving celebration in 1622. When the spring planting season of 1623 rolled around, the Pilgrims realized that to fend off further hunger and rationing, a corn harvest at least twice as large as last season was necessary. However, a lackluster work ethic prevailed among them. This was mainly because the contract entered into with their merchant sponsors in London required everything the Pilgrims produced was to go into a common store and be shared. As Rush Limbaugh often pointed out on his radio broadcast that celebrated Thanksgiving Day, the Pilgrims were languishing under socialism.

The leaders of the colony then decreed that for the additional planting, individual plots of land would be split, and the yield could be used at the planters’ discretion. Thus, as the concept of private property was introduced, the Pilgrims seemed infused and invigorated with new hope and purpose. As Marshall and Manuel point out, “The yield that year was so abundant that the Pilgrims ended up with a surplus of corn, which they were able to use in trading that winter with northern Indians, who had not had a good growing season.”

On November 29, 1623, two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a second day of Thanksgiving. In it Governor Bradford thanked God for their abundant harvest, bountiful game, protection from “the ravages of savages…and disease,” and for the “freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.”  Well over a hundred Natives attended, bringing plenty of turkey and venison along with them.

The Pilgrims, and the Puritans who followed them, had the proper perspective. As Bradford would so discernibly note, “As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shown unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation…We have noted these things so that you might see their worth and not negligently lose what your fathers have obtained with so much hardship.”

May the light of those first Thanksgivings never be extinguished.

(See this column at American Thinker and The Blue State Conservative.)

Copyright 2022, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com