Why Is Culture Important? Lessons from the Life of Hugh Whelchel
Jacqueline Isaacs
Pride is not what it used to be. One doesn’t need to scour the news to recognize the muted corporate response to this year’s Pride Month. In major metropolitan areas, the beginning of June once saw rainbow flags and pride-theme merchandise in the windows of many popular stores, including Macy’s, J. Crew, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, Lululemon, and, of course, Target. Nike and Adidas sported a pridewear collection. McDonald’s even had rainbow french fry containers one year.
While it may give Christians a sigh of relief that rainbow capitalism is on the decline for the second year in a row, we must resist the temptation to celebrate and get complacent. Instead, let’s celebrate and redouble our efforts while we enjoy this momentum shift away from corporate virtue signaling because God only knows how long it will last. In the meantime, we would do well to play a long game and remember who it is we fight against.
We must keep in mind that LGBT activists, as well as individuals who identify as gay or transgender, are not our adversaries. Likewise, politicians, activist judges, Hollywood figures, media personalities, and all allies who support their causes are not our enemies either. As believers, it is important to remember that sin, not people, is what we truly stand against. Specifically, our struggle is against the human tendency to stray from God’s path and follow our own ways. This reality applies to all believers and all forms of sin, not just those related to LGBT matters. The Bible reminds us that “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Is. 53:6), a truth that includes both Christians and those who have yet to know God.
While it may appear that we are opposing certain individuals who promote ideas that challenge God’s created order—such as attempts to redefine a person’s sex—our true adversary is the enemy of our souls, Satan. Scripture portrays him as a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8) and as a thief who aims to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn. 10:10).
Those who seek to assume the role of God and make choices that contradict his design are influenced by this enemy, whether they realize it or not. After all, few things are more troubling than persuading children they are born in the wrong bodies and offering them so-called gender affirming care that will do irreparable harm in many cases.
The battle is not against the advancement of a cause like LGBT activism, per se, but between good and evil. And that, friends, is a fight that will never be over in our lifetimes.
The battle is not against the advancement of a cause like LGBT activism, per se, but between good and evil. And that, friends, is a fight that will never be over in our lifetimes. It started in the Garden of Eden and will continue until the end of the age, which Jesus associates with the coming judgment at the culmination of history and his return (Matt. 24:3, Matt. 13:39–40, 49–50).
Although much progress has been made to thwart the advancement of gender ideology in recent years, and the Trump administration has expedited these efforts, this is not a time to get complacent.
The battle is still very heated in many parts of the country, with trans rights marching full steam ahead. For example, three states (Maine, Washington, and New Hampshire) are legally challenging Trump’s executive order to bar biological boys from competing in girls’ sports. Also, Colorado recently passed the Kelly Loving Act, a landmark bill that expands antidiscrimination laws for transgender people in the workplace and schools.
Likewise, in several of the state championships for track and field, biological boys bested their female competitors to take the podium in their respective races, including A.B. Hernandez of California, who won state titles in the girls’ high jump and triple jump, and Lia Rose, who medaled in the high jump at the Oregon state championships.
However, with public opinion on the side of biological reality as well as Trump’s executive orders, the temptation to celebrate these short-term wins is enticing. But as any good soldier knows about military strategy and tactics, the battle plan has to be adapted as the war wages on.
While we may be currently winning the day, enjoying a momentum shift toward those who believe in the transcendent nature of God and his perfect plan for human sexuality, we must be prepared to play the long game. After all, the Bible calls us to be steadfast and unmovable in our efforts for the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). As such, we cannot afford to allow a few small victories to lull us to sleep, thinking the battle has been won.
We won’t always have the benefit of a Trump administration to back our efforts in the fight to protect the minds of children, to preserve women’s rights to fair competition and single-sex spaces, or parental rights in education. In other words, we can’t rely on government to stem the tide of the marketing and promotion of evil. As the New Testament metaphor calls us soldiers in the army of the Lord, we must stay engaged in the fight.
We must also recognize the need for personal and corporate revival as we live in a time similar to when the prophet Isaiah warned that “truth is fallen in the streets” (Is. 59:14). Nowhere is that more evident than when people’s feelings are believed to supersede their biology.
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