The Deceptively Named “Equality Act” Would Have Sweeping, Catastrophic Consequences on American Society and Life

“Many in our nation respectfully disagree on important matters such as marriage and human sexuality.  Unfortunately, the Equality Act criminalizes these fundamental beliefs held by major faith groups since the dawn of time and, instead, demands absolute uniformity of thought.  The freedom to live peaceably according to our beliefs is a fundamental right, resting in our human dignity and codified by the First Amendment.  The Equality Act dares to treat reasonable people as hostile to the state and unfit to participate in the marketplace.  Our nation can and must do better.” —Kristen Waggoner, General Counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom

Last updated on 4-12-21

 

** Editor’s Note:  The so-called “Equality Act” (H.R.5) narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on February 25, 2021 with a 224–206 vote.  Not surprisingly, 100% of all Democrat representatives voted for the bill, and three Republicans joined them.  The fate of this monstrosity of a proposed law now depends on the Senate and the mercy of God.

Please go here (scroll down and enter your zip code) to contact your senators immediately and urge them to oppose the Equality Act (H.R.5).  You are welcome and encouraged to link to this article so you can give them ample reasons why this legislation is so dangerous and why it must be defeated.

The full text of H.R.5 may be read here.

(Sources for this compiled research include Alliance Defending Freedom, the American College of Pediatricians, the Heritage Foundation, BreakPoint/The Colson Center, the Ethics & Public Policy Center, Liberty Counsel, Dr. Robert Gagnon of Houston Baptist University, and Dr. Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.)

 

The egregiously misnamed “Equality Act” (H.R.5) hijacks the legitimate civil rights movement by redefining and expanding the term “sex” as it appears in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and all related legislation to include the relatively novel and entirely subjective and mutable concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” (a.k.a. SOGI) as protected classifications equivalent to fixed and unchangeable human attributes, such as ethnicity, national origin, or biological sex.  Many in the mainstream media and culture are praising this bill as a humanitarian “anti-discrimination” law that all civilized persons should support, without hesitation.  In reality, however, the “Equality Act” would ironically create unprecedented inequity for most Americans and would adversely and dramatically impact virtually every aspect of American society and life, including but not limited to the following ways:

The Health, Safety, Innocence, and Civil Rights of Children & Parental Rights

For starters, the sacred lives of innocent pre-born (and perhaps post-born) children would be further endangered by this deceitful legislation, as would the rights of anyone who wishes to protect these babies and/or who doesn’t want to be coerced to participate in or help pay for their barbaric deaths.

• The Equality Act contains language that could, and likely would, be used to revoke the Hyde Amendment and thereby sanction taxpayer funding of abortions and abortifacients.
  

As Alexandra DeSanctis of the Ethics & Public Policy Center explains, “The Equality Act redefines ‘sex’ to include ‘pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition,’ and, as the bill’s opponents have noted, federal agencies and courts already have determined that the phrase ‘related medical condition’ can be interpreted to include abortion.”

On this point, Liberty Counsel notes that “any time ‘sex’ has been previously added to federal law, Congress exempted abortion.  H.R.5 now includes abortion.”

• Related to this, employers who provide insurance plans could also be required to cover abortions and all related “services.”

In addition, if H.R.5 succeeds, it would be the loudest declaration from the U.S. government yet of the lie that children ultimately belong to the State.

• Children (teenagers included) would be empowered and encouraged to make dangerous, life-altering medical decisions, the full gravity and ramifications of which young, developing minds cannot possibly comprehend, and they could be permitted to do this without parental knowledge or consent.

• More parents would likely lose custody of their children and be prosecuted by the state for “child abuse” for refusing to affirm their child’s chosen name or gender, for opposing chemical or surgical “transition” efforts or their child’s desire to date persons of the same sex or be involved in LGBT activities or clubs, or for attempting to help their gender-dysphoric child overcome his or her mental confusion/delusion by seeking professional counseling or therapy.  This moral outrage is already happening (see here and here, for example) and would surely increase if the Equality Act is enacted.
  

• Likewise, prospective foster parents would also likely be required to affirm a foster child’s stated gender identity and be barred from any efforts to help a child with gender dysphoria accept his or her God-given body and gender/sex.
  

• In addition, this dangerous Act would almost certainly pave the way for government-mandated, pro-“LGBTQ+” and “Critical Theory” educational curricula (read: indoctrination/propaganda) to be fully implemented across the nation.  Such curriculum, which consists of nothing less than unsubstantiated sexual and gender ideology and blatant Leftist disinformation, directly clashes with the Truth God has revealed in both nature and Scripture and inescapably undermines the God-given authority and obligation of parents both to educate and protect their own children from evil and error.  California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, and Washington have already mandated SOGI curriculum.  As a Heritage Foundation report well documents, American children are increasingly being robbed of their innocence, exploited, sexualized, and indoctrinated with destructive and truly depraved teachings about sex and related subjects.  In effect, children are being used as lab rats to advance a radical social, political, and moral revolution.  Public school curriculum throughout the country is already filled with graphic information about sexual behaviors and relationships, abortion, and highly politicized, contra-science ideas about “gender identity” and “sexual orientation,” and there continues to be a push among educators and policymakers to begin teaching immoral “comprehensive sex education” as early as kindergarten, which ought to be unconscionable and unthinkable.  If these things don’t qualify as State-sanctioned sexual grooming, predation, and exploitation of children, then what does?  A ratified “Equality Act” would blow the doors wide open for all of this, and more.
  

• Further, a growing number of public libraries throughout the country are inexplicably hosting outlandish (read: twisted and debauched) “Drag Queen Story Hour” events in which cross-dressing men, some of whom have been identified as registered sex offenders, read controversial books to young children.  One can reasonably expect these disturbing problems and others to escalate exponentially if the Equality Act becomes law.
  

• • A Firm but Loving Warning to Parents and Grandparents:  If, against all reason, you allow your children or grandchildren to have unmonitored access to the porn-infested Internet and/or streaming video services (e.g., Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Roku, etc.)—let alone their own private smartphone (a.k.a. a portable “Pandora’s Box”) or tablet computer, which, I don’t mind telling you, is frankly insane—then you need to be aware, first of all, that your kids are almost certainly being regularly indoctrinated with LGBTQ+ propaganda, even in seemingly innocent cartoons and animated films—a fact that is unconscionable and revolting beyond words.  But it is happening.  (Disney is by far the chief offender here, but Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, and other providers of alleged “children’s programming” are openly and aggressively committed to celebrating and normalizing sexual immorality and other sinful behaviors and ideas that are detestable to the one true God.  This begs the question:  WHY are you, as a parent or grandparent, financially supporting these companies with the money the Lord has graciously entrusted to you?  Think about this:  Satan, whom Jesus called “the father of lies,” is overtly (nothing subtle about it) using these mediums to poison the minds and capture the imaginations and souls of your own children and grandchildren, and you are literally paying to let him do it.  Let that sink in…)
  • Second, in addition to having at their literal fingertips a virtually unlimited supply of mind-raping, innocence-shattering, soul-rotting, and literally brain-changing hardcore pornography, there is also a really good possibility that your children and grandchildren are being strategically deceived into believing they were born with the “wrong” gender and/or body as well as being pressured by their peers, both online and at school, to “transition” to the opposite sex, which, by the way, they are also learning how to do by watching popular transgender “how-to” videos that are freely available on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, Tumblr, etc.  [Parents, if you really love them, then you better be finding out what’s on your kids’ phones, tablets, and computers.  If you’re not tech-savvy, then you better learn to be or else get help from someone who is.]  Disturbingly, “transitioning” to the opposite gender of one’s natural, biological sex has recently become an alarming fad/craze among many adolescents/teenagers, predominantly among girls.  (In fact, according to a study conducted by Sweden’s Board of Health and Welfare, there was a startling 1,500-percent increase in gender dysphoria diagnoses among 13- to 17-year-old girls between 2008 and 2018.)  Dr. Lisa Littman coined the term “Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria” to describe this sinister new peer-pressure trend and “social contagion.”  (In my estimation, social media is almost entirely to blame for this horrifying phenomenon.  Think about it:  What two world-changing technologies exploded in 2008 and forever changed [ruined] the way people communicate and learn about the world?  Answer:  The interdependent emergence of smartphones and social media apps.)

“It is insane—and what I mean by insane is, ‘without any sense whatsoever,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘foolish’ . . . the biblical definition of ‘folly’—to give [children], especially teenage boys, unfettered, unaccountable access to the Internet in their bedroom [i.e., via iPhones, iPads, laptops, desktop computers, modern video game consoles, etc.].  It is insane.  It is the dumbest thing that we are doing as a society right now.  What do we think is going to happen?!  You say, ‘Well, my kid’s not looking for porn!’  Maybe not, but porn is looking for your kid [and so are sexual predators and LGBT activists]!  It’s like putting your children in a lion’s den [or letting them play in a snake pit] all night long, or, as one woman told me, it’s more like putting your [child] in the room with a naked woman [or man] all night long.”  —John Stonestreet

 

Medical / Healthcare Professionals

The Equality Act would politicize healthcare in diabolical ways.

• For one, as preposterous as it sounds and is, H.R.5 would treat refusals to perform an abortion as “pregnancy discrimination.”  This means that a doctor or nurse who refuses to perform or assist with an abortion could be charged with committing illegal discrimination on the basis of “sex,” as redefined by the bill.

As Liberty Counsel further explains: 

“[The Equality Act] also prohibits the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a claim or defense.  That means there is no religious or conscience protection against forcing a healthcare provider, pharmacist, hospital, religious organization, or pro-life crisis pregnancy center [to participate] in chemical or surgical abortions or abortion referrals.”

 

• What’s more, the Equality Act would require healthcare providers, including the armed forces, to perform experimental and irreversible “gender-transition” procedures on patients who are otherwise healthy and who have normally functioning bodily systems and reproductive organs.  Thus, regardless of a physician’s conscientious objections or best medical judgment, he or she would be required to administer deleterious puberty blockers to children and cross-sex hormone treatments to minors and adults, as well as to perform so-called “gender-affirming” or “sex-reassignment” surgeries (SRS) on both children and adults alike, which would needlessly leave these sacred image bearers of God permanently mutilated and sterile—all for the sake of far-Left political activism.  Meanwhile, the suffering victims’ underlying psychological, emotional, and spiritual problems go untreated and in all likelihood will be greatly exacerbated.  Indeed, the suicide rate among persons (typically called “transsexuals”) who’ve undergone cosmetic surgeries to acquire the external characteristics of the opposite sex is a staggering 20 times higher than that of comparable peers within 10 to 15 years post-surgery.  This statistic is according to the findings of the most thorough follow-up study ever conducted on people who’ve undergone SRS.

[Note:  Actual “sex-reassignment” or “gender-reassignment” is physically and metaphysically impossible.  As Dr. Paul McHugh of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine explains, “Transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men.  All (including Bruce Jenner) become feminized men or masculinized women—counterfeits or impersonators of the sex with which they ‘identify.’  In that lies their problematic future.”]  

“Medical doctors, secular and religious, whose ­expert judgment is that sex-reassignment procedures are misguided would now run afoul of our civil rights laws.  If you perform a mastectomy [or a hysterectomy, for that matter] in the case of breast cancer, you will have to perform one on the teenage girl identifying as a boy.  All in the name of equality.” —Dr. Ryan Anderson

A statement from the American College of Pediatricians is apropos here: 

“Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical [and social] impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. . . . cold, calculated, institutionalized child abuse at the hands of those charged with healing.” —Dr. Michelle Cretella

Plain and simple.

• Health professionals who attempt to warn youth and adults about the very real and severe medical dangers and damaging effects of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, transgender surgery, and/or homosexual behavior could very well be fired and lose whatever license they have to practice medicine.
  

• The bill’s language also paves the way for an eventual ban on any psychiatric treatment or psychological counseling intended to help children or adults with gender dysphoria overcome their cognitive disconnect with reality.  Given the statistic that 60%–90% of children eventually grow out of gender-identity confusion (thus demonstrating that it’s a temporary phase) and come to identify with their biological/physical sex and body by their late teens—that is, IF they are not pressured by parents, peers, or politically/financially motivated “healthcare” professionals to undergo “gender transition”—outlawing counseling designed to help gender-dysphoric children, in particular, would be a grave, tragic, and completely unnecessary mistake.

• • Note:  “Gender Dysphoria” or “Gender Identity Disorder” (GID) is a serious clinical disorder of the mind that requires psychological (mental and spiritual health) care rather than physical medical intervention.  The only loving, caring way to respond to people who are genuinely suffering from this condition is to show them compassion and to seek to help them align their distorted thinking with the objective reality of their actual biological sex and physical body.  Conversely, the most unloving and uncaring way to respond to gender-dysphoric patients would be to affirm or celebrate their confusion and encourage them to undergo irreversible physiological alterations so they can continue believing the falsehood that their impaired thoughts—or, in many cases, transgender activists—are telling them is true.

• • Notwithstanding the fact that congenital defects or abnormalities occasionally arise during prenatal sexual development (called Disorders of Sexual Development or DSD), such as the statistical rarity of intersex traits, it is an incontrovertible, empirically verifiable fact of science that human beings are a sexually dimorphic species.  In plain language, there are only two basic divisions of humans:  male (XY) and female (XX).  [Note:  Remember that exceptions or aberrations to a rule or norm (e.g., intersexualism/hermaphroditism) cannot be used to invalidate or disprove the rule or norm (e.g., that sex is binary) since the very existence of an exception or anomaly points to the fact that there really is an objective rule/standard of normalcy or of healthy design/function, for example, that is being deviated from.  Otherwise, we’d never be able to recognize or identify an anomaly when we see it!]  In gender dysphoria, or GID, the sufferer’s subjective state or perception (i.e., gender identity) does not correspond to what is objectively factual (i.e., biological sex).  That is to say that what the gender dysphoric person feels or believes is true does not match what is actually true independent of the person’s perceptions, feelings, or wishes.  But what a person thinks, desires, or imagines in one’s mind can do nothing to alter actual reality (i.e., objective or extra-mental reality—that is, the way the world actually is external to our thoughts or feelings).  Put more simply, merely believing, feeling, or declaring that something is so does not make it so, and it would be utterly disastrous for any society to base its laws, medical policies, or language, for that matter, on subjective beliefs or feelings (e.g., one’s self-determined “gender identity”) instead of objective facts (e.g., one’s genetically determined biological sex).  [Note:  Transgender activists and the Leftist-controlled media would have us believe that a person’s sex or gender is “assigned at birth” or “socially constructed,” but this is patently absurd and demonstrably untrue.  In reality, people discover or recognize a newborn’s sex; we certainly don’t “assign” it.  Scientifically, an organism’s biological sex is genetically determined and immutably established at the moment of fertilization, which is the starting point of every life.  Obviously, we know that a baby’s gender is identifiable via ultrasound imaging long before birth.  This, after all, is why parents can host “gender reveal” parties while mom is still in the early stages of pregnancy.]

• • Again, I want to reiterate that the only compassionate, sane, morally right thing a society can do in response to genuinely gender-confused people is to help them align their demonstrably untrue thoughts with the physical bodies and biological sex/gender that their Creator gave them, rather than deviously play along with their make-believe (i.e., knowingly lie to them) and encourage them to undergo extreme chemical and surgical procedures that would leave them physically disfigured and infertile for life.  Doing the latter is not only completely insane; it’s also severely cruel and evil, and it’s little different from advising girls suffering from anorexia-nervosa to continue dieting or to encourage them to undergo liposuction or perhaps even a gastric bypass if that’s what would make them happy and comfortable with their bodies.

• • (Note carefully the logical slippery slope of transgender ideology.  If it is morally acceptable to mutilate people’s perfectly healthy bodies so they can look or feel more like the gender or sex they identify as or perceive themselves to be, then what would be the moral objection to doing the same thing to a person who identifies as a different ethnicity or height or species, for that matter?  The same logic would also apply to people who suffer from a horrifying, but thankfully rare, mental illness known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID).  People with BIID are able-bodied individuals who have an inner sense or feeling of “incompleteness” at being able-bodied, so they actually desire to become physically disabled and will seek to have their limbs amputated, their eyes blinded, or even have their spines paralyzed in order to make their physical bodies match the mental image they have of their “true selves.”  Will BIID be the next psychiatric disorder the reckless propagators of “identity politics” attempt to affirm and normalize?  LGBT activists have already laid the necessary groundwork, but let us pray that God, in His mercy, will not permit it.)

• In the same vein, the Equality Act would deny children and adults who experience unwanted same-sex attraction access to counseling or reparative therapy (a.k.a. “conversion therapy,” as it’s often disparagingly called), because such services would be prohibited wherever there is an “exchange of funds” involved (i.e., if a fee is charged for the services).  And, of course, therapists who attempt to offer such professional services would be considered criminals.
  

The Health, Safety, Privacy, and Civil Rights of Girls and Women

A number of liberal feminists and self-identifying “lesbians” (see here, for example) have joined forces with conservatives to oppose the Equality Act (H.R.5) because the bill’s stipulations would, in every practical sense, erase women’s rights in this country, particularly if a person’s psychologically perceived “gender identity” or “experienced gender” becomes a protected class.  In point of fact, this specific policy change would eliminate all legal distinctions between male and female (a.k.a. the “gender binary”) and would render meaningless the very concepts of “man,” “woman,” “boy,” “girl,” and all corresponding titles, nouns, and pronouns, in public life and discourse. 

Genuine girls and women would be endangered in unprecedented ways under the Equality Act.  On this point, the following excerpt from H.R.5 is chilling:

“An individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.”  This applies to “ANY establishment that provides a good, service, or program, including a store, shopping center, online retailer [???] or service provider, salon, bank, gas station, food bank, service or care center, shelter [this would presumably include abused/battered women’s shelters and rape crisis centers—just think about that], travel agency or funeral parlor, or establishment that provides health care, accounting or legal services,” as well as any organization that receives federal funding of any amount.

• Therefore, if the Equality Act becomes law, biological males (i.e., legitimate boys and men) who claim to be girls or women would be granted nationwide admission into intimate spaces and sex-segregated facilities (e.g., public and school restrooms, dressing rooms, dorms, showers, shelters, etc.) designed exclusively for biological females (and vice versa, by the way), thereby endangering the physical and psychological safety of legitimate girls and women in all 50 states.  (For examples of biological males taking advantage of transgender bathroom policies to gain access to and assault girls and women, see here and here.)
  

• Moreover, as Dr. Ryan Anderson of the Ethics & Public Policy Center notes, “Shelters for battered women would be forced to admit biological males, [and] prisons would not be able to protect female inmates from predatory males who claim to be females.”
  

• Likewise, the military would also be forced to require women to share close quarters with men who identify as transgender, and vice versa.  (In addition to the physical endangerment of genuine female service personnel, imagine what this bizarre social experiment would do to military readiness, morale, and cohesion.)
  

• Furthermore, American schools, colleges, and universities would be obligated to allow biological males who self-identify as “female” or “trans” to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, where they would unfairly dominate due to God-given physical advantages and rob true females of fair competition, advancement opportunities, championships, and scholarships, which Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, ironically, was in part created to protect.  (So much for fairness and equality for all!)

“The truth is that men and women are different, and those differences matter.  When our laws and policies ignore this fact, it is more often women who get hurt.  This has become very clear in the arena of athletics, where a level playing field for female athletes is being threatened.  Yet policies that allow male athletes to compete in the female category have been implemented in states and localities across the country, and it’s being encouraged by the Biden administration.” —Charles Snow, Alliance Defending Freedom

Religious Liberty, Conscience Rights, and Freedom of Speech & Press for All Citizens

The “Equality Act” would essentially eliminate the First Amendment rights of all Americans who disagree with any aspect of LGBTQ+ ideology.  (That plus symbol, by the way, is merely a placeholder for a practically unlimited variety of aberrant sexual behaviors, identities, and relationships that have yet to seek social affirmation and normalization.)  In fact, as noted above, the proposed statute expressly exempts itself from the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act and offers zero protections for religious or conscientious objections. 

• Consequently, this pernicious bill would effectively disenfranchise hundreds of millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other social conservatives in this country (including atheists and agnostics who hold to traditional family values) of our God-given, constitutionally guaranteed right freely and peaceably to live our lives and conduct our homes, businesses, schools, churches, ministries, charities, etc., in accordance with our deepest convictions about marriage, family, sexuality, gender, and even basic biology and anthropology.  And anyone who will not “fall in line” and surrender to the totalitarian demands of the sexual revolutionaries should expect to face exorbitant fines, imprisonment, and/or the loss of their livelihood, not to mention merciless and unrelenting culture shaming, “canceling,” harassment, vilification, intimidation, death threats, destruction of reputation, and other such warm and glowing demonstrations of progressive love, tolerance, diversity, inclusivity, and—of course—equality.

As BreakPoint host John Stonestreet has written:

“Anyone who affirms the biological reality of the sexes [or Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality] would be, in law, relegated to the same status as the racists whose oppression of African Americans made the 1964 Civil Rights Act necessary.”

Dr. Robert Gagnon, a renowned scholar and expert in the area of biblical sexual ethics, concurs:

“[The Equality Act would] codify into law that you are a bigot, the moral equivalent of a racist, tantamount to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan, who must be shut out of society and, wherever possible, harassed and persecuted for your beliefs.”

 

• Hiring and retention decisions would be impacted tremendously by the Equality Act for places of employment.  The story of Harris Funeral Homes and the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional and deeply troubling “Bostock ruling” last June is really instructive here.  As author and syndicated columnist Robert Knight commented:

“Gorsuch and Roberts have ruled that feelings, urges, and temptations trump biology and all constitutional rights, including speech, assembly, property, economic liberty, etc.  This is beyond radical and will empower thousands of Marxist lawyers to wage war on normalcy of any kind.  No matter how bizarre someone behaves, employers must look the other way, risk their customer base, and allow it, lest the employee flaunting his/her sexual confusion claim an identity right and ruin them with a lawsuit.  The funeral home was told that a man who shockingly came to work dressed as a woman and disturbed grieving families had no right to remove him from their employment.  Nobody has rights anymore that can’t be trumped by sexual perversity of any kind.  This is Roe, all right—made-up law by corrupt judges egged on by a corrupt media and given a free hand by a corrupt political establishment too terrified to speak for God-given morality and common sense.”

 

• Employers who provide insurance could also be compelled to provide coverage for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments, and “sex-reassignment surgery” (SRS) in their healthcare plans.

• H.R.5 would also lead to compulsory speech (verbal and written).  Americans would be required to call people by their ”preferred pronouns” or face a punishable offense (not the least of which would be termination of employment), even though doing so would require you to sin against God and violate your conscience, reason, and Scripture by affirming as true what you know to be false—in other words, by lying.  In New York, there is already such a law in place that threatens to punish anyone who repeatedly “mis-genders” a “transgender person” up to $250,000 in fines (!!!).  At least one American teacher, a beloved favorite of many students, lost his teaching position a couple of years ago for accidentally committing this absurd “crime.”  Such incidents would likely skyrocket if the Equality Act becomes law.
  

• Additionally, we would see an escalation in the growing trend of “Big Tech” / “Big Brother” censorship, suspensions, and account terminations of social media users and customers who express dissenting, politically incorrect viewpoints pertaining to LGBT-related issues, including simply passing along well-established scientific and medical facts that contradict the LGBT/Progressivist narrative and agenda.
  

• As Dr. Gagnon points out, all businesses and public universities would be compelled to implement SOGI hiring programs and regular LGBT indoctrination training sessions in order to avoid being sued by the federal government for failure to uphold the civil rights of self-identifying “gay” and “transgender” employees and job applicants.  In a nutshell, this means that “affirmative action” laws—which, it should be noted, are inherently racist and discriminatory, seeing as how they give certain Americans preferential treatment over others in job considerations or school/scholarship applications solely because they are of a particular ethnicity or have a favorable skin complexion, even if other applicants are much more qualified—would effectively be updated also to give unfair/unequal (there’s the irony) hiring and educational preferences to persons who identify as LGBTQ+.

(At this point, it should be painfully obvious to anyone reading this that LGBT activists and other Leftists have clearly redefined the word “equality” beyond recognition, as they repeatedly do, in real-life Orwellian “newspeak” fashion, with any words that convey inconvenient truths that are unacceptable to them.  Whoever controls language controls the culture, and no one understands this better than the political Left.)

• Similarly, employees who are overheard speaking or otherwise communicating negatively or critically about the full range of LGBT issues—including comments made outside of work, such as on social media—would be required to report to the Diversity & Inclusion division of their employer’s Human Resources department, where they would be disciplined, if not fired, for creating an “unsafe” workplace environment.  (To get a clearer idea of what’s to come for all conservative-minded working Americans if H.R.5 becomes law, see here, here, here, and also here.)
  

• The law would also likely be used to exclude from all political, corporate, academic, professional, and judicial hiring and appointments anyone who does not declare full, unequivocal support for all things LGBT, as well as anyone who has ever written or spoken against LGBT beliefs or behaviors at any time in the past.
  

Churches, Ministries, Small Business Owners, Authors, and Religious-based Services, Charities & Schools

• Churches whose teachings remain faithful to Scripture and historical/orthodox Christian doctrine concerning marriage, the family, sex/gender, sexuality, and sexual morality would almost assuredly lose their tax-exempt status and would likely face lawsuits. 

In the estimation of Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Louisville’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

“The loss of tax-exempt status would put countless churches and religious institutions out of business, simply because the burden of property taxes and loss of charitable support would cripple their ability to sustain their mission.”

 

• Since H.R.5 emphatically repudiates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, there is a strong possibility that pastors, evangelists, and other ministers, as well as teachers and authors who publicly denounce LGBT ideology and proclaim biblical and natural-law truths about sex, marriage, and related subjects could be prosecuted for committing “hate crimes” or for spreading “hate speech,” as has been occurring in Canada for some time (see here and here, for example).  Without a doubt, though, if federal law is indeed changed to make any opposition to or disagreement with LGBT views an act of “bigoted” or “hateful” or “discriminatory” behavior, conservative Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, etc., who refuse to compromise their beliefs about these issues would assuredly be ridiculed, demonized, and marginalized to the contemptible fringe of society by the mainstream culture.

• Furthermore, under the Equality Act’s expanded definition of “public accommodations,” churches that host public activities or outreaches (e.g., a spaghetti supper open to the community) could be forced to open women’s private changing areas and restrooms to biological men during those events, or else incur civil penalties.
  

• Similarly, churches that rent their facilities to the public could be forced to rent them for same-sex wedding ceremonies and other LGBTQ+ events.
  

• Indeed, H.R.5 reclassifies all places of worship—including churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples—as “public accommodations.”  The ominous implications of this significant modification were brought to light in an exchange between Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Mary Rice Hasson of the Ethics & Public Policy Center during the March 17th Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Equality Act:
  

“[The Equality Act] expands that definition of public accommodations from the four categories that were previously in civil rights law to an almost unlimited number of activities and places that don’t even need to be actual physical places.  So it includes virtual activities and things like that.  So it’s very easy for a church that does anything where it opens the doors to the community—which is very much a part of a faith-based mission—it opens the doors for them to be subject to discrimination suits because they’re now going to be considered a public accommodation in the same way as a stadium or something like that.  So that’s one of the most damaging and threatening aspects of this particular Act.”

 

In the same hearing, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma echoed Hasson’s concerns: 

“Deeming houses of worship as public accommodations subjects them to needless litigation, and the Equality Act would literally strip them of the very defense that they were given in 1993 [i.e., in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act].”

 

• Small business owners and creative professionals (e.g., artists, bakers, designers, florists, photographers, videographers, Web designers, wedding planners, etc.) who don’t want to be forced to use their talents to promote or celebrate homosexuality, same-sex civil unions, transgenderism, or other behaviors or messages they cannot in good conscience support would be punished with crippling fines and lawsuits, be forced to close their businesses, and/or face jail time.  (Think of Jack Phillips, Barronelle Stutzman, Aaron and Melissa Klein, Blaine Adamson, and other Americans who’ve been tied up in expensive legal battles for years and who’ve been persecuted ruthlessly by the state and the culture simply for exercising their First Amendment rights.  If the Equality Act becomes law, they will undoubtedly be joined by many, many more victims of government overreach/tyranny.)
  

• Certain authors (see here and here) have already had their books pulled from Amazon and other retailers for daring to criticize transgenderism or homosexuality, despite the fact that many of these books are scholarly, thoughtfully written, and gracious in tone (though this should not make any difference, seeing as how, like it or not, even mean and nasty speech is protected by the First Amendment—and there are thousands of such books still being sold by these same retailers).  Expect these “virtual book burnings” to become the norm under the Equality Act.

• Adoption services and foster care providers committed to God’s definition of marriage and family as revealed in holy Scripture and natural law, as well as the sociological and axiomatic truth that every child needs and fares best when raised by a married mother and father (neither parent is dispensable) would risk losing federal funds if they decline to place children into, for example, same-sex households, which naturally and inescapably deprive a child of either a mother (biological female) or a father (biological male) 100% of the time.  This, in turn, could lead to these providers being forced to close, displacing thousands of children and further straining an already overwhelmed system.  (This has already happened to Catholic Charities and others.)

• Every religious school, Bible college, university, and seminary that refuses to endorse LGBT ideology would lose federal funding, and ultimately, accreditation.  They would also likely be forced, for example, to allow same-sex couples to live in student housing.  Simply stated, the Equality Act would effectively destroy conservative religious education in the United States—especially the biblical Christian variety—because no academic institution could survive such pummeling penalizations.
  

• College students would be forbidden from using their federal tuition assistance at schools that, in the federal government’s judgment, “discriminate” on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  That means any Christian university that has a code of conduct prohibiting sex outside of natural, biblical marriage—in other words, any Christian school that obeys what the Word of God clearly teaches on these subjects—or that declines to allow biological males to compete on women’s sports teams, would almost assuredly lose federal student aid.
  

“When he was asked about the threat the Act would present to religious institutions and their right to operate by their own religious convictions, [openly “gay” Rhode Island Congressman David] Cicilline offered these chilling words:  ‘The determination would have to be made as to whether or not the decisions they are making are connected to their religious teachings and to their core functions as a religious organization,’ he explained, ‘or is it a pretext to discriminate?’

“The determination will have to be made.  With those words, every religious congregation, denomination, and institution is put on notice:  The government will determine if your hiring and housing and student conduct and employee policies are truly ‘connected’ to your religious teachings, or if you are merely using a claim of religious conviction as a ‘pretext to discriminate.’

“These words mean the effective death of religious liberty, for the burden of proof will now fall to each religious institution to prove to the government’s satisfaction that its convictions are authentic.” —Dr. Albert Mohler

A Heritage Foundation report aptly summarizes the fascist and draconian Equality Act this way:

“The Equality Act makes mainstream beliefs about marriage, as well as basic biological facts about sex differences, punishable under the law.  Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and no one should face [unjust] discrimination.  But the Equality Act makes [unjust] discrimination the law of the land by forcing Americans to conform to government-mandated beliefs under the threat of life-ruining financial and criminal penalties.  The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed state-sanctioned discrimination that caused systematic economic and material harm to black Americans.  The Equality Act is different:  It forces every American to agree with controversial government-imposed ideology on sexuality, or be treated as an outlaw.  The Equality Act demolishes existing civil rights and constitutional freedoms.”

 

With all of this in view, I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say that the so-called “Equality Act” poses the greatest threat to children, girls/women, religious liberty, conscience rights, and freedom of speech and press in the history of the United States (indeed, nothing even comes close), and it honestly may well be the biggest affront to God’s created order, reason, common sense, sanity, and medical science in the history of lawmaking.

Allow me to be even more forthright:  If the Senate votes to pass this devilish sham of a bill and President Biden ratifies it, which he has promised to do as a “top legislative priority,” the United States of America, by any honest analysis, will have officially legislated lunacy.

In closing, I exhort you once more to contact your senators and urge them to oppose the Equality Act at all costs.  I also encourage you to link them to this article to help them understand how dangerous this bill is and why it must be defeated.  And, while you still have the chance, please also share this information on social media—that is, if you have the guts.  Don’t hesitate to share it with your liberal friends either.  If you do, it might help to point out that many far-Left feminists and self-identifying “lesbians” are opposed to the Equality Act, as discussed above, specifically because the transgender ideology this bill would enshrine into law actually undermines the entire women’s rights movement.

Finally, and most importantly, I am calling on my Christian brothers and sisters to get on your knees and join me in pleading with our Almighty Creator, Ruler, and Judge to deal mercifully with this wrath-deserving nation whose rebellion against God/Truth has now reached extremities that were unimaginable before now.  Pray specifically that He would make His holy will the greatest concern of Congress, turn the heart of every political figure to Himself, and cause the “Equality Act” to die a swift and decisive defeat in the Senate.

And once you’ve prayed about that, please unite with me in petitioning the LORD frequently and fervently to send nation- and world-changing revival, reformation, and Awakening, because, until Christ returns to make “all things new,” there remains no other hope for a world of rebels who do whatever is “right” in their own eyes and who’ve convinced themselves that they can remake Reality—even God—into their own image.

Works Cited and Additional Recommended Resources

1) “The Inequality of the Equality Act: Concerns from the Left”

[Warning:  This video features some disturbing images and graphic testimonies from parents who have witnessed firsthand the traumatic and heartbreaking medical, psychological, and relational harms their gender-dysphoric/”transgender” children have personally experienced.  Having said that, this panel discussion is an extremely valuable, highly recommended resource for anyone interested in gaining greater understanding about transgenderism and Gender Identity Disorder, as well as the tremendous social dangers posed by the politicization and cultural acceptance/celebration of transgender ideology.]

2) “Dr. Gagnon on the Equality Act” by the Illinois Family Institute

3) “The Equality Act: What to Know and What to Do” by John Stonestreet

4) “The Equality Act: How Could Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws Affect You?” by the Heritage Foundation

5) “11 Myths About H.R.5, the Equality Act 2021” by the Heritage Foundation

6) “4 Ways the Equality Act Would Harm Children” by Andrea Jones

7) “The ‘Equality Act’ Will Spare Churches and Religious Schools? Think Again.” by Sarah Kramer

8) “ACLU Debunked! The Real Facts About Men in Women’s Sports” by Charles Snow

9) “‘Equality Act’ Makes Abortion a Federal Right” by Liberty Counsel

10) “In His Image: Delighting in God’s Plan for Gender and Sexuality” by AFA Studios
(Full Documentary)

11) “What Did Jesus Believe and Teach About Homosexuality, Marriage, Biological Sex/Gender, and Sexual Ethics?”

12) “Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents” by Rod Dreher

13) “The Equality Act and the Rise of the Anti-Theological State” by Dr. Albert Mohler

14) “Why Compromising with the Equality Act Falls Short” by John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett

15) “Transgender Surgeries and the Weight of Reality” by BreakPoint

Note:  This brief but outstanding commentary is a bit disturbing and heart-rending; however, it nevertheless serves as a sobering wake-up call about the severe cruelty that transgender ideology perpetrates against its victims, and it is also a source of tremendous encouragement for all Christians to remain faithful to God and His never-changing Word, even if we’re the last people on the planet who will speak common-sense Truth.

16) “The Journey Back to My True Identity: The Testimony of Former Transsexuals and Ex-Transgender-Identifying Persons Walt Heyer and Kathy Grace Duncan” by Focus on the Family – Part 1 and Part 2

 

For another list of helpful resources about the Equality Act, go to https://allforfreedom.com/resources/.

 

Captain America Says, “Stand Your Ground, Soldier!”

“Doesn’t matter what the press says.  Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say.  Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something WRONG is something RIGHT.  This nation was founded on one principle above all else:  the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences.  When the mob and the press and the whole WORLD tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the River of Truth, and tell the whole world — ‘No, YOU move.'” – Captain America (from Amazing Spider-Man #537: Civil War, December 2006, written by J. Michael Straczynski)

These may well be the most meaningful words ever to proceed from the “lips” of a comic book character.  (Oddly enough, though, the new Captain America: Civil War film, which is loosely based on the series of comic books from which this powerful statement was derived, features only a small portion of the quote and then attributes it to someone other than Captain America, even though this is widely considered to be one of the titular hero’s trademark sayings.  Talk about dropping the ball!)

Cap’s emboldening speech is strikingly timely and pertinent for present-day Christians specifically, as well as for conservative thinkers, in general (thinking of you, North Carolinians), who, simply stated, believe it is safer and more sensible to conform one’s behavior to Reality than to try to force Reality (an impossibility) — and everyone else living in said Reality — to accommodate one’s behavior.

As you consider Captain Rogers’ inspiring words, I challenge you to think deeply about the ultimate source of moral rules/laws, of humanity’s intuitive awareness of the rightness & wrongness of our actions (i.e., thoughts, words, and deeds), of the “guilt” we experience when we do what is evil or fail to do what is good, and of the innate sense of duty and justice that seems to have been pre-programmed into every human mind.  Also, ponder carefully the identity of the “River of Truth,” as Cap calls it.

[Note:  I have written about this elsewhere.]

If Captain America were to give a pep talk to the bullied and disheartened Truth upholders living in the bizarre, increasingly intolerant, growingly hostile, topsy-turvy maelstrom of 2016 America, I imagine that he might tell us something along these lines:

“Doesn’t matter what the politicians, talking heads, pundits, or celebrities say.  Doesn’t matter what the intelligentsia or self-proclaimed ‘brights’ say.  And it doesn’t matter what the Internet says.

“Stand your ground, soldier.  Semper fi!

“Even if the whole country goes mad and tells you that a man is truly a woman or that a woman is truly a man because they think or say so and that only a monstrous bigot would refuse to play along with their delusion, STAND YOUR GROUND!

“Even if the whole world decides that down is up, false is true, and wrong is right, STAND YOUR GROUND!

“And even if the governing authorities claim to have powers that the governed never consented to grant them, change words & laws at will to mean what their authors never could have meant, and threaten to punish or even destroy you if you decline to comply and join ranks with the rest of the traitors who are living the lie, STAND YOUR GROUND!

“Know this:  Taking the path of least resistance may very well spare your life and will undoubtedly make you fewer enemies.  But know this also:  The greatest casualties of this war will be conscience and integrity; and if you yield to their treachery, you will have sacrificed both of these on the altars of compromise & cowardice.  Hear me loud and clear:  With or without your allegiance or anyone else’s, the Truth will surely endure, as it always has and will — unmoved, unimpaired, and undefeated.  Remember, it doesn’t need you; you need it!  At any given moment, a man is either with the Truth or against it; there is no third alternative.  In this fight, there is no neutral camp and no city of refuge to which you can flee from confrontation.  And only one side in this supreme conflict cannot lose.  Guess which one!

“So, tell me:  What’s it going to be, soldier? 

“Choose . . . your . . . side!”

---

In an age in which making a commonsense appeal to self-evident and even empirical verities has essentially become an act of sedition, Christ-followers and Truth lovers would do well to remember that fidelity to Christ, who is the very personification of Truth, overrules ALL other concerns and commitments.  And do not lose heart:  No matter how hard the world pushes against Him, the everlasting Rock of Ages — and all who hide themselves in Him — can and will never be moved.

Relevant Quotes

[Jesus speaking to His disciples]

“I am . . . the Truth” (John 14:6)

[Jesus speaking to God the Father]

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

[The Apostles, responding to their governing authorities’ demands that they cease proclaiming the Gospel message]

“We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season; and its leaf does not wither.  And in whatever he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3).

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight” (Proverbs 12:22).

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
“Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
“Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

“If the world goes against the truth, then Athanasius goes against the world.” – Athanasius (A.D. 296-373), Bishop of Alexandria

“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right.  A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice.  A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (from his speech on courage, Selma, Alabama, March 8, 1965)

Take Courage in 2016: Christ Has Overcome the World!

Down is up?  False is true?  Evil is good?  Darkness is light, and vice versa?  

2015 = the year reality was inverted and Western society succumbed to what any honest observer, frankly, would have to call “moral insanity.” 

To be sure, there was never a dull day or moment in the marketplace of ideas last year.  Let’s review some of the most troubling and puzzling ones that made headlines and heads turn:

Black lives don’t matter? 

Police officers’ lives don’t matter? 

Precious unborn (and born) little persons’ lives don’t matter to the point that the remains of their brutally murdered little bodies can be harvested and sold without apparent consequence in a “civilized” country? 

Meanwhile, less valuable creatures (animals) and inanimate things (environment/climate) that do not bear the sacred image of their Creator not only DO matter but matter as MUCH as or even MORE than human lives?

Governing authorities who are more concerned with being “politically correct” than simply “correct” devote less time and energy toward developing a decisive strategy that could actually defeat Islamic terrorism and MORE time and energy apologizing to and defending the very heart of the problem — that is, a theological/political ideology whose historical hallmarks are bloodshed, coercion, and oppression and whose sacred text (the Quran) unequivocally teaches its adherents that all non-Muslims, especially Jews & Christians, must either convert or be killed? 

Keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens is supposed to dissuade or deter violent lawbreakers and hell-bent terrorists from doing evil? 

Disarming citizens and taking away their best means of protection against said criminals keeps them safer?

Man (the clay) can now “overrule” and “redefine” the eternal laws and purposes of his own Maker (the Potter)?  

Foundational social institutions in place literally from the inception of the human race may now be radically altered and/or completely overthrown simply because a fickle populace suddenly deems it “progressive,” “modern,” and on the “right side of history” to do so? 

Personal identity and what it even means to be human are self-determined, fluid concepts based primarily — if not exclusively — on one’s sexual attractions and/or actions (by the way, there IS a vital difference between the two); and they are no longer contingent, in any way, on the Creator’s all-wise and perfect design & will for His image bearers? 

Male is female? 

Female is male? 

Gender distinctions are but a social construct, at best, or an illusion, at worst? 

Boys may now share dressing rooms and showers with girls if they “identify” as female? 

Concomitant with the above notions, children (and grownups) are now not only allowed but also encouraged (by the state and by parents) to undergo irreversible physical mutilation so their bodies can match their (terribly) confused minds instead of the infinitely safer and more sensible alternative of being provided professional counseling to help them align their misguided thinking with the objective, empirical reality of their anatomical/biological design?  And it’s now a crime (in some places) even to offer them such help?

People who happen to agree with the worldview and teachings of the very One who made the world, humans, sex, gender, and marriage are demonized as “haters,” “bigots,” and a colorful variety of something-or-another “-phobes” when they resist the cultural pressure to go against God and conscience, while those who harass, threaten, slander, libel, sue, financially ruin, fire, blacklist, imprison, or run them out of town for holding a view different from their own (or for not celebrating their lifestyle) are lionized as exemplars of “love,” “diversity,” “tolerance,” and “inclusivism”?

Glamor Magazine’s 2015 “WOMAN of the Year” has male genitalia?

The media and progressive radicals make believe that Bruce and “Caitlyn” are literally two different persons, and they expect the sane world to join them in their odd fantasy, as if it would be strange and harmful NOT to do so? 

And on and on the madness goes . . .

So, 2015 really was the year reality got turned inside out and upside down, right? 

Well, from man’s perspective, that certainly seems like a fair assessment.  But from God’s point of view?

What, are you kidding me?!  😉

No, as He has been from all eternity, the “great, unchangeable I AM” and the immovable “Fixed Point” is still “the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Therefore, no matter what anyone down here says or does, the natural laws and ethical standards that emanate from the Almighty’s changeless nature and holy character apply to people in 2016 as much as they applied to people living 4,000 years ago; and they will continue to apply a million years from now.  (FYI, before someone makes a fuss, no, the “civil” and “ceremonial” laws of the Mosaic Covenant — not to be confused with the “moral law” of God — were never intended to have universal application.  Those were peculiar to theocratic Israel and served a crucial role in God’s plan to rescue humanity from what we really deserve, a fact for which we should all be eternally thankful.)

The point?  Well, first, reality does not and never can change because God, who Himself is ultimate Reality and who holds all things together in Himself (Colossians 1), does not and never can change.  Moreover, Christ is SOVEREIGN over human affairs, which means that anything and everything that happens does so only because the Lord has permitted it to happen both for His glory and for our ultimate good.  As a result, each one of us who is in a right relationship with God on account of Jesus Christ has neither a reason nor the right to despair or be fearful or anxious about ANYTHING that occurs on this fallen planet.

As John Stonestreet reminded me earlier this week in one of his BreakPoint commentaries, Jesus’ consoling declaration of victory to His disciples in the 16th chapter of John’s Gospel is every bit as relevant to the present time as it was to the first century:

“In this world, you have tribulation; but take courage:  I have overcome the world” (v. 33). 

Christians, which world did Jesus overcome?  THIS world — that is, the same world that Jesus created as good and perfect but that we, His rebellious enemies, have so horribly corrupted, and the same world Jesus graciously & mercifully condescended to enter into as one of us (yet without sin) and personally redeem with His precious lifeblood.  And do you know what else “the world” He conquered entails?  The year 2015.  Yes, that’s right.  Jesus has overcome ALL the moral insanity and cultural chaos that dominated the headlines of that wild & crazy year.  And guess what else?  Jesus has ALREADY overcome “the world” of 2016 and all the bad things that most assuredly will come to each of us during this new year.

Thus, not a single event — regardless of how evil, vile, cruel, unlawful, horrifying, unjust, tragic, sad, crazy, foolish, or downright weird — that transpired in 2015 fazed, surprised, or worried God in the least, and neither will any event that comes down the pike in 2016 and beyond.  As the psalmist wrote, “the LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all” (Ps. 103:19). 

In other words, the risen, glorified, ascended Christ is not fretting, weeping, or nervously wringing His hands as to what might happen tomorrow or the next day or the next year.  On the contrary, He knows all things, He sees all things, and He holds tomorrow as well as today in His omnipotent hand.  Furthermore, He reigns confidently upon His heavenly throne where He constantly exercises complete control of the universe and patiently awaits the appointed moment of His Father’s choosing, during which time He will return to earth for His Second Advent, judge the living and the dead, put all wrongs to right, make all things new (including the earth), and rule forevermore as King of kings and Lord of lords!

Without a doubt, we can know for certain that because of the events of 2015, particularly in America, 2016 is guaranteed to be a pivotal year for social, political, and moral transitions across the board.  Yet as we move forward into another 12 months, filled as we are with the usual hopes and fears, please bear in mind the following: 

Whether Americans will cry out to God this year for His mercy toward us and repent of our national & individual sins against Him and one another OR whether Americans will proceed to shake our fists at the Lord, pretend as if we ARE God, and forge stubbornly ahead down the path of self-destruction, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and sin)!

Whether local churches will resolve to stand firmly on the unchanging, authoritative Word of God and contend earnestly for His truth this year OR whether professing Christ-followers will continue to compromise and betray the Christ they claim to follow by rejecting or attempting to “revise” His teachings to suit themselves, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and apostasy/spiritual adultery)!

Whether all people will finally realize this year that there is only ONE race — the human race — and that having different shades of skin (dark, light, or somewhere in between) does nothing to change the fact that ALL humans are made in the image of the same God and are therefore equally valuable OR whether racial tensions, hate-mongering rhetoric, and senseless rioting will divide and destroy even more communities, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and racism, prejudice, hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, and stupidity)!

Whether we will go to the polls next November and elect a president who holds the only accurate view of reality (i.e., the one God has revealed to us in Scripture and nature), who has executive experience, who has the credentials to lead with moral clarity, wisdom, humility, faith & integrity, and who actually respects the Constitution and promises to nominate only those judges who are committed to doing the same OR whether we will foolishly choose to empower yet another ungodly secular humanist and socialist whose worldview and policies oppose the expressed will of Christ at every turn, who thinks he/she is above the law, and who believes man/government can solve man’s problems when man IS the problem, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and politics)!

Whether America’s armed forces & allies will utterly demolish ISIS (or the “Islamic State”) this year and every vestige of militant Islam on the earth OR whether bloodthirsty jihadists will succeed in subduing whatever remains of the free world and set up sharia law on every continent (I say “fat chance!” to that), take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and terrorism and war and all the world’s religions)!

Whether God’s image bearers (i.e., you and I) will discover this year that our identity, worth, and purpose can be found *exclusively* in the One who made us for Himself OR whether we will cluelessly and hopelessly go on searching for these things in all the wrong places, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and spiritual blindness)!

Whether the sick or hurting on your prayer list will be healed this year OR whether a loved one will contract a serious illness or suffer in greater ways than before, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and sickness & suffering)!

Whether the introduction this year of a brand new life will cause your family to grow OR whether the departure of a familiar life will cause your family to grieve, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and death)!

Whether heroes/role models will rise this year OR whether they will fall, reminding us that humans (sinners) inevitably WILL let us down but that God never can or will, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and idols of all forms)!

And whether or not Bruce Jenner and the silly media will come to their senses and stop referring to him as “Caitlyn” in 2016, take courage:  Jesus has overcome the world (and every variation of nonsense and/or insanity)!  😀

COME WHATEVER MAY, all the adopted sons and daughters of the one true God can rejoice in our Savior’s comforting declaration of His TOTAL triumph over this cursed creation, which is a promise for ALL history and time — past, present, and future:

“Take COURAGE!  I have OVERCOME the world!” – Jesus Christ

In closing, I will leave you with David Platt’s encouraging Tweet from Christmas Day 2015:

“He came the first time lying in a manger (Lk 2).  He’ll come the second time riding on the clouds (Rev 19).  Come, Lord Jesus!”

Come, Lord Jesus, indeed!

Happy 2016, everyone.  🙂