A View from the Front
- Maria Keffler
- Apr 8, 2022
- 4 min read
It’s Lonely, the Left Eats Its Own, & the Right Is Banking on a Deus Ex Machina
On Sunday, yet another person grabbed my arm on the way out of the sanctuary, hugged me and whispered, “I’m watching you online and cheering for you behind the scenes. Thank you for all you’re doing!”
I didn’t even remember that this person was a Facebook friend. Not once has a comment or Like-emoji appeared from that account on any of my gender-related posts, which regularly draw snarls—and occasionally rape and death threats—from the transgender-rights battalions.
If I had a dollar for every person who told me they’re rooting for me, but that they can’t speak up because yadda, yadda, yadda…
I get it. People are scared. Everyone is well aware that they’ll be socially, financially, and politically canceled if they go public with their opinions. The kids of gender-critical activists hear things like, “Why is your mother such a hateful bigot?”[1] and “You should know that there are people in this town who want to kill your mom.”[2] Team trans has done a bang-up job bullying the world into submission, while insisting that they’re the most oppressed and marginalized group on the planet.
This is one reason why I believe that the transgender-rights activists are winning: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing.
There’s another problem on the front lines, however: the progressives/liberals/Democrats who are gender-critical seem to spend as much time fighting each other as they do fighting transgender ideology. Over the last few weeks, a knock-down-drag-out bru-ha-ha played out on the left side of the trenches. Alliances shifted from one moment to the next as he-said-she-said comments peppered social media, and bloggers and vloggers posted diatribes for and against each other. One youtuber uploaded videos singing the praises of a certain group’s work, then days later got mad at one of the group’s board members and deleted the videos in retaliation.
I asked an older, more experienced activist: “As Christians, we have biblical guidance about dealing with contention. But what do non-Christians do when they disagree?”
“They peck at each other constantly, like hens in a barnyard,” she told me.
This is the second reason why I think that the transgender-rights activists are winning: A house divided against itself cannot stand.
But the primary reason why I think we’re losing the battle for our kids, our schools, and our society is right here inside my own house: too many Christians are convinced that God is about to step in and save the day with a Red Sea, Shadrack-Meshach-Abednego, or water-into-wine miracle.
I keep reading comments online, and in my texts and email, from Christians who think the tide is turning, and that we’re about to take down the transgender behemoth, “Hallelujah and Amen!”
I don’t know where this optimism comes from.
Yes, a handful of states have passed bills protecting women’s sports from men’s encroachment. But those laws will likely be overturned in the courts before the echo of our applause fades.
The United Nations is tying aid for developing countries to those countries’ acceptance of transgender-rights policies.[3] This is colonialism of the same ilk for which progressives used to criticize the Church: requiring religious conversion in order to get money, food, and blankets.
The United States government vowed last week to make sure that children can be freely sterilized with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital mutilation surgeries, and to “[combat] legislative attacks on transgender kids.”[4] The White House is characterizing laws that protect women’s and children’s privacy, safety, and civil rights as hateful bigotry.
School boards label parents who show up to meetings and express concerns about transgender student policies “domestic terrorists.”[5]
Where is the American Church?
One pastor I spoke with, who is pushing back on this with all his might, told me he spent a year encouraging over 100 other pastors to engage, and he could not get one other church leader to join him in this fight. By and large, American houses of worship are either hanging pride and trans flags in their yards, or they’re burying their heads in the baptismal and hoping this will just go away.
Or, they’re arrogantly believing that God’s going to do what they’re unwilling to do.
So, no, I don’t expect God to perform a deus ex machina and get us out of this crisis. Because have we read Ezekiel? Amos? Revelation 1-3?
In 2012, Billy Graham quoted his late wife, Ruth: “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”[6]
Yes, he certainly would.
Maria Keffler is a co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children, and the author of Desist, Detrans & Detox: Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult. Contact Ms. Keffler via our website or email.
[1] A message to my son on Instagram from a schoolmate. [2] The 15-year-old son of my colleague, Erin Brewer, was told this at the school bus stop. [3] Nanivazo, M., & Scott, L. (2013, January 1). Foreign aid for gender equality. United Nations University. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://unu.edu/publications/articles/foreign-aid-for-gender-equality.html [4] The United States Government. (2022, March 31). Fact sheet: Biden-Harris Administration advances equality and visibility for transgender Americans. The White House. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/31/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-advances-equality-and-visibility-for-transgender-americans/ [5] Piper, E. (2021, October 2). National School Boards Association declares conservative parents to be domestic terrorists. The Washington Times. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/2/national-school-boards-association-declares-conser/ [6] LifeSite News. (2021, June 19). Billy Graham: If god smote sodom, what does that mean for an America that aborts millions? LifeSite. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/billy-graham-if-god-smote-sodom-what-does-that-mean-for-an-america-that-abo/
Comments