The Weaponization of Love and Kindness
“Truth is the first casualty of war.”
We are at war. This war is not a war that consists of bombs and guns, but of indoctrination and confusion, and it’s not soldiers who are on the frontlines, but children and teens. The meteoric rise in young people identifying as transgender is not an organic development due to an increase in cultural acceptance, but due to a social contagion spurred on by predatory, ideologically-motivated adults who seek to undermine the parent-child relationship and promote the sexualization of children and teens under the guise of tolerance. Amidst horrendous student proficiency scores in all subjects, American schools have chosen to reject established biological facts and instead embrace the pseudoscience and religion of transgenderism. While less than half of American students are proficient in math, science, and reading, our schools are taking the time to groom children into complete and utter confusion regarding their identity. Corporations are also increasingly weighing in on what children should be taught regarding topics that should solely be at parents’ discretion. Disney, one of the largest sources of entertainment in the world for young people, is so committed to their “not-so-secret gay agenda” that they are going to war against a new Florida law that protects parental rights and prohibits teachers from talking about LGBTQ issues like sexual orientation and gender identity with K-3rd grade students. Children’s programs and books used to be filled with fun, innocent, and educational content, but are now filled with racial and gender indoctrination marketed as kindness and inclusion.
The moral and intellectual chaos that flows from Gender Theory is causing young men and women to embark on a path that promises answers to all their woes, but instead leads to sterilization, mutilation, and a myriad of potential serious health problems from taking cross-sex hormones. It leads to the frustrating and never-ending striving towards a goal that can never be attained. It leads to the destruction of families and friendships. It leads to regret and despair. It leads to death.
What has been the Church’s response to this?
Some have fully embraced this new religion, others continue to ignore it, but the overwhelming message is this:
Be kind. Just love people.
Guess who else is loving and kind? LGBTQ activists. (That is, only if you agree and support and celebrate everything they say and believe. Otherwise they will deploy everything in their arsenal - which is no less than the full support of every single American institution - to bully you into submission.
Social media is filled with trans activists who look straight into the camera and convey heartfelt messages of love and acceptance, which are especially intoxicating to those who struggle with anxiety and depression, feel socially ostracized, or in many cases, are autistic. A friendly invitation into a community that will celebrate one’s every thought and feeling (as long as it’s trans-affirming) is just a YouTube click away. The resounding message is WELCOME.
What differentiates the love and kindness of LGBTQ activists from that of Christians?
An accurate definition of love + an allegiance to truth.
Real, biblical love for others requires truth. When we choose to love with a worldly love that says being kind is the highest moral goal, then truth naturally takes a back seat. It becomes deprioritized and suppressed because sometimes the truth hurts - even when said with love and respect. What many Christians have forgotten is that the truth also sets people free. Our enemy wants us to lose sight of this. And yes, we do have an enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Deception is his weapon of choice because he is the father of lies. He is an expert in twisting the truth just enough so that unless one is grounded in Scripture, the lie is barely noticeable, but no less destructive. He steals Scripture and weaponizes it against us. He did it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, to Jesus in the desert, and he does the same to us today. It is true that kindness and gentleness are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that God commands us to love one another. But the enemy has taken those truths and replaced them with a counterfeit love that obfuscates honesty. He is content to let people be loving and kind to each other as long as they don’t get around to telling each other the truth. It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is also paved with a lot of temporary good feelings and conversations that never get around to being meaningful.
The suppression of truth in the name of kindness and empathy has caused Christians to remain silent not only on cultural issues, which ironically has led to immense pain and confusion, but also to withhold the gospel message. American Christians have been let off the hook from the responsibility of telling people about their need for Jesus and are encouraged to blend into the culture and simply love people well with the expectation that eventually their friends will approach them with questions about faith. It’s not too hard for us to share the non-controversial message of God’s love in John 3:16, but how often do we talk about what follows?
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of the Lord. John 3:17-21
The battle between light and darkness has been waging since the fall of man, and we know that this struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil in this world. Fortunately for us, God has given us his armor to stand firm and stand strong. This armor consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with peace, the shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, Scripture. These are our weapons against evil. Notice what is not listed. Kindness. Empathy. Compassion. Inclusion.
The undeniable cultural shift from objective facts to feelings has caused Christians to neglect a crucial piece of our armor. Not having the belt of truth buckled securely around our waist has left our core exposed and vulnerable to deception and to the increasingly emotionalization of the Church. While the weapons he gave us are spiritual weapons for a spiritual battle, we live in a physical world where evil manifests itself in concrete ways. Yes, we know this world is not our home and that winning the culture wars will not lead to eternal salvation. But why would God give us armor to fight against evil if he didn’t expect us to engage with the enemy? We are called to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. The incessant propaganda that pervades our media and institutions gives us no shortage of opportunities to do so. And yet, instead of spotting the deception and exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness as we are called to do, we are allowing ourselves to fall for the enemy’s disinformation campaign. The increasing emphasis on empathy has made it much too easy for Christians to be spiritually manipulated, not only in our response to cultural issues, but also in response to the pandemic. Why did so many American churches become mouthpieces for the government’s public health messaging? Because the National Institute of Health knew that it could spiritually manipulate church-goers into compliance with messages like “Love your neighbor, wear a mask”. The prioritization of our feelings and the feelings of others over cold hard facts has caused objective truth to become such an unimportant afterthought that we now outsource our responsibility to discern the truth ourselves to so-called experts. Our blind faith in fallible institutions and our obedience to lawless and immoral mandates out of a misplaced, if well-meaning, concern for others was instrumental in paving the way for the catastrophically negative consequences of the prevailing covid policies and of which we will suffer for decades to come.
Without the help of God, Americans don’t have the time, energy, ability, or inclination to be a warrior in an epic battle for good and evil. It’s all many of us can do to navigate the pain and hardships in our own lives. Even when life is going great, we have deadlines to make, not to mention dinner, and besides, can’t we just all get along? The bad news is that we are in the midst of a war whether we like it or not. The enemy especially has his sights set on your children and your family. Our choice is to either pick up our spiritual weapons for protection and to fight back or to stand down and allow evil to have its way. The good news is that we do not wage war as the world does. We have weapons with divine power to demolish strongholds. We have an all-powerful God who is for us, not against us, and we know that he will one day redeem the pain and suffering in this life. We know that we win in the end. But what to do in the meantime?
Have courage. Speak objective truth into the culture knowing that it has eternal consequences because it sheds light on the evil that leads people astray. Know you will be hated for speaking truth no matter how respectfully stated. Study Scripture and then do what it says.
Above all, do the kind thing. Be truthful.
Amber Vibeto, Executive Director
April 14, 2022
