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You may have heard about the controversy that erupted in Cambridge, England, this past Sunday at Trinity College. The preacher, Joshua Heath, a junior research fellow who has a Ph.D. in theology, offered a sermon in which he suggested that Jesus Christ might have had what he called a “trans body.”
Citing examples of medieval paintings that show a spear wound in Jesus’ side, Heath compared the bloody injury to a vagina and invited his audience to see both masculine and feminine traits in Jesus Christ. People in the crowd that day, offended for obvious reasons, shouted, “Heresy!” at the close of the message.
One unidentified member of the church wrote a letter to Dr. Michael Banner, the dean of the college, saying that the sermon made them feel “unwelcome in the church.” The church member continued: “I am contemptuous of the notion that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a ‘trans Christ,’ a new heresy for our age.”
But according to The Daily Telegraph in London, Dr. Banner defended the young preacher by saying that the questionable sermon could help people as they contemplate “Christ’s male/female body.” He also said Heath’s sermon could provide “ways of thinking about issues around transgender questions today.”
Say what? Sometimes the “smartest” people in the world say the dumbest things.
When I heard this news, I couldn’t help but think of Romans 1:21-22, in which the apostle Paul describes the foolishness of people who deny the true God. He wrote: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they become fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man …”
There are three things we should remember as we watch this heresy in Cambridge unfold:
1. Jesus was not trans! The idea that ancient Jews would tolerate the idea of transgenderism is laughable. Old Testament laws forbid all forms of gender-bending (see Deuteronomy 23:1), since castration or any other type of transgender surgery was associated with the idol worship of Canaanites. Jesus came to earth in the form of a biological Jewish male. He was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth, according to Jewish tradition; He would have been confirmed as a “son of the commandment”—a believing Jewish man—at the age of 13. Jesus was all man. Yet He died on the cross to save all repentant sinners—male, female, Jew, Gentile, black, white, slave and free.
2. Satan hates the true image of Christ. The very first chapter of the Bible tells us that God created male and female in His image (see Genesis 1:27). Satan hates God, therefore He also hates the fact that human beings are created in His image. That is why the devil hates marriage, families and children—and it is why he seeks to pervert human sexuality, promote abortion and molest children. Satan hates the fundamental concept of biological gender—which has been binary since Creation. No wonder the devil has been busy spreading the idea that people can switch genders with surgery, hormones and creative new pronouns, or that they were born “non-binary.”
3. The world, including apostate Christians, will twist and pervert the image of Jesus to conform to this world. Just as the ancient Israelites made a golden calf in the wilderness, sinful people will seek to refashion God into something they are comfortable with. Because they love the world, they will even create a squishy, moldable, easy-to-adapt theology that appeals to their ever-changing lusts. Don’t be surprised when more and more traditional churches adopt these heretical beliefs.
They might even bestow fancy theological degrees on “scholars” to make these ridiculous myths seem more plausible. Like the blind guides leading the blind, these apostate priests will lure more followers to plunge with them into the ditches of deception. As Paul told Timothy, people in the last days “will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:4).
Stay faithful to God’s Word. I pray we will hold onto our Bibles tighter than ever, fearlessly love the truth and ask the Lord to fill us afresh with the Holy Ghost. A church that walks in New Testament power will expose and overcome the lies of modern culture.
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J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years and now serves as contributing editor. He directs the Mordecai Project (themordecaiproject.org), an international ministry that protects women and girls from gender-based violence. His latest book is “Set My Heart on Fire” (Charisma House).
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