The Proclamation That Provoked the Christian World

The entire world reacted over the weekend to one of the most outrageous and farcical statements perhaps ever made by a sitting President on Good Friday, March 29, 2024, just two days before Easter, when the White House made an official proclamation called “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024.”

This is not the first time the Biden administration has promoted transgenderism. In fact, the White House made similar proclamations in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The Transgender Day of Visibility is now more than a decade old. But the world was paying attention this year because it is the first time that this proclamation fell on Easter, when more than a billion Christians worldwide gathered to celebrate and commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Biden administration decided to release the proclamation anyway, completely undeterred.

To put this proclamation in context, it is a presidential election year. The White House is definitely maneuvering and playing political chess with any statement, including this proclamation. It is very unlikely that the Christian faithful will show up in large droves to re-elect President Joe Biden. The White House strategists know this, and it is baked into the political cake. The White House also released a statement for Easter Sunday that was much shorter by comparison, wishing Christians around the world a Happy Easter. But on Monday, no one believed the statement.

The public backlash for this proclamation in support of “Transgender Day of Visibility” means that everyone interpreted the message for its intended purpose. It was a total provocation and an affront to the Christian faith. This was a cold calculation, and it was on purpose. No one inside the White House was clueless as to this year’s calendar, and their intention was to try and score political points with the transgender movement and its allies, while departing dramatically from the Christian faithful on the most sacred day of the year.

Doubtful anyone reading this post actually read the proclamation — nor do you need to — but I will point out the obvious features. The Biden Administration speaks to the promotion of transgenderism and its usual allies in the LGBTQIA+ community while decrying what it calls the extremism of “silencing teachers, banning books, and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison” who promote transgenderism. It should be clear to anyone reading that religious conservatives and parents are considered the enemy of this movement. The proclamation also speaks to what it calls the “epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls.” Ironic, because for real women and girls that argument has actually stopped and reversed any progress.

But continuing further, the Biden administration says that it is dedicated to “mental health support” through a “nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline.” It is also supportive of “transitioning” children, which includes the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, genital mutilation, and sex reassignment surgeries under the guise of affirming care and protecting mental health. Make no mistake, this is unmitigated evil.

Interestingly enough, this proclamation contains other words that betray its own argument saying, we “reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfected Union — where all people are created equal.” That language — “created equal” — comes from our nation’s first document, The Declaration of Independence, which invokes the language of creation attributed to the God of creation.

While no one would ever accuse those who push this radical agenda of ever having a coherent worldview on the subject of biological sex, it is ironic that an argument in support of transgenderism would use the language of creation.

The Bible says in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Similarly, Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female…” (Matt 19:4).

It is in the language of creation where we find the imago Dei and where we derive our understanding of biological sex and even our political understanding of inalienable rights.

But this begs the question: If you deny the biological realities of male and female — and the imago Dei — how can you possibly defend their inalienable rights?”

The answer is you can’t, and almost everyone realizes that today.

The Biden administration is now reeling from this political stunt that was clearly devised and written as a provocation against the Christian faith on Easter. How should Christians respond? We must remain faithful to the truth claims of Scripture and resolve ourselves to stand firm on biblical sexuality defined in the pages of Scripture. We must also arm ourselves with truth even as the world is not buying the transgender narrative that is hardly a victory for them. They need a strong counternarrative and a better word.

Of course, they will continue to fall short, as we have the Word in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of Christ is a reminder that the Christian story doesn’t end with a cross but it begins with an empty tomb. It is a reminder of the total victory that we have in Christ in overcoming the world and defeating Satan. While pride flags fly all over this country, not just in government buildings but also in the public square to signal support of this movement, it is losing steam.

America needs more than the defeat of the sexual revolution. America needs the resurrection and the life that is only found in Jesus Christ.

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