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INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the PRODCAST, this is episode 8, Banning Conversion?…

If you have not yet heard, the staunchly liberal government of Canada has just passed a new radical law, ramming it past both the house of commons and the national senate just before the end of business in 2021. This law went into effect just a few days ago, on January 10th, and it makes it illegal, in all of Canada, for any person to practice, promote, or profit from a controversial kind of therapy known as conversion therapy. 

Quite simply, conversion therapy is any action - both clinical or otherwise - that is meant to persuade a person away from an LGBTQ identity in any way. And in just a moment, we will read the language from the actual statute, which will show just how vague the whole thing is and why this law is a massive liberal trojan horse that will be used as a weapon against Canada’s faithful pastors and Christians… For anyone who would violate this law, a maximum of a five year prison sentence will be imposed, just for appealing to and calling men and women to a Biblical sexual ethic. 

This move was celebrated by both the conservative and liberal wing of Canada’s government, which is actually a misnomer, because both wings of the Canadian government are decidedly liberal. That includes the ultra leftist, Justin Trudeau, the nations Prime Minister, who lauded the new law as “banning the despicable and degrading practice of conversion therapy”, which of course was met with hearty approval by the LGBTQ+ movement. 

So with all of that, in today’s episode, I want us to discuss what kind of specific conversion therapy is actually banned in this Canadian law. I want us to examine why this law is so tyrannical in so many ways, especially as we think about the impact it will have upon Christians and pastors in Canada. Then I want to conclude our time by trying to understand how this applies to Christians and what is the exact right way to respond to the LBGTQ+ community… 

So with that, let us begin with the question: what is conversion therapy?

WHAT IS CONVERSION THERAPY? 

According to the Canadian law,

“Conversion therapy means a practice, treatment, or service designed to

(a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual;

(b) change a person’s gender identity to cisgender;

(c) change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth;

(d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour;

(e) repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or

(f) repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.” 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?

Now, clearly this statement is problematic for a variety of reasons. I think for starters, it is only being applied in one direction. The Canadian government is more than willing to make it illegal, for anyone to promote the suppression or reduction of an LGBTQ identity. They have made it illegal to persuade another person away from that lifestyle or away from a therapy treatment plan that is certifiably bad for them and will cause lifelong damage, because the overlords in Canada have now decreed it to be so… 

But, again, the irony is that it does not apply both ways. While it is illegal to persuade children and adults out of that lifestyle, it is actually celebrated and encouraged to persuade children and adults into that lifestyle, which lets us know that Canada now deems conversion as a legitimate enterprise, so long as it only ever sends people deeper into their sin and never calls them out. 

You could - in theory - convert the entire nation of Canada into active homosexual or transgenders, and the most likely outcome is that you would recieve awards, grants, and your celebrated face would be plastered all over the cover of today’s woke magazines. But, convert a single person away from the LGBTQ life, tell one person to skip a hormone therapy and pray for forgiveness for finding their identity in their sex, tell one teenage girl to slow down and think very carefully before having a double mastectomy that will forever change her life and her physical body, encourage one teenage boy by reminding him that his masculinity is a gift by God worth preserving, and you will be bound for Canadian prison for crimes against this mangled humanity. 

This law, even if you do not agree with God’s revealed truth in Scripture, is unevenly and unfairly applied, because Canada is now in the business of subsidizing immorality. 

That is the first very general problem I have with this bill. But we cannot end there. I also have a second issue, which is even more important. This bill is so vaguely written that conversion therapy could be almost be committed by any body, anywhere, which is baked into the bills purpose. Either you submit to our agenda, or we will beat you into submission. 

Do not get me wrong… If Canada were banning electroshock therapy (or other egregious practices), that really have been used on homosexuals in the past to convert them out of their sodomy, then I would agree that such a practice should be banned. No one, both Christian and atheist alike, believes that a person ought to be tortured into a new belief. We rightly cry out for justice when communists forcefully close down churches in China or Islamic Jihadists burn Christians to death for not converting to Islam. No one actually believes that people should be converted using violence unless they are a very sick monster that has lost all semblance of a soul… And yet, the law is written in such a way that abusing someone through electric shock and telling someone the good news of the Gospel is the same kind of offence, communicating the same level of damage, and warranting the same level of punishment from the depraved wretches in charge of the Canadian reich! 

In all actuality, the only thing Canada was specific about in this law, was the guilt and the sentencing for a violation, which let’s us know that they intend on using fear and intimidation to promote the LGBTQ agenda. And with such vaguery so expertly wordsmythed, the law effectly bans any practice, any treatment, or any service, by any body that ever assists anyone away from a lesbian, gay, bi, queer, or trans identity. 

That could mean a counselor who wants to slow a child down so that conversations could be had before making any life changing decisions. That could mean a Dr. who is unwilling to prescribe the drugs that will medically castrate your son. That could mean a pastor preaching a sermon on Biblical sexual ethics with an appeal for men and women to repent. Leave their life of sin behind, and turn to Christ… Or, that could mean you, dear Christian, having a conversation with a loved one or friend who is struggling with their sexual identity and you give them counsel to rest in Biblical truth of who they are, repent for their aberrant desires, and to turn toward Christ for the only healing they will ever get.  

Under this law, all of the above actions would be entirely illegal and would evoke the ire of a government that desires to propagate sexual confusion, and is hell bent upon their own destruction. Think about it… If a nation is encouraging men and women to surrender their fertility, and to expend their sexual energy on fruitless debauchery that will not produce the next generation, well, that is a nation that is doomed to collapse in on itself… If God allows it to experience a natural end. 

Take a look again at how the statue reads

Section a denotes that it is illegal to help someone become heterosexual? Which is another way of saying to help them become who God designed them to be. God did not design men and women to be homosexual. God is not the author of evil. He did not design a man with attractions for another man. He did not design a woman to have desires for another woman. He did not make people with proclivities toward polyamory… And He did not design a human being to be born in the wrong body, so that they need to hack their bodies into a makeshift collection of surgically constructed pieces like a modern day frankenstein before they could have a chance at happiness. Speaking out against that is now illegal in Canada. 

In section b, it has become illegal to assist someone out of a psychotic delusion. It has become illegitimate to help a person realize that they are not a boy trapped in a girls body, they are not a man who needs to be affirmed in their attraction of toddler boys, and they are not a man who still has a period. In that case, they are a woman with short hair living with an undiagnosed mental health crisis that Canada has made felonious to treat!! I feel for the men and women who sincerely believe that they are something that they are not. But we should not make the cure, which is speaking the truth to them, illegal… So that we can placate them in their fantasies! That is absurd! 

The whole bill is patently absurd and will soon make inroads into the church, which again, is the trojan horse that they have carefully designed. My prayer is that Christian pastors in Canada will not react with anger, frustration, and blast the homosexual community with equal and opposite hate, because God says that vengenage belongs to Him. But, even with that, I am also praying that pastors in Canada would not do the opposite, and run away in fear! 

Christianity is not a religion of fear, avoidance, or cowardice. Christianity is not a faith built upon running away. Christianity was built upon the cornerstone, Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our faith; the cornerstone that we are modeled after; did not cower and run away! He marched boldly toward the cross, with joy, knowing that God could accomplish great things even in the deepest darkness! 

As Christians, we obey the government to the degree that the government obeys our God. When the laws of the land do not violate the law of God, or do not compel lawless living, then we are all the willing to obey them. We are model citizens, humble, quiet, and ready to participate in the health and building of the society. But, when a law violates the law of God, we choose God. And not out of some semblance of self-importance, or a penchant for violence, or a personality quirk bent on conflict. We desire that secular governments repent from their lawlessness and turn to the Living God. But if they will not turn to Him, we will not turn from Him just to please them. You can imprison us, beat us, burn us, or kill us. He matters more to us than anything and you have been warned. 

But, as we draw this first part of our discussion to a close, I want to remind us all to pray for our brothers and sisters in Canada. Pray for the pastors who will need to muster the courage not to alter their sermons to please the tyrants, not to change their examples to save their own necks, and not to water down the teaching to protect themselves. If we are ashamed of Christ and His Word, He will be ashamed of us! Pray that the church in Canada will be bold, lion hearted, humble, loving, and would balance all of those things truly in Christ! 

But, I would also ask us to remember to pray for our nation as well. Currently, 20 states in the united states (plus D.C.) have banned conversion therapy, which means Dr’s must go along with whatever decision a patient has made or risk being sued or shut down. In the state that I am coming to you now from, Massachusetts, there is still some distinction being made for pastors and religious institutions, but there is no guarantee that this will continue. We live in a state and a country where all the political energy and momentum seems to be jolting left. And with progressives always needing new moral frontiers to normalize, it wont be long before peadophila is legal, and preaching against it isn’t. Buckle up everyone. 

Now, as we close this week, I want to speak directly to Christians and Christian pastors who may be wondering what this kind of a law means for you (both now or in the future) and I want to encourage you with truth from the Word of God. 

In the weeks ahead, we will be getting into the specifics of what the Bible says about homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, sexual ethics, and other issues of identity. We will open up God’s Word and see what the creator has to say about His creation. We will understand how Christ is the only hope for the fallen world. And we will see how His Gospel, lovingly and faithfully proclaimed, is still the most loving and helpful thing that we can do for anyone trapped inside the LGBTQ2+ movement. 

So…

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION TO CHRISTIANS?

To you, dear Christian…  We know that God’s Word is true even when everyone else is exposed as a liar (Rom. 3:4). We know that all aberrant sexuality is an abomination to God (Lev. 18:22) and that all who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), and that we are not to be ashamed of that message, because His Gospel of repentance is the power of God for salvation to the Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1:16). 

We must not be ashamed of what God’s Word teaches just because it is no longer en vogue with our secular society. The Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord (Pr. 1:7) and that the fool will always say in his heart that there is no God (Ps. 14:1). He does this because deep down he knows that his deeds are evil (Rom. 1) and he does not want to come into the light for fear that his wicked works will be exposed in light of a thrice holy God (John 3:20). We know from Scripture that God’s wisdom is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18) and that all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted for His name sake (2 Tim. 3:12). 

This means that we can count it all joy when we are experiencing trials of various kinds (James 1:2-4), because we know that He has already overcome this world (John 16:33), that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:1), that we are called to be shining lights in this perilous time (Phil 2:14-15), knowing that whatever hardships we face are working for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17), from a God who causes all things to work together for our good (Rom 8:28). 

Rest in the truth that God’s truth is still good, that the world still needs to hear it, and God has no plan b on how to reach the world apart from His Gospel. He has called you to declare it, He has called us to share it, and that begins in the pulpits all across this nation and trickles down into the conversations that we will have with others. 

Do not be afraid, Christ is with you! Do not be discouraged, Christ is with you! Do not fear what man can do to you, Christ is with you! Better to please your Lord and offend this world, than to stand before your king in the opposite position. 

Remember, to live is Christ, which means all your living is devoted to Him. But also remember that to die is gain. Your life is in His hands. You are His slave. And He has called you to share this message with every tribe, tongue, and nation until he returns. Share the Gospel boldly, dear saint! That is why you are still here! 

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION TO PASTORS?

And to my brothers in the pastorate. I want to end by reminding you of your calling. Paul says it well in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 when he says this: 

4 Timothy, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

Dear pastor, you have been charged by Scripture to preach! That charge has been given in the presence of the Living God who can see whether or not you have been faithful! Humble yourself under His mighty hand. Do not adulterate His Word to make it more palatable to the modern man. Preach it as it is! Preach it with conviction, boldness, and passion! Preach it with love, sincerity, and affection. Preach the truth! Do not waver! Do not worry whether the Word is in season or out of season, preach it anyway! And then, and only then my brother, will you fulfill your ministry. 

Your people need that Word, and God will hold you accountable to what you do with it! 

Until next time, Soli Deo Gloria

-Kendall