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Tale as Old as Time: The Truth About Transgenderism
By Lisa*
My 37-year-old married brother with five children under the age of nine sent me an email a few months ago announcing his plans to become a woman. His wife is encouraging him to transition.
Gender dysphoria used to be right next to schizophrenia in the DSM-V (the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists). This makes a lot of sense given that my brother is currently claiming a woman lives inside his body. In order to let her out, he must not only wear dresses, heels, and makeup, he must also begin taking female hormones to transform his body into that of a female.
True Self
What troubles me even more than my brother’s decline in mental health is that countless people around him have decided to simply “love and support” him on his “journey.” If he were claiming that he believed an alien or a time traveler lived inside his body, they might not be so supportive. But because it is 2019 and the denial of reality when it comes to gender is culturally en vogue, people are going along with it. They’re terrified of being called intolerant. They say things like, “If he tells us that she is his ‘true self,’ who are we to argue?”
Ah yes . . . the “true self,” a mantra of a generation. No matter where you go, you can’t escape it. Books, television shows, Instagram captions, and Internet memes suggest we can all attain greater levels of health and peace through a deeper realization and expression of our “true self.”
Back in the day there was something called moral realism, a worldview that put an emphasis on human sin and weakness. Biblical figures like David and Moses were seen as great leaders who were also deeply flawed. Augustine and the early church fathers talked about the depravity of sin and the need for grace. Then around the 18th century moral realism found its rival in moral romanticism. Romantics like Jean-Jacques Rousseau started talking about the inherent goodness of man.
Fast forward to 1946 when Rabbi Liebman published his book Peace of Mind. The book urged people toward a new morality based on the idea that you should never repress any part of yourself as sinful. Instead you should “love yourself” and be unafraid of your hidden impulses. The book became a New York Times best seller for 58 weeks. Humanist psychologists ran with it, arguing that the primary problem for humans was no longer sin, but rather the fact that we weren’t accepting ourselves exactly as God made us. This line of thinking led to the advent of the self-esteem movement in 1969. The core of that movement morphed into what author Charles Taylor calls “the culture of authenticity.”
The central belief of the culture of authenticity is this:
At the center of every one of us is a Golden Figure known as “the true self.” The true self can always be trusted. You know that what you’re doing is right when you feel an inner peace (or shalom) inside your true self. You know what you’re doing is wrong if you do not feel that peace.
Because the true self is inherently good, there is no sin to be found in it. Sin is now found only in the external structures of society that seek to repress the true self.
In his book The Road to Character, David Brooks explains that older generations believed the development of character came by struggling against the desires of the true self. Traits like selflessness and self-sacrifice were considered most admirable. Younger generations, in contrast, believe the most admirable trait to be radical self-expression.
Thus, the steps to the “new salvation” being promoted by younger generations include
- relinquishing any previous struggle you had against your true self,
- letting your true self fully emerge without guilt or shame (both of which are constructs of old, outdated religious systems),
- adopting a new vocabulary in which words like “sin” and “evil” now refer to the external structures of society that caused you to doubt your true self in the first place. (The new “evils” are organized religion and any system of thought that seeks to oppress the weak or marginalized, such as poverty, racism, misogyny, or anything that’s anti-LGBTQ.)
Yet 19th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill said the point of life was to struggle every day to “sacrifice the true self on the altar of care and concern for others.” This is done by achieving a series of small, inner victories against our own desires because you know that acting upon them could result in negative consequences for others. Even if acting on our impulses doesn’t feel like it’s doing any harm in the moment, it could be adversely affecting countless generations to come. Thus, we build character by a thousand selfless acts of restraint that no one ever sees.
But in 21st century America, this line of thinking doesn’t compute. We don’t applaud people for restraint; we applaud people for throwing off restraint. Hence the hundreds of Instagram followers now giving my brother a “heart” for announcing he’s a woman.
The logical problem with this is that if a man is to be “supported and celebrated” as he embarks on his journey to become a woman, shouldn’t everyone be celebrated as they continue down the path toward their true self? Shouldn’t the married woman be encouraged when she reconnects with her true self in the arms of another man? Our culture would say yes, and books written about this have become best sellers.
If we do away with the concept of a sin nature and concede that everyone is inherently good, there is really no impulse that needs to be fought against. Ever. The porn addict may as well explore his addiction. The alcoholic and heroin user too. And what about the pedophile? What do we do with the man who says his true self has been attracted to small children from the time he hit puberty?
My brother and sister-in-law would agree that we shouldn’t condone any behavior that would “cause harm to others.” They’d argue that the trans person is not harming anyone by switching genders. So let’s consider that argument. Would my brother, who has been a man for more than three decades, suddenly becoming a woman really not be harmful to anyone?
I suppose that depends on your definition of harmful. Is it harmful to disrupt the mental, emotional, and physical health of everyone in your family, both immediate and extended, for months and likely years to come? Is it harmful to raise five small children in a state of psychological confusion in which the person that they thought was one thing is now another, one in which their parents morph from a heterosexual couple to a homosexual couple right before their eyes? Is it harmful for a husband who promised to love and cherish his female wife to abandon all responsibilities as the man she thought she married? Is it harmful for a father of five to commit a slow form of suicide as he begins to disappear and a new creature (complete with a different name) takes his place?
My tall, handsome, muscular brother began taking strong female hormones that transformed him into a different person. His facial hair stopped growing. He grew breasts instead. As part of his “social transition” he began wearing dresses, wigs, heels, and makeup in public. He will have to stay on female hormones until the day he dies. He refuses to answer to his former name, Josh. He says Josh is dead. There was even some type of symbolic “burial ceremony” to say goodbye to Josh once and for all. Unfortunately, I didn’t get invited to that. Nor did my parents. No one sent us flowers. No one dropped off a casserole.
The best way to describe what happens when a loved one decides to swap genders is this: it’s as though someone murders your loved one, and then the murderer gets extremely angry if you won’t let them take the victim’s place in your family.
And if we really believe that supporting people on their journey to their “true self” is best, what do you suppose our society is going to look like a decade from now?
Well, the number of “otherkin” (people who identify themselves as half-human, half other species) is growing. A man named John who identifies himself as a fox is now requesting special legal rights that will accommodate his needs as an animal. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), a significant percentage of “otherkin” also identify as transgender. Thus, the argument is easily made that if you support transgender rights, you have to support otherkin rights. After all, who are we to say what someone’s true self might really be? And just like transgender individuals, many otherkin are now having surgery to look more and more like the animal or entity they identify with.
If you can legally change the biological sex on your driver’s license, logic says you must be allowed to legally change any other trait you like because YOU and you alone know your true identity. This is how we end up with Martina Big and Michael Eurwen from Germany. The couple has undergone many rounds of Melanotan injections, a synthetic hormone that makes the skin darker. Why? Because although reality would tell us that they are both Caucasian, they personally identify as being African.
If you Google Martina Big, you will notice she does not appear to be well. Apart from Martina’s attempts to become black, she has also had 23 breast implants (she’s now a size 32 S). Should people continue going along with Martina’s delusions because only she can know her true self? Or should people try to get Martina the mental health help she obviously needs? I ask the same question of those in my brother’s circle of friends.
Profiting from Transgenderism
Instead of helping him get real help, people continue to “support him” as he moves deeper into his delusion. This includes many well-meaning therapists. But why would a therapist tell a man who has had a history of cross-dressing to take that compulsion to its furthest extreme by transforming his body into that of a woman? Because there’s big money driving trans medicine.
After trans medical research concluded in Europe in the early 2000s, doctors from those clinics flooded into the U.S. knowing they could make a financial killing by peddling a new “treatment” for the psychiatric problem of gender dysphoria. (If you haven’t studied the history of trans medicine, Google Paul McHugh, the doctor from Johns Hopkins who was in charge of the first sex reassignment surgery program in the U.S.).
Once you study the history of trans medicine, you’ll discover that any dissenters of the practice were systematically silenced. This includes respected Ivy League professors and doctors like McHugh, who said that going along with a patient’s delusion was far more harmful than helpful. What began as two clinics (one on either coast) that recommended people with gender dysphoria move further into their fantasies by taking cross-sex hormones has now expanded into 50 clinics across the U.S., all of which are collecting massive insurance payouts.
Read Part 2 of this article here.
*The author of this true account, a wife and mother, wishes to remain anonymous. Names in this account have been changed.
I am proud to have been a credentialed minister with Open Bible Churches for over four decades. What a privilege to have served in a variety of contexts across our wonderful family of several hundred congregations in the US, along with several thousand globally. Over those decades, God has gradually expanded my understanding of what it means to belong to His Church.
I’ve enjoyed the enriching experience of embracing so many of the distinctives of what makes Open Bible, well, Open Bible: our unwavering commitment to Scripture as the inspired, authoritative Word of God; our resolve to plant and sustain healthy, vibrant local churches; our passion for the fullness and gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in our daily lives; and so much more.
And yet, with the beauty of these ecclesial distinctives so evident in our movement, I believe I have come to realize that what we share together as our core values and practices are not completely unique to us. As a matter of fact, when we take a step back and consider just who is a part of the Body of Christ, we can discover that we have much in common with our brothers and sisters across the US and around the world. It took one unexpected friendship to deepen my understanding of what it means to belong not only to Open Bible Churches, but to the Church.
A humbling experience for me has been to receive grace and love from others who are different than me even before I was prepared to offer the same to them. One example for me comes from my years as a participant in the International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue. This ongoing annual conversation was begun in the 1970s by David du Plessis, the Pentecostal known as “Mr. Pentecost,” and Father Kilian McDonnell, a Catholic theologian, and continues to this day. When I attended a session of this Dialogue for the first time in 1993, I was so focused on my disagreement with Catholic doctrines and practices that I was not in a place to show much hospitality. But over the next several decades I got to know the Catholic co-chair, Father Kilian, quite well. I was amazed at how well he knew Pentecostals like me, how much he wanted to learn more, and how much he cared for us. He was respectful, honest, and compassionate. We didn’t agree on everything, obviously. But he became a mentor to me, showing me how to treat others who were different than I was. And we became friends. He passed away last year at the age of 100, and I was honored to attend his memorial service. That experience changed how I think about the global Church.
The following numbers paint a remarkable picture of the global family that shares our evangelical, Pentecostal, and charismatic faith. According to the 2026 Status of Global Christianity report, more than 1.1 billion Christians around the world identify as Evangelical, Pentecostal, or Charismatic. Of those, approximately 676 million are Pentecostal or Charismatic believers.
That global family is wonderfully diverse, including classical Pentecostal denominations like Open Bible Churches, independent charismatic networks, Catholic Charismatics, and charismatic believers within many Protestant traditions (Anglican, Methodist, etc.).
So why do these numbers matter? They remind us that we are part of something much larger than ourselves. We are not alone, and we are certainly not “small.” Along with our evangelical, Pentecostal, and charismatic brothers and sisters around the world, we are a fierce contingent in the Lord’s army. It’s both humbling and encouraging to remember that we belong to the CHURCH in all its vastness.
But that doesn’t mean we have to give up our wonderful heritage, culture, and beauty that make us Open Bible Churches. We have something to contribute to the rest of the Church. I’m reminded of the prophetic word delivered a few decades ago at one of our conventions: “Open Bible Churches is a vital organ in the Body of Christ!” That statement has never been more true.
“Open Bible Churches is not ‘the Church.’
Open Bible Churches is part of the Church
— a wonderful part,
but a part.”
And yet, we also do not want to be guilty of isolation or sectarianism. Open Bible Churches is not “the Church.” Open Bible Churches is part of the Church. A wonderful part, but a part. So, it is healthy for us to remember our brothers and sisters in other denominations and networks, to pray for them, and even to cooperate with them in community and regional initiatives so that together we may faithfully steward our callings and responsibilities to advance the Kingdom of God on the earth.
One of the most important ways we can grow in unity as believers is to start by acknowledging and valuing diversity in the Body of Christ. God didn’t make us all the same. Unity is not uniformity. The old adage still rings true: “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; and in all things, charity.” May we agree to disagree with one another with clarity, respect, and most of all love. We can embrace grace and truth at the same time, and indeed we are called to it.
No doubt you know some followers of Jesus in your community (and probably in your own family) who do not belong to Open Bible Churches. The invitation for us all is to love them, to be grateful for all that we share with them, and to offer some space (and some grace) for our differences. This is not easy. In fact, it is hard work. Remember the words of the apostle Paul: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3 NIV). If maintaining unity was easy, Paul wouldn’t have needed to admonish us to “make every effort” to do so.
Jesus reminds us that unity isn’t just for our benefit: it’s one of the clearest testimonies to a watching world.
But if we are willing to pay the price of seeing God’s big Church, and loving it the way He does, we’ll be more Christlike, and we’ll participate in being an answer to one of the last prayers Jesus prayed before He went to the cross on our behalf: “…that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23 NIV). Jesus reminds us that unity isn’t just for our benefit: it’s one of the clearest testimonies to a watching world.
Together, let’s allow the Lord to give us eyes to see the breadth and beauty of His Church, recognizing and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ in such an obvious way that we actually become answers to the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Amen?
Here are a few resources that explore some of these issues related to Christian Unity:
That They May Be One – Podcast
That They May Be One – Film
PCCNA Christian Unity Commission
Forum for Unity
International Charismatic Consultation
Global Christian Forum
About the Author
David Cole has been a credentialed minister with Open Bible Churches since 1984. He is currently Professor of Historical Theology at The King’s University in Southlake, Texas. He is also involved in a variety of initiatives related to his calling to encourage the pursuit of unity among believers in Jesus, and to that end currently serves as chair of the Christian Unity Commission with the Pentecostal/
Charismatic Churches of North America. He and his wife, Julie, are parents of four, grandparents of ten, and are currently located in Newberg, Oregon, where they attend College Street Church.
I woke up unable to speak. A breathing tube filled my throat. Machines surrounded my hospital bed. I was confused, intubated, and lying in an ICU room with no memory of how I got there. But strangely, I was not afraid. In the middle of the chaos, God gave me an unexplainable peace.
I motioned desperately for paper and pencil so I could ask two questions: What happened? And where is George?
My son’s father explained that I had been in a serious car accident. The car was completely destroyed. I had been found trapped beneath the steering wheel with severe facial injuries.
That morning — January 22, 2026 — had started like any other Thursday. I got ready for work, buckled my 18-month-old son George into his car seat, and pulled out of the driveway expecting an ordinary day.
It became anything but ordinary.
My neighbor, who had left home at the same time I did, later explained what happened. We were both driving around fifteen miles per hour when the car I was driving suddenly lost control. I still do not know why, and I have no memory of the moment itself.
By the grace of God, George was almost completely untouched.
The car hit a cement light pole, crossed into oncoming traffic, and was struck head-on by another vehicle. Both vehicles spun, and the car I was driving slammed into another cement light pole.
By the grace of God, George was almost completely untouched.
The back windshield shattered directly above him, yet the glass never harmed him because of the position his car seat landed in. The entire back left side of the car was crushed inward, but George had been seated on the back right side. Even now, I can only thank God for His protection.
I was taken by ambulance to the hospital and admitted into the Trauma ICU. Doctors told my family that I had suffered severe head trauma resulting in a brain bleed. I was also bleeding internally in my abdominal area, and they began preparing my family for the possible loss of my pregnancy.
… the doctors did not know the God my family and I serve — and how merciful He is.
But the doctors did not know the God my family and I serve — and how merciful He is.
My family immediately began to pray. Members of my church, Open Bible Church of Homestead, began arriving at the hospital, and soon an entire army of people was interceding for me.
During those first two days, I drifted in and out of consciousness and remember very little. But one moment remains clear in my mind: I heard the song “I Surrender” by Hillsong Worship playing in my hospital room. The lyrics, “Like a rushing wind, Jesus breathe within, Lord have Your way, Lord have Your way in me,” stayed with me and brought a deep sense of comfort in the middle of everything happening around me. In that moment, those words became my prayer as I quietly prayed, “I leave this in Your hands.”
After three days in the ICU, I was successfully extubated and began making remarkable progress. Ultrasounds showed a happy, active baby, and the bleeding had stopped.
On the fourth day, I was transferred out of the ICU into intermediate care before eventually moving to the medical-surgical floor. Doctors then began preparing me for maxillofacial surgery to reconstruct my face after multiple fractures.
On January 30, I underwent an eight-hour surgery. By God’s grace, the procedure was successful, and another ultrasound afterward showed my unborn baby remained active and healthy. On February 3, I was finally discharged and able to return home.
Since then, my recovery has gone smoothly. I am now twenty-eight weeks pregnant and waiting expectantly for the arrival of my baby. Through every frightening moment, God gave me strength and peace, and I never doubted His mercy.
Today, I am a living testimony of His grace.
About the Author
Thammy Castro is a behavior technician living in Miami and a soon-to-be mother of two. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her family. She is a member of Open Bible Church of Homestead, where her parents, Jose and Maria Castro, serve as pastors.
There has been much discussion about the future of the Church. While I’m not a futurist or researcher, I’m grateful for voices that help us think wisely about pursuing the mission of the Church in an ever-changing culture. Researchers like Ed Stetzer and Carey Nieuwhof highlight some encouraging trends, such as revivals on college campuses, rising Bible sales, and Gen Z’s hunger for authentic faith.
I carry deep conviction and a faith-filled anticipation about what I see and am praying for. When I think about the Church and the days ahead, I don’t see a Church in retreat, but I do see a Church being refined – prepared for what God is getting ready to do. A victorious and glorious Church (Eph. 5:27).
When I think about the Church and the days ahead, I don’t see a Church in retreat, but I do see a Church being refined.
Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18 ESV). That promise has no expiration date. Jesus is still building His Church today.
As the church advances, it will not stand on programs, buildings, or production. . . it will be built on the authority of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Across the body of Christ, there is a growing recognition that the future of the Church will not be built by addition alone, but by multiplication. Disciples will make disciples, leaders will develop and release leaders, and churches will plant churches. There are many voices helping to bring clarity to this, and we are seeing that same conviction take shape within Open Bible through our Mission to Multiply and the Power of We.
So, when I think about the Church and what is ahead of us, what do I see?
I SEE A MULTIPLYING CHURCH
We often measure success by attendance, budgets, and programs. While salvations and baptisms remain central, we must expand the scorecard. As Larry Walkemeyer describes in The River Church, we must move from “lake churches” that gather to “river churches” that send – becoming disciple makers who multiply.
The book of Acts shows us a model of a church that did not just meet but multiplied. The future will not belong to churches that simply gather a crowd, but it will belong to churches that make and send disciple makers. Jesus did not commission us to build an audience. He commanded us to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19). Multiplication begins there – in intentional, relational, Spirit-led disciple making.
Multiplication is not just a strategy or a motto we adopt. It is the culture of Spirit-empowered, disciple-making churches. The Church I see measures health not only by attendance, but by how many are discipled, equipped, and sent to reproduce what’s been invested in them. This is our Mission to Multiply.
I SEE A SPIRIT-EMPOWERED CHURCH
We live in a time of rapid change. Technology, AI, and social media shape how we communicate and connect. These tools can be helpful, but they don’t transform lives. The Holy Spirit does.
These tools can be helpful, but they don’t transform lives. The Holy Spirit does.
Pentecost was Heaven’s defining moment for the birth of the Church and the fulfillment of what Jesus said in Acts 1:8. The early followers of Jesus did not have the influence, resources, or tools we have today. What they had was the power of God. That has not changed!
In the days ahead, more than ever, the Church will move forward not through innovation alone but through consecration. The church I see is unapologetically dependent on the Spirit of God.
I SEE A COURAGEOUS CHURCH
In the book of Acts, every step forward required courage – Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, Stephen in the face of death, Peter going to Cornelius’s home, the sending out of Paul and Barnabas. These were not small steps; they were courageous steps across cultural and spiritual boundaries. The early Church moved from gathering to going, from addition to multiplication. The expansion of the early Church was not accidental. It followed obedience and courage.
The Church I see will walk in that same Spirit.
Courage to preach the truth in love.
Courage to plant in hard places.
Courage to raise and release the next generation.
Courage to choose multiplication over comfort.
Courage to link arms with others for the sake of the greater mission.
Courage to build the Kingdom over our own castles.
We can stand on His promise and by His Spirit knowing “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7 NKJV).
I SEE THE POWER OF WE
As we look forward, one of the strongest convictions I carry is this: our future will be stronger through the Power of We.
Individualism limits impact; partnership multiplies it. When we share vision, develop leaders, and align around mission, we step into something far greater than any one church could accomplish alone. I believe the future Church will not thrive through isolation but will flourish through collaboration. The church I see understands that “we” is stronger than “me.”
When we share vision, develop leaders, and align around mission, we step into something far greater than any one church could accomplish alone.
I am confident in what God has called us to:
The church that makes disciple makers will multiply.
The church that depends on the Holy Spirit will endure.
The church that walks in courage will advance. This is the church I see, and I believe we are being invited to build it together.
About the Author
Michael Nortune serves as president of Open Bible Churches. He has ministered in the local church faithfully for thirty-five years. From his start as a janitor and groundskeeper to church planter and lead pastor of Life Church in Concord, California, Michael has had the opportunity to gain experience in every capacity within the church throughout his ministry. Not only does he have hands-on experience on the local level, but Michael has also led at the district, regional, and national levels within Open Bible Churches. Michael and his wife, Julie, currently reside in Colorado and love living near five of their six children and their spouses. They also treasure the time they spend with their other daughter who lives in Alabama with their first (but not the last) grandson!