 The tale of Mr. Beast could be categorized as miraculous, a kid from North Carolina in his mom's basement doing all sorts of crazy challenges in order to garner YouTube attention, ultimately becoming one of the most successful and recognizable YouTubers ever. But it wasn't a solo effort, along the way he's had a group of friends that have helped him perform his outrageous stunts. And over the years, because of Mr. Beast's skyrocketing popularity, his friends as well have garnered their own subset of fans. This week controversy broke out because one of his friends, Chris, who's often seen in the videos, ultimately came out as transgender or non-binary. I came to find out as well that not only is Chris married, but he also has a kid, so that his decision has drastic ramifications. Chris actually responded to a tweet commenting on his drastic shift in appearance, saying that he had been on hormone replacement therapy. So why do I bring this story up? Well, number one, I found it super interesting to see the audience's response to Chris's transformation. And in this video, I want to help us understand transgenderism and gender in light of God's design. As always, let's dive in. So according to what I've seen, Chris is accepting all kinds of pronouns. So he's not exactly going female, maybe he's non-binary. And he's also going on hormone replacement therapy, as I mentioned before. But recently, a live stream went viral of him appearing with the Mr. Beast crew in a crop top and a headband basically kind of portraying himself much more femininely or womanly. Now, apparently I wasn't the only one who witnessed the absurdity of this picture. A lot of other people felt very uncomfortable as well. Even those who didn't have a religious background, like you look at the comments underneath these live streams or these clips on TikTok or Instagram, you will come to find out that people, a lot of people really feel like there's discontinuity here. Something isn't right. Now, maybe if you're a Christian watching this, you've concluded that the transgenderism movement has been so widely accepted that there is no use in speaking up. But I think the story testifies to the fact that people that don't even consider themselves to be Christian still recognize there is a discontinuity. Something isn't right here. To see a 20-something-year-old man, a husband, a father in a crop top, doesn't sit well with most people. There's something wrong about that. Now the question is, is that because people just need to get with the times and be more accepting and put down their bigoted beliefs or presuppositions about the world? Or is it because it's something that's innate within us, something that testifies to God's design? I'll answer that question in a second, but what's even more tragic about this situation is that this man has a son and yet he's abandoning his role as father in pursuit of his own personal fulfillment. I saw somebody share this same concern and Chris responded saying that he can be just as good of a parent as he could be before and there's no need for a father. He can just be a good loving parent and he's gonna teach his son to love. But ultimately, you can't replace a father. God instituted that fathers be the protectors, the spiritual leaders, the providers of the family. And of course, yes, there's situations where things happen where a father is no longer present and that's a tragic situation. The community and church tries to come in and fill those gaps. But that absence is still felt. Now here's the thing, I'm not trying to make fun of Chris. I think that his feelings are very real. I'm not trying to say that he's faking it or he's just doing it for attention. I don't know any of that. Yeah, in his heart of hearts, maybe he wants to be a woman or non-binary and maybe that's been stewing in his heart for a very long time. And now he's just finally able to express it. There's a longing here, the desire for wholeness, the desire to have an identity that feels authentic to who you are. There's this internal belief that if only I could change this aspect of who I am or who the world sees me as, that I can finally be me. I can be happy as I am and life will make sense. It is a promise that's become so popular, but ultimately it's propaganda. It's a lie. The idea that somehow transitioning from man to non-binary or going into the space of limbo is gonna provide you with clarity is just absurd. And the truth that I've heard espoused by many detransitioners is that you need to know that hormone replacement therapy will never make you the other gender, it will never make you a woman. And we need to talk about the spiritual implications of what's going on here. When you attempt to change your gender or blur the lines of your own gender, you're acting in direct rebellion against God's good design. God created this male and female and he called it very good. To try to seek to change your gender, you're claiming that God is a failure. Whoopsie, he made a mistake. Oopsie daisy, he put the apple juice in the orange juice container. Now I don't mean to make light of the very real emotions that are connected with gender dysphoria, I imagine it's extremely painful. The solution is not to embrace the lie and it is not to affirm the lie, but rather the constant consistent calling into real and true identity. I believe there's a fundamental truth here. You cannot truly understand yourself and know yourself and know your identity until you know the one who created you and what he says about you and how he designed you. That's how you get in touch with who you are. You get in touch with who he is. I'm praying for Chris and I think it's so encouraging to see how many folks have deep transitioned, how God has penetrated the heart and shown them that the only satisfaction that can be found is in him. Ultimately, true and meaningful satisfaction and wholeness is in him. It's not in trying to change something about ourselves, not about trying to change our appearance to get others to perceive us ourselves in a certain way, but rather to rely fully on God and who he says we are and to step in that identity and that calling. It is a lofty calling, but it is a good calling. Okay, just a sidebar here real quick. I think a lot of people get confused about their gender and their identity because they maybe don't fit in the categories of what we often see as being manly or being womanly. Like maybe you're a dude and you're not super into cars or you're not super into hunting or whatever else, whatever that looks like in your culture. And I think I've experienced that too, where I'm like, hey man, I'm not super into that stuff as much. What does that mean about me? But ultimately we need to go back to what the scripture says about being a man and a woman. What does it look like? Does it mean, oh man, you're into this color or you're into this particular activity? No, it's really about heart orientation. Are you as a man seeking to be a leader in your community, to be courageous, to seek the Lord boldly, to treat others around you with love and with respect? And as a man, are you looking to, if you are married to serve your wife in a powerful, meaningful way to care for her, to be that spiritual leader? These are the questions you need to ask yourself. And for a woman, what is that looking like for you? Is it because, oh, you're not the fru fru girl, then you need to like all of a sudden, okay, you're questioning, man, am I even a woman? It happens, people have these feelings, right? But ultimately go back to the scriptures, right? Proverbs 31, what does that woman look like? Someone who takes care of her family, someone who's entrepreneurial, somebody who is resourceful and stewards what she has wisely, somebody that's compassionate, that loves people and nurtures them and raises families. Like this is amazing thing and a calling that you can step into. It's not about all the external stuff that maybe your culture, if this is what it means to be a girl, no, look to the word of God and that's where we find our calling. For Christians in a world interacting with the stuff, the question often comes down to what does it mean to love? Does to love mean to bring total affirmation and approval of every person's behavior and choice? No, it's to call them to something greater, to see something that might be harmful in their life and to lovingly say, hey friend, I care for you and I don't want you going down this path, like I'll be here, I'll be with you regardless, but I just want you to know, like this is not gonna be the best for you and this is actually counter to how God has created you and you're missing out, you're buying into a lie here and just coming at them with that kind of love, you might not be received too well, that might happen, but that's the orientation. It is speaking the truth in love. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments down below. Keep it loving, like I really don't wanna hear or see any stuff making fun of Chris. That's not really the point here. He's going to do something obviously, right? And a lot of people are witnessing this and they're seeing this happen and I think for us as Christians, it's an important opportunity to really get our foundation of how we would respond in this type of situation. Shout out to everyone on Patreon. It is an amazing blessing to have you guys over there to participate in our Discord and our video chats and all sorts of other stuff that's going on there. So thank you so much. It is because of your support that enables me to do this. It's my full-time gig and I pay the bills because of your guys support and I continue to pursue this mission of equipping people to follow Jesus daily. This is my heart, this is my passion. So thank you for equipping me and enabling me to do that. I'll see you guys later. God bless.