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The Bible warns about evil people slipping in under the guise of being good:
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them (Matthew 7:15, 16 NIV84).
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve (2 Corinthians 11:13–15 NIV84).
In Europe during the late 16th century, the children’s tale, Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH), began to be told, which was put into a written story by Charles Perrault in the 17th century. It was later expanded by the Brothers Grimm.
In Perrault’s version, LRRH goes to Grandma’s house to bring food and drink to Grandma. Along the way, a wolf suggests to LRRH that she pick some flowers to take to Grandma, which the little girl does. While she is distracted from picking flowers, the wolf goes to Grandma’s house and gains entry by pretending to be LRRH, and once inside, he eats Grandma. When LRRH arrives at Grandma’s home, the wolf pretends to be Grandma and asks LRRH to climb into the bed with him, and then he eats her. Then the wolf falls asleep.
Note the elements of the story. First, there are no men in this story. There is an innocent girl, a weak grandmother, and a ravaging wolf.
But the wolf doesn’t present itself as it is; it presents itself as a female—as a little girl to the grandmother and then as a grandmother to the girl, all in order to slip past the defenses society has put in place to keep wolves away.
The wolf initially presents as a helper, suggesting how LRRH can do something kind for Grandma (pick flowers), but this is a distraction to open an opportunity for exploitation. LRRH’s empathy, her desire to be a blessing to Grandma, causes her to focus on the kind suggestion and not recognize the dangerous wolf for what it is.
The wolf dresses up like a little girl to enter Grandma’s home (safe space), and once inside, the wolf devours Grandma.
Then the wolf dresses up like Grandma in order to get the little girl into bed with it, where it can devour her.
The moral of the story is that when men are removed from their godly role as protectors in society and our empathy and compassion cause us to deny reality (truth), then the wolves come in and ravage the innocent.
An Ancient Theme
This attack on God’s design for humanity has been going on for millennia. Through Moses, God warned the ancient Israelites that allowing men to pretend to be women and women to pretend to be men is detestable:
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive to the LORD your God (Deuteronomy 22:5 NET).
We see this offensiveness in our society today. Traditional masculinity, godly men functioning in the role of protector, are vilified, demonized, and called “toxic,” and, thereby, are removed from their traditional role of keeping the predators away.
Therefore, the wolves in society distract, obscure truth, through the claim of compassion and empathy for people who are confused about their identity. Through this exploitation of empathy for mentally struggling people, the wolves get people to deny reality, thereby allowing the wolves to dress up as women and enter into the safe spaces of real girls and women, where they ravage them physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically, economically, and professionally.
Lest some think I am projecting into the story of LRRH my own interpretation, consider Perrault’s explanation of his intended meaning:
From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, and it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner. I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous! (“Little Red Riding Hood Charles Perrault.” Pitt.Edu. University of Pittsburgh. 21 September 2003 quoted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood#cite_note-33 ).
These gentle wolves pretending to be kind and caring helpers manifest throughout history in various ways: the child molester hiding as a teacher, counselor, youth pastor, or priest—but it has now morphed into the open masquerade of claiming to be women trapped in men’s bodies.
I am not saying that everyone with gender confusion is a ravaging wolf; I am saying the wolves are using identity confusion as a tool to masquerade as women through exploiting empathy for the gender confused. There is no such thing as transgender—there are men; there are women; there are intersex individuals (hermaphrodites); and there are people with mental illness who are confused about their gender. And then there are the wolves who exploit this to masquerade as women to ravage the innocent.
Evidently not satisfied with leaving godly men as bystanders, powerless, castrated, and helpless in society, the Brothers Grimm recognized the solution to this danger and expanded Perrault’s version. In their version, they added a man, a hunter, who goes to Grandma’s house with an axe and cuts the wolf open, freeing Grandma and LRRH, who are shaken but otherwise okay. The brothers also wrote a follow-up story in which the girls later trap and kill a wolf who was following them, having learned from their previous experience.
Is it time for the lessons of the Brothers Grimm version to be applied in our society? Is it time for godly men to resume their role as protectors of the innocent, to call out and restrain the predators in our communities? Especially those predators dressing up like women and going into women’s safe spaces? Is it time for us to stop allowing empathy for people struggling with mental health problems to cause us to deny reality? Is it time we compassionately tell those who are gender confused the problem is not in their body—it is in their mind, and provide them with compassionate, truth-based mental health treatment? If we want to not only protect the innocent but also help these hurting and struggling confused souls, we need to return to God’s truth.
But the apostle Paul warned that at this time in history, people will not want the truth and things will be in a terrible state:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth (2 Timothy 3:1–7 NIV84, emphasis mine).
They never acknowledge the truth; they prefer the lie. But we must not collude with the lie; we must be lovers of the truth.
I encourage you to fix your eyes on Jesus, to become a lover of truth, objective reality, and do not allow feelings to cloud your judgment; do not allow pop culture to determine your understanding; do not allow social media to establish your worldview. Turn to Jesus, fill your mind with God’s Word, understand His design for life, embrace His principles, methods, and standards, and learn to see through the masquerade and don’t be duped by those wolves in either sheep’s or women’s clothing. Let’s pray for those who are struggling; let’s be ready to counsel those who are confused; let’s be compassionate to those feel outcast; but let’s not ever surrender our thinking or deny the truth because it might hurt someone’s feelings. It is only the truth presented in love that heals. As Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31, 32 NIV84).
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