When the Transgender movement started, most of us didn’t know the extent and magnitude of the problem at hand. Today, as they roll on some of their new faculties and departments, the world now realizes it is a whole institution with Satan as their Founder and Chancellor, the Self as the Vice-Chancellor and misguided Human rights activism as their Registrar. The founder’s name should strike a chord that this “Trans-movements” didn’t start today except that it is announcing, manifesting, and reloading itself on another level altogether. Per their definitions, a transgender person feels trapped inside a body of the opposite gender. So, a biological male can begin to argue she is a female who has been trapped in a male body. A trans-racial is also someone who feels they are white but trapped inside a black body and vice-versa. A trans-abled person is also a physically able person who feels they should have been born disabled. Trans-age refer to those who think they are either far older or younger than their actual ages. Then came trans-sick, which describes those who argue they are sick although they are perfectly healthy. One thing that runs through the few mentioned phenomena is the “I feel” phrase as touted by its proponents and adherents.
In the book of 2 Samuel, when King David became a “Trans-Uriah” after his lustful escapade with Beersheba and tried unsuccessfully to let Uriah go and spend the night at home, little did he know that he was setting the grounds for Amnon, his son to also turned a ‘Trans-sick” person because of Tamar his sister. 2Samuel 13:1-2 says, “In the course of time, Amnon, son of David, fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom, son of David. [2] Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.” Here was a son of David who had allowed lust to intoxicate him to the extent of being obsessed with his own sister’s beauty and wanted her in bed. Not finding a headway around his problem, he made himself ill, as the Bible put it, even though he was perfectly healthy. Amnon, in his quest to satisfy the Self, then turned into a “trans-sick” person who needed special attention from Tamar. Prognosis is a forecast of the likely outcome of a medical condition. This article attempts to do a prognosis of Amnon’s “trans-sick” state with lust as the underlying health condition. Having special advisers and personal assistants is not a bad thing at all. They become such an enormous blessing when their counsel leads unto the path of righteousness. Unfortunately for Amnon, when his adviser in the person of Jonadab saw his “trans-sick” mood, he further pushed him into his early grave with the counsel and advocacy he mounted for him. In 2 Samuel 13:3-5, “Now Amnon had an adviser named Jonadab, son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. [4] He asked Amnon, “Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” [5] “Go to bed and pretend to be ill,” Jonadab said. “When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.
Yes, the “trans-sick” mood Amnon chose to cover his problem of lust showed and drew on his facial expressions all day and night long. It was, therefore, not surprising that his cousin Jonadab saw him looking haggard morning after morning. When you feel that you are a female even though a biological male, you are most likely to begin depicting certain feminine gestures and mannerisms which has nothing to do with the genetic make of the person as created by God. It, therefore, has everything to do with what one allows the mind to communicate to them for a specific heart desire. Instead of helping Amnon come out from the “trans-sick” state, which was having a toll on his life, Jonadab rather counselled Amon to go to bed pretending to be ill. “So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand.” (2 Sam 13:6). But for the counsel and advocacy Jonadab did for him, Amon could have been liberated by Prophet Nathan and the voices of God who were around the seat of Israel’s government at the time. Jonadab, however, advised him to go a step forward in that “trans-sick” mood, lie in bed and demand his rights to proper healthcare from David, his father. King David, unknowingly, fell for Jonadab’s counsel and sent Tamar to attend to Amnon. Even though Tamar could not have discerned all the ulterior motives of Amnon inspired by Jonadab, there were signals she should not have ignored and taken lightly. Why she happened to be the one picked to come and attend to him in that request to David is something she could have queried a little further. Secondly, he refused to eat after serving him the requested specially baked bread on a pan. That also should have rung a particular bell within her about the brother’s actual condition. (2Samuel 13:9). Amnon then instructed Tamar to send everyone out of the vicinity and bring the food into his bedroom alone, so he ate from her hand. Tamar obliged this request too, but this was the time Tamar should have realized Amnon had overstayed his welcome and boldly handed him over to a professional Doctor.
Homosexuality has been with humanity since the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. When our modern society began welcoming some of the vicious demands from their community, little did we all know that kind of patronage was going to be a long end-time battle of our lives. It is no more a hidden practice, but a fully-fledged LGBTQI+ protected and gated community today. If the acronyms even started with an “A”, we would have taken consolation that it would end at “Z” in a matter of time. Starting with “L” signifying a rather long journey and ending with a “(+)” sign suggests many more of its derivatives yet to unfold.
In 2Samuel 13:11, Amnon made a request which seemed unusual to Tamar when they were alone in the room. He initially started on a gentle note and said, “…Come to bed with me, my sister.” Tamar then decided to preach Israel’s culture and moral values to him, so he sat up and came out from whatever was coming over him. When that failed, she tried persuading his brother to reason up and think about the disgrace and aftermath of that act of incest on David’s household and the entire community of Israel. In my opinion, this was the fourth mistake Tamar made which landed her in the wicked and lustful arms of Amnon. He then overpowered, raped, and had her thrown out of his bedroom afterwards. When lust heats up red-hot, any attempt to gently negotiate and parry it off does not work. The only language it understands is to flee or confront it violently with every available strength.
When Potiphar’s wife caught Joseph by his cloak and said to him, “Come to bed with me!” the Bible clarifies that Joseph did not play the gentility and tolerance card. He instead left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. Joseph did not count on the Egyptian culture of the day but called the name of Jehovah Elohim as his principal reason for not negotiating with the spirit of lust. He said, “…How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9-12). Observing how some of our most cherished Ghanaian values and culture has ebbed away over the passage of time, depending on it at this crucial time of the day, will be shaky. On Christ the Solid Rock, we must stand because all others sink with time. But for God’s grace and help, we all could have done worse than the LGBTQ+ community are propagating. As a Christian community, we, therefore, have no option but to show unconditional love to all who happen to be entrapped by that menace. We, however, condemn the worship of the human will as their idol and misguided human rights activism as the chief Priest. The Ghanaian Christian community led by The Church of Pentecost and other denominations have, therefore, responded aptly as Joseph did and which Tamar failed to do. Billy Graham couldn’t have put it any better when he said, “Sin is not a toy with which to play but a terror to be shunned”.
After Amnon used Tamar to satisfy his selfish and lustful desires, 2 Samuel 13:16-18 reads, “Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out! “No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me…He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.” So, his servant put her out and bolted the door after her…” How come Amnon did not have the needed fulfillment he thought he would get after raping Tamar? That is the deception and illusion the advocates of Proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values want the LGBTQ+ community to avoid. The Bible makes it clear that “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up a mouth full of gravel.” (Prov 20:17). The soul and spirit of humankind can never be satisfied with the fleeting passions of this world and the Self. One will almost always feel that emptiness without life in Christ Jesus because that is how God, the creator programmed humankind.
Today, the world is fiercely trying to brand those who rather seek the welfare and Liberation of the LGBTQI+ community as haters but tag the “Jonadabs” as tolerant and concerned citizens. Let us not forget that the Bible referred to Jonadab as a shrewd person. Celebrating People in bondage through Law who instead needs Liberation and taking proactive steps to help them through same; which of the two is a hate move? Is it not ridiculous that the latter instead of the former is what this world calls hatred? Those advocating for your celebration cannot love you more than those of us campaigning for your Liberation through Christ Jesus.
When Absalom learned of what Amnon had done to Tamar, he kept his cool but planned to revenge at an appropriate time. Two years later, Absalom also demanded his rights to enjoyment with his siblings from David, their father but had Amnon killed on that occasion. If you allow lust to turn you into a “Trans-sick” because of a “Tamar”, you may meet your “trans-happy” Absalom one day. (2Sam 13). Where was Jonadab, the counsellor and advocate for Amnon when he was suffering revenge from Absalom? Amon died and got buried whiles Jonadab was still enjoying life with the golden opportunity and possibility of repenting before going to be with the Lord. The prognosis, therefore, does not look good for all who allow the Self and its lustful passions to rule them in this temporary life and the next life to come. I pray the LGBTQ+ community takes a sober reflection of their lives, allows Christ in their hearts, and instead be wary of the “Jondadabs” of our day whose advocacy for them instead pushes them further into the ditch before their time. Allow Jesus, therefore, to be the Lord of your life and He will give you the rest and peace this world can never provide for your soul.
Written by Pastor James Agyin (j.orhinagyin20@icloud.com)