The Priests of Baal

Elijah is regarded as perhaps the greatest of all the prophets in ancient Israel. He prophesied during the reign of king Ahab. The Bible does not paint a flattering portrait of Ahab. “Ahab,” the scriptures say, “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. Ahab…did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.”

Ahab led the people of Israel into wickedness by turned away from the worship of the one true God. Encouraged by his wife, Ahab instead served Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility. The Canaanites believed that Baal governed the heavens and provided the rainstorms which produced abundant harvests. The blessing of Baal also resulted in large herds of sheep and cattle. Importantly, he also controlled human fertility and was thought to have the power to grant many sons and daughters.

The worship of Baal was marked by child sacrifice and sexual immorality. This behavior was appalling to the LORD. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God warned Israel, “I am going to bring a disaster on [Jerusalem] that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle… [The people of Israel] have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal – something I did not command or mention, not did it enter my mind.”

Through his prophets, God called his people to reject Baal and turn back to Him with all their hearts. To this end, Elijah famously challenged King Ahab to a prophetic competition of sorts on the summit of Mount Carmel. On one side stood Elijah who alone represented the LORD; on the opposing side were the 450 prophets of Baal. Each party was given a sacrificial bull which was cut into pieces and placed on an altar. Elijah would pray to the God of Israel while the prophets of Baal would appeal to their god. The one who answered by fire would prove themselves to be the true God.

The priests of Baal went first. From morning until evening, they shouted and danced around their alter. “They slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed… They continued their frantic prophesying…but there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” What a sight this must have been! Hour after hour the priests of Baal passionately cried out to their deity, while lacerating themselves in the vain hope that these self-inflicted wounds might cause Baal to show them favor.

The whole scene seems quite foreign to the modern mind. Present day readers invariably wonder: how could these ancient priests believe that such senseless behavior would bring about the blessing of their god? Yet if we take a moment to reflect on the situation, we might realize that we in the modern world are not so very far removed from the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel.

It only takes a little knowledge of our world to recognize that transgender ideology has spread like wildfire across our nation in the last decade. As I’ve written before, many thousands of young people – mostly adolescent girls – have been drawn into the transgender movement like moths to a flame. The edifice of the transgender movement is purportedly built upon gender dysphoria, a psychological affliction characterized by prolonged, persistent, and severe discomfort with one’s biological sex. In times past, this malady has affected only an extremely small number of primarily young boys.

In the last few years, the number of kids who consider themselves transgender has exploded. But the modern transgender contagion has virtually nothing to do with the classic diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The current madness has suddenly affected mostly teen-aged girls. We shall more closely examine the dynamics of how kids are getting sucked into the transgender vortex. In this blog, I’d like to focus on how our medical community is caring for kids who claim to be trans.

The tragic reality is that any child who expresses the least interest in a transgender identity is strongly encouraged to fully embrace that new identity. With little or no counseling, these kids are given the option of taking puberty blocking drugs in order to prevent further sexual development. Many doctors claim that these drugs merely “pause” the patient’s maturation, giving them more time to sort things out. This is utterly false. Puberty blockers are powerful agents which have significant and potentially permanent harmful effects.

For those kids desiring to transition to the opposite sex, many misguided doctors are eager to help. One of the hallmarks of the political left is their dystopian manipulation of language. And so it is in this case. Medical care which denies the patient’s God-given, biological gender is known as “gender affirming care.” Physicians first prescribe hormonal agents; for girls, this involves taking testosterone in order to masculinize themselves. Within a matter of weeks, young girls begin to experience a deeper voice, increased body hair, and vaginal atrophy among other changes.

Here is where the story gets really ugly. An entire surgical industry has developed to cater to transgender kids. It would be accurate to refer to these efforts as “gender denying mutilation.” The details are profoundly disturbing.

Girls are offered “top” and “bottom” surgeries. These terms are merely euphemisms, designed to mask the grotesque nature of these procedures. Top surgery is technically known as a double mastectomy – the removal of both breasts. The result is a young woman with a flat chest and two prominent curvilinear scars below reduced nipples. Mastectomies are a major surgery often performed on those unfortunate women diagnosed with breast cancer. But no sane woman should ever wish to undergo a mastectomy.

Girls are also offered the option of a hysterectomy – the complete removal of the uterus. Of course, those who undergo this procedure forfeit their reproductive ability forever; they will never become natural mothers by carrying a child or giving birth.

The thought of a surgeon excising a normal uterus, or cutting off a young woman’s perfectly healthy breasts, is distressing enough. The concept of “bottom” surgery is even more convoluted. In this case, surgeons perform what is known as a “phalloplasty.” Doctors essential attempt to create a penis using tissue obtained from the patient’s forearm. This is a very tricky endeavor which involves incorporating the female urethra (the tube which carries urine from the bladder) into the newly crafted penis. The procedure carries a very high risk of complications. The reconstructed urethra is prone to blockage from scar tissue or leakage when the tissue doesn’t heal properly. Patients often face a lifetime of urinary incontinence. Even when things go according to plan, the young woman invariably has tissue loss and extensive scarring on her forearm. In the end, the patient is granted a penis-like appendage with absolutely no sexual function.

Males seeking to feminize themselves are given the option of breast implants. More radical choices involve an orchiectomy – the surgical removal of the testicles – which obviously leads to sterility as well as testosterone deprivation. (This procedure can be referred to colloquially as “castration,” which indicates the removal of the primary reproductive glands.) Finally, there is the “penile inversion vaginoplasty.” This procedure entails the removed of the penis and the construction of vagina-like pouch. Safe to say, most men are horrified at even the thought of such an operation. Perhaps this reaction should give us compassion for those who might subject themselves to such measures.

The tsunami of transgender propaganda has resulted in many thousands of young girls and boys seeking to achieve what is empirically impossible: a change in their sex. The result has been an unmitigated disaster: a whole generation of young people bearing deep emotional and physical scars. Many transgender individuals have already come to the stunning realization that they’ve been duped. Those seeking to reverse their transgender choices are known as “detransitioners.” Their ranks are swelling rapidly by the day. Yet even when the scales have fallen from their eyes, the road back is difficult if not impossible. Many will carry scars for the rest of their lives. The joy and satisfaction that they envisioned was a mirage; instead, they’re left with intense regret and unbearable misery.

So you see our society is not so very far removed from the priests of Baal, who mutilated their bodies in the vain hope that their god would bestow blessing upon them. Many thousands of kids are right now mutilating their bodies in the vain hope of achieving fulfillment in life. They genuinely believe that their new identity will give them happiness, wholeness and peace. But the transgender god has no more power to grant blessing than Baal. Though transgender persons will no doubt continue to mutilate themselves, their pursuit of blessing will be just as futile as the priests of Baal. For all blessing and goodness comes from the one true creator God who made us male and female.