Lies, Narratives, and Selling Your Children’s Graves

Transgenderism is an incredibly violent phenomenon.

Genital mutilation is labeled “gender-affirming care,” while the mainstream media constantly reminds attempts to frame anti-trans legislation as a matter of “survival.” From self-harm to self-deception, the transgender community is plagued by depravity and violence. Yet every step of the way, the Biden administration has sought to hamper any laws that would curb this violence.¹ For the federal government, downplaying the violence of transgenderism is just as crucial as skewing statistics on firearm deaths. Creating the illusion that transgenderism and violence are separate issues is a task that never ends, resulting in confusion and false impressions. After all, without mountains of rhetoric and manufactured evidence, the average person would be inclined to assume transgenderism is a “red flag” for gun ownership.

As it is, sifting through these statistics on transgenderism is a bit of a challenge. Selective data collection has plagued transgender crime statistics for quite some time.² Some studies believe that transgender people are being misgendered at death and that they are actually four times more likely to be a victim of violence.³ Further complicating the matter, the FBI crime statistics currently list almost 10% of murder offenders as “unknown gender.”

Despite our limited studies, the information we do have indicates the transgender community has an intense predisposition to violence.

• Transgender individuals consider and attempt suicide at extremely high rates.⁴
• Sexual minorities are 3x more likely to be incarcerated⁵
• Transgender individuals experience a “dramatically higher” prevalence of intimate partner violence.⁶
• Gay and Transgender Youth are 2x more likely to be in the juvenile justice system⁷

Even though the studies are scarce, the association between transgenderism and violent offenses is inescapable. To those who have already made this connection, the shooting at Covenant School was a tragedy, not a surprise.

The murderer, a woman identifying as a transgender gay man, deliberately chose the Christian school for her final act of bloodshed, killing six people on March 27, 2023. While the Christians wept the following weeks, some decided that praying wasn’t enough. Even though the president of the nation was voicing his support of the extremist transgender community,⁸ some pastors were undeterred. When fellow Christians had been murdered in their backyard, some thought they would appeal to the graves of the saints to join Biden in the push for “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” or “Red Flag Laws.”⁹ In fact, Tennessee governor Bill Lee was praised by the Biden administration, who sought to expand existing red flag laws while simultaneously obscuring the language of a “qualifying mental disorder.”¹⁰

Politicians were already at work, fabricating the transgender victimhood narrative. The only question is, what would Christians do to fight the deception?

Using The Platform

In the wake of the Covenant school, it didn’t take long before some saw it as a political opportunity. David French was one of those people. His editorial, published two days after the murders, starts by citing his close connection to the school. “I know Covenant. I belonged to P.C.A. churches for 18 years…” he said.¹¹ In typical David French fashion, the article quickly devolved into liberal antics. “My family has received years of ugly threats from the Trumpist right, and I’m keenly aware of the need for self-defense. But I’ve also called for ‘red flag’ laws…” French further suggested that the Christians killed by the transgender terrorist could have been prevented if Tennessee had these laws in place. The article finally ends with a call to action – to address the “terrible scourge of violence that scars our land.” Out of context, it would sound like he was referring to abortion or transgenderism. In context, French was trying to use the death of these Christians as an argument against “gun idolatry” and “gun fetishists.” Christians dying at the hand of a transgender terrorist wasn’t good enough for French: they needed to be martyrs for liberalism.

Others in the area took a more subtle approach to activism. Randy is the lead pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN – about 20 minutes from Covenant School. His church is a part of the PCA, planted by members of Christ Presbyterian Church and initially led by Scotty Smith. Through the years,¹² the church has been led by several pastors, including Mike Smith and David Cassidy.

The first Sunday after the murders (Palm Sunday – April 2, 2023), Pastor Randy Lovelace took his place at the pulpit. Instead of immediately opening with prayer, Pastor Randy invited another family onto the stage. This particular family was well-connected with Covenant School in both a teacher and student capacity. After praying for the family and all affected by the murders, Pastor Lovelace began his sermon by informing his congregation that he would preach Psalm 34 instead.

“…instead of vitriol, I need and I pray for the fruit of the spirit to be born out in this community.”

Pastor Randy Lovelace, “Behold Our God: Delighting in the Son – The Lord is Near” (Sunday Sermon April 2, 2023)¹³

Two weeks later, it seemed as if the message had changed. Pastor Lovelace found himself on WPLN, a local radio show, in a panel interview about how his Christian community has been handling the tragedy. The pastor clarified that thoughts and prayers were important; however, he also emphasized that sending “thoughts and prayers” can often be seen as tripe: “I don’t want to judge the person saying it, but there is action that can be done. There are things we can do. We are not inactive.” Lovelace eventually agreed with a Black woman (who claimed to be a pastor) that we could be political without being partisan. “But there are people who are being incentivized to keep us divided. They want to call it politicization when in fact, we’re just engaging as citizens in a democratic republic from a position of faith…”¹⁴ The woman on the panel, Kelli X, described herself as “very political” and a glance at her church website proves it. Kelli proudly uses her ministry to partner with abortion advocacy organizations like Planned Parenthood and Protect Our Care.¹⁵ If Lovelace had intended to mobilize for the protection of the community, it was not clear how murder advocates were going to help.

The next day, a letter was submitted to Tennessee lawmakers with Pastor Randy’s name attached. Representing “Faith Leaders,” the letter encouraged legislators to “protect our kids” and asked for red flag laws, additional background checks on citizens, and “safe storage” legislation. If this was meant to be nonpartisan political action, it couldn’t have done a worse job. Of the 130+ signers, most hailed from a denomination that actively supported murder. From the PCUSA to Reform Judaism, most of these liberal groups actively supported infanticide and publicly affirmed the notoriously violent transgender movement.^16171819

It took three weeks for Lovelace to go from a season of mourning to a season of politicking. Like French, Lovelace simply couldn’t allow a good tragedy to go to waste, forcing these murders into a Left-wing narrative for political purposes. Those who resist liberal frameworks found his activism shocking and even disgusting. Most Christians cannot collaborate with those who base their religion around affirming castration, mutilation, violence to self, and death. Lovelace’s latest attempt to shoehorn this act of religious terrorism into a call for “red flag” laws indicated to many the true extent of his motivations.

Not The First Time

As strange and unexpected as this might have been, Lovelace was not the first lead pastor of Christ Community Church to publicly support liberal policies. Almost a month after the shooting, former pastor David Cassidy posted an article urging politicians to “get to work” and claimed that gun violence was “the leading cause of death among children in this nation” – a patently false observation.²⁰ In fact, when confronted about these lies, the publisher of Cassidy’s article refused to retract the statement.²¹

But ByFaith wasn’t the only publication looking to capitalize on the graves of the saints. The day after the murders, Joe Carter published an article with The Gospel Coalition, suggesting that Christians consider supporting red flag laws.²² The same day, Scotty Smith (Founding pastor of Christ Community Church) published a prayer on his TGC blog featuring a picture of one of the victim’s family photos.

“Free us to live and love towards the Day when all swords, spears, and guns will become instruments of tilling, gardening, and mutual nourishment.”

Scotty Smith, “Hold Us Tighter Jesus” – March 28, 2023²³

A few weeks later, it seemed like Scotty meant to bring that day about on his terms. Joining the other liberal “faith leaders,” Scotty added his signature to the letter sent to the TN legislators, urging them to pass red flag laws. But after the killing, PCA pastors weren’t the only ones interested in capitalizing.

On April 19, about three weeks after the murders, Randy Davis and Brent Leatherwood utilized their positions to make a similar special request. As president of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and the head of the SBC’s public policy arm, the letter made clear that they believed Governor Lee’s red flag laws were “desperately needed.”²⁴

Thanks to Leatherwood, Smith, Cassidy, and Lovelace’s activism, Tennessee newspapers could finally describe radical Left-wing legislation as having the support of “Conservative Christians.” In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Conservative Christians have often resisted support for red flag laws.²⁵ Yet, despite the overwhelmingly negative response, these Christian leaders had no problem advocating the opposite. Siding with murder advocates and degeneracy enablers, those speaking for “conservative Christians” actively resisted the beliefs of the people they claimed to represent. These men saw that every Christian death at Covenant School would be utilized for Left-wing progressivism. Months later, the lack of remorse is simply astounding.

“Would partnering with faith groups on a different side of the aisle create an optics problem? ‘Not for me,’ Lovelace said.”

Liam Adams, “After tragedy hit close, how conservative Christians took a risk by supporting gun reform” – May 2, 2023²⁶

What Now?

No doubt, many lessons could be learned here. Some of you may be inclined to attribute malice to every one of these actors. After all, they have proven that motivation is irrelevant – depriving the saints of their martyrdom to leverage their deaths for liberalism is simply unconscionable. However, if you believe these men acted out of ignorance, not malice, the problems with their actions do not just disappear.

For the average Christian, attending these churches in good conscience is impossible. How can you sit in a pew and listen to a pastor who would immediately use your death for their own liberal activism? For the majority of Christians, their own death would be used to support the policies they opposed while alive.

There is also the problem of lies. If your pastor or Christian leader regularly entertains false reports and utilizes them against fellow Christians, continuing to trust them becomes impossible. But the 9th commandment covers more than just blatant falsehoods. The Westminster Larger Catechism reminds us that “giving false evidence… wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause… speaking the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end, or perverting it to a wrong meaning, or in doubtful and equivocal expressions… receiving and countenancing evil reports”²⁷ are all sins under the 9th commandment. The mishandling of facts and lies by these men is nothing short of egregious. With this in mind, the intention behind the action becomes irrelevant.

I wish I didn’t have to write this post. I am sure that everyone would have preferred to grieve in peace. I am quickly reminded, however, that activists bear that label for a reason. Liberalism never rests; those caught unawares are drawn into it with little resistance.

We live in a time when transgenderism and violence are affirmed and encouraged by the federal government. When that messaging and rhetoric inevitably result in a transgender terrorist attacking Christians, our response to it matters. We must be absolutely clear on what was done and absolutely clear on who is to blame.