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Praise | Chloe Cole: Courageous Christians | Praise | January 27, 2026
- Join us tonight as we sit with jim daly, ceo of focus on the
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- Family, and john stonestreet, ceo of the colson center.
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- They'll be sharing the story of chloe cole's life, her journey
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- To truth, and the courage it takes to proclaim that our
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- Identity is made in the image of god.
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- She discovered what's true about herself, and now she's
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- Discovered faith in christ.
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- And that has turned her into a voice of courage.
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- And that's what a redemption can do.
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- The message is perfect for this time because there's so much
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- Cloudiness when it comes to truth, and there is truth.
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- And in fact, the best line that chloe cole gives, i think in
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- The film, she said, it's not your truth, my truth.
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- It's jesus is the truth.
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- Welcome. i'm so glad that
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- You're joining us for tonight's program.
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- I wanted to read you something that i read in my own personal
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- Devotions this morning.
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- I've been working through the sermon on the mount, and in
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- This particular passage made me pause.
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- Do you ever feel that when the holy spirit says pause,
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- Pay attention here.
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- So let me read it to you.
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- This is from matthew chapter five.
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- And verse 14 says, you are the light of the world, like a city
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- On a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
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- No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.
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- Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to
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- Everyone in the house.
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- In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see,
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- So that everyone will praise your heavenly father.
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- Have you ever thought,
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- What does that mean for my life, lord?
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- What does it look like to live my life out like that, so that
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- Other people will notice and not give praise to me?
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- Other people will notice and give praise to the lord.
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- I'm so happy that i'm going to be joined by jim daly,
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- President of focus on the family, and john stonestreet,
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- President of the colson center for christian worldview.
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- We're going to be talking about what does it look like to be a
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- Light that's set on a hill. you don't hide as you're
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- As a believer. you don't hide your faith. but you've got this
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- Incredible documentary.
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- I wondered, where did the idea initially come from to make a
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- Documentary, truth rising?
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- My recollection was i was just thinking and watching the
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- Culture and people in the culture, nonbelievers who are
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- Saying something's wrong.
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- Something is not working in our
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- Culture the way it used to work.
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- And it gave me the idea we had done truth project many years
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- Ago, and i thought, maybe it's time for focus on the family to
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- Do another film, which we're calling truth rising, and
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- Quickly, my next thought was, we need to get john stonestreet
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- Involved because he's an expert in culture and you've done a
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- Lot to study up and understand culture and biblical themes.
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- And so i called john and just said, what do you think?
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- And you were right there.
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- Yeah. i mean, i was on board because one of the realities of
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- The scripture is that god is described as in a very
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- Historically precise way, at just the right time
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- And just the right place,
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- Galatians four talks about that god sends jesus, and paul talks
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- About this in acts 17, when he's talking to the epicurean
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- And stoic philosophers on mars hill, that god determines the
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- Exact times in which we live and the boundaries of
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- Our dwelling place.
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- In other words, it's not an accident that we find ourselves
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- In this cultural moment.
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- That's like jim just described, right?
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- Where things seem to be broken.
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- Things seem to be really uncertain back and forth.
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- And there's lots of ways we could describe it, but we are
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- Called to this moment.
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- So what does it mean for a christian to be the sort of
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- Christian that god's called them to be in this time
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- And in this place?
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- So being a light on the hill,
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- Um, well, listen, you can do all the right things and be
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- Accused of being a hateful, bigot,
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- Intolerant jerk.
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- You can be accused of all kinds of evils and canceled by
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- Doing the right thing.
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- And so what do you do? does that mean you get quiet?
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- Does that mean you stop shining your light?
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- Absolutely not.
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- That's where the courageous piece comes in.
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- One of the things that you've said i overheard in a
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- Conversation you were having with matt and laurie, you said
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- Something that i found very challenging.
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- You were talking about courage, but you said that it
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- Begins with faith,
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- Because so often we look at people who are doing courageous
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- Things and we think, i could never do that.
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- And yet, when you find the root
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- Of that, what is that rooted in?
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- It's rooted in an absolute conviction that god is in
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- Control, that god is good.
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- And because of that, and because our eternity is secure,
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- We get to speak the truth. i agree.
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- I mean, it starts internally with faith, right?
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- Faith in christ.
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- And then i think that external expression of that faith is
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- Courage and doing the right thing, even when it cost you
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- Something, which means the lord's got your heart.
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- Yeah. and i can only imagine how he smiles when one of his
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- Children maybe at the bottom, you know, somebody in the
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- Valley of life-- yeah.
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- And you do the right thing, whatever that might be.
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- I can only imagine the smile that god has because he knows
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- I've got that person.
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- Yeah, that person is mine.
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- Chloe cole grew up in central california.
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- Like so many young people
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- Today, chloe struggled with her identity.
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- And like so many young people today, she sought comfort
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- And companionship online.
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- But what she found there were harmful ideas about who she is.
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- I had heard the word transgender a few times, but i
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- Thought it was just kind of a funny concept, and i didn't
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- Really care for it until i was actually seeing it just being
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- Presented to my face through my usage of social media.
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- A lot of these users were kids my age, or maybe a little bit
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- Older, who identified with the opposite sex or another part of
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- The lgbt community.
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- But it was primarily like these, these girls who called
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- Themselves males.
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- Maybe the reason why i'm so interested in this is because
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- I'm one of them.
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- I wasn't supposed to be a girl.
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- That's why i'm so uncomfortable with myself
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- And my developing female body.
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- I was born with a male brain.
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- Maybe half a year or so of being exposed to this content
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- Was when i decided to go all in and to transition, and they
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- Really drilled it hard into my mom and dad's head that like,
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- You're going to have to choose between
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- Having a live son or a dead daughter.
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- And it's the only choice that they give parents.
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- They say it's transition or die.
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- Chloe started her transition when she was just 12 years old.
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- First with puberty suppressant
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- And then cross-sex hormones at 13.
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- And at just 15 years old, chloe underwent a double mastectomy.
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- I didn't have the clarity or maturity yet to be able to
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- Realize that my transition was actually destroying me.
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- I was still very much in the mindset of, okay, maybe i just
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- Need to move further then because i'm not satisfied.
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- I started to wonder, like, what's wrong with me
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- This time, you know?
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- Like, i looked like a guy. everybody thinks i'm a guy.
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- Everybody accepts me,
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- And yet i'm still not happy.
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- When i was being rolled in, i was just, like, nervously.
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- Like, babbling my doctor's ears off.
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- And i remember looking in the back corner of the room and
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- There was like this young male nurse.
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- He had like, this look of
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- Horror on his face the whole time.
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- And i think retrospectively, i now recognize that
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- That's the face of like,
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- I'm doing this to a kid.
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- I was not quite old enough yet to drive a car,
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- But i could get my perfectly healthy breasts removed.
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- It was not an easy process to deal with or cope with at all.
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- Something changed the day of surgery, and as soon as i woke
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- Up and as soon as i went home, and once i had the stitches
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- Taken out and i had to start taking care of the wounds and
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- Looking down at that area of my chest, that area of my body
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- And what was left of my breasts every single day,
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- It was horrific.
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- I was taking a class in psychology at this point in
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- Time, and the end of the course was very focused on family and
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- Particularly children, and how they develop from infancy.
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- And one particular lesson involved breastfeeding.
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- And then i had this moment of like,
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- What have i done to myself?
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- This is beautiful.
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- This is incredible.
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- I'm never going to be able to do it.
- 00:09:37.733 --> 00:09:40.736
- I woke up something in me.
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- I began to feel like real, genuine grief and regret
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- Just flooding through
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- Like, like a storm.
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- I began to miss
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- The femininity i once had, not just my breasts, but also
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- Being able to wear makeup, have long hair, wear flowy dresses
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- And clothing, feeling pretty.
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- Some of the simpler things about womanhood,
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- I really just dearly missed.
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- It was like, okay, i'm already like four years into this,
- 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.649
- So there's no going back now, is there?
- 00:10:26.649 --> 00:10:31.353
- So i made the choice to detransition.
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- I went off hormones, cold turkey.
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- I never wanted to look at the syringe ever again.
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- My decision was not one that was made with any sort of
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- Religious intentions or beliefs in mind, because at the time i
- 00:10:47.436 --> 00:10:51.073
- Was completely agnostic.
- 00:10:51.073 --> 00:10:55.511
- I was in deep, deep suffering.
- 00:10:55.511 --> 00:10:59.448
- And i started to think, if there's a god out there, he's
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- Got to absolutely hate me.
- 00:11:05.187 --> 00:11:07.823
- I pretty much believe that up until the end of my transition,
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- And those feelings began to go away.
- 00:11:11.393 --> 00:11:13.896
- It wasn't until i began speaking out publicly that i
- 00:11:13.896 --> 00:11:17.399
- Started going on this advocacy journey, that i've connected
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- With a bunch of different christians, both individuals
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- And groups and churches and pastors and other leaders who
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- Have not only given me a place of comfort where i know i'm
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- Loved and appreciated, but also have challenged me in my
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- Old beliefs and have guided me to the truth.
- 00:11:38.521 --> 00:11:43.526
- God has been using all of it to strengthen me into the woman
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- Who i am now.
- 00:11:51.801 --> 00:11:53.335
- And it's that newfound faith
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- That gives me a reason to fight.
- 00:11:55.771 --> 00:11:58.340
- I used to be afraid to speak my mind.
- 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:00.609
- My faith in him has given me the strength and the
- 00:12:00.609 --> 00:12:04.814
- Discernment and understanding and compassion that i need.
- 00:12:04.814 --> 00:12:09.285
- He has called me to put an end
- 00:12:09.285 --> 00:12:13.489
- To the gender ideology movement.
- 00:12:13.489 --> 00:12:17.760
- I'm incredibly grateful that i've been given this purpose.
- 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:22.097
- I have this gift now that allows me to transform all the
- 00:12:22.097 --> 00:12:27.570
- Pain that i've been through, and all the pain that my family
- 00:12:27.570 --> 00:12:30.105
- Has been through to help others.
- 00:12:30.105 --> 00:12:32.274
- There is no my truth or your truth.
- 00:12:32.274 --> 00:12:35.110
- I've come to the conclusion that jesus is the truth.
- 00:12:35.110 --> 00:12:40.482
- What comes to your mind when you think about god is the most
- 00:12:40.482 --> 00:12:43.485
- Important thing about you,
- 00:12:43.485 --> 00:12:45.955
- Because i think if you think that god is somebody who
- 00:12:45.955 --> 00:12:48.757
- Expects things of you or is disappointed in you,
- 00:12:48.757 --> 00:12:51.393
- Or wants to punish you,
- 00:12:51.393 --> 00:12:53.128
- But if you get this understanding of god's love,
- 00:12:53.128 --> 00:12:56.398
- That he loves us so much that christ came so that we could be
- 00:12:56.398 --> 00:13:00.903
- Reunited with god,
- 00:13:00.903 --> 00:13:02.638
- I think that in itself gives me courage because i'll be honest
- 00:13:02.638 --> 00:13:06.742
- With you, i did not grow up very courageous.
- 00:13:06.742 --> 00:13:08.644
- My dad died by suicide when i was five, and he was quite
- 00:13:08.644 --> 00:13:12.915
- Violent before he died.
- 00:13:12.915 --> 00:13:14.350
- So i turned into a very scared little girl.
- 00:13:14.350 --> 00:13:17.486
- Um, even if guys from the church, uncles came over, i
- 00:13:17.486 --> 00:13:20.556
- Would go upstairs and wait in my bedroom until they left.
- 00:13:20.556 --> 00:13:23.025
- And my mum at night would say, lord, for this one,
- 00:13:23.025 --> 00:13:26.395
- When i was sleeping, she would say, for this least likely to
- 00:13:26.395 --> 00:13:29.632
- Succeed or do anything.
- 00:13:29.632 --> 00:13:31.634
- And i think that's i think that's one of the things i want
- 00:13:31.634 --> 00:13:34.303
- Our viewers to know.
- 00:13:34.303 --> 00:13:35.571
- Do you know that god loves to use the least likely person?
- 00:13:35.571 --> 00:13:38.140
- Because so often we look at people and we think, oh, you're
- 00:13:38.140 --> 00:13:40.042
- So gifted and you're so talented,
- 00:13:40.042 --> 00:13:41.844
- But when you actually hear
- 00:13:41.844 --> 00:13:42.845
- Their stories, god delights in you.
- 00:13:42.845 --> 00:13:45.314
- If you feel like the least likely,
- 00:13:45.314 --> 00:13:47.049
- Welcome to the club.
- 00:13:47.049 --> 00:13:48.450
- God just signed you up.
- 00:13:48.450 --> 00:13:50.052
- What's so amazing with that is can you look back to that
- 00:13:50.052 --> 00:13:53.155
- Ingredient that god used to give you courage?
- 00:13:53.155 --> 00:13:56.158
- Yeah. what was it?
- 00:13:56.158 --> 00:13:58.694
- Pain. think of that.
- 00:13:58.694 --> 00:14:02.731
- Pain has a purpose.
- 00:14:02.731 --> 00:14:03.999
- Yeah. and that's the beautiful thing that so many of these
- 00:14:03.999 --> 00:14:07.169
- Stories that you're telling, and they're very different and
- 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:09.872
- Very appropriate for the times we're living in.
- 00:14:09.872 --> 00:14:14.076
- They didn't just-- you know, we want a beginning and a happy
- 00:14:14.076 --> 00:14:17.112
- Ending, but there's a process to what god is doing.
- 00:14:17.112 --> 00:14:20.249
- And so many of the stories that we talk about in the film are
- 00:14:20.249 --> 00:14:23.285
- The stories that they tell are stories of people who came to
- 00:14:23.285 --> 00:14:26.989
- Grips with truth, that what they believed wasn't just
- 00:14:26.989 --> 00:14:31.927
- Something that was true for them and not for everyone else,
- 00:14:31.927 --> 00:14:35.030
- But this is actually-- when we're talking about
- 00:14:35.030 --> 00:14:37.833
- Christianity being true,
- 00:14:37.833 --> 00:14:39.001
- We're saying that the christian vision of life in the
- 00:14:39.001 --> 00:14:42.137
- World is the accurate description of the world
- 00:14:42.137 --> 00:14:44.640
- As we experience it.
- 00:14:44.640 --> 00:14:46.308
- It is the world we live in.
- 00:14:46.308 --> 00:14:47.776
- And when you have that confidence, then you can
- 00:14:47.776 --> 00:14:50.412
- Walk out in courage.
- 00:14:50.412 --> 00:14:52.548
- I feel like this fresh wave of understanding of every single
- 00:14:52.548 --> 00:14:55.951
- Life, like your life matters.
- 00:14:55.951 --> 00:14:58.687
- You might think, well, i don't have the gifts or talents.
- 00:14:58.687 --> 00:15:00.956
- Your life matters
- 00:15:00.956 --> 00:15:02.224
- Because when you understand the source of that life and the
- 00:15:02.224 --> 00:15:04.960
- Source of that power and the source of that courage is god.
- 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.130
- It's so true.
- 00:15:08.130 --> 00:15:09.164
- I think that expression of
- 00:15:09.164 --> 00:15:10.632
- God's love for us, we can't comprehend.
- 00:15:10.632 --> 00:15:12.735
- You know, i interviewed for focus on the family a
- 00:15:12.735 --> 00:15:14.737
- Gentleman by the name of john burke, who wrote a book called
- 00:15:14.737 --> 00:15:17.473
- Imagine the god of heaven.
- 00:15:17.473 --> 00:15:19.108
- And the core of that message was people that have near death
- 00:15:19.108 --> 00:15:22.644
- Experiences and touch that veil, whatever that might be,
- 00:15:22.644 --> 00:15:27.182
- They come back and they describe that sense of love
- 00:15:27.182 --> 00:15:32.254
- That is unseen, kind of comprehensible here.
- 00:15:32.254 --> 00:15:36.658
- It's so much more than what we understand.
- 00:15:36.658 --> 00:15:40.162
- And i don't know about you guys, but i think that's a good
- 00:15:40.162 --> 00:15:42.831
- Thing. when we get there to feel that kind of love, we think we
- 00:15:42.831 --> 00:15:46.668
- Understand what love is,
- 00:15:46.668 --> 00:15:48.303
- But i think it's going to be much bigger and much better
- 00:15:48.303 --> 00:15:51.140
- When we're in heaven.
- 00:15:51.140 --> 00:15:52.408
- My name is chloe cole and i am a detransitioner,
- 00:15:52.408 --> 00:15:57.479
- And a woman from the central valley of california.
- 00:15:57.479 --> 00:16:00.716
- I was born and raised there, and i'm the youngest of five
- 00:16:00.716 --> 00:16:04.253
- Kids with two older brothers and two older sisters.
- 00:16:04.253 --> 00:16:07.489
- And i was kind of in the middle of being a girly girl and a
- 00:16:07.489 --> 00:16:13.429
- Tomboyish archetype throughout most of my childhood.
- 00:16:13.429 --> 00:16:16.698
- But i found that especially as i got older, i started to
- 00:16:16.698 --> 00:16:20.102
- Gravitate a little bit more towards like my dad and my
- 00:16:20.102 --> 00:16:23.105
- Older brothers and eventually my male peers.
- 00:16:23.105 --> 00:16:25.874
- I just found out that they were a lot more relatable, a lot
- 00:16:25.874 --> 00:16:28.811
- More easygoing and fun,
- 00:16:28.811 --> 00:16:31.246
- And even when it came to things like my own personality in
- 00:16:31.246 --> 00:16:35.751
- The way that i presented myself, i grew less and less
- 00:16:35.751 --> 00:16:38.754
- Comfortable with having long hair,
- 00:16:38.754 --> 00:16:40.756
- Things like purses or dresses, skirts.
- 00:16:40.756 --> 00:16:45.360
- And eventually, as i started going through puberty, which i
- 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.764
- Started to develop when i was about 8 or 9. i became very,
- 00:16:48.764 --> 00:16:52.367
- Very deeply uncomfortable with that and the changes that were
- 00:16:52.367 --> 00:16:55.404
- Coming with me growing into a woman as well.
- 00:16:55.404 --> 00:17:01.243
- I felt like i was just fundamentally different from
- 00:17:01.243 --> 00:17:06.148
- The other kids around me.
- 00:17:06.148 --> 00:17:08.150
- I felt like there was just something, somewhere about
- 00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:12.521
- Myself that was just setting me apart.
- 00:17:12.521 --> 00:17:14.656
- And i had a bit of a complex over this,
- 00:17:14.656 --> 00:17:17.626
- You know? i, i was born with a cleft palate.
- 00:17:17.626 --> 00:17:20.596
- I was diagnosed with a learning disability down the line.
- 00:17:20.596 --> 00:17:25.367
- And so i was just used to always hearing that there was
- 00:17:25.367 --> 00:17:28.170
- Something wrong with me.
- 00:17:28.170 --> 00:17:29.972
- And even when i would go to school and try to make friends,
- 00:17:29.972 --> 00:17:34.243
- A lot of the time i just felt like i couldn't, that i
- 00:17:34.243 --> 00:17:36.612
- Couldn't really get along with other with other kids my age.
- 00:17:36.612 --> 00:17:40.749
- And so i started to think like, what's wrong with me?
- 00:17:40.749 --> 00:17:47.823
- What is it that is making me so different.
- 00:17:47.823 --> 00:17:52.895
- I kind of, i struggled with myself for, for years and with
- 00:17:52.895 --> 00:17:56.565
- Trying to build an identity and feel like i had a place in the
- 00:17:56.565 --> 00:18:01.236
- World where i could belong
- 00:18:01.236 --> 00:18:03.238
- Until i discovered the transgender community online,
- 00:18:03.238 --> 00:18:06.942
- And i was about 12 years old by this point in time, maybe
- 00:18:06.942 --> 00:18:10.078
- A little bit younger.
- 00:18:10.078 --> 00:18:11.380
- Um, i think this was around the time that i got my first cell
- 00:18:11.380 --> 00:18:16.318
- Phone, and i had heard the word transgender a few times
- 00:18:16.318 --> 00:18:20.489
- Um, while, like, overhearing conversations between, like, my
- 00:18:20.489 --> 00:18:23.458
- Parents or between like, family adults or like over the t.v.,
- 00:18:23.458 --> 00:18:27.529
- But i thought it was just kind of a funny concept, and i
- 00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:31.166
- Didn't really care for it until i was actually seeing it just
- 00:18:31.166 --> 00:18:34.870
- Being presented to my face
- 00:18:34.870 --> 00:18:36.638
- Through my usage of social media.
- 00:18:36.638 --> 00:18:39.374
- And it was through these communities that were based
- 00:18:39.374 --> 00:18:41.910
- Around things like that i was interested in, like video
- 00:18:41.910 --> 00:18:46.515
- Games, um, illustration, character design, tv shows
- 00:18:46.515 --> 00:18:50.552
- That i watched.
- 00:18:50.552 --> 00:18:52.187
- A lot of these users were kids my age, or maybe a little bit
- 00:18:52.187 --> 00:18:55.924
- Older, who identified with the opposite sex or another part of
- 00:18:55.924 --> 00:19:00.128
- The lgbt community,
- 00:19:00.128 --> 00:19:02.397
- But it was primarily like these these girls who called
- 00:19:02.397 --> 00:19:06.068
- Themselves males, and they just seemed so similar to me.
- 00:19:06.068 --> 00:19:11.840
- They were tomboys growing up
- 00:19:11.840 --> 00:19:14.243
- And all sorts of different ways
- 00:19:14.243 --> 00:19:16.578
- They had struggled with their relationships at home or with
- 00:19:16.578 --> 00:19:20.983
- Their peers or with bullying.
- 00:19:20.983 --> 00:19:23.385
- And just like me, they couldn't really find like a means of
- 00:19:23.385 --> 00:19:29.157
- Understanding themselves or connecting with other people.
- 00:19:29.157 --> 00:19:33.996
- But they seem to be so happy, and like they were so fulfilled
- 00:19:33.996 --> 00:19:41.637
- And identifying as transgender.
- 00:19:41.637 --> 00:19:44.106
- And just watching them,
- 00:19:44.106 --> 00:19:47.075
- At first it was a curiosity, and then it became sort of like
- 00:19:47.075 --> 00:19:52.281
- An intellectual interest for me.
- 00:19:52.281 --> 00:19:55.717
- I started reading up on, like some of the medical and, and
- 00:19:55.717 --> 00:19:59.921
- Scientific and philosophical literature around
- 00:19:59.921 --> 00:20:03.358
- Transgenderism until i started to connect it to myself.
- 00:20:03.358 --> 00:20:06.395
- And it was like, maybe the reason why i'm so interested in
- 00:20:06.395 --> 00:20:08.830
- This is because i'm one of them.
- 00:20:08.830 --> 00:20:13.769
- I wasn't supposed to be a girl.
- 00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:16.104
- That's why i'm so uncomfortable with myself and my developing
- 00:20:16.104 --> 00:20:19.941
- Female body, and why i don't always necessarily get along
- 00:20:19.941 --> 00:20:23.512
- With the other women around me.
- 00:20:23.512 --> 00:20:25.514
- It's because i was born with a male brain, and i just so
- 00:20:25.514 --> 00:20:30.319
- Happened to have a female body, and now i finally have a path
- 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:34.589
- Through which i can finally be seen as the person who i've
- 00:20:34.589 --> 00:20:40.429
- Always wanted to be.
- 00:20:40.429 --> 00:20:41.663
- So how did you pick the stories.
- 00:20:41.663 --> 00:20:43.398
- That you chose?
- 00:20:43.398 --> 00:20:44.232
- Because they're very different.
- 00:20:44.232 --> 00:20:46.068
- You have stories in the film
- 00:20:46.068 --> 00:20:48.337
- Like chloe cole, who believed a lie,
- 00:20:48.337 --> 00:20:51.306
- One of the most damaging lies of our of our culture, that who
- 00:20:51.306 --> 00:20:55.877
- We are as human beings, um, is, is kind of a construct that we
- 00:20:55.877 --> 00:21:00.816
- Just, we just make of ourselves and that, you know, therefore
- 00:21:00.816 --> 00:21:04.653
- Men can become women and women can become men.
- 00:21:04.653 --> 00:21:06.988
- And that was an idea that's
- 00:21:06.988 --> 00:21:08.990
- Been forced on a lot of children.
- 00:21:08.990 --> 00:21:10.992
- She was one of those 12 year old girls.
- 00:21:10.992 --> 00:21:13.195
- I don't remember kids when i was at school wrestling with
- 00:21:13.195 --> 00:21:17.299
- Whether they were a boy or a girl.
- 00:21:17.299 --> 00:21:18.900
- Well, there were so many parts of our culture that
- 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:21.570
- Reinforce basic reality,
- 00:21:21.570 --> 00:21:23.772
- But if you go back, um, so much follows from what you
- 00:21:23.772 --> 00:21:30.312
- Believe about god.
- 00:21:30.312 --> 00:21:32.514
- Psalm 135 talks about how, um, uh, the gods of the of the
- 00:21:32.514 --> 00:21:38.120
- Nations or the idols are silver
- 00:21:38.120 --> 00:21:39.955
- And gold made by the hands of men.
- 00:21:39.955 --> 00:21:41.723
- They have mouths but can't speak,
- 00:21:41.723 --> 00:21:43.125
- Eyes but can't see, ears but can't hear.
- 00:21:43.125 --> 00:21:45.060
- And we know that we know.
- 00:21:45.060 --> 00:21:46.328
- It's kind of weird that someone would take a block of wood,
- 00:21:46.328 --> 00:21:47.963
- Carve an ear on it, and then
- 00:21:47.963 --> 00:21:49.498
- Try to talk to it as if it can hear.
- 00:21:49.498 --> 00:21:51.700
- But david's next point in verse 18 of psalm 135 is, those who
- 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:56.037
- Make them will be like them.
- 00:21:56.037 --> 00:21:57.606
- If we lose sight of god, we will lose sight of ourselves.
- 00:21:57.606 --> 00:22:02.377
- And that's a process in coming.
- 00:22:02.377 --> 00:22:04.780
- I mean, romans one talks about how rejecting god means
- 00:22:04.780 --> 00:22:07.816
- Rejecting reality, and that's part of the cultural crisis
- 00:22:07.816 --> 00:22:11.653
- That we've found ourselves. in in the film, oz guinness calls
- 00:22:11.653 --> 00:22:14.823
- It, a civilizational moment. when a civilization untethers
- 00:22:14.823 --> 00:22:18.994
- From basic truth,
- 00:22:18.994 --> 00:22:20.529
- There's no telling where it can go.
- 00:22:20.529 --> 00:22:22.397
- Think about what a patently absurd idea it is that our
- 00:22:22.397 --> 00:22:26.768
- Bodies are irrelevant to who we are.
- 00:22:26.768 --> 00:22:29.137
- And yet that was an idea that was widely taken for granted in
- 00:22:29.137 --> 00:22:34.309
- Our culture and then pushed on the vulnerable.
- 00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:37.479
- Yeah. and, you know, i'm just so grateful that chloe has
- 00:22:37.479 --> 00:22:43.418
- Found what is true about god and about herself.
- 00:22:43.418 --> 00:22:47.489
- And for her, it came in the other order.
- 00:22:47.489 --> 00:22:49.224
- She discovered what's true about herself, and now she's
- 00:22:49.224 --> 00:22:51.693
- Discovered faith in christ.
- 00:22:51.693 --> 00:22:54.162
- And that has turned her into a voice of courage.
- 00:22:54.162 --> 00:22:57.299
- And that's what a redemption can do.
- 00:22:57.299 --> 00:22:59.768
- Uh, paul says in two corinthians five that those who
- 00:22:59.768 --> 00:23:02.103
- Have been reconciled are agents of reconciliation.
- 00:23:02.103 --> 00:23:05.474
- That's what chloe is.
- 00:23:05.474 --> 00:23:06.775
- To be a person of courage is to be a a voice of reconciliation
- 00:23:06.775 --> 00:23:10.278
- In our culture.
- 00:23:10.278 --> 00:23:11.713
- But i would say chloe's story, what it does for me, hearing
- 00:23:11.713 --> 00:23:15.250
- It, maybe as a parent-- i don't have daughters,
- 00:23:15.250 --> 00:23:17.552
- I have two sons--
- 00:23:17.552 --> 00:23:18.920
- It makes me want to be a spiritual warrior for her.
- 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:22.457
- Absolutely.
- 00:23:22.457 --> 00:23:23.692
- And i think right now in the culture, there's an assault
- 00:23:23.692 --> 00:23:25.760
- On girls particularly.
- 00:23:25.760 --> 00:23:27.929
- I mean, the culture is attacking them in every way.
- 00:23:27.929 --> 00:23:31.566
- And for chloe, as a 12, 13 year old, to be told that she's
- 00:23:31.566 --> 00:23:36.037
- Probably trapped in a girl's body, that she was truly born a
- 00:23:36.037 --> 00:23:40.575
- Boy and then going to the parents with professionals,
- 00:23:40.575 --> 00:23:44.012
- Physicians, psychiatrists who reinforce that to say, oh,
- 00:23:44.012 --> 00:23:49.451
- You'll either have a dead daughter or a live trans son.
- 00:23:49.451 --> 00:23:52.687
- You choose.
- 00:23:52.687 --> 00:23:54.055
- Now, here's the irony.
- 00:23:54.055 --> 00:23:55.223
- You look at the data.
- 00:23:55.223 --> 00:23:56.391
- 70 to 90% of gender dysphoric preteens and teens will
- 00:23:56.391 --> 00:24:01.863
- Self-correct and move back to their biological gender by
- 00:24:01.863 --> 00:24:06.101
- 19 years old. wow.
- 00:24:06.101 --> 00:24:08.136
- So the immorality of what school administrators,
- 00:24:08.136 --> 00:24:12.340
- Counselors are doing to these poor children is horrific.
- 00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:17.546
- Leave them alone.
- 00:24:17.546 --> 00:24:19.447
- If we are not courageous enough to just say what's true, then
- 00:24:19.447 --> 00:24:24.185
- We are abandoning innocent,
- 00:24:24.185 --> 00:24:26.755
- Vulnerable people, especially children.
- 00:24:26.755 --> 00:24:30.559
- Yeah. folks like chloe.
- 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.394
- And so it is a calling of all christians to tell the truth.
- 00:24:32.394 --> 00:24:36.565
- And it is something that requires courage to tell the
- 00:24:36.565 --> 00:24:40.769
- Truth in our culture.
- 00:24:40.769 --> 00:24:42.137
- I'd say like probably about maybe half a year or so of
- 00:24:42.137 --> 00:24:47.409
- Being exposed to this content was when i decided to go all in
- 00:24:47.409 --> 00:24:51.580
- And to transition.
- 00:24:51.580 --> 00:24:53.148
- And before i actually had started going by alternative
- 00:24:53.148 --> 00:24:57.285
- Labels like pansexual or agender or all these crazy
- 00:24:57.285 --> 00:25:02.324
- Things that honestly just don't make sense.
- 00:25:02.324 --> 00:25:04.693
- But to a 12 year old's mind, with all the colorful flags and
- 00:25:04.693 --> 00:25:07.996
- New words and just the novelty
- 00:25:07.996 --> 00:25:09.731
- Of it all, it's kind of exciting.
- 00:25:09.731 --> 00:25:11.533
- It's kind of fun.
- 00:25:11.533 --> 00:25:12.734
- It's kind of like a game and trying to find new ways to
- 00:25:12.734 --> 00:25:16.071
- Express yourself, right?
- 00:25:16.071 --> 00:25:17.305
- Because you're at that age where you want to, like, sort
- 00:25:17.305 --> 00:25:19.374
- Of branch out and show everybody who you are.
- 00:25:19.374 --> 00:25:22.744
- So i after i started calling myself a boy and going through
- 00:25:22.744 --> 00:25:26.815
- The psychological process of beginning my transition
- 00:25:26.815 --> 00:25:30.452
- Reconceptualizing my identity in my head and my gender, i
- 00:25:30.452 --> 00:25:34.889
- Started trying to make it more convincing, you know, trying to
- 00:25:34.889 --> 00:25:40.095
- Cut my hair shorter,
- 00:25:40.095 --> 00:25:41.496
- Um, going to the mall and buying more boys clothing and
- 00:25:41.496 --> 00:25:45.533
- Then starting to, like, stash and, like, get rid of my
- 00:25:45.533 --> 00:25:48.837
- Girls clothing until eventually i came out, i think first to
- 00:25:48.837 --> 00:25:53.742
- People online and then an older sister of mine before i told my
- 00:25:53.742 --> 00:25:58.947
- Mom and dad about it.
- 00:25:58.947 --> 00:26:00.582
- I felt like they deserved to know because they were
- 00:26:00.582 --> 00:26:03.218
- My mom and dad, and i also,
- 00:26:03.218 --> 00:26:07.088
- I wanted to stop hearing my birth name.
- 00:26:07.088 --> 00:26:09.858
- I wanted to stop hearing them call me chloe.
- 00:26:09.858 --> 00:26:12.694
- I didn't want them to call me a girl anymore.
- 00:26:12.694 --> 00:26:14.863
- I wanted them to see me as their son now.
- 00:26:14.863 --> 00:26:18.433
- So they were supportive of me, and they were proud of me for
- 00:26:18.433 --> 00:26:22.270
- Trying to branch out and find a new means of expressing
- 00:26:22.270 --> 00:26:26.274
- And exploring my myself.
- 00:26:26.274 --> 00:26:28.176
- But they also were very cautious as well.
- 00:26:28.176 --> 00:26:30.612
- Um, they never believed that i was transgender or boy or
- 00:26:30.612 --> 00:26:34.349
- Anything like that.
- 00:26:34.349 --> 00:26:35.817
- They had always seen me as their daughter and they
- 00:26:35.817 --> 00:26:37.919
- Understood that, you know, i was i'd always been a
- 00:26:37.919 --> 00:26:40.789
- Little bit tomboyish and
- 00:26:40.789 --> 00:26:44.292
- Maybe my, my learning disability, maybe having adhd
- 00:26:44.292 --> 00:26:47.295
- And these other psychiatric issues that i was
- 00:26:47.295 --> 00:26:49.831
- Going through at the time,
- 00:26:49.831 --> 00:26:51.132
- The loneliness of being sort of an outcast at school was making
- 00:26:51.132 --> 00:26:55.203
- It hard for me to kind of understand myself, and that
- 00:26:55.203 --> 00:26:57.572
- This was just a this was just a consequence of that.
- 00:26:57.572 --> 00:27:00.475
- They decided that we were going--
- 00:27:00.475 --> 00:27:03.845
- They were going to send me to a therapist.
- 00:27:03.845 --> 00:27:06.047
- After a few days of doing a little bit of research, there
- 00:27:06.047 --> 00:27:09.350
- Really weren't any stories like mine of people coming out on
- 00:27:09.350 --> 00:27:13.354
- The other side of things, or any pushback against this idea
- 00:27:13.354 --> 00:27:18.760
- Against the transitioning of of children, right.
- 00:27:18.760 --> 00:27:21.629
- All that they were seeing was just affirm your child, affirm
- 00:27:21.629 --> 00:27:25.100
- Your child's identity, um, and have them seek medical
- 00:27:25.100 --> 00:27:28.870
- Attention immediately and seek care.
- 00:27:28.870 --> 00:27:32.006
- Have them seek mental help.
- 00:27:32.006 --> 00:27:34.509
- And they just assumed like, okay, i mean, that's pretty
- 00:27:34.509 --> 00:27:38.813
- Standard, right?
- 00:27:38.813 --> 00:27:39.681
- It's a psychological issue.
- 00:27:39.681 --> 00:27:40.882
- And surely she's going to be getting psychiatric help
- 00:27:40.882 --> 00:27:43.685
- For that, right?
- 00:27:43.685 --> 00:27:44.886
- They didn't expect that by going to therapy i would be
- 00:27:44.886 --> 00:27:48.256
- Separated from them, that they wouldn't be allowed in the room
- 00:27:48.256 --> 00:27:50.825
- During these appointments.
- 00:27:50.825 --> 00:27:52.660
- And so they wouldn't know what we were talking about or that
- 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:56.898
- They, these doctors or these psychological professionals
- 00:27:56.898 --> 00:28:01.770
- Would goad them into going along with it, rather than just
- 00:28:01.770 --> 00:28:05.340
- Allowing me to develop like any other kid and just grow up
- 00:28:05.340 --> 00:28:10.145
- Without any intervention.
- 00:28:10.145 --> 00:28:11.846
- They were kind of upset about that, naturally, and they
- 00:28:11.846 --> 00:28:14.616
- Decided that they were going to take matters into their own
- 00:28:14.616 --> 00:28:16.351
- Hands and speak to the psychologist themselves, and
- 00:28:16.351 --> 00:28:20.455
- They were asking all the right questions, like, so why does
- 00:28:20.455 --> 00:28:23.424
- She want to do this?
- 00:28:23.424 --> 00:28:24.526
- What is making her feel this way?
- 00:28:24.526 --> 00:28:26.161
- And why do we have to jump into this right now?
- 00:28:26.161 --> 00:28:29.164
- Why does she want to undergo the medical process of a gender
- 00:28:29.164 --> 00:28:32.367
- Transition, when maybe we could just wait until she's, like a
- 00:28:32.367 --> 00:28:37.105
- Little bit older, preferably at least legally an adult, and
- 00:28:37.105 --> 00:28:40.542
- Understands perhaps what it is that she wants to do in life a
- 00:28:40.542 --> 00:28:45.013
- Little bit better.
- 00:28:45.013 --> 00:28:46.181
- Why does it have to happen now?
- 00:28:46.181 --> 00:28:48.016
- What are the chances that she's
- 00:28:48.016 --> 00:28:49.184
- Going to regret this and and stop
- 00:28:49.184 --> 00:28:51.886
- Maybe? and if she regrets it, like, what do we do?
- 00:28:51.886 --> 00:28:54.289
- What do we do about that?
- 00:28:54.289 --> 00:28:55.824
- And it's like all their concerns were just ignored.
- 00:28:55.824 --> 00:29:01.930
- And almost like these doctors at multiple steps of the way
- 00:29:01.930 --> 00:29:06.601
- Just had this script to go by whenever parents asked these
- 00:29:06.601 --> 00:29:09.704
- Perfectly reasonable questions.
- 00:29:09.704 --> 00:29:12.140
- Uh, they told them like, well, your child just doesn't have
- 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:15.243
- Any other choice.
- 00:29:15.243 --> 00:29:16.211
- You know, this is who he is.
- 00:29:16.211 --> 00:29:20.148
- This is your transgender son.
- 00:29:20.148 --> 00:29:22.884
- You have to go along with this. if he is expressing discontent
- 00:29:22.884 --> 00:29:29.324
- With his body and he wants to undergo the medical procedures,
- 00:29:29.324 --> 00:29:36.164
- You must allow him to do so.
- 00:29:36.164 --> 00:29:38.066
- Here's what i love about god.
- 00:29:38.066 --> 00:29:39.267
- He's a redemptive-- who he is.
- 00:29:39.267 --> 00:29:42.270
- I mean, if she'd never gone through any of that, i'm sure
- 00:29:42.270 --> 00:29:44.906
- She'd have grown up, gone to college, had a great life.
- 00:29:44.906 --> 00:29:47.408
- Now she has become like this trophy of god's grace who
- 00:29:47.408 --> 00:29:51.913
- Speaks out for other children.
- 00:29:51.913 --> 00:29:53.715
- It's beautiful.
- 00:29:53.715 --> 00:29:54.949
- In fact, in the story that everyone can see is where she
- 00:29:54.949 --> 00:29:58.386
- Has that realization.
- 00:29:58.386 --> 00:30:00.021
- As a 16, 17 year old, she's had a double mastectomy at
- 00:30:00.021 --> 00:30:03.558
- That point. she's taking hormone treatments to become as much as
- 00:30:03.558 --> 00:30:08.396
- A boy as she can, and she sees a woman breastfeeding and it
- 00:30:08.396 --> 00:30:12.767
- Triggered for her, what have i done to my body?
- 00:30:12.767 --> 00:30:16.137
- I will never be able to do that, which i think is that
- 00:30:16.137 --> 00:30:19.507
- Point of design.
- 00:30:19.507 --> 00:30:21.676
- It's a realization of how god designed you and what has
- 00:30:21.676 --> 00:30:25.280
- Happened to you now.
- 00:30:25.280 --> 00:30:26.781
- And it's a, that's a tragedy.
- 00:30:26.781 --> 00:30:28.850
- She will never recover from that because of those doctors,
- 00:30:28.850 --> 00:30:32.220
- The psychiatrists.
- 00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:33.488
- And i would only say to her, for her mom and dad, she's very
- 00:30:33.488 --> 00:30:36.224
- Gentle with them because they were told they would have a
- 00:30:36.224 --> 00:30:39.160
- Dead daughter or a live trans son.
- 00:30:39.160 --> 00:30:40.929
- I mean, what a choice.
- 00:30:40.929 --> 00:30:42.163
- What a choice.
- 00:30:42.163 --> 00:30:42.697
- There's no choice.
- 00:30:42.697 --> 00:30:43.698
- No, that's a sophie's choice right there.
- 00:30:43.698 --> 00:30:45.333
- And he will make your paths straight.
- 00:30:45.333 --> 00:30:47.035
- And i think these are stories that relate to that scripture.
- 00:30:47.035 --> 00:30:49.971
- Yeah.
- 00:30:49.971 --> 00:30:51.272
- What do you say to parents who have a child who comes up and
- 00:30:51.272 --> 00:30:53.942
- Says, hey, mom, i think i'm
- 00:30:53.942 --> 00:30:55.543
- This, hey, dad, i think i'm that?
- 00:30:55.543 --> 00:30:57.512
- How do you help parents navigate those waters?
- 00:30:57.512 --> 00:31:00.648
- Well, first of all, we need to be sympathetic because if a
- 00:31:00.648 --> 00:31:03.251
- Parent, especially-- now, some of that tide has turned in our
- 00:31:03.251 --> 00:31:07.188
- Culture and praise god that it has, and it has to do with
- 00:31:07.188 --> 00:31:10.024
- Stories like chloe, is to understand that if a parent did
- 00:31:10.024 --> 00:31:13.928
- Speak out, they were doing it all by themselves.
- 00:31:13.928 --> 00:31:17.398
- In many cases, their doctors would abandon them.
- 00:31:17.398 --> 00:31:20.835
- Any school officials or public officials would abandon them.
- 00:31:20.835 --> 00:31:25.540
- Psychologists. in some places they were even threatened
- 00:31:25.540 --> 00:31:27.842
- With loss of custody.
- 00:31:27.842 --> 00:31:29.544
- I mean, this is a very, very difficult thing to do.
- 00:31:29.544 --> 00:31:32.313
- But a brave new world.
- 00:31:32.313 --> 00:31:33.581
- Well, it is, and it's terrible.
- 00:31:33.581 --> 00:31:35.950
- But the most important thing is, is that parents are the
- 00:31:35.950 --> 00:31:41.155
- Ones that god has designed to protect their kids.
- 00:31:41.155 --> 00:31:44.392
- So you have to do this.
- 00:31:44.392 --> 00:31:46.060
- Everything is at stake.
- 00:31:46.060 --> 00:31:47.395
- You have to do this.
- 00:31:47.395 --> 00:31:48.696
- Uh, second, um, get rid as much
- 00:31:48.696 --> 00:31:52.233
- As possible of the other voices.
- 00:31:52.233 --> 00:31:54.535
- I've talked to a number of parents who were in that very
- 00:31:54.535 --> 00:31:57.438
- Situation, and one of the most important things they'll say
- 00:31:57.438 --> 00:32:01.509
- That they did is they unplugged the cell phone.
- 00:32:01.509 --> 00:32:04.445
- They removed social media.
- 00:32:04.445 --> 00:32:06.814
- I talked to, uh, school leaders all the time.
- 00:32:06.814 --> 00:32:10.351
- And i say, listen, if you had a creepy old man walking around
- 00:32:10.351 --> 00:32:13.554
- Your school whispering terrible things into the ears of the
- 00:32:13.554 --> 00:32:16.290
- Girls, would you stop him?
- 00:32:16.290 --> 00:32:17.759
- Yes. that's what social media was for
- 00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:21.029
- A lot of girls, and still is in many ways.
- 00:32:21.029 --> 00:32:24.132
- We have to cut off the lies.
- 00:32:24.132 --> 00:32:26.367
- And the third thing is, is be confident in the truth.
- 00:32:26.367 --> 00:32:30.304
- No one knows your child as well as you do.
- 00:32:30.304 --> 00:32:34.075
- You know it better than the experts.
- 00:32:34.075 --> 00:32:35.843
- You know your child better than the teachers and the school
- 00:32:35.843 --> 00:32:38.579
- Officials and the pretend authorities.
- 00:32:38.579 --> 00:32:40.681
- You have to be the one to take that stand.
- 00:32:40.681 --> 00:32:43.684
- That's one of the things about this film is that for
- 00:32:43.684 --> 00:32:47.055
- Different christians in different situations, courage
- 00:32:47.055 --> 00:32:49.323
- Is going to look different.
- 00:32:49.323 --> 00:32:50.792
- And it's amazing how much that social pressure can make us
- 00:32:50.792 --> 00:32:56.064
- Silent, even when so much is at stake.
- 00:32:56.064 --> 00:32:59.500
- So we have to know the truth.
- 00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:01.469
- We have to love the truth.
- 00:33:01.469 --> 00:33:03.438
- And when we know and love the
- 00:33:03.438 --> 00:33:05.106
- Truth, courage comes out of that.
- 00:33:05.106 --> 00:33:07.642
- That's true.
- 00:33:07.642 --> 00:33:08.810
- Can i add one thing being from focus on the family?
- 00:33:08.810 --> 00:33:10.912
- Absolutely.
- 00:33:10.912 --> 00:33:12.046
- It would be the relationship, what parents need to
- 00:33:12.046 --> 00:33:14.015
- Concentrate on.
- 00:33:14.015 --> 00:33:15.016
- I know you didn't have that in your father.
- 00:33:15.016 --> 00:33:16.651
- I didn't have it in my father.
- 00:33:16.651 --> 00:33:18.820
- But for a healthy, spiritually healthy mom and dad, have
- 00:33:18.820 --> 00:33:22.757
- Relationship with your kids.
- 00:33:22.757 --> 00:33:24.292
- They're not going to be perfect.
- 00:33:24.292 --> 00:33:25.493
- They're going to blow it.
- 00:33:25.493 --> 00:33:26.727
- We blow it as adults.
- 00:33:26.727 --> 00:33:28.396
- So the goal there is to have a relationship of the nature in
- 00:33:28.396 --> 00:33:31.933
- Which your child feels they can trust you by telling you things
- 00:33:31.933 --> 00:33:36.137
- And asking for your input.
- 00:33:36.137 --> 00:33:38.206
- And i think if a parent can develop that kind of nurturing
- 00:33:38.206 --> 00:33:41.309
- Relationship with their son or
- 00:33:41.309 --> 00:33:43.211
- Daughter, the rest falls into place.
- 00:33:43.211 --> 00:33:46.147
- The medical process began with the use of puberty blockers and
- 00:33:46.147 --> 00:33:51.219
- The administration of weekly injections of testosterone.
- 00:33:51.219 --> 00:33:56.023
- And it started with the blockers first.
- 00:33:56.023 --> 00:33:58.593
- So i was on a drug called lupron, um, which historically
- 00:33:58.593 --> 00:34:01.863
- Has been used to treat late stage cancer or toddler onset
- 00:34:01.863 --> 00:34:07.668
- Puberty or castrating sex offenders.
- 00:34:07.668 --> 00:34:10.805
- And emotionally, while i was on this, i was a little numb.
- 00:34:10.805 --> 00:34:15.343
- I found it very difficult to enjoy activities that i used to
- 00:34:15.343 --> 00:34:19.814
- Like drawing or playing
- 00:34:19.814 --> 00:34:20.815
- Video games or hanging out with friends.
- 00:34:20.815 --> 00:34:23.184
- I just felt kind of dead inside.
- 00:34:23.184 --> 00:34:25.019
- But when i began the testosterone, it was an
- 00:34:25.019 --> 00:34:28.022
- Entirely different drug.
- 00:34:28.022 --> 00:34:29.757
- Placing a 13 year old on a steroid makes for some
- 00:34:29.757 --> 00:34:36.197
- Interesting results.
- 00:34:36.197 --> 00:34:37.899
- So very rapid physical changes happened, and there also were
- 00:34:37.899 --> 00:34:42.303
- Emotional and behavioral and psychological changes as well.
- 00:34:42.303 --> 00:34:45.039
- It just completely changed the
- 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:46.107
- Way that i experienced emotions.
- 00:34:46.107 --> 00:34:48.476
- My surgery consultations began when i was 14 years old, and
- 00:34:48.476 --> 00:34:52.914
- They went on for maybe about a year or less.
- 00:34:52.914 --> 00:34:56.217
- I ended up going under the knife the summer just after
- 00:34:56.217 --> 00:34:59.587
- My sophomore year. i was 15.
- 00:34:59.587 --> 00:35:02.356
- I was not quite old enough yet to drive a car, but i could get
- 00:35:02.356 --> 00:35:08.729
- My perfectly healthy breasts removed, and it was not easy.
- 00:35:08.729 --> 00:35:12.633
- It was not an easy process to deal with or cope with at all.
- 00:35:12.633 --> 00:35:17.338
- That marks the first point in my transition where i began to
- 00:35:17.338 --> 00:35:21.776
- Feel like real, genuine grief and regret just flooding
- 00:35:21.776 --> 00:35:27.114
- Through, like a storm.
- 00:35:27.114 --> 00:35:29.750
- Regret and detransitioning were never spoken about during any
- 00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:36.357
- Of the consultations for any of the treatments, not even to me
- 00:35:36.357 --> 00:35:40.761
- After my mom and dad brought it up, but with how tough the
- 00:35:40.761 --> 00:35:45.900
- Post-op process was, it really
- 00:35:45.900 --> 00:35:48.002
- Just it woke up something in me.
- 00:35:48.002 --> 00:35:51.205
- Something changed the day of surgery, and as soon as i woke
- 00:35:51.205 --> 00:35:54.775
- Up and as soon as i went home, and once i had the stitches
- 00:35:54.775 --> 00:35:58.212
- Taken out and i had to start taking care of the wounds and
- 00:35:58.212 --> 00:36:01.082
- Looking down at that area of my chest, that area of my body and
- 00:36:01.082 --> 00:36:03.985
- What was left in my breasts every single day,
- 00:36:03.985 --> 00:36:06.487
- It was horrific.
- 00:36:06.487 --> 00:36:10.091
- I couldn't stand what i was seeing.
- 00:36:10.091 --> 00:36:11.892
- I was having a major identity crisis during this point.
- 00:36:11.892 --> 00:36:14.962
- It was less than a year after my surgery and i started to
- 00:36:14.962 --> 00:36:18.599
- Think like, in two years i am going to legally be an adult
- 00:36:18.599 --> 00:36:23.371
- And i'm going to have to start
- 00:36:23.371 --> 00:36:24.438
- Asking myself, like, what about relationships?
- 00:36:24.438 --> 00:36:26.974
- I hadn't had a boyfriend really by this point in time yet.
- 00:36:26.974 --> 00:36:31.245
- So i started wondering, like, maybe i'll get married one day,
- 00:36:31.245 --> 00:36:36.817
- But what's that going to look like?
- 00:36:36.817 --> 00:36:38.452
- What are people going to call me?
- 00:36:38.452 --> 00:36:39.620
- Because i'm still attracted to men.
- 00:36:39.620 --> 00:36:41.756
- What would they call me?
- 00:36:41.756 --> 00:36:42.657
- Wife or husband?
- 00:36:42.657 --> 00:36:43.824
- And if we were to have kids,
- 00:36:43.824 --> 00:36:45.259
- Which that'd be crazy to figure out, right?
- 00:36:45.259 --> 00:36:48.663
- Like going off of hormones and trying to figure out, like, all
- 00:36:48.663 --> 00:36:52.199
- The medical consequences that maybe for me and the child,
- 00:36:52.199 --> 00:36:56.103
- Would they call me mom or dad?
- 00:36:56.103 --> 00:36:58.472
- Because i'm in this weird in-between role, and would that
- 00:36:58.472 --> 00:37:02.977
- Even be healthy for them to grow up in an environment where
- 00:37:02.977 --> 00:37:05.613
- They have a normal dad and then they have whatever i would be?
- 00:37:05.613 --> 00:37:11.686
- And that was when it hit me that i not only
- 00:37:11.686 --> 00:37:16.524
- Lost a major part of my adulthood,
- 00:37:16.524 --> 00:37:22.496
- But potentially my future children
- 00:37:22.496 --> 00:37:26.701
- Were losing something as well.
- 00:37:26.701 --> 00:37:29.970
- And that was the moment of like, i can't go any further.
- 00:37:29.970 --> 00:37:33.174
- I can't keep doing this to myself.
- 00:37:33.174 --> 00:37:35.176
- This is destroying me. this is horrific.
- 00:37:35.176 --> 00:37:39.747
- I don't even know if there is any going back, but i sure
- 00:37:39.747 --> 00:37:42.550
- Am not going forward.
- 00:37:42.550 --> 00:37:45.286
- And so i made the choice to detransition.
- 00:37:45.286 --> 00:37:47.822
- If you're just joining us tonight, i have the privilege
- 00:37:47.822 --> 00:37:49.990
- Of talking with jim daly of focus on the family and john
- 00:37:49.990 --> 00:37:52.760
- Stonestreet, the colson center, and they have this incredible
- 00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:56.664
- New documentary called truth rising and stories of courage.
- 00:37:56.664 --> 00:38:02.670
- I think it's-- one of the powerful things, having watched
- 00:38:02.670 --> 00:38:05.873
- The documentary through twice and loving it, is that if you
- 00:38:05.873 --> 00:38:09.977
- Talk to any of these people when they were younger and
- 00:38:09.977 --> 00:38:12.680
- Said, do you have any idea what
- 00:38:12.680 --> 00:38:15.249
- God is going to do through your life,
- 00:38:15.249 --> 00:38:17.151
- I'm sure they wouldn't have had a clue.
- 00:38:17.151 --> 00:38:18.986
- I agree.
- 00:38:18.986 --> 00:38:20.054
- I mean, who has that understanding of what you
- 00:38:20.054 --> 00:38:23.724
- Will become and what you might do for the lord?
- 00:38:23.724 --> 00:38:26.360
- But it all takes being grounded in a relationship with christ.
- 00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:30.164
- That's where it starts.
- 00:38:30.164 --> 00:38:31.165
- And then you watch the lord lay the path.
- 00:38:31.165 --> 00:38:33.634
- You know, i love proverbs 3:5-6.
- 00:38:33.634 --> 00:38:36.170
- Don't lean on your own understanding, but in all
- 00:38:36.170 --> 00:38:38.472
- Your ways acknowledge him.
- 00:38:38.472 --> 00:38:40.107
- I have this memory of my son.
- 00:38:40.107 --> 00:38:41.909
- When i used to travel with something called women of
- 00:38:41.909 --> 00:38:44.011
- Faith, and we did arena events and we'd had a celebration for
- 00:38:44.011 --> 00:38:47.181
- One of our camera guys.
- 00:38:47.181 --> 00:38:48.616
- It was his birthday and we'd had a huge chocolate cake, and
- 00:38:48.616 --> 00:38:50.818
- My son was maybe five, and he had planted his face in the
- 00:38:50.818 --> 00:38:53.921
- Frosting as any self-respecting five year old would.
- 00:38:53.921 --> 00:38:57.124
- And my mother-in- law was with me.
- 00:38:57.124 --> 00:38:58.659
- She was taking him back to the hotel to get a bath, and i had
- 00:38:58.659 --> 00:39:01.829
- On a cream suit because i remember i never wore it again,
- 00:39:01.829 --> 00:39:05.299
- Because they're about to introduce me on the platform
- 00:39:05.299 --> 00:39:07.201
- And i hear this little voice behind me saying, mom.
- 00:39:07.201 --> 00:39:10.438
- And i knew he just wanted one more hug, and i knew what was
- 00:39:10.438 --> 00:39:13.240
- Going to happen.
- 00:39:13.240 --> 00:39:14.442
- But i got down on my knees and i hugged him, and i got
- 00:39:14.442 --> 00:39:16.710
- Frosting in my hair and frosting in my suit.
- 00:39:16.710 --> 00:39:19.079
- That's why i love working with women, because they get that.
- 00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:21.715
- But my message was really intentional, because what i
- 00:39:21.715 --> 00:39:25.152
- Wanted to say to my son was, don't clean yourself up to come
- 00:39:25.152 --> 00:39:27.988
- To your mom because you don't clean yourself up
- 00:39:27.988 --> 00:39:29.356
- To come to your father.
- 00:39:29.356 --> 00:39:30.791
- You come as you are and you tell the truth.
- 00:39:30.791 --> 00:39:34.161
- I think that's something that i see in a younger generation
- 00:39:34.161 --> 00:39:37.465
- That i find very inspiring,
- 00:39:37.465 --> 00:39:39.633
- Um, a desire for truth and
- 00:39:39.633 --> 00:39:41.802
- Transparency, not pretend christianity.
- 00:39:41.802 --> 00:39:44.538
- Well, and i think that's why
- 00:39:44.538 --> 00:39:45.639
- The timing of all this is so good.
- 00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:48.175
- You know, this concept of truth rising, you know, the world's
- 00:39:48.175 --> 00:39:51.612
- Dirt and satan's dirt is not going to cover the
- 00:39:51.612 --> 00:39:55.249
- Truth of god for long.
- 00:39:55.249 --> 00:39:57.885
- It just keeps rising above the
- 00:39:57.885 --> 00:40:00.387
- Fray of the world and of our enemy.
- 00:40:00.387 --> 00:40:03.357
- And that's why i think the message is perfect for this
- 00:40:03.357 --> 00:40:06.260
- Time, because there's so much cloudiness when it comes to
- 00:40:06.260 --> 00:40:10.631
- Truth, and there is truth.
- 00:40:10.631 --> 00:40:12.032
- And in fact, the best line that chloe cole gives, i think, in
- 00:40:12.032 --> 00:40:16.036
- The film, as a fairly new christian, i mean, a one year
- 00:40:16.036 --> 00:40:20.941
- Old christian, she said, it's not your truth.
- 00:40:20.941 --> 00:40:24.044
- My truth, it's jesus is the truth.
- 00:40:24.044 --> 00:40:27.114
- Yeah. man, 60 year old
- 00:40:27.114 --> 00:40:29.116
- Christians may not come to that conclusion.
- 00:40:29.116 --> 00:40:31.585
- Yeah. but that is true.
- 00:40:31.585 --> 00:40:33.020
- Yeah, absolutely.
- 00:40:33.020 --> 00:40:34.321
- One of the things i love, what you do, um, the colson center,
- 00:40:34.321 --> 00:40:37.791
- Is you've got some other resources available.
- 00:40:37.791 --> 00:40:40.327
- Tell us about that.
- 00:40:40.327 --> 00:40:41.495
- Well, one of the most important resources we've just
- 00:40:41.495 --> 00:40:43.564
- Developed is what does it then look like to become a voice of
- 00:40:43.564 --> 00:40:46.567
- Courage? like these stories
- 00:40:46.567 --> 00:40:48.435
- That are highlighted in the documentary.
- 00:40:48.435 --> 00:40:50.938
- And so after truth rising, the documentary is
- 00:40:50.938 --> 00:40:54.174
- Truth rising, the study.
- 00:40:54.174 --> 00:40:55.576
- It's just a simple way of thinking about what does it
- 00:40:55.576 --> 00:40:58.512
- Mean to have a courageous faith with four important pillars
- 00:40:58.512 --> 00:41:01.549
- Hope, truth, identity, calling.
- 00:41:01.549 --> 00:41:03.651
- Hope tells us what's true about the moment.
- 00:41:03.651 --> 00:41:06.186
- It's going to be easy to see some of the developments in our
- 00:41:06.186 --> 00:41:08.656
- Culture and think all is lost, and that we are to despair.
- 00:41:08.656 --> 00:41:13.260
- I loved what chuck colson used to always say, for the
- 00:41:13.260 --> 00:41:15.829
- Christian despair is a sin because christ is risen
- 00:41:15.829 --> 00:41:19.133
- From the grave. wow.
- 00:41:19.133 --> 00:41:20.734
- So what does it mean to have hope even about a crazy
- 00:41:20.734 --> 00:41:23.037
- Moment like this?
- 00:41:23.037 --> 00:41:24.505
- Truth is, what we all have to ground our feet in.
- 00:41:24.505 --> 00:41:26.640
- We'll never have courage if we don't actually believe that
- 00:41:26.640 --> 00:41:28.676
- Christianity is true.
- 00:41:28.676 --> 00:41:30.277
- And not just individual truths,
- 00:41:30.277 --> 00:41:32.046
- But the true story of reality. identity,
- 00:41:32.046 --> 00:41:35.215
- I mean, this is such a wonderful christian truth to
- 00:41:35.215 --> 00:41:39.486
- Plant our feet on.
- 00:41:39.486 --> 00:41:40.921
- Humans are made in the image and likeness of god, and that
- 00:41:40.921 --> 00:41:43.591
- We are restored by christ to be the image bearers that god
- 00:41:43.591 --> 00:41:47.695
- Created us to be.
- 00:41:47.695 --> 00:41:49.797
- All the questions, the challenge that chloe had with
- 00:41:49.797 --> 00:41:54.234
- Gender dysphoria, and we can think about it in terms of the
- 00:41:54.234 --> 00:41:57.805
- Entire lgbtq movement and all that,
- 00:41:57.805 --> 00:42:00.040
- These are all identity crises.
- 00:42:00.040 --> 00:42:02.109
- So we're in a moment of an identity crisis.
- 00:42:02.109 --> 00:42:05.179
- Good news.
- 00:42:05.179 --> 00:42:06.447
- The bible gives us the best description of what it means to
- 00:42:06.447 --> 00:42:09.016
- Be human, of any on the market, that we're made in the image
- 00:42:09.016 --> 00:42:12.019
- And likeness of god. and then finally calling.
- 00:42:12.019 --> 00:42:14.188
- And this was an important point for chuck colson.
- 00:42:14.188 --> 00:42:16.357
- It's an important point for me.
- 00:42:16.357 --> 00:42:18.125
- Sometimes we think, well, you know, it's jim dobson's or jim
- 00:42:18.125 --> 00:42:20.761
- Daly's, you know, job to go out and defend christianity in the
- 00:42:20.761 --> 00:42:24.932
- Public square, or it's, you know, you go to dc and that's
- 00:42:24.932 --> 00:42:27.768
- Where it happens,
- 00:42:27.768 --> 00:42:28.702
- Or hollywood, that's where it happens.
- 00:42:28.702 --> 00:42:30.504
- Every christian is called to a particular time and place
- 00:42:30.504 --> 00:42:34.274
- In human history.
- 00:42:34.274 --> 00:42:35.943
- So that means we're called to be truth tellers, right now,
- 00:42:35.943 --> 00:42:40.114
- All of us.
- 00:42:40.114 --> 00:42:41.348
- And so that fourth pillar, hope, truth, identity, calling,
- 00:42:41.348 --> 00:42:45.052
- Kind of helps people map out a game plan.
- 00:42:45.052 --> 00:42:47.788
- And that's one of the most important resources i think we
- 00:42:47.788 --> 00:42:49.957
- Can have, because it is time for the church to become the
- 00:42:49.957 --> 00:42:53.427
- Truth tellers that god has called us to be.
- 00:42:53.427 --> 00:42:56.163
- Throughout a lot of my formative years, i struggled to
- 00:42:56.163 --> 00:42:59.333
- Find some sort of foundation to build myself off of, and by
- 00:42:59.333 --> 00:43:04.271
- Beliefs and ideals off of, and throughout most of my
- 00:43:04.271 --> 00:43:10.544
- Adolescence ended up-- it ended up becoming transgenderism
- 00:43:10.544 --> 00:43:14.181
- That filled that gap.
- 00:43:14.181 --> 00:43:16.183
- Once that fell through, i had to find something new.
- 00:43:16.183 --> 00:43:19.653
- It wasn't until i began speaking out publicly
- 00:43:19.653 --> 00:43:23.824
- That i started going on this advocacy journey that i've
- 00:43:23.824 --> 00:43:28.295
- Connected with a bunch of different christians, both
- 00:43:28.295 --> 00:43:31.198
- Individuals and groups and churches and pastors and
- 00:43:31.198 --> 00:43:33.901
- Other leaders who have
- 00:43:33.901 --> 00:43:37.504
- Not only given me a place of comfort, where i know i'm loved
- 00:43:37.504 --> 00:43:42.109
- And appreciated, but also have challenged me in my old beliefs
- 00:43:42.109 --> 00:43:47.915
- And my old values and everything that i knew before,
- 00:43:47.915 --> 00:43:50.951
- And have guided me to the truth and gave me the word.
- 00:43:50.951 --> 00:43:56.423
- Slowly over time,
- 00:43:56.423 --> 00:43:58.592
- I started to realize that i wasn't a mistake, that i was
- 00:43:58.592 --> 00:44:04.164
- Created perfectly the way that i was.
- 00:44:04.164 --> 00:44:06.533
- That my design was one lovingly made with full intention.
- 00:44:06.533 --> 00:44:12.740
- And that's even the scars,
- 00:44:12.740 --> 00:44:16.076
- The mental scars and the literal scars were beautiful.
- 00:44:16.076 --> 00:44:21.348
- And if i had not gone through all of this, i wouldn't be
- 00:44:21.348 --> 00:44:25.719
- Who i am today.
- 00:44:25.719 --> 00:44:27.387
- And it's that newfound faith that gives me a foundation not
- 00:44:27.387 --> 00:44:31.492
- Only to ground myself and understand who i am and the
- 00:44:31.492 --> 00:44:37.197
- People in the world around me, but also a reason to fight and
- 00:44:37.197 --> 00:44:42.569
- A guidebook on how to carry myself throughout that fight.
- 00:44:42.569 --> 00:44:47.541
- People will call me all sorts of things.
- 00:44:47.541 --> 00:44:50.210
- They might call me an activist or perhaps an advocate.
- 00:44:50.210 --> 00:44:53.781
- At the end of the day, i feel like it's something that's so
- 00:44:53.781 --> 00:44:56.049
- Much bigger than that.
- 00:44:56.049 --> 00:44:57.518
- It's the reclaiming of myself, of reality, and of extending my
- 00:44:57.518 --> 00:45:05.626
- Hand out to other people who are suffering and bringing them
- 00:45:05.626 --> 00:45:10.798
- Back to the truth as well.
- 00:45:10.798 --> 00:45:12.432
- And ultimately, that has always been the core of my mission.
- 00:45:12.432 --> 00:45:16.236
- I want to spread the truth.
- 00:45:16.236 --> 00:45:18.172
- I want people to know what is going on in our world, with our
- 00:45:18.172 --> 00:45:24.478
- Youth, with my generation and the ones that follow.
- 00:45:24.478 --> 00:45:27.714
- I not only want to serve as a cautionary tale, but also as a
- 00:45:27.714 --> 00:45:32.519
- Tale of triumph, because i am not just a tragedy.
- 00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:37.191
- I want to show people that there is life after transition,
- 00:45:37.191 --> 00:45:40.828
- That there's life after any tragedy in one's life, that you
- 00:45:40.828 --> 00:45:45.032
- Can live beyond whatever it is that you've lost, because there
- 00:45:45.032 --> 00:45:49.670
- Is so much more to live and to fight for.
- 00:45:49.670 --> 00:45:52.472
- I want to encourage other members of my generation to
- 00:45:52.472 --> 00:45:55.843
- Find a purpose and to find an identity in the truth
- 00:45:55.843 --> 00:46:02.082
- Because throughout the years, i've come to really just see
- 00:46:02.082 --> 00:46:07.087
- The full consequences of the identity crisis that is
- 00:46:07.087 --> 00:46:11.258
- Going on in my generation.
- 00:46:11.258 --> 00:46:13.627
- I don't want to live in a world where i have to worry about my
- 00:46:13.627 --> 00:46:16.864
- Nieces and nephews, or the children around me, in my
- 00:46:16.864 --> 00:46:19.800
- Community, or my own future children and grandchildren
- 00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:24.171
- Going through what i did.
- 00:46:24.171 --> 00:46:25.639
- I don't want them to know the pain that i have.
- 00:46:25.639 --> 00:46:29.343
- I don't want them to have their innocence or parts of their
- 00:46:29.343 --> 00:46:32.112
- Bodies, or their health
- 00:46:32.112 --> 00:46:34.281
- Compromised at such an early age.
- 00:46:34.281 --> 00:46:37.918
- I want to share a world where
- 00:46:37.918 --> 00:46:41.655
- Our children and the generations that follow mine,
- 00:46:41.655 --> 00:46:45.559
- Can grow up safe and sound.
- 00:46:45.559 --> 00:46:47.828
- I am just so grateful that i've been given this purpose,
- 00:46:47.828 --> 00:46:53.734
- That i have this gift now that allows me to transform all the
- 00:46:53.734 --> 00:47:00.407
- Pain that i've been through and all the pain that my family has
- 00:47:00.407 --> 00:47:03.076
- Been through to help others, to help other children, young men
- 00:47:03.076 --> 00:47:08.081
- And women and struggling families, and to make sure that
- 00:47:08.081 --> 00:47:13.020
- What happened to me
- 00:47:13.020 --> 00:47:15.055
- Will no longer repeat itself ever again.
- 00:47:15.055 --> 00:47:18.091
- I'm thinking of.
- 00:47:18.091 --> 00:47:19.159
- Families watching a home right now,
- 00:47:19.159 --> 00:47:20.527
- You know, mary in minnesota, you know, sam and sarasota who
- 00:47:20.527 --> 00:47:25.265
- Think, well, what can i do?
- 00:47:25.265 --> 00:47:26.867
- What would your message from this documentary, from truth
- 00:47:26.867 --> 00:47:29.503
- Rising be to a mom or a dad or someone who's just watching and
- 00:47:29.503 --> 00:47:34.474
- Thinking, well, how does that apply to me?
- 00:47:34.474 --> 00:47:36.410
- Yeah, it doesn't have to be an
- 00:47:36.410 --> 00:47:38.245
- Engagement that requires a big manual.
- 00:47:38.245 --> 00:47:40.914
- Read the word, know the word,
- 00:47:40.914 --> 00:47:42.649
- Apply the word to your everyday life.
- 00:47:42.649 --> 00:47:44.885
- You know, we just completed a marriage survey in the us.
- 00:47:44.885 --> 00:47:50.190
- The weakest marriages are what
- 00:47:50.190 --> 00:47:54.127
- I would call kind of light christianity.
- 00:47:54.127 --> 00:47:58.131
- They don't read the word, they
- 00:47:58.131 --> 00:47:59.199
- Don't pray, they don't go to church.
- 00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:00.701
- But they have an affiliation to christianity.
- 00:48:00.701 --> 00:48:04.071
- The best marriages, the healthiest marriages are those
- 00:48:04.071 --> 00:48:07.507
- That are convictional christian.
- 00:48:07.507 --> 00:48:09.509
- They read with their spouse, read the word, pray together,
- 00:48:09.509 --> 00:48:13.013
- Go to church together on a regular basis.
- 00:48:13.013 --> 00:48:15.716
- Those marriages are the healthiest marriages.
- 00:48:15.716 --> 00:48:18.518
- But you have to apply the word in order to receive the
- 00:48:18.518 --> 00:48:22.089
- Benefits of the word, right?
- 00:48:22.089 --> 00:48:23.523
- The blessings of the lord.
- 00:48:23.523 --> 00:48:24.992
- I think that's true of all of our lives. whether it's
- 00:48:24.992 --> 00:48:27.160
- Engaging the culture on truth,
- 00:48:27.160 --> 00:48:28.795
- It doesn't have to be a big thing.
- 00:48:28.795 --> 00:48:30.163
- It's just do that in incremental steps.
- 00:48:30.163 --> 00:48:33.533
- Do it with your children at their school.
- 00:48:33.533 --> 00:48:35.535
- Be part of the school board. yeah.
- 00:48:35.535 --> 00:48:37.437
- You know, wherever you can show up.
- 00:48:37.437 --> 00:48:38.805
- I taped a program the other day with a woman who's working in
- 00:48:38.805 --> 00:48:42.109
- Four states with something like release time, back to school.
- 00:48:42.109 --> 00:48:47.180
- And uh, what she said to me was the supreme court has already
- 00:48:47.180 --> 00:48:51.752
- Ruled on this several times.
- 00:48:51.752 --> 00:48:53.086
- It's legal,
- 00:48:53.086 --> 00:48:54.654
- Every every state, all 50 states that schools, public
- 00:48:54.654 --> 00:48:59.292
- Schools need to release kids where parents opt the child in.
- 00:48:59.292 --> 00:49:03.864
- They transport the child to a church nearby the school.
- 00:49:03.864 --> 00:49:06.700
- They do an hour of release time and you cannot
- 00:49:06.700 --> 00:49:11.972
- Sue the school for that.
- 00:49:11.972 --> 00:49:13.607
- Why isn't every elementary school--
- 00:49:13.607 --> 00:49:15.509
- Why don't we have release time at every elementary?
- 00:49:15.509 --> 00:49:17.444
- I didn't even know there was such a thing.
- 00:49:17.444 --> 00:49:19.079
- Exactly. i told the woman, this was yesterday,
- 00:49:19.079 --> 00:49:22.682
- I said, when i retire from focus, i'm going to do this
- 00:49:22.682 --> 00:49:25.085
- Full time for colorado springs.
- 00:49:25.085 --> 00:49:27.254
- Wow. so that's an example.
- 00:49:27.254 --> 00:49:28.789
- It sounds like a big job, but just pick one school and go do
- 00:49:28.789 --> 00:49:32.592
- Release time for these 12,13 kids that are going to be
- 00:49:32.592 --> 00:49:35.162
- Part of it.
- 00:49:35.162 --> 00:49:36.063
- And one of them might be a
- 00:49:36.063 --> 00:49:37.798
- Future president or somebody else.
- 00:49:37.798 --> 00:49:40.500
- You never know.
- 00:49:40.500 --> 00:49:41.735
- I think that's one of the most amazing things about the
- 00:49:41.735 --> 00:49:44.237
- Kingdom of god that he will choose people from all sorts of
- 00:49:44.237 --> 00:49:48.075
- Different walks of life who
- 00:49:48.075 --> 00:49:49.743
- Feel ill equipped to be significant.
- 00:49:49.743 --> 00:49:53.447
- And yet, when they understand that it's-- i'm thinking of what
- 00:49:53.447 --> 00:49:57.017
- Would you say to believers who think, well, that's all great,
- 00:49:57.017 --> 00:49:59.519
- But i don't want to come across as an unloving christian.
- 00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:02.622
- You can do both.
- 00:50:02.622 --> 00:50:03.924
- I've done it with the lgbtq community.
- 00:50:03.924 --> 00:50:06.660
- We work together on sex trafficking in colorado.
- 00:50:06.660 --> 00:50:09.463
- I had the idea.
- 00:50:09.463 --> 00:50:10.363
- I called the gill foundation there.
- 00:50:10.363 --> 00:50:13.033
- Contract lobbyist worked with me, a homosexual man, and we
- 00:50:13.033 --> 00:50:17.104
- Were able to improve the laws
- 00:50:17.104 --> 00:50:18.638
- Against sex trafficking in colorado.
- 00:50:18.638 --> 00:50:20.941
- And from that, a deep relationship was born.
- 00:50:20.941 --> 00:50:23.410
- And i consider him a friend and somebody who is curious
- 00:50:23.410 --> 00:50:26.146
- About the lord now.
- 00:50:26.146 --> 00:50:27.447
- He said, you know what i hate about you?
- 00:50:27.447 --> 00:50:29.649
- You keep moving me closer to god.
- 00:50:29.649 --> 00:50:32.119
- And i looked at him and said, that's my job.
- 00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:34.287
- It's the biggest compliment you could have paid me, dude.
- 00:50:34.287 --> 00:50:36.590
- And i so appreciate it.
- 00:50:36.590 --> 00:50:37.958
- But just be genuine. yeah.
- 00:50:37.958 --> 00:50:41.228
- Be who you are.
- 00:50:41.228 --> 00:50:42.429
- Know the word.
- 00:50:42.429 --> 00:50:43.396
- Apply the word and love your fellow man.
- 00:50:43.396 --> 00:50:46.333
- And in that is also truth.
- 00:50:46.333 --> 00:50:48.535
- And it's interesting to me that scripture tells us that
- 00:50:48.535 --> 00:50:52.439
- Jesus is truth.
- 00:50:52.439 --> 00:50:53.740
- Jesus said, i am the way, i am the truth, and that he is love.
- 00:50:53.740 --> 00:50:57.444
- So if we think that there's a conflict between truth and
- 00:50:57.444 --> 00:51:00.480
- Love-- which we feel it, we sense it.
- 00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:02.682
- Our world thinks that, right?
- 00:51:02.682 --> 00:51:04.151
- Like, if you love anyone, you will never tell them the truth
- 00:51:04.151 --> 00:51:06.820
- If it hurts their feelings.
- 00:51:06.820 --> 00:51:08.355
- And then if something is true, then it's actually unloving.
- 00:51:08.355 --> 00:51:12.259
- I mean, the world pits
- 00:51:12.259 --> 00:51:14.127
- These two things against each other.
- 00:51:14.127 --> 00:51:16.196
- But the bible tells us that
- 00:51:16.196 --> 00:51:17.397
- Jesus is the source of both of them.
- 00:51:17.397 --> 00:51:19.566
- So if we think there's a conflict between truth and
- 00:51:19.566 --> 00:51:22.402
- Love, then there's something wrong with our theology, right?
- 00:51:22.402 --> 00:51:26.373
- We have to rethink that because it is possible.
- 00:51:26.373 --> 00:51:29.075
- You know those two things together.
- 00:51:29.075 --> 00:51:30.210
- I've noticed when you're engaging people that might
- 00:51:30.210 --> 00:51:32.546
- Oppose christianity, if you're sincere with them and you
- 00:51:32.546 --> 00:51:35.649
- Listen to them, i think it's something in the way that god
- 00:51:35.649 --> 00:51:39.019
- Has created us, all of us, not just christian, but all humans
- 00:51:39.019 --> 00:51:42.689
- In his image, there's something that unlocks their heart.
- 00:51:42.689 --> 00:51:46.860
- Their heart cracks open
- 00:51:46.860 --> 00:51:49.296
- If you're sincere, you truly love them, and you speak
- 00:51:49.296 --> 00:51:51.965
- The truth to them.
- 00:51:51.965 --> 00:51:53.700
- It doesn't mean there won't be some cost.
- 00:51:53.700 --> 00:51:55.769
- Right. i mean, some of the
- 00:51:55.769 --> 00:51:56.803
- Stories that we tell in the film,
- 00:51:56.803 --> 00:51:58.338
- I'm thinking of jack phillips, the baker, one of the nicest
- 00:51:58.338 --> 00:52:01.608
- Guys that i've ever met.
- 00:52:01.608 --> 00:52:02.809
- There's not a nicer person on the planet.
- 00:52:02.809 --> 00:52:04.811
- I'm sure there might be, but i have not met him.
- 00:52:04.811 --> 00:52:06.546
- Jack is the one for me, and he did it right.
- 00:52:06.546 --> 00:52:09.783
- He was very loving and he paid a very, very steep price
- 00:52:09.783 --> 00:52:14.187
- That went on for over a decade for that.
- 00:52:14.187 --> 00:52:17.123
- And, you know, that's some of the things, though,
- 00:52:17.123 --> 00:52:18.825
- That jesus talks about.
- 00:52:18.825 --> 00:52:20.026
- We have to count the cost for what we're going to do.
- 00:52:20.026 --> 00:52:23.129
- But i know, jack, i know looking back at how god has
- 00:52:23.129 --> 00:52:27.033
- Used his act of obedience on a national level, on a personal
- 00:52:27.033 --> 00:52:32.772
- Level, with individuals who have found the lord because of
- 00:52:32.772 --> 00:52:36.109
- His act of courage, that he'd do it again in a heartbeat.
- 00:52:36.109 --> 00:52:39.045
- Wow. he's a sweet man.
- 00:52:39.045 --> 00:52:40.780
- If you're a mom, if you're a dad, you're a grandparent,
- 00:52:40.780 --> 00:52:43.750
- There's a generation of children growing up, and god
- 00:52:43.750 --> 00:52:46.553
- Has called us to be a covering to them that we should be, to
- 00:52:46.553 --> 00:52:50.924
- Speak up for them, to give them a voice.
- 00:52:50.924 --> 00:52:53.126
- So i'm going to ask you to do, jim, is i'm going to ask you if
- 00:52:53.126 --> 00:52:55.962
- You pray for young people in our culture, for those who are
- 00:52:55.962 --> 00:52:59.933
- Struggling up, struggling in school and just struggling with
- 00:52:59.933 --> 00:53:03.670
- Who they are, a lot of broken families, a lot of divorced
- 00:53:03.670 --> 00:53:06.873
- Families, and sometimes kids just don't know where they want
- 00:53:06.873 --> 00:53:09.175
- To belong somewhere.
- 00:53:09.175 --> 00:53:10.910
- But i want to ask you, as a dad, to pray for young people
- 00:53:10.910 --> 00:53:14.814
- Who are struggling. i'd love to.
- 00:53:14.814 --> 00:53:16.549
- Let's pray.
- 00:53:16.549 --> 00:53:18.018
- Father, we're grateful that you have created each and every
- 00:53:18.018 --> 00:53:21.187
- Human being in your image.
- 00:53:21.187 --> 00:53:22.756
- And, lord, that you're the author of identity.
- 00:53:22.756 --> 00:53:27.193
- And i pray for this generation of young people, lord, for
- 00:53:27.193 --> 00:53:30.397
- Their heart, for their soul, for their emotions in a land
- 00:53:30.397 --> 00:53:33.933
- Where they have so much and yet spiritually, they're bankrupt
- 00:53:33.933 --> 00:53:38.305
- In so many ways with identity.
- 00:53:38.305 --> 00:53:41.107
- Help them to know that you love them.
- 00:53:41.107 --> 00:53:43.143
- Help us to be able to share that and to show the love
- 00:53:43.143 --> 00:53:46.680
- That you have for them.
- 00:53:46.680 --> 00:53:48.315
- And lord, i do rejoice that this generation coming up has
- 00:53:48.315 --> 00:53:52.485
- An appetite for truth.
- 00:53:52.485 --> 00:53:54.387
- May your truth be on display.
- 00:53:54.387 --> 00:53:56.323
- May it be like a magnet that draws them to you, especially
- 00:53:56.323 --> 00:54:00.160
- In this world of chaos.
- 00:54:00.160 --> 00:54:01.528
- Lord, when sin entered the world, chaos entered the world.
- 00:54:01.528 --> 00:54:05.632
- But you came and brought shalom, your peace.
- 00:54:05.632 --> 00:54:09.269
- May they taste it, may they experience it, and may they be
- 00:54:09.269 --> 00:54:12.906
- Drawn to you.
- 00:54:12.906 --> 00:54:13.907
- And may this generation coming
- 00:54:13.907 --> 00:54:16.343
- Be a powerful generation for you.
- 00:54:16.343 --> 00:54:19.646
- And it's in christ's name we pray, amen.
- 00:54:19.646 --> 00:54:22.549
- Amen. i have to tell you guys, when i got to watch the whole
- 00:54:22.549 --> 00:54:26.086
- Of truth rising again, i watched it twice through the
- 00:54:26.086 --> 00:54:28.455
- Whole way, and the one word i was left with was hope.
- 00:54:28.455 --> 00:54:31.825
- I felt so much hope for for what god is doing.
- 00:54:31.825 --> 00:54:35.528
- And i want to thank you both for investing your time and
- 00:54:35.528 --> 00:54:39.032
- Your energy and finances into something like this.
- 00:54:39.032 --> 00:54:42.769
- I can't wait for our audience to be able to watch the whole
- 00:54:42.769 --> 00:54:45.205
- Documentary, truth rising.
- 00:54:45.205 --> 00:54:48.041
- It's really it's phenomenal.
- 00:54:48.041 --> 00:54:50.310
- And i believe we are starting to see the tide turning.
- 00:54:50.310 --> 00:54:54.214
- And here's what i love, people.
- 00:54:54.214 --> 00:54:56.149
- It starts with you and me.
- 00:54:56.149 --> 00:54:58.218
- It just starts with us saying, i've got a tattoo,
- 00:54:58.218 --> 00:55:00.520
- Which my mother would--
- 00:55:00.520 --> 00:55:02.589
- I would say she's turning in her grave, but she's not.
- 00:55:02.589 --> 00:55:04.324
- She's home with jesus.
- 00:55:04.324 --> 00:55:05.692
- But i have a tattoo in my wrist that says, yes, lord.
- 00:55:05.692 --> 00:55:08.161
- And that's all it takes, you know?
- 00:55:08.161 --> 00:55:10.163
- It's simply waking up every day and say, today, lord,
- 00:55:10.163 --> 00:55:12.699
- I say yes to you.
- 00:55:12.699 --> 00:55:14.334
- And god will do all sorts of things.
- 00:55:14.334 --> 00:55:16.636
- ♪♪
- 00:55:16.636 --> 00:55:16.636