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EASTER 2024 SHOCKER
Biden slammed for declaring Easter Sunday as Transgender day
If this year, Easter had fallen on 1st of April as it sometimes does, I’d have thought the above news item were one of those inconvenient and crude jokes from the templates of some comedians who these days dare to tread where angels dread.
They Spoilt my Alleluia Moment
1 actually had been busy, doing what I enjoy most; participating in the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord when I was jolted out of the Alleluia moment by the above news caption. I put two and two and surmised it had been released for the purpose of denigrating the esteemed elements of the very core of the Christian faith, or how else to explain that on such a holy day as the eve of Easter, the above captioned news would pop up in the world, about a statement issued by the notable personality of the American President.
I was at first riled because it seemed that while the Christian world had been trudging the rugged road of lent, some persons had been busy mapping out plans to dampen the mood of the coming Easter Joy!
Published under that sensational caption by The Punch Newspapers on Easter Sunday 2024, the body of the article carried a modified message as in the below quote:
“US President, Joe Biden’s announcement of declaring this Easter Sunday as Transgender Day of Visibility has generated significant controversy”
Juxtaposing the above quotes with the actual declaration stated hereunder, reveals a somewhat prankish attempt by the newspaper to twist and sensationalise the news item.
“… NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility,”
However, it can be said that by virtue of the wordings of the actual proclamation, Biden seeks to take advantage of this year’s Easter commemoration date being 31st March, 2004 coinciding with the yearly marking of transgender visibility day on 31st March to:
- fly the concept of transgrenderism on the wings of Christianity .
- deflect attention from the Easter celebrations to the transgender movement activities.
- violate the sanctity of Easter Sunday by rubbing and passing off the idea of transgenderism on it.
- hurt the sensibility of Christians and bruise their ego by linking their most revered feast with a concept that is totally antithetical to the nature, bearing and positive growth of their religion.
- hoist transgenderism on Easter to enhance its rapid spread while devaluing the importance of Easter and as such hampering the further acceptance, practice and growth of Christian values.
Surely, the semantics of word usage cannot be lost on the writer and vetters of the article, bearing in mind that it emanates from the office of the president of the United States of America. At best, the word crafting of the declaration reveal an intent to create the confusing and misleading impression that every Easter day is transgender visibility day and must be observed as such.
Bearing in mind the running battle between Joe Biden with his amoral leanings as against the church’s teachings on transgenderism, abortion and their like, this proclamation may well be a calculated attempt to use Easter to achieve the transgender agenda with the belief that in doing so, he’d hit back at the church as he clings on to this straw hoping to ride out the tide in a losing battle with the church.
The Punch’s Error
Although further detail of the same news by the newspaper gives a
more accurate detail of the pronouncement with the referencing of some social media comments, the mediocrity and mischief that the caption’s misrepresentation reflects leaves a lot to wonder about; of the professionalism of a newspaper of such high renown. Viz, a more accurate portion of the article reads:
“Although March 31 has always been set aside to honour the transgender movement, this year’s commemoration coincides with Easter Sunday, a significant Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
So, why would such a sensational caption have ever popped up at the editorial meeting knowing full well that it is not just half true but is also a fraudulent misrepresentation of the truth contained in the body of an article on such a sensitive issue.
Likely a case of attempting to take mercantile advantage in a night sell but this unfortunately has bought into the wrong side of humans as well as the divine.
A Worsening Trend
The above action by newspaper and state actors is not a surprise though, because these days, the subsisting fad is to do and say things – like the above – which whittle down the importance of the christian faith with such ranging from outright jests and ridicules to insults and slurs which border on blasphemy and profanation. The church is now not only the butt of jokes from the stable of comedians for mercantile reasons but also on the recieving end of suppressive and anti Christian government policies and other actions with political as well as various other undertones.
These negative actions and inactions have reached the point where they can be said to reflect the adage in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God that “when a handshake goes beyond the elbow, it has turned into another thing”
Sunday Market
One such handshake in my local clime is the creating of a Sunday discount market by a state government.
The creation of the market which is said to have the aim of reducing the current economic hardship in the country has only found our revered Sunday (our weekly Easter) as the appropriate day for its activity. Yes, Sunday is turned to a market day in the state of Lagos, Nigeria, where over 80% of people are Christian and in a country which has Christianity as a government recognised religion.
This development discountenancing the need to keep the Sabbath day holy is totally beyond the grasping of my mind and as I write, is yet to be state wise or nationally tabled for discussion.
Christian Apathy
Some may actually put the reason for these unwelcome developments to malice or mischief from outside the church but the simple fact is that we are also directly or indirectly complicit with our dramatically laid back, sidon look attitude that give room for “culprits” who have been sneaking up on us with impunity for ages to make advancements and gains .
So, I ask myself, how can the faith of the over 3.1 Billion Catholics of today’s world population of 7 plus Billion be harnessed to counter such untoward poking of the Christian value system?
Courage Needed
Whatever happened to courage as was of our past fathers which not only countered and stopped any attempt to chop off our faith values but went on to become a bulwark for a potent overcoming of the forces pitted against its growth.
Well, it depends on us, really. Remember every action or inaction has it’s consequences but one very bad state of action which must first and foremost be mentioned is lukewarmness. Lukewarmness leads to being spat out! Confer Revelations 3:15-16. Tufia kwa!! May that never be anyone’s portion, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
So, for the demeaning of the 2024 Easter Celebration, my first reaction upon the shocker caption was:
He didn’t
Or did he?
He daren’t
Thankfully, this was followed by the action of this article write up.
Second and in my thinking worse is the case of the ignorant, that is, those who do not even know what’s going on and as such perish! They perish for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4: 7-8
Perhaps the worst offenders would be the ones in simony. Please, read up how people trying to enrich themselves by taking advantage of spiritual things end up. Someone tried to ply this trade with St. Pether. Acts 8:9-24
What Next
Central to this write up is a clarion call to wake up in our God given duty – and in the Christian mode of love – to correct and call to order those who have the temerity to try to face God and take holy things for granted, profaning them and in the event of their refusing, leave them to the mercy of God, Timothy 3: 15.
A Holy Proclamation
For the unversed, Christ’s rising from the dead is the backbone of Christianity; it is the seen hope of the Christian faith, the once and for all scoring of the main goal of Christian living and this happened on Easter Sunday.
Thus Easter Sunday and every Sunday, (the weekly Easter) of all days are held dearest and in sanctity by Christians and so can’t be tampered with without touching their sensibility and so on such a day, any proclamation that goes contrary to the Alleluia proclamation would be equating itself with the divine and challenging it to battle. All we can do for the proclaimer of such is pray. 1st John 5: 16-21.
Henceforth, therefore, let no one ever allow himself to be used as a tool to bring an ‘evil report’ to drown the Alleluia proclamation.
Instead, let Easter and every Sunday be infused with holy thoughts and actions that reverberate in honour of our Lord who at his resurrection radiated the light that dispels every contrary spirit from his people for as St. Paul’s says;
‘…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
