I Prayed have prayed
Lord, please equip us to fight against the cancel culture we are seeing running rampant in our nation. Give us courage to stand against this and protect the freedoms we enjoy in our nation.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

When many years ago I read Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” I was at first not impressed. How could anyone not see that a naked man had no clothes on? But the story was often then interpreted as being about appearance and reality, and nobody needed to look beyond appearances to see that the Emperor was naked.

What Andersen’s story is really about is something quite different. Long before the term was invented, he understood the cancel culture. The crux of the story is that two scoundrels manage to make everyone believe that if they can’t see the Emperor’s clothes they must be either unfit for their job, or unusually stupid. The point is that if you can make people sufficiently panicked about losing their reputations and livelihoods, you can make them say and believe anything, no matter how idiotic. . . .

The best example of how Emperor’s New Clothes (ENC) tactics now work is transgender.

If you’ve learned Andersen’s lesson, you know that you must stick to what you see and not let anyone frighten you into saying that you see something that you don’t.

Suppose, then, that we see someone who appears in every respect a man. . . .

And below the surface are even more profound differences in body chemistry, brain, and so on, and in fact every single cell in the body is marked as male. We’re seeing a male. But the bullies tell us that we must say we’re seeing a female, or we’ll be labeled a bigot, transphobic, and guilty of hate speech. We’ll be social outcasts and our jobs may be threatened. . . .

Resisting ENC-style bullying means refusing to lie about what we see. What we certainly do see is a man so unhappy about being a man that he wishes he were a woman. We see someone who feels that he’s in spirit a woman. We see a man who asks that we treat him as if he were a woman. But we don’t see a woman.  . . .

How dare you refuse to say what we tell you to say? Their bizarre view is the only one they will allow. We must see things their way, or else!

What could justify this belligerent attempt to control other people’s minds? There’s only one possible support for it, and that lies in their claim that if a man thinks he’s a woman, that makes him one.  . . .

Could anything be more absurd? In what other area of human life do we accept that if someone thinks or claims that something is so, it must be so? . . .

Think about the consequences: If saying something is so makes it so, we’ll no longer have any protection against unscrupulous male sports mediocrities who can’t resist the chance to cheat their way to a world title competing against women, or men who just want to avoid the draft, or male predators who want access to naked females in locker rooms, or incarcerated male felons who think life would offer more and be less dangerous in a women’s prison, or men who just want to grab any other of a variety of privileges reserved for females.

What we really need now is a realistic and humane discussion of what society can and should do to accommodate people who have gender dysphoria, consistent with not harming or unduly burdening everyone else. Destroying female athletics and abolishing privacy for females is real harm and that needs to be taken seriously as a significant part of the discussion. But this much-needed deliberation is exactly what the bullies won’t allow: They claim the right to veto it. . . .

Andersen’s tale has only two scoundrels, and they’re soon exposed. We’re not so lucky: We have a more powerful and numerous set of canceling bullies, including the Big Tech billionaires. In their arrogance they claim that nobody may have any opinion but theirs.

But when you see a powerfully built male athlete at the top of the podium after a female athletics event, with two unhappy females occupying the lower spots either side of him, just remember those people in Andersen’s story, all bullied into saying that they’re seeing clothes on the naked man in front of them. . . .

What do you think about this commentary? Discuss below!

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Article by John M. Ellis. Photo Credit: Unsplash.)

Comments (7) Print

Comments

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Gordon Bones
December 25, 2022

Well written description on what is now well beyond gender confusion. Culture has doubled down as it expects our approval of the ever increasing varieties of gender identity.

PATRICIA TAYLOR
April 27, 2021

Lol. Last week during my prayer time, the thought came to me The Emperors New Clothes so I went to YouTube to see if I could find it. Once I found it, I took the time to watch it because I knew it had some significance to our present circumstances in our nation. When I read this article it all makes sense. There is a scenario that’s been painted by the adversary to blind the eyes & ears of the people so that seeing we will not see truth & hearing we will not hear truth but instead we see & hear the lie. Unlike the little boy in the story who spoke what he saw & the people around him began to speak the same thing about the emperor having no clothes, those who see & say the truth about what they see are being cancelled.

Father you are Lord & God over America. You raised this nation up to serve you & to do your will. Just as you raised up Saul & gave him the highest platform in the nation of Israel & when he began to have power his heart turned from you, our nation has done the same thing. We have become self reliant thinking it’s in our strength that we have accomplished the things we have. You are the God that sits down one & rises up another so that your mighty works can be manifest on the earth. Forgive us Father for thinking that anything we do is in our own power. Your Word says it’s not by might, nor by power, but by your Spirit…. We ask that your Spirit will once again overshadow us & breathe new life into this nation. Let your kingdom come, let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that the eyes our understanding be enlightened in the body of Christ that we may know what is the hope of our calling & what is the exceeding riches of your glory which you wrought in Christ Jesus before the foundation of this world. Let the river of your love & grace overtake the hearts of your people so that we return to you with our whole hearts & with the same voice speak out truth when what is being shown & said speaks contrary to it. Turn our hearts & our eyes back to you for you alone are our source. We need you seated back on the throne of our hearts & of our nation. Father let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth & in this nation as it is in heaven. Release your hosts of angel armies to push back the darkness of the adversary & cleanse our nation so that you once again sit in the hearts of your people & the hearts of our national leaders in Jesus Name. Overthrow all that are against you & overturn every legislation that does not line up with your Word in Jesus Name, Amen & Amen.

Karen Secrest
April 21, 2021

When I was much younger, I thought it interesting that the rich and powerful would believe a lie if told effectively.
Now I realize that’s a Stronghold to be defeated in prayer

5
Iris Maurer
April 21, 2021

WEll said!

3
Jimmy Dean
April 21, 2021

Headline should read: the American Church: the Emperor has no clothes on.

2
Danny N.C.
April 21, 2021

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the clarity you give us in this frustrating time. It is difficult at times to see the world go crazy around us, with men claiming to be women and women claiming to be men. For me Lord, two verses sum up much of what is going on around us in these darkening days; Isaiah 5:20 and Daniel 12:10.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

Daniel 12:10 “Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.”

We live in a time when the wicked and the delusional see things in terms of opposites. Thank You Lord, for giving us clarity to see through these delusions and fabrications. It is indeed frustrating to watch people we know fall for these backwards ideas. Give us the courage and the wisdom to help the deluded see the truth, and may You expose the wicked perpetrators of these destructive lies. In Jesus precious name I pray, O’ Lord, Amen.

23

Partner with Us

Intercessors for America is the trusted resource for millions of people across the United States committed to praying for our nation. If you have benefited from IFA's resources and community, please consider joining us as a monthly support partner. As a 501(c)3 organization, it's through your support that all this possible.

Dave Kubal
IFA President
Become a Monthly Partner

Share

Click below to share this with others

Log in to Join the Conversation

Log in to your IFA account to start a discussion, comment, pray, and interact with our community.