The Battle for Identity: Breaking the Strongholds Behind Transgender Ideology

One of the most striking cultural shifts in modern America has been the mainstreaming of transgender ideology in all facets of society – across schools, media, the medical field, and in prominent political debate. This phenomenon has resulted in an increasing polarization between parents and schools, and conversations about transgenderism continue to dominate American discourse. It is crucial, therefore, to examine what is driving the coming generations to find solace in transgenderism.

Over the last decade, the explosion of transgender identification shocked the nation. In a series of data collected from the Williams Institute of UCLA School of Law between 2016 and 2022, the percentage of transgender identification revealed 2.8 million people aged 13 and older identify as transgender. Youth between the ages of 13-17 that identify as transgender were estimated at roughly 724,000 while 2.1 million adults 18 and older identified as transgender. This marked a stunning 76% of trans-identified individuals were under the age of 35. There was a clear observation: transgender identification is concentrated among younger age groups.

(Source: The Williams Institute)

Recently, however, new trends suggest a shift. Largely due to the backlash from an emerging counterculture founded by parents, conservatism, the important voices from detransitioners, and groups such as Gays Against Groomers, transgender identification appears to be declining. Although this is a significant milestone, the causes of transgender identification require an urgent examination due to its revelatory nature: Our youth are dealing with wounded identities and spiritual confusion. These wounds do not simply disappear because a movement is in decline. Instead, these wounds find new ways to manifest themselves.

The battle for the culture cannot be won until these spiritual afflictions are addressed. We are in opposition with a world that continues to promote and celebrate many wide gates that promise belonging, a sense of identity, and comfort from the growing pains that naturally arise from adulthood. Despite the allure of these gates, they all lead towards the same destination: self-destruction. In response, we must boldly declare what is at stake. There is a coordinated, spiritual attack against the identities of our children.

“Enter by the narrow gate,” declares Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:13–14. “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and those who find it are few.” To lead our future generations into this narrow gate, we must expose this wide gate, its purpose, its fruit, what spiritual forces are behind it, and how to destroy it.

Function and Fruit of Transgender Ideologies

Gender dysphoria is not an indicator that one was born in the wrong body, rather it is an indicator of the spirit confined in the wrong place—in the territory of the evil one. This does not mean that a person experiencing gender confusion is evil, rather they are experiencing a spiritual assault that seeks to destroy their identity, making them captives in dire need of freedom.

To better understand this, we must first understand the function and tactics of evil.

The function of evil is described in John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Evil accomplishes this with a clever tactic: disguising itself as truth. “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” — 2 Corinthians 11:14.

This is how transgender ideology masquerades itself – with an eloquent message of acceptance, with a promise to our children that they would find their true authentic selves. It sells them a vision with terms intended to usurp compassion such as  “gender affirming care,” “inclusivity,” and “I was born this way.”

The public becomes fooled by the colorful messaging of this ideology because they fail to study the fruit underneath its embellished packaging.

In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus Christ warns, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

When we properly examine its fruit, it becomes evident that the function of gender ideology on our children is to steal, kill, and destroy. It robs them of the sacredness of forming families and having children, if they seek medical intervention. It promises authenticity, but demands the individual to remove and alter their healthy body with the intake of hormones, puberty blockers, and with dangerous and irreversible surgeries that require lifelong interventions – all to remove healthy body parts; all fruitless attempts to morph themselves into an identity they were never given and never meant to fulfill. Their true identities become not only physically, but spiritually dismembered. This is how we recognize it is evil.

Development of Gender Dysphoria

It is important to note that the development of gender dysphoria in our youth does not happen overnight, but it is instead a slow and steady development of falsehoods spoken over the identities of our youth by a variety of spirits. Many parents experience shock when it appears that out of the blue their child “comes out” as transgender. This is not a sudden change of heart, but rather years of internalized falsehoods in combination with a culture that has elevated disorder over truth and given it a name – an answer, a solution that our youth takes as a means to understand their internal condition.

It then becomes a battleground between parents and their trans-identified child. Parents need to be aware that they are battling a stronghold that their child is held in bondage. To win this fight, it is not only sufficient to go to war by taking direct action by passing legislation, exposing the malpractices of the medical field who perform sex change surgeries and prescribe hormones, and attending school board meetings, but it is required that we address the war happening in our children’s minds. We must understand two things: (1) who we are fighting against and (2) understand the nature of the strongholds we must break.

Who are we fighting against?

Before my conversion as a Christian, I attended the End Child Mutilation Rally hosted by Matt Walsh in Nashville, Tennessee in October of 2022. I had a hatred for radical trans activists who pushed this dangerous ideology and I recall getting into a verbal confrontation with one of them. Immediately, I felt something I could not explain, something pushed me back and rebuked me. I heard a voice tell me, “Stop. They are sick and need help, they are in bondage just like you are.” I was convicted by the spirit of God.

See, our fight is not with our brothers and sisters; it’s not against the radical trans activists; it’s not against the school board directors that permit these ideologies to flourish. They are not the root enemy we must go against, but instead against the evil forces operating in the unseen realm that seek to influence our brothers and sisters.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.” 

– Ephesians 6:10-18.

If our fight is a spiritual war, then by extension, weapons of our warfare are also spiritual.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds,” says Paul in Corinthians 10:4–5. He adds, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” This is a crucial passage to dissect if we want to destroy the stronghold that attracts radical trans ideology.

What is a Stronghold?

Strongholds are fortresses and military centers of strength occupied or controlled by the enemy of our souls. They are fortified places and barriers in the mind and spirit with the purpose of fortifying your soul to act in opposition to God. These fortresses are operated by a multitude of spirits that work together to introduce arguments and proud obstacles to the knowledge of God, resulting in a war of the mind.

It is not a surprise then that trans-identified youth struggle with spirits of rejection, anxiety, fear, rebellion, pride, anger, depression, etc. It is a disruption of the mind, as a result of warfare. When we give authority to these spirits to operate in our lives, we internalize lies that go against the knowledge and spirit of God, and therefore become highly susceptible in forming false identities. If left unchecked, this can evolve into extreme cases, such as seeking puberty blockers and sex change surgeries in pursuit of a counterfeit identity.

The First Lie: Rejection The fortress that can attract our youth towards transgender identities comes from a multitude of spirits. Its root is a spirit of rejection: a powerful voice that tells an individual they are unwanted, unworthy, and not chosen. This dangerous voice distorts and cements itself in identity formation. It robs a person’s sense of self and belonging.

This spirit typically enters early on, through early relational wounds, such as growing up in a one-parent household, emotional abandonment from one or both parents, neglect, or constant criticism and verbal abuse. It can enter through traumatic events such as sexual and physical abuse. This spirit can be given legal rights when a person accepts spoken curses by family, friends, or when they speak negatively about themselves. This spirit can also enter through generational curses, if previous generations are held bondage by shame or identity wounds that then pass down through bloodline.

Common lies that a spirit of rejection whispers to its victims:

“There is something wrong with your body.” 

“You were born in the wrong body.” 

“You will never feel complete unless you change yourself.” 

“You don’t fit in anywhere.” 

“You would only be loveable if you were someone else.” 

“You were a mistake to your family, society, and God.” “Nobody loves you.”

Once children accept these lies as part of their identity, this spirit manifests confusion in their lives and encourages self-sabotage. The impacts become clear:

Relationally→ People pleasing, over-apologizing, overcompensation, fear of abandonment, pushing people away, choosing romantic partners that affirm their lack of self-worth.

Emotionally→ Loneliness, low self-esteem, persistent shame, double-mindedness, chronic thoughts of “not being enough.”

Behaviorally→ Addictive behaviors, self-harm, procrastination, avoidance.

Spiritually→ Unaware of or hides their god-given gifts, an inability to see themselves in the image of God.

Physically→ Anxiety, chest tightness, chronic fatigue, body dysmorphia.

Impact on destiny→ Settling for less, fear of leadership positions, unfilled potential, inability to see their gifts.

A spirit of rejection seeks to hijack one's identity by developing a fractured foundation as early as possible. If it can infiltrate and build a false foundation, the individual then attracts counterfeit identities, destructive relationships, habits, and coping mechanisms in an attempt to ease their internal desire to belong.

The Second Lie: Fear and Pride

Once rejection co-exists with its victim, it invites a powerful duo: The spirit of Fear and Pride. The function of fear is to paralyze, control, and keep its victim stagnant. Common lies of this spirit include:

“You are weak and incapable.”

“If you reveal your true self, you will be humiliated and shamed.”

“You cannot trust anyone, everyone has hurt you.”

“You are all alone in this life, not even God will help you.”

“You will fail.” 

“You are not safe.”

Common markers of a spirit of fear include:

Relationally→ Avoiding deep relationships and vulnerability with others, high suspicion and cynicism about people's motives, exhibit controlling or manipulating behavior to control others 

Emotionally→ Excessive dread about the future, mood swings, lack of emotional stability, hopelessness, helplessness, shame, self-condemnation, constant self-doubt, and anxiety disorders.

Behaviorally→ Fear of failure, paralysis, overperformance or passivity, coping with substances, excessive social media, and other behaviors that lead to numbing

Spiritually→ Doubting the existence of God, difficulty hearing God, susceptible to believing lies about God and his character leading to an inability to hear God

Physically→ In constant state of exhaustion because the body is always in a state of fight or flight and hypervigilance, weakened immune system due to fear slowing down healing, insomnia or nightmares, and other chronic stress symptoms such as headaches, high blood pressure, etc.

Impact on destiny→ Fear blocks the individual from walking into their god-given potential, spiritual inheritances are blocked, fear uses intimidation to stop the individual from stepping into their calling.

As a response to this fear, a spirit of pride enters as individuals seek to protect themselves with excessive self-reliance. The purpose of a proud spirit is to self-inflate and resist correction as a means to protect their inner-wounds. By default, the individual opposes the authority of God.

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble”

– James 4:6

Common lies of the spirit of pride include:

“Everyone has hurt you, so you don’t need anybody in your life.”

“You don’t need God.” 

“You’re better than others.” 

“You can make your own way.” 

“You don’t need to follow the rules imposed by the same society that hurt you.”

Pride masks itself as strength to justify a “me versus the world” mindset, making it nearly impossible to receive wise counsel because they have made an idol of themselves. They have declared they are the ultimate authority of their lives. Below are its markers:

Relationally→ Superiority complex. Looking down on others, critical and judgemental, entitlement, isolation, causes division and tension, inability to admit wrongdoing, apologize, and reconcile.

Emotionally→ A false sense of confidence. Their insecurities and wounds are masked by pride. Individuals with pride are easily offended, cannot handle correction, and perceive correction as disrespect. Difficulty letting go of resentment and grudges.

Behaviorally→ Self-promotion and attention-seeking behaviors, blame shifting, refusing to see their mistakes, narcissism, and entitlement.

Spiritually→ Self-reliance and self-idolatry, they exalt their knowledge over the wisdom of God, hardness of heart, blocked blessings and grace.

Physically→ Constant burnout due to pride refusing rest and surrender, overworking, neglect, stiff posture 

Impact on destiny→ Unteachable, therefore stunting development. It destroys a person’s calling and blocks blessings due to lack of humility to receive them.

“Pride goes before destruction”

– Proverbs 16:18.

The Third Lie: Rebellion

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” 

– 1 Samuel 15:23

These lies open the door to one of the most destructive spirits: the spirit of rebellion. Rebellion is the natural fruit of pride, and it not only refuses to submit to order and God’s design; it seeks to defy it. Rebellion is one of the most common manifestations after rejection comes in. If the individual believes they are unloved and unworthy, rebellion serves as a counterfeit solution to reclaim inner-power over their lives. In the case of gender dysphoria, the rebellious individual seeks to reject biology and oppose those who speak truth about their identities. This spirit masks itself as freedom and self-empowerment, but instead keeps the victim in bondage to destruction, rejection, and shame.

Common lies of this spirit include:

“Your parents don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“Your true self is hidden and only you know it – not anybody else.” 

“Your family and peers never accepted you, so why accept the way God made you?” 

“You have to change who you are.” 

“You must change your body because only you know better, and you know what you need.”

“Nobody but you knows what you really need.”

“Your decisions are driven by self-empowerment.”

The main assignment is to convince the individual that they must reject and act in defiance to God’s design to find freedom and peace. Here are its key markers:

Relationally→ Conflicts with parents, teachers, and other figures of authority. Inability to honor those in positions of authority, even if there is no injustice coming from the hierarchy of power. More prone to dishonesty and disloyalty. Friends and family may push them away due to the chaos they bring.

Emotionally→ anger, bitterness, resentment, and restlessness

Behaviorally→ Impulsive decision making, lawlessness, self-destructive habits, drugs, sex, and “gender affirming care,” masked as “freedom” and “self-empowerment.” 

Physically→ Excess adrenaline, more prone to accidents and physical injuries due to reckless decision making, addictions, and poor self-care. 

Spiritually→ Lives in bondage, believing it to be true freedom. Self-idolatry opens doors to the occult and witchcraft because of their attempt to live independently from God.

Impact on destiny→ Derails long-term calling, breaks off alignment with God’s order, doors become shut because of disobedience, shorter life span.

The Outcome: The Destruction of The Temple

It now becomes apparent that all of these deceitful lies of these spirits begin to develop powerful bondages and strongholds in the minds of our children, causing stagnation in their development of their true identity. Youth who struggle with these spirits can become more inclined to find transgenderism and its subsequent surgeries and physical alterations appealing.

However, St. Paul warns of the profound spiritual consequences of bodily harm. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, he warns, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” In other words, there are dangerous repercussions in the spirit realm when one indulges in self-destruction. When a person submits to the lies of rejection, pride, and rebellion, they are giving permission to the thief to steal, kill, and destroy from the inside out.

To act in defiance towards their bodily design, regardless of their intentions, our youth are declaring bold acts of war against the temple of the living God. When they are deceived by the promises of transgender ideology, they are not just altering their flesh and outward expression, they are destroying themselves in the image of God. As a result, they can never reconcile with their true nature or see the miraculous beauty within themselves. Their identities become spiritually disfigured, distorted, and deceived by the evil prescriptions of transgenderism, encouraged by our society.

Transgenderism must not be treated as a form of identity but as a symptom of strongholds, rooted in rejection. If these strongholds can tear down one's identity, then the Spirit of God can rebuild and restore it with the following antidotes: acceptance, love, and truth. This requires exposing the lie and destroying it with truth.

Reclaiming Identity

I understand these strongholds too well, I was held in bondage by them for nearly my entire life. Driven by rejection, pride, fear, rebellion, and my attraction to women, I survived a rather tormented life through counterfeit identities, gender confusion, and self-destruction. As a result, I could not honor my true identity. Though my pride would have not allowed me to admit it at the time, deep inside, I believed I was worthless, unloveable, and could not come to terms with my female design nor connect to the spirit of God. I was very fortunate that in my teenage years, the transgender movement had not taken hostage of the culture quite yet. Despite this, because of my hatred for being a woman, and going as far as changing my name to a male name, dressing in men’s clothes, and damaging my voice in hopes to deepen it like a man, I believe that if I had been introduced to the promises of transgenderism, I would have destroyed my life with hormones. However, the fortunate timing of my adolescence and lack of radical ideology was not enough to save me. My wounded identity simply led me to resort to every other path of self-destruction I could take.

The lies I believed from rejection, pride, and rebellion would have never allowed me to admit at the time that I felt miserable, worthless, and unloveable.

All of these alternative paths led to further suffering, until the day I surrendered in absolute defeat in October of 2022, in the midst of utter hopelessness. I wept uncontrollably, and then the presence of God covered me. His presence was absolute, comforting, divine, merciful, and full of love. His presence held me tightly. He said He loved me. That He had always loved me, that I was beautiful and His, and He had been waiting so long for me to let Him in. I became a believer that day.

Though my new life as a Christian brought significant peace, I stumbled often early in my journey as a Christian. I struggled heavily with thoughts of unworthiness and identity issues until the Lord gave me revelation: I could not truly follow God if I continued to elevate the enemy’s lies about my identity over God’s truth about me. It became clear that I had made an idol of these lies over my life and the fruit was there to show for it. I called myself a Christian, but I worshiped a cruel, deceiving master who spoke damnation into my identity. Reclaiming my identity in Christ meant I had to rage war against the powerful lies that reigned for most of my life. I had to renounce and cast out every lie that clung to my identity like a parasite. I had to renew my mind with the truth about who I truly was.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

– Romans 12:2

Every day, I began to reject those lies with the truth. A spirit of rejection whispers, “You were born in the wrong body. You can only be loved if you change yourself.” and yet I declared, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14.

Fear taunts, “If you don’t change your gender, you will be miserable; you can’t survive as who you are; you can’t do it.” And yet I say, “God gave us not a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control” – 2 Timothy 1:7.

Pride puffs up, “You know your truth better than anyone. Only you can decide who you are.” But scripture declares, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” – James 4:6.

Rebellion challenges, “Only by changing yourself can you be free. This is self-empowerment.” But scripture refutes it: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7.

We face those lies head-on to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5.

Challenging the lies that disguised themselves as my identity shattered strongholds. It tore down the prison bars and the chains I had been bound to. The truth of the gospel revealed my inner beauty as a woman, and my gift of self was returned to me. It was by the truth that I had been set free. It was by this truth that my identity was led towards a path of mighty restoration.

We are able to do this because Jesus Christ gave us the authority to do so. He said, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” – Luke 10:19.

We are to take every lie designed to choke and poison, like the nature of a serpent and scorpion, and destroy it with the truth. We question, interrogate, and demand the lie to reveal where it came from. Then we command the lie to fall into the submission of Jesus Christ. This is how we take our identity back and how we walk in God’s image. We accomplish this by walking in the truth.

Weapons of Our Warfare

To truly defeat the poison of radical gender ideology that has infiltrated our society, we must battle for the hearts and minds of those who defend and are in bondage by it. We win this battle by prioritizing our weapons of warfare. The mobilization of our actions, or fruit, comes as an inevitable result.

Paul reveals these weapons. He writes, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” – 1 Timothy 2:1–6.

This passage reminds us that prayer, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving are our first line of defense. We come to Him in thanksgiving so that we may not take action with bitterness or strife, so that our mobilization is aligned with the heart of God. Our prayers and intercessions have divine power to dismantle deception in our families, schools, and government. Paul is clear: God desires all people to receive the truth and be saved.

Rebuilding the Temple: A Call to Action

A nation cannot survive if its collection of individuals suffer from a fragmented identity. If we are not secure in our identities, the identity of the nation begins to dissolve. This is why it is essential that true identity be rebuilt through truth, love, and discipleship. Every member of society has an important role to take:

1. The Family: Restore Spiritual Authority in the Home. Parents must reclaim their spiritual authority over their households. Prayer must be the priority of the family, alongside speaking truth over the lives of every member of the household.

2. The Church: Deliverance, Ministry. The church holds a special responsibility to implement healing and deliverance. The church for too long has remained lukewarm. The body of Christ must be emboldened to expose spiritual bondage and embody the remedies from the ministry of Jesus Christ.

3. The Individual: Speak the Truth. We must declare the truth, even when it offends. It is not a coincidence that defenders of transgender ideology, who profess compassion and love, respond with hatred, accusation, and retaliation when confronted. It means their fruit has been exposed. Therefore, we are not to be intimidated by this reaction, rather we must rejoice, for this very reaction is a sign the truth has been spoken, for darkness rages when its lies are exposed to light.

“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

– 1 Peter 4:13--14

4. Gender-Confused Individuals: If you are struggling with gender confusion. I invite you to walk in the truth. The secret to your authentic self is this: it does not come from self-rejection but through divine revelation. Renounce and come out of agreement with every lie spoken into your life. Refute every lie with the Word of God. Reclaim your identity in Jesus Christ.

In this current battle for identity, it is crucial that we all step into our calling to protect our children. It does not matter your profession. It does not matter if you’re heterosexual or homosexual. We must not make alliances with lies and defend the truth in the public square.

Transgender ideology continues to be exposed, thanks to the battles won in the culture war. But the war is far from over. Our children remain bound by these strongholds. If we ignore the spiritual battle, they will be drawn into new wide gates that the culture promotes as a counterfeit path to freedom, and the cycle of self-destruction will repeat itself. We must bring truth to the forefront of this battle. We must bring forward the one and only narrow gate, and His name is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No change of pronouns, surgery, hormones, nor all the promises of transgenderism can offer true freedom. Our true identity comes only from our Creator, thus we win this battle by walking in truth, prayer, and through the renewal of our minds.

As I trampled over deception from these strongholds, I received the greatest gift: my gift of self was returned to me. I began to see who I was always created to be, before the world fed me lies about my identity.

​​Psalm 139:13–14 (NIV):

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

References

The Williams Institute. New estimates show nearly 1.6 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender. UCLA School of Law.

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/trans-pop-estimates-press-release/