At our weekly catch up meeting this week Ps Tony referred, at some point in our conversation, to being a canary in the coal mine. I’m sure most would know what that allusion means. Way, way back in 1895 the idea of placing a warm-blooded animal in a mine to detect carbon monoxide was first proposed by John Scott Haldane, a British physician, physiologist and philosopher (most famous for intrepid self-experimentation which led to many important discoveries about the human body and the nature of gases. He invented the black veil respirator for miners, and lots more). Shortly thereafter, in 1896, caged canaries were used a “sentinel species” in mines and continued to be used well into the 20th century.
Coal miners brought caged canaries into coal mines with them as an early-warning system to alert them to the presence of toxic gases, primarily carbon monoxide. If dangerous gases began collecting in a mine shaft, the gases would quickly affect and often kill the canary before killing the miners, thus providing a warning to exit the tunnels immediately. There were no respirators back then …
Over time the term “canary in the coal mine” became a way of describing someone or some occurrence that signalled the presence of toxic conditions before anyone else had realised. There are many examples of this. The current global warming effect when first realised by a small handful of scientists was the canary in the coal mine alerting us to a great danger that was accumulating and gathering global momentum. Another example of canaries in the coalmine which are cheeping a warning right now, to my mind, are the subtle, woke morality shifts which have seen noticeable adverse outcomes. One such canary in the coal mine is the results of children in Britain – some as young as 8 years old – who, shortly after receiving treatment at a paediatric gender clinic, fell ill, were permanently damaged or fell into serious mental health problems.
The UK's National Health Service has just closed the world's largest paediatric gender clinic (the Gender Identity Development Service in London), after an independent review condemned the clinic as “not a safe or viable long-term option” because its “interventions” are based on poor evidence and its model of care leaves young people “at considerable risk” of poor mental health. Other reports emerged in 2022 of children who were treated there for “gender dysphoria” soon regretting the treatment they received that were to assist their transgender goals and end the “dysphoria”, not to mention the sheer distress of parents left to pick up the pieces.
But get this. According to the highly regarded Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine – an independent secular, scientific think-tank – along with the closure of the clinic there came “a belated recognition of the poor state of knowledge around endocrinological interventions for gender distress, especially the off-label use of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone agonist (GnRHa), often called ‘puberty blockers’. Dr. Hilary Cass, former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who chaired an independent review, wrote to the UK National Health Service asking it to conduct an urgent “systematic research”. She emphasised that there is “no way of knowing whether, rather than buying time to make a decision, puberty blockers may disrupt that decision-making process” and disrupt brain development “which could have significant impact on the ability to make complex risk-laden decisions, as well as possible longer-term neuropsychological consequences.” In addition – and a lot of this is slabs of information straight from the SEGM website - “advisers to SEGM have been raising alarm about the unfolding scandal at the Gender Identity Development Service for some years. Marcus Evans served on the governing board of the Tavistock Trust (which established the clinic), and in 2019 he resigned over the Trust’s failure to heed warnings raised by staff within the clinic. Also in 2019, Michael Biggs uncovered the Gender Identity Development Service’s experiment with puberty blockers which the clinic had suppressed because the outcomes were not positive. [Emphasis mine]
These two “canaries” were initially ignored and many children (many without the parents’ knowledge or consent) have now been left permanently damaged and with mental illnesses, in the name of the great transgender cause. The canaries, metaphorically speaking, had to die before everyone else realised the toxic accumulation of transgenderist philosophy gas. There are many, many examples of canaries in coal mines today that we – and government – are ignoring. The so-called Safe Injecting Rooms in Richmond is another. The government is ignoring a chorus of canaries, from parents, teachers, police, medicos and other well-qualified experts and is about to make permanent an “experiment” which has been, on many levels, an abject failure.
So, a canary in the coal mine. Something, or someone, whose sensitivity to dangerous conditions makes it a useful early indicator of such conditions before anyone else has realised; something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare. But here’s my point. We have “canaries” for a reason. What sane person, or board, or government, ignores what the canaries are signalling? But it is happening. Why haven’t ALL gender clinics around the world closed? The prophets of old were God’s canaries in the coal mine. They spoke up as one’s sensing and knowing of imminent danger – lethal danger! And so often the people of God ignored them, even killed them. And they paid a heavy price.
Discerning and prophetic pastors and leaders – ones who believe and who fearlessly teach the “whole counsel of God” omitting nothing - are the canaries in coal mines, today, and not just for the people of God. Why am I writing all of this? Well, several reasons. The main one is that God is moving quickly as we speak to address the unholiness of His church. Judgement starts in the house of God – and judgement is coming. God is about to shake the church in a separating of sheep and goats, wheat and chaff and so on. No church can afford to compromise righteous standards, the pursuit of holiness and devotion to Christ – or the clear wisdom and truth of God’s Word. The deception of post-modernity thinking has wormed its way into the minds of many believers in such insidious, subtle ways that they have not noticed. Preachers and teachers, too. Biblical faith is being “deconstructed” and our own versions are being built based on our own sense of morality, not holiness. And so, this canary is speaking up.
It is time to repent of all unrighteousness and anything contrary to the truth of God’s Word - and this begins with abiding in Christ. You cannot dwell there for long without becoming aware of any sin or unrighteousness, and the wisdom of God’s Word becomes clearer to you. This is better than any canary! Turn back to Jesus and keep pressing in until you are in that deep abiding place. Come back to God’s Word that gives us warning of toxic accumulations.
1 John 3:6-8 (NIV)
“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”
A canary has spoken.
PS Milton
[Key Sources: Wikipedia; SEGM Website; Herald-Sun Newspaper, 7/03/23; Oxford Dictionary]