Children Aren’t Sexually Confused — It’s Adults Who Are Perverted

For the last half-century, Loran Livingston has served as the senior pastor of Central Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

While he’s been preaching biblically centered messages for decades, a clip of a recent sermon has been shared widely on social media, most notably just today by Frank Turek, the well-known Christian apologist.

In the clip, Pastor Livingston makes a bold and important point when discussing and explaining the increasing sexual confusion of young people, especially children. For example, Kaiser Permanente in Northern California reported a 175% jump in cases between 2015 and 2018. A 2025 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that 2.8 million people aged 13 and older identified as being “transgender.”

Many have been wondering why there’s been such a steep uptick. Pastor Livingston suggested he knows why:

“Children, don’t come into this world confused,” he told his congregation. “Nope. They come in wanting candy and toys. They want to play.”

Pastor Livingston is talking about the beautiful innocence and simplicity of a child’s mind and heart.

He continued:

They don’t come in wondering about their privates or about their inclination or sexual instincts. It’s unstable, perverted adults that are indoctrinating young children, that are confusing the least of these by planting suggestions in their mind, showing them pictures and asking them to experiment.

What does he think about it?

“I think it is mental child abuse,” the pastor suggested. “And if you are a schoolteacher who is doing this, a school principal who’s promoting this, if you’re the school board who’s pushing this, you’re all criminals. You’re aiding and abetting perversion, and you’re ruining children and our society.”

If more pastors were to be similarly bold and outspoken, could the tide be turned? Why are so many remaining silent on the cultural catastrophe? Livingston’s willingness to wade into culturally fraught waters is consistent with the Bible’s call to do so.

It was God who told the prophet Isaiah, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression” (58:1). King Solomon urged, “Open your mouth for the mute…” (Proverbs 31:8). The Apostle Paul was equally straightforward when he told Christians in Ephesus, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (5:11). He also told Timothy, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Many cultural elites may disagree on the contagiousness of sexual confusion, but common sense suggests otherwise. The influence of social media, movies and music is undeniable. When the abnormal is normalized, impressionable young people are more likely to go along with it.

When individuals in positions of influence or authority champion an idea, that idea will spread like wildfire. 

Pastor Livingston is correct – children are not born sexually confused nor do they arrive with same-sex attraction. Children are born very needy – not just physically or materially, but psychologically and spiritually. They are craving guidance and direction. Confused parents are more likely to produce confused children. Confused children can almost always point to individuals or circumstances of influence.

Mothers and fathers must be vigilant when it comes to both inside and outside forces competing for their children’s attention. Focus on the Family’s Plugged In ministry was created to help parents better discern these often-invisible influences. Your son or daughter might not be physically hanging out with perverted individuals, but what are they watching and listening to, even from the seeming safety of home?

We’re grateful for the strong leadership of Pastor Livingston. Please join us in praying for his ministry. His solid teachings stand to shape his congregation and all those within the reach of his voice. We also pray for the courage of other pastors and believers to likewise address and combat the evil and confusion of forces determined to undermine God’s design for sexuality and the family.