Meet Lydia and Heath Marvin.

The Marvins are Christian parents of three children. Compelled by their Christian faith, the couple have fostered eight young children since 2020. But they recently learned that they will no longer be able to provide foster children with a stable home after the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families revoked their license to foster.

Their story is yet another warning to every Christian who still thinks neutrality is an option.

The reason? Because they stood on their Christian values, refusing to sign the state's "gender affirming policy" and "affirm the LGBTQIA+ identity" of foster children, according to WBZ-TV.

State officials officially revoked the Marvins' foster license in April.

"We had asked: Is there any sort of accommodation, can you waive this at all? We will absolutely love and support and care for any child in our home, but we simply can't agree to go against our Christian faith in this area. And we're ultimately told no, you must sign the form as is or else you will be de-licensed," Lydia explained.

The faithful Christian couple appealed the decision — but lost.

It's no shock that Massachusetts, a state controlled by Democrats, believes that compelling loving parents to affirm LGBTQ ideology is a reasonable measure to "protect" children. But the Trump administration disagrees. The administration recently sent a letter to the DCF, according to WBZ, calling the policies "deeply troubling, clearly contrary to the purpose of child welfare programs, and in direct violation of First Amendment protections."

Yes and amen.

But there is another aspect of this story that Christians should find alarming.

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A generation ago, Americans were told that embracing the LGBT movement was about tolerance, kindness, and freedom. Christians were promised that the cultural "progress" of the LGBT movement would not encroach on their own families, faith, or freedoms.

"All we want is the right to marry. How will my gay marriage hurt you?" we were told.

But as this Massachusetts case proves yet again, that was never true. It was never about tolerance. Instead, it was always a demand for affirmation and compliance — or else.

The promise — the progressive narrative that "acceptance" is not forced affirmation — was a lie.

When Christian parents — who are willing to sacrifice their resources to love and support young children in dire need — can lose their foster license not for mistreating children but for refusing to affirm an ideology that violates their conscience and faith, it's clear we've moved from freedom of belief to a mandate for belief. The state is no longer neutral. Rather, it's enforcing a new moral orthodoxy that treats biblical truth and conviction as disqualifying.

The result is as shocking as it is tragic: Children become victimized again.

Children in foster care are already victims of unfortunate and tragic circumstances. They need stability, love, and guidance. But Massachusetts officials have decided to victimize them further, reducing them to casualties of an ideological war. The state has decided to turn away good, compassionate, Christian parents simply because those parents refuse to recite the LGBTQ creed.

That's not how you protect children. It's cruelty disguised as compassion.

And it's especially tragic when you consider the facts on the ground. From the Boston Globe:

There are only 5,500 licensed foster families in the state for the 8,000 to 9,000 kids in the foster system. When DCF can’t find foster parents for kids, they often end up in group homes instead.

The situation unfolding in Massachusetts is the result of a culture that trades truth for ideology. Once a society decides that personal identity outweighs objective reality, every person must bend the knee. Schools, businesses, institutions — and now even foster parents.

The godless progressive agenda demands that all must become temples of affirmation where any hint of dissent is treated as blasphemous heresy.

But Christians cannot — and must not — comply. Love does not require lying. Compassion does not require compromise. To affirm what is false is not mercy but betrayal. God bless Lydia and Heath for standing firm on the solid rock of Christ and His truth in the face of such pressure.

Their story is yet another warning to every Christian who still thinks neutrality is an option. In this cultural moment, there is no third way. Certain state actors have made belief in leftist creeds and ideologies a litmus test for orthodoxy — and biblical truth is deemed heretical.

Still, we should have hope. There has never been a better time to be a Christian than right now. We have always been called to stand apart from the world. We are salt and light.

And no matter how dark it sometimes feels, darkness cannot overcome the light.