manliness – Auriesville Tubthumper

TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY Part 5 – conclusion

We need to move from FEMINIZATION to BIBLICAL RESTORATION OF GODLY MANHOOD. Men of courage, men who will “Act Like Men.” Men who will face the demands, difficulties and trials of life with faithfulness and courage.

In the last post I asked you to think about the “Intention to Protect” that was prevalent back in the day when the Titanic sank.

Unfortunately, I must say to you the “intention to protect” is no longer there with fathers and has gone down with the ship. Things have happened to our daughters that never, ever, ever should have occurred. Fathers were and are missing from the watch. Men, we are opening up every opportunity for our daughters to be brutalized, opening up a system that will break down their world-view, destroy their womanhood and create havoc in the years to come.

Fathers are AWOL! For those that have no idea what that is, it’s a military term for Absent Without Leave. Surprisingly and sadly Christian fathers are for the most part no different from the majority in the world.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

In early times, sons at a young age were out in the fields working with their fathers. They were with men from the very start and doing manly things. They were learning how to act like men. They were hunting, protecting, providing and they learned all about physical labor. They watched how their fathers reacted to things and most important how they responded in demanding and dangerous times. They were being trained to be men. We have lost that today with the exception being the Amish folk. I have a bunch of Amish neighbors and I watch as the young boys are out with their fathers all the time. If the boys are not in school, they are with their fathers. And they all have responsibility placed on them at a very early age. I hired the father to do some work for me and guess what, I hired the entire male segment of the family. Wherever dad was the sons were as well. That is something I truly admire about the Amish. They have kept the importance of training their sons to be men. But, we in our social debacle have lost this entirely.

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

How can we ever re-integrate the training of young men by their fathers or other men? We know and we see the problem but the solution will likely take enormous effort and creativity. One thing is for sure though, nothing is too great for our God.

We as strong Christian men need to be about training our sons and other young boys to be men. We need to take back our land and restore training to young males. Boys need to be with men! Sons need to be with fathers! Fathers need to remove the distractions and the things that get in the way and be true fathers. Fathers need to disciple their children. I started typing disciplining by mistake but that needs to happen too. I never looked at how close those two words are. I think there is a message there.

If we want a manly generation, we need to figure out how to have our sons walking beside their fathers and having them teach what it means to be a man. We need fathers walking them through life. The entire chapter 6 of Deuteronomy commands that we do this. Please read it all yourselves and meditate upon it. “And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6: 20-25)

In John Eldredge’s book, Wild at Heart, he wrote, “A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. That is why God created you–to be his intimate ally, to join him in the Great Battle.”

We need to move from FEMINIZATION to BIBLICAL RESTORATION OF GODLY MANHOOD. Men of courage, men who will “Act Like Men.” Men who will face the demands, difficulties and trials of life with faithfulness and courage.

The future of the “family” and the future of the “church” and the future of “Christian civilization” depends on the critical role of the “father.” Fathers passing the faith on to their sons.

This problem needs to be front and center!

Do our sons know how to teach the word of God?

Do they know how to apply it?

Do they know how to protect their homes?

Do they know how to be grave and sober?

Do they understand how serious the battle is?

We are losing our children; they are walking away from the faith. The faith is dissolving before our eyes and we are losing fatherhood.

Do they understand how high the stakes are?

Do they understand there will be people going to hell because fathers neglected to teach the word of God to their children?

God is sovereign and Dad you are the one responsible! Get sober! Get brave, wake up! The battle is raging right now. You can lose your sons and daughters. Both their physical lives and their souls are at risk.

“Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.” (1 Samuel 4:9)

Men, you must get engaged. You must involve yourselves in the battle. You must be a sober man. Equip yourselves with the word of God in order to be the man that God wants you to be.

Our God has shown us through his word what it means to be a man and what manhood is all about. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

Can you imagine a world again where men put women and children first? Can you imagine a world of valiant and courageous men? Men that say to their wives and children, “I will never leave you or forsake you?”

Imagine a world like that. You know that the mightiest of men are men who admit their weakness because of sin and then cast themselves to the mercy of Christ. It’s the men that say, “God save me because I am a sinner, I trust in thee Lord and I will take a stand and raise my family in the word of God.”

Men, some of you need to repent, confess, be accountable and take a stand. “Quit Ye Like Men.”

We have never needed you more than we need you now. We have never needed fathers as we need them now.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I pray that men would wake up and, “Quit Ye Like Men.” That men would understand what it means to,

Act Like Men, Amen.

God bless you all,

The Tubthumper

TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY? Part 1

TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY?

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

Are you a man or a mowess? So said the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz.

All joking aside, back in January of 2013 I did a workshop for the men in my church where I showed a movie titled, Act Like Men that was made by Biblical Worldview Media. In the movie they documented everything I already knew along with most men. We are in trouble. We are seeing a decimation of manliness. It was clear as a bell then how things have been decimated and a cure needed to be administered and since then nothing has improved in-fact everything has become much, much bleaker.

In this segment I will address the decline of manhood in our nation and world along with the feminism movement and the destruction it has wrought. I will also address the self-inflicted failure of men because we are partly at fault. I will also touch on other destructive forces that are on men today. A lot of women won’t like what I am writing, and a lot of men won’t like it either. I am personally ashamed of where my fellow men (mankind) has fallen. I will not apologize for bringing forth the truth. I am coming from a biblical perspective and so if you have a problem with what you are reading, I suggest you take it up with God and simply click to something more soothing for you. Keep in mind however that God’s plan will never be altered. In the end He will always be in control.

A lot of material I will present here came directly from the movie documentation and other sources which I will site when necessary. This topic will take many posts to cover and I hope you will stay with it for the duration and summary.

Men are struggling and that is no secret. History shows that civilizations fall when manhood breaks down. Years and years of ridicule, political correctness, feminist attacks, gender distinction wars, drug addiction and more have left men confused, passive, lazy and selfish about their identities. Men are under attack and have been for years. The feminist movement has carefully orchestrated the attack for 100 years but most fiercely in the last 40. And sadly, they have been quite successful partly due to men weakening and giving up their God given role. Our civilization and society are in a shambles. fatherlessness, immaturity, divorce and crime is at an all-time high. The destruction of the family as we once knew it is close at hand or already dead.

The warrior has been taken out of men as well. I don’t want to get distracted with this, but you can go to my post called, “Gibbor: The Warrior” for more detail if you wish. This is a quote from Robert Bly, “The disciplined warrior, made irrelevant by mechanized war, disdained and abandoned by the high-tech culture, is fading in American men. The fading of the warrior contributes to the collapse of civilized society. A man who cannot defend his own space cannot defend women and children.” Any men that do not discover the warrior aspect of their being are not real men. They are as Bly calls them, “mother-bound” boys still in need of a sword to cut them away from their mommies. Think about this as you can relate to the masses of sissified males in our current society.

What did the men on the Titanic know about manliness that now has been forgotten? Will our civilization survive this decline of masculinity? What does it really mean to be a man? I plan on exploring these issues and exhorting my fellow men to seek to reclaim our biblical vision for manliness.

Back in 1912 when the R.M.S Titanic hit that iceberg and sank an amazing number of men paid the ultimate price to be sure the women and children were saved. The “Law of the Sea” came from the Bible and is “women and children first.” Is this law of the sea, “women and children first” even relevant today? I think not. How many men would give up their place on a lifeboat today for women and children. Would you? I think most men today would push women out or throw them overboard to get their spot on the lifeboats for themselves. After all, that’s what women wanted is equality. I always say to be careful what you ask for. Sadly, because of the Feminist movement and the attempts to minimize the male role this has come about. And ladies, if we end up going to war again you will be subject to the military draft same as men. You won’t like it, but hey, it’s what you asked for. To an extent, males have allowed all this occur through passiveness, poor performance as leaders and simply just giving up. For that as a man I am truly ashamed. The pattern of Christ regarding leadership for men is to lay down your life if necessary. (I will never leave of forsake you.) There are many destructive forces working on men today. Entertainment, obsessive hobbies, self-interest, pornography, drugs, worldly diversions, lack of commitment, temptation, women’s movement and feminism (Darwin) and I could go on and on. Men yield to temptation and passiveness much too easily. We (men) have let it happen! As men, it is our fault. Men gave up their God given place in the pecking order long ago.

The biblical role of men is to be obedient to God. To know where you are going and to where you will take your family and your sons. Men are to be the protectors and the leaders. And men that are “passive in worship will be men passive in life.” “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Women have struggles too, this I know. Some of those struggles come from what I am writing about. I want you to know I acknowledge issues women face but this topic is about the men.

Are women the weaker vessel? Yes, they are according to scripture they are. It doesn’t take much brainpower or common sense to understand that. Again, don’t get me wrong. In some aspect’s women are much stronger than men. But in the context of the protectors and the biblical subject at hand women are the weaker vessel. Darwin’s introductions and the feminism movement did much to increase the passiveness and destruction of men. It did begin there but regardless of what crazy things are happening in mainstream society and what is being taught, “God’s teaching and His principles will prevail.” Shame on the males of our land! Men have become incredibly passive and have retreated to try and escape reality. Many are currently strung out on opioids while the women and grand-parents are raising their children. Men, it will be hard to survive this. I do believe however, that women do want men to lead. They want the leaders that God develops. They do not want some barbarian or Neanderthal to drag them around by the hair muttering “my woman” she is mine. If a man conducts himself as outlined in 1 Cor. 16: 13-14 the weaker vessel will follow the courageous lead.

This is no new phenomenon. It is to our (men’s) shame. We are deluged with boys born with no fathers and fathers leaving. The only way to survive this will be through Christian and Godly men that disciple, mentor and train younger men. We need to get back to the basics and do it one on one and one by one. If men don’t care about the “Bride of Jesus Christ” they won’t ever care about the other brides, the women, children or anything else.

WE ARE LOSING OUR CHILDREN. WE ARE LOSING FATHERHOOD. MEN WILL GO TO HELL FOR NOT BEING FATHERS. It is written. “Be a sober man.”

Well, now that I have opened the can of worms let’s get into it. Please come back for the next post as I begin the quest for Titanic Men. There are lots of stories of courageous men on the Titanic. Imagine a world back where women and children came first and there was respect and honor for men.

God bless you all,

The Tubthumper

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Meaning of Man, Part 2

Part 2 of 3 posts.

Ok men, here we go on the journey overview. We will look at six stages and will begin with ‘adam.

Creational Male: The very first experience a man has is the only one that we share with females. The foundational Hebrew word for man is ‘adam, which can refer to either male or female. It reflects a generic idea of mankind. For us men it tells us we are first and foremost (creational) beings. We ultimately reflect our Creator. We are flesh and blood, good ole red-blooded male material beings who someday will return to what we are, which is materially dust. Because we are creational we have capabilities that are divine and honorable. We also came with a caveat, in that we are also capable of using the talents we were created with for evil purposes and no good. We can never forget who and what we are as men. We are beings that are capable of fantastic and glorious benevolence and at the same time we are beings capable of horrible and destructive evil. We are capable of being rotten to the core and some, as you are aware, become evil beings.

Phallic Male: The second Hebrew word describes maleness in a basic and fundamental anatomical way. The Hebrew word zakar is the word for “male” in the phrase “God created man ‘adam, male zakar and female”, Genesis 1:27. If you check the Hebrew lexicons you will see they list the root of this term as “the male protrusion or male phallus”. According to Dr. Hicks, “This word reflects the phallic male in his most distinct sexual aspect”. We at our most primal level are sexual beings. The Bible is clear on this and does not pretend we are anything other than stated. To be a male means you are a phallic kind of guy and you do not have a need to apologize for being that way. You should never, ever allow it to be denigrated by women or by some crazy or crass individuals calling themselves men.

Warrior Male: I guess it is fact that there is a lack of true warriors in our society today. The Hebrew word gibbor describes a male in his warring strength. We know how it is right? We war often to be the best, the biggest, the toughest, richest, smartest, etc, etc… We kill our competition. We do away with any opposing viewpoints. We kill our declared enemies, and sometimes we end up killing our own marriages and families in the wake of things. This warrior and competitive warring is all part of being a normal man, however, the warrior has been de-valued in our contemporary society. Because of the feminine influence and the sissification of men the warrior has become a nasty killer that is violent, stupid, careless and abusive. Warriors are important to any society when they are fighting for the right things. A nation without its warriors will be in very serious trouble when a situation arises that calls for war. Strength, power, combativeness and competition are true masculine traits and unless we rediscover them and value them will lead our society into serious trouble. There is another reality to a warrior. The reality of combat is serious as warriors do get wounded and many die young.

Wounded Male: The next Hebrew word describes man in his weakness and frailty. The fourth Hebrew word for man is enosh, the wounded warrior or the wounded male. The contemporary male has been wounded by many things. Our fellow men have been wounded by abusive fathers, absent fathers, domineering mothers, bad teachers and poor educational systems, toxic business takeovers, layoffs, failures, success, alcoholism, divorce, poverty and even wealth. Men in our society are wounded and bleeding and are in need and don’t even know it. Sometimes the wounded male recovers and sometimes they never do. They become lost in the black hole of woundedness along the journey. Men can remain wounded for the rest of life pretty easily. Woundedness is a very important part of the normal male experience. Wounds are predictable but very few men are prepared to deal with them. The wounds are survivable and survivors can move along to some other gratifying male experiences. Before you think I am portraying men as victims I want to point out that most men are to blame for a good percentage of our wounds. We give up our place at times and we make mistakes. All is not our fault as noted above but some is. No matter what though, we need to man-up and get through it.

Ok men… we have reviewed the first 4 stages of the masculine journey. Now come with me and let’s take a look at the last 2 stages.

Click here to go to part 3

“The Tubthumper”

Meaning of Man, Part 1

Part 1 of a series of 3 posts.

This series of posts will be an overview of the six stages of masculinity from “The Masculine Journey”.

What does it mean to be a man? What is manliness or masculinity? Both men and women want to know the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be a man?” Does anyone have a clue? I suppose most men would hesitate before throwing out an answer and would have a fear of getting swallowed by feminist equalitarianism when answering that question.

You men that have reached the mature or sage stage of your life might want to pass some of these posts on to your young men in the creational or phallic stages to help them to not get lost or stuck along the way to where you are. Oh, now you ask what is a “creational stage and what is a phallic stage”? Stay with me on these posts and learn. For you men that are looking for what has been lost I hope it shows up here.

The model that Jesus gives us in the gospel should provide a good visual image for man. You must, however, study His life without any of the modern interpretations or miss-representations that I see so often. You must read the word for what it is and let it speak for itself. Jesus modeled both strength and sensitivity which change as men grow older. Manhood will look differently as you move through your adult life cycle.

Remember men that your life is a journey and on any journey the landscape changes as you travel. Some of you might say, “c’mon man”, there is nothing that is normal anymore when it comes to the subject of gender”. To a certain extent I am inclined to agree with you if we’re only talking about our warped cultural and social mindset these days. Make note, however, there are very critical differences between male and female in just about every area we can think of. Because a high percentage of males born today do not have the presence of a father and we have a dominant force of feminine expectations about men, it is not “politically correct” or “socially correct” to be talking about “the normal male”.

As you men travel your journey you will leave and arrive at a new place at times. You need to be aware when this happens that you will have a separation from the past, with an introduction to the new place and this will cause you some confusion to work through.

I don’t know that I will address marriage much here but when a man gets married he throws himself right smack dab in the middle of chaos and change. I remember when I got married. I did not give a second thought to the adjustment and change that would be required. If all men would get in touch with the adjustment needed most would wait and some might be scared out of it. Maybe, I say maybe, because I was young, blinded and just married her. I was heavily bound in the phallic stage which will be explained later. Now if you were to combine another event to cause adjustment such as a young man losing his job in the first year of marriage the adjustment, chaos, confusion and transition is longer and harder. When those kinds of things happen it will feel like your lesson is inappropriate for the season of life you are in and much too harsh. These experiences are actually normal. Don’t let anyone tell you they are not. These are rich experiences that will cause you to learn more about yourself and your manhood than any book or lecture could provide. Survive them and move to the next stop on your journey.

“The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head”, Proverbs 20:29. In other words, “young men are defined by their warrior strength and old men are defined by their wisdom” says Dr. Hicks.[1] What a man is greatly depends on what season in life he is in. These different seasons of life also provide different spiritual challenges and issues relating to faith. Children need to know that sins are forgiven; younger men need to overcome the tendency to do evil; and older men need to hang in there and value the spiritual persistence. As it is written, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one”,1 John 2:12-14.

In Dr. Hick’s writings he plotted out six Hebrew words that represent the male journey.

Follow along with me in part 2 as I provide a quick overview of each stage of the masculine journey by working through the meaning of these six Hebrew words from Scripture.

Click here to go to Part 2

“The Tubthumper”

[1] The Masculine Journey, understanding the six stages of manhood, by Robert Hicks, page 23.