Do you have the stomach for the fight?
George Foreman, Manny Pacquiao, and Tyson Fury do. Jesus suffered and died unjustly and took the fight to the Devil’s doorstep. Are you willing and able to do what must be done when it comes to defending your life, family, faith, and nation?
We used to graduate soldiers from high school - there was a class of men trained to fight. America’s warrior culture was bred on the peaks of New England, the hills of Pennsylvania, the fields of Nebraska and the plains of Texas, the Colorado mountains, and the Florida swamps. We once created men worthy of the name. A will to win is part of the competitive nature of life, and verbal confrontations rise to physical combat.
Fights often start with harsh words. An escalation of actions follows an escalation of words. Kids used to learn about these boundaries on the playground. Wolves must be met by sheepdogs who protect the flock. Some young men joined the military, but others simply became husbands and fathers who knew how to provide for and protect their homes. America once had a martial mentality. We encouraged a certain rugged individualism and cowboy way of life.
No longer.
Now we lean on schools led by women who manufacture anxiety-riddled babies. Our bullies do not steal lunch money, they steal integrity, dignity, and morality. These same schools ban bullies — but hide cyber crimes. They don’t have teachers or officers who can stop fights — so gang violence is out of control. Parents are unmarried or divorced — so boys are aggravated and lash out. We’ve created a series of dysfunctions that secularists claim to oppose because their words are not rooted in truth. They think that they can have the culture without the foundation. Instead, they undermine the foundation and our culture is crumbling. They are constantly gaining ground and instigating but we have not fought back.
Our media is filled with messages that degrade and diminish men and dads. Men have absconded their responsibility over maturing the next generation because we have become too agreeable. Our society has created a toxic stew of hatred, violence, abuse, and neglect — but no one will stand up to the purveyors of evil and reject this nonsense. Instead too many weak men go along with it, willing to give their children over to the spirit of the age. We must stop this madness.
We need to inspire men with a stomach for the fight, and a taste for blood. We need more hunters. God charged Israel through Joshua to “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you (Joshua 1:6–7).” Where are the strong and courageous men today who are willing to fight the giants of our time?
Instead many men are demoralized and weak. This is because they are not getting marching orders from leaders. Many churches seem to have forgotten who God is and what he does, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).” Our church is designed for equipping the saints for spiritual warfare. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:10-11).”
In any army, the enemy within can do more damage than the opposing army. A deserter, traitor, turncoat, or coward can shatter the morale of an army and render soldiers impotent. The Spartan Phalanx or Norman-Saxon shield wall is only as strong as the weakest link. We see this in the church today with weak, wimpy, milquetoast boys who can shave preaching a false gospel of love for sin and hatred of God (see: Psalm 5:5; 11:5). The fact that foolish American men attend these false churches is part of the problem. The fact that few men call these dopey losers out is a bigger part of the same problem.
We are seeing more signs of masculine Christianity in pockets of theologically strong and culturally courageous men, women, and families. Doug Wilson’s Canon Press produces great content, walking the line between a church project to spread the gospel and disciple Christians with an active publishing house and channel. John Cooper, the lead singer of Skillet a Christian punk band, wrote the book Weak Wimpy and Woke to address many of these issues. Our political discourse now has a certain edge that goes beyond polarized partisanship. Since the conservative movement is stagnant and the Republican party is paralyzed with fear we are finding new avenues to take ground from the Satanic enemy around us and remake these crumbling institutions. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:3–4).”
Remember, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).” Fear God alone. Love Him for who He is and what He does. Share that love and His truth with others. Be strong and courageous, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13).” We must challenge one another to stand up with a stomach for the fight every day and reject the fear that binds us to inaction.