The urgent need for Biblical manhood
“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. “ (Psalm 12:1,2)
“Where did the role of fatherhood come from? The essence of fatherhood is best understood in one word that Americans, even Christian Americans, have totally lost the meaning of, a word against which all the enemies of God have warred in an attempt to secure :its annihilation. A word that has been abused, trampled on, ignored, and mocked by raging hyperfeminists and discarded by irresponsible, self-centered, hedonistic males. A word so powerfully significant and loaded that the feminized, peace-at-any-price boys religiously regulate it to the days of antiquity. A word that has become unmentionable among its owners and exiled to the company of obscene four-letter words in the minds of most male and female Americans.
But whether we use this word or not, without its recovery, without its function being made known and its reality working in society, there is absolutely no clear, positive way to redeem the male identity. This word can never be :neutral. It was worn by the men of old, from Abraham to David, and it needs to belong to American men today.
What is this awesome word that must be understood? This role that must be reclaimed? The word is patriarchy. It is awesome because it is in the meaning of this word that fatherhood exists and the foundation the male identity is supplied. The Biblical term patriarchy is derived from two words in the Greek language-patria (taken from the word peter, “father”) which means “family” and arche, which means ‘beginning,” “first in origin,” and “to rule.” A patriarch is a family ruler. He is the man in charge. “
With these poignant remarks, Weldon Hardenbrook, reveals the urgent need for the restoration of Biblical patriarchy in his excellent book, Missing from Action: Vanishing Manhood in America. He also points out the formidable obstacles arrayed against men to ensure that it never takes place.
Most of us are aware of the great crises that confronts America today. Each and everyone of us could articulate a long litany of “woe” that has befallen our beleaguered nation. You can name your poison, abortion, homosexual agenda, failed public schools, corrupt government, complacent church, family breakdown, and unjust laws, just to name a few, but by far, the greatest crises of all is the lack of true godly righteous male leaders. There has been an unprecedented assault against the mere thought of male leaders as a legitimate answer to what ails us. Men in general, and fathers in particular are increasingly viewed as superfluous to our families, church and our nation. Men as leaders are considered antiquated, expendable or part of the problem in America. Masculinity has become suspect and even treated with hostility in our cultural discourse.
The bottom line is, we have become a feminized nation. Biblical manhood has been neutered by a two-pronged attack. It comes from without (the man-hating, Jezebel spirit perpetuated by the Feminist Movement) and from within (men who passively submit to being feminized). A feminized man is one who reacts to situations and people as a women, instead of as a man. It is the cultural script that cries out for men to be more “sensitive, a nineties kind of guy.” It asks the profound question, “why can’t a man be more like a women, surely this will solve our problems.” We’ve come a long way, baby, from the days of Henry Higgins of My Fair Lady who once lamented, “why can’t a women be more like a man..” In either case, both are wrong as a model for men and women. It is not what we can be like as men and women, it is what we are supposed to be like according to God’s design.
Unfortunately, for us, this present confusion is responsible for most of the social ills that are now plaguing our land. It is also a sign of God’s displeasure and judgment upon a disobedient nation. In Isaiah 3, the Lord chronicles His dealings with a nation whose sayings and doings are against Him. Besides removing the stay and staff of bread and water, He also removes the mighty, valiant, and honorable men and turns the nation over to weak, inept, wicked rulers. The height of this chastisement is culminated in Isaiah 3:12, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”
The tragic irony that has befallen us, as men lose their Biblical moorings and the feminist movement continues to spread, is that we think this state of affairs is a sign of being progressive and enlightened, little realizing we are falling creeper and deeper into the curse of God. This delusion must be shattered and we must return to this profound truth, that God judges and restores nations based on leadership. When a nation comes to a place where they despise patriarchy and embrace feminism as a model of leadership, that nation is not only void of sound leadership, it is also indicative of greater woes that will surely come upon us, if we do not turn from our wicked ways.
Therefore, it behooves men to summon the moral courage to throw off the feminist suppression that seeks to destroy the male inclinations to direct, protect, and provide for women and children. Men must boldly face the destructive cultural forces that deny, demean, and seek to emasculate them and say, “enough is enough.” Men must wrest back from the government and from the Feminist Movement their God-ordained role that He assigned to them in the Holy Scriptures. It should be quite evident by now that civil government makes a terrible substitute for a husband and a dad. And yet, this nation continues to think patriarchy is obsolete and expendable to our own demise and dismay.
Of course, to the politically and religiously correct crowd that excuses men who are irresponsible, self-gratifying, and pleasure-seeking and that encourages female dominance which seeks to manipulate and control the male, this notion of patriarchy is absurd, outdated, and outlandish. But like Mr. Hardenbrook points out, “without its recovery,” America is history. For the tragic truth is, missing in action men, are responsible for the children in our land becoming vulnerable to abortion, gangs, sexual promiscuity, violence, drugs, anger, and the sugar-coated poison of the homosexual movement. The reality is, weak men and dominating females, are producing a generation of violent, out-of-control predators or passive sissified wimps. This trend must end in Jesus’ name!
GOD’S ANSWER – THE ELIJAH MANTLE
(Malachi 4:5,6)
When Elijah the Tishbite burst on the scene in 1 Kings 17, he was thrust into a nation and culture that was very similar to ours. It was a nation that had abandoned God and His Holy Law as the standard for life. The people of God assimilated the true worship of Jehovah with a pagan idol called Baal. Baal was the god of greenery. This idol seduced Israel with a promise of prosperity, if they would simply tolerate other gods. As a result, (just like in our time), materialism ruled the day. That is why it wasn’t a coincidence when Elijah pronounced an imprecatory prayer that would stop the heavens from raining. Elijah was putting the axe of God’s truth to the tree of Israel’s harlotry Baal promised increase of crops, herds, and fruits and along comes Elijah who God uses to bring a drought that would expose the empty promises of this idol.
Meanwhile in Israel’s government, Ahab and Jezebel were the wicked rulers, who are excellent Biblical examples of the weakness of men and the dominance of women that is so evident in our culture. Under their corrupt leadership, moral wrongs became civil rights. Child-killing flourished and sodomites were established in the land. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This is the condition of Israel when God sent Elijah with a prophetic mantle to turn His people back to Him. By the way, this one man who pronounced the sanctions of God upon an whorish land, did indeed bring an entire nation back to faith in God. We would do well to also remember that Elijah’s imprecatory prayer is the New Testament example of an effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (James 5:16-18). It makes one wonder, if men of God today called out to God to bring forth His righteous judgments upon this spoiled, wicked nation, if we would turn from our wicked ways and find healing for our land (Isaiah 26:9)?
By now, you maybe questioning the significance of the prophet Elijah as it relates to Biblical patriarchy and the answer to our problems. The relevance is contained in Malachi 4:5,6. The prophet Malachi spoke the last oracle of God under the Old Covenant. He reminds Israel that they are to maintain a life of holiness by remembering the Law of God that was given by Moses. (America would do well to remember to uphold the righteousness contained in God’s Law as well). The prophet continues with a promise of a great fathering revival that the Lord would send through Elijah the prophet before the coming of the Lord.
Thus are the last words uttered in the Old Testament that was followed by four hundred years of silence. Four centuries passed and the heavens were quiet. There was a famine for the word of God (Amos 8:11). All of a sudden, at the dawn of the New Testament, the heavens were opened and God sent His messenger in the person of Gabriel to speak once again. His message is quite profound and everyone should take notice, especially men. The message concerned the call on John the Baptist as he was to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus Christ. Listen carefully to Gabriel’s words to Zacharias, John’s father, as he reveals the mantle that was to define his son’s ministry, “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1: l7)
Brethren, when God repeats Himself, it is not an indication that God has a stuttering problem. In Luke 1: 17, The Lord is reiterating the same message in Malachi. He highlights the same two distinctive marks that are evident in both passages, holiness of life contained in repentance and conformity to God’s Law and a fathering revival contained in turning the father’s hearts back to their children. What is so astounding in all this, is the fact that these two conditions was the preparatory ground that John was to preach for the world to receive the Messiah into the earth. It is also crucial to understand that these two dynamics must continue to advance His way and Kingdom in the earth. Why do you think the enemy, through the feminist movement rages against the proper restraints of God’s Law and the mere mention of patriarchy? The enemy knows the Scriptural importance concerning patriarchy and the role of men as fathers. He understands the profound connection between the role, place, and influence of godly men as good fathers and the progression of God’s saving grace in the earth. Now it is high time for the Church of Jesus Christ and men in particular to recognize this awesome truth as well.
Men, I adjure you by the mercies of God to repent of the irresponsibility, pleasure-seeking, and self-gratification that has paved the way for Jezebel to feminize us. Let us reclaim the glory of our manhood and honor the patriarchal system that God ordained for His pleasure and for mankind’s benefit. It will restore to us our male identity, bring healing to our homes, and ultimately restore our land.
It is imperative that we as men turn our hearts back to God, to love our wives, and to care for our precious children. All these duties is what true patriarchy is all about. Let us return to rebuild the family altar that has been torn down by our abdication and been replaced by the altars of Jezebel. This will not happen by flexing our muscles or by misusing our authority to bully our wives and children, but it will happen when we flex our knees in humble submission to the will of God. Remember, “I Am that I Am” created you and He alone is your source for male identity. Patriarchy was His idea, and you don’t need to apologize for it. This world with all its booze, sex, drugs, feminism, homosexuality, and machismo is all distortions and a deception that keeps males from becoming real men.
In light of this, I beseech you, O man of God to rise up to direct, protect, and provide for your family once again, not just physically, but spiritually as well. A physical enemy can only destroy the body, but a spiritual enemy can destroy the soul. For the sake of your children and for the future of this nation, you must return to being the “gatekeeper” in your home. You must watch over what is coming in and what is going out of the family. Father, do you know what kind of music your children are listening to, are you aware of what they are watching on TV, do you know the character of their friends who influence them, and what they are being taught in school?
Our children need the boundaries that only a godly Dad can build into their lives. They need a godly example of a Dad who prays for them, that leads in worship, and that takes the time to read the Bible and other inspirational books to them. Men, become the family leaders and see yourself beginning what maybe many generations who will be “mighty in the land.” Each of you need a vision of being a founder of a Christian dynasty for God. Finally, God’s chosen nation Israel was founded by patriarchs. America was set on its blessed course by patriarchs. By God’s grace, you can be a patriarch so that future generations might know the blessing of God.
IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,
Rusty Lee Thomas
ELIJAH MINISTRIES