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Tribalism is Good & Necessary

There is an innate need in man to be part of a society or small group of men. Modern society has attempted to destroy tribes or downplay them by advocating for complete openness and the lack of groups. Groups have become “offensive”, thus we have globalism. Tribes have become archaic. This modern globalistic, feminism-driven trend must be rejected. The church itself is a brotherhood, and therefore it is an exclusive group. Tribalism is a good and necessary part of living. Colleges are tribes. Clubs are tribes. Biker gangs are tribes.

All these groups are separate from other groups. They have their own code and identity.

The church can satisfy the need of man to be part of a small group while at the same time granting salvation to those men.

“There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes”
Exodus 28:21

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17

“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
1 Peter 2:7

Unfortunately, the religious world has become increasingly effeminate as feminism has seeped its way into the church.

The biblical model of headship in marriage is no longer taught in the church because preachers are afraid of women screaming at them about their “chauvinistic interpretation of the bible”. What more evidence do you need to support the fact that men in the church have become emasculated than to state that men are actually afraid of women? Because religion has become effeminate generally speaking, men are becoming less attracted to it over time.

Returning to the discussion of tribes: Even introverted men need to be part of groups, even if they feel the need to be involved with those groups less often. The group is necessary to the human being because it provides a sense of purpose and belonging. In a world devoid of any purpose and with some people even promoting purposelessness, the tribes become more important.

Many Christians will be uncomfortable with the word “tribes” because it can connote cavemen-style tribalistic gatherings where men eat raw meat and try to make fires with sticks.

This is not the case, as you will see when you examine the twelve tribes of Israel in scripture. Each son of Jacob created his own unique lineage that had thousands upon thousands of members. Every man knew exactly which tribe he was from because it was a large part of his identity.

Levites knew who they were, and they knew that the priesthood was a part of their unique tribe. No other tribe was allowed to approach the altar or to directly commune with God in the way that the High priest and the priests of the tribe of Levi were able to. That was a high level of exclusivity, and that exclusiveness applied even between brethren, since everyone in Israel was related (minus salves, sojourners, and other people taken from destroyed cities).

This should show us that there is nothing wrong with separation between peoples and exclusivity in a manner of tribalism. The modern world wants everything to be available to everyone no matter who you are. If you belong to a globalist world, you belong to nothing.

Globalists believe you should be able to join any exclusive tribe you want without even having to conform to their standards!

How ridiculous is that? How silly would it be for a man to join a club of men where the requirements for entrance were that you needed to be able to run 2 miles, be able to lift 100 pounds, and be able to operate a firearm and then say to the other club members, “You know, I really can’t meet any of your requirements, but I want to join anyways”?

But you can see this principle playing out in the church even today. You no longer have to live righteously to be a Christian anymore. You can be a public homosexual or living in open adultery and you will still find churches that will accept you. These churches are weak and they live in defiance of the Will and Word of God. Therefore, we must reject these churches and their way of conducting themselves. They are not part of our tribe. They have chosen the favor of the people over the favor of God.

It is not wrong to impose standards and exclusivity in the church in a manner that looks like tribalism.

We already do this everywhere in life! If a man wants to gain entrance to a college, he needs to have certain standardized test scores and go through a process of gaining admission and then pay for the schooling. He cannot effortlessly walk around the college taking classes and doing whatever he wants without going through these steps. This is because the college institution is hypothetically exclusive because it has entrance requirements. And once a person gets into college, they have to maintain a certain GPA in order to stay there. The same principle applies to Christians. The church has entrance requirements and a specific standard of behavior necessary for remaining in it.

The exclusivity of the church must be preserved. It is a tribe of men, even though many churches have become social clubs for eunuchs. We must restore the exclusive nature of the assembly in the churches where it has been lost, and we must hold the standards of righteousness at all cost. You cannot live in evil and try to claim membership to the tribe of Christianity, you must obey the standards to be included in this brotherhood. You must conduct yourself like a man.

Mantra

I Live righteously and belong to the Tribe.

Application

There may come a day when churches split rapidly in constant succession. The result will be many small churches that meet in houses just as in the first century. Our objective, if that day ever comes, is to use that split to our advantage to restore the exclusivity of the church. A Christian man must live his life in accordance with the code of conduct laid out in the Word of God. If he refuses, he is ejected from the church until he decides to change his lifestyle. This expulsion is in accordance with Scripture.

If you are currently in a church that allows individuals to live in open sin without any type of reprimand or expulsion, you need to leave it. That church would rather avoid confrontation and please everyone than do what is right in the eyes of God.

Leaving your church is difficult and may be painful, but your current tribe does not care about doing what is right, they only care about avoiding the pain and extreme discomfort that comes from telling someone they are wrong or openly expelling them from the church. Leave a church that is weak, because if persecution ever arises again, it will obliterate that church and you will be caught in the crossfire. Men who build their faith on emotions will be destroyed the instant that they are punished or even inconvenienced for the faith. You must leave that church and relocate to a strong church before that day comes.

If you need to form your own church, then do it.

It sounds strange to suggest starting a church in the home or in another building, but if no one around you is maintaining the church correctly then you have an obligation to change that fact. It is not too inconvenient to meet in someone’s house to commune and worship with men who are concerned with putting God first rather than putting convenience first, this has been done for thousands of years.

Whatever the cost, you must maintain the church and keep it exclusive. This is the task of man.

Strengthen your mind.

Embrace the changing world and bend it to the church.

Protect the church.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Ideals – Mental Images of Perfection

Ideals are the ideas of perfection that are often strived for yet rarely attained by most men. For example, the ideal character is a combination of many different characteristics of great men. The Ideal Government pleases everyone and oppresses no one. The Ideal Marriage is completely modeled after the biblical examples and functions as a mighty alliance between a man and a woman. While ideals are nice to think about, the majority of them are unattainable. Christ was the only man of flesh who was able to be the ideal man of righteousness, and He was also God. These ideals are images of perfection that we conjure in our minds but will never be able to attain. But they are very important to who we are as men. They exist to direct our behavior to the highest achievable levels. By concentrating on unattainable ideals, we raise the levels of our limitations so that we can improve ourselves.

“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love.”
Ephesians 1:4

If we cannot attain ideals, then why do we think about or strive towards them?

Because the possibility of being more than we currently are is inspiring and drives us to improve our character. And even though we know we can never be the perfect man that we visualize in our minds, we can get ever closer to that ideal through training and focus. The ideal man exists to inspire, not to discourage. It is to build up the strength of our minds, inspiring us to the possibilities of greatness.

There are two types of men in the church: the first man sees greatness, wealth, health or success in the lives of other men and becomes depressed, thinking that he could never reach the same level of accomplishments. This is the weak man. He makes up 90% of men in the religious world. This man never improves or steps closer to any ideal because he thinks that anything other men achieve is based on the talents they have naturally, rather than by work and perseverance. Or worse, they believe that other men achieve greatness because they are worldly or secular. Men who say such things are simply trying to make excuses for why they themselves are failures.

The second man strives every day to become the ideal that he has created in his mind, even though he knows that he will never reach it. He hammers on himself as a smith hammers raw iron to move it closer to perfection every day. There are very few men in the church who embody this attitude and embrace the work that it takes to become a great man. It is much easier for us to merely be content with who we are as men, or to accept our current limitations. Most men would rather say, “This is just the way I am” rather than say “I can become whatever kind of man I want to be if I’m willing to work”.

I urge you to never be content with you who are as a man.

Never settle for your current level of strength, focus or emotional control. While Scripture teaches us to be content with our possessions and lot in life (Philippians 4:12; Hebrews 13:5), we are never to be content with our character or current level of righteousness. It is our job to construct personal ideals and apply maximum effort to reach them. It is our duty to reject what we currently are and to strive towards the strong ideal of the man of success, strength and faith.

Mantra

I think about what I am going to become.

Application

Place the ideal man firmly in your mind. First you must create him, and then you must concentrate on him every day. He can be fictional, but he must embody the characteristics that you want to acquire for yourself.

You need to be as specific with this exercise as possible. This may seem silly at points, but the more details you add to the ideal man you picture in your mind, the more realistic that vision will be. The more realistic your vision is, the easier it will be to model yourself after it. So ask yourself the following questions:

What does the ideal man look like?
How does he talk to other men? How does he talk to women? Does he talk to women at all?
How does he dress? Effeminately or in a masculine manner?
What does he smell like? How does he walk?
In what way does the idea man react to stress and unpredicted events?
How physically active is he? How strong is he?
If attacked physically or verbally by another man, how does the ideal man respond?

He cannot be someone else’s ideal, he must be your own.

Without your own idea of what the ideal is, you will never be motivated to change or improve and work towards it. Your motivation must always come from within and must never be driven by those around you. Never make decisions based on what others want for you. Living your life in the shadows of other’s expectations is a great way to live a meaningless life and experience a painful midlife crisis. You must work towards your own goals.

The ideal man is there to be an inspiration, not a discouragement, so use him as such.

Think about who you want to be.

Focus your mind on perfection.

Strengthen your hand to do the work necessary to become the ideal.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Blood – Unlimited Power

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” – 14 “For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”
Leviticus 17:11,14

“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
Hebrews 9:22

“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”
Genesis 9:4

The Israelites were instructed never to eat the blood of the animals they killed, for in it was the life force. Animal blood also contained many diseases and pathogens. This would be the practical reason to avoid eating it since it can make you sick and perhaps even kill you. I chalk that up to the scientific revelation of God to man before germ theory even existed.

Within our blood is our physical life.

Within the Blood of Christ is our spiritual life. Also within it is our lineage to generations long past. It has long been known that the blood of our fathers runs through our veins. Through that blood we are expected to stay the course and to be men of character, strength and integrity.

Through that blood also comes many weaknesses that have plagued our bloodline for years. Sons tend to inherit the weaknesses of the father or grandfather. This must be undone. We do not have to be our fathers. We do not have to carry their weaknesses just as we will not wish for our sons to carry on our personal flaws and weaknesses. In this way we must break away from the lineage and reject the evil that we are naturally inclined towards. We must defy this portion of our own bloodline.

Through choice and action we can create a new bloodline.

We create new habits and actions we carry out consistently and this results in a transformation of character. You do not have to be limited by the character of your father or grandfather. Forge your own lineage today.

The blood of God represents our salvation. It covers all the insufficiencies and flaws we have in our minds and bodies. It wipes away the rust from our character. And it guarantees that we have salvation even though we fail. This is the great value of the blood. This blood can be our blood. It can run through our veins. We are adopted into the lineage of Christ as His sons. It is about time we started acting like it.

Mantra

I alter my bloodline through my conscious actions.

Application

We do not have to accept our genetics. We can alter our genetic code through the actions we take. This fact was discovered recently (in the past 50 years) and now forms a portion of the scientific field known as epigenetics. By altering our genetic code we give a better foundation to our children when we have them.

At the same time, we are not limited to our genetics. We may naturally lean towards certain actions, but that does not mean we have to take them. Natural does not always equal good, meaning what we are naturally inclined to do is not always the best course of action. You must many times take the action that is in opposition to your nature, especially if you are looking to make change in yourself.

You have to take an inventory of your own character. Ask yourself the following questions and write our the answers:

In what ways am I like my father and grandfather?
What am I naturally inclined to do that is positive?
What am I naturally inclined to do that is negative?
How can I interrupt my current behavioral patterns and change?

You are not limited by your genetics. You can change anything about yourself that you want. Start taking action today by being mindful of your behavior.

Reject what you currently are.

Cast aside your current weakness and be more of the ideal man you want to be.

Honor the Lord with your wealth.

Focus your mind on the task at hand.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Defeat – The Foundation for Success

You must be mentally prepared to suffer defeat.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5

It will not matter how you conduct yourself while you are winning, it only matters how you act after you have lost.

Defeat is where the true personality of man shows its ugliness to the world.

Have you ever seen a young child lose at a game and then proceed to embarrass his parents with his behavior? It happens very often. What is even more unfortunate is that fact that many of the kids never grow out of this behavior. They take their weak mentalities onto the sports field and display just how immature they are after they lose.

Then they grow up and take that mentality into the workplace. They never take responsibility for their failures and always pass the blame. Everyone knows one of these men, and they were created by their parents who failed to teach them to accept defeat graciously and with strong character.

We often fail to act righteously and we sin. Sometimes we are caught and our sin is publicized. This is public humiliation and defeat. How do we conduct ourselves during this defeat? Do we exhibit grace, humility and repentance? Or do we manifest anger, ego and further rebelliousness? Answer these questions and you will discover everything about yourself that you will ever need to know. How you behave in defeat is an open window into your character. So you must prepare yourself not only for defeat, but also to conduct yourself like a man when you find yourself defeated.

Defeat is inevitable, but acting like an idiot while we are defeated is something we can control and avoid.

By acting graciously we show that we are men of character and add bricks to our reputation. We can convert a defeat into a great victory simply by conducting ourselves like men while we are defeated. All failures have the potential to profit us if we learn to use humility and build our character. Defeat is the foundation of victory.

Mantra

Train until virtue is automated.

Application

In every victory you should be mentally preparing yourself for defeat. Just as in the moments of happiness you must prepare yourself for depression. You have to stockpile supplies in your mind to outlast defeat. Decide how you will conduct yourself during defeat before you are ever defeated. Have your programmed behavior ready to go so that when you suffer a defeat you do not have to think about what to do, you can fall back on your plans and training and conduct yourself well. Many vices can be cured by this simple method: train. Train yourself to have the actions you want without having to think about. Then when you are in the situation you trained for, you can shift your mind to autopilot and shut down the ego immediately.

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training”
Archilochus

Stockpile your actions and practice them as a musician practices scales until they can be performed unconsciously.

Keep your mind vigilant and prepared.

Focus your mind on being a man of character.

Annihilate the adversary.

Remember who you represent.

Conduct yourself like men.

Sorrow – How to Think About It

You do not have to lose a family member or end a relationship to feel sorrow.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit”.
Psalm 34:18

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26

The biggest misconceptions about sorrow or depression is the idea that they are dependent on circumstances. There is a difference between having tragic events happen to you and being “formally” or clinically depressed and sorrowful. Sorrow pervades the heart on good days as well as on bad ones. Sorrow is an emotion that is the product of our thoughts. What we meditate on in our thoughts will determine what kinds of emotions are produced in our mind.

Sorrow is independent of circumstances, and can be a function of personality.

The Proverb writer says, “even in laughter, the heart may sorrow” (Proverbs 14:13). Even when we laugh, our mind returns to what troubles us. Sorrow originates and exists in our minds, and this is what separates it from mourning or grief which are caused by external circumstances.

The second misconception revolves around the idea that it is wrong to feel sorrow. it is not wrong to feel sorrow just as it is not wrong to feel happiness. Weak people tend to think that emotions that feel bad are evil and emotions that are pleasurable are good. This is absurdity, emotions are emotions, how they make us feel is insignificant. Emotions are chemical reactions in the brain, many of which are guided by our thoughts. We as Men must master all of our emotions, positive and negative. Positive emotions can blind us to the truth by making us certain of what we already know, negative emotions disillusion us to reality by painting a neutral reality in a pessimistic light. We must remain in control of all emotions, never allowing them to catch us off guard or affect our thoughts while we are unaware of them.

Sorrow is natural and occurs regularly in the mind of man.

There is more than enough pain on the earth to trigger sorrow in our mind. We should not think poorly of ourselves because we experience sorrow often, as this will only cause us additional sorrow. We as men must simply outlast the sorrow, and it does go away.

Mantra

From the pain of sorrow arises the goodness of growth.

Application

Accept and do not repress your sorrow. Repression never leads to a cure. Avoidance of pain never leads to the resolving of that pain.

Search for the source of your sorrow. What are the doubts, questions or fears living in your mind that are causing you sorrow? Is life itself causing you sorrow? Most Christians avoid making statements like that because life is supposed to be a “gift”.

Once you find the source of your sorrow, you must defeat it by slowly working out each and every doubt and fear through logic and reason. In time you slowly untie the massive knot of doubt and it becomes smaller and smaller as you move to the center. You untie it by asking questions about your questions:

Is the fear rational?

What childhood pain is the root cause of this fear I am experiencing?

Identification of the problem is a major blow to the fear you are suffering.

Through the process of logic you reduce fear and sorrow to nothingness. And if sorrow returns periodically or during your episode of depression, you already know how to outlast it. This is a key strategy: endurance. At times you will simply have to outlast your discomfort. Prepare your mind for the siege by stockpiling supplies: positive role models, stories of inspiration about men who overcame the odds or defeated their sorrow, and the understanding that this sorrow will pass.

Do not complain about your sorrow, that is for the weak. Deal with your pain and master it yourself. By doing this you strengthen your character and make yourself the kind of man who could help someone else with their sorrow.

Cast aside your fear and sorrow.

Defeat the demons that live in your mind.

Endure every attack of the enemy.

Build a fortress of logic around your mind.

Conduct yourselves like men.

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