Some Preliminary Comments
I have taken many hours to research the SJM, as well as Scriptures which are relevant to this “elevated barrier raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). I have been richly rewarded in my body, soul, and spirit as I have allowed the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God to teach, encourage, and convict me. I don’t expect everyone to put the effort into the research like I have done, so I am providing you with some condensed information and attempting to direct you to biblical truth at the same time. I trust that you will pay close attention to truths from the Scripture and be enriched and empowered as I have been! Equally important, please think through how God may be asking you to put this knowledge into practice and how you might communicate with others about all of this.
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – Colossians 3:16 NASB
In my next teaching I will provide some words that describe traits of masculinity as they apply to the challenges in our Christian Community. I titled that article: “Viewing Manhood Through the Lens of Scripture” and it should be online soon.
SJM Masculinity Through the Distorted Lens of Intersectionality
In order to understand the SJM’s view of masculinity, you must first realize that it is grounded in an intersectional paradigm. Intersectionality essentially means that any social, political, or human experience can not be understood or shaped by only one factor. They are, generally speaking, shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways. These factors are, for example: ethnicity, race, social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and numerous other social stratifications. Some social locations afford privilege (e.g., being white) while others are oppressed (e.g., being poor or a person of color). These various aspects of social inequality do not operate independently of each other but rather, interact to create interrelated systems of oppression and domination. The concept of intersectionality refers to these various aspects of social location where they “intersect” to mutually constitute individuals lived experiences.
This is the lens through which masculinity is defined. Once again, a major theme repeated and permeating all of culture is the “oppressed are always being oppressed by the oppressors” primarily from white people who are deemed “privileged.”
As you may imagine when defining who a man is, or what he looks like through the intersectionality grid, you will come to a radically different description of manhood than what the Bible teaches. But this is what we are up against.
Our grandsons attend Lake Oswego High School and Clackamas Community College here in Oregon. When introducing themselves, especially at the first of the year, they were instructed to name the pronouns that best define their identity. After all, remember that one’s identity is simply a social construct. When teachers decide to change their sex, everyone MUST accept and respect this person’s new identity, even if that changes more than once. This is obviously a bunch of non-sense, but those are the rules of the school dictated by the governing state laws.
This is another reason why we must address social challenges and work to place godly Christians in places of authority and public influence. We must unify and stand up against radical indoctrination by writing emails, sharing biblical principles through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, MailChimp, etc. Our grandsons are simply told they must comply and adhere to the party line.
I remember while I was at Rolling Hills, the elders would tell me, “Dale, we don’t belong in the political arena and we don’t need to talk about electing godly people to public offices because it is all about ‘Jesus,’ and not changing societal laws.” Friends, this is faulty thinking which originates from a myopic paradigm of the Scriptures. From this paradigm some portions of the Bible are simply over-looked and not addressed. Once again, usually stemming from ignorance, fear, the unwillingness to research the OT as well as the NT, compliance, and the desire for safety and security.
Yet when the “whole counsel of God,” (Acts 20:27), including the OT which is better defined as “The Book of the Covenants” and the NT which is better defined as the “Renewed” or “The Ongoing Covenant,” is taught, it is able to have its full effect in and through us!
“For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” – 1 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB
“Watch your life and doctrine [teaching] closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” – 1 Timothy 4:16 NIV
The Development of Social Justice Manhood
As intersectionality developed and became dominant in both mainstream political activism and scholarship, it became increasingly common to hear that “straight, white, cis-gendered (gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth) men” were the problem.
Although the scholars of men’s and masculinities studies are mostly men, they study masculinity within a feminist framework, which is rooted in the mentality that men are oppressors and dominators of women. Therefore, all so-called scholarship must end up with that oppressive paradigm to be accepted.
Men’s and masculinities studies often rely heavily on the concept of “hegemonic (ruling or dominant) masculinity,” developed by Australian gender Theorist Raewyn Connell. Connell is a woman who often publishes her work under “Robert” or “Bob.” Hegemonic masculinity refers to dominant forms of masculinity, which are understood to maintain men’s superiority over women and perpetuate aggressive and competitive expressions of maleness, which are socially enforced by the overarching and powerful discourses around what it means to be a “real man.”
Terry Kupers, who developed the concept of “toxic masculinity” while doing research in prisons, discovered “the constellation of socially regressive male traits that serve to foster domination, devaluation of women, homophobia, and wanton violence.” (Look to Terry Kupers, “Toxic Masculinity as a Barrier to Mental Health Treatment in Prison,” Journal of Clinical Psychology 61, no. 6 (2005).
It is sad that research in the prison system with perverted criminals are the basis and authority for broad conclusions about men. For CRT, as long as masculinity is defined through their lens and comes to the “dominate theory” conclusions, the definitions and descriptions are accepted as unbiased research.
This ideology, according to Kupers as well as others, is the reason why America was willing to elect boorish (coarse) Donald Trump, and why traditional masculinity should be treated as a psychological illness even by the American Psychological Association. Look to the 2018 “Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Men and Boys.”
By the way, I heard even from extended family members and professing Christians that Trump was psychotic. Where did they arrive at this conclusion? From the Social Justice culture that is permeating all institutions in American. You name the institution, and there is a strong likelihood it has been infiltrated.
You might consider reading Lisa Wade’s article posted on Publicbooks.org titled, “The Big Picture: Confronting Manhood After Trump.”Here is the first paragraph.
If it were fiction, it would have been dismissed as preposterous. America elected a grotesque, slobbering id to the highest office of the most powerful country in the world: a thundering narcissist who, without irony, describes himself as “the world’s greatest person.” And central to his persona is a vulgar and vindictive masculinity; not cold and calculating, as is his vice president’s, but hot and festering, like an open wound.
She goes on to ridicule Christian Men’s gatherings and makes outlandish statements rooted in vitriol without verification. She continues,
Meanwhile, sociologists have argued that men are perfectly capable of mixing femininity into their gender performances in ways that uphold men’s dominance. Anti-rape campaigns like “My Strength Is Not for Hurting” and pro-family ones like the Promise Keepers, for example, both involve men invoking a feminine ethic of care that, nonetheless, positions their control of women and other men as good and right. This is a benevolent sexism instead of a hostile one, but it is sexism, nonetheless.
The reason I referenced her is that she, along with many others, are shaping the culture and influencing the “common knowledge” in the public square. At the minimum, we ought to be aware of how our culture is redefining what the Bible teaches about our identities, people groups, (which should not be called ‘races’ as the word ‘race’ is never mentioned in the Bible), social relationships, sexuality, values, morals, judicial and social justice, etc. etc.
I personally attended several Promise Keepers gatherings and was involved in the counseling ministry at those gatherings. Guess what? Never once was the concept of sexism, and dominance ever promoted. Speakers spoke in objective verifiable realities exhorting men to be godly examples in every arena of life. Of course that is not how the ideological slanted SJM interpret it. I actually am personal friends with some of those speakers and I see and interact with them and their wives. The accusations are simply lies.
Remember the 9th Commandment? “You shall not give false witness.” All major destructive ideologies have been built upon lies. Look to Dennis Prager’s fine Commentary on the Book of Exodus, page 269. Better yet, buy it and immerse yourself in this portion of Torah—Exodus!
Notice how even manhood is within the definition of “victimhood,” and “oppression.” As long as a dialogue can take place in this ideological grid, everything outside of that framework is considered “traditional domination of males.” Once again, according to this insidious subjectivism, one can’t win. There has been an attempt, and with massive success, to over-simplify the concept of societal privilege, rooted overwhelming in identity and to incorporate elements of critical race theory to come to the conclusion that straight white men are unfairly privileged and need to repent and get out of everyone’s way.
I personally am NOT one of those men! I don’t have to repent for being male nor does any man need to repent because of the color of his skin. If any repenting needs to be done it might start with the “household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). The is, some Christian men and pastors who demonstrate cowardliness by being too soft, tender, and feminized. You surely don’t have to guess what I think about the subject ☺.
How Do And Did SJ Activists Accomplish This Cultural Shift?
Part of the answer: Through a Diffuse Grid of Power and Cognitive Dissonance
(Don’t you love learning new words and concepts and how they are being used in our culture)?
Diffuse means causing to spread or cause to dim something by extending it out over a wide area or among a large number of people.
Cognitive Dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behaviors.
Leon Frestinger, was the first to develop the concept of cognitive dissonance in his study of UFO cults. Festinger observed that highly committed cultists did not abandon their beliefs when the predictions of the cult failed to manifest—when the UFO never came. Instead, cultists resolved this undeniable contradiction by claiming the event occurred, but in some unfalsifiable way (specifically, they claimed God decided to spare the planet as a result of the faith of the cultists).
Before the postmodern (i.e. no absolutes) turn, Marxist, socialist, and other radical feminist theories saw power as an intentional, top-down strategy by powerful men in patriarchal societies. However, the second wave of feminism made this conception somewhat redundant and, therefore, unimportant. Why? While boorish (bad tempered) men with patriarchal assumptions continue to exist, it became increasingly untenable to view Western society as genuinely, or systemically, patriarchal because the vast majority of men were not actively against the success of women.
In order to keep the narrative of “oppression” alive” CRT theorists redefined this now “untenable view” of patriarchal dominance with terms rooted in identity that are diffused enough throughout society to be accepted as a matter of faith, requiring no evidence. This offered an opportunity to retain the same beliefs and predictions without verifiable evidence to back up their claims.
This concept of “diffused” is now a “grid of power dynamics” that incorporates race, class, gender and sexuality. It is so effective that other SJM advocates are using it specifically in regard to blacks and racism.
Please read below from D’Souza in his superior book: “United States of Socialism” page 126& 127,
“Since racism has become so rare, it now has to be invented. ….racial hoaxes have now become commonplace especially on the college campus. The gay conservative journalist Andy Ngo has become something of a specialist in tracking down these hoaxes. The Jussie Smollett hoax is the most obvious example. Smollett—who paid two Nigerian men to fake an attack on him that he subsequently blamed on Trump supporters—was still wearing the noose around his neck when the police arrived at his apartment.
Wilfred Reilly in his book Hate Crime Hoax counts more than 400 racial hoaxes.” Here are only two: “Students at St. Olaf College in Minnesota boycotted classes in 2017 in the wake of racist graffiti targeting black students. The event got widespread media coverage until it turned out a black student did it. When a black church in Greenville, Mississippi, was set on fire, The Washington Post and other media outlets blamed the incendiary rhetoric of GOP nominee Donald Trump. Turns out a black congregant set the fire.
Such hoaxes, leftist pundits insist, amount to a small percentage of all hate crimes reported. Still, let’s ask why the hoaxes occur…. Blacks didn’t stage lynching’s in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, even though they wanted to call attention to the problem. They didn’t need to stage lynching’s because large numbers of lynching’s were going on, and it made more sense to record the evidence rather than manufacture it. But for the racial hoaxes of today, like St. Olaf College, the event has to be staged because there is insufficient evidence of the real thing.”
So, the hoaxes are spread out into the world by “diffusion” where the generalities of systemic racism can be accused without verification.
If one or two incidents are proclaimed in social media, most of them turn out to be unproven, but social media grabs them, and it becomes the evidence of “genocide.” Remember, genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation: a campaign of genocide. To call the killing of black people by the Police, genocide, is simply ridiculous and inflammatory and the naïve public who would believe such nonsense without the evidence demonstrates their willingness to be deceived and swayed. One incident, or even a couple of killings as horrific as these are, does not equal “genocide” and does not deserve the label of “systemic.”
What right do you have to address this issue since you are a white male?
This argument is repeated thousands of times. If this is true – which I don’t – then why would women be allowed to address manhood issues? How could they be correct in their assessments? What about all the white people aligning with the SJM? I guess they don’t have a solid platform either?
I think men, women, blacks, whites or any other ethnicity can render valid opinions as long as they do their research and support their conclusions with facts. What is even more grievous, at the present time because of this false premise, more and more scholarship is only considered reliable if the information comes from trans women of color. You talk about a narrow field of research!
Observe what Pluckrose says about this:
“Because of the focus on the relevance of one’s standpoint (using disadvantage to one’s advantage) to one’s access to knowledge scholars are severely limited in the extent to which they can even do gender studies unless they are trans women of color, which few scholars are. This results in large sections of academic papers dedicated to scholars performatively acknowledging their positionality and problematizing their own work, rather than doing something useful.” Page 157 Cynical Theories.
This reminds me of the closed system of the scholarship and research being done to support global warming. More and more scientists who propose other theories for global warming, other than man-made, and have held positions as teachers, or research scientists are being fired and replaced with only those who toe the party-line. Later, when the so-called un-biased findings are discovered by “scientists” they only support one theory. Friends, this is how indoctrination works—in incremental, biased, erosive steps.
The Transforming of our Culture
I heard some place that Trump lost a large number of the male’s vote in this 2020 election. Is it any wonder? The SJM is shaping the psyche of America and American men in particular. Simply go to the American Psychological Associations website and observe the slanted prejudicial articles.
As I stated above, prior to the election I was told by some professing Christians that Trump was psychotic (severely mentally ill) and when I asked them how they – with limited exposure to him – knew this, they would simply say ,“you can just tell.” In fact, within CRT, this is another confirmation that society is secretly, inherently, racist and sexist, and all other manner of bigoted and that the need to expose this through more “Theory” is more important and pressing than ever.
Not one professing Christian I heard who was going to vote for Biden pointed out Trumps accomplishments or policies. They never mentioned the horrific policies of the democratic platform and its overwhelming anti-Christian values. You talk about being indoctrinated by our culture and squeezed into its mold!
Thousands upon thousands (if not millions) of so-called Christians are being deceived! Why? They do not embrace the whole counsel of God, but are able to compartmentalize their beliefs and select portions of Scripture they now deem appropriate. What is equally grievous is that you can clearly identify where they are getting their information.
What Can we Do?
When and wherever you see or hear about ideological falsities being perpetuated, choose to confront the issue!
An example:
I was recently informed about an inaccurate, racist book that students in our local grade school were required to read. I was asked by a parent to address some of their concerns about the slanted, uneducated, and prejudicial information that was being communicated by the student’s teacher. I wrote up a biblical response to some of the inaccuracies being quoted from the Bible, as well as the “historical negativism” being perpetrated by the school’s administration. I sent my response to several parents and they are contacting school board members and plan to address the teacher. If you would like a copy of my response, I will send it to you. Just email me at dale@daleebel.org
More importantly, a young student (8th grade) has now become informed and educated about the false concepts presented in regard to our country, including some of the founders like: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, etc. He is arranging an appointment with the principal of the school and his agenda is to have the book removed from the curriculum. This young man is amazing because he is armed with accurate, historical information. His accurate knowledge will now help him to be brave and tenacious as he continues to engage with the education system. What an example he is to me.
I am suggesting that the parents who are opposed to such lies unite and approach the teacher, the administration, the curriculum committee and the school board to rectify the situation.
Here are some of the actions I am suggesting:
#1 Talk to the teacher directly.
#2 Arrange an appointment with the teacher and the principal.
#3 Call a school board member with a drafted letter about their concerns.
#4 Ask for the names of the people on the curriculum committee and call them.
#5 Never allow your child to meet with a teacher or school administrator alone in regard to these matters. Always have the same number of people present in your meeting as those you are meeting with. THIS IS CRUCIAL AS WE HAVE LEARNED FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!
#6. Always think about going to the next level like:
• The removal of the material
• Request a letter of an apology or the retraction of an action
• A public record of the encounters
• Possible litigative action
• The importance of going public like connecting with TV stations, radio programs, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
• Write a letter to every school board member.
• Write a letter to every teacher in the school and the administration.
• Gather together a group of parents, friends and grandparents and voice your concern and requests through letters, phone calls, emails, social media, etc.
How would Christ approach the situation?
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” – Matthew 10:16 NKJV
I think many socially minded churches as well as many present-day Christians are living out the last portion of this verse— “harmless as doves”, but in their tenderized version of biblical masculinity they have forgotten Christ sent us out into the “midst of wolves,” not to be devoured as sheep, but to be “wise or intelligent” as a serpent.
Wolves are some of the most cunning carnivores in our land. Vipers are extremely dangerous and the last time I checked most people are very cautious at the least when encountering a snake or serpent of any sort. I know I am ☺.
Are we not to go out and face the dangerous ideologies and people who are aggressively opposing God’s Word without some rigorous preparation and knowledge of who we are addressing? Are we to do nothing and watch our children and grandchildren be completely dominated by radical ideologies? I think not!
We ought to go out being aware of Satan’s schemes— “…so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes [literally, Satan’s mental devices to throw us off course)]” 2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT. Wow! how poignant is this verse?
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles [craftily framed devices] of the devil” – Ephesians 6:11 KJV
Friends, this is what I am attempting to do in these articles— to captivate these ideologies under the watchful eye of Yahweh God through the lens of Scripture. If we, the “called out believers,” don’t address these false concepts, then who will? Many of these SJ churches have simply lost their “saltiness.”
Christ is speaking in the verse below…
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” – Matthew 5:13 NLT
The Lord Jesus is not so kind and gentle as this verse clearly indicates, but Christ is direct and confrontative with sobering and convicting warnings. We can lose our saltiness and become worthless in our effectiveness. Talk about staggering!
As Paul exhorted his disciple Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” – 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Oh my! You that are of the “remnant,” will relish and embrace these powerful truths because you have ears to hear but the rest will think we are foolish, exaggerating, un-informed, too strong, or, dare I say, too “masculine”? I think we men, in particular, in the Christian community can learn a lot from the pagan Philistine soldiers as they were about to capture the Ark of the Covenant.
“Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight” – 1 Samuel 4:9 NIV
I love this verse. Even certain secular men knew what it was to be masculine and to be a man. It was built into them, and I think it is part of what the Bible describes as being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27)— “male and female He created them.”
Before we minimize the reference to a pagan Philistine, the soldier motif was alive and well in the OT and the NT. Yet in present day Christendom, it has pretty much vanished. Still, look at these poignant verses:
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” – 2 Timothy 2:3 NASB. By the way he was challenging Timothy, a local pastor—yikes!
But the LORD [is] with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore, my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: [their] everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.” – Jeremiah 20:11 KJV
These verses are shocking to the tenderized Christian culture, mainly because we don’t teach them.
Over the past ten plus years when I have spoken at men’s groups, churches, and retreats, these are the types of passages I address in detail. I love to give validation to men about how they ought to have these characteristics of our Lord God. For example, “The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] His name.” – Exodus 15:3 KJV
Or perhaps we will listen to the Apostle Paul— “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men [literally, to show one’s self as a man, brave], be strong”- 1 Corinthians 16:13 NASB
Let’s go about our task to advance the Kingdom of God and to demonstrate the complete character of God, including His masculinity.
In Christ,
Dale