My apologies to everyone reading if you are not a pastor, but this is to pastors, though you all might find it interesting. For everything else, scroll down.
There’s a wild phenomenon happening. For the first time in the history of religious attendance being counted, young men are outpacing young women headed into churches.
As young women secularize, young men are becoming more religious. For the last thirty years or so, secular culture has become more and more hostile to young men. “Man-spreading” and “man-splaining” and “boys being boys” and “toxic masculinity” and the need to advance girls, etc., etc., etc. all combined to degrade what it means to be a boy or a man and elevate girls. The intentions were good at first, but more and more grew into hostility.
Now, a lot of boys are growing up not knowing their place in the world. The world seems out of sorts for them. Girls are getting more college degrees, becoming more independent and secular, and the world sells women that they don’t need men, can have their cake and eat it too, and be a successful career woman and mom with a sperm donor.
It is not, however, culture leading young men into the church doors. It is the Holy Spirit. Pastors, be very careful here. Culture is working against young men and the Spirit is pushing them through your doors.
I’m noticing a few dangerous trends shaping up in churches as a result.
First, and most commonly with pastors who are hyper online, some churches are catering towards the victim impulse of the guys and advancing a bro culture that is much more reflective of secular society than the church. The theology is pugilistic and tinged with an Andrew Tate-style male superiority that is not Christlike.
Second, likewise, pastors being hyper online is a common feature, the churches are weaving contemporary American politics into the sermons. MAGA Christianity is becoming a thing. The sermons are relevant to the here and now, not the eternal. This gets dangerous because when the political enters the church, it almost always pushes out the gospel. Mixing the gospel and contemporary politics undermines the gospel more often than not.
We’re seeing, in response to the present trends, a real hostility to prominent evangelical theologians who, in the vernacular of the woke right, “don’t know what time it is.” They’re blasted for being eternal-minded and not grounded in the here and now. They are criticized for not following the headlines in their pulpit or making the gospel relevant to contemporary politics.
Resist the temptation and bullying to ground the gospel in the here and now. The Holy Spirit led the men in through your doors, not the cultural headwinds.
Third, and most dangerous, large voices online from Tucker Carlson to Candice Owens to even Joe Rogan are luring many of these young men down dark paths often tinged with antisemitism, hate, victimhood, and even into Nazi fetishizing. Carlson has been promoting a lot of voices “just asking questions” who sure seem to side with Hitler on history. Owens has made every possible excuse for the Nazis. Rogan has regularly featured young men “just asking questions” whose online activities reveal deep antisemitism and occasional Hitler fetishes. Joel Webbon is increasingly using his platform to preach a deformed gospel centered on white grievance tinged with hints of antisemitism. This thread on Twitter is very eye-opening on what is happening and the voices preying on the young men entering churches.
You may have never heard of the Hodge Twins or Joel Webbon or Ian Carroll or Myron Gaines, but a lot of young men disaffected by current society and trying to find their way are being drawn into something that will pollute their souls.
Pastors, the Holy Spirit is leading young men into churches. Do not think they’re there because of you. They are in search of something. They’ll be served up the real gospel, a twisted gospel, or the world. Make your words count for eternity with them. Make Christ not just King, but their Savior. They need to learn the Truth and they need real discernment. There are predators about not from mainline progressive denominations, but from evil regressive voices who’d use the words of Christ to divide and terrorize.
Teach these young men to love the Lord with all their hearts and to love their neighbors too. Teach them to be Godly fathers with humble hearts. Feed them the truth.
Alcatraz
I’m just going to give this to Jeffrey Blehar:
[W]e’re apparently going to reopen Alcatraz as a federal Supermax prison, which is a great idea because if there’s anywhere you want to house America’s most heinous criminals, it’s within the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brian Kemp
I’m writing this from Sea Island where Governor Kemp is having his annual conference for donors of his leadership fund. A lot of people wanted him to run for the Senate, myself included. But, in the back of my head, I’d concluded months ago he would not run.
No governor who has ever entered the United States Senate has liked it. It is a source of misery for all of them.
Frankly, after being Secretary of State and then two terms as Governor, I suspect Governor Kemp is just ready to go make some real money. Despite the slurs and lies of his critics, he has not used his office to enrich his personal life and does not want to follow the trend of career politicians who arrive poor in Washington and leave millionaires off a government salary.
Maybe we’ll see him consider 2028. For now, I suspect he wants to consider a salary higher than that of the Governor of Georgia in the private sector.
Speculation now goes to Lt. Governor Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr and might one of them be persuaded to run for the Senate instead or perhaps Congressman Rich McCormick or Insurance Commissioner John King.
But I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret. Do you know who has the best polling among Republicans in a primary after Kemp? Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s all name ID, though. But it is something she is considering unless Trump weighs in differently. Trump will not want a Herschel Walker repeat.
