Author: Keith Johnson

Come on………I know the answer…..it’s not NO….it’s HELLLLLLLL NO!!!! And that is sad!
Eldridge in Wild at Heart, claims…..”We don’t need an accountability group or a meeting of really nice guys…….we need fellow warriors, a gathering of Really Dangerous Men.”

David Smith writes in the Friendless American Male, “One problem is the friendless condition of the American Male….men can’t admit that they need the fellowship of other men.”

I call it the Cowboy mentality…….. the tough guy…….I remember the days when my Father would get hurt by my Mother or feel down about something. He would get his feelings hurt but never admit it. In fact, he would say……“don’t worry about me, I don’t have any feelings. You can’t hurt my feelings because I don’t have any.” Now……I admit…..that he was a tough guy…….part Comanche Indian, Special Forces Green Beret, one year Korean War, 4 years Vietnam, 2 purple hearts, (unlike John Kerry, his wounds required hospital treatment and stitches) one bronze star, one silver medal ……….they called him “Animal” on the High School football team. He was tough……..but he damn sure had feelings and they got hurt a lot but he never had another man he could share his heart with…….so sometimes he would share it with me when I was a teenager.

He would share his pain and his hurt………what a horrible marriage he had and it saddened him deeply……..he had killed many North Viet Cong but was unable to heal and repair his own marriage or the lung cancer he eventually died from.

What does Jesus mean in Matthew 11:12? “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.” I really don’t think he is talking about “couch potatoes” and “Video Gamers”. I think he is talking about “men of passion” and masculine aggression and fearlessness, brave, loyal and dedicated to the cause of Christ! I don’t know many me like that today………do you? But if you find him……..I recommend that you fall on your knees and beg him to mentor you!

When I was 13 years old, we lived at Ft Benning in Columbus, GA. My father has just returned from Vietnam and he would eventually leave the Army due to the post war cut back. But I vaguely remember one night where he met with the men who he fought along side in Vietnam…….all junior to him. He had fought for his life with them and one of his Sergeants had saved my father’s life when the enemy had attacked him at night to cut his throat. These men, without the Lord, were still truly a Band of Brothers. I will never forget how thrilled my father was when he met with them and how close they were. They needed each other and had depended on each other and it showed. They were Warriors who needed each other!!

King David fell into sin with Bathsheba when he was no longer a Warrior strolling around the roof of the palace. 2 Samuel 11:1. He got lazy and became a couch potato playing games and fell……sharing with no one…….Posing………and falling

What about you……… Tough Guy? Who do you depend on??

(Photo Credit “Earl 53” Morguefile.com)

Is it a spiritual battle between you and the enemy and your wife…….not just you and your wife……..both ‘in the flesh”? Have you ever felt, like I have, that no matter how you tried to be clear in communicating with the love of your life, your lover, the Mother of your children, your soul mate for life, and your bestest friend on the planet……….no matter how hard you try………you don’t get through and you don’t have a freakin clue how to get through!!!

Now…………is that the enemy or my stinkin inadequacy and/or flesh/sin?? Cause I know how inadequate I am in communicating with my wife and women. But I can tell you that there have been times where I felt there was a block and a barrier and it was supernatural, not normal or natural and it was oppressive!! Call it demonic, evil, queer, strange, abnormal, mystical or supernatural, other worldly??? I don’t know……but I sure felt helpless, no clue and powerless to communicate!!!!

And I do know that when we do communicate and understand each other, our ministry is powerful and effective and giving. We have served together powerfully and loved many children together selflessly to the Glory of God. But there have been times where we have not done well together…………..is that the Enemy, Lucifer, the Devil, the accuser of the Brethren?? Eldridge says it is and so does C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters. The Devil is concealing himself and doesn’t want you to believe he exists because he is much more effective this way.

Is Peter right???? Is the Devil a roaring Lion? Seeking whom he may devour? What do you think? Do we fight the ones we love the most because of an evil force know as the Slanderer, the fallen Angel…..Lucifer?
Look forward to hearing your comments…………..

Did you ask those two questions of yourself last week?

1. PUT THE BOOK DOWN…….AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WOULD THINK OF YOURSELF IF TOMORROW, YOU LOST EVERYTHING THAT THE WORLD HAS REWARDED YOU FOR!!!

2. Where are you deriving your sense of strength and power from? Ask yourself this question often.

Maybe I am wrong, but I would assume that most of you didn’t ………….

Why should you? You are comfortable, safe, healthy, employed……But are you effective in and for the Kingdom? For Jesus? I often doubt my effectiveness!!! Do you? Or do you even think about it??……….your eternal purpose? I don’t …….enough!!

It is sooooo much easier to be a Poser than a Real Man….to stand for the underdog, the “not so pretty”, uneducated, poor, down trodden…is tough!!!! ..Real men expose posers……you will not be popular……..or well liked by many……..you will be challenged and humiliated……….not so cool anymore……kinda like Jesus……..crucified and buried but back, risen, and seen by over 500 people!

I met a young 13 year old boy today who was visiting our house with friends. When I innocently asked him about his father, he hung his head and with a sad voice told me his father had died when he was 5 years old as a war hero. His Aunt later told me that his father had committed suicide as a Soldier and the boy was not told the truth. Sad……this life is sad in many ways……and there are young boys out there with no Real Men in their lives. Why not you?? Why not me?? Wellllll………..you know the answer to that question…….we answered it at the beginning…..you are comfortable, safe, healthy and employed……….why the hell would I get involved with a young sad boy?

But don’t be afraid to let your strength show up………..the real you……the Real Man…….Let People feel the Weight of Who you Really are…..and let them deal with it. You and I both have a lot to offer “fatherless 13 year old boys”. Go find one and teach him how to be a Real Man.

Do people know who you really are? Are you afraid to show them? Are you afraid to be real and vulnerable? Are you posing for protection?

I remember going to a high school reunion a few years ago and meeting some buddies who had made it big….multi millionaires, married to beautiful, young women, driving fast cars and living in big houses on the beach, prestige and big titles like CEO and President……They were Legends in their own Minds! Although we were close in high school, they were very different now and I did not recognize them and they chose not to really acknowledge me. I remember thinking what money can do to a man and how we all live for this temporary pleasure of wealth and self-importance and how phony it all was!!

What is the “World” mentioned in the Bible? Eldredge says “the World is not a place or set of behaviors like drinking or dancing or going to bars, etc.—it is any system built by our collective sin, all our false selves coming together to reward and destroy each other. Take all those posers out there, put them together in an office or club or a church and want you get is what the Scriptures mean by the World.”

He goes on to say……”the World is carnival of counterfeits, counterfeit battles, counterfeit adventures, counterfeit beauties. Men should think of it as a corruption of their strength. Battle your way to the top, says the World, and you are a Man (or The Man). Why is it then that the men who get there are the most prideful, fearful, frightened, most emptiest posers around? They are mercenaries battling to build their own kingdoms. There is nothing transcendent about their own lives.”

And the same holds true for adventure addicts……after the last adventure and the thrill is gone, it is still just a hobby. And we are all looking for that Golden-haired woman, the counterfeit beauty…..we are told to go for her.

Eldredge says again:

PUT THE BOOK DOWN…….AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WOULD THINK OF YOURSELF IF TOMORROW, YOU LOST EVERYTHING THAT THE WORLD HAS REWARDED YOU FOR!!!

Where are you deriving your sense of strength and power from? Ask yourself this question often.

I am struggling with that now. I have had several chances in my live over the years to become very wealthy and God removed the opportunity……..for my own good. He knew that I could not handle it, that I would spend the wealth on me and prefer myself to others and my wife…..live for myself and not Him……for God’s sake, I have enough problem with that now in my present state.

Eldridge says….” Don’t be a self-promoter, choose the path of humility, climb down the ladder……invite the mail clerk home for dinner.”

I fly a lot and it is often times a miserable experience. People are tired and miserable and grumpy. I try to find people doing something right and tell them about it……..like the flight attendant who smiles at me after a 12 hour day or the janitor scrubbing the toilet at the airport, giving it everything he’s got……to the glory of God.

Are you a Counterfeit????……….or do you let people feel the weight of who you really are??