Jacob Young

Compare Sean Strickland and Alistair Begg over the last 24 hours. People act like talk of testosterone and masculinity is just low-IQ machismo, but it actually really, really matters. Pulpits are filled with weak men like Begg who have all the outward trappings of “godliness” while a man like Strickland has none of that. He doesn’t claim to be a Christian or put forth any of the wholesome affections that are expected when you do. He is just a man who told the truth when the whole world demands that he lie. To do that requires the kind of intestinal fortitude that comes from the male hormone and the rare self-differentiation a man at the pinnacle of his craft has. The pulpits of American churches lack men such as these. We banish such men from ever hoping to pursue this calling. We put in place every possible incentive for men to be weak-willed, manpleasing hirelings. The best men will do anything else than suffer under the most intense, stultifying pressure. So instead, you have geldings like Begg, who can spend decades in quiet, nice, respectable ministry, but inwardly be total cowards worthy of nothing but disgust. There is a desperation for men who act like men to lead. You can see it when you see the reaction to Strickland. Conservative evangelicalism is desperate for men to lead, but the pathways for men-as-men to climb their way to leadership are completely cut off to them from the start. The only way forward will be to have churches which incentivize masculine leadership from the get-go and that attract and train young men who are really men and not conflict-avoidant nerds. And the second you do this, respectable men like Kevin DeYoung will attack you for your mood. You have to be willing to step over these people. You have to be willing to let the dead bury the dead. Respectable, winsome, Alistair Begg evangelicalism is dead and soon to be buried. It doesn't matter how much money they have, what institutions they have, the publishers, the seminaries, the big churches and denominations. The PCUSA and ELCA had and still has all that, too. It has no future. It is trapped in the world before Negative World. The future belongs to those who are willing to fight for it. And in that number, there will be more than a few men with cauliflower ear.