Why I Cannot Stomach Compromise: How My Worldview Was Shaped by Watching Men of Courage, Conviction & Service

So much has changed in America since I was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi. I was born at a time and into a culture where the masculinity of men was admired and the femininity of women was treasured. My southern culture demanded that men be men and women be women, and anything to the contrary was not celebrated, but berated.

At an early age, my family moved to Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C. I had the privilege of spending almost eight years of my elementary life living in the Washington D.C. area.

I was taken countless times to Arlington National Cemetery where the fields of green grass were dotted with snow-white tombstones of men who had laid down their lives in service and combat for what is good and right and just.

I was taken to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier more times than I could count, where the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), headquartered at Fort Myer, Virginia walk smartly back and forth with discipline and precision in guard and honor of those whose remains lie but feet away, and are known only to God.

Click here to watch some of the best footage of the sacred ceremony known as the changing of the guard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-GU39Owwho

 

I admired these men so much that I would often pretend I was one of them as I walked back and forth in my backyard with a wooden rifle on my shoulder.

I walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial countless times where I would stare at the multi-story statue of a man who was larger than life in my history books and in reality.

On many summer nights I would sit on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial and watch all the various branches of military as they would drill and perform, whether highlighted by military bands, or the silence that was deafening as The Army Drill Team Rifle Toss performed. This was my favorite ceremony to watch. I was struck by the valor, the honor, the discipline, the commitment, the courage and the sacrifice. Men would throw rifles over their head and the heads of their fellow soldiers complete with bayonet, and be caught by a soldier who would return the rifle back to the front of the line twirling with a literal razor’s edge to the hand of a skilled serviceman. This became known as the "daring front-to-rear overhead rifle toss.”

Watch this video and see if you cannot imagine a young boy in elementary school growing up with such impressions that helped to shape his life and cause him to want to be a person of courage, conviction, service, and leadership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svs99MYWaUE

On my way to school in Northern Virginia, I would see military men in their uniforms standing at the local bus stops waiting to take the ride in to the nation’s capital only a few miles away. At church I would sit behind a man whose children I knew, and I was in awe that he was an officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), and his job was to keep track of uranium all around the globe.

When my parents would go out of town, I would stay with a man and his wife and their teenage children who were, to me, what I hoped my family would one day resemble. The father was in the U.S. Air Force and Special Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Washington, D.C. While I knew him and spent time in his home, he was promoted to Brigadier General. Our families vacationed together and went to church together. When I would stay in their home, we would rise early and have breakfast before we went off to school and he went off to the Pentagon. He was kind  and attentive and yet also strong.

As a young boy, I was taken to the home of a four star General, retired Russell Dougherty. General Dougherty was Commander in Chief of the Strategic Air Command. As a World War II pilot, he was a part of the ‘greatest generation’– those who grew up in America, lived through the Great Depression, and went on to serve their country in the war. He served as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Europe. On August 1, 1974, he became the eighth commander of the Strategic Air Command.

In the mid 1950s, Mr. Dougherty was assigned to Headquarters 15th Air Force, SAC, as Chief, Operations Division, and he planned the B-52 round-the-world flight that he personally told me about as I stood in his home and he showed me the pictures hanging on his wall.

On a daily basis I was literally surrounded by men in uniform as I went about my normal day as a child. On Wednesday night we would attend church and the men who had worked in the Pentagon and other military stations would arrive directly at church from work, wearing their uniforms. I did not have to be taught to respect these men, I just did.

I can remember many Wednesday night Bible studies in which a Secret Service agent would speak to our group and give a slide presentation on his agency, and speak of serving on the President’s protective detail. Then  he would share his personal testimony of salvation.

Whether military, FBI, CIA, Secret Service or with an unnamed agency that could not be discussed, I was surrounded by men who were patriots, and most of them I knew were Godly men who served and taught in the local church where I grew up.

The movies I watched were carefully selected, but my favorites featured John Wayne in the classic In Harm’s Way, or The Green Beret. I remember watching in 1979 when the made-for-TV movie, “When Hell Was in Session” debuted on television. The movie tells the story of Jeremiah Denton spending almost eight years in a North Vietnam POW camp, of which four years included solitary confinement.
Here is a short video clip about this great American.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGIiCOFQxqk

All of these life experiences at an early age shaped my worldview and my expectations of what I demand of myself and the men around me–including the broadcasters I carry on my radio and television network.

I really appreciate women who are kind and gentle in spirit and tone. My wife is such a lady, and we really balance each other off nicely. I do understand that some women may have an issue with my tone at times, and I agree that I could soften it up a bit. Yet, my wife who is one of the most patient, anti-controversial people you will meet told me one day that it was my personality that she found appealing when we started dating. I asked her why someone so soft spoken and gentle could fall in love with such a strong personality. Her answer shocked me. She told me how she wanted a husband that she could not push around or she would not respect him. I thank God for the gentle spirits of many ladies, but I also would remind you that men such as myself are needed to protect such treasures like you as we also protect the treasure of God’s bride, the church.

So frankly, forgive me if I am not part of the snowflake generation or cannot relate to most men in their 40s and 50s who have little, if any, stomach for contending for the faith unless it is in writing or standing up on a platform where they face no challenge or debate. Perhaps now you better understand in part who I am and why. And trust me, I don’t plan on conforming to today’s standard of political correctness or Christian happy talk. My radio program, television program, books, and conferences are for people who can handle the truth without a spoonful of sugar to make it more appealing.

Unfortunately, in ministry, I see many men who would have never passed the requirements for entry into the military, and evidently, cannot pass the military requirements laid out by the Apostle Paul. In the New Testament, Paul regularly uses military terms to describe how Godly men should conduct themselves in contending for the faith and protecting the flock. Such traits are rarely found in so-called pastors and elders today. Group consensus is evidently more important than individual purity that is unstained from the sin of compromise and self-gratification.

I am sad when I see men in ministry who seem more obsessed with their exercise regiment than in exercising faith and stepping out, even if it means stepping out alone. I see men who want the benefits that can be gained by being a pastor, author, minister, conference speaker or talk show host, but they want none of the trials and tribulations that come from such leadership posts.

If you are a parent or grandparent, please use the experiences and lessons and even documentaries and historical films that helped to shape my resolve as tools to give the nation and church a sturdy brand of men so desperately needed. We need men who are more concerned about Biblical vision than the coolest eye wear. We need men who wear the wrinkles of battle rather than wearing the latest fashion. Men who are more concerned about being the apple of God’s eye instead of wearing the latest apple watch. Men who care more about truth than earthly treasure. Men who are not empty suits spewing only hollow words because they have no actions backing them up. We need men who bear the scars of countless spiritual battles regardless of how uncomfortable it becomes.

I am sick and tired of hearing people bellyache about how they want everyone to just get along and how they want only peace and unity. There is no such thing as peace nor unity unless there is unity around the Prince of Peace and the truth of His Word, and as long as people compromise for personal expediency there will not be unity or peace with such people.

It is truly hard to believe that my breaking the story of a man by the name of James White sitting in a church in the metro area where I live and having an interfaith dialogue with a Jew-hating, holocaust-denying, Hitler-defending, terrorist-aligned, terrorist-mentored, terrorist-mentoring, Muslim Brotherhood Imam is something so-called pastors, elders, and ministers are now defending or excusing! Yet, they are more worried about my tone than the serious spiritual and national security threat of a so-called conservative reformed minister now mainstreaming the tactic of Muslim Brotherhood for stopping the criticism of Islam—Interfaith Dialogue. The goal is not only to stop the criticism of Islam, but to recruit converts. The goal of IFD is also to paint those that speak the truth about Islam as racists, and then set them up for persecution. Egyptian Muslim and Terrorist, Seyyid Qutb wrote,

The chasm between Islam and Jahiliyyah [the society of unbelievers] is great, and a bridge is not to be built across it so that the people on the two sides may mix with each other, but only so that the people of Jahiliyyah may come over to Islam.

Many men claim to love Biblical truth & masculinity yet act weak and feminine by whining over the tone of people warning of Islamic danger–both spiritually and in the national security arena. I saw a so-called pastor recently complaining about my tone. I thought, who is the guy? I have never seen him on the battlefield. He is not known for being a leader of men. He has no record of blood that has been spilled in unflinching battles for the truth. He is unknown except on his YouTube channel where he sits and acts like he has earned the right to be heard or considered just because he knows how to sit in an office with a bookshelf behind him spewing words of pious clap trap. These are men of all talk and no action. No wonder the average man in America today has such little respect for the clergy. These are men that have run and hid to avoid the spiritual draft, and yet pop their heads up from the tall grass to lecture those on the front line taking the fight to the enemy. They want to speak about the tone of battle instead of actually taking part. They want to ridicule the soldiers of valor and sacrifice instead of acknowledging the enemy and their tactics for which he and his fellow dupes have fallen prey. They want to add their pubescent commentary on men doing battle so they might gain a few more Twitter followers in hopes of validating their inconsequential station in life. Mark these men and avoid them. They are easy to recognize because they have zero reputation for being a warrior, only a whiner. They are always the commentator and never the commander, always a pundit and never a punching bag, always playing the role of being manly while proving to be someone who has yet to earn his stripes in battle.

We do not need to listen to such pretenders that have been AWOL in the battle for truth. Ignore these men for what they are: wannabes, pretenders, academic simpletons that run from the battle to sit in front of their computer camera to film YouTube videos that expose their spiritual treason and cowardice.

Do you think a drill sergeant who is training his men for missions that involve life and death cares about how his tone is perceived? Do you think in a time of battle his men ask him to give out life and death information in lovely tones of a quiet whisper, as a mother speaks to her child? No, the soldiers want a loud, direct, and unvarnished assessment of the situation, and where the enemy is camouflaged, waiting to kill and destroy.

In a nation of desensitized, spoiled brats who have been conditioned by political correctness and the caricature of feminized men, the nation and church has been left to look upon a man of passion, conviction, and courage as an offensive voice even when he lifts up a shout of warning that danger is ahead.

The hearer ignores the sacrifice of the watchman and sees his alert as inconvenient, uncomfortable, and an interruption of his life of rest and entertainment. Instead of appreciation for his service, the watchman is shot at by the very people he seeks to inform, warn, and protect. Yet, ignoring the almost non-stop friendly fire, his commitment to truth and the urgency of the state of the nation and church leads him to continue to seek protection even for those who have sought to undermine his warning of a clear and present danger.

My friends, we don't need more pansies in the pulpit, cowards on church boards, or ministries run by men who are really looking to avoid a real day's hard work by hiding behind a spiritual facade. Today we need more Pastor Braveheart and less of Pastor Gomer Pyle.

It is past time for men to stop pretending to be soldiers in the Lord’s Army and actually be one in word and deed.

Femininity in women is beautiful, but in men it is disgusting. Just because a man loves sports and is involved in sports does not mean he is masculine. Biblical masculinity can be seen in small-framed men who hate sports, but love the fight for truth and run toward the sound of the battle. Pretenders sit in the tall grass, avoid public statements on controversial issues, and even defend spiritual and national security treason if it means they remain embraced by their fellow pretenders.

I recently saw some self-described elders asked on camera about their opinion of interfaith dialogue and they literally said “pass,” refusing to give an answer. What does that tell you? If my pastor acted in such a cowardly manner, I would immediately recognize him for what he is and find a real pastor who had the courage of his conviction and the masculinity of a real man.

Often, I will talk to a man who has taken time off work to lie around on the couch because he has a cold. Give me a break! I am sorry if I cannot relate. I broke my back in 1999, and after being taken to the ER, I went against medical advice and would not be checked into the hospital to stay the night, but instead hobbled out. A week later, I was lying in the back of a car being driven hours away from my home to speak at a week-long conference because I had made a commitment and had a family to support. So again, forgive me if my stomach turns when I hear all this whimpering from ‘pastor petty-coat’ who needs to take off the dress and act like a man. 

Let’s keep watching as those who claim to be elders and pastors reveal themselves to be professional critics sitting behind computer screens writing books for sale that are filled with words they refuse to put into practice, or sit behind microphones spewing empty words they will not back up when given the opportunity, or standing behind pulpits calling their congregants to lift a standard they have long since lowered in compromise and pragmatism for comfort and collectivism among their cliché of compromisers.

Yes, these are troubling days, but thank God they are here so we can separate the pastors from the pansies, the masculine from the feminized and leaders from the lemmings. For when the real threat is upon us, the true church in America, we will not have time to discern whom we can trust and whom we should ignore. Whether locally or nationally, the time to put Christian men to the test is now. I am thankful for the pastors who are strong leaders, who are men of courage and conviction. These are the types of men we try to feature on our radio and television network, and in the coming weeks, we will be introducing you to more such men. Amen!

So, ignore the men who are more worried about tone, the club, and comfort over the defense of what is true, just and noble. Look to the real churchmen and patriots as they lift up a shout of warning, protection and care for their fellowman, so they might be spared unnecessary harm and destruction both in this life and the life to come. We need less pansies and more patriots, we need more young men being influenced and shaped by the example of men who have the courage of their convictions.

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