King David’s son, Absalom, stood at the city gate and listened to the problems of the people that came for judgment from King David. Then Absalom take hold of him, show affection toward this person, and told them how much better he’d be than his father.
And in doing so, he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
“After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”
2 Samuel 15:1-6 ESV
I believe that something akin to this is happening today concerning men. In many ways, men have been neglected. And a lot of them are looking elsewhere for guidance. The guidance they are getting is dragging them to destruction.
Pulling Men to Hell
The enemy pulling men down today is a conglomerate of things. The feminization of work is a big problem. The masculine jobs are disappearing while the more effeminate roles are increasing. For instance, the American job market has seen a decline in manufacturing, which has historically been a male dominated field. These jobs have gone to other countries for many years and were often good jobs for men that provided well for their family.
In place of these manufacturing jobs there are jobs that require more interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. These skills are not associated with men, but women. But even in a manufacturing job today, teamwork, communication, and other interpersonal skills are emphasized. This again favors women, even in a setting that is overwhelmingly masculine.
It seems that there are now only a few fields that favor masculinity. And most of those jobs are very labor intensive, such as construction. Or are dangerous, such as police and firefighters.
The end result of this is that there is a growing number of young men that are opting out of obligations that previous generations took on without even thinking about it. Close to 11% of men in their prime working years are not working or looking for work. Young men are increasingly not looking to get married in the near future either.
Men don’t go to work because they want to spend their lives at work. Ask a man why he works and he’ll tell you about his family.
Why would he crawl around in a mine? Why would he spend long hours in a hot warehouse? Why would he scale a roof and put in shingles? It’s for the wife and kids.
What happens when societal changes take away the wife and kids?
We’re seeing that right now. Men are beginning to leave the workforce, or never enter it.
And men are turning to people for answers that should not be listened to.
Absalom Vibes
I was amazed to find out that Andrew Tate had a massive following. Millions of people follow him online. And he is adored by many of them. Most of them are men. He advocates for men to improve their selves, work hard, and find an avenue to make a lot of money. To this I have no real problem. But he also advocates for men to not get married and to have sex with as many women as possible. He advocates for men to be serial fornicators who spread their seed far and wide. This is no good at all.
In this way, they seem to be putting off Absalom vibes. And he’s not the only one. A growing number of Social Media influencers stand ready to hear the young men and bring them to their side.
Everyone has noticed over the years that men are absent from church. It is something that has progressed over the years and is documented well in the book, “The Church Impotent” by Leon J. Podles. And now, to a young portion of those men, separated from the truth Absalom stands out at the gate dragging young men to Hell by whispering sweet promises in their ears. He whispers to them that they are powerful and they need to exude that power and use it to multiply theirselves by fornicating far and wide and soaking up as much wealth for their self as they can.
If you don’t see the appeal to that message, then you don’t understand young men at all. They have strength that they want to spend on something. And those people, as twisted as they are, will give young men something to spend their strength on.
They have a desire. And Tate stands at the gate saying that he can help with that problem.
There’s Danger Ahead
We can all predict what happens after these voices are listened to. Young men will use their strength, but they won’t use it to create a family. They will use it on themselves and fulfill the desires of the flesh. They will become fornicators that end up living in isolation. Personally, they will end up depressed and alone.
It really is not good for man to be alone. Single men report higher rates of depression and anxiety than married men. They are also much more likely to commit suicide.
And it is also not good for society that men are alone. Children that are born outside of a two parent home struggle when compared with their peers. As one article that summarized the data said,
All of society is harmed if they follow the direction of the growing number of Absaloms floating around on the internet. They will personally be harmed and so will their wives and children. The country will grow more violent and no one will be safe.
What do we do?
We should act, but what should we do?
The first order of business is to ensure that we’re delivering a message the men need to hear.
Sappy sentimentalism that oftentimes characterizes preaching today won’t do. Standing on stage dressed like Mario and preaching a sermonette from a video game stage won’t do it. Delivering sermons that avoid any depth won’t do it.
Young men are not ignorant. They’re not gonna hang around and grow to their full potential if you dangle a little entertainment in front of them. Treat them like they’re weak and have no real promise, and they’ll leave in a heartbeat. Young men are strong, and when given direction able to do impressive things.
Preach the King of all creation that sacrificed Himself for the salvation of sinners. Deliver to them the high responsibility of manhood. Deliver to them Christ, as He is presented in the Scriptures and the life He calls us to lead.
If you were to spend a little time listening to what these Absaloms are saying to young men, you’d see that they are challenging them to be better and to use their strength. And that is appealing to them.
Why do we think that the answer is to offer them entertainment and ease?.
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