Chapter 5 Part 1 Men

Chapter 5 - Men

“But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ,
The head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”
1 Corinthians 11:3

In God’s perfect will and plan for male and female relationships there is a hierarchy. Just as there is a hierarchy in heaven so there is one on the earth. In this hierarchy everyone is under authority, everyone! Because men are the head of the woman, I am going to start with the men. I can already hear the feminist and the humanist rage. In addition, of course there will be others who will object to this hierarchy for various reasons. However it is not my hierarchy, it is God’s. Please forward all complaints to 1-800-CALLGOD and you can argue with God. In our zeal to be politically correct, we have tried to ignore it, but it is to our peril if we do. In God’s perfect plan, the hierarchy is as follows:

GOD
Christ Jesus
Holy Spirit
Man
Woman

Child

This will undoubtedly set off a firestorm of controversy. In this society, anyone who questions the status of women or questions the right of a woman to have everything her way is immediately labeled a chauvinist male. The thing about God and His word is that our belief is not required. God’s divine plan continues whether I believe it or not. Because of our position, the bulk of responsibility falls on the man for this deadly sin of fornication.

In the last few generations, many black men in our communities have been fornicators. Many have chosen to lie down with anybody and everybody without concern for the consequences. It has not only been the poor, uneducated, drug/alcohol addicted practicing this awful sin. It has been lawyers, bankers, and police officers. Also included in this are politicians, community and church leaders, as well as professional athletes and entertainers. It seems that no one professional or otherwise is immune to this epidemic. Why has this been such a large-scale problem? Is it because of our background of slavery in this country? Some say it’s our heritage of polygamy carried over from Africa. Which is false, because Africa has had a rich heritage of Christian teaching and life. In my opinion, it is our deliberate and rebellious sin against God; plain and simple. For whatever reason many have decided, they are no longer under God’s authority. Many of our people have lost their fear of God. Many have chosen to go their own way, no longer being concerned with what God says.

“There is no fear of God before his eyes, when
he finds Out his iniquity and when he hates.

For he flatters Himself in his own eyes.”

Psalm 36:1,2

We have flattered ourselves with how slick and cool we are. However, it has not always been this way. There was a time in our history when men were leading the way, when men had a healthy fear of God. What does it mean to fear God? The fear in the Bible has been translated to mean to be in “awe” or “respect”. How can we not be in awe of God? How can any man look around and not recognize what God has done. I would rather believe in a dream (there is a God) than what I know is a lie (I am God). Who among us can add one inch to his height? Let alone create mountains, oceans, or make the sun rise and set. I am in awe of God for what He has done. It is amazing to me how we have no trouble acknowledging the fear we have of other men, but fear God! It seems that when our plight in this country was at its worst our men cried out to God and He answered.

There was no place else to turn then. Our “so called” Christian brothers were enslaving us and refusing to acknowledge our humanity. What they did not understand or accept is that in God’s hierarchy no man is more human than another man. In theology, two terms help us to distinguish the authority of things versus order of things. These words are nature and order. We humans are all the same nature. We all possess what Paul referred to as the “flesh of men”. However, we do not share the same order. The president of a company has authority over the vice-president, but they share the same nature. The one is not the president because he is more human than the vice-president. Therefore, no man is better than the woman, but his order is different. It is amazing that as our plight in this country has improved, our reliance on God has decreased. As we have become more affluent in this society, we have grown further away from God. The less we had the more we relied on God. This is not just the black man’s plight; it is this way with our society as a whole. This is not to say that we have achieved parity with the majority society, on the contrary. It just shows how little it took us to be drawn away from God, by Satan. In a short period, we have seen some black men rise to great heights in the business, sports, political, and entertainment worlds. There is still a long way to go, but if after these small gains, we have forgotten God how much more do you think God will be willing to allow.

“Better is a little with the fear of the Lord,
than great treasure with trouble.”
Psalms 15:16

We are more materially prosperous than at any point in our history in this country. Yet, in our prosperity, we have lost something. We have lost our spirituality. There are those who would say that we are still poor in this society, but even the poor in our society enjoy many things the poor in other countries dream about. Christ Jesus told us in the “beatitudes”, blessed are the poor in spirit. The problem with most of our “so called” Christians is they do not believe that being poor is a blessing. They say, “That’s really not what He meant.” It seems straightforward to me that is what He said. It is a fact the more abundant our resources the less we depend on God. The Bible speaks about the difficulty of the rich getting into the kingdom of heaven. The problem with most of us is that we look at our wealth in relation to those around us. We see so much conspicuous consumption in our society from the television that we think we are poor. However, if you were to look at the poor in say South America, Central America, or Africa, that is real poverty. We have “so called poor in our country wearing a hundred dollar sneakers. The fact is we are not poor; we just do not have all we desire. When your very survival is a day-to-day ordeal, you rely on God. You know that it is only by His grace that you make it another day. The old saints knew not only where their eternal salvation came from, but also their daily bread. This generation of man has decided that relying on God is no longer necessary. Let the women go to church. Let the women raise the children alone with no support, financial or otherwise. What we do not realize is that by not submitting ourselves to God, we are throwing the whole hierarchy of God out of balance. The first list illustrates God’s hierarchy and the second list is how we have corrupted that hierarchy.

GOD
Christ Jesus
Holy Spirit
Man
Woman
Child

Man
GOD
Christ Jesus
Holy Spirit
Woman
Child

By having our women go to church alone, we have left women and children under God’s authority. They are under God’s authority, but not under the covering of a man as God intended. I was recnetly engaged to be married and I told my fiancé that I needed to cover her and she did not understand what I meant. After I put the ring on her finger, she realized what I was saying. The ring said more to other people than she ever could. By me giving her that ring, it showed the world that she had a man that loved her enough to make a commitment for life to her. Many people have no respect for the sanctity of relationships, let alone marriage. By covering the woman I love, I send the men who would not respect our relationship a loud and clear message that she is loved. Not only the woman should be covered but the children as well. Most predators are looking for an easy target; just the physical presence of a man can deter a lot of this behavior. We are the ones outside of God’s authority. Notice the only ones who have the same position in both diagrams are the women and children. God will not allow anyone authority over anyone or anything who is not under authority themselves.

“You could have no power against Me unless
it had been given you from above.”
John 19:11

Therefore, we see that God gives the authority even in this world. Here is the key; God loves those women and children just as much as He loves you. He will not allow us authority over them when we are running around engulfed in sin. That is why we have no authority in our homes and our women refuse to submit to us. Why should they? Who in their right mind would submit to a lost little boy? The way we have been living has not been as men, but as little boys. Little boys only care about themselves and their own selfish pleasures. The world taught me that a man was: a drinker, drug addict, fornicator, an adulterer, stays out all night, and answered to no one. What I have since learned is that I was being a fool. Two marriages and countless relationships later, it finally dawned on me how foolish I was. Today I know that a man takes care of his responsibilities. He gets a job, wakes up and goes to that job. A man loves and takes care of his family, especially his children. A man not only makes babies, but he raises them as well. How can we claim to love our children and yet we do not provide for their needs? We have not behaved as men, and now we are reaping the fruit of that childish behavior.