Artwork: "Flooded City"  Artist: Simon Fetscher

See you Tuesday on the Youtube channel.

And remember,

Be strong, and let your heart know courage.
Rev. Fisk

Ministryx - Matrilineal
By Rev. Benjamin Steenbock, Sons of Solomon Mastermind

Is your church controlled by "The Patriarchy" or is it "feminized"? Actually, it's probably neither. Anthropology gives us a term and a framework for understanding what is truly happening in most American churches.

The term is "matrilineal." Matrilineal societies are not defined by who holds formal positions of power or who does which jobs. Rather, matrilineal societies are defined by female needs, desires, and concerns having primacy in social life and females as the primary teachers of worldview for the next generation. In short, matrilineal societies have women as the center of and source of life, sustenance, and thriving (read more from Anthony Bradley's column).

The evidence is all around you. In most churches, what determines the programs and schedules? Answer: what fits best for women and their children. In most Christian homes, who does the lion's share of forming religious habits and passing on religious instruction? Moms. Maybe. And if not them, probably the female teacher(s) at your Christian day school and Sunday school. Your church service on Mother's Day probably chastises men for not appreciating moms enough. And then your church service on Father's Day probably chastises men for not appreciating moms enough. Even a common non-biblical phrase among Christians betrays the matrilineality we have adopted: "Happy wife, happy life."

In fact, you may be starting to think, "This isn't just a church problem, this is Western culture in general!" You'd be right. This became a cemented reality in the Industrial Revolution.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution many more men and fathers worked in and around their own house (e.g., farming, butchering, shoemaking, etc.). They had frequent interaction with their children, who often helped in these tasks. Fathers and men directly passed on skills, values, etc. Moreover, the more parochial nature of work resulted in more social interaction among men as members of the community not just coworkers from disparate places. However, in the Industrial Revolution, men shifted en masse into working away from the home for long hours at a factory or some other locale remote from the home.

The people left to run social life and conduct most of the child-rearing? Women. Mothers. And as a result, contrary to feminist insistence otherwise, the vacuum of male presence in the round-the-day social sphere handed that power directly to women. Indeed, the social power of women is incredibly dominating in modern American life.

It doesn't have to remain this way. Mad Christian men joining the Sons of Solomon are retaking this space. Instead of living for the nine-to-five job, or the endless crunch of the high-tech industry, we are living to breathe in and breathe out the Holy Scriptures of God - to our families, to our churches, and to our community. We are living to walk in the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do, not just to walk in the dead works our corporate overlords will forget about during the next review cycle. By taking total ownership of passing on the Scriptures to your family and community, by reasserting the inherent goodness of being a priest and king under the High Priest and King of Kings, you can raise your family and lead your community to stand upright upon the ruins instead of wallowing in the muck.

It's been apparent for a while now that the Wokest folks are usually highly educated, wealthy people. Last year, Rob Henderson wrote at Quillette about this phenomenon, which he called a "status update" on Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. He argues that because the upper classes find it increasingly hard to distinguish themselves via their fancy stuff, today's well-to-do stand out from the pack by adopting "luxury beliefs". 

One of the main ideas of Veblen's theory is that "a good way to size up [someone else's financial] means is to see whether they can afford to waste money on goods and leisure. This explains why status symbols are so often difficult to obtain and costly to purchase. These include goods such as delicate and restrictive clothing like tuxedos and evening gowns, or expensive and time-consuming hobbies like golf or beagling." These activities and purchases distinguished the wealthy from the riff-raff because they "could only be purchased or performed by those who did not live the life of a manual laborer and could spend time learning something with no practical utility." 

Yet today, with industrialized production and globalized economies, "material goods have become more affordable and, thus, less reliable indicators of social class." As Seinfeld says, "You see a limo go by, you know it's either some rich jerk or fifty prom kids with $1.75 each." Anyway, flaunting your wealth can get you into trouble .

Henderson gives an example of how the upper-classes now separate themselves from the rest of society through their beliefs. He says, "Your typical middle-class American could not tell you what “heteronormative” or “cisgender” means. But if you visit Harvard, you’ll find plenty of rich 19-year-olds who will eagerly explain them to you. When someone uses the phrase “cultural appropriation,” what they are really saying is “I was educated at a top college.” 

However, luxury beliefs don't stay with the upper classes. As various points-of-view become badges of status, they are embraced further down the social ladder. As Henderson points out, "the less fortunate suffer by adopting the beliefs of the upper class." He uses the example of the wealthy elites, who championed "sexual freedom" in the 60's. "Loose sexual norms spread throughout the rest of society. The upper class, though, still have intact families...The families of the lower class fell apart. Today, the affluent are among the most likely to display the luxury belief that sexual freedom is great, though they are the most likely to get married and least likely to get divorced."

Today we see "affluent people promote open borders or the decriminalization of drugs because it advances their social standing" and yet they "know that the adoption of those policies will cost them less than others." Thomas Sowell points out that even though it is often done in good faith, the consequences of elite "activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole."

As we've said before in Mad Mondays, the current Progressive culture is one that demands repentance but never issues absolution. While some adhere to "luxury beliefs" as a way to maintain power and others because they think they know what's best, these are the tricks we use to deflect our thoughts from our own sin. Changing the definition of what it means to be a good human, self-defined righteousness, is a way we delude ourselves into thinking we can save our own souls.

But taking Christ at his word is not a luxury belief, the Gospel is not just for the elite but for everyone, for folks of all status. It does not inflict damage on downtrodden but raises every sinner to a new life, adopted "as sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1). We believe the water sealed it; we believe the bread feeds it. Our status is sure - we are his.

The BBC has issued guidelines warning its employees about virtue signaling when they use social media. The motivation for the new guidelines has been the journalists who become "partisan campaigner[s] on social media." The rules also state: "If your work requires you to maintain your impartiality, don’t express a personal opinion on matters of public policy, politics, or ‘controversial subjects’." Yes, but what will they Tweet about now?

Former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss covered a lot of ground writing for Tablet last week. She outlines many of the ways Critical Race Theory has invaded our society and sounds a warning for her Jewish community regarding what she sees as rising acceptability of anti-Semitism.

David Harsanyi argues that the Left isn't afraid of Justice Amy Coney Barrett but it fears the Constitution.

Universities have largely been ignoring rules around disclosure of gifts from foreign sources but the Department of Education is attempting to change that.

Also changing is the idea of what cities are. As working-from-home becomes a new normal in many industries, an article from the Guardian kicks around a few ideas regarding what they call the "rebalancing" of cities. While telework means people can live further away from their workplaces forming "secondary cities", the gentrification of neighborhoods could make those communities more expensive for existing residents. This might lead to innovation in metropolitan areas or produce "ghost cities." Strange days, indeed.

Something nice to ponder, in this crazy time... The Babylon Bee podcast hosted author Diana Glyer recently, who has written a lot about the Inklings, CS Lewis and Tolkien. The conversation covered the long friendship between Lewis and Tolkien, their faith, and how Tolkien thought Narnia was a bad idea. Dr. Glyer speaks about the Inklings' commitment to meeting consistently, sharing their ideas and work. It's sure to give you some warm, fuzzy inspiration.

Following along with Rev. Fisk's read-through of Talk Them Into It?
Try with a physical book this week!

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⌨️ Improve your typing - try some 1984 or Dracula

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🗳️ It's funny 'cause it's true: Allie Stuckey brings her brand of satire to political advertisements

Only Illuminati Need Apply
Your Reaction Highlights (and Shadow's Response)

But first, we apologize- last week's Covidian Cult was sent to us by Michael Schuller.

Yes, Dan, this sounds a lot like the process that the Valve Cabals used to completely revamp Half-Life a year before it was actually released. The whole game was broken down and rebuilt using small focus groups. These cabals, as they were known, were at the intersection of individual initiative and "ours" mentality: "The Cabal process gave these ideas a place to be heard, and since it was accepted that design ideas can come from anyone, it gave people as much authority as they wanted to take. If the idea required someone other than the inventor to actually do the work, or if the idea had impact on other areas of the game, they would need to start a Cabal and try to convince the other key people involved that their idea was worth the effort." The best contributions passed the play-testing phase, keeping the emotional attachment out of the decision-making process. The cycle of play-testing, feedback, review, and editing resulted with the experience that lead to Half-Life's success.

This independent recruitment idea is central to Valve's Philosophy and it's one we at Mad Christianity try to mimic (tldr). We "maximize individual strengths and minimize individual weaknesses [to] set up a framework that allows individuals to influences as much [...] as possible." Much like Valve, here we decide which ideas are worth fulfilling and then work on the projects that we believe are the best use of our time. Kinda sounds like a dream job, huh? It sure is, and all are welcome here. We may not have desk on wheels, but the same thing is happening right now in Discord. Be a part of the movement. Join Mad Christianity.

Let us pray:  Almighty and everlasting God, You knit together Your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion, the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant us so to follow Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that, together with them, we may come to the unspeakable joys You have prepared for those who love You; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.