Thankful Men Are Free Men

The New Right, Non-Sequiters, and Numquam Suade Mihi Vana

Feigned Retreat and Non-Sequiters

Bitterness, despair, wrath, mockery, sloth. Today in America, among young men, there is a strong temptation to these sins as we watch our culture mutilate itself in moral confusion. We look at the economic, cultural, and spiritual infrastructure, and see it teeming with termites, some of which are fat and sleek from decades of feasting. We turn our ears to the WEF and Ivy League, and hear the patronizing prophecies: “You will eat ze bugs and live in ze pod; you will own nothing, and you will be happy.” 

So, we hear in our interior self something like this:

“Look how wicked these globalists are. Look how bad that is. Don't you need to be angry? You should be furious. You deserve to be angry. You need to focus on your future, how will you own a house? You don't need to be generous to others, you can’t afford that. You need to focus on your future. Your grandparents didn't have these problems. They had a great life, man. All these boomers, they don't know. They're holding on to all the wealth. You should be selfish. You should feel bitter. You should just relax and [insert self-destructive and addictive behavior here…]

And what's the point of getting married? Your grandpa didn’t have to worry that she would take the kids and the house. He could go get any old full-time job, and pay for the house, two cars, and 2.5 kids. You might never financially ever have a good day in your life again. Crazy times call for crazy solutions, so why not check out of the old-fashioned marriage idea, and go with [insert sexually degenerate solution here…].  

Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight. —Art of War

What is going on here? The center of this demoniac army feigns retreat, and the units hiding behind the hills close in on your pursuing army. The devils are leading you on. They are telling you a bunch of truths, and then redirecting you to the conclusion that they desire you to arrive at. It’s hard times. So go sin. That argument obviously does not follow. The syllogism does not work, but you do not realize that in the moment. You are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of very true and very frustrating facts.

To pivot analogies: “Look at how bad the economy is. You should be anxious. Look at the dating marketplace. Look at illegal immigration!” There’s the evil one with a step back. “Oh, yeah, it is bad, I agree.” You throw a weak cross. It misses. “You should unwind with p0rn/weed/fornication/greed/etc.” He throws a right hook. K.O.

In the mixed-bag of the online New Right, there are many people exposing the evils of liberalism and godlessness. Accounts like LibsOfTikTok , NotTheBee,

New Right Poast

, and the like do some important work. They are doing the work that the previous generations of fathers, pastors, professors, and local magistrates have left undone. Their posts are showing you the Overton Window¹, as it slides Left like a dab of butter in a hot skillet. Some Greek-statue PFP Twitter account shows you the newest manmade horror that someone is cooking up in a government office or in university student center near you. What a time to be alive.

But when we see information like that, the Two Ways² still lie before you. The straight and narrow, and the broad and easy. The reception of bad news is disconnected from your response to it. Thankfulness and bitterness flow out from the individual. They are responses, decoupled from the stimulus. The path of least restistance is bitterness, despair, wrath, mockery, sloth. The path of virtue is gratitude, faith, peace, sincerity, diligence.

I am not trying to be moralistic and pietistic. Young men have probably been brow-beaten enough by the motherly scolding of the “Be Nice” cult, which simply says, “stop complaining.” This is not that. We often should have a righteous anger, as our Lord when He drove out the money-changers in the temple. But that was done with perfect Love, the thankful love that is like fire, consuming all as a thanksgiving offering to the Father.

The evil one will tell you that thankfulness and meekness³ are too close to weakness, but that is a lie to make you weaker. Thankfulness is viture, and virtue is vir, strength. I am trying to show you the play that is being run on you in your personal life, so you can see it coming: the evil one will show you half-truths, and then tempt you to despair. Despair makes you easily enslaved. He will show you half-truths and tempt you to anger. That anger is innocent enough, when it is directed toward true evils, But, when you have been angry long enough, he will try and point your anger where his anger is pointed: Heavenward. Lord Jesus, deliver us. When you see evil, pray that ye enter not into temptation in your response to it. Vade retro satana, numquam suade mihi vana.⁴

Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves

Therefore, be wise as snakes and innocent as doves. —Matthew 10:16

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. —1 Corinthians 16: 13-14

Two things can be true at once. The family as God intended is being attacked viciously. Still, be thankful, and fight for truth and love. The economy is a mess. Still, be thankful, and fight for truth and sanity. Jesus promised us tribulation. Let us pray for the grace to endure it, and be made worthy of His promises. 

Part of godly manhood is holding two things together: thankfulness and cunning. Wisdom and innocence. Childlike in doing evil, and mature in our thinking. God expects us to do our earthly duties with diligence, and to take dominion, even in Negative World. That is finding ways to provide for ourselves and our families, managing the degeneracy around us, seeing that our children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, etc. These are very practical and require that we interact with the clown world around us. But, we are to do all these things with a heart that is seeking the things above, and that is aflame with loving gratitude and obedience to the Crucified One. We are to do our earthly business with the cunning of Proverbs, and with the faith of the Psalms. With the sobriety of a full-grown man, and with the grateful wonder of a child. 

For a given bad situation, I need to be able to talk about it. I need to be able to deal with it. I need to be able to be wise and cunning concerning it. I need to be able to solve it. I need to be able to, in some situations, bear it as a cross, until God sees fit to remove it. I need to be able to do all these things while at the same time holding a flame of love and gratitude in my heart. I wrote about this in my post on the Old English poem The Seafarer:

One must steer a strong mind, and keep it steady. —The Seafarer

Do not let the oil go out. My lamp must stay burning. This lamp must stay burning, even in a hurricane. And that is because this lamp is lit with a special fire. This is the flame of the Holy Ghost, who turns our hearts in gratitude to the Father of Lights. And many waters cannot quench this love.

The Wise and Foolish Virgins, Edward Burne-Jones, 1859

Thankfulness in the Trenches

We are in a war. We are in the Long War, the Antithesis, the great Enmity between the Serpent and the Seed of Eve. If salvation is our helmet, righteousness our breastplate, the word of God our sword, good news our shoes, truth our belt, and faith our shield, then thankfulness is the morale for battle. The people of Israel left Egypt, plundering the Egyptians, with songs of thankfulness. They returned from exile, ascending Mt. Zion, with psalms of thanks. Joshua’s army blew the trumpets around Jericho with thankfulness to God.

So, finding ourselves in a war, I want to present you with a choice between two attitudes for your fellow soldiers. Would you choose a band of soldiers that are envious, or thankful? Would you want the band of brothers to be jealous, discontent, angry with God, and despondent? Or would you prefer them to be thankful, joyful, courageous, solid, and principled? Do you want the men beside you in the trenches to be thankful for the opportunity to defend their people, or bitter about it?

Would you prefer them doubtful or faithful? For thankfulness is a kind of faith. Faith is a trust in God, and thankfulness is an expression of trust. Doubt, insecurity, and envy are sisters. They are catty, argumentative sisters who don’t get along, but they usually arrive together. Thankfulness, courage, and selflessness arrive together: They are the great and terrible war banners of the Lord⁵.

Thankful men are free men. Thankful men are not easily manipulated. When Satan wants to corrupt a man, he starts him a envyin’. Envy and thankfulness are the two options. Thankfulness brings you nearer the Thanked. Envy brings you nearer the devil. Envy is the progeny of Pride, and has been the root of most other sins in our world. Thankfulness is a unique virtue. It is really a fruit of the virtues of charity and humility. It seats a man’s locus of control in heavenly places with Christ, above all rule and authority⁶. It makes him blow the trumpet louder, plunge the spear deeper, and receive strength to bend a bow of bronze. King David thanked the LORD his Rock who trained his hands for war. It is the morale and the moral of the Christian; those ideas are not disconnected. 

St. Martin of Tours, Piotr Stachiewicz

Three-Hundredth Cup of Coffee

Thankfulness is not a neglected corner of the house of God. It is one of the load-bearing pillars. It is one of the basics for Christian joy, worship, and victory.

As I grow older, I become more thankful for the little things in life. As we see and taste and know His blessings, they do not get old. It is better to say that they do not wear out. They do get old, but like a bottle of wine gets old. The blessings ripen. They become sweeter.  

One may expect that the three-hundredth cup of coffee would be much worse than the third, but I have found it to be the opposite. I am only beginning to appreciate coffee’s taste. I am only beginning to enjoy a sunrise. One may expect that the ten-thousandth conversation with my little brother would be a boring chore, but instead, I find it a deeper joy. The glory of a new thing is great, but the glory of that thing as it comes into its fullness is another kind of glory. 

God’s blessings abound in this world, but so does suffering (until Christ returns and makes all things new). So we hold these things in balance, and we hold them lightly. We receive the good and the evil from God’s hand⁷, and bless His name through it. Thankfulness is a result of divine blessing, yes. But thankfulness is also a prerequisite to truly enjoy anything⁸. A common criticism against Christianity is that Christians don’t enjoy the pleasures of the earth because they have their hearts in heaven. I would say that the heaven-hearted Christian is the only one who can enjoy earth. That is, only he can find joy amid the uncertainties of this present darkness, experiencing both joy and sorrow, abundance and lack. Only he can say, “Blessed be the name of the LORD”⁹ when there is a fast or a feast. Only he who prays the same prayer, “Thank you Father for this food” over a dry crust of bread and over a three-course meal truly enjoys them both. 

Were Not Ten Lepers Cleansed?

Thanksgiving finds its culmination in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But that redemption permeates down to your family, your wife, your kids, your health, each dollar you make, and each dollar you don’t. G. K. Chesterton said, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” Let us not be numbered among the nine lepers that were healed by Christ, and did not return to thank him. 

Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” —Luke 17:17–18

When we recognize the works of God in our lives, we immediately experience two things: First a sense of gratitude. Second, a sense of our lack of thankfulness. There is a recognition of the steadfast goodness of God to us and a recognition of our comparative lack of steadfastness. We sense our lack of reciprocity to His attentive, unchanging character. His goodness often highlights our ingratitude. But, that same goodness that exposes sin covers sin, including ingratitude. His kindness leads to repentance.

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

May God make us thankful, cheerful, joyful, and solid. Sword of the Spirit, shield, and a smile. When our left arm is tired of the trowel and our right hand is tired from the sword¹⁰, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

…just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving¹¹.

To Him be the power and the glory, and the thanks, forever and ever.

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Thank you for reading Power & Glory. This is a complete re-write of an older post from last year. If you enjoyed it, let me know with a like, comment, share, or subscription, and check out this series of posts on The Exeter Book.

1. See this post from

Jackson Stark

on the Overton Window

2. From the Didache: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, but a great difference between the two ways…”

3. See this post from

Becoming Noble

by John Slaughter, You’re called to be meek. That doesn’t mean what you think it does.

4. “Begone satan, never tempt me with your vanities.” From the cross of St. Benedict prayer.

5. Song of Solomon 6:10

6. Ephesians 1:21

7. Job 2:10

8. 1 Timothy 4:3-4

9. Job 1:21

10. Nehemiah 4:17

11. Colossians 2:7