Back to the Stone Age: Men Returning to the Fire

By Bob Ryan

This book is written under the impression that God is raising up an army of men to be Spiritual Warriors. These men do not need a stage or a position. They may be pipe-fitters or professionals; they may landscapers or lawyers. They are being drawn by the Holy Spirit to engage personally and collectively. As Men of Fire who make a difference, they are defined by what they do. This book asserts that men need to recapture their passions for “building, breaking, providing and protecting” in their homes, churches, and community.

Men are ready to gather at fires as they define themselves through stories. Retelling life experiences at campfires, BBQ pits, and bonfires expose a man’s passions and announce readiness to address life as Men of Fire. Stories need a safe place to surface the passions that have been surrendered to television warriors and superheroes consigning themselves as the “keeper of the remote.” From emerging young men sitting at the feet of fathers and spiritual warriors, to men who have been told to sit down and be quiet, God is raising up Men of Fire today to face God’s challenges as spiritual warriors that face life with courage and commitment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385018598

Bob Ryan

Thoughout his life and career, Bob shared fires with strong male influences. Bob Ryan is a Viet Nam Veteran serving at 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon in surgery and triage capacities. He remained in medicine after release from the Army until he entered ministry in 1979. He served in pastoral ministry twenty-three years, as an Associational Missionary twelve years and with the NAMB five years. He completed a Doctor of Ministry with Golden Gate (Gateway) Seminary completing a project, "Identifying and Coping with Ministry Burnout" in 1994. In retirement, he continued ministry in a country church developing and mentoring men hungry to understand express God's purpose through their passions and purpose.

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Copyright © 2024 Bob Ryan.

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Unless otherwise noted, All Scriptures are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotation marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version, public domain.

Scripture quotation marked HCSB®, are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

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ISBN: 979-8-3850-1857-4 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1858-1 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1859-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024902809

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/07/2024

CONTENTS

Prologue

Writer’s Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1 Has The Fire Gone Out?

Chapter 2 An Attempt to be Authentically Counter-Cultural

Chapter 3 Reclaiming Men of Fire

Chapter 4 Living the Risks or Surrendering the Expectations

Chapter 5 I am God, You are Man!

Chapter 6 I Am a Man, We are Men!

Chapter 7 I Am a Man; She is the Church!

Chapter 8 Fulfilling Your Purpose – Living the Fire

Chapter 9 Back to the Fire – the Real Fire!

Chapter 10 I Am a Man; We are Becoming Men

Chapter 11 I Am Man; I Choose Fire to Find the Fire!

Chapter 12 I Am Man; You are Woman

Appendix

PROLOGUE

The community fire was the place where men told their stories to other men, their sons, and the boys of their communities; and young men defined their manhood by those stories. Men gained their identity by what they did; the women and children earned their identity by who they were and who they knew.

Meanwhile, the women would gather around their children telling stories of birthing and babies and socialization. Women gain their identity by who they know. The children passively observed the social order while imitating their parent-peers.

And because men rarely teach boys at church, women-led Sunday School and church led boys to imitate society rather than spiritually led men. They were absent or passive. The female-influenced behavior requirements of Sunday School often left boys tolerating the church. Any testosterone-driven male student was viewed as a troublemaker if they challenged the rules, even in church. Men challenge rules, but men are also loyal to rules when it does not compromise their manhood. Boys adopt behaviors from those who invest time in them.

We suffer under the delusion that SPIRITUAL MEN have to be key leaders gathered around conference tables at the church. Yet, David was a shepherd boy before he was the king of Israel. Gideon, also called Jerubbaal, did not perceive himself as a leader but presumed that God would not leave Israel after the fall of Gaza to the Midianites.¹ When God told him to gather the Men of War, they were common, hard-working, caretakers of their families. Many spiritual men were fearful and afraid² leaving only 300 men of quality to battle behind the Lord. These men were the men of war who passed God’s test. They are not mentioned as spiritual men. But they were. They saw the powerful hand of God route their enemies but they were required by God to show up to the battle. The battle still rages today.

God is calling men back to the war with only faith and the tools God gives. They took up trumpets and pitchers to fight the enemies of God. They are spiritual warriors. They are just men, not necessarily Sunday School teachers, or on committees, or preachers or prophets. They are emerging Men of Fire!

Most often, boys learned when men gathered at fires. If the fire is absent, learning can be impaired. God is raising up men who handle life as God brings it. Men of Fire are arising from the ashes of campfires and men’s meetings that do not wear suits or ties. Gaza has fallen again. A few men will rise as Warriors and tell their stories of manhood and their boys will bow their knees at the water, lap it from their hands keeping watch on the horizon. You will redefine spiritual men and Men of Fire, spiritual warriors even if the standards do not fit contemporary spiritual guidelines.

Many popular writers and sociologists assert that equality between men and women should be viewed through the integration of maleness and femaleness. Thus, the attributes of maleness offend the gender equality culture.

Scripture is wrong if they are right; if they are correct, how is it working? Pathology among both genders continues to accelerate; identity and distinctions deteriorate. Gender crimes are worse today than ever. My assertions demand the question, "How is gender role equality working?

I maintain it has always been a sin to violate the creative intent of God. According to Michael E. Heiser, humanity was created to be the image of God on this earth.³ I propose that until men return to manhood and women enjoy their femaleness, the need for therapy will only escalate. Worse, the church will continue to pacify the feminine in the absence of authentic maleness.

In the 2000s, society approved a new, environmentally correct fuel for the community fires – social acceptance of men as women and women as men. Thus, the dumbing-down of maleness and femaleness became normative. The erasure of maleness and feminism was blurred into a unity that forces men to be and women to do – a reversal of the creative intent of God!

And then, this movement came to church!

Okay, you may be thinking, this guy believes that real men should be anti-women. On the contrary, I believe that real men provide the platform for women to be fully beautiful and complete. But I do believe that men have indulged a movement that forces a loss of identity that must be regained – an identity that celebrates the creativity of God and divine purpose.

I hope you will give me a chance to validate a model that lasted from creation until the Twenty-first century. I assert this model must be re-established, or culture will kill God’s creative purpose for both women and men.

Crucial for this writing: It is imperative that you see my implied distinction between the Fire and the fire in me and men of true faith. The Fire is none other than God Himself as defined in Moses’ encounter with the face of God. In the New Testament, the Fire was Jesus and eventually the filling of the Holy Spirit from Pentecost until He is withdrawn paving the way for the Second Coming of Jesus. The Fire is the fulness of the Godhead in all three essences. The fire is my reaction to His presence, Word, and Will. The fire is provoked by God’s Word and the accountability of men joining men in the fires of life. There, men become Men of Fire!

When I started this writing, I imagined calling this book simply, Back to the Stone Age.I recognized the ambiguity of the title. The social architects will assert this requires the reduction of women to chattel and men to become male chauvinist pigs again; thus, back to caveman days. To others, simply possessing stones was enough to define authentic manhood. Neither is accurate.

This author has no desire to go back to the past. Instead, I hope this text will permit men to address the present and future with a clearer purpose. My presupposition is fundamental: a man without a social fire, an emotional passion, and a spiritual purpose will never find a definition! Thus, I elected to use Men Returning to the Fire as a subtitle to retain the imagery, practice, and value of God’s power invading the masculine set of His creation.

There is value in both titles regarding my anticipated outcome of this writing. I do believe that men must realign their values and retake lost ground which requires both spiritual fortitude and testosterone.

WRITER’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work is the collaboration of a lifetime of people who have pushed me to retain a commitment to God and my calling. From here forward, Fire (in caps) is a reference to God and a complete trinity relationship. God reveals Himself in scripture through hundreds of men who knew how to gather men in the fires of their lives.

Charlotte, my only wife of fifty-three years, has never deviated from a shared vision for ministry and sacrifice. She has compelled me to be a man when everything inside of me wanted to surrender simply because of fatigue or discouragement. She does not have apathy in any part of her driven life. She compels me to hurry up or catch up always. Charlotte is truly flesh of my flesh and consistently works to create healthy environments so I could stay by the fires of my life driven by the Fire of my life! Apart from my commitment to Christ, I do not have a stronger advocate and motive than she provides as my love, life, and ministry partner. Our two sons, Mike and Jason, never realized how much they sacrificed to let me share the fires of life of church members and the community. I love and appreciate the men God has made them.

My mother, Gwen Ryan, leads a list of women who have encouraged me to express my maleness with ministry and passion. My mother prayed for me before I was; she imitated my Grandmother Izella Head. Both of these strong women managed their families, church lives, and community commitments attached to home, church, and missions. My mother and grandmother were spiritual prayer warriors and students of the Bible. My sisters imitate both of them.

Bill Ryan, Ermon Ryan, and Grady Head, my father, and my grandfathers, defined manhood to me. They lived a life built on manly relationships that shared life and tasks with other men. My late father emulated faith. He loved winning people to Jesus and developing them as disciples. His love for people was learned from his father who never met a stranger and always knew how to help people. Papaw Ryan gave me my strong, Irish work ethic motivated by helping people be all they can be. I desperately miss my father and grandfathers.

My maternal grandfather had Parkinsonism throughout my memory. He was observant and sensitive, gentle and appreciative. When I do shut up and listen, I am imitating his strengths.

My brothers and brothers-in-law have shared the fires of life with me from a formative age when I needed to know what a man was to be. Each of them developed success in ministry and business driven by work ethics developed as godly men. I regret being too far from them in our adult years to simply share a