For the wise in the crowd, you are probably asking the question, “Why does a person need to be schooled in chivalry? To what end?” Well if you’ve poked around here at the School of Chivalry enough, you’ve seen the quoting of C.S. Lewis on the matter. I’m referring to his quote about creating chivalrous men or, if you prefer, knights in shining armor.

If you read the essay from which this quote came, you will see that Lewis is talking of the types of men that were needed to save England in WWII. His sentiment seems to be that these men were not only necessary for that particular time and battle, but that they are also the “one hope of the world” to have “any lasting happiness or dignity in human society.”

Now, you wise folks know that if such a statement is true it must be because, as I’m sure Lewis believed, such a thing is first found in the nature of God. After all, things like lasting happiness and dignity can only come from the Lord (Mark 10:18). Even though the image of the chivalrous knight, literature about him, and actual historical examples are very useful and inspiring ways to pass along such a fine truth with beauty and accuracy, it is not a concept confined to the medieval or shining knight era. It is deeper, and goes beyond that, having just as much bearing on our culture today. In essence, for the sake of us all, chivalry better not be dead.

So as we briefly look at what the goal of this academy is, men of chivalry, I hope to give a sketch that is useful in communicating what we are about as well as intriguing you to learn more here and from other sources. The goal is to create men who, upon their formation, naturally fall into what I am currently calling The Order of the Crown Christ. In reality, it is merely my understanding of the state of men who are faithful followers of their Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

You could say that it is the man who is shaped by a more medieval christian mindset. Please know that this does not mean a more Roman Catholic mindset, but one more like what is found in the book Angels in the Architecture by Douglases Wilson and Jones. This is to say, a mindset that is exhaustively more conquered by God’s desires, the lordship of Christ, and the actual Holy Scripture instead of a collection of buzz phrases from Big Eva (aka the pop evangelical establishment). Let’s begin.

A Man Who is Owned

This is the section we must start with, and it is the section of loyalty. We all love loyalty. It’s what we want in partners and friends. That is probably because it is the great thing our defaultly sinful natures are missing. Think back to the tragedy in Eden when we were first disloyal to our maker, even when we were in the middle of paradise. We not only want it and want to be it. We miss it and long for it.

We may like the concept of loyalty, but the knights of chivalry in the middle ages were consumed by it. It was number one in their codes of chivalry. A real life knight, Geoffroi de Charny, in his book A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry, circa 1350, put loyalty as the foundation for what makes a chivalrous “man of worth” and a proper knight. Speaking to the man who wanted to attain these things he advised, “you will only do good and ought not to excuse yourself from being a man of worth and loyal, as it is the greatest and most supreme good there is.”

Loyalty Because of the Monsters

Why was it so important to them? It is because they actually believed the Bible when it said that the world was full of men who were carnal and ruled by Satan’s dark philosophies (Ephesians 2:2). This probably came from living in a world with less cushion against the difficult truths about mankind. They knew that there were enemies at the gate. Ones that would steal, rape, torture, and kill. Those things still exist in the hearts of men, but the affect of our former Christendom has contained them pretty well. But you can’t have the fruits without the roots, so now we are seeing those things start to rapidly rot.

So the carnal men who devotedly carried out Satan’s way of life, or shall we say death, existed openly and brazenly in the pillaging armies of local warlords. However, thanks to evangelists and missionaries, there also existed those who feared God. Some of them were believed to have been blessed with status and power, not for enjoyment’s sake, but to exercise God given responsibility over the land and the people. They were to protect the people as well as prevent the society from turning back to the pagan practices and murderous culture that existed before. Such an understanding of those who had been given riches is a far from what today’s resurgent pagan and materialistic culture has produced.

Nobles Behaving Nobly

The outward expression of this was mostly wrapped up in the concept of the feudal system with classifications such as noble people and base people. Certainly, it is unarguably true that such classifications were pounced upon and used to oppress others, but at times they were largely accurate and more useful than our delicate post-modern sensibilities would like to admit. To plunder a quote, however, “Noble is as noble does.” This is true now and was even true then. We see that this idea was in the minds of people during those days. In Morte d’ Arthur, the author and a knight himself, Sir Thomas Malory, shows King Arthur’s understanding of the responsibility that defines being a noble. At the threat of yet more prolonged warfare, Arthur laments, “‘Alas!’, said Arthur ‘Since I was crowned king I have not had one month of peace; and yet I cannot allow my loyal subjects to suffer these barbarous invaders.'” We are instructed from one who is from such feudal times that a good noble is one who is beholden to his people.

Because of this Important responsibility inherited by people of power and money, the knights were loyal to their lord. They saw it as part of their duty to God. To be so devoted was to be doing what was good and righteous, and when all things were functioning according to how they were supposed to, it actually was good and righteous. Theoretically, the noble exercised justice and protection to the people he was over. This meant that the more loyal the knight was, the more efficiently that justice and protection was carried out.

Our Loyalty Builds the Kingdom

Obviously, we are called to esteem loyalty very highly as well. The man who is in The Order of the Crown of Christ finds himself responsible to many people and for similar reasons as the knights of old. Their loyalty ensured the best protection and service for the society that they had built and were building. It is no different now. While our society is quickly going off the rails to hell, the vestiges of the former Christendom can still be seen in things like our waste management, more sustainable farming practices, wildlife management, health care abilities, etc.

We don’t have these things because we are lucky, and certainly not because the equation (time + existence = progress) make it inevitable. We have them because they are given to us. God’s blessing is the gift of the things themselves as well as the enlightening of how to bring them to be. Science is understood because God allows us to understand it as a blessing. The Gospel precedes continuous development in culture. Places don’t become Christian and then stay the same. They get better as more and more become reconciled to God (Colossians 1:19-20)

This is in large part true because christians are molded to be loyal. They know that following their heads, whether that be law enforcement, governing authorities, bosses, or heads of households is required. And when that requirement is fulfilled, chaos starts to dissipate like fog with the rising sun. Law, order, and good progress take its place. When a person or system is intent on something good, the more loyal people under that person or system, the more effectively it is carried out.

That is why Paul tells us to obey the authorities for our own good in Romans 13:1-6. Because it is the way to build a society that honors God by being one that is more good, full of light, and full of salt. Loyalty and submission, where it is scripturally commanded, make so many things come together in an amazingly effective and God honoring way.

Loyalty to Evil Men?

We must not try to avoid the discussion about loyalty to evil men. However, let me run ahead of this point to the next one so that I can do justice to them both. It stands to reason and is heavily commanded in scripture to have unending loyalty to God. We are “doulos” to him. That is slaves (Romans 6:22). Yes we are beloved children and also slaves. Now God has given authority to us and the people over us with which we are to use in service to Him (Romans 13:1-6, John 19:11). People in authority are literally there to be deacons, servants, of God. When it goes past that, we are not to obey that person. This comes from the Romans passage sited above. We are to obey the authorities in doing good, not evil. When they command us to not do good, we can not obey. The slave is commanded to obey their master, but the slave is also free in the eyes of the Lord. Their authority is not in who the master is as a person but only in what God gives them to accomplish his will. To God there is no favoritism (Ephesians 6:5-9, Galatians 3:28).

To be honest, if we can say that nobility is a real thing in relation to the right to be in authority over others, it is probably found in this sentiment: those who are ready to use their blessings of talent, riches, power, and authority to accomplish all things that please Jesus, as he has commanded, are the true nobles.

Perhaps the advice that can best tie this point up is to simply look to Christ. Never has there been a more loyal son, king, friend, and master. And if it helps, look also to Jonathan the son of Saul. We see him risk his life for his friend on multiple occasions, he fights at his father’s side even though he almost killed him twice, and he charged into an impossible battle for the wishes of God (1 Samuel 14).

Confident in the Cause: For the King!

We are held captive by a four century old cultural love affair with Materialism. We are in the habit of flaying ourselves intellectually, going down a layer at a time until all that’s left are atoms, leaving what is actually human no longer to be seen. It’s as if, being entranced by a beautiful painting and wanting to know more about it, we zoom into the molecular make-up of the oil in the paint or the fibers of the canvas. It is the preoccupation with matter as the only thing that exists. Our race (the race of man) has no category for the spiritual except that it perhaps lurks in the physical matter of things somewhere.

Because of our blindedness in this area, there is a quality found in the knights of Arthurian romances that is so necessary yet foreign to us post moderns that it has become an endless source of caricature and parody. It seems so strange that it makes us laugh at its so called ignorance. The knights in those stories simply knew their cause was just and good. They knew that the the emblems on their shining shield and the banners with which they charged into the fight bore the symbols of light against darkness. Today, we can not fathom that a person could be so certain of what is good and what is evil. We can not get a heroic story on the silver screen any longer without that hero being an edgy shade of gray. While we’re at it, shall we stop calling it the silver screen now? That metal may be too pure for our sensibilities.

We get a display of this ridiculed old way in the words and actions of Sir Galahad in Le Morte de Arthur when he obeys God in venturing to an evil castle.

Then he was met by a squire:

“Sir, the knights in the castle defy you to enter, unless you fist tell them your purpose.”

“My purpose is to change their evil customs.”

“Sir, you undertake too much.”

“So be it. Now go your way,” Sir Galahad replied.

All else is abandoned because Sir Galahad actually believes that what he is doing is good, righteous, effectual, and full of light. He knows he has been set up by God, the mover, to complete tasks in the great battle that is being written. It is not unlike the men in the crusades who knew that their cause was just, but that is a thought that deserves its own discussion. This is the truth in our world as well, but we have allowed ourselves to get cozy in the pit of Satan’s modernistic philosophies declaring that we can not call one cause great and another inferior. We have enthusiastically swallowed the belief that any conflict must mean that we are succumbing to evil, and now our breath stinks.

Fiery Darts

But here is a rope to use to climb out of the intellectual dungeon and back onto the soft green grass of truth. Ephesians 6:16 says, “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” This is in the section where Paul, the one who has been and would be stoned by the hands of men, flogged by men, mobbed by an angry mob of men, arrested by people, and decapitated by a human who is payed by other men to be an executer, is talking about how the christian’s enemies are not flesh and blood men. The real enemies whom we actually do battle against are the spiritual forces (demons and Satan) over those wicked men.

What is meant by all of this? Lately, we christians have gotten a glimpse of something rather shocking to us beneficiaries of a waning Christendom yet quite common for believers throughout history. Praise the Lord, we have had the mantle of troublemaker hoisted upon us once again. Lately we’ve been called things like evil, bigots, reactionaries, primitives, racists, trans/homophobes, people who want to go backwards, and many more including my current favorite Christian Nationalists.

Just running through the list excites me and makes me want to sing some Psalms! Why? Because we are supposed to rejoice when men speak so ill of us falsly as we obey our savior who died to reconcile us with God (Matthew 5:11-13, Acts 5:41). You see, they did the same to Him. He was a trouble maker to the commoners, the religious leaders, and the government. So were the apostles after his ascension. In the same way, the prophets of the Old Testament were always irritating the kings and the people with the truth of God. Do you think that the Israelites, on their Holy mission from God, as they traveled and conquered through the evil pagans’ lands, were spoken of highly or kindly? More likely they were preached against as being evil and upending the status quo.

Godly Trouble Makers

Christians were eventually persecuted in late Rome because they were the so called atheistic cultists who did not care for their community, all because they wouldn’t burn a small bit of incense in worship to the roman deities. Supposedly because of them, the crops were bad and the empire was being invaded. This was because the pagan Romans believed that the Christians were angering the gods, and since Satan was the god over Rome, they were probably right. But we can’t take credit for that. It was Jesus after all who had just crushed his head. The prince of their air had been mortally wounded and there was a new king in town. In the eyes of the public, though, the christians were the unloving group that did not care for the greater good of the people. To get an exact match to the same sentiment from today all you have to do is change the incense burning to wearing a mask or sacrificing a child on the abortion table.

The point: We are guaranteed to be attacked by those evil spiritual forces. Their beloved tactic is to stir up their followers, the populace, to call us mean names. If you’re like I used to be, that will effect you. It will hurt, and it will make you timid and doubtful. That happens when we let their definition of our cause and its righteousness have more power over us than the truth; that is to say God’s definition. If we are faithful to Him then it is His righteousness for which we fight. And he is God, the “I AM.” There is no greater standard for what it right than the nature of God. If you need help in believing that, look at what Jesus did for the race of man, his enemies (Romans 5:8).

But what about the overwhelming number who seemingly so eloquently make it sound like they are the freedom of choice lovers and the real good guys? They may believe that to be true, but scripture tells us they are blinded and used by Satan and his angels in their last desperate attempts to stop Christ from bringing his kingdom completely on earth (2 Corinthians 4:3-5, John 8:44, and so on.) It would be a great denial of Biblical truth if we let those poor enslaved people decide for us that God’s will is somehow unrighteous and the way of Satan is actually the righteous one. But we have fallen for that before haven’t we?

Nay, we must let Scripture inform us as to what is true and see the goodness in the face of our mighty God as he has lavished his love and blessing on us. We must live in the way that is salt, life, light, and freedom to the world, even if they bite our hands as we do it. That is how it worked for Christ and must be how it works for us. You will be called nasty little names, but as they say…

So we can know that darts and attacks are coming. We can know that we may be knocked off our horse, injured, or killed. We also know that because of how God has arranged reality, death, burial, and resurrection is how he gains ground. So in the face of whatever opposition and fiery darts we can close our visor, couch our spear, and ride into the fight

Certain Victory Because of Superior Fire Power

“You can’t have the fruits without the roots.” We will study this quote, which is not my creation, in more detail at a later date, but for now let’s use it to gaze together at the spectacle our King has made of evil powers on the cross. Because of the invisible qualities of God and our deep ancestral legacy of being creatures made in the image of God, we all have the idea that good will triumph over evil. It seems as if it is a given, and therefor makes it into our movies and books, which are our cultural collective dreams. The world of man knows this. But is there any reason they could give for their certainty that good would win over evil? No. When pressed for a reason, they more or less wave their hands in the air, and wax on about the light always shining through the dark or something like that.

Something has been happening since modernism, however. The world is coming to live more consistently with their worldview. There is increasing nihilism and anxiety in the public. They are looking at their faith system which consists of nothing but mutating, dying, aging matter and beginning to swim in the dread of meaninglessness that such a religion offers. This is probably one small part of the judgement for such a satanic belief system.

You see, they tried to keep bringing forth the fruits of the truthful religion, Victory and joy, but they had separated themselves from the roots, worship of King Jesus Christ. Accordingly, that smell that is permeating the rebellious world’s air is what happens when your fruit rots after losing its connection to a living tree. The only regrettable part of this is that many christians are languishing along with these poor people because they think we are all still the same in one big miserable family. All they have to do is come partake of the living fruit to which Jesus has bought them access, but thus far they haven’t turned around to look at it.

But we have the glorious truth. Brothers, we don’t languish in fear or dread of imminent destruction. We carry on with well founded optimism as we keep building bastions of truth and goodness. We actually know that we have victory and goodness in our future because we are on the side with supperior firepower. “Might makes right” is actually a true phrase in one place only: in the case of God. He is The Sovereign. When you try to express the level at which he is the very highest authority, all you can say is that He is that He is (Exodus 3:14). Things can only go the way that he tells them to go because he holds all things together, and all things beg his permission to continue on. Not only this, but He has given His beautiful Word to us to show His heart and character. He is all good and all powerful. He will win, and since we serve Him, His victory is ours.

The Christian has the great benefit of simultaneously being a character in the greatest story of good overcoming evil as well as being the reader of the story and knowing the ending. We worship when we zoom out to appreciate the story and thank its Author, and we serve when we zoom back into the fight, tighten our grip on our sword, and continue to push the attack. So please, if such an image could be helpful to you, know that we have been made into the knightly figure. The one with strong, shining armor, a long spear, a powerful charger, a band of skilled brothers among us, and the power of The King and His kingdom behind and before us. That is what David knew as he ran toward the lion, the bear, and the giant.

The Joyful Warriors

Do not forget that this means we are the joyful warriors. We can sing as we march on and ride into the daily battles knowing that the plan is going to work, no matter what happens. With this understanding, our forebears have done many things in this great series of victories. These things include being beheaded, starting organizations, being eaten by cannibals, preaching in inner cities, being shouted at at abortion marches, proclaiming truth to city rulers, speaking the gospel to Appalachian Trail backpackers, getting raped and tortured in Iran, building cathedrals, chopping down idols, making money to pour out attacks on Satan’s kingdom, killing philistines, dying on crosses, going the extra mile for their enemies, turning the other cheek, stopping church and school shootings, shepherding church congregations, making meals for sick people and new moms, making feasts for the body, and on and on it goes. God uses it all as the bricks to build His kingdom, save his church, and glorify Himself.

We can smile and speak triumphantly about our certain victory, because we are the knights who know the kingdom represented on our banners is coming to stay. We can be proud that we have been put in such a position that what we do in obedience to Him has bearing on that. We can boast joyfully. Because our boast is in Jesus Christ, the King of kings. We are those happy few.

Apt to Act

If you know the section of the holy scripture that talks about King Ahab, then you know he was quite a rotten individual and not one we can glean too much from in the positive. However, as a testament to the truth of God, when a right word is spoken, it must hit its mark. That right word came from Ahab in 1 Kings 20:11: The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’” The context here is that Ahab’s opponent was living in an attitude that assumed the battle was already over instead of still to be fought. He would experience a rude awakening.

We’re Not Done Yet

If I could try and humbly identify one of the church’s biggest problems, I would say it is that we think we are a people who are taking our armor off after a long battle. Scripture rally cries at us over and over that we are the ones who must be tightening our armor for the next charge. We are to be Eleazar, the man who’s hand “clave unto his sword,” not at the point when his comrades pried it from his hand amongst the mountain of dead, but as he strengthened his grip to kill still more warriors of darkness. Our worship of the Mighty God allows us to know the day of rest is coming, but christians, we are the ones who are still in the fray.

Read Chesterton and be infected with a love for the fight, because this fight is a good one. I go back to Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired words in Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. However it is that this fight takes form in the flesh and blood is merely the medium of the spiritual warfare that is happening. When we charge into it with ferocious passion, it honors God. This is his way of claiming his kingdom, saving the dead, and beautifying his beloved bride.

A certain attitude can be deduced from reading of David and his mighty men as they did the Lord’s work. Such an attitude matches up with the attitude held by the knights of the round table in Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur. They obey their King faithfully in one battle and quickly look for the joy of obeying Him again in the next one. The thought seems to be, “There’s still a bear, lion, giant, horde out there! Let’s go and get them!” We’ve got all manor of enemies laying in the land before us, receiving orders from their demonic overlords. Just to name a few, there are forces that want to obstruct the light of Godly education to hurting youth, forces that wan’t to bathe our states and nations in the sacrificial blood of little children, forces that want to make people wallow in poverty of mind and body, and forces that want to keep all these and others from hearing the good news of the saving work of King Jesus. Our response shouldn’t be despair and retreat because of the giants in the land. It should be, “Let’s go get them.”

We can’t be men who are in the middle of the field with the fumbled ball laying in front of us and the enemy team sprinting in our direction, but who have decided that we are actually at a beach, building a sand castle. We must be the men of reality who know the situation, pick up the ball, gird our loins, and get it to the goal line.

The Right Kind of Weapons

Because of the nature of the battle and in turn the weapons we use in this battle which make ones of steel look weak indeed, it will mean that we are men who love warmly, smile brightly, speak clearly, and fight with everything. I do not deny the fact that such a fight might entail the employment of weapons of steel and lead in the physical realm. Sometimes giving a warm meal and clothes to the poor man as you give him God’s blessing translates to defending him with bullets and knives; and it certainly means legal and political fighting. However, these are extensions of the greater battle that is going on.

This is why the men in the Order of the Crown of Christ study to develop the shield and armor of the truth; that is wisdom and apologetics. It is so that evil men, the foot soldiers of spiritual masters, can pose their attacks of untrue assertions against the truth of God, find them repelled by the truth of God’s Word, and thus become open to the sword of the truth that is the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ. This truth is seen in the spoken story of Christ’s saving work, teaching of the whole story of scripture, the love of the saints to one another, the love of outsiders by gifts and service, the display of Godly, loving families, and the culture that the church is tasked with creating in general. We are posing our attack, and we need men who know what we are doing.

Man of Many Enemies

There must be a quick note made about the enemies these men will acquire. To receive enemies, especially demonic ones, may at first feel like going in the wrong direction. “It is scary, difficult, and no thank you!” But remember, just like in video games, when you don’t come against any enemies, you’re not going in the right direction. If you are being a good little boy and not messing with Satan’s plan, you will be left alone and maybe even get some treats. But once you become a trouble maker against him, you will receive some push back.

There will be many attacks from the side of darkness, which is why it is so important that you have the shield of faith that Paul talks about. One of the enemy’s greatest attacks will be to show you and the world your sin in an effort to discredit you and make you doubt your place in the fight. He is the accuser after all…he will accuse. But our faith in Christ has beat him to the punch. Jesus already made a spectacle of our sin and we died in His crucifixion, were buried in His burial, and made into a new person with His resurrection. All sins, both before and after can be confessed and moved on from. It is Christ who lives and commands us, not ourselves. Remember what Tom Ascol says when people bring an accusation against him in order to discredit him, “You don’t know the half of it. I’m just glad they don’t know more!” It is not our righteousness that we boast in and rely on, but Christ’s.

These attacks won’t be one sided. They will come from the enemy, who’s land is being wrestled from him, but they will also come from those in the church who feel shamed by the passion of your fight. Much labor has been done to make the church forget these things, and many christians have yet to unlearn the things that are holding them back. Hopefully, when they bring accusations of falsehood against the true way, they will be able to notice how they shatter against truth, and perhaps they will join the battle themselves.

A Note About Wives of the Order

Because of the attacks form both sides, it is worth mentioning the kind of attitude that our wives should have. Many know the story of Richard Wumbrand. He became a hunted pastor in Soviet controlled Romania after standing up and speaking for Christ and against the communist party at the national Congress of the Cults. He did so at the spurring of his wife, Sabina. She told him to “stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.” He made sure she knew the consequences, “If I do so, you lose your husband.” Sabina’s attitude was inspiring, “I don’t wish to have a coward as a husband.” With such encouragement, Richard was able to boldly witness for Christ and faithfully serve 14 years in prison for the glory of God.

The same kind of spirit can be seen in Lillia Welch, the daughter of the famous reformer John Knox. It is no secret that Knox, before dying, had been a Godly trouble maker to the English monarchs as they supported the corrupt church of England. His son-in-law, John Welch, followed in his footsteps and was banished to France with Lilia for his faith that didn’t line up with the state run church. John’s health started to decline eventually, and he was instructed by doctors to return to the the climate of his home country. Lilia went to the court of King James to ask if he may be pardoned and allowed back in the country. The King was incredulous and declared that he could only come back if he would submit to the bishops of the state church. Lilia’s response was powerful. She lifted up her apron to the king and said, “Please your Majesty, I’d rather keep his head there.”

The enemies are there before you. You will see them when you step out to challenge the uncircumcised philistines. The man in this order, and his wife, should expect them and know that they are a good sign. In the words of our Lord, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (Matthew 5:11-12).

In the Flesh and Blood

So for fun and the sake of clarity, let me describe what this man would look like outwardly. He will be a man of the local church. He won’t be merely an attender, but a leader, officially or unofficially. He will also be passionate in his partaking of church; a man who sings knowing that psalms chased the unclean spirits away from Saul; a man who is moved to tears in worship of Christ and to righteous anger at the breaking of God’s laws. He will be a builder of the church and of his family through the church.

He will be a man who knows the times and is aware of the movement of the enemy in the territory over which God has placed him to exercise dominion. That is to say that he is searching out the evils being propped up in his heart, home, municipalities great and small, state, and nation. He will also be busy fighting them, challenging them, and shining the light of God’s truth on them to the measure that God has so deemed for him.

It would be wise for these men to be armed, yes with guns and knives, and trained in hand to hand combat (Luke 22:36-38). There will be times when evil rises up physically and the loving thing to do would be to use his God given masculinity to put the danger down so that the ground will not cry out with the blood of the innocent (Genesis 4:10). He should be ready to fight physically and metaphorically for the innocent, oppressed, and weak, just like God has done for us. With what God has blessed him he should be quickly ready to use in hospitality for the needy and especially the brothers, particularly the ones who have been fired and put out by society for acting in the very way we are describing here. The Order should take care of its own.

This man should also be public. His faith should not be secret or unknown (Matthew 5:15). This encompasses the idea of the knight in shining armor. With honor and in chivalry he approaches evil on a big horse, with shiny armor, a lance with a bright colored banner blowing in the wind, and proclaiming words that go something like, “I come to challenge you, dragon, in the name of the king!” He is a man that smiles, waves, and engages in conversation often, whether he likes it or not. Sneaking around and being illusive to his fellow man is a thing of the past. Now he is a new creation wielding the power of the Lord for the crown rights of King Jesus. He will stand tall, be available for the masses, and shine like stars into the darkened land that is yet to be conquered (Philippians 2:15, Daniel 12:3).

He will be known for his loyalty, that quality that the knights of old prized so fiercely. People will both hate and respect that he can not be dissuaded from praising and obeying his God, the one who died to save him. They will learn from how loyal he is to his wife, not engaging in satiating lustful desires as they do. He will be known for intentionally and painstakingly directing his wife and children to God and “life to the fullest.” He will also be respectful, honorable, and submissive to his authorities, even during the times that he is called to challenge and disobey them for the glory of God.

He will steward all that God gives him to the best of the ability with which our Father equips him. He will not focus on gaining riches or treasures. Man is called to manage and exercise dominion over the created world. He will take this mandate seriously. With the help of his wife who is designed for such things, he will beautify the part of the world over which he has been made a steward, toil to have it produce more value, and build culture that will mature into the kingdom of God, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

He will always be worshiping the Lord in whatever he puts his hand to. This particularly means that whether he is talking to government officials, tending his family, laboring in the church, being hospitable to hurting people, publicly engaging with his community in basketball, fighting a robber on the streets, or being arrested/beheaded for his devotion to God, he must be speaking the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Golden Stall Plate

It is for all this that we live here. All of this falls under acknowledging and working for the Crown rights of King Jesus. We will be The Order of the Crown of Christ. Our marker wouldn’t be a golden emblem, though I would not be opposed to creating that one day. We would know each other by our actions in the midst of chaos around us. The marker will be that look that someone like Vanderbilt would give to Hershey as they moved into action against death.