Oft times in these Manosphere spaces, the topic of faith comes up. Faith serves a framework, like culture, for how we operate. A lens through which we view the world. Faith helps us to understand our purpose. And a person of purpose is very difficult to mislead. This is very true of So called Black men, as has often been said in these circles(by one of our favorite content creators nonetheless), “the black man is the recipient of the most lies” which is something I WHOLEHEARTLY agree with! The Church that we grew up in has it issues and Scripture as we were taught it, well, is skewed to say the least. Go to any of these traditional churches we attended as children and it’s mostly women, effeminate/homosexual(referenced as Sodomites in Scripture) and the elderly in attendance- Very few young or middle aged, heterosexual (“normal”)men there. And this is no accident. Mirroring society-at-large, There has been an unspoken war on traditional masculine men and we are finding we have no place there. Most of us has sought truth and a yearning to return to our original culture and religious practices. So called “Hebrew Israelites”, like most denominations, have multiple sects and splinter groups, some of which have garnered controversy over the years. Some have even established religious compounds somewhat similar but smaller in scale to what the Amish and Mormons have done, to vary levels of success. Some of these sects have been deemed potential national security threats, while others may be considered cults not so different from the People’s Temple. With all this opposing information coming at you at once, it can be difficult to discern what’s the real deal and what isn’t. And this brings me to the topic of this post.
For the last few years, I have been watching Pastor Dowell and the StraitWay Ministry with great interest. Initially, I was dismissive. But the more I followed the work of the Pastor and Ministry, the more intrigued I became. Being former military, the Pastor has no aversion to guns or self defense and speaks very prominently about this and always has a firearm on display (In contrast to the go-along to get-along, turn the other cheek, accept abuse and be non violent no matter what nonsense we where imbued with in the church we grew up in, making us sitting ducks, which is also in line with Scripture where war is often mentioned and the Hebrews/Israelites are instructed to slay their enemies). The Ministry observes THE ACTUAL SABBATH by holding Service on Saturday (You know, the actual last day of the week) as opposed to Sunday (A tradition started by the Catholic Church in violation of the 4th Commandment). The sermons do not shy away from current social and geopolitical issues and this is (what I consider anyway) accurately tied to Scripture. The Compounds (the Ministry has multiple branches in multiple states they refer to as Communities) are largely self-sufficient and the Pastor can be seen scouting locations and building them up. The members of the Ministry are happy, well adjusted, cooperative with one another and can leave at anytime, thereby disqualifying any cult arguments/accusations. In fact, there was a Sport Illustrated article that accused the Ministry of being a cult after a former Green Bay Packer joined, this brother now heading a compound in another location. Point blank period, I am simply impressed with what I see, and this is not something I can often say.
I was initially hesitant to cover this topic because faith and religion can be controversial, but felt compelled to do so. For those of you who were unaware of this exceptional organization, I’m pleased to have had the chance to share it with you. The Ministry offers an online Sabbath service every Saturday that I would strongly encourage you attend for any number of different reasons, any of for which I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I will do future posts where I talk about specific aspects of the Ministry or of a particular sermon but this introduction will suffice for the time being. You can visit the Ministry’s website at here or click on any of the videos below to subscribe to the Ministry’s YouTube channel. Shabbat Shalom!
Pastor Dowell and Members of the Ministry at work on a new building.
Random musings by the Pastor on issues faced by the Everyman
Most recent Sabbath service (as of this post)
Notice the armed guard to the left of the photo during Sabbath Service- Pastor don’t play!
