King Alfred the Great and the Rise of England

The late 700 AD British Isles were a collective of nine minor kingdoms , closer to warring tribes than to true nations . These kingdoms were Christian due to the missionary efforts of men like St Patrick , st David and , ultimately , a Pope-sanctioned mission from St Augustine in 597 AD . Just to the east , a pagan storm was growing .

The Northmen , danes or Vikings , through overpopulation or more than likely due to a global cooling and difficulty with growing crops and cooler weather , sent their first raiding party to the ripe British Isles . The first major Viking raid landed on a small island off the coast called Lindisfarne .

Dr Ben Merkle says that Lindisfarne was probably chosen as a target , since churches and monastic communities offered the prospect of great wealth with very little protection . In the following years , monasteries throughout Britain and Ireland would fall prey to the Viking raids .

The Vikings came from the sea , arriving in a handful of their longboats with little or no warning of their approach . Their shallow-drafted ships were beached on the shore of Holy Island and then pulled far enough up the shore to be safe from the tide for several hours . The monks merely , puzzled for the moment , watched from within the walls of the monastery .

Then , once the ships were secured , the Vikings turned to the monastery . It is unlikely that they met any resistance as they approached no barrage of arrows and spears , no shield wall , not even an armed guard .

After gaining an easy entrance , the raiding party plundered the monastery of whatever portable wealth could be found , hacking to pieces whatever feeble resistance the monks may have made . Gold , silver and jewels were seized and hauled back to the beached longboats , as well as any captives who might be sold on the slave market .

They struck swiftly and ruthlessly and then they quickly fled before any counterattack from a neighboring village could be mounted" . This attack was a taste of what would come from the Viking invaders . It was merely a first small raid of a scouting party to test defenses and gauge the wealth of this land .

To the Anglo-Saxon people of the British Isles it was a new threat , but one has to ask was it only a threat from a hungry pagan tribe or was it more ? Could this be a sign of God's judgment ? In answer , an Anglo-Saxon historian offered his observation . In the year 793 , terrible portents came over the land of Northumbria and miserably afflicted the people .

There were massive world winds and lightnings , and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air . Immediately after these things , there came a terrible famine . And then , a little after that , six days before the Ides of January , a harrowing of heathen men miserably devastated the Church of God on Lindisfarne by plunder and slaughter .

This raid at Lindisfarne became a wave of attacks from the pagan Northmen . They targeted monastery communities , bathing the walls of these holy places in the blood of priests in their brutal attacks and plundered all silver and gold , as well as people for the slave trade . They had no regard for the Christian churches or their sacred items .

Modern scholars confidently declare that the Vikings were opportunists , which proved to be true , but that the targeting of monasteries was merely because of their poor defenses and the wealth they contained . What was there more to the invasion than mere opportunism ? Was the targeting of these Christian places of worship a coincidence ?

Alkew and a former clergyman from York and a leading scholar in Charlemagne's court , wrote the following For nearly 350 years we and our fathers have dwelt in this most beautiful land , and never before has such a terror appeared in Britain , such as the one that we are suffering from this pagan nation . Or was it thought that a ship would attempt such a thing ?

Behold the church of Saint Cuthbert , splattered with the blood of the priests , plundered all of its treasures , a place more venerable than anywhere in Britain is given over to pagan nations for pillaging .

The heritage of the Lord has been given over to a people who are not his own and where the praise of the Lord once was , now is only the games of the pagans . The holy feast has been turned into lament . Carefully consider brothers and diligently note lest this extraordinary and unheard of evil might be somehow merited by the habit of some unspoken wickedness .

I am not saying that the sin of fornication never appeared before among the people , but since the days of King Elfwood , fornications , adulteries and incest have inundated the land , such that these sins have been perpetrated without any shame , even against nuns who have been dedicated to God .

What can I say about greed , robbery and perverted judgments when it is clearer than day how much these crimes have flourished everywhere , and it is witnessed by a plundered people" ? Alcuin continues in a second letter to Higbald , the Bishop of the Plundered Linden's Farn .

In his correspondence he sternly admonished the Christians of Linden's Farn that a disaster of this magnitude must be answered first and foremost with repentance , lest further catastrophe follow . He wrote what confidence can there be for the churches of Britain if St Cuthbert , with such a great number of saints , does not defend his own ?

Whether this is the beginning of some much greater anguish or the sins of the inhabitants have demanded this . Clearly it has not happened by chance , but it is a sign that this was well deserved by someone . If there is anything that must be set right in your grace's behavior , correct it swiftly . Perhaps it was too late for the people to turn back .

God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love . But maybe the people of the British Isles had stored up too much unrepentant sin for too long . Maybe the long fuse had smoldered all the way down . Whatever the reason , god's judgment through the pagan Viking instrument had begun .

After 72 years of intermittent Viking raids , there was a sense of terror and constant anxiety that had spread among the Anglo-Saxon peoples . Another Viking attack came though . Unlike the raiding parties that had sailed to the island before , this time it wasn't merely a raiding party , it was a full-fledged army At 5,000 strong .

The Viking army marched into the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and launched a surprise attack on November 1 , all Saints Day . It was not by accident the Vikings attacked on this holiday . They knew the Northumbrian capital city of York would be filled to max capacity , making troop movements difficult .

There was also the benefit that the Northumbrian noblemen would be in attendance , with their wealth on full display . The Vikings quickly took the unprepared city . A few months later the Northumbrians attempted to retake the city . The initial attack went well for their army .

It appeared initially that the Vikings were caught unprepared or they were unfamiliar with the tactics of defending a walled city . The Northumbrian army breached the walls and , to their surprise , entered a quiet city . They navigated the narrow city streets looking for signs of their Norse enemy . Suddenly they were ambushed both inside and outside the city walls .

The Anglo-Saxon king Ayle was captured . The Viking lords made an example of the king by sacrificing him to their god Odin . The monstrous ritual sacrifice was called the Blood Eagle . The king was held face down in the mud and manure-covered cobblestone streets . An axe was used to chop his ribs on both sides of his spine .

The murderous shouts of the bloodthirsty Norsemen echoed around the city as the king's ribs were pulled apart and his still-inflating lungs were grappled from his body . As his gurgling last gasps of life were pulled from him , the Viking army moved south , with their eyes set on the kingdom of Wessex .

They soon met King Ethred and his young brother Alfred on the battlefield . In a valiant fight , the Vikings overwhelmed the Wessex army . The king and his brother quickly retreated to Ashton .

The monumental battle of Ashton is among the greatest battles in the history of the west , not because of its size , but because it gave us one of the greatest kings in history . The kingdom of Wessex was facing annihilation . After their recent loss to the Viking army , the Wessex battle plans had formed between Ethelred and Alfred .

They would divide their forces and immediately attack the Viking army . The Vikings had the high ground on a now-famous hill . It goes by many names , but it is most commonly known as Whitehorse Hill . This hill is an anomaly in the area , being the tallest point .

One other hill of significance nearby is known as Dragon Hill , where legend says St George slew his dragon . The hill was the dragon's burial mound . On the slopes of Whitehorse Hill there stood a lone thorn tree that became a tree of both measure of success and of remembrance for the soldiers who valiantly fought that day .

The Vikings , having the superior position and superior forces , observed Alfred leading his forces into position . The Viking warriors , in a terrifying battle array , viciously mocked the Saxon army . Dr Benjamin Merkel describes the nature of Viking mockery in his book the Whitehorse King . The Viking taunt was studied and oft-practiced literary genre among the Danish warriors .

The subject matter of this mockery moved from general observation about the cowardice of the opponent and how his corpse would soon be fed to birds to more personal speculations about the various women folk waiting behind in the Wessex villages , and usually culminated in the accusation that the men of Wessex actually lacked any natural affections for women in the first

place . The Danish warriors did not show a hint of fear against this enemy they had defeated merely four days before . Viking soldiers , by Danish law , were equipped with shields , spears and axes , with the wealthiest carrying ornate swords .

Alfred assembled his men below an army that appeared more akin to a pack of bloodthirsty wolves than that of ordinary mortal men who met their deaths in terrible battle . Alfred looked around with confusion and perhaps some inward fear as he realized his brother , king Ethelred , was not in his position to do battle .

With this realization , alfred was left with two choices First , retreat and have the Vikings chase them down from behind to be relentlessly harassed and killed in the ensuing and disorganized route . This would both decimate the Saxon military and its morale . The second option was to stand and fight .

Alfred determined that if this was their last stand , they should do it with their shields up rather than their shields left behind , strewn on the ground . In retreat , alfred , embracing the bloodlust of battle like a wild boar , screamed the order in the Viking chaos to assemble the shield wall .

The Vikings , faced with a much smaller army than expected , swaggered confidently as they assembled and advanced their attack down the Whitehorse Hill . As they had known the history of this hill , they may have had more humility . The hill received its name from the white rock that was etched into the top of the hill in the shape of a horse in full gallop .

This hill sits adjacent to Dragon Hill , where St George killed a large fire-breathing dragon in an unlikely victory . The top of Dragon Hill has a bear patch where nothing grows , almost as if the very poison of the dragon prevents anything living from taking root . Alfred had his own dragon in modern-day Uffington to kill , and the battle looked equally difficult .

The hopes of a victory on the scales of St George was their only hope . A victory here would prevent the roots of the Viking people from sinking into the lands of Wessex . The Wessex men , reflecting the confidence of their leader , alfred , assembled the shield wall . Dr Ben Merkle says the following about the shield wall battle tactic .

Even as early as the time of Alfred , the shield wall was already considered an ancient tactic harkening all the way back to the ancient Greek hoplites of the 7th century BC . It consisted simply of a line of men standing shoulder to shoulder with their shields overlapping one another , forming a continuous wall of protection .

This line of shields was supported by a depth of approximately 10 ranks of additional soldiers positioned behind the front line , leaning into the front rake to allow them to hold their ground and stay locked together .

Not unlike a rugby scrum , this tight formation had the potential to be virtually impenetrable , provided that the courage and endurance of the soldiers held . The Anglo-Saxon culture demanded that a leader was in fact leading and not directing without risk of harm . Alfred was a leader down to his bones .

He had not only assembled the shield wall but joined at the front . Battle commands and troop movements could not be directed over the cacophony of battle . As long as the men along the shield wall saw their leader fighting , they kept fighting . As soon as their leader fled , they fled . The deep ranks of men were grist for the shield wall mill .

The shield wall would grind in battle as shield pushed against shield spears , prodding to find flesh in the small gaps created by the pushing men In the shield wall . The spears , not the sorter axe , was the most formidable weapon . Spears were better at snaking through the wall , whereas slashing weapons became a hindrance due to this brute force-shoving match .

As dangerous as a spear was to the shield wall , the danger of cowardice was much greater . Many men could fall to the wounds of a spear without danger to the morale of the men In battle . Men are wounded and killed in the fight To a point .

Seeing a brother in arms take wounds in the glory of battle acts as spurs in the side of a warhorse , feeding the battle lust and the fervor of battle . However , if there are cowards in the shield wall , then the entire army is at risk . One man fleeing was worse than many men being killed or wounded .

A single coward seen running for his life was at risk of taking the heart of the entire army from them . As a result , such a man fleeing would cause a cataclysmic collapse of the shield wall and the repercussions would be a decimation of that army . As soon as men began to flee , there would be no protection .

The army would be routed from behind as they were run down Because and swords finally free to swing at the backs of retreating men , one coward could lose an entire battle . That day on Whitehorse Hill , the Norsemen did not encounter a coward . They encountered a wild boar of a man . Alfred , leading from the front , pushed with his men .

The much smaller army , taking courage from their leader , pushed the enemy back up the hill . The Vikings had underestimated the leader of this small band of men . In spite of their fervor , the Wessex men began to take losses from the ferocious spears and axes of the Viking warriors .

When a man was injured or killed in the wall , it was vital that the man behind him filled the gap . Any hesitation would give the enemy a breach that they would fill with dangerous warriors . The breach would cause the strength of the wall to become a weakness in the battle formation . The men of Wessex filled the gaps without hesitation .

The next man , knowing his duty , filled the gaps . The battle had reached the precipice . One side had to give because of exhaustion from the grueling battle of shield-to-shield pushing . The men of Wessex had thought their pagan enemies were invincible .

The resignation of glorious death was suddenly replaced with shock as the Viking lines disintegrated , the massive Norse shields were replaced with the backs of the fleeing men . At long last , king Athelred had arrived at the battle .

Until then , the Vikings assumed they were fighting the entirety of the Wessex army , then the king , with the other half of the army charged into their flank . The route was on and the Norsemen were slaughtered in their retreat . The Kings Hall Podcast exists to make self-ruled men who rule well and win the world .

I think part of it is we'll get into in this episode . It's sort of the typical underdog story . He's the guy with his back against the wall , all that good stuff , but just excitement level on this one . Obviously you did a lot of the work for this episode .

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We're also going to be talking about a very important principle , really the theme for the next conference here , june 6th through 8th in Ogden , utah , but Alfred's boroughs .

This is pivotal for understanding Christendom and kind of bringing a lot of concepts that we take for granted educational reforms , those sorts of things I think will be really important as we continue in the season .

I mean , you could have a community that exists , but what is it making ? What is it producing ? And I think Alfred got that . Yeah , absolutely the culture needed to be there , at the center , from the church and the people on out .

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God loves this story because he uses it so often in history to demonstrate his own glory that he'll often raise up a single courageous man to , who is not even the one who you would think would be the guy right , he's not the firstborn , or he's not the strongest , or he's you know , he's the line up , all of the sons of Jesse , and he's the one who they

forgot about because he's so unlikely . Well , we got this . Like , if God doesn't want any of these guys , we got this other kid . He's like out there shepherding the sheep . Or or Gideon , who's , you know , at first doesn't seem like he , until the spirit of God comes as courageous .

I do think , when you get this mixture of the judgment of God coming on his people , the chastening discipline of God , that in the midst of that , this is just a storyline that he has woven into so many of his stories .

Ultimately , I think because the master hero tale just is an echo from the story of the gospel , where the God man faces down all of the hordes of death and hell and sin by himself and he conquers by dying right , he goes out and he , and then he chooses 12 like undereducated , mainly blue collar guys , along with some enemies of state and enemies of the very

people of God , the tax collector , and he's like okay , now you know , I've , I've won the principal victory . Now you guys go out and here's your mission Just take over the whole world , that's it . Just baptize all the nations , teach everybody to do everything I said . And they're like all right , we got this .

So I think there's something , because God wove that story into the fabric of the world . I think he also wove that story into the fabric of the human soul .

And then the last piece for me is to see , is to notice , to get all of that , which I think most of our listeners they get that but then to see that God didn't stop telling stories in 32 or 33 AD . God is still telling that story . God is still sovereign over history .

God is still the one who's orchestrating armies of Norsemen and the beleaguered , the beleaguered forces , I guess of God's people you could say they're like he's still telling that story and he didn't even stop then . He's still telling that story today .

Often that was of much note , even among Lord Lee and noble houses , so youngest sons would often be the ones who would go out and they'd be like well , there's nothing here , I'm going to the , I'm going to the India . I'm going to India like the colony there .

Well , I started an extremely profitable sugar plantation and now I am a lord of Jamaica , or you know something like . So hey , is not in Africa , by the way whatever Look , look . I want to go . I went to public school , the other day Lexi asked me where is New England , brian ? And I was like is that a city ?

This is the most important kind of leadership right now in our day , but I think there's a connection here with Alfred and his courage in the shield wall . So first of all , I guess , walk me through this . Why is that so important ? But especially for Alfred in this time , this particular time is demanding .

It's almost a moment like nobody would really want that position .

This was part of Nate Fisher's talk at our last conference Is that credentialism is dying Because people realize we're not in a neutral world , positive world , where these men have been raised in institutions that actually create leaders and they have some sort of capital with some honorific on the end of their name .

And so now we have a time where , essentially , we're outnumbered and we've been betrayed so many times by these credentialed men that the real test of true leadership are the men that are going to say assemble the shield wall , we don't retreat , we don't run from this fight . Half of the army didn't show up .

Which we see more and more in modern American Christianity is that you are betrayed by those whom you often venerated as heroes of the faith . They will stab you in the back and they will take half the army from you , and so you are looking for men that will actually lead from the front .

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Well , and I think too , if you look at our day and you know obviously sort of fast forward , but you look at guys like maybe like a dusty , diverse , I think , like in our circles , this is why it's such , I guess , just an encouragement .

It sort of draws men to himself because , brian , in the midst of what we've seen in the evangelical world , we haven't seen a lot of courage like this . We haven't seen a guy say this is God's word , I'm not apologizing , let's go .

Where are you willing to say the thing that you know has just instantly lost you all possibility of patronage from the elites , from the in group of the world , from their inner ring , when increasingly , in the evangelical world , that's who they're signaling to for support , the Russell Moore's of the world , and in our world we tend to think like those people's name

is mud in our kind of circles .

But a lot of the time we forget how insulated we are and how small we are in the broader world , that there are still massive political tokens , financial tokens , to be gained from being a trader , like Dan said , from being the guy that you're actually , instead of fighting courageously , not only are you not doing that , you're actively warring against your own

people . There's still a lot of power and prestige and seats at important quote , unquote tables to be had by doing that .

And so today , like you think , dusty D , versus a great example where it doesn't matter tomorrow if the nine I think he has like nine bills that he's proposed or something like that that cover everything from pornography and sexting to no fault divorce to the currency and abortion , things like that .

It almost doesn't matter right now whether any of those bills succeed .

What we need are 100 , 1000 , 10,000 men who are willing to fight what right now look like certainly losing battles , like Alfred standing there and saying look , even if we , even if we get killed to the last man , we're going to be slain standing here on this hill with our shields in front of us . We're going to draw the fire of the enemy .

We're not going to flee , we're not going to try to barter and give them a little more ground and a little more ground and a little more ground and hold them off . We're just going to stand and we're going to fight . We're going to take their scorn .

That's the shield wall today , and cowards in that wall , cowards and turncoats , are the most dangerous thing to face us right now . Yeah , that's what's going to ask you in the case .

How much energy is spent in flinging arrows into your people ? How much time and energy is spent in the turf war ?

He said you know , back in the day , westminster Seminary , they rally their forces and they write their papers and what are they attacking ? They're not attacking the rot in the culture . They're not going after abortion , none of it . They're going after the big problem of the day , then theonomy .

And today you can probably see the same thing with , like , you know what we really need to attack Christian nationalism . Yeah , so Greg says in that video . He says you're attacking theonomy and we live in a country where you have to lock your doors and you're not safe in your home and you think that's the problem and that's the thing .

So I think , part of it is just recognizing Dan , like who is the enemy ? Who do we actually need to display courage ? I think so often what we see in our leadership is they're trying to virtue signal to the left . See , I'm a good guy and , as Brian said , you end up attacking your own people .

But part of the courage is saying who's the real enemy and will I take the stand that costs me . I think that's what interests me about Alfred here is that , in some ways , like you got to be standing there thinking like I'm probably going to die , oh yeah .

When the fighting starts , there's a certain kind of guy who proves out . What is it about that ? It's manly courage . It's a number of things , but what is it about that quality in a leader that is so important ?

His students didn't particularly care for him too much , but for some reason , on the battlefield , what he did was he won their hearts to courage . That's really what it was , is he was able to win their hearts to courage , and it was more than just mere words . It was because he was at the front too .

He had proven out that no , I'm willing to take shots here , I'm willing to be fired at , I'm willing to be on the front line .

He was in the middle , in the front of the shield wall , and the men to his right and to his left were his lords , that he had given gifts to , and they had given him their vows that they would stand in battle , and the men were inspired by that .

They've really , you know , they've gone through , you know our whole process . We've , you know , they've kissed the right rings . And now here they are and people listen to this podcast and change their entire lives .

We're going to stand here and we're just going to say the true thing and most of the time it's like not in the most sophisticated again , we can't appeal to degrees , it's it's not like this high learned . For the most part we've just kind of figured this thing out as we go , and I'm not trying to toot around horns .

I'm saying that this is a pattern generally right now in the Christian landscape .

Is that because one of the reasons credentialism is dying is because all of those processes to appoint the voices , the people you should listen to , ultimately what they produced were cowards who gave way at exactly the point of the enemy's attack , over and over and over again , until they had given away all of the institutional power that good Christian men , for a

century plus , had built . So they gave all of that away . And now people are looking around and what are they actually looking for ? First off ? And the thing they're looking for is simply courage at the points of attack . Courage on issues like feminism , courage on issues like race and racism and DEI and all of these equity , inclusivity things .

Courage in the front of a million different issues where the leaders have given way . So I know that there are cowards in the shield wall today , partly because we even exist , right .

They'd embraced slavery , human sacrifice , and you see similar things today . But because there were no cowards in Alfred's army , they were able to stand and fight from this pagan onslaught . But today we have cowards in the shield wall who are not fighting . Not only are they not fighting , but they encourage others to not fight .

They're actually actively leading in their cowardice to cause Christians to retreat to cause the route to happen , and you see this , with institutions and churches falling .

You are not allowed to notice that , you are not allowed to fight that , you're not allowed to name that , you're not allowed to write on that , you're not allowed to podcast on that , you need to hush-hush .

This is when backroom conversations happen , when text messages are sent and phone calls happen behind the scenes and say , hey , hey , hey , you can talk about anything , but you can't talk about that . You got to quiet down about that . Those are where you start to see the cowardice .

Well , and I think people are retreating precisely at the well , it's like no , no , no , the Norsemen are there . Like we got to talk about that , we got to go attack there and there .

It's like as soon as you start rallying people and there becomes a momentum towards this , you will see 50 different strategies unfold to attempt to geld that force , to say you better not march over there , and what you're often finding are the places where the levers of power from the pagan world have effectively been stabbed into the church and they're pulling hard

and you're sitting and it's like , but that right , there is actually , when you know you need to go , run full tilt , You're like , oh , they , they , if they want us to stop here , it's like full send . You know , that's that's when you go shield , wall up , boys , let's , let's go . And a lot of the time in our world it's so funny , it's , it's .

It's not funny , but right now the world is the battle is over ideas and it's , it's , it's meme warfare , right , but the thing is it doesn't end there If you lose the battle of ideas . The next kind of warfare is is back to Alfred and the Norsemen . It's back to , oh , they're actually enslaving and killing and , you know , destroying whole civilizations .

We can think even of like Gideon's 300 , but it's interesting because they say and now Alfred , who clearly knew his history , if a people will fight to the death , they usually come back . If they surrender and are defeated , they're done forever , it's over . And so I think , just on issues like post millennialism , patriarchy , I get it .

The culture hates you , the culture's telling you these things are never going to take root again , you're never coming back from the grave . And I think to have this mentality among our people where it's like give me 300 good men and we'll die for it , and you even think about the Spartans . They stopped the Persian invasion .

There would be no Western civilization without 300 good men defending the gap , and so I think that's what we have to do . The other thing I would say about Alfred I love this picture of when you read the account of Ashton . It's simply to him a matter of duty . He says my brother's not here .

This is my duty , and he immediately goes to the front and he knows what a king is supposed to do and he starts fighting . There's actually not a lot of drama in the moment in terms of him like hand wringing . I need to say a prayer to God . I don't know what to do . He knows he has to champion the men . He goes and he fights .

He puts his life on the line .

Like it was not even close , they were routed there and so he had just come off the heels of a loss and within experience , and so it's actually quite amazing that he was able to do that .

Do you see sort of this band where I see a lot of the people you talked about them before , a lot of the people who are most upset with the Dusty Devers is like the pietistic camp . R2k camp obviously hates us , hates anybody like Dusty who's trying to change the world .

I heard one of the R2K guys recently saying the state in the church cannot do anything to speak against Hitler . If they were back in that position , they can't do anything to speak against the evils of the world , they just have to allow them to happen , whatever they are , and it got me thinking . It's like well , isn't this just pietistic cowardice ?

So I want to get your thoughts on those .

He's in mass and in prayers , and there's some debate whether he was actually a coward or not , but , as you recall , they just suffered defeat four days earlier , and so his excuse was that he was in mass and deep in prayer and didn't show up for the battle .

Well , alfred now has both armies , the Viking armies that are converging on him and did converge on him .

And the thing is , we definitely see this today , like you said , with that example of not speaking against Hitler the church shouldn't speak against Hitler or the evils of our day and the thing is , the shroud of pietism is just another prime example of cowardice .

But what these men don't actually realize , I think in their piety , because their piety clouds their judgment in such a way that they don't realize that their people are actually being stolen , like their people are actually being stolen and they're doing nothing to stop it and in fact , they're fighting a counter war against those who are fighting , not to belabor the

point . But this is definitely alive and well right now , and I think that that is another prime example of cowardice .

Here we're being counter-discipled . Here we have to stand up on something like sexuality .

We have to stand up on something like you know today , one of the biggest issues that is a hot button politically outside the church , as well as this immigration issue like illegal immigration , where , you know , north America is being functionally invaded by millions upon millions of immigrants , and we know that the left is leveraging this in order to create voters ,

to bolster , consolidate their power and ultimately , progress , you know , put forward an anti-Christ regime , politically speaking , on the whole world . That's what they're trying to do . And so , you'll see , though , as soon as you know , fundamentalists stand up and start saying this is not okay .

In fact , if we would just go back to the doctrines of our forefathers and understood how they thought about things like nations , you know , we look at Stephen Wolf's book , we go back and we say how did Calvin ? How did the reformers think about nationhood and how the civil father and the city father ought to protect the common wealth ?

And you know all of these ideas . As soon as you start to recover those and say , wait , that actually applies here . This is not just a political issue , this is a spiritual issue . There's an anti-Christ propaganda and machine that's rolling forward to not just win a political victory but actually ultimately win in an asymmetrical war against Christianity .

Right , we know this . What happens ? The second you start rallying around and saying we're going to fight on this front , you immediately get 15 regime theologians who are saying , well , you hate the gospel and missions because , look , the mission field is coming to you and how dare you fail to love orphans and widows ?

And if you really haven't , you read the Good Samaritan and they start to . They do really bad theology . They do a lot of proof texting , but what are they doing ? They are fighting against your action . They're fighting against Christians , actually fighting the correct fight , and they're doing it with a veil .

If what we need to do is train the people to see through that and actually say OK , here's a prerequisite for a leader in the camp you have to be a guy that has consistently for the last five years or however long , stood up in the pulpit and poked the gods of the age in both eyes and been willing to say to your church even if you fire me , I'm not

going to back down from this . Even if the elder team runs political maneuvering against me , I'm not going to give into this .

I would rather be unemployed than to be a regime theologian Like those are the issues today again that are creating this system of the trust economy , where the credentialed are losing , and they know it , and that's why they're shrieking so loud right now .

Yeah , they're losing , and people who are simply often bubba's , like guys that are not elites in any sense of the word , they're just normal pastors like us I'm describing .

Well , it's because people are wising up to this play . It's not effective . It's not going to be effective for long , but we need to continue to be training people to see through this kind of regime . Theologian .

I know you don't like it , nobody really likes it , but I think it would be best for everyone . Yeah , look if we just put it in the temple and then it was an opportunity to evangelize these .

But Samuel flips out and he says what is the sound of the bleeding of sheep then ? Because God gave you a command and he takes a sword and he hacks a gag to pieces . It's a priest right there . That's a priest and a righteous response to evil .

As you guys are talking about this , I can't help but think the people in Alfred Shieldwall if they would have turned and run . They're actually less cowardly than the leaders today who are actively seeking to undermine the fight in the first place .

It's still disqualifying and a sin , and a grievous sin . It's a grievous sin at the heart of masculinity . But how much worse to be the guy that's like pay the dain galed .

I do want to ask you a question , though , about leadership in general , just to crystallize this point and clarify this point when you have a strong leader , obviously we've talked about leading from the front as being important , a good practical application lesson for people what else would you put on that list ?

Effective leaders , encouraging people to be that today .

But a lot of times you'll get leaders that think they can read the chessboard , they think that they're really good at it . Yeah , not realizing their own blind spots , not taking counsel from other respectable wise men , whereas these men they could see the chessboard accurately , they knew the times and they could see the consequences of something like flight .

So even Stonewall was encouraging the Confederate army to charge to .

And he was like look , you got to wage total war , you got to burn everything to ground that you follow and you got to march all the way north until they Don't have a stomach to battle .

One of the things that I keep coming back to in our own present situation is pursuit , when you have the enemy on the run . If you don't finish it , if you don't put them down , like you've got the wolves on the run , that's nothing they can , as we'll see , they can easily regroup and come back and attack you . You've got to go for the kill .

Obviously , it's not in the account of Alfred , but if he had saw the Danes and he's like where's my brother ? What are we going to do ? Hey , you guys , what are you doing with your shields ? They're not ready .

You're like start critiquing everybody around you and you're like attacking people in your own lines while there's an enemy that's ready to hack you to pieces in front Through indecision , just not knowing what to do , so you attack your friends .

That's a really bad thing that leaders tend to do , so decisiveness is really important when Alfred is faced with the enemy . He knows the situation . He can see into the future . If I run , what are the consequences ? What is our vision ? And okay , here's what we're going to do . We're going to fight .

Assemble the shield wall , shows no hesitation and shows complete confidence and is able to lead his men .

The leader must know what is the correct front and concentrate his forces , and even in that a leader must be willing to lose . This is what so often has missed and allowed the decline of Christianity is leaders who weren't willing to lose . They saw battles and they saw that they were battles that they disagreed with . They saw the enemy .

They were like okay , if I allow this thing to continue in my church , then my church is going to lose over the long haul . But they looked at those battles , many pastors and this applies to lots of different things other than the church as well and they said but I'm not certain I can win , I have a chance of winning , but I might get run out of town .

I might end up losing enough people , losing my position , losing my safety , losing my comfort , losing my authority . And so a lot of pastors they play at fighting .

They do small little faints and they kind of take small little stands and then they might take back two steps forward , but then they give way three steps back and the enemy knows that if someone's not going to fight total war , that they can be strategic all day long . That's what the left does . They take .

They'll huge , swell the tide , full DEI , full wokeness , full everything . They'll let the tide get all the way to where it is about 2023 , I think that was like peak , peak wokeness . Now there's kind of a cultural reaction . The right is ascendant . People are starting to see this is ridiculous .

Our planes are going to fall out of the sky if they try to run on slay queen . So we're going to have to like actually hire some middle-aged white guys and like leave them alone a little bit more . What will they do now ?

They will let us take back 40% of the ground that was lost by their time so that they can make another all out run five years from now . And if you just follow that process , what's going to happen ? Well , total victory for them . So a leader has to be willing to lose . He has to be willing to die , like Alfred was going . This is it .

I'm willing to give it all right now .

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I think for us especially , this is again why history is so important for leadership . But do you actually believe in this project ? Do we actually believe in this post-millennial vision ?

Of course the answer is yes , but it will result in a certain kind of fighting spirit , that is , a zeal , as the Greeks would call it , a fire rising within you , and fire always spreads .

The king didn't show up to battle . They're going to be annihilated .

But then , as soon as he gains power and starts pushing back the Vikings and takes the kingdom one of the temptations that leaders have is after they've grabbed enough power or had enough influence , righteously , unrighteously , their main concern is keeping it , and so they soften the message and back to your point about fighting feints and things like that to show ,

hey , there's some of the old spirit left in you , but it's all just bluster and they slowly decline .

I think the desire to popularize or whatever it is that weakens , and so good leaders have to keep the same vision as well . I want to ask one question for you guys , and then we're going to jump into another story here , but we can also ask a question about luck , which I find interesting . A lot of people said Alfred's lucky .

You said that about a lot of companies , great leaders , great teams , whatever . They just got lucky . But it's interesting , dan , we dove into this with great by choice . They talk about luck , yeah , and 30 year 10X companies who last and do a wonderful , fantastic job . They found that most people have about the same amount of luck .

You read the story of Alfred and you find , well , the Danes had luck too . Yep , and it's really not about luck . It's about what kind of position you put yourself in to deal with the luck that you're given , yeah , to capitalize . It's about the opportunity .

And I think about it like if you're thinking about a third string quarterback , maybe somebody like the Cardinals . You have a third string quarterback guy named Kurt Warner . He's passed his prime . Two guys get hurt and they're like Kurt . We have no other options . They go to the Super Bowl because that guy was ready to step up . So that's luck .

He also had a bunch of bad luck . So when you're thinking about great leaders Alfred , his victories , dan how do you think about and how do you process this issue of luck or good providence ? We might say ?

And I mean , I mean I just redefined what you just said but if he had not capitalized on it and retreated , he had an opportunity to capitalize and he would have lost that and they would have surely been decimated .

And the same thing happens with companies or churches you know pastors where , because of cowardice , the opportunities do exist but you never capitalized on it . You don't know what could have happened if you had just made the stand . Who knows what God would have done .

I'm sure you've heard this before , but anytime there's some success and something , people say , oh Brian's just really lucky , and then you might respond with like , well , yeah , but you don't see the hours of production , you don't see the work . Definitely gifting talent , all those things , but as a wise leader , that really means nothing unless you do the work .

There is such thing as someone who has a big break and they have a momentary just success and maybe it's great , like some people do get lucky and they , they ape all into you know some meme coin and become a multimillionaire Right , but most of the time those people , when there's not a character , they end up just failing in slow motion after that for a long

time . You have to be consistent . You have to just every day do the thing you know you're supposed to do . 90 percent of the time you don't actually want to do the next thing . Deep in your soul , you know , like the third string quarterback , does he really want to grind it out for multi-hour workouts and then training sessions ?

And knowing he's not going to know , knowing there is a 1.3 percent chance that he's going to make it on the field and then in an NFL game this season at all , let alone in a moment where he might actually really have an opportunity ?

Usually it's like , oh , we're blowing out the other team here , take a couple reps , or you know what it who the character to do . That gives the illusion often of luck being the thing . But you know music is an example Most of the people that you see who are like . All of a sudden you start to see some musician blowing up .

There's a lot of secular examples like no , a con right now , like folksy kind of had a couple hits and now everyone's like loves his music . Stick season , baby , stick season , yeah sure , and it's like it's explicit guys . So don't don't think that Kings Hall is like there you go , it's not great . I haven't listened to it , so I just know it's popular .

Guarantee you that guy is in his mid to late 30s and has been grinding it out , making music and getting really good at that and writing . And he's probably written a hundred really bad songs , right , and just ground it out .

And many , most people who complain about luck have never had the fortitude to grind out a hundred failed attempts at something or to just practice something and do it over and over and over and over . Most people that sit on the sidelines and fuss about how people are just lucky , most of those people are just lazy and that's fine . They can keep .

They can keep sucking , but you offered click . Great leaders clearly are not just momentarily lucky .

Ethelred called the Witten a council of the wise men of Wessex before him . He presented he and Alfred's plan for the succession of the throne . If Ethelred suffered an untimely death , then Alfred and his sons would claim the rights to the throne . Alfred would have to provide for the family of Ethelred .

In exchange , the Witten , after quick consideration , approved of the choice . The decision proved vital . A few days later , ethelred and Alfred led the Anglo-Saxons into a fateful battle at Merton . The Battle of Merton proceeded much like the first few battles fought between the two armies . Both formed shield walls and echo of Roman times .

Again , ethelred and Alfred led from the front as both sides exchanged spear thrusts . After several hours , the Anglo-Saxon shield wall remained impenetrable . The lines of the Northmen crumbled and retreated . The exhausted men of Wessex wallowed in their seemingly assured victory . In their joy of victory , neither Alfred nor Ethelred pushed the pursuit . Instead they relaxed .

They casually approached the fleeing Danish line , but then suddenly , into their horror , the Danes collectively turned and reformed their shield wall . The Saxon elation disappeared in an instant . They frantically reformed their shield walls , but it was too late . The Viking army rolled over the Saxons and destroyed them .

Alfred and Ethelred lost all control over their men in the ensuing retreat , as Saxon soldiers were moaned down without mercy . Alfred searched for his brother after the battle , only to find him seriously wounded . The Vikings now seemed to be unstoppable and were making massive inroads into the kingdom of Wessex . King Ethelred's major injuries only made matters worse .

He struggled with fever and loss of blood and a few days later died of his wounds , leaving the throne of Wessex empty . Alfred was next in line . The throne passed to him and he was crowned on the 15th of April 871 , anno Domini . It was not an ideal time to rule .

A lesser man would have rejected it , but as Alfred had shown at the Battle of Ashtown , he was no lesser man . Alfred's rule began inauspiciously . As Easter had come , alfred hoped for a new deliverance from his godless foes . Instead , it was exactly the opposite . A new Viking fleet sailed up the Thames with thousands of new warriors .

They joined the already present Danish force at Redding . They were led by three new Viking kings Guthram , oskitel and Anwennd . The Northmen had heard of England's easy plunder and had come in search of gold . A few minor skirmishes occurred in 871 and 872 , all of which resulted in losses for Alfred . At the end of 872 , alfred was forced to buy the Danes off .

In exchange for money , the Danes promised to leave Wessex alone for five years . Surprisingly , they seemed to keep their word . The Vikings left Wessex and ransacked the surrounding countryside , establishing a puppet king in the nearby Kingdom of Mercia .

Dr Merkel speaks to the Danegeld in his book the White Horse King Quote paying the Danegeld never buys more than short-term peace . The payment reveals a weakness , a willingness to give up wealth without a fight , and like the scent of blood to sharks , this message could do nothing other than attract future Viking attacks , end quote .

A poem by Rudyard Kipling explains the Danegeld in plain terms , and that is called paying the Danegeld . But we've proved it again and again that if once you've paid him the Danegeld , you never get rid of the Dane . Indeed , the action removed the Danes from the Kingdom of Wessex for only three years , not the promised five .

During this time , alfred should have sought to fix the problem with the Saxon system of military , which did not have a standing army . Instead , they had what was called a Feard . When time for battle came , alfred would call on his nobles , who would supply their own small militias . This process was clunky and inefficient .

Alfred was at a loss as to how to fix it and decided to just leave it as it was . Near the end of the peace in Wessex , alfred started to sense a Viking return . He focused his sparse resources on building a small navy , earning him the honor of being the father of the Royal British Navy .

In 875 , saxon watchers on the coast reported sightings of a fleet of Viking ships . Luckily , the fleet contained only seven of the famous Viking longboats . The Danes clearly had plunder in mind and not open warfare . Nevertheless , alfred personally led his small navy against the Vikings and they achieved a resounding victory .

One ship was captured , the other six put to flight . Though the victory was small , it was sweet . It gave the Saxons at least a small measure of confidence . The following year they would need all the confidence they could get .

Another Viking attempt to take Wessex would occur , and this time the Danish intent was not merely plunder but complete destruction of the Saxon people .

As for the next Danish invasion , ben Merkle writes In the year 876 , the Viking King Guthrub , leader of the Danish forces occupying East Anglia , led his army out of Cambridge under cover of darkness and began a hasty march toward Wessex . Guthrub was able to lead his Danish army , virtually unnoticed , through the heart of Wessex all the way to the southern coast .

Guthrub had caught Alfred heavily off guard by the time Alfred and the rest of Wessex became aware of the invasion Guthrub had already seized the town of Werem . Werem was ideally located because it was bordered by rivers on two different sides .

The two rivers then connected to the back of Werem , therefore creating a natural defense on three out of the four sides of the city . When Alfred finally arrived at the city , guthrub had already dug himself in and was amply prepared for a long siege . Alfred was hesitant to indulge Guthrub in such a siege .

Werem was clearly a naval base , surrounded as it was by water , that was easily accessed by the sea . But why would Guthrub choose a naval base when all he possessed was a land force ? Alfred believed Guthrub to be waiting on a large Danish fleet , which bolstered his sense of suspicion .

Alfred's two options appeared to be either laying siege to Werem and hoping that Guthrub did not have a naval force , or again paying the Danegale to buy time . Alfred chose to pay . The Danegale Hostages were exchanged to force Guthrub to keep his word . Guthrub swore , on the name of Thor , that he would leave Wessex .

In a savage and ruthless display of barbarity , guthrub slew his Saxon hostages and slipped out of Werem in the middle of the night . By the time Alfred caught up to him , he had taken the city of Exeter , which was also well fortified . To compound matters , the suspected Danish fleet was spotted along the southern coast standing upwards of 3,000 men .

Alfred prayed for deliverance from the Viking menace and prayed that his lands would be delivered , even if it involved a miracle . The prayers of the meek do not fall in deaf ears . John 931 says Now we know that God does not hear sinners , but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will , he hears them .

In an amazing twist of providence , a massive storm wrecked the entire Danish fleet ships off the coast , some 3,600 men . The tables were now turned in Alfred's favor . Guthrub negotiated a quick treaty and left Wessex . He returned to Mercia under pretexts of peace , but raised a massive army and began preparing for yet another invasion into Anglo-Saxon territory .

Guthrub planned his next attack with impeccable timing . The Viking force on the border of Wessex and Mercia launched a sneak attack on the 12th night of Christmas . The date of the attack was a stroke of genius Chippenham , a tactical advantage of a city , was occupied by Alfred so that he could keep an eye on Guthrub in Mercia .

But on the 12th night the good Christians were celebrating the birth of their lord with great vigor . They left the city exposed , guthrub attacked and Chippenham fell in a single night . Alfred and his immediate family , as well as their bodyguard , fled into the night . Alfred was then betrayed by several powerful nobles who lost faith in their king .

He was forced to hide in the watery marsh country , mirroring stories of Robin Hood hiding in Sherwood Forest . Though it did not feel like it at the time , the next part of Alfred's adventure was the sort that inspires legends . Truly , alfred was the first Robin Hood , with just his family and a few men that remained loyal to him .

Alfred hid in the woods and conducted small guerrilla warfare . He used small raiding parties to pick off groups of Danes . Those Anglo-Saxons who had deserted him also became targets of his attacks . The headquarters of Alfred's new operation was a small island called Athelney .

It was two acres in area , surrounded by a river on one side and marshes and bogs on the other . It was only approachable by boat and it was hidden from view . It was a perfect hideout .

Then , according to Dr Merkel quote nearly all the great legends for which Alfred is still remembered refer to these few months as Alfred wandered the wilds of Wessex figuring out how to retake his kingdom end quote the most famous of these legends is the story of Alfred in the Cakes .

According to the legend , alfred first arrived at Athelney alone and was scouting it out as a potential base . Keeping his identity a secret , alfred lodged at the home of a shepherd and his wife . One day Alfred was left to watch the cakes that the shepherd's wife was baking . He became so lost in thought that he let the cakes burn into a crisp .

When the shepherd's wife returned to find her cakes burned , she chastised Alfred for being lazy and taking advantage of her hospitality . Alfred accepted the criticism and dutifully turned the cakes over . This was a perfect example of the meekness of Alfred's character .

The king of England was mistaken for a poor yeoman incastigated for burning food , and yet he humbly accepted the approach and changed his way . During his stay at Athelney , alfred had to reinvent himself as a man and as a king . In his previous battles , he could never be faulted for his zeal and determination . However , he now realized that he lacked cunning .

He had been outsmarted and outmaneuvered by Guthram . He now sought to be as wise as a serpent but as innocent as a dove . He stated Athelney because he could track Guthram . He could analyze his opponent's movements and favorite strategies From this secret hideout . Alfred studied Guthram and truly learned from his mistakes . Such traits are the marks of a superior man .

Alfred now successfully engaged in guerrilla tactics , something he wasn't previously accustomed to . He used subterfuge and espionage and practiced moving his troops silently around Wessex . After almost two years of hiding , alfred decided that the time was ripe to expel Guthram from his kingdom once and for all .

In the late spring of 878 , anno Domini , alfred rode to Egbert's Stone , where he had mustered his remaining army , to make an assault on Chippenham , where Guthram dwelt . It was a force of 4,000 men , all of whom were ready for a last gasp battle to save their home . Previously , the Church calendar had been used as a weapon against Alfred .

This time , he would use it to his advantage . He chose to march from Egbert's Stone to Chippenham on Whitsunday or Pentecost , displaying his newfound cunning . It was a move that Guthram did not expect , as he assumed that Alfred and his soldiers would spend the day worshiping .

Guthram hastily gathered his army and marched to Bratton Camp , a fortress 10 miles from Chippenham , in order to cut off Alfred's advance . Because of the stealth and speed Alfred had maintained , guthram did not have time to fortify Bratton Camp . Alfred , his prayers said in his orders given , prepared for a decisive battle .

On the 5th of May 878 , the shield walls of the Anglo-Saxons and the Northmen met in a ferocious battle . The hurled spears of both sides reportedly blocked out the sun as they fell in droves among their targets . Many lay dead on the fields of Bratton Camp . Man after man collapsed dead in the Saxons' shield wall , but man after man arose to take his place .

Guthram had arrogantly chosen to face the Saxons in the field of battle instead of inside the walls of Bratton Camp . Confident in his victory , now he wasn't so sure . Throwing , anxious and fearful , he sent out his best warriors , the Danish berserkers .

The drugged up warriors ran naked toward the Saxons' shield wall in a blood boiling frenzy , clanging their swords , together with intoxicated fervor . Such things had broken the Saxons' will before , but Alfred's stay in Athelmy had done him a favor . Only those who were completely loyal to the king , and therefore courageous men , had stayed with him .

The Saxons' shield wall remained unbroken . Guthram was now aware of his arrogant mistake . The Viking's shield wall began to crumble and disarray . Cowered after cowered , retreated from his place beside his brothers' arms , the wall disintegrated under the brutal attacks and cries of the Saxons . The Vikings turned in a full-fledged retreat , panic in their eyes .

They stumbled over one another in their haste to retreat , dropping their heavy weapons as they did so .

Almost all of the Danes were slaughtered as they raced in bedlam for the hills . Only Guthram and a few of his commanders escaped , slinking back to Chippenham . First the hunter , now the prey . The tides of war had changed , and they had changed for good . Alfred , the great warrior , the great leader and the great man had taken back control of his country .

Never again would he bow before such godless men . He was truly the king . Now Guthram was ousted from his hideout in Chippenham after two weeks of siege . What followed was the most one-sided agreement ever signed by Danish people In the treaty . Alfred took as many hostages as he wished and gave none in return .

Guthram would leave Wessex with his remaining men and never return here . Alfred chose to demonstrate his Christian mercy . The Danes had been nothing but cruel and heartless to the West Saxons since their first invasion in 866 , but Alfred was not cruel and heartless .

He promised Guthram his freedom if , and only if Guthram would take the Christian sacrament of baptism and that Alfred become Guthram's godfather . In the process , guthram agreed . Three weeks later , alfred led Guthram and his men to a small church in a town called Aller , a short walk away from Athelney . The church was merely a shack .

Wessex had impressive churches at the time . Alfred could have tried to impress Guthram with his Christianity and shown him the earthly riches of his religion . Instead , alfred brought Guthram to the lowliest , most humble , ramshackled church that Britain had to offer .

It was the very church Alfred had worshipped at during his stay in Athelney , the lowest point of his life . Perhaps he wished to show Guthram his humble origins . Either way , he presented to Guthram an honest depiction of Christianity . It was and is a humble religion . It was at this church that Guthram was baptized .

The typical Catholic rituals were performed and then Guthram was led to the baptismal . The priests submerged him three times in the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Ghost . On the third submersion , alfred grabbed Guthram by the shoulders and pulled him dripping from the water . The two stood face to face .

Alfred , who had sponsored Guthram's baptism , announced Guthram as his godson and rechristened him . Ethelstan , now a member of the House of the King of Wessex . By this action , alfred forgave Guthram for all the offenses he had perpetrated and welcomed him into fellowship . Disregarding the previous conflict between the two , alfred embraced Ethelstan as he would .

His own son , ethelstan was then treated by Alfred to 12 days of Saxon feasting , a period during which Alfred bestowed numerous gifts on his new godson . After the feasting , ethelstan returned to the conquered kingdom of East Anglia and began his reign as king there . The question now was whether Ethelstan would hold to his new baptism .

The first test of his Christianity came just months in his reign over East Anglia . A large Viking fleet had sailed to England and met with Ethelstan and asked for his permission and aid in raiding and plundering Wessex . When this was reported to Alfred , he prepared to meet his godson in battle yet again . But Ethelstan surprised every West Saxon with his decision .

He vehemently told the Vikings no and sent them away empty-handed . Next , ethelstan pulled his armies away from the Wessex border . Ethelstan and Alfred would never meet in combat again , but remained on good terms for the rest of Ethelstan's life . Modern historians tend to take the cynical view of Guthram's baptism and claim that it was nothing but a ruse .

However , nothing after the fallen Vikings' conversion shows that he was anything other than a sincere Christian convert . He regularly attended mass , made several peace treaties with Alfred and minted a coin in commemoration of St Edmund , a king of East Anglia who had been killed by Danes when he died .

In 890 , the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported the death of a Christian king named Ethelstan , who was simply the godson of Alfred . No comments were made about his previous life as a pagan , though the suspicions of the truth concerning Guthram's baptism may never be entirely shaken .

He lived the life of a Christian after his baptism , which is all the evidence needed to conclude that he was indeed a true Christian .

But Duke Leto says to his son , paul and I love this quote he says this a great man doesn't seek to lead . He has called to it and he answers . Now , alfred certainly answered the call and it was not at a great time for the glamorous work of head . We see all of this , really , in the story that we just read .

So , dan , just talk about answering the bell as a great man , what that requires and what it requires stepping up to the plate to do for Alfred .

We just have to use the time we've been given the best we can , and so I think that does that scene , and so me using Lord of the Rings right now . It was such a good reference . It is . Yeah , I wish .

But older men look at younger men and say I wish that things weren't going to be so hard for you . What a what a hard time to live . I feel pity and sorrow for my , my generations , for for the world that they're going to live in it's going to be so hard . Whereas Gandalf is saying essentially to Frodo this is a time for glory .

You don't get to choose when you live . You don't get to choose the situation that you're put into . But through Providence , God made you for a time such as this . God made Alfred for that time to preserve his people .

Through the judgment of the Viking invasion , he brought a man like Alfred and put him in that time and through the hardship and all of the situations and Alfred ended up fanning into flame what became one of the greatest kingdoms that the world has ever seen .

That really was a really important , a pivotal moment in history . What I love about Alfred is that he did do that . He did stand up and he rose to the occasion and he put himself , he put it all on the line . But he did it again and again and he learned from his mistakes Over and over .

He looked back and he was like , wow , we didn't press that attack . And look what happened . Oh , wow , we paid the gate , we paid the daingelt , and look what happened . Oh , and he did this over and over . He humbly looked , even the story of the cakes . Alfred was a man who knew how to lead , but he also knew how to repent . He also knew how to learn .

He knew how to humbly assess his own past failures and adjust his own tactics . And the key , the crowning part of the story Eric will probably edit it out , but when he's baptizing Guthram at that point in the story I'm like hold him down , bro , drown that rat , like by the time you get to that point in the story , you read Dr Merkel's book .

You hate Guthram .

You are going to see Ethelstan , I'm convinced you're going to see this man in the kingdom , and it was because of the wisdom of the mercy , the wisdom of the mercy of Alfred . It makes me think of another moment , that because I suppose it's got to be gone , right .

Yeah , gandalf and calm , I'm like I'm with Frodo , I'm like , kill that , that sneaking rats Slinker , slinker , slinker , slinker , and .

And then you see the true greatness of Frodo and of you know , and I like to think that Tolkien is obviously steeped in the the northerness and in English history and he knows Alfred and other men like him , the true glory of Christian forgiveness and mercy , and how it shines brightly in this exact kind of setting .

We're like do we really believe that Christ can actually take an enemy , a Paul holding the coats , while they stone Stephen , and make him into one of the greatest slaves of Christ ?

I think , if you're a pastor and you know we've been called to such a weighty and a heavy role , to bear the burdens of the people on our heart , all those things there's moments where you feel heinously inadequate for the task and yet I think you know this model of just God gave you the task . Rise to the occasion , do your duty . That's it .

One of the things that Alfred does learn from is about paying the dame guilt . This is I would equate this to things like you mentioned , DEI , but I'll just give them a little bread . You know , you watch all football teams now . It's like every football team in the NFL has a chief diversity officer .

It's usually like a black female , To make sure there's enough white men , right yeah , because well exactly . You're like you're telling me , you're in a sport which is like 90% , like , let's say like come on , I don't think we've been worried .

It was an Irish man and these people came to his door and they were from the city and they were like we're here to inspect you , have a dog . We need to check your dog license . The guy was like are you joking ? And they were like no , we need to check your dog license . He's like go away , stop wasting people's time and money , go get a real job .

And he just refused to let them in , he refused to give in and they eventually were like , well , I guess we'll leave , but like that's the attitude you have to have when people are trying to exact this toll from you . Yeah , can you think of any other examples in our culture or society ? When it is , I don't even know what that looked like . Oh , can I .

He's getting rid of the Department of this and the Department of that and the bureaucracy for gay turtles , and he's getting rid of all the . He's just waving his wacky , crazy hair around and yelling in a language I don't understand and I'm like that is the fascist energy that I need right there . Oh my word , I'm going to bring it to America tomorrow .

Oh my word . Like Christophashism , christian nationalism is not far enough .

The dude's weeping at the Western wall in Israel with the little hat on , and he's just , you know , standing there like this , this shame ritual that every Western leader in the entire world has to go through , apparently .

The demand after that is going to be your civilization and your faith . You'd never pay better to die . This is why my guy , ben Garrett , is one of my heroes , because he's actually in the room , makes his headphones off so you can actually listen .

This guy , the stones on this guy , engineer with the government and they're like wear the mask , it will help with the COVID thing , wear the mask , whatever . And Ben went LOL , no . And then he just cheerfully went about his business until they were basically like , sir , you should probably seek another line of work .

And he was like yeah , look , I went to college for years to learn this entire industry and have a good paying job . That's secure . But I'm not going to pay the flippin' damegail facegail and wear your mask . And that was that . And I just think like if 5% of spineless government employees had done that would have been over . That damegail would have failed .

It doesn't take 50 . It takes five or 10 . So this rant I can't even remember where we are in the episode , but I think I'm done .

One of the danegales that's often paid in the church is submission to female leaders who aren't leaders , but elder swipes and female modes of communication and giving into those sorts of things . And what I've found in the church is when you give into a tyrannical woman , maybe she's in your marriage . When you give into her , you net .

The dane galed is never leaving , like the feminism is never leaving . Hr , karen , lady , it's over . Hr , karen , lady , dan , we were talking about it with Lonesome Dove and July Johnson on the Hard Men podcast . But it's like this guy who's a sheriff but can't speak up to his wife .

Like he is paying a dane galed Yep To his wife , to his wife's wife's , particularly Christian leaders . When Matt Chandler wears the pink cat sweaters with his lady office people and his wife , he's paying a dane galed . That's exactly what he's doing .

It's too feminism and I think that because so much of the evangelical establishment like their customers , women , because they built a product around those women . They sell the product to those women .

Now those women have the control , and so I think also what's needed is a lot of courageous pastors who say , you know , as Brian has been doing on his I don't know 97 part series on biblical households and women .

Alfred was like no , I will , I would rather die than do that again .

As we kind of wrap things up here , what primary lessons do you think can be learned from , particularly what he did in that time period ? Yeah , he's reinventing himself , he's kind of retreating . Yeah , yeah , he's going back to a location , but interestingly enough , it's not full retreatism .

So one of the things that we absolutely do have to learn that Alfred learned was this idea of cunning that he needed to learn how to be a shrewder operator than he was . He was being foolish in the way that he was relating to the enemy . He was expecting them to act honorably , according to the given rules of warfare .

You just have to realize in his age and in today's age that our enemies , they will do anything . There's no low they won't stoop to . There's no vow they won't break . There is no social moray . They will not trample underfoot . There's nothing . They will do literally anything to maintain power . They will gladly kill you and your children .

They would gladly give your entire nation away . They would do anything to have the power that they want . So you have to understand what Alfred learned is tactics , cunning , and Jesus lamented this that the sons of this age are more shrewd , more cunning than the sons of light , and that was a lament .

That wasn't a good thing they needed to learn how to have true piety , true righteousness , without being fools who are easily played patsies , idiots . They needed to learn cunning , and so I think that that's a really important point to take from Alfred is this concept of cunning ?

They're trying to make you do stuff you don't want to do . It , put things in your body you don't want to put there . You know , make you comply . Yes , brian . Yes , make you comply with whatever gay laws that they . You know that they're shoving down your throat , but or other places .

But the thing that's actually really difficult to see are the people inside the camp that would sell you out . Yeah , go for it .

But you'll watch trajectories of guys like a Kevin DeYoung and you're like , yeah , it'd be really cool if you stopped taking shots at all the right people and you haven't really seen courage on the right battlefronts . But I think it is helpful when you have these exiles , like David did in his life .

That's when he goes to the Cape of Adullum , that's when he gathers his 300 . And realizing I don't need 10,000 weak-willed men , I need 300 or three or four or five . I need a handful of hard men who are going to be faithful and courageous and there's zero I mean we're talking zero idea that they would betray you .

Yeah Right , having that close-knit circle of men that's going to be so much more pivotal in terms of the economies of trust and leadership and tribe , it would be better to have a small tribe of guys that trust you and you trust them . Yeah .

But I want people to be prepared for the eventuality that someone that you really trust not that I know anything or that this sounds really ominous , but men are sinful and there is at some point going to be someone that you probably trust that will betray you . It's an inevitability , it happens over and over .

We don't agree about that , but they're on my team and the next thing you know is you feel the knife enter your back and it's not just a disagreement , it's like I will destroy you .

Even if you get that courageous leader who's leading from the front and he's fighting the battle , if he is the whole reason that you are fighting , then you've lost , because as soon as he falls , as soon as he betrays you , you'll lose heart .

It's important to keep the principles in mind , it's important to keep God's promises in mind , and so I just don't want anybody to lose heart if and when someone fails them .

It was a strong team , is my point , and I think part of the warning that I would give to people too , is most people don't have a tribe , first of all , and second , they think that somebody they're following online is their tribe and it's like okay , that can be okay-ish if it leads you to actually finding a real tribe in a real place with real people .

But making sure people aren't just like cosplay larping . And then I think also just saying like part of the strength we've found here is it's not all dependent on Dan , it's good looking as he is .

He sat at a table with his men , with his elder men , his other leaders , and he would give them gifts . They would exchange gifts . He would give them a lot of wealth , but the most potent gift that he would give to his men were rings . This is where Tolkien gets the ring , you know , in Sauron . The rings for the men . Yeah , the rings for men .

The elves for the dwarves . Yeah , I want a ring , yeah , and so these were Maybe one ring to rule them all . I know these were Alfred's ring bearers . In exchange , they gave him vows . These were the men that were actually closest with Alfred . So , anyway , just keep that in mind as you go forward . Because Alfred didn't lose heart .

He didn't lose his eye for the vision that the English people , what would soon be the English people , the Saxon people , who were under the blood of Christ , covered by the blood of Christ , would defeat the pagan nations , and he would not abandon them to the pagan Vikings and their brutal sacrifice or sexual immorality , all of the horrors that they brought with

them . And he did not lose heart , but he fought , he assembled men and one men to his cause and eventually one . So that's the thing I want people to remember is that it's the principles of the fight , not the man .

Yes , so we want to encourage you to check that out . We'll talk about a number of things . Alfred did a lot . He changed educational policy , monetary policy , government policy and a whole lot more . But maybe the most pivotal of all , he was all about building Christian burrows , Christian towns . We're going to have a conference on that .

We're going to talk more about it in the day is vault . So be sure to sign up on Patreon . For as little as $5 a month you can get access to early episodes , add free and then special content like the day is vault . Brian , I am going to turn things over to you for the charge and benediction for our dearest of all listeners .

But the one that will allow you to do that most effectively not just with Alfred , but with any of the stories that we tell you from the first Christendom is the humility that Alfred had to look through his own life and to see his own mistakes and to truly turn from and learn from those mistakes . Be men who are humble and courageous right .

Be men who have true piety but also boldness . Be men who are willing to fight the right battles , and even to fight those battles .

If it looks like you're going to lose because in every life that's lived faithfully to Christ there are likely going to be battles like that You're going to have to stand down and say you know , one out of five , I make it through the way that I'd like to and I'm going to fight nonetheless .

Be a man like Theoden , who said no , we do not have a hope of victory , but we will meet them in battle nonetheless . That final reference was especially for Dan in his benefit in the Lord of the Rings .

Keep your shield up firm and fight the good fight of the faith . We'll see you next time in the King's Hall .