First off, it's important to note what brought the Red Pill movement and the so-called Mano-verse into existence: Feminism. Not Egalitarianism, but Feminism. And even that isn't fair, Feminism can only thrive when the Church is not a clear alternative. The World will always be the World, but Salt and Light are affirmative, transformative forces. Rot and darkness cannot have their way unless we fail to be what we should be as a Church.

The sentiment that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, is not only incorrect, but harmful. Not only does it harm the women, who have become more unhappy since the Second Wave of Feminism in the 1970s, but it also harms men.(1) Some men have reacted to the ire of the Modern Feminist, not by persevering, but by becoming resentful. Note, I'm not saying that Red Pillers are necessarily angry women haters, but that does adequately describe some.

So what is the Red Pill movement and when did it really explode? Well, the term obviously comes from the scene in the Matrix where Neo is offered two pills by his soon to be mentor Morpheous, take the blue pill and continue to live in a rat race that gets you nowhere and be oblivious to reality, or take the red pill and become aware of reality and face it on a hero's journey. The analogy here is that dating and money are a Matrix-like construct that have secret rules that have been formed to imprison you, the unwitting man. Girls really want a man who treats them poorly and money is easy to come by if you have confidence, at least this is what it has become. There are three main groups that the term “Red Pill” may include: MRA (Men's Rights Activists), MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way), and the Man-O-Verse (the embrace of so-called Toxic Masculinity).

MRAs are, perhaps, the most sympathetic of the Red Pilled groups. The main complaints of MRAs are that women tend to get the children in divorce 90/10 (this is disputed to be a 65/35 by some evidence and studies, but 90/10 is the claim), men tend to lose most in divorce court, and that 80% of divorces are initiated by women. All of these may be legitimate issues, but the MRA movement has developed an image as bitter and resentful. This was perhaps best changed by Cassie Jaye's documentary named Red Pilled. Cassie Jaye started her expose on the MRA movement from the standpoint of a frustrated feminist, purposed to destroy the “misogynist” and “resentful” MRA movement. Her interviews and research actually led to a change of view on her part. MRAs were mostly divorced men who had mostly accurate critiques of the modern institution of divorce and the collapse of marriage. However, Christ said something very meaningful about demon possession, and I believe that it applies here:

Luke 11:24-26: 24When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

If you do not replace bad ideology with good theology, the state of the culture is worse than the first state, as we will see.

Men Going Their Own Way, is a simple enough movement. Hypergamy, Lust for Money, and Shallowness define the modern woman in the eyes of the MGTOW. Therefore, these men have given up on personal interaction with women. The physical needs for female companionship are simply replaced with stoic celibacy, homosexuality, and/or pornography. This is bitterness as pure and clear as the angry raging blue hair feminist protesting in an pro-abortion rally. These men have completely rejected God's command to be fruitful and multiply. Thank God, the Hebrews didn't decide to go MGTOW or there wouldn't be a savior for this world. That would have delighted Satan, wouldn't it? However inconsequential these modern MGTOW men may be to prophecy, the Enemy of Our Souls still is after their joy and the potential that they could enjoy in the light of Godly living.

In Genesis 2:18 God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

Forgiveness, however, is usually the main problem here. Does the MGTOW view of women actually stand the test of reality? Do most women really operate in this way, or just the ones who live in clubs and in college parties? The answer is not to abstain from marriage, but to rather find a Proverbs 31 woman, instead of a Proverbs 9 woman. In Proverbs 31, we see the woman that the modern feminist yearns to be, in Proverbs 9, however, we see an accurate description of what the modern feminist has become. Search out Godly women, and perhaps your views of women may change.

Finally, what is the Man-O-Verse? From the seeds sown by the MRA and MGTOW movements, have sprouted fertile marks for men like the infamous Andrew Tate. Andrew Tate is the most ubiquitous name on the internet now. He is loved/hated for his hot takes. The man has made millions off of young men, and some old men too, who have been taken captive by the Red Pill idea. Most of what the Red Pill movement has to offer is based in truth, that's what makes it so easy to twist into a money making scheme.

Most of what Tate says is true, but you have to evaluate actions as well as words. Tate speaks about hard work, being a manly man and bringing home the bacon so that his girl can enjoy a good life. None of these things are inherently bad, they even ring true. Unfortunately, the Church has developed a rather effeminate view of manhood in recent years and this has also painted Christ Himself in an effeminate light. Christ was meek. Meek, and yet also willing to whip the money changers out of the temple. Christ did not allow himself to be stoned by the angry mob either. Christ stood firm, yet fulfilled His purpose with duty and stoic competence. The Church would do well to not cede masculinity to the world as a thing of bygone eras. Otherwise, grifters can take on the trappings of masculinity and appear to have something to offer that the Church does not. Just a note, this doesn't mean act like Tate as far as the vulgar, base, and animalistic tendencies are concerned. Christ was kind to the many women in His life and was the reason the West began to see a shift in the treatment of the fairer sex. One can be strong, masculine, and protect those placed within their care without appearing either weak or brutish. Just a note..

Tate is an online guru who may or may not have committed domestic violence against his girlfriends over the year in multiple instances (one of the videos was later released in its entirety, and the two were both joking about her wanting to be hit harder, and not in a sarcastic way. It's hard to know what's real and what's not concerning the abuse allegations.) However, abuse or not, Tate has employed classic pimp tactics to traffic his girlfriends online and wrote an online course on how to duplicate his success pimping his paramores on web cameras.

This is not masculinity, this is purely selfish promotion. So what is the take away? The Church has the response to Feminism, and the MRA/MGTOW/Man-O-Verse delimas. The Biblical view of marriage and the differences between men and women need to be on display, more than ever before.

https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Intellectual_Life/Stevenson_ParadoxDecliningFemaleHappiness_Dec08.pdf

https://ifstudies.org/blog/counterintuitive-trends-in-the-link-between-premarital-sex-and-marital-stability

https://www.profgalloway.com/divor

https://sites.utexas.edu/contemporaryfamilies/2018/10/08/premaritalcohabitation/ce/

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-woman-needs-a-man-like-a-fish-needs-a-bicycle.html