What happens when therapy has no way to say a goal is wrong?

In this episode, Will Spencer is joined by Dr. Greg Gifford to examine a foundational assumption of modern therapy: that counseling exists to help clients achieve their chosen goals, but without a shared account of moral truth.

The conversation begins with a simple but unsettling question: What if a client’s goal is immoral, destructive, or sinful? If therapy cannot judge goals, what kind of formation is actually taking place?

From there, Will and Greg explore the difference between mind and brain, the rise of diagnosis-based identity, the authority of the DSM, and why Christians often adopt therapeutic categories without examining the worldview beneath them.

This is not an argument against care or compassion. It is a call for discernment, and for recovering a moral and biblical account of the inner life that modern therapy is structurally unable to provide.

Listen to Transformed on Fortis+ or wherever you get your podcasts:

https://fortisplus.org/tabs/listen/podcasts/34123

Buy "Lies My Therapist Told Me": https://a.co/d/01NGgZk5

Check out the Fortis Institute YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@Fortis.Institute

Learn more about Transformed Biblical Counseling Centers:

https://transformedbc.com/

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

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The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

What looks like online extremism, grievance politics, or internet trolling is something much older, and much darker.

In this episode, Will Spencer shares audio from the first two sessions of his Book Club reading Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. The discussion explores how Nazism functioned not merely as a political movement, but as a religious system, complete with ritual, myth, demonology, and a vision of racial salvation.

Drawing from history, theology, and personal experience, Will explains how neo-Nazi movements reorganized almost immediately after World War II, how figures like George Lincoln Rockwell and Julius Evola fused politics with occult spirituality, and why many modern online movements cannot be understood politically alone.

This conversation is about spiritual formation, discernment, and clarity—and why Christians must take the religious roots of extremist ideologies seriously.

1. Why Nazism functioned as a religious system, not just a political ideology
2. How extremist movements regrouped immediately after World War II
3. George Lincoln Rockwell’s mystical “conversion” and American neo-Nazism
4. Julius Evola, occult philosophy, and anti-Christian spiritual elitism
5. How grievance politics distorts spiritual development
6. Why these ideas persist in modern online masculinity culture
7. The personal and relational cost of extremist belief systems

1. Black Sun — Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
2. American Veda — Philip Goldberg
3. The Myth of Mental Illness — Thomas Szasz
4. The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment — Jeremiah Burroughs
5. The Christian Mind — Henry Blamires
6. Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon — Dave McGowan

The Book Club is a private reading group where we work through serious books slowly and carefully, not for hot takes, but for Christian spiritual and intellectual formation. The goal isn’t information alone, but depth, clarity, and long-term stability in a culture designed to keep us reactive and distracted.

Learn more and join at willspencer.blog

These conversations were recorded live on Zoom and lightly edited to remove long pauses. Audio quality is not studio-perfect. The substance of the discussion is the focus.

What happens after you leave the Manosphere? And why did the movement collapse in the first place?

In this episode, Bob the Baptist continues his conversation with Will Spencer about what followed his departure from the Manosphere, and how the online masculinity ecosystem began to fracture and mutate in the years that followed.

The discussion moves beyond personal story into cultural and spiritual diagnosis. Will explains how figures like Andrew Tate vacuumed attention and monetized grievance, how ideological energy migrated into more radical online communities, and why movements built on technique, resentment, and audience capture inevitably fail to produce real moral formation.

Bob and Will also examine the deeper questions beneath the phenomenon: the difference between power and authority, the limits of psychology and biology as moral frameworks, the cost of public accountability, and why Christian leaders cannot simply borrow the aesthetics of masculinity without inheriting its distortions.

Bob and Will explore:

1. Why the Manosphere effectively collapsed after 2022
2. How influencer culture rewards grievance and extremity
3. The migration of Red Pill ideas into more radical online movements
4. The difference between power, authority, and moral formation
5. Why performative masculinity cannot sustain meaning or discipline
6. The social and spiritual cost of leaving identity-driven communities
7. What a Christian account of masculinity offers instead

Part 1 traced how men are drawn into the Manosphere and why it initially felt compelling. Part 2 examines what ultimately exposed its limits — and what replaces it when men pursue ordered responsibility, truth, and accountability rather than dominance or resentment.

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

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Mentioned in this episode:

One-on-One Mentorship with Will Spencer

For men who aren’t lost — but aren’t moving. Mentorship provides structure, clarity, and accountability for ordering your life under responsibility, authority, and long-term direction.

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

What is the Manosphere, and why are so many men drawn to it?

In this episode, Bob the Baptist interviews Will Spencer about his journey into — and ultimately out of — the Manosphere, the sprawling online ecosystem of male self-improvement, dating advice, and cultural commentary.

The conversation traces how online communities offering guidance on confidence, fitness, success, and identity increasingly became substitutes for real-world formation and authority. From the influence of figures like Jordan Peterson to the rise of influencer-driven masculinity models, the Manosphere reflects a deeper hunger among men for structure, meaning, and direction.

Bob and Will explore:

1. How the Manosphere developed and why it expanded so rapidly
2. The divide between “inner work” psychology culture and performance-driven masculinity
3. Why algorithm-driven communities create ideological silos
4. The dangers of personality-centered authority
5. Why biology and psychology alone cannot sustain a moral vision of manhood

Part 2 (coming next week) continues the conversation by examining what ultimately exposed the limits of the Manosphere and what a Christian account of masculinity offers instead.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BraveNewTube

Video: The Dark Trajectory of New Calvinism

Video: How the Manosphere Became Mainstream

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

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Mentioned in this episode:

One-on-One Mentorship with Will Spencer

For men who aren’t lost — but aren’t moving. Mentorship provides structure, clarity, and accountability for ordering your life under responsibility, authority, and long-term direction.

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

Former pastor Caleb Bobrycki aka "Bob the Baptist" joins Will Spencer to unpack how theology, politics, and culture collided inside modern evangelicalism — and why so many faithful Christians feel stuck in the middle.

Description:

Former pastor and YouTube creator Bob the Baptist (Caleb Bobrycki) joins Will Spencer for a wide-ranging conversation about how modern Reformed evangelicalism arrived at its current crisis — and why sincere believers are often caught between bad leadership and bad political options.

They trace the influence of the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement, purity culture, and American Reconstructionism, and discuss how theological shortcuts and reactionary politics have replaced deeper confessional grounding. Along the way, they examine figures like John Piper, Machen, Van Til, and Rushdoony, and why responding to cultural chaos without first principles leads to repeated mistakes.

Rather than choosing sides in today’s church culture wars, this episode asks a harder question: What would real theological reform actually require?

1. Why sincere Christians often follow bad leadership
2. How theology — not just politics — shaped today’s crisis
3. The legacy of Young, Restless, and Reformed
4. Purity culture as a reaction to cultural drift
5. Why reactionary movements repeat old errors
6. The danger of tribal theology
7. Why confessional depth matters for cultural engagement

Caleb Bobrycki, known as Bob the Baptist, is a former associate pastor and creator of the YouTube channel Brave New Tube, where he explores evangelical theology, church culture, and political theology through in-depth video essays.

His work focuses on helping Christians understand the deeper roots of today’s church controversies while remaining grounded in confessional faith.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bravenewtube

T-Shirts: https://bobthebaptist.printful.me/

Patreon: https://patreon.com/bobthebaptist

X: https://x.com/BobTheBaptist

Email: CanvidFilms‪@gmail.com‬

Watch my viral video with Bob: The Dark Trajectory of New Calvinism

Mentioned in this episode:

One-on-One Mentorship with Will Spencer

For men who aren’t lost — but aren’t moving. Mentorship provides structure, clarity, and accountability for ordering your life under responsibility, authority, and long-term direction.

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

Eddie LaRow joins Will Spencer for a wide-ranging conversation about masculinity, rootlessness, and the collapse of moral authority in modern life.

Rather than reacting to headlines or personalities, this episode examines a recurring historical pattern: when men lose roots in family, church, and community, power rushes in to replace authority. Drawing on thinkers such as Max Picard, Robert Nisbet, Philip Rieff, and Augustine, Will and Eddie explore why Gen Z men are drawn toward radical politics — and why this crisis did not begin online.

The conversation moves through history, theology, and culture to clarify the difference between authority and power, how modern speed distorts the inner life, and why formation requires discipline, community, and time. This is a discussion about responsibility, rootedness, and how men can recover moral clarity in a disordered age.

1. Why many young men feel rootless
2. Authority vs. power and why the difference matters
3. Historical patterns behind modern radicalization
4. Speed, chaos, and the modern inner life
5. Masculinity, formation, and discipline
6. The Church’s role in restoring moral authority

Eddie LaRow is an editor and writer whose work has appeared in First Things, Modern Age, and The American Mind. He writes on history, theology, culture, and Generation Z, with a focus on authority, community, and formation.

Substack — https://eddielarow.substack.com/

First Things: — https://firstthings.com/archive/?_author=eddie-larow

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

• https://willspencer.co/mentorship
• Will Spencer Podcast Home
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Mentioned in this episode:

The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

One-on-One Mentorship with Will Spencer

For men who aren’t lost — but aren’t moving. Mentorship provides structure, clarity, and accountability for ordering your life under responsibility, authority, and long-term direction.

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

In this episode, I share why I’m changing how The Will Spencer Podcast works—and where it’s headed next.

After five years of interviews, something has shifted. I talk about moving from a posture of learning into a season of teaching, why interviews will become less frequent, and what kind of original content I’ll be creating going forward.

I also introduce a new book club launching in January, explain why I’m investing more deeply in Substack, and share what led me to begin mentoring men directly.

This is a short, honest update about growth, responsibility, and what it looks like to build something with intention over time.

Thanks for being here.

Subscribe on Substack:

👉 https://willspencer.blog

Basic: $60/year • Book Club • Solo Essays • Four Doors book chapters

Signature: $297 one time • Personalized Message • Four Doors full book

Book Club (starts January 7, 2026):

Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity

by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

📘 https://www.willspencer.blog/p/this-isnt-a-political-problem

Mentorship (Free Clarity Call):

👉 https://willspencer.co/mentorship

Public school did not fail by accident. It did exactly what it was designed to do.

Robert Bortins—CEO of Classical Conversations and co-author of Woke and Weaponized—joins me to explain why education is never neutral, how parental authority was displaced by the state, and why efforts to reform public schooling consistently miss the point.

We trace the historical and ideological roots of the modern education system, discuss social-emotional learning, AI, homeschooling, and classical education, and examine what happens to families, faith, and culture when formation is outsourced.

This is not a rant or a political argument. It’s an explanation of how education actually works—and who it ultimately serves.

If you’re a parent, a father, or anyone trying to understand why education feels increasingly disconnected from truth and responsibility, this conversation will bring clarity.

https://classicalconversations.com

https://robertbortins.com/woke-and-weaponized/

https://x.com/TheRobertBshow

https://refiningrhetoric.com/

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

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Mentioned in this episode:

Biblical Mentorship for Men

If you’re a man who knows something needs to change —

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

Pastor Matthew Statler is an Army veteran with four Iraq deployments, a former cavalry scout, and a biblical counselor who knows the trauma system from the inside. After years of PTSD diagnoses, alcoholism, and failed therapeutic models, Matthew encountered a biblical theology of suffering that radically transformed his life.

In this conversation, we confront the rise of the “Trauma Mindset” as a counterfeit gospel — one that dissolves responsibility, cannot handle guilt or shame, and increasingly turns to psychedelics as a false path to healing and revelation.

We explore why Scripture offers a deeper, more honest account of suffering than modern psychology, how psychedelics function as a pseudo-sacrament, and why true healing requires repentance, endurance, and hope in Christ rather than therapeutic escape.

This is a serious conversation for men seeking clarity, strength, and a worldview capable of bearing real suffering.

Pastor Matthew Statler

X: https://x.com/StatlerMatthew

Substack: https://matthewstatler.substack.com

Sierra Vista Baptist Church: https://sierravista.church

🌟 The Will Spencer Podcast was formerly known as "The Renaissance of Men."

• https://willspencer.co/mentorship
• Will Spencer Podcast Home
• Substack
• Twitter/X
• YouTube
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Support the Show

Mentioned in this episode:

One-on-One Mentorship with Will Spencer

For men who aren’t lost — but aren’t moving. Mentorship provides structure, clarity, and accountability for ordering your life under responsibility, authority, and long-term direction.

https://willspencer.co/mentorship

The Will Spencer Book Club

A guided reading community for men and women who want to slow down, think clearly, and understand the deeper intellectual and spiritual roots shaping our moment. We read demanding books together and discuss them live — not to signal intelligence, but to form judgment.

Learn More About "Black Sun"

Andrew Crapuchettes is a pioneer in labor market analytics and the visionary founder of Red Balloon, a job platform connecting freedom-loving employers with employees who won't compromise their values.

In this conversation, he shares how he transformed from a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to building a company that rejects woke ideology in the workplace. The episode explores the false promise of workplace neutrality, the $800,000 difference between A-level and B-level engineers, and why young men must reject the lie that prosperity ladders have been pulled up.

Red Balloon - https://redballoon.work

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/acrapuchettes

Mentioned in this episode:

Anxiety, Depression, Anger: There's a Biblical Path to Freedom

Are you struggling with anxiety, depression, or anger? Living below your potential?

https://willspencer.co/mentorship