Gentleman Outlaw

Build a Life That Doesn’t Need a Babysitter

by Ryan Rush | Mar 28, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

You made it to Friday, outlaws. That means one of two things:

1. You’ve been nodding along all week.
2. You’ve been rage-scrolling while eating Cheez-Its and muttering, “This guy doesn’t know me.”

Either way—today is where it all lands.

This week wasn’t just about politics. It wasn’t just about manhood. It wasn’t even just about self-discipline. It was about this:

Building a life so anchored in Christ and so rooted in responsibility… that no government, no boss, no crisis, and no system needs to manage you.

In other words:

Build a life that doesn’t need a babysitter.

You Don’t Need More Freedom—You Need to Be Someone Who Can Handle It

Real talk:
A lot of people scream for liberty, but they live like high-functioning toddlers.

• They want freedom of speech… but can’t stop lying.
• They want the right to bear arms… but can’t bear criticism.
• They want to raise their own kids… but don’t want to raise themselves first.
• They want to limit government… but outsource everything from food to schooling to morality.

That’s not liberty. That’s entitlement.

This Isn’t Complicated—Just Uncomfortable

Here’s a secret you probably already know deep down:
You know what needs to change.

You don’t need a committee. You don’t need a program. You don’t need a motivational podcast recorded in a cold garage with ambient rain sounds.

You need to stop making excuses and start moving like a man on mission.

• Start reading Scripture like it’s not optional.
• Start sweating daily, praying hourly, repenting instantly.
• Start waking up with a plan and going to bed with peace.
• Start teaching your kids what it means to fear God and walk free.

No one is coming to save you from the responsibilities you keep dodging.
But here’s the good news: God already equipped you to face them.

The Bible’s Blueprint for Self-Governed Living

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” — Romans 12:11
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” — 1 Corinthians 14:40
“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” — 1 Timothy 4:7

God didn’t design us to live like wild animals waiting for orders—He created us in His image to lead, to build, to bless, to protect, to serve, to conquer sin.

Outlaw Faith isn’t about living without rules. It’s about living under the only Rule that matters—and letting that shape everything else.

The Outlaw Faith Wrap-Up:

This week, we tore off the bandaid:

• Freedom starts with self-governance.
• Weak men lead to strong tyrants.
• Real men don’t need constant oversight—they live as if God is watching (because He is).
• The system isn’t just broken—it’s built to babysit the undisciplined.
• But you? You’re not called to be another cog.
  You’re called to be a threat to tyranny… because you’re ruled by Someone higher.

All week we’ve hit one truth from every angle:

You don’t need more freedom. You need to become the kind of man who can handle it.

Because here’s the deal — freedom isn’t just a right. It’s a responsibility. And if you’re not responsible, you’re not free — you’re just unsupervised.

Build Something Better — Like the Founders Did

The men who built this country? They didn’t wait around for someone to fix it. They fixed it themselves — by becoming the kind of men who didn’t need a king, didn’t want a nanny state, and definitely weren’t asking for more government handouts.

Next week, we’re going to meet some of them. Not just the cherry-picked textbook versions — I mean the real men:

🧠 Benjamin Rush — Medical genius, education reformer, and a man who said the Bible belongs in schools because self-government starts with moral clarity.

📜 Thomas Paine — The firebrand behind Common Sense, who called kings “the most ignorant and unfit men to rule.” Spoiler: He was right.

✍️ John Adams — The guy who said the Constitution is “wholly inadequate” for anyone who isn’t moral and religious. (Translation: If you’re a moral mess, this whole experiment doesn’t work.)

🧠 Thomas Jefferson — The man everyone thinks was a secularist, who actually believed liberty came only from Godand warned that if we forgot that, we were toast.

And maybe we’ll throw in a lesser-known guy you’ve never heard of — just to prove that greatness isn’t about fame, it’s about conviction.

The Goal Isn’t to Admire Them — It’s to Imitate Them

These weren’t perfect men. But they were men who took responsibility for themselves, their families, and their future. They didn’t ask for less tyranny — they demanded no babysitter.

And then they built a country around that principle.

So here’s the real challenge:

Stop asking for more freedom — and start living like someone who deserves it.

The Outlaw Faith Wrap-Up

• Govern yourself.
• Discipline your body.
• Guard your mind.
• Lead your home.
• Reject lies.
• Walk in the truth.
• And when the world offers you a leash, smile and say,

“No thanks. I’m already governed — by something higher.”

That’s Outlaw Faith.
That’s where freedom begins.
That’s how we rebuild what’s been lost.

Next Week: The Men Who Didn’t Need a Babysitter — Meet the Founders Who Built a Republic and Trusted You to Run It.

And the week after that… we dive into the Federalist Papers.

Let’s go.

What Self-Government Actually Looks Like in 2025 (Hint: It’s Not Just Voting)

by Ryan Rush | Mar 27, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Alright, outlaws — time for some truth you can’t post on Instagram without getting shadowbanned.

You’ve heard it all week:
Self-government is the foundation of freedom.
But what does that actually look like in 2025? Does it mean voting for the right guy? Reading the Constitution once a year? Buying a Gadsden flag and yelling about liberty at Thanksgiving?

Not quite.

Here’s the real answer:

Self-government is when no one has to babysit you — because you’ve already got yourself handled.

And in a world full of overgrown toddlers with bank accounts, this is revolutionary.

Signs You’re Not Governing Yourself (Yet)

Let’s do a quick spot-check:

• You can bench 250 but can’t get out of bed without hitting snooze 3 times.
• You post Bible verses but lose your temper in traffic like Jesus cut you off.
• You shout “Freedom!” but hand your kids over to a school system that teaches them they’re meat Legos with feelings.
• You know more about your favorite NFL team’s stats than your kids’ friends’ names.

If that stings, good. It should. Because that’s where real change starts—not in D.C., but in your living room.

Real Self-Government in 2025 Looks Like This:

✅ You own your calendar. You’re not run by impulse, your phone, or Netflix’s autoplay.
✅ You discipline your kids instead of handing them a screen.
✅ You eat food that fuels your body, not food that makes you feel like you just swallowed regret.
✅ You tithe without being asked, show up early without being praised, and tell the truth without checking the room first.
✅ You vote, yes—but you also work, lead, teach, build, give, protect, and correct yourself before anyone else has to.

You want to make tyrants nervous? Raise a family so strong it doesn’t need the state.

What the Bible Calls This

The Bible doesn’t use the word “self-government,” but it describes it constantly:

“The fruit of the Spirit is… self-control.” — Galatians 5:23
“Train yourself for godliness.” — 1 Timothy 4:7
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” — Philippians 2:4

Translation?
Stop living like a grown-up child and start walking like someone who knows who he belongs to.

So What’s the Play in 2025?

You want to change the world? Don’t start a campaign.
Start a habit.

• Wake up when your alarm goes off — first try.
• Read the Bible before your phone.
• Pray before you post.
• Lead your kids before their teacher does.
• Budget your money before the bank calls.
• Own your sin before someone else has to call you out.

Self-government is quiet, consistent, and completely unsexy. But it’s the difference between men who are free and men who are just unsupervised.

The Outlaw Faith Challenge: Be Un-Governable — Because You’re Already Governed

If the only reason you haven’t wrecked your life is because the rules stop you, you’re not free — you’re just on a leash.
But if you walk upright even when nobody’s watching?
Now you’re dangerous.

Because you don’t need Caesar breathing down your neck to do the right thing.
You’ve already bowed the knee — just not to him.

Tomorrow: The Outlaw Faith Blueprint — Building a Life That Doesn’t Need a Babysitter.

Weak Men, Strong Tyrants — Why Freedom Dies When Men Get Soft

by Ryan Rush | Mar 26, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Alright, outlaws—let’s have a painful conversation.

America doesn’t have a government problem. It has a man problem.

Weak men always lead to strong tyrants. Always. It’s the oldest cycle in history:
1️⃣ Strong men build freedom.
2️⃣ Freedom makes life comfortable.
3️⃣ Comfort makes men weak.
4️⃣ Weak men lose freedom.

Congratulations, we’re stuck between steps 3 and 4—and the next phase isn’t fun.

Because here’s the brutal truth:

• If men won’t govern themselves, someone else will.
• If men won’t take responsibility, the government will take it for them.
• If men can’t handle freedom, they will beg to have it taken away.

This is How Tyranny Always Starts

People think tyranny just means tanks rolling down Main Street. But it starts long before that, when men trade self-governance for comfort.

🚨 “The government should make sure I never get sick.”
🚨 “The government should protect me from mean words.”
🚨 “The government should make sure my bad choices don’t have consequences.”

What they’re really saying is:
🚨 “I don’t want responsibility—someone else take it for me.”

The Founders knew this would happen if men got lazy.

John Adams:

“A constitution of government, once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever.”

If you don’t fight to keep your freedom, you’re already losing it.

History’s Greatest Proof: Rome, America, and the Fall of Manhood

The Roman Empire had this exact cycle:
✅ Strong, disciplined men built it.
❌ Comfortable, lazy men ruined it.
❌ Tyrants walked in and took over.

Sound familiar?

Rome wasn’t conquered by an outside army—it rotted from inside. The moment men stopped leading their homes, defending their values, and taking responsibility, the system collapsed. And guess what? The government stepped in to “fix” everything.

• The people lost their freedoms.
• The state took control of everything.
• A once-great civilization collapsed under its own weakness.

Now look at America.

• Soft men cry about problems instead of fixing them.
• Nobody wants to take responsibility, so the state steps in.
• Every problem leads to more government, not better men.

If we stay on this path, we’re not going to need an invasion—just like Rome didn’t. The real threat isn’t from China, Russia, or some shadowy global elite.

The real enemy is the man in the mirror who refuses to lead.

The Bible’s Warning: Why This Cycle Happens

The Bible saw this coming long before the Founders did.

“You were free, but then you used your freedom as an excuse to serve your own desires.” — Galatians 5:13 (paraphrased)

Translation? When men get soft, they trade responsibility for comfort, and comfort for chains.

“My people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” — Jeremiah 5:31

That’s the scariest part. When men give up their leadership, they actually like the control at first—until it’s too late.

How This Ends (Unless We Fix It)

Every weak society thinks they’re different. They always believe, “This time, tyranny won’t happen here.”

But it always does.

“Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create bad times. Bad times create strong men.”

We’re deep into the Weak Men, Bad Times stage. The only question left is whether strong men will rise up before it’s too late.

The Outlaw Faith Challenge: Fix This at Home First

You don’t fix a weak nation by electing a strong leader. You fix it by becoming a strong leader.

✅ Own your role. If you’re a father, husband, worker, citizen—start leading.
✅ Stop blaming the system. Tyranny grows when men refuse to step up.
✅ Get tougher. Physically, mentally, spiritually. Because the soft years are over.

The world doesn’t need whiners or victims. It needs men who refuse to be ruled.

Tomorrow: What Real Self-Government Looks Like in 2025 (Hint: It’s Not Just Voting).

Biblical Self-Control — The First Leadership Requirement

by Ryan Rush | Mar 25, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Alright, outlaws—yesterday we talked about how self-government is the foundation of all freedom. Today, we’re going deeper:

What does the Bible actually say about self-control?

Spoiler: It’s not optional. If you can’t govern yourself, you’re not qualified to lead anything. Not your home, not your work, not your church, and definitely not a country.

God’s Word doesn’t just suggest self-control as a nice “extra”—it says without it, you’re not fit for responsibility.

That’s bad news for modern America, where discipline is treated like a mental illness and “doing what you feel” is the highest virtue.

What the Bible Says About Self-Government

Let’s start with a Proverbs punch to the face:

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” — Proverbs 25:28

Translation: If you can’t control yourself, you’re basically an unprotected town—wide open for attack.

• No discipline? The enemy can wreck your life.
• No control over your words? Your marriage, job, and friendships will collapse.
• No control over your impulses? Your finances, health, and reputation will follow.

The Bible doesn’t treat self-mastery like a soft skill—it’s life or death.

Now, let’s raise the stakes:

“He must manage his own household well… for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” — 1 Timothy 3:4-5

Boom. You want leadership? It starts with ruling yourself first. If your own life is a mess, you have no business leading anyone else.

The Brutal Truth: Weak Men = Strong Tyrants

Here’s why this matters:

Weak men who can’t govern themselves always end up ruled by stronger men who can.

✅ If you can’t control your spending, you’ll be ruled by debt collectors.
✅ If you can’t control your body, you’ll be ruled by doctors and prescriptions.
✅ If you can’t control your anger, you’ll be ruled by HR policies and lawsuits.
✅ If you can’t control your emotions, you’ll be ruled by propaganda and fear.

The less self-government we have, the more external government we get.

This is why tyrants love weak men. Strong, self-controlled men don’t need them—they govern their own homes, their own communities, their own businesses. Weak men, on the other hand, need “Caesar” to tell them what to do every second of the day.

Modern America: A Self-Controlled Society or a Circus?

Let’s see how we’re doing:

🚨 “Follow your heart” culture. (Translation: “Obey your impulses.”)
🚨 Men who melt down over a tweet. (Meanwhile, the Founders were out here dueling over insults.)
🚨 People who blame their bad choices on “capitalism” or “the system.” (Your credit card wasn’t forced into debt—you were.)
🚨 More Americans addicted to screens than any drug in history. (But sure, let’s ban straws.)

Tell me again how we’re ready for less government?

The Outlaw Faith Challenge: Take Back Your Own Territory

If a man without self-control is like a broken city, then it’s time to start rebuilding your walls.

This week, pick one of these to attack head-on:
✅ Your time. Get up earlier. Stop wasting hours scrolling.
✅ Your mouth. Think before you speak. Cut the excuses.
✅ Your body. Eat like an adult. Exercise. Stop acting like your metabolism is a victim.
✅ Your mind. Read a book. Read the Bible. Stop filling your brain with trash.

You were built for more than just existing. But if you can’t lead yourself, don’t expect anyone to follow you.

Tomorrow: Weak Men, Strong Tyrants — Why Freedom Dies When Men Get Soft.

Freedom Starts With You — What the Founders Expected from Free Men

by Ryan Rush | Mar 24, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Welcome to Outlaw Faith—where this week, we’re looking at the kind of government that actually matters most: the one inside your own skull.

Everybody loves to talk about fixing America, but nobody wants to talk about fixing themselves. Why? Because fixing America is easier—you just yell at the TV and share angry memes. Fixing yourself? That requires actual work.

But here’s the brutal truth the Founders understood:

If men can’t govern themselves, freedom doesn’t work.

Self-government isn’t just about voting—it’s about being the kind of man who doesn’t need a leash. If you can’t rule your own emotions, your own habits, or your own responsibilities, then what are you doing crying about the government? You are living proof that people need more of it.

That’s not me saying it—that’s straight from the Founders.

The Founders’ Expectation: Be a Man Who Can Handle Freedom

John Adams:

“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private virtue, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.”

Translation: If people can’t control themselves, the government will have to.

George Washington:

“A good moral character is the first essential in a man… It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”

Translation: If you’re a degenerate but can quote Thomas Jefferson, you’re still a degenerate.

The Real Reason America’s Falling Apart

Here’s the cold, hard reality nobody likes to say out loud:
America isn’t falling apart because of elections. It’s falling apart because of men who can’t govern themselves.

Think about it:

• How can we have small government when people can’t even show up to work on time?
• How can we defend freedom when men melt down over mean words on the internet?
• How can we be a strong nation when half of us can’t put down our phones for more than 30 seconds?

The government keeps growing because people keep getting weaker. You can scream about tyranny all you want, but if you can’t control your impulses, you’re just outsourcing your personal responsibility to a bigger, badder babysitter.

And the Founders knew this would happen.

The Cycle: How Weakness Leads to Tyranny

The pattern is always the same:
✅ Strong men govern themselves → Government stays small.
❌ Weak men need to be controlled → Government gets bigger.
❌ Bigger government removes responsibility → Men get even weaker.
❌ Weak men cry for even more government.
💀 Freedom dies.

Congratulations, we’re right between steps 3 and 4 right now.

Self-Government in 2025: How Are We Doing?

Let’s check in on how well we’re governing ourselves today:

• Finances: 60% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency.
• Discipline: 75% of men are overweight, and our grandfathers would laugh at our idea of “hard work.”
• Impulse control: The average person checks their phone 144 times a day. (That’s not a joke—144.)
• Mental toughness: College students need therapy dogs and safe spaces because words are scary.

Meanwhile, the Founders were fighting the British with lead balls and handwritten letters.

Tell me again how we’re ready for freedom?

The Bible Saw This Coming

The Founders didn’t just make this up—they got it from Scripture.

• Proverbs 25:28 — “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Translation: If you can’t govern yourself, you’re an open target.)
• Galatians 5:23 — “The fruit of the Spirit is… self-control.” (Translation: If you’re walking with God, you should have discipline—not just feelings.)
• 1 Timothy 3:5 — “If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (Translation: Lead yourself first.)

The Outlaw Faith Challenge: Start With You

Want freedom? Start where the Founders did—by ruling yourself first.

This week, I challenge you:
✅ Wake up on time—no snooze button.
✅ Put your phone down for an hour—see if the world keeps turning.
✅ Make a decision and stick with it—don’t flake.
✅ Own your mistakes—no excuses, no blaming.
✅ Act like a free man, not a spoiled child.

The truth is freedom isn’t taken—it’s surrendered. And if we don’t reclaim self-government, we can forget about keeping the rest.

Tomorrow: Biblical Self-Control — The Original Leadership Requirement.