“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold a smoking pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” (Genesis 15:17-18)
Part One
Let’s take a look at those 1%ers out there and what it means to be one of them. No, I’m serious, man – what does it mean to be a 1%er?!?!?! And, my compass for this study tells me to look to their “brotherhood” and, specifically, to that idea of brotherhood noted in one of the patches that adorns their vests – the ol’ “ – F F – “.
Most of us know what that “ – FF – “ means; but for those who don’t, it’s “ _________ Forever, Forever, __________ .” You can insert in the blanks your own preface and postscript, respectively. Even the non-1%ers (as well as some of the Christian clubs and ministries) have their own versions of this – “Slaves Forever, Forever Slaves,” “Christian Forever, Forever Christian,” etc. The reality is, though, that this brotherhood symbolizes and requires a total commitment to the club and its membership.
Too many out there don’t understand the depth of this bond. This is especially true in the Christian community. There, you hear the word “brother” used as a greeting rather than the central truth about who that person is – that is, a follower of Jesus Christ. Why, it’s “Brother this” and “Brother that!” Like the meaningless jabberwocky that characterizes much modern conversation, it illegitimatizes any significance and reduces the term to a mere cliché. Hey, Jesus called us His brothers – we are His family! But, that idea has been cheapened to such an extent that it is worthless in most instances.
Yet, the 1%ers know its import. To them, it’s an attitude, a sense of dedication, a loyalty, and a trust all rolled into one. It represents lives that are fused together in such a way that its members become blood kin – hey, they’re not like family, they are family!!! 1%ers are their brother’s keepers – from day one, they are taught to support their “bro” any way they can whether it means selling their rides to help him, quitting their jobs to go to him, and even defending his life with their own, if necessary! Why, even the LEO’s can threaten these guys, but it doesn’t matter – they’re not giving up a brother!
What’s really interesting about all this, though, is the source behind it. There’s good reason why the 1%ers’ sense of brotherhood is so strong. And, that reason is that it comes from the Scriptures – that’s right, man, the Bible is the root of the whole deal! Let me show you what I mean.
Part Two
To begin, just a bit of background info. The God of the Bible is covenantal. This means that God relates to man in the form of specific requirements and promises – that is, He “tells people how He wants them to act and also makes promises about how He will act toward them in various circumstances.” So, to define the term, we could say that a covenant “. . .is an unchangeable, divinely inspired legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.” Whew!!! That’s a mouthful!
Now, there are multiple covenants identified in Scripture. But they all have the characteristics of the above-stated definition: one, while a covenant is an “agreement,” it is not as if man may negotiate with God nor alter the terms of its content (remember, it’s “divinely imposed”); and, two, it is “unchangeable” – that is, it may be superseded or replaced by a different covenant but not changed once it is established. Actually, the term comes from the Hebrew word that means “to cut.”
Let’s go to Genesis 15 to start. It’s a long one, man, but, herein is God’s covenant with Abraham and the pattern for the 1%ers brotherhood; so hang with it:
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ’Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.’ And. . .said, Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
“And he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur. . .to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And. . .dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. . .the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. . .I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’
“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.’”
Now, we jus’ need to pick it apart. Where to begin???
Well, this covenant between God and the patriarch in Genesis 15 was clearly a “bond of blood sovereignly administered.” It was a covenant of promise in which God affirmed that He would give to Abraham an heir from Abraham’s own loins. The affirmation comes in the form of a striking ceremony in which animals are slain, rent in two, and then the participants pass between the divided pieces. It is what’s known as an “oath of self-malediction” – i.e., if either party should break the commitment involved in the covenant, they were asking that their own bodies be torn in pieces just as the animals had been divided ceremonially. As an inherent pledge to death – “blood in blood” – the parties committed themselves for life and for death in this relationship.
Now, there’s much that we can say about this covenant (as well as the others in the Bible [especially the “New” covenant offered in and through Jesus Christ - but more on that later]). Permit me to stick pretty close to our topic at hand – that is, how does this covenant relate to the 1%ers’ brotherhood? To do that, we must go back and see how the 1%ers run their organizations – particularly, how do you become and what does it mean to be a member? Those two points are focal.
Part Three
First, a guy who wants to join a 1%er club must establish himself as a “friend,” so to speak; and he does this by making initial contact usually through a mutual acquaintance. His early forays into this friendship may be in a bar or on a run or whatever the club does either via an open invitation or by being specifically asked by a member. At some later time, and after he has gotten decent reviews by its members, he may be asked to “hang-around.”
Hang-around periods vary, but it’s a time when the club really begins to check the guy out to see if he will make a good prospect for them – hey, he’s gotta be a good fit. He will be asked to all or almost all of the club’s activities (except business meetings which are referred to as “church”) and will be scrutinized thoroughly. If he passes muster and finds a “sponsor” (i.e., a club member who will undertake and manage his training) to recommend him to the club, a vote will be taken on whether or not to “prospect” him. Every member has one vote, and for most clubs, it’s an “all or nothing deal” – no black balls. If accepted, he will be given a rocker for his vest that says, “Prospect.” It is here and now that the real test begins.
Basically, the prospect is at the beck and whim of all the PHers in the club – he has to do what they tell him to do. It may run from the silly (e.g., ridin’ to some far-off place to pick up a six-pack of beer [with the receipt in hand, of course!]) to the serious. The reason for this seemingly brainless obedience is that the club needs to know if they can depend upon the prospect no matter the circumstances but especially when things head south – “man, will you watch my back, will you not sell me out, will you take a bullet for me, if necessary?!?!?!” This is business – serious, serious business!
One time, a 1%er was asked, “How much did you pay for that patch (obviously referring to his colors)?” After some thought, he replied, “My life.” Everything a 1%er owns now belongs to the club; and, by the same token, everything that the club has is now his! If what he needs is not in their immediate possession, then they will figure out a way to get it. Perhaps, the 1%er falls upon hard times, for whatever reason; well, his brothers will assume financial responsibilities, take care of his children should he have any, even counsel with him and his old lady. Like I said earlier, these guys are not just like family, they are family! Why, one of the clubs has a patch that says, “Cut one, we all bleed.”
During this time of prospecting, the “sponsor” will spend a great deal of time training the new man. Hours of heart-to-heart talks and eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations are common. The laughter and the tears will be a mutual experience. Indeed, if the prospect requires some discipline, the sponsor many times will bear its brunt, too.
If the prospect passes muster, whatever the timeframe is, then he will become a fully-patched member of the 1%er club. Again, the vote for this status must be 100% for, none against. He will then receive his full set of colors to be sewn on the back of a denim or leather vest. These are known as his “originals,” and they must never be laundered or cleaned. (The soiling of this patch is testimony of a member’s hard ridin’, hard partyin’, hard fightin’, and hard livin’ of the PHer. Some clubs even “soil” the originals for the new guy so that he instantly becomes identified as one of the them and not some newbie.) Then, a big ol’ party is thrown celebratin’ the arrival of a true brother!
The new PHer has access to the club with full rights and privileges. No longer will he be thought of or treated poorly. He is a brother, and his place is as an equal among equals. Whatever belongs to the club – power, prestige, possessions – now belongs to him as well. Good and bad times are to be shared. What was once held individually now becomes part of the corporation. Love, acceptance, and family are his.
Part Four
If you have ever been around these guys for any length of time, you know what I’m talking about. Oh sure, they are outlaws (by their own admission), but there is an aura about them that is arresting (pardon the pun!). One PHer recently testified that when a member had a problem, five of his brothers were there within ten minutes, ten were there within a half an hour, and a couple of chapters assembled within six hours – all there to help this guy out (the church would do well to hear and do likewise!)! These guys understand the implications of their commitment to the club; and daily they live out those implications in ways that often befuddle citizens (what they call us) – which may be the reason that, when God does redeem and deliver one of them, his is a completely “sold-out, no compromise, in your face” brand of Christianity that usually puts the average, run-of–the-mill, American pew-sitter and/ or Christian biker to shame!!!
What’d we say earlier? Let’s see, the commitment involved in a covenant community was one in which a pledge to death was taken – blood in blood; thus, the parties dedicated themselves for life and death in this relationship.
So, just how does this covenant relationship (i.e., blood in blood) work itself out in the world of the 1%ers? Well, first, a couple of quick examples ought to suffice. Take the instance of one of their own going down on a bike. The injured brother is watched over with great care, and his family is provided for. I’ve seen the guard set outside of a hospital room and none passes that post unless approved by the club and the family. For the duration of his stay, fellow members are garrisoned there – one shift giving way to another as the days go by. The family is also taken care of – food, baby sitting and child care, if needed, and even the paying of bills is handled. And, when the brother goes home, the watchcare is simply transferred there. Should he pass, the emotion is genuine – heavily-tattooed men and leather clad old ladies share their grief openly.
Second, consider how discipline is meted out within the club: the offending brother is thought to be in need of restoration! That’s right. An enforcer is brought in (maybe even two – one, an older brother with tenure who is able to have a heart-to-heart with the offender, and a second who will measure out whatever discipline is needed to bring him back into line) to get things settled. Hey, the unity and harmony of the club comes first; and, if possible, the offending member is restored to the club. One way or another, strife will end and peace will be regained.
This can provide an example to believers in Christ! The Matthew 18 principle – albeit somewhat distorted – is alive and well to the 1%ers. They have a chain of command, and they do not air their dirty laundry to others (certainly never to outsiders). They don’t talk behind one another’s back; the issue is settled in house. Their idea of watching a bro’s “six” is not just in a fight but also in everyday existence – slander is not a 1%er vice! Man, do we, the Church, have ears to hear?!?!?!
Part Five
Well, these guys have a remarkable brotherhood in many ways – they have pledged themselves to one another in a life and death relationship. Their covenant with each other is not too distant from its fore-bearer in Scripture. But, it is not too close either as the enemy of souls has twisted and perverted the original into what the 1%ers practice. Theirs is not founded in God’s gracious holiness nor man’s obedience to Him.
But there is another reason that the relationship between God’s covenant with Abraham and the 1%ers’ view of brotherhood part company: the promised redemption of Genesis 15 (characterized in the ceremony wherein the animal parts were divided) moved another direction – the Lord of the covenant did not require that his servant Abraham pledge himself to self-malediction – only God passed between the divided pieces!
What this means is that God is the Promiser or Covenant Maker Who Himself alone is responsible for completing each and every aspect of the covenant. Yeah, Abraham has responsibilities – in obedience to God, he left his father’s homeland and will have to administer the seal (i.e. circumcision) of the covenant to all his male descendants; but the gracious nature of both the Promiser and the promise is made evident ‘cause GOD ALONE PASSES BETWEEN THE PIECES (remember that in a covenant between equals, both parties had to pass between the dissected flesh thus cementing the mutual malediction of the oath)!!! The ceremony was God’s pledge to Abraham that, yes, death might become necessary should the covenant be violated, but it was God Who would meet the subsequent requirements of bearing the penalty for the covenant-breaking.
Thus, in Jesus Christ did God fulfill or accomplish the man-violated, maledictory oath of that covenant between God and Abraham!!! Yes, it was blood that must be spilled to atone for the breaking of the covenant vows, but it was God – the covenant Maker – who would shed the blood of His only begotten Son! How ‘bout that?!?!?! God the Son, the True God of True God, would come to earth as True Man with the sole purpose of bearing the penalty of a violated covenant. That is why they were to call His name Jesus – He was to save His people from their sins (cf. Mt 1:21). Jesus Christ came to earth to die (not to be a sweet baby in a corn crib nor to work as a carpenter nor even to minister to the sick and poor and needy – HE CAME TO DIE!!!)!!! Think of it in this way: have any of us – 1%er or not – ever been willin’ to bloody ourselves for the transgressions of our brothers? Well, God was willin’ and workin’ to that end!
Man, back to that “ – F F – “. Hey, I’ve got a new one, and that’s “C F F C” which, to me, is “CHRIST Forever, Forever CHRIST”! It’s a brotherhood that assures me that whatever is best is mine – 24/7/365 and FOREVER!!! I’m a brother of the Son, dude. And, I’d love it if you’d prospect with Jesus, too. He’ll watch your back, and He’ll go both before you and along side of you, too.
Copyright @ 2007 CrossWind Ministry
