Why We Will Always Like Charismatic Leaders and Why We Will Always Have Charismatic Leaders
In every election season, we see a group of people that either inspire or frustrate. We desperately want to connect with the values and the charisma of those who seek to lead. Charismatic leaders get a lot of negative press, usually from people who disagree with their values. The dirty little secret is, that everyone wants a charismatic leader who they can agree with. Whenever the argument comes up about how charismatic leaders are bad, look to see if those complaining have someone on their side out in front who is charismatic and inspiring. If they don’t, there you go. If they do, suddenly it’s ok to be charismatic.
The reality is that charisma is heavily skewed towards how words are used. Words matter, and how a person who seeks to lead presents those words matters. It always has and it always will. Words inspire. A clever person knows how to use words to move people to emotion. If you can move people to emotion, you can move people to action. It’s not a bad thing. It’s not a manipulative thing, per se. It’s how we are wired to respond in a world called to grow, thrive, and meet needs.
Charisma can be used for good and for bad. Charisma, just like many other things, is amoral. In the right hands, charisma can get a nation to the moon. In the wrong hands, charisma can help facilitate the near extinction of an entire nation.
Leaders be warned. You are the key to defining the morality of the charisma you hold.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 says: Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
St. Paul perceived of a time when the men of this world would seek to be exalted to the position of God and try to seat themselves in places of worship to be the object of worship. But, was St. Paul really looking forward, or, in part, just making an observation based on human nature and what had been done amongst the heathen nations for centuries and millennia? The pharaohs saw themselves as gods, objects of worship. The Persian kings did the same. And there are countless other examples of kings who demanded that the people worship them. Thankfully, in America we have not seen someone akin to the man of lawlessness. I attribute that to the strong, moral code that continues to permeate our culture, started and sustained by religious belief. But, just because it has not happened yet, does not mean that it cannot and will not happen in the future. We must be wary of the leader who seems too good to be true.
Some observations on the text in light of the election season:
(1) Those who seek to be worshiped will be charismatic and will attract followers very quickly
Just because they attract followers doesn’t mean that they will become corrupt. They control how they will respond to their popularity.
(2) Those who seek to be worshiped usually rise out of the ashes of global, national, or localized struggle
Rebellion happens. It starts wars, catastrophes, and has the power to topple stable systems. Sometimes those who rise out of the ashes helped create those ashes, other times they see an opportunity and capitalize on it for their own glory. Others, see a need and start with good intentions, but let the fame and power lead them away from what is true and right by small compromises along the way. What type of unpopular ideas are being used to sow the seeds of rebellion, and who is capitalizing on it?
(3) Those who seek to be worshiped will actively seek to repress true and free worship
I believe it would take a much greater shift in culture and religion for this to be tolerated in our country. That shift comes in different forms according to the ages, but today I believe the danger will manifest itself in political correctness and immoral acts being seen as moral. Freedom and liberty will be abused and used as a rallying cry for the permissibility of anything. The erosion of values is and has been underway. No one person seeks to lead that movement right now, but be watchful.
(4) Those who do not follow will be persecuted
Unfortunately, even those who do not seek to be worshiped are already seeking to persecute those whose moral compass goes against their ideology. Recently, the mayor of Houston demanded the sermons of certain pastors preaching against homosexuality be turned over to her office. Thankfully, that act has received wide condemnation from multiple spheres of influence.
(5) God will allow them to glory in their own righteousness
THEIR righteousness. Not the righteousness of God. That is a dangerous place to be, when we separate what we have accomplished from the work of God in us.
Elections are great because they give us the chance to decide who will lead us. With the advent of the Internet and other forms of mass communication and media, we have a greater opportunity to examine the public offerings of those who seek higher office. And because of it, our hope is that their inspiration comes from a Godly place and not one of perdition. Amen.
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