The title of this article seems axiomatic. Leaders lead and that means people follow them. If nobody follows the leader, then obviously they aren’t leading anybody. Here is a good, and tragic, example of bad leadership from history.
According to 2 Kings 21:1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned for 55 years. Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, was a good and godly man, but unfortunately, in this case, it wasn’t “like father, like son.” Manasseh was incredibly wicked; a catalogue of his sins is listed in 2 Kings 21. But that catalogue isn’t the purpose of this column.
My point here is Manasseh as a leader, or maybe more relevant, the people as followers. “Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed” (2 Kings 21:9); he “has also made Judah sin with his idols” (v. 11); “besides his sin by which he made Judah sin” (v. 16). Manasseh was indeed a wicked man, though, interestingly, we learn from 2 Chronicles that he actually repented from much of this evil in his later life.
But again, to the substance of this essay. Manasseh, the king, the “leader,” “made Judah sin.” Now, in one sense, no one “makes” somebody else sin. Nobody forces me to do evil. We are all free moral agents, and we choose our own actions. The people of Judah made their own decisions—and the decision they made was to follow their leader willingly into wickedness and idolatry. And the ultimate consequences of their actions were not pretty (read 2 Kings 21:12-15).
It obviously takes great moral courage to stand alone, or even in a small group, against a wicked totalitarian tyrant like a Manasseh—in America’s case, “leaders” who control the military, the FBI, and every other DOJ tool. There may have been some in Judah who did just that, i.e., oppose the king: “Manasseh shed very much blood, till he had filled Jerusalem” (v. 16). He was either killing his enemies, or he was a Democratic Party member who believed in abortion, and maybe both. There appears to have been those who fought him, and it apparently cost them dearly. And, as a result, by and large, the people followed Manasseh to do evil. Not enough had the moral backbone necessary to dethrone their godless, sadistic king. But God didn’t excuse them. He won’t excuse America, either, if we continue to freely elect hedonistic despots like Joe Biden.
The masses nearly always follow their leaders. We’ve seen it in America over the last several decades. Americans, by nature, are no different from any other peoples who have ever lived. Our leaders are shedding “very much blood” in our country today, too. And the people allow it. Follow the leaders. They must know what they are doing.
Frankly, rarely.
There are, of course, many courageous Americans in the country who are staunchly opposing the direction Manasseh Biden and the Democratic Party is leading America. Uniparty Republicans aren’t doing anything to resist, but others are. But America’s “leaders” have been taking the country down a “Manasseh” path for decades now, and the majority of American people, like sheep, are trotting blindly behind them, being led to the slaughter that is coming. For if the Lord didn’t spare Judah (read again 2 Kings 21:12-15), He won’t spare America. Indeed, we should know better, we should know what is coming, because we have the historical example of Manasseh, and countless other such tyrants, to learn from. We don’t need to go back as far as Manasseh. We don’t need go back any farther than 100 years—Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Kims, Pol Pot, Castro—“leaders” who led their sheep. And ended up slaughtering millions of them.
But when have humans ever paid attention to history when it warns them against the pleasure-loving, debauched, selfish pathway they are treading? I can answer that question easily: never. In America’s case, it’s happening and it’s a pathway the Democratic Party is spreading before us as blatantly as possible. It leads to power for the “leaders,” and that is what they want most of all.
God tolerated Manasseh for 55 years. Imagine having Joe Biden or Barack Obama as President of the United States for 55 years, and you get some kind of idea what Judah went through. From historical records, we learn that Manasseh reigned in the early 7th century B.C., from around 697 B.C. to 643/2 B.C. Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem wasn’t destroyed until 586 B.C., over 50 years later, though Babylonian Captivity started a few years earlier than that. God moves in His own time. But the historical record is clear; nations rise and fall, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall. But also, the longer it may take for the collapse to come. Mountains don’t usually disintegrate in a day. If we start Rome’s descent after the “Five Good Emperors” of the 2nd century, then the collapse of that empire took 300 years. Things generally moved slower back then, so America might not have so long to wait. Especially if the people keep electing utterly wicked Manasseh-type leaders such a Joe Biden. And people will follow them because people always follow their leaders. And always, the consequences for doing so are catastrophic.
Morality takes courage. It takes courage, and personal strength, to say “no,” especially when so many other people are following the degenerate path. And when “leaders” are encouraging decadence. Tragically, one of the saddest lessons of history is that very few people have the moral courage to stand against wickedness, or the personal self-control not to give in to a debauched, pleasure-loving society. And that is exactly why “leaders” like Joe Biden are elected. Those are the kind of “leaders” too many people want.
Is a debauched people like that even worth saving?
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