When Leaders Are Lawbreakers

The world is a mess. It’s a sentiment that I believe we could all readily agree with. There are reasons why the world is a mess and we need to be very clear about them. We are certainly experiencing a crisis of leadership. And there are ramifications when leaders are lawbreakers. They bring upon their nations self-inflicted destruction.

I want to address the reality of what it means to have leaders who are lawbreakers and to reinforce a Christian’s responsibility to become leaders who are law keepers, who are law abiding.

Leaders who are lawbreakers deny reality.  However, the people are complicit in this denial of reality as well. The leaders are clearly at fault. Nevertheless, there is an aspect of human nature that allows denial. We all push back the things that negatively impact us. We manage to say, “That won’t happen to me.”

Denial is a type of defense mechanism that involves avoiding anxiety by denying the reality of a situation. It’s a way of coping with distressing feelings. There is an emotional component to it and we need to be careful that we don’t allow denial to come into our thinking. The following is a meaningful example from an article, “The World’s Most Dangerous Delusion . . . “about leaders who are lawbreakers who deny reality:

“Americans may think they are at peace with China, but China’s ruling organization has already announced otherwise. The People’s Daily. . . (this is in China) carried a landmark editorial declaring a “people’s war” on America. This phrase sounds like meaningless propaganda to American ears, but it has special significance to the Party. “A people’s war is a total war, and its strategy and tactics require the overall mobilization of political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, military, and other power resources, the integrated use of multiple forms of struggle and combat methods,” (That was published in the paper of the People’s Liberation Army). China has in fact weaponized just about everything … Unrestricted warfare contemplates the turning of everything into a weapon, from business interactions to tourism to terrorism to illegal drugs to disease. The American political class—both Democrats and Republicans—refuse to see Chinese hostility and act appropriately against it. The Communist Party, therefore, did not have to deceive Americans because Americans were determined to deceive themselves.” (https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20733/china-dangerous-delusion)

The article proceeds to point out the current administration in the White House and their attitude of denial towards it: All China wants is economic stability! They deny what the Chinese are saying. We are in a war with China. There are other nations around the world who have a similar attitude towards the United States and the west in general and they want to take it down.

Clearly there is a missing ingredient in the  leadership crisis that we have: “. . . you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; (The denial of what is reality. Everything is going just fine.) But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow” (Isaiah 17:10-11).  

Our lawbreaking leaders will tell the people that all is well, that we have policies in place that will yield good things; Just trust us, all China wants is stability! “But the harvest will be a heap of ruins.”

Lawbreakers who have forgotten God have no regard for the laws that are relative to God (Isaiah 29:13). Godly morality is nonexistent. And the fact that we have forgotten God has consequences. While many will blame God for what is happening to them, we need to keep the perspective that we are doing this to ourselves. We are building idols and we are causing our own destruction.

Things have gone very well for this country and we like the blessings and we like the sense of security we have had. And people tend to turn a blind eye to what the leadership is doing “if I’m getting what I want”. It skews the ability to see clearly. This is the scene into which the prophet Amos walked. On the one hand there was prosperity. And on the other hand the leadership was doing evil things.

However, wicked leadership, lawbreaking leadership is not justification for any individual to break God’s laws or break man’s law. We cannot look at the leaders we have and use that as a justification for some of the things we do that should not be done. Wickedness overthrows the sinner. As individuals we have no justification to sin: “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin” (Proverbs 5:21-22).

As societies standards rapidly plumet lower, followers of Christ must be very careful: “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.  For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:12,18).

Comparing ourselves with each other is not wise. Christ is our standard. And there is a personal responsibility involved even if we have leaders who are lawbreakers. Lawbreakers lead people away from God:  “My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray . . .” (Hosea 4:12). 

Don’t be misled by the fact that the idols mentioned are objects. We have many, many idols that are philosophical in concept. Anything that ends with “ism” is probably an idol that people can put before God. The fact that idols are being mentioned here is true for us today, but it’s not an object necessarily made of gold or silver.

The spirit of harlotry is what permeates the society (Hosea 5.4). This is spiritual as well as physical. Israel was married to God. God was married to Israel (Isaiah 54.5), and they played the harlot in that relationship, going after other gods, forgetting God, rejecting God, rejecting the covenant, and not being mindful of God in any way.

Here is a revealing quote from TruthXchange 240617 Paganism in the Pews and the TruthXchange Corrective:

“Paganism’s ethos and ethic is among us. Hear this plainly: I am not saying the barbarians are “at the gates.” No, the data suggest that WE Christians have invited paganism into our midst; it now dines and reclines – quite comfortably and unchallenged – at our own tables. (It’s referring to Christianity as a whole.)

“Recently, a study disclosed that over 60% of Christians hold to at least one “New Age” tenet. (New Age has been around long enough to understand it’s the worship of things, objects.) This is not some occasional quirky software bug, but instead suggests deep corruption of the Church’s operating system.

“This comprehensive study reports on the beliefs of several categories of Christians across the spectrum: Evangelical, Mainline, Historically Black, and Catholic. It also compares these results to what it deems the “unaffiliated” – Atheists, Agnostics, and “Nones.” Well, the Christian categories are cumulatively less pagan than the Unaffiliated – by one percentage point: 62% to 61%. (Over 60% of Christians hold to one pagan tenet.)

“Here are the results encapsulated: Overall, roughly six-in-ten American adults accept at least one of these New Age beliefs. Specifically, four-in-ten believe in psychics and that spiritual energy can be found in physical objects, while somewhat smaller shares express belief in reincarnation (33%), and astrology (29%). This produces syncretism, a deadly form of heresy.”

Syncretism mixes the Creator with the creation. As Paul said in Romans 1: 25:  “…they worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator. . . .”  And here we are, right at this particular point with syncretism. Remember the warning given to the church in Pergamos? Christ said to them:

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate” (Revelation 2:14-15). So, a problem with syncretism is that idolatry is accepted as an authentic part of godly living.

And Ezekiel ran into this same problem of practice: “So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them” (Ezekiel 33:31-32).  

There is a form of godliness but it denies the power. In many environments, the system of justice is the most important casualty in the major systems which underly society. In the current system we see the blatant politicization of the justice system. When leaders are lawbreakers, justice fails. This is the major element in what we see around us today, the failure of justice. 

“No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. ⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. ⁷Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. ⁸ The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways;  They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace (Isaiah 59:4-5,7-8). 

⁹ “Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! (There is no justice. It is far from us.) ¹³ In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴ Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. ¹⁵So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice” (Isaiah 59:9,13-15).

There was no justice because the truth had fallen in the street. Without truth you don’t have justice. When we turn away from God, forgetting God, and transgressing His law, then there is no justice built into the justice system. There’s no justice for the the poor, the needy, the widows and the fatherless (Isaiah 10:1-2).  

In Leviticus 19, we read of various aspects of our relationship with our neighbors as far as justice is concerned: “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. ¹⁷ ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord“ (Leviticus 19:15–18 ). See also Exodus 23:1-9, Deuteronomy 16:18-29, and Ezekiel 18:5-9. These are all about loving your neighbor as yourself and upholding integrity in judgment.

Sadly, we cannot expect justice from man’s justice system because their basis of judgment is faulty. Again, the whole basis of why there is injustice is because humanity has forgotten God, and turned away from His law. But His parameters of justice are very clear – law keepers. Lawbreakers can only render injustice. Note from the book The Myth of Moral Injustice, “Law is not about the repair of relationships, the moral duties owed to and shared by our fellow human beings,” (There is no repentance factor built into man’s law.) God’s law is about repairing relationships. Man’s law is not about repairing relationships. When leaders are lawbreakers, this is what we get:

“And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the Lord. ⁴ “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers. ⁵ Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. ⁶ Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:3-6).

As Christians, we are to magnify the keeping of God’s moral law, the basis of justice, and man’s law when it does not conflict with God’s. We are to be law-keepers. It is very, very important. The current crisis in leadership is our call to arms. The real purpose of the message of the prophets was not just to condemn. All of them carried a call to repentance. We need to be using God’s law to repair relationships. And we need to direct any emotional reactions towards walking in the way of the Lord, for those ways are right.

Brian Orchard