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January - February 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
A Leader You Can Trust
Richard Nickels
In 1974, President Richard Nixon was under fire for his
role in the Watergate incident. Bill Clinton, running
for Congress, said, "If a President of the United States
ever lied to the American people, he should resign."
Nixon was caught in a web of lies, and was forced to
resign. Twenty-four years later, when Clinton himself
lied to the American people about the Monica Lewinsky
affair, he refused to resign, and even joked about his
defiant "apology." He and many others agreed that his
sexual improprieties were strictly a matter of his
personal, private life.
Today in the Church of God, we are so polluted from the
world's deviant behavior, which we do not expect our
Church leaders to always tell the Truth, nor set
examples for us to follow. We believers are somewhat
like the gullible American people, who like the job
Clinton is doing (because the economy is good), but
don't want their children to follow his lewd
example. Even worse -- and this is tragic -- most
Sabbath-keepers do not know, or care to know, the
public sins of their own Church leaders.
My desk calendar has a very timely admonition for August
26, "Don't work for a company led by someone of
questionable character." This also applies to the
Church. Twice now, in my working career, I have been
told to do something illegal. In both cases, I risked my
job by standing firm and emphatically saying "No!" And
in each case, our own company lawyers supported me, and
management had to rescind the order. Most people want to
do the right thing. The trouble is, very few are willing
to stick their neck out and "just say no" to lies and
temptation toward wrongdoing.
Today in the Churches of God, we have leaders guilty of
setting false prophetic dates, engaging in illicit
sexual acts which made the "Geraldo" television show,
being arrested more than once for drunk driving, and
being convicted of libel (costing the Church many
hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement and legal
costs). Yet, these men still have a large following. In
fact, they are doing quite well. Sometimes, their
supporters know of the public sins of their leaders and
nevertheless excuse or minimize this blameworthy
conduct. Other lay people do not know of these public
sins and ignorantly continue to support leaders
unqualified by I Timothy 3 to be in any office of
leadership at all. Someone has said that we get the
leaders we deserve. That must be so in the Church of
God, today!
In I Thessalonians 5:12-13, Paul might
have said, "Don't investigate your leaders. Gloss over
the sins of your leaders and don't hold them accountable
for setting a good example, for their public and private
sins are between them and God. The only responsibility
you have is to pay and pray." Is this a proper rendition
of Scripture? This sounds like the "Bible" of all too
many Sabbath-keepers today. This passage really says,
"And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which
labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and
admonish you: And to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake. And be at peace among
yourselves."
A few years back, a noted Sabbatarian leader claimed to
be a World War II hero. This was supposed to demonstrate
his good character and qualifications to succeed a
previous long-lived leader who had died and turned over
the reigns to him. Since I lived in the St. Louis,
Missouri, area at the time, it was a simple matter to
check at the National Military Records center in St.
Louis, to see if his claim was true. Under the Freedom
of Information Act, citizens have open access to
military records. I discovered that this "great" leader
was lying. He did not serve in the Navy in the heroic
capacity he claimed. When this information was
published, not a single minister or member, to my
knowledge, confronted this "Pastor General" with the
fact that he was a liar. After all, they thought, it
was "God's Church," and, "God will correct our leaders
if they are wrong." Let's not be dumb sheep!
On the positive side, you cannot really "know" the good
qualities of your Church leader by only seeing him in
the rather artificial environment of Sabbath
services. What does his unbelieving neighbor say about
him? What does his secular employer say about him? The
only way we can follow this command to positively "know
them, which labour among you," is for the Church leader
to be part of the community, to work and serve others
besides the congregation. Legend has it that Jesus and
His human father Joseph made wonderful wooden ploughs,
which continued to be used for many years after the
crucifixion. You can be sure that the "Joseph and Sons"
carpentry business had a reputation for quality
and honesty!
The reason why the Church today has such a lack of
leaders who can be trusted, can partly be traced
to a central governmental structure, which has made many
of them hirelings, rather than servants. Members should
not support liars or hirelings. There has never been a
time when honest leaders have been more needed. The way
to misery is to ignore God's command to "know them which
labour among you." Only by following God's Way, can we
have leaders we can trust. If God continues to give
gifts to men, and He does, (Ephesians 4:8), then
He will give us leaders we can trust. These leaders will
continue to challenge their followers, as Paul did, to
"check me out!" See I Corinthians 9:27 and II
Corinthians 13:1-7.
Brethren who are trustworthy will also have trustworthy
leaders. As a general rule, brethren in most Sabbatarian
groups today are more spiritual, more dedicated, more
honest, than their leaders, at least on the
surface. However, such an imbalance cannot be forever
maintained. Let me be perfectly clear: President Clinton
should resign because he has lied to the American
people. He has sullied the office of the Presidency of
the United States. Likewise, several Sabbatarian leaders
today should also resign their offices of leadership,
because they fail to match the qualifications of I
Timothy 3 and have lied to the people of God. A free
society, and a godly society, needs leaders they can
trust. In reality, like it says on our money, it is ONLY
"in God [that] we [can] trust."
Reprinted by permission from Giving & Sharing,
Number 49, November, 1998.
Richard Nickels is the President of BSA, and
can be reached at biblesabbath@comcast.net
TSS
January - February 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
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