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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