The dark side of leadership: something we should never accept!

In this article, I deliberately go in with a straight leg and full force. What do I mean by a stretched leg and full force and why do I say this? I mean that I will never accept or condone dark sides of leadership! That is how I am and that is how I will remain until my last breath.

Why? Because the impact and influence of leaders is enormous. Leaders and, in this case leaders with a dark side, will always mislead and negatively influence followers. Because a leader 'multiplies' himself in his followers. This is how one of the aspects of the universal laws of leadership has its impact on followers. When a leader operates from a dark side, darkness also multiplies itself in his followers! This results in major consequences and huge negative influences. In the past, we know plenty of leaders with a dark side.

Think of Hitler. He was able to create millions of followers who were misled by him. This stemmed from his dark side. His followers carried out his orders without thinking. As it were, there was a kind of veil (literally enchantment) over their thinking because of the negative, dark influence of Hitler. And the terrible thing was, no one realized this until it was too late! For they all followed their leader! This resulted in millions of murdered Jews. Why? People followed the (dark) leader and carried out his orders! Command was command! In the words in to those days is was 'Befehl ist Befehl. Terrible! When I think about this, I still get angry and sad because anti-semitic behaviour is still a huge problem in our modern society.

Darksided leadership has many short-term but especially long-term consequences for people, countries and nations. God's word is clear on this. We read this in Proverbs 29 verse 2 "When the righteous come to power, the people feel satisfied, but under the rule of an ungodly person the people are oppressed". Two types of leaders are mentioned in this Bible passage: the righteous leader and the wicked leader. Both leaders have influence. Both leaders have followers and both leaders produce specific results: satisfaction or oppression. Leaders with a dark side, cause according to the Word of God, tribulation in which the people (nations) sigh and even mourn. The consequence of tribulation is mourning.

I recently watched the film 'Moses' with my wife on RTL7, a Dutch tv channel. The Jewish people had been oppressed for over 400 years by a dynasty of leaders with a dark side. In this case, Ramses, a ruling Egyptian pharaoh, oppressed several million Jews. They were treated as slaves, beaten, flogged and abused. Fortunately, God sent a 'saviour' in the person of Moses. Moses had to free himself from the clutches of his Egyptian ruler and aristocracy. Moses also had become a follower of the current dark leader. But God had a different plan with Moses. After his detachment by Gods leading and the hand of Moses the Jewish people were freed from darkness, its leadership and the yoke of slavery.

More closely to home and even today, there are national as well as international leaders operating from dark sides. By this I mean that they operate from certain thought patterns, beliefs, behavior and even more appalling 'legislation'. Think of abortion legislation, the gender issue and child trafficking. At this time there is an incredible film called 'The Sound of Freedom'. This film exposes the dark practices of evil 'leaders' who are guilty of 'Child and Sex Trafficking'. This heinous and demonic act takes place among certain top strata of society and some rich people. The consequence is huge as children will be scarred for life by this great injustice. But think also about seemingly innocent things like 'White collar' crimes such as money laundering. All these terrible examples of dark 'leadership' also create modern forms of slavery and where populations, people groups and individuals are put under a yoke. This has a huge impact on society and societies.

Is there also a message of hope in the midst of this great darkness? Yes, there is! The most important thing is to categorically reject evil leaders and not to accept their dark influence. This takes courage and perseverance. I am strongly reminded of Nelson Mandela. He condemned and stood again dark leadership in South Africa at the expense of his own freedom (see Proverbs 29:2) and at the expense of his marriage. In doing so, Mandela went straight against 'Apartheid'. He paid a huge price for this: 27 years of imprisonment. But because Mandela pursued justice, the South African people were freed from this modern form of slavery by abolishing 'Apartheid'. Think also of another hero! Think of Martin Luther King who fought for freedom for his people in America and paid for this with his own life. Because of his actions and refusal of dark sides leaders and legislation, 'Negroes' as they were called in those days, were accepted as first class citizens who were given the same rights as white skin colored citizens. This is still true today.

To conclude we must change the narrative of dark side leaders who want to oppose their leadership on us. We must not accept dark side leaders with everything we have and block and oppose them. How? We do this by proclaiming God's Word. What is Gods promise for us (believer and non believer). This promise is found in Psalm 18:18-19, 20 which concerns the dealing with unjust leaders. This is the promise and proclamation: 'My enemy was very powerful, but God saved me from his hand (of the unjust leader. Added by the author). He helped me escape from those who hated me and were stronger than me. But the Lord was a support to me. He led me out of misery and gave me space (freedom. Added by the author). He saved me because He loved me. The Lord did this because I am righteous. He helped me because no evil sticks to my hands’.

So, I will never accept the dark side of leadership!