The Fall of Great Leadership

The land had enjoyed generations of prosperity, which was the result of courageous ancestral leadership. But over time, leaders became increasingly complacent. The new generations of leaders, rather than forging a principle-centered vision built on the moral foundation of previous generations, began to live off of and take for granted what they had inherited. Then, the unexpected began to happen.

Great leadership gave way to good leadership, which eventually became weak leadership—anemic, ineffective, and corrupt. Sensing the void in righteous leadership, marauding, malevolent migrants from the east began a gradual infiltration of the land. What started as a trickle soon became an infestation, and eventually, a hostile takeover. The once courageous leadership of the land now cowered in fear, allowing the migrants to pillage the land uncontested.

A Historical Parallel

Reading this, you might think it describes our current situation in Canada. However, it actually depicts the Hebrew nation 3,200 years ago. It is the story of Gideon, a humble farmer who led the nation back to a righteous moral foundation and purged the evil from the land. That scenario was replayed 12 times over the course of 450 years and is recorded in the Book of Judges in the Bible. In fact, it has been repeated many more times over thousands of years. In every case, it required courageous leadership to return the land to its prosperous, moral foundation.

The Importance of Leadership

Everything rises and falls on leadership. I first heard this expression from John Maxwell during a leadership seminar, along with a matching maxim: “Speed of the leader, speed of the team.”

The Crisis of Leadership Today

Currently, we have a serious lack of courageous leaders in our country—leaders in our homes, businesses, educational systems, governments, and churches. This lack has resulted in a society with no common purpose or sense of righteous moral fiber. As a result, we have become weak, anemic targets for those who do not share the same moral principles and foundations that once gave us prosperity—a prosperity we have now squandered.

What we inherited from our courageous, though imperfect, ancestors is being stolen by immoral, idolatrous, and hateful invaders, both from within and from outside. Like parasites, they are cannibalizing the very values that once attracted them. Tragically, both our society and these invaders will die unless new, righteous, and courageous people, like Gideon, hear and heed the call to lead us back to a future grounded in morally-based, principle-driven leadership and cultural prosperity.