The Moral Failures Of Church Leaders

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

The topic of this paper is The Church Committee. When I first got the topic I was not sure what it was, but after I researched it I was very surprised. The Church Committee Report consists of 14 public reports. They were written in 1976 and 1975 when recommendations for reform were debated in congress and some cases were carried out. The reports contain information on the formation, operation, and the abuse of the US intelligence agencies. The six books covered committee writings on various topic investigated. There are seven volumes which contains public hearings and exhibits.

The bible warns of the pride within ones heart and elated perception of self that grips them deceived. Its apparent in both stories the essence of deceit and how it handicaps the mind. The author’s choice of words and style of writing illuminates the overall presence of sin and

Church a place many people go on Sunday mornings. A place to worship in the Lord and Savior or whichever God the individual believes in. Some individuals believe that church can only be held in the church building. When in reality it can be held anywhere for example the bedroom or a field. A thing that has been noticed is there are many types of people who go that fit in with a certain group. The types include everyone from the screaming child to the strict churchgoers and everything in between. Church may be a good place to go but it is believed that the churches today are corrupt.

Corruption in the Catholic Church was real; the Church has always had a strong present in Mexico since the beginnings. For instance, those in the strong circle of the Church who are not part of the clergy have always been men of power who hold swayed over the government. They have passed laws that benefit the Church, such as the example I pointed out before of Title 1. Precisely, for this reason, was why the Mexican liberals hated the clergy. The main problem and reason why the anti-clerical liberals wanted to remove the clergy in Government was “Fueros”, which means corporate immunities. For the Church, corporate immunities meant that if there was a transgression in the clerical power they were subjected to a different form of justice than the Mexican people. The Liberals saw it as the highest form a corruption because basically those part of the clergy circle who were men of power could get away with corruption. Laws like the example that was given were what ultimately what triggered the anti-clerical liberals to fight back, and that is why by 1861 when Benito Juarez re-established the Mexican government. Once Benito Juarez establishes the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857, the Catholic Church was slowly starting to lose the control it had over the Government.

The Evil Power in the book was controlled by the devil, who had a Hideous Strength. The book built up tension and power throughout the plot, which was all released at the end when God sent his wrath on the evil sinners of the world. This is a picture of the world nowadays. Sinners are thriving and Evil is growing. Everything is so crooked and backwards, that the Good might begin to lose hope. However it has always been Gods will for the Good to win, and so it will. In this book I can relate to Mark Studdock. I am a wicked sinner like him and I fall into the blinding temptation all the time, just like when Mark was tempted to joining N.I.C.E. God has come in, however, and lifted me out of my sin, as he did for Mark during his custody at Belbury. Those shades have been dropped off of my eyes, and I can clearly see the power, glory, and terror of God. In Romans 12:17, the Bible says "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The Bible also says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,

While reflecting on the assigned reading and preparing to summarize my thoughts I couldn’t help but reflect on the scriptural passage found in 1 Peter 5:8-9 which says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (KJV). For me this passage of scripture represented the impetus behind the author’s storyline.

As a child in a small, Bible-based church, I was greatly disappointed by the leadership who led our church. The elder board was a group of men who were called on to help make church-wide decisions and to pray for sick church members as well as address issues that arose. Several of the men had very unhappy wives and lived lives of deceit and secrecy. As a child, I knew about times the men and their teenage sons would go out and tell their sons not to get word of what occurred during the night out back to the mothers.

The end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Renaissance brought many shifts to European societal structure. The face of Christianity changed considerably from the fourteenth century to the mid-sixteenth century, beginning with disagreement over who should hold absolute power, the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor. While the corporate Catholic church had once maintained a fairly unified influence on society, a more nuanced form of Christianity began developing, leading to reformed religious groups with opposing views, namely the Protestants and Anglicans. In the wake of differing opinions, people’s group identification mattered significantly, determining what people they sided with and who they couldn’t tolerate. With more complex religious and political perspectives came more opportunities for people to distance themselves from peers, family, and leaders ideologically. Frequent mentions of treacherous actions within the literature of this time demonstrates that these differing views made people feel betrayed by their associates. The idea of betrayal is prominent in the lives and texts of several authors of this period, including Dante, Thomas More, and Niccolò Machiavelli. From a Christian perspective, betrayal was a grave sin befitting serious punishment, while it was irrational from a Humanist perspective and an inevitable, even beneficial part of mankind from an amoral perspective. During the tumultuous political and religious climate of the High Middle Ages and

Living with a fully honest heart will bring true success. For example, Nixon was a Quaker from California and his faith was very important to him; therefore, it is in his system of values to be moral and honest (“Richard M. Nixon). His strong system of values brought him to the presidency (“Richard M. Nixon). Despite Nixon’s religious background, the public questions his honesty after the Watergate scandal – an event where someone stole millions from the

Good and virtuous leaders are exemplified throughout the bible, but what was required of these early church leaders and are the requisites applicable to modern leadership? As leaders continue to incorporate a biblical ethical component to their leadership practices, it is hoped that good ethical leader succession will be duplicated. This applied exegetical paper will utilize a socio-rhetorical criticism approach to convey what was expected of the early church leaders and how those expectations can relate to modern leaders. I will analyze Titus 1 a Pastoral Epistle written by Apostle Paul through the process of Social and Cultural Texture analysis. Then, the analysis will explore the virtue and ethical leadership ideas of the Apostle Paul. Lastly, this paper will highlight how the ethical concepts are applicable to modern leadership practices.

If the leader is willing to be transparent and realize their own shortcomings and struggles, it will enable the leader to lead from a place of more passion, emotion, and persuasiveness. This type of honesty can attract many hurting, sad, and brokenhearted people to our churches from dysfunctional backgrounds that will sit under compassionate and relevant leadership. The book further explains that the leader should careful not to let selfishness, self-deception, and wrong motives come alive in leadership as product of the dark side. The fall of many leaders are directly attributable to these components. If this dark side arises, the leader is admonished to open and honestly deal with it before God. This will empower the leader for greater effectiveness. Some leaders may be

Nations fail because God’s people have turned to men for answers and not to God and as a result we seek our will and not God’s. We turn from him because we think we know better. Unfortunately, we make ourselves out to be fools by doing so.

The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].

In Ephesians 4:11 (KJV), The Apostle Paul writes of the offices in the New Testament church which have been ordained by God for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Pastors and teachers is a combined role of what the leader of the church in a growing ministry are called by God to perform.