The Reason for the Unprincipled Leaders Among Us

Self-Interest, Compromise, and the Collapse of Institutions

It's a hard pill to swallow, but most people will do what they believe is in their own self-interest, not what they know to be true and right. It's easy to sacrifice loyalty, duty, and principle for flattery, comfort, and success when someone thinks the latter offers more fulfillment than the former.

This explains much of what's happened in Christian leadership, not to mention the medical, media, and academic establishments. Saruman thinks power lies with Sauron and not Gandalf. Judas thinks money to be more desirable than Jesus.

The only part of man not pleased by compromise is his soul. Yet the key to living an honorable life in this temporal world is living in the light of the life we are to have in eternity. The intangibles are what make the tangibles meaningful.

Ordering allegiance according to natural affections and spiritual duties rather than market forces, insecurities, and fleshly desires is a much better way to sleep well with a clean conscience. Peace only comes through submission to God's order.

It is no wonder our social institutions are fragmented into ever smaller pieces as infighting and treachery lead us down to perdition. We lost true north when we decided to follow our own star. When questions like, how will it benefit me, override questions like, what is my obligation, the seeds of social destruction are sowed.

Christ’s Time, Human Nature, and the Destructive Power of Fleshly Desires

The dragon's men who still have chests opposed today are no different in principle than the ancient dragons of Christ's time. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and he did not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man.

It's not ultimately the wealthiest globalists, the ignorant masses, or the tyrant sitting at the local town hall who threatens our souls. It's our own fleshly desires to ride the waves of flattery, success, and comfort.

Character, Leadership, and the Example of George Washington

Divorces skyrocketed, friendships ended, churches split, homes were sold, and small communities failed to support many of their cherished small businesses in 2020, exposing the sad reality that a people incapable of governing their own affairs are ill-equipped to face down the looming threats we hear about every day.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. It is often said that war does not make great men, rather it exposes men who are great. George Washington was a man of character before he took command of the Continental Army.

After the flood, the rocks still standing are a testament to their own consistency. Men of character today are rarely found among the upper echelons of any institution regardless of what side of the political aisle the institution resides in.

Yet there are men lower in the social hierarchy who proved their consistency by sacrificing themselves for others, rejecting flattery, comfort, and success if it meant compromise and speaking hard truths in hard places.

The goal of each of us should be to identify these individuals in their own lives and our lives and offer them our allegiance. A new social order must form, one that cannot be bought or manipulated, not based upon optics or fashion, but truth and honor.

Local Allegiance, Neighbor-Love, and Psalm 37

If the dragon is to be slain, it is time for the knights to return. This may require us to give more of our resources to local causes than national ones. It may mean we spend less time on our phones and more time helping our neighbors.

It may mean we content ourselves with a respectable, honest life, even if we know we could have the limelight. Psalm 37, 10 -11 says,. Yet a little while, and the wicked man will be no more, and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there.

The humble will inherit the land, and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.