Dear Leaders: How NOT To Become Deceivers

Gospel Truth: Part 4

Preface

I am writing a short series on a Christian commitment to honesty and transparency. If you haven’t already, before reading this essay, I encourage you to check out part 1.

Part 2 gives biblical perspectives on the dark reality of deception and manipulation in the Bible. It is helpful to read those thoughts before continuing below.

Part 3 offers tips for how believers can protect themselves from Christian deceivers.

[Warning: If you find this conversation uncomfortable and you are worried that I am casting aspersions on Christian leaders and unnecessarily bringing disrepute upon God’s people and God’s leaders, I encourage you to read the Book of Jeremiah from beginning to end. The longest book of the Bible condemns false and destructive leaders at length. It is awkward and creates dis-ease, but calling out wickedness—even and especially amongst our leaders—is a necessary part of being people of light and not darkness.]

Dear Leaders: How NOT to Become the Deceivers

The previous post was for general members of a Christian community, helping folks know how to protect themselves from deceptive leaders. This post is for leaders: how can you have self-awareness and courage so as not to BECOME one of the deceivers?

Jesus offers stern warnings for leaders who trick and abuse innocent followers. In Luke 17, Jesus teaches his disciples that great judgment will fall upon leaders who cause their people to stumble: “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (17:2).

A similar warning is issued by James for teachers in the community. James goes as far as to say that you should think twice about pursuing the path of a teacher, because even though we revere and respect our teachers, because of their power and influence they will be judged with greater strictness when they lead God’s people astray (3:1).

Honestly, no leaders really sets out to become deceivers. The vast majority of leaders I know began their ministries with a genuine heart to serve God and to see a group of people grow in faith, hope, and love. But there are certain temptations that are extraordinarily powerful that afflict pulpit leaders in particular. Once they ascend to positions of power, it becomes very easy to do ANYTHING to (1) stay in their position and/or (2) ascend even higher. The line between truth and falsehood can become blurred as PR consultants promote “spin” to get out of a bind or to take a step towards something greater. But Scripture is clear that Christian leaders must live in integrity, truth, and light in order to be imitators of God, to reflect the righteousness and blamelessness of God.

OK, so here are my (6) pieces of advice for leaders for how they can avoid becoming deceivers. I will frame these as healthy commitments of “People of Light” (non-deceivers).

#1: People of Light Have Someone They Confess Their Sins To

The pathway to becoming a deceiver of others begins with self-deception. And self-deception involves the blurring of the lines of right and wrong. The anti-dote to that is raw and honest confession of sins. You re-affirm and re-establish your moral- or truth-compass by having someone in your life that you regularly confess your sins to. You don’t have to confess all of your sins publicly to all people, but you do need a trusted friend or mentor that you can be completely honest with. Someone that knows the truth and loves you unconditionally.

#2: People of Light Provide Factual Evidence When Criticizing Others

What do you say about others from the pulpit? On social media? In meetings? Do you paint with indiscriminate, broad brush strokes, or do you provide factual evidence? You have to be careful with your words because God’s people often naturally trust their leaders and take what they say to be well-researched, precise, and true. So, there is a major responsibility to be careful with your words, especially when they are critical of others.

#3: People of Light Do Not Benefit Financially from Attacking Others

Money. Money can creep up on you and become a powerful motivator for using and misusing your voice. Leaders of light must either (1) be ultra-transparent about how they make money (esp. off of social media, books, etc.) or (2) refuse to profit off of attacking others. We can never let money cloud how and why we use our voice.

#4: People of Light Practice Humility and Confession of Personal Mistakes Publicly on a Regular Basis

Deceivers often protect themselves through deception in order to maintain a perfect, blameless image. If we are going to prevent ending up in a desperate attempt to protect the mask of perfection, we must practice humility and acknowledge our own failings on a regular basis. We help slay the beast of image-maintenance when we just expose our real, flawed self on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be making ourselves into an untrustworthy villian. But it should be a regular mea culpa so people do not think we are perfect, so people don’t idolize us, and so it becomes easier and easier to tell the truth about ourselves when we make mistakes.

#5: People of Light Attempt to Have Positive Interactions Across Tribal Lines

Deceivers often play a dangerous game of grooming followers who will follow them and only them. The leaders of light do the hard work of crossing territorial lines and having positive words and interactions with others who think differently.

#6: People of Light Regularly Practice Time Away from the Spotlight

The spotlight is addictive. And leaders can be all too easily caught up in maintaining their standing of popularity and favor no matter what, so lying, manipulation, and deception are on the table to enable that time in the spotlight to continue. Again, to slay that beast requires the self-discipline of stepping out of the spotlight—my spiritual director calls this a “spirituality of obscurity.” Often, leaders deceive because they want to extend their position on top and their popularity, power, and following. Obscurity is a personal choice to regularly step out of the spotlight. Being a “nobody” is a direct threat to deceptive leaders; so you can get ahead of all of that by choosing to be a “nobody.”

Thus ends this Gospel Truth series. Sadly, I have seen too many good-hearted leaders fall prey to sins of manipulation and deception. They started out wanting to serve and care for others, and ended up having to protect their image, position, pay, and power and felt forced into lies and coercion. So, now, we have to teach the sheep how to protect themselves from harmful shepherds. And we have to teach shepherds how not to harm sheep. This is bad news, but the good news is that by God’s illuminating Word, and empowering Spirit, and by imitating the true way of Christ, we can do better, for the sake of the reputation of Christianity, for the many lives at stake, and in honor of the God we worship.