Effective lying leaders have a charming and forceful personality that they use to their advantage.
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Table of Contents
- Lessons Learned from Lying Leaders
- Lying leaders need facilitators
- Effective lying leaders have a charming and forceful personality that they use to their advantage.
- Lying leaders are headed down a moral slippery slope
- Lying leaders: Conclusion
Next: Lying leaders are headed down a moral slippery slope
Previous: Lying leaders need facilitators
- Effective lying leaders have a charming and forceful personality that they use to their advantage.
- A lying leader has to have the right skills and personality traits to win the affection of followers and fend off “attacks” (the surfacing of unflattering truths about the leader). Like an unscrupulous salesman, the lying leader must first of all be charming. In personal encounters he generally presents himself as sweet and humble, seeming to genuinely care about the needs of others. People gravitate to him, love him, and sacrifice to please him. His personality disguises his character. He presents and markets himself so persuasively that most followers will not entertain thoughts that the leader is not what he seems to be. Anyone who says anything “negative” about the leader must be either mistaken or evil. The combination of this disarming charm with the leader’s dominant personality tends to result in a cult-like devotion and unquestioning obedience from the followers.
- The charmer will make his or her followers feel “special.” By constantly emphasizing how dramatically unique, important, and effective the group’s ministry is, he or she will make those who participate in the group feel that by being part of something superior to what any other ministry is doing, they are themselves superior to other Christians. Their identity with the group elevates their thoughts and feelings about themselves. The mixture of being charmed and made to feel special is a cocktail that so intoxicates followers they will believe and do things they ordinarily would not.
- Besides charm, successful lying leaders must have an intimidating side to them as well. Charm alone may not be sufficient to keep in line those who are disturbed by the uncovering of troubling facts about the leader. The effective lying leader must be able to bully others into silence and compliance. Though he will never be successful in intimidating everyone in the group into mindless obedience, he can use the “rebels” as examples to scare most of the others from following in their footsteps. The leader so demonizes the “rebels” in his private conversations and public speaking that it becomes clear to the followers that to “rebel” would mean having their reputations destroyed in a similar way by the leader.
To further intimidate followers, the leader will teach them that God’s judgment will fall on anyone who “attacks” (disagrees with or notices the misconduct of) the leader. The leader’s “anointing” is portrayed as a divine force-field that destroys those who try to penetrate it with criticisms or accusations. Lying leaders frequently cite David’s decision to “not touch the Lord’s anointed” (1 Sam 26) as a model that teaches one must never question, disagree with, or disapprove of the leader’s teachings or actions. They trust that their devotees will not study this passage with an open mind, for in it we find that David and his band were not in compliance with Saul. Saul, the anointed one, considered these men to be rebellious outlaws who would not submit to his discipline. David’s choice to “not touch the Lord’s anointed” was a decision to not kill Saul, not a decision to agree with everything Saul said or to mindlessly obey his every dictate.
In fact, the lying leader must trust that followers will not read the New Testament with an open mind because it teaches against unqualified obedience to any man. We are taught to question or test everything that is presented to us (1 Th 5:21, 1 Jn 4:1), and provisions are made for disciplining leaders guilty of misconduct (1 Tim 5:19-20). Christ commended believers who tested even those leaders who claimed to be apostles (Rev. 2:2).
Generally, the followers so value their part in the “special” work of God they are part of, and have become so attached to the community of faithful ones they have joined, they cannot endure the prospect of losing these things. They would rather give up their critical thinking skills than risk the loss of what has become so vitally important to them. Additionally, it seems that the thought of admitting they have been wrong in their devotion to the leader generally proves to be a prospect too humiliating to allow followers to think clearly or critically about the leader’s teachings and conduct.
Lying leaders need facilitators
Lying leaders are headed down a moral slippery slope
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• This page, Effective lying leaders have a charming and forceful personality that they use to their advantage., was first posted: Jul. 5, 2006• The entry was last updated: Jul. 5, 2006
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