The Leader

The Leader was standing by the sea looking down at the waves beating against the rocks.

She could see a red-haired rag doll floating on the sea,
being buffeted by the wind and the waves (of public opinion),
occasionally crashing into the flotsam (of her teams failed policies)
and the hard rocks (of reality).

She asked,

I am supposed to be the most powerful person in the nation,
but I feel powerless to get things done.
It feels like an invisible deadweight is holding us back.

She is right. She does not realise it, but she is constrained by the invisible, but evil spiritual powers, that she, her predecessors and the people, have given authority in the nation.

xxxx

The Leader was seen many months later with a great crowd following her down the road. It was already dark when she came to fork in the road, but the batteries in her torch had flattened, so its light did not shine very far ahead. She had not been this way before, so she did not know which road to take.

She cried out in frustration,

I am supposed to be the most powerful women in the nation.
The people have gladly followed me.
This is my choice to something big,
but no one can tell me which way to go
and the light that I carry does not shine that far.

The people following behind her called out,

We have put our trust in you.
We have followed you this far, so you must decide.
Don’t let us down.
You must decide.

Her expert advisers standing around here were full of confusion.

One said the road to the left goes around the side of a cliff.

We could all fall over in the dark and be destroyed.

Another advisor said that the road to the right went through an area that is full of wild animals.

If we go that way, thousands of us could die.

The advisors knew that they were experts expected to give advice, so each one shouted something different, trying to be heard above the crowd. They were totally confused. There was confusion to the left, and confusion to the right. Confusion surrounded the leader.

Eventually a couple of expert advisors shouted louder than the other advisors. They both urged her to take the road to the left.

The people behind her were getting impatient for The Leader to lead.

You need to act now, before it gets too late.

So, she set off down the road to the left, walking boldly so that people would not see her uncertainty and fear.

Better to act, than to be certain.

The people followed The Leader clapping and cheering. A few of the expert advisors grumbled, but their voices were drowned out by the cheering crowds. The cheering made The Leader fearful of having made the wrong decision, but she carried on resolutely, with a confident look on her face. That’s what leaders do.

The spiritual powers of evil laughed at her pain, and rejoiced in the confusion and talk of disaster.

The Leader appeared to be calm and in control, but it was all an act to convince people that she knew what she was doing. She needed God with her; not the mean, demanding her parents served, but the God who loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross to rescue us, and then raised him from the dead so that he could rule as king at the right hand of the father.

xxx

As they marched down the road behind their leader the sun came out from behind the clouds and bathed the crowd with the warmth of its rays. The road was wide and the fields spread out on either side were lush and green. As the crowd continued to clap and cheer their leader, her doubts began to fade. She became confident in her decision. She felt that she had made the right choice. She had led her people down the right road.

The Leader strode out confidently in front of the cheering crowd. All doubting was gone. They were on a good road. She was the right person for the job. No one else could have done what she had done. No one else was wise enough to lead in the people in the way that she had done.

The Leader began to ponder what other things could be done to provide for the following crowd; but she forgot that pride comes before a fall.

xxx

Sometime later, The Leader was on the road where it wound around the side of the cliff. A big slip had come down destroying a stretch of the road. The road stopped in front of where she was standing and began again 100 metres away on the other side of the chasm created by the collapse of the cliff.

One of the expert advisors suggested that the people be set to work to create a new road around the side of the cliff. Another declared that it would take too long, and the people would get hungry before the new road was built. Another expert advisor urged the leader to turn back and take the other road. Another advisor said that would be too dangerous as the wild animals would have moved closer by now.

Doubt and confusion returned. The leader cried in frustration.

This was my big opportunity to lead,
to do something glorious.
I am supposed to be the most powerful woman in the nation,
but now I don’t know if I have come the right way,
and I don’t know what to do.

She saw.

Disaster in front.
Terror behind.
Confusion on every side.
All is confusion.

And the confusion spread amongst the people following,
and they began to scatter.