Political correctness is the reason why modern day spiritual leadership and authority have become so weak over nations and people. Apostles, Prophets, Pastors et cetera always want to appear to be on the side of the government and at the same time, on the side of the people. They don't want to offend authorities or the powers that be. They want to appear to be modest, honest and less concerned about the affairs of their nations. This is why many of them keep mute in the face of corruption, nepotism, and the injustices that happens in their society, leaving the matter to God to address in His own time. But this is not supposed to be so. A cursory look at the life and times of some prophets of old in the Bible will give us a different view from what  we are witnessing in this modern time.

 

Being politically correct in spiritual leadership occurs when Spiritual Leaders appears to be extra careful or show excessive caution because they don't want to appear as not supportive of a class or group of people in the society. Take for example what happens in the church of God today. A pastor may be careful and waters down the word of God to his congregation simply because the message he or she is about to preach would not go well with a member of his church who probably pays the highest tithe and offering. The risk of losing such people and their money will not allow the absolute truth of the word of God to be preached. When a man or a woman of God does this, it is referred to as being politically correct.

 

Many Spiritual Leaders today would rather choose to be conformist rather than challenge the status quo and demand that the right ideals be instituted in the society that they find themselves. Political correctness tends to be completely focused on peoples' sensitivity and their sense of worth. When Spiritual Leaders focus more on peoples' sensitivity and their own self-esteem, they eliminate God from the equation. And so, because of overly being cautious as to not want to offend the powers that be, majority of them would rather remain mute in the face of oppression and every ills in their society.

 

This actually, is not supposed to be the norm. When this is the case, it presents a clear departure as to why God raised those in spiritual leadership. It defeats the purpose of God for that assignment that they have been so called into. Let us examine Jeremiah and the Jewish people in the Bible.

 

Prophet Jeremiah lived in some of the dangerous times in his days. In most occasions, he was seen proclaiming God's judgment upon the people of his time for their wicked ways. He was concerned especially with false and insincere worship and his peoples failure to trust God in their national dealings. It is almost like what we are witnessing in this contemporary times as well, where political leaders would not give heed to what Spiritual Leaders are saying concerning their nation. On a number of occasion, Jeremiah prophesied that the people would go into slavery because of their wickedness. An example of this was documented in Jeremiah 19:14-15. The Bible says:

 

"Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ "

 

The people, alongside their leaders, are stiff-necked and so, they will not give heed to the counsel of God. On a number of occasions, Jeremiah was imprisoned simply by declaring the word of the Lord to the leaders of his days. Even though sometimes it appears that spiritual leadership sometimes clash with political and other leadership in the nation, this does not stop the spiritual leader from declaring the mind of God concerning the nation. Many political leaders would rather want that Spiritual Leaders sometimes, when delivering their message, be politically correct. But the truth is that they are not politicians, and they can never function as one. Spiritual Leaders function to the degree that God gives them the ability to function over their nations. And so, they cannot be politically correct just because they want to be on the side of the government. Let us examine this account in Jeremiah 20:1-6 to further buttress this point.

 

"Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. ² Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. ³ And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib. ⁴ For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword. ⁵ Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.’ "

 

The man in the story above was Pashur, a priest and an officer in the house of the Lord. Naturally, one would have assumed that those who occupy the office of a priest should know better when it comes to receiving counsels from the Lord. But this was not so in the case of Pashur and the people of Judah. He had Jeremiah, the prophet, imprisoned for saying something that did not suit his narrative and that of his friends. Pashur would rather speak lies to the people than tell them what the Lord want them to hear. Jeremiah prophesied against him and told him what would befall him, his friends and the land of Judah. Unfortunately, it did not go well with him and he did what he had to do to Jeremiah to register his displeasure against Jeremiah.

 

There is another account in Jeremiah 32:1-5 that also talks about not being politically correct as a spiritual leader when it comes to matters about your nation and declaring the counsel of God as God would have them delivered to the people and their leaders. The Bible says:

 

"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. ³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him ^[face to face, and see him eye to eye; ⁵ then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him,” says the Lord; “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?"

 

Politically speaking, one can understand why the Jewish leaders at the time reacted so strongly against Jeremiah in the above passage. I mean, in a time of national crisis, how could he have called for surrender and submission to Babylon? It was such an unpatriotic action from a man of God like Jeremiah really. He could have said it in another manner, or better still, known better. Some could have even said to him it would have been better if he just shut his mouth and say nothing rather than ask the people to embrace slavery. But of course Jeremiah was not speaking from a political point of view; he spoke for the Lord. So, as a result of that, Zedekiah secluded Jeremiah from the people for prophesying in the midst of the siege of Judah’s imminent captivity and the king’s overthrow by the Babylonians. Why? Because he would not want the people to hear such a word from him again.

 

What does this tell us? Being politically correct is not to be found in spiritual leadership. A spiritual leader must be bold enough to declare God's counsel concerning his people and his land, even if it will result into him being imprisoned at the end of the day or even ostracize from among the people. And the truth is, it is not every time that unpalatable things proceed from the mouths of spiritual leaders. There are times too that God uses them to foretell about the future of their nations. Even in most instances when the political leaders could not see what lies ahead, God have used Spiritual Leaders to declare what and how the future of the people will be. For example, In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God used Jeremiah to foretell what will happen in the future.

 

³¹ “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— ³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

 

In that passage, Jeremiah foretold a time when the Lord will make a new covenant with the nation of Israel. He talked about this new covenant in which God Himself will put His laws in the minds of the people and write it on their hearts. It talked about a time where the people would not have to struggle to please the Lord because God's laws is now written in their minds, and that the people would not struggle to remind one another about the need to fear and worship the God of Israel. It also talked about how God would forgive their iniquity  and remembers no more their sin. Isn't it amazing that God uses His chosen vessels, through spiritual leadership to bring His counsel among the people? And this is the point we must come to that conclusion, that spiritual leadership in a nation or over a people are not threats or terrors to good works.

 

They are a vital part of our society and nation building, and that God has ordained it so.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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