| Abuse of Authority and Power |
Created Date: 11-May-2016 |
| Responsibilities of a Leadership in Management |
Last updated: 22-Oct-2019 |
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A commonly observed problem that happens with position of authority, is it reduces empathy for others, and this should never be the case for the Christian.
God is 100% in control, where the Purpose of All History is to show His great Love. In God's Purpose, the realization that comes with our maturity, is recognizing God in all things. Many outstanding leaders come to know this, but unfortunately it appears that it is not the case for the majority. As a Christian, the rhetorical question can be asked on how any of who are in charge of others in a business, and responsible for our family, not take care of those who are depending upon us for their job and well-being?
The Book of Daniel has many great prophecies that speak about world powers that gain dominion for a period of time, where their power was given by God even with any acts of evil, which history showed. The main point is God exists outside of all Time Domains, so He knows everything in advance, so the evil done still serves God's purposes for
God's purposes will have all unrighteousness and evil done by Lucifer, Fallen Angels and human-beings against those of us who have Salvation, end up accomplishing blessings, rewards and the opposite affect that evil had intended. All of this will be discovered at both Judgment Seat of Christ and the Great White Thrown of Judgment.
| Daniel 7:6 | After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. |
| Luke 12:48 | But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. |
| Romans 1:24 | Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, |
| 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” |
| 1 Corinthians 13:3 | If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. |
| Proverbs 28:16 | A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, But he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. |
God rules everything and power is given to whom God pleases. When God appoints all of us to a job in our lives, then that job in the viewpoint of God is as important as all other job regardless of prestige and income.
To be fair with these four quick points, these are not axioms and most people can be successful in the eyes of God if they use the principles of the Bible in their lives. Success, fame and fortune without God is temporary, fleeting and is vanity according to the eventual wisdom of King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
In two of Jesus Christ's parables, about rich men with power, the message is clear about using wealth and power wisely.
| Ecclesiastes 1:2 | “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” |
| Luke 12:16-21 Jesus Christ speaking |
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” |
| Luke 16:19-31 Jesus Christ speaking about the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus |
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” |
| Proverbs 6:16-19 | 16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. (Haughty means - proud, snobbish, arrogant.) |
| Proverbs 8:13 | The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. |
With reluctance, it has to be said that the unsaved world and even those who profess to be Christians will always contain people that are devoid of any sense of a virtuous morality and believe there are no consequences in life, where the only thing that matters is what can be gained for themselves. People who are like this, often will work very hard to rise higher and higher into positions of power to try to satisfy their lust for power, financial gain, prestige and carnal pleasures. In this author's opinion, while these types of people may have different physiological disorders that may be narcissistic, there are still those people who become eventually in a state of complete desensitization that nothing can be done to change their dispositions other than a Work of God.
It needs to be also said that if someone believes that the wealth and pleasures in this world are worthy of sacrificing eternal rewards with God then this shows they have a great deal of misunderstandings of the promises that God has given us in His Word. Rhetorically, how could our God pass up on giving those who He Loves with riches, glory and happiness in this life while those who live debaucherously, gain riches unless God has promised to give those who trust Him something far better?
We all need to realize that the temporary earthly rewards will be pale and in no comparison to what is eternal. It is like someone rising to power in a garbage heap when compared to heaven and especially when we learn that God will wipe every tear (Revelation 21:4) at the Judgment Seat of Christ, which means we all will have regrets on what we should have been doing This does not mean we should not strive for excellence in business and seek rewards like the Parable of Talents teaches but we need to recognize the principles of God in the our administration.
The three major problems that every manager at the lowest level to the highest Executive will have to contend and ascertain against:
At the Executive levels, these three common problems can cause significant issues involving financial loss and of personnel productivity.
There are numerous warnings to those who are confident in their positions when they should not be and those who should be confident and are not:
As many of us, who are employed in the business world for multiple decades can testify and remember the people who worked in the 1950s and 1960s, the ethics and code of conduct standards that were so evident in the years after World War II are tragically mostly gone or nonexistent. Reading Business books written in the 1950s through the 1960s in today's business environment are almost laughable because people have changed unfortunately for the worse. What is missing is:
Below are a few examples of the benefits that use to be for all employees of many mid to large size companies.
In Business Articles, these benefits are now largely only available to Directors, Vice Presidents, Presidents, CEOs and Board Members of mid to large size companies. Today, the additional bonus payments to the highest executives in companies, dwarf the bonus structures for executives of 30 years ago. Previous generations of Executives exercised a different philosophy with financial income of the company as money was used for reinvestment, reserves to retain personnel during economic down times and so much more.
While most countries, such as the United States, have the statistical estimation that over 90% of employment is provided by small companies, the United States in the past had a fair taxation and Social Security retirement system. Social Security no longer secures a stable retirement because of the Socialism that masquerades as Democracy which has destroyed this possibility.
Many motivational speakers are speaking about the dilemmas that are affecting and causing productivity, profitability, loyalty and retention to be lost in many companies. Here are just a few questions to understand the problems:
We learn in the Book of Revelation that God will be wiping our tears away. The answer to the possibilities of why God is doing this is most likely for the lost opportunities we had to:
| Revelation 21:4 | He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. |
| Philippians 2:5-7 | 5. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. |
| Philippians 2:3-4 | 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. |
The Godly principles that we must always remember are the importance of treating everyone with respect, love and guidance. This applies to our enemies also, albeit there are times to act in other ways. Managers need to always know that the employees look to you for guidance, protection, wisdom and providing monetarily so that they can in turn provide for their family.
Rhetorically:
| Matthew 25:44-45 | 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ |
| Matthew 18:32-35 | In the Parable of the "Unmerciful Servant", the Kingdom of Heaven is
like a King who forgives a Servant of a massive sum but when the King
hears that forgiven servant does not forgive others then there is a
penalty. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” |
| Revelation 3:17 | For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. |
| John 19:11 | Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” |
| 2 Corinthians 8:9 | But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. |
There are many, many scriptures that give the correct perspective for all of us to aspire and accomplish in our lives. To many naive Christians and non-Believers, they have assumptions that if they succeed in obtaining Titles, Wealth and Power then God will reward them with the equivalent in Heaven. This is certainly God's prerogative but God has given us His Word on what will obtain Rewards in many Scriptures such as:
| 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 |
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. |
Unfortunately, we do not often hear or read about great Christians in the
News, who are:
(a) Captains of Industry,
(b) In Positions of Power, or
(c) have
Great Wealth
that are using their money and influence for God's Kingdom because the very nature of a maturity in a
Christian Walk is to not be Prideful, Lustful, Arrogant, Act in Self Serving
Ways and be Ostentatious.
| Mark 10:43-45 | 43 "But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." |
| Matthew 6:19-21 | 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. |
The following two graphical pyramids will help visually in understanding the responsibilities of every person in God's kingdom on this Earth in relation to our business and family life.
Note that "Janitorial and Cleaning Crews" is put at the lowest level to reflect the men and women who are usually at the lowest pay level. It this author's belief that many of these men and women will more than likely have more rewards, titles and privileges in Heaven then most CEOs of major companies. This belief is based on the scriptures that point out that the more wealth people have then the tendency is to push God out and the less money that people make, then those people tend to rely heavily on God and will have a loving and trustful relationship with Him.
| Job 24:21-30 | 21 “His eyes are on the ways of mortals; he sees their every step. 22 There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness, where evildoers can hide. 23 God has no need to examine people further, that they should come before him for judgment. 24 Without inquiry he shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place.25 Because he takes note of their deeds, he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. 26 He punishes them for their wickedness where everyone can see them, 27 because they turned from following him and had no regard for any of his ways. 28 They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy. 29 But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he is over individual and nation alike, 30 to keep the godless from ruling, from laying snares for the people. |
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What to read next?
The role of Sex. What is Abuse of Power? What is Salvation? Is it possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?