Chapter 12 -
IN SEARCH OF TRUE LEADERS -
The ERAP Is Not the Answer
by: Arnulfo Yu Laniba
Agape Foundation (Agasoft)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007, Badbad Oriental, Loon, Bohol, Philippines --
I have been bothered by this issue for months and years: ERAP PARA SA MAHIRAP. ERAP was the key. ERAP holds the answer to our poverty, problems and difficulty. ERAP is our savior. ERAP is the one who loved the poor.
Did ERAP really love the poor? And was his standard of righteousness enough to emancipate this nation from its agony?
Not just one person told me of President Erap’s genuine sympathy to the poor. They affirmed to me his true compassion to the poor.
From the media coverage, we who are far from him personally, only could cite his acts of giving dole-outs to the poor who were pictured falling in line or not following the line.
My purpose of this article is to release my own assessment of the ERAP leadership and standard of righteousness though it will be incomplete because I could not read his heart and mind. So, I am not going to condemn him or to declare him a saint. Just using the guidelines from Jesus Christ, we can “know a tree by its fruits.” But remember, without passing final judgment on the person.
Who is ERAP?
We need to cite his bad side: He drank too much, with men of questionable character, even using Malacañan like a drinking pub.
He was being bribed or was he the one demanding for tong (commission) from gambling lords, drug lords, and from other illegal activities? He was charged and just recently adjudged guilty of plunder to the tune of over a billion pesos. Yet he maintained that he did not rob the country and that all those money came from, well, gambling and drug lords, since he has no big business ventures of his own.
To wrap up: ERAP ACCEPTED BRIBES FROM THE GAMBLING AND DRUG LORDS RIGHT INTO HIS POCKET AND GAVE ALMS TO THE POOR WITH HIS LEFT HAND AND MORE TO HIS MISTRESSES WITH HIS RIGHT HAND. Penny-alms to the poor, dollars to his mistresses. Groceries to the beggars, luxury to his mistresses.
In short, as far as we know or believe, Erap uses the lucrative evil businesses of vices to support his two expenses: the poor and his mistresses! The first in cents, the other in millions.
We saw televised or in pictures the luxurious mansions he built for his concubines.
Is ERAP really the model leader we have been looking for? The poor who have found no other on their side say “Yes”.
But I have a different view. Knowing it or not, Erap should have known that drugs and gambling are two of the leading evils that can swiftly destroy our youth, people and nation. Does he know that? Let us forgive if he didn’t. But his ignorance or our forgiveness does not make gambling and drugs less destructive. With Erap’s blessings and support, the increase and spread of drugs and gambling and heaven knows what other illegal harmful activities there were, shifted to the higher gear! If Erap ruled longer, I fear this nation’s fall would happen sooner than we thought!
Question: With this helmsman destroying the youth and people of the land through his support for the illegal drugs and gambling activities in the country, can you still say that his grocery and cash gifts to the poor proved that he loved the poor – that ERAP IS REALLY PARA SA MAHIRAP?
In my opinion, drawn after a long synthesis, ERAP IS NOT REALLY PARA SA MAHIRAP BECAUSE BY HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH THE DRUGS AND GAMBLING ACTIVITIES IN THE COUNTRY, HE WAS DESTROYING THE CHILDREN OF THE POOR AND THEIR FUTURE! Through the daily collection of money from the poor by drug pushers and gambling ushers, Erap was in effect collecting back what he had publicly given to the poor.
Forgive me to say, Erap is a hypocrite and a fake leader! His real love is not the poor but his self and his mistresses!
The Erap standard of leadership and righteousness will not bring the people to liberation. There is no real salvation with Erap.
And if he has genuine love for the poor, he should stop patronizing, protecting, and promoting what destroys the poor, such as gambling and drugs. His lips say he loves the poor, but his deeds speak louder than his words, namely: that he does not love the poor, but destroy them! His mouth utters one thing, his deeds says another.
I hope I have made God’s will and perspective clear and let us stop our stupid adoration to the wrong person. Erap is not the true hero. We are merely mistaking him to be the true hero because we did not recognize the true hero. Our true hero, if we are true Christians, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us look up to Him for the effective leadership and the standard righteousness which can truly deliver us from misery and death.
May this short piece help us become wiser in the coming days.
So be it!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
ROLES OF GOD AND MAN IN LEADERSHIP
In Exodus 20, God said, “I am Jehovah your God, you shall have no other gods before Me.”
“God” is someone supreme you worship. To worship is more than to obey; it includes all: love, reverence, absolute loyalty and obedience.
So, under that right context, to be a human leader is to lead our fellowmen to love, revere, to be loyal and obedient to God.
A HUMAN LEADER RECOGNIZES GOD AS THE ONLY MASTER
Human leaders, to be approved by God, should acknowledge only one master – God – and his leadership should be that of service, not a lording over!
Jesus Christ: “You shall not be called ‘Rabbi’ [masters] for you have only one Master and you are all brothers…The greatest among you will be your servant.”[1]
The clause “The greatest among you will be your servant” means that they who occupy the top posts shall be them who can render the greatest service. They shall exemplify service of the highest kind or broadest scope.
In differentiating Christ’s trained leaders from worldly leaders, Jesus told His disciples: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them [using fear from law, force and coercion], and their high officials exercise authority over them [rule by fear]. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[2]
During the Last Supper, the Lord washed the feet of His disciples to emphasize the lesson of humility or humble service to others which is the right kind of Christian leadership which does not require an office before it can lead: “You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and rightly so for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”[3]
Christians are called to lead or pioneer a new way of life – the way of loving and humble service.
GOD’S AND MAN’S ROLES IN LEADERSHIP
Here we quote the most enlightening revelation regarding the role of human leaders in God’s government. What is the function of human leader vis-à-vis God’s?
Jehovah says,
"I am the First and am closer to everyone than the leader given you by Me.
“Therefore, whenever you need counsel, you shall always in your heart come to Me before you go to the leader, and I shall make your heart receptive for the leader's advice and shall prepare you for the words of the leader, - wherefore you will then recognize his word not as his, but as My Word in you all.
"Thus, the leader's task is not to give you laws and rules, but only to confirm to you My will within you.
"But he who will not come to Me beforehand, will often be severely dealt with by the leader, who will reprimand him and impose unheard-of duties on him, the execution of which he will find harder than carrying a whole mountain.
“Thus -- I am the First; only then comes he who will confirm My Word in you externally. Amen."[4]
DESPITE THE REQUIRED HUMILITY,
A LEADER STILL NEEDS TO HAVE HONOUR AND AUTHORITY
And [Jehovah] replied: " [B]ehold, in the order of all things there cannot exist an office unconnected with a certain degree of honor; for without such honor the office would not be an office, but merely a refuge for quarrelers where everyone would rather fight for his own foolishness than follow his brother's wisdom.
"If the office carries the proper degree of honor, namely, the proper strength, might and authority, the offender is prevented from ridiculing the office and My order; in the end, he will be forced to submit to, and then abide by, the rule of the office until such time when this rule has become the guiding rule of his own life and, as it were, had been established by him personally.
"Behold, My beloved [Jehovah], this the office cannot ever effect without the appropriate degree of honor.
"So if you want to be My servant, you must grasp My will fully and act accordingly and faithfully, with no will of your own intruding save the willing obedience, which is the seed of the true, inner humility.
"Anyway, the honor is not attached to the officiating person, but only to the office as such, which represents nothing else but Me in My love, grace and mercy, provided it has been arranged and determined by Me and by those who have to hold the office. Would you, then, dispute the honor of My holiness to Me?
“There will be in a time of great worldliness a multiplicity of offices and the people will go to very great lengths to obtain such an office. However, these offices will hardly issue from Me and all their strength, might and authority will be a, to you, still unknown worldly power.
"But this does not apply to the office which I am imposing on you here. To be sure, you obtain this office only owing to your great humility; therefore, accept it as all others have accepted theirs, and act accordingly, and you will be truly living a perfect life out of, and in, Me.
"Thus you, too, receive My blessing and be a true, faithful and active leader of all [those I have given you].
"On whom you will be laying your hands in My name, he shall be, like you, a leader to the brothers in all love and wisdom out of Me.
"And so receive My blessing and, as you carry My name, you shall henceforth carry My Word, My Love, My Grace and My Mercy in all strength, might and authority! Amen."[5]
WHY A LEADER SHOULD HAVE POWER AND AUTHORITY
"I tell you: Not until you will take up your office will you gain the greatest insight; then it will become clear to you that My offices in this world, far from being covered in honey, are laden with bitterness of every kind.
"Only then will you thank Me properly for the accompanying gift of strength, might and authority because you will then see how poor you would be in your office without this gift.
"Therefore, rise and do not thank Me until you have tasted all the sweetness of My office given you. Amen,"[6]
***
CHINA CONFUSED ON LEADERSHIP WHEN THEY DID AWAY WITH GOD
From the early history we glean that when the Chinese were obedient to God, they did not have any problem with leadership or government. But when they forgot God or took Him out of the picture, they became confused. Let us first read God’s narration of the Chinese history leading to such confusion.
“Behold, Sihin was the first who turned in his heart to Me, and he was the most obedient son of these parents and with great care led also the others in obedience. Therefore, Ahujel blessed him first and in My name said to him in the presence of Aza and all the others:
"Sihin, I bless you in the name of my God and yours! The land will be called by your name. Take your most beautiful sister for your wife and beget with her in the most blessed discipline children like the children of God and call them 'sons of heaven' and 'daughters of the earth'. And when the love of God will take my great line away from the earth, then your descendants shall be loving and wise leaders to the descendants of your brothers.
"Seek love, and wisdom shall be given you, and your tribe will survive to the end of time, for the Lord will create many lines of your tribe so that your name may live to the end of all times…Amen.”
The above instruction form part of the provisions of the original Constitution God gave to the Chinese.
“However, without prejudice to the spiritual freedom, also this nation did not remain quite the same. Approximately one hundred and twenty years after the flood also the descendants of Sihin grew to a considerable nation, had frequently all kinds of quarrels and formed parties which differed in their customs and divine services.
“Some insisted that only the firstborn were capable leaders, whereas others maintained that it was nothing special to be the first-born since they were often female, and the ones with more insight in their hearts should always be the leaders. The people who said took up this argument: ‘If it is only the heart, why should not the sensible heart of a brother from the lower class be capable of leading?’
“Some rejected all this and said: ‘As it was in the beginning, let it be also to the end of time!’
“Others said that in everything and at all times God should be asked for advice and nothing should be judged and done independently. To this others replied: ‘If this is so, then everyone can do it; so what would be the use of one or even more leaders?’
“Some said that God did not reveal Himself to everybody in order to prevent men from becoming superfluous to each other. Thereupon again others replied: ‘Then let every seer teach what has been revealed to him and the leadership be left to God. Why then one or several leaders?’ Again others remarked: ‘But who guarantees that such a supposedly more advanced seer and teacher always teaches the Word of God?’ Whereupon others said: ‘Well, if one can no longer have complete faith in the teachers, then leaders and teachers are no use to us!’
“Thus the arguments continued and as a result many sects came into existence and the realm fell apart, each section under a different leadership and teaching, and in this way it continued…”[7]
Sounds familiar? Sounds very similar!
CONCLUSION
ONLY WHEN WE PLACE GOD IN THE PICTURE – ONLY WHEN WE BEGIN TO RECOGNIZE THAT HE IS JEHOVAH, THE ETERNAL FATHER OUR GOD, THE KING AND MASTER – ONLY WHEN WE FULFILL THE COMMANDMENT ‘YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME’ – ONLY WHEN WE FOLLOW JESUS’ TEACHING THAT “THERE IS ONLY ONE MASTER AND FATHER OF US ALL AND THAT WE ARE ALL BROTHERS TO ONE ANOTHER”[8] -- ONLY THEN WILL WE NO LONGER BE CONFUSED.
[1] Matthew 23:8-11
[2] Matthew 20:25-28
[3] John 13:13-17
[4] HOUSEHOLD OF GOD II, Chapter 12:4-8
[5] HOUSEHOLD OF GOD II, Chapter 13:13-22
[6]HOUSEHOLD OF GOD II, Chapter 14:6-8
[7] Household of God I/37 ORIGINAL HISTORY OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE
[8] Matthew 23:8-9
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