The Making of a Tyrant

We read about tyrants in history. Stalin, Hitler, Hussein. There are also tyrants in Christianity today. The process of making these misguided people is one and the same. Initially there seems to be one individual that begins to rise as a focal point for the masses. The rise of such men and women in the church today are based mostly on extreme gifting and communication skills. They have and innate ability to bring their listeners into a frame of mind that makes it easy to agree with them. It’s as if when they speak, they are so fluid and smooth, their listeners can easily fall asleep like a mama singing her newborn a good night lullaby. Most of these leaders begin with reasonably sound principles and probably have a measure of humility. Large numbers of people don't just wake up one day and follow a tyrant. It's a long, slow, subtle progression almost by stealth, so that the process unfolding is unrecognizable to the average person.

For a tyrant to evolve, they must begin to orchestrate the highest levels of leadership around them. In the beginning many times a leadership team is appointed into positions where they are all coequal. It's when one begins to rise above the rest because of their gifting without corresponding character where trouble begins. As the inner circle around the star begin to see the drastic effects this individual has on the masses, they also see how things seem to be going as it pertains to finances, expansion, but I think worst of all, they see their own influence and positions expanding.

I was speaking to a good friend recently. We were discussing a certain Christian organization and how a tyrant can cause mega damage to thousands of people. Good Christian folks now in destruction and ruin because they gave their lives following abusive leadership like this. He asked me this question point blank, “How do you keep this from happening?” His question was much broader then just what meets the eye. His question was how we keep thousands of people from ruin and destruction because an ungodly process has unfolded, and a tyrannical leader does massive damage. My immediate response to him was, “It begins at the top.” At face value this answer is both extremely simplistic and complex at the same time.

There seems to come a point in time when this individual is clearly the leader of their organization, but still has some measure of accountability within his immediate circle. There is a twofold dynamic that can take place which could take things in a very dark and destructive direction. One, the leader begins to define loyalty as always agreeing with them. This individual is not naive to the fact that he or she is the reason why everything exists. And without them, things would go backwards quite a bit or fall apart altogether. This tyrant of a leader eliminates anyone who dares cross him. This is an organization built on the wrong principles. But we do it all the time in today's modern Christian culture. We are mesmerized by a star. Second, those few people around this leader that make up the inner circle see what's going on as well. As this leader rises, they rise along with him. Their influence and power increase. They begin to feel quite good about themselves and their positions. After all, they are the ones that have access to the star. They get to go on retreats together, hang out, and get to name drop what good buddies they are. These higher ups become enablers. But because this star has separated themselves at such a distance from the rest, crossing him would cause a great deal of turmoil within the organization. These enablers certainly wouldn't want to do that because the organization could be weakened, and their positions may not be as influential. Therefore, rather than blow the horn on the tyrant to the organization, they continue to enable. They love their own status and power more than the people, or God himself. These enablers will then actually cover up, manipulate, and present this tyrant as a humble and meek man. While at the same time the tyrant is eliminating and destroying people to isolate himself.

I have personally lived through such an experience for 16 years of my life. It's hard to explain how subtle, stealth, and undetectable this phenomenon can be. It's much like putting the frog in a pot of water on a hot stove. The frog is quite fine if the water is cool. But the water temperature rises so very subtly, the frog is being cooked to death but doesn't even know it. The problem is this happens on a mass scale. And when the water begins to boil within an organization that has a tyrant out of control, there are dead bodies piled in the streets. I know, I was one of them.

There are far too many examples of mega ministries that had a star leader that resemble this type of phenomenon. Recently, there was a multi episode podcast done by a Christian organization about such a mega church located in the Pacific Northeast. They had a star among stars. He turned into a monster, ruined many lives, and the entire organization no longer exists. When I listened, I thought, “I could change the names of the star and the inside enablers from the group of churches I was a part of, and it would be a carbon copy.” So, I began to think about so many similarities. Then it occurred to me that this same pattern has happened many times over in the modern church. It’s the mega ministry star culture. Many are still drawn to it.

The question is, “Are we without culpability?” Maybe yes and maybe no. In the case of my experience, I would say the folks were probably not. The enablers did such a masterful job of disguising what was going on, all we saw was what was being presented in public. We didn’t know what was gong on behind the scenes, and we weren’t close enough to see. We trusted the star leader and those around him presenting the star as if he was a submitted man and humble. Little did we know the destruction that was taking place behind the scenes. The alarming thing is that I was a Sr. Pastor and church planter in this organization. We as pastors knew noting. That is, until we began to see some things by accident. Then if anyone had the courage to speak up, they were quickly eliminated, discarded, and left for dead. I should know, that’s what happened to me and countless other pastors. This is also a characteristic of such a tyrant out of control. And what of the good people in these congregations? Thousands in destruction.

The making of a tyrant is a tragedy that is all too common today. Yet it keeps happening. With today’s technology it is ever so easy. But what can you and I do to help avoid these kinds of situations? I think that we should be looking for signs that the people closest to the star are willing to openly communicate the leader’s weaknesses and things that are being done to help him adjust. It should be an open dialogue and update from those highest in leadership around the star. The star themselves should also be seen as agreeing and as an active participant. If this process is not being practiced, then it may be time to have cause for concern. Because ultimately, if both the star and the leaders around him aren’t willing to do this, there may a process that has already begun. That process is, “The making of a tyrant.”