All leaders will fail from time to time by not leading people with integrity and truth. There are some leaders, either by determination or abdication, who will go deeper into evil even bringing it into the public square for all to see and accept. Manasseh was that kind of leader.

Manasseh reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. “He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites” (II Kings 21: 2). During his reign, he rebuilt pagan shrines. He became so wicked he even sacrificed his son in the fire. Along will all these evils, “He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics” (vs. 6).

Manasseh’s greatest evil was making a carved image of Asherah and placing it in the Temple. His evil led him to displace the presence of God with the presence of an evil spirit that would control the nation.

As Manasseh’s sin deepened, the Lord said, “If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands—all the laws my servant Moses gave them—I will not send them into exile from this land that I gave their ancestors” (vs.8). Israel refused the Lord’s invitation and “Manasseh led them to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land” (vs. 9).

Under any leader, whether in civic government or within the Church, if evil is displayed and promoted it will lead people into expressions of evil worse than those who practice pagan rituals. When this kind of evil is increasing in frequency, we need to make sure we don’t reject the commands of the Lord to return to Him.

Our choice to align with God will increasingly isolate us, even within parts of the Church that have abandoned God’s truth and replaced it with a lie. This is the cost of our faith. It will cause us to make choices based on God’s word and live a life that honors the Lord. In the most evil of times, the truth of God will shine the brightest in the darkness. That brightness is revealed when we choose to follow the Lord, not a failed leader.