What Happens When The Wrong People Are In Charge

To begin with 1 Kings 12:6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? 7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. 8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

To begin with brothers and sisters Christian Friends Well Wishers and Saints of God When the wrong people are in charge all kinds of hell break loose.In leadership the man at the top matters. The Leadership team matters.Mark my words, If you let wicked in, wicked is going to be wicked. A Leopard can’t change its spots and a tiger can’t change its stripes. And the bad part about it is that if you get into spraying contest with a skunk , You might win but you aren’t going to come out smelling too good.

In other words some situations stink and you ought to learn from past mistakes. I want to teach talk and tell us about one straight out of the bible.At the end of 1 Kings 11: 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

Alright The bible says that King Solomon died.

And 1 Kings 12:1 says that all of Israel came to make Solomon’s son Rehoboam king. That’s normal because right before King David died he made his son Solomon king. And Now that Solomon is dead they made his son Rehoboam king. But Rehoboam was wicked. We know he was wicked because Jeroboam and the people came to Rehoboam and said in essence please be a little more gentle on us than your father king Solomon was. Your father made us serve him by using whips.

And in I Kings 12:5 Rehoboam said ok come back in a few days and I’ll give you’ll my answer. Rehoboam started off righteous because he went to the brothers and asked for advice and counsel. The brothers were the Elders of Israel. In verse 7 They told Rehoboam to go easy on the people and they will be your servants for life.

But Rehoboam said to himself I ain’t following them old people advice let me check with my boys first. And so Rehoboam took counsel with his childhood friends and they were more wicked than he was. They said in essence “Man don’t go soft on them now show them who in charge of this operation. And so when the people of Israel came to Rehoboam after the third day to hear his answer, Rehoboam said my little finger is going to be thicker that my father. I’m going to make it harder in you than my father Solomon was. said As my father used whips to make you serve him I’m going to use whips that have sharp points at the end of them..Verse 11 in the b Clause my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

says In other words I’ll be ten times harder than my father Solomon was. The bible say Rehoboam said I’ll put scropion tips at the end of my whips and make you feel it..Rehoboam was dirty.

Tell your neighbor : He was dirty. But the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite told Jeroboam that Rehoboam would do this and God is performing this. Sometimes God is making people act out their true nature...

Then the people of Israel said well we see that we no longer have a part in the house of David nor in the house of Jesse. You on your own now. We’re through, we’re out of here. And ten tribes left from following Rehoboam. Ten Tribes!!! That means that most of the people were displeased with the way the current administration was going. Only Judah and Benjamin stayed. And this fiasco that happend causes Jeroboam to get activated. Jeroboam came back from Egypt where he was hiding at. Jeroboam was hiding because Solomon said if he show his face around here again I’m goint to kill him.

I said to myself we all talk about Solomon being the second wisest man in the world beside Jesus Christ. But nobody says that Solomon has a rough side to him too. But I realize that men of high position have red lines that they won’t allow folk to cross. And Solomon had it out for Jeroboam. But Solomon is dead now and his son Rehoboam is worst.

Ok the story goes that Jeroboam took the ten tribes and they made him king.. Yes indeed. Now you got two kings and neither one of them is no good. Lord have mercy. Then Rehoboam sent Adoram because Adoram was in charge of forced labor. He sent him to restore order.

Before ADORAM could open his mouth to counsel with them. In verse 18 The bible says that them folk were so terrible until they stoned Adoram to death soon as he showed up!!! And the bible says that Rehoboam had to quickly run back to Jerusalem in his chariot. Rehoboam had to get out of Dodge in a hurry to keep from getting killed himself because the Northern Tribes refused to be ruled by the House of David anymore.

Church there is no right way to do a wrong thing. Rehoboam ’s moral compass is wicked. Rehoboam ’s ethical compass is wicked and Rehoboam ’s spiritual compass has hopeful..… Because when Rehoboam saw what had happened he got steaming hot mad. And went and gather up 180,000 soldiers to fight against king Jeroboam.

In other words a civil war was about to break out. Israel!!! against Israel!!!. And you know that’s how it is in the church sometimes.

And in verse 21 God sent Shemaiah, the preacher to talk to Rehoboam. The preacher said Rehoboam the Lord thy God said Don’t you go up there and fight against your own brother and sisters. The NLT says in verse 24 ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not fight against your relatives, the Israelites. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!’ ” So they obeyed the message of the LORD and went home, as the LORD had commanded.

In other words Rehoboam you got enemies without and you show can’t afford to fight enemies from within. And Rehoboam had enemies from within because he went hard on the people when he didn’t have to do that.Because the people asked Rehoboam to had a little more pity on them than his father Solomon had and Rehoboam got even harder.

And so in 2025 you don’t think that your oppressor is going to lighten up on you just because you asked politely do you? “Church you can say Amen when it hits home with you. *Please don’t shut down the Dept. Of Education. Please leave the IRS a lone because I want my refund check..

* Please don’t gut medicare and medicaid because folk depend on it.

*Please don’t cut off vital phone services for elderly people because they need it

*Please don’t punish the veterans because they have already served our country. *Please don’t privatize Social security because I’m just getting to the age that I could collect my check.

*Please don’t cut the weather services off because we want to know when a hurricane is coming

*Please don’t cut this please don’t cut that please save this please save that But church a wicked person doesn’t care about the people!!! A wicked person doesn’t have compassion on the people and wicked person doesn’t care about the least of these.

And so the bible says that the man of God speaks to Rehoboam about not invading his brothers and sisters and engaging in a civil war. And the bible says Rehoboam stopped!!! He listened to Shemaiah, the prophet.

meanwhile Jeroboam is just as wicked because he has decided in his heart to bring back the golden calf. And made Israel serve the golden calf. But get this not just one golden calf but two golden calves. One in the Bethel and the other one was Dan . Brothers and sisters Israel went backwards. Tell your neighbor: Don’t go backward on purpose. Jeroboam said in his heart in verse 26 that “the kingdom may well revert to the house of David. 27 If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”

Then Jeroboam had the nerve to say we are going to worship the golden calves that delivered us from Egypt. and that say that even though God killed over a 100,000 Israelites for wanting to worship that Golden Calf that Aaron Moses brother made, it still had a remnant of that wicked element. And that means that they are not gone away. They are just recycling round after round. Who would have thought that racism would be going to an all time high in 2025. But wickedness just recycles and comes back around again.

And so Jeroboam instead of worshipping the Almighty God , he caused Israel to engage in Idol worship of golden calves. He even got priests that were not of the Levitical order. And that was totally against the law of God. They are worshipping and sacrificing and

Then In chapter 13 the Good Lord sent a prophet right about the time Jeroboam was about to burn incense on his altar. The Lord said go and tell Jeroboam about himself and how he was wrong for causing Israel to sin again. The NLT says in verse 2 Then at the LORD’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The LORD has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”

Listen to me two wrongs don’t make a right. Yeah Because Solomon’s son Rehoboam was wicked, wrong, wayward, and warped.. But turns out that Jeroboam was gruesome, gasly, and grosteste. Again two wrongs don’t make a right. And so the bible says that the prophet comes and Speaks the word against Jeroboam about his sins. And watch this Jeroboam say Who does he think he talking to I’m the king!!! Look at verse 4 Yeah 3x Jeroboam said Guards seize him..Guards grab him. Guards get him. And the bible says that as soon as Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the Minister, As soon as Jeroboam reached his hand against the Preacher, And when Jeroboam decided that ah he ain’t nothing but a man like me, NO NO NO he ain’t He’s a man of God. God sent him to say what needs to be said. The bible says that Jeroboam’s hand became Paralyzed in that position and dried up and got stiff as a board and his arm and hand was stuck in a straight out position. He tried to move it but his hand and arm wouldn’t budge.

Then the bible says that Jeroboam came correct and said please please please man of God talk to God for me so he can heal me. And the altar crack half in two and the ashes pour out just like the man of God said that it would.

And the thing that struck me was in verse 6, “the poor preacher had compassion on Jeroboam and ask God to heal the king and God healed him. The bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a right man availeth much. God healed Jeroboam because of the man of God’s requested Him to do so.. And that tells me that the preacher prophet pastor priest is very important to God and to the community he serves in. The bible says “Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm”.

And so the story goes that after the man of God heals king Jeroboam, Jeroboam offers to give him the palace riches, concessions, food and perks for a job well done But the man of God says Thank you but no thank you, I didn’t come here to be bought out. I’m not a sell out, and I can’t be forced into something. In fact God told me to go home another way because y’all some treacherous people.

And church what comes next in verses 11- 19 was a lesson that I don’t have to ever repeat again. Now let me explain what the crooked deceitful, kniving, wicked elder statesme’s prophet did. Too many men of God are corrupt at the core. Too many come with angles and tricks and traps and they prey upon the people. The bible says that there was an old prophet that came to the young prophet. The young prophet is going home another way. The young prophet is following God’s orders, and the old prophet knows it. But there is a big problem. Somebody ask me what is is Rev? The old prophet is in king Jeroboam’s pocket. And ain’t nothing like an old coon. He’s clever cunning and in this case clearly deceitful. And just let me say this just because you’re known around here doesn’t mean anything to me when you’re going against the will of the Lord. Because if you’re in somebody’s pocket I for sure don’t have to listen to you. Because I ain’t in they pocket!! So back off patner.

The young prophet in the text is impressionable. Meaning he’s easily influenced especially by another older respected prophet.

And here’s the conversation in verse 14 sees the young prophet resting under a great tree and says in essence, Hello there young fellow, I hear that you’re a great preacher. Well not bragging but I myself am also a great preacher. Come stay at my house because you have a long journey ahead and I’ve got good food godly creature comforts and you don’t have to be around that heathenish king Jeroboam. I know Jeroboam is detectable but you’re safe with me. People can say all the right things but it ain’t what you say IT’S WHAT YOU DO!!! I was watching a clip from Facebook and You Tube that had this old man saying Don’t you forget how they made you feel when they threw you under the bus to make their friends feel good at your expense, Don’t you ever forget that. And that resonated with me because I’ve been thrown under the bus before for something similiar and it’s not a good feeling.

And there are toxic relationships that appear holy but their hearts are far away from God and they don’t care for you at all. Don’t forget that.

And so the young prophet stays instead of going home safely.

Then the word of the Lord comes to the Old prophet just as the young prophet was finished eating and drinking and enjoying fellowship. And God says in essence From the NLT in I Kings 13:21 You have defied the word of the LORD and have disobeyed the command the LORD your God gave you. 22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”

Then the tragedy comes right out of the blue. The young Prophet starts off going back home and out of nowhere comes a lion that devoured him. The young prophet’s body is torn asunder in the middle of the road. Then folk that passed by went back and told the old prophet. And what I didn’t like was that the old prophet was able to rightly say this in verse 26 “It is the man of God who disobeyed the LORD’s command. The LORD has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.” Long story short the old prophet went and got the man of God’s body, He mourned over his death, then told his sons that when I die bury me in this young prophet’s grave. And jeroboam never changed his ways. He kept on doing wrong And church people can come up here and lie to our face that they’re going to do better but as soon as they get a chance they’ll turn on you. Oh what happens when you got the wrong people in charge. I’d rather righteous people and we don’t have as much than great revenues and miserable like I’m in a living hell. ATCSA.