Principle Dan deals with leadership and those who are called by God to govern. To have the gift of leadership is a privilege granted by God but at the same time this gift is not given to be used for self-serving motives by the leader. God granted this gift for the benefit of others who follow their leader rather than for just providing a comfortable life for the one serving in a leadership capacity.

Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)

⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

The scripture above speaks of various gifts given by God to the body of Christ on earth. One of the gifts listed (in verse 8) speaks of the gift of leadership. Those men given the gift of leadership should use that gift to govern in diligent manner.

Gift of Leadership Entails Foresight

Those men who have been blessed with the gift of leadership are those who possess foresight to see what is coming and they also possess the wisdom needed to implement a plan in preparation for the future. A good example of this is Joseph in Egypt because God revealed the future to Joseph and Joseph had the foresight and wisdom to see what needed to be done in order to prepare for the future.

Genesis 41:17-24 (NIV)

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

¹⁸ when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.

¹⁹ After them, seven other cows came up--scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.

²⁰ The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.

²¹ But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.

²² "In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk.

²³ After them, seven other heads sprouted--withered and thin and scorched by the east wind.

²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me."

God moved using the operation of the Word of Wisdom for revealing future events and communicated what was going to happen in the future by giving several dreams to Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt. This was done in God's wisdom because if Joseph was given the dreams in prison it would have been useless as he would sit in jail and watch the country perish by famine with no authority to do anything about it. But Pharaoh had the dream and Pharaoh also had the authority to empower Joseph to take action and implement a plan of preparation for future events. Joseph used the delegated authority given to him by Pharaoh to prepare for the coming famine.

Genesis 41:25-32 (NIV)

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream.

²⁷ The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

²⁸ "It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁹ Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,

³⁰ but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.

³¹ The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe.

³² The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.

Joseph knew the meaning of the dreams that God had revealed that a coming seven-year period of great abundance would be followed by a seven-year period of severe famine.

Joseph was able to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh by the operation of Word of Wisdom to know future events.

See the link "Spiritual Gifts" for more details.

Wisdom for Implementation of Plan of Preparation

Genesis 41:33-36 (NIV)

³³ "And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

³⁴ Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

³⁵ They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food.

³⁶ This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine."

Not only did Joseph possess the gift of interpretation of dreams but he also had the wisdom of God to implement a plan of preparation for the coming famine. He knew that grain should be stored during the years of abundance in order to provide food during the years of famine that would follow.

The qualities needed to be a man of leadership is the ability to see the future and having the wisdom of God to implement a plan to meet a future need. A man gifted for leadership can see what action a group of people needs to implement so that they can all prosper together in their future.

Small Scale Family Leadership

Every man is called to be the leader of his own family so in that sense every man is to be a leader. But a leader blessed by God to govern can not only take care of his personal family but also lead a group or even a nation of people toward security and stability and prosperity.

In my own case, I returned to Korea in 2009 and at that time my Korean sister-in-law was at a point of desperation and facing financial crisis and great debt. She lost her husband and provider and was without male leadership and the decisions she was making were leading her toward her own ruination. At this time, I provided leadership decisions and counsel for her and two late-teenage children.

Stop the Bleeding

One of the foolish decisions that my sister-in-law made was to put her daughter into art school. This was draining their family finances causing their expenses to exceed their meager income. I put a stop to this bleeding and pulled the girl out of art school and instead had her find employment. This turned a negative drain on the finances into a positive by producing an income for the family. Sometimes when faced with a crisis a man has to make hard decisions even when it is not popular but is in the best interests of those he is leading. This is an example of godly leadership when a man does what is right for those, he is leading knowing it will result in their future financial security.

My nephew needed job experience so I farmed him out to a mechanic shop where he could learn tool use and gained work experience. When he gained enough experience, he was able to get job at an electrical shop and then he got a job in a factory making casement windows. Then finally all of his accumulated job experience resulted in him getting a job in a LED lighting company where he utilized all of the experience he had gained in past jobs. He received many raises and promotions at the LED company and today is making a good living for himself. I also purchased a manual transmission vehicle for him to learn to drive on so he could learn to operate a clutch. This proved valuable when he later got a truck driving license. Now he can do everything needed at his present company including driving a company truck when necessary. He also is able to do management tasks and run computers and has become their most valuable employee because he can do just about everything, they can ask of him.

All of the steps I used to prepare my nephew for adult life were all related to imparting man-skills that he would need to be able to provide for himself in real life.

I also was able to put my niece through computer graphics school so she was able to get a job in that field and become self-supporting. This gave her some useful skills needed for employment rather than just attending art school where she was engaged in non-employable skills like finger-painting.

I stopped the financial bleeding making decisions to end all unnecessary and unproductive expenses. Then I arranged for having debt cancellation to bring them out of heavy debt. I implemented a savings plan enabling each of them to have the saving deposits needed to secure greatly improved housing. All of them are now debt free and have a large savings as a result of implementing the leadership decisions I made for their family.

Today my sister-in-law and her two children are all prospering because of the leadership decisions I made for them between the years of 2009 to 2019. They increased continually from one level to another with a large savings and improved housing and vehicles and computers and smart phones and everything that could be called prosperity.

This is an example of small-scale leadership for a family which resulted in the improved living standard and financial security of those following my leadership decisions. So in this sense every man is to be a leader and make decisions that are for the best long-term benefit of his own family members and those following his leadership decisions.

But there are some men gifted for leadership who are qualified to serve in a large scale capacity which goes beyond just managing their own personal family. These men have been given a leadership ability to run a large company or oversee a large group of people or even govern a nation for the best long-term interests and prosperity of those who follow their leadership decisions.

This can be seen in the life of Joseph who saw what needed to be done and was given the authority to implement a plan which brought prosperity to an entire nation!

Genesis 41:37-44 (NIV)

³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials.

³⁸ So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.

⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³ He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt."

The Pharaoh who ruled Egypt during the time of Joseph had the good quality of recognizing leadership ability in others. He immediately authorized Joseph to implement the long-term plan proposed by Joseph which was necessary in preparing for the coming famine.

Proverbs 18:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ A man's gift makes room for him And brings him before great men.

Joseph had a gift of interpreting dreams and he also had the godly wisdom and foresight to know how to prepare for the coming events which were revealed to him by God through these dreams. Joseph's gifts made room for him and brought him into favor with the king of Egypt and thus he received the authority and resources he needed to implement his plan for famine-preparation.

Genesis 41:46-49 (NASB)

⁴⁶ Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷ During the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly.

⁴⁸ So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.

⁴⁹ Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

Joseph was diligent to implement the plan of storing grain during the seven-years of abundance. He knew that he not only had to feed the Egyptian population but all of the surrounding nations as well. Therefore, he gathered as much grain as possible until it was beyond measure.

Genesis 41:53-57 (NASB)

⁵³ When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end,

⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵ So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do."

⁵⁶ When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷ The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Not only did Joseph feed the entire nation of Egypt but also all the nations on earth that came to Joseph to buy grain because the famine was severe throughout the whole known world!

Wisdom and Foresight to Prosper a Nation

Genesis 47:14-15 (NASB)

¹⁴ Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

¹⁵ When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone."

All of the money in the land of Egypt and in the surrounding nations was brought to Egypt to buy grain during the famine. It was because of the wisdom and foresight of Joseph that Egypt became the most prosperous nation on earth by having all the money and wealth of the surrounding nations flow into their country to buy grain.

Genesis 47:16-17 (NASB)

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, "Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone."

¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

The next year Joseph gave the people grain in exchange for their livestock so all of the livestock became the property of Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:18-19 (NASB)

¹⁸ When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord's. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.

¹⁹ "Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate."

Then the land was sold to buy grain so most of the land in Egypt became the property of Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:20-26 (NASB)

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh's.

²¹ As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt's border to the other.

²² Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.

²⁴ "At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones."

²⁵ So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

²⁶ Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh's.

Joseph instituted a program where the people could keep 80% of their harvests and pay 20% to Pharaoh. The people thanked Joseph for saving their lives by the application of his wisdom and foresight to govern.

It should be noted also that Joseph did not give out the grain for free but charged the people money and then livestock and then land and then labor for it. Thus, Joseph had the resources to be a blessing to the people for the long-term good of the entire nation. If a leader tries to give free-handouts to everyone then they will come to nothing and have no more resources left to help anyone. Instead Joseph charged for the grain and gained the resources necessary to become a blessing to provide for the long-term support of the people!

This is a quality of leadership to do what is right for those who follow them. Handing out free food is not going to help the people when these resources run out. The plan must be sustainable meaning that it can be implemented for the long-term with income and production to create wealth for the future.

Delegating Responsibility

Also, a man called to leadership must delegate responsibility because if he is overseeing a large group of people or even a whole nation then he cannot possibly do everything himself. His role as a leader is to see the big picture and the long-term goal and then implement that plan by delegating work assignments to others to carry out the work. This means that a leader is to serve in a supervisory role and not waste his time doing the work himself. A man who tries to do everything himself will become overworked and his people will become bored with nothing to do. If he will delegate authority then his people will have a role in the overall plan and everyone will experience success as a group working together.

The only way a leader can expand operations for helping more people is if he can delegate more responsibility to those who serve under him. A leader will never be able to expand his operations if he does not learn to trust others and release responsibility into their hands. A leader can also trust God to provide him with gifted and talented employees who can implement the plan they are given in the best possible manner. But again, the leader cannot expand operations if he is constantly trying to do everything himself!

There are many leaders who fail in this area of delegating responsibility. They however must overcome their insecurity and learn to fully trust others and trust their employee's ability and release the job into their hands completely! They cannot hang onto things or else they will end up controlling others and repressing them and trying to make them just like themselves. This type of negative leadership will kill creativity and production. People must know that they are trusted and know that they have been given full authority to do what their leader has released them to do with no strings attached.

Dumping Responsibility Verses Mentoring

I know of a man who was the head of a large church with many thousands of members which had many management departments. One of his employees shared with me that this man would only dump the responsibility on them but would not mentor them or even explain what he wanted to have done. So, the departments of this great church were all in disorder with every department head inventing his own ideas which often were not flowing in unity with the overall purpose of that church.

A leader should never dump responsibility upon his staff but rather he should put every department in order and communicate clear objectives and purpose and show the staff members how their role fits into the overall big picture of the company. They are to be instructed what to do and then supervised to see they are doing what was assigned to them and the leader should stay with them until they have that particular department running efficiently. In order to mentor potential managers, they should be taught what to do then supervised as they do the task then be held accountable to see that they continue to do their job as specified. Once the department is set in order then the leader can move on to set the next department in the sequence. Once these departments are set in order they can be run by each specified trained manager and the leader has then gained freedom and peace of mind to expand into new areas because he has faithful personnel running all of his departments. These personnel can also train new replacements for themselves so that if they are ever sick or leave then the operation will continue to flow without hindrance. Putting every department in order is a means of purchasing peace of mind for the leader and this frees him to focus on expansion rather than being distracted with putting out "little-fires" of trivial things that result from not having trained his staff in proper manner.

Again, the teaching about temperament-types comes into play here because the leader should appoint those with the proper temperament-types to be in charge of responsibilities best suited for them. Melancholy men should be placed in roles where planning is a virtue and Choleric type men should be placed in a role of facilitation and Phlegmatic men should be given tasks where their organized and gentle character is an asset and Sanguine types should be placed over tasks where being a people-person is an asset.

It should be mentioned also that men should be placed in management positions (rather than women) because masculine logic is vastly different than feminine thinking. God created women to see details for the purpose of managing a home and meeting the needs of children and husband. This is not applicable however to managing companies where foresight and masculine logic are needed. Men can see the big picture and know what is important and know which steps are necessary to accomplish in the present in order to obtain the long-term goal. Just appointing women to leadership positions only because they want to pat themselves on the back for being an open-minded liberal and granting equality for all is not going to help the long-term leadership of any group or company or nation of people. Gender is something of importance to consider when appointing managers and pretending there are no differences between how masculine logic and feminine thinking operates is total self-deception!

If the leader can place the right people in the right places then he can expand and bring his group or company or nation into prosperity for everyone.

Judging Personnel Properly

Genesis 49:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ "Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

The name Dan means "Judge" and this "name-meaning" can be applied to leaders who are able to see the qualities in those who serve under them. We have already discussed that without delegation a leader will soon bog down being over-worked while his staff are bored with nothing to do. He cannot expand until he learns to delegate responsibility to others.

But the delegation of responsibility also entails putting the right people in the right places in the jobs that best suit them and their temperament types. The study of temperament types shows that there are four-basic temperament types with Sanguine-types being people persons and Phlegmatic-types being those who peaceful and can handle systematic type of work. The choleric-types are actually created to be facilitators and the melancholy-types are the ones who do the best planning.

See the link "Temperament Types" for more details.

A big mistake is often made when Choleric-types are wrongly assumed to be natural born leaders just because of their boldness and assertiveness. It is the choleric-types (whose lack of planning and lack of thinking ahead) disqualifies them from leadership positions. A leader must be able to see the big picture and see the end result and have the ability to delegate responsibility so that a project can be brought to completion successfully.

Genesis 41:37-38 (NIV)

³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials.

³⁸ So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

Again, it should be noted that the Pharaoh in the time of Joseph had the good quality of being able to recognize leadership ability in others. Pharaoh immediately perceived that Joseph possessed godly foresight and wisdom to implement a plan. Pharaoh asked the question, "Where can we find anyone like this man Joseph who has the Spirit of God within him?"

In this sense Pharaoh become a good "Judge" of human character when he rightly discerned that Joseph had exceptional qualities and there was no one as qualified for the position of administrator of famine preparation as Joseph was.

Genesis 41:39-44 (NIV)

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.

⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³ He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt."

This Pharaoh gave Joseph full authority and gave him his signet ring so that Joseph could authorize orders to fully implement the famine preparation plan. Joseph was given the highest authority in the land with only Pharaoh himself being higher in regard to the throne.

This has application to the meaning of the name "Dan" and "leadership" because a good leader must also be a good judge of people's character so that the right people can be placed in management positions for the benefit of everyone involved.

Again, the teaching about temperament types speaks of the importance of knowing what each person's temperament-type is so that they can be assigned to the job that best suits the way that God made them. Having the right people in the right places is key and integral in delegation of authority by any leader who must be a good judge of character.

In contrast to the good ability of Pharaoh to judge a "good-man" when he saw him there are some who are a poor judge of human character. King Saul is an example of being a poor judge of human character.

1 Samuel 22:8 (NIV)

⁸ Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today."

In fact, David was of excellent character and wanted nothing more than to serve King Saul and be a blessing to him. But King Saul judged David as being evil and hunted him to down to kill him out of jealousy. As long as a leader is jealous of gifted staff manager then he is going to be a poor judge of character and he will drive away his good people rather than assigning them into positions which enable them to be a blessing to everyone!

Leaders cannot yield to insecurity and become defensive of their own positions and try to oppress or drive away those who are more talented than themselves. This type of bad attitude is a detriment to everyone when good people are driven away by the jealousy of an insecure leader.

The understanding of temperament-types is of vital importance to any leader so that he assigns the right people to the right tasks. Again, if they wrongly assume that a choleric-type is a natural born leader they will be sadly mistaken. The bold choleric is not suited for a leadership role but rather they should be assigned in the role of a facilitator of the plans made by a detailed melancholy-type. This knowledge will typically be ignored if people assume a choleric is a leader when they are not best suited for leadership. Only the teaching of the temperament-types can clarify why this is not the case at all!

Again, see the link "Temperament Types" for more details.

Seeking God's Guidance

Those who are gifted to govern must learn to depend upon the Lord for direction and pray for guidance before they appoint the wrong people into the wrong positions for which they are not best suited.

Cause and Effect

Genesis 49:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

In this analogy Dan is compared to a serpent by the roadside which bites at the horse's heels and causes the rider to tumble over backward. This is a picture of cause and effect because a serpent is without arms and legs and is just about helpless except for the venom that some out of his mouth. But biting at the horse's heels causes the horse to rear-up and the rearing-horse then causes the rider to tumble over backward to the ground. So a small helpless snake (without arms or legs) can cause a full-grown man to fall to the ground by implementing cause and effect!

Satan the Evil Genius Employs Cause and Effect

The greatest example of employing "cause and effect" is that of Satan the evil genius who was able to usurp the dominion of Adam and bring a curse upon the whole earth simply by employing nothing other than deceit.

Genesis 3:1-6 (NIV)

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

² The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

³ but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

⁴ "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.

⁵ "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

In order to affect his plan to obtain the dominion given to Adam, Satan came in the form of a serpent and targeted the woman Eve who was the easiest to deceive. Satan played on Eve's feminine sense of equality for all and said that it was not right that God was on a higher level than Eve and if she would only eat the forbidden fruit she would become like God (or equal to God)! Satan knew that if he could deceive Eve then the man Adam would willfully eat of the fruit because he would not want to be separated from the woman by spiritual death. The plan worked to perfection and sure enough Eve took the fruit and ate of it and died spiritually. After she had already died spiritually then she brought this fruit to Adam and he willfully ate it knowing full-well what would happen to him. This is an example of cause and effect because the devil (the serpent) had a plan and agenda and he worked this plan to perfection and this evil plan resulted in the fall of humans and their spiritual death and Satan himself became the lord of the world when he usurped the authority away from Adam when Adam sinned and obeyed the devil.

1 Timothy 2:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

Adam was not deceived to eat the forbidden fruit but he willfully ate the fruit only to keep from being separated from his wife (whom he loved) who had already eaten the fruit and had already died spiritually. It was the woman who was deceived and when she assumed leadership over her own husband then this feminine leadership brought a curse to the whole earth!

This is an evil example of "cause and effect" which was employed by Satan to usurp dominion away from Adam and bring a curse to the entire earth. Satan had nothing except the venom of deceit which came from his mouth but he used this deceit to great affect and accomplished his goals!

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NASB)

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan is referred to has the god of this world because he received the dominion of Adam when Adam committed high-treason against God and obeyed the devil and ate the forbidden fruit.

Romans 6:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Whoever obeys someone as a slave become slaves of the one that they obey. This can also be applied to Adam who obeyed Satan and ate of the fruit and become his slave and thus forfeited his God-given dominion over the earth to the adversary Satan. This act of treason by Adam made Satan into the "god" of this world's system.

Matthew 4:8-9 (NIV)

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

⁹ "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Satan offered Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world and all of their splendor if he would only bow down and worship the devil. But the reason Satan was able to offer these kingdoms was because all of these things were forfeited by the treason of Adam and thus Satan became the "god" of this world and possessed authority over the kingdoms of the earth.

Colossians 2:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Jesus however sacrificed himself on the cross for all humanity and bought back the dominion that was lost by Adam. Jesus defeated and disarmed all satanic powers and authorities and triumphed over them by the sacrifice of himself on the cross. Jesus then gives this dominion and authority to all who believe in him and are saved by faith in his Name.

God Works His Foreordained Plan

Hebrews 4:3 (NIV)

³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.

God already had a plan for salvation established before the first man Adam fell into transgression. The work of salvation was complete and finished since the creation of the world and before the time that Adam fell into transgression in the garden.

Revelation 13:8 (NIV)

⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

In fact, the Son of God Jesus was already slain as a sacrificial Lamb to pay for the sins of all humanity before the creation of the world. This means God already had a plan for salvation put into effect before the first man Adam fell into transgression.

1 Corinthians 2:8 (NKJV)

⁸ which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The spiritual rulers (demonic principalities) who rule under Satan (the god of this world) worked through evil men to inspire them to crucify the Lord of glory [who is Yeshua (Jesus) the Jewish Messiah]. These demonic rulers however would not have crucified the Lord of Glory if they knew this was fulfilling God's plan. God had a plan to send his Son Jesus to earth to be made the propitiation for the sins of all humanity. When the demonic powers worked to inspire evil religious men to crucify the Lord, they were in fact playing right into the hands of God. They fulfilled the plan of God unknowingly when they crucified the Lord of glory! But God raised Jesus from the death and gave all dominion and power to Jesus and so believers now have the dominion restored to them that once belonged to Adam.

Righteous Cause and Effect

The plan of God for restoration of humanity by the sacrificial death of Jesus was in fact an example of "cause and effect" that was of the righteous kind. God even manipulated Satan to carry out his work of sacrificing the Lamb of God by crucifixion. The devil thought he had won a great victory but instead he played into the hands of God to work God's purposes of redemption for all humanity by the sacrifice of his Son.

Genesis 49:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

The thing to note about Dan being compared to a serpent by the road that causes the rider to tumble over backward is that those who are called to be leaders and governors are those who must be able to be wise and employ the principles of cause and effect. The evil genius Satan employed the principle of cause and effect to deceive the woman who caused the man to transgress and thus the dominion of the earth was forfeited to Satan. Satan accomplished his goals with nothing more than the venom of deceit that came out of his mouth.

But God also had an advanced plan and worked this plan to restore humanity even before they fell into transgression. So, God also operates by "cause and effect" and working a preconceived plan with engineered results.

It is therefore not evil for a leader to have a plan and work the principle of "cause and effect" just as both Satan and God also have employed the same plans. A leader must see the long-range goal and work that plan and cause it to come to pass.

A leader of a household must see the long-term plan for his family and work that plan so that it will bring prosperity to those who follow him. The same is also true of a governor who leads many people or even a nation because they must see the long-term goal and perceive all of the necessary steps that must be taken in order to obtain that goal in the future. They have to train employees and appoint qualified personnel into the right positions and work their plan toward the long-term peace and prosperity of their nation and for the people who follow them.

Joseph was a good example of a leader and governor who brought prosperity to the nation of Egypt and saved thousands of lives which would have otherwise perished during the seven-year famine. A leader must have foresight and wisdom and have a plan and employ cause and effect to bring his plan to fruition.

Principle Dan speaks of those things that relate to those men who are gifted by God for leadership. But if they do not use their gifts to help others, they will be judged by God for this.

Many such men (gifted in leadership) only use their talents to prosper themselves and then they spend the rest of their lives pursuing hobbies or entertainment or pleasure. But such men will be judged most severely for not using their gifts and talents given to them by God to serve humanity (rather than themselves).

The world needs leaders but if these leaders drop their leadership or allow others to seize their leadership or harass them from office and quit just serve themselves then they will be judged for it.

Matthew 25:24-30 (NIV)

²⁴ "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

²⁶ "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?

²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸ "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.

²⁹ For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

The servant who buried his talent and did nothing with it speaks of those who do not use what they were given to serve others. They will be judged most severely on judgment day. In fact, all those men blessed with leadership ability are required to serve others. People need leaders but if all of the leaders drop out and pursue hobbies, they will leave the world to fall into disorder as weak and incompetent people assume their leadership for self-serving purposes.

Often unqualified people will drive a real leader out of office by harassment. This is like a wife banging pots and pans until the husband gives her what she wants just so he can have some peace in the home! If a man allows others to manipulate him or harass him from his leadership position then he has no backbone whatsoever. This is the reason that politics is now full of incompetent people who lust for a position of power and control only to serve themselves. The good men have resigned to avoid the harassment and simply go out and pursue hobbies or entertain themselves leaving their leadership office vacant to be assumed by worthless incompetent usurpers of authority. But God will judge these leaders who were born with leadership ability if they do not use this ability to serve others and bring prosperity to companies and even nations of people.

God granted leadership ability not for the leader to serve himself but to provide leadership to a group or nation of people. Without strong masculine leadership (which does what is right according to God's standards) then any nation or group of people will fall into disarray for lack of a strong leader.

Never before has there been a greater need for leaders when politics is full of incompetent leaders who only serve themselves while entire nations languish in disorder and poverty and misery because of a lack of masculine leadership.