I found this in a sermon from several years ago. . .
Proverbs 11:20, "The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless."
Sometimes people get excited and they let charisma, popularity, crowds, and peer pressure take the place of seeking a man who is faultless.
See if you can identify this world leader. Times were never better. The national economy was strong during his tenure. Inflation, which had plagued the country for twenty years, was under control. Peace and prosperity characterized the nation. Many consider him to be one of the most gifted politicians to come on the national stage. One journalist wrote of him, although there was uneasiness about his character and the allegations of corruption and immorality swirled around him, none of his political opponents could touch him. He was too slick for his accusations to stick. So charming and personable was this leader that the religious leaders overlooked his lack of integrity.
Do you think you know whom I am talking about? Well, if you think it is Bill Clinton you are wrong! It is Adolph Hitler. These words were written about Adolph Hitler in 1940, just a few centuries before Hitler came to power, Germany was the bastion of spiritual faith. It was the place where Protestantism was born. It was the sight of the Great Reformation and Great Revival in Europe. What was it that brought this nation from being such a great spiritual power to being a nation who committed the Holocaust? Well, the people began to overlook the flaws in their leader's character and began to overlook the obvious immorality and lack of integrity and instead they were charmed by a fanatic's deceitful words. And a whole nation bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
