Why Hast The Mighty Fallen?: An Intrinsic and Extrinsic Examination of the Lack of Counsel among Fallen Leaders

By Michelle Robinson

What happens when your life is spiraling out of control? When did it start? How did it get to that point? And why did you not seek help? Why Hast the Mighty Fallen? An Intrinsic and Extrinsic Examination of the Lack of Counsel among Fallen Leaders is inspired by the deeply rooted passion of its author to end premature deaths, suicides, physical, mental, and emotional compromises that many leaders face, particularly pastors and senior leaders of corporate organizations and politicians. This book references many of the fallen leaders in corporate America. But it also highlights the successes of those leaders who stand tall today. Some chapters are testimonial and transparent because of the author's own plight as she knows firsthand how the lack of counsel can alter your life and the lives of your loved ones forever due to an unwillingness to seek help. The book is intentional about laying out the pitfalls and step-by-step ways to avoid those pitfalls in a very practical, nonconvoluted manner. There are points where you may laugh or even cry. But the purpose is to motivate you to do something about your current situation. It will not go away unless you do something. The author understands that sometimes personal rebellion and deep wounds resulting from the rebellion and sin of others cause us much pain. Noteworthy is a quote from a revered author: "We often think of brokenness and neediness as bad, but the gift of pain draws us into community with God and one another" (McMinn 2011).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635755022

Michelle Robinson

Michelle Robinson has written numerous picture book texts published in the UK and/or the US. She hoards cardboard, foil, and plastic bottle caps so her children can build their own robots and other creations. Her book There's a Lion in My Cornflakes won the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award for Best Picture Book in 2014. She lives in England with her family.

Book preview

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Why Hast

The Mighty

Fallen?

An Intrinsic and Extrinsic Examination of the Lack of Counsel among Fallen Leaders

Dr. Michelle Robinson

ISBN 978-1-63575-501-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63575-502-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Michelle Robinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures quoted from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Printed in the United States of America

Foreword

Some leaders are born, and some leaders are made. I have had the pleasure of being acquainted with a born leader for the past ten years. During this time, I have known Michelle Robinson; she has shared her fears, hurts, and pain of her past with me. I have gained much insight, and I am a better person because our paths crossed. She has always had a passion for learning, growing, and perfecting herself in the eyes of God, as well as a desire to see people achieve their greatest potential.

Michelle has counseled, predominately, individuals within the religious community who are challenged because their leaders who are the priests, the politicians, teachers, police officers, judges, and pastors have compromised their oaths of office because of their behavior. The outcry has been, What is happening to our leaders? And now she seeks to find a resolution.

I was right there at the embryonic stages of Why Hast the Mighty Fallen, which was firstly submitted as her dissertation for her Christian counseling studies, for which she now holds a PhD. I have had the privilege of watching her read, research, type, and I even placed a blanket over her while she fell asleep a few times with her head in a book.

What a powerful subject addressed by this provocative writer! She writes experientially as well as with a view toward helping her readers evaluate and assess where their lives are headed. She has examined extensively the rise and fall in the lives of many great leaders, and from the celestial to the terrestrial realms she relentlessly sounds the alarm that the lack of counsel in one’s life is sure to lead to utter chaos and ultimately self-destruction.

Inasmuch as she almost leaves no stone unturned, she very lovingly and graciously share in chapter 11 a step-by-step guide that you can close the book and feel empowered to redirect your life in such a manner that brings peace to your mind, joy to those around you, and honor to God.

I am so very proud of Dr. Robinson for not procrastinating and following through on what she believes God is saying in this season for kingdom building. This, her first book, has motivated her to do more in the area of counseling by now studying to become a licensed clinical mental health counselor. While she is doing that…I’ll be getting more blankets!

Jeffrey L. Robinson

Preface

"O rder in the court! Order in the court!"

This meeting will now come to order!

For the majority of my working career in the legal field, I have come to know and hear about order as pertains to courtroom proceedings. As I grew up in the church and began attending leadership meetings, I also became well acquainted with the sounding of a gavel and the above-mentioned words that the meeting now comes to order.

But what always puzzled me was about midway through the court proceeding or the church meeting, the order was lost. Of course, not in every instance, but in a majority of the instances, what started out to be a well-controlled forum ended in a name-calling, mud-slinging, flurry of discontentment and disorder. And in one courtroom in Chicago’s Daley Center Plaza, it actually ended in the death of a judge and attorney by a disgruntled, wheelchair-bound man who reached into his ankle sock, drew a small caliber pistol, and opened fire in the midst of his divorce proceeding. To this very day, the courtroom is informally known as Dead Man’s Courtroom.

So what has motivated me to write this work on Why Hast the Mighty Fallen is the fact that I have read, studied, and even witnessed many individuals who are in positions of authority fall. And they usually fall because either they do not govern themselves by a set order or there is no established order or they follow the set order to a certain extent and begin to compromise by inside and outside influences that, ultimately, lead to their demise as a leader.

When I make references to man’s fall, I am talking about mankind, which is inclusive of women. The mighty in this work is a male or female in leadership. Man’s fall encompassed the fall of humanity.

Furthermore, I have taken time to research the fact that as it pertains to the nature of mankind, there are intrinsic and extrinsic, internal and external, inherent and learned behaviors that tend to change the state of rest of an individual, usually morally, socially, politically, or an aggregate of causes that lead to a fall.

I personally know fallen pastors, bishops, judges, attorneys, business owners, and teachers. The list can be endless. This work is not intended to harshly judge the fallen. This work is to acknowledge that influential people do fall and should seek help before they self-destruct. And we will also address those in the leader’s inner circle who may bear some responsibility for the leader’s fall. We will also explore various options of a therapeutic nature as well as practical and spiritual means to assist someone struggling to avoid a fallen state.

In addition, we will discuss the following: Who is the fallen leader? Why does a man fall? How does a man fall? And what happens during his fall? The good news is that God always provides a way of escape. But what happens when he does not take the way of escape? The way of escape can be through sound counsel (professional or personal), partners of accountability, and good ole self-discipline. Why does he keep going and going and going into utter destruction, which ultimately affects his family, friends, and those he has influenced?

For those who are Christian believers, which is my premise, we have learned through study that after the creation of man, man fell. Will he continue to fall until Jesus comes? Can he be caught before he falls again? I welcome this task of delving into the subject. Come go with me!

We tend to use this passage as a doxology in the church. But it resounded in my mind as I began this work that God is able to help us in any situation. He does not want to see us fall. He has prepared a way to escape any circumstance and any situation we find ourselves in; nothing