The Parable of Gibeah - Part 3 of 3
Headless
By Adams Allison

22 October 2020

Why did things deteriorate to such a state in Israel that the people of the covenant would stoop so low as to rape and kill a guest? The answer is laced all through the story from the very beginning even to the end, so that the message will resound and be enshrined in our hearts forever.

At the beginning of the story of the Levites and the atrocious people of Gibeah, the scriptures tell us this;

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel...
Judges 19:1 (NKJV)

Why introduce this poignant story in this way? There must be some significance to this fact. Never mind that it sounds out of place. At the end of the entire story, the scripture ends it on the same note on which it began but this time, it spells out its intentions for that poignant introduction. Here is what it says;

In those days there was no king in Israel;
everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25 (NKJV)

There you have it, the lack of leadership is what lead Israel down the path of the degenerate. That is what lack of leadership can cause in a movement like the peaceful #EndSARS protest. 

The Prophetic Significance

Please, understand that the absence of a “king” doesn’t not necessarily mean the lack of a leader. But in this context it does. Let me explain.

Under Moses, Israel had no king, and yet they did not do as they pleased. Under Daniel and Ezekiel, Israel also did not have a king, and yet they did not do as they pleased. What then did Samuel (the writer of the book of Judges) mean by, “Israel had no king”? He was telling us that for the first time in Israel, there was anarchy.

The only movement I know that advances without a headship, as revealed in scripture, is the locust. 

The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks;
Proverbs 30:27 (NKJV)

Locusts are a band of destroying angels. They can reduce a farm land to ruins just by sweeping past it.

In another instance in scripture, in the book of Revelation, John the apostle saw a vision of an army of locusts, “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.” Revelation 9:7 (NKJV)

Did you notice that everyone in this army had a crown? If everyone is king, then who rules? If everyone’s agenda is pursued, what direction will the people go? It is like having four people trying to drive one car to four different directions. It would be chaos.

But that’s not all John saw in the vision of the locusts. This time around, we see for the first time, an army of locusts with a king and leader, but guess who their king was? John says,

"And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit,
whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek
he has the name Apollyon."
Revelation 9:11 (NKJV)

In English, the names Abaddon and Apollyon simply mean Destruction. Imagine that. Even when locusts are said to have a king, their king just so happens to be the angel of destruction.

That is the fate of any headless movement – destruction. Either they morph into destroyers or they self-destruct. Either way, if they live long enough, they never result in a constructive end.

This is not to insinuate that the riots and bloodshed were orchestrated by the same peaceful protesters, no, far from it. My point is that with or without the chaos that erupted, the end SARS movement did not have what it took to effect the change it was demanding for, certainly not without a recognizable leadership.

Keys to Social Re-engineering

Like someone said, “anything without leadership will die and fizzle out. It might have began organic but it needs leadership for focus, strategy, negotiations, execution and evaluation.”

There are 5 stages of Social, Economic and Political Re-engineering;

1. Mobilization/Sensitization

2. Protest/Public engagement 

3. Negotiation and engagement

4. Execution

5. Implementation and evaluation

The first two stages can begin without leadership, but the three final stages definitely require consensus building and leadership.

If we get carried away with our emotions and not put a proper leadership structure in place, such movements will be hijacked and when that happens, we fail our generation and lose a golden opportunity to change our nation for good. And that is exactly what happened to the EndSARS movement. 

The Apostolic Pattern

If you study the early church as described in the Book of Acts, you will notice this pattern also. The apostle will go to a city, spark a revival and a church will spring up, and then the apostles will leave the church without a leadership. Strange huh?

Well, there was a method to this madness. 

At the end of a season, the apostle will return to these same assemblies to see how they are faring. During this apostolic visit, water would have found its level. And those with a call of leadership would have began to emerge organically and take responsibility. These were then anointed and appointed elders. That is the origin or the New Testament eldership in church. It wasn’t those who were the oldest but those who were the most spiritually mature and responsible.

The early Church was a classic movement and we can all learn a lot from them.

Lesson From Recent History

Last year, all around the world, leaderless protest movements emerged, drawing tens of thousands (and, in some cases, millions) of people to the streets. They were no different from the ENDSARS protests, and though their catalysts varied, the protests largely looked the same: from Hong Kong and Chile to Iraq and Lebanon, people utilized social media to whip up spontaneous, mostly nonviolent grassroots demonstrations against their respective governments—efforts they vowed to sustain until all their demands are met.

Social Psychology

Social media is the key phenomenon here. Before the advent of social media, headless protests were impossible. Such protests began about a decade ago, from Occupy Wall Street of 2011 to the anti-austerity demonstrations in Greece and Spain that same year. Instead of the top-down method of dissemination of information by leadership, with social media, you can have a horizontal dissemination of information and thus mobilize a protest.
Some movements succeeded in achieving their goals peacefully — unpopular legislations were reversed in some places and public officials were forced to resign in others — but in a few instances, that has only emboldened protesters to seek further demands. That is where the problem lies – constructive change can only happen in the short run without leadership, but to sustain such constructive ends, the movement will have to adopt a leadership. The EndSARS protest did not.
It is like having a lion’s cub, it is all cute and cuddly when young, but once it grows, it turns into an untamed beast. The only way to avoid that transformation is for the cub to have a lion tamer to guide it.
Once a movement begins to challenge the national status quo and the scale of government response intensifies, we will be faced with the pertinent question: How long can a grassroot movement last? Without a clear organizer at the helm, these protests risk morphing into something even its participants can’t control just as we later saw in Nigeria’s EndSARS protests. 
And so that you know the gravity of the situation we are in, certain international analysts predicted this situation early this year around July, and this is what they had to say about it:
The analysis describes the economic impact of coronavirus is as a “tinderbox” that will drive civil unrest and instability in the second half of 2020 in developing countries such as ours. And guess what, we are in the second half of the year 2020.
The research further says that the highest risk countries facing a “perfect storm”, where protests driven by the pandemic’s economic fallout are likely to inflame existing grievances, include Nigeria, Iran, Bangladesh, etc.
Now, here is the worst part of the analysis – the street protests that are speculated to hit nations like ours are said to be potentially unparalleled and *could last for up to three years,* (source: global risk firm Verisk Maplecroft).
The civil unrest they began last year in Hong Kong, called the pro-democracy movement, is still ongoing. It began as a headless peaceful protest, but today it has become violent.
It is important to note that this analysis is not a prophecy but it is important in reading the proverbial hand writing on the wall.
This is why the prophetic dream I received on the 1st of July is crucial at this point. If this is the second attack (following Covid) that I saw in that vision, then we are in for a rollercoaster. But we have an assurance in God’s word;
*These dark times will not last. We will outlast them in Jesus name.*
_And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened._*Matthew 24:22 (NKJV)*
_⁸Thus says the LORD:__“As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it,for a blessing is in it,’ so will I do for My servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.__⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there._*Isaiah 65:8 —9 (NKJV)*
_The people shall dwell in it;And no longer shall there be utter destruction__But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited._*Zechariah 14:11 (NKJV)*
Hallelujah! It will all end in praise!
The spirit that truly hijacked the protest was really a spirit of anarchy, and just the agenda of politicians and perverts like the LGBTQ. That is why God is raising altars in this season.
Lend your voice to the prayer of the saints for the prayer marathon continues.
Hallelujah! It will all end in praise!

©️ Pagemaster 21 October 2020