14 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Ezekiel prophesied against false prophets, those with ‘‘false words,
lying visions... and utter lying divinations.’’ (Ezek. 13:8–9) Today we
speak of those who ‘‘varnish’’ or ‘‘whitewash’’ the truth by putting a
pleasing patina on top of a weak or faulty structure. Several thousand
years ago, Ezekiel addressed this universal problem using a very similar
analogy:
When a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell
those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall... When it
falls, you will be destroyed in it... So I will spend my wrath against
the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say
to you, ‘‘The wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it.’’ (Ezek.
13:10–16)Ezekiel proclaims there can be no true peace and harmony, either in
business or politics, without true honesty and integrity. ‘‘Whitewashes’’
may seem to work in the short run, but they rarely do in the long run.
In 1985, Federal prosecutors charged GE’s Re-Entry Systems with a
mammoth whitewashing job, claiming they had committed $800,000
in fraud by altering workers’ time cards. At first, GE refused to admit
guilt, but Jack Welch says, ‘‘we got to the point where we concluded
that someone did cheat... Until we got to that point, we were chasing
ourselves around in a circle.’’ He might have added that they were just
adding coats of whitewash to a flawed structure. When Welch and GE
finally saw that the problem was one of ‘‘basic integrity,’’ they admitted
their transgressions and set up an ethics program to make sure that the
problem was addressed.^12
The times of Jeremiah the prophet were corrupt, perhaps even more
corrupt than America in the late twentieth century! He continuously
spoke out about the lack of integrity that permeated the entire society,
which did not make him a revered guest of honor at the king’s court or
banquets. But a leader who points out other leaders’ lack of integrity is
not necessarily going to be popular in any society or business:
Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider,
search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals hon-