But this is good news for you if you’re an Adonijah who notices his father’s impotence and steps into the vacuum. There will be a vacancy of power as leader after leader falls—it behooves the ambitious among us to step into that void.
I know that you’re pretty smart and don’t need much advice, but if you wanted to see how it’s done consider our friend Adonijah. 1 Kings tells the story of his power grab.
Step one, you need to focus on image and appearances. You need an entourage. Today we call that a platform. Adonijah was the first guy to buy Twitter followers. He got chariots and horses with fifty dudes running out in front of him. He was a thought-leader, an entrepreneur, a guy who makes stuff happen, the dude you want to follow. He’s a big deal. So you need a platform, a big one, even if you have to buy it.
Step two, you can’t go this alone. You need to partner with other power-grabbers. For Adonijah he created a coalition with Joab and Abiathar. This way they could retweet each other and their followers became his followers. There is far more power in groupthink and if Adonijah can get these dudes on his side then he’s definitely going to convince the nation that he is legit. So you need to rub shoulders with the big guns. You can’t run in circles with nobodies—you need to show your muscle around the big deals. Even if you have to compromise a bit to do it.
Now you need to look religious—at least if that’s the type of people you are trying to get to follow you. Or you can look super secular. Or incredibly woke. Or an anti-social justice warrior bent on protecting us from the latest heresies. Or so Reformed that you think John Calvin might have been a closet Arminian. Whatever the culture you’re trying to lead you need to convince them that you’re their poster boy. Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened calves. Sure—he didn’t do it the way that God had prescribed but it didn’t matter.
We let people who are “kind of a big deal” get away with minor infractions so long as they’ve got power and can convince us that they’ll use that power to fatten our wallets. You can get away with about anything if people know you love them. But you can definitely get away with anything if people believe you’re going to protect and benefit them and keep shield them from their biggest fears.
Godliness is always going to be persecuted. Remember that line. When people start calling you to the carpet for your power grabs, or your sacrificing at the Stone of Zoheleth, remember that line. You’re the victim, bro. You’re just a humble guy trying to get into power in order to help people. And you can’t spend your time listening to “toxic people”. You need to cut the Nathan’s out of your life. You need to do whatever you can to silence and lower the influence of the Solomon’s in your life.
Trust me on this.
People all around the land were calling Adonijah the King. The void was filled. People were ecstatic. That could be you, champ! Just follow those steps. Buy a platform. Get important friends. Stir up a controversy. Be somebodies hero. Don’t listen to opposition. Take the throne. There is probably a spot opening up for you even today.
You also might not want to keep reading 1 Kings.
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photo source: here
