Another branch Pastor, who abused and insulted his overseer over a little matter, became leprous from head to toe some few days later.

Without mincing words, that is always the end of rebellious associates (eight out of ten times). God has never and will never take kindly to disloyal, rebellious and renegade associates. Disloyalty, rebelliousness and coup-plotting under whatever guise or reasons have never met with God's favour, either in the Scripture or contemporary history. Remember the man who lied against himself that he killed King Saul? He died for it (II Sam. 1:2-16).

God doesn't joke with his leaders. He fights for and defends his leaders. He honours his leaders and do things to prove to people that He is the one that calls and commissions them. If you know you can't be loyal to your leader, please leave now. If you are finding it hard and difficult to be faithful, submissive and obedient to your leader, kindly go away amicably.

Rather than rebel and plot against your leader, kindly go and talk to him one on one and let him prayerfully release you. Again I say, rather than becoming disloyal to your leader, leave now in an atmosphere of peace and conviviality that will enable you to come back later, if the occasion demands. Disloyalty and rebellion always end in either generational curses or death.

Take a good look at these:

* Lot rebelled against Abraham and it ended up in death.
* Korah, Dathan and Abiram died for their rebellion.
* Absalom rebelled against his father and he died for it
* Haman died shamefully because he plotted against Modecai
* Joab became disloyal and he died shamefully
* Those who plotted against Daniel all died with their families
* Judas sold his Lord for 30 pieces of silver and he ended up committing suicide
* So also, Lucifer rebelled with his angels and he was disgraced and banished out of heaven.
* Cain rebelled against God and slew his brother and he was cursed by God.
* Gehazi became disloyal and he inherited a curse of leprosy.
* Demas rebel against Apostle Paul, ditto Hymenas and Philetus and they ended up badly.

Generational curses and ultimate death are always the outcome of disloyalty and rebellion against God's leaders in the Scripture.

In contemporary history, there are tons of cases upon cases of the same consequence befalling those who rebelled against God's anointed leaders. I know of young men who are walking aimlessly about today as a result of the curse of their leaders upon them due to rebellious acts. I know of churches that are reeling from crisis to crisis simply because they started in rebellion and disloyalty. Of course, the beginning is always good, lively and enchanting, but somewhere down the line, things will start going wrong until things will fall apart completely, except restitution is made.

I will never forget the story of a church. On a particular night, the Pastor's car was to go and drop some members at their homes because the meeting ran very late. On the way coming, it had an accident and two brothers lost their lives. Amazingly, the whole church came to the parsonage to accuse the Pastor of killing them and using them for ritual!

To say the least, the Pastor was shocked to his marrows. This is a church he had spent seventeen solid years building up physically, spiritually and numerically - now turning around to accuse him of murder and ritual. He went to the spot of the crash and spent three days in dry fasting, praying that God should let him die if truly he was the one that killed those two brothers. But if not, then death and calamity must never leave that church!

You know what? Since then, people have not stopped dying in that church. The year they don't die at all is when eight people, either young or old died! What a tragedy and calamity!

In reality of the above, please run away from disloyalty and rebellious spirit by all means possible. Once you detect it in your heart, pray it out by all means and seek the face of God until you are free from it. Furthermore, if you know associates or fellow ministers and church workers who have disloyal tendencies, please in your own interest, don't join them. Don't be a party to their plot and planning, else you will be guilty by association and when judgment starts to fall you will not be spared.

Remember, the families of Korah, Dathan and Abiram died with them. Also the families of those men who plotted against Daniel, might not have known or been a party to the wicked plot of their husbands and fathers. Run away from rebellious people and friends. Root out disloyal and rebellious tendencies from your heart and life, if you hope to live long and enjoy the blessings of God in the land of the living.

Pitfalls to avoid as Associates
The following are pitfalls, traps and snares that have ruined many once promising associates. But if you can avoid them, then your future is secure. Remember, you can never be a good number one until you have first been a dependable and trustworthy number two.

Also, it is better to be number two in God's plan than to be number one in your own plan. Somehow and somewhere, we all have to serve as associates to a leader and if we can avoid these common pitfalls peculiar to associates, then we can expect God's blessing in no small measure over our lives.

1. Envy and Jealousy:
There are associates who are jealous and envious of the leaders' position, privilege and attainments. They therefore begin to plan and plot against him. Please pray such spirit out of your heart. Don't forget, that your leader didn't arrive there today. He had suffered in the past and paid a price to be where he is now. This is a trap you must avoid, else it will lead you downhill. What is jealousy? I don't like you for what you have. What is envy? I wish you dead for what you have! Remember, the religious leaders crucified and killed Jesus because they envied Him.

“... know that for envy they had delivered him” (Matt. 27:18)

2. Impatience:
Impatience kills. Too many associates are in a hurry. They therefore see their time under a leader as a wasted time. They are not patient to learn, be trained and properly grounded for the vision. They want to fulfill the vision now, well, if you appear before your time, you will surely disappear in no time.

You need to realize that God's calling is not God's sending. He might call you today and may not send you until ten years later. Be patient to learn and improve. God is never late, neither is He in a hurry. Wait for His time, serve your leader patiently and God will never forget you. Don't fall into the trap of impatience. King Saul failed to wait patiently for Prophet Samuel - he forced himself to do what he was not qualified for and he lost his kingdom (I Sam. 13:11, 12)

3. Pride and Arrogance:
Many associates have fallen into the trap of pride, simply because they are gifted, anointed and Charismatic more than their leader. They therefore become garrulous and stubborn. Please pray this spirit off your heart. Hide yourself under your leader. Humble yourself, lest God fight you - because he always fight against proud people. He resisteth the proud and gives grace to the humble (I Pet. 5:5). Submit and subject yourself under your leader no matter how God is using you for him spiritually, financially or materially. Pride goes before a fall. A proud associate will always lick the dust, now or later.

4. Covetousness:
This is a deep pit that many associates have fallen into. Gehazi ruined both his life and ministry because of it. Judas also destroyed his promising ministry because of money.

They were greedy of gain and covetous of the money that was coming in. Associates that are covetous of gain, money and profit will always meet their waterloo. Some are thieves and they do steal offerings, gifts and monies of the leader. Their excuse is that they are not earning enough. Well, as covetousness killed those two, so also it will ruin and kill all those associates that still fall into the trap today.

Dear reader, please run away from covetousness. Be contented with what God has given you and be okay with your blessing now. Stop helping yourself to the till. It will only bring you tears, shame and regret later.

5. Sin and Scandals:
Taking advantage of your closeness to your leader and using his name and influence to hoodwink and deceive people is bad. Some even go to the extent of sleeping with women in the house of God, like the sons of Eli. Though these wicked practices by many associates have brought bad image to the work of their leader.

Please run away from sin. If you sin under the guise of being a close associate to the pastor, your sin will still sink you. There are lots of temptation that will come your way as an associate to your leader, but you must overcome them by the grace of God. The devil must not use you to destroy the work of your leader.

6. Deceit:
Stop being deceitful. Be frank, and honest to your leader. Stop misleading your leader. Many associates mix up facts and mislead their leader about people and situation of things. They present the good and hide the bad news, which will later boomerang in their face.

Deceitful associates will inherit a curse. Remember Gehazi. Don't gain undue favour by misrepresenting facts and figures to your leader like the unjust steward in the gospels.

Run away from the trap of deceit and being deceitful. Speak the truth. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Lying to your leader today might give you temporary relief, but your shame will come in greater measure later. And once you told a lie, you will have to tell another lie to cover up your first lie. And on and on you will go until you will be put to open shame because your sin will always find you out.

7. Spouse's Pressure:
Many associates have crumbled under the intense pressure of their spouse. I've heard wives who told their husbands, “the bible says, ‘You shall be the head and not the tail, therefore I don't find this your number two position funny in the church. Let us go away and start our own so that others will respect me and be calling me ‘mummy' also”

Quite sadly that many husbands have listened to such empty and unspiritual talks from their wives and they have reluctantly moved away from where God wanted them to be.

Please, resist this pitfall and snare of the enemy with all the energy that God has given you. Many have made a shipwreck of their faith as a result of listening to such ungodly talks from their wives.

It remains to be said that being a good associate is a tough job. It is not for boys but real men. It calls for a full and focused heart. Loyalty calls for a fully persuaded heart. But its rewards are eternal - here and hereafter. That is the focus of the next chapter.