The Latest Trend
by Ian Oliver
Jesus will not modernize,
To fit our mortals plan;
He is the same forever,
He is the great I AM;
The Alpha & Omega,
The beginning and the end;
He's not about to upgrade,
To fit our latest trend.
The Church is always changing,
"Upgrading" they may say;
We must do all things new,
As we reach out to the lost;
But something here is very wrong,
They haven't count the cost.
To change the Church to win the world,
Is not the Bible way
The Holy Spirit is the same,
As He was in Jesus day;
So, Church wake up, get on your knees,
And really start to pray.
Turn back to God and trust His power,
You'll find He really can;
Win the lost in this last hour,
Without a change of plan:
His method has not changed,
Though years have come and gone,
Through the foolishness of preaching,
He turns us to His Son.
The foolishness of preaching,
Is His established way;
Not foolish preaching as we hear
So much in Church today.
Reliance on the Holy Ghost
Has long since gone away...
Repentance... Conviction... Sound Doctrine...
They're not in Church today.
We are fulfilling Scripture,
On this we can be clear.
The Church is full of people
Who have an itching ear:
The preachers are adapt to this,
And know just what to say;
To keep the people entertained and
Not drive them all away.
Our Churches may be full its true,
But full of what we ask?
With men afraid to preach The Word,
And rise up to the task.
"The offerings will go down" I hear,
So many of them say;
" We can't afford to preach that truth,
it will empty all our pews....
And then we will be bankrupt,
And that would make the news!"
"We must keep face, whatever the cost
so compromise we must,
With programs, buildings, sermons,
that win the peoples trust...
A little to the right or left,
Whatever makes it fit,
We'll keep our people entertained,
With a play, or dance or skit.
Now these themselves may not be wrong,
As I am sure we all agree,
But something here is missing too,
And it is plain to see,
When churches aim to please the crowd
Including you or me,
Their motives now are questionable,
As we may clearly see.
"Well tantalize the people and make them feel so good;
The more elated that they are,
The better this will be,
When offering time comes around,
They'll pay for this you see....
But if we preach conviction or
Repentance as we should,
Our offerings will go way down,
And that would not be good.
The bills just keep on coming,
And these must all get paid...
Like, salaries, the mortgage oops! -
That new program we just made:
We'll give some to the poor you know,
This keeps things looking right,
The board is good at budgeting,
And keep things squeaky tight.
It's hard to watch this going on
Within the Church today.
But friends this is REALITY,
Though sad it is to say.
This travesty is rampant...true!
But all is not yet lost,
We can return to God's ways
Regardless of the cost.
Humility will be the key that brings us back in line.
A cut in salaries perhaps, or is that much too strong?
Remember what our Lord said...
Or have I got it wrong?
"Freely you received". How come the people pay?
For what our Lord has given us,
To freely give away??
Now I can see you're getting mad,
As I hear you boldly say
"We preach prosperity in my Church,
And it begins with me...
An example to the people,
I must clearly be.
No other message will we hear within our Church wall.
For that would be a heresy,
And cause us all to fall.
Again my friends you missed the goal,
Of God's intended plan.
Thinking prosperity is worldly gain,
Of which you preach the whole.
But that is not God's meaning;
Of the word contained therein;
Salvation of our souls and
Freedom from our sin....
A greater gain there cannot be,
Than this one expressed herein.
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So Church we must turn back in time,
To what the Bible says...
Reliance on the Holy Ghost,
And God's eternal plan......
So lay aside your programs, the edifice of man..
Your gimmicks and high salaries
And that new "with - it" program.
Lets ask our Father to reach down,
With His great saving hand.
Perhaps then we will see
Revival sweep our land.
Jesus will not modernize
To fit our mortals plan;
He is the same forever,
He is the great I AM.
The Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end.
He will not update what He does,
To suite our latest trend.
So lets ensure that what we do, Is fitted to His way.
The plans He has, we should adopt,
And live from day to day.
Not pleasing man, but pleasing God,
Should be our daily task;
We may just find He will give us
Much more than we could ask.
Lets abandon all our programs,
Our gimmicks, goals and ways
And trust the Holy Ghost to light
Our path from day to day.
Applying His eternal Word
To what we do and say....
Will keep us living close to Him,
Along the narrow way.
You may go down the broader path,
It's easier.... that's true!
But you must be prepared my friend,
For what's in store for you;
No treasure for eternity will you
have gladly earned,
The wood, straw, stubble of this earth,
Will truly all be burned!
You can store up your treasures,
As God has surely planned.
By doing things the way He wants,
And not by pleasing man.
By living in accordance, with God's eternal Word.
Then you'll hear the words of Jesus;
Enter into the JOY OF THE LORD