The visiting preacher was causing me much concern. He had a pleasant manner and the congregation were listening with interest to his message but my concern was due to the things he was saying. He was urging them to become more committed in the Christian disciplines of prayer and Bible study. That was OK but he was also threatening them that they could lose their salvation if they were not so committed.
"Be very careful that the Lord does not remove His Spirit from you," he warned. I glanced at the elders of our church and saw that they were also concerned at what we considered to be heresy. Hadn't the Lord declared that He would "never leave us nor forsake us"? Didn't we preach that our salvation depended on the finished work of the cross and not on our own efforts?
Isn't it the Lord's responsibility to keep us and His Spirit's to guide us? Did this preacher really believe that we could lose our salvation because of an undisciplined prayer life or inconsistent Bible study? I was about to step forward to quietly ask him to close when he came to the end of his message.
I was relieved as the worship team stepped forward to lead us in Praise & Worship. We started to sing the first song, - one I loved well until I heard myself singing "Cast me not away from Thy presence O Lord. Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me ..."
These words from the Psalmist David, might well express his sentiments at a time when the Holy Spirit came upon the people of God and then might leave again. However that is not the promise of the New testament when the Spirit has come to dwell within the believer - not upon him.
I began to consider other songs we sing and was surprised to find how often we sing bad theology. We permit things to be sung in praise that we would never allow to be said as doctrine! Yet our songs are the only doctrine that many believers know today.
Instead of our pastors being the ones who teach us, our new theologians are the song writers, many of whom are babes in the faith. How can it be worship when it is based on errors of doctrine. We need to be far more careful in the selection of the songs we sing.
God is still seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
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Gareth Evans ( - )
Gareth Evans is an itinerant pastor/teacher with a burden to minister to the hurting church his ministry website is Gareth Evans Ministries. Formerly a Physics teacher in the UK and Canada, he became a pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada in 1979. In 1991, he was invited to serve as pastor on board the M/V Anastasis, a medical, missionary ship operated by Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Since leaving that ministry four years later, Gareth has traveled to many countries, encouraging pastors and missionaries.He is married to Anne and they have three married daughters, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Gareth and Anne live in Victoria, in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. Some of his main burdens is to mentor young men to see them walk in the anointing of God and soar on wings as eagles. He has also prayed for revival and moderated many revival conferences across the world.