“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14 ESV)

The early morning contemporary service opened with welcome and announcements, followed by 3 or 4 songs led by a small band with piano, acoustic guitar and bass. That particular Sunday found Karen and I sitting among the congregation while another of the rotating worship bands led the singing. It’s an attractive and well kept sanctuary with beautiful stained glass windows to the north and south, curved ceiling with oak beams and woodwork.

Like most believers, I viewed “my church” with “rose colored” glasses, that is until God ambushed me with a single question, asked at 3 different times during the service.

“My son, what do you see”, asked God.

“I see a pipe organ, Lord.”

God replied: “That’s right, this church worships a pipe organ.”

His answer shocked me out of my stupor and left me cross-eyed, as if I’d just been hit across the forehead with a spiritual 4×4. “What do you mean they worship a pipe organ”, I protested.

But God wasn’t there to argue with me; this was my wake up call.

A few moments later, God spoke again.

“My son, where is my cross”, He asked.

With the Schantz pipe organ spanning the width of the church above the choir loft there is no room for a wall mounted cross. A bone of contention with the contemporary service goers and reason for meeting separately from the traditionalists, a few of the men fashioned a cross from 4×4’s and cemented it in a 5 gallon bucket for support. It was the job of the worship service coordinator to wheel the cross from the prop closet to the front of the sanctuary before the congregation began to arrive.

My eyes swept the altar and floor below from left to right and back again, looking for the cross.

In a state of shock I exclaimed, “Lord, they forgot to set out your cross!”

Continuing to look around the sanctuary I spotted a small brass IHS cross on the altar table between the stacks of offering plates.

“There’s the cross, Lord” I exclaimed! “It’s that little one on the altar.”

He replied “That’s right, my cross is a little thing in this church.”

Again He shocked me to the core.

God didn’t speak again until after the service when I joined a few other men at the front of the sanctuary where we stood talking, shuffling our feet and staring at our shoes like men are prone to do. As I looked down at my feet He asked again:

“My son, what do you see?”

“I see a blood red carpet, Lord.”

He replied: “That’s right. This church treads upon the blood of my Son.”

With just 3 questions and answers, the Lord destroyed me for attending that church. I can’t put into words the way God’s revelation to me that day upended my faith, my peace, my “rose colored” view of the church God had sent us to from 2400 miles away, sight unseen. Suffice to say the Lord literally left my spirit quaking within me. Karen on the other hand had no such revelation and thought me crazy when I shared the experience with her. And so for months I continued to attend the service in deference to my wife though deeply shaken and wanting never to go back there.

Not until a service that fall, when we arrived late, sat near the back and had a shared vision, did God release us from that place. As we watched the worship team and pastor conduct the service, they appeared to move about like zombies. In a state of disbelief, I remember turning to Karen to ask if it was some kind of ash Wednesday observance that accounted for their grayish pallor. “No”, she replied. They had the look of death and were utterly without joy, even as they sang songs of thanksgiving, praise and worship. Before the service was even over, Karen turned to me and said the words I’d been waiting to hear from her: “let’s get out of here.” Finally God had us on the same page spiritually.

We left quietly and never returned. Thereafter, we began worshiping at home and trusting the Holy Spirit to teach and lead us, just like Jesus promised He would do. Of course we were held to be heretics, back-sliders and ship-wrecked faith by our former church ‘family’. But we know better and those who know us well can attest to the growth we’ve seen with the Spirit as our leader and teacher.

With regard to God’s statement “this church worships a pipe organ”, it took a few years for me to understand what He meant. Turns out it’s rather simple. The scriptures plainly say “God does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 7:48, Acts 17:24). Thus running off to a man-made temple to worship God, whom scripture says does not live there, is worship in vain (Mark 7:7). Worship, by definition, is the prostrating of oneself before the person or object of worship. It literally means to crouch down and bow. Since God has deserted man-made temples (Matthew 23:38) and since that church has neither cross, nor banner, nor anything else above the altar, then from God’s perspective, the congregation worships the pipe organ before which they prostrate themselves and toward which they raise their hands every Sunday. So when will we cease to worship God as if He’s hovering somewhere above the altar? He has lived within us by His Holy Spirit since Pentecost, 2000 years ago (1 Cor. 3:16). We are supposed to worship Him in spirit and in TRUTH (John 4:24). Why then do we worship Him as if He lives apart from us, in a building down the street?

I have nothing to boast about in coming to Truth. The Father had to hit me between the eyes several times to wake me up and help me see. As a songwriter and lyricist, I’m ashamed I didn’t see the sad irony of a church that hides the cross in a prop closet, lest the traditional service goers take offense.

It is for that reason, the shock of being woken from our stupor and force fed the truth, that I can empathize with anyone who chooses the blue pill. Perhaps illusion is God’s gift for those of us who can’t handle being red-pilled with the truth. Sadly, illusion only postpones the inevitable.

The Truth is coming and we will all have to face Him who is the Living Truth.

I’d like to close with the song God gave to me shortly after we came out of man’s church. It began as a spontaneous spiritual song while worshiping with Karen at home. It’s called “Lord, You Are”.

Lord You are My righteousness
Lord You are My holiness
Nothing I can do is worthy
Of your name
Lord I would be lost without you
Clothed in shame

Lord You are My Prince of Peace
Lord You are My Sweet Relief
Storms around my soul are raging
I’m afraid
With a word you hush the wind and
Still the waves

Lord You are My Victory
Lord You are My Jubilee
Devils scheme and lay their snares to
Conquer me
You crush them all and take the spoils for
Blessing me

Lord You are The Great I AM
Lord You are The Son of Man
You set aside Your crown of glory
Humility
Lamb of God You came for me at
Calvary

Lord You are The Bread of Life
Lord You are The One True Vine
Hunger in my soul was crying
To be fed
You washed my feet and served me with
Wine and bread
Lord, You Are!
Lord, You Are!
Lord, You Are!

Copyright 2024 Jack Helser