Leaving religious Babylon, or man’s church if you will, was difficult on many levels. The stories I share may give the impression that I left because I was hurt or bitter, but the truth is, I was deeply devoted to “the church” because that’s where I was when Jesus revealed himself to me. Admittedly leaving was more difficult for me because I was a performing song-writer and the church was my defacto concert venue. A weekend concert ministry once took me into churches all over the Puget Sound region. My home church on the other hand had no interest in me except as an occasional guitar player in the praise band. Like the prophets, performing musicians are also without honor in their home town (John 4:44). That’s what I concluded anyway. There is one funny experience that stands out in my memory as the epitome of my musical frustrations with my old home church.

The pastor was planning to deliver a sermon about the difference between Jesus, King of Heaven and Elvis, King of the World. It was a funny message, contrasting Jesus humility and truth with Elvis glitz and commercialism. To introduce the sermon, the pastor asked the praise band to play a few bars of an Elvis tune. We chose “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and one by one each of us sang a few lines to audition for the part of Elvis.

After listening to several auditions, the music minister needed to take a break and said “keep singing everyone, I’ll hear you over the loudspeaker system.” When he’d left the sanctuary, Gene said “sing it, Jack” and I dialed-up my Elvis voice. No sooner had I finished than the music minister came bounding back into the sanctuary and exclaimed “that was FANTASTIC, GENE! You’ve got the part.” Gene was aghast and said “that wasn’t me, it was Jack”. But the music-minister had already turned his attention elsewhere and mumbled “thanks Gene, it’s going to be great”. On Sunday, he sang the part at both services after which the music-minister asked Gene why he didn’t sing it like he had in practice. Again he said “it was Jack who sang at practice” and the music-minister laughed at Gene like he was joking. When we packed up our gear after services and walked out to our cars, all Gene could do was roll his eyes and sympathize with me. I’d shared my frustrations with Gene before, who suggested it was my imagination, until he witnessed it for himself.

Though hurtful and frustrating at the time, I’ve come to appreciate the experience as part of the Lord’s plan for me which in the end inspired me to to something much bigger and better than a 30 second solo.

For me, leaving man’s church had far more to do with the Spirit’s leading and teaching, reckoning with truths in scripture that I’d never seen before and coming out from under false teachings and authoritarian clergy rule that prevented me from walking in freedom as a son of God. One scripture that affected me profoundly, is 1 John 2:27, which is a caution about false teachers and teachings, saying “you do not need a man to teach you”. I’d like to focus on the last line of 1 John 2:27 which I believe is key to walking with Christ. It says:

“Obey the Spirit’s teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ.” (GNB)

Among the first steps I took as a free son, the Lord led me in a lengthy study to debunk modern tithe doctrine and to expose the churches love of money. The study was instrumental in setting me free from compulsory guilt-based giving. Karen and I enjoyed sweet freedom for many years before the Lord sent us briefly to a small country church where I found myself becoming increasingly upset by a scrolling overhead presentation that called for people to bring their “tithe”. The presentation was on a loop and featured a cheesy animated graphic of an offering envelope winging its way into the offering box. The actual offering box was at the door to the sanctuary; it was engraved with Malachi 3:10, which is the very scripture the Lord began to teach me from. As often as I walked past the box and sat beneath the annoying animated graphic, I grew more upset and finally made an appointment with the pastor to talk about it. When I shared the gist of what the Holy Spirit had taught me about the tithe, the pastor motioned with his hand for me to “stop” and abruptly dismissed me saying “I love the tithe. I love to teach tithing; all 3 tithes”. And just like that I knew our time at the small country church was over.

How that relates to “Obey the Spirit’s teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ”, is this: the Holy Spirit went to great lengths to teach me the truth about tithing and to share that truth with others through my blog. By submitting to the leadership of a pastor and church who taught and practiced otherwise, I had put myself at odds with what the Holy Spirit had taught me. Though I never became a member of that church nor gave them any money, my presence there was an implied agreement and submission to the pastor, his teaching and authority and church practices. For all practical purposes, I was disobeying the teaching of the Holy Spirit and that disrupted my union with Christ.

Within weeks of beginning to attend services there, Karen and I started to feel the adverse effects of being out of union with Christ and each other. Strife entered our home, divisive church issues robbed us of sleep, church leaders manipulated us, and members conscripted one or the other of us to perform church jobs. All these things began to infringe upon our marriage relationship. Only by leaving that church, which is what it took to repent of my disobedience, did the peace, joy and unity we had known with Christ and each other, return to us.

As for the Elvis experience? It served to inspire one of the funniest songs I’ve ever written. Have a listen and I hope it puts a smile on your face! The song is called “Just One King”.

We was waitin’ for the service
While the praise band played some tunes
The ushers were gettin’ nervous
As they packed us in the pews

The excitation mounted
As the singers took their place
Then the “Hallelujah’s” sounded
As the preacher strolled on stage

And He said: “Good morning ladies
I’m feelin’ love here today – yeah baby – lotta love
We’ve got a great service for ya
So stay tuned – don’t go ‘way”

With a quiver of his lip
And a toss of wavy hair
A shimmy of his hip (he)
Thrust the Bible in the air

Then came a strange gyration
That started in his pelvis
Hollywood transformation
Our preacher turned into Elvis!

And He said: “Don’t worry ladies
You’ll get used to the beat – it’s pretty groovy don’tcha think
You need a gimmick ladies
If you want to compete” – this church business is a tough racket

Well my eyes were disbelievin’
And my ears weren’t far behind
I thought some folks were leavin’
But they formed a conga line

Strobe lights started flashing
And a fog began to roll
He gripped the mic with passion
As the band cranked out the soul

And He said “Please listen ladies
There’s something you need to hear – my sponsor requires me to say this
Our service is brought to you by
Our friends at Meuller Beer” – buy some today ladies

He ascended to the pulpit
And he perched above the crowd
I started for the exit
He yelled “Stop! That’s not allowed”

The ushers had me cornered
And I couldn’t run away
He pointed and demanded
“What DO YOU have to say there sonny”

And I sang: Reverend Pelvis
You need to button your lip – “Hey you can’t talk to the king like that!”
‘Cause there’s just One King for me Elvis
And He’ll be back with His whip – “Elvis doesn’t like the sound of that at all”
‘Cause there’s just One King for me Elvis
He’ll be back with His whip

Copyright 2006 – 2024 Jack Helser