Text out of Context Is Pretext

 

 

I am becoming increasingly amazed

How we treat to the word of God:

Some preachers, totally out of context

Yet to appreciable applause.

 

Aligning the word with their agenda

And wooing the audience support,

Such are many televangelists

When delivering their reports.

 

I caution that we should be careful

When interpreting the word of God,

That we listen to the voice of the Spirit

And not the enticement of the Fraud.

 

 

Any text that is used out of context

Tends to support someone’s agenda,

Hence, such must be seen as a pretext

That supports their propaganda.

 

Agendas must be shaped by the Word

And not the other way around,

But pretext is the dominant mood

And towards error we are bound.

 

To support the point of the theme

I must cite three relevant scriptures

And trust that by the end of the poem

We are seeing the full picture.

 

 

Let me start with the Word, himself

He is the first we ought to see,

“And ye shall know the truth

And the truth shall make you free”.

 

Jesus is speaking to his disciples

Found in John chapter 8 verse 32

And note that in the preceding verse

His word is the same as the truth.

 

We take it out of its context

When applying it to any other truths

Like getting to the bottom of a matter

In which we are requiring proof.

 

“Tell me the truth,” a parent says,

When addressing a delinquent child,

“And the truth will set you free.”

And spare him from the cowhide.

 

That’s not the truth that Jesus meant

He didn’t mean the opposite to a lie,

But he meant the truth that is himself

On which all of life rely.

 

 

Next there is the overworked text

The “go-to” when we want something fixed

“Without faith it’s impossible to please God”

How we like to quote Hebrews 11 verse 6!

 

This verse is universally used

When there is a specific agenda in mind,

From the individual to the group

To entertain aspirations of all kinds.

 

What pleases God most is our walk

A daily walk of faith in the Spirit

And, not fulfilling the deeds of the flesh

But depending on faith to accomplish it.

 

Take note of the Old Testament saints

Faith was the characteristic of their walk,

Their walk was evidence of their faith

The faith that requires more than talk.

 

 

Another text we loosely noise around

Is Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18:

“Where there is no vision the people perish”

Usually as a pretext for a different scene.

 

The scene here treats to relations

In fact, relations both good and bad,

But it also speaks of the consequences:

Some of them pleasant and some sad.

 

Where there is no law of righteousness

People’s behavior is unrestrained,

It shouldn’t be a wonder to you and me

Why our world seems so insane.

 

Blindness and disaster go hand in hand

It’s like people that have no vision,

Jesus himself is the light of the world

And his light should determine our decisions.

 

A text out of context is a pretext

It is like exchanging the truth for a lie,

At times, it may appear very trivial and light

But remember that when we perish, we die.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2019