John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” NLT
There are common trends inevery generation. Those trends could manifest in the area of fashion, music, dance, slang, commerce, trade and religion. In the body of Christ, there are trends that has come and gone.
Funnily, there was a time some pastors barbed punk hair style and posed with it. Young ministers posed for the camera with their punk and it seemed to be the common trend among preachers of that day. Images of posters in that era remain etched in my memory.
Several years ago, almost every preacher wanted to be called "Evangelist" because of the outbreak of God's power through the evangelistic ministry at that time but after a while, the craze for that title died.
As I speak, the trend is to be called a prophet or an apostle. Even those who started ministry yesterday are now apostles teaching 'mysterious' things beyond scriptures. The use of superfluous words and esoteric registers is common to them.
There was a time when success motivation was the common trend on pulpits. Conferences and seminars were organized for motivating people not for bible study. That trend died and we are in the era of another.
While all those may not matter much, the painful thing is when preachers preach trending messages that aren't necessarily biblical so as to attract people.
When 'prosperity gospel' landed in our clime, what you'll hear often from most charismatic altars were prosperity messages that weren't biblical. Those messages ended with, "sow a seed to prosper".Unfortunately, I once preached it. It was a trend and probably it is still in practice in some circles but may not be so common as it was.
When hyper grace movement began to trend, some preachers abandoned the truth and began to preach trending hypergrace messages. In the process they presented God's grace wrongly. Why? They preached it because it was the trending message not because they understood what the grace of God meant from scriptures.
In a bid to attract crowd and remain popular in ministry, some deliberately abandoned the truth for trends.
That something is trending doesn't validate it as the right thing. Sin trends. A message may trend but it may lack the substance of truth in it.
One of the temptations you'll face in the ministry is to abandon the truth for trends.
I have discovered that trends don't last, they come as a wave and fizzle out with time.
The truth in God's word is ageless, timeless and eternal. Biblical truth is the same everywhere, every time and at all times.
Stop copying trends, search for the truth, know it, live it and preach it. We live in a generation where abnormal is assumed to be normal. Trends get so much publicity and attention.
In the days of Jesus and John the baptist, Pharisaic hypocrisy trended but when those two appeared on the scene, the message of repentance filled the air. There was a restoration of timeless and ageless truth- the message of the kingdom.
This warning is not limited to those in ministry. As a child of God, seek the truth and practice it. That trending fashion may be ungodly, that trending music or movie may put out the fire of the Spirit in you.
Beware of erroneous trends that people have accepted as true. Never sacrifice the truth for trends.
PRAYER Father, I receive the grace to stand on and for the truth at all times.