GOD HAS EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL
The basic theme of this poem is certainly not new or unique, nor are the words "original". This theme is substantially supported by the Scriptures.
Be ye not anxious of what may happen tomorrow;
God has everything under control.
Whether it brings happiness or trouble and sorrow,
God has everything under control.
Though the view may be terrifying from your private perspective,
God has everything under control,
Trust Him in everything; keep calm and cool and collected;
God has everything under control.
Seek daily His counsel in matters that alarm you;
God has everything under control;
Fear Him and reverence Him: He's the One you can turn to —
God has everything under control.
He alone knows the future that no man can foresee;
God has everything under control;
He knows all that has been and what's still yet to be;
God has everything under control.
Yes, we've no cause to be anxious of what may happen tomorrow
For God has everything under control.
Let us live for Him today, tomorrow's trouble not borrow;
God has everything under control!
a. franklin staples
October 26, 1995
Copyright © 1995 by A. Franklin Staples
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Sunday, February 5, 2017
SOCIETY THINKS IT’S CLIMBING
Society thinks it's climbing
When it's really on a slide;
Its perspective is distorted, friend,
Its logic misapplied,
For instead of getting better,
The world is getting worse,
And what is viewed as progress
Is really the reverse.
Governments are in trouble;
There's no peace anywhere;
And it's hard to find a person
Who will take the time to care.
The rich are getting richer,
As it has always been,
And the poor man is forgotten,
His awful plight unseen.
The criminal's rights are uppermost
In the decisions of the courts,
While children terrorize the streets
And kill without remorse.
Computers take the jobs away
From those who want to work,
And the Information Highway
Will drive us all berserk.
Students rule the classrooms;
There's no discipline in schools,
And teachers, once respected,
Are made to look like fools.
Parents are not parents,
They just let their children run
And do whatever they want to do,
Except, perhaps, for some
Who realize the danger
Of an undisciplined child,
But parents, for the most part,
Just let their kids run wild,
And wonder how it happens
That the child turns out so bad,
Still looking for the discipline
That, from birth, it never had.
Women marry women,
And men with men the same,
And the world looks on approvingly,
Without a sense of shame
At such perverted lifestyles,
Such filth and degradation,
Ignoring the fact that Almighty God
Calls such things abomination.
It seems there's no commitment
To a marriage that's for life.
Women go from husband to husband,
And men from wife to wife
Or else each one has a "lover",
Is involved in an "affair"
That, instead of bringing happiness,
Brings sorrow and despair.
There's no regard for morals; -
They've all "gone by the board";
Nothing's private any more,
No evil thing's deplored,
Yet society thinks it's climbing,
When it's really on a slide;
Its perspective is distorted friend,
Its logic misapplied,
For what it thinks is progress
Is really its reverse,
For instead of getting better, friend,
This world is getting worse!
May 22, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by a. franklin staples
Society thinks it's climbing
When it's really on a slide;
Its perspective is distorted, friend,
Its logic misapplied,
For instead of getting better,
The world is getting worse,
And what is viewed as progress
Is really the reverse.
Governments are in trouble;
There's no peace anywhere;
And it's hard to find a person
Who will take the time to care.
The rich are getting richer,
As it has always been,
And the poor man is forgotten,
His awful plight unseen.
The criminal's rights are uppermost
In the decisions of the courts,
While children terrorize the streets
And kill without remorse.
Computers take the jobs away
From those who want to work,
And the Information Highway
Will drive us all berserk.
Students rule the classrooms;
There's no discipline in schools,
And teachers, once respected,
Are made to look like fools.
Parents are not parents,
They just let their children run
And do whatever they want to do,
Except, perhaps, for some
Who realize the danger
Of an undisciplined child,
But parents, for the most part,
Just let their kids run wild,
And wonder how it happens
That the child turns out so bad,
Still looking for the discipline
That, from birth, it never had.
Women marry women,
And men with men the same,
And the world looks on approvingly,
Without a sense of shame
At such perverted lifestyles,
Such filth and degradation,
Ignoring the fact that Almighty God
Calls such things abomination.
It seems there's no commitment
To a marriage that's for life.
Women go from husband to husband,
And men from wife to wife
Or else each one has a "lover",
Is involved in an "affair"
That, instead of bringing happiness,
Brings sorrow and despair.
There's no regard for morals; -
They've all "gone by the board";
Nothing's private any more,
No evil thing's deplored,
Yet society thinks it's climbing,
When it's really on a slide;
Its perspective is distorted friend,
Its logic misapplied,
For what it thinks is progress
Is really its reverse,
For instead of getting better, friend,
This world is getting worse!
May 22, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by a. franklin staples
Saturday, February 4, 2017
THE CHURCH
The church is not a building,
Not a structure made with hands,
And to say we "go to church" is wrong,
I would have you understand.
The Church of God assembled
Is what we really mean
When God's people come together
To worship Christ the King.
The Church of God is people
In whom the Spirit dwells,
The saved of all the ages
Of whom the Bible tells;
The saints, as Paul describes them,
Who've been washed in Jesus' blood,
Who've washed their robes and made them white,
Whose sins are gone for good.
a. franklin staples
May 1, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by Allison F. Staples
The church is not a building,
Not a structure made with hands,
And to say we "go to church" is wrong,
I would have you understand.
The Church of God assembled
Is what we really mean
When God's people come together
To worship Christ the King.
The Church of God is people
In whom the Spirit dwells,
The saved of all the ages
Of whom the Bible tells;
The saints, as Paul describes them,
Who've been washed in Jesus' blood,
Who've washed their robes and made them white,
Whose sins are gone for good.
a. franklin staples
May 1, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by Allison F. Staples
YOU’RE NOT AN ISLAND!
"No man is an island." —
That's been said before,
But it bears repeating
Just this once more.
There's no person on earth
Who can live to himself,
Who can keep his whole life
On some private shelf,
Who can shut out the world,
Have no contact with man;
Though some may well try,
There's no one who can.
We each have an influence
On the other in some way
By the things that we do,
Or don't do, or say,
And we who are Christian
Must take care of each other;
Put not a stumbling block
In front of thy brother.
If God says it's wrong,
Then don't do it, friend; —
Carefully consider
The message you send.
Just remember, my brother,
'Ere your days pass you by,
That you're not an island,
Nor, friend, am I.
a. franklin staples
April 24, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by Allison F. Staples
"No man is an island." —
That's been said before,
But it bears repeating
Just this once more.
There's no person on earth
Who can live to himself,
Who can keep his whole life
On some private shelf,
Who can shut out the world,
Have no contact with man;
Though some may well try,
There's no one who can.
We each have an influence
On the other in some way
By the things that we do,
Or don't do, or say,
And we who are Christian
Must take care of each other;
Put not a stumbling block
In front of thy brother.
If God says it's wrong,
Then don't do it, friend; —
Carefully consider
The message you send.
Just remember, my brother,
'Ere your days pass you by,
That you're not an island,
Nor, friend, am I.
a. franklin staples
April 24, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by Allison F. Staples
IN MATTERS OF OPINION
In matters of opinion we may differ,
But where the Word speaks, we must obey.
There can be no "maybe", no waffling, no quibbling!
The question is, "What does God say?"
What God says is wrong we acknowledge
To be evil that is to be shunned;
What He says is right we agree with
And strive hard to see that 'tis done.
We don't argue with what the Word tells us,
For all power and authority are His;
We're nothing more than His servants.
His Word tells it just like it is.
So, my friend, you may have your opinion
In matters that are of no consequence
To the things that the Lord has commanded.
Why, they may even make good, common sense.
But where the Lord speaks on a subject
And has made His will perfectly clear,
There is no room left for an opinion.
To His Word you'd better adhere.
a. franklin staples
April 17, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by A. Franklin Staples
In matters of opinion we may differ,
But where the Word speaks, we must obey.
There can be no "maybe", no waffling, no quibbling!
The question is, "What does God say?"
What God says is wrong we acknowledge
To be evil that is to be shunned;
What He says is right we agree with
And strive hard to see that 'tis done.
We don't argue with what the Word tells us,
For all power and authority are His;
We're nothing more than His servants.
His Word tells it just like it is.
So, my friend, you may have your opinion
In matters that are of no consequence
To the things that the Lord has commanded.
Why, they may even make good, common sense.
But where the Lord speaks on a subject
And has made His will perfectly clear,
There is no room left for an opinion.
To His Word you'd better adhere.
a. franklin staples
April 17, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by A. Franklin Staples
Friday, February 3, 2017
Declaration
I, Allison Franklin Staples, truly deserve the wrath of God, and, under the laws of perfect justice I should spend eternity in the lake of fire. Thanks be to God that He has written, “Pardoned in Full by the blood of Jesus Christ” across my sentence. Amen.
My Personal Statement of Faith
I am a Christian, a small “d” disciple of Jesus Christ. I was once an alien and an outcast, a sinful, imperfect man, not in the likeness of God, but in the likeness of Adam and condemned to hell by the perfect Law of the Holy and Righteous God. Now I am a “sinner saved by grace,” washed in the blood of the precious Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, being transformed once again into the likeness of God by the “new birth”, and a presently-earthbound citizen of Heaven.
1. I believe the Bible to be the inspired , infallible, inerrant Word of God, and I further believe it to be preserved faithfully and inspirationally in one, and only one, exact translation into the English language, namely that translation of the Sacred Scriptures into the English language made at the behest of James I, by the grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, in the year of our Lord, AD. 1611, and known today as the Authorized or King James Version.
2. I believe that if I hold an opinion that differs from the clear teaching of the Bible it is I, and not the Book, who am wrong, and that my understanding of the passage is therefore flawed or incomplete.
3. I believe in the one true and Living God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, both seen and unseen, existent in three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
4. I believe that the Jesus of the Bible is God manifested in human flesh; that He was conceived of the Holy Ghost; that He was born of a Virgin; that He lived a perfect sinless life as a man; that He was crucified, thus becoming a transgressor of the Law that He might bear in His body the sins of all mankind; that His death paid the full penalty for my sins and those of all who will place their trust in Him; that He was buried in a sealed tomb and that He rose bodily from the grave three days later; that He ascended bodily into Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father as our Intercessor and great High Priest; and that He is coming again as King of Kings and Lord of lords.
5. I believe that the Jesus called the Christ of the New Testament is the great “I AM” of the Old Testament, as evidenced by the facts (1) that Moses talked with Him “face to “, yet He Himself declares that no man (that includes Moses) has seen God (i.e. God the Father) at any time (John 1:18); (2) that John describes Him as the “Word” (Greek, Logos, the Spokesman) by whom all things were created (John 1:1-3); and (3) that by His own testimony He is the “I AM” (Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM ) (John 8:58 KJV) That is to say that whenever God (i.e. Yahweh or Jehovah) speaks directly in the Old Testament, the One whom we know as Jesus Christ is the Spokesman.
6. I believe that there is coming a period of trouble and distress on this earth which the Bible refers to as the time of great tribulation, at the end of which Jesus Christ will return to this earth in power and great glory to set up a literal kingdom which shall last for a thousand years, and I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ will be taken out of the world (raptured) before the Great Tribulation.
7. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ, as described in the Holy Scriptures, is, and always has been, a unified Church under the Headship and Lordship of that same Jesus Christ and I am therefore categorically and unequivocally anti-ecumenical. (To say that the True Church lacks unity is to claim that God did not answer the prayer of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, made in His great high-priestly prayer as recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, verses 11 and 22.)
8. Strange as it may seem, I am not necessarily against denominationalism. We do not always agree on non-essentials. I can worship with any group of true believers in Jesus Christ who agree on the essentials: salvation by grace, baptism by immersion, the observance of the Lord’s Supper, the Headship of Jesus Christ as regards the Church, and the Lordship of that same Jesus in the life of the individual Christian.
Now that narrows it down quite a bit, doesn’t it? But remember that Jesus said, “...straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14, emphasis mine)
To quote an unknown author. “If God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.” Even that statement is somewhat flawed, because it really matters not whether I believe it. The true fact of the matter is, “If God said it, that settles it.”
To put it in my own words, if God is for it, I am for it; if God is against it, then so am I.
Allison F. Staples
1991
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
GOD KNOWS MY EVERY STEP
(As I walked out of the school building this morning, January 31, 1989, onto an icy step, I thought, “God knows my every step.”)
God knows my every step, each thought, each word, each deed.
He knows the way that I will go; He knows my every need.
God knows what I have been; He knows what way I’ll take.
He knows the choices I have made; He’s aware of each mistake.
God knows what I don’t know; He knows what I can’t do.
He knows all my capabilities; He knows me through and through.
God knows the state of all my cells; He knows my every breath.
He knows my life in every part; He knows my birth and death.
God knows each illness that I have; He knows each pain and ache.
He knows my thresholds and my limits; He knows what I can take.
God knows when I am tired; He knows when I’m wearing thin.
He knows where I am going; He knows where I have been.
God knows all there is to know about this life of mine.
He knows where I’ll spend eternity, beyond this span of time.
God knows when I repent of sin; He knows where I abide.
He knows what I can never know; I need Him at my side.
God knows when I am weary; He knows when I do wrong.
He knows the weakness in MY strength, for He alone is strong.
He knows when I am happy; He knows when I am sad.
He knows that only when I’m part of Him can I be truly glad.
He knows when I am moody; He knows when I’m alert.
He knows when I am tempted; He knows when I’ve been hurt.
God knows, for He has been there; He knows what all have done.
He knows, for He’s been human, too, in the Person of His Son.
God knows and loves me as I am; He knows Christ has my heart.
He knows that I’m not perfect; He knows I’ve made a start.
God knows for He’s eternal; with Him there IS NO TIME.
He knows, and sees, and answers prayer through His power divine.
God knows, with perfect knowledge that’s beyond my feeble mind.
He knows all things PERFECTLY; He is HOLY, PURE, SUBLIME!
God knows! That’s sure and certain. He is in full control.
He knows, and I must trust Him to make me fully whole.
a. franklin staples
Copyright © 1989 by Allison F. Staples
(As I walked out of the school building this morning, January 31, 1989, onto an icy step, I thought, “God knows my every step.”)
God knows my every step, each thought, each word, each deed.
He knows the way that I will go; He knows my every need.
God knows what I have been; He knows what way I’ll take.
He knows the choices I have made; He’s aware of each mistake.
God knows what I don’t know; He knows what I can’t do.
He knows all my capabilities; He knows me through and through.
God knows the state of all my cells; He knows my every breath.
He knows my life in every part; He knows my birth and death.
God knows each illness that I have; He knows each pain and ache.
He knows my thresholds and my limits; He knows what I can take.
God knows when I am tired; He knows when I’m wearing thin.
He knows where I am going; He knows where I have been.
God knows all there is to know about this life of mine.
He knows where I’ll spend eternity, beyond this span of time.
God knows when I repent of sin; He knows where I abide.
He knows what I can never know; I need Him at my side.
God knows when I am weary; He knows when I do wrong.
He knows the weakness in MY strength, for He alone is strong.
He knows when I am happy; He knows when I am sad.
He knows that only when I’m part of Him can I be truly glad.
He knows when I am moody; He knows when I’m alert.
He knows when I am tempted; He knows when I’ve been hurt.
God knows, for He has been there; He knows what all have done.
He knows, for He’s been human, too, in the Person of His Son.
God knows and loves me as I am; He knows Christ has my heart.
He knows that I’m not perfect; He knows I’ve made a start.
God knows for He’s eternal; with Him there IS NO TIME.
He knows, and sees, and answers prayer through His power divine.
God knows, with perfect knowledge that’s beyond my feeble mind.
He knows all things PERFECTLY; He is HOLY, PURE, SUBLIME!
God knows! That’s sure and certain. He is in full control.
He knows, and I must trust Him to make me fully whole.
a. franklin staples
Copyright © 1989 by Allison F. Staples
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