“ Power’s Many Faces” is a vivid, image-rich poem that contrasts four types of power through distinct, sensory-loaded stanzas, each with an AABB rhyme scheme and 8-10 syllables per line. Here’s a summary of its content and imagery:

1. Redeemed Servant-Led Power (Stanza 1): Depicts a humble, nurturing power as a “lantern sways in dawn’s soft veil,” weaving through souls like a “breeze so frail.” It heals the broken with gentle hands, culminating in a “glowing bloom, a starlight token,” symbolizing hope and kindness.
2. Unredeemed Greedy Power (Stanza 2): Portrays a destructive, selfish power with a “vulture’s glare in moonless dark,” tearing at wealth with a “ravenous spark.” It traps the weary in “rusted chains,” leaving a “hollow crown” that no soul inherits, evoking desolation.
3. Ego-Driven Power (Stanza 3): Illustrates vain, fleeting power as a “peacock prances on a throne of glass,” reflected in “mirrored walls” with a “fleeting flash.” It burns brightly but collapses into “ashes,” its “fleeting reign” forgotten, highlighting impermanence.
4. Listening to Lies Power (Stanza 4): Describes deceptive power as a “serpent coils in brambles thick with deceit,” whispering through mist where “truths retreat.” Its “crooked trail” with “thorns that sever” leads to a starless “night,” symbolizing betrayal and loss.
5. Closing Couplet: Summarizes the contrast: “Each power shines, distinct in shade, / One lifts the soul, three cut like blades,” emphasizing the uplifting nature of servant-led power against the destructive force of the others.

Redeemed servant led power,
A lantern sways in dawn’s soft veil,
It weaves through souls, a breeze so frail,
In gentle hands, it heals the broken,
Its glowing bloom, a starlight token.

Unredeemed greedy power,
A vulture’s glare in moonless dark,
It tears at wealth, a ravenous spark,
In rusted chains, it binds the spirit,
Its hollow crown, no soul shall inherit.

Ego-driven power,
A peacock prances on a throne of glass,
Its mirrored walls reflect a fleeting flash,
A blaze that roars, then falls to ashes,
Its fleeting reign, through time it crashes.

Listening to lies power,
A serpent coils in brambles thick with deceit,
It whispers through mist, where truths retreat,
Its crooked trail, with thorns that sever,
Leads hearts to night, where stars shine never.

Each power shines, distinct in shade,
One lifts the soul, three cut like blades.

The poem, titled “The Drift of Progressive Christianity: Forsaking Biblical Truth for the Altar of Cultural Relevance”, critiques liberal progressive Christianity’s shift from biblical authority to cultural conformity. Structured in five stanzas with a consistent ABAB rhyme scheme, it uses nautical and spiritual imagery to depict a church straying from Scripture’s anchor to chase fleeting cultural approval. The poem highlights the softening of the cross’s message, the dilution of biblical truth, and the sorrow of Christ (“Our Savior weeps”) as the church prioritizes relevance over divine authority. Despite this, a faithful remnant holds fast to unchanging truth. The poem laments the compromise of faith while affirming the enduring power of God’s Word.

A ship once sailed where truth’s deep waters lay,
Its course held firm by Scripture’s guiding hand.
But culture’s winds enticed it far astray,
To chase the fleeting praise of shifting sand.

The Word, a rock, once anchored heart and mind,
Now bends beneath the world’s unyielding call.
Its truths, once sharp, are softened and redefined,
To fit the mold where relevance holds thrall.

The cross, a sign of scandal and of grace,
Is polished smooth to soothe the modern eye.
Its blood and wrath fade from their rightful place,
As compromise obscures the Savior’s cry.

Our Savior weeps, His voice now faintly heard,
His sacred Word by culture’s tide defaced.
The church, unmoored, clings not to holy Word,
But bows to trends that time will soon erase.

Yet still a remnant holds the ancient creed,
Their anchor fixed where truth will never wane.
Through storms of relevance, they shall not cede,
For God’s own Word forever will remain.