No Name Calling

 

 

Not a debate

But a question and answer,

Not a moderator

But an interrogator.

 

Not the planned six

But only three,

And I must admit

There wasn’t much to see.

 

A mixed bag

A mixed bag indeed,

One participant was cautioned

Another carried the lead.

 

The third was unconvincing

But convincingly so

And given the issues raised

I’m still not in the know.

 

That all three had a plan

There was no doubt,

It is just that

Only one got to carry it out.

 

Of the other two

One was a constant bother

While the other saw himself

And not another.

There is a challenge

Re a debate among three

As a matter of fact

I deem it an impossibility.

 

Given the little I know

And that is just a tiny bit,

Two persons or two teams

Is the established habit.

  

Not three candidates

And certainly not six,

For with three participants

The moderator was in a fix.

 

Three debates if possible:

Candidates two

With the drawing of numbers

To determine who.

 

In this arrangement

All six would be heard

And then the public could judge

Based on their word.

What plans have you

To either correct or improve…?

No slandering or vilifying-

This is an awful groove.

 

The public will judge

One way or another:

Either with their X

Or with their street chatter.

 

No rebuttals

I am seriously tempted to warn

But just a minimum

Since this is the norm.

 

No name calling,

That is a definite no-no

And stick to the high ground,

No going down low.

 

 

That’s my two-cents worth

Thanks for your time,

Remember:

A lot can be gained

From your opinion and mine.

 

Stewart Russell © October 31, 2020

 

 

The Only Wise God

 

 

Can you tell what I am thinking?

I know someone who can,

He even knows my future

And He never reads my palm.

 

Crystal balls are not His thing

And He never ever predicts

He doesn’t even prophesy

Yet He sees all from where he sits.

 

He knows when we are sincere

And whenever we pretend,

He knows what we will decide

And all that we intend.

 

What question he cannot answer?

There is actually none,

He alone can decide

How long each course will run.

 

Time’s clock has been set by Him

From its beginning to its end,

He knows every twist and turn

Every tunnel and every bend.

 

He is the ultimate Ruler

King of kings and Lord of lords,

He is one yet three

As substantiated by the Word

 

There’s much we do not understand

As expressed in His Word,

And often in our brilliance

We deem that Word absurd.

 

He alone orders the wind

And the boundaries of the sea,

No effort or struggle is required

Just a simple “Let it be”.

 

 

He transcends all of creation

It is all contained in Him,

Everything is for His purpose

Not our fancy or our whim.

 

We were created in His image

Though we often tend to forget

And the balance that He initiated

We constantly try to upset.

 

His ways are past finding out

His thoughts are not our thoughts,

He is from everlasting to everlasting

And He cannot be bought.

 

All in the earth are His

There is nothing that He needs,

He has provided it for our sustainment

Not to satisfy our greed.

 

 

He is the Lord God Jehovah

The I AM that I AM,

Revealed in Christ the Saviour

The Shepherd and yet the Lamb.

 

That he died for me is amazing

That he lives in me is comforting,

That he is coming for me is reassuring

That I am in him is enlightening.

 

It is my honour to know Him

It is my privilege to be called His own

His slave I may be but I am free

Free to enjoy true liberty.

 

 

What blessed freedom in Christ!

My Shepherd, Lamb and Sacrifice,

Nothing brought I but one sin-sick soul

Yet he washed me and made me whole.

 

All of Him and none of me

No credit can I take,

No merit in me, no merit at all

God did it all for Jesus’ sake.

 

And now I rest assured in Him

Until my earthly rest shall be,

Anticipating the glorious resurrection

When I shall live eternally.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2019

Nothing Can Make A Thing

 

 

 

Please give me another chance

Just to tease your mind,

I will make no promises, though,

Not to do it another time.

 

First, read the title of the poem

Then, please read it again,

Don’t be too quick to form an opinion

From such haste, please refrain.

 

Can a statement be both true and false

At one and the same time?

Study the following statement

And you will see what I opine.

 

“Nothing can make a thing.”

What do you understand that to say?

“Nothing can make a thing.”

Did you read it a different way?

 

 

By this time you might be wondering

What I am getting at,

If you haven’t picked it up yet

Please go all the way back.

 

“Nothing can make a thing.”

Let me repeat my self,

“Nothing can make a thing.”

There are two books on the shelf.

 

Both carry the same title

But they portray it differently,

“Nothing Can Make A Thing”

I trust you can now see.

 

But just in case you cannot

I will give you one more chance,

And maybe from this clue

Your thinking will be enhanced.

 

“Nothing can make a thing.”

What do you understand by that?

“Nothing can make a thing.”

One of them is a fact.

 

Nothing can make a thing

Some cause must bring it about,

The second law of thermodynamics

Should leave us in no doubt.

 

However, there is another position

Which is in stark contrast

And the number that hold to it

You will find, is quite vast.

 

 

Nothing can make a thing

But we must give it a few billion years

For with time under the right conditions

Everything appears.

 

“Nothing can make a thing.”

A claim held by two world views,

Creation story makes more sense

Evolutionists don’t have a clue.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019

 

What A Wonder!

 

 

I know it is easy

To go with the flow

But it is easier to swallow,

You must admit that though.

 

What am I talking ’bout

You’ll soon know,

This is just the preamble

We’ll soon begin to flow.

 

Look all around you

For a moment or so,

Think of what you see-

How much do we know?

 

 

We talk a lot

And pontificate more,

We are very bright

And very self-assured.

 

What others will never learn

We already know

And we are quick to say

“I already knew so.”

 

I have been a teacher

For much of my life

And un-teaching students

Causes most strife.

 

Especially when it was you

That led them that way,

It’s difficult to change them

On any subsequent day.

 

I look back on my teaching

And often kick myself

At the mistakes I made

And did so with stealth.

 

 

For I felt I was great

And there were few like me,

I knew so much

It was like a mystery.

  

And then I got to learn

That I didn’t know squat,

My knowledge was a dot

On a very small plot.

 

At first I was overwhelmed

At my stupidity,

That I knew so little

To me that was a mystery.

 

This was humbling

But where I needed to be

If I would ever overcome

This great difficulty.

 

I looked away from me

And I looked to God,

In a real sense I recognized

That I was a fraud.

 

Pretending to be

What I really was not

When all along

I was fixed to a spot.

 

I am just saying

God remedies such stupidity,

I thank Him today

That He did it for me.

 

 

The little I know now

Makes me so aware

That there’s much we can learn

When God we fear.

 

So my friend believe today

That God really exists

For this is the first step

To get out of your mess.

 

The mess you created

By refusing to believe

That God is the only source

Through whom truth is received.

 

Look around you again

I must reiterate,

At least one encounter with God

Is everybody’s fate.

 

 

I can’t guarantee another

This day is your day,

I am just saying

Right now He is in your way .

 

How can I tell?

Because you read the last line,

Believe my brother, my sister,

This is your time

 

Don’t push Him away

Like you have done before,

Open and let Him in

As He knocks on your door.

 

You’ll not regret it

I can guarantee you that,

He’ll make it worth you while

I know that’s a fact.

 

 

The fear of the Lord

Is the beginning of wisdom

And only in Jesus Christ

One can find salvation.

 

He is the way

And the truth and the life,

Outside of His providential care

There is nothing but strife.

 

What a wonder He chose

To give you this chance!

This wonderful opportunity

Your knowledge to enhance.

 

You don’t know Jesus

But you think you know a lot?

Well I’m just saying

Your perceived knowledge is simply rot.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018

 

The First Stone

 

 

Not a foundation stone

Or a corner stone

But the first stone that one throws

In his act to condemn a soul

That acted without his zone.

 

We are the jury

And we are the judge

And we also determine the verdict,

The sentence we must carry out

And only when it’s done, we will quit.

 

 

With a strong bias

And an ethnic prejudice

We decide who is to be stoned

And so, with that, we take careful aim,

For we don’t intend to miss.

 

But to make it all legal

And at least looking right,

We will consult an independent source

So that that first stone can be ours

And we’ll throw it with telling force.

 

But it may be legal

And it may be right

And the first stone may be ours to throw,

But not at the victim we intend

For we might be just as low. 

 

Let him that is without sin

The Master had said,

Let him cast the first stone,

But they envisaged the boomerang effect;

They were all in the hitting zone.

 

With tail between their legs

They did begrudgingly leave,

They were as guilty as she was too,

For only one is without any sin

And it’s neither me nor you.

 

So, if you want

To cast the first stone

Do be prepared to die,

For to stone someone is to stone yourself

And that you can never deny.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2020