The Divine Pulpit

 

 

A caution to the wise

And a warning to the foolish,

Ignore it or accept it

Just as you wish.

 

Thanks for taking note,

I mean no offense

But the pulpit has become sacred

In a peculiar sense.

 

Especially regarding

Its divine pulpiteers

Who expound extemporaneously

And are by many revered.

 

Their several titles

Gaining them great respect

Even when portions of the Word

They blatantly reject.

 

Mounting the pulpit

With their expressive pride

And in the abundance of rhetoric

God’s Word, they hide.

 

Announcing a text

To support their pretext

And then eisegeting the reference

Void of its context.

 

Matthew 27:5; Luke 10:37; John 13:27

 

Judas went out

 And hang himself.

Go and do likewise!

That thou doest

Do quickly!

Ignoring the context

Is not wise.

 

All three listed above

Are scriptural texts

But if ever they are strung together,

Be sure to reject.

 

 

Don’t be taken in

By the divine pulpiteer

That stands in his divine pulpit

And whom many cheer.

 

The clapping of hands,

And the peals of laughter

That in a relatively small church

Would lift its rafters.

 

Be wary, I reiterate,

Of the divine pulpit

Made divine by these pulpiteers

With their rhetoric.

 

Exacting from many

In their dire circumstances

Millions and millions of dollars

In extravagances.

 

All in aid of the church

And the gospel propagation

Supposedly reaching the lost

With needed salvation.

 

 

But living in opulence

And travelling first class,

Oblivious to the needs of others,

They get what they ask.

 

Only an exclusive few

Can fill their pulpits

And all that’s declared therefrom

Is Holy Writ.

 

Whether or not

This is really so

Is not of critical importance

Compared to the show.

 

Behind the divine pulpit

Is the self-made star

From whom his adoring subjects

His bodyguards bar.

 

Behold the divine pulpit

Where stands the divine!

Surely in the eyes of his subjects

And in their mind.

 

It really matters not

What the Word truly says,

The divine pulpit and its pulpiteer

Always hold sway.

 

 

 

Sir, we would see Jesus,

Hold the placard aloft

And be mindful only antichrists

Deny the cross.

 

I’d rather the cross

Than your divine pulpit

For in the Christ of that cross,

In heavenly places I sit.

 

Stewart Russell © March 24, 2025

 

Be More Specific

 

 

 

Be more specific,

Please make it clear!

I am clearly not understanding

That which I hear.

 

I am not that daft,

Just break it down a bit,

All I am asking you, my friend,

Please be more specific.

 

Be more specific

And I won’t have to guess,

Be straight-up as you speak

And help avoid a mess.

 

Rhetoric is all right

And has a rightful place

But your verbal wanderings

I am unable to trace.

 

 

So, be more specific

And bring me some clarity,

So that as you are demanding

I can reply appropriately.

 

For as it is right now

I am hopelessly oblivious

So, I beg you most respectfully,

Bring me into focus.

 

My oratorical skills

Are not quite that refined  

So be more specific, if you please,

If you’ve got the time.

 

Your subtle innuendo

Offsets me quite a bit

And all I am asking you, friend,

Please be more specific.

 

Stewart Russell © January 11, 2024

 

Too Dumb to be Impressed

 

 

 

Dumb, dumber and dumbest

I am too dumb to be impressed,

I feel a lot better now

I have got that off my chest.

 

But what do I really mean?

Is it that I am stupid?

Or is it directly related

To something that somebody did?

 

Not what somebody did

But more what somebody said

And I must admit here of late,

Much of what I have read.

 

Somebody says something

That goes right over my head

And I am too dumb to be impressed

At what that body said.

 

It sounds particularly insightful

But I just don’t get it,

Too dumb to be impressed

Is becoming a regular habit.

 

Like, “I was a former teacher.”

What does the person mean?

Has he returned to the profession?

Is this what I should glean?

 

What’s wrong with I was a teacher?

Does this lack impressiveness?

With the former I must confess

I was too dumb to be impressed.

 

Take these times we live in!

How far can $1500.00 go?

A long way responded one Minister

But how much does he know?

 

 

In any case, more than I do

And to that I can attest

For after listening to more like him

I am too dumb to be impressed.

 

I listen to the applause

That attends some politician’s remarks

And I am so dumb, I tell you,

I am often left in the dark.

 

A politician must be a magician

Given the tricks he so often does

With alluring words that flow like honey

Though only an incessant buzz.

 

I suffer diminishing returns

And I grow less bright each day

Wherefore too dumb to be impressed

Is what I often say.

 

Like a certain moderator

Who gets annoyed at a certain caller

That regularly calls about an issue

That is a serious bother.

 

“You call ‘bout that again?

Man, it’s time you let that rest.

You know how many listeners think

That that is foolishness?”

 

 

 

Small fish are raked over the coals

But big fish are forgiven their debts,

Back into the ocean they go

With little or no regrets.

 

Little impresses me these days

And I know it’s because I am dumb,

I have been missing the punch line

And these comics are no fun.

 

I speak of these politicians

And their political propagandists,

It is sometimes difficult to determine

Who is the ventriloquist.

 

No new taxes raised

But food prices are still climbing

But that’s no big thing for certain people

For it does not affect their dining.

 

This was the apparent reason

Why the unions decided to agree,

The tax stick was hanging overhead

For all of them to see.

 

All of this is dumbing me down

Making me more stupid than before,

Yes, too dumb to be impressed

And I can’t take much more.

 

 

 

Gasoline has gone up yet again,

I really wish it would stay down

And that 40c a litre we pay at the pump

Helps to make things brown.

 

I just picked up this one

And seriously, I cannot let it past

But I sincerely promise you

It will definitely be the last.

 

“If we don’t address this…

We will find ourselves in a serious position.”

From one member to the others

In a certain political opposition.

 

So, when politicians impress you

With all of their rhetoric

I am too dumb to be impressed

By any of their tricks.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2, 2023

 

Words Did It All

 

 

Many an argument was won

Yet, nothing was ever changed

And, if anything at all,

Only deck chairs were rearranged.

 

Same deck! Same chairs!

Though with guaranteed satisfaction!

But when the proverbial dust had settled

There was little or no action.

 

Like that no-change budget

That came ‘round ‘eighty-seven’,

Previous gains were radically eroded

But the no-change was like leaven.

 

No-change was just the term

To satisfy the uninformed

But no-change was a clever ruse

To bring back the old norm.

 

Yes! Words had done it all

And the people were satisfied

But alas! ‘Words’ was all it was;

The real purpose was denied.

 

My thoughts were once required

Regarding a Minister’s presentation,

“Bare talk!” I replied in sincerity;

That was my summation!

 

But given the Minister’s nature

She pressed me hard to explain

Upon which I suggested to her

We are at this point again.

 

 

The point of hearing words

And being emotionally carried away,

But concerning such implementation

We never see the light of day.

 

Back then I had been teaching

For twenty years plus four

And I had come to this very point

Often times before.

 

For many, ‘words’ does it all

Especially with the theatrics,

Yes! When these two are working well

The people are easily tricked.

 

Elections are platform based

‘Tis there that they are mostly won

With suave and romantic rhetoric!

‘Words’!  And the work is done!

 

Words and window dressing

Can go a very long way

Where promise is a fool’s comfort

Or any storm-swept day.

 

Integrity legislation is in place

But only in words, I perceive,

For with consecutive Governments,

Words are all we have received.

 

Just like so many promises

That prior to governing were made

But little or no action subsequently

To enact the necessary upgrade.

 

He is a sucker for punishment

Who gets suck in all the time

And who, time and time again,

Operates from a mindless mind.

 

Mindless, the opposite of mindful,

Is the nature of the mind, I mean

And who because of such mindlessness,

Acts out the very same scene.

 

It may be five years duration

Or just three years and one-half

When the five-year obligation was aborted

And it was on to a new draft.

 

Little was actually accomplished

Regarding the promised upgrade

But into Election Harbour we pulled

And that was only to set sail.

  

Armed with a Republic notion

And coupled with erudite words,

A fresh old mandate was exacted

Though to many it was absurd.

 

But the PM’s ways are past finding out

And higher than anyone’s thoughts

And her words are very soothing

Even to the very distraught.

 

 

There is power in our words

Though they actually get nothing done

But history has generally shown

It is talkers that have won.

 

Oh, that we could have some shakers,

To shake off the moral decline

And some true political movers

To move us back up this incline.

 

But alas, ‘tis words we put trust in

Constantly to our detriment,

And in light of poor track records

We summon good intent.

 

Good intent is but thoughts

Expressed in sugar coated words

That do nothing to ameliorate

The damage already incurred.

 

Finally, I draw to your intention

The implied irony of this theme

And the notion that words can do it all

Should die with the sleeper’s dream.

 

For it is a fool that sleeps

That believes his dream was real

And such is a fool that trusts in words

Even when such promises fail.

 

Stewart Russell © November 10, 2022

 

It’s A Matter of Mind

 

 

Mind before matter

Or matter before mind,

What does it really matter?

Asked a distorted mind.

 

After all, we are here

And that’s all that matters,

Down with the rhetoric

And the empty chatter!

 

If the matter on the mind

Were as simple as that,

We would be like the flies

Or the mosquitoes we zap.

 

But clearly, we are not

Since we are able to think,

Though like mosquitoes and flies

Some dare to sink.

 

 

There is an oft made expression

“It’s mind over matter”

Yet when we think of our origin

It is unscientific chatter.

 

We mindlessly declare

A Big Bang as first cause,

That is matter over mind

And matter gets the applause.

 

Matter begot matter

Through a Big Bang!

And upon this lack of science

Most of the world hangs.

 

Let’s examine this

And see where it leads,

Don’t use your mind first

Start with matter, please!

 

Here we have matter

Without any mind

But it is difficult to push on

No mind to incline.

 

No progressive thought

In fact, no thought at all,

Hence, mind first, I applaud

And matter first, I appall

 

What is interesting is…

That the mind thinks

And if it doesn’t act on matter

Then matter stinks.

 

No, it’s not an expletive

I simply mean decay,

That’s what happens to matter

If the mind has no say.

 

 

The laws of thermodynamics:

The law of entropy:

Without the mind

There is just depravity.

 

Any matter left on its own

Will deteriorate over time,

However, that deterioration slows

When acted on by the mind.

 

God is the preserver

Of all we see and know,

His is the supreme mind

That the entire universe shows.

 

This may be difficult

To conceptualize in the mind

But it is all that makes sense

Re the origin of matter, space and time.

 

Mind first then matter

Not matter then mind,

God is the creator of matter

And even space and time.

 

Science supports this

God is the first cause,

It’s mind before matter

God gets my applause!

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

Rhetoric and Reality

 

Aristotle: 384-322 BC 

Rhetoric and reality are not similar

I am sure you will agree

But we somehow confuse the two

And this rather frequently.

 

Reality is extremely observable

While rhetoric is not

Yet, we set more store by the latter

Than by what is truly our lot.

 

Rhetoric wins elections

And accomplishes great sales

While on the back end of the oration

Reality shows it has failed.

 

When reality requires an explanation

Rhetoric usually complies

And in its readily persuasive way

That reality it denies.

 

 

Rhetoric holds greatest prominence

In politics and the church,

Here you will find its staunchest adherents

And a multiplicity of so-called experts.

 

Rhetoric trumps reality

With the promise that things will change

And if that change does not come about

You must not think it strange.

 

It will come if you believe

Though often none can tell when,

It is just a matter of your believing

And it will happen right then.

 

Rhetoric is the reality

It is more dominant than the real

And fools do suffer intensely

Each time that rhetoric fails.

 

 

However, that does not really matter

Since a promise is comfort to a fool

And rhetoric is the best teacher

You would find in many a school.

 

Let me hastily conclude this matter

And I will end it on this note,

When it comes to rhetoric and reality

Rhetoric will capture most votes.

 

Stewart Russell © January 13, 2021