Surreal

Is it happening to you?

Well, it’s happening to me,

Stay with me a while

And what I mean, you will see.

Life has become a dream

Well, more like a nightmare,

It is likely to get worse

And this is what I fear.

If back in October 2019

Someone had predicted this,

I would have accused that person

Of being a societal risk.

But now it is a reality

Though not a desirable deal,

Whether dream or nightmare,

It is in fact surreal.

Surreal is not a dream

But something that is real,

Just like all we are experiencing;

This is the real deal.

Tell me the number of times

That you have pinched yourself,

Even at times wondering,

Am I in the best of health?

It is indeed surreal

The times we are living in

And we wonder incessantly

What the next day will bring.

It has not been like this

For more than a hundred years

And even on that occasion

It was not a global affair.

  

Back then it was localized

Nothing like the present,

In this, the twenty-first century

Is an unprecedented event.

Scarcely a country is untouched

Neither the little nor great

And in fact, the bigger countries

Appear in a sorrier state.

Take the US of A for example

With what they are going through,

I thought they would lead the way

But they don’t have a clue.

And the UK as well

Their numbers are in the air

And in many cases like the US

Some still don’t seem to care.

The Caribbean is doing well

Compared to the wider world,

Contact tracing is working for us

While in the US it never occurred.

Some considered it a waste of time

But by then maybe it was,

Too many were then infected

And vaccine became the buzz.

There is something strange,

I can’t put my finger on it

But I am going to leave it at surreal

And with that I will quit.

Yea, but this is really surreal

A dream, no, more like a nightmare,

And I tell you, paranoid or not,

Some people are very scared.

Surreal is so real

Not a dream or nightmare but surreal.

Stewart Russell © May 2020

Nothing to Tell Us How Near

When the end is, I do not know

Though some seem to know the time,

Times predicted have passed and gone

But that doesn’t change their mind.

Still bent on predicting the time

They just continue to adjust the date

And use the news in today’s tabloids

To vindicate themselves here of late.

With eyes set on the Middle East

They determine that Israel is the key,

Therefore, whatever Israel does is critical

And they are convinced this is no maybe.

Oblivious to what Jesus had said

They continue to unashamedly predict,

“No man knows the day or the hour”

But in these times, that no longer fits.

Jesus was referring to way back then

That was just before his departure,

But with the signs around us everywhere

We have a much clearer picture.

Knowledge is definitely on the increase

And people are moving to and fro,

President Trump is a modern day Cyrus

These are signs the Bible shows.

There is increasing wickedness

Abominations are definitely on the rise,

And the Antichrist is probably here

But for the moment he’s in disguise.

Nature is certainly acting up

And there are phenomena in the heavens

And we were told to keep looking up

When these things begin to happen.

Israel that is likened to the fig tree,

Attained its nationhood in 1948

And this event had been used

To calculate a very probable date.

 

This generation shall not pass said Jesus

In reference to this fig tree event

And since a generation is forty years

1988 became their extent.

And when that did not come to pass

To a generation was added more years,

From forty to sixty to one hundred

And all like now, Christ has not appeared.

Other dates go much further back

When will people begin to learn?

“No man knows the day or the hour”

And that is what Jesus affirmed.

 Jesus said, “the day or the hour”

But we can know the season or year,

If we align Bible prophecy with today’s events

We can tell the year he will appear.

Our view was shaped in light of the Word

But now, that is rearranged,

With the advent of CNN, Fox News and others

There has been a needed change.

When you are studying Bible prophecy

Ensure that to one of the above you are tuned,

The international news and the daily tabloids

Confirm that Jesus is coming soon.

Another case of the cart before the horse

As we continue to get the order wrong,

God’s word first, all others follow

But I guess we have become headstrong.

I am not making light of Christ’s return

I would be a fool to do such,

But these failing prophecies and their prophets

Are really becoming too much.

It is critical, yes, to be ready

And in view of that, to be prepared,

And while the coming of the Lord is inevitable

There is nothing to tell us how near.

Stewart Russell © October 2019