Offer Accepted Offer Rejected

 

 

It is not a life lived

But because of an offer accepted

And for all those who eventually perish

It would be an offer rejected.

 

The preacher, as he concluded his sermon,

Gave the following admonition to all,

That they would live in such a way that when death comes

They would have the hope of living eternally with God.

 

And while the preacher was sincere

In his admonition to the congregation

Something was missing from this counsel

And that is the Gospel of salvation.

 

Many are trying to enter heaven

On what they do and do not do

And if you are one of these such persons

I have some serious news for you.

 

No amount of good deeds or acts

Will get any one into heaven

It is only by the precious blood of Jesus

That the penitent is forgiven.

 

No amount of sacrifice or self-denial

Will qualify us for the Lamb’s book of life,

Such will not guarantee us a pass

Even if it makes us feel nice.

 

In the Gospel of John and chapter 3

Jesus makes it very plain,

Unless a person is born again

There is absolutely nothing to gain.

 

Nicodemus was living a quality life

Being a teacher of the Jews

But Jesus stuck his spiritual bubble

And ransacked his religious views.

 

Except a man be born again,

Please my reader, let me repeat,

His impeccable life will count for nothing

If heaven is the home he seeks.

 

And you could keep the ten commandments

Including the highlighted fourth,

If you have not been born again

All this would still be a spent force.

 

It comes right down to two responses

Whether you accept or reject

The offer that God has made to man

For in Jesus all God’s requirements are met.

 

Our fruit is not a requirement,

Certainly not for our redemption

But for the critics and pundits looking on,

It is the evidence of salvation.

 

Jesus could not be the only way of salvation

If there was some other way,

Such would be a distortion of sorts

Like there is no black or white, just grey.

 

Accept God’s offer of salvation!

Jesus the way, the truth and the life,

In the final analysis this is all that counts

Even in the midst of all earth’s strife.

 

To accept God’s offer is to accept life

To reject is to reject the Lord Christ,

Thus, there remains no hope in the latter case

Having spurned God’s sacrifice.

 

Stewart Russell © February 10, 2021

 

Cotton Candy Christianity

 

 

Cotton Candy Christianity

Sweet to the taste

But what is the nutritive value?

It’s more like a waste.

 

What sustaining value?

None I can see

And what’s worse I will tell you

Is its devilry.

 

It is worldly tastes

Accepted by the church

And calculated not to stand out

Appearing like a jerk.

 

Jump-up and revelry

In the name of Christ

But pretty much indistinguishable

From worldly vice.

 

 

The lyrics giving way

To loud accompaniment

Unable to make proper meaning

In the merriment.

 

Capturing attention

And drawing a following

Who without careful examination

Are simply swallowing.

 

Bigging up the pulpit

And the platform,

Less counting those in the pew

Is now the norm.

 

 

Like sponges they come

With cups turned up

But by the time they leave church

Theirs is an empty cup.

 

They dance and shout

And take over the aisle

And are taken on a spiritual high

By hype and guile.

 

The preacher is hot

Like a raging fire

And the congregation rates him

Worthy of hire.

 

 

Cotton candy sweet,

With delicious corn curls!

A spiritual sugar spike is evident

With head in a whirl.

 

Boy, wasn’t he hot

But what did he say?

Girl, I really can’t remember now

But he had his way.

 

He shared a text

And he closed the Word

And then he spoke unlike any

I’ve ever heard.

 

Many were slain,

Others spoke in tongues

And the evidence of the Holy Spirit

Was all around.

 

Not much about Jesus

Or the glorious gospel

But mostly about the good time

When the Spirit fell.

 

 

Cotton candy Christians

Along for the ride

But who from serious Bible study

Prefer to hide.

 

No depth in the Word

But quite an experience,

Much emotional hype and feeling

Form their content.

 

I end with a caution

To dig into God’s Word

And whatever answers you seek

To His Word defer.

 

Stewart Russell © August 17, 2025

Who Is Out of Step?

 

 

Who is out of step?

The Word or the World?

To many it is the former:

The outmoded Word.

 

To confess to something

Is to denounce something else

To commit to Christ Jesus

Is to denounce self.

 

The post-modern preacher

Is obsessed with being relevant

The scriptures must be retrofitted

To lure the unrepentant.

 

It is therefore necessary

To make the Scriptures come alive

And make the Bible relevant

If the church is going thrive.

 

The Word is out of step

And so too is the Church

And while the Bible is unappealing

The world has the experts.

 

The church’s predicament

Is caused by an advancing World

And its old fashion ideologies

Are now considered absurd.

 

They worked well for a time

But before the enlightenment,

Now the World’s eyes are opened

They are more resistant.

 

 

Who is out of step?

Clearly it must be the Word

With its archaic and ancient views

One is forced to concur.

 

Given all that went before

The Word will have to be adaptive

If to an enlightened World

It wants to be attractive.

 

No wonder it is being diluted

By the softening of its decrees

By many who should know better

Possessing academic degrees.

 

For every possible vice

Some leeway is found in the Word

To legitimize that specific practice,

Kudos to the World!

 

Now the distinction is indistinct

Re the church and society

The two have become one

And that’s an unholy disunity.

 

The church is out of step

And so too is the World

And what hope there was for the latter

Is by the former obscured.

 

Obscured by stark compromise

Due to scholastic intimidation:

“The fool has said in his heart…”

Therein lies the biblical injunction.

 

 

No need to make the Word relevant

It has been so for every age,

No one has to make it come alive

It produces life at every stage.

 

Counter to the initial folly

One is dead without the Word,

If you can show me a dead that is alive

Then kudos to the World!

 

Stewart Russell © November 15, 2021

 

What a Mix Up!

 

 

I heard something recently

I believe was meant to confuse,

It was about the Gospel message

I was not at all amused.

 

Christ is the heart of the Gospel

That, I was made to understand,

Now, I am hearing something different

That’s not in accordance with this plan.

 

There seems to be some mix-up

Based on what I have been hearing,

This might not be clear to some

And that is what I am fearing.

 

 

“The Gospel is not about Jesus”

Yes, that came out just right,

Please do not ask me to repeat it

It is a colossal lost of sight.

 

But the preacher did not stop there

He had a little more to add

And, what he added, I must add

Was enough to make one sad.

 

“The Gospel is about the kingdom,” he said,

It is not about Jesus Christ,

It’s the Good News about the kingdom

Hence, why Jesus was sacrificed.

 

 

As a matter of fact, the preacher said

That Jesus did not really die,

The Greek meant something different

As if to dare anyone to defy.

 

I know very little Greek, I must admit

So on that basis I cannot argue

But, he said the word means to expire

And this was strike mix-up number two.

 

Die and expire mean the same

That is how it seems to me,

And particularly so in this context,

I have no doubt you can see.

  

  

Christ and the kingdom are the same

He is and represents the kingdom,

Salvation can be found in none other

Jesus was and is and is to come.

 

This preacher made light of the cross

And also the shed blood of Jesus Christ,

Treat to the problem the person has, he said,

And then born again would suffice.

 

These spiritual idiosyncrasies

Are like the foxes that spoil the grapes,

Depending on who the preacher is

They can be seen as the devil’s bait.

 

Be aware there are other gospels

That are not the Gospel at all

But if the preacher has a lot of clout,

Because of his influence, many will fall.

 

 

His name shall be called Jesus

For he shall save his people from their sin,

Anything short of this Gospel fact

Relates to a light that is misguidedly dim.

 

Stewart Russell © December 2019

 

The Altar Call

 

I remember while growing up

There was the altar call,

It is not as prominent these days

To my mind it has taken a fall.

At the end of the message

There would be an invitational song,

Back then they were very ardent

And that invitation would be long.

It would begin with the preacher

Followed by the song leader

And if that were not enough,

A plea would be made by the pastor.

Older members would leave their seats

And would go and grab a youth

And would march him up to the altar,

Trust me, I am telling the truth.

It was like the only way to be saved

Was by kneeling at the altar rail,

Not at home by your bedside,

That and all other places would fail.

  

Fashioned after Billy Graham

That prolific evangelist,

You did not want to leave the church

And that invitation opportunity miss.

At the altar were all types:

The frightened ones and the emotional,

The forced ones and the imitators

Even the I don’t know why people.

I once heard a pastor say,

Be careful what you say down here.

Everybody is not coming for what you think

So, when you open your mouth, beware!

A word to the wise is sufficient

I will leave you to ruminate on that,

All kinds of people would go to the altar

But salvation was not always the fact.

Whether all were saved I could not tell,

That is way outside of my purview,

An individual would have to tell for himself

Hence, I could not know for you.

What I do know that I can tell

Is that true salvation is evidentiary,

For once the Holy Spirit indwells a heart

A changed life is the reality.

The altar at which the sacrifice occurs

Is the altar of one’s heart,

That’s where the penitent dies to sin,

That is where salvation starts.

It’s not the rail at the front of a church

Or even kneeling beneath a cross

But the sincere cry from a sinner’s heart

That recognizes he is lost.

He could be anywhere, as a matter of fact,

When by the Spirit he is arrested,

That for him is his altar call

And the offer in which many have invested.

A poem or song on the Internet

Could be the means of your altar call,

I would suggest, should this happen to you,

Positively respond, no longer stall.

Right there you can find the Saviour,

The Shepherd who is calling to you,

Right then you can find sweet communion

I have found it and so can you.

Stewart Russell © April 2020

What A Mix-Up!

I heard something recently

I believe was meant to confuse,

It was about the Gospel message

I was not at all amused.

Christ is the heart of the Gospel

That, I was made to understand,

Now, I am hearing something different

That’s not in accordance with this plan.

There seems to be some mix-up

Based on what I have been hearing,

This might not be clear to some

And that is what I am fearing.

“The Gospel is not about Jesus”

Yes, that came out just right,

Please do not ask me to repeat it

It is a colossal loss of sight.

But the preacher did not stop there

He had a little more to add

And, what he added, I must add

Was enough to make one sad.

“The Gospel is about the kingdom,” he said,

It is not about Jesus Christ,

It’s the Good News about the kingdom

Hence, why Jesus was sacrificed.

As a matter of fact, the preacher said

That Jesus did not really die,

The Greek meant something different

As if to dare anyone to deny.

I know very little Greek, I must admit,

So on that basis, I cannot argue

But, he said the word means to expire

And this was strike mix-up number two.

Die and expire mean the same

That is how it seems to me,

And particularly so in this context,

I have no doubt you can see.

  

Christ and the kingdom are the same,

He is and represents the kingdom,

Salvation can be found in none other

Jesus was and is and is to come.

This preacher made light of the cross

And also the shed blood of Jesus Christ,

Treat to the problem the person has, he said,

And then born again would suffice.

These spiritual idiosyncrasies

Are like the foxes that spoil the vine,

Depending on who the preacher is

Some will eagerly fall in behind.

Be aware there are other gospels

That are not the Gospel at all

But if the preacher has a lot of clout,

Because of his influence, many will fall.

His name shall be called Jesus

For he shall save his people from their sin,

Anything short of this Gospel fact

Relates to a light that is misguidedly dim.

Stewart Russell © December 2019