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

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

 

The Message Leaders Forget

 

 

Before church leaders

Some parishioners genuflect,

Here’s a message for such leaders

That tend to forget.

 

Revelation 19:10

 

And I fell at his feet

To worship him.

And he said unto me,

See thou do it not:

 

I am thy fellow-servant,

And of thy brethren

That have the testimony of Jesus:

Worship God:

 

For the testimony of Jesus

Is the Spirit of prophecy.

 

 

There is only one

That is worthy of worship,

‘Worship and serve God only’

Is the Bible’s edict.

 

Herod learnt the hard way

When they called him a god,

He accepted the people’s worship

And he died a fraud.

 

God’s glory, the Bible says,

He will not share with another

But the elevation of some pastors

Has become a bother.

 

They appear unfamiliar

With the judgment of Herod

And still strive to stand in the place

He once stood.

 

Their fall will be great

If they too do not repent

And adhere to the divine message

That Herod was sent.

 

 

“And I fell at his feet

To worship him”

Pastors, please point out to them

That this is a sin.

 

“See that you do it not”

Pastors are fellow-servants,

And just like you and me,

They need to repent.

 

If you see men like trees

Having your vision impaired,

Another touch from the Healer

Will make you see clear.

 

No more holy the pulpit

Than a congregant’s pew,

That minister is a fellow-servant

Just like me and you.

 

Beware of those apostles

And of those prophets too,

That befuddle their congregations

As in voodoo.

 

History is replete

With leaders going astray

And leading their blind followers

In destruction’s way.

 

 

Worship God

Is every believer’s duty

For the testimony of Jesus

Is the Spirit of prophecy.

 

And you church leaders:

Stay in your zone,

Accept none of the proffered glory

It is God’s alone. 

Acts 14:15

 

And saying, Sirs,

Why do ye these things?

We also are men of like passions with you,

And preach unto you

That ye should turn from these vanities

Unto the living God,

Which made heaven,

And earth, and the sea,

And all things that are therein.

 

A message to the pew

Regarding the pulpit:

They are men just like you and me

Wherever they sit.

 

A message to the pulpit

Regarding the pew:

Accept that the only difference

Is in your elevated view.

 

Stewart Russell © May 4, 2025