Just Musing 1

 

 

If the door is open

And the door is ajar,

Then tell me how far is near

Before near is far?

 

It is a fair question

In the preceding verse,

Though it mightn’t seem so

Seeing it at first.

 

There is a thin line

Between near and far

And it may very well be so

When the door is ajar.

 

Tick-tock goes the clock

But I only hear tick,

Or, maybe it is tock I hear:

There must be a trick.

 

Outsmarted by a clock

From in nursery school

But now something tells me

I’m not the only fool.

 

Up is directional

And so too is down

So, if I am neither up nor down,

Then I must be around.

 

 

A circle has no centre

If I cannot see one

But if there was, tell me,

Where has it gone?

 

Has it disappeared

After causing the circle?

Maybe it was feeling lonely

Just like some people.

 

It’s naturally unnatural

Sounds really great

But what in tarnation "it" is?

What is "its" state?

 

  Natural yet unnatural

What can it be?

I haven’t the foggiest idea;

Show it to me.

 

 

Trump trumped Kamala

And now he is trumpeting,

That makes him a trumpeter:

His own trumpet blowing.

 

Some are nitpicking

And some are picnicking

Quite a few are panicking

And already itching.

 

She is a distant cousin

Yet she lives next door,

How that can be is my query;

Tell me some more.

 

I’m sure you’ve heard

Of cousins removed,

Nothing to do with proximity:

Just family approved.

 

If only Kamala had won

Trump would have been done

And America would get run

The way it was run.

 

 

That’s a one-sided view

If you are a Democrat

But expect faithful Republicans

To hit back.

 

If Trump had not won

America would have lost

Since under the Democrats’ reign

Was spiraling costs.

 

Two opposing views

I’m hearing here of late

Ever since the recent election

In the United States.

 

 

Uppity and Crotchety

Are Siamese twins

Having similar characteristics

As in kith and kin.

 

 

One is overbearing

The other underwhelming

And when they are together

It’s not entertaining.

 

Depressing more likely

And quite quarrelsome:

One has all of whatever there is

And the other has none.

 

My musing is over

Your abusing has begun,

If you have read this much

I have won.

 

Stewart Russell © November 9, 2024

 

Impeached but Exonerated

 

 

Impeached but exonerated

And I am not talking about Trump,

He would have to deal with that

On his own account.

 

I am talking about me

And what I have been through

And you who are reading this,

What you’ve been through too.

 

I was impeached and found guilty

Simply because I was born,

Most would find that unusual

Because it’s not the norm.

 

What is the crime in being born

Would be the question to ask,

If Adam and Eve were alive

I would give them that task.

 

However, since they are not

I will point you to God’s Word

Even though something tells me

You have already heard.

 

Let us ask the Psalmist

And we will see what he says,

Shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin

That’s how it was way back in the day.

 

So, we were born into sin

That, my friend is the norm,

Consequently, one is counted a sinner

From the very day he is born.

 

Hence the first part of the theme

Impeached from my birth,

Yes, I was impeached

Before I even set foot on the earth.

 

But it doesn’t end there

And I truly thank God for this

And so, I come to the part

That I don’t want you to miss.

 

So as in Adam every man sinned

In Christ every man can access pardon,

Yes! Exonerated in Christ Jesus

Ever since I’ve been forgiven.

 

 

Impeached on Adam’s account

But exonerated through Jesus Christ

Not on any merit of my own

But because of Christ’s sacrifice…

 

When on that first Good Friday

When before the heavenly court

He shouted “Father forgive them!”

Therein is my support.

 

Now being one of the “whosoever”

That believes in Jesus Christ,

I am exonerated through the blood

That will always suffice.

 

Impeached because of Adam

Exonerated in Christ,

If the same can be said about you

I would think that’s quite nice.

 

Stewart Russell © January 25, 2021

 

Most Controversial Ever

 

Not Wendell McClean

Or Eric Sealy,

Some may say Caswell Franklyn

Of more recency.

 

Maybe some world figure

Like Donald Trump

Or someone long ago interred

Or in a cemetery dumped.

 

Pardon the word ‘dumped’

But some have been treated thus;

Dumped in an unknown hole

Without any fuss.

 

Controversial is seen

As a very negative thing,

In terms of the political playing field

It is whichever wing.

 

The hard-fought for freedoms

Versus the hierarchy,

In the not too distant past,

Slaves versus the plantocracy.

 

 

 

A very assertive slave

Was seen as controversial by most

And by Massa in particular

As an adversarial force.

 

So that controversial

Means adversarial for some
And often it is the controversial ones

For which the authority guns.

 

 

Take for example, Caswell,

Who is clearly left-wing,

Refusing to conform to authority

And doing his own thing.

 

Opposing the Government

And vexing many people

Especially those of a partisan spirit

And BLP gullible.

 

A Government that fixes

What it unfixed

In a way to convince the people

It was never fixed.

 

That behaves as though

There was none before them

Except of course, to blame predecessors

For the current problem.

 

The unions swallowed up

With the exception of only one

And all of Mia’s blinded adherents

Wishing that too were gone.

 

 

So that to date any oppose

Is seen as controversial

And in the case of Caswell Franklyn,

He is also adversarial.

 

To be avoided like a plague

That will destroy this country, Bim,

And consign it, as some believe,

To the IMF stuff bin.

 

In the absence of controversy

People see only one way

And become like puppets on a string,

Dumb as dried hay.

 

However, Caswell is not

The most controversial person ever,

No, that distinction, I dare say,

I reserve for another.

 

He was controversial

Before he spoke a word,

I know to yourself you are shouting,

“That is most absurd!”

 

 

And it would have been

Were it not a fact

That the very promise his Father gave

A certain king tried to retract.

 

And he came to give to man

God’s utmost for man;

Namely, that of reconciliation

In His redemptive plan.

 

You see, my friend,

Controversy can be good or bad,

The most controversial person ever

Has made me glad.

 

He came to his own

And his own received him not,

I thank Almighty God today

I am not in that lot.

 

It was not without reluctance

But mine he finally overcame

And today I am a born-again believer

In Jesus’ name.

 

It is not Caswell Franklyn;

That designation must go to another,

It is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,

The most controversial ever.

 

 

What the authority demanded

Jesus opposed

For their way was the wrong way

Not right, as they proposed.

 

Finally, they exchanged him

For their worst enemy,

Caesar, of all people,

What ignominy!

 

“We have no king but Caesar”

Was their cry

And with that pleaded with Pilate

That Jesus must die.

 

If it is controversial

To fight for the good of others,

Then let us emulate Jesus

And be his follower.

 

Stewart Russell © September 30, 2023

Antichrist: Person, Ideology or Both?

 

 

Who or what I ask,

Is it one or the other?

Who or what I ask again,

Why should this be a bother?

 

In these times that we live in

Some believe he is near,

And given the signs around

Antichrist must soon appear.

 

There are a number of views

Pertaining to his ID

And many were given his designation

At different points of history.

 

Adolf Hitler was one of these

So was Mussolini,

Kissinger and Obama in the mix

And Trump of most recency.

 

The Pope is also advanced

Because of his perceived power,

Bill Gates has had a mention

Changes are rung in by the hour.

 

 

The error that we make

Is by not consulting God’s Word,

The information is given there

And now to that I refer.

 

Four passages are given therein,

All are found in the epistles of John,

Search the Bible throughout

And you won’t find another one.

 

The first is at 1^st John 2:18

Then, there were many antichrists,

Something important was drawing near

And not all of it was going to be nice.

 

The second gives us the definition

Locate it at 1^st John 2:22,

Go there and note what it says

And let this shape your view.

 

 

Anyone that denies Jesus is the Christ,

The same is a liar

And he that denies the Father and the Son,

The same is antichrist.

 

In the Apostle John’s time

The spirit of antichrist already existed,

Such denied the humanity of Jesus

And his message stoutly resisted.

 

1^st John 4:3 substantiates this:

That antichrist is a spirit-

The non-confession of Christ in the flesh

Is its declared edict.

 

The fourth and final instance

Is at 2^nd John chapter 1 verse 7:

Who confesses not Jesus is come in the flesh

Is a deceiver and antichrist.

 

Who confesses not “Jesus is come in the flesh,”

Located at 2^nd John and verse 7,

The same is a deceiver and antichrist-

Go there and see what is written.

 

 

Antichrist is defined as any person

Or any spirit or any ideology

That does not believe in Christ

Regarding his divinity and humanity.

 

The Scribes and Pharisees

Were the premiere antichrists,

Coupled with the Gnostics and Priests:

These constantly opposed the Christ.

 

It is therefore clear to me

According to the letters of John

That the obsessive adherence to Judaism

Was where these leaders had gone.

 

Thus, when the people turned away

They were particularly angered

And used the Roman authorities

To crucified the Christ.

 

 

“We have no king but Caesar!"

"Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

So that in opposition to the early church

Antichrists was the premiere problem.

 

They colluded with the Romans

And eventually suffered at their hands,

In their antichrist posturing

They tried to negate God’s plan.

 

The plan of salvation first to the Jews

And then to all the other nations,

The thriving ecclesia we call the church

Carrying out the great commission.

 

Both the Jews and the Gentiles

Working side by side

In the God-given mission of evangelizing

As the Spirit transforms the defiled.

 

 

So, in all eras ever since Pentecost

Antichrists have always existed,

No less prominent in this our time

Than when they first resisted.

 

Don’t look for antichrists in names

Like prominent leaders in the Nations,

But look for antichrists in ideologies

Even in our religious congregations.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

How Do You Know?

 

 

How do you know for sure?

But you took a side

And you argued vehemently

That the other person lied.

 

You stuck your neck out

And put your head to the block

That one was telling the truth

And the other was not.

 

And your contention was

You heard it on the news

And there was lots of evidence

Given all the reviews.

 

 

Your news source was reliable

But the other source was not,

Yours came via CNN

And theirs came from Fox.

 

Not to mention YouTube channel

Where there were lots of hits,

So, there is no possible way

Your news could have been fixed.

 

People don’t like your choice

And want to pull him down

But the real truth is

The other candidate is a clown.

 

But how do you know for sure

Which one is telling the truth?

As far as I can see

Neither of you has any proof.

 

 

You live here in Barbados,

You don’t live overseas

But you are going at each other

Like two uninformed lackeys.

 

What about the local situation?

This should be within your scope

But even in this case

This is like “Murder She Wrote”.

 

None of us is really sure

 Concerning what to believe,

What we think is the truth

Might be an attempt to deceive.

 

Let us not become enemies

Because of one’s political choice

But in the interests of our country

Let us speak with one voice.

 

One voice concerning justice

One voice concerning equal rights,

One voice concerning God’s Word

And doing so with all our might.

 

 

One truth of which we can be sure

Is the infallible Word of God,

Around it we can rally

With no chance of being defraud.

 

So, be it Trump or Biden

Be it our Government or Opposition,

At the end of the day let’s remember

We are all in this position.

 

Trapped by our leaders’ decisions

Let’s earnestly pray for them

And trust that they look to God

To help resolve our problems.

 

That they remember their oath

When they stood before the G.G.

And promised to do their best

And to act responsibly.

 

That they understand servanthood

That the people are their boss

And they will have to give an account

For whatever is gained or lost.

 

And that five years is not forever

Even if they tend to forget,

And that the next scheduled elections

Could be the cause of much regret.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2020