What If

 

 

What if I end up in hell

Because I got it wrong,

Numbered among the “never saved”:

Though strong but wrong?

 

What if on my own merit

I listed all I would’ve done

Only to hear the words, “depart from me”

After life’s race I had run?

 

What if given my status

Especially in some church,

I was called a worker of iniquity

And left in the lurch?

 

What if lesser mortals

Made it into heaven

And hell became my reward though

I believed I was forgiven?

 

 

 

What if as a Christian

I did all that was required

But on that great judgment day

I ended up in hell’s fire?

 

What defense have I

In heaven’s court of law

Or on what human legal experience

Could I then draw?

 

Did you not realize

These are all questions?

Have you ever given thought to such

In any form or fashion?

 

Do we have a right

To God’s mercy and grace?

Is there merit in any one of us-

Even a tiny trace?

 

 

 

If your answer is yes

Then you do have a right

But how would such stand up

In light of the Light?

 

Not well, I would imagine,

Given our sin nature

For regarding who by nature we are,

There’s a bigger picture.

 

That picture, my friend,

Is Yahweh:

The one that sees all, knows all

And has the final say.

 

No merit of heaven

But justly deserving hell

And God would still be justified

Even if no warning bell.

 

All of this is to say

We’re all without merit,

Regardless of status or ethnicity

Hell is our exit.

 

A delight in the Law

Is not a delight in the Lord

So, ‘tis only by God’s grace and mercy

And faith in His word.

 

My just dessert, I repeat,

Is a burning hell

And my argument based on the Law

Is a sure death knell.

 

“I never knew you”

Wasn’t said to the saved

But to those who highlighted works

And not morally depraved.

 

Not to the born-again,

Were these dreaded words said

But to the self-righteous Pharisees,

Who were spiritually dead.

 

 

 

What if you keep the law

But do not know the Christ,

You will wake up in hell, I tell you!

Your good will not suffice.

 

The Law cannot save,

It was never meant to

But to point us to the one who can

And that one is Truth.

 

Stewart Russell © August 5, 2025

 

Nobody Dies Tomorrow

What if tomorrow

You should hear I am dead

Don’t bother to cry

Don’t worry your head.

Nobody dies tomorrow

Everybody dies today,

I don’t mean to be funny

Just let me have my say.

Tomorrow never comes

Everything happens today,

You may not believe me

But it was always this way.

No doubt you are thinking

That I have lost my mind

But think a little more and see

It has been so all the time.

Don’t worry about tomorrow

That’s counsel true and wise,

Tomorrow will take care of itself

That’s what the Bible advised.

Check St Luke 12 verse 22

It’s really about tomorrow,

Check it out carefully

It’s good advice to follow.

So if I should die tomorrow

That’s really improbable

But regarding this very day

That is very possible.

I find it particularly amazing

The unpredictability of life

And even more so these days

With its increasing strife.

Let not tomorrow be a worry

Concentrate on today

For the time that you will die

Will always be today.

  

So if you should suddenly hear

That I am dead tomorrow,

Such would be a news item

Too huge to even swallow.

I can’t claim immortality

This is not my intent

But right now I am alive

And it’s today on which I am bent.

Nobody dies tomorrow

Everybody dies today,

You can’t cry for me tomorrow

Life doesn’t operate that way.

Stewart Russell © April 2019

Que Sera Sera

What will be will be

It must be so,

What must be must be

Who are we to know?

It is its own evidence

It’s a historic fact

And that the fact occurred

We can’t change that

But “what-if” so an so

Is good for argument

But “what-if” did not occur

“What-if” is no event.

If “what-if” could happen

History would change

And most of what we know

We would rearrange.

I would go and undo

The things I have done

And my race would differ

From the one I have run.

A loved one that’s passed

I would bring back

And by using a “what-if”

That would be a fact.

But that can’t happen

For what will be will be,

Thank God Almighty

The future we cannot see.

For had we seen the future

What would we have done?

We would run the same

As we have run.

Prophecy changes nothing

It just states the fact,

The future becomes history

And we can’t change that.

  

What will be will be

Why can’t we see that?

The future must happen

History records that fact.

But the consolation is

We cannot see the future,

None but God does;

He sees the entire picture.

His Word admonishes

That we make the choice

Of taking Jesus as Saviour

And listening to his voice.

Some things will happen

The Bible is clear

But the born again child of God

Has no need to fear.

For prophecy is history

That is written down,

God doesn’t make it happen

It will come around.

The last verse is critical

Please understand

God does not do evil,

The future is not His plan.

Look the Bible through

And you will see

God has always countered evil

As shown in history.

What will be will be

That is very true

But you still have a choice:

There is something you can do.

It’s a choice for eternal life

And you can do it today,

Take Jesus as your Saviour

And follow in his way.

For you can’t change the future-

That you cannot do,

But if you take Jesus

God will change you.

What will be will be

Need not concern me,

I have taken Jesus as Saviour

And he is my destiny.

Stewart Russell © October 2018

“What If?”

 

What if we actually evolved

And something out of nothing came

No God and no Creator

And Genesis account is just lame?

What if the atheist is right

And the theist befuddled and confused

Holding on to a fairy tail

An idea just hatched to amuse?

What if the world as it is

Took billions of years to grow

And science can really prove

What evolutionists claim to know?

What if this Christian thing

Is really the world’s biggest hoax

Created to deceive the simple

And provide an abundance of jokes?

What if the so-called Bible

Was concocted by a devious mind

To give comfort to the unlearned

And offer satisfaction to the mentally blind?

What if eternity is a ruse

And there is no heaven and no hell

No Father, Son or Holy Spirit

And no devil ever from heaven fell?

What if there is no after life

And all who die just returned to dust?

O what a funereal waste

Of finance, elaborate trappings and fuss!

But…

What if nothing was something

And that something was somebody

Someone we experience and feel?

Someone who existed from eternity?

So... 

What if we live our best

Then discover nothing beyond this life?

Would we regret the life we lived

And wish we had sojourned here in strife?

Would it not have been good

To have spent our time in godly living,

With no foreseeable reward

But the satisfaction that comes from giving?

But…

What if these “what ifs”

Are simply Satan’s ways of deception

And ways of expressing regret

At having been extradited from heaven?

What if he could have a chance

Just to make heaven his eternal home

Would he not make all haste

And bow before God’s eternal throne?

What if in truth he was there,

And fouled up big time through greed,

And now trying his best to block

You and me with expeditious speed?

What if in a moment of honesty,

Satan for once could tell the truth

Would he not ashamedly confess

The fact he exists is our adequate proof?

What if Jesus is the Word

And created everything that was made,

Of time, matter, energy and space,

And the foundation of the earth He laid?

What if the Bible is true

And you are rejecting God’s word?

What if you end up in hell

Despite the Gospel messages you heard?

Seriously though…

What if time is running out

While you consider all these “what ifs”?

What if some sudden tragedy

Concludes the opportunities you have missed?

Oh, you would look back in dismay,

“What if I had answered the Gospel call?”

But “what if” would be to no avail,

The wrong “what ifs” had caused you to stall.

It would be better looking back to ask,

What if I had not given my life to Christ?

For I would have been without a hope,

Not settling the debt of sin’s dreaded price.

So…

Order these “what ifs” aright!

The wrong ones promise an awful fright.

Hell instead of heaven, what a horrid sight!

This poem’s another chance to escape sin’s plight.

What if too late becomes your cry?

What if you continue Christ’s love to spurn?

No opportunities remain after you die,

For beyond death there is no point of return.

What if his coming were to light the sky?

“What if” would be futile in such circumstance.

For if you had not known the Christ,

What if could not afford you another chance.

What if after hearing this poem,

You should be left at His glorious coming?

You would have only yourself to blame

Having not responded to the Fathers offering.

Yes…

What if God is the Creator?

What if out of him everything came?

What if His Son is the only Saviour

And one needs to be saved in his name?

Then a word to the wise is sufficient.

What if you could know the Savior today?

He’d be your friend right up to the end

And all your “what ifs” he’ll wipe away.

Stewart Russell © 2014