And God Said…

 

 

And God said:

Eight times followed by ‘let’,

Go to Genesis chapter 1 and see

If you’ve not done so yet.

 

From “Let there be light”

To “Let us make man”

Seven commands you will find

In His creation plan.

 

The seventh, however,

Was not a command,

Rather, God made the decision

To create man.

 

“Let us make man”

He was the crowning piece

Whereupon on the sixth day,

God’s creating ceased.

 

Seven times He spoke

Creation into being

However, on the eighth occasion

God did the forming.

 

 

 

Formed from the dust

And quickened by breath,

God offered to him eternal life

But man chose death.

 

And God said,

Ought to be the key

But Satan entered another

Rather craftily.

 

“Hath God said?”

Satan had countered

Which discombobulated Eve

And she floundered.

 

Floundered and fell

Ignoring what God said

And the moment they disobeyed

They both were dead.

 

“Hath God said?”

Only once in the Word,

Adam and Eve were diverted;

How absurd!

 

From “And God said,”

To Satan’s “Hath God said?”

To Eve’s erroneous “God hath said,”

The lie was fed.

 

God’s word was altered

By both Satan and Eve

To the extent she disobeyed God

Having been deceived.

 

Thus, many today

Are emulating Eve

And not heeding what God said,

Are being deceived.

 

Neglecting His Word

They are led astray

Or in the words of a famous song,

They do it their way.

 

 

 

What God has said

Is where we ought to be

And so, I reiterate as I conclude,

God’s word is key.

 

Let the Word of God

Dwell in each of us;

The Word that was personified

In His Son, Jesus.

 

Stewart Russell © October 24, 2025

 

Forget Your Problems

 

 

Forget your problems!

Who can do that?

How is that possible, I ask,

Give me the facts.

 

I heard this at church

Just recently

But I’ve heard it in the past

Fairly frequently.

 

Forget your problems!

Who does that?

Tell me of anyone you know;

Let’s have a chat.

 

Try to forget a problem

And it comes to the fore

Thus, rather than forgetting,

You recall it more.

 

Problems, it’s suggested,

Hinder free worship

And forgetting our problems

Does the trick.

 

And “trick” it must be

Because it is not factual

That forgetting one’s problems

Can be actual.

 

At best it’s delusional

And therefore, can’t be real,

Trying to forget my problems

Is bound to fail.

 

As a matter of fact

I would not even try

For we are a total package:

My problems and I.

 

Stewart Russell © January 13, 2025

 

When I Say I love You

 

When I say I love you

I mean just as you are,

Promises are for the future

We never know that far.

 

When I say I love you

I can only speak for now,

Now is all I can give to you:

It’s in the now I vow.

 

Heaven knows I mean it

When I say I love you

But it’s only now I say it,

The future is always due.

 

I can make a promise

But what is a promise worth?

Many a promise is made

In merriment and mirth.

 

When times are good

And all is fair in sunshine,

Honey dew escapes the lips

And the mind is in a bind.

 

Yes, it’s in the present

When I say I love you,

So very certain in the now

What else can I do?

 

Age and illness matter not

When I say I love you,

The future I cannot factor in

I know not what is due.

 

I know I made a vow

As I was expected so to do,

I repeated the words I heard

And I said them all to you.

 

A moment like no other

And I meant it all the way

When we two became one

Right on our wedding day.

 

It’s not about the future

When I say I love you,

This moment now is all I know…

I know my love is true.

 

Stewart Russell © September 27, 2022

Go Tell De Skipper

  

 

Send news to de Skipper

The DLP in disarray,

The party is nothing compared

To back in his day.

 

Tell him Sandy is dead

And David Thompson too,

Tell him Freundel is still around

With nothing to do.

 

Tell him Lashley jump ship

And Sinckler jump too

As well as some young democrats:

Not a few.

 

Tell him in three elections

They did not get a seat

And Prime Minister Mia Mottley

Did a three-peat.

 

 

 

Go tell de Skipper

De new BLP is BLP/DLP

So, there is no need in we republic

For an opposition party.

 

Go tell de Skipper

That things real brown

And that Barbadians seeing red

In country and in town.

 

Yes, go tell de Skipper

That de people blue vex

Cause a lot that was promised

Dem en get yet.

 

Promised legislation

To keep the MPs honest

Cannot get pass the Parliament;
O what a mess!

 

De promised Constitution

Lost out Queen’s Park

Cause de array of Commissioners

In the dark.

 

 

 

Go tell de Skipper

Bout hey like de Wild West

And the old folk real frightened

To leave their nest.

 

But O shoot, man,
Barrow en bury here!

His ash was scattered in the sea;

It blew everywhere.

 

A Caribbean man!

In life as well as in death

So, we have no choice in the matter

But to let him rest.

 

 

 

No turning in his grave,

His ash was scattered

And the party he helped establish,

Bruised and battered.

 

So don’t tell de Skipper

He is not hearing

And while these MPs are still alive,

They aren’t listening.

 

Go tell de Skipper

There’s nothing he can do

Cause Bim fuh de rich and famous;

Not for me and you.

 

Stewart Russell © February 28, 2026

 

If Ralph Had Known

  

 

If Ralph had known

It would turn out like this

Would he still have taken the leap

With such a risk?

 

Risk of a pension

Requiring more time

Or, was there something else

On his mind?

 

If Ralph had known

Would he have given up

A safe seat for the unknown

Hoping for luck?

 

A miracle perhaps,

Going against the grain

Across this political landscape

Where Mia reigns.

 

 

 

Twice he had seen it

Two audacious wipeouts,

Pray, tell me my dear Watson,

Why did he doubt?

 

 

 

Did he really think

He’d make a difference

While courting, as it turned out,

A death-sentence?

 

For, given his age,

And the carnage endured,

Would he have the political will

To ask for more?

 

If Ralph had known

The D’s was a burial ground,

Would he have seriously thought

Of turning it around?

 

I really doubt it

Yet, the warnings were rife,

He was leaving a comfort zone

For unimagined strife.

 

 

 

Ralph did take a leap

Without looking first

And of course, life is lived forward

And cannot be reversed.

 

 

 

He left one party

And divided another

And now death throes are lingering-

What a huge bother!

 

 

 

Can the D’s build back

After such a hit?

It would take a very long time,

From where I sit.

 

Time is no luxury

Where Ralph is concerned

For in my mind, he has suffered

First degree burns.

 

‘Tis a very thin line

Betwixt bravery and folly,

Which one best describes Ralph?

You tell me.

 

No crossing again

If PM Mia has her way

Given too, that 28 supported her

Only yesterday.

 

One absented

After saying her bit

But Prime Minister Mia Mottley

Was having none of it.

 

 

 

She registered her vote

From over in away

As though she was telling someone

Not today.

 

If Ralph had known

That only he would cross

Would he still have crossed over

And suffer such loss?

 

Stewart Russell © February 26, 2026

 

The Left Behind

 

 

1Thessalonians 4 verse 17

Who are the left behind?

This today, my brother, my sister,

Is what is on my mind.

 

Context is absolutely critical

To answer the above

And to debunk any misconception,

We must do so in love.

 

For a long time, I used to think

These had to be the lost,

However, after reading more carefully,

That notion I have tossed.

 

One word caused my change

And it is a simple pronoun,

In verses 14 to 18 of Thessalonians 4

Five times it is found.

 

You are absolutely correct

If you noted the pronoun ‘we’

But for those that are still in doubt

Go to chapter 4 and see.

 

Paul was addressing an issue

Regarding the Thessalonians

Who were clearly not into fact checking

Like the studious Bereans.

 

Turn to the Acts chapter 17

Where this is strikingly made

That we may also search the Scriptures

And to do such without fail.

 

We need not be ignorant

Like the unread Thessalonians

But follow the example that was set

By the enquiring Bereans.

 

“For if ‘we’ believe…”

The apostle’s words not mine,

Meant he was including himself

At that particular time.

 

He was among the “alive”

Meaning them that remained,

In other words, those left behind

Would mean the same.

 

 

Which brings me to the point

Of the Left Behind series,

They need to do some fact checking

To clear up their mysteries.

 

If Paul was in the Left Behind

Then this cannot be bad

And believers alive at this present time

Should therefore be glad.

 

Five times he uses the word we

Meaning the folk back then,

To put it two thousand years after

Must pose a problem.

 

The apostle Paul anticipated

The coming of the Lord

Just like Jesus himself prophesied

In his Olivet word.

 

So too the Thessalonians

But they had a concern,

Regarding them that had fallen asleep

There was much to learn.

 

Perhaps for us too

As this surely puzzled me,

However, it is a little clearer now

As new insights I see.

 

 

Many believe that this coming

Is yet to happen still

But the apostle seems to be saying

It is already fulfilled.

 

That the already asleep

Will God bring with him

Not to the earth as many believe

Or as in the Left Behind film.

 

But that where Christ is

Those asleep will be also,

A reference to John chapter 14:

A familiar text we know.

 

Let not your heart be trouble:

You believe in God,

Believe also in me.

 

In my Father’s house are many mansions:

If it were not so I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

 

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you unto myself;

That where I am, there you may be also.

 

The dead in Christ

Meaning those that fell asleep;

This was in the apostle’s future

Not now as we speak.

 

The alive in Christ

At the coming of the Lord

Are resurrected afterwards

According to the Word.

 

 

Caught up in the air:

A spiritual taking away,

The Parousia as it is also known

As happened in Paul’s day.

 

Herein is the hope:

To be forever with the Lord

The dead first then the left behind

According to his Word.

 

1Corinthians 15:44

 

It is sown a natural body;

It is raised a spiritual body.

There is a natural body,

And there is a spiritual body.

 

This is substantiated

In another of Paul’s letters,

In the book of Philippians chapter 1

He addresses this matter.

 

Philippians 1:23

 

For I am in a strait betwixt two,

Having a desire to depart,

And to be with Christ;

Which is far better:

 

Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh

Is more needful for you.

 

I struggle to accept

There is no coming to come,

That the very first century believers

Saw the return of God’s Son.

 

That Paul’s reference to we

Meant his present generation

Even as Jesus had made this point

In his Olivet submission.

 

I struggle to accept it

Based on my orientation

Having been exposed to an eschatology

Based on futurism.

 

This is, that most prophecies

Are yet to be fulfilled

And futurists are anticipating

Christ’s return still.

 

Those alive and remaining

Are also the left behind,

One day, these too will depart

At their appointed time.

 

Stewart Russell © December 23, 2024

 

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