White Washed and Washed White

  

 

White washed

And washed white:

Don’t make them synonyms

And think you are right.

 

Look again

With a closer eye

And you will see the difference:

Come on, you must try.

 

Two were a praying

To Almighty God:

 One was extremely boastful,

The other, not at all.

 

One was different,

This had to be known,

Only his kind you must understand

Was in his zone.

 

He paid his tithes

And also gave alms,

There was absolutely no doubt

He was a godly man.

 

He merited salvation,

He was so good

And he kept the Mosaic law

Like he should.

 

He notified God

Re the good he did

As though God did not know

What he hid.

 

And to look at him

He was really clean,

So white washed on the outside

He actually gleamed.

 

 

 

The other one

Smote on his chest

But unlike the religious Pharisee

He was a pest.

 

A societal nuisance

Mostly to the Jews

As he yearly exacted from them

More than their dues.

 

Summed up in a word,

Publican to be exact

But meaning he was a tax collector

Of dubious extract.

 

He had been merciless

In his tax demands

But for mercy he had pleaded

As a sinner man.

 

He bowed his head

As he cried out to God

And thence he found satisfaction:

The other, none at all.

 

He was washed white

Unlike white washed

And all his many sinful infractions

Immediately quashed.

 

The other, white washed,

Was self-deluded

Thus, could not access righteousness

Which is imputed.

 

He did his own washing

Which was outward only

Just like the white washed tombs

Used to bury.

 

A form of godliness

But denying its power,

Somewhat like the first skyscraper

Or Babel’s tower.

 

Washed from inside

Spreads to the outside

But just white washed outside

Many sins hide.

 

 

  

A definite 'coverup'

Or 'swept under the mat'

And when self-deceit settles in,

It’s a deadly trap.

 

However, washed white

Is a daily routine

That’s enabled by the Holy Spirit

Who constantly cleans.

 

Stewart Russell © April 16, 2026

 

What’s Your Greatest Fear?

 

 

 

What is your greatest fear

If in fact you have any?

When I was much younger

I used to have many.

 

However, they are decreasing

As I get nearer my demise,

The fact I am more comfortable with death

Should come as no surprise.

 

Now into my seventh decade,

I don’t have as long to live

And to be quite frank, I must admit,

I don’t have as much to give.

 

Death used to scare me quite a bit,

It was my greatest fear,

However, it no longer is,

As a matter of fact, not even near.

 

Dying is now up there

In fact, it’s in the top three,

Losing my sight does make me shiver-

Yes, not being able to see.

 

 

Alzheimer’s is on the increase,

For me that’s another fear,

To be alive and not even know you are

To me is a humongous scare.

 

What’s your greatest fear, I ask,

What do you fear the most?

Or, are you the super fearless one

And make such your daily boast?

 

I used to fear being left behind

When the Lord from heaven return

But this no longer is a fear for me

For in Christ I am standing firm.

 

Hell holds no terror for me

Because no child of God will go there,

The Bible is clear on those who will

And as his child I need not fear.

 

 

 

There is something that you fear,

It’s the case with everyone,

Maybe it’s where you will spend eternity

For one day you’ll be gone.

 

Death is an end of sorts

But it is not the final end,

There is a death one ought to fear-

It’s the second death, my friend.

 

Two births and one death

Is what the Bible recommends

And not one birth and two deaths

As is the sinner’s trend.

 

You must be born again

To avoid the second death,

This should be your greatest fear

All you that speak in jest.

 

For hell is no fairy tale

Or horror movie as seen on TV,

It is a real place the Bible tells

Of torment and misery.

 

Heaven is real and hell is too,

Of them both, Jesus spoke,

Depart here without being born again

And of heaven there is no hope. 

 

If you know not the Saviour

Hell should be your greatest fear

And there is no other opportunity

After you depart here.

 

 

 

What is your greatest fear?

I ask this final time,

For after the white throne judgment

Hell is next in line.

 

Revelation 20:15

And whoever was not found

Written In the book of life

Was cast into the lake of fire.

 

Stewart Russell © March 20, 2023

Still as Fresh

 

 

He took another look at the headstone

With the red roses stuck in the top of it

The rest were saved for the vase at home

As had become his monthly habit.

 

On this particular day of every month

He had gone through this very rite

Of placing flowers in the top of the stone

Right here on his wife’s burial site.

 

After five years the memory was still fresh

Almost as though it were yesterday

And at her grave he would stop to think

About that day that she went away.

 

That morning was just like any other

She had dutifully put his breakfast

And in her cheery voice had called to him

To partake in what was to be her last.

 

This was their rite each and every day

Before they would head off to work

And to think she was taken so suddenly

Still filled him with a lot of hurt.

 

Not even a chance to say goodbye

And snatched without a parting kiss

Trapped in the wreck that was her car

Why should it have happened like this?

 

That phone call was etched in his mind

It was the worst he had ever heard

“Your wife has had a terrible accident”

How hard it was to accept such a word.

 

Leaving his workplace he drove to the site

And what he saw he could not but reject

That the car he gave her on her last birthday

Was one and the same as this awful wreck.

 

He thought to himself this must be a dream

And that soon he would awake

But no amount of pinching himself

Could alter the present fate.

 

 

It was still as fresh as ever

Though five years since the fateful day

And there as he looked on his wife’s headstone

He knew it was there her remains lay.

 

Stewart Russell © September 21, 2016

 

What A Lie!

 

 

The Devil is a liar

I have heard believers say

Yet Satan has had much success

In getting us to go his way.

 

I have entitled this poem

“What A Lie”

And soon it will be clear to you

The reason why.

 

Two contrasting positions

And only one can be true:

The Genesis account must be

And not the Big Bang view.

 

Nothing travels like a lie

Especially one that is huge,

It starts with some scientist

Making science its groove.

 

Reason is clearly absent,

Common sense? Not even near!

Irrationality is the clutch

And folly is put in gear.

 

 

And there was nothing…

Then came a huge explosion,

Big Bang had arrived,

Thus, the grand delusion.

 

Started by you know who,

It was the Devil himself

And then follow science books,

Maybe one’s on your shelf.

 

If you must tell a lie,

I recall hearing someone say,

Tell a gigantic one

Then step out of the way.

 

Long after it’s proven wrong

It’ll still make the rounds

Just like the Big Bang theory

Moving by leaps and bounds.

 

Big Bang is the biggest lie

That ever was told

And to tell such a huge lie

One has to be bold.

 

Gaining more ground

Than the tried and proven facts,

Oh, what a lie!

Big Bang is just that! 

 

 

What a lie!

And here in second place

Is another colossal lie

Staring us in the face.

 

That one is not what one is

At the time of one’s birth

Would at a time not long ago

Generate much mirth.

 

Genitalia was the decider,

Whether girl or boy

And that sex and that gender

Would be for life deployed.

 

But along came the lie

And oh, what a lie!

I can be what gender I feel

And thus, the truth, deny.

 

What delusions of grandeur

Doth clog up one’s brain?

What feelings of the heart

Causing the mind to be lame?

 

 

Big Bang, however conceived,

Can never be a reality,

Neither can this colossal lie

We call gender fluidity.

 

Big bang is about confusion,

It is nothing organized,

So too is gender fluidity

And thus, should be despised.

 

It is really evil,

I know this sounds horrible

But it denies the Creator,

Get it straight, people!

 

Male and female

The Almighty created man

And chose to call that first union

By the name Adam.

 

Out of man came woman

But this was only at the first,

Ever since that first woman

This process was reversed.

 

A man cannot give birth,

Certainly, not naturally,

And a sperm generating woman

Would never be.

 

She may carry sperm

But she was not the source,

Quite naturally it required a man

And his ejaculative force.

 

 

These are two colossal lies

That have divided the world,

Both denying God as Creator

And His infallible Word.

 

Stewart Russell © January 28, 2023

 

In but Not Of

 

 

“My kingdom is not of this world”

That’s what Jesus said,

But what did he really mean?

Was it something else instead?

 

He said his servants would fight

If this world were his kingdom,

He could not have meant the cosmos

But the Roman world system.

 

Remember that Pilate had asked

If he was a king

And he made it very clear

Not of this world, no such thing.

 

Pilate finally declared him

To be king of the Jews

But the chief priests rejected this

Implying this was Jesus’ view.

 

Write that’s what he said,

They wanted written on the cross

But Pilate refused their request-

Showing he was still the boss.

 

John 18:36

 

“My kingdom is not of this world”

Keep that in your mind

As we quote Jesus again…

What did he say this time?

 

 

John 17:16

 

“They are not of the world

Even as I am not of the world,”

Jesus is showing his consistency

As both statements concur.

 

Neither he nor his subjects

Are of this world,

If they were when he was not

Then that would be absurd.

 

A king and his domain

Go hand in hand,

It was of a heavenly realm he spoke

In accordance with the divine plan.

 

Not only Pilate had missed this

But also did the Jews,

“We have no king but Caesar,”

Was their expressed view.

 

As long as he is in the world

Jesus is the world’s light

But his kingdom is not of the world

Else his servants would fight.

 

The heavenly parishioner

Is called to be both salt and light

His thinking is not the worldly type

He has heavenly insight.

 

His view is a heavenly city

Not made by human hands,

Just like the holy temple he is,

Not in the Jewish land.

 

 

At present, in the world

But not of the same,

Respecting the civil authorities

But not under their reign.

 

He is a chosen ambassador

With a mission on the earth

But he belongs to another country

Ever since his rebirth.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

Without Merit

 

 

A gift is never dependent

On the recipient of the gift,

It is actually given in spite of

If you catch my drift.

 

It is surely not a reward

Since a reward is achieved

But one cannot achieve a gift

Whatever one believes.

 

It cannot be an award

For such is given on merit

And an award as we all know

Is premised upon habit.

 

Not so a gift, my friend,

It’s definitely not an award

And since it is without merit

It cannot be a reward.

 

 

Without merit it must be,

Just like the grace of God,

It can’t be bought or worked for

Or delivered by a fraud.

 

No worth in the recipient

Other than the whosoever,

Whosoever believes in Christ

Will share in his treasure.

 

By the recipient’s faith

And through God’ grace,

Without merit I must emphasize

Or even the pride of place.

 

It is not the who we are

But rather, the “whose”,

Not even the prudish or the pious

Like a “goody two shoes”.

 

The prerequisite is love

As in “For God so loved”

That He gave the gift of His Son

Who came from above.

 

 

A commendation of love

When we were unlovable

And when we were vile and sinful,

To make us His people.

 

A people for Himself

With whom He now dwells,

No merit in any one of them

Thus, the Bible tells.

 

This we must not forget:

There is no merit in us

But all we tantamount to be

Is found in Christ Jesus.

 

Without merit I repeat,

And none can make a claim

Unless of course the claim we make

Is in Jesus’ name.

 

Without Merit

 

Stewart Russell © January 18, 2025 

 

Check Your English

  

 

 

Check your English

I implore you

For errors in the daily tabloids

Are quite a few.

 

English gone wrong

Is surely the case

And given the level of our education,

This is out of place.

 

I’ll give one example

From the recent past

And if the incident wasn’t serious

We could laugh.

 

 

 

From the Nation News

This one was hot

“When a dark-coloured car drove by

And fired several gunshots.”

 

Beware I dare say

Of dark cars firing gunshots,

It is not safe even at Karaoke shows;

It is definitely not.

 

Reporters and journalists

Check your English!

To be ridiculed internationally

Is not our wish.

 

Check your English

I implore you

For errors in the daily tabloids

Are quite a few.

 

 

 

Our standard is high,

Let’s maintain it

And please, all you proof readers,

Be careful to edit.

 

Be careful I warn

If standing in a group

For the shootists are not particular

When they shoot.

 

I’m no English expert

So, if you should see

That I have erred in my English,

Please pardon me.

 

Stewart Russell © April 7, 2026