Contend vs Defend

 

 

Contend and defend

Are not biblical synonyms

And that they don’t mean the same

Is neither veiled nor dimmed.

 

Defend is in the Old Testament

Exactly eleven times

And never in the New Testament

Even once you will find.

 

Contend on the other hand

Is in the Old Testament 13 times

And though once in the New Testament

It is a critical find.

 

Why a critical find?

Well, let me now explain

By referring you to the Apostle Jude

To support this claim.

 

Contend for the Faith

And do so earnestly

Admonished the Apostle Jude

Back in the first century.

 

Not defend the faith

You should readily note

For contend is clearly spelt it out

In this following quote.

 

Jude 3

Beloved, when I gave all diligence

 To write unto you of the common salvation,

It was needful for me to write unto you,

And exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith

Which was once delivered unto the saints.

 

Now you may decide

That I am “splitting hairs”

However, in using the word ‘contend’,

Jude made it clear.

 

 

He could have used ‘defend’

Some may yet argue

But ‘contend’ is what he used

Hence, this is my view.

 

Defend is to stand between

In order to protect,

Like defending someone’s honour

Whom you respect.

 

‘Contend for’ is to affirm

As in propagating the faith:

The common salvation Jude cites

Here in this case.

 

The Word is its own defense

And can stand on its own

But we are call to be evangelists

And to make it known.

 

Put it out there

So that it can be heard,

The best option people have

Is still God's Word.

 

Stewart Russell © January 29, 2024

 

Speaking in Tongues

 

These two phrases in tongues

I picked up only today:

“Shodabotahonda shodabotakia”

Is what I heard a man say.

 

Never mind their meaning

Or even what they look like,

Bible tongues were known languages,

Not an emotional hype.

 

I have observed trends

Regarding phrases and sounds

Which were learnt and practiced

So impression could abound.

 

The two above I heard

While watching a YouTube video,

 At first, they were quite baffling

But now for sure I know.

 

 

I guess you might now say

Stewart can speak in tongues

But I tell you, if you believe this,

You’d be so very wrong.

 

Two phrases I assure you

Doth not a tongues-expert make

But I am sharing these with you

To ascertain your take.

 

Shodabotahonda!

Should I repeat this phrase

Or should I go on to the next one

If you are not too fazed?

 

Shodabotakia!

This should help with the first,

Now say them both together

And audibly rehearse.

 

 

 

The translation is simple

Just put on your thinking cap,

The first may be more expensive

So you mightn’t want that.

 

The next on the other hand

May be within your range,

“Shodabotahonda shodabotakia”

Should no longer be strange.

 

If in a daze you still are,

I would have to be at fault

So this tongue speaking session,

Must now come to a halt.

 

Stewart Russell © January 3, 2024

 

Nonsense Articulated Resoundingly

 

 

Nonsense articulated resoundingly

Which is NAR for short,

Is the “New Apostolic Reformation”

Which many like to exhort.

 

Reform and Reformation

Are on everybody’s lips

But what it means still puzzles me

Both in church and politics.

 

New Apostolic Reformation!

I have a problem with every word

And when the three are combined,

They are even more absurd.

 

Why New in the first place

For something that’s over 2000 years?

Is it something revealed just recently

That before had not appeared?

 

Like, these are the days of Elijah

When Elijah had left a while,

A whole lot of repackaged stuff

Has become a new fashion style.

 

The Bible is an ancient document

Thus, its revelation is not new

So be careful whom you chase after,

They may obscure your view.

 

From the New to Apostolic

In fact, New Apostolic is the term:

It’s neither Peter nor Paul nor John

And this makes me squirm.

 

If it were it couldn’t be new

The apostles are in the foundation:

The foundation of the church I say,

Meaning its early inauguration.

 

 

The apostles laid the foundation

With Jesus the chief cornerstone,

No other foundation can any man lay

In a foreign field or home.

 

You’d recalled Peter’s message

On that remarkable day of Pentecost:

A message calling all to repentance

And pointing them to the cross.

 

The central theme was Jesus

Whom the people had crucified,

This same Jesus was the risen Christ

By whom all are reconciled.

 

Reconciled to the Father-God,

Whose Son they had utterly despised,

That had come to bring them salvation

But by most he was denied.

 

Resoundingly speaks of loudness

Where there is no holding back,

No effort or cost is considered too much

In dispensing alternate facts.

 

Yes, we live in a post-modern age

In which truth is becoming recessive

And the pseudo gospel message

Is by no means abrasive.

 

A strange mixture, my friend,

Of the Word and designated pretexts

With a deletion of noted essentials

To allow for liberal flex.

 

 

A gospel that is directly opposed

To the one that's in God’s Word,

Another gospel, as Paul would say,

From the one on Pentecost heard.

 

Nonsense articulated

In the churches and without

And compared to the quiet believers

These charlatans convincingly shout.

 

Experience is their thing,

Biblical doctrine is second-class,

An obsession with the charismatic gifts

And fakery unsurpassed.

  

Why harp on Reformation?

Transformation is the dire need,

 The Holy Spirit is on offer to do this

As we sow the spiritual seed.

Transformation works from within

Reformation from without,

That the latter relies of the former

There can be no doubt.

 

Nonsense articulated resoundingly

Does not make it sense

And the “New Apostolic Reformation”

Is an inexcusable offense.

 

Stewart Russell © April 18, 2023

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