The Divine Pulpit

 

 

A caution to the wise

And a warning to the foolish,

Ignore it or accept it

Just as you wish.

 

Thanks for taking note,

I mean no offense

But the pulpit has become sacred

In a peculiar sense.

 

Especially regarding

Its divine pulpiteers

Who expound extemporaneously

And are by many revered.

 

Their several titles

Gaining them great respect

Even when portions of the Word

They blatantly reject.

 

Mounting the pulpit

With their expressive pride

And in the abundance of rhetoric

God’s Word, they hide.

 

Announcing a text

To support their pretext

And then eisegeting the reference

Void of its context.

 

Matthew 27:5; Luke 10:37; John 13:27

 

Judas went out

 And hang himself.

Go and do likewise!

That thou doest

Do quickly!

Ignoring the context

Is not wise.

 

All three listed above

Are scriptural texts

But if ever they are strung together,

Be sure to reject.

 

 

Don’t be taken in

By the divine pulpiteer

That stands in his divine pulpit

And whom many cheer.

 

The clapping of hands,

And the peals of laughter

That in a relatively small church

Would lift its rafters.

 

Be wary, I reiterate,

Of the divine pulpit

Made divine by these pulpiteers

With their rhetoric.

 

Exacting from many

In their dire circumstances

Millions and millions of dollars

In extravagances.

 

All in aid of the church

And the gospel propagation

Supposedly reaching the lost

With needed salvation.

 

 

But living in opulence

And travelling first class,

Oblivious to the needs of others,

They get what they ask.

 

Only an exclusive few

Can fill their pulpits

And all that’s declared therefrom

Is Holy Writ.

 

Whether or not

This is really so

Is not of critical importance

Compared to the show.

 

Behind the divine pulpit

Is the self-made star

From whom his adoring subjects

His bodyguards bar.

 

Behold the divine pulpit

Where stands the divine!

Surely in the eyes of his subjects

And in their mind.

 

It really matters not

What the Word truly says,

The divine pulpit and its pulpiteer

Always hold sway.

 

 

 

Sir, we would see Jesus,

Hold the placard aloft

And be mindful only antichrists

Deny the cross.

 

I’d rather the cross

Than your divine pulpit

For in the Christ of that cross,

In heavenly places I sit.

 

Stewart Russell © March 24, 2025

 

When You Don’t Know

 

 

When you don’t know you don’t know

You don’t know you don’t know.

 

But what is it you don’t know you don’t know?

 

If you knew you didn’t know what you don’t know

You would know you don’t know that you didn’t know.

 

It is impossible not to know what you don’t know.

 

Not to know what you don’t know

Is to don’t know what you don’t know.

 

You cannot know what you don’t know

The same time you don’t know.

 

Even God cannot know what He doesn’t know

Because there is nothing that God doesn’t know.

 

God knows what He knows

And there is nothing He doesn’t know He knows.

 

You know what you know

And you know what you don’t know.

 

 

You don’t know what you know

But you don’t ever know what you don’t know you don’t know.

 

I know you know you are totally confused

And that is because

You didn’t know you didn’t know

I knew you didn’t know you didn’t know.

 

By the way, you may know you are not mad

But you do not know you are mad.

 

You may think I am mad

But I know you don’t know for sure

So, go with what you know

And what you do not know

I can’t tell you to forget

Because you don’t know.

 

Stewart Russell © March 22, 2022    

No News Is Good News

 

 

No news is good news,

Have you ever heard the saying?

Yet we always fear the worst

When no news we are hearing.

 

She left ever since evening

And now it is late into the night

And having heard no news

You fear a terrible plight.

 

He went out with the car

And said would he be back shortly,

That was quite a while ago

And you fear an emergency.

 

You say you’re not going to worry

For no news is good news

But you’re wondering all the time,

About what you should do.

 

“But, why doesn’t she call me

And let me know that all is well?

She’ll be home as soon as she can

But right now, she cannot tell.”

 

But you are generations apart,

That’s not a young people’s thing

Hence, you cannot be expecting

That the phone will ring.

 

Even that you are afraid of-

I mean the ringing of the phone,

It will most likely be bad news-

And you’ll have to leave home.

 

 

Yet, no news is good news

You have been known to declare

But that’s when it’s another’s problem;

Not when it’s your affair.

 

That talk is cheap

Is another saying you have heard

It is only when the shoe pinches

That you are forced to concur.

 

No news is good news?

No, that saying is not true

For when information is lacking

That is not our view.

 

We can pretend all we like

That no news is good news

But until we actually find out for sure,

Bad news is our view.

 

Everything points that way

The longer that loved one stays out

And with the minutes ticking away

There is even more doubt.

 

No news is good news

If you don’t anticipate bad news

But when the brain goes a roving

The mind goes a roving too.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2023

 

My Poor Memory

 

 

I have a poor memory

That won’t let me forget

Especially things that are negative

I haven’t dealt with yet.

 

I had it from at school

Relating to my homework,

I forgot, I would tell my teacher,

But this never worked.

 

I wished it were true

But then I knew it was not,

For whenever I tried this trick

I always got caught.

 

 

My poor memory

Goes by another name,

Known as a convenient memory

But it is all the same.

 

Some would often say,

“Oh, that one slipped me,”

Re what they wanted to forget,

Though unconvincingly.

 

But a poor memory

Only works for the bad

When sorry-state situations

Are all I have had. 

 

 

Who wants to remember

The bad they want to forget,

Especially horrible memories

Unresolved yet?

 

A poor memory is best

To deal with such

Though trying hard to forget

You remember as much.

 

 

Forget it and move on

Is the advice often given

Regarding unfortunate situations

Whenever they happen.

 

Though easily said

But very difficult to do,

I’ve adopted a poor memory,

How about you?

 

Stewart Russell © March 16, 2025

 

After the Ball

 

 

After the ball was over:

Perhaps you know the song

Or maybe you know of Cinderella

After the midnight gong.

 

We can put the party

In the place of the ball

And whether it is BLP, DLP or PIP,

One day it will fall.

 

Given the current trends

This may seem unlikely

But nuisance legislation will bring

Unpopularity.

 

One’s sense is made dull

With parties and revelry

But soon the party crazed realizes

It is all empty.

 

The little they receive

They spend it on the party

And who knows better than this party?

Barbados Labour Party.

 

Get them drunk on fun,

Dull their fertile mind

And they will return you to power

Each and every time.

 

Wine is a mocker,

Strong drink is raging:

And whosoever is deceived thereby

Is not wise.

 

Deception is all around

Thus, it pays to be wise,

Much that appears to be alluring

Are hooks in disguise.

 

 

Many have taken the bait

And are nibbling away

But the party will come to an end

On an appointed day.

 

Count back three verses

To Proverbs 14 verse 1,

At the very end of your party

Will everything be gone?

 

When your party is ended

Where will you turn?

Will you turn to one more secure

Or just crash and burn?

 

I recommend one

That time does not impact,

All history past, present and future

Are to Him known fact.

 

 

Seasons change Him not

Neither party allurement,

He declares the end from the beginning

And brings it to fulfilment.

 

This one is Yahweh,

Creator even of time

And every single birth and death

Is a dot on time’s line.

 

Neither BLP nor DLP

Can add one minute to you,

When your allotted breaths are used up

There’s nothing any can do.

 

Let your God-given mind

Rest upon this fact:

Absolute allegiance to any party

Is a sinister trap.

 

Party all you will

With whichever you choose

But if your win is a God-less win,

Then, you lose.

 

Stewart Russell © August 23, 2025

 

A Conscious Eternity

 

 

Is there a conscious eternity

For born-again believers?

And how many, please tell me,

Are already receivers?

 

I have mulled over this

Time and time again

And while I do believe there is

It still causes me pain.

 

Pain re my own demise

And as to my state

And what is the true nature

Regarding my fate.

 

Pain to lose a loved one

To the clutches of death

And to ponder on the nature

Of his or her rest.

 

 

Is he or she conscious

Somewhere we cannot see…

Somewhere wondrously grand

That we long to be?

 

To be with Christ

What does this really mean?

And from Paul’s firm assurance,

What can we glean?

 

A desire to depart

And to be with Christ

‘Tis far better, he emphasized,

Shouldn’t this suffice?

 

Yet I am still baffled

And definitely not sure

But desperately want to believe

More and more.

 

There must be more

To life than merely here;

To be born, live and be interred

In yon cemetery there.

 

There has to be more

Than just a fading memory

Of a beloved having transitioned

And having been buried.

 

And they that believe

Shall never die

Yet believers die incessantly;

Tell me why.

 

A conscious eternity!

Who possess it at present?

For our deceased beloved ones,

Is it current?

 

Or, are they in the grave

Waiting for a time to come

When Christ will split the clouds

And gather in his kingdom?

 

 

 

Raising the dead first

Then those that remain,

Tell me, is this literal or spiritual?

What is your claim?

 

Sometimes I get it

But then I am not sure,

What is the nature of all this?

Please tell me more.

 

It must be all true

But the timing eludes me,

When does one really transition

From here to eternity?

 

 

Is it at the point of death

That we transition

Or some indefinite time after

As some envision?

 

Check the following texts:

What do they mean?

Tell me in some form or fashion

What you glean.

 

John 11:25-26

Jesus said unto her,

I am the resurrection, and the life:

He that believeth in me,

Though he were dead,

Yet shall he live:

And whosoever liveth

And believeth in me shall never die.

Believest thou this?

 

Philippians 1:23-24

For I am in 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.

 

2Corinthians 5:8

We are confident, I say,

And willing

Rather to be absent from the body,

And to be present

With the Lord.

 

Is there a conscious eternity

For born-again believers?

And how many, please tell me,

Are already receivers?

 

Stewart Russell © March 18, 2025

 

What!

 

 

 

Regarding this title

You would think it strange

And perhaps you are now convinced

That I must be deranged.

 

But hear me out

Before passing judgment

And you will see another at whom

To aim your contempt.

 

For it is ridiculous

To say the very least

Regarding a recent piece of legislation

That disturbs my piece.

 

One thing is for certain

There is much comment

And people all over this country

Are airing their dissent.

 

POLICE ACT. CAP. 167

With reference to item 68:

Refusing to Aid Member of Service Assaulted,

Let us get it straight.

 

Any person who,

When called upon to aid and assist

A member of the Service who,

While in the execution of his duty,

 

Is assaulted or resisted

Or in danger of being assaulted or resisted,

Refuses or neglects to aid and assist

The member of the Service

 

Is guilty of an offence

And is liable on summary conviction

To a fine of $10 000 or to imprisonment

For one year or both.

 

Granted, we are trying

To help out the police here

But surely Madam PM you can see

The reason for my fear.

 

I have not been trained

Like the police have been

And thus, I stay as far away as possible

From any violent scene.

 

Once I see trouble

I am overcome with fear

And I thought that this was natural

But now, it’s not clear.

 

I had always thought

That the police backup police

But now a piece of legislation implies

A partial cease.

 

The public is now backup

According to this law

And the Honourable AG blames the DLP

For this current flaw.

 

 

All they have done

Is to change the fine

From $500 to $10 000 currently

And or 1-year confine.

 

 

Of course, he continued,

It’s really up to a judge

To determine how much of this fine

But he will not budge.

 

Most are refusing nowadays

To go to another’s aid

Like the cries and pleas of that old man

That fell on deaf ears.

 

He was being robbed

And none would intervene,

They fearfully stood there and watched

The awful scene.

 

People are more reluctant

Fearing there might be guns

And thus, they are prepared in the event

To just pick up and run.

 

So, Madam PM,

And the Honourable AG,

It is not any dislike for the police

But just my timidity.

 

Yes, it could be me next

In need of such public help

But believe me, when I hear a gun explode

My heart suddenly melts.

 

 

So, like the wiretapping,

Please wheel and come again,

The people are already crying out

In anguish and in pain.

 

Perhaps I could make a call

On my cellular phone

And hope that some police patrol

Is within the zone.

 

I have nothing Madam PM

Against our Police Service,

Actually, I now must make it clear

They are tops on my list.

 

Daily arrests are made

Only to be thwarted by bail

And this sometimes gives the impression

As though the police fail.

 

But they are doing

A really magnificent job

Quickly arresting suspects and felons

Who murder and who rob. 

 

 

Sworn to protect

And protecting they do

But this is a different Barbados today

From the one I knew.

 

Now it seems to me

We have to protect them

And especially if the police demand it;

Now this is a problem.

 

 

Send adequate backup

In the very first place

For I am telling you, where trouble is,

I don’t show my face.

 

I am rather nervous

Over noisy disputes

So, do not expect much support from me-

I become suddenly mute.

 

And regarding the threat

Of this $10 000 fine or confine

I am still likely not to get involved-

Madam PM, I decline.

 

The AG should reflect

On what he actually said

For somehow, I am getting the impression

He’d rather see me dead.

 

That grin on his face,

It sometimes troubles me,

Tell me, Madam PM, is he the only one

Who can be the AG?

 

Stewart Russell © August 21, 2025