Defeated at the Cross

 

 

Defeated at the cross

Our primary adversary,

Not to come as some believe

But proven in history.

 

It is finished!

The shout of victory,

Not of defeat or delirium

Because of agony.

 

Satan the Prosecutor

Defeated at the cross,

Thus, to the victor the spoils

And recovery of the lost.

 

The scathing criticism,

The mocking and the scorn,

Transformed in but a moment,

Antichrists, be warned!

 

 

Oft we bind the devil

Who is already bound,

Note, captivity was led captive;

The victory resounds.

 

Do not fear the devil

Who thought he had won

But have faith in Christ Jesus

For the work is done.

 

King of kings is he

And Lord of lords as well,

The prince of darkness is defeated

Listen to his death knell.

 

Defeated at the cross

Satan and his demons,

And this for the believer means

So great salvation.

 

 

Defeated at the cross:

Hope for you and me

And all that believe in Christ

Shall live eternally.

 

No more prosecutor,

Satan is out of work,

He’s bound as bound can be,

Liberty to the Church!

 

No need for justice

Where there’s no accuser,

God’s mercy and His grace

Vanquished the abuser.

 

 

Defeated at the cross,

Satan’s head is crushed,

Tell me, if you truly believe this,

Why do you still fuss?

 

If Jesus said it’s finished,

What more is there

Other than to walk in victory

Rather than in fear?

 

Stewart Russell © February 2, 2025

 

My Best Hour of All

  

 

“I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears

And palms before my feet.”

 

The poet got it right

Regarding that Palm Sunday,

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem

Palms in the way lay.

 

Not only palms as told,

But people’s garments too

And that donkey carrying Jesus

Was also in view.

 

 

 

From parody to prominence

From a scourge to a song:

The wonderful shouts in adoration

As King Jesus rode along.

 

No horse as of a king

Or horse drawn carriage

But a scourge and derided donkey:

A parody of marriage.

 

O what elevation,

The donkey enjoyed that day

When the creator of all donkeys

Travelled the Calvary way!

 

 

 

For these adoring Jews

Would soon change the tune

And the Redeemer of the human race

Would be interred in a tomb.

 

 

 

But not before crucifixion:

A slow and horrendous death,

Sentenced for your sins and mine

Bringing eternal rest.

 

It was the donkey’s hour

Shared with the King of kings

As they journeyed into Jerusalem

And heard the people sing.

 

Temporary though it was,

None can take it away:

There were palms beneath its feet;

Shouts about its ears.

 

 

 

G. K. Chesterton got it right

Hence, his poem I quote

About the donkey’s greatest hour

That he also wrote.

 

Gone down in History

A donkey without a name

But featured that first Palm Sunday

And when the Saviour came.

 

The journey to Bethlehem

Bearing an unborn child,

Whose mother and father later on

Would have to hide.

 

No doubt another donkey,

To Egypt took them

When King Herod’s crazy decree

Caused a dire problem.

 

 

 

But the best hour of all

Was in the Master’s control

When she carried the King of kings

Walking fearless and bold.

 

“For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears

And palms before my feet.”

 

Stewart Russell © March 29, 2026

 

False Versions of God

  

Idolatrous behaviour

Is even in the church

And I dare say, my brother, my sister,

It’s on a growth spurt.

 

By leaps and bounds

It is growing daily

As false versions of God, the Father

Satisfy the greedy.

 

A God of convenience

Is a false version of God

No different from the sun and stars

On which pagans call.

 

Presented as a God

Who will meet our needs

Without acknowledging our sin

Or unrighteous deeds.

 

A God who does miracles

Every time we call

Especially for the specially anointed

To show off to all.

 

Worship that is directed

To this kind of God

Is just plain downright idolatrous

And not worship at all.

 

All of these such gods

Are false versions of God

And to worship or acknowledge such

Is to invite the fall.

 

 

 

God is not our genie

Acquiescing to our whims,

No, He is the God that passed judgment

On our sins.

 

But having done this,

He placed them on his Son

Who became the scapegoat as it were

And a great victory won.

 

  Victory over sin

And triumph over death

And His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Is become our rest.

 

Rest for all those

Who put trust in him

Not to satisfy their insatiable greed

But to cleanse from sin.

 

 

 

Prayer meetings now are

A constant grocery-list

Which we take to God’s storehouse

And ask Him to assist.

 

Oblivious to the fact

Of His everyday supplies

And that it is He that wakes us up

To see the sun rise.

 

He gives us all things

But we must ask for more

For after all, all we need in this life,

He is the door. 

 

And so, we worship Him

For what He gives to us

Meaning His daily treats and gifts

And not Jesus.

 

 

 

This is false worship

To a false version of God

And like the pagans we are no better

In our idolatrous fall.

 

Stewart Russell © March 5, 2026

 

Worth a Smile

  

 

I have a confession

I will share with you

But you must promise to keep it

Between us two.

 

I passed water in my car

It was quite a bit,

You’d say that was shameful

But wait for it.

 

It was a very long while

I was in traffic,

I took the wrong road home

And couldn’t quit.

 

No turn off less congested,

Not a single one

And the water kept on coming

On and on.

 

 

 

You’d say weak bladder

Or it was full

But you still don’t understand;

You are too dull.

 

I passed water in my car

For a while,

Maybe it’s never happened to you;

It’s not your style.

 

I couldn’t pass it quickly

Traffic was heavy

So, I was forced to do it slowly

And steadily.

 

 

 

Embarrassing, you’d say

But I was alone,

Absolutely no one was with me;

I was on my own.

 

I couldn’t wait to get home

This was a mess,

Had I taken the longer road

It’d be less stress.

 

I passed water in my car

But I had to

And if you were in that traffic,

So would you.

 

 

 

A long line was in front

And a longer one behind

And we all were in that same traffic

A long time.

 

They passed water too

In their vehicle

For they drove along that coast

Like many people.

 

And this you cannot do

Unless you pass water

So, whatever you had in your mind,

Quit your laughter.

 

 

 

Go back to the beginning;

See the word smile?

Along the coast you pass water

Mile after mile.

 

Stewart Russell © March 24, 2026

 

The Word Is Quick

  

 

I wonder sometimes

Whether we realize

That the life within the Word of God

Is not disguised.

 

I sometimes ask me

What does this mean

And I go to Hebrews 4:12 to observe

What can be seen.

 

The written Word

Is about the Living Word

And that this is the Lord Christ,

You have heard.

 

John in the Gospel

Starts out with this:

“In the beginning, was the Word.”

Sharp and crisp!

 

 

 

Explicit from the get-go

No need to interpret,

Take it just as it has been stated,

From eternity set.

 

A statement of fact

About the First Cause:

And that this necessary first cause

Had to be uncaused.

 

John echoed Moses,

It’s not a contradiction!

They both are citing the first cause

For all creation.

 

One singular causation

Definitely not two!

Go directly to John 1 and verse 1

And take in the view.

 

“The Word was God.”

Don’t you see it there?

Upon this fact hangs all that exists

Here and everywhere.

 

“In him was life”

There’s life in the Word!

Let that sink into your very being

Now you have heard.

 

 

 

In the beginning God

And so too, the Word,

Yet so many say this cannot be;

That it’s absurd.

 

The Word is quick:

Meaning that it is alive

And does not need one’s rhetoric

In order to survive.

 

Be careful not to add

Or even to subtract,

The Word needs no amendments:

It is eternal fact.

 

Be sure not to multiply

And definitely not divide

Unless we are using 2 Timothy 2:15

As our guide.

 

Study to shew thyself

Approved unto God,

A workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

Rightly dividing

The Word of Truth. 

 

The only dividing required

Is rightly dividing

And this one and only operation

Is the Spirit’s guiding.

 

 

 

Yes, the Word is quick

So, let us all stick to it

And let us also do like in Hollywood:

“Stick to the script”.

 

Stewart Russell © March 22, 2026

Like Seriously?

 

 

How could the devil

Be more popular than God?

You mean to tell me more people

Believe in King Fraud?

 

And we are intelligent

Yet snub intelligent design?

Goodness gracious! Get a brain

And do so in quick time!

 

Deny the stark truth

And a lie you will believe;

Like when one believes in God

That one is naive.

 

I’d rather be simplistic

In my fundamental thinking

Than to be viewed as scholastic

In fallacious reasoning.

 

Too many erudite souls

Are seeing refracted light

And appear blissfully unaware

Of their pending plight.

 

 

 

They are not blind

As in one that cannot see

But they have chosen to be blind

To avoid accountability.

 

For to believe in God

Is to be accountable to Him

But no God and no accountability

Is folly to the brim.

 

A man has got to do

What a man has got to do,

I am very aware of this saying

And no doubt you are too.

 

 

 

But today people do

Whatever satisfy their crave

And this is especially indicative

How the godless behave.

 

But God has His chosen

And they will come to Him,

These are the saints of all time

That repented of their sin.

 

Saved by God’s grace

And walking in the God’s light,

Washed in the blood of Jesus

And doing what is right.

 

 

 

That number God knows

Never mind how it looks

For the names of all His saints

Are written in Life’s Book.

 

We must make our calling

And our election sure

Then leave the rest to the Saviour

Who will take us o’er.

 

And do remember this,

It’s not a popularity contest;

The Lord knows those who are His

And it’s in Him they rest.

 

 

 

In the final analysis

Millions more will be saved

For Father God will be vindicated

For the precious Son He gave.

 

Stewart Russell © July 5, 2024

 

Two Mirror Images

 

 

Here are two realities

I want to suggest,

Cognizant there’re probably more

But at two I will rest.

 

Two mirror images:

The actual and the felt

And personally, with both

I have dealt.

 

The actual is physical;

It is what you see,

The felt is what you wish for;

What you’d like to be.

 

 

 

They are both real

But one is in the mind,

The one that is to be developed

Over time.

 

A work in progress

But not cosmetically so

Like the beauty care painted on

To make faces glow.

 

Oh no, this is deeper;

It is who we really are

And oft will still shine through

If the physical is marred.

 

The Bible speaks of one

In the epistle of James,

Located at James 1:24 to be exact:

Go there to see its claim.

 

 

For he beholds himself,

And goes his way,

And straightway forgets

What manner of man he was.

 

The mirror to be used

Is the mirror of God’s Word,

It is the perfect law of liberty

To which James referred.

 

 

 

So, two mirror images:

The physical and spiritual

And compared to one another

The physical is minimal.

 

We set much more store

By that which is physical

But while the spiritual is at the core

The physical is superficial.

 

 

 

It is very unfortunate

That looks hold more sway

But expect what is truly within

To shine through one day.

 

If then it is positive

That will be great

But if then it is otherwise

That one will be fake.

 

 

 

So, let’s be sober-minded

When we look in the mirror

And let the true reflection therein

Drive purest endeavor.

 

Stewart Russell © January 23, 2025