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

 

Is God a Being?

  

 

Is God a being?

Do not think it strange

And feel my asking this question

Means I am deranged.

 

I definitely am not

But I really do believe

That true reality is not always

As we perceive.

 

What’s your definition

Of the word being?

For straight-up they are two

That I am seeing.

 

Being as in existing

And having one’s being

Are not in fact one and the same

As in agreeing.

 

 

 

The two are as different

As light is from sight

And to say they are synonymous

Is certainly not right.

 

We are all beings

That experience change,

And when old age begins to set in

Think it not strange.

 

Our state yesterday

Is different from today

Because of the continuous flux

Each and every day.

 

 

 

Everything changes

And we are changing too

And entropy is clearly evident

Affecting all we do.

 

We are becoming:

From birth to toddler,

From pubescence to adolescence

To vibrant go-getter.

 

But sooner or later

Father Time catches us

And the grim reaper calls our number

And we return to the dust.

 

Thus, from the earth

To the earth returned

Whether we be a king or a pauper,

Buried or burned.

 

Unlike all of humanity

God is not a being,

So, by now that indefinite article

You should be seeing.

 

 

 

God is not a being

Thus, He is not becoming

For He changes not, the Bible says

Though a necessary being.

 

For without God

Nothing would be

Thus, that there would be no being,

Should be clear to see.

 

For being to have been

God would have to be

Thus, His being is logically eternal,

And also, necessary.

 

Having being in Himself

He cannot be a being

But instead, the reality of being

In His eternal being.

 

God cannot not be

Given the fact of reality

For without Him, nothing that be,

Would have come to be.

 

For in Him, meaning God,

We live,

And we move,

And we have our being.

 

 

 

Nothing is being

Without ever becoming

And the fact that God changes not

Shows He is not a being.

 

Stewart Russell © March 15, 2026

 

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