Quote…I will do it for you…unquote
All you need to do is give me the vote
Right here in our manifesto is that note
When we sat to discuss that’s what we wrote.
Will you remember about the streetlight?
Did you note that corner with the bush?
Have you a record about the road repairs
And also the bumps to slow down the rush?
What do you plan to do about the crime?
‘Cause I cannot sit in my own patio
And enjoy an evening of relaxation
With stray bullets flying high and low.
I hope that you have not forgotten
That the man without work; he can’t get ‘nutten’
And all around things brown and rotten
It is so bad I have reached rock bottom.
I have been canvassing this whole area
And believe you me, I have seen your plight
And you can take me at my word
When we form the government we will put it right.
It’s getting late and I must move on though
In order to meet my quota I must be on the go
However, there’s something I want you to know
I do not make sport and all who know me will tell you
so.
If I promise you that I am going to do it
You can guarantee that it will be done
The promises I make I take very seriously
That’s why I am out here in this hot broiling sun.
You sound like a genuine politician
I really believe I could take you at your word
You can be sure that you’ll get my vote
For you are the most sincere that I have ever heard.
Thank you so very much for your vote of confidence
I shall endeavour to meet your every need
Each promise is a debt that I will pay
And for the promised vote I thank you in deed.
Some years after during a chance meeting in town
I just want you to know things are still brown
This is the first time since we last spoke
More than four years since you got my vote.
I have called your office time and time again
I have even visited in the sun and in the rain
You were always out but soon would be in
I waited and waited till my patience grew thin.
I eventually stopped; I could see it was no use
I just put it down to the politicians’ abuse
At the time of election they beg for their votes
And by the time they are elected they lose their
notes.
Oh they publish their appealing manifestos
With promises and promises and promises for so
But their delivery is appalling, this I know
And you are no different, just move and let me go.
I am so sorry that you misunderstood
But I made those promises intending to make good
But the government before really made a mess
And under the circumstances we’ve done the best.
What we thought we could do in a single term
Was really too much; that we have since learned
So we have decided in term number two
To do all those things that we did not get to do.
Promises, promises, promises are all you’re about
But a lot ‘o we ‘bout here promise to kick you out
And that’s a promise we intend to keep
The word is being passed around even as we speak.
I notice some preachers too join the politicians’ way
Making unfounded promises to enhance their pay
Implying that God will give you loads of cash
Just sow a money seed is the con artist’s thrash.
The records show that many were hoodwinked
That gave out of their need while standing on the
brink
Awaiting the promised that never came
Believing they had given in Jesus’ name.
As a consequence there has been much fall out
As time and again persons fall for those preachers’ shout
Mindless of the con artistry in the pulpits about
They pay and pay but still experience drought.
Often it is put down to a lack of trust
When preachers fail to deliver and people fuss
Often too God is blamed when there is no gain
And these preachers get away with another falsified
claim.
I want you to hear this now and hear it well
Our God delivers on His promises this I can tell
But first we must understand that this is a fallen
world
This is the context I am sure you have heard.
For after our fore parents took of the fruit
That was the beginning of the sin-stained root
Everything was changed even man’s offshoot
Of whom the devil took advantage and began to loot.
But way back in the Bible in Genesis three verse fifteen
God announced a promise right there on the scene
That spoke of a coming Deliverer and Saviour Divine
And promised that he would come in the fullness of
time.
Quite a long time passed before it occurred
But God’s timing was exactly as He planned
Wise men understood this promise as shown in the word
It’s time we understand it’s God’s timing not man’s.
Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise God made
When on him the sins of the whole world was laid
Crucified and buried but rising again
He demonstrated the power that makes good his claim.
Come unto him all ye that are heavily laden with sin
And find rest for your soul without and within
This promise is to all who His word would heed
It is he alone who satisfies our greatest need
Money promises that it will do it for you
Fame and popularity, they make this claim too
Power and control proclaim we will take you through
But life’s shipwrecks plainly show that none of these
holds true.
For many found that when they had attained unto these
They still lacked something, for a time only they were
pleased
And so they kept on searching for that elusive dream
As they were lured into scheme after scheme.
Promises, promises, promises and even more
From the politician to the pulpit, promises galore
Fooled, tricked, ensnared, entrapped, even hoodwinked
I called on all right here right now to begin to
think.
The only One who has made good on all that He claimed
Is He who went to the cross and suffered shame and
pain
Dying in our stead to bring us eternal gain
He that promised and has delivered, Jesus is His name.
Promises, promises, promises, everyone in God’s word
is true
None are exclusive; they are for me and for you
For the richest to the poorest, for the high and the
low
Just read the word of God and you’ll be sure to know.
God has never failed to deliver, no not once
Never mind the gainsayers and their useless taunts
He that has promised is faithful to deliver
You’ve tried the politician and the preacher; now try
the real Caregiver.
Stewart Russell © 2015
