The Message Leaders Forget

 

 

Before church leaders

Some parishioners genuflect,

Here’s a message for such leaders

That tend to forget.

 

Revelation 19:10

 

And I fell at his feet

To worship him.

And he said unto me,

See thou do it not:

 

I am thy fellow-servant,

And of thy brethren

That have the testimony of Jesus:

Worship God:

 

For the testimony of Jesus

Is the Spirit of prophecy.

 

 

There is only one

That is worthy of worship,

‘Worship and serve God only’

Is the Bible’s edict.

 

Herod learnt the hard way

When they called him a god,

He accepted the people’s worship

And he died a fraud.

 

God’s glory, the Bible says,

He will not share with another

But the elevation of some pastors

Has become a bother.

 

They appear unfamiliar

With the judgment of Herod

And still strive to stand in the place

He once stood.

 

Their fall will be great

If they too do not repent

And adhere to the divine message

That Herod was sent.

 

 

“And I fell at his feet

To worship him”

Pastors, please point out to them

That this is a sin.

 

“See that you do it not”

Pastors are fellow-servants,

And just like you and me,

They need to repent.

 

If you see men like trees

Having your vision impaired,

Another touch from the Healer

Will make you see clear.

 

No more holy the pulpit

Than a congregant’s pew,

That minister is a fellow-servant

Just like me and you.

 

Beware of those apostles

And of those prophets too,

That befuddle their congregations

As in voodoo.

 

History is replete

With leaders going astray

And leading their blind followers

In destruction’s way.

 

 

Worship God

Is every believer’s duty

For the testimony of Jesus

Is the Spirit of prophecy.

 

And you church leaders:

Stay in your zone,

Accept none of the proffered glory

It is God’s alone. 

Acts 14:15

 

And saying, Sirs,

Why do ye these things?

We also are men of like passions with you,

And preach unto you

That ye should turn from these vanities

Unto the living God,

Which made heaven,

And earth, and the sea,

And all things that are therein.

 

A message to the pew

Regarding the pulpit:

They are men just like you and me

Wherever they sit.

 

A message to the pulpit

Regarding the pew:

Accept that the only difference

Is in your elevated view.

 

Stewart Russell © May 4, 2025

 

What Ultimately Matters

 

Rejoice not because the spirits

Are subjected unto you,

Let it be known my brother and sister

This is nothing you can do.

 

What ultimately matters

Is where your name is written,

It ultimately matters to you and me

That it is written in heaven.

 

They had only just returned

From the mission of great success

And they were over their heads

Re their phenomenal success.

 

What a report they shared

Obviously reveling in the flesh

But the Lord Christ revealed to them

It was less than second best.

 

 

Rejoice not because the spirits

Are subjected unto you,

Let it be known my brother and sister

This is nothing we can do.

 

All honour is the Lord’s

And all glory belongs to him

And to attempt to share in his glory

Is accounted to us as sin.

 

You’d recall foolish King Herod

Who thought he was a god

And because he accepted such glory

His was a terrible fall.

 

His life was ended that day

And like so many that followed

In the dust of their so-called empire

They too were swallowed.

 

Napoleon the great and Hitler

But before these two, the Jews

That crucified the Lord Jesus Christ;

All came to their just due.

 

It behooves us therefore

To regard the words of the Christ,

For a born-again child of the Saviour

Is to acknowledge his sacrifice.

 

It matters not what we achieve

Or who is subjected to us,

What matters at the end of our sojourn

Is that we belong to Jesus.

 

 

Rejoice not because the spirits

Are subjected unto you,

Let it be known my brother and sister

This is nothing we can do.

 

What ultimately matters

Is where our name is written,

It ultimately matters to both you and me

That it is written in heaven.

 

Stewart Russell © September 29, 2024

 

Science and Religion

 

Are these two opposed?

Many seem to think so,

I think they complement one another

And that’s what I will show.

 

Science is not anti-God

As even some Christians suppose

But we can do science because of God

And that’s what I propose.

 

For sure we all know

Laws are pivotal to science,

And it is Almighty God the Creator

Upon whom science is reliant.

 

God is all knowing, all wise,

And one with eternity,

He with the Son and the Holy Spirit

Forms the blessed Trinity.

 

Three persons in the Godhead

The first of many Triads,

Like time and space and matter:

In each what do we have?

 

 

Time is definitely a triad

With present, past and future,

It is Almighty God that created time-

I trust you get the picture.

 

 

In time he created space;

Space is length, width and height,

In space he stretched out the heavens

We see on a starry night.

 

 

In time He created the earth;

Matter is solid, liquid and gas,

In the beginning God created everything

Thousands of years in the past.

 

God established all science

And without Him there would be none,

By His Son all things consist

And Jesus is His Son. 

 

John 1:1-4

 

In the beginning was the Word,

And the Word was with God,

And the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

 

All things were made by him;

And without him

Was not anything made that was made.

In him was life;

And the life was the light of men.

 

Science dissects things

To see how they are made,

I tried the same thing as a youngster

But I consistently failed.

 

 

For having dissected things

I could not put them together again,

Somewhat like Humpty Dumpty-

You could well imagine my pain.

 

Religion puts them back together

To see what they mean,

The two complement one another

As facilitated by the Supreme.

 

God is not anti-science

There is absolutely no way He could be,

Creation is too full of science

That anyone can see.

 

Psalm 19:1-2

 

The heavens declare God’s glory

And the firmament shows his handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night shows knowledge.

 

 

The Bible is full of science

And makes a great science text,

When science and religion are combined

Things become less complex.

 

Stewart Russell © September 19, 2023

Inspired by Aunt Gwen 2

 

The following are two prayers

That we all can learn to pray,

Before we gobble up our food

Here is what we can say.

 

“From Thy hands cometh every good

We thank Thee for this daily food.

O with it Lord Thy blessings give.

Unto Thy glory may we live.”

(Anonymous)

 

“For food for friends,

Let’s give God thanks,

For what we are about to receive.

May it digest and do us well.

Unto thy glory may we live.”

(Anonymous)

 

They speak to the faithfulness of God

In His daily provision to us

And he does this for all of His children

On account of His Son, Jesus.

 

Every good and perfect gift

Comes down from the hand of God

And any attempt to share in His glory

Is an attempt to defraud.

 

So, thank you Lord for your bounty

That comes to us every day,

May we worship and adore you only

In deeds that are pleasing always.

 

Stewart Russell © March 2, 2021

 

As in the Old so in the New

 

 

She did as she liked

And ruled with an iron hand

And when her husband was depressed

She claimed another’s land.

 

She had him stoned and slain

And boasted about his death

Then she said to her husband

You can add that to your wealth.

 

She found it rather strange

That a king could be depressed

And that something that he wanted

Could give him so much stress.

 

 

She even scared a prophet

And made him run and hide,

He had slain her false prophets

That her table had supplied.

 

 

She set a watch upon his life

He must die within a day

And when he heard the dreadful news

He took to his heels and ran away.

 

It still remains a mystery

After his victory at Mount Carmel

How the faith of this great prophet

To such staggering depths fell.

 

Such was the fear for this woman

She could frighten any man,

Even her husband seemed to fear her

Though he benefitted from her plan.

 

Her husband was very wicked

But she was incomparably worse,

To come up on her wrong side

Was to be afflicted with a curse.

 

She stirred the king to wickedness

The description the Bible used

And all who dared to oppose her

Their life they were sure to lose.

 

She even killed some of the prophets

And planned to exterminate more

Such that a hundred had to be hidden,

This queen was vexing sore.

 

But the end comes for all

Whether they be good or bad

And the end for this Old Testament queen

Turned out to be very sad.

 

It was prophesied how she would die

A very horrible death indeed,

How as her body lay in the street

The dogs would on it feed.

 

 

That’s exactly how she died

Confirming the prophecy in full,

All that was left after the dogs did eat

Were her feet, her palms and skull.

 

Let me hasten to establish

As in the Old so in the New,

We shall learn of a New Testament king

That like this queen had a similar view.

 

This king was no different

And ruled with an iron hand

He lived an adulterous life

With the wife of another man.

 

The thing that made it worse

Was that it was his brother’s wife

And the prophet of that time

Rebuked him for this strife.

 

He wanted to kill the prophet

But decided to have him imprisoned,

He feared what the people would do

If such to this prophet should happen.

 

It happened on his birthday

While watching his niece dance

He was so enthralled by her

That he took a reckless chance.

 

He impetuously offered her

Anything for which she wished,

She requested that he give to her

The prophet’s head on a dish.

 

This was her mother’s wish,

She wanted the prophet dead

And though the king showed sorrow

He called for the prophet’s head.

 

 

The prophet’s head was removed

And paraded on a platter,

You could well imagine at that time

The astonishment and the chatter.

 

It was this very same king

Before whom the Lord had stood

That mocked him and arrayed him

In royal kingly duds.

 

He had hoped to see a miracle

Because of the things he had heard

And he questioned him repeatedly

But the Lord answered not a word.

 

This king attacked the fledgling church

At its very early stage,

He was bent on wiping it out

In his anger and his rage.

 

He sought to kill the apostles

And succeeded in the case of one,

Another whom he had imprisoned

Escaped before the light of dawn.

 

So perplexed was he at this

That he left for another territory,

The embarrassment was so much

That it bruised his dignity.

 

 

One day while arrayed in royal apparel

He sat upon his throne

The people regaled him with praise

That should have been God’s alone.

 

They, speaking of this king

Said his was the voice of a god,

He made no attempt to stop them

But basked in the glory like a fraud.

 

Immediately he was struck

By the angel of the Lord,

According to the Word he was punished

For not giving the glory to God.

 

He was eaten of worms

Of such there was nothing to boast

And eventually according to the Word

He had given up the ghost.

 

The word to us all is to remember

We’re not a law unto ourselves,

God is the only sovereignty

Not an amulet on our shelves.

 

This life is not ours forever

Whether king or pauper we may be,

The lesson of these two should teach us

To live life accordingly.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2018

 

Be Wary of Sayings

 

 “Why worry

When you can pray?”

"Worry is unbelief"

I’ve heard Christians say.

 

“Too blessed to be stressed

I tell God my problems,”

“I don’t have to worry-

He can solve them.”

 

“Regarding any problem

God is infinitely bigger,

So, why don’t I worry?

Now you go figure.”

 

“Don’t tell God

How big your problem is,

Instead, tell your problem

How big God is.”

 

Here’s another saying:

“Talk is cheap”

And once you have a tongue

It is easy to speak.

 

I am pretty sure

That most Christians worry,

But self-talk, I have discovered

Really works for me.

 

After the initial upset

I seek out the consolations,

“It could be worse”

Is a primary consideration.

 

The next one is:

“Now, what can I do?”

I certainly cannot reverse it

And neither can you. 

 

What’s done is done

It is time for the lesson,

So, doing what I can do

Constitutes my next session.  

Ultimately, though,

God is always in control,

And He takes especial care

Of all in His fold.

 

Worrying is natural

But it is not all that you do,

Just remember as you worry

God is looking out for you.

 

Some believers advise

That you should P.U.S.H.

Pray Until Something Happens

Instead of just fuss.

But what is that something

Which ends your pray,

That Push Until Something Happens

Becomes the way?

 

P.U.S.H does sound good

As an acronym

But does it make sense

Or is it just a whim?

 

Trusting God always

Works much better for me

And I am learning to do that

Even when I worry.

 

Oft I don’t even know

How I should pray

But I trust the Holy Spirit,

He knows what to say.

 

Telling me not to worry

But instead to pray

Puts me in a real jam

If I do not know what to say.

 

 

Sometimes regarding prayer

We can’t even start

But that is no problem

God listens to our heart.

 

We hear our heartbeats

But God hears our cries

And those that come from the heart

He never denies.

 

He acts for our good

Although always for His Glory

So, trust Him in all circumstances

And even when you worry.

 

Stewart Russell © November 13, 2020