Hearing from God

 

 

Do people hear from God

The way that they say?

Does the Holy Spirit speak

Whenever they pray?

 

“I was deep in prayer

And the Spirit said to me

This is the word for Sunday,

So let it be.”

 

From time to time

Pastors make this claim

Perhaps to reinforce the fact

It’s in Jesus’ name.

 

 

To get the buy-in

From their audience,

Perhaps they use the Holy Spirit

As an advertisement.

 

For sure we will listen

And we will also heed

Once the Holy Spirit ratifies it,

Oh yes, indeed!

 

So, they hear from God

And we hear from them,

That kind of going between

Spells out a problem.

 

There is one Spirit

The Bible makes it clear

Who witnesses to the believer

For the believer to hear.

 

The word one brings

Should be a confirmation

For of two or more witnesses

We have a conviction.

 

 

We hear from God

Through His revelation,

And God speaks to the believer

Via illumination.

 

The word of the Spirit

Is God’s Holy Word

And that is the instrument

To which we must refer.

 

Any urges we feel

Let us put in context,

They must not be dogmas

To suit our pretext.

 

God speaks in His Word

And through His Word

And to live by His Holy Word

Is to honour His Word.

 

Only today I learnt

Of a prophecy

Which seems to me ludicrous

And full of lunacy.

 

God told this preacher

When he will die

And the exact day and year

He also supplied.

 

 

The grand old age

Of a hundred and twenty

Before being whisked away

From his body.

 

It’d be mind-blowing

If it were true

But I have some serious doubts

And I suspect you too.

 

He was prophesying

Regarding 2025,

The year according to him

When we come alive.

 

 

Twenty twenty-six

Will be the big fix

And thirty years afterwards

He’ll be gone in 2056.

 

This, according to him

He heard from God,

Thus, another thirty-two years

Before death calls.

 

Use your brain,

Do not jettison it,

And I urge you my friend,

Make it a habit.

 

Listen to God

As He speaks by His Word

And ignore big-up prophets

Who are clearly absurd.

 

And if you feel led

To perform a task,

As long as it is God’s will,

You don’t need to ask.

 

 

 

Try not to get buy-in

By claiming the Spirit

But speak the Word of God;

Just do it!

 

Stewart Russell © December 20, 2024

 

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

 

 

Between

The devil and the deep blue sea-

Swimming either way spells fatality,

Yet World politics promotes this lunacy

For its citizens to accept as their reality.

 

We sing the praises of world leaders

Setting store by what they say

And argue fiercely with one another

Which pontificates the better way.

 

This one is smarter than the other

And talks a better argument

And it does not matter the eventual outcome

It is really about the intent.

 

As long as the intentions seem good

To that world leader we can relate,

It matters not what he sequentially does

At least, he clearly won the debate.

 

 

With world politics

Precariously hanging from this plain

This brings me to the wonderment

Of one Mark Twain.

 

He pondered on two types of leaders

At the time when he did write

And when I contemplate his considerations

Neither appeared his approval type.

 

I have reserved the following verse

To give you his word-for-word quote,

Follow with me very closely

As I give you exactly as he wrote.

 

“Sometimes I wonder

whether the world is being run

by smart people who are putting us on,

or by imbeciles who really mean it.”

 

For surely you now see the reason

For the chosen title of this poem:

“Between the devil and the deep blue sea”

For indeed we have a problem.

 

 

“Smart people” speaks of those politicians

That are as cunning as the devil

And “imbeciles” connotes the other type

That in constant evil revel.

 

Whether run by smart people or imbeciles

There is no hope either way,

For if we choose the former we are damned

And if the latter,

We won’t see the light of day.

 

Stewart Russell © April 6, 2021

 

Is This Day Upon Us?

 

 

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction.

The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Albert Einstein (1870-1955)

 

Just Asking

 

Pertaining to this quote I really wish I could give you

The exact day and time

And what was foremost on the mind

Of this luminary, Albert Einstein.

 

The aspect of the technology then

That could have prompted Einstein’s quote

That today, February 28, 2021,

Could strike such a chilling note.

 

There is no comparison, I dare say,

Between his era and ours

Regarding the technological advances

Especially that of computers. 

And yet he had a morbid fear

That such a day would come

When technology would gain the ascendancy

And put human interaction on the run.

 

I ask, is this day upon us?

Has technology become the go-to tool?

Are we relegated to idiocy?

Have we in fact become as fools?

 

 

And what of the great minds

That created the technology?

Have they now become less intelligent?

Is this our inevitable eulogy?

 

And what of the world’s leaders

In that idiotic generation?

Will they place more trust in technology

Than across the table interaction?

 

A generation of idiots!

And what of the offspring of these?

Will there be a change or more of the same?

What are the possibilities?

 

When the created replaces the creator

That’s the pinnacle of lunacy,

No doubt the brilliant Albert Einstein

Feared such an eventuality.

 

 

His quote presupposes the “when”

Certainly, more so that the “if”,

It appeared to be only a matter of time,

If you catch my drift.

 

Is this day upon us?

Is it swiftly drawing near?

That COVID-19 is a major indicator

To us should be very clear.

 

Here is another Einstein quote

I believe fits perfectly here,

The technology lacks one of the following

To me this is very clear.

 

You can determine which one

I will finish with the quote,

Just bear in mind that one without the other

Is murder she wrote.

 

“Science without religion is lame,

Religion without science is blind.”

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

 

Stewart Russell © February 28, 2021

 

By the way:

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.

Aristotle (384-422 BC)