Weapon of Deception

 

 

Satan’s greatest weapon

Is not the power we think

But the lies he fills our heads with

Thus, causing us to sink.

 

God is not God, he tells us,

In fact, there is really no God

Save Satan himself, he conjures up;

Any other is the fraud.

 

Hence, the myriad cults

With their partial truths

Quoting the very Word of God

For their infallible proof.

 

Add to this, the occult,

Displayed in multiple forms:

From obeah to dark phenomena

Fast becoming the norm.

 

Then, the gender fluidity

That’s definitely on the rise,

No longer needing to hide away

In shadowy disguise.

 

 

But out in the open spaces

Both public and the church,

Having the backing of Parliaments

And religious experts.

 

 

 

Where once overt bullying,

Now wooing subtilty

Targeting straddlers of the fence

With obvious gullibility.

 

Infiltrating academia

With increasing scientism

Ignoring established scientific laws

With dubious generalizations.

 

The weapon of deception

In Satan’s repertoire

Of half-truths and alternative facts

Generated by the hour.

 

 

Though bound he is loose,

Chained, but having reach

Like the seemingly ferocious dog

That barks and bares his teeth.

 

Thus, added to deception

Is the phenomenon of fear,

In itself another deceptive strategy

Like a dog with teeth bared.

 

For though there is danger

That is ominously clear

There is still that mysterious pull

And the victim draws near.

 

Like the edge of a cliff

Hidden by over grown bush,

Next, we hear the startling scream

And then comes the hush.

 

 

The weapon of deception

Also known as cover-up,

The fly, caught in the spider’s web,

Is now out of luck.

 

All Satan has in his arsenal

Is the weapon of deception

But it is enough to blind so many,

Luring them to destruction.

 

Stewart Russell © February 7, 2025

 

Faith and Science

 

Faith and Science!

What have they in common

And is their assumed contrast

Just one’s imagination?

 

The assumed perception

That they don’t go together:

Science is rational and natural,

Faith is another matter.

 

Faith is irrational

A construct of the mind

And cannot truly be trusted

At any given time.

 

Science has an answer

For everything that exists,

Scientism as this is called

Surely tops the list.

 

It’s observable and testable

Its evidence is clear

And over time uncertainties

Must gradually disappear.

 

Faith on the other hand

Is frustratingly uncertain

Causing its adherents to differ

Over many questions.

 

 

But it appears to me

That both are aimed at truth

And must therefore be verified

By evidence and proof.

 

On this basis let me start

With a truth before science

And suggest in this first cause

This truth is self-reliant.

 

For it surely must be

There is an uncaused cause

Or else there can never ever be

Any order or natural laws.

 

Such as gravity I mean

And of energy and the like,

Be it that of natural sources

Or of artificial light.

 

I would rather believe

Science and faith dovetail

And together furnish answers

On what is actually real.

 

 

If truth and reality

Is the removal of all doubt

Then reality must be what is left

When all else is weeded out.

 

Think of a garden bed

With all the weeds removed

Leaving a picturesque splendour

That the gardener approves.

 

Think of back in Eden

That evolutionists call a myth,

Faith on the other hand determines

It was really God’s gift.

 

A habitat for humans

Prepared for Adam and Eve

But the willy and cunning serpent

Had Eve deceived.

 

Adam followed suit

In solidarity with his wife

And out their sin of disobedience

Came disorder and strife.

 

I’ve always wondered why

Weeds grow so easily,

Crops and flowers would struggle

But bush would have a spree.

 

 

 

Genesis 3 verse 17

Tells of the curse of the ground

In which thorns and thistles

Are always around.

 

Unlike the valued plants

Weeds do not need any care,

Once there is the slightest neglect

They will abundantly appear.

 

It is an evidential reality

This is the nature of things

And science is not the explanation

But the Genesis beginnings.

 

“The heavens declare!”

Speaks to the powerful witness

Of Almighty God’s creative power,

His glory and awesomeness.

 

Faith is not irrational

But rather a reasonable belief

Derived from a truthful reality,

Oh, what blessed relief!

 

It is God’s omniscience

That scientists can do science

With minds fine-tuned for order

With results that are reliant.

 

No wonder most early scientists

Were by this captivated

Unlike others whose experiments

Were prevaricated.

 

Science answers some things

But definitely not all

For morality and love and justice

Are due to an all-wise God.

 

Faith and science complement,

They are not at odds

And where science invariably fails

Right at this point is God.

 

It requires language

To express the truths of science

And the thought humans engage

Speaks of God’s existence.

 

Created in God’s own image

Humans are one of a kind,

Faith is facilitated in their DNA

Via Almighty God’s design.

 

 

Created with a capacity

To engage reality and truth

God Himself, as the Creator of all,

Supplying the essential proof.

 

Creation reveals His design

In all we see and observe

And this is made even clearer

In the advent of the Word.

 

Jesus, the incarnate Word

And the embodiment of truth

Whether of faith or of science

Jesus is the proof.

 

 

 

Truth is essentially a person

Synonymous with the Word

The Lord Christ, God’s only Son,

That came into the world

 

By him all things were made

And of him they consist

Yet the Lord Christ transcends then all

Though in him they exist.

 

He is above and beyond

Anything that science can tell

And this same Creator God causes

Faith and science to gel.

 

Stewart Russell © April 25, 2024

 

Topsy Turvy World

 

 

In a topsy turvy world

Where madness is sanity

How do the sane actually survive

In a pseudo reality?

 

And if atheism is true

And everything else is a lie

Then matter is all that matters,

Oh me, oh my!

 

Where, tell me, is up

And which way is down

And how can we say differently

And neither is wrong?

 

I can transition

But I cannot change back

Even though anything goes

And nothing is a fact.

 

A topsy turvy world

Is as good as any name

Where there is moral relativism

Thus, no blame.

 

Accept my gender

Once I tell you I am that

And never mind how I look,

Treat it as a fact.

 

 

 

Remember, I have the right

To be whatever I feel,

So, don’t you dare oppose me

Just simply yield.

 

All that matters is matter

Hate-speech is a no-no,

It’s not your worry what I am

Just agree it’s so.

 

To some this is not much

To others, quite a lot,

But there are irregularities

I hope you spot.

 

Atheism is one of them

Materialism is another,

Scientism is a scientific stretch

Monism is a bother.

 

Nothing before life

And nothing thereafter,

There is no slave and no servant

And definitely no master.

 

No God to overrule

No creator or creatures,

The right to do whatever I like-

Absolutely no standards.

 

 

Ecclesiastes 9 verse 3

Is an appropriate summary,

And how to avoid this inevitability

Is beyond you or me.

 

It will come to one and all

Both great and small

And none will escape its frigid bite

No, none at all.

 

Death is of a truth

It’s as real as real can be,

It’s a gateway to another world

Awaiting you and me.

 

Nothing before life

And nothing thereafter

Is nothing more than a satanic lie

Full of tragic laughter.

 

Laughing oneself to death

That’s what I mean,

What a topsy turvy world it is!

What a hopeless scene!

 

Stewart Russell © June 6, 2024