Take Note

As we celebrate

Independence year fifty-three

Let us take note

It is no longer a spree

Fifty-three years of nationhood

Years of continuous struggle

Years of success and promise

But also years of much trouble

More so in these latter years

As we confront our fears

A lot of fret and a lot of care

Blood and sweat and tears

A change of governance

In our fifty-second year

With prospects and promises

That better was near

The vulnerable of our country

Still the vulnerable

And hoping that this will change

If such is at all possible

Water woes and garbage

Mounting up every day

Commuting from place to place

Difficult in every way

The challenge of recession

And the intervention of BERT

An economy once promising

In the grip of IMF support

All systems still on slow

A serious interruption in the flow

Material and human resources

Always getting ready to go

Difficulty in doing business

Everything taking a long time

With the prospect of enterprise

Ever on decline

Sick schools and buildings

And our youth devoid of feeling

Less focus on the moral

Prayer and Bible reading

Minorities becoming majorities

In matters of little repute

Time and effort wasted

On fruitless and vain disputes

The suspicion of sabotage

And that for whatever reason

The marijuana discussion

And the silly gender season

The fleecing of our people

By business people most corrupt

The “dog eat dog” mentality

A most destructive construct

A blatant disregard for God

And most things pertaining to Him

A mounting mocking perception

On what the Bible calls sin

A metaphorical procuring

Of our own coffins and caskets

And with a bent on spiritual suicide

Many appear dead set

A plethora of ideas

From the intellectually acclaimed

And universities and colleges

Now centres for the insane

The lettered and the illiterate

Almost indistinguishable

I would never have believed

This could ever be possible

The brighter we become

The duller in commonsense

Sorry to those who wear this cap

If you deem this an offence

  

I prescribe the introspection

Which has already begun

And sincerely hope at the end of it

The foolish thinking will be done

Observe the open punctuation

Do so with an open mind

Let’s return to our moral underpinnings

I deem this an opportune time

A transparent trust in God

And our Judaea-Christian constitution

I make bold to declare today

Christ is still our salvation

The highlight of a thriving nation

Is a nation under God

And other claimants to such success

Are only imposters and frauds

Stewart Russell © November 2019

The Promises of God

He who has promised is faithful,

Listen up all you people!

I am talking about our God

Not old slew foot, that deceptive fraud.

What God has promised He will deliver

For He that has promised is able,

He the Creator of the Universe

Is willing and able and stable.

He is not a “fly by night”,

He is not a “flash in the pan”,

He is not a “Johnny come lately”

And he does not lie; He is not a man.

He who spoke the World into being

Is able to do whatever He says,

Do not compare Him with Hollywood

And their fictitious movies and plays.

 

His promissory record is spotless,

He has never failed to deliver,

Not only has he kept His word

But has always performed to the letter.

For those who are His toughest critics

Cite one case when He didn’t come through,

Not one you can find though hard you search

God’s promises are yea and true!

Don’t compare but contrast

The many you’ve trusted with your life,

How oft they have failed you

Even father, mother, husband and wife!

Contrast I said for the reason

That no one can be compared to God,

He alone stands on the pinnacle

And infinitely beneath Him is that Fraud.

Are you in doubt when I say fraud?

Do you really not know to whom I refer?

Well let me tell you plain and straight

I mean Satan, the devil, that cur!

He wasn’t that when he was created,

Lucifer, son of the morning was he

But in his quest to upstage his Creator

Not only was he mistaken but silly.

What an awful silly thing to do

Regarding the One who caused him to become!

And he did not only attempt it once

But tried again with God’s Son.

 

Was he not aware of the promise?

Could he not read Genesis 3 verse 15?

Yes we can say to both questions

But he was obsessed with his futile scheme.

I believe he knew of God’s promise

But his nature is to defy God’s word

And many fall prey to his wooing

Even though what he brings to them is absurd.

God has always kept His promise

The Bible is replete with this fact

And all who want to advance otherwise

Need a replacement memory pack.

He made a promise to Abraham

That He has kept even up till now

And though the enemy had tried to thwart it

God had always triumphed somehow.

Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise

Having come once, he will come again,

Having been a son of Abraham

Now the born again can claim the same.

 

For we are not children of the bond woman

But we are children of the free,

The promise having been made to Sarah

Has been extended also to you and me.

Take note particularly in these times

When promises are made to be broken

But when God the Almighty makes a promise

It is more than just rhetoric or a token.

God’s promises are His Word

Which he honours above His name

And all who have come to Him

Know God’s promises they can claim.

So have you been oft disappointed?

Have you been regularly hoodwinked?

Just stop now at this twentieth verse

And seriously begin to think.

Some may have the power

But you they don’t consider,

Others may really want to help you

But don’t have the power to deliver.

God has both of these facilities,

He has both the love and the power

The love was shown on Calvary

And the resurrection is the Christian’s tower.

So trust no longer the arm of flesh

But put your faith in the Living God,

He will bring what concerns you to pass

And finally rid you of the despicable fraud.

Remember God is not a politician,

He does not need a majority vote,

He did not ascend His throne by an election

So to the detractors I say, “Take note!”

Stewart Russell © August 2017