It’s Happening Again

 

 

Here I am again

With this longing to write

But as has happened before

Nothing’s in sight.

 

Nothing on the horizon

Or even beyond,

Maybe I should stop here

And be gone.

 

But it’s a challenge

That I must overcome,

Some idea will come along

Before I am done.

 

Writer’s block?  Nah!

There are so many topics,

I just want to move away

From what is habit.

 

 

I just came on an idea

Let me see if I can work it,

When I have expressed it

Then you can edit.

 

Is God still doing

Or has God already done?

I’d love to have your thoughts

On this precise one.

 

God is a planner

All can see this is a fact,

Having set things in motion

Why would He look back?

 

As though He is man

And does not know in full

Thus, has to make adjustments

Like ordinary people.

 

God who is proactive

Has put everything in place,

No fallaciousness in Him

No, not a trace.

 

 

God’s will be done

As the prayer clearly states,

He alone already knows

What is our fate.

 

As said in another place

All’s history in God’s eyes,

That He knows everything

Is no surprise.

 

God doesn’t have to do

Having already done,

Battles past present and future

He has already won

 

The doing is the Spirit’s

As he directs to the cross,

Another tick in the Book of Life

For no longer lost.

 

It is happening again

Across the whole wide world,

Not my occasional block

But the Gospel is heard.

 

 

Another checked off

That has come home,

Calling safe and election sure;

Nevermore to roam.

 

Stewart Russell © January 16, 2024

 

Fame Fortune Faith

 

 

Two we strive for

The other is God-given,

This is the one that holds firm

When trouble threatens.

 

None of us is without,

We use it every day

In circumstances and situations

Too numerous to say.

 

Fame and fortune

May go hand in hand;

The more famous the person

The more in demand.

 

 

Where demand is

Fortune will emerge

And the more the fortune

The greater the urge.

 

Sometimes fame

Comes without fortune

But such is a rare occasion

That there is no boom.

 

Many a preacher

Has become famous

By accumulating a fortune

Via the religious.

 

A niche-market

Full of gullible persons

Whom these preachers set up

For financial reasons.

 

Elaborate crusades

Where miracles are done

And the appearance often takes in

An unsuspecting one.

 

Miracles of healing,

Financial breakthrough

And other supernatural feats

Of what faith can do.

 

 

Desiring fortune?

Looking for fame?

Some of these preachers will say,

Call on Jesus’ name.

 

A reliable talisman!

If you use Jesus’ name

You can come into great fortune

And much fame.

 

But fame and fortune

Outside of Jesus Christ

Is worth eternally nothing

But a useless device.

 

Beware of charlatans

Whose fortune and fame

Comes from conning people

In Jesus’ name.

 

 

Faith in the Gospel:

This is saving faith

And if fame and fortune come,

Give God the praise.

 

Stewart Russell © December 11, 2024

 

The Word Is Quick

  

 

I wonder sometimes

Whether we realize

That the life within the Word of God

Is not disguised.

 

I sometimes ask me

What does this mean

And I go to Hebrews 4:12 to observe

What can be seen.

 

The written Word

Is about the Living Word

And that this is the Lord Christ,

You have heard.

 

John in the Gospel

Starts out with this:

“In the beginning, was the Word.”

Sharp and crisp!

 

 

 

Explicit from the get-go

No need to interpret,

Take it just as it has been stated,

From eternity set.

 

A statement of fact

About the First Cause:

And that this necessary first cause

Had to be uncaused.

 

John echoed Moses,

It’s not a contradiction!

They both are citing the first cause

For all creation.

 

One singular causation

Definitely not two!

Go directly to John 1 and verse 1

And take in the view.

 

“The Word was God.”

Don’t you see it there?

Upon this fact hangs all that exists

Here and everywhere.

 

“In him was life”

There’s life in the Word!

Let that sink into your very being

Now you have heard.

 

 

 

In the beginning God

And so too, the Word,

Yet so many say this cannot be;

That it’s absurd.

 

The Word is quick:

Meaning that it is alive

And does not need one’s rhetoric

In order to survive.

 

Be careful not to add

Or even to subtract,

The Word needs no amendments:

It is eternal fact.

 

Be sure not to multiply

And definitely not divide

Unless we are using 2 Timothy 2:15

As our guide.

 

Study to shew thyself

Approved unto God,

A workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

Rightly dividing

The Word of Truth. 

 

The only dividing required

Is rightly dividing

And this one and only operation

Is the Spirit’s guiding.

 

 

 

Yes, the Word is quick

So, let us all stick to it

And let us also do like in Hollywood:

“Stick to the script”.

 

Stewart Russell © March 22, 2026

Cotton Candy Christianity

 

 

Cotton Candy Christianity

Sweet to the taste

But what is the nutritive value?

It’s more like a waste.

 

What sustaining value?

None I can see

And what’s worse I will tell you

Is its devilry.

 

It is worldly tastes

Accepted by the church

And calculated not to stand out

Appearing like a jerk.

 

Jump-up and revelry

In the name of Christ

But pretty much indistinguishable

From worldly vice.

 

 

The lyrics giving way

To loud accompaniment

Unable to make proper meaning

In the merriment.

 

Capturing attention

And drawing a following

Who without careful examination

Are simply swallowing.

 

Bigging up the pulpit

And the platform,

Less counting those in the pew

Is now the norm.

 

 

Like sponges they come

With cups turned up

But by the time they leave church

Theirs is an empty cup.

 

They dance and shout

And take over the aisle

And are taken on a spiritual high

By hype and guile.

 

The preacher is hot

Like a raging fire

And the congregation rates him

Worthy of hire.

 

 

Cotton candy sweet,

With delicious corn curls!

A spiritual sugar spike is evident

With head in a whirl.

 

Boy, wasn’t he hot

But what did he say?

Girl, I really can’t remember now

But he had his way.

 

He shared a text

And he closed the Word

And then he spoke unlike any

I’ve ever heard.

 

Many were slain,

Others spoke in tongues

And the evidence of the Holy Spirit

Was all around.

 

Not much about Jesus

Or the glorious gospel

But mostly about the good time

When the Spirit fell.

 

 

Cotton candy Christians

Along for the ride

But who from serious Bible study

Prefer to hide.

 

No depth in the Word

But quite an experience,

Much emotional hype and feeling

Form their content.

 

I end with a caution

To dig into God’s Word

And whatever answers you seek

To His Word defer.

 

Stewart Russell © August 17, 2025

The Gospel

 

 

The Gospel is more than

The Christmas story,

It is more than a universal sect

On their way to glory.

 

The Gospel is more than

Some man-made edict

Proclaimed on Sunday mornings

From a sacred pulpit.

 

The Gospel is more than

That feel good elixir

To bring to someone’s difficult day

A brighter picture.

 

The Gospel is more than

The water-down homily

To further enrich the dynasties

Of the already wealthy.

 

 

 

The Gospel is more than

The emotive altar calls

That stress coming to the altar

As if this is all.

 

The Gospel is more than

The sinner’s prayer

Recited by the so-called seeker

For heaven down here.

 

The Gospel is more than

An escape from hell

To which the filthy rich and famous

Are headed pell-mell.

 

The Gospel is more than

Meeting my felt need

By way of some miraculous event

Or righteous deed.

 

The Gospel is more than

 All of the above,

It is really about a gracious God

And transcending love.

 

Known by many names

And quite a few titles

But knowing Yahweh personally

Is extremely vital.

 

It’s lifesaving for the now

And for all eternity

And from old it was proclaimed

To all humanity.

 

 

 

The Gospel is Christological:

Centred on Christ

Who, to redeem us from the curse,

Gave up his life.

 

The incarnate Son of God

Died upon a cross

Crucified by his created subjects

That were eternally lost.

 

To save them from wrath:

The wrath of their Creator,

Who, through their idolatrous acts,

Became God-haters.

 

Judgment was pronounced

And there was no escape

Unless, as was divinely instituted,

One their place did take.

 

Thus entered Emmanuel

Into humanity’s world

Who actually became “God with us”

As shown in the Word.

 

The Word became flesh

And dwelt among us

In the form of God’s incarnate Son,

Christ Jesus.

 

 

 

The Gospel is Theological:

Conceived by God

Who sent His only begotten Son

To redeem us all. 

 

To buy us back as it were

After the great fall

When our fore parents had chosen

To heed Satan’s call.

 

Choosing Satan’s lie

As he deceptively implied

Rather than the direct instruction

Which God supplied.

 

The Gospel is Biblical

From Genesis to Revelation

In which the Father’s promise unfolded

In our actual salvation.

 

According to the Scriptures

Jesus was born, lived and died,

And then the glorious resurrection

After he was crucified.

 

The Gospel is Biblical

Thus, it’s a divine revelation

In which God through Jesus Christ

Secured our redemption.

 

 

 

The Gospel is Apostolic

As in the words of the Apostles,

The core of whom in Holy Scripture

Were Jesus’ disciples.

 

Paul was at the forefront

Ably supported by Peter,

Add to these James, John and more:

Most of whom were martyred.

 

Martyred for the Gospel

Was their highest honour

When they gave their life for the one

For whom they laboured.

 

 

 

The Gospel is Historical;

It is not a fairy tale,

Though legendary, it is not a legend

As in fictional detail. 

 

The characters are real:

The main one being Christ

And the fact that he created time

Should also suffice.

 

The Gospel is Personal

And this is amazing,

That God wants a personal relationship

Is truly liberating.

 

Jesus knows his sheep

And he calls each by name,

Thus, this personal relationship denotes

No two are the same.

 

He invites you and me

To a relationship with him

Such that all who positively respond,

He saves from sin.

 

Via the Holy Spirit

He walks with me and you,

None is more personal than that,

This is true.

 

The ‘whosoever’

Speaks to the individual

That the Father draws to His Son

To make up His people. 

 

The Gospel is Universal:

Meaning the whole world,

For God so loved, the Bible says-

I’m sure you’ve heard.

 

It is to be proclaimed

To all nations and tribes

And any who call on the name of Jesus

Will not be despised.

 

Pertaining to our end

Most of us are concerned,

Thus, The Gospel is Eschatological:

Of such we can learn.

 

Life is the opportunity

To make our election sure,

“Come unto me,” Jesus now beckons

To open our heart’s door.

 

The change that you need

You need look no more,

The Gospel is transformational-

Real change is assured.

 

Now hear the bad news:

We all were born in sin

But The Gospel is the Good News:

Sinners are invited in. 

 

According to the Scriptures

Christ died but has risen

And all that put their trust in him

Will definitely be forgiven.

Forgiven of their sins

Present, past and future,

And none can pluck us from his hand:

Not a single creature.

 

 

 

The Gospel is all this

And I dare say, even more,

Whosoever believes shall not perish,

John 3:16 assures.

 

Stewart Russell © September 16, 2025

 

Editing the Truth

 

 

What a peculiar title

Is “Editing the Truth”!

This one I really have to tell you

Is through the roof.

 

Can the truth be edited

As the title assumes

And who is capable of editing it

If this is your tune?

 

You avid churchgoers

Will frown on this

Because you have truth editors

On your list.

 

You admire them

And you adored them

And your acceptance and approval

Excuse their problem.

 

Many truth-editors

Ascend church pulpits

And preaching another gospel

Is their habit.

 

They oft alter the truth

To suit their agenda

And browbeat their congregants

To meekly surrender.

 

They add to the truth

And subtract from it too

And they multiply it and divide it

Before they are through.

 

Faith plus works

And grace plus merit

And Jesus could never be God;

To some, a cleric.

 

More than one way

To get to God

In fact, there are many ways

Says King Fraud.

 

What a fragile truth

That we need to edit!

And if we are biblically astute

There’s no limit.

 

For only the brilliant

Can see truth’s fragility,

For it’s an everchanging truth

Invariably.

 

Unto another gospel

Which is not another

So that if you are about to change

Don’t even bother.

 

He who edits the truth

Knows not the truth

And the truth he attempts to edit

Is its own proof.

 

The truth stands firm

And will not pass away,

Absolutely no editing is required

For God holds sway.

Stewart Russell © October 18, 2025