The Life Principle

 

 

What is this thing called life

Which no man can ever create?

Though that doesn’t stop him from trying-

He is more desperate here of late.

 

His robotic feats are amazing,

We hear of artificial intelligence

But his efforts at creating human life

Are meeting Divine resistance.

 

God is the creator of all nature

In the beginning that’s what He did,

What man innovates is artificial

And to create life is from him hid.

 

God is the Creator of life

But this is without man’s zone

Even though he is at the stage

Where he is creating animal clones.

 

There is a moral responsibility

That God has taken on Himself,

Intrinsic to all human beings

There is the matter of moral health.

 

The life principle in man

Is really the breath of the Living God

And at the point of a man’s demise,

That life principle is recalled.

 

From God to man, from man to God

Never from man to man,

This life principle I must repeat

Is a part of the Father’s divine plan.

 

 

While a man can terminate a life

He is unable to give it back,

That is the prerogative of Almighty God

And that is a scientific fact.

 

There is a tendency to believe

That God and science are at odds

And in blinding the eyes of men

The devil has done a good job.

 

God is omni-science

There is no science outside of God,

The devil knows this too

But after all, it’s not his call.

 

God is the source of all life

Both natural and spiritual

And because our life is hidden in Christ,

That life is also eternal.

 

 

So, man cannot give life

It does not matter how hard he tries,

God is the limiter that determines

The altitude to which man flies.

 

For after all, God is the only God

And man will never be,

The creature can never be the Creator

And this, the creature needs to see.

 

The life principle we need to know

Is the principle for our life,

There is no life outside of Creator God

Without Him there is only strife.

Robots cannot attain to salvation

However apparently intelligent!

No amount of artificial intelligence

Can make a robot repentant.

 

God is the one that gives life

Life physical is a loan from God

But His spiritual life is eternal

And this is the possession of the called.

 

The one who grasps this opportunity

Shall never, never die,

This assurance was given by Jesus

And on it we can rely.

 

You would recall the occasion

He’d given back life to Lazarus,

The only resurrection and the life

Is the Creator, the Lord Jesus!

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

The How of Salvation

 

 

Can anyone tell me

How salvation works?

Spare me all your credentials

Or that you’re an expert.

 

If you can tell me

Just put your hand up,

I’d love to wait on you but I can’t

You are out of luck.

 

Some do behave

Like they have the answer

But I believe they don’t:

Neither Madam nor Sir.

 

Let me hasten to add

That neither do I,

If at some time I told you I did

That was a lie.

 

So, why this topic

When they’re so many more?

Well, because some believers

Seem rather sure.

 

They argue about it

And sometimes cause division

Trying to explain

The “how of salvation”.

 

It’s like you’d better know

If you truly want to be saved

So, they go to great extent

In their rant and rave.

 

They would dig a hole

And deeper they would get

Pulling in the mold over them

To everybody’s regret.

 

 

Calvinists and Armenians

In the ages long debate

Trying hard to convince the other

Of their mistake.

 

Pitting God’s sovereignty

Against man’s free will

And at the end of every debate

Both confused still.

 

Trying to be God

Which they can never be

Plunging headlong into depths

Deeper than the sea.

 

What does it matter

Whether or not God saves all

Or, on the other hand,

Saves none at all?

 

Unlike as with ethnic Israel

Salvation is personal,

And what is even more critical

Salvation is eternal.

 

 

To teacher Nicodemus

Jesus would only say,

“Ye must be born again!”

It’s the only way.

 

This is not about how,

It is about the what,

It is not about who gets saved

And who does not.

 

“What must I do

To be saved?” asked another,

Believe on the Lord Jesus!

Is that a bother?

 

Fact number 1:

Almighty God is sovereign!

Fact number 2:

Man has his freedom!

 

That is freedom to decide

Whether yes or no,

Saying yes to Jesus Christ

Or with the devil go.

 

Whichever he chooses

Does not thwart God,

God delivers on all his promises,

He is never a fraud.

 

I cannot say the same

For you know who,

Satan will promise the world

But that he can’t do.

 

 

He tried it with Jesus

Though it was not his to give

But that is how con-artists work

And their adherents live.

 

Let’s forget the how

Which is not our concern,

Instead, let us be more like Jesus-

This we should learn.

 

The how is what God did

In sending us His Son,

The other how is the born again

And what the Spirit has done.

 

Go and tell, is our mandate

Tell them to come,

It’s an invitation to God’s kingdom

And that of His Son.

 

It’s one kingdom

Most definitely not two,

There’s not one for the Gentile

And one for the Jew.

 

 

 

The “how of salvation”?

Not our concern,

Calvinists and Armenians

Have a lot to learn.

 

Better to spend time

Conforming to Christ

For knowing the “how of salvation”

Can never suffice.

 

Stewart Russell © April 20, 2024

A Bad Good Friday

 

 

The first Good Friday was a bad one:

The Lord Jesus was crucified,

For his followers and those he had healed

It was day to be despised.

 

The one upon whom their hope lay

Was suddenly taken away,

Their champion, like none from before,

Was crucified on that day.

 

Crushed were their expectations

And devastated would have been apt,

All that was left to do was run and hide;

All their gains were rolled back.

 

 

Things looked bright and hope was alive;

Their conquerors were held at bay

But the tables were turned unexpectedly,

As in the tomb their champion lay.

 

They gazed from afar afraid to come near;

Fear was then their greatest torment,

Betrayal and denial were in evidence

And Judas did not live to repent.

 

A bad Good Friday is an apt summary

As we looked back on that dreadful scene,

For his disciples, it was a nightmare

But for the Jews, a realistic dream.

 

They had planned with bedevilment

And had yearned for this eventful day:

The day they would see the back of Christ

And under the ground he would lay.

 

 

They rode on the backs of the Romans

Since crucifixion was without their remit,

They were bent on killing the Lord Jesus

But were actually following his script.

 

He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquity,

The chastisement of our peace was on him

And with his stripes we are healed.

 

It was a horrid day to the faithful few,

For the Jews, it was a dream come true,

But to everyone that believes in Jesus,

It is salvation to both Greek and Jew.

 

The first Good Friday was a bad one

But the resurrection removed the bad

So that each born-again believer ever since,

Has had every reason to be glad.

 

Stewart Russell © April 14, 2022

  

Pretending to Be Saved

 

 

Can some pretend to be saved?

O yes!  They can!

Do some pretend to be saved?

O yes!  That’s their plan.

 

There are many who do

Though I cannot tell you who,

Like tares among the wheat

They’re more than a few.

 

But what have they to gain

Is the question you’d likely ask,

An abundance of this world’s goods

Is their dedicated task.

 

 

They are in the church

And I don’t mean of the saved,

Avarice is their way of life

And that is how they behave.

 

 I do not mean the born again

That have no reason to pretend

But them that know not Jesus Christ

And know just how to blend.

 

They are really charlatans

And people are their merchandise,

Especially people in the church

That are duped by their disguise.

The Lord Jesus called them wolves

And he spoke of their disguise:

Wolves in sheep’s clothing, he said,

Intent on the sheep’s demise.

 

Paul also called them wolves

That would mix in among the flock

And because of their clever disguise,

They would be difficult to spot.

 

Today, we call them con artists

Who are known for their swindling:

Chiseler, defrauder, scammer,

Don’t become their victim.

 

Can some pretend to be saved?

O yes!  They can!

Do some pretend to be save?

O yes!  That’s their plan.

 

Stewart Russell © August 1, 2021

 

Fright and Fear

 

 

Fright and fear are not the same

As some may tend to think,

Fright is more or less short lived

And occurs as quickly as a blink.

Fear is vastly different from fright

And builds up over time,

An impending event or diagnosis

May constantly plague the mind.

Fright and fear are like cousins

Their circumstances quite unlike,

Sometimes though they’re like siblings

And we need to get them right.

 

Suddenly falling out of a tree

Will produce a great deal of fright

But the fear of falling

Must be viewed in a different light.

Confronting a goliath

Produces both fright and fear,

Fright because he’s so imposing

And then the fear of death appears.

So while fright occurs at a moment

Fear is a continuous affair,

Phobia is a more apt expression

To explain this nature of fear.

When there is a rapid pulse rate

Fright is more likely the cause,

Often it brings on a panic

And puts one’s life on pause.

Fear may originate from fright

Coming out of a bad experience,

The fear of a repeated overture

Could become particularly intense.

The fear of bathing in the sea

Could be the result of a close call

In which the initial fright of the occasion

Hadn’t left the memory at all.

  

Sometimes the two are confused

Like frightened or afraid of the dark

But this is more likely a fear

Or a phobia if it is particularly stark.

Both can be quite disconcerting

One over a long time, the other short

But fear can be so unnerving

That even reality it can distort.

Fright is a natural response

To a sudden and unexpected situation

But fear is often irrational

And needs counseling intervention.

 

You would recall the Psalmist David

That had slain the warrior giant

Yet he fled from King Saul

That had had murderous intent.

Then there was Elijah

That had defeated the prophets of Baal

Remember how he fled from Jezebel

Like the cowardly dog and his tail?

Need I mention Abraham?

A man of an abundance of faith

Yet when fearing for his life

His wife his sister did replace.

 

And what about Peter the disciple

That denied the Lord Jesus Christ?

He promised his all to Jesus

But fear curbed that sacrifice.

The other disciples were no different

They followed from afar,

It was fear that caused this behavior

Fear was their insurmountable bar.

So fright and fear are not the same

They are not the same at all,

While one is short lived the other lives on

In sinner and saint: that’s my call.

Stewart Russell © August 2018