The Acid Test

 

 

I listened to the preacher

He had come with great acclaim,

Long before he reached our church

Everyone knew his name.

 

His fame had preceded him,

He was recognized worldwide

And the fact of his oratorical skills

Could never be denied.

 

It was clear he knew the Bible

Which he quoted very well

And the intermittent hand-clapping

Swelled and swelled and swelled.

 

He was good, I tell you no lie

And pretty humourous too,

And his anecdotes were all in place;

These were more than a few.

 

I listened with rapt attention

To all he had to say

And I can tell you, with this audience

He definitely had his way.

 

An inspiring motivational speaker

I had no doubt he was

And this was decisively borne out

By the almost incessant buzz.

 

But don’t forget my opening line,

Most of this audience forgot,

Remember I said, I listened to a preacher

But afterwards, I thought not.

 

 

 I said he quoted from the Bible

And that indeed he did

But from the ears of his listeners

The Gospel message he hid.

 

He talked of his many exploits

And the powerful way God had used him

But at no time in his lengthy sermon

Had he mention a word about sin.

 

He told them how they could escape

The poverty they were in

And how by sowing a financial seed

They could God’s favour win.

 

He told them it worked for him

  And God could also do it for them

But they must step out on their faith

And watch God solve their problem.

 

It mattered not the challenge

The nature, the source or trouble,

There are some things man cannot do

But with God all things are possible.

 

And he quoted appropriate texts

To substantiate what he said

But at no point had he told his audience

Without Christ we are spiritually dead.

 

 

So, you’ve read this far in the poem

And perhaps you are still wondering

As to the relevance of the title

I have chosen for this poem.

 

I knew the end from the beginning,

That is, where I intended to go

And so, I chose “The Acid Test”

Because there is something we need to know.

 

Beware of so-called preachers

Whose sermons lack the Gospel,

Test the substance of their preach-word

In the light of the Holy Bible.

 

The preacher’s mandate is the Gospel

The Gospel of Jesus Christ:

That is, Jesus being the only Saviour

On account of his sacrifice.

 

 

The fact that we were born in sin

Spells out the need for the Saviour,

It is the indwelling Holy Spirit

That changes one’s heart and behavior.

  

How much of the Saviour, Christ Jesus

Is seen in any sermon?

Whether from lip or life or sign

The acid test is God’s Son.

 

The Bible’s focus is about Jesus

The expression of God’s infinite love

And the Gospel message is the account

Of God coming down from above.

 

So, when preachers vaunt themselves

And the exploits that they have done,

Remember God does not share his glory

With any but His Son.

 

Stewart Russell © January 30, 2021

 

Thanks for Today

 

 

I thank God for today’s gift:

Today’s gift is called today,

As I contemplate this precious gift

There’s much I have to say.

 

We take tomorrow for granted

And we stake its claims today

As though tomorrow is guaranteed

Especially, if today we pray.

 

But tomorrow is never promised

And it never comes any way

So, I am all the more thankful

That God has given me today.

 

We take today for granted

As though to it we are entitled

But receiving it with thankful hearts

To me is particularly vital.

 

There are many alive today

But they are not even aware;

They are lying on a hospital bed

Not knowing they are there.

 

Some of these are comatose

Some in a drug ridden state,

Some are in a drunken stupor

But none can to today relate.

 

 

So, to know that today is today

For me is a precious benefit

And to display an attitude of thanks

Should be everybody’s habit.

 

Father, I give You thanks

For allowing me to see today,

Help me never to take it for granted

Or abuse it any way.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2020

God’s Foreknowledge

 

 

Some believe that God can know

If He really wants to know

But He turns off his foreknowledge

And chooses not to know.

 

“God knows all that can be known”

This I read some time ago

So that God is limited in matters

That even God can never know.

 

For example, God did not know

That Adam and Eve would have fallen,

If so, why would he have placed

That tree in the midst of Eden?

 

Right in the focus of their mind

To harass them every day,

“Surely, God felt they would survive,”

This is what some say?

 

I find this particularly silly

And I hope that you do too

For if God wanted a world of robots

This would have been easy to do.

 

But to my mind, He did not,

That’s why He gave us choice

So that when presented with a situation

We would listen to His voice.   

 

The Bible shows in Holy Writ

That God is all knowing and all wise,

Nothing’s outside of His knowledge

No matter how cleverly disguised.

Well, why did He ask Adam

To declare where He was hiding?

Would God not have prior known

Even if Adam was lying?

 

God wanted Adam to own up

To the fact that he had disobeyed

And the punishment that would result

Commencing that very day.

 

God’s foreknowledge was not turned off

Nor was He unaware of the present,

A string of consequences had been set in train

Hence the course of unfolding events.

 

Still evident to our very day

As our world grapples with the fall out,

That sin has been the cause of all this

There are still many that doubt.

 

God’s foreknowledge is not on off,

This could never be a fact

For, how would an all-knowing all-wise God

Be able to accomplish that?

 

So, the mere fact that God knows all

Implies that all is already known

And this matter of a divine reality

Is certainly without our zone.

 

 

This says to my simple mind

That God knows the passage of time

Whether it be past, present or future,

All is contained in God’s mind.

 

It was God that created time’s line

He knows every single event,

It matters not its relative significance,

To God all of time is the present.

 

 

Time’s history is already written

And to God’s mind is already history,

To us much of history is in the future

But the present is our reality.

 

We often worry about the past

And we attempt to change the future

But the reality of the present presents

A quite overwhelming picture.

 

Concerning God’s foreknowledge

What is it you believe?

I adjure you, believe on the Lord Jesus

And “so great salvation” receive.

 

Stewart Russell © May 5, 2022

 

On A Leash

 

 

Here is a truth

That I dare to believe

And you will find it in God’s Word

You can go there and read.

 

It was there all along

Though interpreted away

By some genuine and otherwise

In our daily spiritual fray.

 

The main characters involved

Are Jesus and Satan,

They both have a domain

Referred to as their kingdom.

 

One is the kingdom of light

The other of darkness,

Satan’s subjects are cursed

While Jesus’ are blessed.

 

Satan’s subjects are bound

Because he is bound,

Think about this a little

As in your mind it resounds.

 

The main point of this discourse

Is that Satan is chained

And if you are bound with him

You are to blame.

 

Jesus offers freedom

To whomsoever would believe,

Salvation has been given

I can testify that I have received.

Satan is on a leash

This is what I dare to believe,

Anything contrary to this

And such believers are deceived.

 

His going about as a lion

Is a straightforward simile,

He can’t deceive the child of God

Meaning you and me.

 

For we are Jesus’ sheep

And we know his voice,

Come on my brother, my sister

Now is the time to rejoice.

 

Jesus led captivity captive

When he ascended on high,

Hence, that Satan is bound

Cannot be realistically denied.

 

The Pharisees accused Jesus

Of being in tandem with Satan,

You would recall in Matthew 12

When he cast out those demons.

 

If that were the case

Satan’s kingdom would be divided,

Therefore, how would it stand?

The Pharisees he chided.

 

Jesus entered Satan’s domain

And fettered him in chains

And thereafter spoiled his goods

So that Satan is now restrained.

 

That is the only way, says Jesus,

That he could spoil his goods,

Hence, Satan had to be bound

And to do such, only Jesus could.

 

Jesus spoiled principalities

And made of them an open show,

There is no doubt the devil is bound

Why, even Satan knows.

 

Satan is like a mongrel

That’s been placed on a leash

And like the dog he keeps much noise-

His barking has never ceased.

 

Therein lies his deception,

His lies are in his bark

And one day too that will be taken

And to hell’s pit he will depart.

  

Like the dog he will bite

If to him you draw too near

But if you dare to resist him

You will have nothing to fear.

 

Jesus has triumphed over him

And will never lose a battle,

So, my brother, my sister, have faith!

Let not your heart be rattled.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

 

What Is Your Life?

 

 

 

This is a question we must ponder

As we walk this passage of time,

When we plan our lifelong ambitions

It should be optimal on our mind.

 

For your life is but only a vapour

That perishes with the rising sun

And relative to the passage of time,

In a moment, it is done.

 

Tomorrow you will do so and so

Like it is the inevitable plan

Not recognizing as you really should

The frailty that is man.

 

And so, James poses this question

In the book that carries his name,

What is your life, he asks of his audience

Back then and to us again and again.

 

It is a flower of the grass, he posits,

That arises in all of its beauty

But is scorched by the heat of the sun

As it proceeds on its tour of duty.

 

For the sun rises every day

And this is the constant that has been

But not so every human being

As every one of us has seen.

 

 

The fleeting nature of a vapour

Speaks to the frailty of man

And the short-lived beauty of the flower

Contextualizes his plans.

 

It is even a vapour, James exclaims

Notice he did not say like,

A word to the academic and erudite

That think they are ever so bright.

 

It is even a flower of the grass

Mindless of its stunning beauty

A word of admonishment to the vain

And also to the haughty.

 

Your life is a vapour and a flower

And soon it quickly fades away

But there is more to life than meets the eye

And this should help to make your day.

 

It is a gift from the Source of life

That is none other than Almighty God

And all who have a different view

Walk hand in hand with the fraud.

 

For Satan would have you to believe

What the Bible calls the lie

When he himself does not believe it

But after all, he is Mr. Sly.

 

So teach us to number our days

The psalmist would have us understand

And to apply our hearts to wisdom

Would be the number one plan.

 

 

Be like a vapour that succours a plant

Though short be its stay

And a flower that shares its beauty

To light up another’s day.

 

Stewart Russell © December 22, 2020

 

What Is Science?

 

 

We are following the science

I hear the authorities say

And that of course is the stimulus

To get us act in a certain way.

 

It especially relates to COVID-19

And how to beat this foe

And what strikes me most of the time

There is much that we don’t know.

 

But we are following the science

They all suggest

Though shooting in the dark

Is what they do best.

 

Hence, the question on my mind

What really is science?

Is it different for different people?

What’s its level of reliance?

 

For sure I am confused

Regarding all of this science,

I was taught that it was observable

And that I can trust its evidence.

 

Yet science that was once true

Is not true in our day and age,

It certainly seems to me

That science is at a different stage.

 

We hear about scientific facts

Like the earth is round

But long ago many said it was flat

Though later proven to be wrong.

 

Man landed on the moon

Though that is still being disputed

And a lot of science we learnt at school

Has since become uprooted.

 

So, is science the knowledge?

Is it the pursuit?

Is it the database we have?

What really forms its root?

 

Is it a calculated guess?

Is the ongoing experimentation?

What really is science?

Please relieve my apprehension.

 

Of course, I am aware

There are myriad fields of science,

Some are said to be exact

And others with acceptable variance.

 

General science and medical science

And the science of criminology,

Social science and physical science

And the science of psychology.

 

There are genetics and physics

And the science of linguistics,

Oceanology, zoology and biology

Astronomy botany and geology.

 

And these are not even all

Though a far cry from secondary school

When physics, chemistry and biology

Were the standard rule.

 

Now we have pure science and applied

The exact and the defiled,

Science with a bias and an agenda

Science with an attempt to beguile.

 

And the more we learn

The more lost we seem,

Like a bright light with no focus

Because there is the lack of a beam.

 

True science and flawed science

Creation and evolution,

In one of these lies science origin

My conclusion is creation.

 

 

 

All of science starts with God

Since He began it all,

Omni-science is one of his attributes

And all is at His beck and call.

 

Stewart Russell © February 19, 2021

 

And When You Pray, Say

 

 

 

Our Father:

Who has no illegitimate children,

That exists for real

And lives in the highest heavens.

 

Hallowed be Your name

Meaning to be praised and revered,

To be held in highest esteem

And with reverent fear.

 

Your kingdom come:

In the person of your Son,

Having lived on this earth

But existed before time had begun.

 

Your will be done:

Both in heaven and in the earth

And in every believer

That experienced the new birth.

 

Give us this day our daily bread:

As you provided manna in the wild

And teach us to be grateful

For all that you provide.

 

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive them that trespassed against us:

In recognition of your forgiveness

Which we have received in Jesus.

 

And lead us not into temptation:

For we are weakness, full of weakness,

But deliver us from the evil:

That comes in trials and tests.

 

For yours is the kingdom:

Always has been and always will be,

And the power and the glory:

The only Sovereign Majesty.

 

For ever and ever:

Meaning throughout eternity,

Amen:

It is so or so let it be.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

A Play on May

 

 

 

You may feel you are a genius

Or you may think you are slow,

You may feel you are ten feet tall

Or as short as my big toe.

 

You may feel you have a right

To everything that is insight

Or you may even begin to believe

Your life is a colossal blight.

 

You may feel that you are hopeless

Or have the brightest hope,

You may even think you are suicidal

And that you cannot cope.

 

You may feel you have longevity

Or just a short time here,

Or you may even feel it doesn’t matter

And have nothing here to fear.

 

You may feel there is no God

And hence, no heaven and no hell

But what you may be feeling now

May not be very well.

 

You see, May is no guarantee

That you have a June put down

So, whatever may or may not be

You may not be around.

 

May is never a certainty

You can hang your hopes upon

And before this day is complete

They may come crashing down.

 

If you are reading this

You are into the month of May,

Grace and peace to you, my friend,

Today is May's first day.

 

Welcome to the month of May

With its “may or may not be”!

You may plan and you may hope

But in the present, act soberly!

 

Stewart Russell © May 1, 2022