Jun | 03 | Frogs Lips

KEY WORD | CHARACTER

  Frogs Lips

PREAMBLE :-

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old,'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'  But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne;  nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

 Matthew 5:33-37 NKJV

Explanation | Do we really have to ‘Kiss The Frog’? The saying goes: “sometimes you just have to compromise your convictions to get things done”, you know, tone things down, tune things out, turn a blind eye.  I see this, a lot.

The short term benefits of ‘Kissing the Frog’ can be, peaceful, profitable and preferable to disagreement and division, but long term, ‘Kissing the Frog’ gives you warts, and there is nothing worse than warty lips. I see that, a lot. In the end, who wants to pucker up to a Pilgrim like that? No one really, except young folks who know no better and are desperate for a leg up the wall of recognition, and some older folks who lost themselves in personal prostitution many years ago. Don’t get me wrong here, I have kissed a few frogs myself, and am still spitting out the gunk. Nasty.

Though personally I thank God for the safety of church separation, church unity is coming back on the agenda again. You know, lets lay aside our profound Biblical differences, lets sacrifice the truth, lets pee on the memory of past heroes who were slaughtered by the toads we now might so loving embrace. Am I mixing up my reptilians here?

There is no unity until we all walk the same way, believe the same truth and live the same life. The way, the truth, the life…reminds me of someone really….Listen, until the King returns, subdues His enemies, removes the tares from the wheat, THANK GOD EVERY DAY FOR THE SAFETY BOUNDARIES OF SEPARATION! And you won’t hear many people tell you that too much.

These are serious times. The truth is being sacrificed and happily so, and my hallways are filling up with a plague of lip puckered frogs. “OI! You young idiot!….put the reptile down and go wash your hands and face…and chew some gum why don’t you!”

Please note | I bear no personal malice to frogs per se.

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

This is a fun poem to perform! I mean, you can say it with such spitting disdain. Please note that you might want some words and phrases to have there syllables precisely and pusposly stepped on, like picking out one piano key at a time. Words like ‘comm-u-ni-sm for example.

Also, I think on line six that the last six words are said together… “gotulive-getalong”

The last three lines are when the devil reveals himself. Sure! The devil is at the abck of all the sacrificing of truth. Durrh! So, really turn on the person you are tempting to kiss the frog. Disdain him. Show hom what you really think of his cowardly and selfish little heart.

----------O----------

“Just Kiss it”, ‘cause the moneys good and we’ve all got to eat

“Just Kiss it”, and let your integrity beat a retreat

 “Just Kiss it”, and we’ll give you a whole bunch of shares

 “Just Kiss it”, ‘cause communism now loves millionaires

“Just Kiss it”, ‘cause even China now owns Hong Kong

 “Just Kiss it”, ‘cause we’ve all got to live, get along

 “Just Kiss it”, ‘cause it might manifest as your prince

“Just Kiss it”, though it looks like a bit of a mince

 “Just Kiss it”, ‘cause it’s all done for the far greater good

“Just Kiss it”,  and come down from that rock where you’ve stood

“Just Kiss it”, ‘cause in the end you’ll agree we’ve done right

“Just Kiss it”, ‘cause authentic’s a bag full of shite

 “Just Kiss it”, you sell-out you miserable grub

“Just Kiss it”, and become part of our club

You know you want to.....….“Just Kiss it”

© 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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May | 31 | Roundabout Redemption

KEYWORD | CHANGE

Roundabout Redemption

PREAMBLE

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.  When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:12-14 NKJV

Explanation | Repentance is yet another word that has been excised from our vocabulary. Sin, judgement, hell, all like a misjudged malignant melanoma on the bare uncovered skin of humanity, have been cut out. Consequently, we have no need of a Saviour, no need of forgiveness, yes, we have no need to worry. There is no god, save the one of our own making and guess what, she’s quite nice and most accommodating. 

The God of the Bible, however, is a very different case entirely. Once you start messing in His business, He tends to step out the boardroom of heaven and come and do some restructuring. Lots of layoffs are a coming and His security will not so kindly escort you from His premises. Shape up people of He will ship you out!

Repentance is preceded by a knowledge of our sin and  our offence against God which leads to a deep conviction of its wrongness and our inability to replace the wrongness with rightness. Repentance is turning from our sin, back to God.

PERFORMANCE TIPS

I wonder if this poem is waiting for a tune? The first four lines of the obvious chorus run increasingly fast in the saying and then halt up suddenly for the last two lines.

----------O----------

Words that are found in the mouths of fools

Our hearts and our lips have spoken

And now all of our boasted big battlements

They lay waste, they lay burned, they lay broken

For our daughter’s are lost and our sons are bound

Our faces are white and our pants are browned

‘Cause our Kings are ashamed whilst the fools are crowned

And there’s no way on earth to redeem this lost ground

Unless You come and turn things around, O Lord

Unless You come and turn things around

We’ve salted the babies that lay in the womb

We’ve sucked out their limbs from their mooring

We’ve labeled the murder with ‘freedom of choice’

And sent the kite of our arrogance soaring

For our daughter’s are lost and our sons are bound

Our faces are white and our pants are browned

‘Cause our Kings are ashamed whilst the fools are crowned

And there’s no way on earth to redeem this lost ground

Unless You come and turn things around, O Lord

Unless You come and turn things around

We’ve regenderneered, re-assigned and resigned

We’ve destructed the family; Your order

We’ve sailed cross our seas of indulgence and greed

And camped on the sands of hells border

For our daughter’s are lost and our sons are bound

Our faces are white and our pants are browned

‘Cause our Kings are ashamed whilst the fools are crowned

And there’s no way on earth to redeem this lost ground

Unless You come and turn things around, O Lord

Unless You come and turn things around

You have called us to halt, put a bolt on the door

Of our reckless hedonistic abandon

You’ve told us to humble ourselves ‘neath your hand

That we might yet find some safe ground to stand on

For our daughter’s are lost and our sons are bound

Our faces are white and our pants are browned

‘Cause our Kings are ashamed whilst the fools are crowned

And there’s no way on earth to redeem this lost ground

Unless You come and turn things around, O Lord

Unless You come and turn things around

Will you answer our prayers with the fullness of Yes!

Not a might, or a wait, or a token

That the devil’s mean grip would be loosened at last

Let his thumbs and his fingers be broken

So instead of a penny we’ve gotten a pound

And our sons are set free and our daughters are found

Ans as heirs we’re exalted, and the demons are downed

‘Cause the presence of God would our camp all surround

If You came and turned things around, O Lord

If You came and turned things around

Yes, we can turn everything around, I say

If we turn all ourselves around

© 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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May | 30 | Speak On, Samaritan

KEYWORD | LIFE

 Speak On, Samaritan

PREAMBLE :-

 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Luke 10:30-34 NKJV

Explanation | The damage of the journey can leave one's soul so callously hard, so cynically cauterized of any real spiritual sensientivity( no, that's not a spelling mistake. Think on)  that the footsteps of God walking in Your garden, seemed to have vanished long ago. 

I have found that exposure to a fire that leads to impartation of life is the only thing to jump start the dead batteries of such a soul. God has His RAC men, his selfless and saluting servants who are often  wheeled out of the garage on cold dead mornings to go and home start such dead hearts. Amazingly, their secret of impartation is that they do not know that they are providing such a service! They are just perky with with the expectation of passionate love, and to the hungry sould, as welcoming as a Labrador puppy and thrice as nice.

So. this piece is dedicated to the unaware Samaritans of the soul who have ministered to me, and if you too are a dead battery in God, I pray will be sent to minister to you as well. 

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

I am not sure this is a performance piece. However, it might be a nice but of verse, to send to someone who has re-started your cold dead battery. 

----------O----------

In you

I see Him.

The echoe of His voice 

Long lost to me

I hear in thee.

Speak on.

Yes, In your eyes

I see the dancing light

That light of men

Long dimmed in the den

Of my darkness. So then,

My dear Samaritan, shine on, shine on.

Embrace me, will you please, for in your arms

I might feel the Gathering Healer

That Lover of lepers

The Head Chef of love that peppers

My tasteless soul 

That fears not the puss filled hole.

Oh, your fragrance smells of hope to me

Why else would I be exposed to you?

You smell of delivernce

You are  seductive 

Enticing, inviting, open, and without your knowing 

You are become to me, my word in season fitly spoken.

Yes, you have become my hope of resurrection

Of warm summers coming

Of death boxed and put beneath the clod

Carrier of the long absent but now very present God

Holder new life's expect-ay-shee-yon

So dear Samaritan, pleas, oh please
 Speak on.

 © 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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May | 06 | No MoreTo The Wailing Wall

KEY WORD | BELIEVE

 No MoreTo The Wailing Wall 

PREAMBLE :-

Luke 15:4

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? NKJV

Explanation | “If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their sleepless pillows, then let them dote upon their dear ones.” C.H. Spurgeon

The Bible portrays the prodigal as sheep amongst the pigs. Deliberately lost, deliberately degraded. The prodigal is an ‘out of place’ son. One thing we can be sure of and that is that Christ knows His sheep, and in the end, not one is lost. If our prodigal sheep remain in the swill, then they were never His sheep. Ever. In addition, there is nothing you can do about that. 

Meanwhile, keep praying, keep hoping, keep believing, and keep your eyes on the horizon. For who knows! I mean, really, remember that it is often so very late in the day, when the prodigal returns.

Meanwhile then, stop fretting. Leave it.

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

1^st Stanza 2^nd line, 4th Stanza 3^rd line and 5^th Stanza 3^rd line are awkward in the tongue and all need practice before performance. The single line of ‘change’ between stanzas 3 & 4, can be said with some disdain, with sadness or some surprise. Take your pick.

----------O----------

I dote upon my dear ones

But they dote not upon me

Plough worried furrows in my brow and

Pay the devils daily fee

I stuff my sleepless pillow

With the thorns of great distress

Picking bits of puked-up hope

From the vomit of this mess

I push back my graying hairline

With the lost power of King Canute

And take my friend of happiness

And beat him like a brute

And my loved ones smirked and carried on

So, I’ve stopped doting on my dear ones

Now wouldn’t dote them, wouldn’t dare

Instead, I gently stroke the failing follicles

Of my now well receded hair

Yes, I’ve stopped doting on my dear ones and

I’ve started daring to believe

That the Great Good God of heaven can change

Rebels such as these

So,  I’ve took my expectations and

Wailing, stuffed them in the tree

Believing God will get the pig-sty sons

Just like He done got me

 © 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

May | 04 | Nox Bellum

BATTLE

Nox Bellum[1]

PREAMBLE :

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi,"You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I."Gen 34:30 NKJV

Explanation | Sometimes you cannot see the veil set deadly against you. Sometimes you just hear it. Welcome to the valley of desolation. On our journey to the great city, we shall pass through here. Many times. It is a terrible place. 

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

Imagine, you are crawling through a minefield, a Stelleto commando knife being the only tool to feel the discs of death beneath the earth. Get on your hands and knees to perform this piece. Crawl. Stand up when the way ahead ‘seems almost found.’ There is no happy ending to this piece. The valley of Desolation is a long and ever narrowing place of increasing darkness. One day, you will immediately pass through a narrow place into the light. Like a squeezed pea from a ripe green pod. This piece, ends long before the squeezing and you might want to sway a little in fainting and seasick deperation towards the end of the piece.

----------O----------

It’s just sounds

So I keep feeling in the dark

Feel my way

On my hands and on my knees

Inch by tortuous

Tortoise like inch

Stabbing the ground

Stubbing the edges of unexploded death

The way ahead seems somehow found

Or is it?

There is no light you see

Just sounds

Sometimes, of a padded and guttural growling

A prowling

Lion roaring

The Senaccherib calling and taunting

Of my hated name

Just Sounds

Of a big cat scratching trees and lickin it’s lips

In the mumbled and muffled

Deep breathed long planted and

Long silent arboretum

Where even the living wood

Far to fearful to scream out their ripped and naked agonies

Keep their leave quivering stillness

Lest they too be

Both deflowered and devoured

Just sounds fall upon me now

Sometimes, of echoing laughter

Of weeping in the corner

Of whispering malevolence

Of Secret Knowledge, unshared

“We know. The fool, the blind fool. He Will not see”

Whispered voices

Shaping the earth beneath me, moving

The ground like a soft and swaying

Sea on a summers afternoon and

Deceitfully seeking my devouring

Undulating beneath my trembling and sometimes rising feet

Quietly, carefully, purposefully

Trying to make me fall again to my knees and

Beg for some small distance covered

In humbled friction burned

Pumping hearted

Patella pained agony

In open and covenantal death

With the darkness

It seems now

That even the earth itself moves gleefully against me

© 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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[1] Latin. Two Nouns. Night War.

Apr | 24 | Jehova Nissi – The Lord Our banner

REVIVE

Jehova Nissi – The Lord Our banner

PREAMBLE :-

When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. "The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," Says the LORD.

 Isa 59:19-20 NKJV

I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; The houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end," Says the LORD. 

 Amos 3:15 NKJV

Explanation |  I don’t know about you but I am tired of being presented with church heroes, valiant conquerors, with no mark of battle or smell of smoke upon them. There are far too many men of straw in the 21^st century. 

I am also tired of Pastor’s polishing turds. Things are bad. They are very bad. Let’s call it like it is.

I have been a Pastor for many years. I have seen shooting stars. I am not surprised at those who come and go quickly. A greater problem is when those staunch continuers, can continue no longer. Tired of looking, weary in watching, they are weighed down with disappointment. So hungry, many have lost their appetite. 

This is what I have really seen in our churches, this is what I have really heard. God help us.

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

From the line “I have heard "Revival!" Clothe a thousand lips” the piece turns into a prayer. Make it yours. 

----------O----------

I have seen the swift exhausted, down, defeated

I have seen the staunch and strong made weak

I have seen [i]‘Great-Heart's’ power depleted

I have heard the running tongue no longer speak.

I have seen those who put God second, well established

I have seen the rich made richer ever still

I have seen those who love religion gain all they wished

I have seen [ii]Naomi gulp the bitter pill

I have seen the lights go out all over England

I have seen the darkness quench the brightest stars

I have seen the bruised jaw, the broken hand

I have seen the wilted heads in tarnished vase

I have heard the wet reply, the mock excuses

I have seen the lost sheep rotting on the hills

I have seen authority’s abuses

I have seen the son's of love sustained by pills

I have seen the signs of coming hastening famine

I have heard the chasing chatter of the damned

I have seen Beast's vanguard ever rising

I have seen God's sun of mercy set the land

I have seen hearts fail and crumple in the testing

I have seen the faithful blasted all to bits

And amidst it all, have heard

The whisper of a coming blessing

I have heard "Revival!" Clothe a thousand lips.

Oh! Let me see the wasteland wanderers be settled

Oh! Let me hear their ebbing lives resound with joy

Let your good blessings fall, be doubled, trebled!

Unleash apostolic ships from stormy troubled buoy

Oh let me hear the crack of iron chains a breaking

The shouts of happiness

Of those rescued from deep gloom

Oh God!

In your power come now a shaking!

Raise your standard, Oh Lord!

Come, and meet our doom!

© 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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[i]Great-Heart is Bunyan’s great character in part of Pilgrims Progress. The friend of The intepreter it is he who weak himself, takes care of those weaker than he and expends himself again and again, escorting Pilgroms to the edge of the great river of death. He is fearless, selfless, and magnificently undefeated by no one except Christ.

[ii] Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said,"Is this Naomi?"  But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. Ruth 1:19-20 NKJV

Apr | 23 | Tensiled Saints

STRENGTH

Tensiled Saints

PREAMBLE :-

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,

Eph 6:12-14

Explanation | There are times when rather than battening down the hatches, we need to trim our sails and push on through. There are times when we want to run, but rather than running, there is a need to turn and face the foe. If the sail is trimmed and set a right, a speedy passage can be made right through the centre of the charging storm. Remember, God’s holiness project in you and on you, His sanctification, has probably made you more tensile than you know, giving you a yet to be experienced strength, and so, allowing you to stretch way beyond your own perceived boundaries and still withstand vast amounts of bending with no breaking whatsoever! When He says stand. STAND!

PERFORMANCE TIPS: 

Be Branagh on speed. Experiment with the last two lines. The last ‘Away’ is it a command to go stand and fight, or restatement of the previous 'away' dealing to distance and time. It’s up to you. I know which one Branagh would choose!

----------O----------

Fear not the wind that cuts your teeth

To sharper smirks

That set in tension leaves you like wild

Granite sinking down

Do not turn from it nor pull up hood

And wrench the drawstrings tight

For this night you must turn

Trim your sails and turn

Turn and face the wind

Fear not the roaring floods

That mount the chargers

Of neighing battalions streamed in array

Before your face

Neigh I say

Neigh against them, and fear not

Make haste, and set the scene yourself

Be not dictated to, not even in battle

And settle your feet steady now upon this rolling deck

For I have made you sharp

And stronger still

To break in two the crashing waves

To split asunder the roaring floods

That fling themselves upon you now

So, No! Don't bow

Don't bend before them

No, not now

They will but

Wash off

Wash away

And flow away

To leave you purer still

Dried in the warmer winds of

Tomorrow’s aftermath

Fit to face another day

Another dawn

Away and

Away.

© 2012 Victor Robert Farrell

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Apr | 08 | The Dissin’ Of Beulah’s Bangers or Dining With Darren Again

 “Would you like half of this ‘slight snack’

Cooked on the borderlands of heaven?” I asked

He said “Worizit?”

I lovingly responded

Trying to come down to the

Raw level of this swarthy Galilean

“It is a  ‘Beulah Banger’ if you will” I said

“A Tortilla flour wrap

Lovingly embracing some

Plump and slightly spitting

Sauvignon and organic pork ‘sawsarge ‘

Enfolding them like babies in a

Warm blanket of love

Caressing them gently but firm like a

Victorias Secret’s bra on the chest of Abishag

Cosseting them in hot red caramelised onions all

Intermingled with torn and dry,

Loose-leaf Romaine.

And I know”, I said

“Before the cut

It looks like a giant middle class spliff

A Camberwell carrot for toffs to suck on

If you will, but

After the knife slices and  separates this

Southern

Sawsarge

Wrap

This Beulah Banger

If you will,

Its inner self will smoke, yes,
Will wind its own delicious way toward you

Swaying invitingly like

A lover’s hips in the moonlight

Sashaying seductively

Across this

Fine

Pine

Dining table.”

Whilst feeling the peak

Of his brown flat cap between the

Uncut nails of his dirty thumb and nose picking finger

He kicked his Whippet quiet and said

“Bugger me if it in’t a soft Southern hotdog!

I wish it wurra bap, but ne’mind, am famished!

So gie it ‘ere, an pass the bloody ketchup anall, and

Goo and get me a mug tea as well darling,

Milk three sugars and none o’ that

Lapsan suchan arse ‘oles either”

It was good to be Dining with Darren

..........Again