Summary of the Poem
“Take Heed, Whom You Hear: A Warning and a Call to Be Nobler Than the Bereans”
The poem is a stark warning against false teachers who serve Satan with refined skill. These “ministers” appear polished, eloquent, and attractive, presenting deadly error disguised as truth: poison poured slowly into a beautiful golden cup that tastes, at first, like living water.
It urges extreme caution (“Take heed, take heed”) about whose voice we allow into our hearts, because many speak of Christ and quote Scripture while neither knowing Him nor fearing God. Their message flatters and comforts, but it never convicts or transforms.
In contrast, the poem lifts up the Bereans of Acts 17 as the enduring model: ordinary believers who refused to accept even apostolic preaching at face value. Night after night they searched the Scriptures to verify every claim, turning over every glittering cup to see what was really inside.
The closing call is both a prayer and a resolve:
May we be even more noble than they were; children of the second look; jealous guardians of truth who spill out every honeyed lies and drink only from the pure, plain water of God’s Word, until the day we see Christ face to face.
In essence, the poem is a passionate plea for relentless biblical discernment in an age of sophisticated deception.
The devil keeps his ministers,
polished, soft-spoken, and wise;
they come with velvet syllables,
a smile that never hurts the eyes.
They pour the ancient poison slow
into a cup of beaten gold;
one sip tastes just like living water,
the next leaves the soul stone-cold.
Take heed, take heed, O traveler,
whose heart is hungry heart you feed;
not every voice that speaks of heaven
is climbing there on bended knee.
Some preach a Christ they never met,
and quote the Book they never feared;
their gospel shines like burnished brass
that leaves the ear caressed, not seared.
But there were souls in Berea once
who would not swallow gleaming lies;
they took the word back to the Word
and held it trembling to the skies.
Night after night they searched the page,
noble, stubborn, unafraid,
till every glittering cup was turned
and every lying promise weighed.
So let us be Bereans still,
children of the second look,
refusing honeyed draughts of death
for the plain water of the Book.
Though Satan send his choicest cup
rimmed round with light and rimmed with song,
we’ll spill it out upon the ground
and drink where living waters run.
Lord, make us wary, make us bold,
make us jealous for the truth;
give us hearts that tremble at Thy Word
and hands that will not clasp the smooth.
For every age has its golden cups;
only the Scripture never lies;
so we will search, and search again
until we see Thee with open eyes.