The Mechanic

Posted on May 11, 2026 by russellmckinney

As an old story goes in the early 1900s a husband and his wife purchased one of those newfangled Model T Fords. They took it out for a drive one day, but something happened to the engine and the car came to a dead halt. The husband opened up the hood and started tinkering with anything he could find under there, but nothing he did made the car fire again. After a while he became convinced that he had thrown away his money on something that would end up being nothing more than a fad. So, he closed the hood and started figuring how he and his wife were going to get home.

Along about then a brand new Model T came chugging down the road. The car pulled over and the driver climbed out. He was a distinguished looking elderly gentleman wearing a high collar. He asked the husband, “What’s the matter, friend?” The husband answered, “The dang thing’s broke. I knew I shouldn’t have bought it.” The elderly gentlemen said, “Will you let me see what I can do?” The disgruntled husband replied, “Go ahead, but it won’t do you any good.”

The elderly gentlemen promptly pulled a screwdriver and a pair of pliers from somewhere, lifted up the hood, and tinkered with the engine for just a moment or two. Then he said to the husband, “Now pull up on the crank once.” Reluctantly the husband did as he was instructed, and the little engine immediately roared to life.

As the elderly gentleman started making his way back to his car, the husband yelled, “Hey, wait a minute. Thank you so much. Who are you?” The elderly gentleman just started his car and began to pull away. As he rolled by, though, he waved at the couple, gave a big smile, and said, “My name is Henry Ford. I made your car.”

I don’t know if this story is historically true, but even if it isn’t it surely could be. And just as Henry Ford could have fixed any Model T that he happened to find broken down on the side of the road, Jesus Christ can fix any broken-down human life that lies in disrepair on the side of life’s highway. He is, after all, the one who creates each person. Don’t believe it? Then consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

Then God (God is God the Father, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit) said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27, explanation mine)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth…(Acts 17:26)

for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.” (Acts 17:28)

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (1 Corinthians 8:5-6)

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:8-9)

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17)

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (1 Corinthians 8:6)

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For you created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. (Revelation 22:13)

In regards to that last reference, Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last. In English, Jesus would say, “I am the A and the Z, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” This means that not only is He the A and the Z, He is also all the other letters in between those two and all the words that can be made from all those letters. Therefore, He is a Savior who can definitely help you get your life running smoothly again if you will allow Him to work on you. After all, who knows you better than the One who made you?

Posted in Change, Creation, Dying To Self, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Guidance, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Individuality, Needs, Problems, Reconciliation, Salvation, Submission, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baptizing Your Job Into Service to Christ

Posted on May 8, 2026 by russellmckinney

There once was a young man named Arsene who lived in Paris, France. Arsene worked as a grocer, but he absolutely hated his job because he felt like he was meant for bigger things. In his mind, circumstances created by a cruel world had robbed him of his true destiny and had conspired to keep him in his lowly place.

Finally, there came a time when Arsene could no longer stand his situation and committed suicide by hanging. He left a note in which he railed against his lot in life and asked his parents to place a simple tombstone over his grave. The inscription on the tombstone was to read: “Born to be a man; died a grocer.”

The hard, cold fact of life is that the majority of us are born to be “grocers” of some sort. We aren’t rich. We aren’t powerful. We do what we have to do, not what we want to do. Factory workers. Cashiers. Truck drivers. Cooks. Maids. Desk clerks. Waitresses. On and on the list goes. None of these jobs will make you a millionaire or land you on a list of the world’s most influential people.

Isn’t it interesting, though, that Jesus chose the life of a lowly person for His worldly existence? He was born in a stable — maybe it was a cave, a barn, or some other such place — rather than in a palace. His first crib was an animal’s feeding trough. He was raised as the earthly son of a carpenter.

He never owned a home. He didn’t have a closet full of clothes. He didn’t demand an audience with the Emperor of Rome or the Jewish High Priest. He depended upon the hospitality of others. He ate with anyone who would eat with Him and sought out society’s undesirables: rough fisherman, despised tax collectors, scarlet women, lepers, and demon-possessed people.

You tell me, if Jesus had lived in Paris during the days when Arsene lived there, would He have looked upon that grocer as being beneath Him? You know that answer. The chances are more likely that He would have gone into the place of business where Arsene worked and made a point of speaking to him. Remember, this is the same Savior who said:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20, N.I.V.)

Does this quote mean that Jesus loves poor people more than He does rich people? No. And it doesn’t mean that every poor person has an automatic pass into Heaven, either. What it does mean is that Jesus doesn’t use the same standards as the world in dealing with people. He doesn’t dismiss the lowly out of hand. He doesn’t see them as a means to an end. To Him, they are every bit as important as the richest people on earth.

It’s a shame that Arsene either didn’t know this about Jesus or didn’t place enough value upon it. It’s a shame the young fellow didn’t understand that there is no greater version of being a “man” than serving Jesus and letting Him use you, regardless of your station in life, to serve others. In Jesus’ way of thinking, true greatness comes through serving. To Him, greatness isn’t ruling the world; it’s washing the feet of others (John 13:1-13).

Christian, let me encourage you today to take whatever role you are playing in life right now and “baptize” it into service to Jesus. You see, it’s not just the pastor, the evangelist, or the missionary who can be classified as being in full-time service to Jesus. The fact is that every Christian should see himself or herself as being in such service. Does Jesus need a servant in the pulpit? Yes, but He also needs one in the factory. Does He need one on the mission fields? Yes, but He also needs one in the grocery store. This is what Arsene, tragically, never realized. May the same not be said of you.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Brokenness, Business, Christ's Birth, Complaining, Contentment, Depression, Desires, Disappointment, Discipleship, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Will, God's Work, Greed, Humility, Individuality, Influence, Inner Peace, Ministry, Missions, Money, Prosperity, Service, Submission, Suicide, Trusting In God, Work | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A Weekly Reminder

Posted on May 6, 2026 by russellmckinney

The April 16, 1990, edition of People magazine featured the story of a young man who was in the midst of paying off an interesting sentence for drunk driving. Eight years earlier his drinking and driving had resulted in the death of an eighteen-year-old girl. He had been found guilty of drunk driving and given a sentence of three years probation and one month of community service.

“He got off light,” you say? Well, there was one other stipulation to his sentence. As part of the civil suit the girl’s parents brought against him, the young man had been ordered to send a check (made out to the deceased victim) for $1 every Friday for eighteen years.

$1 every Friday adds up to $52 per year, and $52 for eighteen years adds up to $936. While that wasn’t much money when compared to a young girl’s life, the amount wasn’t the issue anyway. The weekly checks were simply the parents’ way of keeping the young man reminded that he had killed their child. As they said, “We do want him to remember. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want him to accept it — and get on with his life.”

While I can sympathize with those parents’ loss, their quote sounds illogical to me. I mean, it’s pretty hard to accept something and get on with your life when you are vividly reminded of it once a week for eighteen years. It would have made more sense if they had stopped at, “We do want him to remember.”

The article pointed out that there had been weeks when the young man had failed to send the check. His reasoning was, “It hurts too much.” That tells us all we need to know about how effective the punishment was. If those parents wanted the young man to remember his sin, that mission got accomplished.

This whole story makes me very thankful that when God forgives, He forgets. Do you need some scripture on that? Okay, here you go. In Isaiah 43:25, God says:

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my Own sake; And I will not remember your sins. (N.K.J.V.)

Here’s another one. In Psalm 103:12, David, writing under the inspiration of God, writes:

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (N.K.J.V.)

Best of all, this promise gets applied to New Testament Christians by way of Hebrews 8:12, which references Jeremiah 31:34 where God says:

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (N.K.J.V.)

That phrase “as far as the east is from the west” in the Psalm 103:12 reference is David’s poetic way of describing the infinity into which God casts the forgiven sinner’s transgressions. If a traveler starts out traveling east and continues going that way, he will always be traveling east. There is no point where he will cross some line and begin traveling west. In the same way, when God forgives sins, He sends them into a metaphorical oblivion and remembers them no more.

Because of all this, the question that each of us needs to ask is, “Have my sins been forgiven and forgotten in this way?” And the answer is: They have if you have authentically believed in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Jesus was God the Son in human flesh, and His death on the cross was Him playing the role of the sacrificial lamb whose shed blood has the power to cleanse sins and thoroughly remove them not only from the sinner’s eternal record but also from God’s own memory.

This means that once you know Jesus as Savior, He will never remind you of your sins. Unfortunately, the devil will do that. You can bank on that. As Revelation 12:10 describes him, he is the accuser of the brethren. For that matter, you can even remind yourself. Many Christians needlessly make a habit of dwelling on their past sins. But Jesus won’t remind you. The forgiveness He provides is not conditional or probationary, and this should make us want to serve Him all the more.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Christ's Death, Comfort, Confession, Conscience, Eternal Security, Forgiveness, God's Mercy, Grace, Guilt, Making Restitution, Peace, Salvation, Satan, Seeking Forgiveness, Sin, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Choosing the East Side of the Jordan

Posted on May 4, 2026 by russellmckinney

Numbers chapter 32 provides us with a fascinating twist in the history of Moses and the Israelites. The twist involves the tribes of Reuben and Gad as well as half the tribe of Manasseh, and it holds multiple metaphorical lessons for us in regards to the spiritual life. That’s why every Christian should understand the story.

As the story opens, Moses and the Israelites are in the final stages of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness regions surrounding the land of Canaan. Those forty years had been God’s judgment upon the people for being too unbelieving and cowardly to cross over the Jordan river, go to war with the inhabitants of Canaan, and take the land forty years earlier (Numbers chapters 13 and 14). But now a new generation of Israelites was preparing to right the wrong of that previous generation.

God had already decreed that Moses himself would not be the one to lead the nation in its conquest of Canaan. A certain sin that Moses had recently committed at Kadesh had cost him that opportunity (Numbers 20:1-13). Joshua (Moses’ right-hand man, successor, and military General) would be the one to lead Israel in the conquering of Canaan. In the run-up to that full-scale invasion, certain territories on the eastern side of the Jordan river had already been conquered (Numbers chapters 21 through 31).

That set the stage for the events of Numbers chapter 32. As part of those recent victories, the Israelites had conquered the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead. Basically, this was all the territory between the Arnon river and the Yarmuk river (Joshua 12:1-6). What made those lands particularly appealing was the fact that they were perfect for raising livestock. This appeal hadn’t gone unnoticed by the Israelite tribes of Reuben and Gad, both of which owned large herds of livestock, most of which were the spoils of a recent plundering of the Midianites (Numbers chapter 31). The appeal of the lands caused the leaders of the two tribes to think, “No matter what the other side of the Jordan river holds for us, it can’t be better than what we have right here.”

So, the leaders of the two tribes went to Moses and asked if he would give them the lands as their inheritance and allow them to settle there (32:1-5). They even said, “Do not take us over the Jordan (v.5, N.K.J.V.) But Moses’ response, not unpredictably, was one of fury. He accused the two tribes of being cowards who wanted to remain in safety while their fellow tribes went to war in Canaan (32:6-7). He also told them they were acting like their ancestors had acted forty years earlier in refusing to take Canaan (32:8-14) and called them “a brood of sinful men” (32:14).

It was at this point that the leaders of the two tribes explained to Moses that they had no intention of not taking part in the fighting to settle Canaan. Was their response a “plan B” explanation they devised on the spot when they realized how appalled Moses was at their request? Perhaps. At any rate, their proposed plan began with them first preparing their requested lands by building pens for their livestock and cities for their women and children (32:16-17). Once those projects were completed, the fighting men from the two tribes would then take their place in Israel’s army, cross over the Jordan with the rest of Israel, and continue the warfare until Canaan was completely conquered (32:18). They would even take point by going “before” the children of Israel (32:17). Only when the land was conquered would they return to their families and herds by crossing back over the Jordan river (32:19).

After hearing this explanation Moses agreed to the request, but he warned them that they had better live up to their part of the deal (32:20-24). If they didn’t God would judge them harshly. Since Moses already knew that he wouldn’t be around to ensure that everything got handled correctly, he called in Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the heads of all the tribes and explained the agreement to them (32:28-32). At some point, half the tribe of Manasseh got in on the deal as well because they also had livestock and liked the looks of the lands (32:39-42). A full listing of the lands and the cities that ultimately either got built, rebuilt, or conquered on the “safe” side of the Jordan river is provided in Numbers 32:33-42.

In the end, the fighting men from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh did make good on their agreement with Moses, and they did return to their lands and settle there. Joshua 13:15-33 tells us that the tribe of Reuben settled in the southern portion of the lands, the tribe of Gad settled in the northern portions, and half the tribe of Manasseh settled furthest north in Bashan. (According to Joshua 13:1-7, the other half of the tribe of Manasseh settled in its allotted portion of Canaan.) 

All this brings us to the question: “When all the dust was settled from the centuries that would follow, was the decision of the two and a half tribes to settle on the east side of the Jordan river a good one?” The answer to that is, no. Consider the results of the decision:

  1. By agreeing to join their fellow Israelites in the war to conquer Canaan, the men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were forced to remain away from their wives and children for the length of the war. That turned out to be a period of seven long years.
  2. By settling on the eastern side of the Jordan river, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh forfeited the natural protection of the Jordan river and left themselves susceptible to attacks from the east.
  3. In 732 B.C., the Assyrians invaded Israel from the east. And who were the first tribes they defeated and carried off as prisoners of war? Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (1 Chronicles 5:1-26).

So, what spiritual lessons can we Christians learn from this story? Well, here are a few, and I offer them as the close to this post. Consider each one carefully and take heed that you don’t fall victim to it:

  1. We must resist the temptation to place prosperity and easy living above obeying God’s plan for our lives. As James Mays writes in The Layman’s Bible Commentary, “The promise of prosperity loomed larger than the promise of a destiny as the People of the Land.”
  2. We must resist the temptation to succumb to the fleshly temptation of what looks good in our eyes. Just as those members of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh gazed lustfully and longingly upon those lands of Jazer and Gilead, Lot had once cast the same look upon the plain of Jordan, that plain where the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were located (Genesis 13:10-11). The results of Lot’s look, of course, proved similarly disastrous (Genesis 13:12-13; 14:1-17; 19:1-38).
  3. We must resist the temptation to settle for anything less than God’s fullest and best for us. As Merrill Unger writes in his Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, “How easy it is for God’s people to get so near to what is God’s purpose for them and yet be diverted from it by what is expedient from a worldly standpoint.”
Posted in Backsliding, Business, Choices, Commitment, Contentment, Courage, Covetousness, Deception, Decisions, Desires, Discernment, Disobedience, Faithfulness, Fear, God's Will, God's Work, Lust, Obedience, Patience, Prosperity, Rebellion, Reward, Temptation, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Will Explain Later

Posted on May 2, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his day, Dr. Thomas Guthrie was one of Scotland’s most popular and respected preachers. On the subject of the Christian life oftentimes being difficult, perplexing, and downright confusing, Guthrie said:

A man standing on the summit of a lofty mountain commands a wider landscape and sees things that on the plains below would have been quite invisible. So many things unknown, incomprehensible to us on the plains of earth will be all visible on the mount of Heaven.

The gist of Guthrie’s words is that in Heaven the Christian will at last have access to God’s perspective. If life on earth is the low valley where visibility is limited, life in Heaven will be the mountaintop where visibility is total. “Why did this happen?” “Why didn’t that happen?” “Why did God cause such a thing?” “Why did He allow such a thing?” “Why did He send me B when I asked for A?” All these questions will be answered in Heaven. Not only will they be answered, each Christian will even be able to truthfully say, “I see the wisdom in God’s course of action.”

Another notable preacher, America’s Vance Havner, used to say, “God marks some things, ‘Will explain later.’” When will this “later” be? In some situations we get our explanations after only a few hours, days, or weeks. Other explanations, however, take longer, and we only receive them after many months, years, or even decades have passed. And then there are those really elusive ones, those that remain forevermore out of our reach in this earthly life. Those, unfortunately for us, must wait until Heaven.

Why does God treat His servant this way? The answer is that He knows that if He gave you all the answers at one time and laid out your whole life’s course in one setting, you would grow spiritually complacent. You’d stop asking Him for guidance and looking to Him for help in understanding because you would already have all the answers. This would inevitably cause you to become spiritually sloppy and, even worse, spiritually cocky. After all, it’s a humbling thing not to have all the answers.

So, Christian, do you currently feel as if you are stumbling around in the dark? Do the recent events of your life have you as confused as a goose in a hail storm? Have you grown frustrated with God because He hasn’t given you that answer you need? Well, I wish I could promise you that your answer will arrive soon. The fact is, it might. But then again, that answer might just be on that list of ones that you aren’t slated to get until Heaven. And if that’s the case, the question will then become a very simple one: “Will you continue to trust in the Lord and faithfully serve Him even if you never receive that answer in this life?” Ah, now that’s a good question, and the answer to it is one that only you can provide.

Posted in Adversity, Commitment, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Eternity, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Guidance, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Heaven, Impatience, Loneliness, Patience, Persecution, Problems, Salvation, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Hard to Be Still

Posted on April 30, 2026 by russellmckinney

Be still, and know that I am God… (Psalm 46:10, N.K.J.V.)

Royce was our child who couldn’t sit still. He was hyper, fidgety, squirmy, active, and all sorts of other wiggly. He could sit and play his PlayStation for hours, but he had to be constantly changing positions to do it. One minute he was sitting in his beanbag, but the next minute he was lying in it. Ten minutes later he was sitting on the floor, but five more minutes found him stretched out on the bed. He was the man of a thousand positions as he held that controller in his hands.

Then every so often he would jump up like a sprinter coming out of the blocks, bolt out of his room and into the kitchen at 100 miles per hour, grab a snack by way of a skill that would make NASCAR pit crews envious, and bolt back into his room. The whole event wouldn’t take 20 seconds. And the older he got, the faster time he made.

When he was just a little fellow in school, my wife Tonya literally had to say to his teachers, “Don’t expect Royce to sit perfectly still in a chair; if he did, he would die.” Of course, that same problem evidenced itself in church as well. Somewhere along the line, though, Tonya figured out that if she let him keep something in his hands while he was sitting in his pew, something he could toy with in order to release some of that ocean of energy he had inside him, he could make it through a sermon. Interestingly, what we discovered was that he could remember large portions of my sermons even though he never looked up to make eye contact with me. He was the opposite of the church member who could keep eye contact with me for an entire sermon and fifteen minutes later not remember a thing I said.

Truth be told, most of us have a little “Royce” in us when it comes to being still and knowing that God is God. Tell me, as you read Psalm 46:10, do you take those words “Be still” literally? If you do, then my question to you becomes, “When was the last time you actually sat down, ceased all motion, calmed yourself to the point of serenity, and spent some time one-on-one with God?” If your answer is, “It’s been a while” feel free to take your place in a long line.

Actually, however, those words “Be still” don’t have to be understood in a literal, physical way. Think about it, you can be physically still and yet your mind be anxiously racing a million miles per hour, right? For example, have you ever spent a night lying physically still in your bed even as your mind was racked with worry? Or how many of us have gone on vacation to try to get away from it all, only to find that we carried it all with us?

This is why I say that “Be still” can also be understood in a way that is less literal and physical. What I’m talking about is you intentionally ceasing from your plotting, planning, and scheming. Rather than try to jump three moves ahead of God you just focus on doing what He wants you to be doing today, right now, this very second. To me, this kind of “Be still” is every bit as important as the other kind.

Along these lines, do you know what most everyone misses about the words, “Be still, and know that I am God”? It’s the fact that those words are found within a Psalm that is all about God’s ability to provide deliverance and protection. As evidences that this is the heartbeat of the Psalm, consider the following excerpts (all from the N.K.J.V.):

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. (verse 1)

Therefore we will not fear… (verse 2)

The Lord of hosts is with us…. (verse 7 & verse 11)

You see, while having quiet times of inactivity and prayer can be extremely helpful, the Psalm isn’t advocating that kind of “Be still” so much as it’s advocating resting confidently in the promise that God has your back. Really, when we get right down to it, the “Be still” the Psalmist has in mind is something akin to the phrase “Let go and let God.” The idea is, you don’t have to have all the answers and you don’t have to hack your way through that jungle you call a life. Instead, all you have to do is get in step with God, obey Him in each and every decision, and find your rest in Him rather than in your circumstances.

The word we are looking for here is TRUST. You trust God to protect you. You trust Him to sustain you. You trust Him to meet your needs. You trust Him to guide you. You trust Him to handle your enemies.

But such trust doesn’t come easily for us, does it? No, what comes easily for us is worrying, plotting, planning, scheming, being impatient, and being anxious. We’ve got to be active, on the move, doing something. In this way, we are the polar opposite of, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Consequently, we do untold damage to ourselves mentally, emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually.

Therefore, I challenge you right now to allow God to retrain you, teaching you how to truly be still and know that He is God. Hey, all you’ve got to lose is a ton of stress and a few points off your blood pressure, right? It’s a case of less being more. The less includes less worry, less strife, less nervous energy, and less fear, while the more includes more peace, more calmness, more contentment, and more joy. That sure sounds like a great tradeoff, doesn’t it? So, why don’t you take God up on the offer? I really don’t think you will regret it.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Children, Church Attendance, Comfort, Contentment, Courage, Depression, Doubt, Dying To Self, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Guidance, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, God's Word, Impatience, Joy, Needs, Parenting, Patience, Peace, Personal, Problems, Revenge, Spiritual Warfare, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

If in This Life Only…

Posted on April 28, 2026 by russellmckinney

Sometimes you’ll hear a preacher make the statement, “Even if there is no heaven, the benefits you receive in this life make it worth it to follow Jesus.” I remember saying this myself a time or two in my younger days as a preacher. Unfortunately, however, the apostle Paul would strongly disagree with the statement.

In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, Paul offers a hypothetical description of what life would be like if Christ’s resurrection hadn’t really happened, if the whole story was a lie, a sham, a hoax. Here’s the list of how that description reads:

  • All preaching about Jesus would be empty (v.14).
  • All faith in Jesus would be empty and futile (v.14, 17).
  • Paul and the other apostles would be false witnesses proclaiming an untruthful message (v.15).
  • Christians who think they have been forgiven of their sins would still be in their sins (v.17).
  • Dead Christians would have perished rather than going to heaven (v.18).

After listing all these things, Paul then ends his hypothetical description by making the summary assessment:

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:19, N.K.J.V.)

Why would Christians be the most pitiable of all people? It’s because we Christians are known to actually make personal sacrifices for the Savior we serve. We spend time in prayer, Bible study, and church attendance, thus sacrificing our time. We give monetary offerings to church, thus sacrificing our money. We turn the other cheek, thus sacrificing our right to revenge. We forgive our enemies and pray for them, thus sacrificing our right to hold a grudge. We live lives of personal holiness, thus sacrificing the pleasure of participating in worldly, fleshly activities. We don’t cheat on our income taxes or engage in shady business dealings, thus sacrificing our opportunity to make an easy dollar. We play by the rules, thus sacrificing our chance to gain a competitive edge.

Even worse than all these things, if Jesus is a fraud who didn’t truly show His divinity by resurrecting from the dead, we might as well be serving Santa Claus. If you think the idea of Santa Claus is silly, try building an entire religion around the foundational concept that believing in Santa Claus is the only way to get into heaven. Try getting up every Sunday and telling a crowd of people that Santa Claus is the answer to all of life’s problems. Try writing books that proclaim the greatness of Santa Claus. Try buying television and radio time to tell the world about Santa Claus. Try devoting entire websites to Santa Claus. If someone did that, wouldn’t you classify that person as worthy of pity?

Therefore, let’s put a permanent ban on the statement, “Even if there is no heaven, the benefits you receive in this life make it worth it to follow Jesus.” No, they don’t. If this life is all there is, and if we Christians are getting up every day and living for, sacrificing for, and trying to get other people to believe in a Savior who is no better than a fairy tale, that doesn’t make our lives better. Much to the contrary, it wastes them and turns us into fools.

Posted in Belief, Bible Study, Christ's Resurrection, Church Attendance, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Eternity, Forgiveness, Heaven, Missions, Money, Pastors, Prayer, Preaching, Revenge, Reward, Sacrifice, Salvation, Service, Stewardship, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Give God All There Is of You

Posted on April 24, 2026 by russellmckinney

William Booth was one of the most famous ministers who ever lived. When he became a Christian at the age of 15, he wrote in his diary, “God shall have all there is of William Booth.” He then spent the next 68 years making good on that promise.

Booth was a successful pastor in the early part of his ministry, but he found that a permanent ministry at one site didn’t suit him because evangelism was his true passion. In particular, he loved sharing the gospel with the poor and ministering to them. He became best known as the founder and “first General” of the Salvation Army, which in Booth’s time was recognized as one of the leading evangelistic organizations in the world. When Booth died at the age of 83, his body laid in state for three days at the Salvation Army’s Clapton Congress Hall in London. 150,000 people attended his viewing. His funeral was later held at London’s Olympia and was attended by 40,000 people, including Queen Mary.

In the latter years of his ministry, Booth struggled mightily with his eyesight. In 1909, he began a planned six-month tour of the United Kingdom, but the tour was ended prematurely when it was discovered that he had gone completely blind in his right eye and was greatly limited by cataracts in his left. In August of 1909, a surgeon removed that right eye altogether. A few months after the surgery, in 1910, Booth resumed his ministry by embarking upon a tour of the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Following his return to England, he embarked upon a motor tour of that country, a tour that proved to be his last.

The story is told that when Booth’s eyesight began to leave him, his son Bramwell said to him, “Dad, you are going to be permanently blind.” Booth responded, “You mean that I am going to live the rest of my life in physical blindness?” Bramwell answered, “I fear that you must reckon with that fact.” “Shall I never see your face again?” Booth asked. “No,” said Bramwell, “probably not in this world.” Booth then moved his hand slowly forward until he found Bramwell’s hand. He grasped his son’s hand and said, “I have done what I could for God and for the people with my eyes. Now I shall do what I can for God and for the people without my eyes!”

That story from Booth’s life should inspire all Christians to follow his example by giving God all there is of us. We should do this when we are young, middle-aged, or elderly. We should do it when we are in great health, declining health, or poor health. As the old hymn says, “Jesus gave it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.” Since our Savior gave His all for us, can we do any less for Him?

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Christ's Death, Commitment, Complaining, Disappointment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Evangelism, Faithfulness, God's Work, Human Life, Ministry, Missions, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Sacrifice, Salvation, Sanctification, Service, Submission, Suffering, Trials, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Heaven Have a Wall?

Posted on April 22, 2026 by russellmckinney

A few years back, as the political debate about illegal immigration was in full blaze, a certain meme started making the rounds on social media. There were different variations of the meme, but most of them featured a picture of either Heaven’s gates or a wall, along with the caption: “Heaven has a wall with strict immigration policies. Hell has open border policies.” Needless to say, the meme was heavily promoted by those who were in favor of the United States making it much harder to come across our southern border.

While I myself don’t claim to have all the answers concerning what should be done about illegal immigration, that isn’t the purpose of this post anyway. My purpose here is to clarify what the Bible teaches about Heaven. I can’t fix social media, but if I can help just one person get their thinking straight about Heaven’s “wall,” I will have done some good here. So, let’s get started.

The “Heaven” that has a wall around it is the heavenly city of New Jerusalem that is described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. New Jerusalem’s wall has twelve gates cut into it. That’s three on the eastern side, three on the northern side, three on the southern side, and three on the western side (21:13). Each gate is one solid pearl (21:21), while the wall itself is solid jasper (21:18). There is an angel posted at each gate (21:12), and each gate goes by the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel (21:12).

The wall has twelve foundations, and upon each foundation is written the name of one of Christ’s twelve apostles (21:14). Each foundation is made from a different type of precious stone: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, etc. (21:19-20). The size of the wall is 124 cubits (approximately 216 feet, 72 yards), which most likely refers to its width rather than its height (21:17).

If you wonder how a wall can be that thick, let me point out that the city it surrounds is approximately 1,400 miles squared (Revelation 21:16). That means the city is 1,400 miles long in not only length but also width and height. That adds up to over two million square miles, enough territory to take in most of the entire eastern portion of the United States! If you are going to have a wall around a city that size, the wall had better be big!

New Jerusalem is made of pure gold, but it’s not the kind of gold that we know. It’s a gold that is transparent enough to look like clear glass (21:18). The city’s street is made of this same type of gold (21:21). By the way, that’s not a typo on my part. The city of New Jerusalem has one street (singular), not many streets (plural).

The transparent clearness also extends to the river that has its source at the throne of God and runs through the city. This river is described as being clear as crystal (22:1). The city has a tree of life, too, a tree that yields a different type of fruit each month (22:2).

One thing the city doesn’t have is a temple. It doesn’t need one because God the Father and God the Son are literally present on the scene (21:22). It has no sun or moon either because the glory of God illuminates it (21:23; 22:5). Try to imagine all of God the Father’s glory and God the Son’s glory bouncing off not only all that clear gold but also that clear river. It’s no wonder the city doesn’t have any lighting problems!  Oh, and did I mention there is no night there (21:25; 22:5)?

There is, however, an important fact about those twelve gates inside that wall around that city, and this fact gets to the heart of this post. Those gates are never closed (Revelation 21:25). That throws a definite monkey wrench into the comparison between New Jerusalem’s wall and any border wall the United States might ever build. Furthermore, New Jerusalem is a city in which all kinds of different nationalities walk (21:24; 22:2). That throws a definite monkey wrench into any segregated “nationalist” thinking.

Look, I’m not writing this to choose a side between the Republicans and the Democrats. Let’s keep politics out of this. All I’m trying to do is help us keep our thinking straight when it comes to using certain Bible passages to make questionable analogies about current events. As Christians who take the Bible seriously, we have to be better than that. Is illegal immigration a major issue in 21st century America? Absolutely. But, please, let’s stop trivializing the Bible just so we can get a bunch of likes on social media.

For the record, the city of New Jerusalem is not even the Heaven that Christians go to now at death. That Heaven is described in passages such as Isaiah 6:1-3, 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, and Revelation 4:1-11, and no mention is made of it having walls or gates. A ton of Bible prophecy has to take place before the city of New Jerusalem comes front and center in God’s plan, and I’ll list the order of those prophetic events as the close to this post. Again, I just want us to understand scripture properly. If we can do that, it will take care of most of our meme problems. So, as a means to that end, the order for God’s prophetic plan goes as follows:

  1. the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50-58, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)
  2. the seven-year tribulation period, ending with the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation chapters 6 through 19)
  3. Christ’s 2nd Coming (Revelation 19:11-21)
  4. Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon the earth (Revelation 20:1-6)
  5. Satan’s final rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10)
  6. the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)
  7. the passing away of the old heaven and the old earth (including the old city of Jerusalem), and the instituting of the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-8)
Posted in Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Return, Current Events, Eternity, God's Timing, God's Word, Heaven, Politics, Prophecy, Racism, The Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Will Tartarus Ever Be Emptied?

Posted on April 20, 2026 by russellmckinney

We get the noun “Tartarus” from the Greek verb tartaroo. That verb is used in 2 Peter 2:4 in reference to a certain group of fallen angels that God has cast down and delivered into chains of darkness. Most translations (K.J.V., N.K.J.V., N.I.V., N.A.S.V., E.S.V., etc.) use the generic term “hell” in that verse. However, if your Bible (regardless of what translation it is) provides center-column notes or bottom-of-the-page commentary notes for 2 Peter 2:4, those will always specify that the “hell” in question is literally “Tartarus.” As a matter of fact, a few translations (the Holman Christian Standard, Young’s Literal Translation, Wuest’s Expanded Translation) just go ahead and use “Tartarus” in the verse instead of “hell.”

So, what is this strange place called Tartarus? It’s a place created exclusively for the incarceration of certain fallen angels. The place has absolutely no bearing on human beings. As I pointed out in the post Are Hades and Hell the Same Place (post #1), the New Testament also uses the terms “the deep” or “the abyss” (Luke 8:31, Romans 10:7) and “the bottomless pit” (Revelation chapters 9.11.17, and 20) in reference to Tartarus. For example, in Luke 8:31 a group of demons (fallen angels) beg Jesus not to command them to go out into “the abyss” (N.K.J.V.). Undoubtedly, every fallen angel is terrified of Tartarus.

As for the angels who are currently imprisoned in the place, the Bible provides only one explanation for who they could be. They are the “sons of God” (note how the same term is used in reference to angels in Job 1:6 and 2:1) whose sin is recorded in Genesis 6:1-4. Their sin was that they married earthly women and produced offspring.

The questions raised by this sin boggle the mind. How can a fallen angel and a human woman have sex? And how can that sex produce a child? Perhaps the most logical explanation is that the fallen angels did their marrying and their procreating by demon possessing the bodies of earthly males. That would account for the male reproductive seed that is required to produce a child.

Whatever the exact details of the event were, one thing is for certain: God was sorely displeased with the whole mess. It’s certainly no coincidence that the three verses that follow the story, Genesis 6:5-7, find God determining to destroy the whole earth. The angelic sin, coupled with the low moral state to which mankind itself had descended in the wake of Adam and Eve’s sin, was enough for God to send the great flood. 

But you can’t kill a fallen angel, can you? Humans can drown, and half-human/half-fallen-angel offspring can as well, but angels are immortal. How, then, could God punish those Genesis 6:1-4 angels for their sins? The answer is, Tartarus (the deep, the abyss, the bottomless pit).

Jude verse 6 says of those angels:

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; (N.K.J.V.)

You see, if we undermine the story of Genesis 6:1-4 by saying that the “sons of God” described there are something other than fallen angels, we are left to wonder why some fallen angels are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness while all the others are free to roam the earth and demon-possess people (Job 1:6-7; Job 2:1-2; Matthew 12:43-45; Ephesians 6:10-12; 1 Peter 5:8; etc.). Therefore, Genesis 6:1-4 must refer to fallen angels, fallen angels who blurred the lines between angels and humans and paid a steep price for it. Basically, these angels fell twice.

This makes the question: “Will they ever be released from Tartarus?” And the answer is: Yes. When will this happen? It will occur sometime in the first half of the seven-year tribulation period that is prophesied to come upon this earth. The proof text is Revelation 9:1-3, which says:

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke rose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (N.K.J.V.)

The “star fallen from heaven to the earth” is none other than Satan. As evidence of this the “star” is referred to as “him.” And the bottomless pit is Tartarus, the entrance to which is clearly located somewhere on planet earth. How else could the smoke that rises up out of the place temporarily block out the sun? God gives Satan the key that opens the lid to the place, and Satan wastes no time using it to free his old buddies.

Someone might say, “But the passage says that locusts come up from the pit, not fallen angels.” Yes, it does, but in the same way that Satan is called a star, there is symbolism here. These locusts surely don’t look like any locusts we’ve ever seen! They have hair like a woman and teeth like a lion (9:8). When they fly the sound of their wings sounds like a large throng of horses and chariots thundering the ground (9:9). And these angels also have tails, tails that sting like scorpions (9:10).

Oh, and these angels have a king (a head angel) over them. This fallen angel is referred to as “the angel of the bottomless pit” and his name is Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek (9:11). Both names mean “Destroyer.” He must be exceedingly mighty, perhaps only outdone by Satan himself and the archangel Michael. Evidently, this Destroyer was the leader of those “sons of God” who caused all that trouble in the pre-flood days.

For five long months (9:5,10) in the first half of the tribulation period, Destroyer and these other fallen angels will torment the lost people of the earth (9:4). The torment they inflict will be so bad that in those days men will long to die but be unable to do so (9:6). In God’s plan, even Destroyer and his group won’t be allowed to literally kill anyone.

To get back to our question, though, the release of these angels will empty Tartarus (at least for a few years). The situation will change, however, at the end of the tribulation period when Christ returns for His Second Coming (Revelation 19:1-21). At that time, Satan himself will be locked up in Tartarus, and he will remain incarcerated there for the duration of Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon the earth. In addition to Satan being imprisoned there, all the other fallen angels will be as well. Isaiah 24:21-22 speaks of this by saying:

In that day the Lord will punish the fallen angels in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. They will be rounded up and put in prison until they are tried and condemned. Then the Lord Almighty will mount his throne on Mount Zion. He will rule gloriously in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people. There will be such glory that the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away. (New Living Translation)

And would you believe that Satan and all the other fallen angels know all about this coming day when they will be imprisoned? Not only do they know about it, they dread it. In Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-30, the Bible gives us the story of how a large group of demons who were living inside the bodies of two men asked Jesus, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” What “time” did they have in mind? We find the answer in Luke’s account of the story, where the demons implore Jesus not to cast them into “the abyss” (Luke 8:31, N.K.J.V.). This leaves no doubt that the “time” those fallen angels fear is the time when they, along with Satan, will be imprisoned in Tartarus for the 1,000 years of Christ’s millennial reign.

Now, in closing, let me finish all this up by explaining what will happen to Satan and the other fallen angels following Christ’s 1,000-year reign. According to Revelation 20:7-9, Satan and the other angels will then be released from Tartarus, and God will permit Satan to mount one last spiritual offensive upon the earth. Satan and his angels will go out into every corner of the earth and deceive millions of people into aligning with them in an assault upon Jesus in Jerusalem. Who will all these deceived people be? They will be the offspring of the saved people who lived through the tribulation period and went into Christ’s millennial reign in their earthly bodies. By the time those 1,000 years are finished, those offspring will total in the millions, and, tragically, they will chose the side of Satan in his final battle against God.

And how will that battle end? Revelation 20:10 says that God the Father will send fire down from heaven, and that fire will devour all of Satan’s followers. So much for Satan’s last coup attempt! It is then that Gehenna (the eternal lake of fire) will come into full play as Satan and all the other fallen angels will spend eternity there. As a matter of fact, Jesus taught that Gehenna was actually created to be the place for the devil and the other angels (Matthew 25:41).

What a shame it is, then, that so many billions of people who lived and died over the course of history will end up spending eternity in there as well (Revelation 20:11-15). A rebel is a rebel, I suppose, and in God’s program for eternity all rebels, whether they be angels or humans, will share the same place. That’s why my advice to anyone is: Stop playing the role of the rebel and give yourself over fully to Jesus Christ. He is, of course, the one who died for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to spend eternity with Satan and his crowd.

Posted in Angels, Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Demons, Disobedience, Eternity, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Hell, Prophecy, Salvation, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment