A Bruised Reed & A Smoldering Wick

Posted on October 17, 2016 by russellmckinney

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…”(Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20; N.I.V.)

The words of our text are first found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and then later referenced in the New Testament book of Matthew. In each instance, the “he” being spoken of is Jesus. The Isaiah verse is part of a passage that describes the Messiah who was prophesied to come to Israel. The Matthew verse is part of a passage that provides evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.

The text is built around two illustrations, the first of which is a “bruised reed.” Since the stalk of a reed is basically just a hollow shaft, a reed cannot stand strong and erect if its shaft is damaged. Consequently, the picture of a “bruised reed” is one in which damage has caused the shaft to become bent or bowed to some degree.

Imagine a patch of reeds growing undisturbed by a river bank. The reeds are healthy, vibrant, and standing tall. Now imagine a fisherman hiking into that scene and tromping through those reeds to make his way to the water. A path of trampled stalks is left to show his swath of destruction.

Are those trampled stalks totally annihilated? No, but they are now damaged. Did those reeds do anything to deserve that damage? No, they were just standing there by the water’s edge, doing what they were designed to do, when trouble found them.

In terms of people, a “bruised reed” depicts an individual who has been damaged through no fault of his own. Outside influences (either unfortunate events or deeds done by other individuals) have tromped into the person’s life and inflicted considerable injury. This injury can be emotional, psychological, mental, spiritual, physical, or some combination of any of these. In each case, though, the person ends up lowly, somewhat pitiable, and hindered from operating at a high level.

According to our text, Jesus handles such people with delicate care. Instead of breaking off the bruised stalk and thereby finalizing the damage, He works to repair and restore the stalk to help it stand tall again. This shows Christ’s tender compassion toward those who have been wronged, treated unjustly, or have simply gotten caught up in a bad turn of events they didn’t cause.

Turning now to the second illustration, that of the “smoldering wick,” in Bible times people commonly doused a piece of cloth in olive oil or animal fat to use as a wick for a lamp. That wick would keep the lamp lit as long as the oil or fat remained, but when the fuel source ran out the wick would begin to smolder and smoke rather than produce a true flame. Like the illustration of the “bruised reed,” the illustration of the “smoldering wick” depicts an object that is in a weakened state and isn’t functioning properly.

And what type of person does the “smoldering wick” represent? It represents one whose energy and resources have become depleted through the performance of duty. Such a person is spent, exhausted, and incapable of self-replenishment. He has given his all in doing what he was supposed to do, so much so that he can no longer do it effectively. Where there was once a flame there is now only smoke. The situation is akin to the modern term “burned out.”

Does Jesus throw such a person away and find someone new to do the work? Definitely not. Instead of snuffing out what is left of the person’s flame, Jesus provides him with a fresh supply of fuel and gets that flame burning brightly again. This shows Christ’s tender compassion toward those who have run themselves into the ground trying to do good and consequently have nothing left to give. Jesus appreciates such peoples’ effort and won’t leave them in their exhausted, drained condition.

I don’t know where these two graphic illustrations from Jesus find you right now, but my guess is that somebody out there is currently feeling like a bruised reed, a smoldering wick, or both. If that’s you please take encouragement from the fact that Jesus has no desire to finish you off completely. To the contrary, He wants to strengthen you, shore you up, revitalize you, and refuel you.

No matter what the circumstances were that brought you to your present condition, the main thing now is your future. Today can be the first day of that future if you will allow Jesus to begin the process of restoring you back to a healthy state. Therefore, I advise you to spend time with Him in prayer, telling Him all about your current situation and how you got there. Then let Him begin His marvelous work of restoring you and reviving you. Figuratively speaking, He really does want you standing straight and burning with a bright flame, and He can get you there if you will give Him your damaged or depleted self completely.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Encouragement, God's Love, Needs, Problems | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

God: Heavenly Father or Heavenly Commander in Chief?

Posted on October 15, 2016 by russellmckinney

Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, I was a huge fan of the television show M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). For that matter, I’ve continued to watch the reruns ever since. I know all the characters, all the episodes, all the funny scenes, all the endings, and way, way too many of the actual quotes. No, I don’t approve of the show’s promotion of drinking, casual sex, and Corporal Klinger’s attempts to get a Section 8 discharge by wearing women’s clothes. I’d be lying, though, if I denied loving M*A*S*H when I was a kid or said that I’ve ever gotten past the fondness.

M*A*S*H ran for eleven seasons and filmed 255 episodes, and one of the last episodes (episode #252) was entitled “Say No More.” It featured veteran character actor John Anderson as a gruff, no-nonsense general named Collins. General Collins gets involved with the 4077th M*A*S*H when his son, who is a young officer in the army, is brought to the 4077th for surgery after being injured in battle. To be close to his son, the general moves his command trailer to the 4077th and runs his part of the war from that site. He is a busy man, seemingly always on the telephone as he relays troop movements and strategy to his underlings. But he makes time each day for his son’s doctor, Hawkeye Pierce, to keep him posted on his son’s condition.

As for Hawkeye, he doesn’t particularly like the general because he thinks the man is too preoccupied winning the war to care much about his own son. Nevertheless, each day he knocks on the general’s trailer door and gives him an update. Even though the surgery goes well and Hawkeye expects the young man to make a full recovery, the general decides to stay at the 4077th until the son is back to full strength. In true television drama, though, the son suffers an embolism while in postop recovery and dies a sudden and unexpected death that can’t be prevented.

It’s then that Hawkeye has to make his way to General Collins’ trailer and relay the tragic news. Collins is devastated, stops taking phone calls for the first time in the whole episode, and orders everybody out except Hawkeye. Then he asks Hawkeye to share a drink with him in honor of his son. Over the course of the drink, Collins tells Hawkeye that his son had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the army. The father had been against the decision, but the son had voluntarily enlisted on his own. Collins also fondly recalls how the son climbed the biggest tree in the family’s yard when he was young and afterward asked if they could move to a house with a bigger tree.

Hawkeye is touched by it all and begins to understand that Collins really did love his son. However, as soon as Hawkeye closes the trailer door in leaving, he hears Collins return to the phone and get right back to his job running the war. Hawkeye gives a slight grin as if he is genuinely perplexed by Collins. Was that minute’s worth of mourning all the time that Collins had to grieve for his son? Why couldn’t Collins talk to his son the way he had talked to Hawkeye about him? How could Collins continue to send young men into battle knowing that many of them would lose their lives the way his son had? It all makes for a great television scene.

I’ve thought about that scene many times as I’ve tried to make sense of why God the Father chooses to send His beloved children into spiritual battles, battles that sometimes result in those children getting either injured (bodily, emotionally, psychologically, financially, spiritually, etc.) or sometimes even literally martyred. I am a parent myself and I can assure you that one of my priorities concerning my two sons is their safety. I don’t want to see them get hurt. I don’t want to see them bloodied and battered. I don’t want to see them fallen on some battlefield. Much to the contrary, I want to keep them out of harm’s way.

But God the Father handles His children differently. He sends John the Baptist to confront Herod Antipas concerning Herod’s sin knowing that the confrontation will lead to John getting arrested and ultimately beheaded (Matthew 14:1-12). He allows Stephen to be brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin council so that Stephen can deliver a powerful sermon that will result in him being stoned to death (Acts 7:1-60). He raises up James to be a leader in the early church knowing that Herod Agrippa will have James put to death by way of the sword (Acts 12:1-2). You get the idea. How can God the Father love His children and yet still send them off to spiritual battlefields where they can get hurt or even killed?

The answer is that God isn’t just a heavenly Father, He is also a heavenly Commander in Chief. Make no mistake, the Bible explicitly calls the Christian a “soldier.” In case you doubt that, the proof passage is 2 Timothy 2:3-4, where the apostle Paul says to Timothy:

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (N.K.J.V.)

Please note those closing words: “…that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Obviously, that is a reference to God the Father. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 9:7 Paul defends himself for receiving financial support from churches by saying, “Who ever goes to war at his own expense?” You see, Paul understood what many Christians don’t. He understood that God sees the Christian as a soldier fighting a great war in His army. Paul even returns to this theme again in 2 Corinthians 10:4 when he writes:

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. (The Amplified Bible)

Along these same lines, in Ephesians 6:10-18 Paul exhorts the Christian to put on the whole armor of God. That armor consists of: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the peace that comes from the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Holy Spirit. And why does the Christian need armor? He needs it because he is fighting in a war, a spiritual war against Satan and the other fallen angels (Ephesians 6:11-12).

What am I saying? I’m saying that it is because God the Father must play the role of heavenly Commander in Chief, in addition to His role of heavenly Father, that He oftentimes has to place His beloved children in harm’s way by sending them out to wage war against Satan and Satan’s forces. The objective of this warfare is the overthrow and destruction (the “pulling down” K.J.V., N.K.J.V.) of Satan’s strongholds, and those strongholds certainly don’t come down without some intense fighting. This fighting always results in God’s children (soldiers) getting battered and bruised in some way either figuratively or literally, and sometimes it even results in their literal deaths. That’s what happened to John the Baptist, Stephen, and James.

The good news is that the Satanic strongholds that claimed the lives of these great servants of the Lord were indeed eventually pulled down, overthrown, and destroyed. The wicked Herod family that killed John the Baptist (Herod Antipas) and James (Herod Agrippa I) eventually lost their power and influence, and God even struck Herod Agrippa dead shortly after James’ death (Acts 12:20-23). As for the Jewish Sanhedrin that claimed the life of Stephen, that council came to nothing when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple in the year 70 A.D.

Actually, God the Father being willing to send Christians out to wage potentially dangerous spiritual warfare should make perfect sense to us. Do you know why? It’s because He once sent His beloved Son, Jesus, into battle to wage such warfare. In two separate stories, God the Father refers to Jesus as “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5), and yet He knew the work (John 4:34; 6:38; 9:4) He was sending Jesus to do would get Jesus ridiculed, mocked, hated, rejected, arrested, scourged, and crucified. It was all part of the heavenly Commander in Chief’s plan.

So, Christian, the next time God the Father burdens you to strike a blow for Him in the great ongoing spiritual war, don’t be surprised if He allows the enemy to hit you with some serious blowback in return. That won’t mean that your heavenly Father doesn’t love you as one of His children. Instead, what it will mean is that your heavenly Commander in Chief thought enough of you as a soldier to trust you with a difficult mission.

Posted in Adversity, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Commitment, Courage, Demons, Dying To Self, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Missions, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Satan, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Job’s Wife & Her Tongue of Fire

Posted on October 13, 2016 by russellmckinney

The book of Job consists of 1,070 verses and 42 chapters. First, chapters 1 and 2 feature conversations between God and Satan. Second, chapters 3 through 31 feature conversations between Job and Eliphaz, Job and Bildad, and Job and Zophar. Third, chapters 32 through 37 feature what amounts to a lecture that Elihu (who was younger than Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) speaks to Job. Fourth and lastly, chapters 38 through 42 feature a conversation between God and Job and then a conversation between God and Eliphaz. Obviously, there is a whole lot of talking in the book of Job.

Interestingly, though, in the midst of all that talking there is only one quote from Job’s wife. The context for the quote finds her and Job living in the aftermath of an almost inconceivable series of events. For starters, Satan has recently orchestrated events that have caused Job to lose his worldly wealth by having his oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels stolen. Even worse than that, Job’s seven sons and three daughters, as well as most of his servants, have been killed. Then, when Job has continued to worship God despite all that loss, Satan has afflicted him with gruesome boils that extend from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head.

Job’s diseased condition has prompted him to remove himself from normal society and make his way out to a certain ash heap to mourn his situation. So there he sits, in the midst of those ashes, scraping his boils with a broken piece of pottery in an attempt to get some relief from them. Other than Jesus hanging on the cross, there has probably never been a more pitiable figure than Job is at that very moment. And it’s then that Job’s wife goes out to the ash heap and says to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, N.K.J.V.)

During the eras when society was dominated by men, preachers typically blasted Job’s wife for what they deemed her coldness, cruelty, and lack of compassion for her decimated husband. In more recent years, however, as women have risen to a more prominent place in the world, many preachers have gone easier on her by saying, “We must take into account that she had just buried all ten of her children. That would make anyone bitter.”

Regardless of what our opinion of Job’s wife should be, there’s no doubt that Job’s reply to her certainly wasn’t laced with compassion, tenderness, and understanding. He said, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10, N.K.J.V.)

After reading that response, you might think, “Was that rebuke really what God wanted Job to say to that woman at that moment?” All I know is that immediately following the reply the Bible says this: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10, N.K.J.V.). Clearly, “all this” would have to include Job’s response to his wife. This means that we shouldn’t completely let her off the hook for her infamous comment. Job called her foolish for saying it, and God backed him up on that assessment.

But would any of us have done any better at handling the catastrophic situation into which this woman was suddenly thrust? Her husband was the richest man in all the East (Job 1:3), a fact that gave her a lofty standing in her world. By reading between the lines a bit, we can surmise that she had fine clothes, beautiful jewelry, a staff of servants, and in general an overabundance of everything. If there is such a thing as an overabundance of children, she even had that too as she had ten of them. Then suddenly all her overabundance vanished virtually overnight. That might turn any otherwise good woman into a bitter, scornful, sarcastic nag.

Furthermore, if we are right in assuming that this same woman was the vessel through whom God ultimately blessed Job with ten more children after those first ten had been killed (Job 42:12-15), she must have been a wonderful mother. Imagine the same woman giving birth to twenty children over the course of one lifetime! Whatever else we might say about Job’s wife, she couldn’t have been nearly as self-centered as her infamous quote makes her appear to be. Carrying twenty babies in her womb and delivering all of them just wouldn’t have allowed her that option.

So, let’s understand that there is a lot to commend about Job’s wife, and it’s unfortunate for her that history only remembers her for unloading on her husband during the low point of not only his life but also her life. Sadly, though, that is the damage that ill-spoken words can do. In Proverbs 18:21, the Bible goes so far as to say, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” (N.K.J.V.), and James 3:6 calls the tongue “a world of iniquity” and “a fire.” The tongue being compared to a fire explains why I entitled this post “Job’s Wife & Her Tongue of Fire.”

Nevertheless, despite the problem of the tongue always having the potential to set a situation ablaze, God doesn’t want us to be mutes. Remember that it’s not just death that is in the power of the tongue, it’s also life. As Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (N.K.J.V.). You see, talking is fine as long as you do it the right way. The goal is to always say what God wants you to say, to whom He wants you to say it, when He wants you to say it, and how He wants you to say it. Therefore, let’s all work on our conversing and make sure we don’t burn down anything with the fire that lies behind our teeth. Job’s wife spouted her flames and with one quote became known for something for which she’d rather not be known, and here’s hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to us.

Posted in Communication, Complaining, Criticism, Influence, Marriage, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

False Expectations

Posted on October 11, 2016 by russellmckinney

During the period of my late teens and early twenties, I spent four years working at Bakersville Quick Mart, a convenience store in my hometown. My job there entailed a wide variety of duties: pump gas, run the cash register, unload the grocery truck, stock the shelves, fill the coolers, deliver groceries to shut-ins, mop the floor, etc., etc., etc. I’ve got about a hundred stories that I could tell from those days but right now I’ll just go with one of my favorites.

One Friday night a rough looking old truck pulled up to the gas pumps. As was my job, I went out to the truck to pump the gas. There were three men sitting in the truck seat, all of them probably in their late twenties to mid-thirties, and each one had that “wild-eyed southern boy” thing going.

It didn’t take a detective to figure out they were out on the town for a fun Friday night. I asked the driver how much gas he wanted and as I recall the reply was, “$10 worth.” (This was back in the day when that was a decent amount of gas.) So, I pumped the gas and returned to the driver’s window to get the money. Normally that would have been the end of the transaction, but that night those fellows asked me to go into the store and get them some cigarettes, a couple of drinks, and maybe one or two other items that I can’t recall right now. Then the driver handed me $20 to pay for the gas and the other items.

I didn’t mind doing the favor because I suspected those fellows had been drinking and didn’t want to make a spectacle of themselves inside the store. Unfortunately, what none of us realized was that $20 wouldn’t be enough to pay for everything. I myself didn’t figure out the shortage until I had gathered up the items and totaled up the amount on the register. “Oh great,” I thought, “I get to explain to a bunch of wild men that I need more money from them.” I was also genuinely worried that $20 was all they had between the three of them.

So, out I went, carrying not only the requested items but also the bad news. I approached the driver’s window cautiously and said to him, “Uh, sorry, but you didn’t give me enough money. The total was ……” At that point I didn’t know what to expect, but I feared the worst. Would the three get angry? Would they cuss me out? Would they get out of the truck and start making threats? Would they start the truck and roar off without paying for the gas? I was on red alert.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when the fellow in the middle absolutely cracked up as if I had just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard. And somewhere through all that laughing he managed to get out a line that I’ve never forgotten. He said, “And us out here waitin’ for change!” When he said that, the other two men just cracked up, too. So did I for that matter. You talk about relieving the tension! Then the driver pulled out the additional money as easily as if he was a multimillionaire and that was that. Problem solved.

Many years have passed since that memorable night at the Quick Mart, but I can still picture those three desperate looking characters sitting in that truck busting a gut over their false expectations. They aren’t angry. They aren’t argumentative. They aren’t belligerent. They are just genuinely embarrassed about the absurdity of the predicament in which they’ve placed themselves.

And now that I’ve told you my story, the question becomes, “How do you apply it to your own life?” Well, allow me to suggest the following: Spend some time today examining your life to see if you yourself have some type of false expectation going. I like the way the New Living Translation translates Proverbs 10:28, and we should all heed the warning. It says:

The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked are all in vain.

Maybe your false expectation involves a goal you’ve set that you will simply never reach. Maybe it involves a decision you’ve made that will never produce the results you’ve planned. Or maybe it involves a plan you are right now formulating that will never be God’s will for your life. I don’t know what your personal false expectation might be, but there is one thing I do know: If you are sitting in a truck waiting on change that’s never coming, it’s time to switch trucks. 

Posted in Change, Choices, Disappointment, God's Will, Humor, Personal, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Is God Good All the Time? (post 3 of 3)

Posted on October 9, 2016 by russellmckinney

“The Lord is good to all…” Psalm 145:9

“…No one is good but One, that is, God…” Matthew 19:17

With this post I’ll finish up my series “Is God Good All the Time?” In the first post, I explained why the title question is a reasonable one. In the second, I listed five facts that lay the foundation for a Biblical answer to the question. Now, with this third post I’ll use post #2 to interpret post #1. I’ll do this by taking those instances of “bad” I named in post #1 and filtering them through those five facts from post #2.

As I wade into this, I quickly find that the combination of fact #3 and #4 provide the explanation for the majority of the examples of “bad.” By way of reminder, fact #3 was God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by man and fact #4 was God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by Satan. Obviously, between the sinful deeds of people and the destructive work of Satan and his fellow fallen angels, there is a whole lot of “bad” being churned out that has nothing to do with God.

So, from my list of things in post #1, we shouldn’t blame God for:

  • the Holocaust
  • the deaths caused by wars He didn’t sanction
  • terrorist acts
  • murders
  • rapes
  • acts of sexual molestation
  • acts of adultery
  • abortions
  • divorces
  • any instances of injustice large or small
  • world hunger (there is enough food to feed everybody if mankind managed it properly)
  • undiscerning judges and juries
  • any struggles I might have had in the ministry
  • the tight finances Tonya and I have sometimes faced

Just because God doesn’t overrule the moral freewill of nations or individuals, even when that freewill is being used wrongly, that doesn’t make Him responsible for those sins or the consequences produced by them. And, for the record, the same thing applies to attempts to blame Him for the actions of Satan and the other fallen angels. How would you like to get blamed for something you didn’t do?

Okay, so fact #3 and fact #4 working together explain most of the examples of “bad” from post #1. Got it. But what about those examples in which God either commanded the nation of Israel to kill people or did the killing Himself? Well, those deaths all fall under the heading of fact #5, which was God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.” To see this, let’s retrace that list:

  • The millions of people whom God killed by way of the great flood were exceedingly sinful. Genesis 6:5 says that mankind’s wickedness was great in the earth, so great that, “…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine). You talk about strong language! Come on now, who could expect a holy God to sit up in heaven and take all that without eventually dealing with it? To God’s credit, He gave the human race 120 years to repent (Genesis 6:3) while Noah worked on the ark as a public object lesson and preached the coming judgment (2 Peter 2:4-5). Someone asks, “But what about all the babies, infants, and small children who drowned in the flood?” The answer is: The Bible teaches that the souls of children who die before reaching what we call “the age of accountability” go to the same place as the “saved” in the afterlife (2 Samuel 12:22-23). This includes miscarried babies, aborted babies, and all other children who die before reaching an age where they can mentally understand their sinful condition and their need for salvation. It also includes children who die in worldwide floods.
  • The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were a wicked, sexually perverse people. God described Sodom’s sin as “grave” and said the outcry against its citizens was “great” (Genesis 18:20). The situation was so bad that He couldn’t even find ten righteous people there (Genesis 18:23-33). Sodom was marked by pride, gluttony, laziness, and a lack of concern for the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49), not to mention the city’s trademark sin of homosexuality (Genesis 19:1-11). The Bible describes Sodom’s homosexuality as “abomination” (Ezekiel 16:50), “sexual immorality” (Jude v.7), and going after “strange flesh” (Jude v.7). Furthermore, homosexuality also ran rampant in Gomorrah and the other cities that surrounded Sodom (Jude v.7). So, again, how could a holy God who loves “good” do nothing as all that sin and perversion played itself out each and every day? He couldn’t, and He didn’t. Just as in the great flood, though, the souls of the children under the age of accountability went into a blissful afterlife.
  • The Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizittes, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites were sinful, idolatrous races who flaunted their idolatry and their evil ways before God for many centuries. Actually, by the time God gave Israel the command to wipe out these races, their sins had reached a full measure of completeness (Genesis 15:16). These races were all built around false religions that featured bizarre worship practices such as ritual prostitution (Deuteronomy 23:17-18) and infant sacrifices to the false god Molech (Leviticus 18:21; 20:1-5). To God’s credit, He gave these people an extra 400 years — the 400 years in which the Israelites were slaves in Egypt — to repent of their sins and serve Him (Genesis 15:16). But they never repented. Instead, they continued to teach their children how to perpetuate their ungodliness. Therefore, at some point, God in His holiness just had to deal with all the ‘bad” that was going on in Canaan. He even made it clear to Israel that those races’ prolific sinfulness was the reason for Him using Israel’s army to pour out His judgment upon them (Deuteronomy 9:4; 18:9-12; Leviticus 18:24-28). And, one more time, the good news is that the souls of all the children under the age of accountability ended up with the Lord.
  • All those laws that God expected Israel to live by in Old Testament days were commands, not mere suggestions. And, yes, those laws did include many death-penalty offenses. God’s recurring theme of justification for the death penalty was, “So you shall put away the evil from Israel” (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7; 17:12; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21; 22:24; 24:7). If Israel had kept that body of law rightly and dutifully carried out the varying punishments prescribed by it, including the ones involving capital punishment, the nation as a whole would have been well served. For example, if a proven murderer had been legally and publicly executed, who could have predicted how many other lives that one death might actually have saved? Obviously, it would have saved the lives of any other victims that murderer would have killed in the future, but it also might have saved even more lives by throwing a scare into other budding murderers (Deuteronomy 19:20). You see, when you understand how the Old Testament law was designed to function, you realize what a tremendous template for “good” it was. You also realize that God shouldn’t be blamed for any deaths produced by it being broken.
  • The citizens of Jericho can be lumped into the same group as all those other “ites” who called Canaan home, and God’s judgment upon those citizens of Jericho was justified for the same reasons. Why are we always so surprised when holy God comes down hard on unholiness? Also, here again the age of accountability applies to Jericho’s children.
  • The Amalekites were an immoral, murderous people who were a special thorn in Israel’s side. As Israel was making its way toward Canaan under the leadership of Moses, the Amalekites launched an unprovoked attack upon them. At the time of the attack, Israel didn’t even have an organized army. Not surprisingly, God didn’t take kindly to that sneak attack and swore to wage war against the Amalekites “from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16). Later on, His command for Saul to kill all the Amalekites, including the infants and nursing children, was a part of that war. So, putting it simply, God didn’t pick a fight with the Amalekites until they picked a fight with Him. And as for the infants and nursing children, see my previous comments.

Alright, at this point my list of examples from post #1 is getting seriously whittled down in terms of assessing blame for them. But now let’s tackle another one from the list. Isn’t it “bad” on God’s part that lost unbelievers will first be sentenced to the “hell” that is Hades and will ultimately spend eternity in the “hell” that is Gehenna (Luke 17:19-31; Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:47-48)? Well, here again the explanation stems from fact #5: God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.”

Throughout all history God has granted individual salvation on the basis of individual belief (faith) in Him. In the Old Testament era, believers such as Abraham and David were saved by placing their belief in the one true God (Romans 4:1-8), even though they had a somewhat limited understanding of Him in comparison to the one we have today. Later on, in the New Testament era, God revealed Himself more fully in the person of Jesus Christ, which meant that salvation then came by way of individuals placing their belief (faith) in Jesus (John 3:16-18; Acts 4:8-12).

The point is that in either era God had a way of salvation in play, and that way was always centered in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Just as Christians now look back to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, Old Testament believers looked forward to it in confident expectation of the Messiah who was prophesied to come (Genesis 3:15). So, from God’s viewpoint He has provided the human race with everything necessary for salvation and He wants everybody to get saved (2 Peter 3:9).

Sadly, though, the majority of people do not take advantage of God’s way of salvation. (Matthew 7:13-14). This leaves God no choice but to punish these unforgiven sinners. Someone asks, “But what about God’s love?” Unfortunately, that isn’t the relevant question because God’s love isn’t the issue. The issue is His holiness, and even His great love cannot override His holiness. Think of it this way: People go to hell unsaved, not unloved.

“But,” someone else asks, “what about all the people who die without ever having a chance to hear about Jesus?” The answer to that is found in Romans 1:20, which teaches that creation itself conveys the existence of an intelligent, all-powerful Creator God. Individuals living in every corner of the world can choose to either embrace what creation is conveying and seek out the truth concerning this Creator God or ignore the lesson and ignore the God. If a person responds rightly to what revelation he or she gleans about God from creation, God will somehow orchestrate circumstances to make it possible for that person to hear the story of Jesus (Acts 17:26-27). Biblical examples of God sending sincere “seekers” the evangelistic help they need are found in Acts 8:26-40 and Acts 10:1-48.

You say, “Alright, but what about the deaths of all those soldiers Jesus is going to kill at the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21)? How can they be explained in light of God being good all the time?” Perhaps you’ve guessed by now that those deaths also fit under the category of fact #5: God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.” 

Trust me, Jesus returning to walk this earth again and reign over it for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-6) is a good thing. This return will take place to close out the seven-year tribulation period that is prophesied to come upon this world. But when Jesus returns will He receive a King’s welcome? No.

Instead, His first order of business will be to make the short walk to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (which according to Acts 1:9-12 is the site to which He will return). At that time, Jerusalem will be inundated by enemy soldiers who are waging war against the citizens of the city. But Jesus will inflict a fatal plague upon all of those soldiers and in so doing save the people of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-15).

Next, He will make His way to Megiddo (Revelation 16:16). There the soldiers of the armies of the world will be gathered for what has come to be known as the Battle of Armageddon. These armies will think they are there to fight either Israel, each other, or both, but in reality, Satan will have them there to try to accomplish a far loftier goal.

That goal will be to prevent Jesus from establishing His reign upon the earth (Revelation 16:12-16; 19:19). As for the soldiers themselves as individuals, despite the fact that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world during the tribulation period (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:1-8; Revelation 14:6) each of them will have rejected Jesus and chosen instead to take the Antichrist’s “mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:16-18). This means that when these soldiers see Jesus interjecting Himself into the Battle of Armageddon, rather than fall down before Him and worship Him, they will wage war against Him in their attempt to stop Him from establishing His earthly reign. Their attempt will be futile, however, as Jesus will merely speak the word and slay them all (Revelation 19:21). Nevertheless, the attempt itself will serve as evidence that Jesus will be perfectly within His rights to do this killing. After all, He’s trying to do something good (reign upon the earth) and they are trying to prevent it.

But now, at last, all this brings us to the final grouping of examples from post #1, and these are the ones that can’t be so easily explained by any of the five facts from post #2. From my own personal list of examples, these would include our two miscarriages, the unexpected death of Tonya’s dad (Charles), and the medical issues that Tonya and I have been inflicted with from time to time. Likewise, from post #1’s list of examples from around the world, I would group the millions of deaths caused by the Black Plague in Europe into this same category.

While it’s true that Satan does have a limited ability to affect the medical realm (Job 2:7; Luke 13:16), I’m not prepared to lay all the blame on him for all these hard-to-understand happenings. To paraphrase pastor E.V. Hill as he was preaching the funeral of his wife, “If we give Satan the power to decide who lives and who dies all of us will be gone before nightfall.” Admittedly, that statement is probably an exaggeration, but you get the point. So, I don’t blame Satan for the two miscarriages, Charles’ death, all our ailments, or the millions of deaths from the Black Plague. Furthermore, I can’t explain away these things as God somehow dealing with “bad” either.

Consequently, I’m left with the question, “In light of God’s goodness, what do I make of these happenings?” What I make of them is that even though my finite mind can’t see God’s goodness in these things, I know enough about His nature, character, promises, mercy, grace, and LOVE to know that the goodness is in there somewhere. This is not me “spinning” God (as I talked about in post #1). Instead, it’s me giving someone I know very well the benefit of the doubt even when I don’t have a clue what He’s doing. I love Abraham’s question to God in Genesis 18:25. He asks, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” I also like Deuteronomy 32:4 where Moses says of God:

“He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (N.K.J.V.)

Coming at the issue another way, I’m not so arrogant as to think that I, someone who can’t even do higher math and has trouble working a smart phone, can figure out God’s ways. In Romans 11:33, Paul says that God’s judgments are “unsearchable” and His ways are “past finding out.” Along the same lines, in Isaiah 55:8-9, we read:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (N.K.J.V.)

These passages let me know that God isn’t sitting up in heaven quaking in His boots, saying, “Oh no, I’ve done something that Russell can’t understand. I’d better explain it to Him.” Frankly, if I could match God mentally and beat Him at chess, He wouldn’t be much of a God, would He?

And so, in the end, I’m left with two very important conclusions. Conclusion #1: I know that I can take the Bible and offer logical explanations for the majority of “bad” that goes on in this world. (That’s what I’ve done with this post.) And then Conclusion #2: I know enough about God to give His goodness the benefit of the doubt in the remaining minority percentage of occurrences that on the surface appear to be void of that goodness.

You see, folks, sometimes we just have to let God be God and trust that He will always do the truest, purest, most impacting, and long-reaching version of “good” even if His actions don’t appear that way to us. Is such a mindset particularly satisfying to our human egos? No, it isn’t. But is it a mindset that will allow us to forge ahead with God in exceedingly difficult and confusing times when we don’t know what just hit us? Yes, it is.

Somewhere in my files I have a quote from an old preacher who once said of God, “Even when I can’t track Him, I can trust Him.” I’ve got that quote on my mind as I write the close to this series because I think that simple line encapsulates the one lesson I want you to claim from everything I’ve said in these posts: Even when you can’t track God, you can trust Him. You take this simple lesson and cling tightly to it anytime something “bad” happens that you can’t explain. Just put your trust in God and know that somehow, someway, somewhere, in His timing, in His plan, and in His will, the Judge of all the earth will do right and His goodness will be displayed in the doing of it. 

Posted in Abortion, Adultery, Adversity, Belief, Capital Punishment, Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Death, Depravity, Faith, God's Chastening, God's Holiness, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Hell, Homosexuality, Justice, Prophecy, Rebellion, Salvation, Satan, Series: "Is God Good All the Time?", Sin, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Death Penalty, The Devil, Trusting In God, War | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Is God Good All the Time? (post 2 of 3)

Posted on October 7, 2016 by russellmckinney

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…” Genesis 1:31 (N.K.J.V.)

“Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father…” James 1:17 (N.K.J.V.)

In 1st Peter 3:15, the Christian is commanded to, “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” It has been my experience that we Christians are pretty good at this as long as the questions don’t get too tough or come from the wrong people. Please note, though, that the verse says we should be ready to give a defense to everyone.

This means we should have a solid, Biblical answer for any question that comes from anybody. This includes questions that take us out of our comfort zone, hard questions asked by: the atheist, the agnostic, the angry unbeliever, the cynical skeptic, the grieving mother, the bitter father, the disillusioned teenager, the scared, the disappointed, the hurt, the used, the abused, the follower of another religion, the devil worshiper, and anybody else we can think to put on the list.

In my previous post, I explained why I get it when someone asks, “Is God good all the time?” As I noted, scores of events from daily life around the globe, in addition to multiple passages from the Bible itself, are more than enough to validate the question. I also mentioned that we Christians are typically ill-equipped to answer the question. More than being ill-equipped, we can be even downright offended that somebody had the gall to ask such a thing. So, what I want to do with this post is take the Bible and lay the foundation for a reasonable answer to what I believe is a reasonable question. To do this I need to give you five basic facts. Ready? Here we go:

Fact #1: Mankind is sinful.

It is human nature to be quick to cast aspersions about God, but the truth is that the human race is a race of sinners from whom “bad” flows as naturally as breathing. When Adam sinned in Eden, he took all of his descendants down to a low level in terms of conduct, and there isn’t one corner of earthly life that mankind’s sinful conduct doesn’t mar and scar. If you want to know what humans are like apart from God’s influence, read Romans 3:10-18. These verses, which are really just a compilation of quotes lifted from the Old Testament, offer the Bible’s most vivid description of the depravity of our race. They say:

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (N.K.J.V.)

Fact #2: God is holy.

Imagine a brand-new sheet fresh out of the package. The sheet is blindingly white, spotless, and without blemish. Think of that sheet as God. Now imagine another white sheet that is ruined by large swaths of black tar and various other kinds of stains. Think of that sheet as the human race. Now, in your mind’s eye, place the two sheets alongside each other and see the contrast. This mental object lesson can help you understand the incalculable difference between sinful mankind and holy God. There are dozens of Bible verses that speak of God’s holiness, but Revelation 4:8 is a good one. In describing a heavenly worship scene, the verse says:

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (N.K.J.V.)

Fact #3: God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by humans.

If mankind is sinful and God is holy, where does the real problem lie? You guessed it. The problem lies with mankind.

A terrorist detonates a bomb that kills ten people. Did God detonate that bomb and kill those people? Nope. A drunk driver runs over a girl riding her bicycle and kills her. Did God drink that booze and kill that girl? Nope. A spouse ends a marriage by having an affair. Did God recommend that affair and cause that divorce? Nope. Two rival nations engage in a war in which thousands of soldiers and civilians are killed on both sides. Did God cause that war and all those deaths? Nope.

You see, even though God is all-powerful, He won’t overrule actions we take as free moral agents. If He was going to be in that business He would have charged in and stopped Eve from eating the forbidden fruit. When He didn’t do that He put the human race on notice that He wasn’t going to play the role of “safety switch” or “emergency shutdown” for us.

Putting it another way, God allows a myriad of “bad” things to happen that He doesn’t cause. The old line is, “God doesn’t want robots who have to serve Him.” Another one is, “God wants volunteers not draftees.” The fact that God gives individuals the choice to serve Him and thereby reap blessings or disobey Him and thereby suffer consequences (even when those consequences adversely affect other people) is wonderfully exhibited in Deuteronomy 30:19-20. There Moses lays out two options for the people of Israel concerning keeping God’s Old Testament law. He says:

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (N.K.J.V.)

Fact #4: God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by Satan.

Satan is a fallen angel, and the Bible teaches that he has incredible power and influence in our world. He can prevent God’s word from having its intended effect (Mark 4:15). He can tempt (Genesis 3:1). He can put evil plans, intentions, and desires into peoples’ hearts (John 13:2). He can disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He can lay snares (1 Timothy 3:7). He can blind peoples’ minds (2 Corinthians 4:4). He can hinder plans (1 Thessalonians 2:18). In certain instances, he can even create physical infirmities (Luke 13:16, Job 2:7) and affect the weather (Job 1:12,19).

How powerful and influential is Satan? He’s powerful enough to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9) and for Jesus and the apostle Paul to describe him as “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30) and “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan has led the other fallen angels as they’ve cut a path of destruction across planet earth from pretty much the dawn of history, and that path grows wider each day. So, if you want an explanation for why “bad” things happen don’t forget to check out Satan’s resume. As 1 Peter 5:8 warns us:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (N.K.J.V.)

Fact #5: God can’t be truly “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.”

Do you know someone who has a complex personality? I’m talking about a person who can’t be easily classified, labeled, or described because he doesn’t fit neatly into a pre-fab box. Well, the Bible teaches that God is such a being.

For example, He is loving, merciful, compassionate, patient, longsuffering, and forgiving. We like to hear about that God, don’t we? At the same time, though, He is jealous, just, vengeful, wrath-filled, and judgmental. That kind of God went out of vogue sometime back, right?

My point here is that for God to truly be both all-powerful and “good,” He must by necessity deal with “bad.” Think about it, how can a judge be called “good” if he always lets the criminals get off unscathed? You see, if “bad” is allowed to roll on unchecked “good” doesn’t stand a chance. This is why God can’t merely be a God of mush and gush who is rendered powerless when sinners run amuck and fallen angels hold sway. Instead, He has to be a God who at some point in His timing deals with “bad.” Hebrews 10:26-31 is just one passage of many that could be cited here. Those verses say:

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (N.K.J.V.)

Okay, now that we have these five facts in place, we can start to filter the “bad” things of our world through them. And that’s the ground I’ll attempt to cover with the final post from this series. Do you remember all those instances of “bad” I named in the first post? Next time I’ll take these five facts and try to fit each of those instances into them. So, until then………

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Backsliding, Choices, Demons, Depravity, Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Holiness, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Sovereignty, Justice, Problems, Rebellion, Satan, Series: "Is God Good All the Time?", Sin, Spiritual Warfare, Temptation, The Devil, War | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Is God Good All the Time? (post 1 of 3)

Posted on October 5, 2016 by russellmckinney

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good…” Psalm 34:8 (N.K.J.V.)

“You are good, and do good…” Psalm 119:68 (N.K.J.V.)

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!…” Psalm 107:1 (N.K.J.V.)

Tonya and I had been married approximately one year when she informed me that she was pregnant. To say that I, as a first-time father, was ecstatic would be an understatement. I couldn’t wait to hold our little bundle of joy in my arms. I was serving as the pastor of my first church, Mckinney Cove Baptist, at the time and life was going well. It wasn’t perfect, but it was going well. And the birth of our child was going to take everything to an even better level.

Naturally, we did what young couples do in that situation: We told everybody. As the word got around our area, people were lining up to be happy for us. Our parents, in particular, couldn’t stop beaming. It was all such wonderful stuff.

But then, approximately two months into the pregnancy, Tonya started having some physical problems. Again, we did what young couples do in that situation: We asked people to pray that God would make everything alright with the baby. And, no doubt, scores of prayers were offered up on our behalf.

Even when Tonya’s problems worsened and it became obvious that a miscarriage was likely, one well-meaning Christian lady assured me, “God isn’t going to let anything happen to your baby.” It was only a few hours later, however, that our doctor gave us the official verdict that Tonya had miscarried. That news was then followed by weeks of us having to explain to our uniformed friends and acquaintances that we had lost the baby. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Now fast-forward about a year-and-a-half to June 17th, 1997. There we are, enjoying our newborn son Ryan, who is as healthy as a baby can be, almost twelve pounds worth of health to be exact. The following Monday morning I attend the local pastor’s conference, where during the prayer-request time I thank God that both mother and child are doing fine. I end my words by saying, “God is good,” to which an elderly preacher tacks on the words, “All the time.” Then all the other preachers give either an approving nod or a little chuckle and we move on to the next item of discussion. For me, though, things aren’t quite so simple. I’m sitting there thinking, “If God is good all the time, what happened with our first child?”

Wow, here you were reading a nice safe blog post when all of a sudden things took an unsettling turn, right? I mean, for heaven’s sake, we shouldn’t question whether or not God is good all the time! No, we’re supposed to just forget the miscarried child and focus on the living one. Thinking about that lost one gets too complicated, too tricky, too messy. It hurls us out of our spiritual comfort zone and causes us to question God in ways that bother us. It’s during such times that Christians start to play the “spin” game.

You know how to play the “spin” game, don’t you? Sure you do, you’ve played it multiple times. We play this game anytime we survey what has happened in real life and then “spin” it to where God gets nothing but praise. Has there been a deadly car wreck in which two of the four passengers were killed? “Thank you, God, for protecting the two that lived.” Has a loved one died peacefully in his sleep after a long battle with cancer? “Thank you, God, that You didn’t let him suffer in the end.” Did that loved one suffer terribly in the end? “Thank you, God, that you mercifully ended his life and didn’t let him suffer any longer.” Did a machinist lose a finger in an industrial accident? “Thank you, God, that You saved the other four fingers.” You see, the “spin” game keeps God’s reputation in tact when the simplest, most obvious interpretation of events flies right in the face of that reputation.

Now, I wish I could say that losing our first baby was the only time that Tonya and I have had reason to question God’s goodness. Unfortunately, however, that would be a lie. Among other times, we had reason to question it when:

  • Tonya suffered a second miscarriage between Ryan’s birth and the birth of Royce (our second-born)
  • Tonya’s dad died unexpectedly
  • my ministry wasn’t going well
  • our finances got tight
  • either Tonya or myself was stricken with some fairly serious medical ailment
  • some type of injustice was doled out on our family.

Of course, these are just some instances from our little corner of life. If I wanted to offer a list of historical instances from around the world, that list could pretty much be endless. Among other things, it would include:

  • the millions of deaths during Europe’s Black Plague era
  • the millions of Jewish deaths during Hitler’s Holocaust
  • untold numbers of deaths via untold numbers of wars
  • the enslavement of millions of people from various races over the course of history
  • the deaths caused by the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist acts
  • every wicked politician who ever won an election
  • every guilty person who ever got away with a crime
  • every prisoner who ever went to prison because or a judge or a jury got it wrong
  • every person who was ever murdered by any means
  • every child who was ever sexually molested
  • every person who was ever raped
  • every child who was ever aborted
  • every poverty-stricken child who ever went to bed hungry
  • every faithful spouse who ever got cheated on
  • every person who ever lost their memory due to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia
  • etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.

You get the idea. Where was God’s goodness during all of these times? Furthermore, I might add that there are even several Biblical examples of God appearing to act, shall we say, not good:

  • In Genesis chapter 7, we find the inconvenient little matter of God killing off the entire population of the earth except for Noah and his family.
  • In Genesis 19:12-29, God has two of His angels kill off the inhabitants of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by raining fire and brimstone down upon those cities. That death toll included the children of those cities.
  • In Deuteronomy 20:16-18, God commands the Israelites to annihilate the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites as a part of Israel claiming the land of Canaan as its own. Likewise, in Deuteronomy 7:1 God includes the Girgashites on that list. Again, the command to wipe out those races included the children as well.
  • In God’s Old Testament law for Israel, He commands the death penalty for an amazingly lengthy list of specific sins. There are so many of these sins that it’s hard to offer an exhaustive list, but some of them are: idolatry (Deuteronomy 17:2-7), false prophecy (Deuteronomy 13:1-5), blasphemy (Leviticus 20:13-16), breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14), premeditated murder (Exodus 21:12-14), infant sacrifice (Leviticus 20:1-5), occultism (Leviticus 20:6,27), sorcery (Exodus 22:18), adultery (Leviticus 20:10), incest (Leviticus 20:11-12,14,17,19-21), male homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), bestiality (Leviticus 20:15-16), striking one’s parents (Exodus 21:15), cursing one’s parents (Leviticus 20:9), and rebelling against one’s parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
  • In Joshua 6:17, God orders the deaths of all the citizens of Jericho except for Rahab and her household.
  • In 1st Samuel 15:3, God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites and kill them all right down to every last man, woman, infant, and nursing child. He even tells Saul to kill Amalek’s oxen, sheep, camels, and donkeys.
  • In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus warns about a hellish place called Hades in the Greek. It is an afterlife abode where lost souls are tormented by not only physical flame but also mental regret.
  • In Matthew 10:28 and Mark 9:47-48, Jesus warns about another hellish place called Gehenna in the Greek. Gehenna is nothing less than a lake of fire where one day all of the lost souls that abide in Hades will be transferred (Revelation 20:11-15) to spend eternity in flame and torment.
  • In Revelation 19:11-21, Jesus returns to walk the earth again and promptly lays waste to all the armies of the world that are gathered at Megiddo for the battle of Armageddon. The birds of the air will feast upon the corpses of all those soldiers.

You see, we Christians have become so accustomed to such passages that they no longer register with us. Truth be told, we’ve built up an immunity to the God of the Bible and all His harsh, brutal, sometimes downright vicious commands and deeds. God kills millions of people in a worldwide flood, but we’ve trained ourselves to focus on the eight He spared. He sentences billions of lost unbelievers, many of whom never even got a chance to hear the name “Jesus,” to a place of fire, torment, and suffering, but all we do is sing His praises for the relative “few” (Matthew 7:13-14) who will spend eternity in perfect bliss with Him. Do you see what I’m saying?

So, Christian, I’m going to ask you to do something for me: Try to deprogram yourself and see the God of the Bible the way unbelievers see Him. If you can do that, you’ll find that the question, “How can God be described as being good all the time?” is a perfectly reasonable one to ask. It’s also one that we Christians aren’t readily prepared to answer. But that’s exactly what I’ll begin to do in my next post. Until then, I encourage you to do some thinking for yourself and see what answer you can formulate. Then check back in with me next time and we’ll compare notes. Until then………………..

Posted in Abortion, Adultery, Adversity, Aging, Bestiality, Capital Punishment, Children, Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Death, Disappointment, Elderly, God's Love, God's Judgment, Hell, Homosexuality, Motherhood, Parenting, Persecution, Personal, Problems, Racism, Rebellion, Series: "Is God Good All the Time?", Sex, Sickness, Sin, Slavery, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, War | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Okay, Maybe I Wasn’t Finished

Posted on October 3, 2016 by russellmckinney

Three-and-a-half years ago, I wrote I Think I’m Finished Now, which I genuinely believed at the time would be my last blog post ever. But here it is, October 3rd of 2016, and I can’t deny that I’m feeling the itch to start posting again. I’ve been feeling it for a few weeks now, but I’ve tried not to rush into anything. You know, I wanted to make sure that me blogging again was a “God thing” and not a “Russell thing.” Well, the fact that you are reading this shows that I believe this new season to be of the Lord. So, here we go again.

Frankly, I’ve been pretty amazed at the staying power of this blog. I assumed that once I stopped posting new material my readership numbers would eventually peter away to nothing. I even went months on end without calling up the blog to check on it, track the number of visitors and views, or gauge the readership numbers for individual posts. In my mind, writing a blog had been an interesting experience in my life and a fruitful corner of my ministry, but it was all in the past, a closed chapter of my life.

To my surprise, though, I eventually discovered that even though I was no longer paying attention to the blog, other people were. Each day a good number of people would visit the site and read things I had written. Some of that is due to the fact that a couple of my posts (Does God Want Everyone To Get Married? and How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple?) are now either at the top or very close to the top of search-engine listings. But I also like to think that there is a “meat” quality to the writing that causes people to return. After all, it’s said that the best way to build your blog’s readership numbers is to offer excellent content that makes people want to visit again. So, apparently, my blog fits that bill, and I’m grateful for that. Even more than that, though, I want to believe that this site has what you might call “the breath of God” on it. At any rate, I’ve now reached a point where I can no longer ignore something that God is clearly using in an undeniable way.

Last but not least, today is my 50th birthday. Cue the band on that because I’ve always considered 50 to be inordinately significant in a man’s life. There’s just something about that number that strikes a chord of depth with me. In my way of thinking, from here on out no one can truthfully say that I died young. I know, I know, some think of 50 as being merely the beginning of middle-age. My problem there is that I have serious doubts that I will live to see 100. In my estimation, I blew past the beginning of my true middle-age sometime back and I’m now on the shorter end of the whole lifespan thing.

So, what shape will my “wrong side of 50” years take and how will the remainder of my life and ministry play out? I honestly can’t say. All I know right now is that I’m feeling both the mood and the burden to do some more writing on the blog, and I’m going to follow that leading. It’s a journey that I don’t step into lightly and one that I hope you will join me in taking. I’ve never tried to make any money off this blog by allowing advertisements, and I won’t start now. That’s my way of conveying that I don’t do this for profit. My goal here is simply to help people better understand not only the word of God but also the God of the word. And, hopefully, as I do this, I’ll come to understand them both better myself.

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 12 Comments

I Think I’m Finished Now

Posted on March 18, 2013 by russellmckinney

Regular followers to this blog know full well that I haven’t been consistently posting for some time now. My reason is simple: I’ve come to believe that God is putting a period to this particular sentence of my life. It’s not that I’ve run out of things to say or simply gotten lazy. The issue is that, as best I can tell, God is moving me away from blog-writing and on to other avenues of ministry. I can’t even say for sure right now what those other avenues are. All I know is the inspiration, passion, and zeal for writing new material for posting has systematically left me as God has been winding down this season of my life.

My longtime readers might recall that I once took an extended break of almost a year from writing the blog. Then I came back from that hiatus and plunged myself again into posting good material on a regular basis. In my opinion, I wrote some of my best posts during that second phase of the blog. With that said, though, I seriously doubt there will be a third phase. As the title of this post indicates, I think I’m finished now.

I do, however, want to be clear about the fact that the blog will remain alive and well here on the internet. All told I’ve written over 450 posts, and each of them will remain right here to be read at anyone’s leisure. Along those lines, if you like my writing and consider it a blessing in your life, let me encourage you to use either the “Archives” section or the “Categories” section to read the posts you’ve never read. Posts I wrote some time ago will seem thoroughly fresh and new to you if you’ve never read them.

By the way, if you ever go to a post and find an empty space at the top of it, just know that a picture was once there. If you know your way around a computer, you might be able to reload the picture. I myself am not 100% sure why some pictures remain and others disappear after a while. Then again, I’m not exactly a computer guru. Of course, the pictures are only for the “newer” posts anyway. I posted material for years without incorporating pictures into the headings. So, if the post is old enough, you won’t have to worry about what happened to the accompanying picture.

One other thing, I’m going to keep the comments option active at least for the foreseeable future. So, if you want to leave a comment under some post, feel free. For the most part, the comments have been positive and encouraging. Every now and then, though, I’ve found myself in a running debate with someone. On some rare instances, I’ve even chosen to delete comments or not approve them in the first place. I’ll just see how things trend going forward. If there ever comes a time when allowing comments becomes more trouble than its worth, I’ll shut down that option. Again, though, your comments are welcome for now.

Well, I guess that’s about it. Let me close by offering a profound and sincere, “THANK YOU!” to anyone who has ever read or will ever read anything that I’ve written. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you giving me a hearing. I’m especially grateful to those of you who took the extra step of becoming subscribers to this blog. You’ll never know how much encouragement I drew from your confidence. And let me reiterate that if you will click on either the “Archives” section or the “Category” section you will surely find various posts that you either missed over the years or would do well to read again. Trust me, there’s some good stuff to be found if you’re willing to dig just a little. Is that no more than me trying to keep my readership numbers up? No. I just know how much heart, soul, and prayer I poured into the things I wrote, and God can definitely use such “bread” in your life if you will allow Him to feed you.

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

The One Advantage of Getting Saved Later in Life

Posted on February 26, 2013 by russellmckinney

In my opinion, it’s difficult for a child who places his or her faith in Christ to properly understand God’s grace. Mind you that I’m not saying a child can’t experience salvation and thus access that grace. I myself was saved by grace through faith when I was a young boy. Certainly, kids can believe in the existence of God. Certainly, they can be taught what sin is and how it separates us from God. Certainly, they can agree with the fact that Jesus is God and can accept Him as Savior. Certainly, they can understand a good bit about heaven and hell. And, certainly, they can become born-again Christians. But what I’m saying is, the typical child can’t properly appreciate God’s saving grace because, let’s face it, that child hasn’t exactly lived a hardcore life of sin prior to salvation.

When kids get saved from sin, what sins do they have in mind? Lying to mommy? Stealing the change off daddy’s dresser? Thinking bad thoughts toward a brother? Pulling a sister’s hair? Getting into trouble at school? No doubt these are legitimate sins that require the forgiveness offered in Christ, but when you talk with the average child about becoming a new creation in Christ, can that child truly grasp the major difference between his or her old life and the new one?

On the other hand, let me offer the hypothetical case of a 50-year-old drug addict who gets saved. This guy has been through two marriages. He’s cheated on both wives. His kids won’t talk to him anymore. He can’t hold down a job. He’s lost everything. He’s ruined his physical health as well as his mental health. He lives on the streets. He steals to get the money for his next high. He cusses. He’s crude. He doesn’t own a Bible. He doesn’t pray. And he’s never once darkened the doors of a church. Then a street-ministry worker shows him kindness, presents the gospel to him, and the guy places his belief in Christ. You see, that man can truly understand what he got saved from!

As we study the New Testament’s salvation experiences, it isn’t hard to see that virtually all of them are the stories of adults. Yes, Acts 16:15 mentions Lydia’s “household” getting baptized, a household that possibly included some small children. Similarly, the Philippian jailor’s household all get baptized later in the same chapter (Acts 16:33-34). But such stories are the exceptions to the rule. Far and away, the New Testament’s salvation accounts are the stories of adults, not children. Take the apostle Paul for example. Before he came to faith in Christ, he was a devout Pharisee and a persecutor/executer of Christians. It’s no wonder that someone like that could write so passionately about salvation by grace. Not only did he know full well that his “works” merited eternal damnation, he also knew what a 180-degree change Jesus had brought to his life.

Typically, however, who gets saved in our churches today? Statistics show that most of our baptisms are kids. Getting even more specific, usually these are kids who got saved during Sunday School, Bible school, or summer camp. So, am I complaining about this? No, I thank God for every child who gets saved anytime, anywhere. As I said earlier, I was one of those kids. My point is simply that a child who gets saved is incapable of understanding saving grace the way a Saul of Tarsus can understand it.

It wasn’t a 4th grader who wrote Amazing Grace. It was John Newton, an infidel hardcase who worked on a slave-trading ship before he alienated his fellow crewmen to the point where they gave him over to become the property of a slave trader in West Africa. You see, it takes a man like that to truly understand what a lost, spiritually blind “wretch” he once was. I’ve baptized a lot of kids in my time, but I doubt that even one of them thought of himself or herself as being a “wretch” without Jesus.

Please understand that I’m not advocating that we make children wait until they are older to accept Jesus as Savior. And I definitely don’t want to see them fall headlong into lives of sin and immorality just so God will be able to showcase even more grace in saving them. It’s just that a kid can’t appreciate saving grace as much as a man or a woman who has some mileage, much of it over unholy roads, on them can. To be sure, there aren’t many advantages to getting saved later in life as opposed to earlier, but this one advantage is indeed a very real one.

Posted in Children, Evangelism, Grace, Salvation, Sin, Sunday School, Witnessing, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment