What Do Sequoia Trees Have to Do with Christians?

Posted on October 23, 2012 by russellmckinney

Many times, I have ended a conversation with some fellow Christian by saying, “I’ll pray for you, and you pray for me.” As you might guess, these words have come at the end of talks in which we’ve shared our problems with one another. And I’ve prayed for these folks, just as I’m sure they’ve prayed for me.

This reminds me of an illustration involving the massive Sequoia trees of California’s Sequoia National Park. Even though these trees can reach heights of almost 300 feet, they don’t have tap roots and their root systems are unusually shallow. Rather than penetrating deep down into the ground, their roots spiderweb out in all directions in an effort to capture the greatest amount of surface moisture.

So, why don’t these exceedingly tall trees get blown down by high winds? It’s because the trees typically grow in clusters that allow their roots to intertwine. In other words, the trees support one another.

As we study the New Testament, it isn’t hard to understand that God wants Christians to support one another as well. One of the most straightforward thoughts on the whole subject can be found in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, where Paul says to the Christians of Thessalonica:

…comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. (N.K.J.V.)

Today, Christian, if you find yourself troubled or hurting over a situation, don’t hesitate to talk things over with a trusted Christian friend. Allow that fellow Christian to minister to you by listening, encouraging, and even offering counsel. Likewise, if a fellow Christian wants to talk to you about something that is going on in his or her life, give that conversation your full attention and make a concerted effort to minister to that Christian. Who knows what a profound effect these conversations might have? After all, even the mighty Sequoia trees thrive from a support system that depends on other trees.

Posted in Christian Unity, Communication, Friendship, Influence, Ministry, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Seeking Advice, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Have You Been a Good Samaritan Lately?

Posted on October 19, 2012 by russellmckinney

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side….” (Luke 10:30-32, N.K.J.V.)

One night, famed evangelist D.L. Moody was traveling by train to his next meeting. He was accompanied by his friend D. B. Towner. At one of the way stations, a young man who had just been in a drunken brawl boarded the train. His clothes were disheveled, his face was bruised and bloodied, and he was still drunk and in a mood for fighting. Unfortunately, he recognized Moody and began to taunt him by mockingly singing some of the classic hymns in a loud and contentious way.

Moody was in no mood to hear it, and he asked the train workers to deal with the man. One of them did so by quieting the drunk, escorting him to another place, and kindly washing his face and treating his bruises. Moody didn’t see any of this, but when he heard about it later the news washed a wave of conviction over him. He said, “Just think, only last night I was preaching about the Good Samaritan, and yet this morning I find my feet in the shoes of both the priest and the Levite! This trainman’s action has served as a rebuke to me from the Lord!”

As best I can tell, our society is more cutthroat and uncaring than it has ever been. Common decency is on the wane and courtesy has become an endangered species. It’s gotten to a point where a genuine act of kindness is somewhat shocking. When you find yourself the recipient of one, you have to pause for a moment and think as to how to respond because you are so unaccustomed to anyone treating you that way. That’s a sad commentary.

As usual, though, Jesus calls the Christian to a far higher standard. Certainly, we are to be filled with integrity, honesty, and morality, but all that only makes for a straight-walking legalist if it isn’t mixed with kindness, compassion, and concern for others. Jesus simply doesn’t allow us the option of being self-centered and self-serving. Furthermore, He doesn’t want us living in aloof isolation from a fallen, depraved world where “road agent” thieves do their damage and obnoxious drunks walk out of bars and onto trains. No, we’re supposed to be right out there in the middle of the whole mess ministering to others the way Jesus would if He was on the scene.

Each Christian has God the Holy Spirit living inside him/her. And what does Galatians 5:22-23 tell us about the fruit of the Spirit? Those verses say:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (N.K.J.V. emphasis mine)

Christian, be sure to notice those words I’ve emphasized in black. They are the traits D.L. Moody didn’t exhibit toward that loudmouthed drunk who was annoying him. But we can’t honestly be too hard on Moody, can we? I mean, we’ve all been guilty at times of failing to play the good Samaritan to someone who needed our help. So, today, let’s make a point of doing a better job at this. Let’s be on the alert for people to whom we can be loving, longsuffering, kind, good, and gentle. Chances are, living in our society, we won’t have to look very hard.

Posted in Character, Depravity, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, Extending Forgiveness, God's Work, Ministry, Missions, Service, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Important Context

Posted on October 16, 2012 by russellmckinney

We Christians are very familiar with Philippians 4:13, where the apostle Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” But how many of us correctly understand the context for this classic verse? Trust me, the context has nothing to do with achieving any type of worldly success for Jesus.

Truth be told, Paul was in prison when he wrote the book of Philippians, even though there is some debate as to the exact location of his imprisonment. Most scholars believe he wrote Philippians during his imprisonment in Rome, but others contend he wrote it during an imprisonment in Caesarea. A few others even go with the idea of an Ephesus imprisonment. For the purposes of this post, though, let’s not get lost in the weeds of that debate. The fact we want to fixate upon is that it was a prisoner who confidently affirmed that he could do all things through Christ!

Through Christ, Paul could even have escaped his imprisonment if that had been God’s will. Acts 5:17-25 tells us that an angel had once opened a set of prison doors in Jerusalem to allow the apostles to go free, and Acts 12:5-19 describes another occasion wherein an angel had led Peter out of another Jerusalem cell. These two passages prove that Paul could have experienced the same kind of escape if God had wanted it to happen. But can’t we say that it actually took more strength for Paul to remain in prison than it would have taken for him to get busted out by an angel? That’s a whole different level of strength on display right there.

I don’t know what your current circumstance is, but I know enough about life to feel safe in assuming that somebody out there right now is sitting in some kind of “prison” (a metaphorical one if not a literal one). And if that’s you, I just want to encourage you that you really can do all things through Christ. That includes enduring life inside your “prison.”

So, I ask you, “Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior?” If you do then the strength you need to endure whatever life throws at you will come via God the Holy Spirit, who dwells inside each Christian. You see, it is the indwelling Holy Spirit who makes Philippians 4:13 applicable for any situation the Christian will ever face. That includes situations we would call “mountaintops” as well as situations we would call “valleys,” and it includes sites we would call “penthouses” as well as sites we would call “prisons.”

Posted in Addiction, Adversity, Alcohol, Attitude, Comfort, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Divorce, Drugs, Encouragement, Fear, Gambling, Inner Peace, Joy, Needs, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Salvation, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Temptation, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Greatest Commandment

Posted on October 11, 2012 by russellmckinney

A group of men went deer hunting. After setting up camp, they separated into pairs to do their hunting. Bob and Joe paired up to hunt together, and Joe killed a huge 10-point buck. Bob then volunteered to help him drag it back to camp.

Halfway back to camp, though, Bob became lightheaded and passed out from exhaustion. At that point, Joe had a decision to make. Should he leave Bob behind and get the deer into camp or leave the deer behind and get Bob into camp? After mulling over the two options, he decided to leave Bob behind and get the deer into camp.

When Joe arrived at camp the other hunters were all very impressed with his deer. Eventually, however, one of them asked, “Where’s Bob?” Joe answered, “Well, I had a tough decision to make, and in the end, I decided that no one would come along and steal Bob.”

Priorities. We can certainly get them out of whack, can’t we? But what is the greatest priority? Here’s what Jesus had to say about that:

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38, N.K.J.V.)

Now, I realize that Jesus also said the second great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. (By the way, Joe failed that one completely concerning Bob.) For the purposes of this post, though, let’s just stick with the first commandment. Notice how all-encompassing it is. You are to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind!

This means that your love for God should permeate every facet of your being. It should course its way through your heart, soul, and mind. It should influence all your desires, actions, and thoughts. It should reach way down to the deepest “you” and affect everything that flows up from there.

This commandment can rightly be called the greatest commandment because if you truly keep it, keeping all the other commandments naturally follows. You make the one big decision to keep this commandment and that takes care of thousands of other decisions concerning all the other commandments. As a result, any Christian who truly keeps this first commandment will inevitably have his/her priorities in correct alignment.

Take the necessary time, Christian, to reflect upon how you are doing at keeping the greatest commandment. Ask yourself, “What are my priorities these days? Is everything I’m doing molded, shaped, flavored, and seasoned by my deep love for God?” And if you don’t like your answer, then make the necessary changes today. Nothing in your life is more important than you loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Again, if you will keep that commandment, everything else about your life will just naturally come into line.

Posted in Choices, Commitment, Discipleship, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, Humor, Idolatry, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Sanctification, Service, The Heart, Worship | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Always Victorious?

Posted on October 9, 2012 by russellmckinney

By this I know that You are well pleased with me, because my enemy does not triumph over me. (Psalm 41:11, N.K.J.V.)

David wrote Psalm 41, and it’s simply impossible to understand our text verse correctly unless we view it through the lens of him being a military man. He was a soldier, a general, a commander, a king who led his troops into battle. Not only did he kill the Philistine giant Goliath in a one-on-one showdown, he eventually led Israel in putting down the entire nation of Philistia once and for all.

Being a military man, David equated having God’s pleasure (God’s favor, God’s approval, God’s smile) upon his life with him being successful in combat against an enemy. That’s the thought he is conveying in Psalm 41:11. He says, “God, there’s one sure way I can know You are pleased with how I’m living: When I come up against an enemy, I win.” 

If David had ever fought and lost, he wouldn’t have thought, “That enemy was just too tough to handle.” He wouldn’t have said, “I needed a better plan of attack.” Instead, he would have concluded, “Something is not right between me and God. He’s not pleased with me. Somehow I’ve gotten out from under the fountain of His favor. I must have angered Him or disappointed Him.”

This, of course, was Old Testament thinking at its purest. The Old Testament Jews assumed that if God was pleased with a man’s life there would be a wife, children, flocks, herds, health, wealth, and plenty of food and drink to show it. They held to the notion that God blessed those who served Him well and cursed those who didn’t. We see this in the book of Job after God had allowed Satan to take Job’s children, wealth, and health from him. The bulk of the book centers around Job’s three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) urging him to confess his sin to God and repent of it, while Job in turn defends his innocence. We even see this same notion carried over into the New Testament age when the disciples come upon a man who was born blind and ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-3)

A more thorough study of the New Testament, however, shows us that those with whom God is pleased oftentimes do get triumphed over, at least in an earthly sense. Consider this list of examples:

John the Baptist was beheaded by the Roman ruler Herod Antipas (Matthew 14:1-12).

Peter and John were unjustly arrested for preaching Jesus and healing in His name (Acts 4:1-22).

All of the apostles were thrown into prison and beaten (Acts 5:17-41).

Stephen was stoned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin council (Acts 7:54-60).

James was killed via the sword by the Roman ruler Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1-2).

Peter was arrested and imprisoned by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1-4).

Paul was stoned and left for dead at Lystra (Acts 14:8-20).

Paul and Silas were imprisoned and severely whipped in Philippi (Acts 16:16-34).

Paul was beaten by the Jews and led away in chains by Roman soldiers at the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 21:26-36).

John was banished to the penal colony on the barren island of Patmos by the Roman emperor Domitian (Revelation 1:9).

Jesus Himself was falsely arrested, illegally tried, and brutally crucified.

Frankly, all of these travesties of justice, many of them fatal, would have confused David because he was a man who counted on God to lead him to unquestioned victory in battle. His philosophy was, “While others trust in horses and chariots, we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). Does this mean, then, that God was displeased with all the New Testament Christians who were persecuted and oftentimes martyred for their walk with the Lord? Hardly. It simply means that what applied to David in the Old Testament era didn’t apply to them in the New Testament era. While it’s true that God never changes in regards to His nature and character (Malachi 3:6), He has certainly been known to change His ways of dealing with people during various parts of history. The theological word for that is “dispensationalism.”

Perhaps, Christian, you’d rather live under David’s Old Testament setup than the New Testament one. You’d rather slay Goliath and lead your army to victory than be falsely arrested, imprisoned, stoned, whipped, or slain. Well, I don’t know what to tell you about that except that us having a fuller revelation of Christ and understanding of God can’t be a bad thing. It also can’t be bad that we now enjoy the following list of realized events: Christ’s life, Christ’s crucifixion, Christ’s resurrection, Christ’s ascension, the Holy Spirit literally dwelling inside each believer, a completed Bible, and some 2,000 years of church history. Truth be told, David would no doubt envy us in more ways than we envy him.

So, my goal for this post is to remind us all that Christ’s people oftentimes do take it on the chin in this New Testament age. I realize this isn’t a comforting thought, but it’s a true one nonetheless. We live in a world where injustices are commonplace and the wicked win tons of earthly victories. At the risk of sounding too dramatic, I might even classify us Christians as an oppressed people. Each day of our lives we are oppressed by Satan, his demons, and men and women who do his bidding (even if they don’t realize they are doing it). The fact is, we have much more in common with Stephen, James, Paul, and John than we do David.

Therefore, Christian, let me say that while I don’t believe there is anything wrong with you asking God to grant you victory over your enemies, you shouldn’t be surprised when you come out on the losing end of things. You might wonder, “But why would God refuse such a request?” My answer is, “Don’t confuse a No with a Wait.” You see, God has already declared that every Christian will overcome this world (1 John 5:4-5). That’s a done deal. It’s just that all the accounts won’t be fully settled and finalized until the afterlife. That leaves a lot of living to be done in this life, doesn’t it? And, unfortunately, that living includes us sometimes losing the “battles” we fight.

Posted in Adversity, Commitment, Criticism, Disappointment, Eternity, Faithfulness, God's Work, Human Life, Persecution, Perseverance, Prayer Requests, Problems, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Trials | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Turning the Other Cheek

Posted on October 2, 2012 by russellmckinney

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:38-39, N.K.J.V.)

One Friday night several years ago, Tonya and I attended our local high school’s football game. Our son, Ryan, was playing on the varsity squad. Obviously, that wasn’t the only one of his games we ever attended, but that night I saw something I’d never seen. I saw the visiting varsity players using the public restroom during halftime.

It all started when the scoreboard buzzer sounded to end the game’s first half. At that point, the visiting team didn’t run toward our visitors’ locker room the way visiting teams normally did. Instead, their players stayed on the field and headed down to the corner of one of the end zones. I thought that was odd, but I figured their coaches were just going to give them a brief pep talk and then lead them through an extended time of halftime stretching or going over some play formations. Since the team was in the lead and had played a pretty good first half, I thought maybe their coaches didn’t require the confines of the walls of a locker room to chew the players out over poor play.

So, I put the matter out of mind and headed for the public restrooms. Like a lot of men, I usually take a bathroom break during halftime. When I opened the door to the Men’s room, however, I saw that there was a long line of guys waiting. That wasn’t necessarily so strange, but the odd thing was that it was some of the players from the visiting team who were making the line so lengthy. There they were, still wearing their full uniforms, standing in line amongst the ranks of enemy fans. I asked myself, “What in the world is going on here? Is there a problem with our visitors’ locker room? Are the toilets not working in there? Has a pipe burst and flooded the place?” This inquiring mind wanted to know.

I got my answer after the game. According to Ryan, our j.v. team had traveled to that visiting school to play the j.v. game the night before and hadn’t been granted access to that school’s visitors’ locker room. As a result, our j.v. players had been forced to get dressed in that school’s gym, a fact that hadn’t gone over well with our varsity coaches. Consequently, they had decided to get even the following night when that school’s varsity team made the trip to our school. In order to get their revenge, our varsity coaches had refused to allow those visiting players to use our visitors’ locker room. That, in turn, had forced those players to not only have to use our gym for dressing before and after the game but also use our public restroom.

Now, I don’t even pretend to know why our j.v. team hadn’t been allowed access to the other team’s visitors’ locker room the previous night. Perhaps it had been an oversight or perhaps it had been intentional. But what I do know is that no matter how wrongly our j.v. team had been treated, the Christian way was not to go “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” the following night. That’s the point I made with Ryan during our conversation after the varsity game.

I’d like to say that my beloved eldest son had recognized that the way our coaches had handled the situation had been wrong, but that would be a lie. When he had seen the visiting team’s bus struggling to work its way through all the traffic after the game and get backed up to our gym, he’d thought it was funny. As a matter of fact, he was still laughing about it as he explained the whole story to me after the game. I guess he’d figured that all was fair in love and football.

That’s why I had to raise my voice a touch that night and explain to him how authentic Christianity gets fleshed out in such real-world situations. Apparently, the 75 sermons he’d heard from me over the years hadn’t done the trick. I said, “Son, no matter how badly someone treats you, if you are a true Christian, you can’t get down there in the mud with them and start slinging. Jesus expects us to take the higher road and be the bigger person.” I recall letting the lecture go at that, but hindsight being 20/20 I should have also explained that Jesus expects us to love our enemies and pray for those who do us wrong (Matthew 5:43-44). Ryan had heard a few sermons on those topics too, but they’d probably registered with him about as well as those on turning the other cheek had.

Of course, the problem that night was the fact that not everybody involved in the situation was a Christian. After all, it’s futile to expect lost people to live out the values and principles of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. That’s like asking zebras to change their stripes. Am I saying that all of the football coaches of the staffs of both of the schools were lost? No, my guess is that some of them were born-again Christians. What I’m saying is that a very, very bad example was set that Friday night for a lot of highly impressionable young men.

I was old fashioned enough then (and still am) to believe that any coach should be a good role model to his or her players. You can agree or disagree with me on that, but if you are a Christian you’ll have to agree with me that Jesus taught that His people should turn the other cheek rather than get even. And that definitely wasn’t a word that was exclusively for the ancient world of the Roman empire, was it? Nope. It was one that applies to today’s high school football games as well, not to mention any and all other situations.

Posted in Attitude, Character, Choices, Discipleship, Doing Good, Extending Forgiveness, Influence, Persecution, Personal, Revenge, Sports, The Sermon On The Mount | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

How We Know the Bible Is God’s Written Word

Posted on September 27, 2012 by russellmckinney

Imagine the following conversation between the two of us:

  • Me: “I have a book, and this book should be the rulebook and the guidebook for everyone on planet Earth.”
  • You: “What makes the book so special?”
  • Me: “The book is so special because on page 1048 it says, ‘All of the words of this book are inspired by God.’”
  • You: “But if I reject the entire book as being God inspired, won’t page 1048 be a part of what I’m rejecting?”
  • Me: “You can’t reject the book as being God inspired.”
  • You: “Why not?”
  • Me: “Because on page 1048 the book says, ‘All of the words of this book are inspired by God.’”
  • You: “But don’t you understand? I’m not even giving the words of page 1048 credit for being inspired by God.”
  • Me: “You have to.”
  • You: “Why?”
  • Me: “Because on page 1048 the book says, ‘All of the words of this book are inspired by God.’”

The problem with my defense of the book’s authority is obvious, isn’t it? No book should be considered God inspired and authoritative simply because it claims to be God inspired and authoritative. This standard even applies to the Bible.

Yes, in 2 Timothy 3:16 the Bible does say of itself:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. (N.K.J.V.)

The skeptic, however, would call that no more than the Bible bragging on itself. That’s why no verse from the Bible, not even 2 Timothy 3:16, can conclusively be used to say that the Bible is inspired by God. After all, if someone rejects the Bible as a whole, even 2 Timothy 3:16 won’t impress them. Therefore, we must use evidence from outside the Bible to back up the Bible’s claim of divine inspiration. And the truth is, there are four pieces of such outside evidence.

The first piece of outside evidence is archaeological finds. In scores and scores of digs, archaeologists have unearthed evidence that verifies the Bible’s record of human history. In many instances, these finds even went against the commonly held beliefs of the day. In showdown after showdown, involving site after site, the Bible and archaeology have gone head to head, and the Bible is still standing.

The second piece of outside evidence is fulfilled prophecy. It’s one thing for a book to make predictions about the future. It’s quite another thing for all of those predictions to come to pass. Saying it simply, the Bible currently holds a perfect record in the fulfillment of its prophecies. As a matter of fact, the prophecies from the book of Daniel concerning the kingdoms of Babylon and Medo-Persia were fulfilled in such incredible detail that skeptics have argued that Daniel must have been written after all that history occurred. Daniel’s prophecies, however, are just some of the hundreds of Bible prophecies that history has authenticated. Admittedly, there are many Bible prophecies that haven’t yet been fulfilled. But those prophecies all center around the so-called “end times,” which means that the times of their fulfillment haven’t come around yet. Based upon the Bible’s track record, though, the fulfillment of those prophecies will surely take place right on schedule.

The third piece of outside evidence is internal consistency. Frankly, logic would tell us that there should be errors and contradictions in the Bible. How can a book written over a period of 1,500 years by some forty different writers, many of whom did not have access to the others’ writings, be internally consistent? To further complicate the project, the writers also came from vastly different parts of life. Some were scholars, but some were fishermen. Some were kings, but some were peasants. Furthermore, the Bible’s books weren’t even written in the same language. 99.9% of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (with the remaining .1% being written in Aramaic), while 100% of the New Testament was written in Greek. Then, as if all of this didn’t hinder the project enough, the books of the Bible were written on three different continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe). Obviously, all of these problems are killers of internal consistency. Nevertheless, there is an incredible agreement in regards to the words of the men who wrote the Bible. The question is: How did those men pull that off if they didn’t do their writing under the inspiration of God?

The fourth piece of outside evidence is changed lives. The plain fact is that no other book ever written has impacted lives as powerfully as the Bible. People with Bibles in hand have crossed oceans to share the book with strangers. People have abandoned civilizations to live among backward tribes just so they could learn those tribes’ languages and translate the Bible into those languages. People have chosen to be executed rather than say that the common people didn’t need the Bible. People have gone to hotel rooms to commit suicide, only to read a Bible they found in a nightstand and leave that room with a whole new outlook on life. Truth be told, even some skeptics would probably admit that the Bible is somehow different than all other books.

Alright, now, once you have these four pieces of outside evidence to authenticate the Bible, you can go to the Bible and let the book speak for itself. In doing that you’ll find that the Bible really does claim to be nothing less than the written word of God. It claims that God used human writers as vessels to write His own words. This claim is made in two distinct ways.

First, in many places the Bible says that it was written by men whose spoken words were the very words of God. Here are seven examples of this truth (all from the N.K.J.V.):

In Exodus 4:12, Moses says that God said to him, “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

In 2 Samuel 23:2, David says, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.”

In Isaiah 51:16, Isaiah says that God said to him, “I have put my words in your mouth.”

In Jeremiah 1:9, Jeremiah says that God said to him, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.”

In Ezekiel 3:4, Ezekiel says that God said to him, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:13, Paul says, “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches.”

In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter says, “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Second, the claim is made in the hundreds of instances where the Bible says that the writer is simply penning down the words of God. One example of this is Exodus 24:4, which says:

And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. (N.K.J.V.)

Another example is Jeremiah 30:2, which says:

“Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.’” (N.K.J.V.)

Bible scholar James Brookes tells us that expressions such as “God said…,” “The Lord spoke, saying…,” “The Word of the Lord…,” and “The Lord commanded…” occur 680 times in Genesis through Exodus, 418 times in Joshua through Esther, and 1307 times in Isaiah through Malachi. This doesn’t even take into account Job through Song of Solomon or the entire New Testament.

Then, of course, there is also the aforementioned famous verse from 2 Timothy 3:16, which again says:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God… (N.K.J.V.)

The words “All scripture” cover every single word of the Bible. You see, the Bible doesn’t just contain God inspired words in a few places here and there. No, the truth goes deeper than that. All of the Bible’s words are God inspired. Scholars call this “plenary” (full, complete) inspiration.

So, to sum up, how do we know the Bible is God’s written word? We know it because of evidence from outside the Bible and from inside the Bible. The outside evidence allows us to trust what the Bible says about itself, and that trust leads us to the Bible’s own inner evidence.

Then, once we understand all of this evidence, we can realize that the Bible is the one book by which we should guide our lives. This is why we preach and teach the Bible. This is why we make so much of the Bible. This is why we continually open up the Bible to find God’s standards, commandments, and truths for living. You ask, “Why is the Bible so important?” It’s because when everything is said and done, it really is God’s written word to mankind.

Posted in Bible Study, God's Word, Scripture, The Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hacked Computers, Armageddon, & Horses

Posted on September 25, 2012 by russellmckinney

Every so often we hear about some lethal computer virus that has been created, a virus that has the potential to render any computer that it gets into useless. Such reports always make me ask, “Who are these teams of evil geeks who create these doomsday viruses? Haven’t they got anything better to do? Are they trying to take us all back to the stone age? Is it anarchy they want? Is it chaos? Is it the thrill of having the power to mess with peoples’ lives?” Seriously, their motivation escapes me.

I’m just spitballing a little today, but I have to admit that hacked computers take my mind to the book of The Revelation. As best we can understand right now, the “mark of the beast” the Antichrist will use to control all buying and selling worldwide in the coming tribulation period (Revelation 13:16-18) will involve some type of computer technology. Currently, our best guess is that it will be some version of the bar-code scanning technology used in the checkout lines of stores today.

The chronological order of The Revelation indicates that this “mark of the beast” will be implemented at the midway point of the seven-year tribulation period. Along these same lines, a few chapters earlier in chapter 9, we find what seems to be even more description of modern technology being used in the first half of the tribulation period. In that chapter, the apostle John talks about an army of 200 million “horsemen” who will reek havoc upon the world in those days (9:16). Many commentators take this army to be the allied army of “the kings from the east” who are mentioned in Revelation 16:12. If this interpretation is correct we’re talking about an alliance between the leaders of China, Japan, India, etc. Such an alliance could easily put together an army of 200 million soldiers.

Getting back to the point, though, when John describes the “horses” the members of this army ride, he makes it clear that they aren’t regular horses. Their heads are “like the heads of lions” (9:17), and out of their “mouths” come fire, smoke, and brimstone (9:17). Even their “tails” have “heads” that do harm (9:19). Let’s just admit that our generation finds it hard to read such a description and not think of modern tanks. You see, the wonders of our modern technology (at least in regards to warfare) certainly seem to be on display during the first half of the seven-year tribulation period.

Ah, but could it be that something strange happens during the period’s last three-and-a-half years? As evidence of that, I’ll point out that John again uses the word “horses” — it’s the same Greek word, hippos, he uses in chapter 16 — in relation to the battle of Armageddon that brings an end to the seven years. That battle, of course, is won by Jesus as He returns to walk the earth again, slays all the soldiers gathered together for the battle, and then reigns for 1,000 years upon the earth. Interestingly, however, when John talks about horses at the battle of Armageddon, he clearly has literal ones in mind. I say that because in Revelation 19:17-18 he describes how thousands, perhaps millions, of scavenging birds will feast upon the corpses and carcasses of all the dead soldiers and all the dead horses in the aftermath of the battle.

Do you understand what I’m getting at? A vulture can’t feast on a tank! Therefore, John must be talking about literal horses being used during the battle of Armageddon. And my simple question is, In a world where the weapons of modern warfare have become so technological (tanks, airplanes, helicopters, jeeps, Hummers, ATVs, etc.), why would men be riding out on thousands of horses to do battle? Could it be that somehow, during the last half of the tribulation period, all the technology crashes? Could it be that everything computerized becomes inoperable?

Think about it, would it really be that hard to bring it all down? To find your answer, go ask someone who’s had their email account hacked, their bank account gutted, their home computer hit with a virus, or their whole identity stolen online. Then do your homework regarding electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weaponry. Finally, finish off your search by reading up on solar flares, which are massive bursts of electromagnetic radiation that come from the sun. (And as your learn about solar flares, keep in mind that Revelation 16:8-9 describes a great intensifying of the sun’s heat being a part of the judgments that will take place just before the end of the tribulation period.)

Like I said, I’m spitballing today, but I just can’t read the apostle John’s description of the battle of Armageddon and not wonder why all those horses will be in use at such a futuristic battle. As I pointed out, John certainly knew how to write about horses that aren’t literal (9:17-19), but that’s not how he described the horses that will be employed in the battle of Armageddon. And so we are left to wonder. Hackers? EMPs? Solar flares? Something else? I don’t pretend to know that answer, but I’ve at least got enough sense to ask the question.

Posted in Christ's Second Coming, Current Events, Personal, Prophecy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lost Church Members

Posted on September 20, 2012 by russellmckinney

Dr. Harry Ironside was one of the most respected and beloved preachers that Christianity ever produced. Even though he was best known for his tenure as the pastor of Chicago’s Moody Church from 1930 until 1948, his preaching ministry was truly a worldwide one that crossed over denominational lines. He died in 1951, but his influence is still being felt through his many commentaries and books. I have several of those on the shelves of my own study.

It goes without saying that Dr. Ironside knew a thing or two about churches. That’s why we should pay attention to a particular quote from him. He said:

The curse of Christianity today is that vast numbers of members of Christian churches have never been saved. Their hearts are in the world, and they love the things of the world. This mixed multitude has always hurt the testimony of the church.

Now, was Dr. Ironside correct in his contention that vast numbers of church members aren’t even genuine Christians? Surely he was. How do we know this? We know it because the problem of lost people corrupting the purity of Christian congregations goes all the way back to the days of the early church. It’s not that Christian churches have ever knowingly made it a practice to accept lost people into their ranks. Nevertheless, the problem has traditionally stemmed from the fact that churches typically accept at face value anyone who says, “I’m a Christian.”

The little one-chapter book of Jude provides us with the Bible’s best description of this problem of lost people infiltrating the ranks of churches. Specifically, Jude wrote to warn his fellow Christians about false teachers who were being welcomed to teach in some of the Christian congregations of that day. Concerning those false teachers, Jude called them men who had “crept in unnoticed” and didn’t hesitate to say that they weren’t true Christians. He then went on to describe them in the following ways (all references from the N.K.J.V.):

1. “spots in your love feasts (fellowship meals)” (v.12)

2. “serving only themselves” (v.12)

3. “clouds without water, carried about by the winds” (v.12)

4. “late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up the roots” (v.12)

5. “raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame” (v.13)

6. “wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (v.13)

7. “ungodly” (v.15)

8. “grumblers” (v.16)

9. “complainers” (v.16)

10. “walking according to their own lusts” (v.16)

11. “they mouth great swelling words” (v.16)

12. “flattering people to great advantage” (v.16)

13. “mockers” (v.18)

14. “who…walk according to their own ungodly lusts” (v.18)

15. “sensual persons” (v.19)

16. “who cause divisions” (v.19)

17. “not having the Spirit” (v.19)

In regards to that last description – “not having the Spirit” – I’ll remind you that Romans 8:9 flatly says that anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit is not a true believer in Christ. You see, it’s the state of not being indwelt by God the Holy Spirit that creates the rest of the laundry list of problems. And I think we can all agree that people such as Jude describes would certainly reek havoc within churches. Someone says, “But Jude is talking about lost teachers (preachers), not lost lay people.” That’s true, but that in no way means there aren’t any lost lay people. He surely could have written on that subject just as easily if God had so inspired him.

So, my point is that we shouldn’t be shocked that our churches have the problems they have. Authentic Christians behaving in carnal ways cause plenty enough wildfire within the ranks, but throw the gasoline of a high percentage of lost people behaving normally onto those ranks and watch how much worse the fire gets! I don’t present this imagery as a doom-and-gloom kind of thing but simply as an assessment of the status quo. Just as lost people (preachers or otherwise) had crept into the churches of Jude’s day, they’ve crept into our churches as well. The evidence for it consists of: divided congregations, contentious business meetings, church votes that turn out nowhere near unanimous, church splits, and church scandals.

Therefore, Christian, if you ever find yourself in the midst of such a mess, just remember that even the early Christians had to deal with it. Also remember that God knows all about it and will set everything right when when He has His final say. This is what Jesus taught in His parable of the wheat and the tares when He said of the wheat and tares:

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”…..Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matthew 13:30, 40-43 N.K.J.V.)

Someone might ask, “But what about church discipline?” While the Bible certainly does promote the practice of “churching” unrepentant church members who have committed obvious, outward sins (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13), even church discipline isn’t enough to combat the overall negative effects of a church having unregenerated (Titus 1:5) people on its membership roll. For one thing, church discipline is to be primarily used only for sins that are especially egregious. For another, even coming up with a definitive list of which sins come under that category can be difficult. The point is, a lost person masquerading as a born-again Christian can do a lot of damage in a church before his or her actions ever rise to the level of requiring church discipline.

Since I’ve built this post around the book of Jude, let me now close with something else that Jude says about lost people. The language of this final quote is similar to the language of eternal judgment that Jesus employed in that reference I mentioned earlier about the tares and the wheat. Jude’s quote can be used in two equally valid ways. First, it can serve as an encouragement to authentic Christians to let them know that God isn’t going to let the ungodly deeds of lost people go unpunished forever. Second, it can serve as a stark warning to all lost people. Jude says:

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. (Jude 1:14-15, N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Christ's Return, Church, Church Attendance, Church Discipline, Coming Judgment, God's Work, Ministry, Worship | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Simple Test for Standards

Posted on September 17, 2012 by russellmckinney

You’ve probably noticed that Christians have wildly different standards when it comes to matters of personal holiness. Sometimes these differences stem from nothing more than the generation gap. Other times they are created by the varying diversities of local cultures. And then there are those differences that arise from honest disagreements in regards to how certain Bible passages should be interpreted and applied.

It’s not my purpose here to identify every last difference in Christian standards of holiness and give you my take on it. I could write on that subject for the rest of my life and still not reach the bottom of that well. Instead, what I want to do is offer a simple test that any Christian can use when he or she is trying to come down on the right side of God-approved personal holiness. The test is one question and goes like this:

“If I was picking up Jesus in my car and taking Him with me, would I feel comfortable wearing what I’m wearing, looking like I’m looking, listening to what I’m listening to, talking like I’m talking, and taking Him to where I’m going?”

Now, I realize that this question isn’t 100% foolproof. The problem is that it is dependent upon each individual’s conscience and, unfortunately, a person’s conscience can be misinformed. (You should think of your conscience as being like a computer in that it only works as well as the information that is fed into it.)

For example, if you’ve been wrongly told that you are supposed to keep off a patch of grass, your conscience will cause you to feel bad if you step on that grass, even though the yard’s owner doesn’t actually care that you’ve stepped on his grass. Or, let’s say that you’ve been raised by parents who taught you that having the internet is a sin. Well, if that’s the case, then I guess your conscience is eating you alive right now as you sit there reading this blog post. Do you see my point about the problem with your conscience?

This problem really kicks in with some Christians in regards to a wrong interpretation, understanding, or application of a certain Bible passage. If these Christians fail to live up to that wrong interpretation, understanding, or application, their consciences will rack them with guilt which they will take to be conviction from the indwelling Holy Spirit. So, admittedly, how effectively our test question works for you depends upon how accurate the information is from which your conscience operates.

Nevertheless, with this understood, the question is still a good one. Let me explain why. In Romans 14:14, we learn that anything that you consider unclean for yourself is, in actuality, unclean for you even if it might not be unclean for someone else. Likewise, in Romans 14:23, we learn that if you can’t do something in complete faith that it isn’t sin, then it becomes sin to you even if isn’t sin for someone else. You see, these two verses apply even if your conscience is working from faulty information. They teach that God doesn’t want you to ever sense even a tinge of guilt or conviction, arising from whatever source, and then plow on ahead and do what you don’t feel right about doing.

So, in closing, let me encourage you to use our simple test question whenever you find yourself conflicted about some issue of personal holiness. And please, if you just can’t make yourself feel right about something, don’t ignore what’s going on inside you. Not only is it important for you to keep your conscience uploaded with accurate information, it’s equally as important that you pay attention to that conscience in matters of decision-making.

Posted in Choices, Christian Liberty, Conscience, Decisions, Discernment, Doubt, Dress and Appearance, Entertainment, Faith, God's Guidance, God's Will, Guilt, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Sin, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment