Reunions

Posted on January 3, 2024 by russellmckinney

When I was elected President of my high school’s senior class in 1984, I thought it was an honor. What I didn’t realize was the title carried with it the lifetime task of organizing a class reunion every ten years or so. Now that I know that, I secretly suspect that all those people who voted for me in 1984 understood about such reunions and voted me in as punishment for the wrongs I had perpetrated against them. But then again, surely, I wasn’t that bad!

As part of working on our reunions over the years, I’ve noticed something interesting. Some of my classmates who didn’t excel at all in high school have gone on to live accomplished, productive lives. They have solid marriages, great kids, good-paying jobs, and beautiful homes. In short, it’s obvious that these people didn’t just get older. They got better as well.    

Spiritually speaking, I wish this same thing could be said of every Christian. The ranks of Christianity are filled with far too many people who believed in Christ as Savior when they were young, went all out for Him for a while, but then crashed and burned somewhere along the way. They used to faithfully attend church, but now they stay home. They used to study the Bible, but now they spend their free time staring at a computer screen, a smart phone, or a television. They used to pray fervent prayers, but now their prayers are paltry and scarce. They used to witness, but now they rarely speak of Jesus. They’re not becoming better Christians, just older ones.

I wonder, Christian, what reunion are you up to with Christ? Has it been five years since your salvation experience? Has it been seven, ten, sixteen, twenty, or twenty-five? Has it been more? Well, whatever reunion you are on, does it find you better than your last reunion? Are you growing? Are you learning? Are you maturing? Are you a deeper Christian this year than you were last year? If not, you need to take a hard look in the mirror and figure out what happened. Don’t be like the old artist who stood staring at a painting he had done when he was young. A friend said to him, “With all the experience you’ve gained over the years, I suppose that you now feel a degree of shame over this early piece.” The artist replied, “Yes, I do feel shame, but it is the shame of having never fulfilled the promise I showed with that piece.”

Christian, I don’t know what promise you once showed in your walk with Christ, and I don’t know where you are in that walk right now. What I do know is that reunions keep rolling around and each one brings with it a fresh chance to show improvement. If you didn’t impress at your spiritual two-year reunion, you can start doing the things necessary to dazzle at your three-year one. If you’ve already bombed out on your thirteenth, you can change your ways and set your sights on your fourteenth. You get the idea. If you are alive and kicking, you have the opportunity to better your walk with Christ. So, get to work at becoming more like Him. Remember that discipleship is a marathon rather than a sprint, and there is still time for you to join the race.

Posted in Aging, Backsliding, Bible Study, Change, Church Attendance, Commitment, Discipleship, God's Work, New Year, Obedience, Personal, Personal Holiness, Prayer, Repentance, Salvation, Sanctification, Service, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Are You Getting Better?

Posted on January 1, 2024 by russellmckinney

When my youngest son, Royce, played 5th/6th grade football, his team’s line coach was a guy named Stacy Peterson. Even though I’d gone to high school with Stacy and had loosely known him for years, we’d always run in different circles and had never done any one-on-on talking. So, I was glad to get to know him better over the course of that season. Trust me, the guy knew a thing or two about being a lineman. That didn’t surprise me, of course. After all, he did play college ball.

As I think back to that season, the thing that stood out to me the most about Stacy was a certain coaching philosophy he employed. It went as follows: If you aren’t getting better by doing a drill, shut it down and do another drill that allows you to get better. For example, let’s say that our linemen were sleepwalking their way through a drill involving the blocking sleds. After a rebuke or two, Stacy would finally say something like, “Okay, we’re not getting better here. Let’s set up some cones and work on our footwork.” If all else failed and he was out of options for alternative drills, he’d say, “Well, if we can’t get better by doing drills, we can at least get in better shape by running. Start running and I’ll tell you when to stop.”

The point is that Stacy was all about making practice time efficient and productive. His time was too valuable for anything less. If a ten-minute span went by in which our players weren’t a little better at football than they had been ten minutes earlier, he saw that as ten minutes wasted.

I’ve been a pastor for many years now and can speak with some expertise when I say that a lot of Christians sleepwalk their way through serving Christ and, consequently, never get much better at it. They aren’t any more involved with church than they were five years ago. They don’t know much more Bible than they did ten years ago. They spend the same amount of time in prayer, if not less, as they did two years ago. They aren’t giving an increased amount of money to church or parachurch ministries. They witness to the same number of people they always have: none. You get the idea. These Christians are doing their “drilling” for Jesus, but somehow all of it isn’t making them better at serving Him.

So tell me, Christian, where are you right now in your service to Christ? Are you on fire for Him? Is your service to Him growing? Are you excited about what He is doing through you to affect the lives of others? Or is your service stagnated and stationary? Have you plateaued? Even worse, are you backslidden?

If you have to admit that you aren’t currently getting better at serving Christ, let me encourage you to apply Stacy’s coaching philosophy to your life. Step out in faith and try something new for Jesus. Volunteer to teach a Sunday School class. Take up the challenge of reading the Bible through in a year. Get a notebook and start a prayer journal in which you write down not only your daily prayer requests but also how you see God answering them. Muster up the courage to witness to a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, or a family member. Increase your giving to your local church or make a one-time gift to a Christian organization that can surely use it. Even if you can’t give financially, give of your time or your other resources. Find a way. Make it happen. Whatever you do, don’t keep halfheartedly doing your same old “drills” over and over again, expecting different results.

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, the apostle Paul encourages Christians to always be “abounding in the work of the Lord.” That word “abounding” stands out to me in that verse. There is such a vibrancy to that word, such a vitality. It calls to my mind Olympic athletes bounding down a track-and-field event, muscles rippling and functioning in perfect harmony to power the athletes along.

But how does an athlete reach such an impressive state of performance? I’ll tell you: With each training drill and exercise, he gets better. Every day, every week, every month, every year, he just keeps getting better until he finally reaches that idealized state the world sees on television. You see, Christian, Stacy’s philosophy will work in terms of spiritual drills just as well as it worked in terms of football ones. We simply have to make the commitment to keep constantly getting better. And what I’m asking today is, How are you doing on that?

Posted in Backsliding, Bible Study, Change, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Word, God's Work, Ministry, Missions, Money, New Year, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Sanctification, Service, Sports, The Bible, Witnessing, Youth | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Christian & His New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on December 29, 2023 by russellmckinney

A boy was running along a beach gathering up the best seashells he could find. As he bent down to pick up a certain shell, he caught sight of the biggest, most beautiful shell he had ever seen. It was just ahead of him as he made his way up the shoreline. The boy thought to himself, “I won’t go and get that one right now. I’ll just keep making my way to it, picking up shells as I go.”

So, he continued along with his collecting, making steady progress toward that big, beautiful shell. But what happened just as he got to the shell? A huge wave came crashing into the shore and took the shell back out to sea.

Each New Year’s Day most of us make certain resolutions. Truth be told, though, those resolutions typically don’t get kept. And when the next New Year’s Day comes crashing upon the shores of our lives and recedes back out into time, it takes with it all of those big, beautiful resolutions that were still lying there.

That brings us to the link between New Year’s Day and Christianity. For the Christian, New Year’s resolutions often take on a spiritual connotation. For example, the Christian might commit to read the Bible more, pray more, give more, or attend church more. While such resolutions are fine in and of themselves, there is one thing that every Christian needs to understand: If a resolution becomes a “vow” to God, that puts it into a much more serious category. Consider the words of Ecclesiastes 5:4-5:

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed – better not to vow than to vow and not pay. (N.K.J.V.)

Christian, keep this passage in mind this New Year if you plan to make any spiritual resolutions that might be considered vows to God. I’m not telling you not to make such resolutions, but I am pointing out that God’s word does have something to say on this subject. Because of that, if you are going to go down that road, be sure that you are honestly prepared to travel it to its end.

Posted in Bible Study, Church Attendance, Commitment, Faithfulness, New Year, Personal Holiness, Prayer | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Hacked Computers, Armageddon, & Horses

Posted on December 27, 2023 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

What Should a Christian Do About Christmas Trees & Santa Claus?

Posted on December 22, 2023 by russellmckinney

“The Origins of the Christmas Holiday” series (post #4)

This will be the last post in our series on the origins of our Christmastime traditions. With this one, however, I don’t want to deal with the origins of any more traditions. Instead, I want to focus upon rightly applying what we’ve learned.

There are some who staunchly believe that Christians should have nothing to do with the Christmas holiday. They say, “The holiday has its roots in paganism, and Christians should avoid it altogether.” This was the mindset of the early Puritans, Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Calvinists who played such major roles in the settling of America.

If you ever meet someone who does oppose the holiday, that person will probably refer you to Jeremiah 10:2-5, which says:

Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good. (N.K.J.V.)

Some people read that passage and say, “You see? Right there the Bible tells us that we shouldn’t have Christmas trees.” But are these people right? That’s what we need to figure out.

Several years ago, I came face to face with this issue in my life. I had learned the information that I’ve passed along in this series, and I had to discern how to apply it to my family life. Since the whole subject was pretty overwhelming to me, all I knew to do was pray about it. I poured out my heart to God and said, “Lord, You show me what You want me to do about the Christmas holiday, and I’ll do it.”

I prayed that and I meant it! I was open to never again having a Christmas tree. I was open to never again having Santa Claus mentioned around my house. I was open to ending the practice of buying presents and getting presents.

You say, “Oh, Russell, that kind of thinking is just going to a wrong extreme.” Well, maybe it is, but tell me, have you ever seriously prayed about the issue of the pagan taint that Christmas has upon it? I dare say that most people go their entire lives and never commit the matter to prayer. Say what you will, but I did that.

And what answer did God bring me back to time and time again? Well, if you go into my house at Christmastime, you will find a Christmas tree sitting in my living room. It is beautifully decorated and, depending on what day you go, it might even have a few presents under it. You’ll also find Christmas cards and stockings prominently displayed. You get the idea. God gave me a peace about our Christmas traditions, and He taught me that it all comes under the heading of Christian liberty.

Not surprisingly, I’ve since learned that I’m not the only Christian whom God has led to this conclusion. Years ago, in Jerry Falwell’s publication The National Liberty Journal, he had a word to say about Christians and Christmas. It was so in line with how God had answered my prayers that I cut it out and kept it. Falwell wrote:

I usually get some critical mail from friends who object to trees, Santa Claus, gifts, and the entire celebration. They remind me that we do not know the exact date of the birth of Christ; that the Christmas tree and Santa have pagan origins; that commercialism dominates the scene; and that Christians should ignore the whole season. Of course, I respectfully disagree. I have never met a person who was damaged emotionally for life because of believing in Santa as a child, or believing in the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, or Mother Goose rhymes. Rather, I have met many who were sadly robbed of their childhood by strict legalistic parents who thought they were doing God a service by denying their children all harmless fun and innocent fantasy.

(By the way, Jerry Falwell was hardly classified as a liberal!)

Let me give you another quote that I like. This one comes from James Dobson’s Focus On The Family magazine. In answering a question about Santa, Dobson wrote:

…if I had to do it over, I would still let my children thrill to the excitement of Santa’s arrival down the chimney on Christmas Eve.

So, does Christmas really have its roots in paganism? Yes. There’s no denying that. In this series, I didn’t even take the time to explain the pagan origins of mistletoe, the Yule log, decking the halls with boughs of holly, the Christmas goose, and many, many other Christmas traditions. I assure you that these customs didn’t come from the Bible. But does that mean that God would have us boycott Christmas? No, it doesn’t.

Let me tell you something: Unless you move to a cave on top of a mountain, you can’t really boycott it anyway. A man says, “My family isn’t going to celebrate Christmas in any way.” Then he sends his five-year-old off to kindergarten and the boy comes home and says, “We are having a Christmas party at school on Friday and I’m supposed to bring the cupcakes.” A woman says, “I’m not even going to acknowledge that there is a Christmas. I just won’t let it into my house.” Then she goes to her mailbox and finds that her neighbor has sent her a Christmas card. Do you see what I mean?

Someone says, “But what about that passage from Jeremiah chapter 10?” I’ll tell you about it: It has absolutely nothing to do with a Christmas tree! What the passage condemns is cutting down a tree and fashioning a wooden idol out of it. If you don’t believe me, sit down and read it for yourself. The key to rightly understanding the passage is to read the entire chapter. Don’t just stop at verse 5. When you take the chapter as a whole (especially verses 11 and 14), you will see that the reference is to the making of a wooden idol. It doesn’t have one thing to do with Christmas trees or Christmas.

Listen, Jesus knows that He wasn’t born on December 25th, and He knows about Saturnalia and all the other winter-solstice festivals that other cultures once celebrated. But He also knows what it is to live in a fallen world. And, knowing that, what He asks from us each Christmas (as well as every other time of the year) is that we live all out for Him.

Parent, I firmly believe that Jesus wants you to let your kids have their fun at Christmas, but He also wants you to teach them the difference between myth and reality. What He especially wants is for you to teach them how to live for Him out there in the real world, a real world that makes a big deal out of Christmas. That’s why I would encourage you to pour out your heart to the Lord about all the issues of Christmas and let Him show you the guidelines and boundaries. He did that for me, and He will do it for you if you are sincere in wanting to know His will. To you, Christmas can simply be a wonderful time of family, tradition, and, of course, the heartfelt celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Posted in Christian Liberty, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Series: "The Origins of the Christmas Holiday" | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Christmas Trees, Santa, Bing Crosby, & Charlie Brown

Posted on December 20, 2023 by russellmckinney

“The Origins of the Christmas Holiday” series (post #3)

We’re in a series on the origins of our Christmastime traditions. With the first post, I covered the subjects of the winter solstice and Saturnalia. With the second, I explained the effect the Roman emperor Constantine had upon the winter solstice and Saturnalia celebrations. With this third post, I’ll cover the origins of three major traditions.

Tradition #1 is the name “Christmas” itself. The word comes from the Roman Catholic term “Christ’s Mass.” When you know this, it will come as no surprise that each Christmas Eve the Roman Catholics observe Mass, which is their version of the Lord’s Supper.

Tradition #2 is the Christmas tree. Long before the time of Christ, ancient Egyptians brought green palm branches into their homes on the shortest day of the year, the day of the winter solstice. To them, those green palm branches symbolized life. Centuries later the Romans decorated their homes with evergreen wreaths during the days of Saturnalia. The idea of a Christmas tree came out of these historical observances of the Egyptians and the Romans.

The first recorded reference to an actual Christmas tree comes from the 16th century. At that time the families in Strasbourg, Germany are known to have decorated fir trees with colored paper, fruits, and sweets. In 1520, Martin Luther, who was German, saw the beauty of the stars twinkling through the evergreen trees outside his home and attempted to copy this beauty by placing lit candles on his Christmas tree. His neighbors soon followed suit.

The custom of the Christmas tree eventually spread throughout Europe. Records tell us that Prince Albert of Germany married Queen Victoria of England and set up a beautifully decorated tree in England’s Windsor Castle. The tree was decorated with candies, sugared fruits, and tiny wrapped gifts.

As for the United States, the custom was brought here by German soldiers and Hessian mercenaries who were paid to fight in the Revolutionary War. In 1804, U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn, in what is now Chicago, hauled trees from the surrounding forests to their barracks at Christmastime. Once the custom had begun in America, it quickly spread.

In 1851, a man named Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds loaded with trees from the Catskills to the streets of New York and opened the nation’s first retail lot. In 1882, Edward Johnson, a partner of Thomas Edison, invented electric Christmas tree lights and hung the first string on his tree. This was safer than Martin Luther’s old idea about placing lit candles on Christmas trees. Franklin Pierce, America’s fourteenth president, was the first president to place a Christmas tree in the White House. Later on, in 1923, Calvin Coolidge began the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, which is held every year on the White House lawn.

Tradition #3 is Santa Claus. In approximately 280 A.D., a man named Nicholas was born in Turkey. He was raised in a wealthy family and received a fine education. As a young man, he became a priest and was well known for his kindness and generosity. When his parents died, he even distributed his inheritance and property to the needy. Ultimately, Nicholas became the Bishop of Myra. To this day a feast is held on December 6th, the date of his death.

It is from the life and deeds of Saint Nicholas that the basics of the legend arose. The most famous story is about him making three secret visits to the home of a poor father of three daughters. On each of the first two visits, Nicholas threw a bag of gold through the window of the home. On the third visit, he threw the bag of gold down the chimney. As the story goes, the bag landed in a stocking that had been hung by the chimney to dry. The father used those three bags of gold as dowries to get his daughters married into good families. Because of this, over the course of time, people began to thank Saint Nicholas anytime they received an unexpected gift.

According to legend, Saint Nicholas’ cape was bright red and trimmed with white fur. This was the origin of what Santa wears. The name “Santa Claus” comes from “Sinter Klaas,” the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas. The Dutch were the ones who brought the story of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) to America.

Once in America, the legend began to take on new details. In 1809, Washington Irving wrote a story about children leaving stockings out for Saint Nicholas to fill. A few years later, in 1821, Irving wrote a book entitled “The Children’s Friend,” in which he said that Santa traveled by a sleigh that was pulled by reindeer. That was different from earlier versions of Santa’s story, which said that he traveled by wagon with the assistance of a magic white horse.

One year later, in 1822, a New Yorker named Clement C. Moore wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” It began, “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…” That story inspired an artist named Thomas Nast to draw a cartoon of Santa for the popular magazine Harper’s Weekly. That cartoon depicted St. Nicholas as a jolly, fat man.

Actually, Santa is just one of the many areas in which America has added its own touches to Christmastime. In 1942, in the movie “Holiday Inn,” Bing Crosby first sang the song “White Christmas.” In 1946, Jimmy Stewart starred as George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” In 1947, Twentieth Century Fox released “Miracle On 34th Street.” In 1964, Elvis Pressley recorded the song “Blue Christmas.” Also in 1964, television gave us the cartoon classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” In 1965, it gave us “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” In 1966, it was “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” In 1968, it was “The Little Drummer Boy.” In 1969, it was Frosty the Snowman. All of these elements and a vast assortment of others that we all know so well have now become a part of the far-out, odd, colossal mix that we call the Christmas holiday.

Posted in Catholicism, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Series: "The Origins of the Christmas Holiday" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Constantine & Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2023 by russellmckinney

“The Origins of the Christmas Holiday” series (post #2)

The previous post served as the beginning of my series on the origins of the traditions of our Christmas holiday. That post explained the winter solstice and the Roman holiday known as Saturnalia. Now, with this second post in the series, I need to say some things about a Roman emperor named Constantine.

Constantine became one of the emperors of the Roman empire in the year 306 A.D. Six years later, in 312 A.D., he found himself at a pivotal point in his war against his brother-in-law and co-emperor, Maxentius. According to the historian Eusebius, Constantine prayed to God and asked for divine assistance on the day before a crucial battle at Milvian Bridge.

As the story goes, Constantine then saw in the noonday sky a vision of a cross of light. The cross was superimposed upon the sun and written on the cross were the words in Latin “in this sign you will conquer.” That night Constantine had a dream that reaffirmed his vision. Supposedly, in the dream, God told him to use the sign of the cross in all of his battles. Consequently, Constantine added the sign of the cross to his flags the next day, and his army went on to win the battle at Milvian Bridge.

A short time after that, in 313 A.D., emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan. That Edict made Christianity legal throughout Constantine’s empire. This meant that Christianity went from being a despised and persecuted religion (which is where the New Testament record leaves it) to being an accepted and even highly favored part of Roman religion.

Additionally, over the next several years of his reign, Constantine took Christianity even further. Basically, with the help of the bishops of the church in Rome, he made Christianity nothing less than the state religion of the Roman empire. As evidence of this, he lavished gifts upon Christian leaders. He made Sunday a holiday so that people, especially his soldiers, could attend church. He made Christian clergy exempt from government duty. He gave churches tax-exempt status. He even personally funded the construction of several lavish church buildings. In Constantine’s view, his Rome and the Christian church should be as close as possible.

All of this, of course, ultimately helped to bring about the financial, political, and religious empire that we know today as the Roman Catholic Church. Therein lies the great debate about Constantine. Was he, as some contend, a true Christian who was used by God to greatly serve the cause of Christianity? Or was he, as others contend, a lost man who was deceived by Satan and greatly used by Satan to corrupt Christianity? The answer you get depends upon who you ask.

One of the most serious problems that people have with Constantine’s supposed salvation is in the area of how he handled Rome’s pagan festivals. Rather than outlaw those festivals, he, with the help of the bishops of the church in Rome, “Christianized” them. A prime example of this is what happened with Saturnalia and the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. Rather than forbid the observance of those days of pagan celebration, Constantine and the bishops simply changed the meaning of the days. The festival of Saturnalia, which ran from December 17th through December 24th, changed from being about the birth of the sun to being about the birth of the Son. Likewise, December 25th changed from being the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun to being the birthday of the Son of God.

Please don’t think that December 25th is our best guess for the actual date of Christ’s birth. The Bible doesn’t tell us the exact date of His birth, but we can say with virtual certainty that it wasn’t December 25th. We can say that because the Bible does tell us that those shepherds and their sheep were out in the fields that night. The month of December in Israel is usually cold and rainy. During that month shepherds normally keep their sheep penned up in sheepfolds. Also, Luke chapter two says that Joseph and Mary made their trip to Bethlehem to register for the purpose of paying taxes to the Roman government. Such registrations weren’t usually decreed during the cold winter months because travel was just too difficult. Nevertheless, despite these Biblical roadblocks, Constantine and the bishops of Rome went ahead and made December 25th the official date that was given to Christ’s birth.

So, what am I saying? I’m saying that the very idea of a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus was really just a way to claim Saturnalia and December 25th for Christianity. I’m saying that the idea of the world annually celebrating December 25th as the date of Christ’s birth came from the mind of Constantine and the bishops of Rome. I’m saying that it was Constantine and those bishops who linked the celebration of Christ’s birth up with days off from work, parties, evergreen wreaths, and the exchanging of gifts. And that’s where I’ll leave the story until my next post.

Posted in Catholicism, Christ's Birth, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Church, Series: "The Origins of the Christmas Holiday" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Winter Solstice & Saturnalia

Posted on December 16, 2023 by russellmckinney

“The Origins of the Christmas Holiday” series (post #1)

Let’s face it, Christmas is a weird holiday. What does the baby Jesus have in common with a fat man in a red suit who rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer? What does a virgin named Mary have in common with a green Grinch who lives in a cave? Why do we cut down trees, bring them into our homes, and cover them with lights and ornaments? Why do we buy presents, wrap them in beautiful paper, and give them to people? How did shepherds get linked up with a snowman named Frosty? How did a little boy with a drum end up at the manger scene? This is odd stuff.

The truth is, it takes many circumstances, cultures, and centuries to create this strange hodgepodge that we call Christmas. So, I’m going to devote my next few posts to explaining the origins of the traditions of the holiday. For this first post, I want to talk about the worship of the sun. I need to begin here because this is where our Christmas holiday really gets its start.

Historically speaking, one of the classic trademarks of mankind has been the worship of the sun. Reaching far back into man’s history, many civilizations have studied the sun and devised times of celebration based upon the sun’s alignments with the earth. To those ancient peoples, one of the most important times of the year was the winter solstice. You ask, “What is the winter solstice?” Follow with me and I’ll give you the answer.

It takes the earth 365 days to make one full orbit around the sun. This is where we get the concept of a year. But as the earth continually goes about its orbiting of the sun, the orbiting alters where the sun appears on the earth’s equator. The earth’s equator is that imaginary line that divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere.

The day of the summer solstice is the day of the year when the sun appears farthest north from the earth’s equator. On that day, the time from what we call sunrise to what we call sunset is longer than it is on any other day of the year. That’s why we call that day the longest day of the year. The summer solstice is usually June 21.

After that day, though, the earth’s orbit causes the sun to increasingly appear farther and farther south from the equator. The day of the winter solstice, then, is that day of the year when the sun appears farthest south from the equator. On that day, the time from what we call sunrise to what we call sunset is shorter than it is on any other day of the year. That’s why we call that day the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice is December 21st or 22nd.

Ancient civilizations ingeniously figured out how to calculate when the winter solstice would take place, and they took that time of the year very seriously. To them, the sun decreasing in visibility as the days of the year moved forward spoke of the dying of the sun. They believed that at the time of the winter solstice the sun actually needed to be reborn so that it could live another year. That’s why, in their religious superstition, they organized annual festivals that were held during the days just before and after the day of the winter solstice. These festivals were celebrations dedicated to the sun god, whatever name that god went by in any given civilization.

The specifics of these festivals differed depending upon the civilization. Some civilizations threw parties during the days close to the winter solstice. Some lit candles. Some decorated their towns with bright, pretty decorations. But the basic motivation for the festivals was always the superstitious idea that the sun had grown weak to the point of death and needed to be reborn.

Well, the Roman empire eventually became the world’s dominant empire, and Rome’s version of these winter solstice celebrations was called Saturnalia. It lasted from December 17th through December 24th. December 25th, then, was celebrated with a feast to commemorate the birth (rebirth) of the sun.

That feast day was known as the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. During the days of the Saturnalia festival and the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun everyone in the Roman empire was excused from work. Mardi-Gras like celebrations took place in the streets. Bonfires were lit. Evergreen wreaths were brought into homes. Gifts were even exchanged. Authority figures received gifts such as urns, jewelry, coins, or gold, while common people received gifts such as wax candles and little clay dolls. In other words, in the Roman empire, December 17th through December 25th looked a lot like our modern-day Christmastime.

Posted in Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Series: "The Origins of the Christmas Holiday" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How We Know the Bible Is God’s Written Word

Posted on December 13, 2023 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 calls 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 , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lost Church Members

Posted on December 11, 2023 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 , , , , | 1 Comment