What Satan Did to Job: Devastation

Posted on August 25, 2025 by russellmckinney

“The Wiles of the Devil” series (post #4)

The method Satan used to get Job was sadistically lethal. It decimated Job’s wealth, family, health, relationship with his wife, relationship with his friends, and reputation in the community. It took Job from being “the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3, N.K.J.V.) to being a sad, pitiable shell of a man.

Unbeknownst to Job he becomes the test subject of a contest between God and Satan. When God holds Job up to Satan as the earth’s best example of a servant of God (Job 1:6-8), Satan’s comeback is, “Who wouldn’t serve you with a life like he has? You’ve given him a large family. You’ve blessed everything He’s ever done in regards to work and business. You’ve increased his wealth and given Him great possessions. And you’ve kept it all safe by putting a spiritual hedge of protection around it all. Sure, it’s easy to serve You when life is perfect. But if You take all of that away from Job, he’ll stop serving You and curse You to Your face” (Job 1:9-11). In reply, God says, “Okay, as of right now everything he has is in your power. Do with him as you will, only don’t harm him bodily” (Job 1:12).

So, over the course of a single day, Satan lays waste to Job’s wealth and family. First, he inspires the Sabeans to raid the site where Job’s hundreds of oxen and donkeys are located, steal the animals, and kill the servants who are tending them (Job 1:13-15). Second, he causes fire to fall from the sky and burn up not only Job’s thousands of sheep but also the servants who are tending them (Job 1:16). Third, he inspires three bands of Chaldeans to raid the site where Job’s thousands of camels are located, steal the animals, and kill the servants who are tending them (Job 1:17). Fourth, he creates a great windstorm that strikes the house where Job’s seven sons and three daughters are enjoying a feast, causing the house to fall in on itself, and in so doing kill all of Job’s children (Job 1:13, 18-19).

Incredibly, however, all of that disaster doesn’t create the response in Job that Satan had predicted. Rather than curse God, Job simply performs the customary ritual acts of mourning (tearing his garment and shaving his head), falls to the ground, and worships God by saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20-22). Wow! Just wow!

But Satan isn’t ready to admit defeat, and so he returns to God with a new proposal. This time he says, “The reason Job stayed with You is because You didn’t let me do him bodily harm. If You strike him physically, he will surely curse You to Your face” (Job 2:1-5). God says, “Alright, I give you permission to strike him physically, only don’t go so far as to kill him” (Job 2:6).

Very shortly afterward Satan afflicts Job with painful boils that run from the top of Job’s head to the bottoms of his feet (Job 2:7). There is no natural cure for Job’s condition because the disease is supernatural in nature. Job himself describes its symptoms as: his flesh is caked with worms and dust (7:5), his skin cracks and breaks open (7:5), his body rots (13:28), his bones are pierced (30:17), his pain is a gnawing pain (30:17), his skin turns black and falls off (30:30), his bones burn with fever (30:30), and his flesh wastes away to the point where his bones protrude (33:21).

Being in such a condition Job has to move out of his home and take up residence at the local ash heap. Typically, that’s where the lepers live. So, there he sits, day after day, scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery to try and get a moment’s worth of relief (Job 2:8).

That’s where he is when his wife makes her way out to him and says, “Are you still trying to maintain some integrity? What you need to do is just curse God and die” (Job 2:9). And how does Job respond to that? He answers, “You talk like one of the foolish women. Are we going to be the type of people who accept good from God but can’t take adversity from Him?” (Job 2:10). Again, wow! Just wow!

It is sometime after Job’s visit from his wife that three of his friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar) come to sit with him to join him in his mourning (Job 2:11-12). Give them credit for coming. And they sit with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights without saying a word to him (Job 2:13). Finally, at the end of those seven days Job breaks the silence.

Thus begins a running dialogue between the three that encompasses no less than 35 chapters. Over the course of those chapters each of the three friends takes his turn at trying to convince Job that Job must have committed some great sin or sins in the eyes of God for God to have done him this way, and each time Job responds with lengthy answers that defend his innocence. At one point in the dialoguing a fourth man, a younger fellow named Elihu, interjects himself into the debating (Job 32:1-5), but he doesn’t have any more success at getting Job to confess than Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar have had.

It is only after all of the dialoguing is completed that we get the book’s version of a happy ending. That ending begins with God speaking to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1). Curiously, though, God doesn’t even mention Satan or the contest. Instead, He uses multiple illustrations from creation to prove that Job isn’t great enough or wise enough to question Him or accuse Him (Job 38:2-41:34). I don’t mind admitting that I’ve always found God’s explanation to Job to be fairly cold, but God would probably give me the same answer He gave Job if I questioned Him about it.

Once He is finished speaking to Job, God then turns His attention to Job’s three friends and informs them that He hasn’t been pleased with their words of accusation toward Job (Job 42:7). To make restitution they must bring seven bulls and seven rams to Job, allow him to offer the animals as sacrifices, and have Job pray for the men. If they don’t do all that, God will deal with them according to their folly (Job 42:8).

Next, God does what a literal rendering of the book’s original Hebrew describes as “turning the captivity of Job” (Job 42:10, K.J.V.). Evidently, this “turning” of Job’s Satan-induced “captivity” included both the restoring of Job’s health and wealth. In regards to Job’s wealth, God gave Job twice as much as he had owned before Satan began his attacks (also, Job 42:10, 12).

As for Job’s health, even though Job 42:10 doesn’t specifically mention his health being restored, the healing is certainly implied in Job 42:11 in the fact that Job’s brothers, sisters, and all his acquaintances come to visit him, console him, and comfort him. Apparently, his disease had caused them to avoid coming to see him before he was healed. In addition to those acquaintances coming to see him, each one gifts him with a piece of silver and a ring of gold. Perhaps these gifts played a part in God restoring Job’s prosperity double-fold (Job 42:12).

Oh, and God also blesses Job with seven more sons and three more daughters (Job 42:13-15). Commentator John Phillips says that God didn’t give Job twice the previous number of sons and daughters because Job hadn’t truly lost those first seven sons and three daughters. It’s just that those children were now all in a blissful afterlife. That’s a nice way of looking at it.

Well, what a story, right? What a fascinating, amazing, profound story! It’s no wonder that it’s one of the world’s most famous. And while there are numerous spiritual lessons to be gleaned from the story, let me use just one of them as the closing to this post. That lesson is: Satan is a thief, a murderer, and a destroyer (John 10:10), and he will bring destruction into your life if he gets half a chance. Sometimes he does his damage personally. Other times he sends some of his fellow fallen angels (demons) to do it. Other times he accomplishes his purposes by working through people. But however he gets the damage done he will devastate your life if he can. Therefore, your best defense against him is to live a godly life and make a habit of asking God to prevent him from doing all that he wants to do to you.

Posted in Adversity, Demons, Faithfulness, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, Persecution, Prayer Requests, Problems, Satan, Series: "The Wiles of the Devil", Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Satan Did to Eve: Deception

Posted on August 22, 2025 by russellmckinney

“The Wiles of the Devil” series (post #3)

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14, N.K.J.V.)

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3, N.I.V.)

Deception. It is one of Satan’s most effective wiles. As a matter of fact, he’s so good at it that Revelation 12:9 says that he “deceives the whole world.” Think about that. The whole world covers a lot of territory and a lot of people.

So, maybe we should go a little easier on Eve. There she was, minding her own business in the Garden of Eden, when suddenly she found herself in a one-on-one encounter with the master deceiver. She got no warning. She got no time to prepare for the deception. She was just thrust into a spiritual confrontation that she didn’t ask for or want. Would you have fared any better than she did? Would I?

Satan’s primary way of deceiving is lying, and that’s what he did to Eve. He said of her eating the forbidden fruit:

…You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5, N.K.J.V.)

How much of a liar is Satan? Just ask Jesus, who once said of Satan:

…He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of liars. (John 8:44, N.I.V.)

“No truth in him.” “When he lies, he speaks his native language.” “He is a liar and the father of liars.” Jesus couldn’t have been any more emphatic in His description of Satan as a liar. And which one of Satan’s wiles walks hand in hand with lying? Deception.

Tonya was almost three months pregnant with our first child when she began having some physical problems, problems that seemed to indicate that a miscarriage was imminent. Naturally, we prayed and asked God to heal whatever was wrong and allow her to keep the baby. Unfortunately, however, the more we prayed the more the problems intensified. It was an awful time.

One day during all of that I was driving down the road and praying while I was driving. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head. The voice said, “Russell, your baby is alright.” As any Christian would, I took that voice to be the voice of the indwelling Holy Spirit. I’d heard the Spirit’s inner voice before and as far as I could tell this was the same voice. Needless to say, I certainly wanted the voice to be the Spirit’s.

And so, what happened? A few days later Tonya miscarried. So much for, “Russell, your baby is alright.” Like Eve, I’d been lied to and deceived. I hesitated about using that story in this post because, for obvious reasons, I don’t like reliving that time of our life. But I’m including it because I want you to understand that I know firsthand what being deceived by the devil feels like. Even if he wasn’t personally with me in the car that day, one of his demons sure was, and he told that demon just what lie to tell me to deceive me about what was happening with our baby.

I’m happy to report, though, that there is coming a day upon this earth when all of Satan’s deceptions will cease. After the Rapture of the church, after the seven-year tribulation period, and after Christ’s Second Coming, Jesus will institute His 1,000-year reign upon this earth. Numerous Bible passages from both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak of that reign, but the one that is the most relevant to our subject is found in Revelation 20:1-3. Those verses describe what is going to happen to Satan at the beginning of Christ’s reign, and if you read the passage closely, you’ll see what it has to do with Satan’s deceptions. That’s why I’m offering it as the close to this post:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Deception, Discernment, Lying, Personal, Prophecy, Satan, Series: "The Wiles of the Devil", Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Satan Did to His Fellow Angels: Rebellion

Posted on August 20, 2025 by russellmckinney

“The Wiles of the Devil” series (post #2)

The Bible tells us quite a bit about angels, but it leaves certain parts of the story blank. First, it doesn’t tell us how many angels there are. Second, it doesn’t tell us when they were created, even though Job 38:1-7 indicates that it was sometime before Genesis 1:1. Third, it doesn’t tell us when Satan and his group of rebellious angels fell.

I think our best guess as to when Satan and his group fell is that it happened between the last verse of Genesis chapter 2 and the first verse of Genesis chapter 3. I say that because in Genesis 1:31 God looks at everything He has made and classifies it all as “very good.” Doesn’t that word “everything” have to include the angelic realm? And nothing happens in Genesis chapter 2 to upset that “very good” applecart. Then suddenly in Genesis 3:1 a talking serpent enters the story.

The Bible doesn’t even give us a blow-by-blow account of the angelic rebellion. But Isaiah 14:12-14 hints at it in the context of Isaiah’s pronouncement of woe upon the king of Babylon. Similarly, Ezekiel 28:11-17 hints at it in the context of Ezekiel’s pronouncement of woe upon the king of Tyre. You see, while each of these passages does have a direct reference to the earthly king in question, each passage also provides descriptive details that simply do not fit the king. Therefore, it seems that even as Isaiah and Ezekiel were prophesying against those kings, the two prophets were also prophesying against the power behind the kings. That power was Satan. So, by pulling the relevant thoughts from the two passages, we learn the following about Satan:

  • Satan’s angelic name is Lucifer, which means “shining one.” (Isaiah 14:12)
  • He is a cherub angel. (Ezekiel 28:14)
  • Like all the other angels, he was created in perfection. (Ezekiel 28:12,15)
  • He was full of wisdom. (Ezekiel 28:12)
  • He was perfect in beauty. (Ezekiel 28:12)
  • He was associated with music. (Ezekiel 28:13)
  • His great splendor caused him to become vain, proud, and ambitious. (Isaiah 14:13, Ezekiel 28:15,17)
  • He wanted to be worshiped as God is worshiped. (Isaiah 14:14)

Now, if these two passages were all we had to go on we’d have to assume that Satan acted alone in his rebellion against God. However, there are other passages that teach that a group of Satan’s fellow angels joined him in his coup attempt. For example, in Matthew 25:41 Jesus speaks of an everlasting fire that is prepared for the devil and his angels. Likewise, Revelation 12:7 also mentions Satan’s angels. These other fallen angels are the “demons” described in the New Testament. Ephesians 6:11-12 is another passage that speaks of not only Satan but also the other fallen angels. Those verses say:

Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. (New Living Translation)

And what percentage of the angels aligned themselves with Satan in his rebellion and consequently fell with him? The answer seems to be one-third. That percentage comes from Revelation 12:3-4, which symbolically describes Satan as a fiery red dragon whose tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Since many stars are actually bigger than the earth, it’s obvious the reference isn’t describing literal stars. Therefore, the correct interpretation seems to be that it’s a reference to the number of angels who were cast out of heaven with Satan.

Okay, so what should we learn from all of this? We should learn that one of Satan’s wiles is REBELLION. For example:

  • He wants people to rebel against the authority of Jesus Christ (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:5-11).
  • He wants citizens to rebel against the authority of their government (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).
  • He wants workers to rebel against the authority of their employers (Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25).
  • He wants wives to rebel against the authority of their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24; Colossians 3:18).
  • He wants children to rebel against the authority of their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:20).
  • He wants church members to rebel against the authority of their pastors (Hebrews 13:7,17,24).

Think of it this way: Satan himself was the original rebel, and he’s still in rebel mode. According to Revelation 12:7-12, he’ll even lead his angels in a second war against heaven at the middle of the coming tribulation period. Then, later on down the line into Bible prophecy, he’ll lead a final worldwide revolt against Jesus immediately following Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon the earth (Revelation 20:1-10).

And so, I’ll close this post by giving you a simple warning: Beware of allowing Satan to somehow ensnare you with his wile of rebellion. What he knows that you might know is that a rebel will never fully submit to Jesus Christ. Oh, that rebel might go to church. He might read the Bible. She might pray. I suppose a rebel can even be a true Christian. What a rebel won’t do, though, is give Jesus the kind of authority that He demands over every corner of life. That kind of submission is what separates the spiritual “real deals” from the spiritual wannabes, and it’s the kind of submission that Satan works hard to keep people from giving to Jesus.

Posted in Angels, Children, Church, Demons, Disobedience, Family, Fatherhood, Government, Headship, Husbands, Parenting, Pastors, Politics, Rebellion, Satan, Series: "The Wiles of the Devil", Spiritual Warfare, Submission, The Devil, Wives, Work, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Wiles of the Devil

Posted on August 18, 2025 by russellmckinney

“The Wiles of the Devil” series (post #1)

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11, N.K.J.V.)

The Greek word translated as “wiles” in this verse is methodia. Since we can see the word “method” in there, we can say that Satan’s “wiles” are his methodology. They are the means by which he seduces people, tricks them, and gets them to do his bidding. Other translations translate methodia as: “schemes,” “tactics,” “the strategies and tricks,” or “the strategies and deceits.”

This post begins a series in which we will walk through the pages of the Bible and look at the various “wiles” that Satan has used throughout history to trip up various Bible characters. Each post will focus upon a different story and a different wile. Our goal is to learn from the ways Satan has gotten others in the past so that we can be on guard against him getting us in the future. As one writer has put it:

While God never wants you to become too focused on thinking about Satan and his role in the world, God does want you to be generally aware of how he operates. The worst position to take is “what I don’t know can’t hurt me.” When it comes to spiritual issues, the very opposite is true.

It is with this in mind that we launch into this series. If what we don’t know about Satan can hurt us, then we need to learn all we can about him. And the best textbook for such a class is the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. By studying the Bible we’ll get to know our enemy and hopefully that will keep us from experiencing the problem a certain British outpost experienced at the beginning of World War I.

As the story goes, when war broke out the War Ministry of London dispatched a coded message to all of its outposts. The message read:

War declared. Arrest all enemy aliens in your district.

Unfortunately for the Brits, one of their outposts happened to be located in a very remote, virtually inaccessible part of Africa. Because of their isolation the troops there didn’t get much news and were always behind the times a bit on world events. So, when they received the message they promptly sent back the following reply:

Have arrested ten Germans, six Belgians, four Frenchmen, two Italians, three Australians, and an American. Please advise immediately who we are at war with.

Make no mistake, you and I are at war with Satan. Even if you don’t think of yourself as being at war with him, you are. Even if you don’t believe in his existence, he’s still real and he’s still at war with you. That’s why I hope you will get on board with me for this series. Not only will you find the stories interesting, you’ll will find them informative. But best of all, they’ll give you the heads up you need to be able to successfully stand against the wiles of the devil. So, tune in next time and we’ll get started.

Posted in Bible Study, Deception, Demons, Discernment, Satan, Scripture, Series: "The Wiles of the Devil", Spiritual Warfare, The Devil | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Remember Lot’s Wife

Posted on August 15, 2025 by russellmckinney

When the burgeoning camps of Abraham and his nephew, Lot, became so large the same area could no longer support their flocks, the two men separated (Genesis 13:1-7). Lot took one look at the lush, fertile, well-watered plain of Jordan, and said, “That’s the place for me” (Genesis 13:10-11). While that might have seemed like a no-brainer choice, it was actually an unwise one. Why? The answer was simple: Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other ungodly cities of that plain were located there.

Lot began by dwelling at times in each of those cities, but it wasn’t too long before he took up permanent residence in perversely wicked Sodom (Genesis 13:12-13). It seems likely that he sold all his flocks and herds, moved into town, and became an official “city boy.” That accounts for him living in Sodom when the soldiers of an alliance army of eastern kings raided the city, looted it, and carried him off as a prisoner of war along with Sodom’s other citizens (Genesis 14:1-12). Fortunately for Lot, Abraham (known then as Abram) had 318 well-trained, well armed servants in his camp. With God’s help those servants became a personal army formidable enough to attack the alliance army, defeat it, and rescue Lot along with everyone and everything the enemy army had taken (Genesis 14:13-24).

Lot’s capture and subsequent rescue should have been enough of a scare to keep him out of Sodom, but the next thing the Bible records of him he is “sitting in the gate” of Sodom (Genesis 19:1). Since the trials and other legal matters of ancient cities were conducted at the gates, any man who held a seat at a city gate had to be a prominent citizen, perhaps a judge or a member of the city’s ruling council. The point is that rather than separate himself from Sodom as a result of him becoming a prisoner of war for a while, Lot not only resettled in the city but actually immersed himself deeper into it in the years that followed.

Accordingly, it was at some point that he took a wife — evidently, she was a woman from Sodom — and became a father many times through her. So, by the time God’s two angels showed up to rain fire and brimstone down upon Sodom, Lot had sons, unmarried daughters, married daughters, and sons-in-laws (Genesis 19:12-22). The Bible indicates the total number of family members was ten (Genesis 18:32-33).

As for Lot’s wife, the Old Testament never tells us her name and only mentions her in regards to the story of the destruction of Sodom. She was along with Lot and their two unmarried daughters when he led them out of the city and away from the fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:15-16). Lot could force those three to flee with him because they all lived under his roof, but he couldn’t force his other family members and so they ended up dying in the city’s destruction (Genesis 19:14). Perhaps he would have had more influence with them if he hadn’t lost his testimony through years of being a player in Sodom.

But what happened to Lot’s wife? Once she, Lot, and their two unmarried daughters were out of Sodom, she looked back longingly toward the city and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt as God’s judgment upon her (Genesis 19:26). Why was God so hard on her? It was because He knew that her heart would always be in Sodom. Even when He made His disapproval of the city clear to her, she sided with the city over Him.

It’s obvious that Lot’s wife was right at home in Sodom. Every day she looked upon the city’s pride, laziness, unconcern for the poor (Ezekiel 16:48-50), and homosexual culture (Genesis 19:1-11; Jude v.7) and saw nothing wrong with it all. As backslidden as Lot was, at least he was bothered by the city’s litany of sins and spent his life under conviction for continuing to live in the midst of such a place (2 Peter 2:6-8). His wife, on the other hand, evidently had no such qualms. She was almost certainly a lost unbeliever, which (if the assessment is correct) made her marriage to Lot an Old Testament version of an “unequal yoke” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

It’s no wonder that Jesus left us with the solemn reminder, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). He wants us to hate sin as much as He hates it. He wants us to be convicted by the way we (at best) tacitly approve of the sins around us, or (at worst) take part in those sins (Romans 1:26-32; Ephesians 5:11). He wants us to value holiness over worldliness. He wants us to pursue repentance rather than carnality. Most of all, He wants us to choose Him over all the allurements this life has to offer. The love that Lot’s wife had for her “Sodom” cost her everything. And so, I ask you, “Do you have a “Sodom” you refuse to give up?” If you do, you had best be on the lookout for God’s judgment because it is surely on its way. Such is always the case with Sodoms.

Posted in Angels, Backsliding, Choices, Coming Judgment, Conscience, Desires, God's Judgment, Homosexuality, Influence, Marriage, Sin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why a Lion Tamer Uses a Chair

Posted on August 13, 2025 by russellmckinney

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. (Psalm 43:3-4, N.I.V.)

Most of us have watched the scene of a lion tamer using a chair and a whip to help keep a lion at bay. But have you ever wondered why a chair is used? It’s because a chair has four legs and that confuses the lion enough to keep it from attacking in earnest. The lion will jab at one leg of the chair and paw at another one, but he won’t lunge forward in full attack because he’s unsure of his target. If lion tamers used brooms or mops, we’d hear more stories about mauled lion tamers.

This tidbit from the field of lion taming illustrates a profound lesson from life: It’s hard to do your best when your focus is all over the road. While diversity can be a wonderful thing in its proper place, it can actually become a hindrance that can cost you “your best” in a singular field as you settle for “pretty good” in a variety of fields. The truth is, you minimize your effectiveness when you spread your talents, abilities, and gifts too thin.

I’ve always loved our text passage because in it the unnamed Psalmist (most likely David) says, “I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God” (verse 4). That thought begs the question to each of us: What’s your harp? In other words, what is that one thing that you can do to the glory of God? What is your talent? What is your skill? What are you really good at? That is where your focus needs to be.

Of course, I realize that life forces us to play many roles. For example, if it was David who wrote Psalm 43, he certainly played more roles than just harp player. He was also a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a king, a soldier, a builder, a musician, and a writer of Psalms. Likewise, I myself play the role of husband, father, son, brother, pastor, radio preacher, and blogger. Still, I know deep down that if I poured 100% of myself into any one of these roles, I’d do a better job with it.

So, my purpose with this post is to get you, the reader, to examine your life and see if you’ve got too much going on these days. Ask yourself, “Do I need to simplify my life by eliminating some of the things I’m doing?” You see, doing more isn’t necessarily better, especially if you are doing it in a half-baked way. That old saying, “Less is more” rings true if you do a better job with the “less.” Unfortunately, we’ve got too many confused lions running around out there, people who can’t strike an ideal lick because they can’t narrow their focus enough to do it. But that doesn’t have to be you, and it won’t be if you will figure out what your best “harp” is and play it to the full extent of your ability.

Posted in Choices, Commitment, God's Will, God's Work, Individuality, Influence, Ministry, Personal, Priorities, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why Are Some Lives Spared While Others Aren’t?

Posted on August 11, 2025 by russellmckinney

The name R.G. Lee is on the short list of the most famous preachers America ever produced. Most notably among his various pastorates, he served as the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, for over thirty years. While there he also served four times as President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and three times as President of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is estimated that he preached his signature sermon, Payday Someday, over 1,200 times in places all across America and in other parts of the world.

But the world almost missed out completely on Dr. Lee’s legendary life and ministry because he had a brush with death when he was just six years old. Lee told the story in his foreword to Jerry Spencer’s book, Almost Persuaded to be a Liberal, and I’ll let him tell it in his own words here by offering it verbatim from that foreword. Lee wrote:

My father, after being a share cropper for years, was selected by Mr. Eli Springs, a wealthy man from Charlotte, North Carolina, to be superintendent of the Springs’ farm on which was the Springs’ mansion built by slave labor in 1804. On that farm was a big barn. One day my mother said to me, “Bobby, I think there is an old Dominique hen on her nest under the barn. Please crawl up under the barn and put your hand under her and see if she has eggs under her body.”

Obediently, with the purpose of pleasing my mother, I crawled under the barn, the floor of which was fifteen or eighteen inches above the ground. When I had crawled under a few feet, I heard a sinister rattle. I thought it must be a rattlesnake because I had seen the farmhands kill rattlesnakes on occasion and had heard rattlesnakes “buzz their buttons.”

I crawled up a little further. The rattle, more strident and a bit louder, I heard again. Then, a frightened little boy, I went out backwards much faster than I had done forwards. I ran to the house, where my mother was in a rocker on the white-columned porch. I said, with excitement, “Mama! Mama! There is a rattlesnake under the barn!” My mother, doubt in her voice, said, “Oh, Honey, you must be mistaken.” I said, “No, ma’am, I heard it rattle!”

My mother called old Boss, an old Bloodhound that belonged to the owner of the farm, and she and Boss went with me to the barn. I showed Mother the spot where I had crawled under the barn. “Sic ’em, Boss,” she said. The old hound went up under the barn. There was a strange medley of sounds: old Boss growling and the rattlesnake rattling his tail buttons. Out from under the barn came faithful old Boss growling and chewing a hissing, writhing rattlesnake. There was a hoe leaning against the barn. Mother picked up the hoe and chopped at the snake until it was dead.

Ole Boss went right back, and the same growlings and hissings were heard. Boss brought forth the second rattlesnake, larger and hissing more violently than the first. Mother used the hoe, and Boss used his mouth and jaws. Soon the second rattlesnake was dead.

My mother picked me up, carried me back in her arms to the front porch. Then she sat down in the huge rocking chair, pulled her apron up over me and hugged me close — and she said over and over again, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.” She was thanking God that the snakes had not bitten me. I came that close to dying a terrible death.

In that foreword, Lee uses his life-threatening experience as an analogy of how Jerry Spencer, the book’s author, came perilously close to being bitten by the poison of liberalism only to be rescued by a belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible. For the purpose of this post, however, I want to use Lee’s experience as an illustration of how God sometimes spares lives while other times He doesn’t. I truly believe that it was God who protected R.G. Lee’s life under that barn that day. He protected it because, as Jesus said of the apostle Paul even before Paul became a Christian, Lee was “a chosen vessel” of His to proclaim the gospel to the masses (Acts 9:15).

Let me be clear, though: I don’t pretend to fully understand the providence of God in regards to when He chooses to spare a life from a life-threatening situation and when He chooses to let the death occur. There is a mystery to that providence, a mystery that is shrouded in a foggy darkness. The fact is that for every R.G. Lee whose life was spared there are scores of others whose lives weren’t. And we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t stand over the gravesite of such a death and ask, “Why, God?”

Unfortunately for us, the answer to that question will elude us as long as we are in this world. Some things we simply have to leave with God and trust that He knows best and never makes a mistake. I realize that it’s not adequate comfort to a grieving loved one, but in such times Isaiah 55:8-9 really is the best answer we can give. And so, I’ll offer it as the close to this post:

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

Posted in Death, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Human Life, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Problem with Trying to Please Everybody

Posted on August 8, 2025 by russellmckinney

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (Genesis 5:24, N.I.V.)

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death. “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5, N.I.V., emphasis mine)

Aesop’s Fables is an ancient collection of fables, each one teaching a life lesson. One of the fables involves a father, his son, and their donkey. The fable is a bit outlandish in the story it tells, but the lesson imparted is a timeless one that we’d do well to revisit today.

As the fable goes, a father, a son, and their donkey were walking down the road toward the market. Everything was fine until some people passed by them and said, “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?” So, the father placed the son upon the donkey and continued down the road.

A little while later some more people passed by and said, “Look at that lazy youngster. He lets his father walk while he rides.” Embarrassed by the criticism, the father and the son switched places and continued down the road.

They hadn’t gone too far, though, before some more people passed by and said, “Shame on that lazy father for riding while his son has to trudge alongside.” Consequently, the father had the son climb onto the donkey with him. Then they continued down the road.

When they reached town, some of the townspeople pointed at them and jeered. When the father stopped the donkey and asked why people were pointing and jeering, the answer he received was, “Aren’t you two ashamed of yourself for loading down that poor donkey?” Embarrassed again the father and son dismounted the donkey and tried to figure out the best way to proceed.

Since they had tried every other way and been criticized for each one, they hit upon the idea of cutting down a pole, tying the donkey’s feet to it, and carrying the pole across their shoulders, with the donkey hanging upside down in suspension between them. It took some doing to get all that accomplished, but they finally got it done and started making their way onward to the town’s market.

Again, however, onlookers laughed at them. But by now both father and son had decided that they weren’t going to do any more changing. So, this time they ignored all the laughter and continued toward the market.

Unfortunately, when they got to the bridge that lay just before the market, the donkey worked one of its feet loose from the pole and started kicking wildly. All the commotion caused the son to drop his end of the pole, and as a result of the ensuing struggle the donkey (with three of its feet still tied to the pole) went over the side of the bridge and drowned. As the father and son stood there looking down into the water, watching their poor animal succumb to its death, they heard the critical voice of an old man who had followed them through town. The old man said to them, “That will teach you.”

Okay, boys and girls, what is the life lesson of this fable? The Aesop’s Fable puts it this way: PLEASE ALL, AND YOU WILL PLEASE NONE. As for us today, we might word it: YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYBODY, SO DON’T EVEN BOTHER TRYING.

In Genesis 5:24, the Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God and God took him from this earth by some means other than death. Hebrews 11:5 then adds some commentary on the event by saying that Enoch was a man who pleased God. You see, Enoch understood how to live. The priority of his life was to please God.

All I can say to that is, “May Enoch’s tribe increase!” The goal of your life and my life should be simply to please God. If we can do that, what our critics have to say won’t matter. So, with this in mind, let’s stop worrying so much about other people’s opinions and expectations of us, and let’s strive to focus exclusively upon doing God’s will in every given situation. If we’ll do that, we shouldn’t be losing any donkeys to drowning.

Posted in Adversity, Choices, Commitment, Contentment, Courage, Criticism, Decisions, Desires, Discernment, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, Fear, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, Humility, Obedience, Persecution, Priorities, Problems, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Just Grass

Posted on August 6, 2025 by russellmckinney

Howard Buchanan went to be with the Lord several years ago. Tonya and I had once had the pleasure of knowing him as our neighbor for approximately ten years. Howard was a Baptist preacher and a very good man. He was also laid back and slow moving.

The house Tonya and I lived in during those days had a long, gravel driveway that ran right past Howard’s house. That driveway had a lot of ditch line, and I was constantly mowing that ditch line’s grass with my weed eater to keep everything looking nice. It was a major battle every spring and summer. Tonya thought I was crazy for worrying so much about that grass, but I was in full “king of my castle” mode back then and wanted the place to look nice.

One day I was talking with Howard and somehow the subject of the ditch-line grass came up. Actually, I’m sure it came up because I brought it up, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, after listening to me rant and rave about the amount of work it took to keep that grass mowed, Howard looked at me with a wry smile and a twinkle in his eye and uttered the following assessment: “It’s just grass.” And there it was, a perfect summation that placed the problem in its appropriate universal perspective. Three words. Just three little words. But those words served as a friendly rebuke to me, one that I’ve never forgotten.

In the days since then there have been other times when I’ve faded into obsession over something that wasn’t truly worthy of such time and energy. And more than once Tonya has looked and me and said with a grin, “It’s just grass, Russell.” That’s her way of saying, “I think you’re acting a little nuts over this.” Each time she says it, my mind goes back to Howard and that ditch line.

There’s a cutesy saying that says, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and everything is small stuff.” Well, that saying is a lie, isn’t it? Life has taught us that some stuff is big, quite big actually. But then again, we also have to admit that much of life really is little more than ditch-line grass. And the thing about ditch-line grass is that it is only as big a deal as you choose to make it.

Perhaps, right now, you find yourself obsessing over something. If so, what you need to do is ask yourself one simple question: “Is this thing truly worthy of my obsession or is it just grass?” Like I said, some stuff in life is major, genuinely major, and if you are dealing with something from that category I certainly don’t mean to trivialize or minimize your problem. But on the other hand, the larger part of life is grass, just grass. And if that’s the category of stuff that you are driving yourself crazy about lately, then consider yourself rebuked. The rebuke comes courtesy of a wise old preacher named Howard Buchanan, and it comes complete with a wry smile and a twinkle in the eye. So, accept it in the attitude in which it is offered, and apply as much of it as is needed for your situation.

Posted in Attitude, Balance, Complaining, Contentment, Disappointment, Humor, Impatience, Personal, Priorities, Problems, Worry | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Truth About Church

Posted on August 4, 2025 by russellmckinney

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

One day a man called a pastor to say he wanted to join the pastor’s church. However, the man was quick to point out that he didn’t want to attend services, study the Bible, pray, visit, evangelize, give, or serve in any way. He told the pastor, “I just want to be able to truthfully say that I’m a member of a church. That will help my reputation in my business, and it will also give me a good comeback when someone invites me to attend their church.”

The pastor replied, “I understand, but I really don’t believe that our church is the one for you. There’s a church across town that will suit your needs perfectly. Let me give you its address.” The pastor then gave the man the address, and the conversation was ended.

Eagerly the man jumped into his car and drove to the address. There at the site stood an abandoned church building that was boarded up and ready for demolition. As the man sat there in the car, he realized that he was staring at the logical outcome of his attitude toward church.

Most people are only interested in what they can get out church rather than what they can put into it. Everyone seems full of suggestions as to how church could be done better, but when it comes to actually putting in the necessary time, effort, and money to accomplish those things, the flock thins out in a hurry. And if you want to know what enough of that thinning out produces in the end, take a drive over to your local abandoned church building. That’s where you’ll find the result on full display.

Posted in Church, Church Attendance, Commitment, Evangelism, Giving, God's Work, Ministry, Prayer, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Sunday School, Talents, Witnessing, Worship | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment