The Holy Spirit as Comforter

Posted on January 21, 2026 by russellmckinney

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38, N.K.J.V.)

R.A. Torrey was one of the most famous preachers who ever lived. His resume would impress anyone. He graduated from Yale University and Yale Divinity School. He was a prominent pastor. He worked extensively with the great evangelist D.L. Moody in evangelistic work. He preached around the world. He was the Superintendent of the school that is now known as Moody Bible Institute. He founded Biola University in Los Angeles and served as its dean. He authored dozens of books.

Torrey and his wife had five children, four of them girls, but a tragic accident claimed the life of their twelve-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. The funeral was conducted on a rainy day, and the weather seemed to fit the mood of the family perfectly. As Torrey and his wife, Clara, stood over the gravesite, Clara said, “I’m so glad Elizabeth is not in that box.”

The next morning R.A. got up and went for a walk. As he walked, he began to think about how he wouldn’t get to hear Elizabeth laugh again or see her grow into a young woman. Even though he knew her soul was in heaven, the loss of future earthly memories with her was more than he could take. His grief became overwhelming.

Barely able to stand, and desperate for God’s comforting presence, Torrey leaned up against a light pole and began to pray. As for what happened next, I’ll let the man himself explain. He said:

And just then the fountain, the Holy Spirit, whom I had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I had never experienced before. And it was the most joyful moment I had ever known in my life! It is an unspeakably glorious thing to have within you a fountain ever springing up, springing up, springing up, ever springing up 365 days in every year, springing up under all circumstances.

Christian, there are two things that I want you to learn from Torrey’s experience, an experience that calls to mind Christ’s words from our text passage (John 7:37-38). First, you should learn that being a Christian doesn’t make you immune from life’s hardships and tragedies. If a great Christian like R.A. Torrey could have a young daughter die in an accident, none of us is safe from calamity.

Second, you should learn that one of the indwelling Holy Spirit’s most important roles in your life is that of Comforter. In John 14:26, the Greek word that is used in reference to the Holy Spirit is parakletos, from which comes the Greek proper noun Paraclete. Because the word parakletos literally means “called to one’s side,” various translations of the Bible translate the word as “Helper,” “Counselor,” “Advocate,” “Companion,” or “Friend.” None of these translations, however, is as heartwarming as the classic King James translation’s familiar “Comforter.”

Christian, the point is that when you need comforting, the indwelling Holy Spirit wells up inside you and does that comforting. This comforting is something that R.A. Torrey once experienced while leaning against a light pole the day after he had buried his daughter, and it’s something that you can experience as well. Obviously, you’d rather not experience any loss or tragedy, but unfortunately life makes that an impossibility. So, when those difficult times come, what you should do is pray to God and ask Him to have the indwelling Holy Spirit minister His sweet comfort to you. And then don’t be surprised when the Holy Spirit does just that.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Death, Depression, Disappointment, Encouragement, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipresence, God's Provision, Inner Peace, Peace, Perseverance, Problems, Restoration, Suffering, The Holy Spirit, Trials, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Story About the Value of Waiting Just a Little Bit Longer

Posted on January 19, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his booklet When Everything Goes Wrong, Adrian Rogers tells the story of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn, who was a Christian, was a Russian writer who was an outspoken critic of communism and the Soviet Union. In February of 1945, he was arrested for making disparaging remarks against Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin and was sentenced to the Soviet Union’s “gulag” system of forced-labor camps. He would remain a prisoner for the next eight years, being assigned to different camps and different work details over the course of those years.

As a prisoner, Solzhenitsyn was not allowed any mail, newspapers, magazines, or letters. He couldn’t write any letters, either. He had absolutely no communication with the outside world. The rules of imprisonment in the “gulag” camps were so extreme that the prisoners were not even allowed to communicate with each other.

Each day for Solzhenitsyn was filled with nothing but hard, physical labor that was carried out in either scorching heat or brutal cold. Guards stood in constant watch over the prisoners, and the food rations were meager. Even nighttime didn’t provide much relief as the beds were barely beds.

After enduring such conditions for years, there came a time when Solzhenitsyn decided to end his suffering by committing suicide. But the more he thought about that drastic course of action, the more he realized that he couldn’t go through with it. His Christian faith simply wouldn’t allow it.

Solzhenitsyn’s misery was so consuming, however, that his mind quickly hatched another idea. He would try to escape by breaking and running. He thought, “If I’m shot in the back, at least I’ll be free from this awful existence, and my death won’t be my fault.”

And so, the day came that Solzhenitsyn had decided would be his last, one way or the other, as a prisoner. After a period of the day’s typical grueling work, the prisoners were given a few moments of rest. Solzhenitsyn then made his way over to a tree and sat down under it. As he sat there, he intently watched the guard who had a rifle. That guard would be the one to shoot him in the back if the escape didn’t work.

Solzhenitsyn knew that the prisoners’ moment of rest wouldn’t last long, and so he figured that now was the time to attempt his escape. He put his hands to the ground and was ready to push himself up into his best run, but at that very moment another prisoner, one he had not seen before, walked up to him and stood directly in front of him. Solzhenitsyn couldn’t believe the man’s timing.

Since the guard with the rifle was standing right there, the two prisoners didn’t dare try to communicate. But the other prisoner looked into Solzhenitsyn’s eyes with such love and compassion that Solzhenitsyn entire demeanor changed. He would later say of the prisoner’s look, “Though he uttered not a word, there was a look upon his face that spoke volumes to my heart.”

Now that the prisoner had Solzhenitsyn’s unspoken attention, the man used a branch from the tree to doodle on the ground in such a childlike, harmless way that the nearby guard didn’t even bother to investigate. And what did the prisoner doodle? Solzhenitsyn looked down and to his surprise saw that the seemingly random doodle was not random at all. It was a cross!

The moment Solzhenitsyn saw the cross he knew that his plan to either escape or be killed was not of God. So, right there on the spot he asked God to forgive him. And it was only a few days later that Solzhenitsyn learned the reason why God had intervened so marvelously to keep him from attempting his escape. To quote Solzhenitsyn, “Little did I know that all over the world people were pleading my cause, and that in just three days I would be a free man in Geneva, Switzerland. Three days!”

Posted in Adversity, Choices, Conviction, Decisions, Depression, Faith, God's Timing, God's Foreknowledge, God's Guidance, God's Will, Impatience, Patience, Problems, Suffering, Suicide, Temptation, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve’s Fall (post #3)

Posted on January 16, 2026 by russellmckinney

This post is the third and last in our series “Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve’s Fall.” Thus far we’ve identified the evidences associated with God’s judgments upon the serpent/Satan and Eve. By way of a reminder, those evidences are: snakes still slither on their bellies, the world’s lost people (the seed of Satan) are still enemies against Jesus (the Seed of the woman), labor pain is still a part of childbirth, and wives still have an inner desire to rule over their husbands. Also, in terms of historical evidence, Satan dealt Jesus a painful blow by working through lost people to get Him crucified, but Jesus dealt Satan an even greater blow by making that death a substitutionary sacrifice for mankind’s sins and by resurrecting.

Now we come to the everyday evidences associated with God’s judgment upon Adam. There are three of them. So, let’s take them one at a time.

First, God told Adam that the ground was now cursed for Adam’s sake. Adam’s job in the Garden of Eden had always been to “work it” (N.I.V.) and “take care of it” (N.I.V.) (Genesis 2:15). Other translations translate the Hebrew as: “cultivate,” “till,” “keep,” “watch over,” “care for,” “dress,” or “keep.” You get the idea. Adam’s job was to care for the Garden of Eden in such a way as to not only keep it in top form as a lovely garden but also to harvest food from it.

Before Adam’s sin there were no thorns and thistles in the Garden of Eden or upon the rest of the earth. As a result of his sin, however, thorns and thistles would now be a part of the package. Centuries later the apostle Paul would write that all of creation was “subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20, N.K.J.V.), that it is now under “the bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21, N.K.J.V.), and that it currently “groans and labors” like a woman experiencing birth pangs (Romans 8:22, N.K.J.V.). If you’ve ever tried to raise a garden or keep a yard looking good, you know that even today the earth’s soil can be downright uncooperative. We don’t have to plant thorns, thistles, weeds, etc. They grow and multiply just fine on their own.

We might ask, “Were the thorns and thistles a dormant part of the earth’s originally created soil or did God create them brand new in the wake of Adam’s sin?” The Bible doesn’t give us that answer. In my opinion, though, the most likely explanation for their beginning is that when the earth was “subjected to futility,” certain plant species mutated and degenerated from their originally intended designs and became thorns and thistles. I say this because Genesis 1:31 tells us that prior to Adam and Eve’s sin God looked upon everything that He had made and found it all very good.

Second, as another part of God’s judgment upon Adam’s sin, God told him that sweat would now be associated with him eating bread (Genesis 3:19). It is important to note that the act of work itself was not the result of God’s judgment against sin. As I pointed out earlier, even Adam’s pre-sin days were marked by him working the Garden of Eden and taking care of it. Likewise, Eve was his helper (Genesis 2:18), to say nothing of the fact that she was also slated to bring forth children and do the work of mothering them.

No, the judgment wasn’t that Adam would now have to work. The judgment was that the work would now be much harder for him, hard enough to produce sweat on his forehead. The harvests from his farming would still provide food (“bread’) for him and his family, but cultivating those harvests and collecting them would now require much more physical exertion on his part. Anyone who has ever broken into a sweat while working can confirm that this particular evidence of Adam’s fall is still very much on display today.

Third, God informed Adam that because of his sin he was now destined to experience physical death (Genesis 3:19). God described Adam’s death as him returning to the dust from which he had been created (Genesis 2:7). This death would be the fulfillment of God’s warning concerning the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “…in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17, N.K.J.V.).

Hebrew scholars tell us that a more literal translation of the Hebrew of Genesis 2:17 would read: “…in the day you eat of it dying you shall die.” This shows us that God’s warning about the forbidden fruit was never intended to threaten a sudden death for Adam and Eve. Instead, the moment they ate of the forbidden fruit the aging process would begin in their bodies, and that aging process would eventually culminate in death. In Adam’s case, the physical death would take 930 years (Genesis 5:5), but it would happen just as God promised.

And it wouldn’t just be Adam who would die. Anyone who came from his body would also die. That included Eve, whom God had made from one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21-23). It also included all of Adam’s sexually reproduced descendants, an entire human race’s worth. As the Bible says, sin entered the world through Adam, and death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12). Consequently, death was spread to each member of the human race by Adam. That explains why 1 Corinthians 15:22 says: “…in Adam all die” (N.K.J.V.).

The fact is that you are experiencing the aging process right now, and you can thank Adam for that everyday evidence of his fall. Likewise, unless you are a Christian who lives to see the moment of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), you won’t make it out of this world alive. You can thank Adam for that everyday evidence, too.

I am happy to report, however, that Jesus has plans to remedy all the evidences of Adam’s sin. For starters, one day — following the Rapture and the seven years of the Tribulation Period — Jesus will return to this earth and establish His 1,000 year kingdom upon it (Revelation 20:1-6). At that time He will revert the planet itself back to much of its original pristine condition. The wilderness and the wasteland will be glad (Isaiah 35:1). The desert will blossom like a rose (Isaiah 35:1-2). Waters will burst forth in the wilderness and streams will burst forth in the desert (Isaiah 35:6). Most specific to the issue of thorns and thistles, Isaiah 55:13 says of this kingdom age: “Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow…” (N.I.V.).

Following these 1,000 years, eternity will be ushered in as Christ’s earthly kingdom will become His eternal one. Revelation chapters 21 and 22 teach that Christ’s eternal kingdom will feature a new heaven and a new earth, complete with a new eternal city called New Jerusalem. Will this “new” earth will be this one purged by fire and completely revitalized? Or will this planet be obliterated by the fire and a brand new one hung in its place? Well, there is a debate about that. (If you want to read more about that topic please read my post “The New Heaven, The New Earth, & The New Jerusalem.”) The point here, though, is that Revelation 22:3 explicitly says of the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem: “And there shall be no more curse…” (N.K.J.V.)

That covers Jesus’ plan to remedy the evidences of Adam’s sin in regards to not only the curse upon planet earth but also work being taxing enough to produce sweat. But does Jesus have a plan to remedy the evidences of Adam’s sin in regards to physical death? Yes, He does. Just as Jesus arose in a glorified body fit for eternity, each believer will one day have his or her body glorified. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says that Christ has become the firstfruits of all deceased believers, and 1 Corinthians 15:22 says that just as in Adam all die, in Christ all shall be made alive.

Of course, it should be understood that there isn’t one great day when the bodies of all of history’s saved believers will undergo glorification. For example, the bodies of all the saved believers (Christians) from the church age will be glorified at the moment of the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), which occurs before the beginning of the Tribulation Period. (Deceased bodies will be resurrected, while the bodies of living Christians will not need to be resurrected.) Similarly, the bodies of all the believers from the Old Testament era will be resurrected and glorified at Christ’s Second Coming, which occurs at the end of the Tribulation Period (Daniel 12:1-3). Jesus referred to both of these waves of resurrections unto glorification as “the resurrection of life” (John 5:29, N.K.J.V.).

But the resurrections don’t stop there. Even the bodies of each of history’s lost people will undergo a resurrection, albeit not a resurrection unto glorification. These resurrections will occur after Christ’s 1,000 year reign (Revelation 20:4-6). The scene will be what the Bible calls “the Great White Throne Judgment” (Revelation 20:11-15). There, standing before Jesus, each of history’s lost billions will stand in a resurrected body, with the body being reunited with the soul that once inhabited it. Each lost person will then be cast body and soul into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Jesus called this resurrection “the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29, N.K.J.V.).

And so, I’ll wrap up this post and this series by asking you the same question that I’ve asked at the close of the previous two posts: Have you placed saving belief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you have, then you can rest assured in the hope that one day you will be set free from all the damaging evidences of Adam & Eve’s fall into sin. But if you haven’t placed saving belief in Jesus, all the damaging evidences you have to deal with in this life will only be a warm up to evidences even more gruesome in eternity.

Adam really did fall into sin, and he took his entire race (including you) down with him. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Jesus — whom the Bible calls in 1 Corinthians 15:45 “the last Adam” — came to this earth, was born to a virgin (thus bypassing Adam’s tainted reproductive seed), lived a sinless life among Adam’s race, and died as the payment for each and every sin that Adam’s race had ever and would ever commit. Following that death, Jesus then arose from the dead and ascended back to heaven, from which He now offers salvation (forgiveness of sin) to each and every member of Adam’s fallen race.

Therefore, the issue now is really very simple. Each of us must ask himself or herself the question: “Am I associated with the first Adam or the last Adam?” As we have learned, the first Adam crippled us in multiple ways. These ways begin in this life and extend into the afterlife, even growing worse in the afterlife. But the last Adam offers to set all these ways right if we will only believe in Him as Savior. I’ve done that, and my sincere prayer is that you will as well if you never have.

Posted in Aging, Belief, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Creation, Death, Depravity, Eternity, God's Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Prophecy, Rebellion, Restoration, Resurrection, Salvation, Series: "Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve's Fall", Sin, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve’s Fall (post #2)

Posted on January 14, 2026 by russellmckinney

After God had spoken His words of judgment against the serpent and Satan, He turned His attention to Eve. Even though she had been legitimately deceived by Satan (2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14), she still had to suffer the consequences of her sin. As we will see there were two of those consequences. And since Eve would be the “mother” of every woman who would ever live, the consequences of her sin would cascade down upon every woman of the human race.

The first consequence is easy to understand. God told Eve, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16, N.K.J.V.). While there’s no doubt that it had always been God’s plan for Adam and Eve to produce children (Genesis 1:28), evidently the process of childbearing was originally supposed to be painless. Now, though, as a consequence of Eve’s sin, the birthing process would involve pain. Any woman who has ever felt labor pangs can verify that this consequence is still very much a part of our everyday world.

As for the second consequence of Eve’s sin, it requires more explanation, and so I’ll take more time with it. After telling Eve about the pain that would come with her giving birth, God said to her, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16, N.K.J.V.). Since the best way to interpret the Bible is to let it serve as its own commentary, we need to look for other passages where the words “desire” and “rule” are juxtaposed against each other in this same kind of way. And we find such a passage in Genesis 4:7, right next door to this one, in the story of Cain and Abel.

Following Adam and Eve’s sin, God killed either one animal or two in the Garden of Eden and used animal skin to make clothing for the husband and wife (Genesis 3:21). This was the world’s first shedding of blood, and in doing it God was dealing with the problem of Adam and Eve’s sin as well as the problem of their nakedness. You see, Adam and Eve needed forgiveness of sin even more than they needed clothing, and by God’s own standard such forgiveness only comes through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Watching God make that kill in Eden and seeing for the first time the red blood that flowed inside an animal was Adam and Eve’s crash course in the necessity of a blood sacrifice for forgiveness of sin.

Now let’s fast forward to a day when Adam and Eve have two grown sons: Cain and Abel. It is time for the two boys to bring their own sacrificial offerings for their own sins, and it is only logical that their parents have described in detail to them how God shed an animal’s blood to provide the world’s first offering for sin. Abel, understanding what type of sacrifice is required, brings an offering of the firstborn of his flock of sheep (perhaps one slain sheep, perhaps more), including the fat of the sheep (Genesis 4:4). Cain, on the other hand, brings an offering of the harvests of his farming (Genesis 4:3). Predictably, God rejects Cain’s bloodless offering and accepts Abel’s blood offering.

Someone might ask, “But why didn’t Cain bring the blood sacrifice of a slain animal? Had Adam and Eve not taught him what type of sacrifice was required?” The little book of Jude gives us that answer. That book is all about apostasy in the church, and apostasy can be defined as rejecting or falling away from revealed truth. And what does Jude say about Cain? Jude 1:11 says of apostates: “Woe to them! For they have gone in way of Cain…(N.K.J.V.).” Well, what way could that be but the rejection of the necessity of a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin? And how could Cain be classified as an apostate in regards to that truth if Adam and Eve had never revealed it to him? Furthermore, Abel knew to bring a blood sacrifice, and he must have learned it from someone.

Okay, now let’s get back to the brothers and their offerings. After God rejects his offering, Cain becomes very angry and bitter (Genesis 4:5). God understands this and tries to encourage him by saying to him, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:6-7, N.K.J.V.). But then God gives him a strong warning: “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7, N.K.J.V.).

There are our words — “desire” and “rule” — juxtaposed again in the same way God used them in pronouncing His judgment upon Eve (and subsequently all the women who would come from her). Therefore, just as sin desired to rule over Cain, Eve desired to rule over her husband, Adam. Her desire, though, would never be any more pleasing to God than sin’s desire to rule over Cain. That’s why God quickly added in the words, “And he (Adam) shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16, N.K.J.V.).

Putting everything together then, what are the two consequences of Eve’s fall that we see on display every day in the world? One is the pain that comes with giving birth, and the other one is the desire among many wives to claim headship over their husbands. Perhaps no scriptural truth is more hated and rejected by the “modern” woman than the truth that God has appointed the husband as the head of the wife and the wife is to be submitted to the husband. Nevertheless, this truth is so fundamental to God’s blueprint for marriage that it is found in no less than seven passages in the Bible: Genesis 3:16; 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22-24; Colossians 3:18; 1 Timothy 2:11-13; 1 Timothy 3:4-5,12; and 1 Peter 3:1-6.

As for Cain, we know which path he chose. Rather than bring a blood sacrifice and in so doing rule over his sinful desire, he killed Abel (Genesis 4:8-10). How ironic it was that the same man who wouldn’t shed the blood of an animal was perfectly willing to shed the blood of his brother!

But what about Eve? Was she able to keep her inner desire to rule over Adam in check? Since scripture makes no mention of her ever again causing any problems, all indications are that she was. Even more than that, she gave birth to a third son, Seth, and he embraced the spiritual legacy that Abel had been forced to relinquish (Genesis 4:25-26, 5:1-32). In addition to Seth, Eve gave Adam many other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4).

So, our choice today is clear. We can either follow Cain’s example or Eve’s. When God reveals truth to us, we have the option of either embracing that truth or rejecting it. By submitting herself to Adam’s headship, Eve embraced God’s truth by controlling her sinful desire to rule over Adam. Cain, however, rejected God’s truth concerning the need for a blood sacrifice and became the human race’s first lost person.

Obviously, that was bad for Cain, but do you understand that you will join him in that eternally lost state if you reject God’s revealed truth concerning the final, all-encompassing blood sacrifice that spiritually fulfilled all the previous blood sacrifices and brought the need of them to an end? I’m talking, of course, about the death that Jesus died on the cross in shedding His blood for the sins of the human race. Make no mistake, to reject Him as Savior is to reject His blood sacrifice for your sins, and that amounts to you going “in the way of Cain.” And as I’ve tried to help you understand in this post, that isn’t a way that you want to go, not for this life or the one to come.

Posted in Anger, Bible Study, Children, Choices, Christ's Death, Disobedience, Eternity, Forgiveness, God's Holiness, Heaven, Hell, Husbands, Man's Freewill, Marriage, Obedience, Rebellion, Salvation, Series: "Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve's Fall", Sin, Submission, Temptation, The Bible, Wives | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve’s Fall (post #1)

Posted on January 12, 2026 by russellmckinney

A straightforward, literal reading of the Bible’s record of history teaches us that approximately 6,000 years have passed since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. That’s a lot of years. The fact is, though, the specific evidences the Bible associates with that fall are still on display each and every day. Over the next three posts we’ll look at these evidences in the order in which God instituted them. We’ll start with the evidences involving the serpent/Satan.

The Garden of Eden’s serpent was the creature through whom the fallen angel we call Satan spoke in temptation to Eve. Basically, Satan “demon possessed” the serpent by entering into its physical body. If you find it unbelievable that a fallen angel can enter into the body of a creature, I would remind you that a large group of demons once asked Jesus to cast them into a herd of swine (Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 5:1-13; and Luke 8:26-33).

God’s judgment upon the serpent itself was that the creature would be cursed to go on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life (Genesis 3:14). Furthermore, we can be safe in assuming that this judgment also extended to the serpent’s mate and all its offspring. Does this mean that Eden’s serpent originally walked upright? Well, it’s pretty much impossible to interpret this judgment in any other way. And I don’t have to explain that snakes today are still forced to locomote by way of their bellies.

As for Satan he got judged as well. First, God said to him, “I will put enmity between you and the woman” (Genesis 3:15). That meant that from then on Eve and Satan would be enemies. Satan had deceived her and caused her to get too chummy with him (1 Timothy 2:14), but that wouldn’t be happening again. Now she would understand that he was, in reality, her arch enemy.

Second, God promised to take the enmity between Eve and Satan even further by making “the seed of the woman” and “the seed of Satan” enemies (Genesis 3:15). Since women don’t have reproductive seed, the term “the seed of the woman” is a clear reference to Jesus and His virgin birth. Along the same lines, the term “the seed of Satan” is a reference to the spiritually lost people of the world (Matthew 13:38; John 8:44; Acts 13:10; and 1 John 3:10). The enmity that existed between Jesus and spiritually lost people reached its climax in lost people getting Him crucified, but the fact is that the enmity continues to exist today as lost people still reject Him and rebel against Him on a daily basis.

Third, God said that even though Satan would bruise Jesus’ heel, Jesus would bruise Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). With these words God was metaphorically playing off Satan’s association with the serpent. While a bruise to a person’s heel is painful, it isn’t permanent or fatal. In contrast, a great enough bruise to a snake’s head is permanent and fatal. If you’ve ever run over a snake’s body with your car, you know that the blow doesn’t actually kill the snake. However, if you run over a snake’s head, that blow will kill the snake.

God didn’t fill in the details of His metaphorical illustration, but history would eventually make them plain. First, Satan would work through his children to get Jesus killed. Second, Jesus’ death wouldn’t be permanent because Jesus would resurrect three days later. Third, the spiritual blow Jesus would strike by dying that death for the sins of the human race would be an eternally fatal one for Satan and His cause. Ultimately, Satan and all his seed are doomed because of Christ’s death and resurrection, and what we see on a daily basis in this world are merely the dying battle throes of a spiritual war that has already been decided.

Because of this the most important question that I can ask you is: Have you placed saving belief in Jesus (the seed of the woman) as your personal Savior or are you still a part of the seed of Satan? If you have never placed saving belief in Jesus, let me urge you to do so right now. Make no mistake, He is the only one who can provide the salvation that you need to rescue you from the eternal judgment brought upon the human race by Adam and Eve’s fall into sin.

Oh, and there’s something else that I need to add in here, too. Whether you realize it or not, if you don’t know Jesus as Savior, you are actually living a life of enmity against Him as you pursue the desires of your spiritual father, Satan (John 8:44). Don’t believe it? Then let me point out that Jesus Himself said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23 N.K.J.V.). You see, you are either with Jesus or you are actively working against Him. According to Jesus’ own standard, there is no middle ground. And so, I ask you again: Have you placed saving belief in Jesus (the seed of the woman) as your personal Savior or are you still a part of the seed of Satan? Never forget that nothing less than your eternal destiny is riding on your answer.

Posted in Angels, Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Coming Judgment, Demons, Depravity, Eternal Security, Eternity, God's Foreknowledge, God's Judgment, Man's Freewill, Salvation, Satan, Series: "Everyday Evidences of Adam & Eve's Fall", Sin, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, The Gospel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A New Way to Pray

Posted on January 9, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his book No Common Task, Anglican Bishop George Reindorp tells the story of a nurse who once taught a patient how to pray. Before learning the nurse’s lesson, the patient was an angry, gloomy, bitter type whose life had no real purpose. But after he learned the lesson, his life, to say nothing of his prayer life, took on a whole new meaning.

The key to the nurse’s prayer lesson was her hand. Each finger stood for someone for whom she prayed. Her thumb was the nearest to her, and so it reminded her to pray for those who were closest to her. Her index finger was the finger she used for pointing (as in a teacher pointing at a student to call upon that student), and so it reminded her to pray for all the teachers in her nursing school and in the hospital where she worked. Her third finger was the tallest, and so it reminded her to pray for the leaders in every area of life. Her fourth finger was the weakest — any piano player will attest to that — and so it reminded her to pray for people who were in trouble and pain. Finally, her little finger was the smallest, and so it reminded her to pray for the least important people (people who didn’t seem to have any immediate prayer needs), a list upon which the nurse always placed herself.

Perhaps you might try using the nurse’s exact formula. Then again, maybe you’d like to start with her basic premise but customize it to suit your own prayer life. For example, you might consider this alternative:

  • Like the nurse’s lesson, your thumb can remind you to pray for your family and your closest friends. It’s pretty hard to do better than that symbolism.
  • If you can imagine your enemy pointing a menacing index finger at you, your index finger can remind you to keep the Bible’s command to pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-28).
  • I like the nurse’s take on the third finger, which is the tallest one on most people’s hands. That finger can remind you to keep the Bible’s command to pray “for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
  • Your fourth finger is the one that you think about the least, which can remind you to make a point of praying for someone for whom you’ve never prayed. It can be a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a person you used to know but haven’t seen in years, a celebrity who has been in the news recently because of some trouble, your mailman, your doctor, your dentist, your mechanic, your insurance agent, the kid who bags your groceries at the store, etc., etc., etc.
  • I also like the nurse’s application of the fifth finger. By making that one the reminder to pray for yourself, your “wish list” of requests for yourself lands in last place during your prayer session. This will help you keep things in proper perspective.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not telling you how to pray. If you’ve got a system that works well for you, that’s fine. You keep right on using it. But if you are like me in that you don’t always get around to praying for your enemies, for those who are in authority, or for people who don’t normally come to mind, using your fingers as reminders can help. If nothing else it can get you out of the rut of praying the same old prayers about the same old people involving the same old situations. That, of course, is a good thing because prayer is supposed to be a great adventure that we take with God, and when any adventure becomes boring or routine, it’s no longer an adventure.

Posted in Intercessory Prayer, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

He Will Make It Plain

Posted on January 7, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his wonderful little book, The Red Sea Rules, Robert J. Morgan shares a story from the life of William Cowper. Cowper was a famous English poet and hymn writer who struggled with severe mental issues, bordering on insanity, until he became a Christian. Even after his conversation, he still struggled at times with bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide.

One night, while Cowper was experiencing a particularly bad bout of depression, he called for a carriage (this was the year 1774) and ordered the driver to take him to the Ouse River, which was only three miles from Cowper’s home. What Cowper didn’t tell the driver was that he planned to commit suicide in the river that night. But the driver suspected anyway. After all, who requests to go to a river in the middle of the night?

So, the driver had to think fast. How could he do his job and yet keep his passenger from carrying through on such a tragic plan? Providentially for the driver, a fog began to settle over the entire area, a fog thick enough for the driver to use the excuse that he had gotten lost in the fog.

Around and around the driver drove in that fog, up one meaningless road and down another, oftentimes going in circles, always avoiding the river, as Cowper fell asleep inside the carriage. Finally, after several hours had passed, the driver pulled the carriage up to Cowper’s home and woke him from his deep sleep. Once Cowper was fully awake and recognized where he was, he asked, “We’re back home? How is that?” The driver answered, “Got lost in the fog, sir. Sorry.”

After paying the driver and dismissing him, Cowper went inside and began to ponder how God had used the fog and the driver to keep him from ending his life. That same night he wrote an autobiographical hymn that contained the following words:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread; Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.

I especially like those words “God is His own interpreter.” Tell me, have you found that to be true? I sure have. Unfortunately, I’ve also found that He doesn’t always feel the need to share His interpretation with me, at least not until some time has passed.

The good news, though, is that I’ve also found those words “And He will make it plain” to be just as true. It might not happen today, next week, next month, or next year, but somewhere along the way God will make plain to you the reason why He’s either allowed or caused that certain something to come to pass in your life. You just need to hang in there with Him, trust Him, and keep asking Him for the explanation. It’s there, and He’s got it, and one day, when the timing is right and the process of waiting has accomplished its helpful work, He will share it with you.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Timing, God's Guidance, God's Mercy, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Patience, Perseverance, Suffering, Suicide, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Joy Comes in the Morning

Posted on January 5, 2026 by russellmckinney

…Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5, N.K.J.V.)

English missionary James Hannington was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa. His initial missionary visit to Africa only lasted a few months because he was stricken with a high fever and dysentery which forced him to return to England. But a couple of years later he returned to Africa and set himself to the task of organizing and supervising a road-building project that would build a new road into the Ugandan kingdom of Buganda. At the time the only road into Buganda was an Arab slave route that was filled with danger.

The problem the project faced was Buganda’s king, a man named Mwanga. Despite the fact that his father, King Mutesa, had been open to foreigners and had even granted them favor, King Mwanga was known to be highly suspicious of outsiders and quick to put them to death. Once Hannington reached Busoga, which was an area of great strategical importance to Buganda, King Mwanga sent word to Hannington forbidding him from going any further. Hannington, however, was determined and continued on with his mission. A short time later, under the order of King Mwanga, a group of Busoga’s local chiefs captured Hannington along with 50 of his men and imprisoned them.

After eight days of cruel treatment, during which Hannington himself was exhibited as a trophy, the whole party was killed on October 29, 1885. Hannington was only 38 years old and died by being speared in both sides. Purportedly, his last words to his Busogan captors were, “Go tell your master (King Mwanga) that I have purchased the road to Uganda with my blood.”

We know so much about Hannington’s story because he faithfully kept a daily journal. Upon his death, the Ugandans kept the journal and sold it to a later expedition. And what is the journal entry for October 29, 1885, the day of Hannington’s martydom? He wrote:

I can hear no news, but was held up by the 30th Psalm, which came with great power. A hyena howled near me last night, smelling a sick man. I hope it is not to have me yet.

Later that same day the hyena didn’t get Hannington but the spear did. His “night” of weeping was now finished and the “morning” of his joy had come. As Charles Spurgeon wrote in his commentary, The Treasury of David:

And so, when life with its struggles and toils and sins, bringing us perpetual conflict, ends at last in the fierce struggle of death, then God “giveth his beloved sleep.” They sleep in Jesus, and wake to the joy of a morning which shall know no wane — the morning of joy. The Sun of Righteousness is beaming on them. Light is now on all their ways. And they can only wonder when they recall the despair and darkness, and toil, and violence of their earthly life, and say, as they have often said on earth, “Weeping has endured only for the night, and now it is morning, and joy has come!”

Along the same lines, Harry Ironside wrote in his Studies on the Psalms:

My mother told me that when my dear father was dying he was suffering terribly and a friend of his leaned over him and said, “John, you are suffering terribly, aren’t you?” “Oh,” he said, “I am suffering more that I thought it was possible for any one to and live, but one sight of His blessed face will make up for it all.”

And so whatever we are called upon to endure here, whatever we are called upon to suffer here it is for only a moment, comparatively. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Finally, I love John Phillip’s take on the verse, and it’s his words that I’ll offer as the close to this post. In his Exploring the Psalms, Phillips writes:

It is significant, surely, that God’s day begins with an evening and ends with a morning. Thus all the way through that creation chapter of Genesis we read: “The evening and the morning were the first day…the evening and the morning were the second day…” Right now we are hurrying through the nighttime of our experience. The shadows often are dark and menacing; but the morning comes, and with it a day that will never end! The night through which we are passing is only temporary. When the morning comes there will be no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more sickness, no more separations. “One glimpse of His dear face all sorrows will erase.” Joy cometh in the morning!

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Comfort, Courage, Death, Depression, Disappointment, Encouragement, Eternal Security, Eternity, Heaven, Human Life, Inner Peace, Missions, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Restoration, Reward, Salvation, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When You Know What to Do But Don’t Do It

Posted on January 3, 2026 by russellmckinney

“And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” (Luke 12:47, N.K.J.V.)

It’s one thing when you honestly don’t know what to do about a situation. It’s something else entirely when you know what to do but choose not to do it. That second category is the one to which our text verse applies.

The verse comes on the heels of a parable that Jesus offers about stewardship. In Bible times a steward was a servant who was placed in charge of managing his master’s household goods and distributing provisions to the rest of the servant staff. The main character trait the job required was faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:2). Not only did a steward need to be faithful to his master, he also needed to be faithful in the performance of his duty toward his fellow servants.

In Jesus’ parable a steward’s master goes away for an undetermined amount of time, leaving the steward in charge of the estate. At that point the steward could respond to the assignment in one of two ways. Option 1: He could carry out his duty faithfully. Option 2: He could use his delegated power to turn himself into a little dictator that enriches his own life while making life miserable for his fellow servants.

While the steward gets to choose his course of action, what he doesn’t get to choose are the consequences of his choice. The returning master will see to those. If the steward is found faithful when the master returns the steward will be rewarded handsomely by way of a promotion (verses 43 and 44). But if the steward is not found faithful, he will be punished severely, even to the point of being put to death (verses 45 and 46).

Immediately following the parable Jesus explains that any servant who knows his master’s will but doesn’t do it will be punished. Jesus describes the punishment as involving “stripes” (verse 47). Why is the punishment so harsh? It’s because knowing what you are supposed to do brings major accountability. You see, having a knowledge of God’s will can be dangerous thing if you don’t do that will.

So, let’s say that you are right now in the midst of a difficult situation, and let’s also say that God has revealed to you what He wants you to do about it. My question to you is simply, “Have you done what God told you to do?” If you have then stop stressing out about the situation. Seriously, how you could have done any better than God’s will? For that matter, since God rewards obedience, you should be in line for some kind of a promotion. That is what the parable teaches.

Ah, but what if you haven’t done what God told you to do? Oh, well, now we’re on another subject. If that’s the case my question to you would be, “What’s stopping you from doing what you know to do?” Perhaps it’s fear. Perhaps it’s procrastination. Perhaps it’s outright rebellion. Perhaps it’s something else.

Whatever your reason may be just take this post as a warning that it’s high time that you got God’s job done. Until you do you are a steward who has been handed an important assignment — the doing of God’s will — and you are failing miserably at that assignment. And unfortunately for you, if your disobedience continues there will be some “stripes” in your future. You say, “Russell, are you trying to scare me?” Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do! It’s better that you heed my word of warning and obey God than it is for you to suffer the consequences when your Master inspects your work and finds it lacking.

Posted in Backsliding, Choices, Coming Judgment, Conscience, Conviction, Decisions, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Fear, God's Will, Obedience, Problems, Rebellion, Seeking Advice, Stewardship, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Going Back Home

Posted on January 1, 2026 by russellmckinney

New York’s Bowery Mission was founded in 1879 and still serves today as a rescue mission and men’s shelter. Sam Hadley was once the superintendent there and told a certain story about the place. I’d like to share that story with you right now.

One summer day, on a Wednesday just before noon, Hadley was standing outside the door of the Mission when a teenage boy about seventeen or eighteen years old approached him. The young man asked him, “Mister, do you live here?” Hadley answered, “Yes, son. My name is Hadley. I’m the superintendent of this mission. What do you want?” To Hadley’s surprise, the young man said, “Would you mind getting me a needle and a piece of black thread?”

Curious, Hadley asked, “Why?” to which the young man replied, “I tore my pants on a park bench, and they look bad. Please get me a needle and thread.” Hadley said, “Son, I’ll do better than that. You see those steps? Go upstairs, and my wife will fix them for you.” “No,” said the boy, “I don’t wanna bother her.” “Never mind that,” said Hadley, “you just go upstairs and let her fix them.”

So, the young man did as he was told and not long afterward came back down wearing a mended pair of pants. He looked at Hadley and said, “Mr. Hadley, you’ve sure got a good wife. She fixed these pants so good that I can’t even see where the tear was.” But rather than embrace the compliment, Hadley went straight to the heart of the matter by asking, “Son, how long have you been out of jail?” Flabbergasted, the young man said, “Jail? How did you know I was in jail?” Hadley answered, “The jail smell is on you, son.”

Now the young man was afraid and quickly launched into his defense. “Mister, honest to God, I didn’t do nothing. Honest to God, they locked me up for nothing.” Seeking to calm the young man, Hadley said, “Son, I didn’t say you did anything. What did they lock you up for?” The young man answered, “Night before last, Monday night, I was asleep on a bench in Central Park. A policeman came along, woke me up, and asked me where I was from. I told him. He asked if I had a job. I told him I didn’t. He asked if I had any money. I told him I didn’t. He asked if I had any family in New York. I told him I didn’t. Then he locked me up for vagrancy.”

Hadley kept probing. “And when did they let you out?” “Yesterday morning,” said the young man. Hadley then asked, “Have you had anything to eat?” At that point the young man started crying and said, “Mister, I ain’t begging.” Hadley, still trying to help the young man, replied, “I didn’t say you were. I merely asked if you had had anything to eat lately.” Again, the young man said, “I ain’t begging.” This time, however, Hadley got a little sterner. “Son, get off your high horse. I’m not asking whether or not you are begging. I’m asking if you’ve had anything to eat lately.” Finally, the young man confessed, “I ain’t had a bite to eat since yesterday morning in jail.”

That’s what Hadley had figured and he immediately took the young man into the kitchen and rustled up a bowl of beef stew. That stew didn’t stand a chance as the young man not only wolfed it down but also two subsequent bowls and most of a box of crackers. He couldn’t have been more appreciative as he wiped his mouth and told Hadley, “Well, I guess I had better be going.”

Hadley asked him, “Where are you going?” “I don’t know,” said the teenager, “to look for a job I guess.” Hadley didn’t like the sounds of that and sought to keep the conversation going. “Where are you from?” he asked. “Philadelphia,” answered the young man. “How long have you been in New York?” “Five weeks.” “Then why don’t you go home?” “I can’t.” “Why not?” “I just can’t.” “Well, why can’t you?”

Now the young man started crying again and upped his efforts to leave by standing up from the table. He said, “Mister, I won’t bother you anymore. Thank you for your help.” But Hadley was having none of it. “Sit back down and answer my question,” he said. “Why can’t you go home?” Finally, the teenager came clean. “Well, to be honest with you, my father owns a grocery store, and I stole $10 (a decent sum of money back then) from him. I took that money to the horse track, lost it gambling on a horse, and now I can’t go home.”

Of course, Hadley just couldn’t believe the young man’s father would never want to see his son again because of $10. The young man, however, was quite sure of it. He said, “Sir, you don’t know my father. He would kill me.” Hadley responded, “No, I don’t know your father, but I know fathers. What’s your dad’s name and address?” Reluctantly the young man told him and Hadley wrote down the information. Then he instructed the young man to stay right there until he got back.

Hadley walked over to the nearby Western Union office and wired the young man’s father in Philadelphia. The wire read: “Your son is in my mission — hungry, sorry, heartsick, homesick. Will you let him come home?” Hadley then went back to the mission to talk with the young man some more and await a reply telegram. One o’clock came, but there was no reply. Two o’clock came, still no reply. Three o’clock. Four o’clock. Five o’clock. Six o’clock. Seven o’clock. No reply.

It was almost eight o’clock and the Wednesday night service at the mission was in full swing when a Western Union messenger came in, found Hadley, and handed him a telegram. Hadley signed for it and opened it right there on the spot while standing in the aisle. Then he walked over to where the young man was sitting and asked him to follow him into his office. The teenager obliged and Hadley let him read the telegraph. There were only three words written on it. They were: “COME HOME. FATHER.”

And now I ask you, reader, are you like that troubled runaway? Have you committed some sin or sins terrible enough in your mind to cause you to think that God hates you and never wants to see you again? Have you decided that it’s best if you just get away from Him altogether and never speak to Him again? Well, friend, you’re wrong. Just wrong. All God wants you to do is come home. Now.

If you have never placed your belief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, such belief is your path home. If you have placed your belief in Jesus, but find yourself in a backslidden condition, your path home is confession and repentance of your sins. Either way, the point is that God the Father stands ready to forgive you, accept you, and embrace you in Christ. You see, you don’t have to spiritually limp into the new year the way you have finished up this one. Instead, you can claim the forgiveness offered in Christ and boldly march forward with Him. The choice is yours, but don’t delay. Why choose to be homeless even one more day when God Himself is longing for you to come home and has provided a way in Jesus for you to do so?

Posted in Abortion, Addiction, Adultery, Alcohol, Backsliding, Belief, Brokenness, Change, Children, Confession, Conviction, Disobedience, Family, Fatherhood, Fear, Forgiveness, God's Love, Grace, Guilt, Love, Missions, New Year, Parenting, Problems, Rebellion, Reconciliation, Repentance, Salvation, Seeking Forgiveness, Sin, Youth | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment