Giants in the Bible

Posted on February 19, 2022 by russellmckinney

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with men forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4, N.K.J.V.)

In my previous post, “Who Were the Sons of God?” I explained that the “sons of God” from Genesis 6:1-4 were fallen angels that demon possessed men on earth, married earthly women, and produced children through those women by using the reproductive seed of the men. Certainly that makes for a bizarre interpretation, but it is nevertheless the one that fits the totality of scripture (both the Old Testament and the New Testament). Now, with this post, I want to say some things about the giants that are mentioned in Genesis 6:4.

Unfortunately, even among people who understand “the sons of God” to be fallen angels, there is a tendency to believe that the “giants” of Genesis 6:4 were the offspring of those sexual unions between fallen angels are human women. In point of fact, though, that is not what Genesis 6:4 says. What it says is: “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men.” You see, that word “when” plainly proves that the giants were already on the earth when the forbidden sexual unions took place. That means, of course, that the giants couldn’t have been the result of those unions.

To further make this case, Genesis 6:4 goes out of its way to say that there were giants on the earth afterward. That raises the question: “How could there have been giants on the earth after Genesis 6:1-4 if it takes a sexual union between a fallen angel and a human woman to produce a giant?” Remember, all the giants that were on the earth during the days of Genesis 6:1-4, not to mention all the offspring of those forbidden sexual unions, got wiped out during the flood of Noah. Still, though, giants somehow cropped back up in the human race after the flood.

The Philistine giant Goliath, for example, was nearly ten feet tall (1 Samuel 17:4), and the giant Og, who was the king of Bashan, slept on an iron bed that was over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide (Deuteronomy 3:1-13). Likewise, Deuteronomy 2:9-22, Joshua 11:21-23, 17:14-18, 2 Samuel 21:15-22, and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 all describe the Israelites doing battle with giants. Obviously, it doesn’t take some kind of otherworldy sexual union between a fallen angel and an earthly woman to produce a giant. Actually, the Bible’s record indicates that there were a lot of giants in existence in the days of the Old Testament. For example, the Bible leaves no doubt about the following:

  • The Anakim were a race of giants. (Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 20-21)
  • The Emim were a race of giants. (Deuteronomy 2:10-11)
  • The Zamzummim (or Zuzim, Genesis 14:5) were a race of giants. (Deuteronomy 2:20-21)

The Hebrew word the Old Testament almost always uses for “giants” is rephaim. As evidence of this, the Anakim are referred to as rephaim (Deuteronomy 2:11) as are the Emim (Deuteronomy 2:10-11) and the Zamzummim (Deuteronomy 2:18-22). Similarly, raphah, the singular form of rephaim, is used in reference to individual giants in 2 Samuel 21:15-22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8. While it is possible that rephaim refers to a specific race of giants, it is more likely that the word is merely a general term for “giants” regardless of their race.

Interestingly, however, the Hebrew word that is translated as “giants” in Genesis 6:4 is not rephaim but nephilim. This particular Hebrew word is used in only one other verse in the Old Testament. That verse is Numbers 13:33, and it says the giant race known as the Anakim (“the descendants of Anak”) came from the nephilim.

That is, at least, how the majority of our English translations (the King James Version, the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, the New International Version, etc.) translate the verse. If that translation is accurate, it seems to indicate that the nephilim were the earth’s original race of giants and that all the other giant races (the Anakim, the Emim, the Zamzummim, etc.) sprang from them over the course of time. This assertion makes perfect sense considering that the events of Genesis 6:1-4 happened so early in human history.

The only potential problem with the assertion is the fact that at least one reputable translation, the New American Standard Version, translates Numbers 13:33 to say that the Anakim were part of the nephilim rather than descended from them. If that translation is the correct one, it probably means that the word nephilim is just a general term for “giants” rather than being a reference to a specific race of them.

As for the origins of giants, the Bible doesn’t tell us anything. That leads us to the logical conclusion that Adam and Eve’s d.n.a. somehow produced the giants that were on the earth when the events of Genesis 6:-1-4 took place. Additionally, that same d.n.a. (coursing through Noah and his descendants) produced the giants that were on the earth during the post-flood era. The point is, the giants described in the Bible were not aliens from another planet. Certainly they were genetic freaks, but they were no doubt fully human.

Getting back to Numbers 13:33, that verse is found within the context of the story about Moses sending 12 Israelite spies into Canaan to scout out the land. After spending 40 days in the land, the spies return to Israel’s camp and give their report. Numbers 13:32-33 says:

And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32-33, N.K.J.V.).

If those spies were speaking literally when they said that all the people they saw in Canaan were men of great stature, it means there were other races of giants besides the previously mentioned Anakim, Emim, and Zamzummim (Zuzim). I say that because in Numbers 13:29 those spies report seeing the Amalekites in the south, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites in the mountains, and the Canaanites by the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps, then, those races were giants as well or at least races that included giants. We do know that God Himself said the Amorites had height like the height of the cedars and were as strong as the oaks (Amos 2:9). Furthermore, Og (the giant who slept on that massive iron bed) was the king of Bashan, an Amorite city, and he is described as being the only giant left from the remnant of the giants (Deuteronomy 3:11).

The size of Og’s bed gets us into another question: “Just how big were the giants in the Bible?” That bed’s size is given in cubits, and it was 9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide. If we go with the generally accepted measurement of 18 inches per cubit, the bed was 13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide. That puts Og’s size pretty much on par with Goliath’s whose size is given as “six cubits and a span” (1 Samuel 17:4). Since a span was half a cubit, Goliath was 9’9 tall.

By way of possible contrast, 1 Chronicles 11:23 says that Benaiah, who was one of King David’s greatest soldiers, killed an Egyptian man who was five cubits (7’5 feet) tall. Is it significant that the Bible does not call that Egyptian a “giant” but instead describes him as “a man of great height” (N.K.J.V.)? Actually, the word “great” is even added in by the translators. What the original Hebrew says is that the Egyptian was a man of height. A parallel passage, 2 Samuel 23:21, only calls him “a spectacular man” (N.K.J.V.).

While most people know the story of how David killed Goliath, that story is far from the only one in which a giant is defeated. In Genesis 14:1-12, we find the Bible’s first account of human warfare as an alliance of four kings from the area of the Euphrates river march their armies west into Canaan and are met by five kings from the lower Jordan valley’s region of the Dead Sea. But before that epic battle, the allied armies of those four kings attack and defeat: the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveth Kiriatham, the Horites in the mountain of Seir, the Amorites in Hazezon of Tamar, and the Amalekites (Genesis 14:5-7). As I have already explained, we know for sure that the Rephaim, the Zuzim, and the Emim were races of giants, and the Amorites (at the very least) included giants. Still, though, those allied armies didn’t have any trouble defeating those races.

Likewise, the armies of Israel were able to bring all of those giant races and others under their heels. For example, Joshua 11:21-23 says that Joshua’s army cut off the Anakim from all the mountains of Israel and utterly destroyed them from their cities. The remnant of Anakim that managed to survive were forced to take refuge in three Philistine cities: Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. That explains how the city of Gath, which was Goliath’s hometown (1 Samuel 17:4), came to be home to giants.

Four more Philistine giants are spoken of in 2 Samuel 21:15-22 and its parallel passage 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, but they are all killed by David’s soldiers. As 2 Samuel 21:22 puts it: “These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants” (N.K.J.V.). The Hebrew word translated as “giant” in that verse is rapha, the singular form of rephaim, and the unnamed giant in question was the father of Goliath. We know he was Goliath’s father because 1 Chronicles 20:5 calls one of the slain giants “the brother of Goliath.” Therefore, since all four of the giants were the sons of the same unnamed giant, they all must have been Goliath’s brothers (presumably, Goliath being the oldest). This probably explains why David took five smooth stones rather than one out to face Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40). He must have heard that Goliath had four giant brothers who were also part of the Philistine army.

In closing, let me say that Israel’s multiple victories over multiple giants should give us, as Christians, confidence that God will help us defeat the giants that we face in our lives. Obviously, those giants won’t look like the Rephaim, the Anakim, the Emim, etc., but the challenge they will present to us will be every bit as daunting as the challenge faced by the Israelites. Like the Israelites, many times we will even feel as small as grasshoppers, but what we should always keep in mind is that any giant can be defeated if God decides that it must happen. That, after all, was the great secret that allowed the Israelites to slay all those giants. It was God’s decreed will for the Israelites to conquer that entire land of Canaan, and all those giants were standing in the way of that happening.

So, maybe you have some giant in your life right now, some problem, some impediment, or some circumstance that is just terrorizing you and trying to block you from claiming blessings that God wants you to have. If that describes you, then my advice to you is simple: Ask God to help you defeat that giant and then do all your fighting at His bidding and in His way. The truth is that giants really can be either toppled or put to flight, but it doesn’t happen without God doing His part and you doing your part. Just as it took courage for David to walk out into that valley and face Goliath, it will take courage for you to do battle with your giant. If, however, you are fighting not only in God’s will but also for it, then you can surely win the showdown. How do I know that? I know it because God’s people have been winning showdowns with giants for a long, long time.

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Belief, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Provision, God's Will, God's Work, Leadership, Needs, Prayer, Problems, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Temptation, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Who Were the Sons of God?

Posted on February 17, 2022 by russellmckinney

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with men forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4, N.K.J.V.)

Students of the Bible have long debated the identity of the “sons of God” that are mentioned in this passage. Three possible interpretations have been proposed. Allow me to name all three and then elaborate on the one I believe is the correct one.

Possible Interpretation #1: The “sons of God” could have been the males from the godly line of Seth, Adam’s son. That line is named in Genesis 5:6-32, the verses that lead immediately into Genesis 6:1-4. Seth was Adam and Eve’s son who took the place of the murdered Abel as the couple’s “good” (saved, believing, godly) son, with Cain continuing to play the role of the “bad” (lost, unbelieving, ungodly) son. Therefore, it is possible that Genesis 6:1-4 simply describes some of the godly, male descendants of Seth marrying women from the ungodly line of Cain. Such marriages between believers and unbelievers would have created what the New Testament describes as “unequal yokes” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

While this interpretation does make some sense, there are at least two serious problems with it. First, the Old Testament uses the specific term “sons of God” to refer to angels rather than men (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:1-7). Second, Seth’s line of male descendants weren’t so godly. Remember that in those days only one of Seth’s descendants, Noah, found grace in the eyes of God (Genesis 6:8-9). Consequently, Noah and his immediate family were the only ones who were spared death by way of the great flood. All the rest of Seth’s descendants perished in the flood along with all of Cain’s descendants.

Possible Interpretation #2: The “sons of God” could have been earthly rulers who wanted to build harems of wives for themselves in direct contradiction to God’s one-wife-per-husband plan for marriage. Under this interpretation, these rulers/kings forced themselves upon the beautiful women of the day and claimed them as their own. Of course, the problem with this whole notion is the question of why the Bible would use the term “sons of God” to describe earthly rulers who were very much ungodly.

Possible Interpretation #3: The “sons of God” could have been fallen angels who married beautiful earthly women, had sexual relations with them, and produced offspring through them. This interpretation is certainly the most fascinating of the three, but there are a couple of potential problems with it as well. First, in Matthew 22:30 Jesus says, “In the resurrection, individuals will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” Many believe that quote rules out any type of marriage for any type of angel. Second, excluding Genesis 6:1-4, the Bible provides us with no other evidence that any angel could ever engage in any type of sex, let alone sex that produces offspring.

So, which interpretation is correct? After years of studying this whole debate, I have reached the conclusion that the third interpretation is the correct one. Yes, I believe those “sons of God” were fallen angels who married earthly women, had sex with them, and produced offspring through them. As for how they did that, well, let’s talk about that.

When Jesus said that “angels of God in heaven” do not marry, that doesn’t automatically rule out what fallen angels, who are referred to as the devil’s angels in Matthew 25:41, might do upon the earth. The fact is that fallen angels do a lot of things that unfallen angels don’t do. Therefore, that quote from Jesus shouldn’t be taken to mean that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1-4 can’t be fallen angels.

The greater potential problem with the interpretation is the question of how angels, either fallen or unfallen, could have reproductive seed. Even though it’s true that angels do have the incredible ability to look just like humans (Genesis 18:1-22; 19:1-29; Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 13:2), it doesn’t follow that an angel taking on the appearance of a human male would be endowed with reproductive seed. No, it seems more likely that any case of a fallen angel impregnating an earthly woman would have to be a case of demonic possession wherein the fallen angel enters into the body of a human male and uses that male’s reproductive organs to not only engage in sex but also to produce offspring. (Admittedly, a possible pushback to this idea might be that the New Testament describes multiple cases of demon possession, and yet there is no mention of any of those demons using any of those male bodies to have sex and produce children.)

Actually, though, it is the New Testament itself that provides the conclusive evidence that the “sons of God” from Genesis 6:1-4 really were fallen angels. The proof texts are Jude verses 6-7, 1 Peter 3:19-20, and 2 Peter 2:4. Those passages speak of a certain group of angels “who did not keep their proper domain” but instead “left their own abode” (Jude 6, N.K.J.V.). These angels God has “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6, N.K.J.V.). They are “spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:19-20, N.K.J.V.). God “did not spare” these angels “who sinned” (2 Peter 2:4, N.K.J.V.). Instead, He “cast them down to hell” (the Greek word Tartarus, the bottomless pit, the abyss, the deep) and “delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4, N.K.J.V.)

It’s here that I’ll remind you that the Bible does not teach that Satan and the other rebellious angels were chained up in some hellish prison when they fell from heaven. To the contrary, they are now free to roam the earth (Job 1:6-7; 2:1-2; Ephesians 6:10-12; 1 Peter 5:8; etc.). This explains why Jesus had to cast so many demons (fallen angels) out of people during His time on earth. But what do we do then with those angels whom the Bible says are chained up in the darkness of Tartarus (the bottomless pit, the abyss, the deep) awaiting their final judgment? The only possible passage that sheds any light on that situation is Genesis 6:1-4. You see, those angels must have been the “sons of God” from that story. They once had access to the earth just like their fellow fallen angels, used that access to commit the atrocity described in the passage, and were punished by God by being imprisoned in Tartarus. To add even greater strength to this interpretation, 1 Peter 3:19-20 even says these “spirits” (angels) were disobedient “in the days of Noah.”

Furthermore, after Jude verse 6 says these angels “did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode” (N.K.J.V.), the very next verse, Jude verse 7, says the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the cities around them, “in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (N.K.J.V.). Jude’s point is that verse 6’s angels and verse 7’s citizens of the named cities all committed “sexual immorality” by going after “strange flesh.” Whereas the citizens’ pursuit of “strange flesh” involved the sexual sin of homosexuality (Genesis 19:1-29), the angels’ pursuit of it involved the sexual sin of fallen angels having sex with human women. Jude’s comparison of these two events just can’t be understood to mean anything else.

But now let’s ask the question, “Do “the sons of God” ever get out of their Tartarus imprisonment and get to roam the earth again? Yes, they do. Revelation 9:1-12 describes a time in the coming tribulation period when a group of fallen angels (demons), symbolized as locusts, will be unleashed from Tartarus (the bottomless pit, the abyss, the deep). These fallen angels have a king over them who is called “the angel of the bottomless pit” (9:11). That angel must be the leader of the group, and the group must be “the sons of God” from Genesis 6:1-4. Once freed from their imprisonment in Tartarus, these fallen angels will spread over all the earth and torment the world’s inhabitants for five months (9:4-5). They won’t be allowed to kill anyone, but the physical pain they will inflict will be akin to that caused by the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a person (9:5). This pain will be so intense that the afflicted will desire to die (9:6). In an ironic twist, though, death will flee from them.

Continuing on now with the prophetic storyline, at the close of the tribulation period, when Jesus returns to walk the earth again and establish His 1,000 year reign upon it, these “sons of God” will be imprisoned again in Tartarus (the bottomless pit, the abyss, the deep). This time, however, they will be joined by Satan himself as well as all the other fallen angels. There in that pit every last fallen angel will spend the 1,000 years of Christ’s earthly reign. This imprisoning is spoken of in Revelation 20:1-3 as well as Isaiah 24:21-22. In Isaiah 24:21, the term “the host of exalted ones” refers to fallen angels just as the term “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” refers to them in Ephesians 6:12.

By the way, it is worth mentioning that Satan and all the other fallen angels know that their thousand years of imprisonment in Tartarus (the bottomless pit, the abyss, the deep) is coming one day. This explains why a group of demons (fallen angels) once asked Jesus, “Have You come to torment us before the time?” and begged Him not to cast them into the abyss (the deep) (Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-30). The “time” they had in mind was the time of their Tartarus imprisonment during the thousand years of Christ’s earthly reign.

The good news is that in the final end, when all the pages of God’s prophetic calendar have been turned, the “sons of God” from Genesis 6:1-4 will spend eternity in another hellish place, the eternal lake of fire that goes by the Greek name Gehenna. As Jesus says in Matthew 25:41, this “everlasting fire” has been prepared for the devil and his angels. And the Bible is clear about how they will get there. At the conclusion of the thousand years of Christ’s earthly reign, Satan and all the other fallen angels will be released from Tartarus and allowed to once again walk the earth (Revelation 20:7). True to form, they will mount one final rebellion against Jesus (Revelation 20:8). But that rebellion will be quickly squashed (Revelation 20:9), and every fallen angel will then be eternally banished to Gehenna (the lake of fire) where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10).

So there you have it. Gehenna, the eternal lake of fire, will be the final stop on the long, long journey for the “sons of God.” They started out in heaven, rebelled there by aligning themselves with Satan, fell to the earth with him, rebelled again on earth by entering into human males and marrying human women, were imprisoned in Tartarus for thousands of years for that deed (that’s where they are right now), will get released from Tartarus for a time during the tribulation period, will be imprisoned in Tartarus again for the 1,000 years of Christ’s earthly reign, will be released from Tartarus yet again for a brief time following Christ’s earthly reign, will join Satan in yet another rebellion, and will ultimately and eternally wind up sentenced with him as well as all their fellow fallen angels in Gehenna (the lake of fire). That’s what you call a long, sordid road of history, isn’t it? We might think of “the sons of God” as being the worst of Satan’s worst, the most rebellious of the rebel angels, but in the end their rebellion will only land them eternally in a place of fiery torment. For the record, that’s the same place where all true rebels will spend eternity, whether they be rebel angels or rebel people who foolishly refused to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and thereby get saved.

Posted in Angels, Bible Study, Eternity, Hell, Prophecy, Rebellion, Satan, The Devil | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Strength for All Your Days

Posted on February 14, 2022 by russellmckinney

…As your days, so shall your strength be. (Deuteronomy 33:25, N.K.J.V.)

A man retired at the age of 65 and set himself to doing the “bucket list” of things he wanted to get done before the end of his life. At the top of that list was learning to play the trombone. He had begun learning the instrument for band back when he was in high school but had quit the class. He’d always regretted that and wanted to right that wrong.

After locating a music teacher in his town, he called the fellow and asked, “Can you teach me to play the trombone?” The teacher replied, “Yes, I can.” The retiree said, “And how fast can I learn to play it?” The teacher answered, “I can teach anybody to play any instrument in five years.” “Five years?!,” moaned the retiree, “I’ll be 70 years old by the time I can play.” To that, the music teacher asked, “Well, how old will you be in five years if you don’t learn to play the trombone?”

If you live another five years, what will you have on your life’s resume that you don’t have now? Putting it another way, if you are going to live five more years anyway, how will you fill those years? You can fill them with worldly things or spiritual things, frivolous things or meaningful things, things not in God’s will or things in God’s will. The choice is yours.

As for you having the physical, mental, and spiritual strength to accomplish what God wants you to accomplish, rest assured that He’ll take care of His end of that. Just as Moses once pronounced the prophetic blessing — “As your days, so shall your strength be” — upon Israel’s tribe of Asher, God will see to it that you’ll have the strength to accomplish every last item on the “bucket list” that He has in mind for your closing years on earth. Even if one of those items is no more than you sitting in a hospital bed or a nursing home and faithfully serving as a prayer warrior right up until your last breath, God will give you the strength to pray every prayer that He wants you to pray.

Of course, none of us is guaranteed even one more day. That’s why James 4:14 says that life is like a vapor, and Proverbs 27:1 tells us, “Do not boast about tomorrow.” Therefore, we mustn’t be like the rich man in Christ’s parable, the man of whom God said, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke 12:20). Still, though, with the reality of our mortality always being in the back of our minds, we aren’t wrong to set our goals and make our plans as long as we do it all in obedience to God’s will.

In closing, aren’t you glad that Moses didn’t say to the tribe of Asher, “As your strength is, so shall your days be”? Some days we just don’t have much physical, mental, or spiritual strength, do we? But Moses worded the promise exactly the way that God wanted him to word it. You see, this is God’s way of assuring each of us, “If you walk with Me, seek My will, and serve Me all the days of your life, I’ll grant you strength for the days that I have appointed you to live.” Those days (in case you haven’t heard) have already been predetermined by Him. As Job once said about man, his days are determined, the number of his months are with God, and God has appointed his limits so that he cannot live longer than God means for him to live (Job 14:5). So, don’t fixate on adding days to your life. Instead, fixate on adding life, the life that God wants you to live, to your days. That way, you’ll be sure to get just the right “bucket list” accomplished before you go to meet Him face to face.

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Comfort, Death, Desires, Doing Good, Elderly, Encouragement, Faithfulness, God's Love, God's Provision, God's Will, God's Work, Human Life, Individuality, Ministry, Priorities, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents, Work, Worry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s Got You Afraid?

Posted on February 9, 2022 by russellmckinney

A boy took a shortcut across a certain field after dark. He was leery about the trip because his mother had warned him not to try to cross that field in the darkness. But on this occasion he was so late for supper that he decided to ignore her advice and take the chance.

When the boy got about halfway across the field, the wind picked up, the leaf-barren trees started making creaking noises, and the boy became frightened. Instinctively, he accelerated his walking pace. That’s when he started hearing footsteps behind him.

He stopped in his tracks but was way too scared to turn around. He noticed, though, that when he stopped, the footsteps stopped. As he stood there, he thought, “I’m just being silly. There’s no one behind me. My mind is playing tricks on me.” Then he resumed walking. But as soon as he did, he heard the footsteps again. He sped up his walk, but the footsteps matched him. Then he broke into a full run, but so did they.

Finally, when the boy reached exhaustion, he quit running and turned around to meet his gruesome fate. To his surprise, there was no one there. As he stood there trying to figure out what was happening to him, he hit upon a new plan. He started up again with a brisk walk, but this time he kept his head turned around so that he could see behind him. Sure enough, when he started walking, the footsteps did too. As before, though, there was no one there.

The boy kept walking and looking back for several yards until suddenly the truth dawned upon him. The “footsteps” he was hearing were coming from his corduroy pants as the material rubbed back and forth between his legs as he moved. So, basically, it was corduroy that had him scared him to death.

There are many things in life that are genuinely scary, and I’m not for one second trying to minimize their threat. However, I think we can all agree that a lot of things that scare us amount to little more than corduroy once the dust settles. We Christians mustn’t forget that Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:18-20) and to guide us as our good shepherd (Psalm 23; John 10:11-18). Those promises stand good for trips across darkened fields as well as all sorts of other situations. So, Christian, let me encourage you to take the fear that you are experiencing right now and turn it over to Jesus. When you do, you might just realize that what’s had you scared amounts to little more than corduroy.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Courage, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Sovereignty, Inner Peace, Problems, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Posted on February 7, 2022 by russellmckinney

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ… (Philippians 1:27, N.K.J.V.)

A man was sitting in his car at a red light one morning. When the light changed to green, the woman driving the car in front of him didn’t immediately start going. She was texting on her cell phone and didn’t notice the light change. Unfortunately, the light was a quick changing one that shot through yellow and turned to red again without her moving. This incensed the man, and he started yelling curse words at the woman and beating on his horn in disgust.

What he didn’t know was that a police officer, in an unmarked car, was sitting in the car behind him. The officer turned on his siren and lights, got out of his car, pulled out his gun, and carefully approached the man’s car. When the officer tapped on the driver-side window, the man said, “Hey, wait a minute, you can’t arrest me for yelling in my car and blowing my horn.” To that, the police officer had him step out of the car. Then the officer put handcuffs on the man, placed him in the back seat of the police car, called for the man’s car to be towed, and took him to the police station.

After the man had spent an hour in a holding cell, the arresting officer came in and said, “You’re free to go.” The man angrily replied, “I knew that you couldn’t arrest me for yelling in my own car and blowing the horn. I’m warning you, you haven’t heard the last of this.” In reply, the officer said, “I didn’t arrest you for shouting in your car. When I saw you screaming and laying down on your horn, I said to myself, ‘What sorry behavior.’ But there was nothing I could do about a man throwing a fit in his own car. That’s when I noticed the cross hanging from your rearview mirror and your “Jesus Is Coming Soon” bumper sticker and assumed that you must have stolen the car!”

Okay, okay, I’ll admit this story didn’t actually happen. Obviously, the officer would have asked for the guy’s driver’s license, ran the identification and license tag number through the in-car computer, and not arrested him. Still, though, the story makes a valid point. Christian, in little situations that crop up every day and night out there in the real world, is your conduct always worthy of the gospel of Christ? You see, you should be careful giving a little chuckle to this story about the irate driver because it just could be that you will need to heed its lesson sometime in the very near future!

Posted in Anger, Character, Complaining, Criticism, Discipleship, Doing Good, Holiness, Humor, Impatience, Influence, Patience, Personal Holiness, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keep Playing

Posted on February 4, 2022 by russellmckinney

In Galatians 6:9, the apostle Paul says to the Christians of Galatia, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (N.K.J.V.). At the risk of sounding like a preacher, let me point out this verse easily divides into three alliterated parts.

Part #1 is the command: Let us not grow weary while doing good. It is so easy for the Christian to grow tired of doing right in a world filled with so much wrong. He pours himself into people who inevitably disappoint him. He supports just causes that ultimately fail. He speaks truth only to have it drowned out by a din of lies. He questions whether he is making a difference at all. Nevertheless, he must keep at it. Even when he can no longer see the point or use of it all, he must not grow weary while doing good. This is the divine command.

Part #2 is the compensation: In due season we shall reap. Even though the harvest may linger, it is surely coming. It merely awaits the due season. The great scorekeeper of the universe is on the job, and He will see to it that the doing of good is rewarded handsomely. It’s wrong for the Christian to be motivated to service by the expectation of gain, but it’s perfectly acceptable when God Himself is the One promising the gain. This is the compensation for a job well done.     

Part #3 is the condition: We will only reap if we do not lose heart. The farmer who sows his seed but stops caring for the crop after only a few weeks needn’t expect a harvest. Likewise, the Christian who loses heart in doing good will not get to enjoy the harvesting of the due season. The problem with a loss of heart is that it leads to a lessening of doing good. Doing good is hard enough when one’s heart is in it, let alone when there isn’t a heart for it. Therefore, the Christian must see to it that he doesn’t lose heart while awaiting his promised compensation. This is the condition for reaping his harvest.

A mother, hoping to encourage her young son to continue his piano lessons, bought tickets for a performance by Ignacy Paderewski, the Polish master. After arriving at the concert hall, the woman began talking to a friend and lost track of the boy. When eight o’clock arrived, the spotlights came on and only then did she notice that he had climbed onto the stage and was sitting on the bench of Paderewski’s piano. Then, to her horror, the little fellow started to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Before the mother could retrieve the boy, Paderewski walked on stage, got behind the little fellow, and whispered, “Don’t quit – keep playing.” Paderewski then reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. He followed that by reaching down with his right hand and adding a running obbligato. Together, Paderewski and his young apprentice played the grandest version of a children’s song the audience had ever heard.

Christian, think of yourself as that boy and the Lord as Ignacy Paderewski. To you, your efforts at doing good seem as if you are only playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” But you aren’t hearing the fill-in parts that God is playing. Just as Jesus took a boy’s small lunch and fed 5,000 men (John 6:1-14), He will take your efforts and multiply them beyond your wildest dreams. Remember this the next time you feel a tinge of weariness while doing good. Just keep telling yourself, “It’s too soon to quit because my due season is just over the horizon, and God has promised I will reap. All I’ve got to do is keep playing.”

Posted in Adversity, Backsliding, Comfort, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Doing Good, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Work, Impatience, Influence, Ministry, Obedience, Patience, Perseverance, Problems, Reward, Service, Sowing and Reaping, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Temptation, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Making Excuses for Your Sins

Posted on February 2, 2022 by russellmckinney

Four old codgers were playing poker for money in the back of their local store. Suddenly, the sheriff walked in on them and said, “Gambling again, eh? This time I’m going to arrest you fellows just to teach you a lesson.”

That’s when the excuses started flying. One of the men said, “I wasn’t playing sheriff; I just dropped in to talk.” Another one said, “I wasn’t playing either, Sheriff; I was just visiting.” A third said, “I just came in to warm up by the stove.”

The fourth man sat quietly as all this went on and continued to hold his cards. He never once took his eyes off them. The sheriff looked at him and said with a smile, “Well, you certainly can’t deny that you’ve been playing cards.” The old man, still not looking up from his cards, answered that by saying in his slow drawl, “Now, Sheriff, who would I have been playing with?”

Oh, the excuses we make for our sins! We blame everyone from our parents to the government, when all the while the heart of the problem lies with us. Please understand that I’m not minimizing any sins that have been committed by your parents or your government, but also understand that there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your own sins. Face it, you have about as much of God as you want in your life.

You probably know Christ’s most famous parable, the one about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). But do you know the verse that marks the turning point of that story? It’s Luke 15:17, which says of the son:

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’” (N.K.J.V.)

Be sure not to miss those all important words: But when he came to himself. You see, the prodigal’s life didn’t change for the better until he conducted a personal evaluation and was sufficiently shocked by what he found. And notice that Jesus didn’t say that the young man came to a revelation about how his parents had raised him, or one about how others had done him wrong, or one about the ills of his society. No, he came to a revelation about himself. He thought, “I brought myself to this lowly state.”

I don’t know your life, but perhaps you, like the prodigal, need to come to yourself. Maybe you need to stop blaming others for your troubles and start admitting to your own role in creating your mess. Remember, excuses will only keep the status quo in tact and prevent you from returning to the blessings of the father’s house. (I could also say a lot here about the importance of confession and repentance, but I’ll leave that for another time.) Right now the first order of business is to get you to realize that you are the problem. Until that happens, you’ll never be ready for the next step.

Posted in Addiction, Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Change, Disobedience, Drugs, Gambling, Gluttony, Lust, Lying, Obedience, Personal Holiness, Problems, Racism, Rebellion, Repentance, Sanctification, Sex, Sin, The Tongue, Worry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Lord, Send Us Rattlesnakes”

Posted on January 28, 2022 by russellmckinney

Once upon a time there was a family of backslidden church members. The family consisted of a father and three sons. They had all once been very active in church but lately had fallen away completely.

Many people visited the family and asked them to come back to church. That list of visitors included not only the pastor but also the deacons. Unfortunately, however, all the visiting, counseling, encouraging, and rebuking produced no effect upon either the father or any of the three sons.

One day when the sons were working in the field, a big rattlesnake raised up and bit the middle son. The boy became very sick, and the doctor was called. The doctor did what he could, but the prognosis was not good. He said, “About all we can do now is pray for this young man.”

Those words sent the father into enough of a panic to call the pastor. The pastor immediately went out to the home and was informed of the desperate situation. The father said, “Please, pastor, we need you to pray.” The pastor said, “Very well” and then started his prayer.

He prayed, “Oh wise and all-knowing Father, we thank thee for Thou hast sent this rattlesnake to bite this young man in order to bring him to his senses. He has not been inside the church house for a long time now, and it is doubtful that he has in all that time felt the need for prayer. Now we trust that this will prove a valuable lesson to him and that it will lead to genuine repentance.”

As the father and the other two sons listened to the pastor’s prayer, they were surprised by the bluntness of it. What they didn’t know was that the pastor was about to get even more blunt. He continued praying, saying, “And now, Father, wilt thou send another snake to bite the older son, another to bite the younger son, and another BIG ONE to bite this father. For we have all been doing everything we know for some time now to restore them to the fellowship of the church, but it’s been to no avail. It seems, therefore, that all of our combined efforts could not do what this snake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing left that will do this family any good is rattlesnakes. So, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes! In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”

People often ask, “Why does God allow His people to suffer?” Well, sometimes He does it as a form of chastisement. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” Likewise, Hebrews 12:8 says that if we are without chastisement, we are not true children of God.

No loving, right-thinking parent enjoys disciplining a child. We’d much rather see our kids display obedience. But the plain truth is, sometimes kids disobey, and that disobedience must bring painful consequences. If it doesn’t, what’s the incentive for obedience? God understands this better than we do, and that’s why He is in the business of disciplining His children.

Tell me, are you at a loss as to how to pray for a wayward Christian? Is there someone close to you who is legitimately saved but just as legitimately backslidden? If you have such a person in your life, do you love them enough to pray for God to send some “rattlesnake” to afflict them? Obviously, we’re talking about the final card in the deck here, a “last straw” request, tough love administered to a sizable degree. Nevertheless, such chastisement is necessary in extreme cases. You see, as unsettling as it is for us to contemplate, sometimes it takes a “rattlesnake” to get a person’s attention and bring them back to God

Posted in Adversity, Backsliding, Church Attendance, Discipline, Disobedience, Obedience, Parenting, Personal Holiness, Prayer Requests, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Through Many Tribulations

Posted on January 26, 2022 by russellmckinney

…”We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22, N.K.J.V.)

David Livingstone was born in Scotland to poor parents. The family was so poor that he went to work in a cotton factory when he was only ten years old. Despite his poverty he managed to get an education and eventually become a doctor.

At that point, Livingstone could have gone into practice in Scotland and made an easy life for himself. But that’s not what he did. He chose, instead, to go to Africa and become a preacher/doctor.

Livingstone’s work took him deep into the heart of Africa, to places where no white man had ever been. He poured his life into the people of that continent, and in so doing became a living legend among missionaries. Even though he died penniless, he was honored by being buried in London’s famous Westminster Abbey.

A missionary society in West Africa once wrote to Livingstone and asked, “Have you found a good road to where you are? If not, we want to know how to send other men to join you.” Livingstone wrote back, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘other’ men joining me when none have come as yet. If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come even if there is no road.”

Christian, the tasks that are set before us in this life aren’t always easy. As a matter of fact, some of them can be downright brutal. And the Bible makes no apologies for this. As our text verse says, we must enter the kingdom of God “through many tribulations.” Please understand, though, that it’s not the tribulations that save us or merit our entrance into the kingdom. No, our salvation and kingdom citizenship rest solely upon our belief in Christ as Savior. The point is that we Christians needn’t expect easy lives just because we are God’s people. Sure, we’ll all make it into heaven in the end, but the road that takes us there will be marked by many tribulations.

Oh, and did you notice that the word used is “many”? That means the tribulations will be numerous and will come in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. For example, the famous preacher J. Wilber Chapman said that heaven was never so near to him as on the night when his firstborn child lay dead.

So, Christian, do you have some situation in your life right now that you would classify as a tribulation? Are you having to endure something that isn’t pleasant? Are you having to live with a circumstance that is very trying? Well, take heart in two things. First, your experience makes you normal. When the Bible says that we must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations, you aren’t the exception. Second, never forget that you are headed to a better place. Rather than just going around in some sadistic circle, you are on your way to heaven.

There was a Christian woman who grumbled all the time about her life. Her prayers were dominated by complaints and her thoughts were consumed by exaggerated ideas of how bad her situation was. Whenever someone asked her how she was doing, they soon regretted asking when she started whining about all her problems.

One night this woman dreamed that she went to heaven and met Jesus. But when she saw Him, she didn’t fall down before Him in praise, adoration, and worship. Instead, she said, “Jesus, I’m so glad to get this chance to talk to You face to face. I just want You to know that my cross is too big for me to bear.”

To that, Jesus asked, “Would you like to trade it for another one?” “Yes,” the woman answered excitedly, “I’d like that very much!” Jesus then took her to a special room in heaven and said, “This is the room for crosses. You look around in here until you find one you like.”

In her looking around, the woman saw tall crosses, heavy crosses, ugly crosses, and twisted crosses. In her estimation, though, all of them looked too difficult for her to carry. Finally, she found a small, easy-looking cross sitting all by itself in a corner of the room. She said, “That’s it, Jesus, I’ll take that one right there. That’s a cross I can bear.” Jesus said, “You’re right, it is; that’s the one you brought in.”

Posted in Adversity, Complaining, Contentment, Disappointment, Human Life, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Sickness, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Thankfulness, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Water Lines & Old Paths

Posted on January 24, 2022 by russellmckinney

You don’t have to be a nautical expert to know that boats must be as solid below the water line as they are above it. A boat that looks good above the water line but is rotten below it will eventually sink. Well, the same kind of thing holds true for Christians. Those who have a fellowship with Christ that looks good on a surface level, but who are rotting away spiritually on the inside, are in trouble. Eventually, they will sink into the murky depths of life.

So how can you, as a Christian, ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen to you? The answer is simple: You must do that which is necessary to keep your fellowship with Christ strong. And how do you accomplish this? You do it by way of such things as: daily prayer, daily Bible study, weekly church attendance, cheerful giving, frequent witnessing, and regular confession and repentance. I know, I know, these things have been promoted so much they have become virtual cliches of Christianity. But they’ve been promoted so much because they work!

In Jeremiah 6:16, the prophet Jeremiah says to the people of Judah:

Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls…” (N.K.J.V.)

By encouraging the people to ask for the old paths, God was telling them, “The things I’ve had you do before will still work and keep you in right fellowship with Me.” To those Jews, that meant keeping the moral specifics of the Mosaic law, bringing their sacrifices to the temple as acts of worship, offering up their prayers to God, confessing their sins and repenting of them, and looking to God for their guidance and protection. Sadly, though, those people would have none of it. Jeremiah 6:16 ends with the mournful words:

“…But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (N.K.J.V.)

Now, I do realize that the “old paths” for the Christian today aren’t the same as the ones the Old Testament Jews were to walk. However, the basic template is still the same: adherence to God’s word, worship, prayer, confession, repentance, and seeking God’s guidance and protection. The spiritual boat of the Christian whose life evidences these things will have no rot about it and will be very much worthy of sailing the seas of life. Even when those seas get stormy and dangerous, the Christian who is walking in God’s old paths won’t sink. How can he when he has the Lord Himself as his captain?

Posted in Adversity, Backsliding, Bible Study, Church Attendance, Commitment, Confession, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, Giving, Obedience, Perseverance, Prayer, Priorities, Repentance, Righteousness, Sanctification, Scripture, Service, Sin, Stewardship, The Bible, Trusting In God, Witnessing, Worry, Worship | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment