The Man Behind the Curtain

Posted on January 6, 2021 by russellmckinney

Those of us who grew up watching The Wizard of Oz on television once a year know all about “the man behind the curtain.” Unfortunately, since that movie came out in 1939, younger generations simply don’t get the reference because they’ve never seen the movie. It’s like old preachers saying, “God would have to send me a telegram to get me to pastor that church.” Nowadays, we have to say something more like, “God would have to personally message me on Facebook to get me to pastor that church.”

For those of you who don’t know what “the man behind the curtain” reference means, let me explain. Young Dorothy and her dog Toto are inside Dorothy’s farmhouse in Kansas when the house is picked up by a tornado and carried away to the strange land of Oz. Once there, it lands on the wicked Witch of the East, killing her in the process. Magically, the witch’s ruby slippers are removed from her feet and transported onto Dorothy’s feet. Dorothy is then instructed by Glinda, the good Witch of the North, to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and ask to see the all-powerful Wizard of Oz because he is the one who can help Dorothy get back home to Kansas.

What follows is Dorothy’s journey to the Emerald City. Along the way, she is joined at periodic intervals by the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion as each new member of the traveling party wants the Wizard of Oz to grant him something. The Scarecrow wants the Wizard to give him brains, the Tinman wants the Wizard to give him a heart, and the Lion wants the Wizard to give him courage. The only problem is that the wicked Witch of the West torments them along the way because she wants those magic slippers her sister, the wicked Witch of the East, once wore.

When Dorothy and her three companions finally reach the Emerald City and stand before The Wizard of Oz, he tells them that no wishes will be granted until they bring him the broomstick of the wicked Witch of the West. The foursome then travel to the witch’s land and end up in her castle. It’s there that Dorothy, after the witch has set fire to the Scarecrow, throws water onto the fire and in so doing accidently douses the witch. As luck would have it, water is the one thing that can kill the witch, and so she slowly melts away and becomes a puddle.

With the witch’s broomstick in hand, Dorothy and her three friends return to the Emerald City and come before The Wizard of Oz again. The Wizard, however, speaks to them roughly and refuses to grant their wishes. But as The Wizard’s voice booms out and his head is surrounded by various kinds of special effects, Dorothy’s dog Toto runs over to a curtain off to the side and pulls it back with his teeth. There, behind the curtain, is a little old man who is speaking into a microphone and operating what amounts to a 1939 version of a computer. The all-powerful Wizard of Oz, as it turns out, is just a simple man who had landed in Oz years earlier by way of a balloon and had used his technical abilities to create a large screen onto which he projected the head and voice of an intimidating Wizard. Thus, the phrase “the man behind the curtain” came to popularly refer to the true power behind the throne, the unseen person who pulls all the pulleys and levers and makes the Wizard what he is.

Here, now, is how all of this applies to us today. As we watch our nation and our world plunge further and further away from God and His written word, we need to realize that the true man behind the curtain who is orchestrating the downgrade is Satan. And as Bible proof of that, I’ll offer a lengthy list of passages as the close to this post. Please don’t click away or swipe away before you thoroughly read each passage and comprehend what it is saying. By doing this, you’ll gain a proper understanding of just how much control Satan has over this world and the people who occupy it. Here now are the passages (all from the N.K.J.V., boldfaced emphasis mine):

  • Job 1:7; 2:3: And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
  • Luke 13:16: “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
  • John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
  • John 12:31: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
  • John 14:30: “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
  • 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
  • Ephesians 2:1-2: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
  • Ephesians 6:11-12: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
  • 1 Thessalonians 2:18: Therefore we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and time again — but Satan hindered us.
  • 1 Peter 5:8: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
  • 1 John 5:19: We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
  • Revelation 12:9: So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Posted in Angels, Current Events, Demons, Satan, Spiritual Warfare | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Amen, and a Woman”

Posted on January 4, 2021 by russellmckinney

Normally, I avoid writing about the sordid world of politics. If I write anything about a “political” issue, it is only to point out what the Bible teaches about that issue. Those who know me best know that I don’t have confidence in any political party. I do vote, but that’s about as far as I delve into politics. Putting it bluntly, the day this blog becomes a political site is the day I’ll stop writing it.

While that said, I would like to devote a post to something I read today, something that comes out of the political realm. It seems that United States Representative Emanuel Cleaver recently delivered the opening prayer for the 117th United States Congress and closed his prayer by saying, “…amen, and a woman.” I don’t know if Cleaver was trying to be cute or simply bizarrely politically correct, but whatever his motives were, his words were at best sophomoric and at worst blasphemous.

For the record, the word “amen” is a Bible word. When you read it in either the Old Testament or the New Testament, what you are reading is a Hebrew word that has been left untranslated. Translators call an untranslated word that gets jammed straight into another language a transliteration as opposed to a translation. The point is, the word “amen” is one Hebrew word that we all know.

As for what the word literally means, that depends upon who is using it in scripture. When a human being uses it, it means “so be it.” That definition comes from Numbers 5:22, where we find the Bible’s first mention of the word. There, God says, “…Then the woman shall say, ‘Amen, so be it.'”

On the other hand, when God Himself uses the word, it means something along the lines of “it is and shall be so.” For example, the familiar K.J.V. word “Verily” that begins so many of Jesus’ teachings — “Verily, I say unto thee…” — is none other than an English translation of amen. You see, in those instances the translators did actually take the time to translate amen rather than just let it stand untranslated. Of course, modern translations abandon the obscure translation “Verily” and instead go with “For assuredly, “For I assure you,” “For truly,” or “I tell you the truth.” In all of these translations, you can hear that amen, when used by God, indicates truthfulness, trustworthiness, sureness, and reliability. It’s no wonder that Jesus actually called Himself, “the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness” (Revelation 3:14).

But now let’s get back to Emanuel Cleaver, the Democrat who represents Missouri’s 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Why did he close his opening prayer in Congress by uttering the words, “amen, and a woman”? Doesn’t he know that “amen” has absolutely nothing to do with gender? Doesn’t he know what the word literally means?

Well, if he doesn’t, he should. I say that because Mr. Cleaver also just happens to be an ordained United Methodist pastor who received a Master of Divinity degree from St. Paul School of Theology and served as the pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1972 until 2009. Considering this background, my guess is that, yes, he knows what amen means, and, yes, he knows the word has nothing to do with gender. If this is an accurate take on the man, he obviously chose to use the revered word in a very irreverent way by hijacking its spiritual aspect in an attempt to add weight to or draw attention to his secular beliefs.

Mind you that Representative Cleaver’s prayer came on the heels of a proposal by Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to eliminate the use of gender-specific terms such as “father,” “mother,” “son,” “daughter,” “brother,” “sister,” “uncle,” and “aunt” in reference to the family members of the Representatives. Instead, Pelosi proposes that the House use gender-neutral terms such as “parent,” “child, “sibling,” and “parent’s sibling.” This means that if I ever get elected to the House of Representatives, I’ll have to start calling my mother “my parent” and my brother “my sibling” if I want to keep up with all the political correctness run amuck. There went my chances for getting elected.

All of this recent news makes me want to join in with the apostle John in exclaiming, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20, N.K.J.V.). Just before John says that in that verse, Jesus says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” And how does John respond to that statement from Jesus? He says, of all things, “Amen.” How’s that for a poetic coincidence?

I guess that John still thought “amen” meant “so be it,” and it never dawned on him that it could be used to advance a political agenda. All I can say is that if Representative Cleaver’s recent prayer and House Speaker Pelosi’s recent proposal are any indication of where America is as a nation, we are doomed. As God promises in Psalm 9:17, any nation that forgets Him will be turned into “hell” (Sheol, the grave, the realm of the dead). That, ladies and gentlemen, is the destiny toward which America is hurtling at breakneck speed, and if we don’t change our course and return to God, all of the silly word games we are playing with prayer and gender language won’t help us one bit.

Posted in Christ's Return, Current Events, Personal, Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Year-End Report (2020)

Posted on January 1, 2021 by russellmckinney

The year 2020 will historically be known as the year Covid-19 altered life on planet Earth. Schools have been forced to either go all online or at the very least offer a mix of in-class and online learning. Many businesses have been forced to close or at least operate at lowered capacity. Many churches have been forced to do the same. And what about those masks? Most of us now have a collection of them, some fashionable, some not so much.

During such a year we Americans should have been able to rely on our government to guide us through the confusing times and get help (medical, financial, or both) to whoever needed help. But our political leaders (men and women from both parties) have become so dysfunctional that they can’t effectively do the jobs they were elected to do. Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride of a year, and it’s not like 2021 is starting out particularly calm.

With God’s help, though, in the midst of all the chaos of 2020, The Disciples Road blog had a wonderful year across the board. The numbers were up substantially as 2019’s 45,082 views turned into 2020’s 68,970 views and the visitors to the site jumped from 27,283 to 42,927. For that I humbly thank each and every one of you that helped make that increase happen.

As evidence that the site is catching on with even more people, the year’s last four months registered the most views: 7,733, 7,258, 7,449, and 7,765. That translates to average views per day of: 258, 234, 248, and 250. By way of comparison, the average daily views for the first four months of the year were: 159, 140, 128, and and 143. I’m sure that Roan Mountain Baptist Church beginning our weekly radio broadcast in the cities of Omaha, Neb., Richmond, Va., York, Pa, and Greenville, S.C. was the primary cause for that late-year jump, but it’s still good to know that new people are finding the blog.

Now let’s get to the list of the most viewed posts. As was the case last year, The 10 Times Israel Tested God claimed the top spot for the year. The runner-up spot stayed the same as well, with What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will again coming in second. Beyond those two, there was quite a bit of movement in the charts. (I sound like Casey Kasem, don’t I? And if you know who he was, you are really old.) Anyway, here is the list of the top 10 views for the year, and I’ll throw in where each one was ranked last year:

  • #1: The 10 Times Israel Tested God (6,244 views) (#1 last year)
  • #2: What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will (3,585 views) (#2 last year)
  • #3: What Satan Did to Peter: Sifting (1,707 views) (not in the top 10 last year)
  • #4: How Would You Describe Your Walk With the Lord These Days? (1,601 views) (#5 last year)
  • #5: How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple? (1,576 views) (#4 last year)
  • #6: Does God Want Everyone to Get Married? (1,524 views) (#3 last year)
  • #7: The Beasts at Ephesus (1,435 views) (not in the top 10 last year)
  • #8: Lessons From Habakkuk (1,286 views) (#7 last year)
  • #9: Divorced Pastors & Deacons (post #1 of 3) (1,265 views) (not in the top 10 last year)
  • #10: What Will Life Be Like in Christ’s Millennial Reign? (963 views) (not in the top 10 last year)

As for the list of the top 10 posts in terms of all-time views, it reads as follows:

  • #1: Does God Want Everyone to Get Married? (19,391 views) (#1 last year)
  • #2: The 10 Times Israel Tested God (11,132 views) (#3 last year)
  • #3: How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple? (9.048 views) (#2 last year)
  • #4: What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will (8,086 views) (#4 last year)
  • #5: How Would You Describe Your Walk With the Lord These Days? (3,599 views) (#6 last year)
  • #6: Lessons From Habakkuk (2,273 views) (not in the top 10 last year)
  • #7: Oral Roberts & “Seed Faith” Giving (2,223 views) (#5 last year)
  • #8: What Satan Did to Peter: Sifting (2,077 views) (not in the top 10 last year)
  • #9: The Importance of Spanking a Child (1,989 views) (#8 last year)
  • #10: Should We Pray Silently to Keep Satan From Hearing? (1,942 views) (#9 last year)

As blown away as I am by the number of views the blog receives each year, I’m probably even more amazed by the number of countries that register views. For 2020, 183 countries around the world registered at least one view on the site. That was an increase from the previous two years, each of which had come in at 174. The list of countries registering the most views looks like this:

  • #1: The United States (47,720 views for 2020) (182,856 views all time, #1)
  • #2: The United Kingdom (2,289 views) (7,423 views all time, #2)
  • #3: Canada (2,134 views) (6,757 views all time, #3)
  • #4: India (2,105 views) (5,432 views all time, #4)
  • #5: Philippines (1,743 views) (4,693 views all time, #6)
  • #6: Nigeria (1,734 views) (4,063 views all time, #7)
  • #7: South Africa (1,673 views) (5,415 views all time, #5)
  • #8: Kenya (1,037 views) (2,178 views all time, #9)
  • #9: Australia (1,034 views) (3,997 views all time, #8)
  • #10: Singapore (690 views) (2,024 views all time, #10)

While the viewership rankings for these countries didn’t change much in terms of order, what changed was the total number of yearly views for the top 9 countries other than the United States. That number increased by over 4,000 by rising from 10,400 in 2019 to 14,439 in 2020. That means that more and more the blog is finding an audience in countries other than the United States. That’s pretty amazing for a site that is written and operated by a “no name” country preacher who pastors a rural church in the mountains of western North Carolina and writes his posts from a cluttered desk in the little town of Spruce Pine.

Of course, it’s you (the readers) who make all this happen. Each year at this time I do my best to convey “THANK YOU” to you’all, but my efforts always seem inadequate to express how truly appreciative I am for you. Even though I will gladly write a post if it helps just one person, it’s always encouraging to find that a whole bunch of folks are reading it as well.

In regards to 2021, I don’t have a crystal ball, God hasn’t sent me a text, and I have no idea what’s coming down the line. Will the pandemic continue to dominate the headlines? Will the vaccines stem the tide? Will we be able to throw away our masks? Will life get back to normal? I honestly don’t know. All I know is that I’ll try my best to keep writing the posts that God burdens me to write, and I’ll trust Him to use them any way He sees fit. That’s the way this blog thing has been rolling for the decade or so that I’ve been writing it, and the plan will remain the same until I get new marching orders from heaven. So, until then, let me offer yet another hearty, “THANK YOU” to each of you for reading and let me also wish each of you a very happy New Year!

Posted in Personal | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Should the Christian Pray Imprecatory Prayers?

Posted on December 30, 2020 by russellmckinney

The word “imprecatory” means “to invoke evil upon” or “to curse.” In accordance with this definition, many passages from the Bible’s book of Psalms can be accurately described as being imprecatory prayers. Here are seven such examples (all from the N.K.J.V.) from a pretty long list:

  • (Psalm 5:10): Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against you.
  • (Psalm 10:2, 15): The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised…Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; Seek out his wickedness until You find none.
  • (Psalm 17:13): Arise, O Lord, Confront him, cast him down; Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword.
  • (Psalm 35:4-6): Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor Who seek after my life; Let those be turned back and brought to confusion Who plot my hurt. Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery. And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
  • (Psalm 69:22-25): Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And make their loins shake continually. Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents.
  • (Psalm 109:8-13): Let his days be few, And let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. Let his children continuously be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
  • (Psalm 137:8-9): O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock!

Those last two examples, in particular, use especially harsh language. Not only do they seek God’s vengeance upon the wicked, they seek it upon their children. Tell me, could you ever pray a prayer in which you asked God to make your enemy’s children homeless vagabonds who cannot find any favor and have to continually beg for food? Even worse, could you ever pray a prayer in which you sing the praises of the people who dashed those children’s heads against a rock? Even if you could envision yourself praying such prayers, could you truly pray them with a Christlike spirit rather than a vengeful one?

Many Christians would say that no Christian has any business praying any type of imprecatory prayer, and the proof text they would cite is Matthew 5:43-48. There, in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, He says:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (N.K.J.V.)

At first blush, these words from our Savior do seem to rule out praying imprecatory prayers. For that matter, they seem to rule out even having imprecatory feelings. But before we completely dismiss praying such prayers and having such feelings, we need to consult some other quotes from Jesus, quotes that find more in common with those Psalms passages than that Sermon on the Mount one. Here are four of the type of quotes I’m talking about (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • (Matthew 23:13-15, 33): “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves…Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
  • (Luke 10:13-15): “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.”
  • (Revelation 2:18, 20-23): “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God…I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.'”
  • (Revelation 3:14-16): “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.'”

Jesus, by way of these quotes, didn’t seem to show much love to the scribes and Pharisees, the citizens of those three cities, that false prophetess in the church of Thyatira, and those members of the church of the Laodiceans, did He? You say, “But those quotes from Him aren’t really prayer requests and consequently can’t be called imprecatory prayers.” You’re right, they aren’t prayer requests. What you must realize, though, is that Jesus is God. Therefore, He doesn’t have to work through the process of taking His requests to God. He can just make the requests happen.

Continuing on with this theme of New Testament quotes that seem to have more in common with the imprecatory requests from the Psalms than Christ’s words from the Sermon on the Mount, consider these (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • (1 Corinthians 16:22): If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!
  • (Galatians 1:8-9): But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
  • (Jude 1:11-15): Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds with water, carried about by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Coming at this topic another way, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. That word “all” definitely includes each and every imprecatory-type passage from either the Old Testament or the New Testament. Along the same lines, Jesus Himself said in that same Sermon on the Mount, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17, N.K.J.V.). Even though the Psalms are technically not part of the writings of the Law or the Prophets, the term “the Law and the Prophets” can be taken to refer to the entirety of the Old Testament, including the Psalms and the other “wisdom” books. This means that Jesus put His divine stamp of approval upon every “jot” and “tittle” of the Old Testament (Matthew 5:18).

If nothing else, the imprecatory passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament prove that love (even God’s love) doesn’t cancel out other godly characteristics. Justice, for example, still has a place in God’s plans. Vengeance does as well. As a matter of fact, the imprecatory prayers found in the Psalms can accurately be taken as requests for God to honor His words from Deuteronomy 32:35, where He says, “Vengeance is Mine.” Furthermore, they are merely Old Testament calls for God to do what He promises to do in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30, where He says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”

You see, there is a difference between loving someone (even an enemy) on a personal level and asking God to mete out just punishment on that person on a judicial level. The same mother who loves her serial-killer son with a godlike love can stand in full agreement with the calls for that son’s capture and execution. That’s the difference between the personal side of her and the judicial side. Likewise, the same Christian who shows love to an enemy by trying to help that enemy get in line with God’s will can rightly ask God to take vengeance upon that enemy for the enemy’s rejection of God and His will. Actually, if you think about it, any call for imprecatory judgment upon a wicked person inherently carries with it a love for other people. I say that because when a wicked person is brought down by judgment, that prevents that person from inflicting future harm on others.

So, to sum all this up, there are times in our Christian lives when we are perfectly in the right to pray imprecatory prayers. What differentiates these prayers from mere fleshly requests for revenge is our motivation. First, if we are praying from a motivation of sincere love for others, we can rightly pray imprecatory prayers. Second, if we are genuinely seeking God’s justice, we can rightly pray imprecatory prayers. Third, if we are joining God in a righteous indignation against the rank evil of wicked people, we can rightly pray imprecatory prayers. Fourth, if we are simply asking God to keep His word about repaying vengeance, we can rightly pray imprecatory prayers.

Look, I’m not saying that imprecatory prayers should be our default setting in regards to our times of prayer. But I am saying that the Bible does sanction such prayers when the situation calls for them. Certainly, those situations won’t crop up every day in our lives, but we mustn’t kid ourselves by thinking that they never will. If they cropped up in David’s life, Paul’s life, Jude’s life, and Jesus’ life, they will crop up in ours, and when they do we shouldn’t be afraid to humbly, reverently, and (don’t forget) lovingly ask God to judiciously deal with them. The truth is, to do any less is to fail to employ the totality of scripture.

Posted in Adversity, Anger, Discernment, Discipleship, Forgiveness, Persecution, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The CSS Shenandoah

Posted on December 28, 2020 by russellmckinney

The full-rigged sailing ship known as Sea King was a British merchant ship that was re-purposed as a raiding ship by the Confederate States Navy during the Civil War. The ship was renamed CSS Shenandoah and was deployed to raid Union commercial ships in the Pacific Ocean. Captain James Waddell served as the ship’s captain and commander.

For a full year the ship terrorized Union commercial ships around the globe. All told, it either captured, sunk, or bonded (captured and held for ransom) a total of 38 Union ships. In particular, the ship reeked havoc among the whaling fleets that sailed the waters of the Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska. Those waters had beforehand provided safety for Union ships, but the CSS Shenandoah’s arrival there changed that quickly as the Shenandoah captured 20 of the 58 Union ships that sailed those waters during the summer of 1865.

The tragic thing, however, about all the CSS Shenandoah’s success during that time was the fact that General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant months earlier, on April 14, 1865. That surrender, in effect, had ended the Civil War as over the next few weeks all the other Confederate forces had surrendered as well.

Interestingly, Captain Waddell first heard about Lee’s surrender by way of the captain of the Union ship Susan & Abigail. On June 27, 1865, after the CSS Shenandoah had captured that ship, the ship’s captain showed Waddell an article from a San Francisco newspaper. The article told how the Confederate government had been forced to flee from the city of Richmond, Virginia, two and a half months earlier. While Waddell was inclined to believe the report of the Confederacy’s defeat, he chose to fixate upon a quote the article featured from Confederate President Jefferson Davis. That quote from Davis proclaimed that the war should be carried on with renewed vigor. In keeping with that idea of renewed vigor, Waddell and his crew proceeded to capture ten more whaling ships over the course of the next seven hours. That’s what you call picking up speed after you’ve heard that you are going in the wrong direction!

Finally, on August 3, 1865, as Waddell and his crew were sailing for the city of San Francisco to attack it, they encountered the British vessel Barracouta and learned from that crew that the Civil War was indeed officially over. In addition to the rest of the Confederate armies having surrendered in the weeks following Lee’s surrender, Jefferson Davis had been captured on May 10, 1865. Only after hearing this news did Captain Waddell officially lower the Confederate flag from his ship. The crew then moved the ship’s guns below deck and painted the hull to give the ship the appearance of a merchant ship.

Fearing what might happen to them if they surrendered at a port in America, Waddell and his crew took three months to sail their ship to Liverpool, England, even as Union ships searched for them diligently. Upon the arrival of the CSS Shenandoah in Liverpool, Waddell had the ship’s Confederate flag raised again. He surrendered the ship to the captain of the Royal Navy’s ship HMS Donegal and lowered the Confederate flag for the last time. He then made his way to the Liverpool Town Hall and presented the city’s mayor with a letter that officially surrendered his ship to the British government. After a full investigation and trial, Waddell and his entire crew were unconditionally released to resume their lives as they saw fit.

Perhaps by now you are saying, “Okay, Russell, that’s an interesting story, but what does it have to do with my walk with the Lord?” Well, I’m glad you asked. What the story vividly illustrates is that, like Captain Waddell and the crew of the CSS Shenandoah, it is possible for you to fight battles that you shouldn’t be fighting. For that matter, you can even win them! In the end, though, what good does it do you to fight a battle that God doesn’t want you to fight? That’s why I advise you to pray long and hard before you go to war against someone. Speaking as a person who has fought some battles that God wanted me to fight, I can assure you that every battle takes a toll on you even if that battle is God sanctioned. You can imagine, then, the toll any battle takes when it is your idea rather than God’s.

Posted in Anger, Choices, Decisions, Discernment, God's Will, Priorities, Reconciliation, Revenge, War | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Christmas Version of 1 Corinthians chapter 13

Posted on December 23, 2020 by russellmckinney

1 Corinthians chapter 13 is often called the great “love chapter.” With this is mind, someone has written a Christmas version of it. Somewhere down through the years I picked up a copy and stuck it in my file folder marked “Christmas,” but I honestly don’t even remember doing it. Likewise, I would gladly attribute full credit to the author, but the name isn’t provided. So, I’ll just offer the piece as it reads according to the printout I have. I hope you enjoy it. Better yet, I hope you put it into practice this Christmas season.

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,

Strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,

But do not show love to my family,

I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen baking dozens of cookies,

Preparing gourmet meals

And arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,

But do not show love to my family,

I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home,

And give all that I have to charity,

But do not show love to my family,

It profits me nothing.

If my tree has gleaming angels and crocheted snowflakes,

And I attend a myriad of parties, and sing in the cantata,

But do not focus on Christ,

I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss a loved one.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china

and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful

they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return,

but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, gold clubs will rust…

But giving the gift of love will endure.

Posted in Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Love | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

How a Man Named Jeconiah Affects the Christmas Story

Posted on December 21, 2020 by russellmckinney

Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. (Matthew 1:11-12, N.K.J.V.)

Shortly following the death of King Solomon, the united nation of Israel underwent what we might call a civil war and split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom went by the name “Israel” while the southern kingdom went by the name “Judah.” The northern kingdom (Israel) was larger in terms of tribes and territory, but the southern kingdom (Judah) included the city of Jerusalem, Solomon’s temple, and the temple’s priesthood. Also, Judah’s kings could trace their ancestral lineage straight back to King Solomon and his father, King David. In other words, Judah’s kings all sat upon “the throne of David.”

The genealogy found in Matthew 1:1-17 gives us the record of Jesus’ earthly family tree by beginning with Abraham and working the family line down to Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. The line includes King David and King Solomon as well as several of the kings of Judah. The Jeconiah mentioned in our text verse was one of those kings of Judah.

However, the inclusion of Jeconiah — who was also known as Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:6) and Coniah (Jeremiah 22:24) — in Jesus’ genealogy potentially brings up a major problem. That problem centers around the fact that God decreed that none of Jeconiah’s descendants would ever sit upon the throne of David. The proof text is Jeremiah 22:30, which says concerning Jeconiah:

This is what the Lord says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.” (N.I.V.)

At the time God gave this decree, which is sometimes called “The Curse of Jeconiah,” Jeconiah already had several sons (1 Chronicles 3:17). Therefore, the idea of Jeconiah being “childless” obviously should be understood figuratively rather than literally. But the point remains the same in that none of Jeconiah’s offspring would ever sit upon the throne of David. Okay, so how then could Jeconiah be a link in what Matthew calls “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) and yet still fit in with the angel Gabriel telling Mary that God the Father would give Jesus the throne of David (Luke 1:32)?

The answer is found in the virgin birth. Even though Joseph was Jesus’ legal father, he was not His biological one. That means that Jesus is not included in the genetic line that links Joseph’s descendants up with Jeconiah’s descendants. This helps explain why the New Testament also includes the record of Jesus’ earthly family tree through Mary (Luke 3:23-38) and genetically links Jesus to King David by way of David’s son, Nathan (Luke 3:31). Like Joseph, Mary herself was a genetic descendant of King David. Luke doesn’t use any female names in his genealogy, and so there is no direct mention of her, but she is included in the listing by Luke’s use of the phrase “the son of Heli” (Luke 3:23). Heli was Mary’s father and Joseph’s father-in-law.

The upshot of all this is that Jesus would be disqualified from one day ruling over the world from the throne of David if Joseph had been his biological father. This is just one more reason why the virgin birth is a non-negotiable in regards to Christian doctrine. Even when God the Father decreed that none of Jeconiah’s descendants would ever sit upon the throne of David, He knew that Joseph would be born into that line. But He also knew that Joseph wouldn’t be Jesus’ literal father, and so Joseph’s cursed ancestral line wouldn’t be a problem in regards to Jesus one day reigning over all the earth.

Posted in Bible Study, Christ's Birth, Christmas, Doctrine, God's Word, The Bible, Virgin Birth | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Going the Extra Mile

Posted on December 18, 2020 by russellmckinney

In Business By the Book, Christian financial consultant and author Larry Burkett told the story of how he once became the victim of a bad long-term lease. The mistake he made was renting an office space in a building that had an unstable foundation. The problem with the foundation caused the entire building to literally sink several inches per year, and that in turn caused the building to be plagued by all sorts of electrical problems, power failures, and a water outage that lasted for several weeks.

Burkett honored the lease by remaining in the building for three years before finally moving his office to another building. A couple of months later, though, his former landlord called him, demanding that Burkett pay to remodel and repaint the former office. Since Burkett felt that he had already been more than fair with the landlord, he politely but firmly said, “No, I’m not going to do that. Those repairs are not my responsibility.” The landlord, however, continued to make the demands by frequently calling Burkett.

Burkett consulted an attorney, and the attorney agreed that Burkett had fulfilled his responsibility to the landlord. That reassured Burkett that the landlord was in the wrong. But Burkett’s oldest son had a different take on the issue, and he shared it with his dad. First, the son reminded Burkett that the landlord and his wife had lost their only child a few years earlier and had never gotten over the tragedy. Second, the son reminded Burkett that Burkett had often commented that he would like to do something to help the landlord as a way of showing Christianity to the man. As the son saw it, this was a perfect opportunity to do that. The son even reminded his dad that Jesus had taught that Christians should go the extra mile in their dealings with lost people even when those lost people are treating those Christians unjustly (Matthew 5:38-42).

In the end, the son’s argument swayed the father’s heart and Burkett committed to spending several thousand dollars to restore the virtually nonusuable office space. Spending that money was especially difficult for him because he was, after all, a financial consultant who made a living telling other people how to save their money and manage it better. What he came to realize, though, was that the situation between him and his former landlord was not so much a business deal as it was a spiritual deal. That placed it into a completely different category.

Christian, it could be that God might one day call upon you to go the extra mile for a lost person who surely won’t deserve it. Most likely you’ll even be called upon to go that extra mile as you are being treated unjustly. Even worse, you might not see any immediate results (good ones, anyway) from you going that extra mile. It will be during such times that you will have to trust God to take care of the outcome. No matter how the other person responds to your efforts, God will surely reward you somewhere down the line for your work. If nothing else, you’ll at least leave that lost person with a Christian witness that he or she should have no trouble remembering.

Posted in Adversity, Business, Character, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Perseverance, Problems, Reward, Service, Sowing and Reaping, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“What Do You Want Me to Do For You?”

Posted on December 16, 2020 by russellmckinney

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” (Mark 10:35-37, N.K.J.V.)

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise. He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” (Mark 10:49-51. N.K.J.V.)

Here we have two separate stories from the same chapter of Mark, and in each story Jesus asks someone, “What do you want Me to do for you?” James and John wanted the honor of sitting at Jesus’ right hand and left hand during His prophesied kingdom reign upon the earth. Jesus, after some discussion, refused to grant that request (Mark 10:38-40). Conversely, the blind man (whose name was Bartimaeus) asked to receive his sight. Jesus immediately granted that request.

What made the difference between one request being refused and the other one being granted? The answer is: the will of God. As Jesus Himself says in John 14:13-14, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (N.K.J.V.). Notice that the asking of which He speaks must be done in His name. That’s an important qualifier because asking for something “in Jesus’ name” naturally involves only asking for things “in God’s will.” As 1 John 5:14-15 says:

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

I wouldn’t even begin to try to guess which prayer-request items are in God’s will for your life and which ones aren’t. That’s between you and Him. What I will tell you, though, is that you are crazy if you don’t reverently ask Him for the things you want. I’m not talking about you demanding anything or attempting to impose your will upon Him. Again, you asking for anything “in Jesus’ name” automatically includes you being submitted to God’s will concerning that request. I’m simply saying that there’s nothing wrong with asking God to grant you that certain something. Who knows? That something just might be in God’s will for your life.

Three young brothers once spent the night with their grandparents at the grandparents’ farm. The next morning the farm’s old rooster did his job and woke everyone up at sunrise. While the boys moaned and went back to sleep, the grandmother got up and prepared a big breakfast complete with country ham, eggs, and grits. When everything was ready, she called the boys down to eat.

One by one they came into the kitchen, each one barely dressed and still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It didn’t take long, though, for the youngsters to become fully alert when they saw all that food just waiting for them. They quickly took their places at the kitchen table and everybody, including grandma and grandpa, enjoyed the morning feast.

With their bellies full, the boys were now ready to get outside and explore the wonders of the farm. But just as they were about to hit the door, the grandmother said, “Hold on a second. I’ve got a treat for you.” The treat turned out to be a pan of piping hot biscuits, freshly pulled from the oven.

The oldest brother forced his way to the head of the line and grabbed his biscuit first. In a flash, he was out the door with it and into the yard just outside the kitchen. Next came the second oldest, and he had no trouble following suit. Finally, the youngest brother took his turn getting a biscuit, and then he headed for the door to join his two brothers in the yard.

Just before he reached the door, though, he stopped, turned around, and asked, “Grandma, do you have strawberry preserves to put on this biscuit?” The grandmother gave a big grin and said, “I certainly do.” Then she walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door, and pulled out a mason jar full of strawberry preserves. After carefully separating the top of the boy’s biscuit from the bottom, she opened the jar of preserves and spooned out a big helping onto the biscuit. With a twinkle in her eye, she then lovingly placed the top back onto the biscuit and handed it back to the youngster. He took it, said, “Thank you,” and hit the door like a shot.

When he got out into the yard, he saw that his two brothers had already finished eating their biscuits. That gave him the perfect opportunity to torment them by making them watch him take his first bite into his. As he sunk his teeth down into the biscuit, his brothers couldn’t help but notice that strawberry preserves began dripping down from both corners of his mouth. That prompted the oldest brother to ask the inevitable question, “Hey, where did you get those strawberry preserves?” Gleefully, the youngest brother answered, “I got ’em from grandma.” “But she didn’t give us any,” objected the second-youngest brother. “She didn’t give you any,” said the youngest brother triumphantly, “because YOU DIDN’T ASK.”

Posted in Desires, God's Love, God's Provision, God's Will, Prayer Requests, Problems | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

When the Timing Isn’t Right

Posted on December 14, 2020 by russellmckinney

Tonya and I lived in a rental apartment and then a rental house for pretty much the first two years of our marriage. Then we started looking around for a house to buy. One house in particular looked good and was in our price range, but it was dogged by a potentially serious issue.

The issue centered around a new road the state of North Carolina was building right next to the house. Since the state’s legal right-of-way extended far down into the bank that joined up with the house’s front yard, there was no way of knowing just how much of that bank the new road would take. How bad was the problem? It was bad enough to require the state to erect an intimidating warning sign on that bank, and bad enough to require any real-estate agent who showed the house to begin the conversation with, “I have to tell you that the state’s right-of-way extends…”

Needless to say, the cloud of uncertainty that hung over that house made it well nigh impossible to sell. Tonya and I could probably have gotten the place for a steal if we had been willing to risk having a busy road running only a few yards from our living room’s picture window, but that wasn’t a gamble we were willing to take. If we needed further confirmation that we were thinking correctly, I got it when I happened to run into a friend of mine a few days later. He told me that he and his wife had also considered buying that house, but the question mark about the new road had caused them to look elsewhere.

In case you are curious as to how much of that bank the new road ended up taking, the answer is: not much at all. Long after Tonya and I had bought another house and settled down in it, I drove past that other house one day just to see how the whole situation had resolved itself. What I found was that the new road was a major upgrade over the previously existing one, the people who had ultimately bought the house had beautifully redone the landscaping on that bank, and the whole place looked like something out of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Did I feel a tinge of sadness and think, “That could have been us”? I’ll admit that I did. But it didn’t sting that much and certainly didn’t last very long. It passed as soon as my mind drifted back to that warning sign that had once sat squarely in the heart of that bank. That sign in no way, shape, or form had been a “Welcome, First-Time Homebuyers” sign.

Sometimes, in God’s sovereign plans, the timing just isn’t right for a thing to happen. It’s not that there is anything patently wrong with the thing or that it involves the committal of some sin. No, the problem is simply that two perfectly legitimate agendas are in play and there is no point of natural, unforced intersection between them. Going back to my illustration, Tonya and I were just looking to buy a house, the owners of that house were just trying to sell theirs, and the state of North Carolina was just trying to build a new road. No one was at fault in all of it, but that lack of fault still wasn’t enough to allow Tonya and I to pursue buying that house.

Perhaps right now you are attempting to forcefully bring something to pass that God’s timing isn’t allowing to happen. If that describes you, the best advice I can give you is to abandon your efforts and walk away. Rather than keep beating your head against an immovable wall or take some risky chance that might lead you to years of regret, just trust that God has something else in mind for you and get on with your life. Believe me, if He wanted the thing to come to pass, the way wouldn’t be blocked right now by conflicting agendas and imperfect timing. That’s why I say that no matter how good the thing looks to you, your best move is to let it go and stick with God.

Posted in Choices, Decisions, Desires, Disappointment, God's Timing, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Impatience, Patience, Personal, Submission, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment