A World Filled With George Wilsons

Posted on October 8, 2020 by russellmckinney

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16-19, N.K.J.V.)

In late 1829, George Wilson and James Porter engaged in a series of mail train robberies. Ultimately, the two men were caught and charged with not only the robberies but also putting the life of a certain mail carrier, who had tried to stop them, in danger. The two were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The executions were to be carried out on July 2, 1830.

James Porter was executed as planned on that date, but by then Wilson’s influential friends had gone to President Andrew Jackson on his behalf and had asked for a pardon for him. Jackson had granted that pardon on June 14 under the condition that Wilson might still be eligible to serve a maximum of twenty years in prison for the series of crimes. Incredibly, however, Wilson refused the pardon!

At that point no one knew where Wilson stood legally, and so the case was taken up by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion of the court, an opinion that basically said that a pardon is just a slip of paper, the value of which is to be determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. Therefore, since George Wilson refused his pardon, he was hanged.

A condemned person refusing a pardon? Whoever heard of such a thing, right? Oh, trust me, it’s not so uncommon. The fact is, the world is filled with lost people who have heard about the free pardon of sin offered to anyone who will place saving belief in Jesus, but these people have refused the offer.

Tell me, you aren’t one of these people are you? If you are, then I ask you, what is keeping you from accepting your pardon? Surely you don’t enjoy walking around condemned. And remember, when it comes to this type of condemnation, there is no relief even in death. This condemnation is eternal. Your physical death will officially begin it, not officially end it. That is a sobering reality, and it’s one that you would do well to avoid.

Posted in Belief, Capital Punishment, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, God's Love, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Mercy, Grace, Heaven, Hell, Salvation, The Death Penalty | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nahum (post #4)

Posted on October 5, 2020 by russellmckinney

An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength! (Nahum 2:1, N.I.V.)

Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire, was an incredible city. Its origins could be traced back to the legendary leader Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-12), and at the peak of its prosperity it was home to 600,000 people. The central part of the city covered an area one mile by two-and-a-half miles, and the entire metropolitan area was over sixty miles in circumference. A sixty-mile-long wall, 100 feet tall, defended the city as did a moat and 1,500 guard towers that were each 200 feet tall.

Assyria’s army was infamous for its cruelty. Assyrian soldiers were known to gouge out eyes, pull out tongues, burn children, leave corpses impaled on stakes, and skin certain captives alive in order to display the skins on tents and walls. Actually, when the Assyrians conquered your city the best you could hope for was to merely be captured and forced to relocate far away to another Assyrian territory.

Speaking through the prophet Nahum, however, God foretold the fall of mighty Nineveh and with it the fall of the Assyrian empire. History informs us that God worked through an alliance army of Babylonians and Medes to bring Nahum’s prophecies to pass. Those prophecies were so detailed that they read like a play-by-play walkthrough of the battle:

  • The enemy army makes quick work of the fortified towns surrounding Nineveh. (3:12)
  • The enemy army advances upon Nineveh itself. (2:1)
  • The enemy army wears scarlet clothing and carries red shields. (2:3)
  • The enemy army lays siege to Nineveh. (3:14)
  • The Ninevites attempt to store water in order to ride out the siege. (3:14)
  • The Ninevites attempt to shore up decaying parts of the city’s wall. (3:14)
  • The Ninevites turn to drunkenness to alleviate their fear. (1:10; 3:11)
  • The enemy army breaches the gates that are built into Nineveh’s wall. (3:13)
  • The enemy army’s soldiers, horses, and chariots roll into the city streets. (2:4; 3:1-3)
  • The battle ends relatively quickly, and the plundering begins. (2:8-10)
  • The remains of the city are set ablaze. (2:13; 3:15)
  • Some Ninevites are able to flee the site and become homeless wanderers. (2:8; 3:18)

How could such a thing happen to a city as well fortified as Nineveh? In the early spring of the year 612 B.C., the Babylonian/Mede army marched up the left bank of the Tigris river and surrounded the city’s walls. That time of year was the rainy season for Nineveh, and unusually heavy rains that year caused the Tigris (in conjunction with two smaller rivers in the same general area) to flood. The flooding caused a two-and-a-half mile stretch of the city’s wall to collapse. This allowed the invading army to enter the city through the breach. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote that the Tigris didn’t just damage the wall but also flooded parts of the city. Perhaps this is what Nahum meant when he prophesied: “Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away…” (2:8, N.I.V.).

Siculus also wrote that Sardanapalus, who was Nineveh’s king at the time of the fall, responded bizarrely to the city’s flooding. According to Siculus, Sardanapalus interpreted the flooding to be the fulfillment of an oracle that had foretold that Nineveh would only fall when the Tigris declared war against it. Surmising that the river was indeed declaring war against Nineveh, Sardanapalus built a huge funeral pyre in the royal precincts of the city and loaded the pyre down with gold and expensive clothes. The pyre featured a chamber in the middle of it, and Sardanapalus shut himself inside that chamber along with his family, concubines, and eunuchs and then burned down the pyre.

Siculus describes the plundering of Nineveh as totaling up to what he calls “a quantity beyond counting.” Here again the words of Nahum’s prophecies ring true as he wrote: “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!” (2:9, N.I.V.). How thorough was the plundering of Nineveh, the richest city on earth? It was so thorough that archaeological excavations of Nineveh have never unearthed any gold or silver.

The details of Nahum’s prophecies match up so well with the historical accounts of Nineveh’s fall that liberal scholars have attempted to make the erroneous case that Nahum’s words must have been written after Nineveh’s destruction. Here are a few more of those detailed prophecies:

  • Nineveh’s chariots would be burned. (2:13)
  • There would be stacks of corpses of Ninevite casualties. (3:3)
  • Nineveh would be left in ruins never to be rebuilt. (1:9; 1:14; 3:7)
  • Nineveh’s guards would flee in fear for their lives. (3:17)
  • Nineveh’s city leaders would be caught unprepared and killed. (3:18)
  • Nineveh’s false idols and graven images would be burned. (1:14)

Also, Nahum describes the Assyrian soldiers who were responsible for defending Nineveh as being “women” (Nahum 3:13). Obviously, those soldiers weren’t literal females, but that doesn’t make the prophecy any less accurate. James Montgomery Boice, in his commentary remarks on the verse, points out that secular historians confirm that by this time in Nineveh’s history homosexual effeminacy was running rampant in the city. No doubt this at least partially explains why Nahum has so much to say about the fear and cowardice the attack of the enemy army would produce among the Ninevites (2:10; 3:11-12, 3:17-18).

In closing, what the sudden, unexpected downfall of Nineveh the city and Assyria the nation prove is that God can bring down anyone and anything if He so chooses. If He sets Himself against a nation, a group, an organization, or an individual, no amount of wealth or protection can stop Him from carrying out every last detail of His plan. The vessels through which He accomplishes His plans can vary wildly, but in the end the credit always goes to Him. The prophet Nahum prophesied to his fellow Judeans as a way of promising them that God was going to eliminate the Assyrian threat once and for all, and God made good on that promise. That, of course, is what He does, and there is coming a time when He will also make good on His prophetic promises to subdue all the kingdoms of the world and install Jesus Christ on the planet’s throne to rule and reign for 1,000 years. These prophecies are as sure as Nahum’s regarding Nineveh, and we’d be well advised to believe them and place our trust in the Jesus who will one day reign as fulfillment of them.

Posted in Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, God's Timing, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Homosexuality, Prophecy, Series: "Nahum" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nahum (post #3)

Posted on October 2, 2020 by russellmckinney

This is what the Lord says: “Although they have allies and are numerous, they will be cut off and pass away. Although I have afflicted you, O Judah, I will afflict you no more. Now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away.” The Lord has given a command concerning Nineveh: “You will have no descendants to bear your name. I will destroy the carved images and cast idols that are in the temple of your gods. I will prepare your grave, for you are vile.” (Nahum 1:12-14, N.I.V.)

The citizens of Judah, Israel’s southern kingdom, lived with the threat of an Assyrian invasion for more than twenty years after the Assyrians conquered Israel’s northern kingdom in 722 B.C.. That threat finally became a reality in 701 B.C. when the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib led his troops into Judah. According to Sennacherib’s personal account, his soldiers leveled 46 of Judah’s walled cities (in addition to other smaller cities) and took hundreds of Jews captive as prisoners of war. The Bible more or less confirms this account in 2 Kings 18:13. Sennacherib then turned his sights toward Jerusalem, Judah’s capital city. Judah’s king at that time was Hezekiah, and the land’s most famous prophet was Isaiah.

After Sennacherib’s troops laid siege to Jerusalem, he demanded that Hezekiah pay tribute money to him. Initially, Hezekiah paid the exorbitant sum of money (2 Kings 18:14-16), but later he sent some of his royal staff to Isaiah to seek guidance (2 Kings 19:1-4). Speaking for God, Isaiah assured Hezekiah that Sennacherib and his army would not conquer Jerusalem or even enter the city (2 Kings 19:5-7,20-34).

That same night God delivered on that promise as the Angel of the Lord moved throughout the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 soldiers (Isaiah 37:36-37; 2 Kings 19:35-36; 2 Chronicles 32:20-23). The devastating (to say nothing of bizarre) slaughter prompted Sennacherib to tuck his tail between his legs and get back to his home city of Nineveh as quickly as he could. So ended that particular Assyrian threat against Judah.

As seemingly climatic as that ending was, though, it did not put a permanent stop to Judah’s Assyrian problem. Just a few years later, after Hezekiah’s son Manasseh ascended to Judah’s throne, the Assyrians again marched into Judah. They took Manasseh as a prisoner of war, put a hook in his nose, bound him in shackles, and led him away to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:10-11). While in Babylon, which was then under Assyrian control, Manasseh repented of the great sins that had caused God to allow his capture, and God then orchestrated events to enable him to return to Jerusalem and reclaim his throne (2 Chronicles 33:12-13).

The point in all of this history is that Assyria, with its capital city of Nineveh, was a constant threat to the people of Judah. God, however, had plans to at long last deal with the Assyrians once and for all. Speaking through Nahum, He promised Judah’s citizens that He was going to cut off the Assyrians and cause them to pass away (1:12). In doing this He would break the Assyrian yoke from off the neck of Judah (1:13). Assyria’s national demise would be symbolized by the destruction of Nineveh.

The citizens of Judah had no way of knowing it when Nahum was doing his prophesying, but in 612 B.C. God would use an alliance between the Babylonians and the Medes to bring a mighty army against Nineveh, lay siege to it, conquer it, and thus deal a fatal blow to the Assyrian empire. Yes, Nahum’s prophecies about the Nineveh’s defeat did come to pass, and following that defeat the Assyrians never again threatened Judah.

Perhaps you’ve heard that the names of Bible characters usually mean much more than names do today. With this in mind, what does the name “Nahum” mean? It means “comfort” or “consolation.” Accordingly, we shouldn’t be surprised that Nahum’s prophesying against Nineveh was meant to comfort and console the people of Judah. This explains Nahum 1:15, which says:

Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed. (N.I.V.)

As I sat down to write this post, I thought about how many people there are who have long been oppressed by some type of overbearing enemies. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, these afflicted people have had to kowtow to ungodly people who have bullied them, intimidated them, and scared them into submission. If you are such a victim, please know that the book of Nahum has a personal word of application for you.

And what is that word? It is this: The same God who once broke the Assyrian yoke from off the necks of the people of Judah stands ready to interject Himself into your situation. He knows when injustice is taking place, how long it has been taking place, who the guilty parties are, and what He wants to do about it all. So, if you have been crying out to Him for some time now, asking Him to bring you out from under the shadow of some wicked person or group, just hang in there. Hear the words of J. Vernon McGee as I use them for the close of this post. He hit the nail on the head when he said:

The writer is Nahum, and his name means “comforter,” but the message that he gives is one of judgment. How in the world can Nahum live up to his name? How can he be a comforter? Well, it is owing to how you look at the judgment. If it is a judgment upon your enemy, one of whom you are afraid, one who dominates you, then judgment can be a comfort to you.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Encouragement, God's Timing, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Patience, Persecution, Problems, Prophecy, Revenge, Series: "Nahum", Suffering, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nahum (post #2)

Posted on September 30, 2020 by russellmckinney

…His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into darkness. (Nahum 1:3-8, N.I.V.)

We know little about the prophet Nahum’s personal life except that he calls himself “the Elkoshite” in the opening words of the book that bears his name. That description probably refers to where he lived, but the location of Elkosh has been lost to history. Because the name “Capernaum” literally means “town of Nahum” or “Nahum’s town,” some scholars identify Elkosh as Capernaum. Admittedly, however, that association is as much a leap of logic as a historical fact. As is always the case with God’s prophets, though, it’s the man’s ministry that is historically important, not his personal life.

To figure out the time period in which Nahum did his prophesying, the best we can do is logically deduce our way down to a general half century or so. Since his prophecies describe the Assyrian city of Nineveh as being a great city, and since other historical records tell us that Nineveh fell to the Babylonians in 612 B.C., he must have prophesied before 612 B.C. Also, in Nahum 3:8-10, he talks about the fall of a city called No Amon. No Amon was the capital of southern Egypt and is better known by the name Thebes. It fell to the Assyrians in 663 B.C. Therefore, Nahum must have lived and prophesied sometime between Assyria’s conquering of Thebes in 663 B.C. and Babylon’s conquering of Assyria in 612 B.C.

That dating means that Nahum did his prophesying to the citizens of Israel’s southern kingdom (called Judah). We know that he didn’t prophesy to Israel’s northern kingdom (called Israel) because by that time that kingdom was no longer in existence. After a twenty-year campaign in which the Assyrians had systematically conquered the northern kingdom bit by bit, they had finally finished off the job by conquering the capital city of Samaria in 722 B.C. As was the Assyrians’ typical way of operating, they had relocated the surviving citizens of the northern kingdom by transplanting them to other Assyrian lands. All this, in point of fact, was what the prophet Jonah had feared would happen when God had chosen to spare Nineveh, Assyria’s great city, rather than destroy it in Jonah’s day. Jonah had made his trip to Nineveh at least 100 years, perhaps as many as 150 years, before Nahum’s time of ministry.

By putting all this together, we see that by Nahum’s day God now had even more justification for dealing harshly with Nineveh. Despite the fact that God had miraculously intervened to keep the Assyrians from conquering Israel’s southern kingdom (Isaiah 37:36-38), He hadn’t forgotten what they had done to the northern kingdom. So, by inspiring Nahum to prophesy Nineveh’s impending doom, God was assuring the citizens of the southern kingdom that they needn’t worry about the threat of Assyria.

Speaking through Nahum, God explained that He was now taking His association with the Assyrians to a whole other level, a darker one. He had spared the citizens of Nineveh during Jonah’s time, and He had even later used the Assyrian army as the vessel through which He had devastatingly judged the sins of the northern kingdom, but now the vessel of judgment would become the judged vessel. As commentator William MacDonald says about this divine irony, “Although God uses pagans to punish His people’s apostasy and sin, the tool itself is also liable to punishment.”

But how could the mighty Assyrian army be defeated? And how could the nation’s most famous city, Nineveh, be taken? Those answers would be found in the indescribable awesomeness of God. According to Nahum, God has His way in the whirlwind and the storm (1:3), and the clouds are merely the dust upon which He walks (1:3). He has the power to dry up rivers and make mountains quake (1:4-5), and no one can withstand His indignation and anger (1:6). These facts led Nahum to confidently conclude that God would be the one to make an end of Nineveh (1:8).

As for the citizens of Israel’s southern kingdom (Judah), all they needed to do was make God their “refuge” (N.I.V., N.L.T.) and “stronghold” (K.J.V., N.K.J.V.) during their time of trouble (1:7). He is, after all, a good God who cares for those who trust in Him (1:7). While this description stands in stark contrast to the depiction of God as a terrifying God of war who pours out His wrath like fire (1:6) and pursues His foes into darkness (1:8), the fact is that any accurate description of God must include both sides of His nature. The same God who can mercilessly destroy the Assyrians can also mercifully spare the citizens of Judah. The same God who can be an overwhelming flood (1:8) can also be a safe refuge (1:7). The deciding factor comes down to who places their trust in Him and who doesn’t.

Perhaps right now, as you are reading this, you find yourself in a troubling situation. The threat of your own personal “Assyrians” hangs over your life like a dark cloud, and it looks for all the world like they are about to bring your kingdom to ruination. What should you do? You should do what Nahum told those citizens of Judah to do: make the Lord your refuge/stronghold in your time of trouble. You see, by turning your situation completely over to God and placing your trust in Him, you are afforded the luxury of watching Him convert your “Assyrians” into the conquered rather than the conquerors. Remember, His strength is immeasurably greater than your strength, and He can do for you what He did for those citizens of Judah if you will place your trust in Him.

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Nahum (post #1)

Posted on September 28, 2020 by russellmckinney

The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked… (Nahum 1:1-3, N.K.J.V.)

We can only wonder what the prophet Jonah would have thought about the prophet Nahum’s word of doom to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. More than a century before Nahum did his prophesying, God had sent Jonah to Nineveh to proclaim that God would overthrow the city in forty days due to the city’s wickedness (Jonah 1:1-2; 3:1-4). Jonah hadn’t minded declaring that message because the Assyrians were well known for their idolatry, arrogance, and excessive cruelties in warfare. But a strange thing had happened when Jonah had declared that prophecy of impending judgment: the Ninevites had believed God, proclaimed a total fast throughout the city, clothed themselves with sackcloth (the traditional clothing worn by mourners), and repented (Jonah 3:5).

And how had God responded to all of that? He had relented from destroying the city (Jonah 3:10). That, in turn, had infuriated Jonah (Jonah 4:1). He had even vented to God, saying, “Isn’t this what I told you would happen before I came to this city? I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:2). As a matter of fact, Jonah had gotten so ticked off about the whole situation that he had actually asked God to kill him if He wasn’t going to kill the Ninevites (Jonah 4:3). God hadn’t take Jonah up on that offer, but the book of Jonah had concluded with Jonah still mad at God and God trying to reason with him. Mind you that all this had only come after God had been forced to enroll Jonah in “whale seminary” to even get him to make the trip to Nineveh.

Now let’s fast forward a century or more to the time of the prophet Nahum. The king of Nineveh who oversaw that time of repentance and mourning has long since passed off the throne, and every last one of those Ninevites who saw seen their city spared now lie in graves. The mighty Assyrian empire is at the pinnacle of its power and geographical sprawl, and the idolatry, arrogance, and excessive cruelties in warfare for which the Ninevites were infamous in Jonah’s day have been reinstituted. The Ninevites think they are invulnerable behind the 150 foot wide moat and 100 foot high walls that surround their city, and all seems well. What they don’t know, though, is that God again has them in His crosshairs, and this time there will be no 12th hour stay of execution.

In the opening passages from Nahum’s prophecies, we hear the early warning alarms of God’s intentions. Nahum begins by bluntly stating that what follows is the record of “the burden against Nineveh” (1:1, N.K.J.V.). That leaves no doubt who is God is gunning for. Next, Nahum uses the phrase “the Lord avenges” not once but twice, and then he uses the word “vengeance” for good measure (1:2, N.K.J.V.). Talk about opening up hot!

Nahum then offers the justification for God’s destruction of Nineveh by explaining that God is furious, will take vengeance on His adversaries. and reserves wrath for His enemies (1:2). As Nahum puts it, God is slow to anger but His merciful patience should never be taken to mean that He acquits the wicked (1:3). He might need a century to get mad enough to deal with a Nineveh, but His anger will eventually reach a level that compels Him to act in judgment.

My personal opinion is that Jonah would have said a hearty, “Amen” after hearing or reading the opening words from Nahum’s book. After all, Nahum gets to preach the message that Jonah had wanted to preach. I can just hear Jonah saying, “Well it’s about time that you brought those wicked people down, Lord.”

The lesson for us here is that God really does pour out His vengeance upon His enemies. He’s certainly in no rush to do it, and sometimes His delay in doing it can drive His own victimized people nuts, but He does always get around to settling His accounts. As He says time and time again in scripture (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30), “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”

Notice that He doesn’t say, “I might repay.” No, He says, “I will repay.” The citizens of Nineveh were going to learn that lesson the hard way, but they certainly wouldn’t be the last people to ever learn it. The fact is, some people are learning it right now and others are about to learn it in the very near future. Needless to say, we would all be well advised to make sure that we aren’t the ones on the receiving end of it. In other words, if you are living in a Nineveh situation right now, you’d best get out of there before the judgment falls.

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Sitting Down in Jesus

Posted on September 25, 2020 by russellmckinney

I believe the life story of George Washington. I believe he was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. I believe he served as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army that won the Revolutionary War. I believe he was America’s first President. I believe he died on December 12, 1799. None of this, however, equates to me believing in George Washington as my personal Savior.

There are many people who believe the life story of Jesus. They believe He was born in Bethlehem. They believe He was a great teacher. They believe He died on a Roman cross just outside Jerusalem. They might even believe He was God in the flesh, performed miracles, and arose from the dead. None of this, however, equates to them believing in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Various illustrations can be used to describe the difference between merely believing the facts about Christ’s life and actually believing in (or on, as some verses put it) Christ. One of my favorites involves a stool, the type of stool so high that your feet can’t touch the ground when you are sitting down. It is one thing for you to study that stool and believe it would support you if you sat down in it. It is quite another thing, though, for you to actually sit down in that stool, thus putting all your weight down upon the stool, trusting the stool to support you. Similarly, it is one thing for you to study about Jesus and believe that He died on a cross for your sins. It is quite another thing, though, for you to actually “sit down” in Him, thus putting all your weight down upon Him, trusting that He will save you from eternal damnation.

The New Testament provides us with various descriptions of how an individual can accomplish this “sitting down” in Jesus. Here is a list of those descriptions:

  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to believe in Him. (John 3:16)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to come to Him. (John 5:39-40)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to receive Him. (John 1:12)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to place your faith in Him. (Colossians 1:3-5)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to trust in Him. (Ephesians 1:11-14)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to call upon Him. (Romans 10:9-13)
  • To “sit down” in Jesus is to open the door to Him. (Revelation 3:20)

Please understand that these descriptions are not separate decisions that must be made in regards to Christ. They aren’t different stages of belief, either, as if an individual has to complete them all in order to reach the end goal: salvation. Instead, each description is simply one more way of illustrating a genuine salvation experience.

The point is, when a person “sits down” in Jesus, that person will automatically be doing each of these descriptions. It’s an all-in-one package deal. Salvation is a singular moment-in-time experience, not the end result of a process. As for why God’s word uses so many different descriptions to describe the experience, surely that has to do with the differences in how people receive information and process it. While one person might understand “come to Jesus” better than “believe in Jesus,” another person might understand “open the door to Jesus” even better.

In the end, whichever description winds your clock, the important thing is that you “sit down” in Jesus as opposed to merely believing that He would hold you up if you did “sit down” in Him. You see, not all belief is saving belief when the subject is Jesus. As evidence of this, John 2:23-25 talks about a group of people to whom Jesus did not commit Himself even though they “believed in His name when they saw the signs (miracles) which He did.” Concerning this group, Warren Wiersbe said, “These people believed in Jesus, but He did not believe in them!” For the purposes of this post, we might say that they liked the looks of the stool that Jesus was, but they never actually sat down in it. And all I can add to that is, make sure the same doesn’t happen to you.

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How One Church Solved its Financial Problems

Posted on September 23, 2020 by russellmckinney

James E. Carter, in his book on Christian stewardship, tells the story of how a Baptist church in a small town was completely transformed when most of its members began to tithe (pay a tenth of their income) to the church. What on earth compelled those church members to do such a thing? That answer is a big part of the story.

It all began when the church’s longtime treasurer resigned from the position. Since the church was located in a community that was heavily into wheat production, the town’s most important business was the local grain elevator, the facility where the wheat farmers brought their grain to sell. The facility’s manager, who was in charge of determining each load of grain’s weight, quality, and worth, was a highly respected member of the church and seemed like the perfect candidate to become the new treasurer. But when he was asked to take the job he said, “I’ll only do it if two conditions are met.” First, he would only give one treasurer’s report at the end of the year rather than provide one each month. Second, he wouldn’t be asked any questions about the church’s finances until the end of the year.

Since most of the church members did business with the man and could attest to his honesty, the church agreed to his conditions and elected him as their new treasurer. A full year then passed, and it was now finally time for the man to give his annual report. According to the report, the church’s indebtedness of $228,000 had been paid off completely, the pastor’s salary had been increased by 8%, the giving to missionary work had been increased by 200%, there were no outstanding bills, and the church had $11,252 in its bank account.

The congregation was absolutely stunned, and one of them quickly asked the man the obvious question: “Where did all the money come from?” The treasurer knew the question was coming and had his answer at the ready. He said, “Most of you bring your grain to my elevator. Throughout this past year, without telling you, I simply withheld 10% of what I owed you for your grain and gave that money to the church in your name.” Then he really drove home his point by adding, “You didn’t even miss it! Do you see what we could do for the Lord if we were all willing to give at least a tithe to God?”

For most of human history, paying a tithe (a tenth) has been an acceptable form of giving to the Lord. In the days of the book of Genesis, both Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7:1-2) and Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22) voluntarily paid one-time tithes to the Lord. (At least we assume that Jacob made good on his vow to do so.) Centuries later, when God gave His law to the people of Israel, that law required the Israelites to pay tithes of their livestock, their harvests, their oil, their wine, and their possessions. These tithes were to be paid twice each year, each tithe being brought to the tabernacle (the temple when it was built to replace the tabernacle). Additionally, at the end of every third year, each Israelite was required to bring a third tithe to a designated place in his hometown. This third-year tithe went to support the widows, orphans, Levites, and strangers in each town.

Moving on into the New Testament age, Jesus fulfilled the entirety of the Old Testament law perfectly and in so doing made Himself an eligible candidate to die for the sins of the world (Matthew 5:17-18). Consequently, in the aftermath of His death and subsequent resurrection, there is now no longer a mandate for anyone to keep the law. This is why Paul consistently taught that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:10-14; 4:4-5; Romans 6:14; 10:4; Philippians 3:8-9), and it also explains why Paul didn’t command Christians to tithe. You see, systematically required tithing was a part of the Old Testament law from which Christians have been set free.

Rather than promote straight-up 10% tithing, Paul placed each Christian on the honor system by teaching that each of us should give in accordance with the level of prosperity at which God currently has us (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15). This requires each Christian to spend time in prayer, seeking God’s will about not only how much to give to support the Lord’s work but how and where to give it. In this way, figuring out a right amount to give back to the Lord becomes a matter of true discipleship.

It should be understood, though, that Paul encouraged Christians to give not only cheerfully but also abundantly (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). He compared giving to sowing seed and said, “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, but he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). He also said that Christians who are enjoying a time of plenty should help those who are going through a rough stretch financially (2 Corinthians 8:13-15), and that anyone who preaches the gospel should be supported financially by fellow Christians (1 Corinthians 9:1-14; Philippians 4:15-20). All of this is a far cry from the Old Testament law’s highly ritualized commandments concerning bringing tithes to certain places at prescribed times.

So, am I against the idea of tithing? No, I’m not. To the contrary, I’ve been a pastor long enough to know that faithful tithers are the financial backbone of most churches. Furthermore, I would say to any Christian who doesn’t have a clue about where to start in regards to giving to the Lord’s work, “Paying a tithe out of your take-home pay is a great way to begin.” As my opening illustration shows, if every church member merely paid a tithe each week or each month, every church’s financial problems would be solved.

I do, however, try to explain to Christians that there are deeper waters of giving than tithing. There is giving as God has prospered you and sowing bountifully. These waters require more prayer, more discernment, and in many cases more submission to God, and oftentimes the giving that comes up from them is not so much about how much you have but how much you have left. Again, I’m not against tithing. Giving 10% is certainly a lot better than most professing Christians give. But don’t ever think that tithing is the end-all-be-all form of New Testament giving. The truth is, the ride of giving that God wants to take each Christian on can never be neatly packaged into a box of 10%, and once you get on that ride with Him, you just never know how much He might want you to give or where He might want you to give it.

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Bronze Shields in Place of Gold Shields

Posted on September 21, 2020 by russellmckinney

The reign of King Solomon’s son Rehoboam was fairly doomed from the start. On the one hand, many in Israel had grown weary not only of Solomon’s system of taxation (1 Kings 4:7) but also the labor force Solomon required to accomplish his building achievements (1 Kings 5:13; 9:15-22; 11:28). On the other hand, Solomon’s open embrace of idolatry had caused God to promise to tear the kingdom away from Solomon’s son, leaving Rehoboam with only one tribe to rule over while the ten northern tribes broke away and started a new kingdom. That one tribe would be Judah, with the exceedingly small tribe of Benjamin basically being absorbed into it.

This is not to say, though, that Rehoboam himself played no role in his own demise. He was 41 years old when he ascended to the throne of the still united kingdom, and he promptly tossed away his one chance at keeping national unity. Rather than acknowledge the peoples’ complaints against his father and take the advice of the elderly counselors who had served his father, Rehoboam favored the advice of his arrogant childhood friends and promised to be an even more demanding king than Solomon had been (1 Kings 12:1-15). That foolish bravado forced the hand of the northern tribes and off they went to institute a new kingdom complete with a new king (Jeroboam).

Rehoboam’s bad decisions didn’t stop there, either, as over the course of his seventeen-year reign he forsook God’s law (2 Chronicles 12:1) and allowed idolatry and cultic worship practices to run rampant in Judah (1 Kings 14:21-24). Five years into that reign God sent him an almost fatal rebuke by way of the army of Shishak, the king of Egypt, coming against Jerusalem with a force of 12,000 chariots, 60,000 soldiers on horses, and a sea of foot soldiers. Rehoboam temporarily repented of his sins long enough for God to let him survive that invasion, but God decreed that Rehoboam and Judah would come under the thumb of Shishak and Egypt (2 Chronicles 12:1-8).

Here is where the story of Solomon’s gold shields comes into play. According to 1 Kings 10:14-17, at the height of Solomon’s success he had ordered that 200 large shields of gold and 300 smaller shields of gold be made and stored in his royal residence. Rehoboam inherited that home when Solomon died and in so doing inherited the shields. However, as a part of Shishak’s plundering of Judah, Shishak’s soldiers confiscated all the gold shields as well as all the treasured items from Jerusalem’s temple (1 Kings 14:25-26).

To replace the shields, Rehoboam ordered that bronze shields be made. Thus, the replacement shields served as an object lesson of how the kingdom of Judah — i.e., Jerusalem, the Jewish temple, the temple priesthood, the royal line of David, etc. — had fallen out of favor with God and had lost His hand of protection and blessing. Summing up the situation, the days of golden splendor had become the days of bronze inferiority.

It would probably hurt our feelings to know how many of our churches, churches that once exhibited God’s “gold” standard, are now relegated to exhibiting His “bronze” standard. After all, it doesn’t take a ton of spiritual discernment to see that many churches that once ran spiritually hot now limp along tepidly. Many churches that once stood doctrinally strong now fall for every wind of doctrine. Many churches that were once filled with congregants are now virtually empty. How does such a thing happen? It’s called losing the blessing of the Lord. That’s the price that sin, whether it be Rehoboam’s idolatry or a church’s worldliness, exacts. The bar is lowered. The status quo is lessened. The subnormal becomes the normal.

Individual lives can fall victim to this problem as well as Christians who once faithfully served Christ can sin their way into backsliding. Because of the eternal security of the believer, these Christians won’t lose their eternal salvation, but what they will lose is heavenly treasure. This treasure will have to be lost because the earthly service that produces it will be lessened. In that sense, these Christians will become somewhat like Rehoboam, who didn’t lose his home but certainly lost some of the treasure inside it.

The takeaway from all this, Christian, is that now would be a good time for you to do a thorough inspection of your own life and service to Christ and see if sin has somehow demoted you from God’s gold standard to His bronze standard. Needless to say, if confession and repentance are in order, do them swiftly. Hopefully, with the confession and repentance, the golden sheen upon your life will be either spared or reclaimed. And do you know why that will be such a big deal? It’s because once you’ve known gold shields, bronze ones will simply never satisfy.

Posted in Backsliding, Church, Decisions, Discernment, Disobedience, Eternal Security, Personal Holiness, Repentance, Separation, Sin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How D.L. Moody Won a Little Girl to Christ

Posted on September 19, 2020 by russellmckinney

For many years, R.A. Torrey helped famed evangelist D.L. Moody in Moody’s work. Torrey himself told the following story about one of Moody’s converts. I offer Torrey’s account verbatim:

On one occasion in Chicago, Mr. Moody saw a little girl standing on the street with a pail in her hand. He went up to her and invited her to his Sunday School, telling her what a pleasant place it was. She promised to go the following Sunday but did not do so.

Mr. Moody watched for her for weeks, then one day saw her on the street again at some distance from him. He started toward her, but when she saw him, she started to run away. Mr. Moody followed her. Down she went one street. He went after her. Up she went another street, Mr. Moody after her; through an alley, he was still following; out on another street, Mr. Moody after her.

Then she dashed into a saloon, and he dashed after her. She ran out the back door and up a flight of stairs, Mr. Moody still following. She dashed into a room, with him following; she threw herself under the bed, and he reached under the bed, pulled her out by the foot and led her to Christ.

He found that her mother was a widow who had once seen better circumstances but had gone down until now she was living over this saloon. She had several children. Mr. Moody led the mother and all the family to Christ. Several of the children were prominent members of the Moody Church until they moved away. Afterward they became prominent in churches elsewhere.

This particular child, whom he pulled from underneath the bed, was, when I was pastor of the Moody Church, the wife of one of the most prominent officers in the church. Two or three years ago, as I came out of a ticket office in Memphis, Tennessee, a fine-looking young man followed me. “Are you not Dr. Torrey?” “Yes.” “I am So-and-so.” He was the son of this woman. Now he was a traveling man and an officer in the church where he lived. When Mr. Moody pulled that little child out from under that bed by the foot, he was pulling a whole family into the kingdom of God. Eternity alone will reveal how many succeeding generations he was pulling into the kingdom!

Torrey’s story should inspire us Christians to be more determined in our efforts to win others to Jesus. When it comes to evangelism, we are so easily stopped, aren’t we? That is assuming, of course, that we’ve even started! Surely every empty pew in our churches is the seat of an individual whom we could have won to Christ if we had displayed half of D.L. Moody’s determination in winning that little girl.

Tell me, Christian, have you ever lead anyone to Jesus? “No,” you say? Well, have you ever tried to lead someone to Him? If you haven’t, then feel free to consider this post God’s alarm clock to wake you out of your evangelism slumber. Maybe He has even already laid some lost person on your heart. If He has, then don’t stop until you’ve shared the gospel with that person. And if He hasn’t, then ask Him to do so, and don’t be the least bit surprised when He takes you up on the request.

Posted in Children, Evangelism, Family, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Salvation, Service, Sunday School, The Gospel, Witnessing, Youth | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Rattlesnake of Addiction

Posted on September 16, 2020 by russellmckinney

In his book Quest for Character, Chuck Swindoll tells an incredible story from the life of Tom Rathman, the NFL running back who made a name for himself playing for the San Francisco 49ers. Rathman was hunting deer in the Tehama Wildlife Area near Red Bluff in northern California when he climbed up to a certain ledge in order to peer out over it. What he didn’t know was that there was a rattlesnake lying at the edge of the ledge. Startled by the sudden appearance of Rathman’s face, the snake wildly struck at him and just missed his right ear.

That was the good news. The bad news was that the snake’s fangs got snagged in the neck of the thick turtleneck sweater Rathman was wearing. Not being able to pull its fangs free, the snake immediately wrapped its entire body around Rathman’s neck. At that point the best that Rathman could do was grab the snake behind its head and try to work its fangs loose. He would later say that he could feel the snake’s warm venom running down the skin of his neck inside the sweater.

Sometime during Rathman’s struggle to extradite the snake from his neck, he lost his balance and fell backward down the steep slope. The fall left him lying wedged between some rocks but still holding the snake behind its head. Unfortunately, the fall also allowed the snake’s fangs to break free from the sweater. This meant that the snake could now crudely strike at him again even though Rathman still had it by the neck.

Eight times the snake struck, and four of those times the fangs found Rathman’s nose. The only thing that saved Rathman’s life was the fact that by now the snake’s venom had all been released. Still, though, each time those fangs sank into his nose it was like being pierced with a needle. Finally, after a lengthy struggle, Rathman was able to choke the snake to death. Afterward, he said that he literally had to pry his fingers from the snake’s neck.

Like that rattlesnake that wrapped itself around Tom Rathman’s neck, addiction wraps itself around the addict’s neck and refuses to let go. According to the website transitionsrecovery.com, the ten most common addictions worldwide are: tobacco (nicotine), alcohol, drugs (prescription and non-prescription), gambling, food (including all types of eating disorders), sex (including addiction to watching pornography), video games, internet (including social media), risky behavior, shopping, and work.

While these are certainly ten of the major addictions, the truth is that almost anything can become an addiction. Under the heading “Ten Strange Addictions,” the internet site health.howstuffworks.com lists the following addictions from #1 to #10: internet and the Blackberry, gaming, eating dirt, tattoos, hair pulling, ice chewing, cosmetic surgery, tanning, exercise, and shopping. Yes, you read that right: eating dirt was #3.

So, how can the addict pull the rattlesnake of addiction off his or her neck and kill the snake? Believe me when I say that the most reliable way is through the power of Jesus Christ. As 2nd Corinthians 5:17 tells us:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. (N.K.J.V.)

Likewise, Philippians 4:13 says:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (N.K.J.V.)

Of course, simply quoting Bible verses to an addiction will never be enough to kill it. The source of the empowering for the slaying is not the words of the verses themselves but the Savior of whom the verses speak. If the addict doesn’t have an eternal relationship with Jesus and a daily fellowship with Him, the words become useless. The individual might as well be spouting words from Shakespeare.

If, however, the addict is willing to submit to a wholehearted reliance upon Jesus for not only eternal salvation but also empowerment for daily living, then the snake can be choked to death and uncoiled from the addict’s neck. Really, what it comes down to is the addict must fall more in love with Jesus than the addiction. No, it’s not easy to break an addiction, even if you are a born-again Christian. It can be done, though, if you want it badly enough. And Jesus promises to help you all the way.

Posted in Addiction, Alcohol, Drugs, Gambling, Gluttony, Restoration, Sex, Tattoos, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment