Dr Paul Allen

  1. Prosecuting fellow believers through online platforms without ecclesial process The Apostle Paul instructed the church in Corinth to judge matters internally (1 Cor. 6). Today, however, the church has outsourced judgment to the Twittersphere. Believers now play judge, jury, and executioner without due process or any semblance of ecclesial order. Social media has become a tribunal, and reputations can be assassinated with a single click. This practice not only bypasses biblical structures of accountability but also reveals how biblically illiterate and spiritually reckless much of the body has become. The church is not a mob. It is a family governed by elders, not online outrage. 2. Presumptuously calling for a 'court of Heaven' For over a decade, the “courts of Heaven” teaching has gained traction in certain charismatic circles. The idea is that one can summon a heavenly court to break generational curses and demonic strongholds. While there are kernels of truth — God is a...

Cherubim first appear in Genesis 3, when God places them east of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life, and they continue to make appearances throughout the pages of Scripture. There were numerous representations of cherubim in the tabernacle and in the temple.  Cherubim were given varied descriptions and primarily signified God’s presence, serving as a visible reminder of the majesty and glory of the Almighty God who reigns on His throne and abides with His people. Read commentary from Iain Duguid, Jay Sklar, Gary Millar, and Thomas Schreiner, who trace the appearances of cherubim through the Bible and help us understand who these figures are. Cherubim in Genesis He drove out the man, and to the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. —Genesis 3:24 Adam and Eve’s sin has immediate and tragic consequences, as they are driven out of the garden. The entrance to the garden of E...

We don’t hear much about virtue, character, or moral excellence in the church today. There might be many reasons for this omission, but let me suggest a couple. The first is that calling people to a high standard of moral excellence is to place a demand on them. These demands are challenging to align with our typical mindset of making the church consumer-friendly and keeping our own business. Additionally, our culture does not value what is good for its own sake. Many people look for ways to improve their lives immediately, in tangible ways that they can measure. With this mindset, truth and goodness are only relevant if they help maximise production. Virtue, though, should be valued, not because it is pragmatically effective, but because it reflects God’s holiness, beauty, and goodness. Therefore, we should value moral excellency, character, and virtue because they all showcase the excellencies of our Lord. However, this message of moral excellence only resonates with those who believ...

Fruit of the Spirit, we took a general look at the list to begin to uncover the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians. Now we will examine each of these slices of the Spirit’s fruit, starting with love. What is this love produced by the Spirit?  Defining love is not an easy task, but here’s one that attempts to sum up the biblical nature of love: Love is a holy, divine affection toward others produced by the Spirit of God in all believers. This is spiritual love – produced, wrought, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, what does this love truly mean? First, spiritual love is not a natural phenomenon. Spiritual love is not the natural affection of the world. The world might be capable of love in the human sense of the term. We know there are unbelievers who have good marriages. Some unbelievers are willing to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. It is possible to do these things without having true love as God defines it. As Paul says, a person can be a great ...

Two English homosexuals have been charged for allegedly brutally raping and killing a one-year-old baby they were on the verge of adopting. The BBC  reports  that 36-year-old high school teacher Jamie Varley and his “partner,” 31-year-old John McGowan-Fazakerley, were in the process of adopting 13-month-old Preston Davey, who in July 2023 was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and soon died. Varley, who was suspended from his teaching job upon his arrest that year, is accused of  numerous counts  relating to murder, sexual assault of a male child, child cruelty, inflicting grievous bodily harm, taking and distributing indecent photos of a child, possessing indecent pseudo images of a child, and possession of an “extreme” pornographic image. McGowan-Fazakerley, meanwhile, stands accused of allowing the death of a child, child sexual assault, and child cruelty. READ:  ‘Married’ homosexuals sentenced to 100 years for sexually abusing adopted boys for child pornog...

The fourth scroll or seal in the Book of Revelation appears in Revelation 6:7-8, and its opening releases the pale horse and its rider. Here's the key passage: "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They gained control over a quarter of the planet, enabling them to eliminate threats such as swords, famines, plagues, and wild beasts. (Revelation 6:7–8, NIV) Symbolic Elements • Pale horse (Greek: chloros–pale green, the colour of decay) • Rider: Death, followed by Hades • Power over ¼ of the earth • Four methods of death: sword (violence/war), famine, plague (pestilence/disease), and wild beasts Practical Prophetic Application There are different interpretive lenses for Revelation, but here’s a practical prophetic application that blends biblical theology with contemporary relevance: 1. A Warning...

A little over ten years ago, the book "The Shack" became an unexpected bestseller, sparking debate and garnering appreciation from across the evangelical landscape. Although the author originally wrote the book for his children and had it copied at Kinko’s, it reached number one on the New York Times fiction best-seller list after its release. In 2017, a major motion picture based on the book returned to the top spot once again. The themes of the book are heavy, at times harrowing, and inescapably theological, though they are presented in such a way that the reader can forget it is indeed a work of theology. The theological themes touched on include the character of the church, the problem of evil (theodicy), the nature of revelation, the depiction of God, and our understanding of the Trinity. I want to speak to an element of this last theme because the novel assumes something we are all tempted to assume: in reference to God, ”Father” is ultimately a metaphor and, as such, c...

In chapter 17 of the first book of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin expresses his delight in this passage written by the fourth-century Cappadocian church father Gregory of Nazianzus. Specifically, Calvin points to the following sentence: “No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the One.” Why does John Calvin find joy in these words? Calvin understands that contemplating our triune God exposes us to a truth that surpasses our total comprehension. He knew that to avoid error in our thoughts and words about God, we must be careful. Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 329–390) was one of the greatest theologians of the early church. He was instrumental in the resolution of the fourth-century Trinitarian crisis that engulfed the church. Certain of his writings, particularly Orations 20, 23, 25 and the five theological orations (27–31), are foundational works in the history of T...

Vlad the Impaler launched a midnight raid against Muslim invaders that would cause his name to live on forever as Dracula, the terror of the night. The year was 1462. Ottoman sultan Muhammad II (or “Mehmet”) had demanded tribute from Wallachia (in modern-day Romania), by way of gold and Christian boys to serve as his slave soldiers (janissaries). Vlad III Dracula — better known as Vlad Țepeș, or the “Impaler” — responded by sending the Muslim emissaries back to Muhammad with their turbans nailed onto their heads. So it would be war. Muhammad mobilised one of the largest Ottoman armies in history, according to some estimates — between 150,000 and 300,000 — and invaded Wallachia, terrorising all and sundry and engaging in unspeakable atrocities, especially against women and children. With only some 30,000 men — many of them peasants whose “armour” consisted of sheep’s wool, their weapons axes, scythes, and hammers — Vlad was forced to resort to guerrilla tactics. Though he launched sever...

  PLAYING CHURCH OR FOLLOWING JESUS? “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”  (Luke 14:26–28) Following Jesus means a shift in priorities. He becomes first so that when it comes down to either-or rather than both-and, we choose Jesus. And making that choice beautifies us in God’s eyes. The call to follow Jesus is radical, and it might very well lead us down lonely paths. Are we willing to follow his call even if it means loss and the loneliness that springs from it? If we don’t consider all this beforehand, we are likely to turn back when the going gets rough. That’s why Jesus warned would-be followers to count the cost before starting out (Luke 14:...

As you pointed out, Matthew 2:23 asserts these statements. No Old Testament prophecy corresponds to these precise words. There are two different, yet related, main scholarly explanations to illustrate what St. Matthew is attempting to say in this passage. 1. According to the first, Matthew apparently paraphrases in summary form the words of several prophets. The paraphrase is based on Jesus’ boyhood home, Nazareth, and a similar-sounding Hebrew word  netser , which is translated as “sprout,” “shoot,” or “branch.”  Recall that the family fled to Egypt because of the murderous Herod the Great, who feared the Christ Child as a potential royal competitor and thus slaughtered every male child under two in Bethlehem and the neighbouring area (Matt. 2:16-18). They returned to reside in Nazareth after word came that Herod the Great had died (Matt. 2:19-20). Scripture affirms that Jesus came to restore the throne of his ancestor King David (Luke 1:31-33) and that he is “...