Dr Paul Allen

I dwell...with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. (Isa. 57:15) Matthew Henry, in the eighteenth century, wrote,  “He that dwells in the highest heavens dwells in the lowest hearts, and inhabits sincerity as surely as he inhabits eternity. In these he delights.” 1 Franz Delitzsch, in the nineteenth century, put it beautifully:  The Holy One is also the Merciful One. . . . The heaven of heavens is not too great for him, and a human heart is not too small for him to dwell in. He who dwells among the praises of the seraphim does not scorn to dwell among the sighs of a poor human soul.2 John Oswalt, writing in the twentieth century, says it this way:  “He offers life to those from whom the life has been all but crushed out; he offers life to those whose spirit has been ground down to nothing. They need not be captive to their sin and shame.”3 Our tenderhearted King knows that being alone at rock bottom is unspeakably painful. He vividly remembers that day on his cross ...

I could strengthen you with my mouth,  and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. (Job 16:5) Job’s sufferings reveal Job’s heart. What he says in suffering opens a window into his soul. He is under intense pressure. He has lost his wealth, position, children, and health. But the worst pressure is that his so-called comforters accuse him of unforgiven sin. They say that his accursed state proves he is under the curse of God; the fact that he is “shriveled... up” is “a witness against” him (Job 16:8). There is something of Job’s comforters in us all. We hear of someone’s misfortune, and we can hardly help but wonder if, in some way, they deserved it; in the same breath, the thought occurs to us that perhaps our own happy state shows we deserve that too. How wrong we can be! In this speech, Job's heart is described in two remarkable ways. First, despite how badly they are treating him, Job longs to comfort and bring solace to his friends (v. 5). Far from wanting to “get back a...

The reign of Christ represents the ultimate standard of truth, justice, and righteousness. However, throughout history, various ideologies, practices, and worldviews have emerged as counterfeits of His rule. These counterfeits often appear to address societal needs but ultimately deviate from biblical truth, undermining God’s design for humanity and creation. Below are 10 prominent counterfeits of the reign of Christ, structured to highlight their biblical contradictions and societal implications. Socialism vs. Meritocracy Based on Sowing and Reaping The Bible affirms the principle of sowing and reaping, as outlined in Galatians 6:7: “A man reaps what he sows.” This principle underpins a meritocratic system where individuals are rewarded for their labor, diligence, and stewardship. Socialism, by contrast, redistributes resources irrespective of effort, undermining personal responsibility and the biblical work ethic. While Scripture calls for generosity and care for the poor, these are ...

Prayer. One of the most frequent representations of obedience, which often appears as a separate condition, is prayer.60 This condition is usually built on the accounts in Luke 11:13 and Acts 1:14 where prayer precedes the impartation of the Spirit.  It is held that the gift cannot ordinarily be received apart from prayer. The gift is “without money and without price,” writes Riggs (pp. 103–04), “but He will give it only to those who ask for it.” Skibstedt (p. 68) affirms that “God fulfills the promises of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as long as the candidate knows that he needs this power—and seeks it in intensive and persevering prayer.”  As may be gathered from the latter part of the last remark, it is not simply prayer that usually obtains the gift, but a definite kind of prayer—“intensive and persevering prayer.” Riggs tells us emphatically that “we must ask importunately,” and queries, “Shall we consider that He gave the Spirit to us when asked once, even though there ...

Heart-Purification. While viewed from one side, the Pentecostal doctrine of active obedience requests a life without known sin, viewed from another side, it requires “heart-purification by faith,” a statement derived from the language of Acts 15:8–9:  “And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith.”  Here, Pentecostals find God bearing witness to the obedience he sees in the hearts of the Gentile household , rewarding them by cleansing their hearts with faith. This is the positive and resultant side of the doctrine of the separation from sin, which is negative and causal. Both doctrines are conditions, but they follow this succession: removing all known sin leads to the experience or fact of heart-purification, which leads to the Pentecostal baptism with the Spirit (cf. Acts 15:8–9 with Acts 10:44–46). There is an emphasis on the purificatio...

The Holy Spirit receives or is fully received by repentant saints, i.e., by Christians who, through obedience, have removed all conscious sin from their lives. Regarding Holy Spirit Baptism, obedience has two curves: one is active, the other is passive. In the first, the candidate is urged to act, and in the second, he is urged to cease from acting. i. Active Obedience, (a) Separation from Sin . Obedience means first of all and actively the separation from sin. Whether understood negatively, as repentance, or positively, as obedience, under this condition the Pentecostals’ implicit doctrine of sin can be discovered. Sin is understood as something which, with Christ’s help,53 the Christian can, indeed must, remove before his being able to receive the full gift of the Holy Spirit. Obedience has as its major task the removal of sin. For “you can receive the Holy Spirit, but not with sin in your heart” (Conn, Pillars, p. 96). Sin, first of all, is anything in a man’s life—large or small—wh...

Does the Holy Spirit Choose Not to Baptize People, or Are People the Problem? From a Pentecostal perspective, including that of Donald Gee and other scholars, the issue is not that the Holy Spirit chooses not to baptize certain people but that individuals may encounter personal barriers to receiving. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a promise available to all believers, not a selective gift withheld by God. God’s Desire to Baptize All Believers Pentecostals believe Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a gift available to all who believe in Christ. Acts 2:39 states: "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." (NIV) This verse supports the view that Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not limited to a select few but is meant for all believers. Scholars such as Donald Gee emphasize that God does not withhold the Holy Spirit arbitrarily; rather, the responsibility often lies with the individual (Gee, Pentecost , 1932). Human B...

From a Pentecostal perspective, including that of Donald Gee and other scholars, the issue is typically not that the Holy Spirit chooses not to baptize certain people, but rather that people themselves may face barriers to receiving. God’s Desire to Baptize All Believers The Pentecostal understanding is that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a gift available to all believers. Acts 2:39 says: "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." This suggests that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not limited to a select few but is meant for all who believe. Pentecostal theology teaches that God is not withholding the Holy Spirit but that some individuals struggle to receive due to certain hindrances. Human Barriers to Receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit Instead of the Holy Spirit choosing not to baptize someone, Pentecostals believe that it is often human factors that delay or prevent receiving. These ca...

According to Donald Gee and other Pentecostal scholars, why do some people not receive Baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues? Donald Gee, a well-known Pentecostal scholar, along with other Pentecostal theologians, identified several reasons why some people do not receive Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Some of these reasons include: 1. Lack of Understanding or Teaching Gee emphasized that some believers do not receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit because they have not been taught about it. Misconceptions, fear, or lack of biblical teaching can hinder faith and expectancy. 2. Unbelief or Doubt A common reason cited by Gee and other Pentecostal scholars is unbelief. If a person is sceptical about the experience or doubts that speaking in tongues is for today, they may struggle to receive. Faith is essential to receiving the Holy Spirit (Mark 11:24). 3. Fear or Overanalyzing the Experience Some individuals fear losing control or ...

Every Christian believer who seeks baptism in the Holy Spirit is eligible. The Holy Spirit is always willing to fulfil this promise, but most people are not.   “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him” (Acts 2:39 NRSV).  Every believer has the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to pursue a Spirit-filled life. The only conditions for receiving the promise are repentance and faith. Therefore, it is available to us today.  The Holy Spirit is willing, but we are the problem, not the Holy Spirit.  Holy Spirit baptism signals entrance into the Spirit-filled life. Jesus demonstrated a sense of urgency for His disciples to receive all the Father promised. He said, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49 NRSV). Further, He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Sp...

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is after conversion. Why must this be? The baptism in the Holy Spirit is evidenced by speaking in tongues. How can this occur?  The doctrine of the conditions for the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the sustained Pentecostal effort to answer both these questions: to explain why spiritual baptism cannot usually accompany initial faith,  detailing the conditions that believers usually fail to meet at that time, and to announce how spiritual baptism can be brought to the crisis event where tongues will occur, detailing the conditions that, when fulfilled, will lead to the experience.  The doctrine of conditions, then, is actually a corollary of the doctrine of subsequence and a premise for the doctrine of evidence, and as such, occupies a cornerstone position in the edifice of the distinctive Pentecostal doctrine. Under the doctrine of conditions, it is regularly suggested that certain fundamental steps must be taken for the believer to be a suit...