Dr Paul Allen

By Dr. Jim Denison.  The Taliban’s sweeping takeover of Afghanistan is dominating world news. Many will examine President Biden's incorrect statements and rationale. But how does God see this situation? Let's look through the lens of Scripture and Christian theology. Let’s ask some prior questions:  Who are the Taliban?  What does God think about them?  How should we respond biblically to them? Who are the Taliban? The origins of the Sunni Islamist group known as the “Taliban” (from the Pashto for “students”). According to the most common explanation, when two teenage girls were kidnapped and raped in 1994 by followers of a warlord in Afghanistan, a group of 30 students joined their village cleric, Mullah Muhammad Omar, in rescuing the girls and hanging the group’s commander from a tank barrel. Their group grew in strength and popularity, eventually gaining the support of religious parties within neighboring Pakistan. In the chaos of post-Soviet Afghanistan, their enforcement o

If I sin, will I lose my salvation ? (Heb. 6:4–6) An act of sin does not cost you your salvation. There are people who teach that if you sin once after you have accepted Jesus, you must be saved again. But this is not what the Bible teaches. Can you conceive of somebody adopting a child and then throwing it out on the street because it falls while learning to walk? When we are saved, we are adopted into the family of God . We must, out of love on one hand and godly fear on the other, seek to live a life that is pleasing to Him. But the idea that one act of sin would cause someone to be thrown out of God’s family is not in the Bible ( I John 1:7, 9). However acts of sin or rebellion will take away the joy of your salvation. When David sinned he had no joy, because he had rebelled against God (Ps. 51:12). He said, "Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" (Ps. 51:11). Even though he had committed adultery and had been responsible for an innocent man’s death, by this clea

Image via Wikipedia The number of our military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury is larger than what the resources provided to the military medical departments or Veterans Affairs Treatment and Hospital Centers can accommodate. By 2008, the number of military personnel who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in treatment for PTSD was 67,717. The number of those not seeking or not accepted for treatment in military or VA facilities is thought to be many times higher. Most of the troops serving in these wars are from the Reserves or National Guard . These personnel do not return to military bases but return to communities, like yours, in the civilian sector, where there are few with a knowledge of what they have experienced, nor are there enough facilities to treat them. The incidence of PTSD is compounded by a high suicide rate in the military, which is now about twice the nati

Image via Wikipedia You may have heard of Said Musa , a man imprisoned in Afghanistan and awaiting execution. His crime? He converted to Christianity from Islam . He needs our prayer. Here is what  Denny Burk  posted yesterday. “Said Musa is married and the father of six young children. He has been a Christian for eight years.  Compass Direct News  reports: In the two-page letter, a copy of which Compass received in late October, Musa pleaded with the international community : ‘For [the] sake [of the] Lord Jesus Christ please pray for me and rescue me from this jail otherwise they will kill me because I know they [have] very very very cruel and hard hearts.’  Musa wrote of being sexually abused, beaten, mocked, spat on and deprived of sleep because of his faith in Jesus. He wrote that he would be willing to suffer for his faith in order to encourage and strengthen other Christians in their faith. So why don’t you pray for our brother, that the Lord would spare his life. And if tha

Image via Wikipedia You may have heard of Said Musa , a man imprisoned in Afghanistan and awaiting execution. His crime? He converted to Christianity from Islam . He needs our prayer. Here is what  Denny Burk  posted yesterday. “Said Musa is married and the father of six young children. He has been a Christian for eight years.  Compass Direct News  reports: In the two-page letter, a copy of which Compass received in late October, Musa pleaded with the international community : ‘For [the] sake [of the] Lord Jesus Christ please pray for me and rescue me from this jail otherwise they will kill me because I know they [have] very very very cruel and hard hearts.’  Musa wrote of being sexually abused, beaten, mocked, spat on and deprived of sleep because of his faith in Jesus. He wrote that he would be willing to suffer for his faith in order to encourage and strengthen other Christians in their faith. So why don’t you pray for our brother, that the Lord would spare his life. And if tha