Dr Paul Allen

But what about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of an unbeliever ? Since the Holy Spirit does not indwell him, does this mean that he must rely only upon arguments and evidence to convince him that Christianity is true? No, not at all. According to the Scripture, God has a different ministry of the Holy Spirit especially geared to the needs of the unbeliever. Jesus describes this ministry in John 16 : 7–11: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if l do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Here the Holy Spirit’s ministry is three-fold: he convicts the unbeliever of his own sin, of God’s righteousness, and of his condemnation before...

Illustration from the Morgan Bible of the Israelites being repulsed from Ai. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Most people, Christians and non-believers alike, are horrified by the atrocities of the (IS) Islamic State. But for some Christians the current violence also raises uncomfortable comparisons with the Old Testament . How does this "holy war" perpetrated in the name of Islam differ from what God told Israel to do under Joshua ? I'd like to point to three aspects of the biblical accounts that can help us. What does the Bible actually say? First, we need to make sure we don't misrepresent what the Bible actually says. Here are Moses' instructions in Deuteronomy 7:1-6:  When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations - the Hittites , Girga Shites, Amorites, Canaanites , Penzzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven na...