Dr Paul Allen

In Exodus 4:19 the Lord tells Moses to go to Egypt and gives directions, but in verse 24 I read that the Lord “sought to kill him.” So why would the Lord give an instruction followed by seeking his death? The Amplified Bible adds the text in brackets that helped me:  “Now it happened at the lodging place, that the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him [making him deathly ill because he had not circumcised one of his sons].”  Something seemed a little off. I remembered that passage in Exodus well; I’ve puzzled over it many times. It seemed to me, and I confirmed this with a quick check of a few translations and my Lexham English-Hebrew interlinear, that the Amplified Bible was adding its own ideas to the text. Now there’s nothing wrong with speculation and interpolation as long as it’s clearly marked off (as the Amplified Bible does) and understood by the reader to be speculation and interpolation. It’s the latter I’m concerned about: I fear that some readers may assume that th...

If there is one word that best describes the Christian worldview , it is truth. In an age of changing opinions, multiple perspectives, and varying viewpoints, biblical Christianity stands by itself as objective, absolute, and abiding truth. Scripture alone teaches us how to perceive the world in a way that accurately corresponds to reality. As such, its message of salvation is as timely as it is timeless. And its truth is as reliable as it is unchanging. In contrast to the enduring character of the gospel, the theories and philosophies of men are constantly in flux. Worldviews that dominate popular thinking, whether for decades or for centuries, are eventually discarded as outmoded and passé. New discoveries, developments, or insights render previous frameworks of thought no longer tenable. In a very real sense, when it comes to human wisdom the only constant is change. But not so with God . Unlike men, God is not in flux. He never changes but is the same yesterday, today, and fore...

There is one tell-tale fruit , but it may take a long time for it to happen. And even then you likely won't see it. But here's the fruit nonetheless—if the sinner ends up in heaven, you will know they had truly repented . If not, they likely had not. I understand the desire to know the sincerity of another's repentance. I've been in countless pastoral situations wherein it seemed like the answer to that one question—is this person truly repentant—determined the answer to every other question about what should be done. Trouble is, God has not been pleased to give us the means to peer into the souls of others. So what do we do? Consider the case of adultery, perhaps the most common grievous sin we face. Suppose I am unfaithful to my wife. Suppose I claim to be repentant. What ought she to do? The Bible says that she is free to divorce me, but is not required to do so. Many times her decision is bound up in this question—is he repentant? But that's not really the ...

Return of the prodigal son (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Psalm 23:3a, "He restores my soul." In the Amplified Bible , it reads, "He refreshes and restores my life (my self)." Can you think of specific instances when your soul needed restoring—when you were discouraged or bowed down by the pressures and demands of family and ministry? Remember, an event doesn't have to be catastrophic to pose a serious threat to the health of the soul. More often than not, the real danger lies in the piling up of small irritations and burdens—little things that keep building, one on top of the other, until the accumulated weight produces despair. You continue to perform, but you lack emotional vitality. You go through the motions, meeting the expectations of others, but inside there is a growing numbness—a weakening of the soul, a depletion of your inner self. When people reach this state of inner exhaustion, they often turn inward and become overly self-focused. Relationships...