Dr Paul Allen

The Son of Man and the seven lampstands (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Revelation’s picturesque images, mysterious symbols, and apocalyptic language make it one of the most challenging books in Scripture to interpret. There are four main interpretative approaches to the book. The preterist approach views Revelation not as future, predictive prophecy, but as a historical record of events in the first-century Roman Empire . The preterist view thus ignores the book’s own claims to be a prophecy (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18–19). Nor were all the events predicted and depicted in Revelation fulfilled in the first century.  The second coming of Christ described in chapter 19 obviously is yet to occur. But the preterist view requires that one see the words about Christ’s second coming as fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, even though He did not appear on that occasion. Nor is there any persecution in the first century that fits the description of the horrific events depicted i...

English: "The Judas Kiss", (Mark 14:45) by Gustave Doré. Judas kisses Jesus in order to betray him to the guards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Robert Gundry  delivered an address at Westmont College  in which he made the shocking claim that the apostle Peter was actually “Peter the apostate and false disciple according to St. Matthew.”  According to Gundry, Matthew’s gospel depicts Peter, after his denials — not as a forgiven apostle — but as an apostatizing false prophet. (To see the video,  click here . To read the press release from Westmont,  click here ). In essence, Gundry puts Peter on equal footing with Judas Iscariot . Gundry’s claims are astounding — especially when one considers that never in church history has anyone suggested that Matthew’s gospel depicts Peter as an apostate. But that fact does not faze Gundry, who apparently sees no problem with his novel interpretations. In defending his unconventional view, Gu...

Raphael, St Paul Preaching in Athens (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Last Sunday as my wife preached, a person stood up and walked out. My wife and I pioneered the church and I am the senior pastor and elder. We were told he had a problem with a women preaching.  In 1 Timothy 2:12 , the apostle Paul sets forth the qualifications for church leadership, and he makes the statement, “I will not allow a woman to have authority over a man or to teach.” Now notice, he doesn’t say, “I will not allow a woman to be a pastor,” nor does he say, “I will not allow a woman to be ordained to ministry.” He says, “I will not allow a woman to have authority over men or to teach.” Therein lies the problem. The verb Paul uses in this passage that is translated “authority” occurs only once in the entire New Testament in this particular context. Because this word is only used once in the New Testament and rarely shows up in other Greek literature of that period that survives today, we’re not ex...