Dr Paul Allen

“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” ( Romans 16:20 ) This is an intriguing promise, suggesting that believers can somehow inflict bruises on the devil, who is perpetually seeking to “devour” them ( 1 Peter 5:8 ). This promise is a clear allusion to the primeval assurance of Genesis 3:15 , when God promised that the unique “seed” of “the woman” would eventually “bruise” (actually “crush”) the head of the old serpent, the devil. This prophecy will finally be fulfilled in Christ ’s ultimate victory, when Satan first will be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit and then confined forever in the lake of fire ( Revelation 20:2 , 10). In the meantime, believers, who also in a sense are the woman’s spiritual “seed” ( Revelation 12:17 ), can repeatedly achieve local and temporary victories over Satan and his wiles by resisting him “stedfast in the faith” ( 1 Peter 5:9 ). If we resist him as ...

Detail of the right part of the second north window with stained glass depicting Psalm 66:2: Make His Praise Glorious. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.” ( Psalm 69:34 ) We may not yet understand the full purpose of God in creation , but at least one aspect of that purpose is that all things created should somehow praise their Creator . This theme occurs often in Scripture, especially in the psalms. For example, in addition to the exhortation in our text: “The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” ( Psalm 19:1 ). “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh” ( Psalm 96:11-13 ). “All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee” ( Psalm 145:10 ). “Praise ye him, sun ...

Five men in a traditional tent Arab Tent. They have a fire pit, and are having tea. There is a Falcon in the foreground (created in between 1898 and 1946). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Tents were among the early habitations of man, though not the earliest, since they apparently were not introduced until the time of Jabal, who was in the seventh generation from Adam (see Genesis 4:20). The first tents were doubtless made of skins, though afterwards, when the process of weaving became known, they were made of cloth of camel’s hair, or goat’s hair, spun by women. The latter is the material most commonly used by the Arabs , and since the goats were usually black, or a very dark brown, the tents had the same appearance.  It was thus in the days of Solomon with the tents made the descendants of the Ishmaelitish Kedar . “Kedar,” which means “powerful” in Arabic and “black” in Hebrew, designates the descendants of Ishmael in North Arabia. Individually the tents were not very attract...