Dr Paul Allen

The story of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, found in 1 Kings 18:17-40,  is one the most amusing stories in the Bible.  To give you some background, King Ahab, of the northern kingdom of Israel, married a heathen woman named Jezebel, who henpecked and corrupted him to allow the worship of Baal and Asherah, a pagan fertility god and goddess.  This did not sit well with God, who appointed Elijah, a prophet, to confront Ahab. God sent numerous troubles on Israel due to their unfaithfulness, but Ahab blamed Elijah. Elijah became such a thorn in Ahab’s side that the king (or more likely, Jezebel) sought to kill him. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest Finally, Elijah called for a showdown between himself and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel to prove who was the true God. Boy, talk about being outnumbered! He then told the king to assemble the people of Israel so they might ...

Image via Wikipedia When Paul declared the mysterious and breathtaking promise that "all things work together for good to those who love God , to those who are called according to His purpose" ( Rom. 8: 28), he was musing in teleology . He was dealing with the realm of the remote rather than the proximate. This suggests that the proximate must be judged in light of the remote. Our problem is this: We do not yet possess the full light of the remote. We are still looking in a dark mirror. We are not utterly devoid of light, though. We have enough light to know that God has a good purpose even when we are ignorant of that good purpose. It is the good purpose of God that gives the final answer to the appearance of vanity and futility in this world. To trust in the good purpose of God is the very essence of godly faith. This is why no Christian can be an ultimate pessimist. The world in which we live is not a world of chance. Its beginn Image via Wikipedia ing was not an ac...

Image via Wikipedia EATING OUT ·  When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back. ·  When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators . MONEY ·  A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. ·  A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale. BATHROOMS ·  A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream , razor, a bar of soap, and a towel. ·  The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items. ARGUMENTS ·  A woman has the last word in any argument.. ·  Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument. FUTURE ·  A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. ·  A man never worries about the future until...