Dr Paul Allen

Two sites are competing for the title of the real Bethsaida. Only one can be right, one would think, and el-Araj does have a layer from the time of Jesus and the apostles – but there’s a twist to this Galilean tale. Sometime between from the first century B.C.E. to the early first century, a fishing village arose where the Jordan River enters the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The name Bethsaida literally stems from that description: “house of hunting,” i.e., fishing. In the year 30 or 31 C.E., tetrarch Herod Philip upgraded the village to a polis named Julias, according to the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Then, in the third century, the historical record goes silent on Bethsaida-Julias until the fifth century. Archaeology shows that is when the Byzantines built a church in the town over the putative home of the apostles Andrew and Peter. And then the city’s location was lost. “Bethsaida is the last missing city of the gospels,” Steven Notley of Nyack College told Haaretz dur...

If there is anything else a man can do other than preach, Martyn Lloyd-Jones maintained, he ought to do it. The pulpit is no place for him. The ministry is not merely something an individual can do, but what he must do. To enter the pulpit, that necessity must be laid upon him. A God -called man, he believed, would rather die than live without preaching . Lloyd-Jones often quoted the famed British pastor Charles H. Spurgeon : "If you can do anything else do it. If you can stay out of the ministry, stay out of the ministry." In other words, only those who believe they are chosen by God for the pulpit should proceed in undertaking this sacred task. "Preachers are born, not made," Lloyd-Jones asserted. "This is an absolute. You will never teach a man to be a preacher if he is not already one." It was clearly the case in the life of Lloyd-Jones. He realized he was not joining a volunteer army. What constitutes this call to preach? Lloyd-Jones identifie...

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, is still remembered for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author: Cripplegate Jonathan Edwards ’ famous sermon, “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God ,” since last Tuesday was the 273rd anniversary of the greatest sermon preached on American soil. The doctrine of hell as the eternal conscious torment of the wicked who die outside of Christ presents many objections and such objections are very common from our increasingly-secular, anti-biblical, and Christianity-intolerant culture. Let's respond to those objections. Two Disclaimers We know there are strenuous objections to this doctrine from the various corners of unbelief—both from those who do and do not claim to be Christians. Though I vigorously believe this to be the biblical teaching, it simply falls outside the scope of this post to make a full defense of the doctrine. Secondly,  the doctrine of eternal consci...

English: This is a map of first century Iudaea Province that I created using Illustrator CS2. I traced this image for the general geographic features. I then manually input data from maps found in a couple of sources. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco: 1998. p. xxiv. Michael Grant. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. Charles Scribner's Sons: 1977. p. 65-67. John P. Meier. A Marginal Jew. Doubleday: 1991. p. 1:434. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 11:20–24 “I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you” (v. 24). Matthew 11 focuses on the rising opposition to Jesus ’ mission. Although John the Baptist’s question about the Lord’s true identity is not intended to oppose Him (because he does not go past doubt to unbelief, vv. 1–15), note that such doubting, if not handled properly, is the first step toward apostasy. Many religious leaders in Jesus’ day go farther do...

Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God ’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). Some of those who object to the doctrine of hell hold that it denies God’s love and goodness. Some suggest that if the Lord is really loving and good, then He would not subject anyone to eternal punishment . Assumptions that the Creator loves all people equally and that nothing exceeds His love for human beings lay behind this protest. However, these definitions of love are not biblical. First, Isaiah tells us the Lord is jealous for His own glory. “My glory I will not give to another,” says Yahweh (48:11). His creation and salvation of His people are not primarily for our good, but for His glory (43:1–7). Note how God’s wrath and rig...

Old Synagogue in Korazim Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Corazim_synagogue (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Luke 11:20-24 Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin ! Woe to you, Bethsaida ! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes . Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum , will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” Jesus ’ harsh reproach against the cities in which most of His miracles were done seems on the surface to be less justified than His comparatively mild rebuke of...

Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The twelve apostles included “Philip” ( Matt. 10:3). Friendships can provide the most fertile soil for evangelism. Philip was probably a fisherman who was acquainted with Peter , Andrew , James, John, Nathanael , and Thomas prior to their all becoming disciples. We first meet him in John 1:43–46, which says, “The next day [after Jesus encountered Peter and Andrew], He purposed to go forth into Galilee , and He found Philip, and Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida , of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth , the son of Joseph. … Come and see.’” Those brief verses reveal two things about Philip. First, he had a seeking heart. Apparently he and...