Dr Paul Allen

Keith A. Mathison Why in the world should I care about theology?  All I need is the Bible.  I can follow Jesus without having to learn all kinds of obscure words. Have you ever heard another Christian say something like these statements? Have you ever said something like that yourself? Ever thought of such things? If so, you’re not alone.  The vast majority of professing Christians have little to no interest in theology. In the minds of many Christians, there is no necessary connection between theology and their everyday Christian life. Theology, they believe, is irrelevant. The disconnect between theology and the church and between theology and the Christian has had disastrous results. One need only look at recent polls examining the level of theological knowledge among professing Christians to know that something has gone awry.  When large numbers of professing Christians start telling their friends and family, “You just have to read The Shack! I learned so much ab...

When students ask for recommended books before entering Bible College, I usually have Paul Tripp’s Dangerous Calling at the top of my list. Tripp points out many of the common heart problems related to pastoral ministry. But this book isn’t just for students. I think every professional Bible lecturer should read it too. Tripp writes out of both professorial and pastoral experience. Strive to be a professor who is concerned about heart application as much as theological information. Tripp exhorts readers to make the classroom more pastoral. Here’s a word to all professors: I am convinced that the crisis of pastoral culture often begins in the Bible College class. It begins with a distant, impersonal, information-based handling of the Word of God. It begins with pastors who, in their Bible College years, became quite comfortable with holding God’s Word distant from their own hearts. It begins with classrooms that are academic without being pastoral. It begins with brains becom...

Larry King Live title card  Any pastor who regularly addresses even a handful of souls from God ’s word knows the burden of wanting to be faithful to communicating accurately what God has said to his people. Every preacher feels the weight of Paul’s injunction, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). This is why Hope College Australia offers a 2-year Diploma then a 1 -year Advanced Diploma in Ministry.  The more training preachers get the better. Now, I agree that formal theological training at Bible College level is not a biblical prerequisite for being a preacher of God’s word. The Apostle Peter , for instance, had no Diploma or MDiv degree hanging on his office wall. But I’m sure we all agree that his 24/7 intensive, three year internship with Jesus was, um …adequate preparation. But if an excellent theological education is available to you, there is wisdom...

Matthew 28—A Risen Lord Jesus and His Commission A. The risen Jesus [28:1–15] 1. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany find an angel at the tomb (1–3) a. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb: They came to finish the preparation of Jesus’ body, which was cut short by the Sabbath ( Luke 24:1 –3). So after the Sabbath on Sunday (the first day of the week), they came to the tomb—fully expecting to find the dead body of Jesus. b. There was a great earthquake: Matthew alone notes this earthquake. The earthquake did not cause the stone to be rolled away; if anything, the angelic rolling of the stone prompted the earthquake.   i. “The earth shook both at Christ’s passion and at his resurrection; then, to show that it could not bear his suffering; now, to show that it could not hinder his rising.” (Trapp)   ii. Some think this was not a normal earthquake, but refers to the disturbance of the guards at the tomb ( Matthew 28:4 ). “Seismov, a shaking or...

How does the Bible uses to describe Itself? 1) A Sword that Pierces For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword , and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.   And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.  Hebrews 4:12-13 It’s not a Q-tip that tickles. The Word is Divine. It has come down from above. It has not originated from us but from God Himself. It is a Book that is alive. Lawson goes on to note that as the writer of Hebrews quotes the Psalms , he says that the psalmist “says…” therefore, although written many years prior, it is continually speaking. Martin Luther said, “The Word of God is alive, it speaks to me. It has feet, it runs after me. It has hands, it lays hold of me!” It has been...

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. ” ( Colossians 4:5-6 ) Time is the most precious resource available to us. Obviously, it becomes available moment by moment, and there is absolutely no way to recapture what has moved into the past. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” ( Psalm 90:12 ). Our lifestyle should be recognizable from the wisdom that comes from the “fear of the LORD” ( Psalm 111:10 ). So much so that our everyday conversation should not be “in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” ( 1 Corinthians 2:13 ). “Every idle word that men shall speak” will one day be evaluated “in the day of judgment” ( Matthew 12:36 ). It is clear that “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whe...

How to choose a Bible College I’m sure there are many practical concerns that factor in to why people choose the Bible College that they choose. Perhaps it’s the cost of tuition, the distance from home, the popularity of the professors, or the academic prestige of the institution. All of those are reasons why someone might choose a Bible College, and some of those reasons involve legitimate considerations. However, I’m convinced that none of those reasons represent the primary criterion that should be used to choose a Bible College. And that’s because seminary is unlike any other educational institution in the world. Bible College's exist—or at least they should exist—to train up future pastors for the work of the ministry. And pastoral ministry is serious business. So serious, in fact, that James warns his readers in James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that as such you will receive a stricter judgment.” Paul gave Timothy a similar charge in 2 Timothy 4:1–...

Recently some Bible College students from a particular church, went to a cemetery, laid on the tombstone of Aimee Simple McPherson (pentecostal speaker from California ) to try to receive a transfer of her Holy Spirit anointing to themselves.  ON WHAT SCRIPTURAL BASIS CAN THIS BE JUSTIFIED? Their actions somehow appear to be linked to an event from 2 Kings 13:21.  During the spring, the usual season of beginning campaigns in ancient times. Predatory bands from Moab generally made incursions at that time on the lands of Israel . The bearers of a corpse, alarmed by the appearance of one of these bands, hastily deposited, as they passed that way, their load in Elisha ’s sepulchre, which might be easily done by removing the stone at the mouth of the cave.  According to the Jewish and Eastern custom, his body, as well as that of the man who was miraculously restored, was not laid in a coffin, but only swathed; so that the bodies could be brought into contact. The...

English: Folio 41 verso, beginning of the Epistle to Titus; decorated headpiece (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author: Cripplegate. A Bible College professor told me that my understanding of the phrase” eternal life ” had, up until that point, apparently been quite mistaken.  Up until then I had thought that it was basically everlasting life (the unending life that Christians life after the resurrection), but my professor told me that “eternal life” was actually “life lived in the light of the eternal”; some sort of qualitative life on earth in the here and now (which basically meant feeding the poor, abandoning materialism, etc.). Baloney! First of all, I was struck by how, in the gospels, Christ simply showed up and talked about “eternal life” but didn’t define it.  This suggested to me that Christ’s audience already knew what he meant by the phrase, which then sent me to the Old Testament . So what is “eternal life” in the Old Testament? The phrase only appea...