Dr Paul Allen

Different communities of people who call themselves Christians use different Old Testaments. Here’s what I mean: Everyone agrees about thirty-nine of the texts in the Old Testament, but—if you attended Mass in a Roman Catholic congregation this weekend—the Old Testament readings would come from a canon that includes seven books more than the thirty-nine books in the Old Testament at the Protestant church down the street. A few blocks further down the street at the Jewish synagogue, a reader who probably doesn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus at all will be chanting a Hebrew or Aramaic text from the same Old Testament canon that the Protestants are studying in translated form. The Orthodox Church across town will be reading an Old Testament that encompasses a total of ten more texts than Jews and Protestants recognize. All of these disparities spawn a difficult question: If people who claim to be Christians can’t be sure about which books belong in the Old Testament, how ...

HOW THE MIGHTY FALL  JIM COLLINS This is not Jim Collin’s best-known book.   How the Mighty Fall is a study of why once great companies collapse. Collins isolates five stages of decline and doom for once-great companies (including some of his Good to Great companies). The five markers are a chilling reminder of how success goes awry. Collin’s insights into the hubris born of success and the undisciplined pursuit of more are haunting and a great window into the soul and ego of everyone who leads anything. For anyone who’s leading anything that’s growing or successful, this is a must-read. Here’s the  link . GOOD TO GREAT  JIM COLLINS This is Collin’s best-known book and for good reason.  From “first who” to ‘confront the brutal facts’ to the ‘flywheel principle’ to ‘level 5 leadership’ and the defining role that humility plays in greatness, Collin’s insights have shaped me and the teams I lead deeply. Here’s the  link . THE ADVANTAGE...

Imagine walking up a mountain alone. But it’s no ordinary mountain. The ground beneath you is shaking, and the entire mountain is covered in smoke. At its peak is a thick cloud with lightning and thunder. God descends onto the mountain in fire, and each time you speak to him, he responds in thunder. This is what Moses experienced in Exodus 19. Now compare that experience to your last time in prayer. Distracted, obligatory, ordinary — I doubt any such words came across Moses’s mind as he ascended the mountain. But some three thousand years later, we rarely marvel that God permits imperfect humans into his presence. How did the shocking become so ordinary to us? Is it even possible for our experiences with God to be thatfascinating? Going Up the Mountain A mentor of mine lives in India. Last year, he called me on the phone crying, distraught over the state of the church in America. “It seems like the people in America would be content to take a selfie with Moses. Don’t they know t...

“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” ( Psalm 119:160 ) Very few books survive very long. Only a few survive past the first printing, and science books especially get out of date in just a few years. But one book is eternal! The Bible stands! Even its most ancient chapters are still accurate and up to date. Furthermore, despite all the vicious attacks of both ancient pagans and modern humanists, it will continue to endure. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” ( Matthew 24:35 ; Mark 13:31 ; Luke 21:33 ). Even after everything else dies and all the bombastic tirades of skeptics and secularists are long forgotten, the Word endures. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” ( Isaiah 40:8 ). Note the oft-repeated testimony to this same effect in Psalm 119. In addition to the comprehensive promise of today’s text, this great “psalm ...

How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature — A Response to Bart Ehrman  by Michael Bird, Craig Evans, Simon Gathercole, Charles Hill & Chris Tilling . This book released as the same day as the book it refutes. “In his recent book  How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher From Galilee  historian Bart Ehrman explores a claim that resides at the heart of the Christian faith—that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. According to Ehrman, though, this is not what the earliest disciples believed, nor what Jesus claimed about himself. The first response book to this latest challenge to Christianity from Ehrman,  How God Became Jesus  features the work of five internationally recognized biblical scholars. While subjecting his claims to critical scrutiny, they offer a better, historically informed account of why the Galilean preacher from Nazareth came to be hailed as ‘the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Namely, they conte...

Memorizing the Bible resources Books : His Word in My Heart  by Janet Pope Flaming Sword  by Tai Ikomi Keep in Memory  by N.A. Woychuck You Need to Memorize Scripture  by N.A. Woychuck Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life  by Donald Whitney The Spirit of the Disciplines  by Dallas Willard Celebration of Discipline  by Richard Foster Scripture Memory Made Easy  by Mark Water Websites : Memverse.com  – A spectacular online memory tool Fighter Verses  – Memory verse system for children and parents through Desiring God Impress Kids  – Online memory tool that is a companion to your ongoing church discipleship, uses the verses you are already promoting as memory verses for the week or month Memlok  - Bible memory software Organizations or Other Resources : Scripture Memory Fellowship  – A complete infant to adult program with incentives for Bible memory An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture ...