Dr Paul Allen

Why is the great “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 so amazing? Answer: It speaks of faith.  “What is faith?”  It might seem like this little word faith, so familiar to every Christian, would be easy to define. It occurs all over the Bible; various forms of it are used nearly one hundred times in the gospel of John alone.  But what is faith? Often, Hebrews 11:1 is cited as a definition of faith. In the ESV, it reads, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Though this might sound like a definition of faith, New Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen is likely right when he says that Hebrews 11:1 gives us more of a description of faith than a definition of faith.1 In the New Testament, faith is often referred to as the subjective means by which the people of God receive the Word and blessings of God. But it is also used to describe the content of what God has revealed in His Word and in the gospel in particular.  In Jude 3, for in...

An LDS (or “Mormon”) commenter showed up and we had a little back-and-forth.  I claimed that no other world religion has writings that claim “to actually be written by God by means of people who were writing on behalf of, and empowered and guided by, the Spirit of God himself.”  The commenter suggested that the book of Mormon did  indeed  claim to be inspired, as according to the above definition.  I asked for citation, and he gave a series of references that I challenged as insufficient.  He also gave a smooth-sounding argument for additional scripture, which I’ll summarize: 1. The people recorded  in  the Bible added  to  the Bible without violating the commands  of  the Bible. 2.  Men chose which books to include in the Canon of Scripture, but they learned  which  books were inspired because they prayed about it. 3.  You  too  can pray about it and discover whether  other  book...

Dr. Albert Mohler discusses Christian leadership in the secular world and to talk about his new book, The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters ( Bethany House , 2012). We asked him to address ten specific topics, and all of them are listed below. To listen to or download the podcast , go to the podcast page in iTunes here , or click on the following link: Christians Leading in the Secular World: An Interview with Dr. Albert Mohler  (21 minutes) It has been alleged by some that the modern church has failed to equip business people for day-to-day decision making . Is that true? In your book you say leadership is storytelling. Explain that. How does a Christian leader who understands the redemptive story line — creation, fall, redemption, re-creation — then understand what he does on Monday in relationship to that grand meta narrative ? You write that every company should have a sub-narrative to explain why their services or products matter. But som...

Every leader wants to lead better. Much has been written on leadership and yet, as Albert Mohler proves in The Conviction to Lead , there is still more. He starts the book with “My goal is to change the way you think about leadership. I do not aim merely to add one more voice to the conversation; I want to fundamentally change the way leadership is understood and practiced.”  Mohler surveys the vast leadership industry and points out that in all the useful things that have been said about leadership, the central problem “is a lack of attention to what leaders believe and why this is central.” His burden is “to redefine Christian leadership so that it is inseparable from passionately held beliefs, and to motivate those who are deeply committed to truth to be ready for leadership. I want to see a generation arise that is simultaneously leading with conviction and driven by the conviction to lead. The generation that accomplishes this will set the world on fire.” Mohler ad...