Dr Paul Allen

In numerous passages throughout the Bible, there are places where Scripture speaks of God’s “purpose” (Acts  4:28 ), His “plan” (Ps 33:11; Acts  2:23 ), His “counsel” (Eph  1:11 ), “good pleasure” (Isa 46:10), or “will” (Eph 1:5). In one way or another, each of these designations refer to what theologians call God’s decree. The Westminster Confession famously characterizes  describes God’s decree  as follows: “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” So in those instances where Scripture speaks of God’s purpose, plan, counsel, pleasure, or will, these passages are referring to the divine decree by which God, before the creation of time, determined to bring about all things that were to happen in time. John Piper, summarizing God’s decree, says, “He has designed from all eternity, and is infallibly forming, with every event, a magnificent mosaic of redemptiv...

We’re asked common questions when people find out what we do. Are you a plumber? Get ready to remotely troubleshoot a leaky faucet. A doctor? Get ready for a rundown of mysterious aches and pains. For counselors, somewhere near the top of that list is the question, “What problems do you see most?” Depression, anxiety, anger, marital conflict all make the cut, but my top answer may surprise you. It’s pride. That pride should be the chart-topper actually shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone — and least of all to Christians. Proverbs  6:16 –19 lists seven traits that God despises, and the very first — “haughty eyes” — is the proverbial way of talking about pride. Pride is a prison that perpetuates anger, hurt, and foolishness while keeping at bay the restorative effects of conviction, humility, and reconciliation (Proverbs 11:2; 29:23; Galatians 6:3; James 4:6; Revelation  3:17 –20). Later, in Proverbs  16:18 , God tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and ...

Image via Wikipedia “Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14). Scripture is the source of godly counsel . In recent years the question of who is competent to counsel has become an important issue in the church. Many pastors and other church leaders have curtailed their counseling ministries or stopped them altogether. They’ve been made to feel inadequate for not having formal training in psychological counseling techniques. Behind this movement away from pastoral counseling is the subtle implication that the Holy Spirit and Scripture are incapable of addressing the deepest needs of the human heart . It is claimed that only secular psychology dispensed by trained analysts can do that. But the truth is, the heart of man is “more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). No one. That includes humanisti...