Dr Paul Allen

We all have questions about death. What is death? Why do we die? Why do we all die? Why is death so scary? Why did Christ die? Why do Christians have to die? How can I face the death of someone I love? How can I prepare for death? How can I help others prepare for death? What happens after death? To answer these questions, we need to go to the Scripture and see what God has to say to us there. The Bible is God’s Word and is completely reliable and true. If the Bible tells us something about death, then we can stake our lives on it. We also have a lot of help. Our spiritual ancestors thought deeply and practically about death. Throughout the history of the church, pastors and teachers have sought to help God’s people face death in light of the riches of biblical truth. In the Protestant Reformation five centuries ago, the church recovered the gospel in its full biblical integrity. Martin Luther, John Calvin, the British Puritans, and their spiritual heirs have left us rich reflections ...

One woman with cancer told me years ago, “I’m not a believer anymore—that doesn’t work for me. I can’t believe in a personal God who would do something like this to me.” Cancer killed her God. What would happen to me? I felt like a surgeon who was suddenly on the operating table. Would I be able to take my own advice? Facing such a serious diagnosis, Keller was forced to reexamine not only his “professed beliefs” but his “actual understanding of God.” He writes, Had [my ideas about God] been shaped by my culture? Had I been slipping unconsciously into the supposition that God lived for me rather than I for him, that life  should  go well for me, that I knew better than God does how things should go? The answer was yes—to some degree. I found that to embrace God’s greatness, to say “Thy will be done,” was painful at first and then, perhaps counterintuitively, profoundly liberating. To assume that God is as small and finite as we are may  feel  freeing—but it offers no...

  Jordan Standridge Are we supposed to care? Are we supposed to be sad? Are we supposed to pay attention to what is happening in the Roman Catholic Church? What are we supposed to do? I was hanging out with some Italian Believers, in Rome, when the news came out. One of the Major Basilica’s of Rome, “Saint Paul outside the City” was in the background as we were discussing the death of Pope Francis together. Mind you most of these people grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, have been baptized in the RCC and most still have many, family members in the Roman Catholic church. All these people have been impacted greatly by the Catholic Church. Perhaps no one on earth is more qualified to speak on the vicar of Rome, than a born-again Christian in Rome. And several people, in separate conversations all quoted Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven   will enter.   22...

In December 2024, near Kwa Zulu Natal, a man admitted to a terrible crime. The life of Zandile Kumalo was taken, horrifically documented, and then spread on social media. A reporter far away in Limpopo raised the question of witchcraft in connection with this vile string of events. Enos Magwabeni interviewed a witch doctor (name unpublished, hereafter WD), called a traditional healer by those trying to dignify the sad and dark ways of heathenism, and their exchange discussing the December murder of Zandile by Sibusiso was published in the Limpopo Mirror 17 January 2025 (article not archived online).  The WD argued that men who commit such crimes have been bewitched, and when the spell begins to wear off, they fall into a desperate rage. When the voodoo dominates, “the man becomes docile, almost like a walking zombie. He no longer can make his own decisions.”  According to the WD, these spells are most commonly cast by women who want to manipulate men, and the inexplicable choi...

A few years ago, I received this unexpected request from one of my church members with multiple sclerosis: “When you have time, could you please do a Bible study on how to prepare for death?”  This person knew that her condition was incurable, and although death still seemed a reasonably long way off, she was anxious to receive advice on how to face it. I was taken aback by that request, but I should not have been.  This was a very sensible idea.  Why wouldn’t every church member be interested in such a Bible study? Yet, I could not remember when I preached or heard a sermon on that topic. The Bible is very upfront about the reality of death but also very clear that it is possible to die well.  It is perhaps significant that one of the best-known Hebrew words in the Old Testament, the word shalom, which we associate with peace and well-being, first appears in the context of death (Gen. 15:15). Knowing how we may die “in peace” should be an essential concern for us al...