Dr Paul Allen

Christopher Hitchens (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) College-aged millennials today are far more likely than the general population to be religiously unaffiliated. This is true when they are compared to previous generations as well. In fact, the Pew Research Center documents that millennials are the least outwardly religious American generation, where “one in four are unaffiliated with any religion, far more than the share of older adults when they were ages 18 to 29.” Just over 60 percent of millennials say that Christianity is “judgmental,” and 64 percent say that “anti-gay” best describes most churches today. In ministry circles, it has long been reported that of youth raised in homes that were to some degree “ Christian ,” roughly three-quarters will jettison that faith after high school. Just under half of this number will return to some level of church involvement in their late 20s or early 30s. It has long been recognized that experience with an earthly father deeply info...

With President Donald J. Trump ’s inauguration behind him a dilemma faces those who marched on Trump Tower waving signs that declared “NOT MY PRESIDENT.” They can either submit to the reality ushered in by the inauguration day —that Donald Trump is now POTUS —or they can ignore reality and keep protesting. If they remain at Trump Tower they will look rather pathetic since their target has now moved to his new, blanched digs. If they do show up at the White House it will prove that in some begrudging respect those who aver that he is not  their  president tacitly concur that he is, in fact  the  president of their country. At least they have the security blanket of term limits for consolation. This cognitive dissonance will thrive in the afterglow of the Oxford Dictionary’s party to unveil its word-of-the-year: “post-truth” (which is actually two words, but ignoring that fact is the epitome of post-truth, which makes the choice even edgier). The ...

A. W. Tozer ’s discerned the decline of theology in the typical evangelical pulpit many years ago. T ozer (d. 1963) points back to the dumbing down of youth ministry as the moment that the cancer of non-doctrinal preaching entered evangelicalism. When youth pastors began to fancy themselves as professional entertainers, they prepared the students to disassociate theology from church:   We have the breezy, self confident Christians with little affinity for Christ and his cross. We have the joy-bell boys that can bounce out there and look as much like a game show host as possible. Yet they are doing it for Jesus ’ sake?! The hypocrites! They’re not doing it for Jesus’ sake at all; they are doing it in their own carnal flesh and are using the church as a theater because they haven’t yet reached the place where the theater would take them. (T ozer on Worship and Entertainment ). He then watches that cancer work its through the body as those youth pastors became pastors, ...

Matthew  5:17 –18 is a key text for interpreting the Sermon on the Mount and the entire gospel of Matthew : “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Here Jesus says that not one iota (jot) or dot (tittle) will pass away from the law. These most likely refer to the smallest strokes of the Hebrew alphabet , indicating that the Old Testament is completely trustworthy, even to the smallest detail. This is consistent with Jesus’ attitude elsewhere. Never do we find Jesus disagreeing with Scripture. Though some have argued that Jesus disagrees with Scripture in the so-called antitheses of Matthew  5:21 –48, He explicitly instructs us otherwise in vv. 17–18. Jesus has not come to abolish the Mosaic law (or the Prophets), but to fulfill it. He does not disagree ...

One of the most important events of the life of Christ was His ascension. We celebrate His birth, His life, His transfiguration, His atoning death on Good Friday, and His resurrection. But all of these events moved Jesus inexorably toward that moment when He would be lifted up from this planet, not simply to rise to heaven but to go to His coronation, His crowning as King of kings and Lord of lords . Immediately following Jesus' ascension comes His session. If I were to ask you, "What's the session?" you might say that it is the group of elders of your church who meet to establish policy and carry out discipline in the church. That's true, but the ultimate session is the session of Jesus; it refers to His seating at the right hand of God . Various views have emerged in church history regarding the concept of the kingdom of God . Some believe the kingdom of God is totally future, that it doesn't exist at all now, not even in part, until the return of Je...

God simply doesn’t do things our way. His plans are not our plans — his thoughts not our thoughts ( Isaiah 55:8). His ways are higher. And not just a little bit higher. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Yes, he is Creator almighty, and we are mere creatures. He is infinite; we are finite. He is God, and we are not — but don’t miss the jewel in the context of these often quoted verses from Isaiah 55: While we are not gracious by nature, he is. Where our only reflex is to dole out punishment, he stands ready to forgive — and not just forgive, but “abundantly pardon.” Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7) He is a God beyond our natural expectations and inclinations, not just in the power of his might, but in the wideness of his mercy...

“Hear, O Israel : The LORD our God is one LORD.” ( Deuteronomy 6:4 ) This great verse has been recited countless times by Israelites down through the centuries, setting forth their distinctive belief in one great Creator God. The Jews had retained their original belief in creation, handed down from Noah, while the other nations had all allowed their original monotheistic creationism to degenerate into a wide variety of religions, all basically equivalent to the polytheistic evolutionism of the early Sumerians at Babel. But along with its strong assertion of monotheism, there is also a very real suggestion that this declaration, with its thrice-named subject, is also setting forth the triune God. The name “LORD,” of course, is Yahweh, or Jehovah , the self-existing One who reveals Himself, while “God” is Elohim , the powerful Creator/Ruler. “Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah” is the proclamation. A number of respected Jewish commentators have acknowledged that the verse spoke of ...

Image via Wikipedia There is certainly a biblical injunction that we discern the times. God calls us to do this, however, not so we will know the right move to make at the right time, but so that we will remember what the right move always was. Circumstances don’t change our calling, though they can wake us up to our calling. Such is the case here. Christians should do what Christians are always called to do. First, we should be looking to our own sin. Why is it that Christians are up in arms politically during a time of shocking deficits, high unemployment and a moribund real estate market, but have been comparatively content over almost forty years of abortion on demand? What does that say about us and our priorities? The obvious answer is this- money is an idol to us.  We think because money seems to be even more important to Gordon Gekko , or Donald Trump , that we are therefore free from seeing it as an idol. We think that having less than somebody else is proof we’...