Dr Paul Allen

"Philip the Evangelist preaching the Gospel in Samaria" Deutsch:  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Luke has brought together for us two examples of Philip’s evangelistic labours, and it is instructive to compare and contrast them. The similarities are plain.  In both instances the same pioneer spirit was shown by Philip, who won the first Samaritans and the first African to Christ. To both audiences the same message was proclaimed, namely the good news of Jesus Christ , for there is only one gospel. In both situations the same response was given, for the hearers believed and were baptized. And in both cases, the same result is recorded, namely joy. The differences are striking too. I am not now thinking of how the Spirit was received, or of the apostolic delegation to Samaria which had no parallel in the conversion of the Ethiopian . I am thinking rather of the people evangelized and of the methods employed. Take the people evangelized. The people with whom Philip shared...

Cover of The Kingdom of the Cults A few months ago Franklin Graham found himself in all sort of evangelical hot water when he removed a page from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ’s website that had labeled Mormonism as a cult. The timing of the removal—a few weeks before the presidential election and a few minutes after Billy Graham gave his presidential imprimatur to Romney—made any nuanced reasoning behind the Graham’s move impossible. They compounded their problems when their defense of the action was “God has not called us to call other people names”—a defense which is about as thoughtful and persuasive as saying “Mormons really are nice people after all.” As Dan Phillips over at Pyromanics pointed out, how can you possibly argue with someone when they say that God has not called them to do what you think they should be doing? Doesn’t that mean you are arguing with God? Who, exactly, do you think you are? But there remains an obvious question that bears explori...