Dr Paul Allen

Jesus had enemies. As soon as he’s declared Son of God in the Gospel of Mark , he’s driven into the wilderness to face Satan , his first and greatest adversary (Mark  1:12 ). Satan lurks behind all opposition to Jesus, and his demons show up repeatedly to entice and corrupt, but surprisingly, his henchmen are more often theologians than demons. Satan is mentioned only five times in Mark, and demons only thirteen times. But the scribes and Pharisees are mentioned 29 times, and in 27 of those verses, they are wielding their knowledge of the Scriptures in opposition to the Christ . When Jesus told his disciples how he would die, he didn’t blame the evil ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), but the rulers of his own chosen people, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over  to the chief priests and the scribes , and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog...

“The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” ( Psalm 145:17 ) When Abraham was interceding with God to spare Sodom if even ten “righteous” people were there, he asked: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” ( Genesis 18:25 ). The Hebrew word (mishpat) refers to a formal judgment about right and wrong and is more commonly translated “judgment.” Indeed, the divine Judge will do right and give right judgments in all things, for He “is righteous in all his ways” and “canst not look on iniquity” ( Habakkuk 1:13 ). Ever since Adam disobeyed the Word of God, however, all his descendants have been unrighteous in their ways. God’s righteous judgment has been that “there is none righteous, no, not one” ( Romans3:10 ). Thus, a truly righteous Judge would not only have to consign Sodom to destructive “brimstone and fire from the LORD” ( Genesis 19:24 ) but every one of us as well “into the lake of fire” ( Revelation 20:15 ) forever. But God, being not onl...

Have you ever felt guilty for experiencing grief? It might seem like a strange question — why would you feel guilty for grieving? But sometimes Christians do feel guilty, precisely because we believe in Jesus . Belief in Jesus, so it is thought, should remove any reason for grief. Jesus loves me. Jesus died for me. Jesus is in control. Jesus raises the dead. With such beliefs, how could any real Christian give in to grief? Believers commonly subscribe to this equation. But this equation is completely wrong — as seen in the life of Jesus himself. His friend Lazarus died. And the shortest verse of the Bible gives us Jesus’s reaction to this death — “Jesus wept” ( John 11:35 ). But this simple statement may cause some confusion. It is clear throughout John 11 that Jesus knows exactly what he is going to do about Lazarus’s death (John 11:11, 14–15, 23). If he knows that Lazarus will be up and walking again in about five minutes, why does he weep? Jesus weeps because Lazarus has died ...

Does prayer make any difference? Absolutely! And prayer makes a difference because the living God , the Holy Spirit , lives inside the one praying. Further, when God’s people get together and pray as a community, amazing things happen! I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of those before-and-after photos advertising the latest weight loss and fitness program. The Bible gives us a pretty neat before-and-after picture of the early church. Before the Holy Spirit empowered the church at Pentecost , the apostles are waiting, hiding, and hoping. And they’re praying. Then Pentecost occurs. The fire falls. The Spirit empowers. And things begin to happen. Thousands are saved and added to the church. Miracles occur. Healing takes place. The impact is so tangible that the church leaders start getting in trouble for bringing attention to the crime of the unfair crucifixion of Jesus. Peter and John heal a crippled man at one of the Temple gates and it lands them in jail where they take a beating and...

Three Marys at the Tomb. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 28:1 says that at the resurrection, Mary Magdalene and another Mary are at the tomb when it begins to dawn. And Mark tells us in chapter 16, that Mary Magdalene, the mother of Jesus, and Salome was there. And John, not to be outdone, says Mary Magdalene was there. He doesn't say only Mary Magdalene was there, but he does say Mary Magdalene was there but doesn't mention anyone else. But then says that when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb it was still dark. Contradictions—age-old, tiresome, weary contradictions. If Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, and Salome were there, Mary Magdalene was there. So what John is saying isn't contradicting anything. If they left their home when it was still dark and arrived at the tomb when the sun was coming up, there's no contradiction here. Or, 2 Samuel 24 says God provoked David to number the people. But Chronicles says Satan did it. Ok, Chronicles was written prob...

“Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” Luke 2:49. Those are Jesus’ only recorded words in Scripture before the age of thirty. Nothing else. In fact we don’t have anything in Scripture about Jesus between the age of two and the age of thirty. Niente. Zilch. Nada. Other than informing us about an escape to Egypt, The Sovereign God of the universe that gave us Scripture chose before the foundation of the world to only give us one story about Jesus’ life between his birth and the start of his ministry. It is only right for us to ask ourselves why is it so? Why in the world do we have only one story of a young Jesus? Hollywood can make a two-hour long movie about Jesus in this time period, but I can already tell you without having watched it that the movie will disappoint any Bible believing Christian. I believe that there is a reason why God gives us only one recorded statement of Jesus. Having had the recent privilege of pre...

English: Baptist communion elements (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When I was growing up, I did not like going to church. For a young boy in a rural town, church was boring, long, and filled with old, stodgy people singing old, stodgy songs. I would have rather been playing and watching football. However, there was one Sunday out of every month in which I did look forward to church—the first Sunday. The first Sunday was communion Sunday. The mothers (older woman) of the church would dress in all white. The pastor would wear his white robe. The communion table, normally bare, would be draped in a white cloth under which was clearly the communionware containing the bread and the wine. I was impressed with the ceremony involved and the care taken in preparing the table. There was care in handling and distributing the elements. The deacons wore white gloves and the trays were passed between them with a deliberate orchestration of movements and reverence. I really enjoyed the anticipation ...

John the Apostle on Patmos by Jacopo Vignali. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the book of Revelation , the Apostle John records the vision he received on the island of Patmos . In that vision, Christ showed John many things, including the new heaven and the new earth: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem , coming down out of heaven from God , prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:1–4) We read that in heaven there will be no sea, which, if taken literally, mig...

English: Raising of Lazarus by Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany , the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold he whom You love is sick.”   —John 11:1–3 The household of Mary and Martha is one in which Jesus and His disciples had been given hospitality whenever they had been in the area of Judea . Apparently, Lazarus was a wealthy man, and he used his wealth to support the ministry of Christ . The fact that Mary and Martha sent for Jesus as soon as Lazarus became ill is evidence of their faith in His power. No doubt they thought, If Jesus is willing to heal total strangers, certainly He will jump at the opportunity to heal one who has been a friend. But such was not the case. But when Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for...