Dr Paul Allen

There are more significant questions beneath this question, making this an essential issue to many. As we move toward an answer, here are three pivotal concerns behind the question that can help us understand why this gnaws at many people’s hearts. 1. What do we mean when we talk about heaven? Generally, when people think about heaven, they refer to what theologians more appropriately call “the intermediate state.” When a believer in Christ dies, their soul leaves the earth, and they go into the presence of Jesus until the second coming of Christ. Here, we are liberated from physical pain, sin, the presence of evil, and all effects of the fall. We shall see the face of Jesus and experience unfettered communion with him. We will be, ideally, euphorically and eternally happy. The intermediate state, though, is temporary. At the second coming of Christ, we will descend with Jesus to the earth, where heaven will become a place on earth. At that point, the resurrection of the dead will occu...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6) We can all recall a time when we had a seating assignment.  In schooling, at work, or around the dinner table, a particular chair may be your seat. We tend to size up the quality of our assigned seats by factors such as visibility, the ambience, and, above all, the surrounding company. If we’re off to a concert or sporting event, our first question may be, “Do we have good seats?” We intuitively recognize that where we sit and (more importantly) whom it is that we sit next to play no small role in our experience. Thus, as Christians, we do well to pause and ask the question, “Do we have good seats?” Christians possess the most awesome of all assigned seats. How so? In this Ephesian passage, Paul has j...

Grief is a strange thing. Months, even years after a loss, it can show up unexpectedly. Sometimes, we grieve the loss of a loved one. Other times, we grieve a broken relationship, a shattered dream, or a ministry failure. Loss takes many shapes, affects us in different ways, and often lingers longer than it seems we can stand. The Israelites had a liturgy and structure they followed during times of grief. They wept and wailed. They tore at their clothes. They covered themselves in dust and ashes (Job 1:20; 2:12). They cried out sorrowfully to God. They sang out in lament. In our culture, we’ve forgotten how to grieve. We rush through painful experiences to put them behind us. When others around us grieve, we are uncomfortable with their tears and do whatever we can to distract them. We might even altogether avoid the grief-stricken around us.  But grief is not something to be distracted from, overlooked, or avoided. There’s no timetable and no way to rush through it. Grief is not s...

Thinking and writing about the devil is strange. I would argue that teaching about the devil has been largely neglected in the church. While there may be the more obvious danger of the devil’s being blamed for all sorts of our sins and living lives in fear of the evil one, in my experience that hasn’t been our great temptation as a church.  Our danger is being unaware of the devil’s schemes and being very naive in our thinking about his role and place. One of the reasons that I think it’s important for us to think these issues through is that it again reminds us that we are dealing with the supernatural. I fear that even in our proclamation of the gospel, we shy away from the spiritual realities of our faith. Christianity at its heart is unashamedly supernatural.  Even a cursory reading of the Gospels demonstrates this with angels, healings, demons, miracles, and resurrection. In seeking to make the gospel more palatable, we may easily downplay the supernatural.  Ephesian...

  1 Thessalonians 2:2 – "But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict." In any battle, the ultimate goal is to eliminate the highest-ranking leader on the other side of the fight. In Thessalonica, this person was the Apostle Paul.  Acts 17:1-9 is the historical record of how the church there was planted. Paul and his ministry team arrived in town, and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, many were saved in a revival, a riot broke out trying to put down the revival, and Paul fled for his life, which explains why he sent Timothy and other leaders along with a letter – because he could not be physically present.  In Paul’s absence, as is the case in every age, those who were anti-Christ were also anti-Paul. They began spreading lots of lies about him, which would have confused and concerned the new Christians who were saved under his preach...

Anna Hampton While there was no space to include all that Scripture mentions about cowardice, the following is just a brief discussion of a key verse often cited related to Biblical teaching on cowardice. It is commonly taught that cowardice is a sin and worthy of hεll. This teaching likely comes from Revelation 21:8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (NASB) What are we to make of this? Is this verse directed towards the Christ-follower? Biblical Lists of Sin The Bible includes several lists of sins, starting with the Ten Commandments and then many more lists in the New Testament. In Revelation, “there are two parallel vice lists [to 21:8] in 9:20–21 and 22:15.”[1] Interestingly, the words “coward” and “unbeliever” are found in no New Testament list, except here in Rev 21:8. Aune states, The term “...

By John Piper We all die. We all believe in the promises of scripture regarding eternal life. But what will it be like? The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 65:17 something pretty incredible. In the new creation, he says, “the former things” — the experiences of this life, it seems — “shall not be remembered or come into mind.” And that raises questions about eternity. In the new creation, are we mindwiped? Isaiah 65:17— Does this passage effectively say that we will be memory-wiped before we enter the new creation? How does it relate to Revelation 5:12,  which puts Christ’s sacrifice — the past-tense ‘was slain’ memorial of his crucifixion in this world — front and centre for eternity.  Well, here’s the quote. Let’s put Isaiah 65:17 right in front of us so that we can be specific. God is speaking: Behold, I create new heavens  and a new earth,  and the former things shall not be remembered  or come to mind. Does that mean a complete memory wipe — like, I assum...

Confused about this topic? In general, I do think we should do the best for the church about the second coming when we don’t focus on distortions and misconceptions but instead on the truth and the beauty of what it really is in the Bible. And yet, it’s right, now and then, to make our people understand there are misconceptions and errors. Five Misconceptions Frankly, I’m really happy that my book is viewed as mainly proactive and positive rather than critical. But of course, even that positive view can be overstated. Suppose we never focus on what’s wrong and show how harmful it is. In that case, we won’t really be biblical because the biblical witness itself describes errors and their harmfulness — like Jesus did with the scribes and Pharisees or like Paul in exposing errors of false teaching in Colossians and other places. So yes, I will point out some misconceptions about the second coming. Let’s just take them one at a time, and I’ll try to explain why I think they’re a problem. 1...

The subject of angels has fascinated people since the dawn of creation. These mysterious and ethereal creatures have eluded the mind and occupied countless pages in theological texts through the centuries. However, modern scholarship and theologies typically ignore the subject entirely.  At best, only a few paragraphs are dedicated to these celestial creatures in contemporary systematic theologies, and the topic of angels seems to have nearly vanished from the Reformed pulpits and theological discussions of the last century. Reformed theologians and students might be surprised that our forefathers in the faith mused and wrote copiously on these heavenly beings and saw them playing a vital role in the history of redemption. ANGELS AND THE BIBLE Scripture is replete with references to angels. From the cherubim who guarded the garden of Eden in Genesis 3:24 to the angel whom Christ sent to reveal so much to the Apostle John in Revelation, the angelic host of heaven is a dominant theme...

Many Christians reflect often on how the resurrection impacts the everyday life of believers. Because Jesus lives, we will live too. But what about the ascension of Jesus? Is it a doctrine we return to? Reasons we overlook the ascension What is the ascension? Why is it called the ascension? Who witnessed the ascension of Jesus? What were Jesus’ last words before he ascended? Why is the ascension important? What does the Bible say about the ascension? The good news of Jesus includes his life, death, resurrection, and future return—but what about his ascension? Though often neglected or misunderstood, the ascension is integral to the gospel. Jesus’ ascension was necessary for his present ministry in and through the church. Jesus’ residence in heaven marks a turning point in his three-fold offices of prophet, priest, and king. As prophet, Jesus builds the church and its witness. As priest, he intercedes before the Father. As king, he rules over all. A full appreciation of the ascension is...

One of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time was made in 1922 when Howard Carter located the 2000-year-old, undisturbed tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun. On the brow of King Tut’s burial mask was an engraving of a cobra whose task was to defend the Pharaoh’s spirit for eternity. Superstitious people feared it was bad luck to disturb the dead, and they took the cobra as a warning. This omen was ignored by the excavators until hours after the discovery when Carter’s pet canary was killed and eaten by a live cobra. Instantly rumors began to emerge that the tomb was cursed. The media gleefully lapped this up. And novelist Marie Corelli stirred the journalistic pot by declaring publicly that there would be dire consequences for disturbing Tut’s rest.  The watching world waited eagerly for any sign of “dire consequences.” Sure enough, less than two weeks later one of the lead archeologists, Lord Carnarvon, received a mosquito bite that he nicked while shaving. It became ...

Yet the reality of this next statement settles on you for a moment: you are going to die. It could be today or tomorrow, or maybe sixty or seventy years from now. For most of us, it will be sometime between now and then. Nevertheless, the fact remains, if the Lord doesn’t return before long, we are going to die. You are going to die. In modern times, we work hard at not thinking of death. We’d rather focus on the temporal and just get on with it. But Christianity teaches that when we refuse to take death into account, we’re destined to live deluded and deceived existences. When we stave off thoughts of our own mortality, we’re doomed to waste our lives on trivial matters. For, as Moses reminds us, we never gain the heart of wisdom if we don’t learn to number our days (Ps. 90:12). If you’ve ever visited ancient churches, you’ve likely noticed a graveyard surrounding the church. Lining the pathways that lead to the church’s entrance are tombstones with images of skulls or skeletons or an...

By Clint Archer It was a sobering and humiliating punishment. While millions of onlookers watched in morbid fascination at the televised spectacle, the eight victims of the controversial verdict stood crestfallen and shell-shocked in disbelief. After the many years of effort and sacrifice, the countless hours of practice and training, the untold expense of sponsorship and support, four ladies’ doubles pairs were disqualified from the Olympic badminton finals for the crime of—wait for it—not trying hard enough. Badminton is generally perceived as a placid sport, not known for its drama. But the brouhaha of the “shuttlecock scandal” in the London Olympics in 2012 made history with a bizarre turn of events. Two ladies’ doubles teams from China, one from South Korea, and one from Indonesia were unceremoniously disqualified for, in the words of the Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, one Craig Reedie, “not using one’s best efforts to win a match.” The players had all clea...