Dr Paul Allen

J. Cotrell Living in a physical world in material bodies, even Christians are constantly vulnerable to the error of materialism. Theoretically, we believe in spiritual realities—God, angels, demons, our souls. But on a practical level, we often live as if none of these spiritual realities are real. We limit our conscious lives to what can be perceived through our five senses—all of which are physical. Even in our relation to God, the physical often takes priority. In prayer, for example, we focus on physical blessings and needs. In group prayer sessions, when prayer requests are solicited, usually, the great majority of such requests are for some kind of physical healing of physical ailments. It is certainly not wrong to be fully aware of and thankful for this physical creation, and it is quite appropriate to petition and thank God for our physical well-being. However, we must always resist the temptation to limit our concerns to the material aspects of reality. I pray that those who h...

Inspiration accounts for inerrancy, and inerrancy proves inspiration. This miracle of infallible inspiration is said to be the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This might well be the very greatest ministry in which the Spirit is engaged. All Spirit-filled believers have known, to some degree, the miracle of Divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit, but never to the extent experienced by the writers of Scripture. The Pentecostal Movement has been accused of being an experience-centered movement, and indeed it is! But it is also a Bible-centered movement. It is beautiful to see how the Holy Spirit and the written Word are always in perfect agreement. This must be so, because the Word is the result of the inspiration of the Spirit. The following list of references, where the Holy Spirit and the Word are mentioned together, illustrate the importance of recognizing the ministry of both the Spirit and the Word, and demonstrate the harmony between the Word and the Spirit: 2 Samuel 23:2 The S...

English: Lord Jesus at St Joseph Oratory, Montreal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “For with you is the fountain of life ; in your light do we see light.” Psalm 36:9 No lips can tell the love of Christ to the heart till Jesus himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and tame unless the Holy Ghost fills them with life and power; till our Immanuel reveals himself within, the soul sees him not. If you would see the sun, would you gather together the common means of illumination, and seek in that way to behold the orb of day? No, the wise man knows that the sun must reveal itself, and only by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is so with Christ. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah !” said he to Peter , “for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.” Purify flesh and blood by any educational process you may select. Elevate mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power. Yet none of these can reveal Christ. The Spirit of God must come with power...

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Photo credit: Lawrence OP ) “ The Comforter , which is the Holy Ghost.” John 14:26 ( KJV ) This age is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit , in which Jesus cheers us, not by his personal presence, as he shall do by-and-by, but by the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Ghost, who is evermore the Comforter of the church. It is his office to console the hearts of God ’s people. He convinces of sin; he illuminates and instructs; but still the main part of his work lies in making glad the hearts of the renewed, in confirming the weak, and lifting up all those that be bowed down. He does this by revealing Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ’s name and grace. He takes not of his own things, but of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spi...

Holy Ghost (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ , and the love of God , and the communion of the Holy Ghost , be with you all. Amen.” ( 2 Corinthians13:14 ) The doctrine of the triune God is unique to Christianity . There is only one God, yet three Persons— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit —each with His own distinct relation to mankind, yet each equally, fully, and eternally God. Although these truths are implicit throughout the New Testament , the doctrine of the Trinity is seldom, if ever, presented explicitly as a formal doctrine. There are several passages, however, where all three Persons are mentioned in the same context, and each one deals with a significant aspect of the Christian life. There is, first of all, the provision of salvation, “the blood of Christ , who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” ( Hebrews 9:14 ). Then follows regeneration. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your ...

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Son of God , the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin;being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost , in the womb of the Virgin Mary , of her substance. So that two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. The subject of this Section is the constitution of the Person of the Mediator as the God-man . Having proved before (Chapter ii., § 3) that Jesus Christ is the one God, and that he is the second Person of the adorable Trinity, of one substance and equal with the Father, this Section proceeds to assert: 1...

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." ( Galatians 5:25 ) When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, believing on Him as the Son of God and personal Redeemer, the One who saves him from his sins, a wonderful event takes place. The Spirit of God enters his very body, there to reside and to guide his new life in Christ . Henceforth he is, whether he senses it or not, "in the Spirit." "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ , he is none of his" ( Romans 8:9 ). The believer's body even becomes a temple in which the Spirit can reign over his life. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which ...