Dr Paul Allen

English: Judgement of Solomon (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Solomon has it all. He’s a world-renowned wise man (which we see in Proverbs ). He’s a world-renowned ladies’ man (more on that in Song of Solomon). He’s king over the twelve tribes of Israel —and several vassal states. But he can’t hold onto it forever. He’ll die someday, and who knows how his sons will handle the kingdom? Who knows what will happen to the people? Who knows what will happen to him? Solomon wrote, gathered, and assembled written words of wisdom throughout his reign. He was the Qohelet , or Preacher: the one who assembled wisdom and assembled the people ( Ecclesiastes 12:9–10 ; 1 Kings 4:32 ). Solomon has ruled in justice and wisdom for years, but now he has to grapple with a new riddle: What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? ( Eccl 1:3 ) By “under the sun,” he means apart from God . God is in heaven, and man is on earth ( Eccl 5:2 ). So if you deal solely with the visible...

One weekly habit that is utterly essential to any healthy, life-giving, joy-producing Christian walk is corporate worship . And it is all too often neglected, or taken very lightly, in our day of disembodiment and in our proclivity for being noncommittal .  In fact, I do not think it is too strong to call corporate worship the single most important habit of the Christian life . We may think it’s a new temptation today to play fast and loose with corporate worship, but the book of Hebrews gives another impression. Actually, speaking of habits, Hebrews 10:24–25 is the only use of the word “habit” in our English translations of the New Testament . Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24–25) By clearly delineating a bad habit that we must not develop — “neglecting to meet together” — Hebrews is ...

Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 13:13, the three greatest spiritual virtues : faith , hope, and love. Actually faith and hope are encompassed by love, which “believes all things,” and “hopes all things” (v. 7). Because faith and hope will have no purpose in heaven, where everything true will be known and everything good will be possessed, they are not equal to love. Love is the greatest of these not only because it is eternal, but because, even in this temporal life, where we now live, love is supreme. Love already is the greatest, not only because it will outlast the other virtues, beautiful and necessary as they are, but because it is inherently greater by being the most God–like. God does not have faith or hope, but “God is love” ( 1 John 4:8). Gifts, ministries, faith, hope, patience, all one day will cease to exist because they will cease to have purpose or meaning.  But in that perfect day, when we see our Lord “face to face,” love will for us be just beginning. But...

1 Corinthians 12:9,28 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit. ...And God has placed in the churchf first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. The significant thing about this text is that both “gift” and “healing” are plural and lack the definite article, hence the translation: “gifts of healings”. Evidently Paul did not envision that a person would be endowed with one healing gift operative at all times for all diseases. His language suggests either many different gifts or powers of healing, each appropriate to and effective for its related illness, or each occurrence of healing constituting a distinct gift in its own right. One of the principal obstacles to a proper understanding of healing is the erroneous assumption that if anyone could ever heal, he could always heal. But in view of the lingering illness of Epaphro...

PRAYING FOR PEOPLE Establishing an accurate definition of what constitutes a miracle is difficult in view of the prevailing influence of Deism among Christians. God is continually and directly in control of everything that occurs! In light of this, several inadequate definitions of miracles need to be rejected. E.g., Some define a miracle as a direct intervention of God into the world. But “intervention … into” implies that God is outside the world and only occasionally intrudes. Some define a miracle as God working in the world apart from means to bring about the desired result. But God often uses “means” or “instruments” in performing the miraculous, as in the case of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. Others define a miracle as God acting contrary to natural law. But this implies there are forces (“ natural laws ”) which operate independently of God, forces or laws that God must violate or override to perform a miracle. God is the author and providential Lord over all nat...

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, is still remembered for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Why is God so eager to pour his eternal blessing on simple people like you and me? It’s a question too many of us don’t ask at all. Life often seems hard and bleak and stressful, and we grow blind to God’s present blessings and the cause for future hopes. God’s people, stuck in Babylonian exile , could relate. Their precious city, Jerusalem , was now a heap of smashed stones. Their temple, burned and trashed ( Isaiah 64:11–12). In the rubble, the hopes and dreams of God’s exiled people probably never got much higher above imagining a return home for a chance to rebuild and restore their home. Isaiah 60 But into the crumbled-down world of God’s covenant people, Isaiah 60 paints a stunning picture of God’s promises and future blessing. Where God’s exiled people may have simply been happy with new walls around old J...

Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) MOSES [mōˊzəz] (Heb. mōšeh; cf. Egyp. mśy “to be born” or “son”). † The first great leader of the Hebrew people , regarded as author of the first five books of the Old Testament . Moses is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims for his daring leadership and diplomacy as well as his promulgation of the divine law. According to the biblical record, Moses was born in Egypt when the Hebrews were enslaved to Pharaoh, apparently during the early to middle centuries of the New Kingdom period (ca. 1550–1085 B.C.). His parents (or perhaps ancestors) were Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi ( Exod. 2:1; 6:20). The account of Moses’ birth and his rescue from the drowning decreed by Pharaoh is presented at Exod. 2:1–10.  Believing that God had chosen him (cf. Heb. 11:23), Moses’ parents hid him for three months and then placed him in a papyrus basket among the reeds at ...

Holy Spirit dove window (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble ) A further test which we can apply to ourselves in order to discover whether we are guilty of ‘quenching the Spirit’ suggests itself immediately when we remember that the Spirit is represented by the emblem of fire. It is the one mentioned by John the Baptist . He said, ‘I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire’ (Luke 3:16). Fire is characterized not only by heat and light but also by power. It advances, and destroys wherever it goes. Similarly, power is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit . Are we, then, aware of the power of the Spirit within us? If not we are quenching the Spirit. An extraordinary paradox is involved in this matter. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, and is allpowerful; and yet it is possible for us to ‘quench’ the Spirit, to ‘resist’ the Spirit, to ‘grieve’ the Spirit....

Icon of the Pentecost (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We quench the Spirit by not allowing Him to work in us as we ought. This is what is brought out by the word quench. It is not ‘stifle’; it is stronger—Quench ! Quenching immediately conjures up the image of fire. That is why the Apostle used the word translated ‘quench’; it brings us at once to the notion of fire.  You ‘quench’ a fire; so what he is really saying is, Do not quench the fire of the Spirit that is within you. Of all the images used with respect to the Holy Spirit there is none used more frequently than that of fire. John the Baptist used the word quite dramatically. Some of the people, having heard his preaching, said, ‘Is not this the Christ ?’ John overheard them and said, ‘I am not the Christ. I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thr...