Dr Paul Allen

English: A Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Svolvær in Lofoten, Norway. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.  The New World Translation This is one of the most common verses of contention between the  Jehovah's Witnesses  and Christians. Their false assumption is that Jesus is not God in flesh but Michael the archangel who became a man.  Therefore, since they deny that  Jesus is divine , they have altered the Bible in John 1:1 so that Jesus is not divine in nature.  The New World Translation has added the word "a" to the verse so it says, " . . . and the Word was  a  god."  The correct translation for this verse is " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  This is how it is rendered in the NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, etc. The New World translation is incorrect in its translation of this verse for several ...

“He kept him as the apple of his eye” ( Deut. 32:10). A religion of conditions, contingencies, and uncertainties is not Christianity .… Christianity dears with certainties that originated in the purpose and love of an unchanging God , who when He begins a good work always completes it. “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever” (Ps. 37:28). How blessed is this! Did Jehovah “forsake” Noah when he got drunk? No, indeed. Did He “forsake” Abraham when he lied to Abimelech ? No, indeed. Did He “forsake” Moses for smiting the rock in anger? No, indeed, as his appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration abundantly proves. Did He “forsake” David when he committed those sins that ever since have given occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme? No, indeed. He led him to repentance, caused him to confess his awful wickedness, and then sent one of His servants to say, “The Lord hath put away thy sin” (2 Sam. 12:13). “The Lord is thy Kee...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In his letter to the Colossians , the apostle Paul called Jesus Christ the “firstborn over all creation” (1:15). But how can Christ be both the eternal Creator of all things yet himself be the firstborn? First, in referring to Christ as the firstborn, Paul had in mind preeminence or “prime position.” This usage is firmly established in the Old Testament . For example, Ephraim is referred to as the Lord’s “firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9) even though Manasseh was born first (Genesis 41:51).  Likewise, David is appointed the Lord’s “firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:27) despite being the youngest of Jesse’s sons (1 Samuel 16:10–13). While neither Ephraim nor David was the first one born, they were firstborn in the sense of preeminence. Furthermore, Paul referred to Jesus as the firstborn over all creation , not the firstborn in creation. As such, “He is before all things, and in him all ...

English: Mobile Blood Transfusion Service A collection at an office work place on Queensferry Road, Orchard Brae (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In November 2007, a fourteen year old boy, Dennis Lindberg refused the blood transfusion needed to save his life. After chemotherapy for leukemia had destroyed his red blood cells, the available blood transfusion from a donor was the simple, and only way to save the boy’s life. Doctors explained to him that with the transfusion he had a 70% chance of living to age of 19, but without it he would be dead within days. Dennis was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. This religious group does not normally refuse medical treatment, but in the case of blood transfusions they typically teach that it is against Jehovah’s will to allow another person’s blood into your body. Since the blood is believed to contain the soul of the human, mixing blood would leave the person unclean and unacceptable to God. Interestingly, Dennis’s parents were in favor of allowin...

Image via Wikipedia "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God ; in him will I trust." ( Psalm 91:2 )   This marvelous psalm of life and security follows a psalm of frailty and death ( Psalm 90 ) written by Moses , who may have been the author of this psalm as well. For our devotional study today, attention is called to the change of personal pronoun throughout, implying a dialogue between three speakers.   The psalm begins as a godly teacher, or prophet, or perhaps an angel, bestows a benediction upon the believer: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" ( Psalm 91:1 ), ascribing the security of the believer to the character of God.   The believer responds to this blessing by avowing his trust in God and in His character ( v. 2 ).   To the testimony of the believer, the first speaker replies, expounding on the former blessing, detailing the protection provided by God ( vv. 3-8 ) and...

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." ( Isaiah 12:2 )   The English name, usually written "Lord" in the English Bibles , stems from the Hebrew word  Yahweh , the meaning of which cannot be fully put into words.  Although scholars differ (some even claiming there is no real meaning to the word at all), the consensus is that it seems to be a compound of the three tenses of the Hebrew verb "to be," implying the ever living nature of God to which Christ was referring when He said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" ( Revelation 1:8 ).  Note also the similar implications in God's announcement of Himself to Moses : "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM " ( Exodus 3:14 ).   On forty-nine special occas...

Image via Wikipedia "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem , the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced , and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." ( Zechariah 12:10 )   For centuries now, Jewish scholars have pondered the meaning and interpretation of this verse, and as one might imagine, there have been many varied interpretations.  Since they cannot allow admission that they themselves pierced  Jehovah , some have applied it to the nation of Israel with its persecutions in mind. But to resolve the issue, the question must be answered: Who is this "whom" who has been pierced?   Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word translated "whom" is simply the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet ,  aleph  and  tau , elsewhere denoting completeness and ...