Dr Paul Allen

“But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”  ROMANS 7:8 When confronted with God’s holy law , sinful men are motivated not to obey it, but to break it. It is a perverse fact of fallen human nature that the surest way to get people to do things is to tell them not to do them. When people see a sign reading “Keep off the grass!” or “Don’t pick the flowers!” their first impulse is often to trample the grass and take some flowers. The same is true in the spiritual realm. God’s law reveals what is right and what is wrong—and sinful men choose to do what is wrong. In his classic allegory Pilgrim’s Progress , John Bunyan vividly depicts the seemingly paradoxical truth that the law does not restrain sin but stirs it up. In the house of Interpreter, Christian was shown a large, dust–filled room. A man with a broom, representing the law, appeared and began to sweep. The resulting dust cloud n...

Aparelho de ar condicionado (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jewish law forbids work on the Sabbath, but the question that has always plagued law-keepers is this: what actually constitutes work? Many modern interpretations of the law state that using an electrical button on the Sabbath constitutes work. Pressing a button closes an electrical switch and the closing of the switch is interpreted as "building" a circuit. Any kind of building on the Sabbath is strictly forbidden by the law. For that reason, many of the apartment buildings in this area use a feature in their elevators known as " Shabbat [Sabbath] service." Sabbath service removes the need to press buttons. When the service is engaged, the elevator will either stop at every floor on both the way up and the way down, or it will rise to the top and then stop at every floor on the way down. In either case, the sanctity of the Sabbath is maintained. (Wikipedia's article on  Shabbat service  is fascinati...

This is an artist's rendition of John Bunyan -- The famous Christian writer who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John Bunyan ’s wisdom on how to backslide. Stop meditating on the gospel. “They draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God , death, and judgment to come.” Neglect your devotions and stop battling sin. “Then they cast off by degrees private duties, as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching, sorrow for sin, and the like.” Isolate yourself from Christian fellowship . “Then they shun the company of lively and warm  Christians .” Stop going to church. “After that, they grow cold to public duty, as hearing, reading, godly conference, and the like.” Determine that Christians are hypocrites because they continue to sin. “They then begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some of the godly, and that devilishly, that they may have a seeming color to throw religion (for the sake of some inf...

John Bunyan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the more interesting sections of dialog in John Bunyan ’s  The Pilgrim’s Progress  has Christian and Hopeful discussing the danger of backsliding, of falling away from what had the appearance of spiritual life and growth. That dialog, drawn from the tenth stage of Christian’s journey, is important and instructive. Bunyan presupposes that such people have been awakened to their need for salvation by some combination of the fear of God and the danger of hell, but eventually fall back or fall away. Here are four reasons that people backslide: The conscience is awakened, but the mind is not changed. Therefore, when the guilt and fear of God that motivated this awakening of conscience has passed, their desire for salvation cools and they return to their own ways. Though the consciences of such men are awakened, yet their minds are not changed: therefore, when the power of guilt weareth away, that which ...

Image via Wikipedia When Jesus sends us to bear witness to Him in the world, He does not send us out as dominant and strong but as weak and seemingly defenseless in ourselves. The only reason I say “seemingly” defenseless is that it is possible that, since “all authority” belongs to Jesus ( Matt. 28:18 ), He might intervene and shut the mouths of the wolves, like he did the mouths of the lions that surrounded Daniel. But that does not appear to be His intention. He goes on to say that the “wolves” will deliver the “ sheep ” to courts, f log them, drag them before governors, have parents and children put to death, hate them, persecute them from town to town, malign them, and kill them ( Matt. 10:17–31 ). So it is clear that when Jesus says He is sending us as sheep in the midst of wolves, He means that we will be treated th Image via Wikipedia e way wolves treat sheep. But even though sheep are proverbially stupid — which, on the face of it, is what it looks like when they w...