Dr Paul Allen

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 ) If you were to line up all 15 billion or so people who have ever lived in order of most godly to most vile, whereabouts would you place Jonathan Edwards ? I’m not asking for exactitude, just a rough estimate, rounded off to the nearest billion. Factors you might want to consider include: Edwards (1703-58) repented and embraced the grace of Christ as a young man, worked as a faithful and exemplary pastor for decades, preached arguably the most influential English sermon ever (one credited with starting the Great Awakening ), raised a dozen godly children, was a devoted husband, wrote countless helpful theological works, volunteered to be a frontier missionary to a tribe of Native Americans, and all the while recognized his utter dependence on God and modeled humility and purity. My guess as to where Edwards features

Image of Stephen Fry (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) STEPHEN FRY AND CANCER Stephen Fry  was  asked  what he would say if he were "confronted by  God ."   Fry replied,  "I'd say, bone cancer in children? What's that about?  How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault. It's not right, it's utterly, utterly evil.  Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain. That's what I would say." Interviewer:  "And you think you are going to get into heaven, like that?"  Fry replied:  "I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to get in on his terms. They are wrong. Now, if I died and it was Pluto,  Hades , and if it was the 12  Greek gods , then I would have more truck with it, because the Greeks didn't pretend to not be human in their appetites, in their capriciousness, and in their unreasonableness.  They didn't p

Matthew Evangelist. The text also says - Abraham and David (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) MATTHEW. 9:9–13 After years of counting out coins, writing out customs receipts, and collecting Roman taxes from his Jewish countrymen, Matthew finally heard an offer he could not refuse. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and “he left all, rose up, and followed Him” ( Luke 5:28). Matthew left everything. The taxes. The extorted excess. The receipts. He left it all—except, praise God, his gift of accurate record-keeping! Before his conversion, his name had been Levi , the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). But after he came to Christ , he received a new name, Matthew (“Gift of the Lord”). When Luke and Mark refer to Matthew, they call him Levi. But in Matthew 10:3 , he refers to himself as “Matthew the tax collector”—a pointed reminder of a past he had given up. What “old life” did you leave behind in order to fully follow the Son of God ? Author: Stanley, C. F. (2005). The Charles F. Stanley life prin

T he term amen was used in the corporate worship of ancient Israel in two distinct ways. It served first as a response to praise given to God and second as a response to prayer.  Those same usages of the term are still in vogue among Christians. The term itself is rooted in a Semitic word that means "truth," and the utterance of "amen" is an acknowledgment that the word that has been heard, whether a word of praise, a word of prayer, or a sermonic exhortation, is valid, that is, sure and binding. Even in antiquity, the word amen was used in order to express a pledge to fulfill the terms of a vow. So, this little word is one that is centered on the idea of the truth of God. The truth of God is such a remarkable element of Christian faith that it cannot be overlooked. There are those who think that truth is negotiable or, even worse, divisive, and it therefore should not be a matter of passionate concern among believers. But if we are not concerned about tr

English: The Last Supper (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Judas had planned to give them a signal, saying, ‘The man I kiss is Jesus . Arrest him.’ At once Judas went to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Teacher!’ and kissed him.” Matthew 26:48–49 NCV When betrayal comes, what do you do? Get out? Get angry? Get even? You have to deal with it some way. Let’s see how Jesus dealt with it. Begin by noticing how Jesus saw Judas. “Jesus answered, ‘Friend, do what you came to do’” ( Matthew 26:50 NCV). Of all the names I would have chosen for Judas, it would not have been “friend.” What Judas did to Jesus was grossly unfair. There is no indication that Jesus ever mistreated Judas. When, during the Last Supper , Jesus told the disciples that his betrayer sat at the table, they didn’t turn to one another and whisper, “It’s Judas. Jesus told us he would do this.” He had known it, but he treated the betrayer as if he were faithful. It’s even more unfair when you consider that the religious leaders di

Français : Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation de Moulins; vitrail néogothique. La Cène. Détail: Judas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot , son of Simon, to betray Jesus . Jesus . . . got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, . . . and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” John 13:2–5 NIV It has been a long day. Jerusalem is packed with Passover guests, most of whom clamor for a glimpse of the Teacher. The spring sun is warm. The streets are dry. And the disciples are a long way from home. A splash of cool water would be refreshing. The disciples enter the room, one by one, and take their places around the table. On the wall hangs a towel, and on the floor sits a pitcher and a basin. Any one of the disciples could volunteer for the job, but not one does. After a few moments, Jesus stands and removes his outer garment. H

English: "The Judas Kiss", (Mark 14:45) by Gustave Doré. Judas kisses Jesus in order to betray him to the guards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag . Has that ever struck you as odd? Last week we focused at Mary, who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).  But this fact begs the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place?  Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John  1:47 ), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved ” (John  21:20 ), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke  5:27 ). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit. One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were support

Rembrandt's Judas Returning the Thirty Silver Pieces, 1629. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We all are happiness hunters. We are all treasure seekers. And as Judas and Mary illustrate, there’s one sure way to measure what we treasure: what we’re willing to spend to obtain it. The dinner table was buzzing with happy conversation. As Lazarus fielded a stream of questions about what it was like to die and Martha cleared empty plates and filled empty wine bowls, Mary quietly slipped away into another room. When she returned she was carrying a large wooden bowl with a small alabaster jar inside. Mary knelt down near Jesus ’s feet, placed the bowl on the floor, and began to remove her headdress. The talking trailed away as Jesus turned toward her and sat up. Soon everyone was straining or standing to get a better look at what she was doing. Mary removed the small jar and then reverently placed Jesus’s feet inside the bowl. She picked up the jar, removed the stopper, and poured i