Dr Paul Allen

If our thinking about God is not correct, then every other doctrine we apply our minds to will also be incorrect. This is the most important doctrine, yet people seem to think they are free to make up their minds as to what God is like.  So some who call themselves Christians say, ‘My god would never send anyone to hell.’ Such a statement is only possible if you ignore all that the Bible has to say and just impose your own thoughts on the subject. This attitude is responsible for what is possibly the greatest sin a person can commit—to reduce God to terms that are acceptable to us (Psalm 50:21).  This is why in the Old Testament one of the sins that grieved God the most was idolatry. This is to substitute man-made objects and ideas in the place of the one true God (Jeremiah 10:3–5). It is a slander on the character of God, and all worship that flows from it is worthless. What is God like? The answer to this question is that he is not like anything we have known or experienced....

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,  and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5) They’re the two essential parts of redemption, rescue and restoration, and you and I can’t do either one for ourselves. But it’s hard to admit that we have a problem that we cannot solve. We like to convince ourselves that our anger tells us more about the flawed people we live near than about ourselves.  We like to think that our impatience is more about poor planning or the character of the people we deal with every day. We like to think that our sin can be blamed on the temptations of the fallen world around us.  When we do or say what is wrong, we tend to point to a boss, a spouse, one of our children, a friend, a difficult situation, a busy day, the fact that we aren’t feeling well, bad parents, some injustice, or a long catalogue of other excuses.  But the Bible is quite clear. We all suffer from the same terminal disease. None of us has escaped it. It’s not caused by the...

  Giving is not a sacrifice purely and simply; it is a “sowing” and will be followed by a “reaping”. You reap what you sow, v. 6. No man ever loses by being generous. The harvest reaped will be proportionate to the seed sown. Sow sparingly, reap sparingly. Sow abundantly, reap abundantly. Giving is not just a contribution; it is an investment. Of course, giving must not have selfish ends in view. The motive must be right. The spirit of giving is more important than the gift, v. 7. Giving must spring out of a deliberate choice, “according as he purposeth in his heart”. There must be neither constraint nor complaint, “not grudgingly”. Everyone must be entirely free to decide what to give, “not … of necessity”. Giving must be with cheerfulness. God loves the happy giver, as characterised by a spirit of real enjoyment in his giving which sweeps away all restraint. Not only does God love a cheerful giver, but He is able in His grace to see that there shall always be the means to give, v...

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Ps. 8:3–4) The big question is not, does God care for me? The Bible declares he does over and over again. It tells us that God’s eyes are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers (Ps. 34:15). It says that he is with us wherever we go (Gen. 28:15). The Bible welcomes us to bring our cares to God because he cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). It tells us that he will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5).  The message is clear and consistent—God cares for his own. If you are God’s child, you are never outside the scope of his constant care. The Bible is also clear and consistent when it talks of the unshakability of God’s love. His love is eternal. From the verse-by-verse refrain of Psalm 136, “for his steadfast love endures forever,” to Paul’s declaration in Romans ...

Fruit of the Spirit, we took a general look at the list to begin to uncover the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians. Now we will examine each of these slices of the Spirit’s fruit, starting with love. What is this love produced by the Spirit?  Defining love is not an easy task, but here’s one that attempts to sum up the biblical nature of love: Love is a holy, divine affection toward others produced by the Spirit of God in all believers. This is spiritual love – produced, wrought, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, what does this love truly mean? First, spiritual love is not a natural phenomenon. Spiritual love is not the natural affection of the world. The world might be capable of love in the human sense of the term. We know there are unbelievers who have good marriages. Some unbelievers are willing to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. It is possible to do these things without having true love as God defines it. As Paul says, a person can be a great ...

IF YOU LIVE A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN LIFE BUT NEVER SHARE THE GOSPEL VERBALLY, THEN HOW DOES YOUR NON-CHRISTIAN NEIGHBOUR KNOW THE SOURCE OF YOUR HOPE? CONVERSELY, IF YOU COMMUNICATE THE GOSPEL VERBALLY BUT ARE A COMPLETE JERK IN THE PROCESS, THEN THOSE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE MAY WELL FALL ON DEAF EARS. By Timothy K. Beougher Bible-believing Christians know they are called to be Christ’s witnesses (Acts 1:8) and to commit their lives to making disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18–20). But some Christians have never begun the exciting adventure of sharing their faith, while others may witness it sporadically but not consistently. How can believers cultivate a Great Commission lifestyle? In this article, I share advice for cultivating and maintaining evangelism as a way of life. The Importance of Verbal Proclamation Evangelism is not “mere presence.” We often hear that faulty perspective expressed today. Individuals declare, “I’m just going to witness with my life and let my life do the talk...

It’s never been easier to step into the role of a would-be prophet, to stand in the long line of men and women over the ages called to “speak truth to power.” Social media has amplified the ability to speak out on any number of issues—to expose the hidden corners of injustice, to rail against the abuses of the strong against the weak, and to point out the flaws in institutions and the people who lead them. Much of this prophetic sensibility is good. As a result of people expressing critique or concern, we’ve seen institutions and individuals move toward health. We’ve seen rot exposed and expunged. We’ve seen repentance and restitution. The ability of more people to speak out can lead to greater awareness and accountability in the church. Heartless Prophet But there’s always the danger of having a prophetic voice without a prophet’s heart. When this happens, we sound less and less like Jeremiah, passing on the Lord’s command through tears (“Return, you faithless children!”) alongside th...

Ivan Messa The story of Jonah reminds me of Nasreddin Hodja, a character from Central Asian children’s literature. As the story goes, one day Nasreddin, a Muslim holy man, was lying under a walnut tree. Looking up into its magnificent branches, he began to question the wisdom of the Creator. Why should such a large tree have tiny walnuts? It could easily carry the large pumpkins that grow on spindly vines. Soon, Nasreddin fell asleep. But he was jolted awake when a walnut plopped onto his head. In that moment, he recognized not only the Creator’s wisdom but also his kindness. While the Hodja was busy questioning the purposes of God, he’d been oblivious to mercy—the mercy that kept a falling gourd from crushing his head. In Muslim folklore, Nasreddin Hodja is a silly and absurd character. But his puerile humour often reveals profound truths. Of course, absurd characters can be found throughout literature and throughout the world. Down through the ages, literary satire has been a sharp c...

Dear Friend, Two thousand years ago, the Roman world suffered many of the same challenges we encounter today – oppression, racial hatred, lies, bitter divisions, and wrongs. Into that culture stepped the most amazing thing imaginable: the Creator of the universe. If you’re unfamiliar with Christianity, the story of the baby Jesus may seem sentimental and perhaps no more real than Santa Claus. But the Gospel of John tells the story from the cosmic perspective. He calls Jesus the “Logos”, the living Word: In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, which was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gave light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own...

I’ll never forget sitting across from a dear friend who tried to communicate what life was like for Muslim women. She held up two fingers and said, “You don’t understand. Women are number two—we’re number two!” She recognized that in my youth and naïveté, I simply didn’t understand some of the things she experienced. She felt my confusion, so she tried to communicate more gently, “This is just how things will be here.” Our family had moved to a country with a 99 per cent Muslim population. I was trying to learn a new language, adapt to a different culture, and somehow show these beautiful women that they were certainly not number two by God’s design. Yet I realized their greatest need wasn’t for me or anyone else to convince them—they needed to see Jesus. They needed to see the Messiah who loved them unconditionally and offered them the abundant life they were created for. Over the next decade of walking through life with these women, I learned that they longed to hear four important t...

The Bible has a lot to say about love. In John 13:34–35, we are commanded to “love one another as Christ loved us.” In doing so, those around us will know that we are His followers. In his first of three small letters, John tells us why we are to love, “for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). We show love by allowing God’s love to flow through our lives and those around us. Loving others is not always easy and entails multiple actions on our part. For example, to love, we must show empathy and sympathy to others. We must learn to see each other as broken vessels in need of God’s love and transformation. This unique perspective of other people requires humility on our part.  When we recognize our own failings, that we are not perfect, we will only begin to approach others with a caring and compassionate attitude. This humility comes from recognizing what God has done f...

The difference between secular love and Christian love is that secular love is not rooted in the cross of God’s Son, is not sustained and shaped by the power of God’s Spirit, and is not acted for the glory of God the Father. So the source of it is different, its sustaining power of it is different, and its goal of it is different. Let’s think about each of these one at a time and see if we can fill it out. Rooted in the Cross First, there’s a different source between these two loves. First John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” And how did he first love us? Well, John says in 1 John 3:16, “By this, we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” So, Christian love is rooted in Christ’s sacrifice for me and for you. By this, our sins are forgiven. We’re justified, accepted, and loved by God. We have the hope that everything in life will work together for our good and bring us everlasting joy, so that fear and greed, th...

When we are in love—especially when that love is raw and new —we count the days and hours until the time we will see our beloved again. The strange thing about this kind of longing is that it is created by someone, and it can only be solved or filled by that same person. The longing a lover feels for his beloved is what the psalmist feels in Psalm 84. His language is love language:  “How lovely is your dwelling place. . . . My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord” (emphasis added). This psalmist knows God and has been, one could say, wounded by His presence, so that the only balm is to return to that presence. He longs for it. He yearns for it. The great church father Gregory of Nazianzus described this feeling in his poem De rebus suis as knowing in his inmost being “the sharp stab of desire for the King.”   C.S. Lewis gave fine expression to this desire in his Reflections on the Psalms: “I have rather—though the expression may seem harsh to some—called this the...