Dr Paul Allen

Larry King Live title card  Any pastor who regularly addresses even a handful of souls from God ’s word knows the burden of wanting to be faithful to communicating accurately what God has said to his people. Every preacher feels the weight of Paul’s injunction, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). This is why Hope College Australia offers a 2-year Diploma then a 1 -year Advanced Diploma in Ministry.  The more training preachers get the better. Now, I agree that formal theological training at Bible College level is not a biblical prerequisite for being a preacher of God’s word. The Apostle Peter , for instance, had no Diploma or MDiv degree hanging on his office wall. But I’m sure we all agree that his 24/7 intensive, three year internship with Jesus was, um …adequate preparation. But if an excellent theological education is available to you, there is wisdom...

Author: Cripplegate. Scripture speaks of God’s decree as eternal, unconditional, unchangeable, and exhaustive. As a result, God is properly said to be the ultimate cause of all things. As the Westminster Confession states , “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoevercomes to pass” (WCF, 3.1). Whenever you say something like that in a theological discussion, immediately the question is raised:  How can God be the ultimate cause of whatsoever comes to pass—even actions and events that are evil and sinful, things which God Himself prescribes against—and yet not be rightly charged with unrighteousness.  Perhaps the most common answer to that question is an appeal to the notion of divine “permission.” In other words, though God is ultimately in control, He doesn’t ordain evil; He merely allows it. But  such a solution is unsatisfactory, both theologically and biblically. After considering ...

Cover of When Worlds Collide: Where is God? R.C.  Sproul’s little book  When Worlds Collide . This book was written in early 2002, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Sproul wrote it as a response to those events, as a means of grappling with the difficult questions related to God ’s sovereignty and human suffering. As I read the book I was struck by how relevant it remains today, especially since 9/11 is still so real and since so many people still have not really dealt with it in their hearts and minds (and perhaps never will). It is interesting to trace Sproul’s teaching on the subject. Here I’ll provide just a few quotes that ought to give you a sense of his logic. The events of 9/11 were a mortal blow to relativism, because the response of Americans and the response of people the world over, after looking at this heinous attack on human life, was the very “unrelativistic” declaration that “This is evil.” … One cannot have such a shocking encounter with pure e...