Dr Paul Allen

King Louie (Photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton ) What does it mean to say that God is sovereign? The refrain has become so common, almost clichéd, in Reformed writing and preaching that it sometimes slips away from the reader or listener without lodging meaning in the mind. Worse, we typically hear the phrase to mean something it doesn't. When Christians affirm that "God is sovereign," they often mean "God is in control." Paul Tripp , for example, wrote in his excellent book Lost in the Middle that "God truly is sovereign . . . there is no situation, relationship, or circumstance that is not controlled by our heavenly Father." The problem is that the English word sovereignty does not mean control. The government is sovereign within its territory, but that doesn't mean the government controls everything within its borders or causes all that happens. If you look up sovereignty in the dictionary you'll not find control in the defi...

There’s little doubt that pornography is a modern-day plague. Though pornography has always existed in one form or another, the Internet has created a medium through which it can be disseminated both widely and discreetly. Almost an entire generation of boys has succumbed at one time or another, with a new generation quickly falling into all of the same traps. And it has not just been boys; many men have found the temptation irresistible (and, of course, not a few women). While there are some who try to downplay pornography’s impact on life and marriage, evidence is mounting that it is a terribly destructive force. Two new books from New Growth Press address the issue head-on. One targets men who are struggling with pornography or any other manner of sexual sin and the other brings help and healing to women who have found that their husbands have an addiction. David White ’s  Sexual Sanity for Men  seeks to help men “understand that sexual sin starts in thei...