Dr Paul Allen

Cover for a NIV Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In Romans 13:11–12, Paul appeals to the Christians in the city of Rome to understand “the present time” and explains that “the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” ( NIV ). The “night” is the present evil age (see Gal. 1:4); “the day” is the day of the Lord . Paul’s assertion that “the day is almost here” (Rom. 13:12 NIV) means that the day when God will bring to an end human history as we know it is fast approaching.  Paul is convinced that Jesus might return within a very short period of time. Paul does not seek to narrow down the time frame within which Jesus will return, nor does he base his exhortation on the assumption that Jesus’ return would take place very soon. But he clearly believes that Jesus’ return ...

Christ is tempted by Satan. The engraved drawing was by Jacob de Wit after Peter Paul Rubens. 1711-12. School: Dutch. This print is from a group of 36 drawings after Peter Paul Rubens' ceiling panels in the Jesuit Church, Antwerp, for engraving and publication by Jan Punt. Dimensions: height: 340 millimetres; width: 403 millimetres. http://www.archive.org/details/TheBowyerBible (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Gustave Doré, Depiction of Satan, the antagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost c. 1866 (Photo credit: Wikipedia )  I know that Satan has more power than one would normally find among human beings . At the same time, I know that Satan is not divine; he is not God , does not have divine powers or attributes. He is a creature with the limitations that are found normally with creatureliness. He is an angel. The Bible doesn’t give us an exhaustive list of the powers of angels. They are more powerful than people but far less powerful than God. Obviously God can read your mind...

Image via Wikipedia Allah commands you to read the Injil . But what does it say? It says salvation comes from Allah’s love, not Allah’s rules! It says the straight path to Allah is faith in the Jesus of the Injil.  The Injil gives only one path: Jesus, fully God – fully man and perfect, ransomed us to God through his death on the cross.  He paid our sin-debt. He rose from the dead as proof that he is the path to heaven. Does Allah’s strength not protect his word? The Injil says repent; follow Jesus; put your complete faith and trust in him. Related articles On Diversification: Allah or Jesus? (gofishministries.wordpress.com) My Boss is Allah not America, Pasha to CIA Chief (shahidsoomro.wordpress.com) The Signs of a Friend of Allāh ta'ala (mkahmed.wordpress.com) The Order for Tawhid and the Refutation of Shirk (xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com) Islamic Spam - Durood (imuslims.wordpress.com) Questions by an Atheist and Answers by Yusuf Estes (xeniagreekmusl...

Image via Wikipedia In marriage, anger rivals lust as a killer. My guess is that anger is a worse enemy than lust. It also destroys other kinds of camaraderie.  Some people have more anger than they think, because it has disguises. When willpower hinders rage, anger smolders beneath the surface, and the teeth of the soul grind with frustration. It can come out in tears that look more like hurt. But the heart has learned that this may be the only way to hurt back. It may come out as silence because we have resolved not to fight. It may show up in picky criticism and relentless correction. It may strike out at people who have nothing to do with its origin. It will often feel warranted by the wrongness of the cause. After all, Jesus got angry ( Mark 3:5 ), and Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin” ( Eph. 4:26 ). However, good anger among fallen people is rare. That’s why James says, “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the ...

Image via Wikipedia Spiritual power is the divine energy God is willing to express in and through us and the divine authority needed to carry out the work God has called us to do. We cannot "harness" the power of the Holy Spirit . This power is not just for preachers, evangelists, or people who work in special ministry; rather, it is available to every believer who willingly surrenders moment by moment in submission and obedience to the Holy Spirit. We cannot garner the power of the Spirit in order to use God. Conversely, we experience His power when we surrender to be used by Him. God releases His power through us as we walk in obedience to Him. Three ways He releases His power to us are: Through the fruit of the Spirit , God's power and only God's power enables us to exhibit love, joy,  peace , patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, which reveal the character of Christ in us. Through witnessing.  Scripture  always refers to the ...

Image via Wikipedia "Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law. Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word." ( Psalm 119:153-154 ) Much of the Old Testament records God 's intervention into the affairs of men, often in huge victories on the battlefield. The great military king David wrote frequently of his deliverance amid slaughter, and certainly there is an overtone of physical deliverance felt in these verses. The key to this prayer, however, is in  verse 158 : "I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word." Although the psalmist spoke of his many "persecutors and . . . enemies" ( v. 157 ), his desire was fixed directly on the faithfulness of God's promises. Note the constant reliance on the truth of what God has said: "I do not forget thy law" ( v. 153 ). God spoke of the opposite condition through Hosea : "My people are destroyed for lack of kno...

Image via Wikipedia John 19:1-16 '' Jesus answered him. 'You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin '" (vs 11). James 2:10 tells us that "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." In other words, if through our own efforts we expect to be accounted righteous in God 's sight apart from Christ , then we must be perfectly obedient.  To fail in one point is to fail utterly and completely, for our Creator's perfect holiness demands justice for even the slightest transgression. We need the righteousness of another to be put on our record because none of us has ever kept the standards of the Lord flawlessly. When we trust Christ alone, His record of perfection is imputed to us, and so we can enter into eternal life as those who have a record of obedience to the Father (2 Cor. 5:21). This is wholly ...

Image via Wikipedia "Thine eyes did see my substance (unformed body), yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." ( Psalm 139:16 ) This is an amazing verse, testifying as it does to the omniscient fore-planning of our Creator for each human being. Each person has been separately planned by God before he or she was ever conceived; His eyes oversaw our "unperfect [not imperfect, but unfinished] substance"--that is, literally, our embryo--throughout its entire development. Not only all its "members," but also all its "days" (the literal implication of "in continuance") had been "written" in God's book long ago. While modern evolutionists argue that a "fetus" is not yet a real person, and so may be casually aborted if the mother so chooses, both the Bible and science show that a growing child in the womb is a true hum...

Image via Wikipedia In  Exodus 20:13  it says, " Thou shalt not kill ," yet God kills people in floods, famines, and has Israel go and kill entire people groups.  Why the contradiction? First of all, there is no contradiction.  "Thou shalt not kill" is from the old King James Bible .  Modern translations ( ESV , NASB , NCV, NIV , NKJV , NLT, NRSV ) have it as "You shall not murder ."  The word in the Hebrew for "kill" here in  Exodus 20:13  is  תִּרְצָח  (ratsach). It is translated into the English many different ways, depending on the context:  "slayer 16, murderer 14, kill 5, murder 3, slain 3, manslayer 2, killing 1, slayer + 310 1, slayeth 1, death 1."  1 Murder is the unlawful taking of life.  Killing is the lawful taking of life.  God has said, "You shall not murder," not "You shall not kill."  After all, God says killing in self defense is justifiable.   Exodus 22:2 , "If the thief is caught whi...