Dr Paul Allen

By Rachel McDonald Following Jesus’s command to love our neighbour can be challenging for all of us, but Gen Z may struggle differently than other generations. One simple reason is that we don’t know our neighbours. We can order anything from Amazon instead of asking the family next door. But there’s a deeper issue than our tendency to rely on technology over people—the meaning of love has changed. While philosophers and poets have pondered the nature of love for centuries, my generation states their definition as fact: love is to accept someone, and acceptance is to never criticize who she is and what she does. Fellow Gen Zers, we can’t rely on our generation to tell us what love is. We must look to the gospel. Here are three ways the gospel teaches us to love others. 1. Let your light shine. No generation has liked being told they’re sinners, but now even disagreeing with others is often equated with hating them. If some Christian beliefs are considered toxic, if praying for someone ...

Have you ever wondered why there's a universal phenomenon of religion? You can go anywhere on the globe and you'll find evidence of cultic practices of sacrifice. Why is that?  I suggest that it is because the original program and prescription for the worship of the living God was sacrifice. Adam told it to Cain, Abel, and Seth. Seth told it to Enoch, and he told it to his sons and they to their sons and so on. It was taught to Abraham. It was taught to Isaac. It was taught to Jacob. It was taught to Joseph. It was taught to Moses. It was also taught to Ishmael and to Esau, and so the idea of the requirement of sacrifice in faith pervaded the whole human race. But today the need for sacrifices to be made in faith is forgotten—we hear that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. In fact, the basic requirement of sacrifice is unknown—it doesn't matter what your religious practices are. It doesn't matter what you worship. It only matte...

“Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” ( Judges 11:31 ) The story of Jephthah has been a stumbling block to many who interpret it as teaching that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to God as a burnt offering.  As he prepared to face the Ammonite armies, he made the vow recorded in our text, if God would only give him the victory. His only child, a beloved daughter, was the first to meet him at his return, and so it was she who had to be offered. Should he have made such a vow? Does God require these types of vows? Did he pray or just give a vow? Was he being foolhardy? It should be remembered, however, that Jephthah was a man of faith ( Hebrews 11:32-33 ), and he would never have vowed to disobey God’s prohibition against human sacrifice. His personal life and history was a total mess yet somehow God u...

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son ( Hebrew 11:17). Hebrews 11 is a chronicle of people who lived by faith. In each case, we find that faith was not a mere intellectual exercise or mystical feeling, but faith meant loyalty and humble submission to God. Faith issued in fruitful service to God, even in the midst of pain and crisis. One example is that of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac , recorded for us in Genesis 22 . God determined to test Abraham’s faith in terms of his obedience. God told Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah . Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (v. 2). We read that Abraham arose “early the next morning” (v. 3). I imagine Abraham could not sleep, and finally got up so that he could get going on this horrible mission. As the account continues...

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin . 1 John 1:7 There is a common cultic heresy to the effect that the blood of Christ has no cleansing efficacy of itself, even though this contradicts the plain statement of our text. John wrote the above words long after Christ’s blood had all been spilled on the cross, but it was still miraculously cleansing sinners in His day, and is in ours as well. It is true that Christ’s blood supported His physical life, for “the life of the flesh is in the blood” ( Leviticus 17:11 ). But His blood was not like the blood of other men, for it was “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” ( 1 Peter 1:19 ), uncontaminated either by genetic defects due to accumulated generations of mutations (as in all other men and women) or inherent sin.  When His blood was shed, it did not simply disappear into the...

It happens often. There's a disagreement and two members of a family blow up at each other. One member of the family is angry. They enter the room in a rage. Doors are slammed shut. Each person then spends a couple of hours sulking and thinking terrible thoughts of the other person. After a while, they will emerge from the room, either acting like nothing happened or mumbling an “I apologize if I offended you”, or even worse an “I’m sorry” that can only be answered with “that’s okay”. The problem is that it’s not okay. We should never justify sin in our lives and it simply doesn’t cut it to say we’re sorry. We apologize or say we are sorry when we step on someone’s toes by mistake. What is needed when we commit an offense against someone is a transaction. When I sin against someone I must ask for forgiveness. I have sinned against them and caused pain in their life. It wasn’t by mistake. It wasn’t accidental, it was on purpose and just because it wasn’t premeditated or I hadn’t...

Guilt is a key player in Satan’s master plan of deception. As he weaves his web of guilt into our lives, we are often overcome by feelings of punishment, rejection, and isolation. It is then that we are tempted to doubt the sincerity of God’s forgiveness and grace. Many people do not know how to handle feelings of guilt. They become confused, frustrated, and eventually give up. But God has a written solution for handling guilt, and it is found within His Word. Two Types of Guilt Before we begin dealing with the subject of guilt, we must first understand its meaning. Guilt is a legal term meaning “to commit a breach of conduct.” There are two forms of guilt—genuine guilt which comes as a result of violating one’s moral beliefs and false guilt which is derived from misconceptions or feelings gone astray. In the case of false guilt, the individual actually feels guilty without committingany violation. Dr. Paul Tournier, a noted Christian physician wrote in his book A Doctor’s ...

Author: Randy Alcorn. Jonathan Edwards said, “It becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven . . . to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end and true happiness?” In his early twenties, Edwards composed a set of life resolutions. One read, “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.” Unfortunately, many believers find no joy when they think about heaven. A pastor once confessed to me: “Whenever I think about heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die.” “Why?” I asked. “I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp . . . it’s all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn’t sound much better than hell.” Where did this Bible-believing , seminary-educated pastor get such a view of heaven? Certainly not from Scriptu...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 27:45–50 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabacthani?’ that is, ‘My God , my God, why have you forsaken me?’” ( v. 46 ). Because the process of crucifixion is foreign to our experience, it is easy to overlook just how terribly painful this method of death was. It could take days for the crucified person to die from a combination of asphyxiation and exposure. People were hung on a cross in a position that forced them to use their arms to lift their body weight in order to draw a breath, causing the nails driven through their wrists and feet to tear at their flesh. If Rome wanted to prolong suffering, rope was used instead of nails to attach the person to the cross. God’s condemnation of our sin in the flesh of Jesus ( Rom. 8:3 ) was signified by the physical pain our Lord endured on the cross. At the same time the Romans were nailing Jesus to the cross, the Father w...

English: English translation of hebrew version. Map of the twelve tribes of Israel, before the move of Dan to the North (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar , not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice , but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before Him’ ”  ( Josh. 22:26–27a). In their fear of exclusion from the worship of God before the altar at Shiloh , the remote, eastern tribes of Israel considered how they might symbolize their inclusion in the covenant and assert their right to bring their sacrifices to God. They settled on construction of a replica of the altar , “ ‘not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us.’ ” God had commanded Israel to make sacrifices to Him only at the altar of His choosing. When the eastern tribes built their altar beside the Jord...

Image via Wikipedia Jesus trained men who, because of their background, should have been ready for the great blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. They weren’t. They were still utterly incapable of “getting it” just from the facts. This is understandable. The ultimate fact is that it is absolutely impossible to come to an understanding of God’s grace just from an assessment of the facts. We look back at the disciples, and we wonder, “What in the world was wrong with them? How could they not get it?” The reality is quite the opposite. We should ask instead, “How  could  they get it?” It is impossible. It is beyond comprehension. The Old Covenant sacrifices, as powerful a pointer as they were, had a limited purpose. Their purpose was simply to show us how even the most rational and beautiful picture of grace—a blood sacrifice for sin—falls flat in front of what Jesus  actually  did. There is nothing in human experience alone that can awaken a person to the...

Image via Wikipedia "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out." ( Leviticus 6:13 )   The continual burnt offering was ordained by God in Israel 's ancient tabernacle sacrifices .  The continual sacrifices for sin were of no more avail, once God's own sacrifice had been slain. "Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; . . . For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" ( Hebrews 10:11-12 ,  14 ).   There is one flame, however, which is truly eternal. Jesus spoke of it several times. For example: "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched" ( Mark 9:43 ). "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the de...