Dr Paul Allen

The coronation of King Charles III went off as planned, with pomp and ceremony designed to invoke a thousand years of history, tradition, national identity, and royal majesty. Observers might be forgiven for wondering just how the elaborate ceremony in Westminster Abbey might be described as “slimmed down” from earlier traditions. Still, it was cut down a bit from the coronation of the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years earlier. The king did take the title “Defender of the Faith” because the law concerning the monarchy required it, but no one took the new king as very serious about defending the Christian faith. He had proposed changing the monarch’s title to ‘Defender of Faith” rather than “Defender of the Faith,” but that was a step too far for the British. The king did arrange to have representatives of several religions participate in the ceremony. Still, the traditional language of the British monarchy and the Church of England prevailed, with many readings based on the B

The Gospel, when properly preached and proclaimed has always been scandalous. Indeed the Scriptures describe Jesus as the stone that would make men stumble and the rock that would make men fall.  The word stumble in the Greek text is scandelon. Truth is hard, and Jesus, as the living truth, and His message were hard, as scandalous then as today. So we note with interest Paul’s comment in 2 Corinthians 6 where he says that he put no stumbling block in anyone’s path. Far from compromising the Gospel, Paul was making the point that our lives and actions should not cause others to stumble. This would bring attention to ourselves and take it away from the Gospel. The Gospel will bring men down of its own power if we simply serve as the vessel.

How does a minister in a prominent position manage to stay free from scandal and ruin in a culture of selfism and selfishness? What protections do you have in place that might help other ministers? The key to avoiding scandal is living with integrity . If you live with integrity and a clear conscience, you never have to worry about potential scandal—because there are no skeletons hidden in your closet. Being above reproach in the eyes of others starts with being blameless before the  Lord . As important as it is to keep a good reputation in the community, it is a thousand times more important to safeguard your own personal character. The single most important battlefield in the struggle for integrity is your own mind. That’s where everything will actually be won or lost.  And if you lose there, you have already ruined your character. Then it is only a matter of time before your reputation is spoiled, because a bad tree can’t bring forth good fruit. Put simply, if you take ca