Dr Paul Allen

He’s the universe’s public enemy number one, the chief opponent of God and his people, and the leader of uncounted demonic forces. Jesus says he’s been a murderer from the beginning, and he’s engaged in an all-out war against the forces of good in the universe. The Bible calls him the devil, Satan, the evil one. Paul tells the Ephesian church to put on the full armor of God, so that they can stand firm against his schemes. James tells Christians that if they resist the devil, he will flee from them. Peter tells believers to beware: he is always on the prowl. We have an enemy—and if we’re going to stand firm against him, we need to know whom we’re up against. 1. “Satan” means “adversary.” “Satan” is a transliteration of a Hebrew word, which means “adversary,” or “opponent.” The word satan is used multiple times in the Old Testament, often referring to anyone who is blocking or challenging someone else. For example: The angel of the Lord opposes Balaam (Numbers 21:22–32). Two of David’s ...

Of all twelve statements in the Apostle’s Creed, the most maligned is what is referred to as the descent doctrine. This doctrine teaches that after being crucified, Jesus’ body went into the grave but his soul went into the realm of the dead, from which he ascended on that first Easter morning. In bold is the phrase the Apostle’s Creed uses: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. This teaching has generally been understood to mean that after his physical death, Jesus’s soul really went to Sheol, where his victory over Satan, sin, and the grave were all announced. His victory was declared to the spirits in prison from the ...

The descent clause in both the Apostle’s Creed and the Athanasian Creed declares that after being crucified, Jesus descended into the realm of the dead, from which he ascended on that first Easter morning . While the descent clause has fallen on hard times recently—well, ever since Calvin rejected it as a Roman Catholic hangover I suppose—I still hold to it . I think it represents biblical teaching, well attested in church history, and more importantly, because it intersects with so many other areas of theology, it’s probably best not to tinker with it. It is the kind of theological thread that when you pull it in one place, you find it snags in so many other unexpected places. This Easter, in particular, I was reminded of the importance of the doctrine of the descent of Christ . Of all Holy Saturdays I’ve experienced, this was the one closest to what the disciples went through on that first Saturday after the crucifixion. They were in lockdown mode . It was the Sabbat...

The translators of the King James Version caused much confusion by translating two different Greek words (hadēs and gehenna) with one-in-the-same English word, “hell”.  Hadēs almost always denotes the “grave” or the “place of the dead.” Only one New Testament passage definitely describes hadēs as a place of evil and punishment of the wicked and may appropriately be translated “hell” (Luke 16:23). In all other instances, hadēs indicates nothing more than the place of the dead. Gehenna, a much rarer expression in the New Testament, denotes the “eternal fires.” Thus, “hell,” as most people think about it, is really gehenna, not hadēs. The Greek word gehenna is used in a number of New Testament texts to designate the fiery place for punishment of sinners and is often translated “hell” or “the fires of hell” (Matt. 5:22, 29–30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Jas. 3:6). Gehenna is also usually used in connection with the final judgment and its use suggests that the puni...

The English word “hell,” as employed in the KJV, translates four words in the original biblical languages: Heb. še˒ôl, and Gk. hádēs, géenna (Gehenna) and tartaróō (a reference to Tartarus). The RSV transliterates as Sheol and Hades; these names generally signify the abode of all the dead, whether blessed or damned. On the other hand, the RSV associates both géenna and tartaróō with hell, signifying, as used in the New Testament, a special place of punishment for the wicked. The progressive biblical use of these terms provides a history of the development of the doctrine of hell as the eternal destiny of the damned. Although seeds of the later doctrine of hell exist in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets, the doctrine did not approach its developed form until intertestamental and New Testament times. I. Sheol The KJV translates Heb. še˒ôl thirty-one times as “hell,” thirty-one times as “the grave,” and three times as “the pit.” Both the literal meaning of the wo...

English: Jonah, as in Jonah 2:10, "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.";watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah . And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” ( Jonah1:17 ) The Bible ’s most famous “fish story” has been the target of skeptics for hundreds of years, but it was confirmed by none other than the one who Himself had prepared the great fish: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and nights in the heart of the earth” ( Matthew 12:40 ). Jonah may actually have died and gone to “hell.” “Out of the belly of hell [Hebrew Sheol ] cried I,” said Jonah, “and thou heardest my voice” ( Jonah 2:2 ). The testimony of Jesus was similar: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [i.e., Sheol]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” ( Psalm 16:10 ...

Welcome to Hell (Photo credit: googly ) This far-fetched urban legend has been pin-balled around in-boxes of the gullible since the 1990s. It first emerged as a story about “The Well to Hell” in which a deep borehole well was drilled in Russia. The crew apparently then lowered a super-heat-resistant microphone into the pit and recorded sounds of the damned souls screaming. Yup. Thankfully the farce has petered out somewhat and has been debunked. So, do we dismiss every aspect of the report? Um, yes. And yet, Russian boreholes not withstanding, the episode exhibits the concept many people insist on, that Hell is not merely a state of mind, but a real place. So is it? The State Hell is in The three most important aspects of real estate and the afterlife: location, location, location. It is essential that we disabuse ourselves of the misconception that the nature of Hell is unknowable because it is a merely “spiritual reality” or a “state of mind” of self-inflicted emotional pain ex...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia It can happen even in careful systematic theology. How much more so in popular parlance? We take what the Bible actually teaches, rephrase it so we can understand it, and end up believing our own phrasing, rather than the actual biblical truth. It's not malicious, but it is dangerous. What follows are five common thoughts, common expressions, within the evangelical church that just aren't so. 1. "All sins are equal in the sight of God ." Well, no. It is true enough that every sin is worthy of God's eternal wrath. It is true enough that if we have broken part of the law we have broken the law (James actually says this.) It is true enough that unjust anger is a violation of the commandment against murder ( Jesus actually says this.) None of this, however, means all sins are equal in the sight of God. To say that because all ...

Image via Wikipedia A few verses in Amos 9 strike me.  They stand out because they seem to be playing off of Psalm 139 .  In Psalm 139 God’s omnipresence , omniscience , and omnipotence are all sources of great delight for the Psalmist .  There is nowhere we can go, nothing we can experience, to find ourselves beyond the reach of God’s protective hand.   But in the prophet Amos, these attributes of God strike the exact opposite reaction.  They strike terror.  In Amos 9, we learn that there is nowhere we can go to get beyond the reach of God’s wrath.  Read Psalm 139, especially verses 7-12.  Then consider Amos 9:2:  If they dig into Sheol , from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down ( ESV ). What is a source of comfort in Psalm 139 becomes a source of boot-shaking and knee-knocking fear in Amos 9.   Amos even adds this chilling point a few verses later in 9:5:...