Dr Paul Allen

Scott Harrower When I first met Marcel, he was slowly rubbing the side of his head, a small figure sitting alone at the back of our church. Tears streamed from his eyes as he told me the sermon had moved him. Over the next few weeks, I began to get to know Marcel, his dog Winkie, and his dislike of loud noises. Having been a nurse for a decade before I became a pastor, I slowly came to understand that Marcel was suffering from severe depression and anxiety. One day, he asked if I could help him stop feeling so “worthless and nervous.” I was faced with how to best care for Marcel. Should I refer Marcel to healthcare professionals and basically leave his mental health issues to them to care for? Or would it be best to care for his mental illness within the church community alone? Or could we develop a hybrid approach: a therapeutic model whereby our pastoral team and the wider church played a vital role within a more extensive professional approach to his care? What would it look like if...

For more than 10 years, I was entrenched in mysticism and self-discovery. Jordan Taylor I practised witchcraft and performed spells. I became an oracle card reader and enrolled in classes to sharpen my psychic abilities. I was a certified Reiki master and yoga teacher. I used crystals as a means of healing, protecting, and manifesting. I believed in astrology, manifesting under a new moon and cleansing and recharging my energy under the full moon. I worshipped nature and worked with goddesses. I found my spirit guides and let them lead my life. I’d talk to “Spirit/Source/Universe” and believed I was speaking to my “higher self.” I believed I created my own reality and was my own god, in control of my life. I thought I finally knew my purpose—to heal the collective, raise the planet's vibration, and help others heal and do the same. But behind it all, I grappled with darkness, deception, and a yearning for more . Still, I became trapped in a cycle of healing and “up-levelling,” cons...

Towards the end of the Barbie movie, Gloria, a mid-level manager at Mattel, Inc., played by America Ferrera, lets loose a bitter monologue about how tough it is to be a woman. She could have merely cited the Book of Genesis, which is wiser than her own script-writer: “With painful labour, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”  Genesis explains that the patriarchy was a consequence of sin. (Including, no doubt, the form it supposedly takes at Mattel’s board, which is depicted in the movie as entirely male and obnoxious.) Because human babies have big heads, childbirth was dangerous before modern medicine: the ancients compared it to battle for men. And when Adam was told, “To dust you shall return,” this applied to Eve as well. Our bodies eventually conk out. It’s Tough to Be a Woman But Gloria says little of death, disease, childbirth, or patriarchal oppression. Rather, she complains that people expect too much from femal...

Dr Paul Twiss Christ is the Savior, and He is the Teacher. Jesus instructs me. He teaches me how to think, how to speak, and how to walk every day. When I reflect on His Word, my affection for Him grows. In part, this love is the reflex of my soul, as I see that Jesus’ Word is good. He is the Shepherd, who leads me in paths of righteousness. Christ’s instructions awaken my affections because through them I see His supremacy. I see how He reigns over all creation, and how all things hold together in Him (Col. 1:17).  As an image bearer, I was made to behold this glory. My soul longs to look upon Christ and the unity of the cosmos according to His kingship. His teaching is a roadmap towards such beauty. Thus, as God’s Word instructs me, I love Jesus the Teacher. UNDERSTANDING THE SKILL OF LEARNING Some of my favourite memories include my greatest teachers. I am indebted to these people. Interestingly, I do not always find the same affection when I think about other figures in my chil...

By Dan Crabtree According to a 2020 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 21% of American adults suffer from a mental illness. Johns Hopkins says it’s 26%. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) says that in the US, 7 million people have a bipolar disorder, 21 million people have a major depressive episode each year, and 19.1 million people suffer from an anxiety disorder. As a result, NAMI records, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24, which has increased by 35% since 1999. Although many have, on the whole, become more educated, more technologically sophisticated, and our hospitals more medically advanced than ever before, according to these statistics, we are also more depressed, more anxious, and more attention deficit than ever before. In short, we are living under the sovereignty of psychology. Ours is a culture ruled by mental health diagnoses. For those who desire to live by the Bible, the ubiquity of ps...

When believers enter “the dark night of the soul,” those times when God’s mysterious will, worked out through difficult providence, makes the Lord appear veiled and unapproachable, what should they do? As we look at Scripture, one conclusion is apparent. They should sing. The biblical testimony is that God provides “songs in the night”—lyrics to bring to Him in times of great heart distress. We would not, at first thought, naturally reason that a time of struggle, suffering, or pain is also a time for singing, especially when God seems absent and hidden. It can almost seem cruel to suggest that a hurting, disillusioned soul should sing. Crying, wondering, and groaning seem more fitting. But singing? Is not lifting our voice in song for happy times? Certainly, but singing is also for trying times. Indeed, perhaps especially so. Christian songwriter Michael Card has noted that in the book of Psalms, sixty-five of the 150 songs found there, or more than 40 percent, contain lamentations. A...

Atheist materialists assert — with no evidence — that matter is all there is. Since this is not true or certainly cannot be proven to be true, it would lead like all other semi-demi-hemi-truths to cul-de-sacs and trouble. For example, if the matter is all that exists anywhere, then although human beings have brains, they do not have minds. This is a crucial distinction. Materialists say there is a squishy wet piece of pink-gray matter inside our skulls and that is who we are. So when you die and it rots, there is no you left. There is no mind or soul apart from that mushy computer in your skull. This is conceivably true, but there is much evidence to the contrary, and it is certain that no one can prove it is true. Materialists — and of course atheists, who are materialists — know that the concept of Mind contradicts their belief that there is nothing transcendent, nothing beyond the material. So any hint that there is anything beyond our mere organic brains is out of bounds and too...

Students of philosophy are well aware of the watershed significance of Immanuel Kant’s epochal work, The Critique of Pure Reason. In this volume Kant gave a comprehensive critique of the traditional arguments for the existence of God, wreaking havoc on natural theology and classical apologetics. Kant ended in agnosticism with respect to God, arguing that God cannot be known either by rational deduction or by empirical investigation.   He assigned God to the “noumenal world,” a realm impenetrable by reason or by sense perception. The impact on apologetics and metaphysical speculation of Kant’s work has been keenly felt. What is often overlooked, however, even among philosophers, is the profound impact Kant’s critique had on our understanding of the soul. Kant placed three concepts or entities in his noumenal realm, a realm above and beyond the phenomenal realm. The triad includes God, the self, and the thing-in-itself, or essences.  If God resides in this extra phenomenal realm...

  Ecclesiastes 12:7 There is great confusion about the meaning of Ecclesiastes 12:7 because many readers do not understand that the book of Ecclesiastes is written from the perspective of a man without God. So,  statements in the book are often inaccurate for a believer. For example, Ecclesiastes 2:24 says, There is nothing better for a man than to eat, drink and tell himself that his labour is good. Ecclesiastes 2:24 (NASB) That is an accurate statement for the unbeliever because life on this earth is their heaven. After the unbeliever dies, he or she is going to hell (Romans 6:23). For in 1 Corinthians 15:32, the apostle Paul tells us that if there is no resurrection for believers, then we should give ourselves to eating and drinking. We believe that when King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, he did not fully love God with all his heart (1 Kings 11:6-10). Eventually, he repented and loved the Lord with all his heart near the end of his life (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). So, we must un...