Dr Paul Allen

English: no original description (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We love to highlight God ’s sovereign control over every detail, when extraordinary deliverances occur. But what about all the many-times rescue from danger is not supplied? Tsunamis, earthquakes, crime incidents, epidemic diseases, political turmoil, car accidents…the list on this sin-cursed planet is unending. Is God still in perfect control in those situations? The Bible’s answer is unequivocally YES! God is never asleep at the wheel of his creation. He never overlooks a detail, misses a beat, or leaves events to chance. He is on his throne, ruling his kingdom with absolute authority. So when “bad things” happen, we need to filter them through the grid of acknowledging that God is not only in control but that he is good. Here are six verses that undeniably demonstrate this biblical teaching: Job 1:21 The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 2:10 Shall we receive good from Go...

The exhortation to “abide” has been frequently misunderstood, as though it were a special, mystical, and indefinable experience. But Jesus makes clear that it actually involves a number of concrete realities. First, union with our Lord depends on His grace . Of course we are actively and personally united to Christ by faith ( John 14:12 ). But faith itself is rooted in the activity of God. It is the Father who, as the divine Gardener, has grafted us into Christ. It is Christ, by His Word, who has cleansed us to fit us for union with Himself (15:3). All is sovereign, all is of grace. Second, union with Christ means being obedient to Him . Abiding involves our response to the teaching of Jesus: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you …” ( John 15:7a ). Paul echoes this idea in Colossians 3:16 , where he writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” a statement closely related to his parallel exhortation in Ephesians 5:18 : “be filled with the Spirit.” In a nutshell...

Writing to the Philippians, Paul says, "He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the end" (Phil. 1:6). Therein is the promise of God that what He starts in our souls, He intends to finish. So the old axiom in Reformed theology about the perseverance of the saints is this: If you have it—that is, if you have genuine faith and are in a state of saving grace—you will never lose it. If you lose it, you never had it. We know that many people make professions of faith, then turn away and repudiate or recant those professions. The Apostle John notes that there were those who left the company of the disciples, and he says of them, "Those who went out from us were never really with us" (1 John 2:19). Of course, they were with the disciples in terms of outward appearances before they departed. They had made an outward profession of faith, and Jesus makes it clear that it is possible for a person to do this even when he doesn't possess what he's pro...

I made a life plan when I was ten years old (yeah, I know, crazy). It included all the normal things: graduate high school, go to college, travel the world. With regards to romance, though, I always assumed I would get married at 23, because “Why not?” and “Surely I’ll have met somebody by then.” So, in my late teens, I arbitrarily picked a date (today, April 22, 2017) as my likely wedding day because (a) it’s a few months before my 24th birthday and (b) because I’ve always wanted a spring wedding. I added details about kids and jobs and travel along the way, but my plan has remained mostly unchanged. Pretty straightforward, right? Except the God I serve isn’t always a straightforward God. He is straightforward in what he wants from me: to act justly, love kindness, and to walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8), and to set nothing above him in my heart, mind, or soul ( Deuteronomy 6:5). But what about beyond that? What about my wedding day? Much to the woe of my control-des...

Cannabis sativa plant (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) How are we to think about recreational cannabis use in the church? A growing number of Christians today believe that it is biblically permissible to use cannabis recreationally. Are they right? Cannabis Versus Alcohol Quick, pat answers to the question of recreational cannabis use are often unhelpful. Responses without nuance will not best serve the church in the long run. To say that alcohol is permissible, and cannabis is not, because “Christians drink beer and wine for the taste, but people only smoke pot to get stoned,” just won’t do. Such a simplification distorts the truth. For one, Christians don’t drink beer and wine  only  for the taste. Even moderate drinking, which is biblically permissible, has lubricating psychoactive effects. From a biblical perspective, this lubricating effect can be acceptable. While drunkenness is clearly prohibited ( Ephesians   5:18 ; Romans  13:13 ; Galatians  5...

Justin the Philosopher (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The young philosopher walked along the seashore, his mind active, always active, seeking new truths. He had studied the teachings of the Stoics, of Aristotle, and of Pythagoras—now he was following Plato ’s system.  Plato had promised a vision of God to those who delved deeply enough into truth. That is what Justin the philosopher wanted. As he walked, he came across an elderly Christian man. Justin was struck by his dignity and humility. The man quoted from Jewish prophecies, showing that the Christian way was indeed true; Jesus was the true expression of God. That was Justin’s turning point. Poring over those prophetic writings, reading the Gospels and letters of Paul, he became a devoted Christian. For the remaining thirty or so years of his life, he traveled, evangelized, and wrote. He played a crucial role in the church’s developing theology, in its understanding of itself, and the image it presented to the world. ...

God simply doesn’t do things our way. His plans are not our plans — his thoughts not our thoughts ( Isaiah 55:8). His ways are higher. And not just a little bit higher. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Yes, he is Creator almighty, and we are mere creatures. He is infinite; we are finite. He is God, and we are not — but don’t miss the jewel in the context of these often quoted verses from Isaiah 55: While we are not gracious by nature, he is. Where our only reflex is to dole out punishment, he stands ready to forgive — and not just forgive, but “abundantly pardon.” Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7) He is a God beyond our natural expectations and inclinations, not just in the power of his might, but in the wideness of his mercy...

An unsaved young man saw how a family responded to their loved one suffering terminal cancer with such confidence, joy, and peace, his heart began to pay attention to the Source of that steadfastness. He began to read his Bible with greater earnestness and listen to the sermons he heard in church with greater interest. Eventually, the Lord saved him. I tell that story because it only further legitimizes the need for Christians to learn how to suffer well—how to suffer righteously . It is necessary to be equipped with a theology of suffering while not yet in the midst of a particular trial. The fact of the matter is, the heat of an intensely trying time often clouds our vision and our judgment, so that we fail to act the way we know we should. We respond to suffering sinfully because we have not prepared to suffer righteously beforehand, when our vision is clear. A Second Lesson To help prepare us to fight the unbiblical thoughts, attitudes, and actions that we are tempted to have ...

Most Bible study resources describe fallen angels as demons who joined Lucifer in his rebellion against God. But what if I told you that the only place in the New Testament that describes angels sinning does not call them demons , has no connection to Lucifer, and has them in jail? Welcome to the world of 2 Peter and Jude. 2 Peter 2:4: “For … God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” Jude 6: “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” Second Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 are nearly identical in their description of angels doing time, but there are differences that help us figure out “what in the spiritual world is going on.” Jude 6 defines what 2 Peter 2:4 means by the angelic sin .  These sinning angels “left their pr...

“Hear, O Israel : The LORD our God is one LORD.” ( Deuteronomy 6:4 ) This great verse has been recited countless times by Israelites down through the centuries, setting forth their distinctive belief in one great Creator God. The Jews had retained their original belief in creation, handed down from Noah, while the other nations had all allowed their original monotheistic creationism to degenerate into a wide variety of religions, all basically equivalent to the polytheistic evolutionism of the early Sumerians at Babel. But along with its strong assertion of monotheism, there is also a very real suggestion that this declaration, with its thrice-named subject, is also setting forth the triune God. The name “LORD,” of course, is Yahweh, or Jehovah , the self-existing One who reveals Himself, while “God” is Elohim , the powerful Creator/Ruler. “Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah” is the proclamation. A number of respected Jewish commentators have acknowledged that the verse spoke of ...