Dr Paul Allen

"Isn't it a load of rubbish? This speaking in tongues?"  Some say that speaking in tongues is just gibberish resulting from over-emotionalism. Isn’t there danger in getting mixed up in something like that? No, not unless you deliberately seek out a place where such goings-on are encouraged. Certain individuals and churches indeed show more emotion in their worship than others. Some shout and some cry. But these displays we find disturbing mainly because of their contrast to the quiet way we worship.  This doesn’t mean that noise is wrong and silence is right; it merely means their ways are different from ours. We may think their worship noisy and unseemly while they consider our worship dead and lifeless. Church history shows that all great revivals have been marked by the presence of physical phenomena such as trembling, weeping, shouting, fainting, and even dancing.  They are not necessarily the work of the Holy Spirit as much as they are human reactions to the working ...

People under the old covenant knew nothing of speaking with tongues, casting out demons, and healing by the laying on of hands (Mark 16:17–18). These signs were reserved for the age of the Spirit. A new kingdom, a new covenant, new features, and a new gospel for spirit and body describe the Christian age.  Jesus used a new word for the Holy Spirit, parakletos, used five times in John’s Gospel. It is translated “Comforter” (KJV) and “Helper.” It belongs to the Greek word parakaleo, which means to call for somebody, to enlist their sympathy. Think about the promise of “another Helper.” To understand, we need only emphasise the word another. Jesus had been the parakletos to His disciples and had said to them, “I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:18). Jesus regularly used only one word for God—Father. For those who are in Christ Jesus, that one word also describes their relationship to almighty God.  So when Jesus gave His last assurances to His disciples, He told them to “wai...

HOLY SPIRIT ANOINTING is fully scriptural. In the Old Testament, all who served God had to be anointed. This is replaced in the New Testament by the Holy Spirit for all believers. The first thing to learn is that “anointing” is just one of the synonyms of the baptism in the Spirit; there are others. For years we have sung Psalm 23, “My head Thou dost with oil anoint,” which actually refers to the practice of oiling the head of sheep for their protection; but the anointing of the Spirit, or the baptism with the Spirit, is more than merely a protective health measure.1 Let us see what we can learn in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36–50). Jesus is making a complaint using language similar to that of Psalm 23. He is saying to His host, “You did not anoint My head with oil.” He was comparing Simon and an unknown woman. She had poured perfumed oil upon His feet and had continued kissing them, but Simon had done nothing. It was the social welcome for guests to anoint them with frag...

Jesus considered the baptism in the Holy Spirit so important that He expressly forbade His disciples to begin their ministry until they had received it. He knew it was essential for them to have the power which baptism in the Holy Spirit provides. And while staying with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me, for John baptised with water, but before many days you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”(Acts 1:4–5) There are many reasons why the baptism in the Holy Spirit is important. Rufus Moseley listed the following reasons in a little pamphlet entitled The Gift of the Holy Spirit. 1.It is only through this heavenly gift empowering us, guiding us, and transforming us that we have immediate union with the glorified Jesus and are given power to do His work and His will and to grow up into His likeness.  As blessed as was the ministry of Jesus in the flesh, and as glorious as was His redemp...

  Jesus says God is Spirit, and we are also told the Holy Spirit is Spirit, so how do we define the Holy Spirit? We know his name, but we’re not so sure about what he looks like. He’s the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is difficult to define. As soon as we attempt to explain him, our language becomes less helpful than we may have hoped. Not only is our intellect too small to encompass him, but our language is also too limited to explain him. Metaphors that help us to tiptoe our way into an exploration of his character.  To describe him as an ‘entity’ or a ‘force’ sounds too impersonal; to refer to him as a ‘person’ suggests he’s human and circumscribed; to define him as a ‘member of the Godhead’ begs the question ‘what kind of member?’  To address him as an ‘individual’ sounds as if there are three gods. Even referring to the Spirit with a masculine pronoun is not necessarily the best. The Greek word (pneuma), often translated as ‘Spirit’ in the NT, is neuter wh...