Dr Paul Allen

Over my years of pastoral ministry and teaching, I have begun to notice something about people who struggle with assurance of salvation: almost all of them grew up as covenant children.  They made a profession of faith at an early age. They had never gone the way of the Prodigal and come back through a “dramatic conversion.” Outwardly conscientious and faithful, they’d been regarded as the “good boys” and “good girls” in their families and friend circles. Inwardly, though, it seemed to their own eyes a different story—a story of a mind still mired in sin, shameful and unholy feelings, and a will that never seemed to close the gap between what they knew they should do and what they actually did. I enjoy these pastoral conversations because that is my story. A covenant child who made a profession of faith at age six, I never went the way of the Prodigal. But I did ask Jesus into my heart at least a hundred times because “What if . . . ?”  Each time I prayed the sinner’s prayer, ...

In his magisterial history of New England, Magnalia Christi Americana, Cotton Mather notes that, after finishing his time with Mrs Drake, Thomas Hooker “in a little time . . . grew famous for his ministerial abilities, but especially for his notable faculty at the wise and fit management of wounded spirits.”1 The Puritan divine who would grow in stature both in England and America started out as a young college graduate called to a seemingly hopeless situation. As would soon become evident, his love for others and his skill in handling the Scriptures aided him in ministering to a woman teetering on the verge of heaven and hell. THE TROUBLED MRS. DRAKE About fifteen miles from London, the small parish of St. George’s in Esher, Surrey, called young Thomas Hooker (1586–1647) to serve as rector. Due to the congregation’s size, the wealthy Francis Drake, a relative of the renowned English explorer Sir Francis Drake, served as Hooker’s patron and invited him to live in his home. However, Hoo...

The industry that contributes most significantly to Iceland’s GDP, besides fishing, is the mining, processing, and exporting of aluminum. As Icelandic education and technology have increased, so has their efficiency in producing aluminum. And yet there is a factor that slows the process down; one which the Icelanders have chosen to embrace, rather than dispel. The one factor that makes their aluminum production slower than it could be is the widespread national belief in fairies. Well, not really fairies. It’s actually the sincere belief in elves, trolls, and gnomes. But collectively they are referred to as fairies or in their language Huldenvolk, or hidden-people, or secret-people. According to a 1975 national survey, only 7% of the population were certain of the existence of Elves, but only 10% of the population were certain there were no Elves. Leaving a whopping 83% of Icelanders who doubted the existence, but not enough to go on record as calling themselves, unbelievers. My questi...

Doubting Thomas gets most of the press, but for me, John the Baptist is a more compelling New Testament example of a doubter. He was a godly man whom Scripture identifies as “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23; cf. Isa. 40:3), because he was the precursor to the Messiah. At one point, John directed his own disciples to stop following him and instead follow Christ, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He obviously believed, right? I mean, he made it clear to those who asked: he was not the Messiah (John 1:20) and Jesus was. As an unborn baby, John the Baptist leaped inside his mother’s womb at the presence of Christ (Luke 1:41). He even got to hear the voice of God the Father and see the heavens opened as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus after John baptized him in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:13–17). That’s right—John heard God’s voice thunder, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”...

It is true that, in the Bible, Jesus often rebuked people for their doubts and unbelief. But that was because they have should have known better. That was because, based on what they had witnessed and experienced, they should have faith. But at other times, He showed great mercy to those who wavered with doubt. In fact, there’s an amazing little verse in the book of Jude which calls us to “have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 22). When is the last time you heard a sermon using this verse? We should we show mercy, not condemnation, not criticism, not censure, not condescending correction, to those who are sincere and yet struggle with doubt. What is Doubt? And what, exactly, is doubt? Sometimes it is an inability to believe that God will do something for us personally, as in, “I know the Bible says this, but I’m struggling to believe it will really happen to me.” At other times, it is a struggle to believe that there really is a God, or that the God we believe in is the real God, or tha...

Sooner or later every thoughtful Christian will feel the unsettling, soul-gripping claw of doubt. Some of us might struggle with intellectual doubt. How do I really know God exists? How can I be sure that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Some of us might struggle with circumstantial doubt. How can God be good when there is suffering in the world? If God is my Heavenly Father, why did I lose my job? In Mark 9, God helps His people process doubt by describing three kinds of unbelief. He contrasts the unbelief of the scribes and His own disciples with that of the father of a demon-possessed bo y. As usual, the scribes disputed with Jesus and His friends (v. 9), asking trapping, condescending, self-righteous questions, making themselves the prosecutor and Jesus the defendant. This is damning unbelief. The disciples display a more familiar, "forgetful" unbelief . They thought they could out-maneuver a demon with mere words without prayer and fasting (v. 29). The discipl...

Sometimes my faith is shaken when my dreams are shattered. I wonder where God is in the midst of my suffering. I cannot sense his presence. I feel alone and afraid. My faith wavers. I question what I have long believed. I wonder what is real, especially when my experience doesn’t match my expectations. This wavering deeply troubles me. I have tasted God’s goodness, enjoyed close fellowship with him, rested in his tender care. I have known both his power and his love. Yet in the midst of profound struggle, I have no answers. Just questions. John the Baptist understood this as he waited in prison . He, above all men, knew who Jesus was. Even in the womb, he leapt for joy in the presence of the unborn savior. At the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, before any of his miracles, John declared, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He baptized Jesus and saw God’s Spirit descend on him, testifying that he indeed was the Son of God. And yet, at the height of Jesus...