Dr Paul Allen

Impreca-what? “Imprecation” is a fancy way of saying “curse,” and an imprecatory psalm is a “cursing psalm.” We see imprecatory prayers regularly in the Bible, such as when Nehemiah utters a more refined version of “I’m rubber, and you’re glue”: “Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.” (Neh. 4:4–5). ‘Imprecation’ is a fancy way of saying ‘curse,’ and an imprecatory psalm is a ‘cursing psalm.’   Paul wasn’t averse to issuing curses either: “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed” (1 Cor. 16:22). And even Jesus gave “woes” upon the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23) and upon Judas (26:23–24). Nehemiah prayed against Sanballat and Tobiah, infamous antagonists of God’s people in Jerusalem. Paul prayed against those who turned away from God, and Jesus aimed...

Christians pray for their enemies—but should they also pray against them? Consider two verses. Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). But David says—of an enemy—“Let there be none who extend to him loyal love, nor any who pities his orphans. Let his descendants be cut off. Let their name be blotted out in the next generation” (Ps 109:12–13). Are Jesus and David contradicting one another?1  Should we pray “imprecations” (prayers for God to bring retributive justice to wicked enemies) like these?2  In this excerpt, adapted from May/June 2021 Bible Study Magazine, Adam J. Howell considers these sticky questions—and how we can rightly apply the imprecations from the Psalter to pray for enemies in our own lives. The first thing we must remember is that the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms are inspired Scripture and therefore profitable in the Christian life. We cannot disregard these portions of God’s Word or pass them off as irrelevant t...

The famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, was a master showman who started out as little more than a glorified locksmith. He would set up lethally dangerous circumstances in which to display his skill. The more impossible the incarceration and the more perilous the circumstance, the more miraculous the escape would seem and the more skilful he would appear. Each time his reputation and his life was put at risk. Each of his escapes escalated in danger and difficulty so that his skill was increasingly admired. Some well-known stunts included: escaping from handcuffs to escaping from handcuffs while inside a giant milk can, to escape from handcuffs while inside a giant milk can inside a crate nailed and chained with him in leg irons and dropped into a river weighed down by 2000 pounds of lead. In less than a minute Houdini would emerge from the water, free from all chains, and the box would be lifted up by a crane and found unbroken, still locked shut, with the leg-irons left inside...

Jesus had enemies. As soon as he’s declared Son of God in the Gospel of Mark , he’s driven into the wilderness to face Satan , his first and greatest adversary (Mark  1:12 ). Satan lurks behind all opposition to Jesus, and his demons show up repeatedly to entice and corrupt, but surprisingly, his henchmen are more often theologians than demons. Satan is mentioned only five times in Mark, and demons only thirteen times. But the scribes and Pharisees are mentioned 29 times, and in 27 of those verses, they are wielding their knowledge of the Scriptures in opposition to the Christ . When Jesus told his disciples how he would die, he didn’t blame the evil ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), but the rulers of his own chosen people, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over  to the chief priests and the scribes , and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog...

“Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” ( Psalm 139:21-22 ). David has no other response to God’s enemies than that of hatred, i.e., he is not neutral towards them nor will he ever ally himself with them. Of the psalmist Spurgeon says that “he was a good hater, for he hated only those who hated good.” The psalmist could not remain neutral on the matter of those who hate God. And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? He was disgusted with, nauseated by, and loathed those men who unjustly raised their hatred against God. I count them mine enemies. Once a conscious choice has been made to reject God ’s truth and love, an individual begins to hate God and the people of God. The Scriptures are replete with these insights, but two references should suffice to establish the teaching—“they that hate the righteous shall be desolate” ( Psalm 34:...

On  June 17 , Dylan Roof murdered nine people who had gathered for prayer at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The Supreme Court legalized so-called same-sex marriage nationwide on  June 26 . Finally, July 14 saw the release of disturbing undercover footage of a Planned Parenthood director discussing the sale of tissue and organs from aborted babies. A second video — no less unsettling — emerged last week, with more likely to come. In the face of these developments, we shouldn’t fall into alarmism or fear-mongering. Jesus has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church (Matthew  16:18 ). Nor should we exaggerate the plight of the American church, as though our sufferings were on a par with what believers elsewhere have experienced under Boko Haram or ISIS or Kim Jong-un. Things may seem bad in America, yes. But not as bad as they could be. And yet, we can’t deny that the American church faces opposition...