Dr Paul Allen

“That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9b). In Judges 18, we see the idolatry begun by Micah take root among the people of the colony established by the Danites on Israel’s northern frontier. Doing what was right in their own eyes, they veered away from the true worship of the God of Israel and fell into apostasy. We might say they established their own “cult.” Nowadays, there is vast disagreement over what is true about God and how He is to be worshipped. To make matters worse, the various groups that weigh in on spiritual matters often classify themselves as “the one true church” and their opponents as cults.  How can we tell the difference between an orthodox church and a cult? What makes a cult a cult? What are some of the significant cults today?  The word cult comes from the Latin cultus, which means “to care for” or “to take care of.” The word cult initially referred to a group of people who had similar conc

Shepherding the church has the singular focus of feeding God’s people with His Word. Yet this work is not as easy as it may sound, for the church has a varied nature. Church leadership must recognize how vastly different are the people—and their needs—that make up a local congregation. This point is at the heart of Martin Bucer’s classic pastoral work Concerning the True Care of Souls. Though Bucer develops the doctrine of Christ’s headship over the church as its true Shepherd, that teaching does not come until his second chapter. In the opening chapter, Bucer cites numerous Scriptures to establish the variety within Christ’s body. He taught that in addition to a pastor, congregations need other lay shepherds who are “entrusted with the whole of the pastoral office.” In so doing, Bucer establishes the need for ruling elders. Bucer bases this work of shepherding on Ezekiel 34:16, where the Lord says, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injure

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections (2 Cor. 6:12). It is not uncommon for Christian congregations to reject their pastors. This was quite often the case with Israel. God gave them shepherds and prophets, but the people refused to listen. They loved their sin too much to follow the leaders God had given them. The result was judgment. When God’s people refuse to submit to God-ordained authorities, when they refuse to repent of their sins, one way that God judges them is by removing faithful ministers from their midst. Paul did not want this to happen to the Corinthians . They had used every excuse to justify their sin. They had even cast blame on Paul, but his ministry among them was blameless. The problem did not lie in him but in the hearts of the Corinthians. The apostle had opened his heart to them, but they refused to open theirs. This brought much grief to Paul as he struggled to serve them. Still they would not submit to his authori