Dr Paul Allen

Samuel Emadi I’m naturally suspicious of anything that smacks of religious ritualism. Prayer labyrinths? No, thank you; I’ll stick with corporate prayer in the church and the private prayer Jesus commends ( Matt. 6:6 ). Candles and incense? Again, I’ll take plain preaching and congregational singing. So when asked whether we should anoint the sick with oil, I confess I reflexively resist the idea. For someone in my theological tribe, pouring oil on someone just feels . . .  weird . But faithful theology isn’t an enterprise in following feelings or intuitions; it’s a matter of submitting to Scripture wherever it leads. In this case, Scripture directly addresses whether we should anoint the sick with oil. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the church's elders, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ( Jam...

“But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” ( Matthew 9:12 ) It almost goes without saying that a person who is seriously ill would do anything to regain health. But the sad fact is, few people really pay attention to their health until they are threatened with its loss. On the other hand, testimonies without number have been chronicled which relate an individual’s refusal to acknowledge the claims of Christ until he or she had been stricken with personal problems or physical illness. “You’ve got to be on your back before you will look up,” so the saying goes. But what does the Great Physician have to offer the one whose health seems to be strong from an outward perspective? Instead of being well, however, the Bible says that everyone is born into this world with a dreadful disease in our souls called sin. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” ( Romans 3:23 ), “and sin, when it is finished, br...