Dr Paul Allen

In Genesis 6:1–4, the reader encounters one of the most challenging passages in all of Scripture to interpret. Here’s the passage in the ESV. When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Echoes from Genesis 1–3 People multiplying is an echo of Genesis 1. God made “man” (Gen 1:26–27), and then he commissioned his image-bearers to be fruitful and “multiply” (1:28). In 6:1, we read of this multiplication happening. The reference to God as “Spirit” in Genesis 6:3 reminds us of 1:2, the second verse in the Bible. There, th...

There are many stories of supernatural protection from angels. One inner‑city counselor claimed a seven‑foot angel protected her from a gang of thugs.1 On the other hand, Wolly Tope established a Christian ministry to people disillusioned by false and cultic teachings. In April 1992 he had an appointment with destiny. When he heard about riots breaking out in Los Angeles, Tope took to the streets and preached to the rioters. A gang of hoodlums beats him so severely that he fell into a coma. Tope died the following year, never regaining consciousness after his beating. Why didn’t angels protect Tope during the riots? If everyone or at least every Christian has a guardian angel, where was his guardian angel that night? Belief in guardian angels is nothing new. Ancient thinkers of the Greco-Roman world such as Plato, Plutarch, and Plotinus believed in spiritual guardians, as did Babylonian and Assyrian writers.2 Ancient Jewish traditions suggested that angels were assigned to everyone.3 S...

Of all the misconceptions we have about Heaven, which is the most destructive? That’s a difficult and important question to tackle. Someone asked: Do you really believe we will eat and drink in the afterlife?  Yes! But many Bible-believing Christians would die before denying the doctrine of the resurrection—and yet they don’t fully believe it. Some Christians don’t understand what resurrection means.  They really believe they will spend eternity as disembodied spirits. God’s revelation concerning the resurrection and the New Earth—our forever home—eludes them.  A Christian university professor wrote, “I was floored and dismayed to discover the vast majority of my students don’t believe in the bodily resurrection.” Some evangelicals even believe we become angels when we die. If I could eliminate one belief about Heaven, it would be the heresy that the physical world is an enemy of God’s redemptive plan rather than a central part of it. Dangers of Christoplatonism “Christop...

We are at war, but we cannot fight in the spirit realm with our natural ability, nor with our education, our money, or our natural resources. We can only fight spirit with spirit, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4, NKJV ). Demonic spirits with different ranks and assignments exist in the spiritual realm, and they respond to atmospheres. All spirits seek expression of their will into time and space, but they cannot accomplish this without someone providing them the opportunity. If a demonic spirit manifests, it is because somebody allowed it and created an atmosphere for that spirit to operate. When the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast the evil spirit out of the child, Jesus said, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21, NKJV). “This kind” would indicate that there are spirits with different ranks. Without going into an expository work on demonology, le...

“And the LORD said unto Satan , Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” ( Job 1:7 ) This remarkable scene in heaven provides us a striking picture of Satanic activity. The devil, in his opposition to God and His program of salvation, evidently never rests. He is not omnipresent, like God, because he is a finite (though very powerful and brilliant) created being. To accomplish his goal, therefore, he is never at rest, but keeps going from place to place and working deception after deception, bringing everyone he can under his influence. Therefore, God urgently warns us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil , as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour ” ( 1 Peter 5:8 ). The same is true of the demonic spirits who have followed the devil in his rebellion against God. They never rest until they can take possession of some person’s body and mind and then c...