Dr Paul Allen

David Mathis Have you ever wondered why we Christians so often sing about Jesus’s blood? It’s a very strange thing to emphasize, is it not? Not simply the cross and his death, but his blood. Just last Sunday, our church sang twice about the blood of Jesus. First in an old hymn: “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?” Then in a newer song: “By his blood and in his name, in his freedom I am free.” Growing up, I often sang, “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-workin’ pow’r in the blood of the Lamb.” That was my dad’s favourite. Or one that many of us know: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” We Bible-believing Christians do not simply recognize the reality of Jesus’s blood and refer on occasion to Jesus’s blood, but we sing about it. We glory in it. That is, in a spirit of worship, in declaring Jesus’s worth to each other, and in praising him for his greatness, we often sing about the otherwise morbid topic of blood. Have you ever stopped

There is no denying that America has a new civic religion. The US flag, now deliberately and effectively tarnished in the minds of many as a symbol of racism, has been replaced with a rainbow flag proclaiming to the world our new genital dogmas and pelvic creed. “I feel very woman, and I feel very man. I feel both, and I feel neither …” declared Layshia Clarendon, the WNBA’s first openly non-binary transgender player, in a recent ESPN cover story. The story’s author, who refers to Clarendon alternatively as he, she, and they throughout the profile, writes that the primary driving force for Clarendon is faith. “… I feel like all the gender expansiveness that exists in the world is in me.” Clarendon explains. “I think that’s what the word ‘trans’ means to me too. It’s such a beautiful word, and such a beautiful community that is full of resilience. And it … it just feels like magic.” A society of mini-gods each in pursuit of its own power is far more like hell than heaven. Being able to

No matter what you're looking for, you can probably find it in the Bible. A story about a guy making a couple of bears kill 42 children because they called him bald? That's in the Bible. Need a reason to kick people with weird feet out of church? Look no further than the Bible. It's a remarkably long book written and rewritten by dozens of different people over several centuries. It's almost impossible to keep track of everything contained inside the Good Book. With all the offbeat surprises hidden in the Big Book, it should come as no surprise that the Bible bestiary gets wonky at times. Sure, there are the animals that everybody remembers: Noah's floating menagerie of just everything, Jonah's whale, the lions in the den. But then there are the other guys. Strange, sometimes confusing creatures that would have even the best-read Sunday School teacher wondering whether they picked up a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by mistake. Here are some of