Many years ago (1966+) when I went off to college at Rice University, I immediately had my Christian faith challenged and questioned by both faculty members and classes I had. That is when I first realized that I knew more or less WHAT I believed, but not WHY I believed! By God’s providence I was attending a congregation in which the preacher had come to faith in Christ as an adult by studying “Christian evidences” – a term I had never heard of before meeting him.
Studying the topic of evidences with James Wilson completely changed the course of my life! Now, after 50 years in ministry myself, I can say confidently that most believers I have known do not know much about the evidence under-girding confidence in the truth about Jesus, God, and the Bible.Continue Reading
During these trying times with most Christians ordered to shelter in place or at home, and with all church services and classes cancelled, many different faith-based ministries are stepping up to offer free access to their materials. I mentioned and linked to several of them in a post about two weeks ago.
One of those is Ligonier Ministries, who presently makes over 2,500 videos available for free access. Now they have added the ability to download over 100 of their Ligonier study guides in PDF format for free that accompany their various video series. Many of the authors are recognized Biblical scholars and seminary professors.Continue Reading
One of the “Picks of the Week” choices back in October, 2019 (see here) was the “5 Minutes in Church History” podcast with Dr. Stephen J. Nichols. Over 300 episodes of this podcast have been produced, and the podcast has just completed its sixth year of production.
As part of celebrating six years of podcasting, a special episode was produced where Dr. Nichols and a key member of his broadcasting team are interviewed in the Renewing Your Mind broadcast studios. Listen to this special episode by using or downloading a podcast app on your tablet or phone and searching for “5 Minutes in Church History,” then download the episode “6 Years of 5 Minutes.” If you are using a computer, you should be able to access the podcast through Spotify, iTunes or Google Play Music as well.Continue Reading
For years I kept in my file cabinet two lists given to me by two older ministers during the first few years of my ministry. Each was a list of the 10-20 books they considered essential for me to have in my religious library. About half the books were identical, the rest different on each list.
I believe that I eventually added every one of those books to my library. Most are still in my library after 40+ years, numerous moves, and regular “weeding out” of books that have proven unused or not useful. Here I don’t intend to provide such a list for any readers of this article (maybe in a later article I will). Instead, I want to begin with this article to more or less regularly list books I have recently added to my library, and in some cases give the reasons why. Do not consider these lists as an automatic recommendation or seal of approval for these titles or their contents. Rather, this is to let you know that my studies and personal spiritual interests have led me to add these books to my library.Continue Reading
Maybe because of my age (born in 1948) and the habits of a ministry covering some 50 years, I still cherish printed books. Don’t get me wrong, I have most of the latest digital Bible software with some 2,000+ volumes of resources. I also regularly buy digital versions of books for my Kindle app or Apple Books app, and have about 450-500 titles between them. But printed books are still my passion.
So when I am looking for a new reference book, commentary, or book on a special topic, I go for print most of the time. But this doesn’t mean I want to pay full retail for a new copy if a good used volume is available!Continue Reading
During the Thanksgiving to Christmas “mega-holiday,” materialism and consumerism is on full display in our nation as Black Friday, Green Monday, Cyber Monday, etc. consumes retailers and media advertising… and us consumers. But there are also some very good deals for those of us working in ministry or teaching and publishing God’s Word.
If you love to listen to audio books, or are simply wanting something wholesome to listen to on that next long trip to the relatives’ house for the holidays, now is a good time to peruse the great deals at christianaudio.com. Almost their entire selection of audio books are on sale for $7.49 each. Most of the titles are normally twice as much or more on their site or on audible.com. To purchase you need to sign up for a free membership first (no cost associated with it).Continue Reading
Have you heard of the NIV Bible Across America Project that took place in 2008-2009? Sadly, probably not. Let me fill in some background from my own experience.
The first edition New International Version of the New Testament became my English translation of choice in about 1973 soon after it was first published. The print copy I still preach and teach from is the 1984 printing of the NIV whole Bible, which I purchased when it was first released and I had rebound when the covers were falling off somewhere around 2005.
In 2008 Zondervan wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the NIV Bible’s release. They announced a nationwide tour covering 40+ states and at least 140 cities in a specially equipped motorhome. Their goal was to have some 31,100 volunteers each handwrite one single verse of the Bible (NIV translation, of course). Those verses taken together made up a complete copy of the Bible written by hand by 31,100 people!Continue Reading
The “Be Series” commentaries by Warren Wiersbe are a favorite of many, including me. The series consists of 50 volumes with titles like Be Confident (Hebrews), Be Right (Romans), Be Resolute (Daniel), etc. The individual volumes are usually available in paperback or Kindle ebook format on Amazon for about $10 each. At the moment, at least eightfive volumes of the Kindle edition are on sale for 79¢ to 99¢ each through either the Kindle app, Kindle readers or the Amazon website. Those are Hebrews, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy, Genesis (12-25),and Acts (13-28). Purchasing them on sale now would cost under $5.00 versus about $50.00 regular price. You can click here if you want to check the website to see what is available. At the website ask to sort results with “Price: Low to High” so the low priced items will appear near the top. Also look only for those titles beginning with “Be.” (Updated 08/14/2019) Note that EBS may earn a small commission off any merchandise purchased through links on this page.
Over about two years I was able to purchase the entire 50 volume series in Kindle format just this way. It just required checking at least weekly in the Kindle Store. Remember that you can then read all purchased books on any tablet, phone or computer which has the Kindle app available.
One of the most touted major Bible software programs is Logos by Faithlife. I have owned and used Logos since V.2 in about 2003 (called Libronix back then). The Windows and Mac versions are now up to V.8. In addition, iPhone, iPad and Android phone and tablet versions are also available. I have spent thousands of dollars expanding my Logos library and dutifully upgrading as new versions have been released. The good news is that once I purchase Logos once, I can run it on the various platforms without spending more money except to upgrade versions as they come along. I don’t need to sing the praises of the Logos software; many others do that already.
However, I scarcely ever use my Logos main program – even though I regularly pay to keep it up to date and purchase occasional additional resources to expand my library. Why don’t I use it more? Because it is so complicated to use! Now, for someone who invests a considerable amount of time to learn its intricacies, then uses it almost daily and exclusively, its complexity ceases to be an issue I suppose. But that is not me. Now this post is not intended to primarily criticize the usability of Logos, but to point out why I like it and how I use it despite this major (to me) hindrance.Continue Reading
In doing a series of lessons a few years ago on the city of Jerusalem as it appears through the Bible, I cast a wide net to find resources of a historical, geographical, and archaeological nature concerning this great city of the Old and New Testament period. One very valuable resource was a free (for download in PDF format) 250 page book written by Galyn Wiemers at www.generationword.com. It may also be read online at his website.
Entitled, “Jerusalem: History, Archaeologyand Apologetic Proof of Scripture,” it contains over 500 photos, maps and charts along with much explanatory text. Most or all the photos seem to have been taken by Mr. Wiemers during visits to Jerusalem. The book is divided into seven sections:Continue Reading
In the adult Sunday school class I attend at the Sunset congregation, we have just finished (2nd Quarter, 2019) a 13 week study entitled, Trusting in the Name(s) of God. I was privileged to teach three of the sessions, and hear some of the best teachers we have at Sunset International Bible Institute teach the other sessions. While I had studied in the past the various terms and names attributed to God, this time was especially rewarding. Over several posts, I want to share some of the resources I/we used as well as the three lessons I presented.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words should be one of the most treasured books in any serious Bible student’s library – it certainly is in mine. (Note that EBS may earn a small commission off any merchandise purchased through links on this page.) It has gone through numerous editions since its introduction around 1940. More recent editions have added Old Testament words to the original New Testament only version. My first mentor, James Wilson, introduced me to the use of this resource before I had even decided to be a preacher of the gospel. Here are some of the great benefits of using this book properly:
Many years ago (1966+) when I went off to college at Rice University, I immediately had my Christian faith challenged and questioned by both faculty members and classes I had. That is when I first realized that I knew more or less WHAT I believed, but not WHY I believed! By God’s providence I was attending a congregation in which the preacher had come to faith in Christ as an adult by studying “Christian evidences” – a term I had never heard of before meeting him.
One of the “Picks of the Week” choices back in October, 2019 (
Maybe because of my age (born in 1948) and the habits of a ministry covering some 50 years, I still cherish printed books. Don’t get me wrong, I have most of the latest digital Bible software with some 2,000+ volumes of resources. I also regularly buy digital versions of books for my Kindle app or Apple Books app, and have about 450-500 titles between them. But printed books are still my passion.
During the Thanksgiving to Christmas “mega-holiday,” materialism and consumerism is on full display in our nation as Black Friday, Green Monday, Cyber Monday, etc. consumes retailers and media advertising… and us consumers. But there are also some very good deals for those of us working in ministry or teaching and publishing God’s Word.
Have you heard of the NIV Bible Across America Project that took place in 2008-2009? Sadly, probably not. Let me fill in some background from my own experience.
One of the most touted major Bible software programs is 
In doing a series of lessons a few years ago on the city of Jerusalem as it appears through the Bible, I cast a wide net to find resources of a historical, geographical, and archaeological nature concerning this great city of the Old and New Testament period. One very valuable resource was a free (for download in PDF format) 250 page book written by Galyn Wiemers at 
