Monthly Archives: December 2023

Schuyler 2024 Roadmap

Posted on by
Reply

From the Schuyler Announcement: Schuyler will be introducing the NLT PSQ this year as well as the NKJV Stridon. We will also be introducing more of our aniline calfskin options: desert camel, chestnut, tuscany, saddle brown, siena, olive green, Prussian blue – as well as our faithful black pearl and black goatskin options!! These will be available throughout our line of Bibles. The newly designed ESV will have an apocrypha option as well. This is going to be printed next month. We will also be collaborating with Crossway to produce more Heirloom Study Bibles and perhaps more Heritage editions!

As is often the case, inflation is putting pressure on our prices, as well as the fact that our Bibles are made in the Netherland and Germany (with French paper). The Bible craftsmen and materials in these countries are the best in the world, but they come with a corresponding price tag…

We truly appreciate our Bible community. The Word is such a gift to this generation. We hope that we steward this gift wisely since in our present darkness, the LIGHT that the Word produces is critical and consequential.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Anglican Bible Reading Guide

Posted on by
2

For my One-Year Bible Reading Charts click here.

I spent a good portion of my time in the month of December 2023 researching bible reading plans and could not come up with a happy medium or compromise with everything I was seeking. After careful consideration and planning, I produced my own custom Bible reading plan that is constructed precisely the way I like it.

CHRONOLOGICAL NEW TESTAMENT

This plan is unique in that it combines several different approaches to a reading plan as follows: First, I wanted to read the Gospels in chronological order. There are several planes out on the internet that accomplish this, however, I wanted the New Testament to be of a different structure than the Old Testament. I used the Bible Reading Plan Generator to assemble the passages for the New Testament. This generator offers the user several different options to obtain the plan that fits best. I compared to other chronological reading plans and many of them chopped up the chapters into verses like this popular plan found at the back of the ESV Study Bible.



Continue reading →

A quick reminder that Jaylon Smith’s bowl game injury likely cost him tens of millions

Posted on by
Reply

It was horrible to watch. Jaylon Smith was headed to be a possible top-5 draft pick when in his final college game, he was pushed from behind and awkwardly twisted and bent his knee.

The injury was brutal: his ACL and LCL were torn, and he had nerve damage. He ended up being drafted in the second round by the Cowboys — but likely, even with an insurance policy, lost a large amount of money and was placed on injured reserved by the Cowboys this week. Should he have gone in the top five, as projected by some draft experts, his contract would be in the $20 million range. Instead, he got $4.42 million guaranteed.

Too often college football fans get very upset when their best players choose to skip a bowl game and enter the NFL draft. This can explain at least some of it.

Why I don’t watch “The Chosen” TV Show

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t watch much television these days, and don’t tend to keep up with what is new or popular on TV. One show, however, has caught my attention because of its notoriety, and its subject matter. The Chosen, which has been on air for a few years now, seeks to depict the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the form of a television series. The series has been met with rave reviews, with thousands of professing Christians lending their support for the series, and a 90%+ rating on major review sites. I have only heard about it because of the success it seems to be having within the church, as more and more Christians talk about it. However, I find this new excitement over The Chosen concerning, and would warn Christians from watching the show for the following 3 reasons.

The Chosen Violates The 2nd Commandment 

Christians ought to make quick work of discerning whether or not to watch The Chosen by simply recognizing that it violates the 2nd Commandment. For reference, here is the 2nd Commandment given in Exodus 20:4-6:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6 ESV
Continue reading →

Bible Reading Plans for 2024

Posted on by
Reply

This is the Daily Bible Reading Plan that is published in the ESV Study Bible by Crossway. Similar to many plans, it provides for reading the NT and Psalms twice a year while reading the OT in a year. The plan is broken up into 4 sections:

  • Gospels and Devotions
  • Chronicles and Prophets
  • Psalms and Wisdom Literature
  • Pentateuch and History of Israel

Every day of the year, the reader will read a chapter or so from 4 different sections of the bible. The list is numbered rather than dated to accommodate for a missed day or needing to take a break.

esv-study-biblereadingDownload
Continue reading →

What were the crusades?

Posted on by
Reply

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions—varying in size, strength and degree of success—occurred between 1096 and 1291. The costly, violent and often ruthless conflicts enhanced the status of European Christians, making them major players in the fight for land in the Middle East.

By the end of the 11th century, Western Europe had emerged as a significant power in its own right, though it still lagged behind other Mediterranean civilizations, such as the Byzantine Empire (formerly the eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the Islamic Empire of the Middle East and North Africa.

However, Byzantium had lost considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks. After years of chaos and civil war, the general Alexius Comnenus seized the Byzantine throne in 1081 and consolidated control over the remaining empire as Emperor Alexius I.

In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians in the East and those in the West had long been fractious, Alexius’s request came at a time when the situation was improving.

Continue reading →

Latin superstar Daddy Yankee tells fans he is leaving music to evangelize the world for Jesus

Posted on by
Reply

The music superstar quoted scripture, asking the crowd, ‘What good will it be for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?’

Global Latin music star Daddy Yankee recently bid farewell to his music career and announced he will be dedicating his life to evangelizing the world “for Jesus.”

During the final show of his farewell tour in Puerto Rico on Sunday, the “Gasolina” and “Despacito” star said a tearful goodbye to his fans and claimed that he would be giving the rest of his life to Christ, as he has found committing to Christianity much more meaningful.

Continue reading →

Feast Day of St. Nicholas

Posted on by
Reply

In 323 AD at the Council of Nicea, Saint Nicholas (the inspiration for Santa Claus) smacked the heretic Arius in the face to interrupt a speech denying the divinity of Christ.

“He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice,

He’s going to find out if you deny the divinity of Christ! Santa Claus is coming to town!”

“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’re a heretic and he’ll punch you in your face”

Have a blessed St. Nicholas day beloved.

Very little is known about the life of Nicholas. He became Bishop of Myra on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. He may have been imprisoned for his faith in the persecution (303-311) that began under the Emperor Diocletian, and he may have attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nicholas is the traditional patron of seafarers and sailors. He is also known as a patron of children, based on his reputation as a bearer of gifts to children. The Dutch brought his name to New York. He is popularly known as Santa Claus. Nicholas is commemorated in the Anglican calendar of the church year on Dec. 6.