Thinking Out Loud Blog

A 30 minute stop on my schedule was canceled on Friday morning, so I quickly dashed this off after being frustrated with people who, coming under the spell of YouTube promotions, were obsessed with having the “oldest” Bible. This isn’t perfect but I published on the page of our local Christian bookstore and am repeating it here for you.

This is an article from Ruth, who is no stranger to readers at our sister site, Christianity 201 where her column appears every Friday. It’s taken from her blog Pastor Percipia. Click the link in the title which follows to read it where it appeared first. Every now and then, do something that scares you. Good advice. Today I went for it. Today was Ash Wednesday. I’d never attended a service. This was the day. First time.

It’s been awhile since I posted anything here. Most of my blogging activity is taken up with Christianity 201, which celebrated its 15th Anniversary on April 1st. Each day at 5:30 PM EST, I’ve either begged, borrowed or stolen devotional content from a rather diverse array of sources, although the quantity of original pieces would easily fill a book. I mention that first because C201 was basically a spin-off project of this blog, and some of you reading this subscribe to both.

August 11, 2025 Filed under: Christianity — Tags: Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, Jesus Music, LoveSong, Maranatha Music, Modern Church history, modern worship, Southern California, The Jesus Revolution — paulthinkingoutloud @ 10:38 pm Who’d ever thought I’d be a rock ‘n roll preacher Instead of just singin’ the blues Who’d ever thought I’d be a rock ‘n roll preacher Singing my songs so you could hear the good news.

Take a good look at the cross in that picture. The print is off-center. There’s a deep saw-cut where the lower part of the beam of the cross bar would intersect if this was made of two pieces, but nothing corresponding on the top of that section. It’s typical of what P. Graham Dunn, an Ohio company ships out on a daily basis. Quality control? Probably not a term they’ve ever heard. Besides, they like the “rugged” look.

May 30, 2025 Filed under: Christianity — Tags: demonology, Devil, doctrine, Lucifer, Satan, spiritual warfare, theology — paulthinkingoutloud @ 9:00 am Review: A Devil Named Lucifer by Jared Brock Having been quite impressed with the book, A God Named Josh, by Canadian-born author and filmmaker Jared Brock, I was rather curious when he took on the Devil, quite literally, in his latest release, A Devil Named Lucifer: Uncovering the Diabolical Life of Satan and How to Resist Him ( 2025, Bethany...

Over the weekend, Canadian Pastor Calvin Stone informed that me that on completion of a book, he writes a review of the book he’s finished, just to record his own thoughts, and then handed me a print copy of his assessment of Seven Books That Rocked the Church by Daniel A. Crane.

Last year we learned that Tyndale House, publishers of the popular Life Application Bible, were taking back the rights previously assigned to publishers of it in other Bible translations. To say that differently, Tyndale’s NLT would emerge as the exclusive translation of the bestselling study Bible. Instead of taking a defeat, the people at Zondervan took it as a challenge.

It wasn’t my book. But as I curiously flipped through, the book fell onto a table partly open to these pages. At that moment, I knew I wanted to share this. Honestly, it’s the only the part of the book I’ve read so far. If the rest of the book is this good, I’m looking forward to getting a copy! Kyle Idleman writes: Imagine going to a carnival where every attraction screams for your attention. The moment you step through the gates, you’re assaulted by an array of sights and sounds.

What about Bible translations that are the product of one individual? There are some rather uninformed opinions circulating online about Bibles because they were the product of a single Bible scholar, rather than a team of Christian academics. I thought we’d set the record straight about six of the more visible ones, five of which I endorse, and one about which I am not enthusiastic. (Comparison samples are from the same passage, but not the same verses.