Top 10 - Um - Just Books I read in 2020

When I thought of this blog post, I wanted to do a top 10 books that I read in 2020, but the fact is that I read slowly, and this year was one of the busiest work years of my life! In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team simply didn't have enough time to complete our project. And, in the midst of this, I needed to find time to read. 

Another reason that I finish books so slow, is that I read several books at the same time. And when I say "several," I do not mean 2, 3, or 4 at a time. More like triple that at any one given moment.

Since this is not a top 10 post, they are numbered in the order that I finished reading them.

1. How to Study Your Bible (Kay Arthur), This book teaches the Inductive Bible Study Method. HSYB is certainly a very useful book. The Bible student can use this book to go as deep as he wants to go. However, there are some caveats to some of the tips the author provides. To read about the book and about the caveats in the book, follow the link in the title of the book to read my review on the book.
2. Kingdom Come: The Amillennial Alternative (Sam Storms), This was my 2nd time reading Kingdom Come by Sam Storms. The first time was in 2013. I actually enjoyed the book now more than then. Storms has a clear way of explaining eschatological concepts through Scripture. Anybody who really wants to learn about amillennialism should read this book. In fact, anyone who is interested in eschatology, teaching of the end-times, should read this book! 
3. The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled (Jonathan Cahn), Fictional speculation at its best worst! I simply could not get into this book. 
4. The Book of Revelation (Robert H. Mounce), This is a fair commentary on the book of Revelation, but there are better commentaries on Revelation. This commentary is part of The New International Commentary on the New Testament series of commentaries.
5. Revelation (Joel Beeke), This is not a very in-depth commentary on Revelation, but it does aim in the right direction. This commentary is part of the Lectio Continua Expository Commentary on the New Testament series.
6. The Basic Steps of Bible Study: Getting Started (Kay Arthur), This is simply a subset of HSYB above. Skip this one and to straight to HSYB.
7. Revelation (Gordon D. Fee), This is a worthwhile commentary, but in my opinion, he still doesn't handle the symbolism, and imagery of Revelation well enough.
8. 1, 2, 3 John, Revelation (Earl F. Palmer), The Revelation commentary in this set is average. At times it seems good, but at other times it leaves the reader feeling that there is just not enough. It is part of The Communicator's Commentary series.
9. Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches (James M. Hamilton Jr.), This is not a technical commentary, and those who want to find a more devotional commentary with application sections, will find this one to their taste. I enjoyed this commentary, and is worthwhile purchasing.
10. How to Study the Bible (Richard L. Mayhue), This is a fine book to start learning to do Bible Study, and there is much to learn from it.
11. Hebrews through Revelation (Frank E. Gaebelein, general editor; Alan F. Johnson, author on the Revelation commentary), Of the non-technical commentaries, this one is fairly well done. It is perhaps a bit dated, but still fine as a commentary. It is volume #12 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary series.
12. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church (Earle E. Cairns), I think it is very important for Christians to know the history of the church. The original edition was my Church History textbook in Bible College. I decided to read it again. This is the 3rd edition, and it takes church history into the 1990s. It is a worthwhile church history book to have on your shelves.
13. A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times (Kim Riddlebarger), It took me a while to get into this book. However, once I got past all the plugging that the author did for Covenant Theology, the book became what the title promised. The author seems to think that Amillenialism cannot stand on its own two feet without it being propped up by Covenant Theology. This is simply not true. A better book to read would be Kingdom Come by Sam Storms.
14. Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenantal Theologies (editors: Stephen J. Wellum, Brent E. Parker), I enjoyed this book very much, and if you have read Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, then you will enjoy this one too. Both these books are break-aways from Dispensational Theology (7 Dispensations, rapture, and other fairy tales), and also from Covenant Theology. It is very similar to New Covenant Theology with a few differences.
15. An Introduction to the Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge (Dirk Jongkind), This is a short book on subjects such as textual criticism, and how Tyndale made their textual choices in order to come to what they believe is the best Greek NT text. It is an easy book to read, and I think that most people will understand it. I have a copy of the Tyndale House Greek New Testament (THGNT), and it is very close to the Nestle-Aland 28th edition (NA28) of the Greek NT, and the United Bible Societies 5th edition (UBS5) of the Greek NT.
16. How to Study the Bible (Robert M. West), This is a very short book on the subject of Bible study, and is good for someone new to Bible study.
17. The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (G. K. Beale), This is a fairly technical commentary based on the Greek text of the book of Revelation. It handles textual variants where necessary. This is by far the best commentary that I used through 2020 in the study of Revelation. Throughout the year I made use of 10 commentaries on Revelation, and Beale's commentary is completely above the rest. He goes into the symbolism of Revelation, and handles myriads of allusions that John made to the Old Testament to bring his message across. One thing that I learnt from Beale, is that without a good knowledge of the OT and its prophetic symbolism, one's interpretation will end up skewed by preconceived ideas about the end-times. Beale's commentary is a book of 1245 pages; so, as a commentary, it is not for the faint-hearted. However, if you do the hard work of working through this commentary, you will definitely be blessed and educated on Revelation.
18. New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide (David Alan Black), I think Black did an excellent job introducing the reader to textual criticism. If you have no idea concerning the subject, this is the place start! Definitely recommended to those interested in the subject, but do not know where to start.

That is the end of my list. As you can see, there are many commentaries on this list, and one does not read a commentary like an ordinary book.

I hope that you are encouraged by getting one or more of these books. Whatever the case, Tolle Lege! Take up and Read!

May you all have a wonderful New Year, and that your hearts draw ever closer to our great, and wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Learning Biblical Greek has never been more accessible, and is needed more than ever!

When I studied at Bible College in the second half of the 1980s, we had to learn Biblical Greek, and I

loved it! It took a lot of work and dedication, but at the end of the 3 semesters of Greek that year I had an average of 96%. I found it fascinating!

But, like they say, "If you don't use, you lose it!" I got married in 1990, and started working at a massive state company through which I studied software development, and I've been in software development ever since. Through the years, because of disuse, I had forgotten much of what I learnt about New Testament Greek. I don't know how many times I tried to pick it up again. Don't get me wrong! I could no longer handle it smoothly, differentiating between different verb forms, nouns, etc. Yet, I was quite capable of helping myself when I came across something in the New Testament that I wanted to check against the Greek. I had the resources, and I knew how to use them, but I couldn't pick up a Greek New Testament and just translate as I read.

My Top 10 Books of 2014

It is nearly the end of the year. For some it was a year of successes and triumphs and for others it was a year of failures or disappointments!  The same goes for reading. Some books are triumphant books (the ones we finish) and others we fail at (the ones we do not finish)!

 

 

Ranking	Title	Author
10	Day of the Vipers (Star Trek Terok Nor Book 1)	James Swallow
	True to Star Trek nature, this book has a lot of names and places to keep track of. Yet, it is not difficult to keep up. For those who are Star Trek fans, this will be an enjoyable book with action, intrigue and sadly, loss. It highlights the very thing happening in the world today, in which governments are more and more turning their backs on religion. In the book, freedom of religion is important, showing one government in the process of ridding its planet of religion, while another welcomes religion. Indeed an interesting story! Completed: 16 January 2014
9	Francis Schaeffer	Mostyn Roberts
	Francis Schaeffer is one of the 20th century’s greatest influencers towards thinking Christianity. To him, Christianity was not simply a form of mysticism, and neither was it a leap of faith into the unknown. To Francis Schaeffer, Christianity was rational—not rationalistic. Christianity had all the answers to life’s big questions, and Schaeffer did not shy away from answering those questions. (Short review) Completed: 26 March 2014
8	Anne Boleyn: One Short Life That Changed the English-Speaking World	Colin Hamer
	This book was well written and is easy to follow. The history of Anne Boleyn is well portrayed and myths and fiction surrounding her are cleared up. It is not a thick book and as such is a good introduction into the life of Anne Boleyn. It is certainly a good read for those who are interested in history, especially surrounding the entry of the Reformation in England and the huge role Anne Boleyn played in securing a strong foothold for the Reformation in England. Completed: 11 June 2014
7	What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Qur'an	James R. White
	In a time such as the one we find ourselves in, where liberals make all kinds of false claims concerning how Islam is a religion of peace and many more claims, James R. White lays bare the Qur’an and shows how weak the book really is. Completed: 10 July 2014
6	The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance	Leon Morris
	Morris shows us that the atonement is not just single faceted, but multifaceted. When we speak of justification, we are touching on one of the facets of the atonement. When we speak of propitiation, we touch on another facet. It is an easy book to read, and is suitable for many different audiences. Completed: 23 February 2014
5	Our Sovereign Saviour: The Essence of the Reformed Faith	Roger Nicole
	A very concise handling of the sovereignty of God in salvation. Completed: 30 November 2014
4	Abraham's Four Seeds	John G. Reisinger
	This is an excellent book on New Covenant Theology. It breaks down the wrong ideas held by Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology and provides a simple yet profound, direct interpretation of the Scriptures. It does become a little repetitive at times, but is well worth the effort to read it. Completed: 5 September 2014
3	The Canon of Scripture	F.F. Bruce
	F.F. Bruce gives a very good analysis of the canon of Scripture and how it came together. Well worth the time spent reading it. Bruce deals with both Old and New Testaments. I enjoyed every facet of the book and especially how he dealt with weird compilers of what should be in the NT such as Marcion's NT and others like him. For those that enjoy history, this will give a good idea of how our canon of Scripture came about. Completed: 29 June 2014
2	According to Plan	Graeme Goldsworthy
	Very few writers can make Biblical Theology come alive like Goldsworthy. That is why an introduction to the subject—such as this is—for the every day Christian is so important. It can be a daunting task, but Graeme Goldsworthy opens it up for ordinary minds to enjoy! Completed: 21 July 2014
1	A Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy: Three Essential Books in One Volume	Francis A. Schaeffer
	The three books in this trilogy are the foundation to Francis Schaeffer's thinking. If all you read of Francis Schaeffer, then it should be this trilogy. I have now read this trilogy twice, and it is just as captivating as it was the first time! A must read! Completed: 31 August 2014 (Also read it in 1998)

 

So, there is my list of the best books I read in 2014! I hope that if you haven’t yet read any of these books, that you would get one or two (or more) of these to read. If you only want to buy one of these books, I would recommend my number one without reservation!

Here are a few others that did not make it onto my list, but that at least deserve a mention, in no particular order:

• The Last Sacrifice, Hank Hanegraaff
• I, Saul, Jerry Jenkins
• Pulpit Crimes, James R. White
• Porndemic: How the Pornography Plague Affects You and What You Can Do About It, Taryn, Hodgson
• Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe, Russell, Humphreys
• Twilight of a Great Civilization: The Drift Toward Neo-Paganism, Carl F.H Henry

Enjoy preparing for your reading schedule of 2015!

60 Days–600 Chapters-1900 to go to finish the Bible

Two pages from my Bible in Ephesians.

From reading the title of this blog post, you are probably thinking that my math is all screwy, because how can 600 + 1900 (2500) be the completion of the Bible in chapters? Especially since there are only 1189 chapters in the Bible!

Every year there are hordes of Bible reading plans to follow, and like it or not they are designed to be read from 1 January to 31 December. They are annual Bible reading programs. There are other programs that are designed to be read over 2 or 3 years. I know, many will say that you don’t have to read it starting at 1 January, it could be started at any time. The fact is that these Bible reading plans are promoted on scores of websites and blogs. . ., in the last week or so of December. Which leads the human mind to see these programs, plans or systems as new year’s resolutions. They are designed with the annual mindset.

Well, this year I decided to do it a tad differently! I decided to follow Prof. Grant Horner’s Bible reading system which is kind of designed around a 250 day cycle, or a 28 day cycle, or a 31 day cycle, or an 89 day cycle. . . you get the drift! Horner’s system is designed around ten lists of Bible books of which you are to read one chapter from daily. That makes it 10 chapters each day, each chapter from a different book.

While most reading plans are designed to finish 1189 chapters in a year, Horner’s system is designed to read every chapter in the Bible in 250 days. His longest list of books is 250 chapters long (List 9, OT prophets) and his shortest list is only 28 chapters long (List 10, Acts). It means that by the time List 9 has been completed, Acts would have been read almost a complete 9 times!

The lists are made up as follows:

In 250 days you would have read the gospels just shy of 3 times, the Mosaic books 1.33 times, List 3 just more than 3 times,  List 4 almost 4 times, List 5 a total of 4 times, Psalms 1.66 times, Proverbs 8 times, and Acts almost 9 times. This makes for a lot of reading! By the end of the year, if you have read every day of the year, you would have covered 3650 chapters of the Bible. You would have read Acts 13 times! Do you think you would know Acts just a little by then?

Prof Horner recommends using the same Bible every day, the same one you always use. You will gain an affinity for the Bible you use. And, it helps for recollection. After reading the same passages from the same Bible for several years, you will start recalling entire pages in your mind, says Prof Horner. (Read more here.) You can also find Prof Horner’s system on Facebook. You can find his 10 Lists in a document that explains the whole system here. Simply print out the lists, and then cut them into individual strips and you will have bookmarks for each list.

What I’ve done to help myself keep track of what I have read was to create 2 documents. One is simply a foldable checklist of each chapter from each book in each list. Click here to download this checklist. Then I also created an Excel spread sheet with each list’s books and chapters (some repeated) all the way down to row 250. This way I can keep track with where I am supposed to be at all times while repeating some books several times. Click here to download this spread sheet.

What I have found with this system of reading is that there is no time to get bored or stuck in a rut. With the subject matter changing several times in a sitting, my attention is held fixed to the Scriptures.

UPDATE:
2 March 2014 - I have updated the Excel spread sheet. I have added a date column and a day column. The Date column is the first column. The dates start in row 2. If you did not start on 1 January with this program, then in the Date column, row 2, change your starting date and all the succeeding dates will change too. That way you can keep a check on your progress no matter when you start the program. The second column is the Day column. This you must leave as is. It simply gives you an idea of which day you are on in your reading progress. In my progress, yesterday (1 Mar 2014) was day 60. It means that I have read 600 chapters.

I hope this all helps!

Sometimes we just don’t have enough time to do what we love doing

I love reading, yet, I am not a fast reader. I do not like skimming the surface when I read. I like to take it in, think about it…

However, somehow in my life I am at a place where I just don’t have enough time to read like I want to. Work keeps me terribly busy, with some nights having to put in extra time from home. Other days I get home and I am simply drained. On top of this I have back problems that, in the past few weeks have been so bad at times that I have been vomiting because of the pain. I am not complaining, simply stating the facts. God is good, and in the midst of it all His goodness and His glory go before us.

Anyhow, so I do not have the time that I used to have for reading and I am missing it. Right now I am reading four books. They are:

	The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day by Justo L. Gonzalez
	Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants by Peter J. Gentry, Stephen J. Wellum
	Why Africa is Poor: And What Africans Can Do About It by Greg Mills
	Tablets Of Stone And The History Of Redemption by John G. Reisinger

It is the first time I am reading the top three, but it is the second time I am reading Tablets of Stone by John Reisinger. I am reading Gonzalez because I love church history and history in general. I have a range of history books, such as Schaff’s 8-volume History of the Christian Church (currently on an amazing deal for only $39.99 instead of $299.95 or free PDF’s at CCEL), Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History (complete and unabridged) translated by C.F. Cruse, the second revised edition of Christianity Through the Centuries by Earle E. Cairns, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Vinson Synan’s Century Of The Holy Spirit 100 Years Of Pentecostal And Charismatic Renewal, 1901-2001, The Story of the Church by Renwick, The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History by Curtis, Lang and Petersen, A History of South Africa by Frank Welsh, Vikings: Fear and Faith by Paul Cavill and a few others.

Apart from the four I am reading above, I have a pile of others to catch up with. I will get there, someday!

I wanted to write some more, especially on my recent love for photography. I don’t think I am any good at it, but I do enjoy it. You can find some of my pics here. There are a whole bunch of more recent pics that I haven’t uploaded yet.

Well, now I am tired and I will turn in soon.

Keep track of what you read

I am sure you have heard of goodreads, but just in case you haven’t, let me tell you just a little about it. goodreads is an online manager of books you have read, want to read and are busy reading. While keeping track of this, you can organize your books according to categories you choose.

I have organized my books according to a whole variety of categories such as theology, language-studies, christian-thinking, baseball, bible, politics, heresy and many more!

It is very easy to use, and you can keep track of books as you read them by entering the page that you have just finished on the day. It will then show you how much of the book you have read percentage-wise. Once you finish books you can rate them, review them, and add them to a list of favourites.

Here is a blurb from the goodreads website:

“Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone's bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, are currently reading, and plan to read in the future. Don’t stop there – join a discussion group, start a book club, contact an author, and even post your own writing.”

To read more about how it works, visit their How It Works page.

Creating a reading culture in your church

I am not talking here of novels and “The Idiots Guide to Spirituality” type books. Neither am I talking about the typical devotional book either. No, I am talking of solid doctrinal books, good theology. Books that differentiate between what we believe and what the world believes. Books that teach us what Christians truly believe and why they believe it!

Anyway, here is Mark Dever, telling us how to start creating a reading culture in our churches.

Books I ordered have arrived!

But, I have to wait till tonight when I get home before I can see them. I ordered some books a while back and my wife called me a short while ago to inform me that my books have arrived.

It makes me feel like a little boy waiting for Christmas to come. I can't wait, and Christmas comes at 17:30 today!

YeeHaa!

Books I ordered to arrive soon

I am somewhat of a book "junky." Whenever we walk past a book store, my wife tries to distract me from entering. I find it very difficult to simply cruise past a book store. Hence, I buy a fair amount of books s far as the budget allows.

However, I do have a problem! I am not a fast reader and tend to dwell on books, and so I have an unread pile of books that grows faster than I can read them. How I wish I could read as fast and as much as Dr. Al Mohler and Tim Challies.

Al Mohler - Study Tour from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.