Review of KJV Thompson® Chain-Reference® Bible

          First, A big thanks to Bible Gateway for sending me this beautiful, free hardcover copy of the Thompson, Chain-Reference Bible in the King James version. As a Bible Gateway Blogger Grid member, I am excited to do this review. I have used this Bible study system for decades and have found it to be the fastest tool available for referencing specific topics in the Bible. It is as fast as the internet without commercials, ministry agendas, and marketing scams to distract you from studying. When I need to gather scriptures on any given Bible topic, this bible is my first stop. The chain reference makes Old and New Testament scriptures readily available and easy to navigate.

As a teacher and student of God’s word, I have found the Thompson® Chain-Reference® Bible a valuable study and teaching tool and I am excited to explore the revised and updated edition and give you all an honest review.

With 8000 topics and over 100,000 references organized alphabetically, and numerically, the study system is easy to use and lists scriptures from the Old and New Testament on each given topic.

The edition that I bought in the early 90s had incomplete study chains that have been revisited and updated for accuracy and consistency. Each topic is now represented in the margins to make topic reference faster and easier.

This new revised and updated version provides an introduction at the beginning of each book instead of a book analysis used in the former versions. I like this feature because the book analysis in older versions gets lost on me and is rarely used. Putting the intro/analysis at the beginning of the book better prepares the user for the content they are about to read.

In addition to the topical chain study, the Bible is full of other study tools and resources including Bible character studies, color maps, the harmony of the gospels, messianic prophecies and their fulfillment, the history of the apostles, full-color maps, and much more.

This particular hardcover copy was put together with the reader in mind, making it a valuable and enjoyable tool for study or casual reading. The comfortable 9.5 font makes it easy on the eyes. The two-color page design is inviting. The column references are big enough to make it easy to read without having to squint or wear readers.

When opened to any page, the Bible lays flat, making it easy to handle and easier to read. While there is usually enough room for notes in the reference columns, there are a dozen blank note pages in the back of the Bible for convenience. Two satin ribbon markers to save your place is the final touch on this outstanding study Bible.

Zondervan raises the bar again in their improvement on an already outstanding study Bible. Keep up the good work. You are greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Zondervan for a truly outstanding Bible and valuable study tool.

Thank you, Bible Gateway for the free review copy of the Thompson® Chain-Reference® Bible, and for equipping the world with access to God’s living word in so many translations.

Sincerely,

Jack Coley @ Truth Pressure Ministries. #BibleGatewayPartner.

Faith is a Narrow Perspective

For many years I prayed, “God, help me see things, people, opportunities, and situations the way You see them.” I thought that sounded like a pretty good prayer until the Lord interrupted me one day and said, “Jack, I don’t want you to pray that way anymore. Instead, pray that you see things the way I want you to see them.”

At first, I thought, “Isn’t that the same thing?” But He quickly showed me that it wasn’t. Man is not capable of seeing the way He sees. God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours that the difference is immeasurable.

1 Samuel 16:9 (NKJV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Isaiah 55:9 (NKJV) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

There is a way that God wants us to see everything and everyone. We cannot see how God sees because we view life from the filter of two opposing natures. The fallen nature we inherited from Adam and the nature of God that we received at the new birth. Living in this incredible paradox demands that we adapt to seeing things from a particular perspective called faith.

Faith is a perspective, not a tool to get our needs met. Faith is a narrow way of seeing, thinking, believing, and speaking. Faith is the perspective that fills our entire being with light and is formed in love and devotion to God. Faith is simple trust in God.

Matthew 6:22-24 (NKJV) The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good (single), your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is bad (evil), your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴ No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

The word “good” in verse 22 is the Greek word “haplous.” It means single. It is used only one other time in Luke 11 in his account of this same passage. The word “bad” in verse 23 is the Greek word “poneros” and is always translated as “evil, wicked, or wicked one.” Why is this important? Because anything other than having a faith perspective is evil.

Paul said in Romans 14:23, “whatever is not from faith is sin.”

If we do not see from a faith perspective, we see things from an evil perspective. What we look at illuminates our entire being with what we see.       

Without this narrow perspective, it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto

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The Disciple’s Framework

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Overview: Revelation 12-22

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JC

Overview: Revelation 1-11

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JC