Move over Wikipedia. There are some other encyclopedias on the internet available for free access too.

1. Encyclopedia Judaica. The Biblical Studies and Technology Tools blog announced today,

I don’t seem to have found a link to this on any of the usual sites I frequent, so it perhaps may also be helpful to you to bookmark this link for free access to the complete, 22 volumes worth, $2263 at Amazon set, 2nd edition of 2007, Encyclopedia Judaica. (That’s the link to the entrance page for the Jewish Community Association of Austin where you will find the acknowledgment of the sponsor for this online edition and the password needed to access the site.)

While this encyclopedia covers the whole spectrum of Jewish experience up to the present, there is still a ton of biblical stuff readers of this blog may be interested in checking out. Peruse the hundreds of maps, a 44 page “Land of Israel: Geographical Survey,” a 6 page article on “Mikveh,” 18 pages on “Aramaic,” 6 pages on “Jesus” by David Flusser, and information on virtually any location in Israel or the Jewish diaspora (e.g., Capernaum with a diagram of the synagogue or Corinth or Dura-Europos). To see the maps and illustrations in full size, you will want to download the PDF files instead of viewing the HTML page. You can have the page read out loud to you (!), but more helpful are the download and Citation Tools to help you get the bibliographic data you need. This is definitely an outstanding online resource you should have bookmarked.

2. Encylopedia Britannica. If you’re not aware, as a “web publisher,” many bloggers are eligible for free access to the complete 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica online. Click here to learn more and apply.

These are both generous offers. The two sets together offer 54 volumes of scholarly material and could prove very helpful for biblical research and sermon prep.

Although God loves us, He allows us suffer. Actually, a better way to put it is this: Because God loves us, He allows us to suffer.

Suffering, though painful, is one of God’s gracious ways of pulling us away from our self-love and more towards loving Him. A life of ease just doesn’t sanctify us like suffering. Our hearts, as the hymn says, are “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” The prickly hedges of suffering help us not to wander far from God’s path.

John Calvin says it this way:

[W]e see not how necessary that obedience is, unless we at the same time consider how prone our carnal nature is to shake off the yoke of God whenever it has been treated with some degree of gentleness and indulgence. It just happens to it as with refractory horses, which, if kept idle for a few days at hack and manger, become ungovernable, and no longer recognize the rider, whose command before they implicitly obeyed. And we invariably become what God complains of in the people of Israel—waxing gross and fat, we kick against him who reared and nursed us (Deut. 32:15).

The kindness of God should allure us to ponder and love his goodness; but since such is our malignity, that we are invariably corrupted by his indulgence, it is more than necessary for us to be restrained by discipline from breaking forth into such petulance. Thus, lest we become emboldened by an over-abundance of wealth; lest elated with honour, we grow proud; lest inflated with other advantages of body, or mind, or fortune, we grow insolent, the Lord himself interferes as he sees to be expedient by means of the cross, subduing and curbing the arrogance of our flesh, and that in various ways, as the advantage of each requires. For as we do not all equally labour under the same disease, so we do not all need the same difficult cure.

Hence we see that all are not exercised with the same kind of cross. While the heavenly Physician treats some more gently, in the case of others he employs harsher remedies, his purpose being to provide a cure for all. Still none is left free and untouched, because he knows that all, without a single exception, are diseased. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III, viii, 5. Logos users click here).

I’m hoping in the next year to start a Bible-centered addiction recovery group at our church. And this may be just the resource: Crossroads: A Step-By-Step Guide Away from Addiction: Study Guide by Ed Welch.

Here’s a description from the publisher.

Everyone of us is a potential addict. Eventually, every addict finds himself at a crossroads. In a pressure-filled world, the prospect of instant escape can be exhilarating. No matter the object-drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, or sex, just to name a few-addictions lure us. They extend the promise of pleasure. In the end, they deliver emptiness, death, and destruction. What began as an escape from the hassles of life becomes a form of bondage. Addiction is a voluntary slavery. Change doesn’t come easily. But change is possible!

No matter how many times you have tried and failed, there really is a way through the addictive fog. There is a guidebook for living, and, contrary to what many think, it is available to anyone, even to those enslaved by an addiction. God is not silent on this issue. His Word offers hope, and that hope is the basis of Crossroads: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Addiction.

Crossroads was designed as a group study for those struggling with addiction. These ten steps, presented in author Ed Welch’s trademark direct, no-nonsense style, provide a biblical and practical framework for change. Welch is a wise and loving partner who walks beside readers on their journey to freedom. Along the way, they will learn to recognize the patterns of addiction, to choose wisdom over foolish desires, and to cling to the hope they have in Jesus, who sets captives free. The path away from addiction has been laid by a God who is full of surprises, who faithfully pursues those enslaved even though they have deliberately avoided him.

They’ve also created this short video.

Related post:

• Dead to sin

HT: Justin Taylor

Everyone knows that October 31 is Halloween, but there’s another, much more significant holiday that takes place on the 31st also. It’s Reformation Day, in memory of Luther’s posting his 95 theses against the Catholic church on October 31, 1517.

Last Sunday, known as Reformation Sunday, our church learned about the history of the Protestant Reformation and its significance for us today.

• Problems with the church. Things looked pretty bleak by the beginning of the 16th century. The church suffered from serious doctrinal error, superstition, corruption of leaders, and ignorance of lay people. One pope, Alexander VI, was notorious for skipping worship services, mutilating a priest, setting houses on fire, committing homicide, adultery, and rape, drinking to the health of the devil, and turning the papal palace into a brothel. No wonder these were called the Dark Ages.
• Major Reformers. This included men like the converted monk Martin Luther (1483-1546), the Swiss reformer Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531), and the brilliant theologian John Calvin (1509-1564). God raised up each of these men “for such a time as this” to draw people back to the Word of God and bring reform that continues to impact us today.
• Main Protestant Doctrines. Five doctrines stand out as the banner cries of the Reformation: sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola christus (Christ alone), and soli deo gloria (glory to God alone). Each of these stand at the very heart of the Gospel we cherish and defend.

Questions for thought and discussion:

• According to Ephesians 5:25-27, what is Christ’s purpose for His bride, the church?
• Is Christianity is in need of another “Reformation” today? Why or why not?
• Singing songs, praying to God, and reading the Bible in our own language are all blessings of the Reformation. Am I taking full advantage of these forms of worship?
• While I may never have the global influence of a Reformer, what has God called me to do? How can I pray, give, teach, serve, etc. to make an eternal impact in someone’s life?
• What are the greatest threats to the Gospel today? Am I faithfully guarding what has been entrusted to me? (1 Tim. 6:20-21)

Sunday’s message has been uploaded to our podcast site and is now available for free download.

Tim Challies is writing this week on pornography and sexual sin. Excellent counsel so far. Here’s an excerpt…

Every Christian guy who looks at porn wants to stop, but many of them want to stop just a little bit less than they want to keep going. And so sin prevails. The only way you will stop is if you begin to see the monstrous nature of the sin you are committing.

And then, this advice which I totally affirm:

If you truly want to overcome pornography, go to your pastor. There is not a pastor in America who is not helping someone deal with the fight against pornography (says I with only a small measure of hyperbole). Take your willingness to talk to somebody about your problem as a sign that you are actually, finally, willing to deal with it. The local church is the ideal context for battling this kind of sin since in the local church you will find the authority and the support to help you fight and, ultimately, to help you win. If you want to overcome pornography, truly overcome it, you will be willing to humble yourself and talk to someone about it.

You can read the whole thing here.

Related post:

• Is it really OK to look?