Sunday, I received my new copy of Biblical Illustrator Plus CDROM. I’ve been using Biblical Illustrator for years to help me prepare for the Bible studies I teach on Sunday morning. BI contains background articles that go along with the two main Sunday School curricula used in most Southern Baptist churches. BI is completely separate from the regular teacher’s material, but honestly I value it more. Every quarterly issue contains around 25 articles that offer background information for the biblical texts covered in our studies. The information is usually more detailed than what is offered in the average commentary, but short enough to be digested in one sitting. A working knowledge of biblical languages is not required.

G. B. Howell Jr. is editor of BI. In this newest issue, he is interviewed regarding the role he has played over the past six years. In that interview, he offers a very good description of what BI has to offer:

We continue to offer articles on biblical archaeology, geography, history, people, Greek and Hebrew word studies, and some theology. Every issue has a book review that introduces a new resource to our readers. And we offer a CenterSpread that is art intensive but has an economy of words. ... We have begun offering, though, sidebar boxes with self-contained information (see “St. Catherine’s Monastery,” p. 9). We added a twopage article that addresses some aspect of biblical archaeology, either a find or a site of significance.

The cover of the Summer 2009 issue features a bronze mask of a maenad or female follower of the wine-god Bacchus (Roman, 1st cent. A.D.). In addition to the curricula-related articles, this issue offers a review of Paul Barnett’s book, Paul: Missionary of Jesus. The archaeological article by Joe Cathey focuses on the City of David. The center spread covers the geography of ancient Galatia.

I teach the Explore the Bible curriculum which covers Galatians and James for the months of June - August. Many of the articles that you will see in the table below relate to these books of the Bible. Other articles offer background information for the Bible Studies for Life and MasterWork curricula. Below are the new articles in the current issue of BI:

Jerry Batson	Anointing in the Early Church	James 5
Joseph Beckler	Abide in John's First Epistle	1 John 2:3-17
Martha S. Bergen	Jewish Feasts & Festivals	John 7:10-39
Rick Byargeon	Sinai: The Mountain of God	Ex 33:12 - 34:9
Joseph R. Cathey	ARTIfacts: The City of David
Bennie R. Crockett Jr.	Three Social Divisions in the First Century	Gal 3:26-29
Terry Ellis	Sins of the Flesh	Gal 5:16-26
R. D. Fowler	Mirrors	James 1:19-27
John L. Harris	The Book of Jonah in Its Historical Setting	Jonah
G. B. Howell Jr.	Paul: Missionary of Jesus by Paul Barnett [book review]
Francis X. Kimmitt	Ancient Culture and Law	Ex 33:12 - 34:9
John Mason	Literacy in the First Century	Galatians, James, 1 Peter, 1 John
Allan Moseley	The Tabernacle: Its History and Use	Ex 35:4 - 36:7
Mark Rathel	"Light" in John's Writings	1 John 1:1 - 2:2
Charles A. Ray Jr.	Genuine Humility	James 4:1-17
C. Mack Roark	James' Ethical Imperatives	James
Don H. Stewart	Galatia: Its History	Galatians
L. Thomas Strong III	The Social Elite in the First Century	James 2:1-13
J. Mark Terry	Gideon: His Life and Times	Judges 6:11-40
Timothy Trammell	Traveling Through Galatia [center spread]	Galatians
Robert A. Weathers	Colossae in the First Century	Col 1:1-29
C. Alan Woodward	The Churches of Galatia	Gal 1

The articles above are in both the print issue of BI and the BI Plus CD-ROM. However, the articles below are from previous issues and can be found only on the CD-ROM edition, Biblical Illustrator Plus.

Scott Andrew	Faith	James 1:3; 2:14; 2 Peter 1:5
Stephen J. Andrews	Sackcloth and Fasting in Jonah	Jonah
Stephen J. Andrews	Hazor: A Great City	Josh 10:1 - 12:24
Waylon Bailey	Aaron's Golden Calf	Ex 32:15-19, 30-34; 34:4-6
Bryan E. Beyer	God's Message for Ninevah	Jonah 2:10 - 3:10
James A. Brooks	Gnosticism	1 John 4:1-3
James A. Brooks	Redemption	1 Pet 1:18; Eph 1:7
Trent C. Butler	Near Eastern Creation Stories	Genesis
James Carter	Old Testament Backgrounds of the Book of James	James
Robert O. Coleman	The Fountain	James 3:11
Robert O. Coleman	The Sirocco and the Flower	James 1:11
Bob Dean	The Counselor	John 14-16
David S. Dockery	The Meaning of Deposit	2 Cor 1:21-22; 5:1-5; Eph 1:11-14
David S. Dockery	To Betray Another	Matt 26:26-56
Charles W. Draper	Law and Faith	Galatians
Mark R. Dunn	Counselor: The Meaning	John 14:15-31; 15:26-27; 16:5-15
Mark R. Dunn	Who Were the Samaritans?	John 4:4-26
J. Scott Duvall	Grace	Rom 5:6-17
Kendell H. Easley	The Prison Epistles	Philemon; Colossians
Terry W. Eddinger	Ninevah: Assyria's Last Capital	Jonah 4:1-11
Gary Lee Gramling	Paul's Ethical Absolutes	Colossians
Sharon H. Gritz	The Betrayer: Judas Iscariot	Matt 26-28
Fred Howard	Prayer: A Word Study	Psalm 28:6-7; Col 4:2-4; 1 Thess 5:16-18; 1 Peter 5:6-7
Paul N. Jackson	A Christian Ethic of Business	James 4:1-17
Robert Earl Jones	Abide: The Meaning	1 John 2:3-17
Scott Langston	Midian in the Time of the Judges	Judges 4:1 - 9:57
Bill Latta	Gold Rings and Fine Clothing	James 2:2-3
Michael Martin	Fallen from Grace	Gal 5:4
John Mason	Horses: Their First Century Use	James 3:1-5
M. Pierce Matheney Jr.	The Historical Setting for the Book of Jeremiah	Jer 1:4-10; 4:1-4; 6:16-17
David M. May	The Spirit of Restoration	Gal 6:1-10, 14-18
Glenn McCoy	Christ's Second Coming	Heb 9:28; James 5:7
Glenn McCoy	The Royal Law	James 2:1-13
Larry McGraw	Freedom and the Christian	Matt 18:15-17; Gal 5:13-15; 6:1-5
Larry McGraw	The Life Situation of James	James
Larry McKinney	The Background of Schoolmaster	Gal 3:1-5, 23 - 4:7
Harold L. McManus	First Century Wars and Their Causes	James 4:1
Warren McWilliams	The Galatian People	Galatians
Janice Meier	Gideon: All We Know	Judges 6-8
John Polhill	John's Use of "Witness"	1 John 5:1-12
John Polhill	The Meaning of "Justified"	Gal 2:11-21
John Polhill	No Respecter of Persons: God's View of Race Relations	Acts 10:34-35
Wayne W. Poplin	Gideon: A Mighty Warrior	Judges 6:11
Gregory T. Pouncey	Libertinism & Legalism	Gal 5:16-26
Michael Priest	Titus and Paul	Titus
M. Dean Register	God's Wisdom/Man's Wisdom	1 Cor 2:1-16
Charles A. Ray Jr.	Antichrist in John's Letters	1-3 John
Charles A. Ray Jr.	Christ and the Kosmos	Phil 2:19-24; James 3:13-16; 1 John 2:15-17
Charles A. Ray Jr.	The Law of Freedom	James 1:22-27; 2:14-18
E. Randy Richards	Stop Lying	Col 3:8-9; James 3:3-12; 1 Pet 3:8-10
C. Mack Roark	Introducing 1 John	1 John 1:5-10; 2:3-11
Paul E. Robertson	The Churches of Galatia	Galatians
David M. Russell	The Colossian Heresies	Col 1:9-23
Billy Simmons	A Religious History of Galatia	Galatians
Bob Simmons	The Curse	Gal 3:15 - 4:7
Billy K. Smith	The Meaning of "God's Spirit Moved"	Gen 1:1-5, 31 - 2:1, 15-17
Harold S. Songer	Anointing with Oil: What Does It Mean?	James 5:14
Gerald L. Stevens	"Blaspheme": A Word Study	James 2:1-13
Robert A. Street Jr.	Micah: His Life and Times
Leslie "Thomas" Strong III	Family Life in Ancient Corinth	1 Cor 7:1-5; 8-16
Roger R. Sullivan	Corinth's Religious Atmosphere	1 Cor 8:12-13
J. Mark Terry	Jonah's Vine	Jonah 4:1-11
William B. Tolar	A Different Gospel	Gal 1:1-12
William B. Tolar	Paul's Fruit List	Gal 6:16-26
Timothy Trammell	Faith Affirmed	1 John 5:1-12
Timothy Trammell	The Purpose and Life Situation of John's Letters	1-3 John
Robert A. Weathers	Sexual Purity in the New Testament	Job 31:1-4; Psalm 10:3-4; 2 Cor 10:4-5; 1 Thess 3-5, 7
Elgia "Jay" Wells	Lessons for Race Relations	Acts 10:1-48; 8:26-40
Terry L. Wilder	The Role of a Steward	1 Peter 4:7-19
Jerry M. Windsor	Grace	Ephesians
C. Alan Woodward	Heresies in the Colossian Church	Colossians
G. Al Wright Jr.	Testing	James 1:2-4, 9-15, 26-27

Now, when I’ve written about BI before, I’ve suggested that it has value even for people who don’t teach from SBC curriculum. Why? Well, the articles provided in each issue are invaluable if one is involved in any aspect of preaching or teaching. Every CD in the “Plus” edition contains almost 100 articles. A couple of years ago, I began copying the articles (all in PDF format) from the CD onto my hard drive. I divide them up by books of the Bible as can be seen below:

Thus, regardless of whether I’m working on a Sunday School lesson, sermon, college lecture, or some other study of the Bible, I have dozens of background articles at my immediate disposal.

Recently, I’ve started listing articles in my personal notes in Accordance where I do the bulk of my preparation for teaching the Bible. I haven’t completed this project yet, but once I’m finished, I’ll have a running index in biblical order of the articles I have available.

I promise you I receive no commission from Lifeway for promoting BI here on This Lamp! I simply remain very enthusiastic about this resource and highly recommend it to others who are in any kind of teaching or preaching ministry. The print edition is $24.95 a year and the CDROM edition (with all the extra articles from past issues) is $34.95.

Tags: Biblical Illustrator, Accordance

I use Accordance Bible software everyday. Everyday. Yes, I do have other Bible software on my MacBook Pro, but Accordance is unparalleled in terms of sophistication and functionality in my experience since switching to the Mac platform in 1998. I use it for 97.5% of what I do in electronic biblical studies.

However, I regularly find that some folks--even Mac users--aren’t familiar with Accordance. Therefore, I’m glad to see Oak Tree Software expanding their web presence. Of course they already had a website, a blog and more, but I’m pleased to see them expanding into resources like their new video podcast as well as creating a YouTube presence.

To my knowledge, here is a fairly complete listing of Accordance’s web presence. If I’ve left anything off, let me know and I’ll add it.

Accordance on the Web

• Accordance Main Website: the main resource for finding out about Accordance and ordering software
• Accordance Blog: updated multiple times a week with tips, help and module profiles
• Accordance Forums: an incredible source for finding help from other users and representatives from Oak Tree software. In fact, Oak Tree has the fastest, personal response to questions I’ve ever seen from any company. Users can also offer their own tips and suggestions as well as request new modules.
• Accordance FaceBook Page: A great way to keep up with what’s new in Accordance as well as interact with other Facebook Accordance users.
• Lighting the Lamp Video Podcast: A brand new weekly video podcast hosted by Dr. Timothy Jenney.
• Accordance YouTube Channel: Features many of the videos available on the main website, but may be easier to embed on personal websites and blogs.
• Accordance Twitter Account: keep up with all things new and interesting about Accordance via Twitter.
• Accordance Exchange: At no extra cost, every level of Accordance comes with the ability to create your own user tools, user Bibles, user notes and distribute them to others. The Accordance Exchange is a great resource for accessing these files created by other Accordance users.
• Banners for User Websites: Accordance users can help to promote Accordance on their own websites and blogs. You’ll see one of these in the left sidebar that I’ve had on This Lamp for a while.
• Video Demos and Instructional Tutorials: Note two separate links at this bullet. The video demos show off the most recent version of Accordance. The instructional videos contain the entire training DVD, now available for free online.

If you haven’t seen Accordance for yourself, watch one of the videos linked above or try out a demo for yourself.

Tags: Accordance