Tag: 2011

The 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway: Day 2

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

Today is day 2 of the 4th Annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway! Today’s giveaway is sponsored by New Growth Press, Reformation Heritage Books, and P & R Publishing. We will have four winners today, who will win a combined total of 15 books. The prizes will be spelled out below. First, I want to highlight the various books available in today’s giveaway.

Kids Story Books and Devotionals from New Growth Press

The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering
Jesus in the Old and New Testaments		 Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God
OT preview and NT preview Watch an author interview or view sample
                   Visit GospelStoryforKids.com for more information.

Historical Fiction & Children’s Biographies from Simonetta Carr

Weight of a Flame: The Passion of Olympia Morata (Chosen Daughters) [P & R Publishing]

Preview the book here.

Learn more at prpbooks.com.

Bonus: for another chance to win this book, visit the Heavenly Springs blog.
Athanasius (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) [Reformation Heritage]

Preview the book here.

Read my review of this book.

You can also view a video clip produced by the illustrator of the book.
John Owen (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) [Reformation Heritage]

Preview the book here.

You can also view a video clip produced by the illustrator of the book.
                   Visit the author’s website for more information.

Additional Parenting Resources from Reformation Heritage Books

Parenting by God’s Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace

Preview the book here.
Family Worship (Family Guidance Series)

Preview the book here.

You can also view a video clip produced by the illustrator of the book.
                         Visit HeritageBooks.org for more information.

Today’s Prizes

Each winner will receive a free copy of the books listed below.

1st Prize 2nd Prize 3rd Prize 4th Prize
  • Gospel Story Bible
  • Long Story Short
  • Weight of a Flame
  • Athanasius
  • Gospel Story Bible
  • Long Story Short
  • Weight of a Flame
  • John Owen
  • Gospel Story Bible
  • Long Story Short
  • Weight of a Flame
  • Family Worship
  • Gospel Story Bible
  • Long Story Short
  • Parenting by God’s Promises

Enter Today’s Contest

The contest is now closed. Click to my home page and you’ll see a link at the top to the next day’s giveaway in our 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway.

Book Briefs: “Holy Bible, 1611 King James Version (Anniversary Edition)”

~ Bob Hayton

As we approach Christmas, I wanted to highlight some books which would make good gift items. I realize I’m a bit late with this, & I’m late on my shopping, too! But some of you may be in possession of a gift card soon, and wondering what to spend it on… For other gift ideas, you may want to check a new category I’ve created called “ideal gift books“.

I have always been fascinated by the history of the English Bible. I remember being astonished when I first learned that the original 1611 King James Bible had marginal notes referencing variant readings, the literal Greek and Hebrew, and offering alternative renderings. Then came the day I got my hands on a reprint of an original 1611 King James Bible: I devoured my copy and enjoyed every minute I spent looking at it.

If you are looking for a good gift for the studious, theology geek in your life (or for any pastor or Bible teacher, for that matter), a new mass-market reprint edition of the 1611 King James Bible from Zondervan is sure to please. This edition, published in honor of the 400th anniversary this year of the King James Version, has a soft feel to its hardcover which mimics both the look and feel of the original leather. This Bible is a more handy size at 8″ x 5.4″ than the original 12″ x 16″. It comes with the original typeset – Gothic letters for the main text, and Roman for what modern Bibles have in italics. And all 7,400 plus original marginal notes are also preserved. In addition, this edition includes what some of the other reprints leave out, namely the decorative genealogies and maps that precede the book of Genesis.

The big omission of this book, is the Apocrypha. I guess since the volume is already 2.6″ thick, they didn’t want to make it even more bulky. And most Protestant readers won’t miss it. Unfortunately there are some King James Only advocates who seem to be unaware that the original KJV contained the Apocrypha, and if they don’t look too closely, this edition may bolster their mistaken assumption.

That being said, the original maps, decorations and typeset, and all the strange archaisms — like “ye” for “the”, “f”s for “s”s, and the interchange of “i” and “j” and “u” and “v” — will absolutely delight the lover of old books. It also illustrates that almost no one today truly uses a 1611 King James Bible.

This Bible is inexpensively priced if you can still find it. Walmart was selling this over the summer for around $7.99. You can still pick up a copy of this book from the following online retailers: Amazon.com. You may also be interested in A Visual History of the King James Bible by Donald Brake, if this title has caught your eye.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Zondervan. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

About Book Briefs: With limited time available to give every book sent my way a full review, I’ll be offering short-form book reviews called Book Briefs. Book Briefs are book notes, or my impression and informed evaluation of a book, but they stop short of being a full book review.

The 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway: Starts Today

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Head over to Bible Geek Gone Wild for today’s amazing giveaway. Each day from now through Dec. 24, we will have a big giveaway of books, CDs, DVDs, or software programs. Today’s giveaway includes software from Accordance, 3 of the new Christmas CDs from Keith & Kristyn Getty, a music CD from Sovereign Grace Music, and a Christmas DVD from Tyndale House.

The schedule of the giveaways is as follows:

A full list of the prizes and the 21 participating publishers is listed here.

You can enter today’s giveaway by clicking this link and filling out the Google form. Each day’s giveaway will be noted on my blog at the top of all my posts in a special announcement section. You’ll want to return to my blog each day for notice of where the giveaway will be held.

If you would like to help spread the word about this giveaway, simply paste the following code into your blog as a banner or button to promote the giveaway.

Full size (360 wide):
<a href="http://biblegeekgonewild.com/2011/12/12/12-days-before-christmas-giveaway-starts-tomorrow" target="_parent"><img src="https://crossfocusedreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/4th-12DBCBG-Banner-260x143.jpg" alt="" title="The 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway, click for more info and to enter" width="360" height="199" /></a>

Small size (260 wide, shown at top of this post):
<a href="http://biblegeekgonewild.com/2011/12/12/12-days-before-christmas-giveaway-starts-tomorrow" target="_parent"><img src="https://crossfocusedreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/4th-12DBCBG-Banner-260x143.jpg" alt="" title="The 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway, click for more info and to enter" width="260" height="143" /></a>

Anticipation Builds for The 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

December starts today, so that means we are only 12 days away from the 4th annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway. The giveaway will run from December 13th through the 24th, with a new contest taking place each day. The contest this year will be running across 3 blogs, including:

Be sure to stop back later in December and try your hand at some of the contests for a chance to win some fabulous prizes. Here is an updated list of the publishers / authors / artists who are sponsoring prizes for this year’s contests:




If you’re a publisher / author / artist and would like to participate in this giveaway, please drop me a note through the contact page.

Reformation Day Deals and Discounts

~ Bob Hayton

This Monday marks Reformation Day, the anniversary of the date in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany.

Often there are several blogs promoting special discounts or freebies in honor of the day, and so I wanted to round up some of the best deals and discounts here for my readers.

After taking advantage of these special offers, don’t forget to spend some time reading up on the significance of the day. Credo Magazine’s blog has a special article devoted to remembering Reformation Day, and Justin Taylor rounds up several excellent resources for us too.