The Early Church Fathers, 38 Volumes

Broken into three sections, this authoritative collection of Church writings by the Early Church Fathers is essential for understanding patristic thought. Series I of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers consists of eight volumes of the writings of St. Augustine, the greatest and most influential of the early Fathers, as well as six volumes of the treatises and homilies of St. Chrysostom. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Series II contains in fourteen volumes the works of the Greek Fathers from Eusebius to John of Damascus and the Latin Fathers from Hilary to Gregory the Great. The Ante-Nicene Fathers represent the first primary sources of Christian history following the canon of the New Testament, and include writings from the Apostolic Fathers as well as various third and fourth century sources.

But with every good thing that is used very frequently wear and tear sets in. The Bible Experience can be purchase either in CD form or in MP3 download format. Many Christians who have purchased The Bible Experience have done so by purchasing the CD version. With frequent use many of them have either, lost, damaged or had one or some of their CD’s missing.

The problem for these avid listeners of one of the best Bible audio in history, is not that they would have to purchase a replacement but that there is no shop online they can find one to purchase. The only solution seems to be to replace the entire set, and that is an expensive way to replace just one CD.

Fortunately, there is a way to replace a missing CD without purchasing the complete set. The easy solution is to download a MP3 version for only $3.99 and then burn the audio on CD. Since most computers comes with a free version of Microsoft Windows Player, which has a free CD burner option, the replacement of damaged or missing CD is easy.

For a complete guide to replacing your Bible Experience CD’s visit The Bible Experience Single CD replacement page

The instruction for creating single disc below is being reviewed until further notice.

If you have purchased The Bible Experience, either the New or Old Testament version or both and have had one or more of your CD’S lost, missing, scratch, damaged, broken or stolen, here is how you find a replacement for your Bible Experience CD.

Currently there are no way to replace your CD through direct purchase of a Single CD, so we have to download an MP3 version and then transfer it or burn it to a CD. The process is pretty simple and the cost is only $3.99

TO REPLACE SINGLE DISC, FIRST Purchase the MP3 version by identifying which book of the Bible you need replaced according to number. Click to purchase

Then click on Download available image link

A new page opens with different options for purchase

Click on Download by Disc NT or Download by Disc OT

Select the Bible number based on books of the New or Old Testament. Please see below for the exact number that matches the Book of the Bible you would like to download

To Burn download audio to CD you can use either Microsoft Media Player

Or Rhapsody Real Audio or any other CD burner

Purchase Single Bible Experience

01. New Testament Disc 1 $3.99

01. NT – The book of Matthew $3.99

01. Old Testament Disc 1 $3.99

01. OT – The book of Genesis $3.99

02. NT – The Book of Mark $3.99

02. Old Testament Disc 2 $3.99

02. OT – The book of Exodus $3.99

03. NT – The book of Luke $3.99

03. Old Testament Disc 3 $3.99

03. OT – The book of Leviticus $3.99

04. NT – The book of John $3.99

04. Old Testament Disc 4 $3.99

04. OT – The book of Numbers $3.99

05. NT – The book of Acts $3.99

05. Old Testament Disc 5 $3.99

05. OT – The book of Deuteronomy $3.99

06. NT – The book of Romans $3.99

06. Old Testament Disc 6 $3.99

06. OT – The book of Joshua $3.99

07. NT – The books of 1Corinthians and 2Corinthians $3.99

07. Old Testament Disc 7 $3.99

07. OT – The books of Judges and Ruth $3.99

08. NT – The books of Galatians – Colossians $3.99

08. Old Testament Disc 8 $3.99

08. OT – The book of 1Samuel $3.99

09. NT – The books of 1Thessalonians – Philemon $3.99

09. Old Testament Disc 9 $3.99

09. OT – The book of 2Samuel $3.99

10. NT – The books of Hebrews and James $3.99

10. Old Testament Disc 10 $3.99

10. OT – The book of 1Kings $3.99

11. NT – The books of 1Peter – Jude $3.99

11. Old Testament Disc 11 $3.99

11. OT – The book of 2Kings $3.99

12. NT – The book of Revelation $3.99

12. Old Testament Disc 12 $3.99

12. OT – The book of 1Chronicles $3.99

13. OT – The book of 2Chronicles $3.99

14. OT – The book of Ezra $3.99

15. OT – The book of Nehemiah $3.99

16. OT – The book of Esther $3.99

17. OT – The book of Job $3.99

18. OT – The book of Psalms $3.99

19. OT – The book of Proverbs $3.99

22. OT – The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations $3.99

23. OT – The book of Ezekiel $3.99

24. OT – The book of Daniel $3.99

25. OT – The books of Hosea, Joel, and Amos $3.99

26. OT – The Books of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah $3.99

27. OT – The books of Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai $3.99

28. OT – The books of Zechariah and Malachi $3.99

The Bible Experience Old Testament Download $48.00

The Complete Bible
Audio CD (2 day FedEx Shipper) $121.59

The Complete Bible Experience DL $68.00

The New Testament
Audio CD $49.00

In the 1900′s, Madame C.J. Walker revolutionized the hair straightening market with her “Wonderful Hair Grower.” Today, you can directly see the influence of our ancestors in our cultural beliefs about hair, and in the various ways we care for our hair today. For example, Madame C.J Walker has been an influence for today’s hair care entrepreneurs, such as Lisa Price of Carol’s Daughter, Karen Tappin of Karen’s Body Beautiful, Miko and Titi Branch of Miss Jessie’s and Anthony Dickey of Hair Rules.

As far as hairstyling, we’ve almost come full circle as well. Whereas black women and men previously saw straight hair as the only way to succeed in the world, there is now greater social recognition and acceptance of the many different styles of black hair.

What lies in the future for black hair? It is up to us. And only time will tell.

The Bouffant: The 1960s
Talk about big hair! The bouffant was a style popularized in the 1960s and one that required more than a little bit of hairspray. Barbara McNair rocked a mean one.

Wigs: The 1960s
The Supremes must have had a ball dressing in the latest fashions AND hottest hairstyles every time they stepped outside the door. They all wore top-of-the-line wigs, which gave them a different look every night.

The Conk: The 1960s
Popular since the 1920s, Malcolm X famously noted in his autobiography about a horrible experience he had trying to put lye, or a conk, in his hair. Jackie Wilson killed the look du jour with shiny, perfect waves and probably a little pain to get it just right.

The Afro: The 1970s
Angela Davis was the poster child for the Afro during the late ’60s and ’70s with perfectly coiffed orb o’ hair. Davis said she had to put Tide detergent in hers to make it stand up just so. Afro pick!

The Afro: The 1970s
On the man side, Sly Stone went for a little texture in his ‘fro, which was about the same height as Angela Davis’s. The sideburns and sequins completed the look of the perfect ’70s rock star!

Cornrows with Beads: The 1970s
Alicia Keys has reprised this classic ’70s style with a modern twist. Her cornrows, or hair braided to the scalp in intricate designs, were quite common during the ’70s. The squiggly parts gave it that ’90s swag.

The Flip: The 1970s
Natalie Cole was the perfect representation of the ’70s here with the flip — hair curled upward in layers made most popular by actress Farrah Fawcett. Her gold hoops and wide collar cement the look.

The Mushroom: The 1980s
The flip turned into a mushroom in the early ’80s where hair was curled under all around.

The Jheri Curl: The 1980s
Who could even think about the ’80s without thoughts — or shudders — of the ubiquitous jheri curl? Everybody had a curl back then and the jokes about activator on pillowcases lasted much longer than the hairstyle ever did. Soooooooul Glow!

The Shag: The 1980s
We all sang the line “in my younger days I used to sport a shaaaaag?” The Pharcyde remembers and so do we! The uber-retro Kanye West even brought back the “black man’s mullet” this year. Oh yes.

The High Top Fade or Box: The 1980s
With the rise of hip-hop in the mid-to-late ’80s, a hairstyle rose right along with it — the high top fade. Hair was shaped into a box shape (of varying heights) and the sides are gradually “faded” down. Will Smith was a man of the day.

Razor Cuts: The 1980s
Later in the ’80s, the high top fade morphed into the skyscraper with accents cut in with a razor. By the end of this fad, people had faces, names and designs in their hair and eyebrows. Rapper Big Daddy Kane kept his crispy fresh with a barber on staff.

Waves: The 1980s
Waves reached their peak in the ’80s. The effect was achieved from grease, water, a brush and a doo-rag or scarf to lay the hair down in a pattern. If your hair was not naturally curly, Nu Nile or S-Curl was the way to go.

Fingerwaves: The 1980s
Fingerwaves, such as the ones worn by Keyshia Cole, were actually a reprise of yet another era — the 1920s. This flat, to-your-head style, tended to be hard to the touch. Helmet city!

The Asymmetric: The 1980s
This hairstyle ruled the late ’80s. Salt ‘n’ Pepa bust out with it in the ‘Push It’ video, and they pushed it to us in different colors even. Best. Hairstyle. Ever. Oooh baby baby!

The Baldie: The 1990s
If a man ever popularized a hairstyle, it was Michael Jordan and his “baldie.” After men saw that you could be masculine and sexy sans hair, many a receding hairline followed suit — and even some with a full head of hair too!

The “Halle Berry”: The 1990s
The actual hairstyle, a short layered haircut, was named the “Halle Berry” by many. Berry and songstress Anita Baker had women running to the salon to chop it off in the early ’90s.

Dookie Braids: The 1990s
As the early ’90s ushered in the Afrocentric movement, “dookie braids” or big individual plaits, became all the rage. After Janet Jackson sported them in 1993′s ‘Poetic Justice’ with Tupac Shakur, it was a ovah!

Individuals or Box Braids: The 1990s
Braids went from big to smaller as the ’90s progressed. The hair type used (synthetic to human) also changed. Pop star Brandy wore her “individuals” for many years with aplomb.

The Weave: The 1990s
Many women sported the classic weave, where extra hair is braided in and not sewn or glued in on tracks. The style mirrored the era’s big hair party. “Yes, it’s mine — I bought it!”

Cornrows on Men: The 1990s
Though worn by a few in the ’80s, the ’90s saw this hair trend take off with ferocity. You couldn’t turn around without seeing a man with an intricate braid style. Allen Iverson kept his for at least a decade.

Layers: The 1990s
If this hairstyle had a name it would be the “Jennifer Aniston.” It was this ‘Friends’ star who popularized the layered look in the ’90s. Previously layers were worn longer on the top and shorter on bottom.

The Mohawk or Frohawk: The 2000s
First made popular in the 1980s with punk rockers (and Mr. T), the mohawk (or frohawk) recently made a big comeback on both men and women. Stars like Diddy wear theirs faded to perfection and with just the right touch of S-Curl on top for texture.

The Lacefront: The 2000s
The lacefront is to many the perfect weave, in that you can now wear parts and have a natural hairline even with added hair. Beyonce and Tyra Banks are its most famous wearers.

The Precision Cut: The 2000s
When Rihanna decided to change her look, her career went into the stratosphere. This included her hair, which went from blah to short, sassy and razor sharp. Incidentally, an actual razor is sometimes used to achieve that choppy, edgy feel.

It is a pretty atypical book. There isn’t a lot of leeway in writing when your audience wants you to be true to the original (ie, the Bible). All the kid’s Christmas books (setting aside the Christmas tree/ shopping/ winter ones) have the same story with different art, all written to kid’s levels of understanding. What really won this book a place in my heart was its details, like Jesus being a bouncing toddler on Mary’s lap when they leave Egypt. A few more examples? Tiny things like putting the word “only” in the phrase “they bowed down and worshipped God’s only Son and gave Him expensive presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Or when it explains that when the census in Bethlehem was over, “Mary and Joseph moved into a house.” At the top of each new part of the story it refers you to the part of the Bible it was taken from. Another cool thing about this book is the interaction it encourages between the reader and the child. At the base of every other page is a question about the story aimed at the young child.

They include:

- “What would you do if an angel suddenly appeared right here in front of you?”
- “The name Jesus means ‘savior.’ What does a savior do?”
- “Joseph obeyed God immediately. And God kept his family safe. Why is it good to obey quickly?”

At the end of the book is soft-cornered blocks of the images from the book, that the kids can put in the right order to practice sequencing. But the cool bonus feature of the book is a 17 minute (total) DVD with 6 stories from the life of Jesus, including

- John the Baptist, good because it ties into the Zechariah story from the book
- Jesus is born, a video version of the book’s climax.
- Where is Jesus? from the trip to Jerusalem when he was 12
- Jesus Tempted by Satan, good conversation fodder to talk to kids that He was tempted but chose the right way. Also my kids pointed out that if you tell Satan Scripture, he disappears.
- Jesus’ Life, healings, the loaves and fishes, Jesus weeping over his friend Lazarus.
- Jesus Loves the Children

It has an inscription page in the front that makes it ideal for gift-giving. At our house we have a box of Christmas books and some DVDs and this is totally going to be a keeper. The link above has it on Amazon for less than $10! I found a lot of books in the series that I would be interested in owning also. My kids were really enthralled with the Satan character and that Jesus interacted with him. He was weird-looking; imagine a male character from the time period, in the dress/toga thing, but with a hood. He had normal hands and feet poking out, but inside the hood it was just a flat charcoal grey cloud instead of a face. Every time Jesus rebuked him with Scripture, Satan pantomimed some frustration and then disappeared into a harmless cloud of bubbles.

Teresa Dear is a homeschooling mom of four kids. She and her husband have been married for eleven years. She spends her time educating her children, creating a comfortable home, and studying God’s word.

Follow her difficult journey of spiritual growth, and polish the monuments to what God is teaching her. You can celebrate with her at http://mama4x.blogspot.com.

About Danteck
Founded in 2002, Danteck Group, Inc. provides “Innovative Bible Technologies for the Mobile World” via
the unique NowBible^TM electronic platform. The company’s products feature synchronized text and audio
narration of the Bible, LCD touch screen displays, and MP4 Video/MP3 Audio capability. Danteck’s most
recent bible products have reached “best-seller” status on Christianbook.com, and garnered an average five
star rating by consumers. Visit Danteck on the web at www.nowbible.com
About Inspired By Media Group
Branded by its signature banner Inspired By…, Inspired By Media Group, Inc., is committed to serving the
faith-based and general markets by creating family oriented products that are culturally relevant in scope.
With more than a combined 40 years in the convergent areas of music, television, film, theater, literature,
new media and technology, the company is an industry leader in delivering contemporary multimedia
products. Visit Inspired By Media Group on the Web at www.inspiredby.com and
www.thebibleexperience.com or www.zondervan.com
About Zondervan
Zondervan is the leading Christian communications company in the world. Zondervan, a division of
HarperCollins Publishers, produces Bibles, books, new media products, gift products from its Inspirio
group and children’s products from its Zonderkidz group. The world’s leading Bible publisher, Zondervan
holds exclusive North American publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible, the
bestselling modern English translation in the world. More than 215 million copies of the NIV have been
sold or distributed worldwide. Visit Zondervan on the Web at www.zondervan.com.
For more information about The Bible Experience, NowBible device and Zondervan, please visit the
websites listed above. To speak with the creators of the NowBible or The Bible Experience, contact Rhonda
Ridley at Affinity Public Relations at 718-432-6412 or Rhonda@affinity-pr.com
###
Affinity Pulic Relations is a Christian Urban Entertainment PR, Branding and Marketing firm located in
NYC

2 Examples:
(1) Every other week, the church, collects an offering for the Pastor, and then a check is written from the church’s account to the pastor. Would our contributions to this biweekly offering be deductible?

(2) Once a year, we hold a celebration for our Pastor, and we take up offerings, but we give the money directly to him. So these contributions are not deductible because members of the church took up the offering and the money was given directly to him?

Answer: According to the IRS, love offerings must be:

Unsolicited
Spontaneous in nature
Given with proper donor’s intent — If the donor gives the gift out of a detached and disinterested generosity, out of affection, respect, admiration, charity or like impulses, then it is considered a gift, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
If the process of taking up the love offering follows these guidelines, it will be non-taxable to your pastor and non-deductible to your donors. So your weekly offering would probably be taxable to your pastor and deductible to your donors.

The “annual appreciation” offering would probably not be taxable to him and definitely would not be deductible to your donors as it is not processed through the church.

Question: We’ve had a question arise concerning love offerings. I understand the basic rationale for the offering being non-deductible for the giver, but also not being taxable compensation to the recipient, but my question is this: If an individual writes a check payable to the church, but designated as a love offering to the pastor (or other person), the church does not consider it a charitable contribution and merely processes the check through the church’s bank account and then writes a single check for the love gift.

On your website you made the following comment: “Another example of this is when the church takes up a love offering for the pastor. If the love offering is given directly to the pastor and is not processed through the church’s contribution records, then the donors are not going to be able to deduct their donation. The love offering is a non-taxable personal gift to the pastor by the church members.”

So, I am wondering what it actually means to have a love offering “processed through the church’s contribution records?” If the church merely acts as a conduit, has no control over the gift since it is designated to a specific individual, does not treat the gift as a charitable donation (and communicates this to the giver), would the gift still be considered as being “processed through the church’s contribution records?”

Answer: Love offerings get kind of sticky when it comes to taxes. What I meant when I said is “not processed through the church’s contribution records” is that the donation “gift” is not recorded on that individual’s contribution record and would not be included on their annual contribution statement.

It can; however, be processed through the church’s financial records and in fact must be if there are checks made out to the church and a church check is issued.

However, it must be made obvious to your congregation that a love offering for your pastor is a spontaneous and unsolicited gift of love and affection out of a detached and disinterested generosity and that they will not receive a tax deduction for their gift to your pastor.

If you are giving out love offering envelopes, I would state something like that in bold on the envelopes.

One more quick bit of advice…in order for love offerings to be considered as gifts and not taxable to the recipient or deductible to the giver…the recipient (your pastor) must be receiving a salary or salary compensation package from the church.

Question: Concerning love offerings—- are love offerings tax deductible to the contributor and taxable to the Pastor? Is the pastor allowed to take a love offering and receive salary too? We used to take up regular love offerings for our pastor, but then we put him on salary. However, people are still putting envelopes in the offering container with his name on it and marking the envelope as love offering. We’ve discussed taking the amount in the envelope and subtracting that from his salary. Is this proper? Who can legitimately receive a love offering?

Answer: Love offerings are NOT tax deductible to the contributor and NOT taxable to the pastor…if it is handled properly. Yes, a pastor is allowed to receive a salary and receive love offerings and in my humble opinion definitely should receive both. It would not be proper to deduct his love offerings from his salary.

A “non-taxable” love offering according to the IRS is an offering that is not solicited…must be spontaneous in nature…and must be clearly defined as a gift with no service attached. Giving it to the pastor in his hand or even in a proper stated envelope is fine, but always be sure your donors understand that because it is a non-taxable gift to their Pastor…they cannot take a tax deduction for it.

As far as I know there are no restrictions on who can receive a love offering or gift.

In conclusion, love offerings can be a blessing to the recipient, or it can be a nightmare. Make sure you know the IRS’s rules and regulations on love offerings and be sure you are properly handling and in some cases…properly documenting those offerings.

Now consider the universal language, music. Good music contains melody, harmony, and a rhythm. When the rhythm of a verse is locked into the rhythm of a song, it will help you learn it, help you remember it, and help you remember it correctly.

Let’s consider an example. Acts 4:28 in the KJV reads, “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,” speaking of the sovereign plan of God in His death on the cross. Now read this verse in 3/4 time, i.e. emphasizing every third syllable- do, ev, hand, coun, etc. You will notice the word and sentence accents are in perfect 3/4 time.

To remember this verse, simply put the words into a three-four melody such as a Strauss waltz or a familiar song like the verse of “Oh How I Love Jesus.” Just make sure the downbeat (first beat of each measure) is the accented syllable we identified above.

Better yet, once you have determined the rhythm of a verse, ask God for a fresh melody unique to that verse. It helps me remember the verse much better when I can’t get the words mixed up with other words associated with this tune.
Of course, most verses don’t read in perfect rhythm. In such cases, it is necessary to hold some words longer, to repeat words or phrases, or squeeze two words or syllables into one beat. Consider the song, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live.” In the first two measures, the downbeats are on ‘I’ and ‘life’ with the secondary beat on ‘rec’. Thus ‘resurrection’ is compressed with shorter notes and ‘life’ is held for a whole note. These two measures contain 10 syllables. However, the next two measures contain 11 syllables and must also be compressed. The phrase ‘yet shall he live’ is repeated and the words given longer notes.

A caution is that you try not to change the accent of the word in order to fit it into the melody. Also, note that the downbeat words are always emphasized. Work at making the song emphasize the words you feel are key in the verse. In other words, make the music submit to the verse as much as possible.

One rule I had in writing Scripture songs is to stick with the text exactly. This doesn’t mean repetition of words or phrases is not used. But when we paraphrase part of a verse in order to fit it into a song, then the music is the master and the Scripture is submitting. An example is the song, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.” By changing ‘bestowed’ to ‘given,’ this fixes the accent problem but changes the Scripture word. It would have been possible to hold Father for two beats and then ‘bestowed’ would fit with the correct accent on the second syllable.

Bible songs

Charity is “the pure love of Christ,” or “everlasting love”. Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of charity. In His mortal ministry, He always “went about doing good,” teaching the gospel and showing tender compassion for the poor, afflicted, and distressed. His crowning expression of charity was His infinite Atonement. He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This was the greatest act of long-suffering, kindness, and selflessness that we will ever know.

The Savior wants all people to receive His love and to share it with others. He declared to His disciples: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. In relationships with family members and others, followers of Christ look to the Savior as their example and strive to love as He loves, with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy.

God The Divine Adventure

The Bible is a collection of sacred writings containing many of God’s revelations. It is a record of His dealings with some of His children from the Creation through the ministries of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. It was written by prophets and historians who knew God and testified of Jesus Christ. It is read and revered by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they study it regularly. When we read the bible we are reading the diary of God to a better and happier life. God is the king of kings, he wants the best for all of us.

The Bible is not God’s final revelation to humanity, however, and neither is this collection of sacred writings complete. The Bible itself speaks of other authoritative books of scripture including books of Nathan the prophet and of Jehu and Enoch, the prophecy of Ahijah, the visions of Iddo the seer, and even missing epistles of Paul (see 2 Chronicles 9:29; 13:22; 20:34; 1 Corinthians 5:9; Jude 1:14). Other books of Latter-day Saint scripture-the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price-clarify the gospel as taught in the Bible and corroborate the truthfulness of the Biblical witness of Jesus Christ.

God The Divine Adventure