Have you ever come across a webpage that you wanted to subscribe to in your RSS reader only to be disappointed to discover that it didn’t have an RSS feed? Perhaps it’s the occasional “blog”^[1] that for some strange reason lacks RSS (e.g., Tim Keller’s or David Alan Black’s).

Well, Google Reader has come to the rescue with a new feature that allows you to subscribe to any page even if it lacks an RSS feed. Simply click on the “Add a subscription” button and input the URL for the page that you want to subscribe to. If Google Reader can’t find an RSS feed, it will offer to create one.

Once Google creates a feed for that page, the next person who tries to subscribe to that same page will be able to do so automatically without being asked if they want to have Google create a feed.

What pages are you going to start subscribing to now that you couldn’t before?

HT: Mashable

Footnotes

1. I put quotes around it because I’m not sure I’m willing to recognize a site without an RSS feed as a true blog. I’m half joking. [↩]

Josh Harris shares some good and convicting thoughts about wasting time with technology.

I need to be far more intentional about how many times a day I check email, Twitter, and Google Reader. Life is fragile, and every moment is a gift from God to use for His glory and the good of His people. Thanks, Josh, for this needed reminder.

Yesterday was the 204th anniversary of the birth of George Müller (September 27, 1805–March 10, 1898). I haven’t read much of Müller, but I’ve come back to this section quoted in Desiring God (Amazon | Logos) many times.

While I was staying at Nailsworth, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now . . . more than forty years have since passed away.

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental, communion with the Lord. I began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake or preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.

When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me, that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, very soon after, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

The difference between my former practice and my present one is this. Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer. . . . But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it!) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

It often now astonished me that I did not sooner see this. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God: and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. . . .

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one! (155–57)

Much good advice here.

In honor of Müller’s life, Logos Bible Software has put together a 12-volume collection of books by and about Müller. It’s available on Community Pricing, which means that users get to set the price. It could be a great way to pick up some quality out-of-print volumes on a man who modeled faith in a way that few have before or after. If enough people bid, the price for all 12 volumes could be comparable to one or two volumes in print.

Systematic theologies are some of my favorite books. I have nearly 50 in my print and digital libraries and a list of more than two hundred others that I’m working to see added to Logos Bible Software’s already impressive digital offerings. The vast majority of systematic theologies are written by one author, and more often than not they fill a single volume. But there are a couple of “systematic theologies” that are made up of a series of books featuring a different author and volume on each of the main themes of evangelical theology.

Two series that I’m fairly well acquainted with are Crossway’s Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Crossway’s listing) and IVP’s Contours of Christian Theology (IVP’s listing).

Foundations of Evangelical Theology

I don’t know how many volumes are projected Based on the listing in the front of No One Like Him, it appears that there are ten volumes projected, but there are currently four in print:

1. Demarest, Bruce. The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation. 1997. 544 pp. [Amazon | Crossway | Logos | WTSBooks]^[1]
2. Feinberg, John S. No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God. 2001. 879 pp. [Amazon | Crossway | Logos]
3. Clark, David K. To Know and Love God: Method for Theology. 2003. 464 pp. [Amazon | Crossway]
4. Cole, Graham A. He Who Gives Life: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. 2007. 320 pp. [Amazon | Crossway | WTSBooks]
5. Feinberg, Paul. Scripture.
6. TBD. Man and Angels.
7. Gruenler, Royce. Christ.
8. Vanhoozer, Kevin. Sin.
9. Kaiser, Walter. The Church.
10. VanGemeren, Willem. Eschatology.

By the date range, I’d guess that another is due out in the next year or so. If you know anything about the future volumes, please share in the comments.

Contours of Christian Theology

Here are the nine volumes in the series, eight of which are currently in print:

1. Bray, Gerald L. The Doctrine of God. 1993. 281 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
2. Letham, Robert. The Work of Christ. 1993. 284 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]^[2]
3. Helm, Paul. The Providence of God. 1994. 246 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
4. Clowney, Edmund P. The Church. 1995. 336 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
5. Sherlock, Charles. The Doctrine of Humanity. 1997. 303 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
6. Ferguson, Sinclair B. The Holy Spirit. 1997. 288pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
7. Macleod, Donald. The Person of Christ. 1998. 303 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
8. Jensen, Peter. The Revelation of God. 2002. 304 pp. [Amazon | IVP | WTSBooks]
9. Runia, Klaus. The Last Things. Forthcoming? Canceled? Reassigned?

It’s been seven years since the last volume was released. My guess is that the final volume on eschatology has either been canceled or reassigned. According to Wikipedia, Klaas Runia died on October 14, 2006 in Kampen. Perhaps he didn’t finish his volume before his death at the age of 80. Does anyone know the story on the final volume?

I’m a bit surprised that we don’t have more series like these. Anyone know why? Are there any other systematic theology series that I’m forgetting?

Update: I added the projected volumes in the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series based on the information in Chad’s comment, which he got from the front of John Feinberg’s volume.

Footnotes

1. See my review. [↩]
2. See my review. [↩]

A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched Dispatches from the Front: Islands on the Edge, the first in a series of DVDs from Frontline Missions. It was edifying, educational, powerful, and moving—well worth the 50 minutes we spent watching it. I highly recommend it. But consider yourself forewarned: it may start some discussions about quitting your job(s) and moving to a foreign country—or at least evaluating your praying for and giving to foreign missions.

Here’s the description of the series:

Believers everywhere desperately need a renewed vision of Christ and the unstoppable advance of His saving work in all the earth. Often our view of God’s Kingdom is too small and limited to what we have experienced. Dispatches from the Front provides a rare glimpse into this work, highlighting the marvelous extent, diversity, and unity of Christ’s Kingdom in our world. The journal format of each episode underscores the daily unfolding of God’s activity on the “frontlines,” bringing viewers up-close with sights and sounds from distant corners of the Kingdom.

A pioneer missionary once wrote, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.” Episode 1: Islands on the Edge takes you to parts of southeast Asia where there are no church buildings or chapel bells, yet the Gospel is advancing in the face of persecution, desperate poverty, and Asia’s secret slave trade. Here is an inside look at the radical rescue work of the Gospel on the frontier of human need.

Mark Hansen describes the goal of Dispatches from the Front this way:

The vision behind this series is to produce a media resource which helps pastors expose their congregations to the Gospel’s advance in some of the hardest places of our world today and to awaken the church to the glory of Christ and His agenda.

If the forthcoming episodes are anything like the first, this is sure to be a series you’ll want to have in your church and home libraries. Watch it with your church, your Sunday school class, your small group, your family, and you’ll be moved (Mt 9:36; 14:14; Mk 6:34).

You can purchase a copy for $15 online via PayPal or by calling 864-451-5550.

Here’s the trailer:

Read more from Frontline Missions, Matthew Hoskinson, and Abraham Piper, who will be giving giving away five free copies today.

Someone from Elgin, Illinois (which I figured out by looking up his IP address) just tried to leave this encouraging comment on my contact page:

I just saw your post about Gilbert Bilezikian may I say that you my friend are out to lunch and need to read you bible more careful and instead of speaking out against this wonderful man why not engage him in a  public debate you may learn something from him.

Here’s a corrected edition for easier reading:

I just saw your post about Gilbert Bilezikian. May I say that you, my friend, are out to lunch and need to read your Bible more carefully. Instead of speaking out against this wonderful man, why don’t you engage him in a public debate? You may learn something from him.

I’ve received a couple of comments like this recently, so I thought I’d share some thoughts and give some suggestions for commenting on my blog.

1. Please don’t waste your time trying to leave a comment if you don’t have anything substantive to say. In case you’re wondering, “I think your wrong, you dummy,” is not a substantive comment.
2. I’m not sure why he didn’t leave the comment on the post he had a problem with. At least there it would have been at least somewhat relevant to the page.
3. While the individual did leave his first name, he didn’t leave his last name or a link to anything identifiable. This is hardly more helpful than anonymity. It’s nice to know a little bit about the person you’re having a conversation with (not that he was actually interested in a meaningful conversation).
4. I don’t know the last time I’ve seen so many independent clauses strung together without even using a single comma. If I were a grammar teacher, I’d certainly tuck this one away for my students.
5. I think he’s referring to my post “Hierarchy Does Not Necessitate Opposition.” Instead of engaging my critique of Bilezikian’s (and Giles’s) statement, he makes unfounded accusations. Telling someone he’s out to lunch and needs to read his Bible more carefully doesn’t accomplish much of anything–especially when you’re trying to make a new friend. It may be true, but please demonstrate it with cogent argumentation and careful exegesis.
6. Though I’ve never met him, I don’t doubt that Bilezekian is a wonderful man. But I’m not quite sure what that has to do with the points I brought up in my post. Wonderful men can be horribly wrong.
7. I’m quite certain that if I engaged Dr. Bilezikian in a public debate, I would learn something from him. I learn something from just about everyone whom I engage in a debate. But I’d question whether challenging someone to a public debate is the solution to every disagreement in life. I also doubt that Dr. Bilezikian has either the time or the interest to debate me publicly (or privately).

If you have something to contribute and are interested in edifying dialog, I invite your comments. Otherwise, please don’t waste your (and my) time.

Logos Bible Software just launched a new website called ref.ly (think bit.ly). It allows you to share Bible verses as links via Twitter and other places where you have a limited number of characters and want to keep the URL as short as possible.

Enter a Bible reference, and ref.ly will instantly generate a short URL linking to the passage at Bible.Logos.com. Since ref.ly uses Bible references to create the URL structure rather than a random bunch of characters like most URL shorteners, you can create the short URLs yourself without having to visit the site every time.

Don’t worry about trying to figure out which Bible reference abbreviation to use—ref.ly recognizes almost every conceivable form you throw at it. So you can share Matthew 11:25–26 in any of these ways:

1. http://ref.ly/Mt11.25–26
2. http://ref.ly/Mt11.25f
3. http://ref.ly/Mat11.25f
4. http://ref.ly/Matt11.25f
5. http://ref.ly/Matthew11.25f

You can share a single verse (e.g., http://ref.ly/1Co15.28), a range of verses, (e.g., http://ref.ly/Jn1.1-18), a chapter (e.g., http://ref.ly/1P5), or a book (e.g., http://ref.ly/3J), and you can even specify a particular version by simply adding @ followed by the version abbreviation (e.g., http://ref.ly/Re4.8@ESV).