Here are a few of my favorite online finds…and this time, they’re all FREE!
Have you worked all the jigsaw puzzles in the house and watched all the movies and listened to all the podcasts? How do you feel about coloring or painting? Scripture Type is offering lots of their beautiful Bible verses and Christian quotes in coloring page format (you can also download the full color originals as wallpaper/lock screen for your computer, tablet, or phone). Great for keeping the kids busy too!
Tell you what – let’s make this even more fun. You download one of the coloring pages and get crafty with it – color it, paint it, embroider it on a pillow, paint it on your car…whatever…and send me a decent quality picture of it, and I’ll feature it on my social media pages (let me know if it’s OK to include your name in the post). I can’t wait to see your creativity!
But if you still have a hankering to watch a movie, you might consider giving RedeemTV a try. It is basically a “Christian” and family friendly Netflix (and yes, it’s really free!). I say “Christian” because, just having done a brief scroll through, I can already see that some of their offerings aren’t going to meet the biblical definition of Christianity. But I did notice several movies that look promising (I’ve watched some of the biographies of the Reformers, which were good, and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews of the animated Pilgrim’s Progress movie.). You’ll need to have your discernment radar on high alert and ditch anything that doesn’t match up with rightly handled Scripture.
Or how about a good book to read? Check out John Onwuchekwa’s contribution to 9Marks’ Building Healthy Churches series: Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church.
And if you’d like to write a review of this book (or another one) as a guest post for the blog, drop me an e-mail, and let’s chat about it.
Ligonier is going all out with the freebies! They are offering their entire library of teaching series available to stream and the study guides that accompany many of these series free “until at least June 30”. Dig in and get what’s probably the content equivalent of a seminary degree during quarantine!
How were people saved in the Old Testament? Ever wondered about that?
Michelle Lesley 
Hi Michelle. I’d like to see other’s take on the animated Pilgrim’s Progress. I sent this review to my daughters (36 & 38 year olds) on my take after watching the animated version. Pilgrim’s Progress.
Review:
I haven’t really read the book but it is highly esteemed by many of the people I trust as Bible Teachers. I did read a review of this particular movie by one of those who had some concerns and warnings about it but I wanted to see it myself. Let me say, it is difficult to make movies about things of God. Very rarely can you put on screen what The Holy Spirit gives us by reading His Word.
Here’s what I liked about the movie:
1. It points to reading God’s Word for deliverance of this world and knowledge of God.
2. The difficulties a Christian faces in walking “the narrow path”.
3. Strength only comes from above, we cannot do it ourselves.
4. It is so easy to stray unless you keep your eyes on God and not the world. A parallel walk on an easier path is the biggest deception.
5. The Vanity Fair scene nailed it and it’s where I believe most in our own particular culture reside.
6. Faith and Hope are crucial to our walk. A solid foundation.
7. The part of legality (keeping the commandments) was impossible.
Here are the things I had trouble with.
1. I believe Christians who have been shown the truth actually see satan as depicted in this movie. He is an evil force and the decay of his soul becomes more obvious when reading scripture and seeing the pureness of our Lord. God made him as a very beautiful angel. We can only get to know his black heart when contrasted with the purity of Christ. Rebellion of God caused that blackness. Our own rebellion mimics it until we submit completely to Christ and become One with His pure Heart.
2. The love Christ has for us and us for Him is strongly lacking in this movie. I understand how hard it is to be a Christian. A very lonely walk here. The pack on the character’s back was a great symbolism that can only be lifted by God and His love. We can’t know how badly we need Jesus and His sacrifice until we face just how sinful we are. Once we realize the printed laws of the Ten Commandments can’t save us as the law only condemns us, it is when we turn to Jesus who could keep them perfectly, and trust that His blood washes us free of the law and that He is God doing this for us, can we finally be free in loving Him. Loving Him is a longing to keep His laws but realizing our complete reliance on Him to be like Him.
3. At the end where a Christian has to die to be born again, is taken literally. When we are saved, our bodies may not be born again but our eternal soul is. The freedom from sin granted by our Lord makes our testimony in this world precious. Sharing our testimony with others is a delight God allows us to share in. Does He need us to share Him with others? No. But my-oh-my, He allows us to. We don’t have to physically die here. Our souls are redeemed for the continued journey until He brings us home.
4. Finally and most importantly, I found it rather interesting that the character barely gave notice to Jesus and seemed more joyous to see his friends again. It’s not quite the “falling to our knees” in love , worship, and gratitude that I long for and can’t wait to do.
Still…it was entertaining and you will each find your way. These are just my takes on it. I love you!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Karen. :0)
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Thank you so much for sharing, Michelle! I’m so excited about the Bible Studies!
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Great! I signed up for Redeem TV! Also, at tms.edu institute for church leadership there are a couple of courses being offered for free. I’m taking the hermeneutics class. And Answers in Genesis is offering 4 classes for $19 (for COVID19), that would normally be $250!
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Thanks for the heads up, Susan! :0)
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All of Nancy Guthrie’s teaching videos are free (download versions) at the Lifeway site. It’s hard to navigate, but worth the hunt. You have to “buy” them before you can download. The titles are The Promised One, The Wisdom of God, The Lamb of God, The Son of David, and The Word of the Lord. They all have accompanying books, of course, for a price, but the videos will take up plenty of time!
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