The Christian Life New Testament
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MASTER OUTLINES & STUDY NOTES
Compiled by Porter Barrington
This work is published in conjunction with The Holy Bible, New King James Version – Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
FORWARD
The Bible is the most important book ever written. It is God’s written Word to man. The New Testament tells about the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. It tells of His birth, His death, and His resurrection.
These outlines have been put together by Porter Barrington, who has been an evangelistic pastor all of his adult life. The Word of God has been at the heart of his entire ministry.
The Christian Life Study Outlines and Notes are the amplification of a ministry of over 35 years, both in the pastorate and in the field of teaching and evangelism. These lessons by Porter Barrington on the Great Doctrines of the Bible are simple without being ordinary, short without being shallow, brief without being dwarfed, positive without being over-formal and comprehensive without being complicated.
They were produced to fill a need in the life of the average Christian, to provide an incentive to know more of God’s Holy Word. If diligently studied, they will help to establish you in the faith and give you spiritual confidence.
It is suggested that you study the Master Outlines in the order given; one each day for fifteen days, and at the end of fifteen days, you will know more about the New Testament than you ever thought possible. This study is equal to an advanced course in Systematic Theology. If you review these lessons often, you will continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now begin your Bible study by clicking on Outline One below.
March 21st, 2020 – Version 3.23 of Ready Bible Study is now available! For current users, scroll to the bottom to see information on the latest changes.
March 21st, 2020 v3.23 – Added Treasury of Scripture Knowledge reference. Press F9 or Alt-F9 to navigate to a verse then press Alt-K to view related verses from the TSK. v3.22 – Added Book, Chapter, Verse picker for Alt-F9 or click Navigate or use Bible Navigator in the Menus v3.21 – Added Bible, Promises to the Quick Command Bar v3.20 – Made Shift F1 to F9 work for Zoom window also v3.16 – Fixed trapping of Ctrl and Alt keys so that Ctrl-C/V now works v3.15 – Added Window Group for uncompiled version setup
INSTALLATION – Open the contents of the ZIP file then the ReadyBibleSetup2 program. This installs the program in Program Files folder. Download the ZIP file here.ReadyBibleSetup2
A copy of the Visual Help Guide is here if you want to check it out before downloading the program. ReadyBible Help
PROGRAM INCEPTION:
Since early 2016, my freeware Bible program, Ready Bible Study and Reference, has been available online. I was studying a very small Bible tract that had about 180 verses cross referenced in different groups. I wondered how hard it would be to translate it to a computer program. I had to write a lot of code and learn how to format Bible text but was able to do it fairly easily. Then I decided that it could track readers progress with visual clues and colors.
Then I added a simple Find or search function to it and realized that computers are 1,000 times faster than when I first used one in 1982. That Z80 processor running the CP/M operating system ran at 4 megahertz. Well, today, everything runs at between 1 and 4 gigahertz, which is a simple factor of a thousand. But, computers today are also running dual core and quad core processors. So, they may easily be 10,000 times faster since 34 years ago. To make a long story short, I searched on the word God and in 2 seconds I had a window with over 4,000 Bible verses containing that word. The script read all 31,000 verses and pulled out the matching ones into a new window in that short time. Well, I was flabbergasted because I was using the AutoHotkey “scripting” language and thought it would be much slower than that. I now had the idea of building a general purpose Bible Study application. Over the next four months, I found and editing several Bible texts, commentaries, devotionals and reading plans. I figured out how to use the Windows Ini file format for saving, searching and retrieving what was needed. And I had to research many articles in order to get the scripting language to do everything I wanted.
PROGRAM GENERAL INFORMATION:
The software has an entry level Mini window with cross referenced questions and answers on the first two pages, a general Bible Study on page 3 and additional web links on page 4. By pressing F10, users can switch to/from the Bible Zoom window which can use full screen. A picture of each window is below. Searching on text, viewing Daily Readings and Devotionals and other items each have their own window.
If you click the program icon in the task bar, the program will hide and run in Companion mode with various features accessible from the right-click menu.
Additional information is below.
Just open the ZIP file and drag or copy the one file into a new folder and run it from there. All of Bibles, Commentaries and other data files will extract from the main file when first run and a desktop shortcut created.
Some screenshots:
MINI WINDOW
TRAY RIGHT CLICK MENU
TRAY LEFT CLICK MENU
ZOOM WINDOW (PRESS F10)OTHER PICS
* NOTE * — There are three modes to this program:
Use the F10 key to switch between MINI and ZOOM modes. [The Tray icon message will show which mode the program is using.]
MINI (smaller windows, includes categorized verse drop-down lists and many keyboard shortcuts)
ZOOM (much larger window with Tabbed headings, adds Topical references, Master Study Outlines and How to Pray resources)
COMPANION (clicking on the program’s Tray icon will hide the main windows, many features of the program may only be run from this mode using the Right mouse button and clicking on the Tray icon) [Two features only found in this mode are Famous Christian Quotes and Popular Bible Verses which popup at user set intervals.]
BEGINNING USERS should just use the first two pages which provide answers to many of the questions they are probably asking.
INTERMEDIATE USERS will probably want to concentrate on page 3 which contains Bible study tools.
POWER USERS (those who have used other Bible software) will feel most comfortable with Bible Browser Zoom, just press F10 to go there.
Please share this with anyone you know that needs a handy Bible reference and wants to learn more.
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** IMPORTANT AUDIO NOTE ** When you click Start Audio from any window, it will change to Add Audio. Now, whenever you click Add Audio, that text will be added to the current Audio queue. In the bottom right corner of the Main Window it will display text like ‘Audio: Playing 3’ which means there are 3 items in the queue. Double-clicking on that part of the Main Window will display titles of the items in the queue.
PAGE 1: (Press Shift F1)
Click on any item in a drop-down list to view its related Bible verses.
Many of the items are Page 1 are drop-down boxes listing various groupings of Bible verses. Simply click on the drop-down list then click on the Item you wish to read. Whenever you read the verses associated with an Item, the Heading for that drop-down list will turn Red. This indicates you have started reading that section. If you read from top to bottom, selecting the last entry will turn the heading Green. This means you have read all of the section. If you wish to read in a different order, you may set the heading Green by holding down a Shift key then clicking on the heading. So you may read any group in any order. The program will mark headings in Red or Green automatically. It will also store which Item you last clicked on in each Group.
Bible Search: (Alt-F)
You may also search anywhere in the Bible. Three translations are provided.
For more information on Bible searching click on the ? button.
Dictionary Search: (Alt-D)
A drop-down list of entries from Smith’s Bible dictionary and
the Fausset Dictionary are located at the bottom right of Page 1.
And using Alt-D presents both dictionary lists for you search on.
Topical Search: (Alt-T)
A drop-down list of entries from Torrey’s Topical Textbook, Thompson
Chain Reference and Naves Topical Bible are located found in ZOOM mode.
And using Alt-T presents the three Topical lists for you search on.
Bible PDF Charts: (Alt-C)
A drop-down list of charts covering a wide range of Bible topics
which are displayed in a PDF viewer.
Bible Note Taker: (Alt-N)
Opens up a window from where Notes on any topic can be added and managed.
Buttons:
1) Reading Status – display last items viewed on Pages 1 and 2, and total reading time
2) Session History – display current session history of texts viewed
3) DONE – click here or press Escape to save Reading status and exit the program
4) Quick Help – displays this Help text
5) Reset – resets Reading status, restarts the program (total time is saved)
6) Setup – displays Setup window
Status bar Info and Functions:
You may double-click on the first three items on the status bar for more information:
1) Version – version info and recent changes
2) Session time – current session time plus total time
3) Bible info – full name of selected Bible translation
4) Audio status – a list of items added to the audio queue
The Audio section will let you know if Audio is playing or paused and how many
sections of text you have queued up to play. You may exit while Audio is playing.
You will be asked to save the Audio Queue for use next time you start the program.
———————————————————————- PAGE 2: (Press Shift F2)
Click on any item view its related Bible verses. It will change color to Red indicating you have visited it. Hold down a Shift key and click on any item to mark it Green signifying that you have read of its contents.
Clicking an item in the Prophecy list will display the Old Testament prophecy along with its New Testament fulfillment. The Prophecy heading will change to Red color. Once you read the last item in the list, that color will change to Green.
click or type r1 for Into Thy Word – Book Order
click or type r2 for Into Thy Word – By Genre
click or type r3 for New Testament in 90 Days
click or type r4 for Psalms / Proverbs in 31 Days
click or type r5 for Comprehensive plan
Five (5) daily Devotionals are available:
click or type d1 for 1) One Day at a Time by William MacDonald
click or type d2 for 2) Morning by Evening by Charles Spurgeon (choose morning or evening)
click or type d3 for 3) My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
click or type d4 for 4) Daily Light by Samuel Bagster (choose morning or evening)
click or type d5 for 5) Day by Day by Grace by Bob Hoekstra
Bible Browser window displays a chapter at a time:
– Press F1 for Previous Book
– Press F2 for Next Book
– Press F3 for Previous Chapter
– Press F4 for Next Chapter
– Press F5 to search Dictionaries for selected text anywhere
– Press Shift-F5 to search the Bible for selected text
– Press F6 to add the current Chapter to the Audio queue
– Press Shift-F6 to display Color Picker (background color only)
– Press F7 to Pause or Resume Audio
– Press F8 to Stop Audio playback
– Press F9 to jump to the entered Book Chapter or Book Chapter:Verse
– Press F10 to switch to/from the Bible Browser Zoom window
Three (3) commentaries are available:
Chapter specific comments–
type c1 for 1) Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (1714)
type c2 for 2) Bridgeway Commentary (2005)
type c3 for 3) Gray’s Concise Commentary (1935)
Book specific comments–
type cc1 for 1) Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (1714)
type cc2 for 2) Bridgeway Commentary (2005)
Morning/evening audio sets–
type pmd for Play Morning Devotionals
type ped for Play Evening Devotionals
type pmr for Play Morning Daily Readings
type per for Play Evening Daily Readings
Click on Advanced Features to display more details.
Click on the items in Extras to display some PDFs and Prophecy related information.
Click on Add Notes for Notes manager.
Click on PDF Charts for a list of one page informative charts.
PAGE 4: Web Resources (Press Shift F4)
Links to various freeware Bible applications for both Windows PC and Mobile Devices are found on this page.
Additional links to Bible Study resources are here also.
Bible Browser Zoom Window (F10 to Zoom/Unzoom):
This window allows for easier reading of Bible text, Commentaries, Devotionals and Reading Plans.
If you are primarily focused on reading the Word, this may be a better place to work from.
Every Bible resource from the Main Page 3 window are here, each in a separate window.
Pressing F11, F12 will switch between Bibles, Commentaries, Devotionals and Reading Plans.
Relevant Commentary for the current Bible chapter is automatically shown as are today’s Devotionals and Readings.
For Devotionals and Reading Plans you may click on <, T or > to display previous day, Today or next day readings.
For those who believe the King James Bible to be harder to read, the Dictionaries window contains the King James Word List which is short definitions to words uncommon today.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Topical Bible window (Topics tab)
– Instead of just displaying all related verse numbers of a topic, this window retrieves all of the verse text for easy reading or audio playback.
Press F10 to enter and leave the Zoom window. If you click Exit in Zoom mode, the program will return to it.
Tray icon – Right click Menu options:
1) Audio Control => Pause/Resume, Stop Audio or set the computer to Sleep After audio is finished
2) Auto Start – adds the program to Windows Startup if checked
3) Configuration – displays program Setup window
4) Bible => search verses, go to a specific verse, display Prophecy calculator and related info
5) Devotionals => play Audio devotionals, Morning or Evening set
6) Daily Readings => play Audio readings, Morning or Evening set
7) General Info – same as this Quick Help
8) Keys Help – shows all Mouse and Keyboard commands
9) Show/Hide Program – toggle displaying or hiding the main windows
10) RSS News Feeds => Start/Stop/Edit Feeds and Examples
11) Popup Wisdom => display one of four lists: Verses, Quotes, Science, Trivia – click anytime to close them
12) Quick Lookups => display Dictionary or Topical search windows
13) Web Update – check for newer program version and download if desired
14) EXIT PROGRAM
Setup:
You may set the following options here:
1) Choose from four fonts for use while reading Bible text
2) Enter a font size from 8 to 14 points.
3) Choose from any of three Bible translations:
a. the 1769 Authorized Version (also known as the King James version)
b. the 1999 American King James (the King James updated to a more modern vocabulary)
c. the 2012 Lexham English Bible (Copyright 2010, 2012 Logos Bible Software)
4) Refresh All Resources – updates Bibles, Commentaries, Devotionals and Reading Plans
[this is automatically done on first run or whenever you download a new version]
5) Audio Voice – the Text-to-Speech Voice will default to the first one, you may
pick from any others displayed. [Windows XP usually has Microsoft Sam, Windows 7
comes with Microsoft Anna, Windows 8/10 have Microsoft David and Zira] You may also
adjust the Voice speed with the Speech control panel.
6) Show Help Tool Tips – you may turn these off once you know your way around the program.
7) Session Time Limit in minutes – defaults to 20 minutes and reminds when 20 minutes are up.
8) Total Reading Time in minutes – this may be changed to any number or set to 0.
9) Background Color – you may set the background color here, choosing light colors is best
10) Update Program – checks for online updates (done automatically once a day)
11) RSS news reader – set update interval and the number of items to display from each website
12) Interval for Famous Quotes – set to 0 if not desired
13) Interval for Popular Verses – set to 0 if not desired
14) Interval for Bible Science facts – set to 0 if not desired
15) Interval for Bible Trivia items – set to 0 if not desired
16) How long to display popups – use 0 to view them until clicked on
17) Check boxes next to these intervals control audio playback
[v3.02 update – For Spring 2018, I add a shorter left click menu and a comprehensive visual Help file.]
The new left click menu – left clicking on the program’s tray icon will now display a more concise menu. From this menu you can access key program features, display the Scrolling Bible, play daily Devotionals and Readings, display Pop up info and news feeds.
Whenever you have started to listen or read to daily studies, the menu will turn blue. Click “Play Bible Readings or Play Daily Devotionals” to start your studies. Once the standard studies have been done for the day, the menu will turn green.
The program now includes a comprehensive Help file. Click “Visual Guide” from page 1 or type a ? to display the new help. When you type ? you will get help based on which window or page you are viewing. This help was needed and overdue, but, felt like writing a book. I hope it helps users to use more capabilities of the program.
[v2.90 update – For Christmas 2017, I merged two of my other Bible applications into Ready Bible Study. The Constant WORD scrolling Bible program and the Bible Promises program are now included. The separate programs have a few more features than what I included but I felt it is worth adding this functionality. I plan to improve upon it later on. The pictures below depict these changes. See those programs Blog pages for more information on them. The two newest features are discussed next followed by general information on the program. ]
THE SCROLLING BIBLE:
{When you first start displaying the scrolling text, it will be at the top, middle of your main monitor. Use the menu options below to adjust the size and color of the text and window.}
Clicking the program icon in the system tray gives options to show or hide the Bible program or the Scrolling window.Mousing over the scrolling window.Right-click the scrolling verse to see it’s chapter text.All new menu items.Optional settings for the scrolling window are here and are remembered.
THE BIBLE PROMISES MENU:
Bible Promises are accessed through the menu.Sample of one set of promises.
Changes for v3.14:
There are two additional keyboard commands that give users access to all of the options in Ready Bible study without using the program’s menus. Thus, these are primarily to be used when the program window is hidden. There is the Quick Command Bar and the Full Commands List.
Quick Command Bar
Holding down a Shift key then pressing the Backspace key will display the Quick Command Bar. This window contains the primary Bible commands. Simply press the First letter of any commmand on the left side to see a list of options for that command on the right side. Press the First letter of a right side command and it will execute.
Full Commands List
Holding down both Ctrl keys will display a window with all of Ready Bible commands. Typing in a word or two of interest will filter the list. Double-click any item to display it. This is another feature that allows control of the program, even when it is hidden.
Search on Lord
Double-click “Promises: Jesus is your Lord”Hopefully, this keyboard access to program features will make it easier for all to do basic Bible study.
Changes for version 3.23
Bible Navigator (click Navigate or press Alt-F9)
Then choose a Chapter:
Then choose a Verse:
Now you can use Treasury of Scripture Knowledge related Bible verses:
Click Expand Verses to read them all:
The Bible Navigator is incorporated into the Commands and Quick Launchers as well.
Feb 2024 – Version 1.2.3 is available. Download the full program below then place the contents of this file into the same folder to overwrite the LiveBible.exe file.LiveBible123
May 2020 – Version 1.1.7 now available. Just adds a few features like being able to save verses to a list while you are reading. Switched back to JPG pictures for the Bible charts to save space.
September 15th, 2019 – Version 1.1.0 is available. Additional key commands, a few more buttons and Bible Charts have been added.
June 22nd, 2019 – Version 1.0.0 of LiveBible for Microsoft Windows is now available. As I learn more I plan to upload both Macintosh and Linux versions. Read along for the ‘genesis’ of this program and its many features.
Click here for the Full download (77 megabytes) of LiveBible
To install the program simply download this file below then extract (copy) all of its contents to an existing or a new folder of your choice.Double click on the LiveBible Startup icon to run the program.
The program features are:
Added Strong’s Greek/Hebrew dictionary to go along with the AKJVS translation. Search on Gxxxx or Hxxxx numbers to find matching verses. Switch to the AKJVS then click any Greek or Hebrew item to display it in the Dictionary. Double click the item to do a Bible Search on it.
If the program detects a newer version, it will display a prompt. If update is selected then the program’s Blog page will be opened in your browser. Typically, two small files will be in the update, the two LiveBible stacks. The full install will always be available as well.
If Hilite Text is checked then the active window has a green background.
Click on the round Night Mode button to switch between dark and light backgrounds.
Moving the mouse over Bible verses now synchronizes Commentary text.
Clicking on any verse in the Search window will display that verse chapter in the Bible window.
Clicking on any verse references in the Commentary and Devotional windows will display that chapter in the Bible window.
Audio playback now automatically continues if users have clicked on multiple items. Earlier versions required mouse movement to play queued items.
Checking the Help Tips On/Off will display mini instructions when the mouse is moved over each window element. Useful mostly while learning the program.
The Additional Resources button now displays many add on items that are part of my Ready Bible Study application. The last four pages (cards) of this stack are each a list of items which are displayed randomly at 15 minute intervals in a small window. The window is located at the bottom right of the main monitor. Users can click on Stop Popups or click the Additional Resources Close button to stop Popups.
In my continuing search for programming languages that do not give anti-virus applications periodic fits, I ran across LiveCode which began 17 years ago under different names. The Community version is Open Source and free to use. Yippie!
It’s lineage goes all the way back to 1987 with an Apple product called HyperCard. Those of us who are old enough in IT or in Education will remember HyperCard as it was very popular for over 10 years. And Apple gave it away for free with the purchase of Macintosh computers. I happened to have a copy of it long ago before the Internet existed. LOL. And a good bit of that knowledge came back to me. But, I still had to do a lot of reading about all the new capabilities.
LiveCode incorporates everything that made HyperCard a unique application development environment. Each file or Stack can contain any number of Cards (i.e. think of Rolodex cards in a file). In its simplest uses, users can create simple databases, multimedia presentations and training programs.
I decided to see how well it would work for Bible study and while I am still learning its strong and weak points, I am posting up what I call LiveBible. I’ve spent about 60 hours in the last two weeks (nights) getting to a usable Bible study program.
LiveBible uses a one card stack to display various Bible information. A secondary stack contains additional information and I hope to add a lot to it later on. The program can create executables for Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems. I’m only posting up a Windows version for now.
The main window displays one Bible chapter on the left side and either Search/Dictionary, Devotionals/Readings or Commentary on the right side.
Users can press n for the next chapter, p for the previous chapter or use the small arrows at the bottom left. To go to a specific Book and Chapter, click on Load Chapter or press l.
Type the number 1, 2, or 3 or click on the one of the three Bible translation at the bottom left to change from the original King James to a more modern version. The modern version also shows the words of God in red in the Old Testament. The AKJVS version displays both Hebrew and Greek dictionary numbers that are keyed to Strong’s Dictionary.
Clicking on the Show Numbers item will either show or hide the Verse numbers. When the numbers are off, the verses are shown as one paragraph, as below.
To search for Jesus, either right click the word, click Find Text or type f (find).
The found verses are in the upper right corner of the main window. The number in parens is the total found verses. With Exact on, search will match upper/lower case. Click Exact to turn it on and off (or type X).
Right clicking on Find Text will prompt for an item to find in the Dictionary. Right clicking on a word or phrase in the Bible text will also allow Dictionary searching. The current Commentary for the shown Chapter is displayed when you move through the chapters or when clicking on the Commentary tab. The two Commentaries are Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary and the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary which is mostly verse by verse.
Daily Devotionals and Bible Readings are found on the second tab. Use the arrows below to change them. There are three Devotionals and three Readings for each day.
If you would rather listen to any of the items, you can click on Choose Items to Speak or click in any window then press F6 to add that item to the Audio Queue.
You can press the F8 at any time to Stop Audio.
If you want to display a larger window, press z or F12 to Zoom and Un-Zoom.
Lastly, in this release is the start of an additional resource stack which will be added to. Click on Additional Resources to display it. Press ESC key to close this extra window. Pressing n or p will show the Next / Previous card in this stack along with clicking the arrows at the bottom. If this window is Minimized or Hidden, Popup information will be displayed every 15 minutes. It may be turned off by clicking Stop Popups.
Version 1.1 adds the Bible Charts feature which is over 100 charts in PDF format that make it easy to quickly learn much of the Bible. Simply click on any chart title on the left side to see the chart on the right side. You may print the charts as well.
Since I am a keyboard fanatic there are Keyboard shortcuts for everything (case sensitive):
Esc – Minimize the main window
z – Zoom / Unzoom the main window (also F12) If you have a small monitor this will reduce the size of text. A big monitor will zoom up everything to a nice size.
l (small L) – Change Location to another Book and Chapter
b – select the Bible window (if selected already then go to previous verses)
0 – turn Bible verse numbers on/off
1 – select the King James Bible translation (Jesus’ words in red)
2 – select the KJ2000 Bible translation (OT God’s words in red, NT Jesus’ words in red)
3 – select the King James with searchable Strong’s Greek and Hebrew dictionary.
O – go to Genesis 1
N – go to Matthew 1
f – Find text in the current Bible
F – Find text in the Dictionary
c – Display the Commentary for the current Chapter
C – Copy the currently selected Bible text to the clipboard
p – Go to Previous Chapter (also F3)
P – Print the current Chapter
n – Go to Next Chapter (also F4)
M – Night Mode on/off
B – Go to previously Bible Location (history feature)
d – Display Devotionals for today
D – Display the Dictionary
r – Display Bible Readings for today
s – Display last Search verses
x – Exact text search on/off
h – Turn Help Tips on/off
H – Turn active window Highlighting on/off
S – Display Audio selector (click any item to play Audio)
F6 – Play Audio from the currently active window
F8 – Stop all Audio
Pressing the ? key or clicking on the Info button will display general help text as well. Pressing the k key or clicking on the Keys button will display all of the single letter keyboard commands.
I hope you enjoy LiveBible and get more out of God’s Word.
12/09/18 Quick-BIBLE v1.05 smoothed out a couple of issues, users will no longer get asked if they want to install the Rebol interpreter when they change the Font size. 12/03/18 v1.03 adds: 1) King James Word List, 2) Smith’s Dictionary and 3) Torrey’s How To Pray book.
Recently, I have come across a very concise and interesting script language that has already been around for 20 years. The REBOL or Rebol language was first released in 1998 and version 3 became Open Source on 12-12-12. Luckily, the world didn’t end on that day and we’re all still trucking along. My first foray into learning Rebol is to recreate an already written Bible study application. My Ready Bible Study, written in AutoHotkey, is almost 19,000 lines of code and comes with 40 megabytes of text files. The initial Rebol version will be much smaller and is more of a demo than anything, Currently, it is only 500 lines of code, which is pretty impressive! I am writing it using Windows OS, but, it should run, as is, on Linux and Mac OS X operating systems after users install those respective versions of the small Rebol 2 interpreter (less than a megabyte). The download page for Rebol / View is here: http://www.rebol.com/downloads.html
The download for the Quick-BIBLE program is here: Quick-BIBLE
Just place the contents of the Zip file into any folder and run the setupQuickBIBLE to install the program. Here are some screen shots. The program launches quickly, searches are less than 1 second, hence the name.Shortcut letters for the main window buttons are: H (Matthew Henry Commentary), M (Morning Devotional), E (Evening Devotional), T (Find verses by Text), V (display verses in the main window, given Book or Book Chapter), C (Copy displayed Verses to the clipboard) and Ctrl-Q (Quit). A popup Popular Bible Verse is displayed every 15 minutes if the checkbox is selected.
[Version 1.41 (11/10/17) add two menu options, Set Favorite Verses and Show Favorite Verses. Set Verses displays a Bible verse window from which you can navigate to any verse, click on any displayed verses and Add Verses to a memorize list. Enter Display Times like 0900,1300 for 9am and 1pm and those verses are displayed then.
Version 1.33 adds more colors and setting the scroll speed. Version 1.31 allows right clicking on Bible Trivia to display expanded verses. Version 1.30 now contains the Bible text so you can right-click on any popular verse to display its associated chapter text. Version 1.22 of Constant WORD allows for Audio playback by selecting Use Audio from the menu. The download is found here. Constant WORD]
Lately, I have been trying to think of what other ways Biblical information can be presented on a Windows PC. I have both Ready Bible Study which allows for full audio reading from any resource and a smaller Bible Promises application. Popup Bible verses and Christian quotes can be displayed with Ready Bible Study or another program called Popup Info. These popups are small windows displayed at user set time intervals.
These popups are good, but, another idea came to me. Why not use a small window with constantly scrolling text at one corner of the monitor. Using this technique helps us to do what Paul said in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Also in Isaiah 26:3 we are reminded, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
Using three source texts that are part of my other Bible programs, I created a new application called Constant WORD. Operation of the program is very simple. When you first run it, you will see a randomly chosen Bible verse from among 523 popular verses in a small window at the top middle of your monitor. The text will scroll slowly and once it disappears the program will choose another verse. When you put your mouse over the window, it will pause and display the Book Chapter and Verse that is currently scrolling. The program run continuously until you shutdown or exit it.
When you click on the window then press one of the keys (Ins, Del, Home, End, PgUp, PgDn), the window will move. You can also use the program’s right-click menu to set the window location.
The program is quite configurable using its right-click menu. For text font, you may select Normal or Bold style, sizes 8 to 12 points and the width of the window in pixels from 400 to 600. For colors, you can select from several color schemes. The first color is text, the second color is the window background. For the window you can turn its border on and off, select its location and its width. In order to change the source text, simply pick another one from the menu. The program saves all settings but border and source text which default to None and Popular Verses (since the name is Constant WORD).
Clicking on the program’s tray icon which is a white Cross will pause the scrolling until you click it again. The cross color will change to denote it is paused. New in release 1.08 are a couple more Colors and clicking on the tray icon and the menu item Window Hide do the same thing now. Clicking the icon now pauses the scrolling and hides the window. The program will also stop scrolling if the mouse or keyboard has not been used for 30 seconds.
Some screen shots from the program are below. I look forward to any feedback or suggestions you may have.
About program window:
Sample scrolling window using white on green color scheme:
Putting your mouse pointer over the window displays information about the current item: Right click a verse to display its chapter.
You can change source text at any time:
A different color scheme at bottom right position:
The program menu contains lots of user settings and a link to this web page:
New in release 1.04 are additional Color Schemes, Window Hide, Window Transparent and automatic Rotating between the three source files. In the above picture, if you click on Rotating, the program will switch to the file 2 Bible Trivia for 10 minutes then switch to file 3 Inspirational Quotes for 10 minutes then go back to file 1 Popular Verses. It will continue to do this until you exit or uncheck Rotating.
Clicking on Window Hide will pause Scrolling then Hide the window until you choose it again. It’s kind of like pressing the Boss Key from the past.
Clicking on Window Transparent will make the current background color transparent. This works well to blend the text into either the Title bar, the status bar or the windows desktop. You will have to experiment with this feature. If the text becomes hard to read then click on Transparent again to turn it off. Below are two windows showing regular gray background and transparent background.
The two newest items are set and show Favorite Verses
Selecting Set Favorite Verses will show the verse chooser.
Select one or more verses with your mouse then click Add Verses to Memorize List button. Continue to do this until you are done. You can click Display Verses to see the result.
Click Set Times to enter a list of times you wish to see your chosen verses. Just use 24 hour time and leading zeros from midnight to 10am.
I will also look at add other resources in the future. This release contains close to 2,500 items between the three source files.
Bible Promises can be downloaded here, Bible Promises. It is less than 1 megabyte. Just open the zip file, place the Bible Promises executable anywhere and run it.
I was thinking lately how slack I’ve been at updating my Bible Study application. I just had no new ideas until recently. While browsing the web for lists of promises that God makes to His children in the Holy Bible, I ran across some PDF formatted booklets. One of them on this page http://www.pathlights.com/Bible%20Promises/Bible-Promises.pdf was in a format I could quickly adapt to an application. This would be a “quickie” application for those who desire a very light Bible program.
By creating a popup menu in the place of a Table of Contents, the program is very easy to navigate. The popup menu also is shown when you click the program’s icon in the task bar. You can click anywhere else to close it.
Simply select a desired group of promises from the menu. And, viola! You may now read through the promises or press F6 to listen to Audio. F7 will Pause/Resume Audio and F8 will Stop the Audio. [Important – whenever you close a reading window, the program menu will appear again. If you are done reading you may exit the program or just click outside the menu to close it. I have it reappearing in case you aren’t done reading.]
For convenience for readers, you may change the font size from 8 to 24 point and change the font from Times to Arial. The background color is also changeable via Shift F1 to F8. Click About Bible Promises for information.
I wanted to include a little more in the program. So I borrowed one Daily Devotional and one Reading Plan from my Ready Bible Study application. In this way, users desiring a quick read each day, can simply use this one program. The devotional is “One Day at a Time” and the reading plan is “New Testament in 90 days plus Psalms & Proverbs in 31 days.” For a regular Bible study program with multiple Bibles, Commentaries, Devotionals, Reading Plans, Outlines, Dictionaries, Topics, click here for more information. Yeah, I know, that was a cheesy advertisement. 🙂
This program starts with a centered popup menu which disappears when you select an item. When you close the item’s window, the menu is re-displayed. If you click away from the menu, it will disappear. In order to show it again, click on the program’s icon in the Task Bar at the right side.
Right-clicking on the program’s icon will display a secondary menu. All of the options are self explanatory except Sleep After Audio. Since you may press F6 from any number of windows, let’s say a devotional, a daily reading and a set of promises, it can take several minutes for Audio to finish. If you are playing several items before bedtime, you can have the program put your computer to Sleep when the Audio is finished. It will give you a 10 second option to cancel; otherwise, the computer will then sleep. [Note: If any Windows 10 users find the audio stops prematurely, let me know and I will fix it. I have no issues on Windows 7 and 8.1 but have one PC with Windows 10 that sometimes cuts audio short if several items are queued up.]
You can select Auto Start and the program will add a shortcut to your startup folder.
The program also has a Bible Browser option that is found in the tray menu and by clicking Today’s New Testament / Psalms readings.
Choosing the browser displays this window. The text size and background color will match the other windows and the window is resizable.
You may easily navigate the New Testament and Psalms/Proverbs and also do text searches. For example, searching on Jesus Christ displays the following. You may press F6 to have the program play Audio for you. I hope this is a worthy addition to the program.Version 1.11 – Bible Browser window can be resized now. Version 1.10 – Added keys to change Font Size and Type (<, >, [ and ]) for laptops without a Mouse.
Version 1.09 – Bug fix, Bible Browser size settings now restored properly.
Version 1.08 – Added Audio Pause option to the tray menu.
Version 1.07 – Bible Browser window is separately sizeable now. Version 1.06 – Tweaked status bar, added Auto Start to the tray menu
Version 1.05 – Added Bible Browser window to the program Version 1.04 – Added Promises sub menus to the program’s tray menu Version 1.03 – Split daily Bible reading into two parts: New Testament and Psalms/Proverbs as it could be quite a bit of reading. Version 1.02 – Minor tweaks to status bar. Version 1.01. When the reading window is resized, it will keep that size the next time you start the program. The minimum size is 570 x 300 so that the status bar is fully visible.
