Review of the, “The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible in Genuine Leather.

May 7, 2016 Bob Snyder3 Comments

I requested a review copy quite some time ago, and was refused. This is why it has taken a while for me to do a review of this Bible. Recently I purchased a copy, at my own expense for the purpose of review. I was curious about this Bible because of the title. I am a Reformed Baptist. I hold to reformed soteriology. Since I affirm believer’s baptism, or credal baptism, I cannot be said to have Reformed theology proper, as that would include infant baptism, or paedo-baptism along with some other theological distinctions.

This Bible came shipped by Amazon in a cardboard box with no padding.

One of the corners of the retail clamshell box was dented. The Bible inside was undamaged.

When I first examined the Bible I didn’t notice that some of the pages were folded under and failed to be trimmed with the text block. I had to trim them myself with an exacto knife. I contacted Reformation Heritage by e-mail. It has been several weeks without a response. I was waiting to do the review because part of my e-mail had to do with questions about this Bible’s manufacture. I wouldn’t let their failure to respond stop you from purchasing this Bible.

This edition has a genuine cowhide leather cover and not pigskin leather. On the front cover, “Holy Bible” is hot stamped in gold color foil. The texture of the leather seems to be natural and comfortable to hold. this is a case bound Bible.

It is not as high grade as some, but far exceeds many lesser quality covers on Bibles in the same price range. This Bible lists for about $80.00, but I purchased it on sale for $55.88 from Amazon. You would be hard pressed to find a study Bible with all of the features this Bible has for the same price. We are talking about an American printed and bound Bible with smyth-sewn spine, cowhide leather cover, unique study notes, creeds and confessions, notes on family application, and numerous articles in back along with a concise concordance and maps.

This Bible is only available in the King James Version. (KJV) It is a verse format, double column, layout with notes at the bottom of the page.

Before each book is an introduction and outline of the book.

A sharply printed and uniformly inked 9.8 pt. Minion Font is used for the text of the Bible, and 8 pt. Myriad SemiCondensed Font for the notes is employed.

The page margins are pretty small, so you won’t be making many notations in them. The page edges are gold gilt. The corners are rounded, the spine is not.

Since this Bible employs a sewn binding it lays flat without having to fight the binding or cover. It is pretty flexible.

There are gold and burgundy head and tail bands as well as two narrow yet, substantial black ribbons.

The ribbons are both fixed in the spine at the same place making them a bit awkward compared to others that are glued in differently.

I truly like the paper used for the presentation/records section in the front and the maps in the back. RHB made the best decision of not using the glossy papers that crack. Instead they went with a thicker matte paper that will last a long time.

I would have liked to see a thicker, more opaque paper employed, however, to include all of the features in one volume without making it a behemoth like the ESV study Bible, I can understand why the chose the paper they did. Don’t misunderstand me, the paper isn’t bad. It is just a little less opaque than I would like. Ghosting isn’t bad at all and it appears that line matching was employed. For the money, there aren’t many full study Bibles on the market that could compete with this one. I highly recommend this Bible if you are a fan of the KJV, and historic creeds and confessions. It is an all around solid study Bible. Here is a link to the publisher’s page for this edition. Here is a link to this edition on Amazon. Finally, here is a link to this Bible on Christianbook.

Don’t forget to visit my flickr album of all the pictures I took of this Bible.

ISBN: 9781601783264

American Made · cultural · under God

The Problem With America…

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 Bob SnyderLeave a comment

The problem, or problems we are having in this country start getting very complex when we lose sight of the main problem that spawns all of the other problems. We argue over, economics, politics, our rights, and many other ideas. I just watched a video about a proposed mosque in Sterling Heights, Mich. The city council was voting on whether or not to allow its construction. There was a crowd outside that was overjoyed when it was voted down. Here’s the rub, we are acting hypocritically. We want to not allow a muslim mosque, but claim to be a country that protects all religions equally under the law.

So many of us, for so long, have been told that separation of Church and State is part of our foundation. They have believed that it is the bedrock of our liberty. I’m here to tell you it is time to choose a side. We can’t continue to live this liberal lie. It will NOT work. So let’s choose Christ and not islam, mormonism, buddhism, or any other religion our founders would have called pagan, or savage, or false. I know the left persists in their claims that our founding fathers were not Christian, but this is a flat out lie and we all know it. They tell us that they never intended for this to be a Christian nation, but we know the truth. Read some of the things they wrote and it becomes evident. They called the natives, “savages.” They called muslims, hindus, and buddists “pagans.” They never intended for us to be a nation of pagans. When they talked of freedom of religion, they meant we wouldn’t have a king telling us to be Catholics, Anglicans, or Protestants.

I for one, am sure of what this nation was intended to be, and so should you. It was intended to be a Christian nation. One under God. If we would agree and come together under the banner of Christ we could collectively renounce all other religions and make no provisions for them in our laws or culture. We could repent and turn back to God. Remember what happened in the Old Testament over and over again? Read 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, well just read the entire Bible. Over and over again, people, and nations would turn away from the worship of God in favor of the idols of foreigners. They would stop worshiping the one true God and worship false gods. God did not remain silent over these sins. He judged them. He judged them justly. They suffered being enslaved, starved by famine so much so, that they ate their children, they suffered slaughter from pagan nations, and sometimes they would repent. They would get a king that had a heart for God and he would lead them in repentance.

We as a nation are at the brink. We are under judgment right now. That is why things are the way they are. What we need to do is be decisive. We need to collectively repent and declare that we ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION! Let’s abandon this foreign satanic liberal lie that Christianity is not our foundation! It is the basis for our laws and our morals. Even if the left won’t recognize it. God is our source. He sustains all creation by the power of His sovereign word. So preach the gospel to your coworkers, neighbors, family, and friends. Make disciples of all men. Do it all for the glory of God.

American Made · economics

A Review of No-Mes Fingernail Clippers, American Made by Industrial Tool and Die Co. Inc. Happy Labor Day!

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015 Bob Snyder1 Comment

Today we are going to take a look at something a little bit different on the Soapbox. Usually we do Bible reviews and post Christian articles. We are going to look at No-Mes Fingernail clippers. I know this is unusual, but I think it will be a good thing. I found myself looking for a replacement set of clippers. I had inherited a set of American made clippers from my Father. I keep them on my key ring as a functional memento. My Dad passed away a few years ago. He was a big fan of good tools and American craftsmanship. He used to fabricate his own tools when he was a mechanic. When I use them, I think about him. I wanted to get another pair of American made nail clippers to keep on my key chain so I could put my Father’s up. I didn’t want to lose them. So, I set out to find an American made set of clippers.

I have had several Chinese made nailclippers. They are dull, they smash the nail, they tear the nail, they break, and they cost too much for what they are. I know there are at least 8 sets of clippers sitting in drawers at my house unused, because they are garbage. Everyone shares the one sharp set of clippers in the house. We all ask, “Hey, where are the clippers at? Who had them last?”

As a Christian, I am opposed to communism. It is a godless system that forces the worship of the government and created things instead of God. Communism is not good for human flourishing. I grew up during the cold war and remember the horrors of communism reported to us on the nightly news. This was back when news was not yellow journalism, a term I fear the youth of this nation knows nothing about. My Dad and his brothers were all vets. My Uncle Larry was in the first class of Air Commandos. He flew three tours in Vietnam fighting communism. Before the Air Force he was a Marine. My Dad was in the Air Force and served in Northern Africa in between the Korean War and the Vietnam war.

I began looking for some clippers by doing a search on the internet for, “American made fingernail clippers.” This lead me to Amazon. I saw several pop up but only one was truly American made, the No-Mes clippers from Industrial Tool and Die Co. Inc. in Troy, New Jersey. I felt angry. I’m not going to lie. I was angry that much of our industry has been shut down and shipped out. Not just shipped out, but shipped out to communists who enslave their own people to make shoddy quality goods for us to buy at low prices. Then the anger turned to a fondness. Fondness for a company started by one man and kept in the family. I’ve never met anyone from Industrial Tool and Die Co. Inc. I’ve never talked with them outside of my e-mails. I know nothing about them other than what their site says. Just the fact that they are in America making a quality product, for a decent value, warmed my heart. When I went looking for them on the web, I was surprised to see that they didn’t have much of a web presence, so I decided I would e-mail them and ask them for some clippers to review. They graciously accepted and here we are. I hope to bring some recognition to them and their product.

The clippers arrived in a padded envelope.

They were packed in a little white box with some padding and an instruction card with the warranty information on the other side.

The clippers were in a little plastic bag. When I took them out, I noticed they were a bit larger than my old clippers.

They also had a tool that was noticeably missing. The nail file/nail cleaner. I wondered why this was absent. After using the clippers, it was obvious that a nail file was not needed. The clippers cut the nail cleanly leaving no burs or rough spots. You just don’t have any snags to file. I was pretty impressed by that. I noticed something these clippers had that most do not, is the bin that catches the clippings.

No finding them later on the floor or seeing them snap and fly out into the room. The nails are cut cleanly, not smashed or torn. The blades are sharp and there were no irregularities on them to cause the clippers to malfunction.

They simply, did what they were intended to do! Amazing! I know, a product that did what it is supposed to do… How could we demand such a thing? Kids, you don’t know what you are missing. When you grow up using substandard tools and equipment, then replacing them with more of the same when they break, you never get to know what it is like to work with something of quality. These clippers are just good quality clippers. They are not gimmicky at all. The bin works the way that it is supposed to. I noticed there isn’t much travel with the handle the way that it functions and it is easy to hold.

They are a bit wider and have good flat spots for you to squeeze the handles. There are also grooves in the surfaces to help you keep hold of them. They were much easier to use than traditional styled clippers.

Traditional styled clippers allow the handle to swing around 360 degrees. These do not. They won’t pop out from under your thumb the way others will. They also have a hole in the end so they can be kept on a key ring.

The little metal flap that you fold over the bin is also the surface that the cam on the handle engages to actuate the clippers. It has two protrusions, one on each side. I think a person could use them to clean under a nail if they had to.

These would make a great stocking stuffer, or gift for the man in your life. They are a good value as well. You can pick them up on Amazon for about $13. Here is the product description from the Amazon product page,

The patented no-post/no-swivel design offers a simpler no fumbling method of trimming nails. Clippings stay inside a specially designed compartment, unlike ordinary nail clippers that launch your nail clippings across the room. The “No-Mes” nail clipper is easily emptied by opening the handle, then folds up for compact storage. All hardened tool steel with precision ground cutting edges, polished and chrome plated finish. The “No-mes” nail clipper is designed and manufactured in the USA to last forever and is guaranteed for life!

I really appreciate having a good pair of nail clippers handy. Don’t be fooled by imitators or cheap Chinese made knock-offs. Make sure to get the No-Mes clippers. Here is their web address, www.nomesnailclipper.com Here is a link to them on Amazon, No-Mes Clippers. If only they could figure out a way to put a knife blade, laser beam, grappling hook, and internet on these… nope, just kidding. They are great the way they are. Make sure to look at all the high resolution pictures of these clippers on my Flickr album page here.

You can watch my youtube video review of them here.