Marie Schryver's Torah Study Blog

The Festival of Death by Tom C. McKenney Come with me to the south of Britain; it is cool, late autumn, and the time is 300 years before the birth of Jesus. The Celtic civilization is in full flower, spreading by bloody conquest from the British Isles through Scandinavia, Europe and all the way to Asia Minor. The people are thoroughly pagan, worshipping many gods, and are ruled in a sense by kings; but the real power is in the hands of the Druids, a secret priestly society which rules by terror and by sorcery. Even the kings fear the mysterious, ever-present Druids; and when the king becomes too old to lead in battle or to father children, they sacrifice him to the gods, cutting his body cavity open while he is still alive and using his internal organs for divination and other magic.  Spiritual darkness covers the land, overshadowing every aspect of the people's lives, eroding even the laughter and play of the children with the penetrating presence of fear. Life is always hard, esp...

  Water can only purify if the soul has first been purified through repentance to righteousness. Photo from The Visual Gospel of Matthew - Bruce Marchiano as Yashua (Jesus) “Baptism” Definitions are from BlueLetterBible.com, Strong’s Concordance Baptism – G908 – bop tees mah’      22 times in 22 verses immersion, submersion of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed Of John's baptism, that purification rite by which men on confessing their sins were bound to spiritual reformation, obtained the pardon of their past sins and became qualified for the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom soon to be set up. This was valid Christian baptism, as this was the only baptism the apostles received, and it is not recorded anywhere that they were ever re-baptized after Pentecost. [eisegesis] of Christian baptism; a rite of immersion in water as commanded by Christ, by which one after confessing his sins and professing his faith in Christ, having been bo...

  בְּ רֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים , אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ In the beginning ELOHIM created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 H430 EL - Elohim אֱלֹהִים EhloHEEM is plural even though YEHOVAH IS ONE and He has ONE NAME, יְהוָֺה. However, He has many descriptions. The writers of the TORAH use the plural of EL to show emphasis when speaking of the Creator. Note: The first word in the Torah begins with a larger letter beit בּ to show importance.   אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, בְּהִבָּרְאָם:   בְּיוֹם, עֲשׂוֹת יְהוָֺה אֱלֹהִים --אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that YEHOVAH ELOHIM made earth and heaven. Genesis 2:4 H3068 Yehovah is translated as LORD in all upper-case letters. It literally means ‘I ALWAYS WAS, I AM, I ALWAYS WILL BE.’ This is the first mention of His true Name, יְהוָֺה YEHOVAH (Yeh ho VAH), which is confirmed to Moshe in Exodus 3:14-15. I...