In 2008 shock and sadness accompanied the death of 3-year old Caylee Anthony, as indeed it should for the senseless death of any child.   For some individuals that sense of sadness and the desire for justice appears to have turned into bitterness, anger, and the pursuit of vengeance.  The trial of Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, has captured the attention of many Americans and left some believers confused and conflicted.

As always, believers should turn to the Living Word of G-d for guidance, strength, and encouragement in these situations.

My day job has recently taken me into the world of marketing and all of the fascinating concepts involved with it. One marketing approach that recently got me to thinking was "branded merchandise". You know... a baseball cap with the name of your favorite sports team on it; a pen with the name of your insurance company; a coffee mug with the name of your favorite veterinary clinic.

Branded merchandise is everywhere:

Pens, pencils, and erasers, water jugs, coffee mugs, and baby bottles, caps, hats, and umbrellas, t-shirts, sweat pants, and jackets, gym bags, tote bags, and book bags, lions, tigers, and bears... oh, my!

I found a handy online tool to transliterate Hebrew text by Aaron Eby.

Check it out!

http://www.alittlehebrew.com/transliterate/

Thanks, Aaron! :)

Every once in a while I stumble across a rare gem in the online Messianic world. This time it happened twice!

A while back I had found the site of a Messianic brother named Darren who has a passion for Biblical archaeology. The name of his site is Digging with Darren.

I don't recall the first time I found his site but I was blessed to find it again and wanted to make sure I shared it.  I pray you will enjoy it, too!

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Over the past two millenia various groups of believers have taken a verse here and a verse there out of context and developed an entire branch of theology from it. Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, Messianics... we are all guilty of this to one degree or another. It is often times the consequence of our finite understanding, a short-sighted focus, or the limited amount of time we have to study the whole counsel of Scripture.

Some of these teachings are born from a need to correct a specific error or heresy being taught. For example, there are some doctrines from the first and second centuries that were born out of the need to correct certain Gnostic heresies. These doctrines resulted in a narrow focus on the humanity of Messiah almost to the exclusion of acknowledging His deity.

In other circumstances teachings are born out of good intentions but, ignoring the broader messages of Scripture and focusing on minute details, they ultimately end up in error. Sacred Name theology is one extreme example of this.