Today is Brought to You by the book of Leviticus, part 1

Leviticus (Va’yikra in Hebrew) means “and He called”, which is how verse one starts. We call this book Leviticus because it records the duties of the Levites. The Hebrew title is representative of the content and purpose of the book, namely the calling of God’s people, and in particular the calling of the Levites, to minister before Him.

This book was written by Moses and its major themes are like an instruction manual for morals and ethics. There are civil, sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious regulations for the nation of Israel. There are also instructions for making offerings (burnt, meat, peace, sin, trespass, grain). We have the ordination of Aaron and his son, rules and laws for purification, regulations for atonement, rules for sexual relationships, provisions for festivals, and final instructions and warnings.

Psalm 119, a couple of facts

Let’s look at Psalm 119. It is the longest psalm as well as the longest chapter in the Bible. It is referred to in Hebrew by its opening words:

 Ashrei temimei derech

 ("happy are those whose way is perfect") It is the prayer of one who delights in and lives by the Torah, the sacred law. There are 176 verses, 8 verses for each of the 22 Hebrew letters. The first 8 verses each start with the Hebrew letter Aleph ,the next 8 with Bet and so on through the alphabet (alephbet).

We have lost the amazing beauty of the psalm in translation.

Happy Easter Everyone

I just wanted to share this Amazing Hallelujah Song
Praise God. He is risen.

Passover + Jesus

We really need to look at the Passover celebration as revealed in the instructions given to Moses and Aaron in Exodus chapter 12 because the symbolism is wonderfully woven into the Jewish and the Christian experience.

Each household needed a lamb, a perfect male, and they had to take it on the tenth day of the month and not sacrifice it until the fourteenth day. Compare: Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day and was crucified on the 14th day.

Passover restrictions required that they had to eat the lamb and not break any of the bones. Compare: Jesus was crucified, but His legs were not broken (as was the custom in crucifixions).

In celebrating the Seder (Passover) dinner Jews still put three pieces of unleavened bread together (representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) then take the middle piece, break it and wrap it in white cloth (symbolizing Christ’s death) and hide it (the burial). If you’ve seen Matzah bread you know it is striped and pierced (as was Jesus – whipped and later pierced with a sword). Later the bread is found (resurrection). The third cup of wine is drunk; it is the cup of redemption.

(taken from CROSSING THE SCRIPTURES)

Cindy C Bennett's THE END OF FEELING

Now available: Cindy C Bennett's The End of Feeling

After missed deadlines and pushed-back release dates, it's finally here!

Benjamin Nefer seems to have it all. He’s the most popular guy in school, the star quarterback with college scouts looking at him, his grades are near the top of his class, he can get any girl he wants . . . but he hides behind his dream life to mask the nightmare of his reality.

Charlie Austin is the new girl. Forced to move in with a bitter aunt, she only wants to protect her fragile mom from the world’s cruelty. When Benjamin sets his sights on Charlie, she’s armored against his charm—friends warned her about Benjamin’s game of pursuing and then dumping a long line of girls, not caring about the broken hearts he leaves behind. She doesn’t count on how single-minded he can be when she refuses him, or how charismatic, easing into her life through what he claims is just friendship.

Benjamin thought he could keep Charlie in the same place he keeps all girls—something to be used and then discarded. But Charlie has as many secrets as he does, secrets he’s determined to discover while keeping his own hidden. He realizes she’s the perfect girlfriend candidate . . . someone he can use to keep up the façade of a perfect life. Now he just has to keep his frozen heart from softening toward this unique girl, because if he doesn’t, his carefully constructed lies might just come thundering down around him, crushing him beneath the burden of feeling.

Get your copy today at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other digital formats.

Proud to be a part of Amazon's Kindle Matchbook - Purchase the paperback, get the Kindle version free!

Here's what's being said about The End of Feeling

The End of Feeling is a story that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. Haunting, heartbreaking, in other words, another winner for Bennett!

~ Sherry Gammon, author of Unlovable

From the moment I picked it up, my heart was warmed, melted, broken, and pieced back together again. A beautiful story that will leave you aching long after the last page.

~ Jamie Canosa, author of Falling to Pieces

A tale of hope and love about a couple of teens who have every reason to believe in neither. It's raw and real, but leaves us believing in the power of redemption.

~ Juli Caldwell, author of Psyched

The reality both characters live makes their story captivatingly unique, and emotionally powerful. . . Demonstrates the beautiful truth that two people can learn to be true to themselves, no matter what—especially while falling in love. 

~ Heather Frost, author of The Seers trilogy

The struggles in this story bring to light the fact that beauty and truly miraculous things can be found in the everyday, and that the most important thing any one of us can possess, is love.

~ Shannen Crane Camp, author of Under Zenith

Once again Cindy C Bennett's incredible talent shines through yet another masterpiece . . . a triumphant story of love, compassion and human strength.

~ Camelia MironSkiba, author of Hidden Heart

Bennett brilliantly weaves the fears and trepidation of two teens treading the hazards of acceptance, young love, and. Curl up with this story and enjoy the ride—it's terrific.

~ Jeffery Moore, author of Jericho Solus

Learn more at Cindy C Bennett's blog.

Visit The End of Feeling blog to read the full reviews.

Today is Brought to You by the Hebrew Letter Gimel

The third Hebrew letter, gimel, represents the “camel”. The desert dwelling Bedouins call the camel the “gift of God” because their entire sustenance – food, drink, clothing, fuel, and travel – depends upon it. Camels are frequently used in the Bible as a symbol of wealth and abundance. Picture the wise men with camels, bearing gifts for the Christ child.

In the Hebrew alphabet the first three letters are aleph, bet, and gimel. Aleph has the symbolic meaning of ox or “leader for God”. The second letter, bet, means “house”. Their word for father, Av, combines the first two letters, hence we clearly see the hidden meaning in this short word: the father is the leader of the house.

The word for son, ben, is spelled with the letter bet and the letter nun which means “heir”. Do you see the hidden meaning of son? Heir of the house. Makes sense to me. Therefore, we’ve got Father, Son, and … we’d expect the third letter to give us the Holy Spirit, right? How do we get that from gimel, camel?  Well, the three letters that spell gimel, also spell gamal, gamál, and gomel (vowel points were added centuries later). Gamal means camel, gamál means recompense, reward, deal bountifully or do good and gomel means benefactor or abundant giver. What I know of the Holy Spirit seems to fit these definitions, especially abundant giver – what do you think?

I love the codes in the Hebrew alphabet. As I see it the first three letters show us the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT NEW RELEASES?

* indicates required

Email Address *

A Closer Look at the TEN COMMANDMENTS

The first commandment is basically 

“I am Adonai your God” 

The word Adonai here is actually the tetragrammaton seen above and pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah, but Jews replace this sacred name with Adonai or HaShem and never speak it. If you start reading at verse 1 of Exodus chapter 20 then you know that God “spoke” all these words: the commandments. He starts with this implicit fact that He is our God.

“You shall not have other gods before me.” 

Literally, it says “before my face”, implying forever and everywhere, since God is omnipresent and eternal.

“You shall not take the name of Adonai your God in vain.” 

This commandment prohibits the voicing of the Lord’s name in an empty or useless way. Did you read that? Do not say “oh my God”! It has become a habit for too many people and it breaks my heart when I hear anyone and especially small children repeating this phrase.

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” 

Set it apart. The Sabbath should be special. Heed God’s word, after all He spends several verses on this one command explaining that you should not work on the Sabbath.

“Honor your father and your mother.” 

Now the commands switch from being about our relationship with God to being about our relationship with others. Notice that this command to honor your parents continues with a blessing for you if you obey. Read verse 12 and see what you will get if you honor your father and your mother.

“You shall not murder.” 

If your translation says “kill” it is wrong. That is too broad a word. The actual Hebrew implies illegal killing only, hence murder. This commandment does not prohibit justified killing or killing in war.

“You shall not commit adultery.” 

Could that be any clearer?

“You shall not steal.” 

Stealing implies a lack of trust that God will supply all of our needs.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” 

This commandment is implicit in our lives if we live by the truth.

“You shall not covet” 

This goes on to list the things that you shall not covet: your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox, donkey, or anything he owns. To covet is to have a selfish desire or even lust.

The commandments are given in Deuteronomy 5 as well. 

God Grants More Than We Ask

Last Monday my husband kept prodding me to call my 94 year old mom and tell we safely arrived in Florida. I put it off and forgot. The next day I got the call that she had suffered a massive stroke. We had a 21 hour drive ahead of us to race back. Though I had recently seen her and talked on the phone (always ending with I love you) I felt awful for not calling her when I should have.

Please, God, don't let her die before we get there.

God is good. First of all, she could have had that stroke alone at home and not be found for days, but she was on her way to her weekly organ lesson and a friend was picking her up. The stroke hit as she was getting in his car.

Miracle 1 - she wasn't alone, EMS came quickly, and she arrived at the hospital within minutes.

She was paralyzed on the right side, both her arm and her leg, and her speech was gone. Gone. No way to communicate. There's a drug they can give to help, but the doctors said they don't usually give it to people over 80.

Miracle 2 - she didn't look 94. She was all dressed up to go to class. They gave her the drug.

We safely arrived the next night and by the following morning she was walking down the hospital hallway.

Walking!

I had been planning a funeral in my head and hoping to see her one last time and look what God gave me! They discharged her yesterday and she has been moved into a rehab facility close to my sister.

Thank you, God, for giving us more than we ask. What a gracious, giving, loving Father.

2022 Update: She lived nine more years and passed away a few weeks before her 103rd birthday. God is good. 

 

Biblical Plagues, part 2

In the part 1 we looked at the first three plagues (Blood in the Nile, Frogs, Gnats). The next three plagues get a little more severe. We have three destructive plagues. The land was ruined by flies. Then the livestock all died. Then men and animals alike were struck with festering boils. Yuck. The Egyptian gods that the Lord was opposing in this way were Uatchit, represented by a fly, Apis and Hathor, the bull god and the goddess with the head of a cow, and Sekhmet, goddess over disease and Sunu, god of pestilence.

Plagues seven, eight and nine were dreadful and alarming. God showed his superiority over Nut, the sky goddess, Osiris, god of crops and fertility and Set, god of storms, by sending a plague of hail. Hail fell and lightning flashed and it was the worst storm ever. Take that. And if that wasn't enough for them it was followed with the plague of locusts which totally invaded the country, covering the ground until it was black. The ninth plague was a plague of darkness which challenged the Egyptian sun god, Re, as well as the sky goddess, Nut.

The final plague was the most horrible, but its result was that Moses and his people could finally leave Egypt. The plague on the firstborn meant that the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt – from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the prisoner – and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Can you imagine the crying, the grief, the horror? The Israelites, however, were saved from this plague by a Passover lamb. By putting some of the blood of the lamb on their doorframes the Lord would “pass over” their houses and not permit the destroyer to enter and strike them down. This whole sacrificial idea is a foreshadowing of Christ, the Lamb of God, as our ultimate stand-in. The Lord will “pass over” us on Judgment Day because Jesus has already paid our debt – His blood saves us.

(Taken from CROSSING THE SCRIPTURES)

You're Invited to the Facebook Launch Party for A SOUL'S KISS

Please join the Facebook Launch Party for my latest novel A SOUL'S KISS.

Tuesday, March 25, from 6 - 9 Eastern Standard time 

There will be gift cards and books as prizes.

My publishers have put together a Grand Prize, too.

Of course the whole point is to sell more books so you'll have a better chance in some of the contests if you've read A SOUL'S KISS. Available in Paperback, Kindle, Nook or other digital formats.

Biblical Plagues, part 1

The Old Testament book of Exodus teaches that redemption is essential to a relationship with the most Holy God. Even a redeemed people cannot have fellowship with Him unless they are constantly cleansed and purified from corruption, defilement, and transgressions (sin).

Let’s look specifically at The Plagues. (Read Exodus chapters 7 through 11.) There are nine plagues before the horrible 10th plague that culminated in the Passover. The plagues were 1) Blood in the Nile, 2) Frogs, 3) Gnats, 4) Flies, 5) Death of Livestock, 6) Boils, 7) Hail, 8) Locusts and 9) Darkness. Let’s take them in groups of three since they seem to cluster nicely that way.

Book Launch Today! A SOUL'S KISS

It's so exciting to have a book I've worked on for a year and a half finally make it to the bookstores, especially that big one called Amazon.

Get your copy today! 
My other young adult books are sliding over to make room for A SOUL'S KISS in Paperback or Kindle or Nook or other ereader.

Colossians, part 2

Colossians, part 2

In the third and fourth chapters of Colossians Paul reminded Christians how they should live. They should think about the things in heaven because they belong with Christ. They should not do evil deeds. Instead, they should love other people. And they should serve God.

Paul gives us “rules” for holy living. Here they are:

1.   Set your hearts and minds on things above.

2.   Deny your earthly nature of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed.

3.   Rid yourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language.

4.   Do not lie to each other.

5.   Be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.

6.   Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have.

7.   Put on love and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

8.   Be thankful.

9.   Let the word of Christ dwell in you.

10. Do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.