Through a move of God, and with this ministry’s help, we were able to get a second family day. The Messianic and Orthodox Jews chose Chanukah. I taught on the life of the Eagle and, for me, God “turned on the light”.
The Orthodox Jews were so grateful for this second family day that they served the food and drink to the Messianic Jews and their families. On the outside of the prison, this would never have been done. This act alone was a miracle; but God was about to make the light brighter.
The inmates have been sending me their testimonials, and, through this, I want to tell a story about an inmate. I will call him “Jim” to protect his identity. He was a new believer and was at the Chanukah Festival. He knew nothing about Chanukah, and very little about Messianic Judaism. He asked me a lot of questions.
The inmates wanted to take a picture of the guys who went through baptism. I took the picture; but then “Jim” asked me a question: “What is baptism?”
It became a divine appointment and a teachable moment. Here is why:
The word “baptism” is not a translation. It is a transliteration. What that means is they take the Greek word, twist it a little bit, and make it into an English word instead of translating it. Anyone who understands Spanish knows what I’m saying.
The Greek word “baptizo” is only adjusted for the English language. You do not really know what it means, so you must learn it from somewhere else.
The word “baptizo” is a word used in the ancient dye and garment industry. If you took a white shirt and dunked it into red dye, the white shirt would become red -soaked with the red dye. The white shirt has taken on the properties and characteristics of the red dye. The action of plunging and bringing out was called “baptizo”.
Baptism is not just a picture of going under and coming up. It is the picture of the soaking up the dye. You are immersed in the spirit and the spirit is immersed in you. You are soaked with the spirit, and you are changed. Just like the white shirt when it is dipped in the red dye, you are given a new “spiritual DNA”.
Today, “Jim” is a strong believer in the Messianic movement. Like everybody else, when this happens to them, very few people see the change immediately. They are still looking at that “first impression“; but “Jim” knows that the change has affected him.
God, for “Jim”, has “turned on the lights”.
This Ministry has strong financial needs. We have started a drive called “Operation Eagle”. It’s a way for you to help in this part of the ministry to support it.
Every week we produce a newsletter called “The Scribe’s Journal”. This newsletter takes the portion of the Torah that is read in every Jewish synagogue in the world, and places the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) into it.
Through email, this newsletter is free for everyone; but not for printing and mailing. It costs about $10.00 per month for an inmate to get the printed copy of this newsletter. That works out to about $2.32 a week or $.33 a day.
You can help put this word of God into the hands of an inmate, and change his/her life forever. You can do it at www.torahlifeministry.com/support . Any amount would be greatly appreciated.