Feb 1, 2011
Posted on Feb 1, 2011 in Inspiration, Interfaith, Miscellaneous | 1 comment
Anyone who has known me any length of time knows both my passion for music, and my eclectic tastes. I may be listening to classical music one day, hard rock (Christian, of course) the next, and chassidic the day after. I first heard about Day of Fire from one of my employees back around 2003. I was immediately gripped by their driving guitars, haunting melodies and raw vocal delivery. Although front man, Josh Brown, sung for the Lord back then, he has a different melody today. Here is a little background on the band before I expound:
The Alternative-Rock act Day Of Fire got its start in 2002 when vocalist Josh Brown, ex-frontman of Full Devil Jacket, returned to the music scene. Brown has gone into rehab after severe bouts with drug abuse; he began writing songs again with guitarist + songwriter Gregg Hionis and the pair began playing in their hometown of Jackson, Tennessee USA, enlisting the help of guitarist Phil X, Chris Chaney, bass player from Jane’s Addiction and drummer Gary Novak.
The band’s self-titled debut album was finally released in late 2004 on Essential Records; the 11-track set broke into the top 30 of the U.S. Christian Albums chart and the single “Fade Away” reached the #27 position on The Mainstream Rock Tracks.
Following the recruitment of guitarist Joe Pangallo, his brother Chris Pangallo on bass and drummer Zach Simms, Brown and Hionis recorded and released Day Of Fire’s sophomore effort, “Cut & Move”, in mid-2006; they supported the record on the road with bands like Pillar and Decyfer Down and the CD eventually peaked at #14 on the Top Christian chart. The two albums sold more than 150,000 copies combined.
Today, Josh Brown is playing music to a different beat. After playing a show with Third Day and Toby Mac in 2004, he met up with an old friend who began to share with him some concepts of Torah with him. Over the next six years, he began re-reading the Bible and wrestling with some of the Torah thoughts presented to him that night after the concert. He came to a conclusion that as a believer, he should be keeping the Sabbath and God’s commandments, stating:
“I don’t keep the Sabbath and the commandments of God because I have to do these things to accept the mercy of God and what Yeshua did on the cross. But I do these things because I love the God that wrote these commandments. That’s why I do them. Because I love Him and I want to know Him more. And I realize the only way I am going to know Him more is by doing what He has prescribed in the Bible for me to do. And as I do them more, I get to know Him more, because He really is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
In 2010, Josh Brown spent eight days living in his sukkah and celebrating his first Succot (Feast of Tabernacles) where he also performed his first Messianic concert.
Want to know the whole story? You can listen to the interview here.
Special thanks to Messianic Directory for this info.
Jun 4, 2009
Posted on Jun 4, 2009 in Miscellaneous | 3 comments
If you would like to see more texts available freely online that related to Messianic studies, please consider helping me out. I’m looking for a volunteer to help develop my textual repository site DWD eTexts. I currently have posted all of Pirkei Avot (in both Hebrew and English, with a bit of commentary), Odes of Solomon, the Didache, and have begun adding 1 Clement.
You don’t have to be a web developer. You just need to be a little computer savvy. Essentially, you would just be logging into the site and copying/pasting in text. There would be a little formatting required, but not much. If anyone would like to help me add more texts (and finish 1 Clement) to this site, please post a comment on this post.
Apr 14, 2009
Posted on Apr 14, 2009 in Minhag, Pesach, Yeshua | 0 comments
Quick post…
Last year we enjoyed our first “Moshiach’s Seudah” which is basically a mini-seder that revolves around the telling of stories about Messiah. This is a fairly recent tradition, done mostly in chassidic circles. I don’t have time to post details, but we had a great time last year and are planning on it this year as well. We used both rabbinic lore and narratives from the Gospels. I loved it when my then 3-year-old’s eyes got as big as saucers as I dramatically told the story of Yeshua walking on the water to meet his talmidim. Here are a couple of resources:
http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/days-of-destiny/24.htm#n1
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/151041/jewish/The-Eighth-Day-of-Pesach-The-Feast-of-Mashiach.htm
Mar 17, 2009
Posted on Mar 17, 2009 in Feasts & Holy Days, Pesach, Shop, Yeshua | 3 comments
My Cup of Redemption Passover Haggadah is now available for purchase. The price is $12 per copy or $10 each for a 5-pack, and includes the following features:
- Full color cover & back
- 52 pages
- Spiral bound (to lay flat when reading)
- Messianic implications of Passover
- English, Hebrew & Transliteration for key blessings
- Easy-to-read typesetting & layout
This year, the first Seder will be Wednesday night, April 8 (5769/2009). Order today to make sure you have yours in time for Pesach!
Mar 17, 2009
Posted on Mar 17, 2009 in Downloads, Feasts & Holy Days, Pesach | 9 comments
Thanks to everyone who gave me input on deciding what to name my Messianic haggadah. Special thanks to Aaron Eby for choosing the “winning” title, “Cup of Redemption.” I wracked my brain with numerous options for titles, but landed on “Cup of Redemption” as the title, because it conveyed my point of connecting the Exodus and the Last Seder of our Master, Yeshua, plus it has great imagery attached to it. Thanks, Aaron for the great suggestion!
You have two options for getting your hands on this haggadah. You can either download it for free as a pdf doc (Adobe® Reader), or if you’re like me and want the “full effect,” you can purchase a physical copy, complete with a full-color cover and spiral binding—so that it lays flat at the Seder table as you are reading from it. I’ll have the physical version available this afternoon, but in the meantime you can download the pdf and check it out.
Update: The Haggadah has been updated as of March 14, 2010! Physical copies are available for shipping now.
Download: Cup of Redemption Haggadah (PDF)
