#(but amo conquers <3)< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[odi-et-amo85]

Happy birthday!! May your 27th treat you well ❤️

Okay, I’m just gonna say “thank you so much sweetheart,” because it’s beyond embarrassing that it took me over a year to respond to this. 😳

[gunkreads]

Making a post for my full-series thoughts about The Expanse and how it wrapped up, good and bad.

Caveat lector (I looked up the latin word for "reader" just for this joke): when I have negative thoughts about something in a book, I force myself to pick them apart down to the most minute details. This generates massive walls of text. These text walls don't mean I truly loathe the thing; they mean I'm doing my absolute best to not be a Hater, but rather to analyze my feelings so that you can read something more constructive and interesting than "X was dumb and didn't work".

I want to break this down into six parts: one for each of the main characters (Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex), one for the plot, and one for the world (it'll make sense when I get to it, hopefully). This may not be as long as it sounds like it'll be, but it's still long as fuck.

Bear in mind that I read this series very slowly, over about three months, so some of the early-series details are hazy and my opinions on them should be taken with the assumption that I've forgotten some stuff.

On Holden, I can be brief:

His arc was almost a full 180. Call it a 173, give or take 5 degrees. Holden starts the series with the stalwart belief that "if you give everyone all the information available, they'll make the right choice". Eventually, during the Free Navy arc, he moves to "If you give everyone all the information available, they'll eventually make the right choice". During his Laconian imprisonment, he moves to "If you give the right person the right information, they'll make the right choice" (this is the biggest jump we see). That part was fun because he'd just almost turned into Miller. Fucking excellent.

He ends on "I have all the information and I have no idea what the right choice is, but I have to act." This is the very last thing he does: make a snap decision with all the information in the world, fully accepting that he might be wrong. The meat of this final decision is to take the stars away. Holden says "It doesn't matter if we deserve this, it doesn't matter if we'll earn it or conquer it eventually; we're dying now," and makes the decision for all of humanity that he's going to destroy the ring gates.

This could have felt cheap because of the way it completely absolves him of the responsibility for his decision, but it feels fully earned because this type of decision is his ENTIRE CHARACTER. The point of James Holden is that he takes hard choices away from people and makes them himself! He's already taken responsibility for dozens of these types of decisions before. He says there's no choice here; I'm going off to die. He survives this a hundred times, then finally dies from it. This makes it a beautiful ending for him. I loved it. He's such a profoundly simple character throughout a series with fairly complex characters, and that makes him feel truly special rather than lazy writing.

On Naomi... I have mixed feelings.

I feel that her lack of "epilogue" (not the literal epilogue, just a conclusive send-off for her character) made her ending less weighty than it could have been. If I had to point to a specific line that felt like her full-series character arc's climax, it would be Alex's "It would have worked beautifully" in reference to Naomi's program to monitor Ring gate traffic. Naomi's character is marked by decades of desperate cries for people to fucking listen to her, for them to believe her, that she wants everyone to live! She has the plan, she's objectively a logistical genius, and if you just tell her what's happening, she can save all of you fucking idiots! Alex's line there broke my heart clean in half. She won the wrong fight. She scored the season-winning goal the moment after the league was dismantled.

Naomi is a character about the frustration of having an answer but no voice with which to share it. This really comes to a head in Act 3, when she's coordinating the resistance (as well as anyone possibly could!) with the most janky, fucked-up communication system anyone could possibly design. If I consider that line of Alex's to be Naomi's legacy in the series, which I do, I'm very happy with her arc overall, but...

I don't really like the way she seemed to just drop off the map at the end of the last book. She has her little moment where she's pre-mourning Holden after he's revealed that he's injected himself with more protomolecule, but after that? She seems to just be... kind of moving forward. She's just working, nothing more--strategically, what she does in the series' climax is no more difficult than anything she's done before; it just has higher stakes and she's clearly drowning her grief in work. The thing that feels weird to me is that, while she gets the last line in the book (pre-epilogue), and her series-long arc closes out very neatly, it feels like her little mini-arc of the moment of that final climax never settles out properly. She gets cut off at the 80% mark and just... disappears.

I like to assume that she fully retired after getting back through to Sol. She deleted all those incoming messages and dropped herself fully off the map, feeling like it was finally time to give up after saving the entire universe. The simple act of her deleting the messages would've given me that closure, but as it was, there's just this little nag at the back of my mind that her arc in the book ended like five seconds too early.

It's a minor nitpick! I loved the way the climax wrapped around and had her basically leading humanity for a few beautiful moments, with all her hard work almost paying off before the game changed.

Amos? I fucking love Amos.

I loved him before, I loved him during, and I love him after. Everyone loves Amos. I'm not special. He really was the last man standing, after all. Fucking beautiful. Perfection. A simple arc, a simple conclusion, and a simple message for a simple character. His only real change in the series was during Persepolis Rising, when he had to deal with Clarissa's slow death, and while that was excellent, it was really more of an arc for Bobbie.

Alex... is the character whose ending I cared about the least.

I don't dislike it; it's fully above that margin, and on a surface level, I think ending his whole character arc on his answer to the family problem he's struggled with his whole life is a good choice.

It was interesting that they had his presence end before we'd confirmed he was safe, and with a slight hint that he might not make it to Nieuwestad. I didn't like that at first glance, but after further thought, I enjoy it as a way for the authors to say "the journey and destination don't matter; the conclusion of Alex's story was when he truly chose to step in this direction."

But overall, I don't know if I have much to say about Alex. He's a very sparse character who has less overt reason to be simple than Holden or Amos do; the latter two both have something deeply, deeply wrong with them that makes them really fucking wacko in a specific way, but Alex is just... kind of a regular deadbeat dad? He's just really into flying ships? That's kind of it. I know they explore that in Cibola Burn, but I didn't feel like Alex had that much presence in the whole story as a character, so I found the simple, vague ending they gave him satisfying enough through my general apathy.

For the plot!

The big stuff, the shape of the story. I still have a huge complaint about it: the Free Navy arc felt way too long and way too much of a sidetrack. It functioned as setup for Laconia, yes; it also had literally nothing to do with the overarching story. It felt like a side mission blown out of proportion, which is weirdly appropriate for a story that started out as a TTRPG setting.

On the above? I am one HUNDRED percent willing to be proven wrong. Please, please, please talk me out of my position here. I am currently at one end of the spectrum, where I actively see disconnections from the Free Navy arc and the main plot; I'd love to be pulled to the other end, where I can see how it all ties in. The problem is that I can see the cause-and-effect tie-ins: I get that Earth needed to be destroyed to truly push people through the gates, I get that the huge catastrophe needed to happen to distract from Laconia's growth, I get that it was an end to the concept of a unified Belt/OPA, and I get that it was an immensely well-done arc for Naomi's character, but... I feel like it's a puzzle piece that just fits in a little loosely.

Moving on. I think the wrapup of the whole protomolecule makers/dark gods lore discovery (via Elvi at the BFE) was quite well done, especially given that it was done in such a dispersed way. I felt like I never got a "sit down, here's the deal" exposition dump of like... generally what the nature of all this stuff was. I was just expected to read the "The Dreamer" chapters very carefully, remember the "The Investigator" chapters pretty well, pay attention to how the ring entities worked, and put together the cleanly laid-out pieces myself. I feel I succeeded at this, given that reading through the wiki pages for the ring builders and the smoke things doesn't really reveal anything new to me.

That said, I was... kind of too in-the-moment to process how insane the implication of the final reveal was: that this whole thing was a hidden metaphor for colonialism all along, and that these dark smoke entities are justifiably fighting back against a wound in (sub)reality that the protomolecule builders created. The road to heaven is paved in metaphysical blood, I guess? The protomolecule builders weren't willing to be as decisive as Holden, weren't willing to sacrifice all they'd built, and consequently left their problems for another generation of beings when they died; Holden managed to have the magical willpower to say "Fuck this, I'm shutting it down, even though it'll kill millions and change humanity forever." It was kind of cool that he got that send-off, performing a profound act of healing in this sub-universe by deleting the ring space. Maybe I'm leaning too heavily on my interpretation of this theme, but it feels fairly clear-cut to me, honestly, so I'd love to hear other interpretations.

Regarding the world.

This section is kind of a subsection of the plot, but I feel like "where does the series leave humanity?" is a question that falls more under "worldbuilding" than "story" in this specific series.

These books had so much fucking philosophy in them and it felt like none of it really mattered much. Most of that philosophy stopped at a very broad-spectrum level of analysis, which is the series' greatest... not weakness, necessarily, but missed potential: no philosophical conundrum is ever interrogated beyond the immediate scenario or vague hypotheticals. The authors clearly have a very specific set of ideas about human nature that all felt very generic to me when put into practice; I felt that humanity through their lens was a fairly predictable beast, which only sort of worked.

I understand that The Expanse is, at its core, a character series. More than anything, it's about the people in it; its plot is a vehicle for characters, not the other way around. In that sense, it ended in an overall great way, as discussed above. Because of that, when I judge the story on what it tried to achieve, I think it succeeded.

But when I broaden my approach a little and look at what the authors suggested to me that they could do, I feel like there's more to say. The end of the story, I need not remind you, is effectively a soft reset for humanity. There's no more interstellar travel until they figure it out for real this time, with no cheats--and per the epilogue, they do just that. The core message behind this is that humanity's tenacity will always push them in the same direction: outward. The problem with this, in my opinion, was that the authors chose to express this throughout the series in a very obtuse way: by making "everyone else" a character.

The following is specifically regarding Act 3 (Persepolis Rising on):

So the series is about its characters, and "everyone else" is a character. By having the scope of the story affect all of humanity, all of humanity must necessarily be involved. As far as Act 3 is concerned, this means that the gears of industry never stop turning, people never stop hating and loving, and all apocalyptic danger is effectively ignored to those ends. This made our perspective characters part of a small, exclusive group of people who were actually worried about the universe ending. Everyone else seemed to... not really care. They were scared, sure, but they didn't stop shipping stuff through the ring gates! It was fundamentally stupid, and as far as the authors seem to believe, fundamentally human.

My problem is that the story puts "all of humanity" into the same framework it puts its individual characters. As Act 3 hits, basically everyone not involved in direct on-page conflict is treated as one single character. This is fucking monumentally ironic, given the way the story ends and the whole hive-mind thing. I get how you might not see what I'm seeing here, but consider this: the story feeds us information about what "everyone else" is doing almost exclusively via Naomi. She's the traffic controller; that's her main job for the last two books. In her mind, the character named Everybody Else (Mx. Else, for brevity) is just... doing stuff she can't control. Mx. Else is upping traffic through the ring gates; Mx. Else is a threat to the underground's security; Mx. Else is blowing up the communications relays; Mx. Else is yadda yadda yadda.

It's not about whether Mx. Else is actually supposed to be a homogeneous entity (again, lol @ the irony); it's about the fact that we, the readers, only see Mx. Else as a single huge force. The way the authors write it through Naomi's eyes, "The UNN", "The MCRN", "The OPA", "The Free Navy", "Laconia", "Avasarala", "Saba", "Duarte", and most incongruously but importantly "humanity" are all the same type of entity. Groups and people get lumped together as characters, sure, and that works--but not when you expand the group to be everyone.

What would I have done? Simple. Shut the fuck up and write my own book, if I'm so smart Retain some semblance of different human groups in Act 3 besides "Laconia" and "the underground". Why don't Auberon or Bara Gaon have communities with specific interests? Why does Naomi not have to juggle the desires of different planets, all of whom are still doing shit the whole time, and OBVIOUSLY have interests beyond "just truckin' along"?

Here's my thesis: when there were 3 factions (UN, MCR, OPA) this worked fine. When the authors made some big "nature of humanity" statement, it tracked, because they were making that statement as a blanket over multiple opposing groups, which made it feel more potent--all these people who want to kill each other have this in common. Later in the series, when they're making the same type of statement, it doesn't track as well because most of humanity is all in one group; it's not a statement that unites any opposing groups, really, since Laconia and the underground aren't really included in it.

You know what? I kind of wish I could put all this under another, smaller cut, because it's really rambly and it's not reflective of my overall thoughts on the series.

To sum up, I feel that the series' philosophy and commentary on human nature was simplified more than it needed to be from a practical standpoint, and instead turned to a big old "oh well, nothing we can do about Mx. Else" that the characters could point to when it was appropriate.

To conclude (nine pages later and you're still here, so this one's for you):

:)

[still-single]

HEATHEN DISCO show no. 350 streaming now

HOUR 1

David Oliver – I Wanna Write You a Love Song

Dip in the Pool – On Retinae (West Version)

John Fahey – Untitled (w/o Rain)

The Afghan Whigs – My Curse

Tirzah – 2 D I C U V

Emil Amos – Blue Palms

Adulkt Life – Art of Boxing

Los Llamarada – There Is Nothing

The Breeders – Iris

Gabi Delgado – Mistress

Third World War – Preaching Violence

Rezzett – Borjormi Spring

Luxor Rentals – Suzuki Samourai Jam

HOUR 2

David Nance – When I Saw You Last Night

Earth and Fire – Vivid Shady Land

Mandy Morton & Spriguns – Goodbye the Day

Eric’s Trip – Belly (live, Vermont, Oct 1992)

The Third Eye Foundation – Sleep

Oblivion – Lush

Aphex Twin – Blackbox Life Recorder 21f

Charles Earland – Betty’s Dilemma

Dopplereffekt – Speak & Spell

Anne Clark – Counter Act (The Creation Remix Instrumental)

Hi Power – Simba Groove

The Jesus & Mary Chain – Rollercoaster

African Head Charge – Microdosing

Sonic Youth – Sugar Kane (live Brooklyn Aug 2011)

HOUR 3

Sweet Talks – Do the Beat

Toktok vs. Soffy O. – Day of Mine (Ludicrous Idiots)

Prodrome – Defrag Exaltation

Chris & Cosey – Exotika

The Yummy Fur – Plastic Cowboy

Tube Alloys – Blooding

Colleen – Night Looping Movement III

Charles Gayle Quartet – Death Conquered

High Rise – Mainliner

[redcandle17]

Cora Reilly mafia romance universe (part 2)

Continuation from part 1.

Sins of the Fathers

- #1 By Sin I Rise: Part One and #2 By Sin I Rise: Part Two - Marcella Vitiello is the 19 year old daughter and eldest child of Luca & Aria. Maddox White is a 25 year old biker who witnessed Luca brutally slaughter his father and nine other members of his father’s motorcycle club when he was five. His uncle tasks him with kidnapping Marcella - supposedly to make Luca exchange himself for his daughter so they can kill him - and Maddox complies, but then finds himself having to protect Marcella from his fellow bikers. 

- #3 By Virtue I Fall - Anna Cavallaro is the eldest child of Dante & Valentina. Santino Bianchi was perfectly happy as an enforcer for Dante until he was reassigned to be Anna’s bodyguard when he was 22 and she was 12. He’s surly and irreverent, and Anna is provocative and assertive, and by the time she’s 17/18 she’s intentionally tempting and teasing him and he’s desperately trying to pretend he isn’t tempted. Then they are alone together while she goes to college in Paris...

- # 4 By Fate I Conquer - Amo Vitiello is the son of Luca & Aria from the Born In Blood series and Greta Falcone is the daughter of Remo & Serafina from the Camorra Chronicles. Greta is neuroatypical and kind of Luna Lovegood-esque in saying what she’s thinking and feeling, regardless of how odd or socially awkward it may be. Amo is smitten with Greta from the first time he meets her, but his father Luca forces him to marry someone else. Greta and Amo can’t stay away from each other, however. 

[psalmonesermons]

The other side to Christmas Psalm 45 At this time of year many people think of the baby in the manger and it is good to reflect on the beautiful story of the nativity. However, Jesus Christ did not remain a baby but became the mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Saviour of the world, and the Bridegroom of his church.. So often we can focus in on the wonderful meekness and humility of Jesus (the suffering servant of Isaiah 53; the crucified Messiah) and yet neglect His power and majesty a mighty conquering King! Through the blood of the cross He defeated him who had the power over death and having risen entered the holy of holies and presented once and for all His holy sinless blood on the mercy seat as a propitiation (turned away God's wrath) for the sin of man. We are now going to consider Jesus Christ as the conquering hero and Jesus Christ the victorious bridegroom. We must never forget that Jesus Christ defeated sin and death and has the keys of death and hell, and he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to Him. Psalm 45 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves. 45:1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore, God hath blessed thee for ever. 3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. 4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth, meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach these terrible things. 5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. 6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 9 Kings' daughters were amo https://www.instagram.com/p/CmdluYzoAwE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[the-hem]

"The Voice in the Wilderness." From the Gospel of Saint John, 6-9, 19-26.

The Voice in the Wilderness is propesied in the Book of Isaiah, circa 800-700 BCE. Israel was conquered by the fiercely monotheistic and legalistic Assyrians and the first real prophet of Israel, Amos began to record his testimony followed by his son, Isaiah ben Amoz thereafter.

Solomon's sons and their exesses left the Kingdom wide open and in came the Assyrians with their Legal Code and life was never the same. The Book of Isaiah reminds the former people of the Kingdom of Israel their God and His Code, His Torah were every bit as good as that of the Assyrians and to take heart.

The Prophet John, circa 100 CE proclaims the Voice in the Wildnerness the voice of one longing for the unconditional, unmodifiied, inimitable Presence of God was speaking, prepare to heed it.

Following is how this process of speaking and hearing is recorded in the Fourth Gospel. First came the Light and the Witness to the Light, which is of equal importance in preparing for the Arrival of Christ. Without this process, whether through the eyes or the ears or the nose or the skin, or through taste, called Ha Shem in Hebrew, one cannot know God. One must prepare and then one may Know.

In between the self and the Self, is something called John:

The verb חנן (hanan) means to be gracious or to favor. Nouns חן (hen), חנינה (hanina), תחנה (tehinna) and תחנון (tahanun) mean favor or grace. Adverb חנם (hinnam) means freely or gratis, and adjective חנון (hannun) means gracious.

John-Natan is the gift:

The masculine noun מתן (mattan), meaning gift; marriage gifts (Genesis 34:12), offerings (Numbers 18:11) or presents (Proverbs 18:16).

The feminine version of the previous noun: מתנה (mattana), also meaning gift or offering. This noun is also used to describe the "gift of one's hand", that is one's talent(s) (Deuteronomy 16:17).

The feminine noun מתת (mattat), meaning gift or reward (Ezekiel 46:5, Ecclesiastes 3:13).

Together we get Jonathan, the name of King David's woofie:

"The shape-shifting verb נתן (natan) means to give in a broad bouquet of senses, from regular giving or bestowing, to setting or putting, to transforming one thing or situation into another.

This verb's three nouns מתן (mattan), מתנה (mattana) and מתת (mattat) all mean gift, again broadly ranging from a regular present to an offering to an innate talent (being "gifted")."

The Witness

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 

7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 

8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

A man sent from God is a sentient being who leads others out of the darkness of insentience, called the wilderness. We know baby John and Baby Jesus spoke in the womb, so one presumes that John achieved sentience in utero, and came to report on the circumstances as an adult about the adult version of Christ.

Sentience is transmitted. God gives us life, the Light behind one's eyes, but the real gift of life is sentience. As the Earthbound Spirit of God, Christ is the pre-eminent Cause of sentience in the modern world. He taught people how to be fully civilized after Rome caused the final remants of the Israelite civilization to fold. Fortunately remnants of His Christianity have remained with us.

As with learning to add or subtract, to sing or play the violin or fix a car or swim in the Olympics, God does none of these things. The real gift of life comes from other human beings, and we sell this short. Christ's Cause was the same- to teach people how to be kind.

For this to work, we need to see someone being nice, and we need to believe they are of God in Christ or the Testimony is just offal, it is rot.

The Values in Gematria for the above verses are:

v. 6: the Value in Gematria is 4541, דהדא, "the echo of dahda" "the echo of understanding back on itself."

v. 7: the Value in Gematria is 4658, דוה‎ח‎, a doh ho, "a report for the masses about Him."

v. 8: the Value in Gematria is 3914, ג‎טאד‎‎, gettad, "the gate to love."

The government of Rome wasn't exactly telling the world it was in love with it, nor did the people have any delusions about this, just as we should not, especially after the cuntlappers and President Biden gave Ukraine the big schcrew last week.

John's message to the peopleof Rome and now to us about a God that demonstrates love for the universe was scandalous and outrageous. People gathered to interrogate him on the other side of the Jordan...that means they were grown ups with adult minds:

The Testimony

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[c] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[d]

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with[e] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Values in Gematria for verses 23-38 are as follows:

v. 23: the Value in Gematria is 7655, ז‎והה, identified, ‎‎‎"he crawled."

v. 24-25: the Value in Gematria is 8917, חטא‎ז, he sinned...

v. 26-27: the Value in Gematria is 12913, יבטאג‎, will be tagged.

To be tagged in Judaism and Christianity is to achieve unity between tagin and kether, and know oneself as pure consciousness, beyond all categories, timeless, a point that crystallises out of the Ein Soph Aur, the pure Balsam of the Holy Spirit.

v. 28: the Value in Gematria is 6010, סאאֶפֶס‎, saapes, at zero, at the ankle. To grab the future by the ankle, as Jacob did with Esau is to presume cannot ignore or forget the agonizing details of its origins.

John told the world it could, should and would be a better place, but first it was going to have to grovel and admit something unusual had to be done.

As in the Age of Isaiah and then the Gospel Era we have a Code to implement. Its rationale is above: an end to sin and cowering before God and the achievement full unity with His Hallow Spirit.

Here endeth the lesson called the Kabbalah of the Witness and the Testimony in the case of the Glorious Revelation of the forthcoming of the importance of the Christ.

[rainsmediaradio]

The Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional 11th December 2023 By Dr. D.K Olukoya – The Wonders of Rods (11).

TOPIC: The Wonders of Rods (11). Memory Verse: Exodus 4:17. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. Motivational Quote God’s word is the believer’s weapon to enforce His dominion and dispense His grace. Prophetic word for today Today, God will place the rod of Moses in your hand. Your stubbom Pharaoh will release you and your Red Sea obstacles will vanish, in the name of Jesus. Fire Scripture: Exodus 4:1-5 1And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. Praise & Worship BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Amos 9; Obadiah 1; James 2 – 3

MFM DAILY DEVOTIONAL 11TH DECEMBER 2023 

As a believer, another kind of rod you need is the rod of Moses. The rod of Moses is the rod of deliverance. Do you need complete deliverance? You need the rod of Moses in your hands. With that rod, Moses brought plagues upon Egypt and subdued the multiple strong men in the land as well as the powers that kept Israel in bondage. He proved to Pharaoh that the God of Israel is sovereign, all-powerful, mighty to save and delivers to the uttermost. No matter how far the devil and his demons have gone in holding you in bondage and afflicting you, when you confront them with the rod of Moses, heaven will give you a great deliverance. The rod of Moses is also the rod that disgraces the oppressor. When Moses stretched his rod to the heavenlies and brought plagues on Egypt, both Pharaoh, the taskmasters and other oppressors in the land were discomfited. It is a veritable weapon to oppress your oppressor. When you stretch it towards witchcraft powers they will bow and flee from you. With it, you can destroy the works of the devil and trample on serpents and scorpions. The rod of Moses is the rod to pull down any stronghold battling your life. Use it as the weapon of warfare to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You need it to fight from the heavenlies and to confront and conquer Pharaoh-like, Herod-like, Goliath-like and Sennacherib- like enemies. You also need to stretch it towards uncrossable rivers, turbulent oceans and places the enemy said there is no way. Your Red Seas will part asunder and all blockades will turn to highways for you to pass. It is the rod for producing signs and wonders freely given to the saints of salvation! As a New Testament believer, the word of God is your instrument of signs and wonders. So also are spiritual weapons like the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Use them to get unstoppable victory and reign in life.

MFM DAILY PRAYER POINTS 11TH DECEMBER 2023

PRAYER POINTS MORNING 1. My Father, place the rod of Moses in my hands, so that I can deal with the heavenlies and deal with Pharaoh, in the name of Jesus. 2. Pharaoh-like enemies, release me now and die. in the name of Jesus. 3. Spirit of slavery, I am not your candidate, die, in the name of Jesus. EVENING 4. O God, arise and trouble the hosts of darkness assigned against my life and destiny. in the name of Jesus. 5. By the power in the word of God, I command my Red Sea to part, in the name of Jesus. 6. I declare that I am for signs and wonders, in the name of Jesus. 7. O God, arise and oppress my oppressors, in the name of Jesus. Read the full article

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Monday, October 30, 2023

ocotber 30_october 17

THE HOLY PROPHET HOSEA (820 AC)

The Holy Prophet Hosea the first of the minor prophets, belonged to the tribe of Issachar. He lived during the ninth Century before Christ, in the kingdom of Israel. He was a contemporary of the holy Prophets Isaiah, Micah and Amos. During this time, many of his fellow Israelites had forgotten the true God, and worshipped idols. The holy Prophet Hosea attempted to turn them again to the faith of their Fathers by his wise counsels. Denouncing the iniquities of the people of Israel (i.e. the northern kingdom Israel), the prophet proclaimed to them great misfortunes from a foreign people and their removal into captivity by Assyria.

Almost a thousand years before the coming of the Savior, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet foretold the end of sacrificial offerings and of the priesthood of Aaron (Hos. 3:4-5), and that the knowledge of the True God would spread through all the earth (Hos. 2:20-23). Hosea spoke also about Christ, how He would return from out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1; compare Mt. 2:15), that He would be resurrected on the third day (Hos. 6 and especially Hos.6:2; compare with 1 Cor.15:4), and that He would conquer death (Hos.13-14. Compare 1 Cor.15:54-55).

The prophesies of Saint Hosea are included in the book that bears his name. The prophetic service of Saint Hosea continued for more than sixty years. The God-inspired prophet died in deep old age, having devoted all his life to fulfilling the Will of God.

MARTYR SUSANNA (Shushanik) QUEEN OF GEORGIA (475)

Saint Shushanik (Susanna) was the wife of the Georgian prince Varsken, the ruler of Hereti (a province of southeastern Georgia). Hereti was under Persian control at that time; Varsken was essentially the viceroy for the Persians. Having been raised in a pious Christian family, she was deeply penetrated with love and the fear of God.

At that time Kartli was under heavy political pressure from Persia, and Prince Varsken visited the Persian king Peroz in hopes of encouraging more friendly relations between the two countries. He willingly denied the true Faith, converted to the worship of fire, and promised the king to convert his wife and children upon his return to Hereti.

Having approached the border of Hereti, Varsken sent messengers to Tsurtavi, the city in which he ruled, to ensure that his subjects met him with due respect. The blessed Shushanik, having learned of her husband’s betrayal, fell to the ground and wept over him with bitter tears. Then she took her four children, deserted the palace, and sought refuge in a nearby church.

That evening Shushanik was visited by her spiritual father, the elder Jacob, who predicted, “Varsken’s cruelty and mercilessness are unmistakable. Know that terrible trials await you. Will you be firm and unbending in your position?”

“I would rather die than unite with him and destroy my soul!” she answered.

Three days later the prince arrived in Tsurtavi. As promised, he tried to persuade his wife to convert, but Saint Shushanik firmly answered, “As you have renounced your Creator, so I am renouncing you. I will no longer take part in your affairs, no matter what suffering I must endure!”

The next time, Varsken sent his younger brother Jojik and Bishop Apots to convince Shushanik to return to the palace. Shushanik refused for some time, but in the end she yielded to their persuasion. She set off for the palace with the Holy Gospel and the Lives of the holy martyrs, and when she arrived she locked herself in a squalid cell. Two days later Varsken returned to the palace and invited Shushanik, his brother Jojik, and his sister-in-law for supper. The queen, however, could not bring herself to share a meal with one who had betrayed Christ: she pushed away the cup that Jojik’s wife had offered her, thus further angering her husband.

The furious Varsken beat his wife mercilessly, fettered her in irons, locked her in prison, and forbade the guards to let anyone in to see her.

Saint Shushanik spent six years in captivity. While she was serving her sentence, she helped the poor that came to her. Through her prayers the sick were healed and children were born to the childless. Before her death, Holy Martyr Shushanik blessed those around her and requested that she be buried at the place from which her unbelieving husband had dragged her out of the palace.

This happened in the year 475. The clergy and people alike wept bitterly over Shushanik’s tragic fate. Her holy relics were buried in accordance with her will.

In 578, with the blessing of Catholicos Kirion I, Saint Shushanik’s holy relics were translated to Tbilisi, where they remain today, in the Metekhi Church of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Saint Susanna of Georgia is also commemorated on August 28.

COLOSSIANS 2:13-20

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-

LUKE 9:18-22

18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" 19 So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." 20 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."

[princeofgod-2021]

LIGHT OF LIFE 414

John 1:4

UNDERSTANDING PROPHETIC MANDATES 48: FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY 6

Amo 3:7 CERTAINLY, THE ALMIGHTY LORD DOESN'T DO ANYTHING UNLESS HE FIRST REVEALS HIS SECRET TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS. GW

Because of Negative Pronouncements in fulfillment of such Prophecies as Peter’s or Stephen's, many Christians would prefer to “Play safe” in order to “reverse” unsavoury occurrences.

Joh 21:18-19 The truth is, when you were young, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, YOU WILL PUT OUT YOUR HANDS, and someone else will tie your belt. They will lead you where you don't want to go." (JESUS SAID THIS TO SHOW HOW PETER WOULD DIE TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD.) Then he said to Peter, "Follow me!" ERV

I love Peter so much because of how he totally embraced his “Cross” and was even docile at the time of his first major imprisonment, where he thought that “end” was actually in view.

Act 12:3-4 When Herod realized how much this pleased the Jewish leaders, HE HAD PETER ARRESTED AND THROWN INTO PRISON during the Feast of Passover. SIXTEEN SOLDIERS WERE ASSIGNED TO GUARD HIM until Herod could bring him to public trial, immediately after the Passover celebrations were over. TPT

He had already committed his life into God’s hands and ready to die for Jesus. Hence his shock when an angel came to his rescue that night.

Do you remember he was sleeping and not praying?

Act 12:6-7 The night before Peter was to be put on trial, HE WAS ASLEEP AND BOUND BY TWO CHAINS. A soldier was guarding him on each side, and two other soldiers were guarding the entrance to the jail. Suddenly an angel from the Lord appeared, and light flashed around in the cell. THE ANGEL POKED PETER IN THE SIDE AND WOKE HIM UP. Then he said, "Quick! Get up!" The chains fell off his hands, CEV

For a man who was chained and about to be executed, you’d expect a “thunder by fire” prayer vigil.

Well, Peter slept soundly. It was the brethren who were praying for him.

Act 12:5 Then, indeed, Peter was kept in prison. But EARNEST PRAYER WAS MADE TO GOD FOR HIM BY THE CHURCH. MKJV

On another hand, Paul and Silas actually prayed in Prison, but it was not “panic of death” prayer.

They prayed because they knew they won’t die yet but had work to do still. Then they sang.

Act 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. GNB

Generally, these were breeds of Apostles who never laboured for deliverance and even seemed to HOPE that the scriptures of their demises over their undeterred faith in God, will be fulfilled.

Heb 11:35-36 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. Other believers were brutally tortured BUT REFUSED TO BE RELEASED SO THAT THEY MIGHT GAIN ETERNAL LIFE. Some were made fun of and whipped, and some were chained and put in prison. GW

They don’t really value this Life the way most of us do. Hence, they don’t care about death at all.

Rev 12:11 They conquered him completely through the blood of the Lamb and the powerful word of his testimony. THEY TRIUMPHED BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LOVE AND CLING TO THEIR OWN LIVES, EVEN WHEN FACED WITH DEATH. TPT

Therefore, Peter thought he was dreaming when he actually experienced freedom.

Act 12:9,11 Peter quickly left the cell and followed the angel, even though HE THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY A DREAM OR A VISION, for it seemed unreal—he couldn’t believe it was really happening!…THAT’S WHEN PETER REALIZED THAT HE WASN’T HAVING A DREAM! HE SAID TO HIMSELF, “THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from the clutches of Herod and from what the Jewish leaders planned to do to me.” TPT

True Disciples of Jesus know that they are indeed safe, no matter what happens to them here.

Luk 21:17-19 And you will be hated by all men, because of me. BUT NOT A HAIR OF YOUR HEAD WILL COME TO DESTRUCTION. By going through all these things, you will keep your lives. BBE

Some of us [prefer to] believe that we must be at “Peace” with the world by all means, but do we know…?

Jas 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? THEREFORE WHOEVER DESIRES TO BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS THE ENEMY OF GOD. MKJV

Some think they have a “lead” from the Scriptures to be “Compromisingly Docile” with the Gospel.

Ecc 7:16 So why ruin your life? DON'T BE TOO GOOD OR TOO BAD, AND DON'T BE TOO WISE or too foolish. WHY SHOULD YOU DIE BEFORE YOUR TIME? ERV

That scripture wasn’t talking about dedicated service to God but about Hypocrisy and Prideful piety.

Your “service details” cannot be compromised on any grounds.

God will guide you by His Divine Discretion in all your doings, IN JESUS NAME.

Come back on Friday, for more of this insightful and enlightening Sub-Subtopic.

Keep Shinning!

Brother Prince

Wednesday, October 04, 2023

08055125517; 08023904307

[eli-kittim]

The Gospel of Kittim

Eli Kittim’s Prophetic Gospel

1. The Gospels are nonhistorical theological documents. Only the Epistles——which are the more explicit and didactic portions of the New Testament——give us the “Real” Jesus! It appears, then, that the theological purpose of the Gospels is to provide a fitting introduction to the messianic story beforehand so that it can be passed down from generation to generation until the time of its fulfillment. It’s as though New Testament history is written in advance (Isaiah 46.10)!

2. The New Testament Epistles comprise revelations and “prophetic writings” (Romans 16.25-26; 2 Peter 1.19-21; Revelation 22.18-19). They give us the actual timeline of Christ’s only visitation at the end of the age (Hebrews 1.2; 9.26b; 1 Peter 1.20; Revelation 12.5)!

3. Second Peter 1.16-19 demonstrates that the so-called “eyewitness accounts” of the gospels were actually based on visions & prophecies that were then written down as if they had already happened proleptically. Similarly, Acts 10.40—41 says that Jesus’ resurrection was a vision because it was only visible “to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.” Revelation 19.10 also declares that “the testimony to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

4. There is only one coming of Jesus in the end-times (1 Peter 1.10-11; emphasized especially in 1 Peter 1.20)!

5. The birth of Jesus occurs at the consummation of the ages (Galatians 4.4; Ephesians 1.10; Revelation 12:5). Acts 3.19-21 implies that the Messiah will not be sent to earth “until the time of universal restoration.”

6. Jesus’ death and resurrection occur “once in the end of the world” (Hebrews 9.26-28; see Zephaniah 1.7-18 in which the sacrifice or death of the Lord takes place during the day of the Lord)!

7. The resurrection of Jesus occurs during the consummation of the ages (Daniel 12.1; Isaiah 2.19, 21; 1 Corinthians 15.22-23; & he conquers death at the end of the world in 1 Corinthians 15.54, 57).

8. Jesus is the first horseman of the apocalypse (he’s the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2.7; cf. Revelation 6.2; 19.11).

9. Jesus represents the two witnesses of Revelation 11 (Jesus is the Witness in Revelation 1.5; 3.14; see also 1 John 5.7-9, & verse 11 where the anointed witnesses declare the testimony to Jesus). The 2 witnesses represent the 2 messiahs of Judaism (king/priest) which in the NT are conflated into one person: the Son of God (Hebrews 7.1-3).

10. The day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1.8; 3.13; Philippians 1.6; 2.16; 2 Thessalonians 2.2) or the Revelation of Christ (Luke 17.30; 1 Corinthians 1.7; Colossians 3.4; 1 Thessalonians 1.10; 2 Thessalonians 1.7; 1 Timothy 6.14; 2 Timothy 4.1; Titus 2.13; 1 Peter 1.13; 5.1; 1 John 2.28) occurs once in the end of the world!

11. Jesus is Greek (Isaiah 46.11; 61.9; Amos 9.12; Revelation 1.8-9; John 7.41-44, 52; 8.48-49; 4Q120; that’s why all the messianic types of the OT are depicted as Gentiles: e.g. Joseph/Moses/Cyrus).

12. Jesus is born in 1960. The key to solving this puzzle is found in Matthew 1.17. Notice that there is a constant repetition of 14 generations throughout the foregoing lineage. We also know from Scripture that a generation is equal to 70 years (Psalm 90.10). One final clue: the calculation does not begin from the time of Abraham but from the time of David who alone represents the Messiah! So, let’s work out the calculation. Matthew tells us that there were 14 generations from David to Babylon. Each generation is equal to 70 years. Thus, 14 x 70 = 980 years from David to Babylon. And there were 14 generations from the exile to the Messiah. Therefore, 14 x 70 = 980 years. So, from David to the exile are 980 years, and from the exile to the Messiah are another 980 years. Hence 980 (+) 980 = 1960, the year of the Messiah’s birth! The 70 weeks of Daniel are based on the birth of the Messiah, which is another way of saying the rebuilding of the heavenly Jerusalem (Daniel 9.25). That’s probably why Sister Lúcia Santos did not reveal the third secret of Fátima but sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when “it will appear clearer."

13. Jesus is born in August. Luke 1.26-27 tells us the month of Jesus’ birth. In Luke 1.26, the angel was sent “in the sixth month.” That’s the clue! That’s the key. Simple and to the point. The sixth month (in the Jewish religious calendar) is called Elul. In the Gregorian calendar it falls on the month of August. Thus, that’s the month that the Messiah is born!

14. Jesus, who is the first horseman of the apocalypse, is revealed in 2025 or thereabouts (see Genesis 5.21; Dr. Chuck Missler agrees that something happened to Enoch, who is a type of Christ, when he was 65 years old). After that, Christ will be slain (Hebrews 9.26). Since the 70 weeks of Daniel are based on the birth of the Messiah——which is depicted in scripture as the building of the heavenly Jerusalem (Daniel 9.25)——then it follows that AFTER 62 years, “the Messiah will be cut off” (Daniel 9.26)! Don’t forget Irenaeus’ argument that Christ was a much older man, and that the promise to Abraham, a messianic type, was fulfilled in his old age! Theosophist Alice Bailey also predicted Christ’s appearance in 2025 (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy).

15. World War 3 begins in the latter half of the 2020 decade! Notice that there are 21 judgments in the Book of Revelation, and that the Messenger of God (in Daniel 10.13-14) was withstood for 21 days from coming to earth, with regard to the vision of the latter days. This would suggest that the Messiah——who is elsewhere depicted as Eli (which means “God”; Matthew 27.46)——will come to earth in the 21st century, just prior to “the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Malachi 4.5).

16. The general resurrection of the dead begins in the latter half of the 2020 decade, right after Jesus’ resurrection (Daniel 12.1-2; 1 Corinthians 15.22-23).

17. The Antichrist is here as well. He is Russian (Ezekiel 38). Daniel 8.25 calls him a “master of deception,” which is another way of saying “a spy.” Daniel’s 4th kingdom with 2 legs was Rome. The western Roman Empire was sacked in the 5th century AD. Then, in 1453, the Turks sacked Constantinople (the eastern part of the Roman Empire) and most of the Byzantine elites fled north to Moscow, where Moscow became the third Rome. Astonishingly, Putin came to power on the last day of the year 1999 (666), which marks the end of a thousand-year period. This important timeframe coincides with a Biblical prophecy in which the Antichrist will not appear “until the thousand years . . . [have] ended” (Revelation 20.3, 7-8)! The seer Nostradamus also predicted the coming of Antichrist in 1999 (Century 10, Quatrain 72).

18. The 10 Kings of Daniel 7.20 & Revelation 17.12 are the 8 leaders of the USSR plus the 3 leaders of the succeeding Russian Federation since its formation on December 25, 1991, with Putin being the 11th horn (the 11th king) of Daniel 7.20, “to make room for which three [kings] . . . fell out” (emphasizing the last 3 leaders of the new federal republic that arose out of the former USSR)!

19. The Great Tribulation (Nuclear War/WW3) will begin in the latter half of the 2020 decade.

20. We are living in the prophesied end-times! Revelation 22.20: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

[odi-et-amo85]

When you get this you have to answer with 5 things u like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool) 🐥🌸

Allright, here we go, in no particular order:

My sense of humour (I take great pride in my puns)

My tenacity (I don’t give up easily)

My integrity (I can’t feign emotion very easily, so when I express my appreciation I will mean it)

What I’ve accomplished so far (I’ve grown so much as a person)

My recent creative endeavours (picking up embroidery again, attempting to write a story, drawing, poetry, etc.)

For this, I tag:

@lotus-soup-pot @ladylziz @onstoryladders @iguessitsjustme @illgiveyouahint @sexy-seabass @jackredfieldwasmyjacob @dreamedofyou @mrapril @ankabaiam

[thesynaxarium]

Today we celebrate the Holy Prophet Hosea. Prophet Hosea the first of the minor prophets, belonged to the tribe of Issachar. He lived during the ninth Century before Christ, in the kingdom of Israel. He was a contemporary of the holy Prophets Isaiah, Micah and Amos. During this time, many of his fellow Israelites had forgotten the true God, and worshipped idols. The holy Prophet Hosea attempted to turn them again to the faith of their Fathers by his wise counsels. Denouncing the iniquities of the people of Israel (i.e. the northern kingdom Israel), the prophet proclaimed to them great misfortunes from a foreign people and their removal into captivity by Assyria. Almost a thousand years before the coming of the Savior, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet foretold the end of sacrificial offerings and of the priesthood of Aaron (Hos. 3:4-5), and that the knowledge of the True God would spread through all the earth (Hos. 2:20-23). Hosea spoke also about Christ, how He would return from out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1; compare Mt. 2:15), that He would be resurrected on the third day (Hos. 6 and especially Hos.6:2; compare with 1 Cor.15:4), and that He would conquer death (Hos.13-14. Compare 1 Cor.15:54-55). The prophesies of Saint Hosea are included in the book that bears his name. The prophetic service of Saint Hosea continued for more than sixty years. The God-inspired prophet died in deep old age, having devoted all his life to fulfilling the Will of God. May he intercede for us always + Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/10/17/102983-prophet-hosea (at Zefat, Israel) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjyXYvnr593/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[amphxtrite]

cedric diggory x slytherin fem!reader

warnings: smut, swearing, oral (female receiving), hand job, fingering, riding, kind of dom x dom, spelling/ grammar mistakes.

do not read if you are not comfortable.

summary: Badgers and snakes are born into their rivalry, even in the wild they are practically bred to fight and show their dominance. Cedric and the reader have hated each other from the moment they met. It’s not until Cedric puts his name into the goblet of fire and nearly gets killed that feelings become clear. fluff at the end.

a/n: thank you to @cedricsyellowscarf and nonnie for requesting!

word count: 4.6k

enjoy <3

__________________________________________

When you think of slytherins, what’s the first thing you think of?

Cunning, resourceful, and badass?

Y/n L/n was all the above when you thought of a stereotypical member of the house of black and green, someone who knew what they wanted and would fight with a smirk on her face.

Hufflepuffs on the other hand are thought to be loyal, compassionate, and sweet.

Cedric Diggory fit the description perfectly. The school golden boy with a pretty face and a kind personality.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. But just like in nature, the badger and the snake were born to fight.

When Cedric first met you, a chill went up his spine, everything about you screamed ‘no’ at him and had a scowl resting on his face seconds after just seeing you. Similarly, the hufflepuff gave off a goody-two-shoes aura, someone who couldn’t relax and caved into every demand thrown at them. You didn’t know why, but you had the overwhelming urge to push all this boy’s buttons and drive him insane. Maybe it was the whole ‘strict prefect, and perfect person’ thing going on, but you just wanted to have some fun with him.

You started small. Flirtatious winks, smirks and checking him out when you knew he was looking. The reactions ranged from annoyed to bashful and if you were lucky he grew absolutely seething.

“What the hell are you doing l/n?” He sighs as you brush your arm past him in the hall.

“What Diggory? Am I not good enough to be in your presence?” You scoff, turning to face him. “Listen, I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work.” The badger snarled.

“Oh Diggory, it already has.” Your smirk, brushing your wand down his jawline and licking the outside of your teeth.

Cedric couldn’t explain what got him so ticked off about you, maybe it was your care-free demeanour; someone who could get whatever she wanted with a snap of her fingers. He’d seen you in between classes, people fawning over you or begging for your forgiveness, only to be met by your stoic face. Your whole being betrayed every instinct and belief Cedric held, and the voice in his head begged to attack.

And so the battle between the badger and the snake continued, you pushed the badger’s buttons, challenging him and egging him on to snap.

“I’m not going to ask again l/n.” The brunette seethed, taking hold of your arm and pulling you back towards him after your fingers brush his back. “Ask what?” You cock your eyebrow with a grin.

“Did the pretty boy finally lose his composure?” Your grin turns malicious and Cedric pushes you against the wall. “In your dreams l/n.”

“Oh indeed you do.”

The two of you were natural born rivals, coexisting to keep the other on their toes and keep natural instincts alive. Both sides are stubborn, unwilling to let the other win. It was destined that one of you would though, these things don’t just end in draws.

As you ‘flirted’ relentlessly, Cedric’s only offence was his retaliation. He had a feeling you’d stop if he never reacted, but a piece of Cedric enjoyed the challenge and almost craved the game.

When the badger put his name into the goblet of fire you almost scoffed. Maybe you had done it, driven him off the edge and caused him to go insane. But as the boy clad in black and yellow turned to reveal a smile, you nearly choked on your pumpkin juice. How on Earth was this fool smiling at the fact he could’ve just signed himself up for a public, gruesome death.

It may be hard to believe, but even snakes can become ‘compassionate’ when it comes to things they are close too, and while you couldn’t call what you and Cedric had, a compassionate situation, a sense of worry and dread overtook your senses.

“Hey is your head in the right space?” You fall into step with the badger and place your hand onto his forehead to check if the boy was sick.

“What is your problem?” Cedric flinches back, confusion flashing onto his face as soon as your hand comes into contact with him.

“Oh I’m just checking you haven’t lost your mind Diggory.” You roll your eyes and flash a sickly sweet smile.

“It’s none of your business what I choose to do l/n, now leave me alone.” The brunette’s face remains firm.

“As you wish, your majesty.” You smirk and fall back to head to your friends.

Despite the internal fight the hufflepuff couldn’t help but almost feel sorry for the way he reacted to your gesture. It was the first time you’d shown any type of kindness towards him. And while rather strange, he knew he shouldn’t have let his aggressiveness win over his true personality.

The badger never found his voice to apologize though, and the rivalry proceeded. You wiped any trace of worry from your face and continued your mission of driving the golden boy crazy. Only thing that was different was the way Cedric reacted. When you first began your flirtatious mission, Cedric grew angry and annoyed at your attempt to gain his attention. He knew you were trying to distract him and he let it get to him.

The silver-eyed hufflepuff started to look forward to your pestering, your flirting was the only fun he got after his name was pulled from the goblet. His schedule became jam packed with training, classes and pity parties from every student who made eye-contact with him. He was happy to see that something hadn’t changed.

The first task came and had you holding your breath at each champion’s battle with their dragon. Your mouth dropped open in awe at each unique way of conquering the task, and by the time Cedric stepped up to face the Short-Snout, you were already on the edge of your seat.

Snakes are in no means known for their love, but it is known they can show compassion in subtle ways. Worry blossomed in your stomach as you watched Cedric transfigure the boulder into a dog, he was taking a huge risk using it as a distraction, when the dragon could turn at any moment. Cedric managed to grab the egg moments before the dragon lost interest in the labrador, and a weight seemed to lift from your shoulders and a small smile shone through as you joined in on the applause.

The second task arrived and the four champions dive into the water in search of their treasure. Cedric surfaced first with the girl who attended the ball with him, ensuring his spot in first. Krum was next with Hermione, Harry coming in last, but with Fleur’s person along with his.

Cedric was rather confused to see Cho at the bottom of the lake. The egg stated the treasure was the thing they missed the most, so the professors must have gotten the wrong idea when Cedric showed up at the dance with the ravenclaw, she’d simply been kind enough to be there as support because Cedric had no one else to attend with.

By the third task, the entire wizarding world was biting their nails at the anticipation of the triwizard tournament. Sitting in the bleachers in front of the massive maze, it made you uneasy you may have to sit through one of these champion’s screams, injuries or even death.

“Tied In first place we have Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter. They will enter first, shortly followed by Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour.”

At the sound of the flare, the hufflepuff and gryffindor cautiously make their way into the green maze, choosing each step with caution and wands clutched tightly in their hands, until all that was seen was the walls of the hedge.

Cedric had endured a lot through the triwizard tournament and he was not going to give that up for anything. When he spotted Harry close by the cup, his aggressive side took over and he tried to beat the boy who lived. When Harry actually ended up saving his life, he knew there was no way he could take this victory.

The two of them touched the cup and suddenly the world morphed and they were transported to a graveyard. “A… Portkey.”

A short man enters their vision as Cedric’s weakened frame points his wand towards the intruder. “Petrificus Totalus!” The unknown man shouts as Cedric’s body seizes and he falls flat on his face, his body ignoring his constant attempts at moving to help Harry, he can only listen to everything happening as he lays uselessly against the ground.

“Cedric! Get up, we need to go now!” Harry’s frantic voice calls as He pushes Voldemort and his death eaters back. The binding pressure is suddenly released and the hufflepuff immediately jumps to his feet. He runs to the portkey, throwing back any death eaters getting too close to Harry before grabbing his hand and taking hold of the triwizard cup.

The two boys are transported back into the maze, but they waste no time rushing out and grabbing hold of the first people they see. “V-Voldemort’s back!” Harry screams, followed by Cedric’s own voice. Looks of confusion flash on everyone in the audience's face, but as the champions break down they have no way to deny it, something terrible was coming to Hogwarts.

Amos Diggory makes a beeline for his son while Harry is dragged away by professor Moody. Cedric is gasping for breath and searching around for something, someone, to keep him sane. When your eyes meet Cedric’s eyes flash in hope and he begins to limp in your direction, stumbling and falling often, but not leaving his path despite his father’s grasp. You stand to question the hufflepuff, but he simply collapses into your arms.

“I-I’m so sorry for how I t-treated you. I shouldn’t have let m-my feelings define you, a-and I hate that I despised you for n-no reason.” Cedric begins to cry in fear he could’ve died without finally getting his apology off his chest. He wraps you tightly in his arms and his breathing grows rapid. “P-Please forgive me.” He manages in between breaths and your emotionless barrier falls. “Deep breaths Diggory, you’re going to pass out if you keep this up.” You caress the boy’s back in a soothing manner, but Cedric’s murmuring only rapidly increases, and you were beginning to feel a headache. “Hey, it's alright! I forgive you.”

His muttering continues.

“Ced, please you’re bleeding, let’s go get help.”

No use.

As a final resort you gently lift Cedric’s face from the crook of your neck; tears are streaming down his face and apologies continue to flood your ears.

“Save your breath Diggory.” You smirk, pressing your lips to Cedric’s scabbed pink ones.

Your lips are still as Cedric registers your movement, his eyes widen, but slowly close as your smooth lips pull him into a daze. The slight taste of blood is forgotten as Cedric stands and cups his hands around your face, tilting his face to deepen the kiss and slip his tongue into your mouth. As he familiarizes himself with your taste a low groan emits from the back of the champion’s throat and he pulls away to look at you.

In nature, badgers and snakes are natural born enemies, but when Cedric looked into your eyes, the badger lost its temper and the snake became calm. In the Hogwarts walls the snake and the badger felt something new bubble inside them, and the statement ‘opposites attract’ finally began to make sense. Two people, so different, yet so drawn to each other. Finally giving in to their feelings, with primal instincts still flooding their senses.

“You shouldn’t have done that, once I start, I might not be able to stop.” Cedric’s voice grows low in arousal and he leans his face closer to yours.

“Then don’t stop Diggory, take me.”

Cedric immediately takes your hand in a firm grip and walks you down the bleachers, promising his father to go to the hospital wing, but entering the quidditch pitch’s change room instead.“I-I need you y/n. Fuck, you’ve made me want you for so damn long.” He moans desperately, pushing you against the stone wall and placing his hands wherever he could. You trail your fingers down the hufflepuff’s torso and nibble on his lower lip. Cedric’s hips jolt and you’re met with a sudden pressure on your lower abdomen.

“Someone’s excited.” You smirk, reaching your hand down the brunette’s trousers to take his length into your hand.

Your eyebrows raise at the champion’s size, but you don’t let it shine through as your tease your hand against him, brushing past his tip before using his precum as lubricant to move against him.

When Cedric’s face contorted into a look of pure pleasure and lust, you were sure that this was the reaction you’d wanted from Cedric from the start. Lip in between his teeth and eyes shut tight as he bites back moans and lightly tugs on your hair.

You move your hand faster, smirking in pride as loud whimpers begin to exit beautifully from Cedric’s lips and he begins rocking himself against your palm.

“You like it when I use my hand Diggory?” You tease, applying even more pressure to his aching cock as he began to twitch in your grasp.

“Oh fuck yes y/n, just like that.” The hufflepuff’s rough hands move down from your hair to grasp your face and connect your lips again, drowning out the sound of pure ecstasy leaving his mouth with each thrust of your hand.

“You better be quiet Diggory, or people will know how much of a naughty boy you are.” You whisper in a low voice.

“I’d watch your mouth if I was you.”

Cedric removes your hand from his pants and pushes you on to a wide bench, holding you down so you can’t move.

“Now it’s my turn to make you writhe.” He growls with a devilish grin, pressing open mouth kisses against your neck and sucking on the sensitive skin as he works off your skirt.

Your head falls to the side as Cedric finds your weak spot, a mewl signaling him to go harder. His hands pull down the zipper on your back and he carefully pulls it down as your intoxicating whimpers egg him further on.

“Well princess, I guess you got what you wanted.” Cedric smirks, dropping to his knees in front of you and throwing your skirt to the side.

“You’re driving me absolutely insane.”

Euphoria flows through every single nerve in your body when Cedric presses his rough fingers against your clit, the only thing separating you and pure bliss being a thin piece of fabric. Cedric uses the cloth of your panties as extra friction, slowly circling his fingers around as your back arches and your breath grows irregular. Leaning forwards, he takes the lace of your undergarment between his teeth and pulls it down your thighs, swiftly prying your legs apart as soon as your panties drop to your feet and pass your ankles. “Now be a good girl and keep these open, alright?” Cedric mutters, in a dark voice as he descends.

The hufflepuff tests the waters by licking a stripe up your core, hiding a cheeky grin at the sound of your choked moan and continuing to lap at your slick folds.

Your vision fills with dots and your mind is deprived of any thought, your only feeling was Cedric’s strong tongue flicking around and dipping in and out of your slit.

“So wet for me love?” He groans deeply, the taste of your heat, causing his arousal to grow exponentially. Your only response is the incoherent moans and curses stringing past your lips as your back arches and your body pulses in bliss.

As your hips start to buck and your legs close against his face, Cedric uses one hand to press your abdomen down and using his arm and other hand he pushes your legs apart again, your moans fueling his strength. When the brunette adds his fingers into the array, your hands move from your clothed breasts to Cedric’s soft brown hair. A sudden rush of pleasure has your grip tightening in the champions curls, and a loud curse echoes through the empty room.

“You like it when I pull your hair like that Diggory?” You tease through the pulsing in your body. “Fuck, do that again y/n.” His deep growl responds as his fingers quicken and hit deeper inside your tight walls.

With each tight grip in Cedric’s curls, a loud moan was heard in response as he thrusts his fingers deeper and sucks harder, letting his moans vibrate through to your clit to fill your lower stomach with butterflies.

“I-I’m gonna cum!” You whimper loudly.

���You can cum if you beg.” The hufflepuff purrs with one last roll of his tongue, pausing his fingers, still deep inside of you. Every ounce of your dignity is shredded as the pleasure of Cedric’s mouth and fingers stop.

“Please Diggory, let me cum.” You mewl in desperation, but he doesn’t move.

“Try again love.” He smirks in amusement.

“Please Cedric, you make me feel so good! I’m so fucking close, I need to cum.” You moan in frustration, grinding your hips frantically for any friction. Cedric chuckles darkly, pulling his fingers out almost fully before slamming right back into you.

“Merlin, you say my name so perfectly darling.” The brunette grins, pulling his finger out and slamming back again.

“Say it again.” Cedric commands, attaching his lips to your clit, his fingers now ramming in and out of you.

“Cedric! Oh fuck!” your choked voice almost comes out as a sob, and your incoherent moans mix deliciously with your lover’s name.

With the combined stimulation of Cedric’s rough fingers and strong tongue, a coil snaps as your body seems to lose control. Writhing, pulsing, and gripping Cedric’s hair as you pant for breath.

Cedric pauses the assault with his tongue, but continues using his fingers to help ride out your high.

When the shockwaves finally stop and you’re able to open your eyes again, Cedric is leaning directly above you, a grin plastered on his face. “You’re so beautiful when you cum.” The hufflepuff begins kissing down your neck as his hands move down his torso and pulls his shirt up his chest. Cedric pauses to wince as cuts reopen and the fabric irritates his bruises, but when you sit up to help him, he pushes you down again. “I’m fine, It’s just a couple scratches.” He smirks looking back down at you, but you’ve regained your senses and have pushed the toned champion back onto the bench and climbed onto his lap.

“Are you sure? You looked pretty banged up.” your voice comes out as a soft whisper as you begin to press butterfly kisses to his bruises.

“Yes, f-fuck y/n.” He groans as you suddenly bite down on his shoulder, sucking on it for a couple seconds until you’re sure a hickey will form.

“Good, because it’s my turn now.”

You lift your hips from his lap to tug his shorts down and he lifts his bottom up to help you. As soon as they’re off you begin to unbutton your blouse, shrugging it off before leaning forwards and running a finger down Cedric’s abdomen. “Help me?” You smirk, standing and brushing your hair aside to reveal your bra strap. Cedric obliges with shaky fingers as his cock grows harder and begins twitching. Once it comes loose, you turn and connect lips with Cedric’s again, moving your hand to the back of the brunette’s head to run your hands through his hair and cup his jaw. Cedric takes your hips into his hands and slowly brings you towards him again. You shuffle onto Cedric’s lap again, hovering just above his cock as he rubs the sides of your body.

Without warning you sink onto him, relaxing your walls to take all of Cedric’s length. His grip on your waist tightens as you wrap around him. Strings of curses leave his mouth as his head falls onto your shoulder and he nips at the sensitive skin. When you’re halfway down, he moves his hands from your hips to your breasts, massaging them roughly and peppering kisses all over. With the Help of Cedric’s wandering hands and caring mouth, you bottom out and adjust to the feeling of being full. Your hands dig into Cedric’s shoulder blades and you begin moving up and down. It’s slow at first, you aren’t quite sure how to do it, but the hufflepuff uses his hands on your hips to guide you and soon you’re bouncing up and down, the grip on your side and the waves of euphoria from Cedric’s cock pushing you further than you could have ever thought possible.

“You feel so good darling.” Cedric sighs, his eyes squeezed shut and mouth wide open as your walls wrap tighter against him with each bounce. You don’t respond, your thoughts occupied with keeping the euphoric feeling coming. Using Cedric’s broad shoulders you begin to pick up the pace, sucking dark marks into existence on his chest, panting breathy moans into his ear and tightening your grip around his shaft to earn you that desperate moan that made you dizzy.

With the overstimulation from your voice and love bites Cedric could feel his release coming, but he wasn’t ready to end this just yet, with the last couple bounces he summoned as much strength as he could to lift you from his lap and release onto your abdomen. It took everything in him not to drop you or collapse right there, but he managed, setting you back down on the wide bench to push you back and tilt your chin up to meet eye to eye.

“Don’t t-think I’m done with you yet princess.” He growls.

The lustful look in your eyes as your pupils dilated and your mouth hung open had him hard all over again and before you could reply with something witty, he pounded right back into you.

Your head is thrown back at the new angle Cedric is fucking you in, your back arches so he can move deeper and your legs swing up to wrap around his torso, bringing him impossibly close to you. Cedric responds with vigorous thrusts, desperate for you to submit to him and end this with him on top. While he desperately rolls his hips into yours, you pull his head down and reconnect your lips, using your tongue to explore his mouth as you swallow the breathy moans of the grey eyed hufflepuff. Your teeth clash, lips mold and tongues dance as Cedric fucks you senseless.

“Oh fuck Cedric right there!” You cry, rolling your hips up to meet the champion’s needy thrusts and allowing your moans to fill the empty air. Skin hitting skin is the only sound other than your moans and cries mixing together, intimately connecting and reconnecting over and over as wave after wave of pleasure and euphoria floods your veins and every corner of your body. Your eyes roll back and your toes curl with each movement of Cedric’s hips and with his arms pinned above your head and his low groans right in front of your face you could not contain the knot that was forming in your abdomen. Your nails rake down Cedric’s back and bury themselves into his hair as you grin victoriously at the loud profanities spilling through his gritted teeth. With each pump of his length the knot grows tighter and tighter, Pleasure is swapped with pure bliss and Cedric can feel it too as his thrusts grow sloppy and your core tightens against him. He lets himself go, and you follow right behind him. The proof of your pleasures stream between the two of you, down your legs and in between where you are still connected.

Cedric helps you ride out your high as you run your shaky finger up and down his chest, a smile growing on your face as Cedric finally opens his eyes and looks back down at your tired form, panting and grinning back down at you.

“I win.” He smirks, lazily pulling out of you and resting himself on his elbows.

“In your dreams Diggory.” You roll your eyes and move some hair out of the boy’s face.

“Oh are we back on the last name basis?” Cedric chuckles, cupping your cheek and using his thumb to circle your cheek.

“Only if you want Ced.” You sigh, tilting your head closer to Cedric’s warm palm.

“Well in that case, you better get used to calling me Cedric, y/n.” The hufflepuff beams, sitting up and pulling you onto his lap.

Your eyes widen and you begin to laugh joyously as you connect your lips to Cedric’s again, mumbling sweet nothings in between each peck. You stay like that for a second, in each other’s arms, relishing the feeling of finally being complete and content, but as you press your hand to Cedric’s chest he winces and you know the moment has to end.

“Alright lover boy, it’s time to get you to the hospital wing.” You sigh, pecking Cedric’s lips once more before grabbing your wand and quickly cleaning off the mess in between you and Cedric’s legs. “Do I have too?” Cedric groans, pulling you back to him, as you clasp your bra on. “I’m sure I’ll be fine just sitting here in your arms.” He states staring lovingly into your eyes. “Sorry Ced, but even I don’t know a lot of healing spells and by the look of it you’re gonna need them.” You giggle, standing on shaky legs as you pick up your blouse and skirts again.

“Get changed Ced, I’ll meet you outside.” You smirk, slowly making your way out of the room with a slight swing in your hips.

Taking a deep breath of the night air, you take a moment to really take in what just happened. You thought you hated that boy, but maybe that was just for show. Maybe you’d always had feelings for the boy with the yellow scarf and you had been too naive to realize it. It felt strange how the part of your brain that convinced you to fight was now telling you this was right, but you were fine with it, your whole perspective had changed of this boy from the moment he came limping to you in the stadium.

Cedric had similar thoughts as he tugged on his shirt and pants. He finally realized the feeling he got when you looked at him wasn’t annoyance, it was a crush. A fancy that he wanted so badly to deny, but embrace at the same time, and now he could.

As he finally walked out to you and wrapped you in his arms, you knew it was right and you were where you are meant to be. As you interlocked hands with the grey eyed hufflepuff, making your way towards the castle and your new life. Something was made crystal clear.

Badgers and snakes are natural born enemies, made to fight and hate each other. But you and Cedric aren’t the animals you are associated with,

you’re humans and you had the choice to decide how you would treat your opposite.

And although the two of you were clear descriptions of the houses you were assigned, your personalities molded perfectly.

As Cedric lay in the hospital bed, Madam Pomfrey healing his wounds, you stuck by his side and held his hand, knowing the snake would never define you. The badger would never define Cedric. You were your own people, and you were in love.

[allonsyroleplaythings]

Latin Phrases for Thread Titles 2.0

1. Vive memor leti (Live remembering death. - Flaccus)

2. Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu (It is how well you live that matters, not how long. - Seneca)

3. Noli foras ire, in teipsum reddi; in interiore homine habitat veritas (Don't lose yourself, return to you, inside of you lives the truth. - Augustine)

4. Si vis amari, ama (If you wish to be loved, love. - Augustine)

5. Vestis virum reddit (The clothes make the man. - Quintilia)

6. Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur (We choose to love, we do not choose to cease loving. - Syrus)

7. Cui amat periculum in illo peribit (Whoever loves danger will perish by it. - Vulgate-Ecclesiastiscus or Sirach III)

8. Odi et amo (I love and hate - Catullus)

9. Serva me servabo te (Save me and I'll save you. - Petronius)

10. Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will find the way, or I will make one. - Anibal)

11. Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit (No mortal is wise at all times. - Pliny)

12. Fortis est non pertubaris in rebus asperis (The strong do not falter in adversity. - Cicero)

13. Omne quod movetur ab alio movetur (Everything that moves is moved by something else. - Aquinas)

14. Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore (I hope that memory of our friendship will be everlasting. - Cicero)

15. Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur (Many fear their reputation, few their conscience. - Pliny)

16. Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis. (It is best to endure what you cannot change. - Seneca)

17. Leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus (The load is lite, if you know how to support it. - Ovid)

18. Divide et impera (Divide and conquered. - Caesar)

19. Fata volentem ducunt, nolentem trahunt (Fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling. - Seneca)

20. Consuetudinis magna vis est (Old habits die hard. - Cicero)

[moonchildsaurora]

The gentle Cyborg Doctor

»»—— Crew Member #2 of Space Pirates ATEEZ ——««

all aboard The Perihelion, welcome to the co-pilot’s log system! here you’ll be able to access the crew’s profiles should you wish to read about their journeys:

[CAPTAIN] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

grew up alongside Hongjoong in a major city called Kesiethea (known for its efficient and large scale trading dock), pretty much inseparable since childhood 

whilst Seonghwa would accompany Hongjoong on his venturing for spare ship parts or watch the local ship races with, his interests actually lie with medicinal herbs/collecting + raising flora 

it kind of runs in his family as his father is a botanist and his mother runs a herbalist shop. Both of his older siblings were certified transport pilots and were away majority of the time due to trades (he learnt a thing or two about ship operations from them 

some of the locals would purposely go visit his mother’s shop if he was there helping out 

poor Hwa would be too flustered by the attention and sometime just rather spend time in the back preparing ingredients for his mother’s brews 

“but you’re the prettiest blossom around!” – a direct quote from wee bab 6 year old Hongjoong 

did not hesitate to join Hongjoong upon learning of his plans to conquer the stars 

has his own corner on the ship for his plant babies many of which were a mix of native and exotic flora, and yes he’s picked individual names for them 

Wooyoung once mistook Amos as free garnish for his dinner and Hongjoong had to formally exert his Captain command to stop Seonghwa from testing Yunho’s newest invention on the poor boy on the spot 

“note to self, don’t get on Mum’s bad side…”

wasn’t a great cook before but became one after learning how to cook for space dad + 6 kids (he ended stocking up on actual food-related herbs to avoid another near-death incident for his precious plant babies)

usually the more level-headed of the bunch, “NO Joong” vs. “Joong, YES” is a big mood 

no. 1 cuddle buddy    

is designated doctor on ship because having experience of patching Hongjoong up from glider accidents in the past taught him well and he’s most versed in medicinal knowledge 

“Mingi please refrain from putting what’s meant to be external salve into your mouth, I can’t guarantee it won’t be acidic to your innards” 

a rare morning person and early-riser, sometimes he likes to sit by the giant windows on the main deck or up on top of the hull if it’s not too chilly to watch the pinks and orange hues paint the sky as dawn awakens 

fiercely protective of his little family, especially Hongjoong to the point of taking their ride-or-die motto in quite a literal sense 

he remembered telling Hongjoong’s Ma that he’d make sure to bring her son back safe and sound and preferably in one piece, who knew fate had other plans for them 

to say it was a raid (on a smugglers’ ship) gone wrong was an understatement, Seonghwa had never felt true fear grip his bones until seeing Hongjoong be on the receiving end of an enemy’s laser blaster and his small frame being nearly engulfed by fire that tore through the wreckage of the ship they’d intercepted 

his mind was in overdrive as he pushed through everything and everyone to get to Hongjoong, somehow still being able to smile and feel accomplished for removing his brother from danger yet missing the utter look of horror on the others’ faces as they witnessed their eldest give up a part of himself for the sake of their Captain’s safety 

searing hot, numbness, the sharp sting of burnt ash was suffocating and yet it was all a blur to Seonghwa. For better or for worse

it took agonisingly long weeks before Seonghwa even showed signs of returning to consciousness 

“….well this is certainly new” as his vision zoned in on his shiny chrome arm, in fact half his body was 

surprisingly it was Wooyoung who broke the dam with the waterworks first and then everyone save Hongjoong were shamelessly sobbing   

but Seonghwa didn’t miss the guilt that was painted on Joong’s face, nor the dark circles that seem to permanently mark under his unusually dull eyes 

“welcome home Hwa” 

the shift from becoming human to a cyborg was foreign, terrifying and yet it felt like a rebirth, like a baby having to learn how to walk once again 

Hongjoong thought he wore his brave mask well enough but Seonghwa knows, he knows Kim Hongjoong and if it’ll take a millennial for him to get it through to him that he doesn’t blame nor does he need to be forgiven for anything – so be it 

“Hongjoong you brought me back, I’m alive. You’re alive. We’re all alive and that’s all that matters”

cue months later on, Seonghwa feels somewhat blessed to have a cybernetic body where he could download info instantly, potentially challenge Jongho’s strength, be much more of an efficient doctor more importantly, no one is allowed to clown him anymore for his lack of alcohol tolerance 

“Look at that cool man! He’s got hand shooters” he inwardly coos each time a youngling’s awe is thrown his way, yes he’s gotten quite popular with kids wherever The Perihelion ventured to  

what touched him the most is how the guys have continued to treat him like before, reminding him that he’s a living being and not just some scrap metal hybrid 

his parents had whip lash upon finding out what happened to their youngest and completely fair that it took them a time to process and accept 

“You’re still our boy, our little Hwaseong. Never forget that” 

as of lately Mingi is a ball of hype, now knowing that Seonghwa can virtually aid him with gathering intel regarding the Flint’s Trove maps and lowkey breaching systems if needed

“Hyung I’ve got this cool update for you wou-“

“I swear by Orion if it’s one of those infernal whatdidyoucallthemagain M.E.M.E songs I  will send you to Hongjoong’s room”

(moodboard made with love, by @s1ardusk​ ♡)

[coffeeman777]

The Eschaton: A Timeline of Events

Part Three

The Seven Vials

         *The Seven Vials will be poured out sequentially over a period of 3½ years; just as with the Trumpets, the Vials are sequential, and the effects of each may overlap with the others.

      •1st Vial: Painful Sores on all who have the Mark (Revelation 16:2)

      •2nd Vial: The Entire Sea becomes Blood (Revelation 16:3)

      •3rd Vial: All Fresh Water becomes Blood (Revelation 16:4-6)

      •4th Vial: Sun scorches the Earth and its People (Revelation 16:8-9)

      •5th Vial: Throne of the Beast covered in Painful Darkness (Revelation 16:10-11)

      •6th Vial: The Euphrates Dries Up

         *The Antichrist assembles the armies of  the earth, and takes advantage of the dried up Euphrates to allow the kings of the East to march with him.  They stage in the valley of Migeddo and lay seige to Jerusalem in a last effort to annihilate the Jews (Revelation 16:12-14, 16; cf Joel 3:9-16; Zechariah 14:2; Ezekiel 38). 

      •7th Vial: Thunder Storms with Massive 100lb Hailstones, plus the Greatest Earthquake in the History of the World

          *The earthquake will be global; it will break Babylon into three parts; it will topple all the cities on earth; it will level all the mountains and sink all the islands (Revelation 16:17-21).

The greatest destruction from the 7th Vial will occur at Babylon, the location of the Antichrist's throne and the capitol of his kingdom.  The city will be annihilated, which will devastate the economy of the Antichrist's kingdom (Revelation 17-18). 

[[Side Note on Babylon and The Antichrist:  I think "Babylon" is applied figuratively, not literally referring to the site of the ancient city of Babylon.  We don't know where exactly this will be, but I favor Joel Richardson's take on it: I believe the Antichrist will be the Islamic Mahdi, and the Antichrist's government will be a revived Muslim Caliphate, rather than a revived Roman Empire, and the one-world religion will be some form of Islam, perhaps a new form we haven't seen yet.  The "Babylon" mentioned here I believe is the city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.   For more on this, I highly recommend reading Joel Richardson's books  "Islamic Antichrist," "Mid-East Beast," and "Mystery Babylon."]]  

The Return of the King

   --The Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 / Matthew 24:29-31 / Mark 13:24-27)

         *Jesus will call all believers to Himself, and we'll be instantly in our glorified resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50-54)

      •Jesus Returns as Conquering King, with all the Resurrected Saints at His side (Revelation 19:11-16).

      •Jesus destroys the enemy nations surrounding Israel on His way to rescue the remnants of the Jews in Jerusalem (Isaiah 63:1-6; cf Zechariah 9) 

     •Jesus ascends the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem

          *The Mount of Olives splits in two, creating a way of escape for the Jews trapped in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4-5). 

   --The Battle of Armaggeddon (Zechariah 14 / Joel 3 / Ezekiel 38-39 / Revelation 19)

      •Jesus meets the Antichrist and his massive army in the Valley of Migeddo outside Jerusalem, and utterly lays waste to them (Revelation 19:15-21).

      •All of the Jews saved by Jesus will turn to Him with their whole hearts, acknowledging Him as Messiah and King, fulfilling the prophecy that all Israel would be saved.  They will be welcomed to live under Jesus' rule (Romans 11:26-27; cf Jeremiah 23:5-6 / Isaiah 10:20-23 / Zechariah 9:14-17).

      •The Antichrist and False Prophet are seized and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).

      •Satan is seized and bound, then sealed in the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 20:1-3).

      •The Lord sends out a plague into all the nations that served the Beast.  The survivors among the nations will surrender to the Lord (Zechariah 14:12, 15-16)

         *Although it isn't explicitly stated, I believe that this plague will kill only the people who took the Mark of the Beast; the small amount of people from the nations who survived the Tribulation, who never accepted Jesus, but never worshipped the Beast or took the Mark are the survivors mentioned in Zechariah 14.   They will be brought to stand before the Lord in Jerusalem, where He will divide the sheep from the goats.  The sheep will be permitted to live under Jesus' rule, provided they surrender to Him and acknowledge Him as King (just like the remnant of the Jews); the goats will be cast into Hell. (Matthew 25:31-46)

      •The Lord establishes His Kingdom, taking His rightful place on David's Throne in Jerusalem.  Jesus will rule the whole world as King; Israel will be the dominant nation, and all other nations will serve them (Ezekiel 34:23-24 / Zechariah 8, 14:9, 16-19 / Isaiah 2:2-4, 9:6-7 / Revelation 20:4-6)

   --The Judgement Seat of Christ

      •The Lord will judge the faithful who are now Resurrected; He will judge them not for sins, but for their faithfulness in obeying the Lord during their earthly lives, their diligence in pursuing God's call on their lives, and on witnessing for Christ (1 Corinthians 5:10 / 2 Corinthians 3:12-15 / Revelation 22:12) 

[[There's no explicit timing given for this event in Scripture; my placing it here is my own speculation]]

   --The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

      •A grand feast celebrating the wedding of the Bride (the Church) to Christ; we will never be apart again, and we'll be bound together in love forever (Revelation 19:6-9)  

[[As with the Judgement Seat of Christ, the timing of the Marriage Supper isn't clear; I speculate that it will occur after the Judgement Seat, and before the commencement of the Millennial Kingdom]]

   --The Millennial Kingdom

      •The Kingdom will last for 1,000 years.  Jesus rules the earth as King (Revelation 20:6)

         *All who were Raptured at the Lord's return exist in their glorified bodies (which are physical, powerful, and immortal).  We will no longer be married or given in marriage, and so we will no longer have children.  We will rule the earth along with Jesus (Matthew 22:30 / Philippians 3:20-21 / 1 John 3:2 / 1 Corinthians 15 / Revelation 20:4-6)

         *All who survived the Tribulation and were permitted by the Lord to live in His Kingdom at His return will exist as natural humans, just as we all are now.  They will continue marrying and having children (Isaiah 65:18-23; Ezekiel 36:37-38 / Revelation 20:7-8). 

         *The earth is healed from the damage done to it during the Tribulation.  The curse laid down by God after the Fall will be lifted.  The enmity between animals and humans will be gone; animals will no longer harm humans, nor each other.  The earth will yield its strength to men again, making farming easy.  Women will no longer suffer in childbirth; having children will be easy, which will lead to a population explosion.  Everyone will have enough, and no one will suffer lack.  There will be no more war or fighting anywhere on the earth.  The world will be a genuine utopia for a thousand years.   All the nations will go to Israel once per year to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Romans 8:18-22 / Isaiah 11, 65:18-25 / Micah 4:1-5 / Ezekiel 36:33-36, 40-48 / Zechariah 14:16-19)

   --The Final Rebellion

      •Satan is released from his prison. He will go about the whole earth and tempt all the natural humans who were born during the Millennial Age.  Satan will succeed in drawing away a huge number of those people, causing them to rebel against Jesus and attempt to overthrow His Kingdom (Revelation 20:7-8).

         *The rebel army will march on Jerusalem and surround it, and then God will annihilate them all (Revelation 20:9).

          *Satan will be caught again, and this time thrown into the Lake of Fire alongside the Antichrist and the False Prophet.  God will seal them in there permanently, where they will be punished day and night, forever.  Satan will never again harm anyone (Revelation 20:10). 

   --The Great White Throne Judgement (Revelation 20:11-15)

         *All of the people who died in their sins from all of human history, who have been waiting in Hell this whole time, will be resurrected and brought before the Lord God for judgement.  Also, all the rebels from the Millennial Kingdom that followed Satan will be there.  They will be sentenced to a degree of punishment in the Lake of Fire that fits exactly the degree of wickedness that was present in their life.  "Death" and "Hell" are thrown in to the Lake of Fire as well, indicating that no one will ever again enter Hell, and no one will ever again die; the number of those who are in the Lake of Fire after the White Throne Judgement will never be added to.  The Lake will be sealed. 

[[I speculate that at this point, all of the faithful from the Millennial Kingdom will be given glorified Resurrection bodies just like those who took part in the First Resurrection; the Bible isn't clear about when that will happen]]

The New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21-22:1-5)

      •The Lord will make a brand new planet for us to live on (and I think "new heaven" could mean a brand new universe as well). 

         *The New Earth will not have an ocean.  There will be no sun, and no moon, and no day-night cycle.  It will be daytime all the time.  It will be a perfect paradise, where there will be no death, no suffering at all.  

         *The New Jerusalem will be a breathtaking masterpiece made from precious materials.  It will be huge, stretching more than 1,300 miles long, 1,300 miles wide, and 1,300 miles high.  The glory of God Himself will be in the city, and it will shine out, lighting the whole planet.  

         *There will be nations on the new planet, indicating that we will live not only in the city, but also all over the new world.  There will never be anything evil on the new earth; no sin, no darkness, no corruption.  We will live for the rest of forever in perfect peace with each other, enjoying God's magnificent company. Every day will be an adventure, every moment as exhilarating as the first; exciting, fun, and fulfilling, with no depression, sadness, stress, or boredom.  

Revelation 22:3-5

"No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."

Maranatha, Lord Jesus!