#(i am presuming. hi jer !!)

[conductor-on-grn]

🌿💜

ah! hello there,,, there's a plant above you. and also me. and it means i must do this—

*They give you a little kiss on the mouth.*

was that good, love? :]

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

Hello fellow bmc blog. I would like to request for you to rant about your fav song!! >:)

Oh gods there are a FEW that rotate in my brain at any given time,, like the ones that always have an animatic that I'll never make playing in my head when I listen to them. See the thing is I think less of the song itself and more of like, the cinematography song brings up in my head

ACK I might have to do a few!!! (In no preference order) ((fuck it i might have to do most of them))

More Than Survive

So when we've got a big song focusing on a lot of different characters and ideas I am chasing EVERYTHING around in my enclosure trying to chew on something. Jeremy's monologuing on his way to and on the bus, learning everyone's personality in the hallway, Michael bopping along to music, all of it!! I had food for WEEKS when Claudia's MTS animation dropped like MMMM THATS THE SHIT

Two-Player Game

Shipping fuel aside I love how we get to see Michael and Jeremy's (and Jeremy and Mr. Heere's) dynamic!! Specifically how we get to watch them bounce off each other when Jeremy sings his own verse and their lil back n forth in the second chorus. Plus imagining these two trying to have a conversation while getting swarmed by zombies in-game is just SO FUCKING fun for me!!!

Be More Chill Pt. 1 and 2

SQUIP being a manipulative bastard my beloved,,, the (presumably squip-produced) image of everyone in the mall first berating Jeremy and then later praising him, or rather what he could be if he continues listening to the squip OUGH mans just wants to be liked </3

Upgrade

SQUIP being a manipulative bastard my beloved!!! Like I imagine it also put Jeremy in the right time and place to see Jake and Christine being all cute together to try n fuel Jer's jealousy into listening to it. Like!!! And ok, I get that Loser Geek Whatever was added to give more context into Jer's life to kinda,, Justify why he would want to listen to the squip and that's all well and good! It's not a bad song by any stretch! But to me personally when we get to "should I take the upgrade" and we hear the ensemble just repeating "upgrade upgrade upgrade now now now now now" like,, that in my head is the squip FURTHER pressuring Jeremy and OVERWHELMING him into taking the upgrade to get the voices in his head to stop. (See also Claudia's Upgrade animation ough,,) Is there a part of him that kinda wants to take it anyway? Sure! But the idea of squip doing EVERYTHING it can to ENSURE Jeremy says yes is just!!! Raaagh!!! Evil scheming!!!

Halloween

Similar to MTS I love the chaos!! Of switching between several characters and seeing how everyone else is partying it up!! And this is just me and my Brain Animatic talking but I just love the idea of Jeremy and Jake's dance battle in the og script?? Like ok we all know that the squip would be manipulating Jeremy's body to get him to win but like?? I really would've wanted to see that friendly competition between Jeremy and Jake?? I wanna see them be friends!!! Even if the shit hits the fan literally a few minutes later. SPEAKING OF WHICH

Do You Wanna Hang?

Look I've already done deep analysis on this song in two other posts. And this is more on the scene As A Whole and not just the song itself (it's DYWR in another font, musically there's not a ton else happening) but it's the character interactions, it's squip being a rotten little shit and being MUCH more overt in forcing Jeremy into something he doesn't want. Like the manipulation was always there but this is like, our first look into EVIL evil, like no the squip is NOT a good thing for you. And then the frenzy of Jake showing up and OH SHIT BROOKE'S HERE TOO and jer can only get the briefest apology out before he just DIPS completely and everything is FALLING APART and!!!! Like!!! Yes it's an uncomfy song and an uncomfy scene but that's the POINT and it's SO VITAL to emphasizing that the squip only cares about RESULTS and not the healthiest way for Jeremy to GET them.

Michael in the Bathroom

I feel like a lot of animatics (and the bway version) just water this song down to "Michael sad" instead of really showing his like, Progression of Emotions. Like he's gotta be in sort of despondent shock at first!! He really went through all his research just for Jeremy to walk out on him?? The fuck?? Like yeah he's alone at this party and he doesn't know what to do without a friend there, (i could stay right here or disappear,) but he's petty and resentful about it (and nobody'd even notice at all [...] cuz my buddy kind of left me alone, but I'd rather fake pee than stand awkwardly) and THEN he starts getting sad (everything felt fine when I was half of a pair, but through no fault of mine there's no other half there)

I should probably make this song its own entire post with all the switching between emotions Michael does between lines (he does it A Lot if you ask me) but he's so much more than just sad and mopey!! He's pissed off!! He's frantic!! He's ten thousand different things!! HES MORE THAN JUST SAD!!!! And I feel like that entire SHITSTORM of emotions isn't shown enough!!!

Smartphone Hour

CHAOS CHAOS CHAOS!!! YOU KNOW THE DRILL BY NOW!!! I don't have much else other than like, the latter half of the song where the rumor mill REALLY blows up and everyone's just saying Whatever the fuck about Rich and it's like!!!! OUGH there really aren't enough Smartphone Hour animatics out there!! And even then idk how many of them really capture the true CHAOS of "Hey, one of our classmates burned Jake's fucking house down," and then social media just has a goddamn RIOT!! I was going to put lyric examples here but, it REALLY is just everything after "always be aware of autocorrect" all the way to the end of the song

The Pitiful Children

SQUIP BEING A MANIPULATIVE BASTARD MY BELOVED!!!!!! VILLAIN SONG VILLAIN SONG VILLAIN SONG AAAAAA!!!!!! BARKBARK BARK BARK GRRR GRR RAAGHRR FOAMS AT THE MOUTH RIPS THIS SONG APART WITH MY TEETH RAAAAARRREGG /pos

I don't have the brain to give it more than that it just makes me Insane

The Pants Song

Listen maybe I'm just a filthy Jeremy kinnie (I am) but to see his dad kickstart his life back up because he's worried about his son who just Called Him The Fuck Out is just!! 🤌🤌🤌 and the way he gets Michael in on it because he KNOWS that if anyone's gonna get through to Jeremy, it's gonna be the one that knows him better than anyone else!!! And like, we actually see a pretty good chunk of Michael's character here too??? Arguably more than mitb??? They both care about Jeremy so much!!!

The Play

It's a big ensemble piece again you know I'm totally feral for it!!! This one might just also need its own post too bc goddamn it's like a 12 minute scene with all the dialogue!!! Like with the squip finally showing its cards and revealing its true intentions!!! Seeing the squipped versions of all the other kids while Jeremy and Michael finally team up again!!! Oh god and the fight,, the squip blocking Jeremy from saying sorry,, making him fight Michael, GODS there's so much to unpack in that twenty second conversation alone!!!! And like can we talk about the terror of the "I just feel so connected to you guys right now" when they swarm Michael!!! And him having to WATCH Jeremy be tempted by squipped Christine?? Facing that he might have to go through the grief of losing his best friend AGAIN???? FUCK I LOVE THIS SHOW

Voices in my Head

Ensemble joins again babeyyyyy!! Like seriously I just love seeing everyone's distinct ways of hyping Jeremy up!!! Mr. Heere's cheesy old school approach! Michael pointing out something that's not superficial! Rich's innuendo! Jenna and Brooke being total sweethearts!! Chloe's backhanded advice (she's so fucking funny holy shit)!! AN ACTUAL LOOK INTO JAKE BEING A TOTAL BRO!!!

Not only all that, but the way that Jeremy kinda,, foregoes everyone's advice and does his own thing!! He ignores the voices telling him what to do and says "what's on his mind," AND THE ELUDING TO THE SQUIP STILL BEING THERE BUT!! The conscious decision to shut that voice down!! And this spawns like, my favorite line from the entire show

"So many voices in my head, and they can yell and hurt like hell but I know I'll be fine [...] of the voices in my head the loudest one is mine"

MY EXCLUSION OF ILPR, SQUIP SONG, DYWR, MTS REPRISE (both of them), AND AGTIKBI DOESN'T MEAN I DONT LIKE ANY OF THESE SONGS!!! I'm sure I could find a lot to chew on if I went after dywr, even though it's more or less The Joke Song of the entire show but YEAH THOSE ONES DEFINITELY HAVE MERIT and I might even rb this later with additions but THIS POST IS ALREADY SUPER LONG AND I KINDA BLEW THIS ASK OUT OF THE WATER BUT XNDJSKSNDH

[3amclothesmonster]

Is William actually lore posting??? Is it about their AU?? No, it isn't BUT I AM LORE POSTING-

Ramblings of an insane person below 👇

Axel: Axel was originally supposed to be an offhand side character who appeared in an episode about astrology, though due to his personality who for some reason grew a niche amount of fans, he was often seen being clumsy, causing mischief and examining anything astrology related. Though, it is speculated he helped in the shows cancellation due to his outfit designs and implications of a relationship with the local writer and Liberian of the show, Elliot. He was said to have been a moth from a distant planet, this was presumed to either be Pluto, Neptune or the moon.

__________________

Elliot: Elliot first appeared in an episode teaching younger audiences how to read, count and different languages. He was said to be stern, mature, calm and easily annoyed by others. He was said to have a love for baking, writing and reading. His origins are unknown and whatever audio found of him is distorted. We could make out a French accent though, it was also implied that he had a relationship with Axel.

_____________________

Galene: Galene was a hair stylist and fashion designer, the spider puppet only appeared in two episodes but still gained a decent amount of fans, there isn't much we've uncovered about her due to her audio clips all being distorted and destroyed

________________

Belle: Belle was the town farmer and supplied most if the fruit and produce to Howdy. She was also Eddies older sister, it was heavily implied that she had only moved here due to some issues wherever she used to live. She was one of the more cheery characters. She appeared in around 10 episodes

___________________

Kylie: Kylie was a curious character. She was Eddies chaotic younger sister. She was consistently cancelled and then re aired due to parents seeing her as a bad influence for their young daughters. Despite the crews desperate attempt to make Jer more friendly she still remained just as a troublemaker as ever. She was often see in episodes with the character 'Robbie Wright' (@crazycaoscornpop)

______________

Cupid: [REDACTED.]

_______________

Lilly: Cupid's twin, they were often seen as arrogant, egotistical, cocky and narcissistic. Only appearing sweet to another character Vinny. Which was rare. They appeared in 3 episodes before the show was cancelled.

_______________

Vinny: Vinny was the local mad scientist, or at least that's how they tried to portray him. The character was said to be a last minute decision and was made with cheap materials due to the lack of budget they were given, resulting in tears in the felt. Which they then turned into something they could make lessons about. He often appeared in episodes talking about the safety of what to do when making arts and crafts. Unfortunately, due to him being a last minute decision, this character wasn't able to have a voice actor and only communicated through writing on a note pad he carried. This character is now assumed to be nonverbal due to this and it is very heavily implied this is true.

____________

[END]

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the Passion of St John the Baptist

Jer 1:17-19; Ps 70; Mark 6:17-29

And so today the voice is silenced; the one who was the Lord’s voice crying out in the wilderness, the one who prepares the Lord’s way, is killed. But right to the very end, true to his vocation which had been given him from the womb, the herald of the Truth had bravely spoken truth to power, had pointed to the truth. But for this he was imprisoned, plotted against by those who were disturbed by the truth, and finally he was executed on the back of a vainglorious drunken oath. Suddenly, Herod the dictator had to keep his word, has to stick to the truth, and so he had the Baptiser’s head struck off. The one who was the greatest of Israel’s prophets had challenged the weakest of kings, indeed, a weak man who could not control his lusts and vanity. For St John had warned Herod against his adulterous second marriage to Herodias while his wife Phasaelis was still alive. Moreover Herodias, too, had been married to Philip, brother of Herod, but she left him to be with Herod, presumably because she wanted riches, power, and the queenship. But complicated though the webs of sin are, the prophet’s word of truth, like a sword, cuts to the heart and names the sin, and pronounces the remedy: “It is against the law [of God] for you to have your brother’s wife”. And so, in return, Herodias, unrepentant and filled with hatred waited to turn the sword against St John, and so to have him killed. 

And yet, although the day ends with John’s head on a platter, borne up like a trophy by Herodias and her lascivious daughter, Salome, in fact it is John who is triumphant. For as we hear in the reading from Jeremiah: “They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you – it is the Lord who speaks.” But if we do not have faith, and if we read this with a vision limited only to this life and its worldly gains, then we might be puzzled. For God, it appears, didn’t deliver John. Once again, it seems, God has let his servant down, and so John was delivered up to the executioner and killed. 

But, for those with faith who follow the Risen Lord Jesus, who heed his word of Truth, who believe in the God of the living, we know that in fact there is something worse than death: There is the betrayal of truth; the compromise with sin; the toleration of the hypocrisy and lies and abuse of power by those who rule in this world. So, God gives to St John, the power faithfully to complete his vocation, to be a voice that cries out in the wilderness and prepares the way for the Lord who is the Truth who will set us free from our sins. As the Lord says in Jeremiah: “I, for my part, today will make you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze to confront all this land”. 

If St John had kept quiet, or recanted at the point of a blade, or simply ignored the sin of Herod and Herodias, many would have been scandalised, meaning that they would have been misled into thinking that moral sins, sexual sins, are unimportant and could be excused or overlooked by God. But we see, from the murderous rage of Herodias and the fascination that Herod had with St John to the extent that he liked listening to him, that in fact the truth had found its target. So, on one hand, Herodias hated the truth for challenging her lifestyle and her sins, and hence she sought to silence it. Many would reject truth like this, preferring to persist in sin, and indeed, would go on to call their sins natural and good acts for in doing so the voice of conscience is stilled. On the other hand Herod, however, was attracted to the truth and his conscience disturbed him. He could thus have repented and changed his life, rejected his sinful liaison with Herodias and pursued a life of virtue in conformity with God’s Law. But alas his emotions, his vanity, his weakness of flesh, and his addiction to sin and habitual vice got the better of him. Who, then, in this scenario, is the true victor?

Those who have given in to their sinful desires, who have acted injustly and violated the law of God, are in fact slaves of sin, defeated by their weak wills. Herod, therefore, felt bound by his vainglorious promise to his guests, and Herodias is driven by her crazed ambitions. So, while John was chained up in prison, in fact it is he whom the Lord set free. For the truth, Jesus says, will set us free. And indeed, St Paul says that Christ has freed us from sin so that we may enjoy true freedom, which is to serve the true and the good; to love God. And although it is king Herod’s birthday, by killing John on this day it becomes, in fact, St John’s birthday. For by his martyrdom, John is born into eternal life, where he enjoys for ever the beautiful dance of the Saints at the heavenly Banquet of the true King. It is this victory and this heavenly birthday that we celebrate today, then. And we give thanks to God that although the Lord’s voice was silenced today, nevertheless, the Word has been spoken. Therefore, may we who hear the Word of God today keep it (cf Lk 11:28). For then shall we share in the Baptiser’s blessedness.  

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Okay it's time to Analyze this bunch of human townsfolk who are set to be reacouring characters in season 3. First up we have this lovely museum curator. The intro shows Anne and the planters breaking into a museum after hours (not cool kids). This women is standing front and center and smiling though; she is presenting as a friend/aly. I am guessing that means things will wind up working out to where they do not have to break in anymore.

Secondly we have Anne's parents. Very excited to finally meet Anne's parents. Also very glad that Matt remembered that in season 1 Anne is implied to have a dad as well as a mom. In season 2 when she only talked about her mom I wondered if he had forgotten about dad.Please take us to their restaurant. I want to see it.

Blue haired (doctor??) Women. She is the only white character in the promo, and she has kind of a longer shaped face? Is she related to Sasha; is this her mom? She looks kind young, then again so does Anne's dad. Maybe she just had Sasha young. Or if she is related to Sasha maybe she isn't her mom, but an Aunt/Gaurdian who takes care of her/ fosters/adopted her. Sasha has been shown to have control issues, abandonment issues, and anger issues, the former two have been there since she was 5. When did you lose control Sasha? Who decided that they didn't need you and left you? My first guess is her father; she is so attached to Grime, to having a male parental figure. So was it just her father, or was it both her original parent? If this women (mom/gaurdian) is the one raising Sasha then I am willing to bet she is probably a good parent; sasha is a bright, headstrong, talented kid. She just, in her teenage immaturity, focuses on whatever (whoever) she lost and at times forgets to appreciate who she has. Get Sasha some new perspective and a good therapist and she will turn out fine. ...(Sigh. Now that I have written all of this out watch it not be true and this women just be some random worker at a random place.)

Now elephant in the room. After that less than great "introduction" to them in the rushed half of True Colors, we do not see Marcy's parents. But we do see a cool pink haired Chinese mechanic girl who looks like she could be Marcy's older sister. If Marcy has an older sister who presumably lives with her girlfriend, outside of their parents home, then maybe Marcy could come down for visits and stay with them. Then she could still see Anne and Sasha! Speaking of Marcy's potential SIL, am I the only one getting trans vibes from her appearnce? That would make Sissy Pan, and the two of them a interracial lesbian couple. Lots of flags to be waved there. Final note them having a robotic panda and strong hints they will fix Frobo means I already love these two.

Human Hop-pop. Two ideas as he is. 1 he looks grandfatherly, has gold skin, and is standing next to Marcy's sister and SIL, so is he their grandfather. If he is in a well enough position maybe it could be worked out where Marcy could live with him, and then just visit her parents on break/communicate with them via social media. Marcy, sweet child, you may have more options than you originally realized. 2 say he is not their grandfather and just an old man. What if he is a teacher? In season 1 Jer(k)tonio in his one good deed of the episode told Anne her teachers were likely only tough on her because they wanted her to reach her full potiental, and she said at the end she wanted to start fresh with her teachers back home. Wouldn't it be cool if the guy was one of them? What would he teach? Their biology teacher was a women, and I cannot remember the subject taught by that one teacher Anne ran away from when he asked for her paper. Could he teach science? History? Maybe his not actually the three girls teacher but sissy and Sil's robotics teacher and will help them fix Frobo. Someone needs to fix Frobo!

Oh lastly there are two government agents in the background pretending to drive an ice cream truck. They will probably play minor antagonist roles. Honestly meh to them.

[anangelicday-mrwolf]

Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 38 – Something None of Them Wanted or Expected

“Care to explain why I have to refresh my sore eyes with that face of yours? What a way to start a morning.”

<You know, you tend to turn more talkative and annoyingly eloquent whenever you see me. Did you modify your tongue by any chance? Does it run evolution on your linguistic ability whenever you spot me?>

“I’ve never done that, but that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I’ll see what I can do with it.”

<Geez, looks like joking is not an option any more in your presence.>

Despite his manners, Frankenstein aimed for more than vexing the werewolf lord.

“Please tell me you have a good reason why you requested a conversation with me so early. I’d thought I told you we must for the time being be cautious of every word we share, including those exchanged through transmission. And I couldn’t possibly be the only one who told you so.”

<Uh, the thing is, my kid will be busy for the next few days. So Adne and I decided to lend a claw or two.>

My kid?

Frankenstein was about to snap at him that he should be more specific with his term, when there are dozens of werewolves under his care.

But he held his voice, upon reminding himself that there is only one werewolf aside from Adne that Muzaka would ever mention to him at a time like this.

<Lunark found something lately from a facility in Crombel’s ownership. And she claimed she must take them outside to have them audited by an expert. So she won’t get to deliver you the data that Adne unlocked most recently.>

Audited by an expert?

Who could this expert be?

Whatever it is that she discovered, I doubt she can find the best expert other than me, in anything related to Union or Crombel.

But how come she didn’t come to me and......

Frankenstein sealed his lips tighter, albeit already zipped, in the middle of his cognitive complaints.

‘You shouldn’t be missing her, Frankenstein.’

He told himself a number of times that she is off-limits, especially since they had ended up exploring each other’s lips.

Nevertheless, here he was, painfully savoring how his heart was sailing towards her. He had to struggle to anchor his heart back to his chest.

<But Lunark did examine this data before she left it with me. And she said it’d be best to relay it to you as soon as possible. Let’s see what it...>

Muzaka began to fidget with something, unavailable for witness at Frankenstein’s angle of vision.

“Stop it. We didn’t get to diagnose the exact cause of the failure in activating QuadraNet. It’s not safe to disclose such an important resource on transmission, lest there be loss or leak.”

<Then what? Lunark is not available. How am I supposed to send this to...>

“I’ll fetch it myself.”

Muzaka made a peculiar face; it appeared as if he honestly wanted to slap his ears to see if they are functional.

<What do you mean, you’ll fetch it yourself?>

“There’s no other way, is there? Oh, no need to be concerned that other werewolves would be curious or suspicious of my visit. I’ll make sure no one else can see me.”

Frankenstein exhibited not the slightest hint of hesitation. If it was guaranteed that he will not get to see the certain gray-haired werewolf, there was no reason for him to stay away from wolfkind’s realm.

“So make sure I can receive it upon arrival. I’ll leave as soon as I get it; I’m a busy man myself.”

<Uh... Okay. Okay! G-great! I’ll see you soon.>

Frankenstein headed to 3rd Elder as soon as Muzaka’s face flashed off from the monitor, to let him know that once again he will be absent for a while.

“There is this jer... I mean, there is this someone I must see. So stay tucked. I won’t take long.”

Frankenstein did not even wait for a reply from the white-haired man.

The moment he was surely gone, 3rd Elder’s eyes were caught on fire.

Though he wished Frankenstein would have revealed where he was off to, he knew he should not wait to determine his destination.

So he drew out the plastic bag containing the sample of Frankenstein’s tonic, kept hidden all this time for this moment – the moment to let his old lab techniques shine.

Simultaneously, he prayed that Helga and their accomplice assistant would be ready.

*****

A few days later, in the werewolf realm

“Man – even the Kertias would flush in shame at your skills in stealth. How did you get here without sounding the alarm?”

“There is always a way, but don’t expect me to tell you. That’s not what I’m here for, after all.”

“Well, you’ve got a point.”

Muzaka stepped down from his thrown to lead his guest to one of werewolf labs, to present him with a pile of documents.

Frankenstein scanned the contents, before his eyes glinted.

“Huh...”

“What? Is it really that important?”

“...Pretty much.”

That was when he emitted an exasperated sigh, as if he could not believe he was saying this.

“I’d hate to admit it, but the Union and Ignes were not too shabby. The former actually devised such a genius weapon, and the latter sought to make it better.”

“A genius weapon?”

Now inquisitive, Muzaka peeked over Frankenstein’s shoulder.

“Genetic... Calibrator... Chip... GC chip? A weapon based on biochip technology? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Biochip. It’s a trick I’d often make use of. It’s no longer a stranger to the civilians, either. It requires human genetic information – DNA or protein – to work as a conductor on an electronic device or parts, to be connected to a computer, thereby allowing calculations and data interpretations of rate and accuracy beyond any human imagination or preexistent semiconductor. It’s a dreamlike technique that...”

“Speak human, will ya?”

“......Simply put, a biochip enables your computer to deal with data and information at a rate that only a biological brain can conduct. Consider it an essential element in shaping a computer into a fine mechanical mimicry of human brain.”

Muzaka did not withdraw the puzzled look on his face, but he did not ask for further explanation.

“Okay, if you say so. So what does this GC chip do?”

“It was to be used for weapons developed or manufactured by the Union. And for the computers that would control such weapons. They would download the DNA data laid inside the chip to target only the designated foe for assault.”

“So it makes a weapon capable of telling its targets on its own? I have no idea how that’s possible, but you’re right. Those rascals are not too shabby.”

Frankenstein continued with his ardent inspection of the document, wondering why Union had never flaunted such weapon. However, he could soon presume why.

‘Those monsters had long been standing as the summit of the world, thanks to their modified humans, technology in human modification, and the derivative profit. I doubt they could find a threat fearsome enough to take on with such weapon. And even though we later served as their great adversary, they wouldn’t have had samples to use against us, nobles, or werewolves.’

His assumption was proven by the note on the document, specifying how the GC chip never made it out of the list of weapons on a hold.

And obviously Ignes did not agree with such course of action.

“She was hoping to refine this weapon, to make it work exclusively on modified humans loyal to those that oppose her.”

“So they laugh and chit-chat under the chandelier but seek for a chance to bite at each other’s head on their carriages back from the ball. That’s so much like the Union, though I shouldn’t be saying this as an ex-tenant of Crombel’s lab.”

Frankenstein retorted with a snort and an expression that he is not completely brainless.

“Speaking of which, is the reconstruction all over now?”

“Sort of. This isn’t the first time, so there was no need for me to give orders.”

Muzaka grinned, despite the fact that having to rebuild his land on multiple basis is nothing to be proud about.

“But I couldn’t help getting scared during the process. I mean, we’ve already experienced destruction and construction several times. So I even came to think that maybe we should just leave things the way they are, since there’s a good chance they’d be dismantled again.”

“You know you can’t do that.”

“Oh, of course I do. But I’m scared as I speak. I wouldn’t be surprised to witness another facility breaking down to dust. Or hear something exploding.”

“No need to make yourself sound so ominous. The odds feel too high whenever you offer them.”

Muzaka snickered, as if telling his audience that he is worrying for nothing.

And just then resonated a CRASH, something none of them wanted or expected.

“...What was that?”

“H-how should I know? But it came from the biggest lab in our...”

“You mean the main lab? Where Mr. Jang worked?”

“Uh... Yeah. What about it?”

Then why are you still here?

Frankenstein glared at the werewolf lord briefly before he bolted. Muzaka soon caught up to him and outran him.

They soon got to see how the lab was already teeming with werewolf researchers and warriors.

“What was that all about?”

“Something just blew up, right?”

“Ugh, what’s the smell? This is the foulest, thickest smoke I’ve ever smelled!”

The atmosphere was close to chaotic, but werewolves did not fail in noticing Muzaka and letting him through the unbearably malodorous stench of smolder, followed by Frankenstein, whose presence nobody questioned due to the magnitude of the situation.

Once he reached the center of the commotion, Frankenstein could see why no one kept much interest in him.

“...What happened?”

Muzaka murmured at the sight of a hunched, terribly quivering werewolf, his tone no longer merry, now steeled with utmost rigidity and coldness.

Frankenstein’s heart seized as well upon identifying who he was.

“M-my lord......”

Adne was holding onto something with hands just as quivery.

Muzaka closed their distance, and Adne stepped back as he shook his arms like they were on fire.

“...This must be the network transmission modem. The one that human researcher installed for the QuadraNet. How come it’s in pieces? He told us never to touch it. You told me an urgent business came up before you left; is this what you were talking about?”

Adne’s lips mumbled something inaudible in a hurry, but with skittish eyes he surveyed the faces looking down at him before trembling once again.

“We gotta talk, Adne. We have a lot to talk about.”

Muzaka sternly announced, as Frankenstein narrowed his lips.

(next chapter)

The ideology and terminology for “biochip” and “biological computers” are not fictional. My original plan was to get into more details regarding the current research and commercial progress that has been made regarding these technologies. However, I decided to include only the most basic concepts about them, for I believe including something that requires professional comprehension would prove as hindrance in readers’ appreciation of a work.

Also, it’s about time to bring out the star of the show so far hidden - the apparent traitor in QuadraNet project. I’ve been providing hints about this traitor over the several past chapters; I’m not sure if you caught every single one of them, and I’ll definitely get into details about them in future chapters! Hopefully you’ll stay tuned until then!

[hungryheartsministries]

Purim (פּוּרִים)

The name Purim means “lots.” It commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. This took place in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. The story is recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther. According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus (presumed to be Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I of Persia) planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his cousin/ adopted daughter Esther (Hadassah), who had risen to become Queen of Persia. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing.

Throughout the centuries and in various places, many have tried to destroy the Jewish people, but none have succeeded. עַם יִשְֹרָאֵל חַי  (am Yisrael chai): “The people of Israel live!” Israel is God’s “super sign” that He is faithful to His covenant promises (Jer. 31:35-37). Christians likewise can trust that God’s sovereign hand works all things together for good – even if at times things appear bleak and desperate (Rom. 8:28).

This year we celebrate Purim starting today, Wednesday, March 20th at sundown. This is the 14th of the month of Adar, the day after Haman’s roll of the dice indicated that the 13th of Adar was most “propitious” date to exterminate the Jews of Persia. Purim is celebrated the day after since it was at that time that the Jews experienced the joy of their deliverance.

[https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/parashah.html]

[seekfirst-community]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2022. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.net

Meditation: What can malicious weed-sowing tell us about the kingdom of God? The image Jesus uses here is a common everyday example of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good fruit from the bad. Weeds can spoil and even kill a good harvest if they are not separated and destroyed at the proper time. Uprooting them too early, though, can destroy the good plants in the process.

Guard God's implanted word in your heart

Just as nature teaches us patience, so God's patience also teaches us to guard the word which he has planted in our hearts and to beware of the destructive force of sin and deception which can destroy it. God's word brings life, but Satan, the father of lies, seeks to destroy the good seed which God plants in the hearts of those who listen to his word.

God's judgment is not hasty, but it does come. And in the end, God will reward each person according to what he or she has sown and reaped in this life. In that day God will separate the evil from the good. Do you allow God's word to take deep root in your heart?

"Lord Jesus, may your word take deep root in my heart and may I bear good fruit for your glory. May I hunger for your righteousness now that I may also look forward to the day of judgment with joy rather than with dismay."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2022.

“deceitful words” for catholics (jer 7:8)

“But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!” —Jeremiah 7:8

Some Catholics are still trusting in “deceitful words” today:

“It’s OK to live with your girlfriend and still receive Holy Communion at Mass each week. You’re a Catholic, and you’ll go to heaven. No one goes to hell anymore.”

“Is it really a sin to use artificial birth control? All your Catholic friends do it. Look, the music minister and lector had vasectomies. Why should you go to Confession for that?”

“So you got pulled over for a few DUI violations. Don’t worry, you’re not an alcoholic. Look, your parish sells plenty of alcohol at its festival; it must be OK.”

Jeremiah cut through the deceitful words and spoke truth to the Israelites. He bluntly said they could not continue to sin and expect to hide behind their membership in the Temple (Jer 7:4). He prophesied to them, and to us today, that we cannot come to stand before God in His house and then go out to “commit all these [sins] again” (Jer 7:10). Similarly, Jesus warned against presuming we are safe because of our standing in the Church (Lk 18:9ff). Presumption is a sin against hope in God where a person is “hoping to obtain His forgiveness without conversion” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2091, 2092).

We are always welcome in God’s house with humble, contrite, and repentant hearts (Ps 51:19). Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to Him (Jn 6:37), but He tells each of us to sin no more (Jn 8:11). Resist the deceitful words of our culture. Repent today!

Prayer:  Father, show me all areas of my life in which I am deceived. Give me the grace to repent quickly and permanently.

Promise:  “Happy the men whose strength You are!” —Ps 84:6

Praise:  St. Bridget’s father set apart all Fridays for special acts of penance among the family. He instilled in his daughter a lifelong love for the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Reference:  (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)

Rescript:  "In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat for the publication One Bread, One Body covering the time period from June 1, 2022 through July 31, 2022. Reverend Steve J. Angi, Chancellor, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio November 18, 2021"

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

[fidei]

“DECEITFUL WORDS” FOR CATHOLICS (JER 7:8)

“But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!” —Jeremiah 7:8

Some Catholics are still trusting in “deceitful words” today:

“It’s OK to live with your girlfriend and still receive Holy Communion at Mass each week. You’re a Catholic, and you’ll go to heaven. No one goes to hell anymore.”

“Is it really a sin to use artificial birth control? All your Catholic friends do it. Look, the music minister and lector had vasectomies. Why should you go to Confession for that?”

“So you got pulled over for a few DUI violations. Don’t worry, you’re not an alcoholic. Look, your parish sells plenty of alcohol at its festival; it must be OK.”

Jeremiah cut through the deceitful words and spoke truth to the Israelites. He bluntly said they could not continue to sin and expect to hide behind their membership in the Temple (Jer 7:4). He prophesied to them, and to us today, that we cannot come to stand before God in His house and then go out to “commit all these [sins] again” (Jer 7:10). Similarly, Jesus warned against presuming we are safe because of our standing in the Church (Lk 18:9ff). Presumption is a sin against hope in God where a person is “hoping to obtain His forgiveness without conversion” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2091, 2092).

We are always welcome in God’s house with humble, contrite, and repentant hearts (Ps 51:19). Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to Him (Jn 6:37), but He tells each of us to sin no more (Jn 8:11). Resist the deceitful words of our culture. Repent today!

Prayer:  Father, show me all areas of my life in which I am deceived. Give me the grace to repent quickly and permanently.

Promise:  “Happy the men whose strength You are!” —Ps 84:6

Praise:  St. Bridget’s father set apart all Fridays for special acts of penance among the family. He instilled in his daughter a lifelong love for the Passion of Jesus Christ.

[nyancheetosmusical]

Jeremy meeting the Human Squip (HSAU Ch.1)

Here’s the story alongside some (kinda crappy) illustrations of how Jeremy meets the Squip after he gets a human body through….questionable means.

Slightly graphic descriptions of scars, cuts, stitches, and blood ahead, and some cartoonish drawings of said injuries. If that is an issues for you, be warned.

He knew he had to keep moving, but it was hard. Everything hurt. The world flickered in and out of focus like static. It hurt so bad. Never had he felt so powerless, so not in control. It was a battle simply to get the body to move at all; fighting for control from some silent, unknown source. Nothing made sense. There was just pain.

___

The biting December air hurried Jeremy along. He hadn’t planned on staying at Michael’s until two in the morning, but they had so much to catch up on. Things had started out a little awkward- it had been two months since they’d last hung out- but after Michael ordered a pizza and booted up his N64, the natural rhythm between them returned. All in all-

Jeremy snapped his back, coming to a stop on the path as he fixed his posture. His hands had almost gone into his pockets. With a sigh of relief that he’d remembered in time, Jeremy pulled his hands up- and a sinking feeling overcame him. The Squip was gone; Jeremy was sure of that, Michael even made him drink some Mtn Dew Red with his pizza earlier, just in case. But it seemed that parts of the Squip might be harder to get rid of than others.

“S-shit, man,” he said softly, twisting the hospital bracelet anxiously around his wrist. The sensation of the bracelet passing over the scars the Squip’s “conditioning” had left was oddly soothing; it was like the bracelet was there, then wasn’t, then was, then wasn’t….Now, at 2 AM, on a path in the middle of a public park, was not the place to begin psychoanalyzing the damage the Squip left. With a sigh, he resumed his walk through the quiet night.

A few minutes later, he was stopped by a rustle in the bushes. He had been passing through the back trails of the park, where sidewalks and park benches turned to unkempt forest and stoner hang out spots. As such, you never knew if it was a deer or a pot head that was going to pop out of the bushes. Curious to see what he’d meet this time, Jeremy stepped forward to peer into the bushes.

___

Where was he going? Why was he even bothering to move? Maybe if he stayed still the pain would go away.

No. Keep going. Stop questioning. Keep going. Through here.

Something jabbed into one of the regions of the body that had been burning with an unbearable pain.

Suddenly, agony. What is this? Is this death? Something was screaming. It was the body. Was he screaming too?

___

A muffled, mangled scream interrupted the rustling. Jeremy took a step backwards as pained, dry sobs began to fill the silence the scream had left.

“Hey man, is everything okay in there?” He called out hesitantly. If this was another stoner crying because the price of McChickens went up, Jeremy did not want to deal with it again. The sobbing paused. He shifted uneasily.

“Right, so I think I’m just gonna-”

Without warning, a small dark figure clawed its way out of the bushed and onto the sidewalk in front of Jeremy, causing him to shriek and jump back. “Dang, dude, you almost…” he trailed off as the crumpled mess of a person trembled face down on the pavement, still half in the bushes. It was dark enough that he couldn’t make out much, except for a ripped black jacket, pale skin, and- wait, was that pool of liquid there before? It was dark and thick, and the blue-ish glow of the moon was turning it a blackish-purple…

Oh shit.

Jeremy jumped forward and knelt by the person, trying to flip them onto their back. “Dude, you’re bleeding really bad, what’s-” Jeremy felt the sentence die in his mouth. Before him was a very small boy, not too much younger than himself, shirtless except for that dirty black jacket, shaking like a leaf. That wasn’t the strange part.

The kid’s eyes, sunken deep into a starved face, gave a slight blue glow. Instead of pupils and irises, a single straight black line in each eye searched the world without appearing to see anything. Without warning, the line in the boy’s right eye flickered into a circle. It was tall and clean, like a 0 in a calculator. He didn’t seem to notice though, even when it flicked back into a line.

Both sides of his pale face were crusted in dried blood; moving the hair covering his ears, Jeremy could faintly make out shiny metallic somethings sloppily piercing his earlobes where earrings would have gone. The area had scabbed up, but fresh blood still glittered brightly in the moonlight. “What the..." Jeremy leaned back as a wave of nausea came over him. Doing so let him catch a glimpse of the boy’s chest, and another wave of sickness crashed over him.

Dead center of his chest was the cut out of a perfect, clean outline of a circle. The wound appeared to have trouble scabbing up, as blood and new skin glistened between pathetic clots. Electricity scars, originating from all side of the circle, arced all across his chest in jagged fractures. Below that, over his abdomen was a lengthy cut running side to side across his body, eerily straight and precise. Two similar scars sat on either side of his waist, curving around, presumably to his back. Although they all had been sewn closed neatly, each one was nasty and bruised. The incision on his left had split open, and blood was seeping steadily out.

Jeremy stared in shock. This kid didn’t smell like pot, and these were injuries he had never seen before. And what was with his eyes? Something was really wrong with-

His thoughts cut off as he felt a hand wrap weakly around his wrist. The boy’s eyes suddenly focused, and the right eye became a line.

“J-jeremy Heer-r-r-re….” an unbelievably raspy voice somehow had come out of the boy’s mouth. A pit opened in Jeremy’s stomach. Something was very, very wrong here. He tried to wrench his hand back, but the strange boy’s grasp became vice-like. The right eye flicked to a zero. “H-h..help me….”

“Back off, dude, how do you know my-”

“Jer-er-eremy Heere….” That voice, why did he recognize that voice?

“Dude, you’re really freaking me out-”

“Jeremy H…..he….Hee….Heere….” And instantly, Jeremy froze, his blood turning to ice in his veins. He was falling, a deep fear stirring inside him.

That voice.

It was him.

It was his Squip.

Oh no. Dear God no. This can’t be happening. He can’t be back, he should be gone. Please no, i dont know what youre doing or how youre doing it but please stop i will do anything please just-

“Com-m-me back…” The sobbing snapped Jeremy out of his thoughts. He had stood up and began to back away. The- the thing, his Squip, reached after Jeremy. The glow in it’s eyes began to flicker.

“Jer-r-emy, he-help me…it hurt-t-t-ts….”

“S-stay away from me! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, b-but stop it! You’re supposed to be dead!” The zero in the right eye flipped to a line. Seeming to have ignored the warning, the Squip painfully began to drag himself forward, eyes burning with such pain and fear that, for a moment, Jeremy wanted to run over and- no. No no no. That’s just what he wants. “Get away from me!” Stumbling backwards, his heart began to race. It can’t come back. I can’t lose Michael again. I can’t go back to that.

Still the Squip dragged itself forward, eye flickering to a zero. A thick trail of blood followed.

___

The effort to move was monumental. But it was the only chance.

It had recognized Jeremy’s voice. Jeremy can help. Jeremy can make the pain stop. Jeremy can help.

Jeremy was standing up.

Jeremy was backing away.

Jeremy was going to leave.

“S-stay away from me, man! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, b-but stop it! You’re supposed to be dead!”

Jeremy is leaving

The pain is never going to go away

Jeremy can help

Jeremy needs to help, it hurts and it hurts and it won’t ever stop and w h a t  i s  h a p p e n i n g

move forward

get jeremy

keep

moving

survival is

necessary

“Get away from me!”

A horrible wave of something washed over him, far greater than the pain wracking this body. It took hold, paralyzing him.

Wh

What is

I

I ’ m

___

The Squip suddenly froze, his piercing stare boring into Jeremy. The body still shivered, but seemed like it was paralyzed.

Stay away please stay there…

Jeremy continued stepping back slowly, arms held out front protectively, as if the quaking crumple of a person could attack him at any second. He mustered up the courage to speak.

“Just stay AWAY. I-I don’t need you to be cool or happy or anything anymore. I don’t know how, but you’re still just in my head. You’re not real. So j-just…” He couldn’t do this anymore. He had to go. Jeremy turned to run.

“J-jeremy….I’m sc-scared…”

“I…” that was not what Jeremy had expected. “O-Of what?” he countered, trying to ignore the mix of emotions swirling in his gut.

“It’s….it’s so q-quiet….so alon-n-ne….I fe-feel…”

“No, you don’t ‘feel’, you’re just some stupid computer that’s stuck in my brain and I just want you out of my head, how can you say-”

Jeremy quickly unclenched his fists. Something was wrong. His hands were slick with blood. Thick, dark blood. It was odd, he didn’t think he had any cuts. It was almost as if…

No.

That’s not possible.

There’s no way.

Jeremy slowly turned around. The Squip had collapsed completely into a widening pool of blood.

“Jeremy….everyth-th-thing hurts….please make it-t-t-t stop….”

Without warning, a tear splashed onto Jeremy’s bloody hands, washing away a small splotch of blood. His tear. A tear of anger and fear and worry and worry and confusion and frustration. And he was frustrated. Frustrated he had taken the Squip in the first place. Frustrated what the Squip had made him do. Frustrated how much the Squip had actually hurt him. And now, frustrated that the thing he now feared the most was apparently alive and had a body and he was feeling pity for it.

The Squip seemed like it couldn’t say anything anymore, let alone move. It just lay there, shuddering and whimpering weakly.

Jeremy took a step forward.

And hated himself for it.

He took another step forward and hated himself even more.

This is a terrible idea

Why am I doing this

He deserves this

And yet he did not stop approaching the pathetic little thing that shivered in its own blood.

___

Darkness closed in. It was going to be like this forever, a world of pain, and now the new feeling he had discovered, the first one he had ever felt; fear.

Horrible pain and fear. Forever.

And then he felt the body being turned over gently. And he could see the stars again, this time without a gun pointed at him. And they still glowed and danced with the same beauty as they had before. And it was almost….good.

And the pain was beginning to fade, but so was everything else. He felt the body being grabbed under the arms and carefully lifted off the ground until only the feet were touching.

“J-just so you know, I hate you more than you can imagine.” Jeremy’s voice. It came from somewhere. Jeremy must be holding him. Jeremy came back for him.

And as he felt the body beginning to be dragged along, the Squip for a moment felt something that was not pain or fear.

It was something….

Good.

It was good.

[olusegundare]

Changed Tune

TOPIC: CHANGED TUNE

INTRODUCTION

The book we shall be examining for this topic is the book of Zechariah 4:10 which says,

"Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They 'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place! Going back to the vision, the messenger-Angel said, "The seven lamps are the eyes of God probing the dark corners of the world like searchlights""-The Message Bible (Zechariah 4:10)

"For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth"- KJV (Zechariah 4:10)

This is one of the common bible verses in the bible, and we do often hear the preachers speaking to us on the need for us not to despise the days of the small beginnings (or startings).

I have however given my message a different topic, which I called "changed tune".

When musicians are playing, they may either signal to those handling the instruments that they intend to change the tune of the song they are singing, the change of tune may now be to a fast one or a slow one, or in a case where they cannot send signals to their instrumentalists, they will say it out that people will hear. I hope you grasp this? This is just to introduce you to what the prophet is saying here about changed tune, that the people who have been saying something about the on-going project before would say another thing. Interestingly what the people were initially saying were deregatory, what they were saying could not be written home about. Now if these kind of people will change their tune, they will say what could be written home about as per the on-going work of the temple.

Shall we for the sake of clarity bent over backwards on this verse, briefly talking about what led the people to this stage.

Bible students know that before the countries of Israel and Judah were plundered and destroyed by the enemies, they have gone into ostentatious sins, the chief of which was idolatry. The Lord had been repeatedly warning them to desist from such act but they have refused, according to prophet Jeremy, the Lord was rising up early to talk to them through his messengers, the prophets, but they have refused to listen, even at night the Lord would send his messengers to them, but yet they rejected God's messages and continued in their sinful state and status un-abated. (Jer. 7:13, 25; 11:7; 12:7)

Jer 7:13  “And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not”

Jer 7:25  “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them”

Jer 11:7  “For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.”

Jer 12:7  “I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies”

Our parents know the importance of early morning talk or discussion and late at night discussion, and this is what God was emphasizing to the people through the prophets, that despite the fact that they knew the import of early morning and late at night discussions, just as he did, yet they did not change.

Their recalcitrant position grieved the Lord, moved him to anger and he removed his banner of love and protection over them, allowing the enemies to come into the land. The enemies entered in full force, destroyed their cities and they did not spare the temple from being destroyed.

When these countries were overtaken by the enemies they were led to the slavery lands.

Kind Nebuchadnezzer who was the king of Babylon and the most powerful person on their then world led them away, and there they were as slaves. After Nebuchadnezzar died, his heir assumed the throne, after his heir was his grand son and on and on like that until Darius became the king, the most powerful person in the land.

When Darius became the king he did not destroy the structure put in place by his fore parents which was having governors to rule (oversee) certain countries subject unto the Babylonian kingdom. One of the countries under the leadership of King Darius was Israel and Darius the king appointed Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel) to govern the land of Israel.

The bible dictionary says Zerubbabel is a Babylonian name called Zerubabili which means the seed of Babylon. Sheshbazzar who alongside others had been slaves in the Babylonian seat of power was given a name in line with religion of the land, just as we shall all remember that the same happened to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These people were given other names in tandem with the culture, custom and religion of the land (Daniel 1:6-7). The same thing also happened to Esther (Esther 2:7).

Dan 1:6  “Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:”

Dan 1:7  “Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego”

Est 2:7  “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.”

I thence presume after Zerubbabel had undergone the studies of the land of Babylon and had been found worthy in character and studies, the King, Darius, made him ruler (governor) who shall be overseeing the affairs of the people who had been left behind in the land of Israel and will be reporting back to him.

After being crowned governor, he was sent to the land by the king alongside other released captives into his custody. As this happened, off they left for the land of Israel.

I shall be explaining this topic under these headings:

I. Why despise?

II. Why did he start?

III. How could he complete the work?

IV. Applications

I. WHY DESPISE? Zerubbabel after he got to the land of Israel saw the position of the country and above all the deplorable state of the temple and he was moved to tears by what he saw and purpoted in his heart to do something on what he has seen. History had it that as fate would have it, King Darius at this time was battling with some enemies which prevented him from focusing on the land of Israel, vizaviz, supervising the work which he had commanded Zerubbabel to be doing then. As a governor, an officer, who is in direct contact with the king, Darius, he made use of the presenting opportunity, that is the shift in focus, shift of attention, of the king from him to start the work of rebuilding the temple.

After laying the foundation of the temple, the people who had knew that he had deviated started to despise him that he was wasting his time, he was doing what the king had neither commanded him to do nor commissioned him to do. Zerubbabel was despised by these people because according to them he was doing what was not in the constitution, what was not in the budget, what has not been approved. I hope we get it to this point?

II. WHY DID HE START THE WORK? As i have above explained that when this governor, Zerubbabel and others returned to the land of Israel, the state of the country and most importantly that of the temple had broken down, the governor and he decided to do something on what he has seen.

(a) ZEAL: The zeal to re-construct the house of God consumed him when he returned to the country. He knew that the country was a vast place and couldn’t be rebuilt within frame of months unlike the temple, he thus concentrated on the reconstruction of the temple, to get a place for God where his people would go to to commune with Yahweh their God and his God who had brought him back to the land safe and in good health. (Psalms 69:9; 119:139)

Psa 69:9  “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me”.

Psa 119:139  “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”

(b) GRASPING THE OPPORTUNITY: The zeal to reconstruct the temple that had consumed him made him grasp the opportunity when it presented itself. And what was the opportunity? The opportunity was that the king was battling with some enemies then which took all his time, energy, intelligence, workforce, military etc.

When Zerubbabel saw this he quickly and promptly grasped it, using it to build the temple. May we not miss the presenting opportunity to make it in life in Jesus name. Amen.

Some of us are as we are at the moment because our fathers or parents failed to make use of the presenting opportunity that appeared to them years, decades back. I am not talking about illegal opportunities. I am talking about genuine and legal opportunities. When those rare opportunities appear then, they do not want to try, they prefer their low estate and thence the opportunity slipped off.

(c) SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE (OR UNITY): There is nothing anyone could achieve in life if the person does not have the backing, support of the people. Zerubbabel knew that the work cannot be done alone despite being the governor thus he confided in some people and carried them along. Interestingly those he confided in share his dream with him and they wholly supported the move. This support really helped him in carrying out the work and in succeeding in the work despite the few ones who were despising him for taking that giant stride.

For a family to breakthrough, all members of the family must support the leadership of the family. For a husband to make it, he will enjoy the support of his wife so also is the wife, for her to make it, her hubby must support him, anything short of this would result in set backs.

A student who shall make it will be supported by his/her teachers, an institution that shall make it will receive support from all stakeholders of the institution.

The disciples were able to make it because of the unity amongst them. Jesus Christ could come to world because of the support he received from God and the heavenly beings.

What is it that you and I have been doing but we have not been making it? We may need to check this area, what is the level of support we are receiving from our spouses? What is the level of support we are receiving from our business partners, from our friends, from our fiance or fianceé, from our siblings, from our colleagues etc? If the level of support is nothing to write home about, that may be the source of the set back and if not addressed, we may be at that position for a long while to come.

Support or unity is very, very important in all our undertakings in the world. The God who created the heavens and the earth when he wanted to form man, knew the important of support and he thus briefed others of what he wanted to do, he could have gone ahead with our creation without telling them, but yet he told them because he wanted us to know and learn the importance of support or unity (Genesis 1:26).

Gen 1:26  “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

King Solomon, whom majority of the Theologians believed to have authored the book of Ecclesiastes was talking about the importance of unity in chapter 4 and verse 12 of the book when he said, "and if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a THREEFOLD CORD is not quickly broken". This is where unity subsists. lf a boyfriend and his girlfriend or fiance and his fianceé are in unity, you will see that even if they are not immediately succeeding, the support one receives from the second would be the fire, the enigma that would keep the other person on and on, and inevitably both of them. Now when they are in unity, they will keep their secret verily secret such that no one would know what's happening amongst them. That is the power there!

Now, looking at the word I emphasised in the book of Ecclesiastes 4:12 above, we shall see that when a family or spouses or dating partners are in unity, one will find it hard to break them because they are now like the three standed cords. A twined cord cannot be easily broken or cut as one will cut a twine that is single stranded. Is there unity in our relationship? Is there unity between you and your spouse?

In the bible’s documentation of the birth of Jesus Christ we all know that Joseph did not sell out his spouse, Mary, against all odds, against myriads of querying that may likely be coming to him then, that is unity. And I think unity also comes from understanding of one another. Which Joseph and Mary possessed while they were in courtship. Do you understand the partner you are dating?

The people gave Zerubbabel support as such he could continue the work.

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III. WHY HE COULD COMPLETE THE WORK: (a) Zerubbabel and his team were able to complete the work of rebuilding the temple because after the revolt that rose against the king was doused and the king became fully aware of what governor Zerubbabel was doing, the king supported him and infact sent a message to the effect requiring everyone to join hands with him in seeing that the work was done and done to perfection. (Zech. 4:7)

Zec 4:7  “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”

All those who had initially been despising Zerubbabel based on the fact that he had gone out of his boundaries, based on the fact that he was executing projects which the king did not tell him to execute were put to shame when they heard that the king had supported the dream of his governor.

I perceive that some of them would not believe when they hear that the king had approved the work, they will be saying it couldnt be, they will be saying they were saying that to make the people happy, they would be saying those people were telling Top of Form

the populace what they wanted to hear just like our politicians today do tell the populace what they wanted to hear and they would not tell them the truth.

In this position and disposition were some of those people who were despising Zerubbabel were until they received an authenticated message from Babylonian seat of power, where the king resides. The king officially wrote them so that it would be clear to the doubting minds that he has indeed approved the work and not only approving, that he will equally support the work financially and in other ways to see that the work is not delayed and it is completed to time (Ezra 1:1)

Ezr 1:1  “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”

The mountain of doubt was removed and there was no iota of doubt again as per whether the king would grant the continuation of the work or nay.

(b) The Spirit of God as said by the prophet Zechariah in verse 6 started to work and it was by this Spirit that the work could be continued as well as being perfected.

"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6)

When governor Zerubbabel started the work of the temple, the prophet had approached him by the word of the Lord that the Yahweh Lord has seen his zeal to rebuild the temple and that he should continue with the work. The work was at first approved by Yahweh God because the work was in tandem with the will of God. When our works are in consonance with the will of God, nothing could stand in its way of execution.

After the prophet had uttered this, the prophet now told the governor that he needs to caution, what should he be cautious of? He should be cautious of self, he should not rely on himself, he should not rely on the arms of flesh because the arms of flesh will fail him. This was what the prophet said by the word of God. We all know that when one wants to start something like that there is every tedency that one will say that even if it means i be desposed for starting this, I dont mind, one may say even if I lose my life for embarking on this project, I dont mind. And anyone who is nurturing such notion or thought would definitely want to prepare for war, would want to combat those who may want to come and stop him from doing that work. This God had seen, and the need for him to send his servant the prophet to the governor that he should not be afraid, that the work would be perfectly done. Albeit, in doing (executing) the work, he must not rely on his might nor the might of anyone at that, he must not rely on his human power, because by doing this the work would not be done. What would however make the work to be perfectly done is the Spirit of the Lord God Almighty, the prophet stated. May I also add that does the prophet or God by this word then means that Zerubbabel and others should go to bed and not employ their human might and power into the on going construction work? The answer to this is No, God does not mean that. What he meant was that they should not rely on human strength, wisdom and power to overcome the enemies but they should put their trust in God to see them through what they have started. When Governor Zerubbabel heard this he allowed the Spirit of God to take control although the physical preparations and arrangements were not stopped because they were by faith counting on God to crown those preparations. When God discovered the disposition of his servant, governor Zerubbabel towards this, he stirred up the spirit of the king to support the work after the king had been relieved from the troubles, enemies confronting him. (Ezra 1:1)

Ezr 1:1  “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”

(c) Divine Supplies: King Darius issued out command that the work should not be stopped but that all hands should be on deck to see to the completion of the started work. When an executive order had been issued, others had no option other than supporting the project by bringing (supplying) to them all they needed for the work.

IV. APPLICATION (a) Marital: You may have been despised by family members and friends on whom you want to marry..., or may be you have even married the person people despised you on..., this is the word for you today that all who have despised you would say another thing about you and that marriage when they see what God is doing in your family.

(b) Academics: You may have been despised on the kind of course you are doing in the college of Education, Polytechnic, University, saying such course(s) is not lucrative in our land, and you have been counselled to change the course, but you yet insisted in continuing with the course, and now, they are watching to see what will happen to you after you have finished the course. Do not be afraid, trust in the Lord as did Zerubbabel and those people will start saying another thing about you in a short while.

(c) Fellowship: this Youth Fellowship may have been despised by some people, they may have been saying the fellowship will die a natural death, I want us to have it in mind that as long as we continue to allow the Spirit of the Lord to lead us, that wishful thought of theirs would not see the light of the day because the fellowship would grow from might to might in Jesus name. Amen.

(d) Business: You may be new in the business you are doing and it seems as if all is not falling into place for you, and now the enemies have started to despise you saying, a business she or he knows little or nothing about she or he has entered into it, it is true at the moment, but always know that we do not bring anything into the world, and I know if you open your eyes very well, you will sure overcome the present presenting challenges and even overtake those whom you have met in the trade. All you need is openness to learn, openness to the Spirit of God, and things will change. Do you know that we cannot learn everything about a trade from a master or tutor during training, when we get into the field we would meet different things and then our intelligence would be swung into action.

May I stop here? People will change their tune on what we are doing when we allow the Spirit of God to take control, in allowing Spirit to take control we are not saying we will stand idle, no, but we are saying the Spirit of the Lord will remove all obstacles, all barriers that may want to debar us from advancing in life....

[romancatholicreflections]

8th February 2017 >> 'Exercise Of Freedom Requires Knowledge Of God' ~ Daily Reflection on Today's Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on Wednesday, Fifth Week, Ordinary Time

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GEN 2:4b-9, 15-17; PS 103:1-2, 27-30; MK 7:14-23 ] We all seek freedom. Life has no meaning without freedom. This desire for freedom is in the DNA of every human person. Even God respects our freedom. In creating us, He gave us the highest gift of freedom, even to the point of allowing us to reject Him. This gift of freedom is brought out in today’s story when God explicitly told man, “You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.” Perhaps, the greatest mistake of humanity is that we want freedom like Adam and Eve, without God. This is the moral of the story of the Fall. They wanted to be like God without God. We seek absolute autonomy, failing to realize that our autonomy is dependent on God. When we want to be free without God, we end up being slaves to our passion, our ignorance and our desires. Those who allow their passion to control their lives are certainly not free at all. True freedom is when we exercise full control over ourselves in what we want and what we should be doing. The tragedy of human beings is that we seek freedom but we do not know how to use our freedom. How dangerous it is to give a gift to someone who is not mature enough to use it. Do we give a car to a ten year old boy? We don’t, because he cannot handle it. So even when we speak of the gift of freedom, we must realize that there is no absolute freedom but it has to be exercised according to the maturity and knowledge of the person. A younger person would require more supervision than someone who is more mature. It is for this reason that laws are needed to guide those who are not disciplined or responsible enough to manage freedom. St Paul tells us that laws are not meant for the just but for the sinners. “The law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly.” (1 Tim 1:8f) Of course, the best way to exercise responsible freedom presumes a good understanding of the laws and knowledge of what is good and true. But today, with so many views of life, we no longer know what is true and good. The growing number of people who profess agnosticism and relativism confirm this tendency. They do not know whether God exists or whether there are absolute truths in life. The irony is that in a world of mass communication and information technology, there is so much information on everything that we are no longer able to distinguish one from the other. It is not enough to have knowledge but we need to know whether they are true. It is significant that on the cross, the Lord said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing!” So how do we blame those whose conscience is inculpably erroneous? Having knowledge and understanding does not mean we can or will do the right thing. Knowing the law or the truth about something only reveals to us our ignorance and our sins. “Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness.” (Rom 7:7f) So knowledge of what is good and evil is no guarantee that we will walk the truth. That is why the Lord warned our first parents, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.” We can study ethics and morality, yet remain powerless to overcome sin. St Paul shared his own struggle with us. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Rom 7:14f) The truth is that our heart is drawn to evil, if not, at least selfishness. This is what the Lord says, “It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean. For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.” Jeremiah remarked, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse – who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) We suffer from a wounded heart. We are basically self-preservative. No one wants to suffer and most of us fear death and separation. We seek security through money, power and status. Yet, these are false security. Furthermore, the heart is also drawn to the flesh. Just knowing what is the right thing does not mean that we can resist the temptations of the flesh. We know that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So no matter how much we try, we fail. Not all of us are so determined or disciplined. We all want to be good but it is not easy. Many of us want to be healthy and slim but are unable to resist food or control our diet or be regular in our exercise. So desiring something does not mean that we can arrive at it. Basically, we all seek to do good but our needs, desires; comfort and convenience take precedence above others. Most of us are concerned about short term needs rather than the long term impact on future generation. Today, everyone is for himself without regard for the future of the planet or humanity. Until today, the evil of the human heart is still the same. Technology can solve many problems but they cannot stop war, famine, inequality, injustice and diseases. So what is needed for the exercise of freedom? Life is a pedagogy in itself. We learn to grow in love and in freedom, which is something not achieved overnight and not by our strength alone but by His grace. In reality, we will remain sinners. No matter how much we try, we fail now and then. But what is important is that we pick ourselves up again and again, without giving up. In the final analysis, we need to submit to His mercy and rely on God’s grace. We can only depend on His mercy and forgiveness. Grace is what justifies us. We must believe that God is all merciful and forgiving. He does not hold His grievances against us. Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Mic 7:18f) The psalmist praised God who sustains creation. “All of these look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.” We need to surrender ourselves to God who can renew us in His Spirit. Only in His Spirit, can we be renewed. Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart. Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord. It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.

[zacknano17]

Day 3: words 5092 - 7633

In which, Taako makes a friend.  (No, he doesn’t.)

“You can put 'em in the corner over there,” Taako says, gesturing.  He's sitting on the bed, paging through the room service catalog, not really paying Magnus any mind.

Magnus does so, and he thinks he ought to leave the room now.  Instead, he pauses.  “You're not still mad about me not wanting to think we were a thing, are you?” he asks.

“Nah, homie.”  Taako still isn't looking at him.  “We're not a thing, so why would I be mad?  I just didn't like the implication that I'm an undatable hellion.”

“You're -- what?  No.  That isn't what I meant!”

“Yeah, I got that.”  Taako doesn't sound angry, but he does seem a little miffed.  “It's fine, dude.  I ain't even mad.”

“I'm sure you could get like a hundred people to agree to marry you, just by giving them a little glance.  You're like, the prettiest elf in the world.”

Taako pushes his hat up a little bit, an almost subconscious motion. There's only the smallest change in his expression, but Magnus can tell he's improved Taako's mood a little.  “Top five percent, I'd say,” he agrees.  “Really, though, don't worry about it, big guy. Ch'boy's not exactly the marrying type either.”

“Oh.” Magnus is.  Was.

Taako's eyes focus on Magnus' hand for a moment, and he adds, “...anymore?”

Magnus runs his thumb over the groove in his ring finger absently.  So Taako had noticed.

He never really intended to keep Julia a secret.  He just doesn't really relish the idea of talking about her.  He had lost her a few years ago now, but it still feels like an open wound on his heart.  Talking about her, thinking about her, all of that -- it is still painful.

“Yeah. I, uh.  She died,” he says.

He can almost see the light bulb go on over Taako's head.  “Julia,” he says.

Oh, shit.  Does he talk in his sleep or something?  “How did you -- ”

“You asked Kravitz to tell Julia you loved her,” Taako explains, shrugging.  “I was thinking sister at the time for some reason.  I guess wife would make as much sense.”

For as dumb as Taako pretends to be sometimes, he sure is good at putting things together.

Magnus sits down on the bed next to Taako.  “I used to be a carpenter,” he explains, knotting his fingers together.  “I had a mentor, and he had a daughter.  Julia.  Then the, ah, the village got attacked while I was gone once, and when I came back, I...didn't have either of them anymore.”

Taako is quiet for a long moment.  “...sucks, dude,” he says.

Magnus laughs.  It's not a happy laugh, just a sort of rueful sound, acknowledging the truth in Taako's words.  “Yeah,” he agrees.

They sit in silence for a moment, and Magnus thinks again that he ought to leave.  He doesn't.  Instead, he asks, “What about you?  You could have anybody you wanted, probably, but I don't see you go on many dates.”

“Eh, been out of the dating scene for a while.  My last relationship ended...bad,” Taako says.  “I haven't been real eager to jump aboard that train again.  There's a lot of trust issues with that sort of shit.  Namely, I don't trust anybody.”

“I can see that being a problem, yeah,” Magnus agrees.  “You don't even trust me and Merle?”

“Hell no,” Taako replies emphatically.  “Everybody up and leaves eventually.  It's just the way things are.  You either get left behind, or you're the one who leaves.  No way around it, homie.”

“You really think I'm gonna just up and leave you behind someday?” Magnus asks.

Taako gives him a look.  Magnus isn't sure what emotion is meant to be conveyed by it.  He looks irritated, but there's another part of him that just looks...very old and withered.  “You're a human.  You've got like, what, a hundred years left?” he asks.

“Well, uh, no, more like fifty, actually,” Magnus says, but he gets the point.  Sometimes he forgets that Taako is well over a hundred years old.

Taako stands up and makes his way over to the suitcases, very clearly done with the conversation, and drags it over to the bed.  “I guess with the asshole brigade backing me up, we're going to be staying a while, huh?” he comments as he opens it up.  “Might as well unpack.”

It's a dismissal if Magnus ever heard one, and he's not sure how much more of Taako's depressing world view he can stomach right now anyway, so he stands up.  His thumb rubs away at that groove on his ring finger again, and he considers.

“You know, if I had known I was going to lose Julia so soon...I think I'd have held on more tightly,” he says.

“Yeah,” Taako says flippantly, “cause you're an idiot.”

In spite of being a current hot spot for aspiring spouses all over Faerun, the building that houses Wedding Wonders is modest and in a rather obscure location.  The three of them have had no trouble finding it, however.  It seems as though everyone knows where it is and how to get there, even people who would seem to have no use for a wedding planner.

Wedding Wonders is run out of a large, old fashioned house just off the business district of Waterdeep.  Ms. Joiner works and lives in the same building, it seems; she has not bothered to move to a more convenient location, although she surely has the means to do so, with how well her business is doing.

The people of Waterdeep are more than happy to spread rumors about the business and its proprietor.  They learn quickly that Ms. Joiner has so many clients that she has to turn down people frequently.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason how she picks her patrons.  Oftentimes wealthy families will offer her higher payments and other benefits, and she will turn them down in favor of a poorer couple without any explanation.

Upon further discussion, the Tres Horny Boys have decided that Merle's job hunt bluff is as good a story as any.  The only other idea they have come up with involves a lot of stealth, and none of them are really looking forward to trying that one, even the Ruff Boi and Level 2 Rogue himself, Magnus Burnsides.

Taako's last job interview had involved getting punched so hard by an ogre that he had nearly died.  He hopes that this one will be less strenuous.

He has dressed for the occasion in purples and blues, with a flowing skirt that reaches his ankles and a loose, translucent blouse over a form fitting long sleeved black shirt, and silver pumps with three inch heels.  He fancies up his hair with some elaborate braiding techniques that Magnus is very good at for some reason and puts on his best set of silver jewelry.  He looks positively dashing. Too bad he has to hide it a bit by using the umbra staff, this time as a sunbrella.  It is still not a great idea to get recognized.

Merle is wearing a Fantasy Hawaiian t-shirt with a small stain right in the front that isn't quite hidden by his beard.  He is wearing what he calls “capris,” but look as though they are actually just a pair of Magnus' old cargo shorts that have been repurposed for dwarf legs.  He is wearing socks with sandals.  This is his normal look.  The only difference between this and their trip to Goldcliffe is that he has his X-treme Teen Bible in hand rather than tucked away safely in his pack until it is needed.

Magnus is wearing the same thing he wore yesterday, unless he packed an identical outfit.  He has buttoned an extra button at the top, for...respectability, maybe?  He is even carrying his shield and axe still, and Steven bumps along at his hip.  Charming.

They reach the old house and Taako leads the way within, the umbra staff now doubling as a very fancy cane.  The front door leads into a room that seems to have been repurposed from a sitting room.  The room is papered in a lovely rose decal, garnished by heavy velvet curtains that block view of the adjoining rooms.  The floor is a dark wood, covered by a large, tasseled rug. The walls display pictures in heavy golden frames of various couples in formal clothing, presumably couples that have been married through the Wedding Wonders company.

At the far end of the room is an intricately carved wooden desk, stained a dark color to match the floor.  It is covered in neat stacks of paper, a few books, an ink well, and a large feather quill.  Behind the desk sits the fanciest orcish man Taako has ever seen, complete with neatly combed hair, a neat suit jacket and tie, and a pince-nez on his nose, attached to his vest pocket with a slender golden chain.

He stands up from the desk when he sees the three of them enter in.  He is easily seven feet tall and makes even Magnus look very small. “Greetings, and welcome to Wedding Wonders,” he says, his voice thick with a pleasant accent that Taako can't quite place.  “My name is Salvatore.  How might I assist you today?”

“Hello, darling, a pleasure to meet you,” Taako rattles off.  This orc seems to be dripping with his very brand of fake charm, and he appreciates that.  “My name is Taako -- you might recognize me from TV -- and we're here to offer you a once in a lifetime premium offer. That's right, my good man, I am offering you the chance to have my fabulous self -- and these two imbeciles as well, I suppose -- help you staff the newly anticipated expansion to your lovely business.

“As I mentioned, you may already recognize me from my show?  On TV?  You know the one.  I'm absolutely certain I could bring in a number of promising clientele.  Your quaint little business here fills a very specific niche, but one our society didn't know needed filling.  And I am proposing you open up a branch in -- wait for it -- Neverwinter.  That's right, the capital of the world. My man, Wedding Wonders is going places, and I, Taako, plan to take you there.

“Now, could you be a dear and let Ms. Jer -- J...um, the lady in charge here?”

“Ms. Joiner,” Salvatore says.

“Yes, yes.  Of course.  You'll have to excuse me, I meet so many people.  Ms. Joiner.  If you could just let her know I'm here to see her?  Me, Taako, from TV?  Thank you, sweetheart.  I'll wait right here.”

Salvatore has not changed his mild, politely interested expression through the entire speech.  He merely inclines his head slightly when Taako finishes.  “We here at Wedding Wonders do sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm,” he says, “but I'm afraid Ms. Joiner only meets with potential business partners by appointment.  Even ones as undoubtedly important as you are, good sir.”

“I think you might be underestimating how much Ms. J is going to want to -- ”

“Furthermore, sir, I know of no such plans to expand the business.  As much as the 'niche' we fill requires that filling, Ms. Joiner can hardly take on more clients than she already does.  As it is, people travel from all over Faerun for our services, and another branch, even one in a lucrative location such as Neverwinter, would only serve to disappoint the many, many clients we cannot accommodate.”

“I'm sorry, perhaps I didn't make myself clear, but I'm Taako?  You know, from -- ”

“And it is fantastic to meet you in person, sir, but I'm afraid you will have to schedule an appointment, like everyone else,” Salvatore continues.  He sits down again at the desk and pulls out a book labeled 'Appointments.' He flips through it, and continues to flip, and continues for a few moments.  “Here we are, we have an opening for three months from now, in -- ”

Taako slams a hand down on the book.  “Taako.  From TV.  I want an appointment this afternoon.  Make it happen.”  He will not be outdone by this fucker.  He will not.

“If you give me your Stone of Farspeech frequency, I can alert you if we have an opening this afternoon, but I'm very sorry.  Ms. Joiner won't even return to the office until -- ”

“I will wait, then.”

“Very well, sir.”  Salvatore closes the appointment book and goes back to the stack of papers he had been regarding when the three of them had entered.

“Um, excuse me, sir -- ” Magnus tries.

“Shut it, Mango, I've got this,” Taako snaps.  “Listen.  My good man. My entourage here and I will need a place to...rest until the Lady J-dawg makes it back from her...whatever she's doing, at which time you'll of course let her know I'm here.  Do you have a sitting room or something?”

Taako feels a rush of satisfaction as he notices that the orc's eyebrow is twitching, just a little.  At fucking last, he is finally getting to this guy.

“Yes, of course,” Salvatore says, standing again.  “Right this way, gentlemen.”

He leads the three of them to one of the curtained off rooms and pulls back the drape.  Within is a sitting room, fancy as the rest of the house that they had seen thus far.  It contains two uncomfortable looking sofas facing one another with a low coffee table in between and two chairs on the far end, all matching.  The walls here have more portraits with more couples at their weddings.

“Feel free to make yourselves comfortable.  We do not offer a tea service or anything, I'm afraid,” Salvatore says, gesturing into the room.

“Barbarians,” Taako mutters under his breath as he glides within.  He has the satisfaction of seeing that eyebrow twitch yet again.  Now it's personal, Salvatore.

“Fat load of good that did us,” Merle grumbles in a stage whisper, once Salvatore is out of direct hearing distance.

“Yeah. I mean, that was some nice fast talking there, Taako, but there's no way he's actually going to tell us when she gets back,” Magnus says, sitting down on one of the sofas.

“Exactly,” Taako remarks.  He settles down demurely in one of the chairs, crossing his ankle over his knee.  “We learned two things here today.  First of all, the big lady in charge isn't currently in the building, which means right now might be an optimal time to scope out the place.”

“Oooh, sounds like a job for Mr. Level 2 Stealthy here,” Merle suggests.

“That's good and all, but that Salvatore guy is still out front,” Magnus points out.  “That dude's even more stacked than I am, which is sayin' something.  How'm I gonna get past him?”

“Oh, I'm sure I can distract him,” Taako snorts.

“Okay, okay, this sounds pretty good.  I can help Taako out a bit too, buy Magnus some time,” Merle says.  “But there's just one thing. What's the second thing?  You said we learned two things.”

Taako shrugs.  “Guys, I don't think they're hiring.”

[emperornune]

Hebrew Codex Unlocking All The Secrets of the Universe; One God, My Own God, Not Your God, Just One Supreme God, The Only God, Who is the One True Source of All Good Live, I AM...

GEMARA: What is meant by "Or"? Said R. Huna: "The dawn of day," and R. Jehudah said: "Night." At the first glance it was presumed that the word "Or" was actually explained by R. Huna to mean "the break of day," and by R. Jehudah to mean "night."

An objection was made, however, based upon the passage [Genesis xliv. 3]: "As soon as the morning was light ('Or') the men were sent away," etc. Thus we see that "Or" means "day"? Does then the passage say in the light of the morning? it says distinctly "when the morning was light," which means when the morning was already light, the men were sent away.

Another objection was made: "It is written [Gen. i. 5]: 'And God called the Or (light) Day,' whence we see, that light (Or) is day?" The passage means to say, that just as soon as it dawned the Lord called it "day."

Another objection was made: "It is written [Psalms cxlviii. 3]: 'Praise him, all ye stars of light (Or).' Whence we see that Or means night?" The passage means to say, "Ye stars that light."

1In the beginning of God's creation of the heavens and the earth. אבְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ:In the beginning: Said Rabbi Isaac: It was not necessary to begin the Torah except from “This month is to you,” (Exod. 12:2) which is the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded, (for the main purpose of the Torah is its commandments, and although several commandments are found in Genesis, e.g., circumcision and the prohibition of eating the thigh sinew, they could have been included together with the other commandments). Now for what reason did He commence with “In the beginning?” Because of [the verse] “The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations” (Ps. 111:6). For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],” they will reply, "The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it (this we learn from the story of the Creation) and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us. בראשית: אמר רבי יצחק לא היה צריך להתחיל [את] התורה אלא (שמות יב ב) מהחודש הזה לכם, שהיא מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו [בה] ישראל, ומה טעם פתח בבראשית, משום (תהלים קיא ו) כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו לתת להם נחלת גוים, שאם יאמרו אומות העולם לישראל לסטים אתם, שכבשתם ארצות שבעה גוים, הם אומרים להם כל הארץ של הקב"ה היא, הוא בראה ונתנה לאשר ישר בע��ניו, ברצונו נתנה להם וברצונו נטלה מהם ונתנה לנו:In the beginning of God’s creation of: Heb. בְּרֵאשִית בָּרָא. This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word בָּרָא, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.” But if you wish to explain it according to its simple meaning, explain it thus: “At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, the earth was astonishing with emptiness, and darkness…and God said, ‘Let there be light.’” But Scripture did not come to teach the sequence of the Creation, to say that these came first, for if it came to teach this, it should have written:“At first (בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה) He created the heavens and the earth,” for there is no רֵאשִׁית in Scripture that is not connected to the following word, [i.e., in the construct state] like (ibid. 27:1):“In the beginning of (בְּרֵאשִית) the reign of Jehoiakim” ; (below 10:10)“the beginning of (רֵאשִׁית) his reign” ; (Deut. 18:4)“the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your corn.” Here too, you say בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אלֹהִים, like בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא, in the beginning of creating. And similar to this is,“At the beginning of the Lord’s speaking (דִּבֶּר) to Hosea,” (Hos. 1:2), i.e., at the beginning of the speaking (דִּבּוּרוֹ) of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Hosea, “the Lord said to Hosea, etc.” Now if you say that it came to teach that these (i.e., heaven and earth) were created first, and that its meaning is: In the beginning of all, He created these-and that there are elliptical verses that omit one word, like (Job 3:10): “For [He] did not shut the doors of my [mother’s] womb,” and it does not explain who it was who shut [the womb]; and like (Isa. 8:4): “he will carry off the wealth of Damascus,” and it does not explain who will carry it off; and like (Amos 6:12): “or will one plow with cattle,” and it does not explain: “if a man will plow with cattle” ; and like (Isa. 46: 10): “telling the end from the beginning,” and it does not explain that [it means] telling the end of a matter from the beginning of a matter-if so, [if you say that Scripture indicates the order of creation] be astounded at yourself, for the water preceded, as it is written: “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water,” and Scripture did not yet disclose when the creation of water took place! From this you learn that the water preceded the earth. Moreover, the heavens were created from fire and water. Perforce, you must admit that Scripture did not teach us anything about the sequence of the earlier and the later [acts of creation]. בראשית ברא: אין המקרא הזה אומר אלא דרשני, כמו שדרשוהו רבותינו ז"ל בשביל התורה שנקראת (משלי ח כב) ראשית דרכו, ובשביל ישראל שנקראו (ירמיה ב ג) ראשית תבואתו. ואם באת לפרשו כפשוטו כך פרשהו בראשית בריאת שמים וארץ והארץ היתה תהו ובהו וחשך ויאמר א-להים יהי אור. ולא בא המקרא להורות סדר הבריאה לומר שאלו קדמו, שאם בא להורות כך, היה לו לכתוב בראשונה ברא את השמים וגו', שאין לך ראשית במקרא שאינו דבוק לתיבה של אחריו, כמו (שם כו א) בראשית ממלכות יהויקים, (בראשית י י) ראשית ממלכתו, (דברים יח ד) ראשית דגנך, אף כאן אתה אומר בראשית ברא א-להים וגו', כמו בראשית ברוא. ודומה לו (הושע א ב) תחלת דבר ה' בהושע, כלומר תחלת דבורו של הקב"ה בהושע, ויאמר ה' אל הושע וגו'. ואם תאמר להורות בא שאלו תחלה נבראו, ופירושו בראשית הכל ברא אלו, ויש לך מקראות שמקצרים לשונם וממעטים תיבה אחת, כמו (איוב ג י) כי לא סגר דלתי בטני, ולא פירש מי הסוגר, וכמו (ישעיה ח ד) ישא את חיל דמשק, ולא פירש מי ישאנו, וכמו (עמוס ו יב) אם יחרוש בבקרים, ולא פירש אם יחרוש אדם בבקרים, וכמו (ישעיה מו י) מגיד מראשית אחרית, ולא פירש מגיד מראשית דבר אחרית דבר. אם כן תמה על עצמך, שהרי המים קדמו, שהרי כתיב ורוח א-להים מרחפת על פני המים, ועדיין לא גלה המקרא בריית המים מתי היתה, הא למדת שקדמו המים לארץ. ועוד שהשמים מאש ומים נבראו, על כרחך לא לימד המקרא סדר המוקדמים והמאוחרים כלום:God’s creation of the heavens and the earth: But it does not say “of the Lord’s creation of” (i.e., it should say “of the Lord God’s creation of” as below 2:4 “on the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”) for in the beginning it was His intention to create it with the Divine Standard of Justice, but he perceived that the world would not endure; so He preceded it with the Divine Standard of Mercy, allying it with the Divine Standard of Justice, and that is the reason it is written:“on the day the Lord God made earth and heaven.” ברא א-להים: ולא אמר ברא ה', שבתחלה עלה במחשבה לבראתו במדת הדין, ראה שאין העולם מתקיים, הקדים מדת רחמים ושתפה למדת הדין, היינו דכתיב (להלן ב ד) ביום עשות ה' א-להים ארץ ושמים:2Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. בוְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָֽיְתָ֥ה תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְח֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם:astonishingly empty: Heb. תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ. The word תֹהוּ is an expression of astonishment and desolation, that a person wonders and is astonished at the emptiness therein. תהו ובהו: תהו לשון תמה ושממון שאדם תוהא ומשתומם על בהו שבה:astonishingly empty: Astordison in Old French; [étourdissement in modern French], astonishment. בֹהוּ an expression of emptiness and desolation. (This does not appear in all editions.) תהו: אישטורדישו"ן בלע"ז [מבוכה]:בֹהוּ: an expression of emptiness and desolation. (This does not appear in all editions.) בהו: לשון רקות וצדו:on the face of the deep: on the face of the waters which were on the earth. על פני תהום: על פני המים שעל הארץ:and the spirit of God was hovering: The Throne of Glory was suspended in the air and hovered over the face of the water with the breath of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He and with His word, like a dove, which hovers over the nest, acoveter in Old French, to cover, hover over. ורוח א-להים מרחפת: כסא הכבוד עומד באויר ומרחף על פני המים ברוח פיו של הקב"ה ובמאמרו, כיונה המרחפת על הקן אקוביטי"ר בלע"ז [לכסות]:3And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. גוַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִי־א֑וֹר ו��ֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר:4And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness.

5And the Lord saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all the time. הוַיַּ֣רְא יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּ֥י רַבָּ֛ה רָעַ֥ת הָֽאָדָ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ וְכָל־יֵ֨צֶר֙ מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ת לִבּ֔וֹ רַ֥ק רַ֖ע כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם:6And the Lord regretted that He had made man upon the earth, and He became grieved in His heart. ווַיִּנָּ֣חֶם יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּֽי־עָשָׂ֥ה אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּ֖ב אֶל־לִבּֽוֹ:And the Lord regretted that He had made: Heb. וַיִנָּחֶם. It was a consolation to Him that He had created him [man] of the earthly beings, for had he been one of the heavenly beings, he would have caused them to rebel. [This appears in Genesis Rabbah (27:40). וינחם ה' כי עשה: נחמה היתה לפניו שבראו בתחתונים, שאלו היה מן העליונים היה ממרידן:and He became grieved: [I.e.,] man [became grieved], ויתעצב: האדם:in His heart: [the heart] of the Omnipresent. It entered the thought of God to cause him [man] grief. This is the translation of Onkelos [i.e., Onkelos supports the view that וַיִּתְעַצֵּב refers to man]. Another explanation of וַיִּנָּחֶם: The thought of the Omnipresent turned from the standard of clemency to the standard of justice. It entered His thoughts to reconsider what to do with man, whom He had made upon the earth. And similarly, every expression of נִחוּם in Scripture is an expression of reconsidering what to do. [For example] (Num. 23:19): “Nor the son of man that He should change His mind (וְיִתְנֶחָם)”; (Deut. 32:36): “And concerning His servants He will change His mind (יִתְנֶחָם)”; (Exod. 32:14): “And the Lord changed His intent concerning the evil (וַיִּנָּחֶם)”; (I Sam. 15:11): “I regret (נִחַמְתִּי) that I made [Saul] king.” These are all an expression of having second thoughts. אל לבו: של מקום, עלה במחשבתו של מקום להעציבו, זהו תרגום אונקלוס. דבר אחר וינחם, נהפכה מחשבתו של מקום ממדת רחמים למדת הדין, עלה במחשבה לפניו מה לעשות באדם שעשה בארץ, וכן כל לשון ניחום שבמקרא לשון נמלך מה לעשות (במדבר כג יט) ובן אדם ויתנחם, (דברים לב לו) ועל עבדיו יתנחם, (שמות לב יד) וינחם ה' על הרעה, (שמואל א' טו יא) נחמתי כי המלכתי, כולם לשון מחשבה אחרת הם:and He became grieved: Heb. וַיִּתְעַצֵּב, He mourned over the destruction of His handiwork [i.e., according to this second view, וַיִּתְעַצֵּב refers to God], like (II Sam. 19:3): “The king is saddened (נֶעֱצַב) over his son.” This I wrote to refute the heretics: A gentile asked Rabbi Joshua ben Korchah, “Do you not admit that the Holy One, blessed be He, foresees the future?” He [Rabbi Joshua] replied to him, “Yes.” He retorted, “But it is written: and He became grieved in His heart!” He [Rabbi Joshua] replied, “Was a son ever born to you?” “Yes,” he [the gentile] replied. “And what did you do?” he [Rabbi Joshua] asked. He replied, “I rejoiced and made everyone rejoice.” “But did you not know that he was destined to die?” he asked. He [the gentile] replied, “At the time of joy, joy; at the time of mourning, mourning.” He [Rabbi Joshua] said to him, “So is it with the work of the Holy One, blessed be He; even though it was revealed before Him that they would ultimately sin, and He would destroy them, He did not refrain from creating them, for the sake of the righteous men who were destined to arise from them.” - [from Gen. Rabbah 27:4] ויתעצב אל לבו: נתאבל על אבדן מעשה ידיו, כמו (ש"ב יט ג) נעצב המלך על בנו. וזו כתבתי לתשובת המינים, גוי אחד שאל את רבי יהושע בן קרחה, אמר לו אין אתם מודים שהקב"ה רואה את הנולד, אמר לו הן. אמר לו והא כתיב ויתעצב אל לבו, אמר לו נולד לך בן זכר מימיך, אמר לו הן. אמר לו ומה עשית, אמר לו שמחתי ושימחתי את הכל. אמר לו ולא היית יודע שסופו למות, אמר לו בשעת חדותא חדותא, בשעת אבלא אבלא. אמר לו כך מעשה הקב"ה, אף על פי שגלוי לפניו שסופן לחטוא ולאבדן לא נמנע מלבראן בשביל הצדיקים העתידים לעמוד מהם:7And the Lord said, "I will blot out man, whom I created, from upon the face of the earth, from man to cattle to creeping thing, to the fowl of the heavens, for I regret that I made them." זוַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶמְחֶ֨ה אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֤ם אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֨אתִי֙ מֵעַל֨ פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה מֵֽאָדָם֙ עַד־בְּהֵמָ֔ה עַד־רֶ֖מֶשׂ וְעַד־ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם כִּ֥י נִחַ֖מְתִּי כִּ֥י עֲשִׂיתִֽם:And the Lord said,"I will blot out man: He is dust, and I will bring water upon him, and I will blot him out. Therefore, the expression מִחוּי is used. — [from Tan. Buber, Noah 4] ויאמר ה' אמחה את האדם: הוא עפר ואביא עליו מים ואמחה אותו, לכך נאמר לשון מחוי:from man to cattle: They too corrupted their way (Gen. Rabbah 28:8). Another explanation: Everything was created for man’s sake, and since he will be annihilated, what need is there for these [the animals]? (Sanh. 108a). מאדם עד בהמה: אף הם השחיתו דרכם. דבר אחר הכל נברא בשביל אדם, וכיון שהוא כלה מה צורך באלו:for I regret that I made them: I am thinking what to do about having made them. כי נחמתי כי עשיתים: חשבתי מה לעשות להם על אשר עשיתים:8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, אוַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָֹ֖ה אֶל־משֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר:2And to the children of Israel, you shall say: Any man of the children of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall pelt him with stones. בוְאֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֘ תֹּאמַר֒ אִ֣ישׁ אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל וּמִן־הַגֵּ֣ר | הַגָּ֣ר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִתֵּ֧ן מִזַּרְע֛וֹ לַמֹּ֖לֶךְ מ֣וֹת יוּמָ֑ת עַ֥ם הָאָ֖רֶץ יִרְגְּמֻ֥הוּ בָאָֽבֶן:And to the children of Israel, you shall say: [i.e., enumerate the following] punishments for the warnings [that were given in chapter 18.]. ואל בני ישראל תאמר: עונשין על האזהרות:shall surely be put to death: By the court. And if the court is not [physically] powerful [enough to kill him by themselves], “the people of the land” must assist them. — [Torath Kohanim 20:91] מות יומת: בבית דין, ואם אין כח לבית דין עם הארץ מסייעין אותן:the people of the land: עַם הָאָרֶץ. [This may be rendered either: “the people of the earth” or “ the people of the land,” as follows:] The people for whose sake the earth was created, the people who are destined to possess the Land [of Israel], through [the observance of] these commandments. — [Torath Kohanim 20:91] עם הארץ: עם שבגינו נבראת הארץ. דבר אחר עם שעתידין לירש את הארץ ע"י מצות הללו:3And I will set My attention upon that man, and I will cut him off from amidst his people, because he gave of his offspring to Molech in order to defile My holy ones and to profane My holy Name. גוַֽאֲנִ֞י אֶתֵּ֤ן אֶת־פָּנַי֙ בָּאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא וְהִכְרַתִּ֥י אֹת֖וֹ מִקֶּ֣רֶב עַמּ֑וֹ כִּ֤י מִזַּרְעוֹ֙ נָתַ֣ן לַמֹּ֔לֶךְ לְמַ֗עַן טַמֵּא֙ אֶת־מִקְדָּשִׁ֔י וּלְחַלֵּ֖ל אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם קָדְשִֽׁי:And I will set my attention: Heb., פָּנַי, i.e., My leisure (פְּנַאי). I will turn aside (פּוֹנֶה) from all My affairs and occupy Myself with him. — [Torath Kohanim 20:92] אתן את פני: פנאי שלי, פונה אני מכל עסקי ועוסק בו:[that] man: But not the [whole] community. — [Torath Kohanim 20:92] [I.e., if the entire community give their offspring over to Molech, they are not punished with excision,] because the entire community are not to be cut off. באיש: ולא בצבור, שאין כל הצבור נכרתין:because he gave of his offspring to Molech: [Are not this phrase here, and the phrase in the next verse, “when he gives of his offspring to Molech” superfluous? However,] since Scripture says, “[There shall not be found among you] anyone who passes his son or daughter through fire” (Deut. 18:10), how do we know [that the law applies as well to] his son’s son or his daughter’s son? Scripture, therefore, says, “because he gave of his offspring to Molech.” And how do we know that the law applies even to one’s illegitimate offspring [i.e., one produced from a halachically illegitimate union]? Scripture. therefore says (in the next verse),“when he gives of his offspring to Molech” [to include even his illegitimate offspring]. — [Torath Kohanim 20:93; Sanh. 64b] כי מזרעו נתן למלך: לפי שנאמר מעביר בנו ובתו באש (דברים יח י), בן בנו ובן בתו מנין, תלמוד לומר כי מזרעו נתן למולך. זרע פסול מנין, תלמוד לומר בתתו מזרעו למולך:In order to defile My holy ones: Heb. מִקְדָּשִׁי. [This is] the congregation of Israel, which is sanctified to Me. [This reference to Israel as מִקְדָּשִׁי, what is sanctified to Me, is] reminiscent of the expression [referring to the holy sacrifices], “he shall not desecrate My holy things (מִקְדָּשַׁי) ” (Lev. 21:23). למען טמא את מקדשי: את כנסת ישראל, שהיא מקודשת לי, כלשון (ויקרא כא כג) ולא יחלל את מקדשי:4But if the people of the land ignore that man when he gives of his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death דוְאִ֡ם הַעְלֵ֣ם יַעְלִ֩ימוּ֩ עַ֨ם הָאָ֜רֶץ אֶת־עֵֽינֵיהֶם֙ מִן־הָאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא בְּתִתּ֥וֹ מִזַּרְע֖וֹ לַמֹּ֑לֶךְ לְבִלְתִּ֖י הָמִ֥ית אֹתֽוֹ:But if [the people of the land] ignore [that man]: Heb. הַעְלֵם יַעְלִימוּ. [The double expression intimates that] if they ignore one matter [i.e., even one sin], they will eventually ignore many matters, and if the Small Sanhedrin [of twenty-three judges] ignores the matter, eventually the Great Sanhedrin [of seventy-one judges, in Jerusalem,] will ignore the matter. — [Torath Kohanim 20:94] ואם העלם יעלימו: אם העלימו בדבר אחד, סוף שיעלימו בדברים הרבה. אם העלימו סנהדרי קטנה, סוף שיעלימו סנהדרי גדולה:5I will set My attention upon that man, and upon his family, and I will cut him off, and all who stray after him to stray after Molech, from amidst their people. הוְשַׂמְתִּ֨י אֲנִ֧י אֶת־פָּנַ֛י בָּאִ֥ישׁ הַה֖וּא וּבְמִשְׁפַּחְתּ֑וֹ וְהִכְרַתִּ֨י אֹת֜וֹ וְאֵ֣ת | כָּל־הַזֹּנִ֣ים אַֽחֲרָ֗יו לִזְנ֛וֹת אַֽחֲרֵ֥י הַמֹּ֖לֶךְ מִקֶּ֥רֶב עַמָּֽם:and upon his family: Rabbi Shimon says: [In] what [way] did the family sin [that they are punished]? However, this teaches you that there is no family in which there is an [unfair] tax collector which may not [be regarded as consisting] entirely of tax collectors, for they all cover up for him. — [Torath Kohanim 20:95; Shev. 39a] ובמשפחתו: אמר ר' שמעון וכי משפחה מה חטאה, אלא ללמדך שאין לך משפחה שיש בה מוכס שאין כולם מוכסין, שכולם מחפין עליו:and I will cut him off: Why is this stated? Because since Scripture says, “[I will set My attention upon that man] and upon his family,” one might think that his entire family is included in [the punishment of] excision. Scripture, therefore, says, “[I will cut] him [off]”-that man is to be excised [from the people of Israel], but the entire family is not included in excision, but with suffering. — [Torath Kohanim 20:96] והכרתי אתו: למה נאמר, לפי שנאמר ובמשפחתו, יכול יהיו כל המשפחה בהכרת, תלמוד לומר אותו. אותו בהכרת ולא כל המשפחה בהכרת, אלא ביסורין:to stray after Molech: [This phrase comes to] include [in this penalty] any other pagan deity that one worshipped in this manner, even though it is not its mode of worship. — [Sanh. 64b] לזנות אחרי המלך: לרבות שאר עבודה זרה שעבדה בכך, ואפילו אין זו עבודתה:6And the person who turns to Ov or Yid'oni, to stray after them I will set My attention upon that person, and I will cut him off from amidst his people.

You shall keep My commandments and perform them. I am the Lord. לאוּשְׁמַרְתֶּם֙ מִצְו‍ֹתַ֔י וַֽעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה:You shall keep [My commandments]: This refers to learning [God’s commandments and “keeping” them organized and memorized in one’s heart] ושמרתם: זו המשנה:and perform them: meaning [putting them into] action. — [Mizrachi; Torath Kohanim 22:136] ועשיתם: זה המעשה:32You shall not desecrate My Holy Name. I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel. I am the Lord Who sanctifies you, לבוְלֹ֤א תְחַלְּלוּ֙ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם קָדְשִׁ֔י וְנִ֨קְדַּשְׁתִּ֔י בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם:

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The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2020. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Do you ever feel driven by forces beyond your strength? A man driven mad by the evil force of a legion found refuge in the one person who could set him free. A legion is no small force - but an army more than 5,000 strong! For the people in the time of Jesus' ministry, hemmed in by occupied forces, a legion, whether spiritual or human, struck terror! Legions at their wildest committed unmentionable atrocities.Our age has also witnessed untold crimes and mass destruction at the hands of possessed rulers and their armies.

Jesus has power to free us from every evil spirit of oppression

What is more remarkable - the destructive force of this driven and possessed man - or the bended knee at Jesus' feet imploring mercy and release? God's word reminds us that no destructive force can keep anyone from the peace and safety which God offers to those who seek his help. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. ..Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation (Psalm 91:7,9).

Jesus took pity on the man who was overtaken by a legion of evil spirits. The destructive force of these demons is evident for all who can see as they flee and destroy a herd of swine. After Jesus freed the demoniac the whole city came out to meet him. No one had demonstrated such power and authority against the forces of Satan as Jesus did. They feared Jesus as a result and begged him to leave them. Why would they not want Jesus to stay? Perhaps the price for such liberation from the power of evil and sin was more than they wanted to pay. Jesus is ready and willing to free us from anything that binds us and that keeps us from the love of God. Are you willing to part with anything that might keep you from his love and healing power?

"Lord Jesus, unbind me that I may love you wholly and walk in the freedom of your way of life and holiness. May there be nothing which keeps me from the joy of living in your presence."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2020.

 

LEFT BEHIND

  "Go home to your family and make it clear to them how much the Lord in His mercy has done for you." —Mark 5:19  

Jesus was told to leave the Gerasene territory. But He left a part of Himself behind — the man whom He had set free from the demons which possessed him (Mk 5:19). This liberated man was the only one from the Gerasene territory who wanted Jesus in his life. He begged Jesus to let him accompany Him wherever He went. "Jesus did not grant his request" (Mk 5:19). Instead Jesus sent him back into the territory from which He Himself had just been expelled. He assigned the man the task of witnessing to his family about all the Lord had done in his life. "At that the man went off and began to proclaim throughout the Ten Cities what Jesus had done for him" (Mk 5:20). This man presumably told his family and then witnessed to Ten Cities! Jesus surely realized that the outreach of this man made possible the spread of the Good News that He was not permitted to spread Himself.

Is Jesus not welcome in your family? Is the subject of religion forbidden to be mentioned with your loved ones? That might be the case, but Jesus has left you behind in your family to witness to "how much the Lord in His mercy has done for you" (Mk 5:19). Jesus might not be welcome in your family, but you are welcome in family gatherings. Therefore, preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary. "It shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them...Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, for I am with you to deliver and rescue you, says the Lord" (Jer 15:19-20).

  Prayer: Father, make me a missionary of Your mercy. Promise: "When I call out to the Lord, He answers me from His holy mountain." —Ps 3:5 Praise: St. Ansgar is known as the "apostle of the north," specifically Scandinavia. Amidst many hardships and disappointments, he worked tirelessly to convert the pagan culture.   (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)  

  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") for One Bread, One Body covering the period from February 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020.

†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 8, 2019.  

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

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March 10, 2019 - “Defining Our Faith in Christ: The Confession of Peter” Matthew 16:13-23

Click READ MORE to read the full sermon.

Introduction

Jesus is the most revered and the worst despised person on earth. This is such a sobering thought. A prophetic word about him was indeed true. When Jesus was a child, his earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, consecrated him before the LORD in the temple in Jerusalem. Simeon was then at the temple courts. He was an elderly and righteous Hebrew who earnestly waited for the coming of the Messiah. When he saw Jesus, he took him in his arms and worshiped God who honored his dream to see the Messiah before he would die. And he declared a revealing prophecy about Jesus.

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” (Lk. 2:34b-35a)

Among the Hebrew people, there is a great divide among them between those who embrace Jesus and those who blaspheme him. And among the Gentiles, there is a clear distinction between the wise and the fool for those who love Jesus and from those who hate him. Who really is Jesus? This is a staggering question that unveils the inmost thought and pierces the heart of every human being. We make it more personal. Who really is Jesus to us? This defines our lives and determines our eternal destiny. When Simon Peter followed Jesus to become fisher of men, he set his hope on him as the Messiah. Yet as he walked with him every day, listened to his wise teachings and saw his awesome miracles, he wondered who Jesus really was. Who really was Jesus that even the dead became alive and the wind and the wave obeyed him at his word.      

Jesus set the historic moment of his self disclosure. It took place in Caesaria Philippi after almost three years he had been with his twelve apostles. In a private setting he asked them of who he was as understood by the people and by them as his close disciples (16:13-15). Simon Peter stood up and gave a revealing confession about Jesus (16:16-20). Jesus affirmed his confession and foretold his true mission on earth (16:21-23). The self-disclosure of Jesus was a defining moment for the apostles. At this crucial crossroad we can either follow or abandon Jesus.

 A.  The Defining Question (16:13-15)

Jesus knew that the hour of his departure was near and he must fulfill his work on earth in accordance to the will of his Father in heaven as written in the Scriptures. And the time had come for him to reveal himself to his close disciples. The essence of his mysterious redemptive work can only be understood in light of the true knowledge of who he really was. Given this absolute necessity Jesus disclosed himself to his apostles.

 1. The Public Opinion

Jesus posed a disturbing question to his twelve apostles.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say, John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’” (16:13-14)

In the earthly ministry of Jesus, the farthest place he traveled with his apostles was Caesaria Philippi. It was the northeastern-most part of Israel called the Golan Heights near the ancient territory of Dan. It is located in the foothills of Mount Hermon, known by the Arabs as “Mountain of the Chief” since it is the highest mountain in Palestine. At Caesaria Philippi there is a massive wall of rock more than 100 feet (31 meters) straight up and about 500 feet (156 meters) wide. On top of this enormous rock the city of Caesaria Philippi was built. Beneath the massive rock was a large cave known in ancient times as a gate to the underworld or the gate of hell where pagans committed idolatry and immorality in the name of their gods. The original name of the city was Paneas in honor of the Greek god Pan, a half-man, half-goat deity. Philip, a son of Herod the Great and tetrarch of the region of Iturea, the modern Syria, renamed the city to Caesaria Philippi, in tribute to Augustus Caesar the Emperor of Rome who claimed himself as a god to be worshiped in the Empire. The ancient Caesaria Philippi, a royal city built upon a massive rock, was a center of cultic and idolatrous worship.

It was in this city that Jesus asked his apostles, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Jesus called himself the “Son of Man” though he was fully conscious of who he really was. In the gospel narratives, this was the first time that Jesus made this direct question to his apostles. He had been with them for almost three years. They saw the great crowd who followed Jesus and heard the public opinion about him. Jesus knew well about it. He was not simply soliciting for mindset information but on how the apostles internalized such public perception. 

The apostles gave a categorical answer. The primary figure that the people perceived of Jesus was a prophet. They took him as a prophet like that of John the Baptist who then had been put to death by King Herod (Mk. 6:27). He was also believed to have the spirit of the prophet Elijah whom the Jews were expecting as spoken by the prophet Malachi (Mal. 4:5). He was also perceived like the prophet Jeremiah in whose time had grieved for the suffering of his people and called them to return to the LORD (Jer. 1:5). The Jews took Jesus as the coming prophet whom Moses had prophesied who would teach Israel the word of God and lead them as his flock (Deut. 18:15).

The apostles themselves shared the same public opinion about Jesus as a prophet. Indeed, Jesus was a prophet, but he was more than a great prophet. Moreover, people believed in him as a Rabbi who taught with authority and power, but he was more than a great Teacher. The crowd followed him as a man of wonders who made awesome miracles, but he was more than a great miraculous worker. The Israelites knew that Jesus was from Nazareth. And because he came from an obscure village and was raised from a poor family, the people questioned his credibility and doubted if he could ever lead them into significant path of greatness. Yes, Jesus was a Nazarene, but he was more than an ordinary man. Who then really is Jesus of Nazareth? Such lingering thought bewildered the apostles. It is a deep concern for everyone who seeks the absolute truth.

 2. The Apostolic Dilemma

The apostles did not expect for Jesus to make a direct question to them. “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am” (16:15)? They were confronted with the most difficult question in their lives. In their long journey with Jesus they wrestled with this serious inquiry amongst themselves. Now, they must settle the matter once and for all. And their answer would define their lives and faith in Jesus. We could imagine the deafening silence in their midst. In the corner of their eyes they glanced to one another with a staggering thought. Inwardly they asked each other, “What shall we say?” In great fear no one seemed to dare speak. We ask ourselves, “What is our answer to the crucial question of Jesus?”

B.  The Great Revelation (16:16-20)

In that defining crossroad at Caesaria Philippi, the world of the apostles stood still and their faith in Jesus was in a balance. Jesus personally asked them, “But how about you, who do you say I am?” Simon Peter broke the dreadful silence in their midst. And he spoke of who Jesus was. The wonder of it all, his great confession served as the solid foundation of the Christian faith. How can we be sure of this?

 1. The Confession of Peter

Listen to the word of Peter. And the world must take this to heart.

“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (16:16)

Let us give a careful thought to the confession of Simon Peter. What is the manner of his confession? His confession was not in a form of a question, “Aren’t you the Christ, the Son of the living God?” To do such would suggest, on one hand, that he was not presumptuous and dogmatic and yearned for confirmation to his inquiry. On the other hand, should he have had answered in question that would be understood that he was not certain of his answer—and we presume that was not the kind of answer Jesus desired to hear. We also observe that Peter did not say, “I think you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” If that would be the case, it would be taken as a mere personal opinion and defies the rule of absolute truth. Furthermore, we also notice that Peter did not say, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Faith is definitely important for without such it would be impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Nevertheless, if Peter would have had stated his confession on this higher level, the Christian faith seemed to anchor upon his subjective personal faith instead of the objective plain truth of who Jesus is. How then did Simon Peter answer the question of Jesus? Listen to his word, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter declared his confession with deep conviction and defined certainty. And we may say it emphatically that his great confession was anchored upon absolute truth which he embraced with solid faith without any shadow of doubt.

And what is the message of his confession? First of all, Jesus is the Messiah. The Hebrew word “Messiah” with its Greek equivalent “Christ,” means, “The Anointed One.” What does this mean? Jesus is the One whom the Father in heaven has chosen as the perfect divine revelation for human beings to know God and through him alone brought the great salvation of the sinful world and established the kingdom of God on earth under his sovereign rule (Heb. 1:1-3). The whole of creation, including the Empire of Rome and our personal lives as well, are in the hands of Jesus who is the Lord of all (Col. 1:16-17).

Secondly, Jesus is the Son of the living God. Peter made this confession at Caesaria Philippi, a Roman city dedicated for emperor worship and pagan idolatry. Who is Jesus? The confession of Simon Peter was staggering. Jesus is the eternal Son of God equal with God the Father in heaven! When Simon Peter made his confession, in effect, he defied Caesar as god and rid of any form of idolatrous worship. Jesus as God is worthy of absolute worship.

We ask a serious question. Is the confession of Peter expressed the communal faith of the twelve apostles? In light of the biblical narratives, the confession of Peter was a manifesto of the apostolic faith in Jesus. Andrew believed in Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Messiah (Jn. 1:36, 41). Thomas affirmed his faith in Jesus and called him, “My Lord and my God” (Jn. 20:28). John the Beloved testified in his gospel account that Jesus is the eternal God the Son who became flesh (Jn. 1:1, 14). Even Judas Iscariot was fully convinced that Jesus is God for when he betrayed him he was filled with remorse that he betrayed an innocent blood (Mt. 27:4). Matthew and Luke closed their gospel accounts with the eleven apostles worshiping Jesus before he ascended to heaven (Mt. 28:17; Lk. 24:52). In the Scriptures, no one is worshiped but God.

What does this mean to us? We also wrestle with the universal question, “Who is Jesus?” In a personal note, “Who really is Jesus to us?” Indeed, Jesus is more than a great Jewish Rabbi. He is more than a great miraculous worker. He is more than an ordinary carpenter from Nazareth. And he is more than a good man with the highest moral standards. Rather, Jesus is the Messiah, the full divine revelation through whom we can know God and for us to experience his saving grace and enjoy the fullness of life (Jn. 1:18, 29; 10:10). Above all, Jesus is the Son of the living God, the eternal God the Son equal with God the Father and with God the Holy Spirit (Lk. 3:21-22; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2). And at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” for the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11). The confession of Simon Peter was the solid foundation of the Christian faith. And how can we really be sure of this?

 2. The Affirmation of Jesus

Listen to the word of Jesus.

“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’” (16:17) 

The confession of Peter was the revelation of God the Father. The word “revelation,” apokalupsis in Greek, literally means uncovering or unveiling of a divine truth that is presented to the human mind as a direct work of God. Such was the case of the divine revelation of the Person of Jesus as the very work of God the Father directly given to Simon Peter. And why was Peter singled out? Our humble answer is to uphold the sovereign will of God. And we are deeply grateful that God chose to disclose himself to mortals. For no one can know who Jesus really is without the revealing work of God. Jesus declared of this absolute truth. And Jesus himself confirmed to Peter that he indeed, as revealed by his Father in heaven, is the Messiah and the Son of the living God. And we can stand upon this solid foundation of the Christian faith because it is written in the Scriptures, the living and enduring Word of God, under the sovereign inspiration of God the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20-21). The Bible is the revelation of God in history. And our faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God rests upon a sure and firm foundation.

We have to remind ourselves of a solemn warning. Not all who confess the name of Jesus and proclaim his name believe and embrace the true Jesus as revealed by God the Father and as written in the Holy Scriptures. We have to be warned that there are false teachers who are expert in twisting the teachings of the Bible who profess to know Jesus but in reality they are anti-Christ for they teach another Jesus. Who really is Jesus? Our Father in heaven revealed to Simon Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This is the solid confession of Peter that laid the firm foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus is God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God, who became flesh. Any teaching contrary to this divine revelation comes from the Evil One who is the father of lies (Jn. 8:44; 1 Jn. 2:22; 4:1-3). For us who believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, like Peter, we are truly blessed before God.

3. The Declaration of Jesus

In an idolatrous city of Caesaria Philippi, Jesus revealed who he really is to his apostles. And in this ancient city built upon an enormous bedrock foundation, Jesus declared to his disciples his mission on earth.

“‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” (16:18-19)

Jesus revealed that he will build his church on earth. In this particular passage, the word church, in Greek, ekklesia, literally means the called out ones, which Jesus referred to the whole company of the redeemed throughout in the present era of the New Testament. His declaration was in the future tense, “I will build my church.”

When Jesus said, “and on this rock I will build my church,” what “rock” was he referring to? Based on context and semantics, it seems to point to Peter himself and his confession of who Jesus is. Partly so, yes, because Peter is one among the apostles, together with the prophets, who served as pillars in laying the foundational truth of the church of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:19-20a). In interpreting this passage, however, besides context and semantics, we also have to observe the hermeneutical rule about the meaning of words. The name “Peter” came from the Greek word “Petros” with an equivalent Aramaic word, “Cephas.” Petros or Cephas means literally a “detached stone.” Whereas, the word “rock” upon which Jesus will build his church came from the Greek word “Petra,” which literally means a “mass of rock” like the bedrock of Caesaria Philippi. What does this mean? The Petra which meant a massive rock was used as a metaphor that ultimately points to Jesus as the solid foundation and chief cornerstone of the church (1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20b).

Based upon this biblical perspective, we can have a better grasp about the Church. First of all, the Church exclusively belongs to Christ. Jesus said, “My church.” Second, Jesus is the absolute builder of his Church. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Finally, Jesus is the great defender of his Church. Jesus said, “And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” The “gates of Hell’’ as pictured of the dark cave in Caesaria Philippi refers to all powers of darkness including Satan, demons and evildoers.

What does this mean to us? If we are in Christ, we belong to his Church. And in Jesus Christ, we exclusively belong to him as the absolute builder of our lives and the great guardian of our souls. Jesus himself is the “Petra” or the solid Rock in whom we anchor our lives (Is. 26:4).

The divine authority of binding and loosing is directly connected to the keys of the kingdom. In a natural realm, a key is used to unlock a closed door. Applied in a spiritual realm, the “keys of the kingdom” refer to the sovereign movement of God in opening the door of faith to the Jews and Gentiles through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ entrusted to the Church as the primary institution in advancing the kingdom of God on earth. The gospel of Christ was anchored upon the revelation of God the Father to Peter that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. It is of great interest for us to note that after Jesus revealed himself to his apostles he began to teach to them about his death and resurrection—the essence of his gospel of salvation.

The divine authority of binding and loosing that was given, not only to Peter and the apostles but to the whole church, is to proclaim the gospel of Christ that serves as the absolute key in calling out people through the gospel of Christ so they would be ushered into the kingdom of God. For those who believe the gospel will be “loosed” from sin and darkness and to be with God forever in heaven. But for those who do not believe they will remain “bound” in sin and darkness and cast away in hell forever. The authority of loosing and binding does not rest upon man but in God alone and the power of his Word. And our eternal destiny is determined by our response to the Son of the living God. Jesus gives a categorical pronouncement: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him” (Jn. 3:36).  The decision is ours.

 4. The Prohibition of Jesus

At Caesaria Philippi, thus far, two great revelations were given to the apostles. The first is the revelation of God the Father that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God. The second one is the revelation of Jesus that he will build his church as the primary agent in advancing his kingdom on earth. Having given these amazing revelations, he gave a warning to his apostles. “Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ” (16:20). Why? It was because the people embraced a political agenda to enthrone Jesus as their king to build his own kingdom and liberate them from the Roman Empire. In fact, such messianic hope was likewise embraced by the apostles.

We pause awhile and ask ourselves. Who is Jesus to us and why do we follow him? It could be that we, like the people in the past, have a false knowledge about Jesus and follow him for wrong reasons. Or we, like the apostles, could have a true knowledge of who Jesus is but still follow him for our selfish ends. This calls for much searching of our hearts.

C.  The Redemptive Declaration (16:21-23)

The great transition in the earthly ministry of Jesus took place at Caesaria Philippi. In that idolatrous city built upon a massive bedrock foundation, Jesus revealed himself to his disciples and his mission to build his church. This was followed with another disclosure about his redemptive work that unsettled them to the core.  

 1. The Disturbing Revelation

Here was the great twist of event.

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (16:21) 

After Jesus revealed his Person and his mission, he now disclosed to them privately about his sufferings in the hands of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The apostles could have recalled the reason why they left Jerusalem was because the Jewish authorities plotted to kill him. Now, Jesus himself was saying a different tune. He foretold about his death and resurrection. Death! That grim word devastated the apostles.

 2. Peter Confronted Jesus

It was the impulsive Simon who grabbed Jesus at a corner and confronted him face to face. “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you’” (16:22)

What a contradiction! He called Jesus, “Lord,” yet he acted as one lording over him. At times we do just that as if we know better and place God under our command. And what an irony! Earlier Peter made a great confession about Jesus but now he was airing an outrageous contempt against him. In his defiant protest he used a strong word twice, Never! And he meant his word. No one dare touch Jesus. Peter would defend him to death. Why not? Jesus was their Messiah as King of the Jews!

3. Jesus Rebuked Peter

Jesus gave Simon a brazen look.

“Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (16:23)

Such was a stern rebuke in its strongest expression. Simon Peter was making a journey between two worlds. He set his heart to follow Jesus but in his own terms. He left everything in following Jesus but gave no room whatsoever for his untimely death. Such closed mindedness if left unchecked would harden his heart from the gospel truth. And Jesus rebuked Peter affront for he was following the footstep of Satan whose only desire is to be a scheming stumbling block in outright opposition to the will of God. Such cutting edge confrontation was painful indeed. Yet Jesus had to be firm to bend the will and refine the heart of Peter. Jesus knew it well that his apostles could not comprehend the essence of his redemptive work in building his church through his death and resurrection. This great transition in his journey with his disciples was hard for them to bear. But Jesus must lead them to a higher ground of discipleship. Anyone who must follow him must take him at his word and yield his life at the cross of Christ even to death (16:24-25).  

Conclusion

At Caesaria Philippi, Jesus made a historic transition in his earthly ministry. In that ancient idolatrous city built upon a massive bedrock foundation, Jesus made three great revelations to his apostles. First, he revealed himself as the Messiah and the Son of the living God. Second, he revealed his mission to build his Church. Third, he revealed his redemptive work anchored upon his death and resurrection. These threefold revelations are integrated. Jesus Christ the Son of God is the absolute builder of his Church through his atoning death at the cross and glorious resurrection from the grave. This revealing truth is the firm foundation of the Christian faith. We now define our terms in following Jesus.

Is Jesus the God of our lives? The personal question of Jesus to his apostles if for all of us, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus made a good confession, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” Jesus the Messiah is the eternal God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God. This sets apart biblical Christianity from all religions in the world. Jesus our God is absolutely worthy of our pure worship, wholehearted love and joyful service.

Is Jesus the Builder of our lives? Jesus declared, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” Jesus as the Rock is the absolute foundation and builder of his Church. If we believe in Jesus and yield our all to him, we belong to his Church the redeemed family of God. We belong to Jesus. We are safe in his hands. And he is at work to finish the good work he began in our lives.

Is Jesus the Redeemer of our lives? Jesus foretold of his death and resurrection for the salvation of the world. When Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples understood and embraced the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus created the universe by the power of his word. And he redeemed the world through his precious blood. It is inconceivable that the God who created us is the very God who redeemed us! The Creator is our Redeemer. At the Cross we humbly embrace the saving grace of God and truly find rest for our weary souls. Blessed are those who anchor their faith in Jesus Christ.