#Don't come into Moon Land and call him a pagan

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

ALRIGHT. I made the mistake of reading and not interacting but then two antisemites came at me tonight and then I got name dropped (favorably) so here I am.

@fdelopera already did a fantastic job (as always) in bringing it in with the bits from the current run and the run by Zelenetz (who may in fact be the only real Jewish person to ever write Moon Knight as far as I am aware).

I've said it once and I'll say it again and again.

You have no right reading a comic about a Jewish character and then complaining when they are Jewish.

Judaism is not just a religion and it is far more complicated than can be properly explained with cliffnotes but the gist is: You can be Jewish and not follow Judaism as a religion.

Marc was raised by an orthodox rabbi (comic writer varies, on the Rabbi vs just a Jewish family, but I follow the OG and Elias was a Rabbi) and every part of his life growing up most likely revolved around being Jewish.

We do not know Marc's trauma (Bemis can go eat a can of nails). We don't know what caused his D.I.D.

What we DO know is that Marc grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust as a second generation immigrant and son of a Rabbi that fled the Holocaust.

We know that he grew up in Chicago and he was surrounded by people that were deeply traumatized and that he experienced a lot of antisemitism directed at him and his family.

Marc's path of violence, running away, and rejection of his father (and in turn rejecting how he was raised) put him at odds with how he thought of his religion.

A big part of Judaism is learning to ask questions, learning to argue with everything, and learning to accept what it all means to YOU.

When you read the comics in the correct batches (No Bemis), it paints a beautiful picture of Marc on a journey with learning to find peace with who Marc Spector really is.

And anyone that says he Worships Khonshu is NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

In Moench's run, Khonshu is more or less, just a statue. At best, a mysterious force that might have some sway in things, but it is never clear on if Marc actually died and was brought back by an old Egyptian god or not.

Keeping in mind that the Marvel universe takes place in a world where "gods" exist openly, like Thor and Loki… It is not unlikely that Khonshu is seen as a sort of celestial being that comes across as 'god-like' in that universe and in Marc's eyes.

This does not mean that Marc sees him as HIS God.

And we see Marc reject Khonshu over and over again in various runs.

In MacKay's run, this is the first time in AGES where Marc has discussed how being raised Jewish affects him.

Despite all his big talk and show, Marc still sees himself as being Jewish.

And when he died, saying the Shema prayer was a huge "Fuck You" to Khonshu. And a huge move of growth on Marc's part.

We finally got to see that Marc is no longer running. Marc understands who he is and this is HIS path, not Khonshu's path.

Incidentally, we see Jake and Steven very little in this run, but having them accept Marc's decision in this shows how much THEY have grown too. And perhaps, the Shema was also Marc's olive branch to them too. Jake, who has always been the most Jewish of the three and Steven who acknowledged his Jewish values in giving to charities and trying to live a peaceful life.

"Gentlemen, Light the candles" - Steven, possibly referring to Yarzeit candles, which are lit in memory of the departed.

So don't come in here saying that Moon Knight isn't Jewish.

The whole system is Jewish. Always has been, always will be.

And a little secret? Comic books were started by Jews. Without Jews, you wouldn't have comics as we know them today. We wouldn't have superheros.

legit got told by a hamasnik “moon knight’s not jewish” like babe did we watch the same show??? did you read the comics????

OHHHHH

I know why it's because he serves a pagan god and is therefore religiously pagan (he is some runs) but buddy he's still ethnically Jewish. Magneto is atheist so he "also doesn't count"

antisemites believe we are "just a religion" and therefore not Jewish if we don't practice

and he is religiously Jewish in the only three good runs of Moon Knight: Moench-Zelentz, Lemire and McKay

In Moench's run he's an ex-mossad spy who knows Hebrew and Yiddish and is VERY angry at Neo-nazis as if it affects him personally in Zelentz he's a Rabbi's son and is nearly late to his dad's funeral because he's putting out fires in other synagogues and saving people from pogroms, in Lemire he is a good Jewish boy TM and Khonshu's abuse of him is shown as cult abuse and forced conversion and by the end Khonshu is dead and he can be his authentic self, this is followed up with McKay where this is brought up in a therapy session where he tackles his cognitive dissonance of serving a pagan god but being Jewish. When his therapist says he can't be both he shuts her down

these people deny Jews are an ethnicity and then say we aren't religious enough to count

Imagine if they tried that sort of thing with Nightcrawler or Kamala Khan

[thenightling]

Unexpected Goth music

In the 90s you had the curious dilemma of both trying to avoid the title of Goth and also being accepted in the perceived Goth community. And there was an unfortunately high number of gatekeepers. You'd get asked what your favorite Goth artist or song was and for whatever reason "That doesn't count." or "That's actually Punk." or 'That's Death Rock, not Goth." or "That's too mainstream, that's not REAL Goth." And it got very irritating. So I'm going to list some of the things I think fit under the Goth genre that many would either not consider at all or would think "don't count." Disclaimer: This list does not contain obvious bands like The Cure, Siouxsie and the banshees, or Bauhaus. Once you remove those you'd be surprised how limited the selection of "real" Goth starts to feel. ______________________ And now here are the things that have (in my own experience) been classified as not Goth despite really fitting the criteria. Aurelio Voltaire - Sometimes considered Goth folk or "Dark Cabaret" or even "Death Rock" (1988 version of The Night) Aurelio Voltaire pretty much personifies Goth music. From his Gothic Neo Victorian / pirate look to such songs as Raised by Bats, Land of the Dead, Vampire Club, and the Neil Gaiman's The Sandman inspired "Come Sweet Death." Aurelio Voltaire is so Goth that I can't help but think there are other reasons people may not want to count him such as unconscious racism. (He's Cuban and has released Spanish language tracks.) Danny Elfman - Perhaps today most well known for his movie scores, particularly the iconically Gothic Nightmare before Christmas (where he was multiple voices including Jack's singing voice), Danny Elfman used to be the front man for the band Oingo Boingo where he had such songs as Dead Man's Party, Flesh 'n blood, Weird Science, No one lives forever, and No Spill Blood. These are arguably Gothic themed but not Gothic "style." However I do feel there is some Goth leanings in his 2020 album Big Mess which was officially released as the genre Industrial Goth. The Hex Girls - This band was invented for the 1999 Scooby Doo animated movie, Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost. Representing Gothic fashion, Wiccan spiritual beliefs, and environmentalism the band was meant to be a Gothic inversion on The Spice Girls. Defined as "Eco Goth" though arguably pop their songs actually were really good including "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air" (though admittedy it should be Earth, Water, Fire, and Air), The Witch's Ghost, and Hex Girl. Inkubus Sukkubus - Considered Pagan Rock, they are definitely Goth, including the songs Sweet Morpheus and Vampire Queen (and several other vampire themed songs!) Blackmore's night - Neo Medieval folk rock band. You know... I think once you get called "Neo Medieval" you get a free pass to call yourself Goth. That's just my opinion. Including the songs Locked Within the Crystal Ball, The Darkness, and Shadow of the Moon.

Within Temptation - Symphonic Metal / Gothic Metal. One question... have you listened to them? Just listen to Angel, Stand my Ground, The Fear, or A Demon's Fate. Eden's Bridge - Progressive Celtic Folk Rock. They have two songs dedicated to Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost. I know one song isn't enough but still... Sonata Arctica - Metal but some of their biggest hits are about magic and more commonly werewolves. Cain's offering - Again, Metal, but the subject matter is decidedly Gothic. Kamelot - Power metal but they have two albums that retell Goethe's Faust parts 1 and 2 (Epica and The black Halo). In fact pretty much everything they do is of Gothic inclination. Richard Campbell - Metal but he did an entire metal opera retelling the novel Frankenstein. I think that's pretty Goth if you ask me.

Smashing Pumpkins - Considered Alternative rock. There was time where just about anything vampire related was advertised with Bullet with Butterfly Wings. And the band is named after a popular Halloween prank. The lead singer is also a professional poet.

Alice Cooper - Welcome to my Nightmare, Keepin' Halloween Alive, The Ballad of Dwight Frye (actor from classic universal monster movies), Gimme, Black Widow (With Vincent Price). He also performed in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows.

Marilyn Manson - Once Classified as industrial Goth, he was denounced by many Goths as "too mainstream" or "Not Goth enough." The man did covers of Danny Elfman's This is Halloween, David Bowie's Golden Years, Annie Lennox's Sweet Dreams, and Lost Boys' Cry Little Sister. That's pretty Goth if you ask me. My Chemical Romance (MCR) - Do I really need to elaborate wit this one? David Bowie - Mostly considered Glam Rock, Bowie has dabbled in all genres and Heart's Filthy Lesson was definitely industrial. Aurelio Voltaire did a Goth sequel to the songs Bowie wrote for Labyrinth. And Bowie's Scary Monsters and Super Creeps inspired Danny Elfman. You can't get more Goth than that (In my opinion). Even Bowie's album Hours drifts into Emo territory. Prince - At the very least he had a Goth aesthetic. I think if he wasn't black people would be quicker to realize he could fit as Goth. There's a lot of unconscious racism among some (not all) Goths. Michael Jackson - One word. Thriller. He also had The Boogeyman's Gonna Get ya with The Jackson Five, and later Ghost. But once you get Vincent Price to rap you should automatically count. The Rasmus - Rock but most of their songs are decidedly Goth and probably should count such as In the Shadows, Ghost of love, and Lucifer's Angel. Sarah McLachlan - Though considered pop let's be honest. Every Goth and person in the 90s "vampire Scene" had her Surfacing album or at least heard Building a Mystery. Before her music started playing in ASPCA commercials you heard songs like Adia on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Savage Garden - Though definitely pop they get an honorary mention for having songs inspired by Anne Rice and for naming themselves after a phrase invented by The vampire Lestat to describe the nature of the world in The Vampire Lestat novel by Anne Rice. Sting - Though not always Goth, Sting was in the Gothic horror movie The Bride and wrote a song from the perspective of Louis in Interview with the vampire called Moon over Bourbon Street. Stevie Nicks - She got an American Horror story: Coven tie-in music video and practices witchcraft. That's like hitting a Goth bullseye. Johnny Cash - Wore all black all the time and did a cover of a NIN song that is considered better than the original version, Hurt. Sir Elton John - Glam / Pop rock but he gets an honorary mention for composing the Lestat Broadway musical and having a full demo album that was never officially released and can only be found through dubious / underground sources. (Or Ebay if you were lucky in 2006...) Honorable mention to Bobby "Boris" Pickett for having the first Gothic themed song to get banned in the UK (Monster Mash) for being "Too morbid." You can't get much more Goth than that.

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Creatures of Yuletide: The Jultomten

“Midwinter’s nightly frost is hard —

Brightly the stars are beaming;

Fast asleep is the lonely yard,

All, at midnight, are dreaming.

Clear is the moon, and the snow-drifts shine,

Glistening white, on fir and pine,

Covers on rooflets making.

None but the Tomte is waking.”

“Tomten”, Viktor Rydberg

We all know Christmas is a magical time. I’m not joking, Christmas is literally a time of magic. Because of the pagan Winter Solstice celebrations that Christians absorbed into their holiday, the holiday season is a time when multiple creatures, sprites and monsters can roam through the Earth into our homes. Some are peaceful, some are terrifying. Santa is the most popular and modern of these, having roots in the Yule Father himself, Odin. In my last post I talked about the Yule Goat and his connections to the older pagan traditions. Today, I will talk about some holiday sprites that used to travel with him during Christmas time, but later came to replace him almost entirely as a gift-giver in Scandinavian tradition. I’m talking about the Tomte and the Tomtar.

Quick note, these sprites have many names depending on the country, so for convenience sake, I will use the Swedish name and call them Tomte, singular, and Tomtar, plural.

The Tomtar are dwarf-like beings from Scandinavian lore. They are often described as little old men, three feet high, with a long white beard, wearing grey, brown or navy clothes with traditional boots and sporting a bright red cap on their heads.

The name Tomte derives from Swedish word “tomt,” or plot of land, and it means “homestead man”. This reflects their original role as household spirits, similar to the Roman Penates or Di Penates, household deities invoked most often in domestic rituals. The Tomtar were believed to be ancestral spirits of the first farmer to have worked on that plot of land. They were mischievous spirits, responsible for the protection and welfare of a farmstead. They acted more at night, where they were out of sight.

They protected and guarded the house, the properties of the house, the children and the farm animals, especially the much-valued horses. They would work hard to protect the farm, expecting only two things in return, respect, and a bowl of Christmas Porridge with a generous dollop of butter. They often slept under the floorboards during spring and summer and started waking up around the winter solstice. The Julgröt or Christmas porridge was an offer of trust and respect to the Tomte of the household, with butter being a luxury, consumed only on special occasions. It was their payment for the hard work.

As expected from any imp-like creature from European folklore, they can be quite dangerous if their demands are not met. A story tells of a servant girl, that jokingly, hid the butter at the bottom of the bowl. He didn’t kill the girl if this is what you’re thinking, but after not finding the butter, he became so enraged that he slaughtered their best cow. After learning his mistake, he stole a neighbor’s cow to give to the family, as an astonishment for his mistake. I very curious how this played out in the next day 😅

The Tomte is a mischievous spirit, and easily irritated. If you managed on offended him in any way, he could play all kinds of pranks such as binding all cows’ tails together, turning objects upside down or breaking things. Maids or farm workers swearing, dirty outhouses and stables, or not treating creatures well are all things that would incur his disapproval.

Having a Tomte in your farm was a good sign. Clean and orderly homes or farms were an indication that a Tomte spirit resided there. This was, until the Christians arrived and denounced them as demons and false gods. In a 14th century decree by Saint Birgitta of Vadstena warned against “tompta gudhi” or “Tomte gods”. All their worst characteristics were amplified, and instead of pleasing the Tomte, it became your duty as a Christian to lure these evil spirits out. If you were a farmer that was doing far better than the others, your competitors could accuse you of a having a Tomte on your farm, doing "ungodly" work and stealing from the neighbors. This could lead to accusations of witchcraft during the Inquisitions.

The once friendly dwarf-like sprites became evil heathen spirits. In "Tomten", a poem by swedish novelist Viktor Rydberg, describes well all the solitariness that these creatures must felt during these times. In the poem, a Tomte is alone and awake on Christmas night.

This poem along with illustrations from Jenny Nyström saved the public image from the Tomtar. What really captured the imagination were the accompanying illustrations. Nyström’s illustrations offered a new kind of Tomte, a mix between Tomte, Santa Claus and the Yule Goat, who traditionally delivered presents to children in Swedish folklore.

This resulted in a shift in Tomte’s persona. Influenced by the emerging Father Christmas and Santa Claus, a new gift-giver Tomte was born, the Jultomten in Sweden and Julenisse in Norway, who would visit children accompanied by the classic Yule Goat. Later he would steal the goat’s job as a Christmas gift-giver.

Jenny Nyström became one of Sweden’s most productive painters, producing hundreds of illustrations for Christmas cards and magazines. She was able to combine Swedish folklore with uplifting images that appealed to people of all ages. Her Jultomten had a family and nissar, helpers.

Thanks to commercialism, the Jultomten became more and more like the American Santa Claus over the years, as the Jultomten became a single jolly old men in a red suit delivering gifts to children. However, differences still exist between these two figures.

When children write to Father Christmas in Sweden they write to Tomte, not Santa.

The Jultomte lives in a forest nearby.

He doesn't come down the chimney at night, but through the front door, delivering the presents directly to the children, just like the Yule Goat did;

Before he hands over presents he asks, Finns det några snälla barn här? (Are there any good children here?),

He is not overweight;

If he rides a sleigh drawn by reindeer, instead of just walking around with his sack, his reindeers don't fly;

In Sweden, Denmark and Norway some still put out a bowl of porridge for him on Christmas Eve.

The use of the word Tomte in Swedish is now somewhat ambiguous. Often when one speaks of Jultomten (definite article) or Tomten (definite article) one is referring to the more modern version, while if one speaks of Tomtar (plural) or Tomtarna (plural, definite article) one could also likely be referring to the traditional domestic spirits.

In Christmas cards and decorations you still can found the little men from Jenny Nyström's illustrations.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/8/2020: PELICAN BLOOD (2019)

If you are reading this and the present date is between October 8 and 11 of 2020, please consider buying a virtual ticket to see Katrin Gebbe’s PELICAN BLOOD, available on demand through the Nightstream festival:

https://watch.eventive.org/nightstream/play/5f6e7e78d6a9bf0036613fa3

I am about to discuss this movie and its conclusion in great detail, but it would be much better for a person to come to it in innocence--not because it’s so reliant on anything as gauche as surprise, but because it is so thoroughly excellent that wading through a movie review first would be like letting your dinner grow cold. And, it simply deserves our support.

When I saw PELICAN BLOOD last year at Fantastic Fest, it became one of my favorite movies before it was even over. I might admit that this was sort of a match made in heaven, as this movie checks almost every one of my personal boxes, but I don’t think my assessment of its value is a simple matter of personal prejudice. I’ve been haunted by it all these months, and deeply worried that somehow I might never see it again. When I discovered that it had landed on Nightstream, I was over the moon.

This is writer-director Katrin Gebbe's second feature, a fact that will astonish you when you see it. Last Blogtober, I wrote about her first feature TORE TANZT, which has the troubling english title NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN. That intense indie drama concerns a born-again christian punk who wishes for an opportunity to prove his devotion to god, and finds it in the form of a family that invites him in off the streets, and then proceeds to torture him. That's an oversimplification of what actually occurs, but it is a film that's hard to be brief about. It's cheap and a little rough around the edges, but it is deliberate, intense, and difficult to forget. (In fact it's supposed to be based on a true story, although I haven't managed to pick up that trail) When I first saw it, it certainly made me wonder what else that director might be up to, and I was astounded when I found out. 2019's PELICAN BLOOD emerged six years after TORE TANZT, with little in between besides a television episode and a segment in the anthology THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL, and yet Gebbe's artistic evolution is dumbfounding. Her themes are all unmistakably present--faith versus doubt, mystical versus metaphorical experience, and physical martyrdom--but exploded into a grand, elegant psychodrama that holds the viewer captive every minute of its two hours.

Celebrated german actress Nina Hoss plays Wiebke, a stable owner who trains police horses to tolerate the frightening conditions of a riot. She lives at the edge of her pasture, raising her tween daughter Nicolina (Adelia-Constance Giovanni Ocleppo) on her own. Wiebke has a talent for healing the wounded, or perhaps it's more of a calling; she raised Nicolina, a bulgarian orphan, into a bright, balanced, emotionally available tomboy, and the two of them joyfully anticipate the arrival of Nicolina's new adoptive sister. When little Raya arrives (Katerina Lipovska), she first presents as sweet, even solicitous, needing only a mother's love to fully bloom. However, as soon as she determines that she is welcome and wanted, she undergoes a disturbing transformation into a violent and unpredictable creature, possessed by an abject hatred. Wiebke recognizes that her new child is seriously traumatized, which activates her sense of purpose, and she pledges herself fully to the child's recovery--despite the admonishments of Raya's daycare, her doctors, and virtually everyone around them, that the little girl is beyond all but clinical help, and even that promises no guarantee of salvation. Refusing to give up, Wiebke makes a series of increasingly dangerous personal sacrifices in Raya's name, until finally she finds herself at the doorway to what some consider another world, but what is to others only madness.

Gebbe won Best Director in the main competition at Fantastic Fest, and it would have been a crime if this were otherwise. Her control over what are essentially forces of nature is humbling. Extracting a profoundly moving drama from a cast of adult actors is challenging enough on its own, but to get these terrifyingly convincing performances from children, evoking deep trauma and physical violence to self and others, is another level. As if this weren't enough, Gebbe adds animals into the mix, giving the story of Raya a parallel in the troubled career of a police horse who is considered a lost cause by all but Wiebke. The training scenes in which Wiebke guides the volatile animal through fire and smoke, while her own lifeforce is being progressively depleted by her new child, are as harrowing as anything having to do with parenthood, and Wiebke seems to take the horse just as seriously as her child. Friendly single dad Benedikt (Murathan Muslu) tries to flirt with the trainer by remarking on her unusual career, but she spits bitterly, "The horses are not the problem," giving us a glimpse of the philosophy that drives her.

Another of my favorite german films is Werner Herzog's 1976 short NO ONE WILL PLAY WITH ME. This funny and poignant story involves a bullied and neglected little boy, and it is preceded by a card displaying the adage "There are no bad children, only bad parents." This is the principle that drives Wiebke in work and life: Those who are seen as failures, have been failed by others. One has the sense that Wiebke sees herself in these wretches. She has no partner, and balks at questions about her relationship history, shying from physical affection even with people she knows and likes. A tell-tale scar graces one cheekbone; when she finally begins to welcome the benign Benedikt's advances, he strokes it instead of kissing her, acknowledging that he can see who she really is.

Wiebke tries to extend this same empathy toward Raya, refusing to let the child bait her into wrath and rejection. However, this show of pure faith and tolerance does not work, and the right approach becomes less clear as Raya begins to blame her mounting acts of vandalism, arson and assault on an evil entity that controls her will. A psychiatrist aprises Wiebke that this is the "magic period", in which the child uses magical thinking to divert feelings of guilt and responsibility. But, after a fashion, Wiebke begins to sense this malevolent presence as well. Is this etheric intrusion real? Or is she beginning to empathize with the child--with the experience of grappling with a damaged part of yourself--to the point of dissolving boundaries?

The title of the movie refers to a fable about a pelican whose chicks die, and she resurrects them by feeding them her own blood. This is a clear metaphor for Wiebke's trial with Raya, that becomes shockingly literal when, after endangering her home and relationships by prioritizing the new child, Wiebke places her own health on the line by taking an unregulated drug to give herself a bizarre advantage. When Wiebke discovers the shocking nature of Raya's original trauma, she experiments with the radical idea of treating the girl like a little baby, hoping to start from square one with her capacity to be mothered, and in the service of this dreadful proposition, Wiebke starts taking a lactation-inducing pill that proves to be an immediate risk to her health, and puts her in an even more perilous position with Raya.

Although it focuses on a preternaturally devoted mother, PELICAN BLOOD recalls what makes movies like HEREDITARY and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN so potent. We have the idea that in becoming parents, we are perpetuating our own essence, extending our history and celebrating the precious connection of blood, which is supposed to impart an automatic same-ness. Unfortunately, this only shakes out to arrogance for many, denying the quirks of psychology, chemistry, and the unique impact of trauma--even if minor, or explainable as something benign--on a mind too young to fully comprehend the nature of the experience. Even without abuse in the home, anyone can have a child less like themselves than they could have ever imagined, for reasons beyond their own control. In all this, the child is innocent, and it is the duty of the parent to prioritize the child's feelings, over the vanity of wanting an heir to your own best qualities. Wiebke sacrifices not only her vanity, but potentially her very life, to show Raya love. When this blood sacrifice does not work, Wiebke finds herself facing the realm of alternative belief as a last resort.

The introduction of PELICAN BLOOD's folk horror element can seem a little left field, if you haven't noted the clues scattered throughout the film. Before the revelation of Raya's boogeyman, Wiebke begins to discover evidence of an old pagan tradition still being practiced around her proverbial neck of the woods. Soon, she tentatively entrusts herself and her child to a local witch, who puts them through a harrowing exorcism. Though the process is uncertain at first, its impact forces Wiebke into a direct acknowledgment of the entity harassing her daughter. And ultimately, it awakens in Raya a capacity for love.

While the reality of the supernatural in PELICAN BLOOD remains in question, I think the effect of this ambiguity is specifically meaningful. I usually scoff at any type of "was it all a dream?" nonsense, as this is a tactic employed by directors who think their greatest accomplishment should be getting one over on the audience. I don't see any inherent value in simply reversing the apparent meaning of things, just to make people feel stupid--and worse, this has trained modern audiences to try to defensively predict the least likely ending to any story, instead of just engaging with it emotionally as it plays out. For this reality-bending trick to be worth anything, one must be able to answer questions like, IF this was all a dream, THEN what meaning is added to the story?

In PELICAN BLOOD, the unresolved question of whether magic is real is of great relevance to the whole concept of belief. Human beings crave extranormal experience; we're deeply attracted to tales of ghosts, UFOs, mythical creatures, and parapsychological abilities. Even the skeptics among us enjoy arguing about these things, and many regular folks without eccentric interests read their horoscope "just for fun". Most telling of all is the enduring popularity of stories about the strange and unusual, which require no particular belief system from the audience; the fantasy of this extra dimension to our mundane lives is just so satisfying. Despite all the pleasure we get from these ideas, though, we tend to cling first and foremost to objective truth; we tell ourselves that if there is no "proof", then an outrageous thing cannot exist. But, this is actually contrary to many of our lived experiences. On the basest level, we delight at videos of insane parkour stunts, at the same time that we say these guys are "like" superheroes, but are actually just guys. My question is, what's the difference? If a person can achieve physical feats that most of us can never imagine attempting, then what difference does it make that this person was not bitten by a radioactive spider? If a fortune teller in a carnival is so good at "cold reading" strangers that she gives the effect of being able to read minds, then what is the appreciable difference between a carny and a "real psychic"? If a faith healer "just convinces" someone to become free from a chronic ailment, and the patient goes on to live a happier life, who cares if no "real magic" was in evidence? What is the difference between exorcism and hypnosis, if the end result is the same for a seriously disturbed child and her mother? The only difference appears to be some material confirmation of specific mystical forces and substances--which, admittedly, would be exciting on its own--but this would still only be an alternative version of the events that led up to the same "miraculous" result. We only worry about the existence of God and magic because our definitions of these things tend to be limited to what we think of as literal and scientific. But, if the correct effects manifest themselves, then all that is purely cosmetic. Belief is real. Faith works.

[hak-7]

"An Islamic Formula for a Successful Life" Los Angeles: Part 1

Imam W. Deen Muhammad (This is the first installment of Imam W. Deen Muhammad's Los Angeles address.) As-Salaam-Alaikum. That is, peace be unto you. We begin putting our complete trust in Allah, the Lord and Creator, Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem, with the Name Allah, the Gracious, the Compassionate, and we pray peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, His Servant and His Messenger (SAW); peace and the blessings be on him, and on his descendants, his Companions, the righteous, and Muslims (Believers); we pray peace be on us, and that Allah helps us in our efforts, and make this occasion a success, for Muslims, a success in the eyes of our Lord, whose name is Allah, Most High.

Alhamdulillahi-rabbil-alameen. We praise Allah, Lord of All the Worlds, and we want to read from the chapter of Qur'an, that begins with the title, "Ash-Shams," "The Sun." I believe that the chapter has been read already, in Arabic.

(Darnell Karim reads Sura-tul-Ash-Shams in Arabic).

I will now give the English translation of the original text of the Qur'an, as you know which is in the pure Arabic language. You might call it classical Arabic, but actually the revelation of Qur'an to Muhammad who himself, peace be upon him, was not literate, but God inspired him with revelation, and the language of revelation, and the Arabic tongue and the tongue of the Arabs, set the standard for the language from that time since.

Now when you study Arabic grammar, in high school, college, elementary school or whatever level you study Arabic grammar on, the yardstick or the rule for measuring the excellence of the grammar, the excellence of the language, the excellence of the expression or composition, will be referred to Qur'an. The Qur'an has really set the standard for the excellence of language, ever since it was revealed and now it’s a little over 1400 years ago. That in itself is a miracle; that Allah revealed to a man who himself was not literate, an orphaned child; Muhammad (pbuh), the Prophet, the Last Messenger, revealed to him and the words came out on the tongue of an Arab, but the tongue was

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LET THERE BE LIGHT

Read In The Name Of Your Lord

In the clear focus that religion provides for us we see the importance of nature over form, Many people in religion read the allegorical or symbolic language of scripture and they can't see beneath the surface to read the real message that is in the symbolism or the allegorism. They come to the conclusion that religion is telling us how the sun was put in the sky, how the moon was put in the sky, how stars were put in the sky, how fish were put in the water, and how trees and other life sprung up from the physical earth,how tall Goliath or Adam was.

But actually, God is saying to us with scripture—and the great prophets made this knowledge available to us—that the world without is only a sign and a signal that He has made to direct you and your growth. As He has placed the sun that rises up from the horizon at dawn breaking in the night and giving day, He has also placed a sun in your nature and in your structure —the light of intelligence. You fall asleep and darkness comes over you at night, but you awake because He has designed you that way. You awake and open your eyes, and the light of intelligence begins to operate; it operates until you get tired, it begins to set and you lie down and sleep again.

These lights are descriptive of the kinds of leaders we have on this earth. Some are like the sun. They rise and they cause a lot of activity. They make the little birds jump up out of their nests. They bring the animals out chirping and making a lot of noise. They give warmth like the sun does, and show us all the physical objects. But then there are some that are like the moon; they seem to be lesser in light, but their light penetrates the darkness that the sun has left on us.

And then we have some that are like the stars. They're very far away, and they seem small to us, but in reality, most of the stars that we think to be small are bigger than our moon, bigger than our earth, and many of them bigger than our sun.

We have people like that who are so far away from the foolishness we're involved in that we think them to be very small, but in reality they are bigger than the things that we are idolizing and admiring. Almighty God, He is the One that created us, and Almighty God is the One to inspire us; and Almighty God is the One to reveal the hidden secrets of the world and of our own life. That has been done by Almighty God through His great prophets, from Abraham to Muhammad.

Genesis tells us of the beginning of creation in these words: In the beginning the earth was without form and void; and darkness covered the deep; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And He hung a great light in the heavens to rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night. And He hung the stars also.

Now, let's look at the Quran to see how the Quran treats the same subject; to see how Almighty God revealed to a later prophet that was to complete the message of religion for the total development of the individual in society- It reads:

"Read in the Name of your Guardian, Evolver and Sustainer who created the being from a clot of blood.”

Here we are getting the same message. But it is brought to us clear. The light is coming on to stay. God says: Read, and your Lord is most bountiful who taught the man, the human being, the use of the pen. So, here Almighty God has revealed to Prophet Muhammad the real-meaning of the Genesis; the growth of intelligence is the answer to the riddles, the rising of the sun, the hanging of a moon and the placing of stars in the heavens. As a result, fish come in the water, life grows all over the land, people begin to populate— God is telling us that in order for us to have a healthy, beautiful, full life on earth we must have intelligent life first. So, the Holy Quran doesn't leave us in doubt.

The first verses that came to Prophet Muhammad says: Read in the Name of your Guardian, Evolver and Sustainer who created man from a small clot of blood. Read and your Lord is most bountiful who taught man the use of the pen.

And for those who doubt that God is speaking to the need for intelligence to grow, let us go again to the same term, "create," in the Quran. God says; Create yourselves! God challenges us to create ourselves, God says: Create yourselves with the character building blocks revealed to you by God. Create yourself in the character-image of God. This is character building; one speaking directly to intelligence growth, and the other speaking to character building. How can you build intelligent character if you don't have any good sense? A foolish people cannot build intelligent character. They have to be ordered about, disciplined and forced to conform to good manners by adult people. Can we remain children forever on this earth?

Imam W.D. Mohammed (raa)THE DOOMED WORLD

The One Between Your Ears

We have been told that the old world that we have known is a doomed world that would soon be destroyed and that a new world would emerge. Many of us did not understand what we were being told. We had been trained, as little children are trained, to think that everything that people talk about can be picked up with the hand and seen with the physical eye.

When "the end of the world" was preached to us, we thought that God was going to burn up the physical ground. We did not know that the world of men was not a world that you pick up with your hand. The world of human beings is a world that you pick up with your ears.

It enters through your ears into your mind and it forms a mind over your own mind. That mind then becomes your mind. Since you live in your mind's world, you become a dweller in that world. If that world is a grafted, artificial world, Almighty God will intervene and destroy it. That is the world that the Bible calls a doomed world.

In the physical world we see fire as something that is powerful to destroy things. Nothing brings about a more thorough and complete destruction of physical things in the physical world than fire.

The wise men of religion only used fire in scripture to tell you how thorough and complete the destruction of this grafted world would be when it came.

The soil, the oceans, the trees, nor the animals of the earth have ever rebelled against God, so why should God destroy the earth? It is the minds of men that have acted against truth, justice, and righteousness and have brought the world to a state of hell, confusion, and ignorance.

To right this, someone has to come and renew the minds of men. The minds of the people must be renewed (given new life) and given new soil for their knowledge to grow in. They must be given a new sun to feed the growth of that knowledge. Once that new world is brought about in the minds of the people, a new growth will start in the earth.

Some denominations of the Church preach to their people that something is going to happen to change the physical earth. They say that the earth will become new, the water will become pure, the air will become pure and that we will stop aging, take on a new physical growth, and be youthful forever. I want the people who are in kindergarten knowledge of the Church to know that we are doing that right now.

ImamW.D. Mohammed (raa)The Influence Of Evil On America

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

As human beings, we are not capable of keeping our life and morals intact without the blessings and help of God. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is one whose life was kept intact, even before he was made a prophet. Though he lived in sinful pagan Arabia, which at that time was perhaps the area on the globe with the greatest ignorance. Prophet Muhammad did not give himself to the sins and ignorance of the world into which he was born.

When I was a boy, the devil didn't ask us to do the things he is asking of us now in America. The devil didn't ask people to decide for themselves what is right and wrong. The devil went along with the children in consulting their mothers, their fathers, their church and the establishment. But for our children today, it is a new world, a different situation. Today the devil is advising our children. He is telling them, "Don't listen to your mother. Don't listen to your father. Don't listen to your religious teachers. Make up your own mind." And what has been the results of this? The results have been rebellious and defiant youth who have become victims of the devil's influences.

The devil now controls what happens in the environment of America. And God has put it in the nature of the human being to believe the overwhelming majority rather than believe the unpopular minority, because, under normal conditions, the majority is usually right. But scripture warns us that in the end of the world, Satan creates an unnatural, abnormal situation that makes the majority his subjects, then the environment becomes his instrument.

The good people in America today, our mothers, our fathers, our aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers tell our young people what is right. However, when they reflect on what the world is saying and doing, they walk away from the good advice and follow the voice of the world. Why is this? It is because the voice of the world is just too much for them. There are too many people saying the same thing, making it too popular to ignore.

What will save us and our children in this day and time? What will save you is your true self. But the devil doesn't allow you time or a chance of live your true self, because he is busy building an environment to convince you that wrong is right and at the same time saying, "You are your own judge. Nobody else should tell you what you should do or think. Not your parents, your preacher, nobody. Only you matter."

Furthermore, the devil makes you feel sub-human if you listen to other authority. This is what the devil is doing to our children, and many adults are among the children. The devil makes many of us feel like we are an inferior intellect, as though we have inferior minds if we allow a parent or morally upright person to tell us what to do over our own opinion. The devil is making individual opinion the rule, and as a consequence, destroying respect for parent, for proper authority, and for moral authority. He is not only destroying it, he has destroyed it.

The Devils Plan

This is the situation in which we now live, and God has given us the solution in the Qur'an. As stated in the article, ACCEPTING THE DIFFICULT, "Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God, and from prayer"

Why does the devil use such things as intoxicants, liquor, wine, cocaine, heroin, etcetera? Why does he make gambling attractive? God answers it in the above verse. He does this to create hatred and division among the people.

If you lose your sense of moral excellence, or moral direction and moral purpose, and you become one who just gets drunk or gambles, take great risk with your family's precious resources, it causes confusion, division and loss of respect in the family. After all, when a married man gambles, he gambles with the property of the family.

The devil produces these things in order to create hatred, envy, and division among the people. And this will happen once we trust immoral means for survival and progress, because we then lose the natural human respect for one another. Under normal human conditions or circumstances, we would have moral sensitivities. We would question our attitudes, our feelings and our judgments that we make against each other before carrying them out. But in an environment or situation in which the senses are drunk, where there are no morals except risk taking, there is a slim chance of us thinking of our position or our attitude toward each other.

If I do something that causes you an inconvenience, you will hate me. You won't ask, "Hey, what is the right and wrong in this situation?" You just register my interference, my opposition to you. Then right away, you dislike me. Not upon principle, but upon feeling that affects you. Whenever any of us start feeling angry toward each other or get a bad attitude, we should questions the influence of Satan.

God Has Not Changed

More than fifty percent of the African-American girls are having babies before they get married according to the latest statistics. Why are they doing this? God hasn't changed what He said in the Bible and in the Qur'an. If Christians believe their Bible, God hasn't changed. We know what God says in the Qur'an hasn't changed. So why are so many people doing these things? It is because the system has made this type of conduct popular. The system has said, "Little girl, don't worry about obeying the church the synagogue or the mosque. Don't worry about obeying your religion or obeying your parents. We've got plenty of prevention, plenty of pills to sell you. Here, help the economy. Stop obeying your religious law and buy our things, and just go on and have sex as you please".

I see and feel what this environment in America is doing to human lives. I see how it undermines the sacred office of parent, and takes away from the parent their own children, and pit family members against each other. Such an environment makes everybody a stranger in the same house. Today America has become the Big Satan.

Here in America, liquor and intoxicants are now easier to get perhaps than any other place on earth. This is where gambling has been made a support for the national economy. A little more than twenty years ago, I went into a store and saw on the cover of a magazine in bold letters the words, "God is Dead." When I read it, I said to myself, "The devil has more freedom in this country than the good people." America has become a country that gives more freedom to Satan and his host than it gives to those who want to be good and practice righteousness.

If this country favors Satan, the wicked, the criminals and other wrong-doing people, and gives them more liberty than it gives to people who are trying to live a morally upright life, then tell me, is this country established for the good, or is it established for Satan? This country makes it difficult for people who try to do good, who try to live a good life. But this country opens up for corrupt people opportunities to carry out what they want in establishing their evil way of life

[dalyunministry]

Word Ministration

Topic: The great tribulation

By. Calvin Nii Bannerman

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When Jesus said GREAT TRIBULATION that hasn't happened think about the covid 19, Jesus said unless those days be shortened, no flesh will be saved (Mathew 24:22)

TOPIC :THE GREAT TRIBULATION

Date 10th, July 2020

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, You are Almighty, All powerful, All Knowing, Omnipotent, Omnipresence, we give you the adoration and honor. You're worthy to receive Glory, Honor and Power , You created all things and for Your pleasure they're were created, Your word says where 2 or 3 are gathered in the name of Jesus You are with us, let my words and preaching not be enticing words of man's wisdom but by the Spirit, Holy Spirit bring us to all knowledge in Jesus name. Amen

Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Last century we had 2 world wars , in 1918 we had a plague that killed over 15 million people and now we have covid 19 that has killed over 2 million people and counting, so you have to look at the scoop of history , the bombing of Dresden, the holocaust, etc, there have been horrific things but Jesus said No that's nothing compared to the GREAT TRIBULATION.

Now what does GREAT TRIBULATION means?

It basically means real hardship, affliction . There are 4 different TRIBULATION in Mathew 24

1.TRIBULATION for Israel

2. TRIBULATION of the Church

3. Global or final TRIBULATION

4 Individual TRIBULATION

When Jesus said there won't be one stone Matthew 24:2, 15 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Jesus was talking about Israel,this will be the first TRIBULATION.

Matthew 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Jesus was talking about this generation, how do we know generation was 40yrs? The generation that came out of Egypt had faith, He said that generation will die in the wilderness and they wondered 40yrs.

David reigned for a generation, he reigned for 40yrs , Solomon reigned 40yrs, king Saul reigned 40yrs , Moses' life is divided in 3 generations, 40yrs in Egypt 40yrs in the wilderness and 40yrs leading people into the boarders of the Promised Land , 40 was a biblical number for establishing a generation .

Jesus made this prophecy in 30AD what will be 40yrs later something interesting happened in 70AD, the Romans destroyed the temple, in the first TRIBULATION when the Jews rebelled against the Romans, Titus the ruler at that time frustrated the Jews, the city was burned and the temple was destroyed you can read about in (History of the Jews) it was awful.

Luke 21:20-22 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Jesus was talking about the TRIBULATION that came on Israel and the Jews during that time , the second TRIBULATION that came to the Church.

Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, this prophecy was talking to all Nations.

Revelation 11 talks about a specific time of TRIBULATION, where it talks about the two witnesses, the Word of God.

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

What is forty and two months? The Jewish month has 30 days, forty two months is 1268 days,now go to the next verse.

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. Some theologians say the 2 witnesses are Moses and Elijah.

Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. The woman, the church, the child Jesus.

Revelation 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

There was 2 types of TRIBULATION, the natural Israel and the Spiritual Israel (the church )

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Now these are the TRIBULATION that is supposed to come.

Matthew 24:11-13 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

What is the GREAT TRIBULATION in the last days? It's the 7 last plagues, when you read Revelation 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

Now let's go to Daniel.

Daniel 12:1-2 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be

found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

There will be a time before Jesus comes the lost can't be saved, life will go on for everybody , God's mercy endureth forever but when Jesus said it will be like in Noahs days , when Noah and his family and all the animals were in the boat, Noah made a final appeal, an altar call and nobody came and the door was shut,it didn't start raining immediately, 7 days went by and their probation was closed , they went on with their normal business until it started raining.

When a country says they will not allow you to trade on international market, it's called economic sanctions , Republic of Iran is an example, that is the weapon they will use to manipulate the church, now online marketing is another tool they will use to control buying and selling as we move away from a cashless society,when you see the abomination of desolation flee, when the Christian Jews in Israel saw the Pagan Rome surrounding Jerusalem , they runned into the wilderness because that was the signal for the Christians and no one amongst them died.

There will be a time when a law will be made,Revelation 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. This is going to create trouble , later in the chapter it says those who don't worship the beast should be killed,first you can't buy or sell,this is not on an individual bases , the book of Revelation is dealing with a global problem.

In the Last days when you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place , there's going to be a New World Order that will tell us how to worship God and if you don't cooperate you can't buy or sell , some will say how is that going to happen? Some will sacrifice their security , if there continue to be problems and plagues, they will bring a universal vaccine that will cure the plague , the people will put pressure on the government to get the vaccine for their healing.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Let us pray, Father we thank you for your word, Holy Spirit convict us of all our sins and Father forgive us of our sins in Jesus name.

Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

The greatest gift is Jesus, turn to Him and have everlasting life

Peace, Shalom