#Great Gospel Crusade

[naijagospel]

[EVENT] CfaN & CAN in Partnership for a 5-Day Great Gospel Crusade with Evangelist Daniel Kolenda

Abuja, Nigeria – Christ for All Nations (CfaN), in partnership with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and independent churches in Abuja and Nasarawa, is thrilled to announce a powerful 5-day crusade featuring renowned Evangelist Daniel Kolenda.   CRUSADE DETAILS Date: November 6th – 10th, 2024 Venue: Peninsula Estate Site, Nyanya Gwandara Time: 4:00 PM Daily   This extraordinary event…

[300iqprower]

HRU Preview: Brave Eli

bit late but I came up with this one during the event which was technically after the rank up dropped in NA but also who cares cause this was SUPER fun to make (massive kudos to anyone who catches any or especially all of the references to famous RPGs and one very conspicuously not-RPG). It should be noted as well the sheer overkill of these effects is cause the full set doesn't touch her other skill.

Legend of the Crimson Hero EX -> EX+++

(Can only be use when own NP gauge is 80% or higher, own HP is 10,000 or higher, or you have 50+ Crit Stars.) Decrease own NP Gauge by 80%, OR decrease own HP by 90% of current HP remaining, OR reduce Crit Stars by 50. [Demerit] Apply one buff of choice from 5 buffs (Which 5 depends on the demerit selected): - [Magic Burst] Increase Critical Strength for all allies by 100% (1 time, 1 turn) and Gain Critical Stars.^ [20-80] - [Crusader’s Mantle]: Increase ATK for all allies (4 times, 3 turns^) and apply “Remove Defensive Buffs from targets when attacking” to all allies (1 time, 3 turns). - [Blood Ritual]: Increase own Buster Card effectiveness (5^ turns), apply Damage Cut to self (5 times, 5 turns) and Increase own Critical Star Drop Rate by 100% (5 turns). - [Great Gospel]: Recover HP for all allies.^ If HP was used to activate this skill, also apply Guts for all allies except self (1 time, 7 turns; Revives with 1HP; Stacks with other Guts). - [Royal Guard]: Apply Target Focus to self (3 times), Apply Debuff Immune to self (1 turn), increase own NP Gain when taking damage (3 turns), and apply Invincible to all allies (1 turn). - [ELI-Starstorm]: Consume all Critical Stars, Increase NP Overcharge Level for all allies by 1 stage (5 turns), and massively increase own NP Gauge. If >50 Crit Stars were consumed, increase NP Gauge for all other allies based on the number of Critical Stars above 50 consumed. [Increase cooldown by 1 to 9/8/7]

((References in tags, and thanks to @grailfinders for helping with the names!))

[talonabraxas]

The Holy Grail

The Holy Grail shines in the deep night of all the ages. During the Crusades, the Medieval knights searched fruitlessly for the Holy Grail in the Holy Land, but they never found it.

When the prophet Abraham returned from war against the kings of Sodom and Gomorra, it is said that he encountered Melchizedek, the Genie of the Earth. Certainly, this great Being dwelled in a fortress situated exactly in the place where, much later, Jerusalem, the city beloved by the Prophets was built.

Centuries of legend have it that Abraham celebrated the Gnostic Unction with the sharing of bread and wine in the presence of Melchizedek. This is known to both divine and humans alike.

It would be worthwhile to say that at that time Abraham surrendered tithes and his first fruits to Melchizedek, as is written in the book of the law.

Abraham received the Holy Grail from the hands of Melchizedek. Much later in time, this goblet ended up in the temple of Jerusalem.

There is no doubt that the Queen of Sheba served as a mediator at this event. She appeared before King Solomon with the Holy Grail, and only after subjecting him to rigorous tests did she deliver unto him so precious a jewel.

The great Kabir Jesus drank from that goblet in the holy ceremony of the Last Supper, just as is written in the Four Gospels.

Joseph of Arimathaea filled the chalice with blood which flowed from the wounds of the Adored One on Mount Calvary.

When the Roman police searched the abode of this Senator, they did not find this precious jewel.

Not only did the Roman Senator hide this precious jewel in the ground, but he also kept with it the spear of Longinus with which the Roman centurion had pierced the side of the Lord.

Joseph of Arimathaea was incarcerated in a dreadful prison for not wanting to hand over the Holy Grail.

When said Senator was let out of jail, he went to Rome, taking the Holy Grail with him.

Arriving in Rome, Joseph of Arimathaea encountered the persecution of Christians by Nero, and he left by the shores of the Mediterranean.

One night while sleeping, an Angel appeared to him and said, “This chalice holds great power because within it can be found the blood of the Redeemer of the World.” Joseph of Arimathaea, obeying the Angel’s orders, buried the chalice in a temple located in Montserrat, in Cataluña, Spain.

With time, this chalice has become invisible, together with the temple and part of the mountain.

The Holy Grail is the vessel of Hermes, the cup of Solomon, the precious urn of all the temples of mysteries.

The Holy Grail was never missing from the Altar-stone of the Alliance, in the form of a cup or goblet within which was placed the manna from the desert.

The Holy Grail emphatically allegorizes the female yoni. Within this holy cup is the nectar of immortality, the Soma of the mystics, the supreme drink of the Holy Gods.

The Red Christ drinks from the Holy Grail at the supreme hour of Christification, so it is written in the Gospel of the Lord.

Never is the Holy Grail missing from the altar of the temple. Obviously, a priest must drink the wine of light from the sacred cup.

It would be absurd to imagine a temple of mysteries within which the blessed cup of all ages is missing.

This brings to mind Guinevere, the Queen of Jinn Knights, who poured wine into the delicious cups of SUFRA and MANTI for Lancelot.

Immortal Gods nourish themselves with the drink contained within the sacred cup; those who hate the blessed cup blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

The Superman must nourish himself with the nectar of immortality, which is contained in the divine chalice of the temple.

Transmutation of the creative energy is fundamental when one wishes to drink from the sacred vessel.

The Red Christ, always revolutionary, always rebellious, always heroic, always triumphant, raises a toast to the Gods when drinking from the golden chalice.

Raise your cup aloft and take care not to spill even a drop of the precious wine.

Remember that our motto is Thelema (willpower).

From within the depths of the chalice (the symbolic figure of the female sexual organ) flames spring forth which blaze on the glowing face of the real human being.

Ineffable Gods of all the galaxies always drink of the nectar of immortality in the eternal chalice.

In time, the chill of the Moon brings about devolution. It is necessary to drink from the sacred wine of light in the Holy Vessel of Alchemy.

The purple of the sacred kings, the royal crown and flaming gold are only for the Red Christ.

The Lord of Lightning and Thunder grasps the Holy Grail in his right hand and drinks the wine of gold to nourish himself.

In fact, those who spill the vessel of Hermes during chemical copulation become sub-human creatures of the underworld.

Everything that has been written here can be found fully documented in my book entitled The Perfect Matrimony. --Samael Aun Weor

[alpaca-clouds]

How To Improve Historical Literacy

As I have already established: If my life had gone according to my plan, I would have studied history at university, not IT/economics. Because history is to me one of the most interesting areas of study. BY FAR.

But being a history nerd also brings me one thing: I... kinda notice how little most people know about history. And I am not talking about the kinda stuff I love even - you know, pre-colonial Americas and stuff. No, I am talking like European history.

I recently allowed myself the kinda joke and ask around with friends and with colleagues of work for them to just generally date me certain historical events, that are definitely taught in German schools. The events were: Christianization of Rome, the Fall of Rome, the Crusades, the witch hunts, the revolutions, the industrial revolution, and the fall of Weimar.

What can I say? In some cases people were off by 500 years.

And sure, I hear you say, but history is not about remembering dates.

I agree with that. History is about understanding how and why things happened. But if you do not even get the general series of events right and how much time roughly passed between those events... you do not understand how and why things happened. Because you have no way of knowing this.

I also quizzed three people a bit about the history of Islam as it interacted with European history and... Yeah. Most I got in response to that were blank stares and the question of: "How am I suppsed to know that?"

We talk a lot about media literacy. What we do not talk a lot about is historical literacy. And I think... that is a big issue.

I talked with a friend about this recently. A retired history teacher. (Mind you, he is not that old, he just could not do teaching anymore because of health issues.) And we talked about how the curriculum in history very much is still following the Great Man narrative - and also repeats a lot of historical propaganda unquestioned.

Sure, at least over here in Germany we do very much interact with the Nazi propaganda in a critical way. But at the same time we absolutely unquestioningly learn stuff as "true" that came from colonial propaganda - or from the Victorian era propaganda about the middle ages.

We generally do fairly little in history over here when it comes to anything happening before 1600. Sure, we roughly skim over it. If you pick Latin class you get a bit more of Rome and Greece. But without Latin class you will barely know anything about those times in history.

And the problem that comes from that is, that most folks never actually LEARN how to even read historical sources. Be it primary sources - or just historical research. Which then leads to people taking words as gospel from some idiots who want to turn the past into their personal fantasy (Shadiversity for example).

And really... I will decry curricula in so many different classes. But none as much as history. Because in history, well... the folks do not even learn the basics.

You absolutely cannot teach history without teaching about how history interacted. You cannot just do German history. Technically the people know that. It is why we learned about the French Revolution, and about the Industrial Revolution in the UK. But that is just not enough.

Kids need to learn how the world works - and how certain things came to be. And something that Germany barely talks about is colonialism. Or the crusades. And both things are so inherently important if you want to understand the state the world is in right now.

More than that, however... Kids really need to be taught how to find historical research and sources to inform themselves.

And I mean that bitterly.

Years ago I did an analysis of certain kids books that had historical themes (like those non-fiction books for kids) and... Oh boy. It was not good. There was so much bullshit in those, that came from research that was at times more than 80 years old and had long been disproven. But those fairly new books had not updated that kinda stuff. And how are kids supposed to recognize those issues? And how are they supposed to develop a bullshit detector, when they are taught bullshit as kids?

And really... Media literacy is bad, btu I think more than anything we should talk about historical literacy.

Might also help with the conspiracy theorists.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Illuminated Manuscripts

“Christ Kneeling in Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemene” (c. 1475 France, Loire Valley)

Illuminated manuscripts embody the extraordinary union of beauty and knowledge.

Though the art of making them disappeared with the advent of the printing press, the most spectacular manuscripts survived the ages.

Here are 8 masterworks of medieval illumination: 🧵

1. The Morgan Crusader Bible, 13th century

Commissioned by French King Louis IX, the Morgan Crusader Bible depicts events from the Hebrew Bible set in the scenery and attire of 13th-century France — it puts a medieval twist on Old Testament stories.

Consisting of 46 folios, the manuscript displays illustrations accompanied by text written in either Latin, Persian, Arabic, or Hebrew.

The vivid colors and attention to detail make it one of the most popular illuminated manuscripts.

2. The Black Hours, 15th century

The Black Hours is a book of hours (a type of prayer book) created in Bruges, Belgium.

The style is in imitation of Wilhelm Vrelant, the most popular illuminator of the period and constructed of vellum (calfskin) that’s been dyed pitch black.

Gold and blue paint overlay the dark background to create an almost otherworldly look.

Written in silver and gold ink, the text lists the prayers to be said while depictions of Bible stories aid the reader in meditation.

3. Book of Kells, 9th century

Among the most iconic medieval manuscripts is the Book of Kells.

Created in a Columban monastery, the text is the pinnacle of early medieval calligraphy and illumination.

The graphics are a blend of insular art (the post-Roman era style of art popular in Irish monasteries) and traditional Christian iconography.

Plants, animals, Celtic knots, and biblical figures decorate the 680 page volume to tell the story of Jesus’ life.

4. Codex Argenteus, 6th century

Latin for “Silver Book,” the Codex Argenteus contains the four gospels written in Gothic, making it one of the world’s foremost sources for the now-extinct language.

The book was likely written as a gift for Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great.

The work is particularly striking due to its purple-stained vellum pages, metallic ink, and silver binding. Looks almost Tolkienesque…

5. Acre Bible, 13th Century

Another work commissioned by Louis IX, the Acre Bible was compiled shortly after the king’s release from captivity during the disastrous 7th crusade.

Upon returning to France, he deposited the masterwork in his newly built Sainte-Chapelle library.

It contains 19 books of the Old Testament, and its illustrations are considered masterpieces of crusader art.

6. The Aberdeen Bestiary, 12-13th century

A bestiary is essentially an encyclopedia of animals and mythical beasts.

They gained popularity throughout the Middle Ages as readers could learn about exotic animals or mythical creatures.

This one was owned by Henry VIII and features a retelling of the Genesis creation story with fantastical images of creatures both real and imagined.

7. The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, 15th century

The best surviving example of the International Gothic style of illumination, it’s one of the most lavishly designed late-medieval manuscripts and contains well over 100 illustrations.

Despite beautiful scenes covering most of its pages, the work didn’t shy away from darker imagery.

8. The Berthold Sacramentary, 13th century

Commissioned by the abbot of Weingarten Abbey, this manuscript is a form of missal called a sacramentary used by priests for liturgical services.

A sacramentary gives the priest's readings and prayers for the Mass. This one is a paragon of Romanesque art.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Jacob Toman | The gospel going forward has nothing to do with OUR LEGACY. Becoming focused on our legacy will distract us from the gospel mission. Worrying about how people will remember us is a surefire way to succumb to all sorts of temptations, distractions, and pitfalls. The gospel going forward means we are primarily concerned with how future generations will respond to Christ. In this way our legacy as Christians participating in the gospel going forward into the future isn’t about us. It’s about…

[pasinmusiclimitedcom]

CfaN Joins forces with CAN to host GREAT GOSPEL CRUSADE 2024

                         GREAT GOSPEL CRUSADE 2024   CfaN Joins forces with CAN to host GREAT GOSPEL CRUSADE 2024. CHRIST FOR ALL NATIONS (CfaN) PARTNERS WITH CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN) AND INDEPENDENT CHURCHES TO HOST GREAT GOSPEL CRUSADE, A 5-DAY CRUSADE WITH DANIEL KOLENDA IN ABUJA   Abuja, Nigeria – Christ for All Nations (CfaN), in partnership with the Christian Association of…

[ramrodd]

Jonathan Z Smith: The Core Idea I Learned from the Greatest Historian ..

COMMENTARY:

This is the basis of the Campus Crusade for Christ hunker down and wait for the Rabture Salvation Gospel of Project 2025 and Christian Nationalism, The fact it found a home in the University of Chicago is predictable: the University of Chicago has the same academic culture of the Univeristy of Berlin in 1938, when Heideggar was trying to justify Nazi Racial Theory by retranslatiog Gericltus to fit the need. For some reason, Christian Nationism seem to believe the Latin Mass will ensure political dominatin globally,, That's what the Jesus Seminar has morphed into. The whole Pro-Life element of Christian Nationalism is just so men can grab women by the pussy like Sam Alito. I am actually all in favor of teaching the Latin Mass in hisgh school as an elective , Cornelius composed the Gospel of Mark in Latin, which is why the Greek so crude. The Latin origins of the Gospel of Mark were either lost to the expediency of a Greek version of the text OR it was purposefully suppressed to disguise itts origins in the Italian Regiment and Theophilus. Tertullian's dad was a centurion and a member of the secret Roman Communion of the Talking Cross, Everywhere a Mithra cult was establish around a legion military headquarters., there were soldiers of Christ sprading Christianity as part of the Liberation Gospel of the Apostle's Creed, Lord's Prayer and bread and wine. The Legions spread Christianity all over the Mediterranean while Paul was stuck in Asia Minor. I went to Vietnam on the basis of the Liberation Gospel, Salvation is a given, Existentially, every day along The Way of the Great Commission is another day in Paradise. Jimmy Tabor sought out the Salvation Gospel of Campus Crusade for Christ because  he was scared shitless of going to Vietnam, I went to Vietnam to spread the Liberation Gospel of the US Constituiton and the global salvation of the American Christian Just War Doctrine of George Washington, George Marshall and Sargeant Shriver's Peace Corps. Anyway, the reason I am in favor of the Latin Mass is because it emrges directly from the Latin origins of Pilate's euangelion  that went to Tiberius with the Tidings of Joy of the Talking Cross. In the Vatican, the true stewards of the New Wine Skin of the New Wine of Jesus aren't the Pope and his Cardinals and Priests, but the Swiss Guard that is the legacy of the Italian Regiment of the Preatorian Guard of the Roman Republic .

[msclaritea]

"This image from the Olympics is a clear example of Satan’s bait, designed to provoke Christians into responding in the flesh with wrath, vengeance, and resentment.

As Christians, we must recognize this for what it is: a trap set by Satan to draw us away from the teachings of Christ.

When we let anger and bitterness take hold, we fall into the enemy’s hands.

It took me so long to see the same spirit stirring within my heart after years of focusing on the evil of everyone else, and I now see it stirring within the hearts of many Christians today.

It’s like Jesus warned about in Matthew 24:12-13, that “because of the increase of wickedness the hearts of most will grow cold, but the one who endures until the end will be saved.”

I believe that all this anger, wrath, and desire for vengeance stirring right now is ultimately leading to something significant—the great deception that has been brewing for quite some time.

This will lead many into a self-righteous, overzealous, and misguided war against Babylon, who reigns over the kings of the Earth, the same enemy the beast destroys. (Revelation 17:16)

When people develop a mob mentality and turn to vengeance, it always results in the death of the innocent.

Look at the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Dark Ages.

Prideful, self-righteous, misguided zeal will be responsible for the death of the true saints—those who are truly faithful in Christ, guard their hearts, and withstand the enemy’s tactics, because they’ll be seen as traitors and lumped in with the overt darkness.

As John 16:2 warns, “The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”

There’s a reason why God warned us against taking vengeance for ourselves, reminding us that vengeance is His alone (Romans 12:19).

We are called to endure patiently, demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit as Christ commanded, by loving and serving our neighbors.

Our actions should draw others to the gospel, making them wonder what makes us so different.

Unfortunately, this is not the reality for many Christians today.

The culture war unfolding is a flesh-led territorial war over this fallen world, rather than the true spiritual war the Apostle Paul described—a fight against the flesh, humbling ourselves before the Lord, and recognizing our own deep spiritual sin and fallen nature.

There’s nothing wrong with calling out the evil in the unbelieving world, but it must be coupled with a genuine, loving call for repentance and turning from their ways.

We must remember that judgment is not ours to deliver; it is for God to execute in His timing.

When Christ returns, He will deliver judgment upon the nations.

Those who remain faithful to Him, following His path, will be the saints who are given dominion and authority over the nations that survive the tribulation.

However, many people desire this power now.

This impatience, stubbornness, and pride drive the deception of the Antichrist and the strong delusion, leading many professing Christians toward destruction and the prophesied falling away."

"I've got a lot to say about this...

It's amazing that the people who turned the alphabet mafia and "science" into their own religion can't come up with their own religious ceremonies

Instead, they transplant it onto the religious iconography that they despise most. It's literal conquest via artistic desecration.

As you guys know, I'm not very religious, but even I can see this for what it is. They aren't just interested in replacing the domestic population. They also seek to destroy the underpinnings of civilization. The constitution, marriage, parenthood, religion...

All must be destroyed

It may seem benign to some. Hell, I probably would've laughed it off a few years ago. Not anymore. This is just one of the most blatant and intentional insults I've ever seen. Undeniable, really.

An event intended to appeal to and unify the world in meritocratic endeavor, co-opted instead to launch artistic nukes at a single religion.

This is evil. I can't describe it otherwise."

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Friday, June 7, 2024

may 25_june 7

THIRD FINDING OF THE PRECIOUS HEAD OF St JOHN the BAPTIST (850)

Holy Scripture tells us that after St. John the Baptist was beheaded, the impious Herodias forbade the prophet’s head to be buried together with his body. Instead, she desecrated the honorable head and buried it near her palace. The saint’s disciples had secretly taken their teacher’s body and buried it. The wife of King Herod’s steward knew where Herodias had buried St. John’s head, and she decided to rebury it on the Mount of Olives, on one of Herod’s estates. When word reached the royal palace about Jesus’ preaching and miracles, Herod went with his wife Herodias to see if John the Baptist’s head was still in the place they had left it. When they did not find it there, they began to think that Jesus Christ was John the Baptist resurrected. The Gospels witness to this error of theirs (cf. Mt. 14:2)....

...Emesa and Constantinople. The Second and Third Finding of the Precious Head.

After many years, the head of St. John the Baptist was uncovered a second time. We know about this from a description by Archimandrite Marcellus of the monastery in Emesa, as well as from the life of St. Matrona (†492, commemorated November 9/22), written by St. Simeon Metraphrastes. According to the first description, the head was discovered on February 18, 452. A week later, Bishop Uranius of Emesa established its veneration, and on February 26 of the same year, it was translated to the newly-built church dedicated to St. John. These events are celebrated on February 24/March 8, along with the commemoration of the First Finding of the Precious Head.

After some time, the head of St. John the Forerunner was translated to Constantinople, where it was located up to the time of the iconoclasts. Pious Christians who left Constantinople secretly took the head of St. John the Baptist with them, and then hid it in Comana (near Sukhumi, Abkhazia), the city where St. John Chrysostom died in exile (407). After the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787), which reestablished the veneration of icons, the head of St. John the Baptist was returned to the Byzantine capital in around the year 850. The Church commemorates this event on May 25/June 7 as the Third Finding of the Precious Head of St. John the Baptist.

The Fourth Crusade and travel to the West

Ordinarily, the Orthodox history of the finding of the head of St. John the Baptist ends with the Third Finding. This is due to the fact that its later history is bound up with the Catholic West. If we look at the Lives of the Saints written in the Menaon of St. Dimitry of Rostov, we find a citation in small print, often overlooked by readers, at the end of story of the Finding of the Forerunner’s Head. However, after unexpectedly discovering the head of St. John the Baptist in France and then returning home to Russia, this citation became a real revelation for us. It is this next “finding” of the head of St. John the Baptist that we would like to write about below.

Thus, we read in this citation that after 850, part of the head of St. John the Baptist came to be located in the Podromos Monastery in Petra, and the other part in the Forerunner Monastery of the Studion. The upper part of the head was seen there by the pilgrim Antony in 1200. Nevertheless, in 1204 it was taken by crusaders to Amiens in northern France. Besides that, the citation shows three other locations of pieces of the head: the Athonite monastery Dionysiou, the Ugro-Wallachian monastery of Kalua, and the Church of Pope Sylvester in Rome, where a piece was taken from Amiens.

The history of the Baptist’s head’s appearance in France differs little from the history of many other great Christian relics.

On April 13, 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, an army of knights from Western Europe seized the capital of the Roman Empire—Constantinople. The city was looted and decimated.

As Western tradition has it, Canon Wallon de Sarton from Picquigny found a case in one of the ruined palaces that contained a silver plate. On it, under a glass covering, were the hidden remains of a human face, missing only the lower jaw. Over the left brow could be seen a small perforation, most likely made by a knife strike.

On the plate the canon discovered an inscription in Greek confirming that it contained the relics of St. John the Forerunner. Furthermore, the perforation over the brow corresponded with the event recorded by St. Jerome. According to his testimony, Heriodias in a fit of rage struck a blow with a knife to the saint’s severed head.

Wallon de Sarton decided to take the head of the Holy Forerunner to Picardy, in northern France.

On December 17, 1206, on the third Sunday of the Nativity fast, the Catholic bishop of the town of Amiens, Richard de Gerberoy, solemnly met the relics of St. John the Baptist at the town gates. Probably the bishop was sure of the relic’s authenticity—something easier to ascertain in those days, as they say, “by fresh tracks”. The veneration of the head of St. John the Baptist in Amiens and all of Picardy begins from that time.

In 1220, the bishop of Amiens placed the cornerstone in the foundation of a new cathedral, which after many reconstructions would later become the most magnificent Gothic edifice in Europe. The facial section of the head of the St. John the Baptist, the city’s major holy shrine, was transferred to this new cathedral.

Eventually, Amiens became a place of pilgrimage not only for simple Christians, but also for French kings, princes and princesses. The first King to come and venerate the head in 1264 was Louis IX, called “the Holy”. After him came his son, Phillip III the Brave, then Charles VI, and Charles VII, who donated large sums for the relic’s adornment.

In 1604, Pope Clement VIII of Rome, wishing to enrich the Church of the Forerunner in Rome (Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano), requested a piece of St. John’s relics from the canon of Amiens.

Saving of the head from the outrages of the French revolution

After the revolution in 1789, inventory was made of all Church property and relics were confiscated.

The reliquary containing the head of the Holy Forerunner remained in the cathedral until November, 1793, when it was demanded by representatives of the Convention. They stripped from it everything of material value, and ordered that the relics be taken to the cemetery. However, the revolutionary command was not fulfilled. After they left the city, the city’s mayor, Louis-Alexandre Lescouve, secretly and under fear of death returned to the reliquary and took the relics to his own home. Thus was the sacred shrine preserved. Several years later, the former mayor gave the relic to Abbot Lejeune. Once the revolutionary persecutions had ended, the head of St. John the Baptist was returned to the cathedral in Amiens in 1816, where it remains to this day...Continue reading St Elizabeth Convent

A text by Priest Maxim Massalitin Translated by OrthoChristian.com

2 CORINTHIANS 4:6-15

6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you. 13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

MATTHEW 11:2-15

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. 7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.' 11 Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

[almaqead]

Introduction to Surah 11, Surah Hud, "The Notice."

The Quran, called Al Quran al Kareem in Arabic is a monograph of religious laws that was assembled by the Arabic community after the Angel Gabriel visited the Prophet Muhammad during his Ramadan. We know this really happened and the Quran is real. It is not the only Quran, there are others, most notaby, the Holy Talmud, which is Hebrew for "the very best dew of the Torah."

Both texts discuss how references in the Torah and the Gospels pertain to the preparation of humanity to become a peaceful abiding and glad community, all around the world for all time. They are not at all at odds with each other or in competition with each other. They represent the expectations of great spiritists for mankind's final redemption and the end in particular of emigration, the need for people to run from home in fear of a tyrant or oppression.

The process requires homeostatis between the beliefs and values of the government and those who are governed. At this time however, we are violating every last one because of an inbred corruption that is stewing away successfully in the governments of the world's major super powers, especially in the United States of America, the most powerful projector of terror into the world that has ever existed.

The Russians do it frequently, the Chinese and Iranians want to do it more often, but in America it is on tap all of the time and it is executed right on schedule with deadly force. This is because we refuse to accept the dire threat of the Republican/Evangelical Establishment and its thirst for blood. Donald Trump was not legally elected in 2016. Neither was George W. Bush.

These men did not ache in their souls over litter, the dirty oceans, species extinction, war, poverty, education, employment or the happiness of their people. They instead attacked Jews, Muslims, gay people, black people and women in a crusade of illegal and immoral impertives that have to this date not been legally checked by the existing White House and their evil is continuing to breed and grow very strong again.

I have seen them in person violating the lives of many little children and families, I was there when they spoke to each other about invading Israel and taking down the US Government and now everyone knows how they are, and they, remember are not God Almighty, who is the Spirit Eternal, they are all filth, they are temporary and they can legally be dealt with and we must find the stomach to do it.

The Russians need to leave Ukraine at once and respond to the pressures on their nation to become a free, prosperous, and cosmopolitan people. The same is true in far too many places all around the world. This is all within our capabilities.

Now let us explore what Surah Hud, the Notice has to tell us about this, how to feel more confident about what has to be done.

Surah 11 was written in According to the topics discussed in hud surah, scholars concluded that it must be revealed between the periods 615 to 619 AD in Mecca, before the transition out of the "hard times" of Islam into the "enlightened times" in Medina.

As always the Benediction called a Fatima establishes God's competence and trusworthiness to discuss the topics contained in the Surah.

11: 1-4:

Alif-Lãm-Ra. ˹This is˺ a Book whose verses are well perfected and then fully explained. ˹It is˺ from the One ˹Who is˺ All-Wise, All-Aware.

˹Tell them, O  Prophet,˺ “Worship none but Allah. Surely I am a warner and deliverer of good news to you from Him.

And seek your Lord’s forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. He will grant you a good provision for an appointed term and graciously reward the doers of good. But if you turn away, then I truly fear for you the torment of a formidable Day.

To Allah is your return. And He is Most Capable of everything.”

Commentary:

To reward goodness, forsake tormentors and all torment and give the world good news about itself and its future. These are the reasons we read the Quran and imbibe is commentaries, so life improves.

No one deserves to be treated the way Donald Trump and those filthy fucking Mormons treat people. The Jews don't deserve it, Muslims have done nothing to deserve their wrethed state, the Russians do not deserve to be a part of a war that is turning their nation and Ukraine into little more than charred bare scaffolds.

A bulletless, bloodless revolution is at hand. Every citizen of the human race must assert its allegiance to our shared sacred beliefs and those in positions of authority must act. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and that asshole in Iran have to be fed to the dogs, their people's revenges concluded and then the entire planet needs to feast on some good news. As with all of the chapters in the Book, the banners are a vital part of the experience of the text. For Hud, it means all of us need to be given Notice that things are going to turn out all right.

It is not a fast track to widespread popularity to ask people to rid their governments of corruption and to grow out of it, but it is the right thing to do. To actually see it in execution is the essence of belief in God and the reason we are all working so hard for the Masjid.

[jim-fetter-illustrations]

Fairy Tale Indoctrination.......

Did George Washington really stand up in his boat crossing the Delaware River?

You probably got that idea from the famous painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware done in 1851 by the artist Emanuel Leutze.

Well Emanuel Leutze was a great historical artist at that time, and that's why the government commissioned him to paint a portrait of George Washington looking like a vigorous and patriotic hero to viewers of the painting.

Truth is,...George Washington was hiding below a tarpaulin in the boat while crossing the Delaware because the enemy was shooting radically from all directions, and Washington would have been an easy target.

The American Government didn't want a painting like that, they wanted Americans to see the first American president as a god like deity, to inspire the masses.

There are also several things wrong with that painting: first of all the flag you see was not in use until seven months later, second,... the boat shown is the wrong size and shape used for the military, so if Washington stood up like that in a boat such as the one depicted, he probably would have capsized the boat and frozen to death in the cold water. But Washington standing proudly upright produces a more powerful image to viewers of the painting,..... makes people proud to be American, which was needed in America's young stage in history to get people motivated towards "America The Great" sentimentality.

This is really nothing new, because religion paved the way for false imagery for the masses to believe the fairy tale,.....religion commissioned famous artist to paint and sculpt false scenes for them during the Crusades and Renaissance periods to make people believe things simply not true.

Like the painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci—Jesus and his followers seated around a large table, bread, wine and fellowship.... It's also entirely inaccurate.

Da Vinci was told what to paint by the church, he was commissioned by the church and told how to paint it for the church,.... those 12 disciples were never together in a meal like that at all, but the image of it persuaded millions to believe that's just how it happened.

And none of the Gospels ever mentioned whether Jesus was nailed or tied to the cross. But he was painted to be Nailed for effect!

A picture paints a thousand words to make people believe something not true.

Because empirical proof is hard to prove when there isn't any!

Food for cognitive thought!

[carolap53]

Filled with the Holy Spirit

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

02/27/2024

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit"(Acts 9:1). Billy Graham, the great evangelist, shared a personal story about the role of the Holy Spirit in his life-long ministry and how he came to see the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

"In my own life there have been times when I have also had the sense of being filled with the Spirit, knowing that some special strength was added for some task I was being called to perform. We sailed for England in 1954 for a crusade that was to last for three months. While on the ship, I experienced a definite sense of oppression. Satan seemed to have assembled a formidable array of his artillery against me. Not only was I oppressed, I was overtaken by a sense of depression, accomplished by a frightening feeling of inadequacy for the task that lay ahead. Almost night and day I prayed. I knew in a new way what Paul was telling us when he spoke about "praying without ceasing." Then one day in a prayer meeting with my wife and colleagues, a break came. As I wept before the Lord, I was filled with deep assurance that power belonged to God and He was faithful. I had been baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ when I was saved, but I believe God gave me a special anointing on the way to England. From that moment on I was confident that God the Holy Sprit was in control for the tasks that lay ahead. That proved true."[1]

As a believer, God has provided the Holy Spirit for you and I so that we can experience the power of the gospel that allows us to live the Christian life. Today, if you have not done so, invite the Holy Spirit to fill your life to overflowing so that you can be a witness in your workplace, city and nation.

[shirleysatterfield]

The Blues Bothers Were On a Mission for God. 🎺🎶🙏

There were two ex-convict brothers

On a mission for God

To save the orphanage

come lowdown floods

or a high level political fraud.

They were prompted by a very dangerous nun

Who shot them in the heart

With her very dangerous charity gun.

(So now we’ve heard of everything that

goes on under God’s good sun.)

How they organized a jazzy sing-along

Which energized Chicago’s working stiff,

—The Cho-Cho Train—wo wo🚂—

The commuting jazzy singing throng.🕺🏼👯‍♀️

So they sang and they danced

At the El-train station: 🚞

But the mayor didn’t share

their unbridled jubilation,

And neither did Mayor Daily’s legendary

Law enforcement force;

Oh them Democratic riot guys of course.

The new Neo-Nazis’ also didn’t like it

so the new“neo-furor” was having quite a fit—

Meanwhile…..

a random jilted girlfriend

had her very vengeful blow torch

very hotly lit 🔥,

And they all gave chase. 🏃🏽‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃

(Must have been something very wrong with the Blues Bother’s singing

to spark the fires of this death-defying crazy relay race.)

The funniest part though was

when the new Neo-Nazi crusader chasers

drove off the draw bridge;

took a slow motion flight ✈️

and then a dive into the blackness of the Chicago River night…..

Looking 👀

very shocked by the surprise karma

of this massively most very unfortunate sudden fright.

But sadly though this jazzy Bother duo were delayed by the angry Chicago cops 👮🏻‍♀️

with their hot pursuit of of this

most unworthy daring pair

Which gave the mayor a hardened

heart attack❤️‍🩹 and mien furor a

great big massive scare.

So sadly though 😢

they didn’t make to the jazz club in order to perform

But the audience was treated to

the greatest singer ever born.

He kept the audience happy

with a master singer’s inner charm.

Cab Calloway was where the genius and his creative alter-ego met.

But the Brothers Blues were put in jail again

For losing in a bossy nun’s risky bet

That they would succeed to meet

a charity’s worthwhile need.

So,

“Hiddie Hiddie Ho”

y’all who have also got the call.

Jesus told His followers to go…

Two ex-convicted losers in this fiction heard the call to great commission

And said yes to the mission

To feed the children and to teach the gospel to poor.

So right here we see a storyteller’s

moral

Looking thru the Holy Ghost’s mysterious spiritual portal

“That God uses the foolish thing’s of

The world to confound the wise”

And to bring those foolish over-

educated wise guys

down to their original size.

(when they were babies) waaa 😩 (lol).

So go forth now and happily sing

The “Hiddie Hiddie Hiddie Ho.”

🎤👩🏽‍🦲👩🏻👱🏻‍♂️🕺🏼

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Moody the Evangelist

In 1856. Dwight Lyman (D. L.) Moody moved from Boston to Chicago for a better job after he had become a Christian in his uncle's shoe store. Within three years Moody felt called to move full-time into ministry, working with the YMCA and helping with evangelistic and social ministries in Chicago. Burdened for the poor youth, Moody established a mission Sunday school in the slums of Chicago. In six years it grew into a church, with Moody as the pastor and is now the famous Moody Church.

But things changed 1871. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow (allegedly) knocked over a lamp in her barn setting off the Great Chicago Fire that destroyed a third of Chicago including Moody’s home, his church and the YMCA. This was the beginning of a new direction for Moody.  While in New York raising money to rebuild his church and the YMCA, “a presence and power” came over him. He felt called by God to redirect his ministry solely to evangelism.

Moody asked vocalist Ira Sankey to join him on an invitation to go to England. They were part of a great revival that was sweeping across the United Kingdom. Moody and Sankey spent two years holding campaigns throughout England, Scotland and Ireland.

Dwight had admired the famous preacher Charles H. Spurgeon and was eager to visit the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. They became good friends. Spurgeon poked fun at Moody’s American accent by saying Moody is “the only man who could say ‘Mesopotamia’ in two syllables.” Spurgeon later invited Moody to preach at the Tabernacle in celebration of Spurgeon’s fiftieth birthday.  Like Whitefield and Wesley, they were great friends even though they had theological and methodological differences. Moody said after hearing Spurgeon speak, he came back to America “a better man.” Spurgeon said of Moody, “He is a king of men; commanding and finding everybody eager to obey; and all the while utterly lost in his work, and as devoid of self-importance as a new-born babe.”  When Spurgeon passed away, Spurgeon’s wife sent to Dwight her husband’s Bible and a complete set of his sermons.

After the successful evangelistic campaigns in the United Kingdom, Moody and Sankey were internationally famous. Many calls came in for Crusades. They toured cities in the American Midwest and Atlantic coasts when they came back to the US, regularly speaking to crowds of 10,000-20,000. In another trip to England, seven Cambridge University students, led by popular cricket star CT Studd, pledged to go to China with Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission. These men influenced university students in England and the United States to consider world missions.

Moody’s compassion toward the poor, particularly kids, never waned. He opened the Northfield Seminary for Girls and the Mount Herman School for Boys both for educating poor and minorities. He also founded the Chicago Evangelization Society (now called the Moody Bible Institute). He started the initial meetings that later became the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, which led to over 20,000 missionaries sent throughout the world over the next few decades.

“There is nothing novel in the doctrine Mr. Moody proclaims,” said one English Presbyterian minister. “It is the old Gospel — old, and yet always fresh and young, as the living fountain or the morning sun — in which the substitution of Christ is placed in the center and presented with admirable distinctness and decision. It is spoken with most impressive directness, not as by a man half convinced and who seems always to feel that a skeptic is looking over his shoulder, but with a certainty of the truth of what he says, as if, like our own Andrew Fuller, ‘he could venture his eternity on it’; as if he felt that ‘if he did not speak the very stones would cry out.’”

[johnjankovic]

SHEPHERDS AND WOLVES

I am here. Anonymous

Christianity as the progenitor of Western society has been the proverbial mortar of a great many institutions shaping man’s upward march. Between constitutional governance inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas, the Renaissance’s gallery of art the Church commissioned or capitalism’s Protestant seedbed this influence remains ecumenical. Across a spectrum from politics to science our ethics moulded civilization despite how modern philistines erase them. Reforms allowing criminals to rape and beat innocents with impunity inveigh against the moral compass of Christian jurisprudence upon which English Common Law was founded. Wild hoaxes of Catholic places of instruction murdering aboriginal children saw arsonists set a firestorm upon churches. The Marxist usurpation of government whose policies denounce Christianity impoverish people both materially and spiritually. A long decline over the preceding thirty-five years now crescendoes into a chessboard eerily set in the final few seconds before a great war between Manichean forces. The very strangeness of these times marks the hour. The medical profession gaslights how men purportedly menstruate and breastfeed. Toddlers elect their genders. Pedophilia is mainstreamed. Beliefs once held inviolable are violently twisted under the thrall of Babylon.

A nefarious funhouse exploits man to precipitate the perversion of a world on the eve of its damnation. Yet akin to the Third Law of Motion that for every action there prevails an opposite reaction if Lucifer is an interloper here anew then so too is something far more purposed. That something issues from an anomaly that ripped the fabric of space and time two thousand years ago. It is something condemned to wander the cosmos for eternity for it can neither forgive nor forget. The paroxysm of chaos afoot telegraphs the imminent conflict as the tit-for-tat grows tiresome in the search for a conclusion. The reason for this crossroad hails from a galactic stride humanity is about to embark upon into the final frontier. What ideas man exports to Mars and beyond will determine the fate of his species for millennia and it is incumbent that he be reminded of the catechism that led him here. Much like how Christopher Columbus discovered the New World upon his flagship christened Santa Maria this next expedition will be of a missionary sort. What appears lost on laypeople is how Columbus fancied himself a crusader to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims through precious metals sourced in newfound lands. The voyage did not manifest orthogonally to Christianity but quite the opposite. Faith was the cynosure.

Neither vainglory nor hubris coloured Columbus’ feats but rather it was the Catholic convictions he harboured that did. This self-effacement for the sake of a greater cause can be extrapolated onto the entire history of Western civilization. Sacrifice is the marrow and sinews of modernity’s sustained growth. Of course society belies this claim by infantilizing adults into a perpetual state of denial. You see these very people everyday clutching to their mortality through their promiscuous habits or ‘reliving their youth’ in debauchery. These degenerates are wayward children in a sandbox who stink of milk. Pay little heed to them as no more than a cautionary tale. The sons and daughters of our creed do not cower at hardships when their contemplation of the Crucifixion stoutens their resolve to glorify Jesus in their proper comportment. Flesh and bones decay but Christianity’s love suffers no such affliction. Perhaps you have been privy to this phenomenon yourself in the midst of a Sunday Service when a worshipper sobs inconsolably whilst the Holy Spirit imbues them with peace likened to an exorcism. There is power in the blood precisely how the eponymous hymn incants. Indeed the Gospels have been a source of beauty that has incubated a kaleidoscope of wonders from the corpus of Shakespeare to Copernicus’ heliocentric model.

To say things men dare not say or to do things men dare not do describes the invincibility boasted by a believer. Republican President Lincoln bellowed in Congress about the scourge of slavery by citing the Gospel of Matthew that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Such moral turpitude was further upbraided by Frederick Douglass who aroused the conscience of a nation in defence of a Christianity not perverted by predilection towards race. Clara Barton clad in the armour of her faith tended to the injured upon the bedlam of battlefields in the Civil War before founding the American Red Cross. Baptist Minister Martin Luther King purged prejudice in agitating against the tyranny of segregation. Britain’s William Wilberforce in his fervency for Christ became the fountainhead for the Slave Trade Act of 1807 that brought an end to institutionalized slavery. The young maiden Joan of Arc in a parable of David and Goliath was guided by providence to be a lodestar when bloodshed engulfed French sovereignty. Florence Nightingale in her Christian altruism saved scores of soldiers by her sanitary reforms gleaned from statistics. The Augustinian friar Gregor Mendel hailed as the patriarch of modern genetics authored scientific canons he observed in his monastery’s garden. Salvation and discovery are fruits of Christendom.

This pantheon of virtue in its rising watermark for humanity’s lot to forge an ideal society continues with George Washington Carver who reconciled his faith with science. The fruits of this labour with a reverence for Creation heralded a revolution in sustainable agriculture based upon the scientist’s tenets on crop rotation. Then there sits Harriet Tubman identified alongside Moses as birds of a feather in her emancipation of slaves via the Underground Railroad. For this firebrand her physical missions were pilgrimages she attributed to supernatural visions that guided her deep into the bowels of the antebellum South. Tubman fought the good fight for our family. This same gauntlet Archbishop Desmond Tutu confronted through his activism against the inequities within the dark recesses of South Africa’s apartheid. Another vignette would be the philanthropy towards social welfare by the Methodist William Booth who masterminded the Salvation Army. Soap and soup saved many souls in keeping vigil over the marginalized. Far from performative the organization abided by a strict military ethos for its war against sin whose legacy continues to this day. In the firmament of literature Christian allegories between such themes as sacrifice and redemption pervade J.R.R. Tolkien’s anthology of repute.

Brick by brick has the modern world been architected upon ecclesiastical works of Christian men and women. Yet Marxists who are pigmies amongst creatures deride this fact by revising history with their nihilism. These craven sociopaths are quite clever in their biddings for the devil by browbeating dissidents into conformity analogous to how Joseph Stalin secularized Russia. Perhaps the most apposite parallelism harkens back to the Spanish Civil War when a cohort of leftists alienated Catholics by raping their nuns and turning their churches to ash. Again Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion echoes in the comeuppance from General Franco who brutalized these godless zealots. History now repeats itself as the sheepish masses are led astray anew. The machinations remain conspicuously the same. Marxists inundate Christendom with military-aged men not persecuted refugees to rouse chaos by exploiting our goodwill and bastardizing the written word. Sin is proselytized to children as captains of the LGBTQ+ cartel groom them. A whole canyon of disparity exists between silently partaking in vice and its celebration. But sheeple kowtow to these orthodoxies by parading their pronouns despite how they enable the mammaries of minors being lopped off or the erosion of women’s autonomy under the jackboot of this social contagion.

A third cause célèbre is the climate change alarmism which is a pretext for humanity’s genocide. You are the carbon the champagne Marxists wish to expunge by doing away with staples like meat for synthetic alternatives laced in chemicals or shuttering farms wholesale. The mendacity reveals itself in how goalposts are so protean as they are moved further afield. The falsehoods of pseudo-scientists continue to be debunked as polar bear populations flourish, Earth’s verdant canopy expands, or corral reefs are rehabilitated. Vandals need to start forest fires just to shore up the narrative although the many fissures betray the ruse. Data is doctored by neglecting to edify the public on how surface temperatures are sampled close to urban heat islands like cities or airports in biasing anthropogenic causes. These same charlatans fail to adjust their models for the Minoan, Roman or Medieval warming periods whose thermal variations conduced to prolific yields from farmlands and vineyards. In fact the sole reason for the diaspora of Vikings inhabiting Greenland and Newfoundland adverts to these kinder climes. Be weary of such frauds indentured to another master. Jesus said, ‘Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as snakes and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16)’. Do not be stupid.