#The Master Plan of Evangelism

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trump loyalist Russ Vought pushes fascistic ‘post-Constitutional’ vision for second Trump term

Beth Reinhard at WaPo:

A battle-tested D.C. bureaucrat and self-described Christian nationalist is drawing up detailed plans for a sweeping expansion of presidential power in a second Trump administration. Russ Vought, who served as the former president’s budget chief, calls his political strategy for razing long-standing guardrails “radical constitutionalism.” He has helped craft proposals for Donald Trump to deploy the military to quash civil unrest, seize more control over the Justice Department and assert the power to withhold congressional appropriations — and that’s just on Trump’s first day back in office. Vought, 48, is poised to steer this agenda from an influential perch in the White House, potentially as Trump’s chief of staff, according to some people involved in discussions about a second term who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Since Trump left office, Vought has led the Center for Renewing America, part of a network of conservative advocacy groups staffed by former and potentially future Trump administration officials. Vought’s rise is a reminder that if Trump is reelected, he has said he will surround himself with loyalists eager to carry out his wishes, even if they violate traditional norms against executive overreach.

“We are living in a post-Constitutional time,” Vought wrote in a seminal 2022 essay, which argued that the left has corrupted the nation’s laws and institutions. Last week, after a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, Vought tweeted: “Do not tell me that we are living under the Constitution.” Vought aims to harness what he calls the “woke and weaponized” bureaucracy that stymied the former president by stocking federal agencies with hardcore disciples who would wage culture wars on abortion and immigration. The proposals championed by Vought and other Trump allies to fundamentally reset the balance of power would represent a historic shift — one they see as a needed corrective. “The president has to be able to drive the bureaucracy instead of being trapped by it,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who led the GOP’s 1994 takeover of Congress. Vought did not respond to interview requests and a detailed list of questions from The Washington Post. This account of his plans for Trump’s potential first day back in office and the rest of a second term comes from interviews with people involved in the planning, a review of Vought’s public remarks and writings, and Center for Renewing America correspondence obtained by The Post.

[...] Vought’s long careera s a staffer in Congress and at federal agencies has made him an asset to Project 2025, an initiative led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to lay the groundwork for a second Trump term. Vought wrote the chapter on the executive office of the president in Project 2025’s 920-page blueprint, and he is developing its playbook for the first 180 days, according to the people involved in the effort. “We’re going to plant the flags now,” Vought told Trump’s former strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, on his far-right podcast. “It becomes a new governing consensus of the Republican Party.”

[...]

From fiscal hawk to MAGA warrior

Vought was raised in Trumbull, Conn., the son of an electrician and a teacher and the youngest of seven children. Brought up in what he has characterized as a “very strong, Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching church,” he attended Christian camps every summer. He received a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in Illinois, and headed to Capitol Hill near the end of the Clinton administration. Vought mastered the federal budget working for fiscal conservatives, including Sen. Phil Gramm and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, both Texas Republicans, while getting his law degree from George Washington University.

Years before the Freedom Caucus enforced right-wing ideology on Capitol Hill, Vought was the bomb-throwing executive director of the conservative House Republican Study Committee. His prime targets: big government and entitlement spending. He worked under Pence, then a congressman, who called him “one of the strongest advocates for the principles that guide us” in 2010. That year, as the populist tea party movement was surging, Vought joined the Heritage Foundation’s new lobbying arm. From a Capitol Hill townhouse dubbed the “frat house,” Vought and his other brash, young male colleagues tormented Republican leaders by grading their fealty to fiscal conservatism. “Russ was determined to make our scorecard tougher than others out there,” said Republican strategist Tim Chapman, who worked closely with Vought at Heritage Action. “He wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff.”

Joining the Trump transition allowed Vought to put his principles to paper. Later, Pence cast the tiebreaking vote for his confirmation in 2018 as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought ascended to the top post in 2019. But instead of slashing spending as Vought and other budget officials recommended, Trump resisted significant reductions to domestic programs and backed trillions in emergency pandemic assistance. The national debt ballooned by more than $8 trillion. Vought blamed Congress. And he stood by Trump throughout his tumultuous presidency, as a procession of other Cabinet officials balked at breaching what they viewed as ethical and legal boundaries. “A bunch of people around him who were constantly sitting on eggs and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s getting me to violate the law,’” was how Vought later described the mat a Heritage Foundation event. By contrast, Vought found workarounds to fulfill the president’s ambitions that tested legal limits and his own record opposing executive overreach and deficit spending.

When Congress blocked additional funding for Trump’s border wall, the budget office in early 2020 redirected billions of dollars from the Pentagon to what became one of the most expensive federal infrastructure projects in U.S. history. And it was Vought’s office that held up military aid to Ukraine as Trump pressed the government to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, prompting the president’s first impeachment. Vought defied a congressional subpoena during the impeachment inquiry, which he mocked as a “#shamprocess.” The Government Accountability Office concluded that his office broke the law, a claim Vought disputed.

Near the end of Trump’s presidency, Vought helped launch his biggest broadside at the “deep state” — an order to strip the civil service protections of up to tens of thousands of federal employees. The administration did not have time to fully implement the order.

After the 2020 election, as Trump refused to concede, Biden officials complained that Vought was impeding the transition. Vought rejected that accusation — but wrote that his office would not “dismantle this Administration’s work.” He was already planning ahead; bylaws for what would become the Center for Renewing America were adopted on the day of Biden’s inauguration, records show. “There’s a marriage of convenience between Russ and Trump,” said Chapman, senior adviser at Pence’s group, Advancing American Freedom. “Russ has been pursuing an ideological agenda for a long time and views Trump’s second term as the best way to achieve it, while Trump needs people in his second term who are loyal and committed and adept at using the tools of the federal government.”

Radical constitutionalism

Since Biden took office, Vought has turned the Center for Renewing America into a hub of Trump loyalists, including Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer later charged in Georgia with trying to overturn Biden’s victory in 2020. Vought called Clark, who has pleaded not guilty, “a patriot who risked his career to help expose voter fraud.” “I think the election was stolen,” Vought said in a 2022 interview with Trump activists Diamond and Silk. He is no longer in touch with Pence, his longtime patron, who has said Trump’s efforts to overturn the vote disqualified him from serving as president again, according to people familiar with the relationship who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive topic. The Center for Renewing America is among several pro-Trump groups incubated by the Conservative Partnership Institute, founded in 2017 by former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). The center, a tax-exempt group that is not required to publicly disclose its donors, raised $4.75 million in 2023, according to its annual report.

As Vought and other Trump allies work on blueprints for a second term, he is pushing a strategy he calls “radical constitutionalism.” The left has discarded the Constitution, Vought argues, so conservatives need to rise up, wrest power from the federal bureaucracy and centralize authority in the Oval Office. “Our need is not just to win congressional majorities that blame the other side or fill seats on court benches to meddle at the margins,” he wrote in the 2022 essay. “It is to cast ourselves as dissidents of the current regime and to put on our shoulders the full weight of envisioning, articulating, and defending what a Radical Constitutionalism requires in the late hour that our country finds itself in, and then to do it.”

In practice, that could mean reinterpreting parts of the Constitution to achieve policy goals — such as by defining illegal immigration as an “invasion,” which would allow states to use wartime powers to stop it. “We showed that millions of illegal aliens coming across, and Mexican cartels holding operational control of the border, constitute an invasion,” Vought wrote. “This is where we need to be radical in discarding or rethinking the legal paradigms that have confined our ability to return to the original Constitution.”

Vought also embraces Christian nationalism, a hard-right movement that seeks to infuse Christianity into all aspects of society, including government. He penned a 2021 Newsweek essay that disputed allegations of bias and asked, “Is There Anything Actually Wrong With ‘Christian Nationalism?’” He argued for “an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society.” Looking at immigration through that lens, Vought has called for “mass deportation” of illegal immigrants and a “Christian immigration ethic” that would strictly limit the types of people allowed entry into the United States. At a 2023 conference organized by Christian and right-wing groups, he questioned whether legal immigration is “healthy” because, in a politically polarized climate, “immigration only increases and exasperates the divisions that we face in the country.”

WaPo reports that Trump loyalist Russ Vought is set to push for a fascistic "post-Constitutional" vision for second Trump term should Donald Trump get elected.

[wildshona]

Making Contact

About a week after I was told that Richard's friends had tracked down Amelia she phoned. It was a long conversation after we had spent about an hour sobbing in each others ears. I mean my sis and i had had no contact for 3 years and so much had happened. we have spoken lots of times since butt i bet we still havent told one another everything.

one thing i remember is how i sobbed AFTER the call with all the guilt i felt. i had to get an emergency appointment with my therapist.

of course dad went off the roof when i ran away. i had fucked up whatever plans he had and one thing about my dad was he didnt like not getting his way and he certainly didnt like an escapee from his carefully crafted system of the roles assigned to my sister and me.

my dad had a view - or excuse - that there were basically two types of women - wives and whores. A good wife was obedient, dressed demurely to the instructions of her man, was a good homemaker, had babies and was satisfied with vanilla sex and maybe the occasional blowjob. A whore was obedient and dressed as her master told her, could stand in on domestic things if the wife was tired and took any type of sex that the man wanted - however humiliating, degrading, rough or whatever. Oh yeah she was a resource for friends as well cos she didnt have any worth.

dad had it all sorted. Amelia was clearly a good wife so I clearly was, well you can guess.

the trouble was when i ran away he was a whore short. Amelia said he was distracted from that when the first moved to the US cos he had a new community to fit in to and a new job to get up to speed on. so while he was buying a gun, joining an evangelical church, and getting in with the work hierarchy it was fine especially as Amelia was getting bigger and bigger with the soon to be Zoe.

but then things started to change. dad started to buy her the sort of underwear that he used to buy for me. not he white or pink cotton but the black or red lacy. and he suggested that she started to wear stockings - only round the house of course. then he bought her toys. not dildoes or vibes. butt plugs. Amelia had nver had anything up her butt - that had been my job. she did it of course - she was a good girl and a good wife. and a good wife and a good girl does what her man tells her without discussion or complaint. she knew it was only a matter of time before it was something else and not just a plug.

she was so shocked about my time on the streets and other things that had happened tp me. she did say that i wouldn;t have had too put up with that if i had only stayed obedient. so it was sort of my fault. well i have always accepted that all that was aconsequnce of me running away but that was ok. my decision - my outcomes.

but i now had this massive guilt that Amelia had taken on some of the whore role for which she was untrained and unprepared. i should say that didnt happen til after Zoe was born but stll. i mean she wasn't supposed to suffer cos of me. but she did. we love one another so she didnt say it was my fault tho maybe we will have some sort of conversation about that one day.

at that time we were happy to be in contact again and could tell one another how much we loved one another. tho she still didnt understand how i couldnt love daddy. I mean Jesus...she still didn't get it. She went to church on Sundays and listened while the preacher talked about jezebels and boys who wanted to be girls and the threats of white women having black babies and then went home and did what her man told her to do even tho now she was being told to be a jezebel - well once the lunch was cooked anyway.

i don't know what we are going to do with her.

[gaybd1]

hey i just need to make this post so i can link to it as like an about me/faq

just so i can have some info about me that's not like all up in your face bc who cares honestly but also so that dummies can read about who i am before sending "dont post about autism if youre not autistic!!" messages, u feel?

not that i get them a lot but i would def get them a lot LESS if there was a post like this to refer to

okay hi lets see

i am gay

actually im on the ace spectrum if u must know, thank u so much antidepressants ive taken since i was 7 years old...

i am trans (ftm)

speaking of trans i am legally male but am not able to change my name and have not yet transitioned medically in any way despite having socially transitioned almost a decade ago

ive known i was a boy my whole life because thats another question people asked i just got Very Good at repressing it

i am white!

yes i am a whitey who lives in taiwan, that is because i am an immigrant!

i have lived in east asia since 2018 and plan to be in taiwan forever

i AM... originally... from the US.... ughhhh fuckkkk i know righttttt

i do not identify as american lolololol

actually i dont identify with american culture in general because i wasnt there for covid and life kind of carried on as normal over here during covid so there's like this huge cultural divide between me and other americans now

i mean i dont identify as taiwanese either lol bc that would be... wild...

ok anyway

i am autistic

what else have i been diagnosed with lol astigmatism i guess

i have clinical depression and anxiety lol love that for me

i am colorblind

i have fibromyalgia and occasionally use a cane

i have a bunch of other learning disabilities and a bleeding disorder but jesus christ you dont need my whole life story

ive had ARFID my whole life and it gets dangerously bad sometimes and im also recently "recovered" from anorexia lets hope it stays that way

i was raised evangelical christian but now i have Trauma about it

im still spiritual and am somewhat involved in buddhism

i have trauma about family issues like a shitty dad and fucked up siblings and parentification, all that jazz

i am fluent in english and spanish but my mandarin is actually not that good (like enough to get around obviously but i cant read and write like at all)

oh im a teacher and im trying to finish my masters #privilege

idk what else is interesting

i travel a lot ive been to 15 countries

i grew up between the US and guatemala, i lived for a bit in cuba as a student, and I lived a year in china before i came to Taiwan

ok bye have the day u deserve

[beyondparoxysm]

( andrew lincoln + cisgender male  + he/him + 48 ) crossing the gates of Jackson is DEAN CLARKE! our records show us they are SECOND IN COMMAND and a former member of FEDRA, known to be CHARISMATIC AND DISCIPLINED, yet HESITANT AND REGRETFUL at this new life. many around town said they remind them of half-finished cups of coffee, writing long to-do lists, a poor soldier but a good man. may your survival be long, and your death be swift. ⸻ mini / 28 / EST / she/her / n/a

Demographics

Name: Dean Clarke

Nickname/Alias: Most often goes simply by Clarke, only those closest to him call him by his given name.

Age: 48

Place of Birth: Millington, Tennessee 

Sex/Gender: Cisgendered male 

Sexuality: Heterosexual   

Physical Appearance

FC: Andrew Lincoln (as he appears in later seasons of The Walking Dead)

Eye color: Blue 

Ethnicity: White American

Hair color and Style: Dean’s hair is dark brown, though salt-and-pepper is creeping up on him. His hair is grown out long enough to slick back, and has a natural curl to it that he keeps wrangled as best he can. He wears a close-cropped mustache and beard, which grows in white-gray these days. 

Height: 5’10”

Body type: Mesomorph body type. Athletically built, broad shoulders, triangular shape.

Fitness level: Moderately active. Keeps himself in shape.

Tattoos: A faded black tattoo bearing the name Lydia sits on his right bicep. 

Scars/Birthmarks: No notable birthmarks. He has a handful of scars littering his body, the majority of which have faded to fine white lines over the years. His left shoulder notably bears a scar from a bullet wound.

Disabilities: An old injury occasionally causes pain to flare in his right knee. 

Cleanliness/Grooming: Relatively regimented in hygiene.

Posture/Gait: Healthy posture, confident. 

Psychological Traits

Personality type: ENTJ-T, The Commander 

Bold, imaginative, and strong-willed; always willing to find a way or make one. The Commander places a focus on objectivity and rationality, with a tendency to see effectiveness as the most important thing. Decisive, thorough, and highly organized. The Commander prefers structure and planning to spontaneity. These individuals are success-driven, perfectionistic, and eager to improve. 

Personality traits: 

Positive: Charismatic, disciplined, calm, rational, considerate  

Negative: Hesitant, regretful, possessive, ritualistic 

Temperament: Phlegmatic 

These individuals are generally kind and considerate, and are considered reliable and trustworthy. They tend to respect the status quo and maintain routines, offering consistency and stability. The Phlegmatic individual is known to be rational, objective, and systematic when approaching problems. They remain calm under pressure. 

Mannerisms: Whistles, clenches jaw and grinds teeth, walks quickly. 

Educational background: Completed his high school education and joined the military right out of his senior year. He had the intention to go back one day and get a degree – political science, he’d thought – but he never made it. 

Religious background: Dean was raised in an Evangelical home with a strong value on Church. He grew out of those values as he got older, though he still holds on to the idea of God. He keeps a bible and occasionally prays. 

Self-esteem: Most days his self-esteem is fairly good. His self-worth is unfortunately tied to external factors: when he sees the people of Jackson doing well, he takes that in as reflective of the kind of man he is. Subsequently, their struggles hit him hard. He is also prone to reflecting on the past, which brings up deep feelings of guilt and shame in him. 

Skills/talents: Background in military training and action, talented public speaker, good listener and talented at diffusing moments of tension.  

Morals/Virtues: Compassionate, reliable, cooperative.

Phobias/Fears: Loss of control, the fall of Jackson

Angered by: It takes quite a lot to anger Dean – he’s become a master of his own emotions throughout the years (at least outwardly) and likes to grin and bear it when possible. He is angered by selfishness and thoughtlessness. 

Desires: Sustaining safety and prosperity in Jackson; finding peace and forgiveness for himself.

Regrets: When he abandoned his post with FEDRA, he did not try to save anyone.

Communication

Languages known: English

Accent: Slight southern drawl. 

Style and pacing of speech: Somewhat slow and measured, confident, easy-going.

Pitch: Low-pitched. 

Laughter: Laughs often and easily, sometimes in an effort to be polite.

Smile: Close-mouthed and practiced for most, wide and toothy for those closest to him.

Use of gestures: Nods head, hums to reflect active listening, offers hand-shakes and shoulder-grabs easily.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Abilities

Physical strengths: Healthy. Average core strength, slightly above average upper body strength.

Physical weaknesses: Occasional pains in his knee can cause limping. 

Intellectual strengths: Good organizational and militaristic skills. 

Intellectual weaknesses: Tendency to dwell/replay mistakes. 

Interpersonal strengths: Strong judge of character.

Interpersonal weaknesses: Tendency to prefer keeping the peace over altercations, which can at times lead to avoidance of petty issues/building of resentments. 

Physical abilities: Above average.

Physical illnesses/conditions: N/A

Mental illnesses/conditions: PTSD – but hey, who doesn’t have it? Experiences occasional panic attacks.

Relationships

Family: Dean was born into a large Evangelical family based in Tennessee. His family is presumed lost to him – his parents were amongst those who were lost in the initial outbreak, and contact was lost between himself and his siblings. He occasionally allows himself to entertain the notion that some of them might still be alive, and may one day make their way to Jackson – yet he understands the reality of it is unlikely. Dean has one child, see wanted connections. 

Partner/Significant other: Dean fell in love with his first wife Lydia as a teenager, and they went on to marry after high school. Lydia remained by his side throughout his tours in the army, and later mothered his child. Lydia grew to dislike the man that Dean became as the years wore on and FEDRA demanded obedience of him. When the Fireflies launched an attack on the QZ in an effort to liberate those inside, Lydia and their child disappeared. While presumed to be dead by Dean, Lydia had in fact absconded with the Fireflies – and took their child with her. Dean eventually went on to find love again in Jackson, and has remarried, see wanted connections. 

Friends: TBD (see wanted connections). 

Enemies: TBD (see wanted connections).

Significant Background Events

PRE-2013:

Dean was an active duty member of the American military prior to the onslaught of the Cordyceps pandemic. Serving as a Staff Sergeant within the US Army, he experienced a range of overseas combat as well as life on American military bases. Though this position separated him from his large family in Tennessee, he was not without companionship: his high school sweetheart turned wife Lydia joined him in his stateside travels, and eventually they welcomed a child together when he was about 25 years old. Dean, who’d served since age eighteen, opted to focus on family life and was honorably discharged at approximately age 26 after two tours completed. He transitioned into the national guard, with the hopes of attending college and embarking on a career in low-level politics. 

THE OUTBREAK & EARLY YEARS 2013-2020:

Hopes for the future were dashed with the outbreak of the fungus, and Dean’s position in the national guard meant that he was eventually called to duty. Like many of his fellow servicemen, he and his unit became absorbed into the organization known as FEDRA. He bore witness to – and directly participated in – the horrors that came with the establishment of QZs. Despite having considered himself at one point to be a man of strict morals and compassion, the terror of the virus and the messaging of FEDRA became a dangerous combination. He became a dedicated member of the cause, and followed orders – even when this involved questionable acts of killing. 

Dean came to reside primarily in the Atlanta QZ at this point in time, though participated in travel to other zones to combat resistance efforts made by the Fireflies and to quell attempted uprising. While he had been unable to secure the safety of his Tennessee based family in the fall, his commitment to FEDRA rested on his continued desire to protect his wife and child. Despite this, Lydia grew increasingly discomforted by the man Dean had become. 

An assault on Atlanta by the Fireflies led to a breach in the QZ and days of fighting, during which chaos temporarily ruled the city. When order was once more restored by FEDRA, Lydia and their child were not amongst the living. Their bodies were never found, and they were presumed to be amongst the burned or beyond the safety of the QZ. FEDRA claimed no responsibility for this – the chaos of war could not be avoided – and Dean was expected to continue to follow his duty in “protecting” the remaining survivors. 

DISILLUSIONMENT AND DEFECTING 2020-2025:

Listless, Dean continued in his role of so-called “protection” for several years, growing increasingly disillusioned over time. The deaths he caused sat heavily with him, and regret caused him to often lose sleep. He began to participate in petty acts of revenge against the organization that had done nothing to save his family and had turned him into a killer, notably assisting in black market dealings.

After several years building contacts amongst the underground of Atlanta, he defected, believing that death out in the wilds of a plagued America was better than life amongst those who ruled with bloody fists. Secrets were sold to members of the Fireflies in exchange for passage out of the QZ, marking him as a traitor to FEDRA.

Dean expected death to take him swiftly, but survived in spite of the suicide mission he’d launched himself onto. He’d considered making for Tennessee in an effort to see what remained of the home he’d once loved, but cowardice at the prospect of seeing the wreckage done by the combination of the fungus and FEDRA dissuaded him. He wandered in search of either death or salvation, and eventually found Jackson – a second chance made real.

LIFE IN JACKSON 2026-PRESENT:

His admittance at being a former member of FEDRA invited understandable suspicion, and building a new life for himself was not without challenges. Luckily, he was a man bent on proving himself as still having some shred of goodness, and was intent upon taking any job offered to him. He scavenged in an effort to keep supplies steady, and eventually came to establish himself as a trustworthy figure who was willing to risk his own life for the betterment of those who dwelled in Jackson. 

His climbing of the ranks has been gradual throughout the years, and he takes his current position incredibly seriously. He believes he is proof that those who have committed atrocities are capable of change, and is a voice of encouragement in accepting newcomers from troubled backgrounds. Despite this outward compassion, he is also a man with many skeletons in his closet, who lives with guilt and shame close to his heart. His loyalty remains above all to the sanctity of Jackson – and he will do anything to ensure its continued survival.

Wanted Connections

GENERAL DYNAMICS: Open to all, multiple characters can occupy the same dynamic, etc.

Friends: Dean is an affable man and a friendly face to most. There are a select few, however, who are able to see past the politician’s smile to the man beneath – and they are the people with whom he chooses to spend the majority of his time. He is a fiercely loyal friend to those who’ve earned his trust, and holds a grudge when he is betrayed.

Enemies: While Dean has worked hard to put the past behind him, it’s inevitable that there are some who are unable to forget the man he was before he came to Jackson. I’d love to explore dynamics with individuals who cannot accept that a former member of FEDRA holds a role of leadership in town.

Protege: I would like to see Dean bond with a young-ish person whom he believes has the makings of becoming a leader themselves one day. Perhaps this person is somewhat of a stand-in for the child he once lost – and subsequently, he is a father-figure to them. 

Old Faces: Dean resides in the Atlanta QZ for many years, and I would be interested in exploring dynamis with any individuals who might also hail from Atlanta and remember the man that he was. Similarly, Dean has had dealings with the black market and the Fireflies in the Atlanta area, and I would be interested in exploring relationships with people who were a part of his troubled past.

SPECIFIC DYNAMICS: See below. 

Oh you’re the one DEAN CLARKE has been looking for? Their CHILD has been long gone, but you might recognize them as ANY GENDER FC BETWEEN 23-25, rumored to be 22 years old. If you stumble upon them, please leave a message for @BEYONDPAROXYSM. Please review Dean’s character bio! Dean has not seen his child since they were about 8 years old and believes them to be dead. This character was taken by their mother, Lydia, out of the Atlanta QZ during a failed uprising by the Fireflies. Where they have been in the years since 2020 is UTP. This character should be a relatively new arrival to Jackson. I am open to anything ranging from heart-wrenching reunions to your character hiding the truth of their identity from Dean and having some major issues with him!  Oh you’re the one DEAN CLARKE has been looking for? Their WIFE has been long gone, but you might recognize them as ANY FEMALE FC, rumored to be 40+ years old. If you stumble upon them, please leave a message for @BEYONDPAROXYSM. Please review Dean’s character bio! Dean did not intend to find love again, but he and Y/M forged a slow-building connection that he now cannot live without. Y/M is the only person Dean is able to be entirely himself with – the only one who knows every detail and every bit of shame he carries.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 3)

On December 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France.

His mother was an esteemed heiress while his father was an adviser to King John III.

While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. He studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola — who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him.

But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis:

“What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will.

In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order — the Jesuits.

During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith.

On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast.

There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action.

He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians.

Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims.

In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts.

Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

St. Francis Xavier became ill and died on 3 December 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China.

He was beatified by Paul V on 25 October 1619.

On 12 March 1622, both Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola were canonized by Pope Gregory XV.

Pius XI proclaimed him the "Patron of Catholic Missions."

[gaykarstaagforever]

Get ready for the "pronatalists," coming to a political election near you in the next several years.

They're an unofficial Silicon Valley cult that is basically just good-old-fashioned eugenicists, including the thing where they say it isn't their fault SCIENCE and MATH say rich white people are the best humans.

They unironically think Elon Musk is the paragon of human existence, and like him, a big part of their thing is romanticizing autism...or what they CALL autism, but isn't autism, it's just them being selfish assholes and declaring themselves beyond criticism because it is a "condition." Which they openly think is also the next stage of human evolution, which is why they have to quickly breed their superior genes into the race that will "save the world" from too many poor brown people existing. Because them liking money a lot is going to help save us from climate change...? It immediately gets muddled, once they've declared their practical white supremacy.

But all this, OF COURSE, isn't racist. They're just "realists" about how bad the Earth will be when uneducated brown non-billionaires who don't even own companies get to make decisions! Because it's a paradise now, since it's being run by white billionaires.

Huh.

They think of themselves as left-wing, but the progressive left hates them for obvious reasons, so they are now affiliating with the far-right. For obvious reasons.

The only things that separate them from Fundamentalist Evangelicals is that they are atheists, pro-queer, hate Trump, and are pro-choice. But the pro-choice thing is really only about them wanting the right to discard "substandard" fertilized eggs, because they use AI to tell them which embryos will be "more intelligent" than the others.

...An odd thing to claim, considering IQ is not an actual measure of anything besides how well you do one time on a test, and you CERTAINLY can't predict it by looking at genes. But the US refuses to regulate this kind of gene selection, so of course eugenicists are going to take advantage of it.

The atheism thing seems noble and progressive until you realize it is just very rich people justifying why they don't have to follow the same ethical code as everyone else.

The pro-queer thing also barely counts, because they STILL expect superior white gays / asexuals to use IVF and surrogacy to gift their awesome genes to the future. They've cut out the need for sex to do eugenics. I guess that's kind of a new innovation on the ancient stupidity.

I for one don't trust anyone who looks at Sam Altman and says "this is the Ubermensch." Including Sam himself. Who is of course a fan of all this.

And they hate Trump because everyone with a brain hates Trump, because he's an awful person, all the time, to everyone. Other rich people have always hated Trump. He brags about it. Being rich and hating Trump doesn't make you a hero.

This wouldn't be worth talking about, because these freaks have been around for years, and obviously they have been unpopular with people on both sides of the spectrum. But now, oh boy!, they've realized they are rich and have big dreams for the Earth, so they are of course getting into politics. As Republicans, of course, because any rich person who demands the right to tell the rest of us how to live ends up over there. That's most of their thing.

The family The Guardian talked to lives in my home state of Pennsylvania, because we're purple enough to let you be weird, but red enough to help you be white. I can't wait for this movement to join the coalition of angry extremists that is already the state Republican party, and start pouring money into their master plan to re-Caucasian America. Because everything must be Texas. Because Elon LOVES Texas.

Also they abuse their children. At least, this couple does.

Posting this bothers me, because talking about them is exactly what these people want. So much so that I wonder how much of this is even true, or just them being ridiculous for attention.

But the dad hitting his 2 year old in public, in front of the reporter, like he doesn't even know that's at least bad optics, is the kind of terrible that genuinely comes from a person's black little heart.

[popculturebuffet]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force MC Pee Pants Retrospective (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people. So this one's a bit of a breather after some very intensive exausting reviews, some major schedule slippage and before even more intensive reviews. Today we're looking at Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Having gleefully covered Sealab 2021, Mission Hill, and having a whole Venture Bros retrospective on this blog (That I assure you IS coming back, my schedule is just like living in a living nightmare sometimes), and planning to cover home movies at some point after I realize I hadn't because it's purespun gold, observe…

It's probably not a suprise to Kev who comissoined this nor anyone reading whose been with me a while that I fucking love Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It fit the mold for the other williams street shows at the time like Space Ghost COast to Coast (also another one to cover), Brak Show, or Sealab itself: dialouge heavy but entirely bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-anas to compensate for a budget of a paper cup. It's also the longest lived of them by far, going on for most of Adult Swim's lifespan till being abubtly cancled and even THEN i'ts recently came back with a series of web shorts and the first DTV movie from Warner's new adult swim based intitative.

Aqua Teen will never be canceled, Aqua Teen Won't be Dismantled, Aqua Teen Gonna Be Together, Aqua Teen Gonna Be forever! And honestly it's easy to see why it's lasted this long as given the very simple yet inherently weird nature of aqua teen, three fast food mascots with super powers living in new jersey and having weird shit happen to them and their perverted asshole neighbor carl, means you can do just about anything with it from have Shake cause nuclear armageddon to reboot a flintstones pastiche, to the gang unearthing an evil sandwitch, to evangelical fruits showing up in thier house and one going on an alchoholic spiral, to carl getting himself shoved up a trolls ass as part of a metal band's performance, it can be anything. And while the later seasons are a bit weaker, I do think they still have their gems ala the simpsons.

So I was more than happy when asked to chronicle the rise and explosion and rise and slaughterhouse and rise and vamppiric explosion and rise and rise and squashing and rise and swatting and rise and elder fraud of mc pee pants aka sir loin aka little brittle.

MC Pee Pants came about due to Willams Street at the time making good use of comedian and rap god, MC Chris, a nerdy as fuck rapper with bars for days who I REALLY need to listen more of. When doing Improv one night osme of the williams street execs saw Chris, and asked him to come to atlanta nad while hesitant at first, the part of Hesh for sealab, who I assure you will get his own specail one of these days, maybe a heshtober fest, appealed to him and soon Hesh wanted sex and Adult Swim wanted more of him. So i'ts not a huge shock he popped up on adult swim's latest show Aqua Teen Hunger force and would make yearly apperances before vanishing entirely. Why he fell out with the company.. no one knows. He gladly came back for the 100th episode so there appears to be no real bad blood.. he might of just moved out of altanta. Whatever the case while Hesh made MC Chris' voice acting career, MC Pee Pants is easily just as memorable. As for who he is.. well tha'ts best left under the cut as what he is.. is a lot.

MC Pee Pants MC Pee Pants first debuted in season 1 and our journey begins with him as all his episodes do: with Meatwad blasting his jam box to high heaven and pissing everyone else off. What makes this one special besides being the first is Master Shake is trying to jam a new romantic ballad on the guitar. It can't be undestated how hilarious Dana Synder is and i'm pleased as punch he's still getting work to this day, including a starring role in Ghost and Molly McGee and voicing half of Jellystone.

Naturally Shake's response is to smash his guitar in rage and plan to ram the neck down meatwad's….. uhhhhhhh….. huh. You know I don't think ramming something into meatwad would actually kill him. Maybe HURT him, but i'm not sure ANYTHING can actually kill meatwad short of destroying every last molocule. As long as there's one cell left it'll still be sapient.

Shake CAN still beat the piss out of his hapless roomate though so Frylock, always anti child beating, tries to talk Meatwad down instead. Every attempt is objectively funny. The first is my faviorite: Frylock tries to get Meatwad to listen to classical music. He has such high school band teacher energy here trying to convince Metawad that these were the "real gangsters" while Meatwad looks on in abject horror and just switches back to MC Pee Pants after. Frylock still tries to be patient despite Meatwad having done this for days and does the obvious: has Meatwad use earphones. And I love his happy tone as he says "So master shake won't want to kill you with a guitar neck". I also like the Meatwad hearing loss gag after. Good sound mixing there. Eventually Frylock just tell shim to fuck off with it or he'll let shake beat him which is'nt great parenting but he tried good parenting. Now it's "don't make me let your roommate/brother/tormentor beat you".

Meatwad then tries to get him some candy as the dope new drop from mc pee pants h'es been blasting, I want candy tell shim to. We get a great him as elvis gag (Shake's "Are you the fat elvis" is comic gold as is his casual attempted murder), and ends up getting his fix form carl who true to form has a bunch of easter bunnies he got from the dumpster they just have to wipe off which would be gross but we don't see them actually EAT the things nor what's on them, so it works, especially with Carl's later ask of "Wipe me off another rabbit"

They end up doing this long into the night, and washing Carl's car for some reason. Probably cocaine. I wouldn't put it past carl to have put some on the bunnies and told meatwad they were sugar. Or done so by mistake. It's carl, he's either going to be sad, sleazy, deeply incomptient or all of the above. How is a crapshoot.

Frylock has concerns. Not about the cocaine, he has a snow mountain in his closet, no he's worried about the lyrics which talk about using the hyper active energy of those who eat the candy to power a drill straight to hell to unleash demons to help mc pee pants with a diet pill pyramid scheme.

So with the address given in the song, everyone heads to 612 wharf avenue. Which is ana ctual place in new jersey. It's even near Kevin Smith's store.

Turns out that's EXACTLY Mc Pee Pants scheme and instead of the child on the cover, he's a grown man whose also a giant spider in a diaper and shower cap who talks about how he's insane. Chris unsurprisingly is great in the rolll as MC Pee Pants really makes little sense with his plan, an dis only doing it because he can't get a job.

The resolution is one of the series best: the aqua teens set mc pee pants up for a job interview…. and then blow up an abandoned building iwth him inside. It's just so hilariously cruel and there's no real reason for it. They could just.. take meatwad and leave. He can't really do anything to them. I mean he did domestically abuse dr. weird though.. so fair enough.

MC Pee Pants is a solid episode.. and I got paid TO WRITE THAT. I love my life. It's got plenty of great jokes, chris is terrfiic and I want candy will get stuck in your head guaranteed

Super Sirloin While the first ep was decent, Sir Loin is even better. With this one Frylock hasn't quite caught onto the formula despite Meatwad once again blasting a song at all hours.. in this case instead of a sugar high he can't sleep because he's worried about the starving children.. and how he goes about helping "the shorties" is also hilarious, grabbing every bit of food and stuffing it into a garbage bag. I also like the runner about Master Shake somehow affording steak and eggs and Duck Alaronge, as well as despite Frylock saying it perfectly, him bitching about Frylock butchering the prounciation. I forget how much subtle humor is dotted aroudn the weirder shit. Carl also spits in a bag and Dr Weird grafts a dear antler to his groin to fit in with the heard so it hasn't gotten too subtle. "Sigh" I really miss Dr. Weird. And C. Martin Croaker.

I also like the runner with meatwad eating sand, which starts with Shake just .. getting him to eat it on a regular basis.

Despite Frylock being worried about it even though Meatwad is clearly a highlander, and later escalates to meatwad expecting everyone else to for the shorties and Shake trying it with ketchup and deciding this sucks and they need to go see sir loin. Naturally Mc Pee Pants, now sir loin is the best part of the episode. This time he's a cow whose renting patio furniture and is amassing flies to melt down a bank. Once again I got paid to watch a man explain all this and then write about it.

My faviorite bits are Mc Pee Pants slowing down explaning things because he thinks frylock is dumb, chris really nails the condesnion and the bizzare ness of him talking about the farmer asking "gimme the milk, gimmie the milk" and frylock's deadpan "There isn't a farmer is there. " He's way too used to the nonsense that is his existance at this point. They naturally use a slaughterhouse this time which tops the previous finale as last time it was at least plausable that building was a buisness… I mean not very but he's a giant spider in a diaper man. It dosen't tak emuch. This time it's very transparently a slaughterhouse and the SECOND time they've casually murdered him and will not be the last.

Sir Loin is another great episode, taking the same basic premise but finding even better jokes for it. The result's a classic.

Little Brittle

So we're onto the final focus episode for MC, and honestly when I was a teen and until this rewatch I hated this one, feeling it was too slow paced and not nearly as entertaning as the first two. On rewatch I expected to still hate it and dreaded getting to this one

Little Brittle.. is the BEST of the trilogy, and after wondering why MC hadn't come back for more than a cameo till Aquadonk Sidepieces, this gave me the answer: there was no where to go from here. THey already took the formula as far as they could. While other recurrers could be crammed in wherever, MC's episodes relied on him doing the same brainwashing raps and reveal of some stupid plan every time and with this one tearing that formula up they likely just.. couldn't think of a new spin on it. Brittle has the same inciting incident: Meatwad's playing MC's latest rap on loop, only after two times Frylock catches on instantly. Though instead of 612 Wharf Avenue he's at a decaying old folks home, presumibly next to elvis and jfk.

Two things really make this one pop: the subversion of things, which is not easy to pull off: there's a fine line between playing with a formula nad audience expectations and getting good laughs or drama out of it and pulling a swerve bro. It's what seperates the rian johnstons from the vince russos and they pull it off here. Instead of a zany plan MC instead genuinely seems to be a sad old man who just happens to also have a diaper, shower cap and yellow eyes , who misses his grand kids and is dealing with how horribly we treat the elderly. And that's the other sauce: the episode is suprisingly well done satire about how we treat our elderly: the place MC is stuck is GENUINELY awful, wether he's pulling a scheme or not, and Frylock mostly goes along to feel good about himself then abandons Meatwad there with a strange old man because "someone has to" and he dosen't want to be around the elderly because they smell. Shake and Frylock represent the most common ways society treats the old: Shake is just an asshole and is fine with leaving them to die while Frylock is only fine with actually treating elderly people like human beings as long as it's comfortable. Meatwad is only sympathetic because he not only came iwth good intentions but is basically a child unless the episode says he isn't. Little Brittle is a lot and hte fact he powers thorugh and genuinely seems to befriend him again is great.

As is the reveal that of course this is another stupid scheme, this time to have a vampire bite him to become immortal. The reveal he ONLY released come visit me yo in Transylvania is gold, only topped by Meatwad revealing "the import fees were a bitch". What caps it off though and likely sealed this trilogy off.. is that it ACTUALLY WORKS FOR ONCE. No really, Dracula shows up, bites him, and MC actually gets to be a vampire. He dies again, but only because he goes out into the sun and explodes. The ending's also something that grew on me: originally I felt it was random as hell, and while the explosions are, now I can see the setup: after two episodes of a stupid scheme tha tmakes no sense he has one actually work.. and then dies anyway because of the stupidity that got him killed the last two times. Truly brilliant. Shake is also low key great. Carl.. I don't think is in this one much. Dr. Weird is sadly absent altogether as we'd gotten to spacekataz at this point, which was fine and I get stopping the weird bits once they ran out of ideas but god do I miss them.

Side Pieces

So while they only make the three starring episodes, MC still got to show up a few more times.

First was The Last One that united all the villians legion of doom style… where they procede to get nothing done but adopting a highway by clickclickclickclickclick. MC Pitches a scheme and then dies. It's still nice to have him for this one. Then we have the movie, which like the last one I didn't watch in full, but thankfully youtube had his scene which has Meatwad calling on him to make a rap, and MC coming back as a fly, eating a dog turd and giving us a great rap to stop the insano flex.. before shake kills him because he's needlessly cruel and self destructive. It's a great scene honestly especially the oepning where he has choclate unicorn backup dancers because it's awesome. Chris himself also returned for the 100th episode though rather than play mc he simply did a rap.

Given they played this in all the commericals, it's imbeded deep in my brain… and was also the best part of the episode by a wide margin. So finally we have last year's aquadonk side pieces episode. ADSP was a series of web shorts adult swim did focusing on thet villians, with Carl and the others still showing up. It was great, with this one being tied with the dumber dolls sequel for my faviorite of the batch. It's MC teaching people who to rap the elderly out of their homes. BUT HOW IS THIS LEGAL MC

Since it's so short I recommend watching it yourself bellow

It is truly fantastic and pure comedy gold.. and also strangely heartwarming? Like this is the happiest ending he's gotten… being adopted by an old man whose house he planned to steal with his original body again. So if you have HBO about to be Just Max, I highly recommend these episodes. MC Chris is the best and I felt it was only right to play us out with one of his tracks and since it is may the 4th.. hit it youtube! Thanks for reading.

[goldenworldsabound]

💕 for Tensura ! I love that you ship with Clayman lmao

Not me only just now realizing you have tensura ships 👀 evangelizes the "Clayman's REVENGE" manga at you because I am obligated to IT IS SO HUMANIZING and shows off his dorky side cause it's a comedy and is only 12 chapters so far- thanks ///

cough cough ANYWAY! Ask game here~

I have TWO SIs but 99% of the time I talk about isekai!SI so I'm gonna do that now as well- fkjdhsafkjdsa

They are one Wendy Verite (that was not their original surname) who, in a bizarre twist of fate, is isekai'd from modern times into a much, much earlier part of the timeline, after being summoned by Demon Lord Kazalim. So...centuries ago. Not long after Kazalim created Clayman and the other members of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance. Kazalim puts a lock on them, as one does when you summon Otherworlders, and it's a pretty damn good one since Kazalim is the known as the Curse Lord for good reason. So strong, that Kazalim can say something like, "obey Clayman as if he was me". And thus Clayman's first subordinate is decided. (As a sidenote, once Kazalim is killed, the lock is lifted)

Laplace, Tear, and Footman actually do a fantastic job getting Wendy comfortable with them - Clayman struggles in that regard at first, because he's quite interested in them but they've got this rather awkward master-subordinate power dynamic...but he really wants to be friendly with them, like the others are. It's a tricky time. I kind of hc that he's a bit more uncertain and awkward at first than he is now. And maybe has a crush. Mysteeerious.

So one particular note of interest...how is Wendy, a human, still around when it's been CENTURIES before the main plot starts? Well. The original plan was that if Wendy was useful and survived long enough, Clayman could take their heart with Marionette Heart, turning them into a majin.

This ended up not being necessary. Between spending so much time amongst majin (and consequently their magicules) and their body being rebuilt frequently by their Unique Skill, Crystalline Regeneration, over time they became a majin. They are quite good at subduing their aura though, and their general appearance remained the same, since it was a transformation over time, so they can pass for a human despite this.

Lastly for the moment, Wendy really does view Laplace, Tear, and Footman as family, in addition to Clayman, of course. They have a good relationship with all of them. Their relationship with Kazalim is...more complex. There's resentment mixed in with genuine care and gratitude. And once Clayman is killed? Oof. These two are going to get along extra badly at that point. More details on that pending as I read more of the light novels. Buuuut. Yeah. It's complex. No such complexities exist with the other clowns though.

I'll leave it there for now! :D

[famousinuniverse]

Catherine Parr

Queen of England

A portrait of Katherine Parr by an unknown artist. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Catherine Parr (she signed her letters as Kateryn; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547.

Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish an original work under her own name, in English, in England.

Born: 1512

Died: September 5, 1548, Sudeley Castle, United Kingdom

Spouse: Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (m. 1547–1548), MORE

Children: Mary Seymour

Great-grandparents: Alice Neville, John Fogge, MORE

Buried: September 1548, Sudeley Castle, United Kingdom

Grandparents: Elizabeth FitzHugh, Sir Thomas Green, Joan Fogge, William Parr

She is the most-married English queen

First marriage (1529–1533) Sir Edward Burgh (knight). In 1529, when she was seventeen, Catherine married Sir Edward Burgh. Catherine's first husband was in his twenties and may have been in poor health. 2nd marriage -Lady Latimer (1534–1543) John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer (17 November 1493 – 2 March 1543) was an English peer. His third wife was Catherine Parr, later queen of England. John Neville, born 17 November 1493, was the eldest son of Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer.  He had five brothers and six sisters. Neville married firstly, by 1520, Dorothy (d. 7 February 1527), daughter of Sir George de Vere by Margaret Stafford, and sister of John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, by whom he had a son and a daughter. He died 2 March 1543 in London, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

3rd mariage with Henry VIII of England ​ ​ (1543-1547)​

Katherine Parr and Henry VIII met when she secured a position in Princess Mary's household in late 1542.

Katherine was, by most accounts, vivacious, attractive and a scholar. She was also 30 years old, a mature contrast to Catherine Howard, and a more sensible choice for an ailing King in need of a nurse as much as a wife.

WHY DID HENRY MARRY KATHERINE?

By 1543, Katherine had already been married (and widowed) twice but was in love with Thomas Seymour. She gave him up to marry the King.

This was as much a sign of her pious adherence to what she saw as God’s will as – perhaps – a practical acceptance that Henry wouldn’t last forever.

Katherine married Henry on 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace.

A keen patron of the arts, Katherine was the first English queen to write and publish her own books.

STABILITY AND UNITY

Katherine was a loving stepmother to Henry's three children and brought unity to the family.

Princess Elizabeth was particularly fond of her stepmother and Katherine took custody of the 14-year-old Elizabeth after Henry's death.

DANGEROUS BELIEFS

The Queen was a vigorous supporter of the English Reformation.

She sometimes pushed her evangelical views too far with Henry when discussing religion.

Katherine's religious opponents plotted against her and tried to persuade the King that she could be dangerous.

Plans were also drawn up for her arrest.

Katherine was warned of the danger she faced and had the sense to throw herself on Henry’s mercy and plead for forgiveness. 

Henry was completely disarmed, and forgave her.

Image: Katherine Parr, attributed to Master John, circa 1545, © National Portrait Gallery, London

GOD THE KNOWER OF SECRETS CAN JUDGE THESE WORDS NOT ONLY TO BE WRITTEN WITH INK, BUT MOST TRULY IMPRESSED IN THE HEART.

Katherine protesting her love for the King in a letter, July 1544

THE DEATH OF THE KING

Henry died on 28 January 1547 at the age of 55 after a period of serious illness.

A TRAGIC ENDING

Katherine Parr, © National Portrait Gallery, London

Katherine remained loyal and devoted to Henry throughout their five years of marriage until his death. 

4rth marriage with Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (1508-1549)

Thomas Seymour - Baron Seymour of Sudeley

She was then free to marry her sweetheart Thomas Seymour a few months later. Soon she was delighted to be pregnant.

Young Elizabeth and the Seymour scandal

How did Thomas Seymour's advances lead to charges of treason against him and the young Elizabeth?

After Henry VIII’s death in 1547, Elizabeth went to live with her stepmother, Katherine Parr, leading to a near-disaster. 

In 1547, Katherine Parr, Elizabeth's stepmother, married Thomas Seymour, the Lord Admiral and King Edward's younger Seymour uncle. Thomas was vain, handsome, ambitious and extremely jealous of his elder brother's power as Lord Protector to the young king.

The Seymour scandal

Thomas’s marriage to Katherine brought him into close contact with Elizabeth who was blossoming into an attractive young woman. He began making advances towards the princess and the ensuing scandal thrust Elizabeth abruptly into the harsh adult world.

Accused of treason

When Katherine died in 1548, shortly after giving birth, Seymour decided he could further his political ambitions by marrying Elizabeth and seizing control of the King. He was arrested in January 1549 and executed for treason by his brother, the Lord Protector, in March 1549.

Elizabeth was interrogated about her part in the plans but skillfully denied the charges of treason and was eventually exonerated.

Elizabeth's self-possession helped her survive the scandal and she demonstrated a remarkable maturity for a 15-year-old. The very public nature of the scandal made her acutely aware of the importance of protecting her sexual reputation. This brush with the accusation of treason was not to be her last.

Death of Catherine Parr-A tragic end

In 1548, Katherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary, but tragically this was the beginning of the end for the queen. Katherine contracted puerperal fever just three days later – an infection which was the reason behind many childbirth-related deaths in the Tudor era. Despite being known for outliving Henry VIII, on the seventh day of her daughter’s life, Katherine Parr died, aged just 36. on 5 September 1548.

The mystery of Mary

Despite being married four times, Mary was Katherine’s only child. Thomas was beheaded for treason less than a year after his wife’s death, leaving the couple’s only child an orphan. However, there are few records explaining what happened to Princess Mary. She never inherited Sudeley and all records of her cease to exist after 1550 – it is therefore believed by many that she died in infancy.

Annika Caswell a student from the Wimbledon School of Art wardrobe department, dressed as Catherine Parr, next to her portrait attributed to Master John, c. 1545 in the National Portrait Gallery, London. * The students are recreating portraits dating from the Tudor period to the 19th century which have been inspiration for their lavish costumes . (Photo by Rebecca Naden - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

[shammah8]

“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 15:10

EVANGELISM OPPORTUNITIES EVERYWHERE

Pastor Joseph Bondarenko sat on the sunny deck of the Russian river boat as it pulled out of Tyumen in Siberia and headed north up the river. The leaves on the trees were already changing colour in a blaze of autumn beauty. But this was no Love Boat. On board this old river scow were over one hundred and fifty other Christians joining this adventure. The passengers were there to assist in a one-month evangelism outreach in northern Siberian cities — places where the Gospel had not been preached before.

As Joseph soaked in the beauty of the sun and God’s creation, he thought back on his early ministry years in the nineteen fifties and sixties. His aggressive evangelism in those days resulted in imprisonment three times. Yet there in those filthy prison cells, God was still present and his ministry continued. Joseph led so many to Christ in prison that they kicked him out each time. In total he lived nine years in a prison cell, isolated from his beloved wife, Mary.

He smiled to himself as he recalled that eventful day in 1989 when the KGB agent who had him imprisoned came to talk. The officer had been watching him for years and now articulated his desire to know Jesus too. Joseph’s spirit leaped with joy as he thought back on the day that KGB agent and his family were baptised. Nothing is impossible with God.

He relived the many crusades in recent years when Open Doors provided as many as twenty thousand Russian Scriptures for new believers who responded to the call of God on their life.

And now with a group of musicians, preachers and follow-up personnel his vision for evangelism was continuing to be fulfilled; one whole month stopping and preaching at twenty cities along the main rivers of Siberia. At the end of the month, Joseph’s “crusade” had seen over 10,000 people pray the sinner’s prayer and commit their lives to the Lord! And even more exciting is the fact that Christian young people were left behind in sixteen communities to do follow-up training and establish new churches.

On the walls of a hall in Joseph’s church is the missionary journey history of this local body and the missionary vision maps. Joseph becomes very animated and excited as he traces the colour-coded missionary journeys for the past summers that young evangelists he is training had made into Siberia and onward toward the Far East. But more exciting for him are the dotted lines that lay out next summer’s trip plans. They reached right to the Pacific Ocean!

Like his Master, Joseph went through much suffering and deprivation in his life. But like his Master, nothing gives Joseph more joy than knowing the angels in heaven were rejoicing.

Response

Today I will recommit to share the good news of the Gospel with everyone wherever I am.

Prayer

Pray that the many Joseph Bondarenko’s of our world will continue to bear much fruit.

© 2013 Open Doors International. Used by permission

[pastorhogg]

Show Them How to Live

In his classic book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert E. Coleman highlights the crucial patterns in Jesus’ life with His disciples. These patterns reveal Jesus’ strategic approach to teaching His followers how to spread the gospel worldwide. Coleman underscores the secret to Jesus’ effective teaching: His consistent demonstration of how to live a godly life. This concept is vital because the…

[musicgoon]

Book Review: Ruined Sinners to Reclaim

What does Scripture say about sin, and how can it best be understood and articulated today? Ruined Sinners to Reclaim explores the depths of human sinfulness and the boundless grace of God.

Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective

The second book in a planned series on the Doctrines of Grace, this volume is a masterpiece. Edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson, with contributions from respected theologians like Michael A. G. Haykin, Mark Jones, and Daniel Strange -- this book is incredibly rich. With the doctrine of Total Depravity as the basis, this book examines sin and depravity in historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral perspective.

Gibson and Gibson begin the book by explaining that we are to see the seriousness of our sin so that we can be stunned by the splendor of God and his stooping to save us. This book takes a doctrine from the past and provide a framework to best articulated today. It is a thorough and profound take on the subject matter of sin.

Good News

I was most pleased to read N. Gray Sutanto's essay On Revelation and the Psychical Effects of Sin. He shows how God gives common grace to restrain nonbelievers’ sinful selves so that they are actually never as bad as they could be. Christian witnesses can speak to the unconscious and conscious suppressing of sin, hoping and praying for the sheep to hear the voice of their Shepherd. I am challenged to find ways to disrupt and expose the way my family and friends willingly and unwillingly deeply suppress their knowledge of God and the ruptured relationship they have with him for the sake of evangelism.

Albert Mohler ends the book with a passionate call on Preaching to Sinners in a Secular Age. He acknowledges that the notion of sin is an affront to modern humanity. He reminds Christian preachers to see sin as essentially theological in nature. It is in this way that preachers can transform worldviews to understand sin as a human problem against a transcendent Creator. There is a cosmic significance to sin. And by preaching the whole counsel of God, we can allow scripture to give way to the Good News.

Rescued and Redeemed

Ruined Sinners to Reclaim not only explained the doctrine of Total Depravity but inspired me to reflect on my own relationship with sin of which I have been rescued and redeemed. As a masterful exploration of theological depth and pastoral relevance, this book illuminates sin in a world desperate for the incomparable grace of God.

I received a media copy of Ruined Sinners to Reclaim and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.

[glitterfop]

Yeah, this nails it. I was schooled online with public school curriculum, at home, from 2nd grade through 12th grade. This was a direct response to the school system's failure to meet my educational needs (I was really advanced in a lot of areas and wasn't being adequately challenged even in G&T classes, and also had undiagnosed ADHD that wasn't being accommodated) and to my 1st grade teacher being really abusive towards me. My parents absolutely wanted what was best for me and were responding to genuine concerns with the public school system. In many ways, it was a good choice for me that gave me some unique opportunities and advantages. Because it was technically still a public school program, some of the above problems were helped: my curriculum was pretty well-rounded and wasn't just up to my parents, for instance.

And. My conservative parents saw everything I learned and often undermine my curriculum, telling me something (e.g. global warming) was a lie or was incorrect. Everything was still filtered through their point of view. And, conversely, I never met anyone who was in a position to react to my parents' genuinely batshit ideas with anything like a reality check until I was in my twenties. I don't think that was my parents' like evil master plan, but I was fundamentally stuck in a right-wing echo chamber with no real access to competing information. I thought antivaxxers were, like, quirky but harmless.

I was ridiculously isolated from my peers. I didn't realize how much so at the time, because I hadn't had a close social circle my first few years in traditional school, but I never learned to make close friends. When I went to college, I realized I had no frame of reference for moving from acquaintanceship to friendship with my peers, no real idea of how to interact with people who weren't Adults™️ or customers or coworkers. People liked me, but didn't know me, and I still don't know how to change that most of the time. Pretty much all the peers in my social circles were evangelical Christians.

(We had events, of course. I saw other children. I had friends, or at least playmates. But only for Events or Get-Togethers. I never learned to see people, closely, to be used to people.)

And because of this isolation and this echo chamber, that means that when I DID start to have access to my own information and think for myself and come to my own conclusions—that is, when I became a queer leftist pagan—it was and remains paralytically terrifying for me to disappoint or disagree with my parents, because they were My Only Social Circle for my entire formative years.

I have a lot of beef with the public school system, genuinely. It's let me and my friends down in some big ways. And. It is the best we have. It can get better. It should get better. It is important to educate and socialize children. We just need to get better about also recognizing their rights about it. I think we can do that. I don't think we should exclusively trust parents with it.

"the public education system is intently evil and all teachers are abusive because it was the worst experience ever for me personally"

guys, look, I'm legitimately sorry that happened to you. that's fucked up. it shouldn't have happened, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen again to you or anyone else. I'm sorry.

public school was hard for me too, at times, and I'm still suffering the consequences for the harsh grading, the arbitrary deadlines, the hours of completely useless-to-me homework. I could name a few teachers who have been pretty fucking terrible. the fact that nobody considered getting me evaluated for ADHD has had an impact on my self image and academic success that I can't erase.

and also.

I grew up in an area where education, in particular, is incredibly progressive-leaning. educators are working really hard to create and try out education philosophies and practices that prioritize kids and their learning, rather than teachers and what they think kids should learn.

My sex ed was comprehensive, and came entirely from school. My gay sixth grade teacher taught me about HIV/AIDs in a useful, accurate way. In high school, I learned about the way orgasms work & I was prepared not to feel shame for normal stuff.

I learned that Communism was not what the USSR actually practiced, and what it really means. I learned about atrocities and, specifically, the genocide of indigenous people committed in/by the US. I learned about the military industrial complex, the school-to-prison pipeline, and I learned about manifestations of racism specific to my local area. I learned about Stonewall, and the intersection of the civil rights movement with gay rights and disability justice.

My creative writing teacher taught us about LSD, and the real reasons we shouldn't do it, after a hilariously ineffective assembly run by some local cops. He spoke gently, carefully, and emphatically about his friends and his own experiences. Later in the semester, he read us a story he wrote about two gay men finding each other in a deeply homophobic environment.

My sci-fi teacher made me feel safe & seen as a kid with "weird" interests. My US History teacher helped me research and put together a 10-page paper on the modern relevance and mission of Feminism. My government teacher made me feel appreciated for the work I put into the class, and the thought I put into what I said in it, even though he disagreed with a lot of it. My sixth grade teacher bought me books to read with his personal money, whichever ones I asked for. My third grade teacher made me feel safe. My science teacher in middle school made me excited for and passionate about science, and saw and nurtured the effort I put into her class.

A lot of stuff sucks, absolutely. But I am seeing new teaching methods being tried out all the time, and I am watching teachers get really excited when I teach their students about the roots of modern graffiti in US black history & to question property laws, and just...

There's hope. there are so many people doing so much work to make things better. so many people agree with you on what education should be, and are trying so fucking hard to put that into action, and so many public schools- not just teachers, but whole schools and even districts- are really doing that work. so much is getting better.

I had more to say, about necessary childcare and trusted adults and outside contacts and time away from abusive family. But like. Please just sit down and listen to more people on this, and please talk to educators and education professionals about what's really going on in this big huge world of philosophy, science, and practice.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 3)

On December 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France.

His mother was an esteemed heiress and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. He studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola, who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him. But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis:

“What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will.

In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order called the Jesuits.

During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith.

On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast. There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action. He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians. Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes. He also encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims.

In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts.

Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom, rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

St. Francis Xavier became ill and died on 3 December 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China.

He was beatified by Paul V on 25 October 1619.

Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola were canonized together by Gregory XV on 12 March 1622.

Pius XI proclaimed him the "Patron of Catholic Missions."

[automatismoateo]

Saw Dune 2 with my Christian dad via /r/atheism

Saw Dune 2 with my Christian dad Slight spoilers ahead but not really. Skip the first paragraph if you know the storyline already. If you're not familiar with the movie or books of Dune its basically about the son of a Duke who is given control over a planet. Long story short, his family is attacked in a political move and he is assumed to be dead. He finds refuge with the local population who have been oppressed for generations by the same people who killed his family. These people have been looking for a messiah to save them from their oppression and turn their desert planet into a lush forest again. The craziest part is that this myth has been created and spread by a group of preistesses as part of a large master plan. Paul, the main character, knows it’s a myth and knows he’s not a god or messiah yet assumes this role and leads these oppressed people basically into a holy war in his name. I saw the movie with my dad the other night and he is an evangelical Christian. We talked about the movie after and he made some interesting comments. The one that stuck out the most was when he said “it’s so strange how these people know the truth and know it’s a myth and yet still propagate and go along with it.” The movie makes some interesting points about religions and shared beliefs. There are some non believer characters as well as zealots. It really shows how easy it is for people to use religion to manipulate a large groups of people just by a few “signs” being met. My dad knows I’m atheist but we don’t really talk about it. It was very hard for me to not make a comment about how dumb these people are for falling for these obvious lies when it has so many parallels to his faith. Submitted April 06, 2024 at 08:34PM by Sorry_Ad_1285 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/z7wKlqp)

[arpov-blog-blog]

..."Lance Wallnau’s book, “God’s Chaos Candidate” played a significant role in solidifying evangelical support for Donald Trump in 2016, brushing aside concerns about his obvious lack of morality. 

Paula White-Cain gave the invocation at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, at his re-election campaign kick-off in 2019 and his Jan. 6, 2021, pre-insurrection rally. On the second occasion, she gave what experts describe as a ‘spiritual warfare’ prayer: “Let every demonic network that is aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus.” 

Dutch Sheets engaged in a swing-state “prayer and prophecy tour” after Joe Biden’s election in November 2020, playing a leading role in building religious support for the Jan. 6 insurrection, in coordination with Trump’s White House. 

All three are prominent members of a rapidly-growing, anti-democratic religious movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which few Americans have heard of, except in passing or by way of heated denials. But a new book from Canadian scholar André Gagné, “American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times,” could change that, as the NAR seems poised to play an even bigger political role in 2024. 

“Too many of the larger public, and too many who report news, know little about this movement,” said John Dorhauer, recently retired general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, via email. “The trap one must avoid in writing about this subject and reporting on the movement is to do so in a way that comes across as credible without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. The truth is you are in fact writing about a conspiracy. Because of that, large swaths of the American public are just predisposed to dismiss this as too far-fetched to take seriously.”

Gagné’s book is significant, Dorhauer said, because he clarifies and differentiates “various ideologies, theologies and end-game scenarios” in ways particularly helpful to “those of us looking to think strategically about how to offset the damage to our democracy.”  

NAR, Clarkson explained, is hard to understand because it is “constantly changing, [and] has factions in tension with one another. … They are wily because they are worried that the rest of society will figure out who they are and what they are up to.”

The "most radical change" since the Protestant Reformation

Arguably the greatest strength of Gagné’s book is its “focus on how [NAR] adherents speak of their beliefs and practices,” as he describes it, providing a coherent, objective record that can that’s not an outsider’s interpretation — thus evading an objection that religious conservatives have invoked for decades when subject to unwanted scrutiny. This is reflected both in the book’s origin and in its crucial explanation of the NAR, which C. Peter Wagner, who coined the term, described as “the most radical change in how churches operate since the Protestant Reformation.”

Dominion theology, "victorious eschatology" and the Seven Mountain Mandate 

When it comes to theology, Gagné focuses on the “idea of wanting to establish the kingdom of God on earth, the notion of dominion,” a thread long present in evangelical Christianity, but largely more as an aspiration than a master plan, as it is for the NAR. “Wagner was clear on what had influenced him in terms of dominion theology,” Gagné said, and specifically referenced Calvinist philosopher and theologian R.J. Rushdoony, the founder of what is known as “Christian Reconstruction.” (See Julie Ingersoll’s book "Building God's Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism,” and a Salon interview.) 

Another important influence was onetime evangelical bishop Earl Paulk, who “popularized a teaching that is called ‘kingdom now,’” Gagné said, which claimed that “Christ in us must take dominion over the earth.... The next move of God cannot occur until Christ in us takes dominion.” 

It’s worth noting here that the dominionist belief in dramatically expanding Christians’ power over the secular world is inherently in conflict with previously more popular evangelical beliefs that the sinful world should be left behind, as reflected in the popular “Left Behind” novel series. In contrast, Gagné said, “Wagner had a view which is called ‘victorious eschatology,” where he links that idea to dominion theology.” He quotes Wagner saying, “We no longer accept the idea that society will get worse and worse, because we now believe God’s mandate is to transform society, so it gets better and better.”