#YESHUA Band

[10yrsyart]

Happy Resurrection Day! 🕊 "Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He raised from the dead on the third day." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

"He was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief (..) Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down.

But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be made whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

He had done no wrong (..) Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life (and) when He sees all that was accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied (..) 'My righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins.' " (Isaiah 53, various)

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: BEMIS. Part 3

READING THINGS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! 

Part one is here. 

Part two is here.

Part 2: Phases. (Issues 194-200) Published: August 29, 2018

Written by Max Bemis. 

Art by Jacen Burrows, Paul Davidson, and Ty Templeton

Editor: Jeff Youngquist

“Moon Knight couldn’t be in better hands”???? Excuse me comicbook.com? I don’t know who wrote that but… I’d like to have some words with them. 

Also, I’d like to note that at the end of a few issues, they have Kight Mail. This is something that was started way back in Moench’s run. Fans would write in and they got posted at the end of comics! It showed what they thought of current issues, what they wanted to see, and sometimes they even posted criticism of changes. It was a way to connect to fans and for the writers to feel appreciated or to ask what they wanted to see. 

Looking through the fan mail of Bemis’ work in vol one was interesting. All HIGH praises and excitement to see them make Moon Knight dark and gritty. I can’t help but wonder about the demographics of the people writing in at this time. Many of them said they had been long time fans of Bemis’ band “Say Anything”. Which makes me raise an eyebrow. 

Now, looking at the first issue of Vol 2. 

Still written by BEMIS. 

I want to rewind a bit and touch on something that’s going to be VERY important in this next upcoming issue. 

Remember how I mentioned that Bemis self identifies as "A Jew who is also a Christian"? Not a lot of people know what that means. It’s also been known as “Jews for Jesus” and Messianic Jewish religious movement.  

Messianic Jews are a branch off of Evangelical Protestants. 

"They adhere to conventional Christian Beliefs, including the concept of salvation through faith in Jesus (who they refer to as Yeshua by the Hebrew name) as the Jewish Messiah and savior from sin." 

I'm not going to get into religious politics or a lot of history here (I'd be here all day)... But if you have even the SMALLEST knowledge about Judaism, you'll feel a creeping sensation along your spine. 

The word moshiach (messiah) at its roots meant a leader to the people, not a savior deity. Not a god. It meant that a great king would arise or someone that could lead the people in peace. 

So when the Torah mentions the moshiach (messiah), it is referring to a human being that would come to the Jewish people and became a leader, politically usually, who would help Jews and all people thrive in peace.

The "Jews for Jesus" movement is a way to convert Jewish people to Christianity under the guise of still being Jewish. But the problem is that you are either Jewish or you aren't. If you convert to any other religion, you are no longer Jewish. It is a movement meant to recruit more power to the Evangelical Christianity side of things while also removing Jews away from Judaism. 

You see, Judaism is a people first and foremost. These people have been killed over and over and over again by so many different countries, religious sects, and political followings. A lot of the major movements (see Spanish Inquisition for more history on that) were not just genocidal, but culturally genocidal with forced conversions. Numerous times, the traditions and culture was almost completely wiped out. 

Because of this, there are a lot of VERY strict rules in place to try to save the culture and Jewish religion. One of those rules is that if you convert, you are no longer considered of the Jewish people. You are no longer considered able to speak on their behalf. This may seem confusing and harsh to some Christians or other people that are not Jewish. Perhaps I’m not the one to best explain that to you, but if someone repeatedly tried to kill you and wipe your memory and existence off the face of the planet, then a buddy decided to go join them, would you want that buddy to be able to say “Oh yeah, I know all about how it works. Let me speak for them.”? 

They tend to target new converts to Judaism, lonely jews, depressed jews, or at risk Jewish people. They invite them in saying that they want to be friends and to help them celebrate holidays and so on. Then they work on convincing them to convert. 

It's scarily like how a cult works. 

A "Jew for Jesus" is not a Jew. I don't care what their background growing up is, they no longer have the right to claim to understand the Jewish people or any of that. 

So having BEMIS come into Marvel and saying “I can write a Jewish system! I’m Jewish, after all! Representation!” is the biggest load of crap and honestly, it’s almost a hate crime. ….And after reading Vol 2, it WILL be a hate crime. You’ll see. 

Aside from the return of Bemis, there is a new artist named Ty Templeton. Templeton only draws for this next issue, which covers the creation of Moon Knight as a child. Then we head back to Burrows. 

And Cover artist Becky Cloonan. 

I feel bad because this was Becky Cloonan's first time as a cover artist. 

Despite the story, that is some AMAZING art. 

Issue #194

That’s nice. Looking at that kinda makes you excited right? A story about young Marc! Last time we got young Marc was a few flashbacks in Lemire and I adored those. I’d kill for more of that. 

Alright... Opening up, we have the title page that gives you the "previously" blerb. 

"Marc Spector recently fought through a gauntlet of enemies old and new as the Sun King joined with Bushman and the Truth to attempt to destroy Moon Knight and everything he held dear, including the daughter he never knew he had. Spector overcame the odds and defeated the Sun King, but now faces an even greater challenge: Fatherhood." 

Hmm. Sure. Okay. It's not terrible. Maybe....Maybe this issue will be okay. It’s a false sense of security. A little beam of hope. 

We see Marc and Frenchie at a table having drinks and chatting. 

I do deeply enjoy the idea of Frenchie coming back as a friend. Not as a loyal devoted pilot, but as a much needed actual friend to Marc. Marc has only ever just had Frenchie. 

They're chatting it up. Frenchie asked him if he could have had any job in the world, what would he have liked to have done if he wasn't a mercenary. 

Marc says he wanted to be creative. Aww. 

Frenchie tells him he'd have made a handsome actor. 

But Marc say sno, he wanted to be something creative. "There's a lot going on up here." He points to his head. "Stuff I could express without, you know...Beating people half to death. I'd be fat ad happy and soft." 

I mean, that's a pretty good Marc sentiment. And looking back at Lemire's childhood depiction of Marc, it fits. He wanted to do so many things... 

This is starting out as a pretty good issue. I like the art more (still a little flat, but it’s a coloristic style).  Not nearly as bad as-

Ah. 

Okay, so... I... I'm gonna take a very long breath here because we are about to go down a rabbit hole of SEVERE antisemitism. 

This is your only trigger warning. Same warnings as in Vol 1. I’m also going to cut a LOT of art out and just describe it to you. It is going to get disgusting. 

We are getting the story from Marc's narration as he talks to Frenchie about why he thinks being Jewish is the reason behind all his trauma. 

That's now what he said, but it is what is being heavily implied. 

Bemis just straight up said "Being Jewish is traumatizing and life would be better if I wasn't." 

And coming from a "Jew for Jesus", you know he full on believes this and follows it. 

And this is going to get VERY uncomfortable. 

MOON KNIGHT HISTORY LESSON REFRESHER: 

Moench didn't intentionally write Moon Knight as Jewish. 

He picked a name and found out it was of Jewish origins and he thought "Yeah. That sounds good." and rather than ignore it, he went with it full heartedly. 

He outright said "Marc is Jewish. The system is Jewish. Moon Knight is a Jewish Comic." 

He touched on a lot of heavy themes that in one way or another tended to cycle back around to Jewish issues at the time (1980s.) Moench tended to write about what he was seeing in the world around him and it is done with such care and grace that we can still feel those movements and issues when we re-read it today. His message is never lost. 

It wasn't until Zelenetz took over the run that we really got any of Marc's backstory, though. 

Zelentz, a man from a Jewish background who taught in a Jewish school, made Marc's father a Jewish Orthodox Rabbi from Czech who fled the Holocaust and Nazi invasion. 

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCE was it ever implied that this or any of that upbringing had anything to do with his DID. 

In later issues, deep into the 90s and far away from Moech and Zelentz, mostly when talking about his brother, he mentions that his father was very strict and had a lot of rules. 

Some writers even hint at some abuse from his father, especially towards Randall Spector. But this conflicts with Zelentz, who stressed that Marc's biggest issue with his father was that he was too passive. 

In Lemire, we see another reimagining of Marc's father and see him as a bit more modern day and very concerned about his son's mental health and what others might think of him. 

We still don't see the trauma that happened and it doesn't even pretend to hint at it. 

I'll cover Marc's trauma in a completely different post much later, but not knowing Marc's trauma and past is a good thing. 

But people are curious and they wanted to know. They wanted to know what caused the DID and where Moon Knight came from. 

So Bemis thought "I used to be Jewish. Who better to answer this question than me?" 

(Anyone. The answer is anyone is better than you, Bemis.) 

So we see a bunch of stereotypically Jewish men sitting around a table. They are enjoying some wine after a meal and there are a LOT of books behind them. I'm going to assume they are in a Synagogue and this is a temple gathering. 

The artist here CLEARLY tried to copy and feed off of Smallwood. Perhaps in an effort to establish to the reader that we are looking at the same people and this is how the characters now look in cannon. 

I can appreciate that. 

So we recognize little Marc Spector and Elias Spector. 

We know Elias is a Rabbi and Rabbi like to gather with other Rabbi to discuss things and share knowledge. 

So I'm going to take a wild stab here that this is a group of Rabbi or other learned men in close proximity to the Rabbi. 

"Let me explain. I'd have to start with Rabbi Yitz Perlman, the funniest guy I've ever met in my life. 

You know when you're a kid and a grown-up is making grown-up jokes you don't really understand, but they're still so funny you almost Pee?" 

We see Rabbi Yitz making a joke that cracks everyone up. 

I had to look this one up because the joke flew over my head. Apparently it's an old joke and Bemis did NOT tell it right. 

Here is how the joke is really supposed to go: 

A Jewish father was troubled by the way his son turned out, and went to see his Rabbi about it. "I brought him up in the faith, gave him a very expensive bar mitzvah, cost me a fortune to educate him. Then he tells me last week he has decided to be a Christian! Rabbi, where did I go wrong?" "Funny you should come to me," said the Rabbi. "Like you, I brought *my* boy up in the faith, put him through University, cost me a fortune, then one day he, too, tells me he has decided to become a Christian." "What did you do?" asked the father. "I turned to God for the answer," replied the Rabbi. "And what did he say?" pressed the father. "God said, 'Funny you should come to me...' "

It’s actually pretty funny when told right. It also says that you should take responsibility to actually raise your kid. But it’s also a Jesus joke in a way. I’ll let you decide if it’s funny or not. 

Marc continues: 

"There was something exotic about the language he used, the rich, almost mealy-mouthed yiddish inflections he peppered into his monologues, but most importantly... Yitz had the best Jewish jokes of anyone I've met to this day." 

Marc… You were RAISED by a rabbi. There should be nothing ‘exotic’. YOU SPEAK YIDDISH. 

"Now, let me back up for a second and establish something you've probably caught on to, Frenchie. There's nothing Jews find funnier than making fun of ourselves. As a guy who gave up on organized religion, I sometimes think of it as a weird byproduct of our pride in being "God's Chosen People" (Or at least according to the old testament). Like we can afford to take the piss out of ourselves because, in the end, we're going to be the one's ruling the roost." 

I…I have to take a minute to break down why this WHOLE PARAGRAPH is wrong. GAH. 

True, Jewish people love to poke fun at themselves. It’s a survival tactic. I once had it explained to me that it was laugh or cry and the Jewish people chose to laugh. 

I don’t see Marc as having ‘given up on organized religion’. This is a very common misconception when it comes to Moon Knight. If anything, Marc Spector epitomizes the essence of being Jewish. He very much still is aware of the culture, costumes, and often still shows that he understands. Time and time again in Moench and Zelentz he spoke Yiddish, he saved Jewish people, he stopped antisemitism, he rescued a Rabbi and Torah, he punched out Nazi scum. In MacKay, we see that Marc still knows Hebrew. He still knows the prayers. Jake speaks Yiddish! What’s happened is that Marc observes in his own way and while this doesn’t come across as being overtly religious, that’s the beauty of Judaism. You don’t have to go to a temple or synagogue. You can be at home and follow your own path. 

The term Organized Religion in itself is not a Jewish term! It’s Christian! There is no overall ruling power or singular organizer that keeps the rules or how things are done! 

Here’s the biggest issue! There is NO pride in being “chosen people”. That’s NOT WHAT THAT MEANS BEMIS AND YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER. 

So, in Judaism, "chosen people" means that Jews are "chosen" to have extra responsibilities than other peoples. In terms of the covenants with G-d (basically, it's referring to circumcision, keeping kosher, etc). It means that the people have been chosen to make the world better. They can’t rely on anyone else. It is their responsibility to do their part! BUT Evangelical Christians interpret "chosen people" to mean "Special." Because Evangelicals believe that Jews are necessary for resurrecting Jesus. Which is where the “we’re going to be the one’s ruling the roost” phrase comes from. THAT IS NOT A JEWISH BELIEF. 

He says “Old testament.” There is NO Old testament in Judaism. Because there is no NEW TESTAMENT. That’s a Christian belief and teaching! It’s the Torah! And they aren't even organized the same way! 

They can afford to take the piss out of themselves because they have to! They humble themselves. They joke and make light of their situation. They say what they feel and think then laugh it off because they have to! 

And...While Marc is explaining this, we see young Marc watching a Seinfeld episode. 

Specifically it's the one where Dr. Whatley is suspected of wanting to convert to Judaism because he wants to make Jewish jokes. 

It's implying that converts aren't converting for good cause, but with a hidden agenda. 

We also see Moon Knight in certain Jewish and biblical settings as he explains things. 

"After all I've been through at the hands of one faith or another, I confess sometimes that makes me angry. But then I realize I'm caught up in the cycle itself just by having these thoughts. Inflation of ego, anger, shame...Just a cycle. One that runs on hatred. 

But at that point i didn't know anything about that. Jewish humor was just pithy and jolly, and I was proud to be in on the joke. " 

AGAIN. These are NOT Jewish ideals. Not Jewish teachings or beliefs! 

We see Marc expressing anger about being traumatized by religion and falling into a sort of cycle of inflated ego because he believed he was chosen! 

He talks about how it caused hatred and ego! BULL SHIT. It's humbling! When you take it into context, these teachings are MEANT TO BE HUMBLING! 

"Yitz was the Rabbi who taught my dad how to be one himself, so he was very much an uncle to me. I loved sitting in the corner of his office and listening to Yitz, Dad, and their friends rant about endless Jewish minutiae and debate its moral significance." 

No nonononononononono.

Absolutely not. 

"Being, unsurprisingly, a bit of a loner, I'd often go on adventures by myself through the bowels of our Synagogue, staving off dust allergies so I could pretend to be Indiana Jones. As if I'd, like, unearth some lost tablet that held the answers to all of life's questions and get rich. What I found, mostly, were obese mice.

I was a prepubescent kid who was more comfortable with a couple of Old Jewish Guys than I was with a single soul in my homeroom class." 

In these depictions, Marc is already an older kid. Judging from how he’s drawn here and in Lemire/Smallwood’s run, they look to be about the same age. 

We know that DID has to happen at a very young age from REPEATED horrible trauma. In Lemire’s run, we see Marc already HAS DID at this point, though it isn’t very obvious to him or his parents yet. They are already concerned about his behavior and he is already showing signs of being more than one person, even before we see him be introduced to Steven Grant. We also do know that Marc was a lonely child growing up. He played alone, didn’t have friends, and showed signs of behaving differently from the other children. 

How old do you think Marc is here? Cause he looks at least 8-10. And with the way he speaks and behaves, he has to be somewhere in that range, maybe closer to 10. 

Marc asks what the Shoah is and his father tells him that he’s too young to know. THen likens it to “The Sex Talk”. 

Not only that, but he doesn’t want to tell Marc about it. 

Elias says that his father was in a war, and that’s where he met Yitz. 

“The Shoah was part of a war. A big war. The biggest war. They called it a ‘world war’ Lots of people died. My dad died there. And my Mom had to move to America to get away from all the fighting, and that’s why we live here and not in Czechoslovakia…Not that I’m complaining.” 

NO. NO NO NO. That is NOT how you explain that. You do not casual World War 2. You do not casually explain the HOLOCAUST. ESPECIALLY not as a Rabbi talking to your own sun AT THAT AGE. He should already know about WW2. He should already know about the Shoah. He didn’t even explain it right. 

I’m sitting here sobbing. As a history buff that ESPECIALLY focuses in on this time period, I’m dying inside. I’m seething. 

He is downplaying the Holocaust. I can’t believe this. LOOK. OKAY. I get that this is a comic. It’s a comic that is rated T. I can understand (BITTERLY) if Marvel does not want to cover something as deep as- ….NO. ACTUALLY. NO I CAN’T. 

GO READ MAGNETO. GO READ CAPTAIN AMERICA. Magneto did a beautiful job of covering the Holocaust YEARS AGO. There is no right or reason to have to down play it like this. Bemis is just being a bigoted idiot that is trying to show his father as uncaring, Marc as being ‘special’ and unwell, and Jews in general as being cold! 

X-Men: Testament. Magneto

By Greg Pak and illustrated by Carmine Ci Giandomenico. 

Published in 2009. 

THIS is how you cover the Holocaust while still trying to be a comic set in the Marvel Universe. It is heartbreakingly beautiful and as honest as a comic can get coming from Marvel. GO READ IT IF YOU CAN. 

THIS… THIS IS NOT HOW YOU COVER THE HOLOCAUST.

No. Elias doesn’t get to look at him like that. It was a SHIT way to explain it. It was a shit thing that he just did there. He put Marc in that position and failed to teach him about his ancestors, his culture, his history, and the world in general. 

It’s not like there is a literal holiday set aside “DAY OF REMEMBRANCE” or that there is a literal prayer SPECIFICALLY WRITTEN for all those who died in the Shoah. And it isn’t like every Passover includes a paragraph ABOUT THE SHOAH. There is NO REASON Marc should not have an idea what the Shoah is. I’m so mad. I’m so mad right now. 

Oh! And then we immediately follow that up with a Greedy Jew Joke. 

Great. Fantastic. Why is Marc studying in the Rabbi office? 

He goofs off a bit more and they have fun. Marc asks Yitz if he can come by and study there again tomorrow while his dad finishes his work at home. 

Yitz tells him to come after seven. 

"I don't want to convey that I liked Yitz more than my dad. My dad was great. It's just that...Sometimes he wasn't all there. He would zone out sometimes and just...Disappear. Which is...Whatever. But when he got too deep into it, you'd see a flash of something. Something he knew. Something he felt... You'd get the suspicion something was upsetting him. Something he didn't want to discuss. He... Had a lot going on up there."

NOPE. You do not get to play this off like Elias was also mentally ill. 

While there IS a very small amount of research that may show that DID can be contributed to by a chemical imbalance in the brain that is hereditary and predisposes them a bit more towards becoming DID if traumatized... There is no proof and studies have not been conclusive or done enough! 

Or, perhaps, Bemis is implying that Elias knew about what was coming. WHICH IS EVEN WORSE. 

In Lemire’s run, Elias was caring. He wanted to help his son, though he went about it the wrong way. It was what was expected for that time and age. 

"I knew Yitz said to come by after Seven, and I was kind of embarrassed to show him how eager I was to hang out...Gotta play the cool kid... But I figured he'd be excited to see me, so it wouldn't matter." 

He finds Yitz's office locked so he decides to head down to the basement again to wait. 

He finds a trap door in the basement and of course he opens it up and falls inside. 

There, he finds Yitz in the dark.

"Oh, Marc. I said to meet me after seven, didn't I?"

If we follow the logic (logic. HA) that Marc doesn’t know what WWII is, what the Shoah is, or what happened, we can also follow that to mean that Marc doesn’t know what a Nazi is. He doesn’t know about antisemitism and he doesn’t know how to avoid danger or dangerous people.

That is a large room. To be hidden under a basement in a synagogue. And no one else knows it’s there? Bullshit. 

Also? Marc said that Yitz was a Rabbi that knew his grandfather and who also trained Marc’s father in how to be a Rabbi. This means he’s been a Rabbi for a LONG time. And not everyone just gets to be a Rabbi. It’s a PROCESS. A long process! 

I’m not posting the next pages. They are disturbing. 

"You must have so many questions. Most importantly, 'what is uncle Ernst doing with that dead boy hanging from the ceiling?' First... He's not dead. Though I was hoping to get that done before our meeting. Truthfully, you're a good sort and you've never been in any danger from knowing me. Until now, that is. Because you have learned. I'm not Uncle Yitz, but Uncle Ernst. Would you like to know how I knew your Grandfather, really?" 

He's torturing the hanging man during this speech. 

He babbles on for a while. Here's a summary: 

When the Nazi invaded, Marc's Grandfather tried to offer up information to the Nazi in an attempt to get his family out and to America. Apparently Ernst was the Nazi that Marc's grandfather pleaded with. Ernst saw that things were not going well in the war and that Hitler's end was coming. So he helped get the family out. In return, he asked to escape with the family. 

He disguised himself as "his long-lost Rabbi friend". 

Along the way, Ernst killed Marc's Grandfather so no one would learn the truth. 

Then he starts talking about how he was part of the Cabal (the people that made the Red Skull). They gave him enhancements too. 

"My Enhancement is more simple, more elegant. I discovered a method to elongate my life, so long as I sufficiently stimulate the dark, primordial pleasure center of my brain on a regular basis. And you see... What I enjoy most is killing Jews." 

Yeah so... We have a Nazi jew killer from Hitler run Germany who pretended to be a Rabbi????! 

This is propaganda. There are literally conspiracy theorists out there that believe that the Jewish people are hiding the Nazi. That they made it all up to hide the Nazi. 

Again, it takes SO MUCH to be a Rabbi. He had to study. He had to know All five books of Moses AND the Talmud and the history and teachings and language! There is NO WAY someone just stumbles their way through that. 

So this guy goes up to Little Marc and tells him about "what we accomplished together as a nation, less than a century ago. I will tell you of your 'Shoah'." 

Hmmmmnn…

And he tells Marc what his FATHER should have told him years before. 

About the Holocaust. It's a cliff note version of it. 

All of this is told over images of Marc enjoying his life with Marlene and Diatrice. 

It's told very matter of fact. 

About the trains, ghettos, camps, gas chambers, or of course Dr. Mengele (who, while famouse was not the worst of them). 

"It's the same world now that let it happen back then, Marc. It isn't crazy enough that it's impossible. People like me... We'll always be out there waiting to come back for you." 

SEE. THIS IS WHY HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS BEFORE. He could have gotten the proper introduction. The history. THe proper order of things. The places, the Nazi propoganda war machine, and the Final Solution. It is important to know history so it doesn't happen again. NEVER AGAIN is what they are taught. 

But it also teaches them that there are Nazi and people like that out there in the world. It teaches them how to avoid these things. These people. Teaches them about the dangers of people out there that want them dead. 

This should not have traumatized him. This was fact. This was what he should have already learned about and dealth with. 

So, Little Marc gets pissed off and attacks the man, biting him, punching him, and scratching him. 

Marc gets away, but Ernst yells that if he tells anyone he'll come back for him. 

This is not what caused Marc's DID. 

This is a poor rendition of "Jew Trauma" story telling. 

This is a clear play down on the Shoah, a push to show a Nazi hiding as a Jew, and a cold responce to mental health and death. 

I hate this. Good thing it gets worse. So...much...worse... 

Anyways, Marc finishes his tory and Frenchie looks horrified. 

He thanks Marc for telling him. He tells Marc that he needs to eventually find a way to "explain your condition, your world, the complexity of it all" to Diatrice eventually. 

You see, Diatrice has been raised by Marlene. Marlene is NOT Jewish. 

Even with "Uncle Jake" stopping by to help raise her, as implied in the last volume... It is very VERY doubtful that she is doing raised Jewish. 

And we already know that Marc/Jake/Steven’s condition has been hidden from her.

I wish it ended there, though I dislike the use of telling her he's a kook. 

But of course it doesn't end there. 

"It's probably something that's been in my family for a long time. And I can't help it." 

Again, no proof that this is a hereditary thing. 

"And when I was little, I got scared very badly and, since my brain was wacky, it wound a wacky way to deal with being scared. I made friends like Uncle Jake and Uncle Steven to keep me company when I feel really lonely or upset." 

It…Isn’t a TERRIBLE way to explain things to her, depend on her age…. It’s not exactly accurate to how it works, but it’s a start for a young kid. 

But then we get Bemis doing a TERRIBLE call back. Because Marc didn’t do a bad job of explaining this! This was not world ending universe changing news! This was something she’d already run into and now had proper terminology for! She knew her dad was different! She knew about Uncle Jake and Steven! This isn’t the SHOAH.

I really…REALLY wish this was like an annual or something. That it was mentioned then never brought up again. I really REALLY wish they had dropped this story and gone and done something else… ESPECIALLY considering Issue 200 is coming up and it’s a big deal…. 

It isn’t. It. Keeps. Going. 

In the afterward we got whoever being like "Wow! What an intense issue! What a gut punch at the end!" 

I think it's the editor. Which is just... They thought this issue was deep and moving. 

That should tell you a lot about where this volume is going. 

This bread? It’s rotten. Send it back. 

Issue #195

This one is drawn by Paul Davidson. 

This...This issue? I hated it. I hated it so much. Not even the kind of loathing hate you saw in the last issue. This is just... I felt physically ill reading this one. 

Oh. Right. Paul Davidson. 

I...I hate this art. I hate it so much. 

What I don't get is that his art doesn't always look like this. 

Sometimes it's kinda nice and has a good flow with the story. 

But it's like they gave him Moon Knight and he went, "Insane guy right? Caricatures it is!" 

Okay so... I DO remember reading this issue. It immediately struck me as a hateful commentary on 'radical' thinkers, 'new age' people, and 'people trying to be socialites'. 

This is why it's drawn like cruel Caricatures. They want you to hate these people and look down on them and think they snooty and bad. 

It’s cropped like that because it just keeps going. 

I’m going to save you the trouble of reading that drivel and give you a summary: 

You see a leader telling them that The Collective is starting today. 

He wants to assess each "former individual". 

We have the artist. She name drops a famous artist then tells them she "collects real human skulls of deceased circus clowns". Uh huh. 

Then we have the "Aggressive romantic nihilist". He has a collection of jeans that he doesn't wash after sexual conquest. Hmm. 

There's the skeptic. She thinks everything needs doubt and states that she hates everyone so far. Cute. 

There's the fanboy? He likes the whole group and apparently stalked them online before they even met and made paper-mache busts of them all? Right. 

Then you have the leader who is conducting the experiment. 

His idea is that he wants to "Fuse our very personalities in defiance of our skin shackles and actualize pure socialism." 

WOW. So this is not just a cheap shot at mental health, DID in general, but it's ALSO a political shot at socialism. 

Fantastic. 

I'm so stoked for this disgusting journey we are about to go on. 

I’m going to put a pin in this for a second for some personal commentary. 

I’m Ace. I’m deeply uncomfortable when it comes to sexual depictions and situations. Especially in comics. There are comics out there that are sexual in nature and that’s fine! I don’t care. I know not to read those ones. I have nothing against the act, in people enjoying different things, different fetishes, and so on. In fact, I stand very firmly in the beliefs that as long as no one is getting hurt and everyone is consenting, you can enjoy whatever you want. That’s your right. 

So when I opened up this issue and was faced repeatedly with deeply uncomfortable situations, implications, and art meant to make fun of these people… Not to mention that it felt like they were trying to make the very act of fetishes ‘funny’ or ‘wrong’... This isn’t good comic book content. It really isn’t. 

I’m not going to show you all these pages because they really are disgusting and make my stomach sick. But I’m going to try to pick out a few that are not…the worst…

So now they're at a "secret A.I.M. Base." 

They have some technology that the main guy is paying them for access. 

Apparently his cousin works at the AIM facility as a member. 

"I spent most of my life being spoiled by my parents, drowned in trophies, diplomas, accolades, and doctorates. Yet, as long as I can remember, I've woken up feeling empty and mundane. I'm as much as one man can be on his own. Together, we could be...something more." 

Yeah... this is going to be a dunk on DID. I can feel it coming. 

"This machine creates psychic bonds". The idea is that it's going to fuse them. 

They all gather around the machine and it melts them into one horrible flesh thing. 

They spot the AIM worker hiding in the corner and tell him he looks Lonely and "you should join us". And they absorb him too. 

And just like that, we are back to NORMAL art. Proving that it was drawn like that originally on purpose to make us instantly feel disgusted and uncomfortable and hate it. 

This art right here? I like this. I love the sharp lines. The shading. The dull colors. I like the shape of the faces. I like the noses (I'm a nose person. I love the shapes of faces and the different noses!) 

....I'm not sure why they are all fishing and why Steven looks like he's in time out... 

Got a good look? Good because the art style is about to change again and we don’t see this style again. I…I don’t get it. Why go back. Why give us ugly and disgusting? Moon Knight should be beautiful. It should make you stop and look at a page for hours just wondering about how he got the oil slick on the street to look like that (still pining for Bill. Always loving Bill.) 

So we see the boys sitting on a rock above a boiling water in the mind scape and Marc is complaining that he's done with the meta human "freak market". He wants to take it back to street level with thugs and dirtbags. 

Jake tells him "good job on the not-killing-him thing." 

He's being sarcastic because he's pretty sure that Sun King is going to show up later to cause problems like they always do. 

"It's all good. Bushman and I are really getting to know one another. We exchanged numbers. I think we might start a bowling league." 

"Jake, you're by far the worst me." 

Hm. Once again the conflict on Marc vs. Jake is just...Not fitting in with their character at all. 

And Khonshu catches something on his fishing line. 

It's marlene's head and she looks pissed. She yells at him and it snaps him out of his inner world state. 

We see them at the movies with Diatrice and his phone is buzzing. 

Apparently there's a "Super-Crime alert" app. 

He checks it despite being in the theater, completely pissing off Marlene btw, and is more than a little disgruntled to find that it's not a normal problem. 

He gets up and heads out "I said no more weirdos. I SAID no more weirdos..." And it is Moon Knighttime. 

He arrives to find utter chaos. 

He locates two cops and asks where the thing is. 

I'm not pleased with this at all. 

"All right, where is the guy?" 

"It's against the law for me to tell you that." 

"Jerry, don't mess with that guy. It's that crazy one. He cuts people's faces off." 

OKAY. SO. Let me get into this a bit. 

ONE TIME one of the writers had Moon Knight come up against Bushman. He cut his face off and kept it like a souvenir. Literally no one was around to witness this. Yet it's always been a running gag about how insane he is and that he cuts off faces. 

Which... I hate that writer for doing it. It was funny at the time... But that was a long time ago and looking back at it, that run was just... It had problems.

I'm not mad at this art style some of the time. It's an interesting costume and I always enjoy seeing interpretations to his costume. 

Then we see the thing. 

It's pretty grosse. A giant writhing mass of blobby flesh with lots of faces and hands and eyes and teeth. why is it always teeth? 

And it has noticed Moon Knight and wishes to absorb him too. 

"I don't necessarily like that you know who I am." He is not thrilled about fighting this. 

"We are now composed of...At least 32 New Yorkers. Several of which are familiar with your history." 

"Would you, say, be willing to not be that?" 

It smashes up any darts tossed at it. 

It immediately turns to a security guard and sucks him in, absorbing him into the Collective. 

Ready for this?

Yeah. I'm so uncomfortable right now. 

Moon Knight pulls out two swords and slices and dices but it doesn't really do much. 

It manages to tackle Moon Knight and rips off his mask and starts to absorb him. 

I'm not showing you that picture. 

things go black and then we find Marc, Jake, Steven, and Khonshu in a dank cave like place. They head towards a lighted room and find this thing that haunts my nightmares. 

I'm going to show you this because it's really ALL I need to show you to hopefully make you understand WHY I hate this issue So. Very. Much. 

Art makes or breaks a comic people. But so does the writer who tells the artist what to draw. 

ALSO WHY IS THE ART STYLE SO INCONSISTENT?! 

Nnnhhh…. This is not a Dr. Strange comic. There should not be psychedelic imagery. And even this is a bit much for Dr. Strange, because at least that knows how to make sense of the chaos. 

There is a fine art to depicting chaos without overwhelming the audience. This isn’t it. 

Also, it’s VERY clear that this is supposed to be taking a jab at the hippy collective socialist mentality. 

And you 100% know that Bemis thought this up and went “They’re already a collective of DID! This is going to be super awesome to show them joining all these other minds and making sense of it and then getting rejected!” 

F@*&%&$ you Bemis. 

So that ends that issue. 

Great. Next bread please. Get me out of this house of moldy bread. 

Issue #196! 

Still Davidson. (SIGH) 

I hate this cover. I have this thing about depicting the brain so it looks like wormy spaghetti. It doesn't sit well with me. I hate it. You know what else I hate?

Yeah. Yeah… I’ll leave it alone for now. But I can’t stress how MUCH I hate this. 

So... Butterfly man gives them a tour of the collective consciousness. 

"And this is just the beginning. The human mind has an infinite capacity for diversification. Each new brain we add is another universe within us. So imagine that we keep adding infinity upon infinity every time we absorb someone..." 

Jake calls it. 

"That's a lot of personalities to deal with. What you've got here is an excess of personality. You realize it's taken my man Marc Spector 30 years to deal with a HANDFUL of identities? No wonder you're just attacking random people on the street. This place is out of control." 

No. I mean yes but I also mean no. 

A system is not always cool and collected. Sometimes there are disagreements, fights, and struggles for how things should run (and that's just the ones that are aware of themselves being a system). 

MARC is not the one keeping their system going. We know this. We've seen it time and time again. Marc is the stubborn ass-hole that keeps them moving. That keeps them doing what they need to do. But he'd work them to death to do what he does. 

Jake is the one that cools them off and helps build up their social life and handles the joy in life. Steven is the one that handles the self care, the management of the life that doesn't involve them breaking every bone in their body, and Steven is ALWAYS prepared to pull Marc to the back if things go too far. 

They take care of one another. They have their roles. 

Marc is NOT in charge. 

Just because writers don't know what to do with Jake and Steven and always throw Marc to the front (1990s onward. Moench knew exactly what to do with them), doesn't mean Marc is the man in charge. 

Well, Butterfly man says "That's where you come in, Mr. Spector. [....] I'm the de facto ruler of the collective, given that its idea was born of my thought process. But I'm just one man who never had much to say for himself outside of scientific ambition... Which is obviously adequately represented here. Someone needs to kick some butt around here to keep things in line."

So Khonshu and Steven reason that if someone takes charge on how to handle all the ‘personalities’ then the blob will stop going on a rampage. 

IS THIS AN ALLEGORY FOR D.I.D.?! Is that what Bemis is trying to do? Oh I hate this. 

Butterfly man points out that they are ‘the sum of all your thoughts and whims’ and this somehow manifests…. 

So.... We get a lot of different designs of Moon Knight. Skrulls and robots and more butterfly sorts and just... The thing Marvel does when it's trying to design a lot of weird designs. 

I’m just not impressed. There could be better designs and in this art, they are all just kinda hovering there doing nothing. 

And thus… "Moon Knights. Every you you've ever dreamed of. Now, what say we put them to work?" 

And Moon Knight goes on a therapy mission to try to fix all the parts of the collective brain universe. 

The Moon Knights resolve "the Oedipal complex, the Angst quotient, All suicidal and homicidal tendencies..." 

(the fact that they placed suicidal and homicidal together in the same spectrum is down right insulting). 

Also there's this... 

I don’t even know where to start with this one. I’m going to skip the obvious low hanging fruit of “False masculinity” that should have been called “Toxic masculinity”... And hit the fact that you can feel that Bemis doesn’t like Steven. He writes him as a wimp. He writes him crying all the time and as vain and clinging to Khonshu. He CLEARLY views Steven as useless except as eye candy or worse. 

(Not to mention we’ve seen Steven in a speedo before, Speeden as we lovingly call him, and Bill did a FAR better job.) 

So they go back to butterfly man to see how things are going, since they resolved so many of the collective's issues. 

They take a peak at the outside world and... 

I swear to all that is holy in the Moon Knight world...

There's an image of the blob huge and destroying things and what not. Under neath that is a list of emotions the blob is feeling: 

Rage 25%, Frustration 25%, Sexual Frustration 40%, inner peace 10%

They decide they need to figure out the core of all the bad emotions and Jake figures that it's the main control guy, the butterfly man. 

"All this judgment and messiah complex nonsense--You're kind of a @$#%, huh?" 

He denies it, saying "It's not the general sentiment around here" but some of the original collective pop in to tell him that they all think he is. 

Butterfly man freaks out, yelling about how none of this would be possible without his genius and blah blah blah

"You think the work you've done is so great? If it weren't for me locking away that sentient virus that's trying to drive the collective insane, things would be way worse!" 

And everyone stares at him and asks if that's true about the virus. He denies it. 

They restrain him while they decide to open the locked door and deal with whatever problem is hidden behind it. 

A bunch of weird goblin like Ork creatures come out in battle armor and tell them all to prepare to die or kneel before their leader. 

"One man should never control an entire world, Maurice, and no crappy aspect of someone's personality should define them. Trust me. I would know." 

Uh huh. It's ego. They're fighting ego. 

So we get some trippy art of all the Moon Knights fighting the goblin things mixed with images of the blob fighting the army and avengers in New York. 

UGH. 

"All right. You're weird little reign is over" they defeat the goblins. 

"It's Facism of the mind! Get Jungian with us and let go, Maurice!" 

UGH. "Jungian analysis is a psychoanalysis method to access and experience and integrate unconscious material into awareness." It basically is looking for meaning behind behavior, feeling, and events. It's CARL F-ing Jung. A psychologist  "The goal is to achieve psychological healing and wellness by aligning conscious and unconscious aspects of someone's personality". 

There are a lot of opinions about Carl Jung out there and I'm not going to get into that. But a lot of this doesn't go well with D.I.D. It has a lot to do with integration of the alters when applied to DID. ...I'm not going to get into that either, because it's a HOT debate in the DID community and I have no business poking that bear with that stick. 

So Butterfly man Maurice says "But...I just hate AND love myself so much!" 

Jake takes things into his own hands. 

"Steve, I don't really know the metaphysical implications of this, but given this guy seems to think he's what's holding this all together, I think it might help to just...Whack him in the face. Give him some perspective, ya know?" 

(WHY IS HE CALLING HIM STEVE?!)

(Why did the art style change again? Why did their designs change again?) 

The blob explodes in the real world. It's...it's disgusting. 

It starts to vomit up all the people like No Face from Spirited away. 

Marc sits there, covered in goo. "Well... That was a rough one." 

Khonshu reflects. "I wonder if the effects of the change Maurice made to his body will ever come back around again? Can he be contained?" 

The police hand cuff Maurice and put him in the cop car. 

"It really goes to show how someone's hang-ups can govern everything about them." Marc reflects to Khonshu. 

"Certainly a lesson well learned, Marc. For you, for me, for everyone." 

"He may be a horrible guy, but I hope some of the work we Moon Knights put in within the collective's mind-state affected his worldview." 

Oh thank you it’s over. 

And I have reached my 30 image limit again so this is a great place to take a break and a breather before we head into the final countdown of BEMIS. 

So this issue is a sort of filler. You see, it was a one off that has nothing to do with the over all arch. It’s designed to give us space between important plot issues so that we feel a sort of passing of time. We start with something that feels like it stands on it’s own. Then we get filler. Then we start what feels like a new plot but it always circles back around to that first issue. 

Which means… Things are about to get really really bad. 

This issue may feel kind of pointless and like a one off that had no meaning other than to play with the inner workings of MK’s mind… But it was done so badly. 

We’ve seen a good rendition of how it’s done in MacKay. When people attack him mentally, his system does what it is supposed to do and acts as a protective force, often bringing great pain and downfall to the people that dare set foot in his mind. 

We’re talking about a system that has worked HARD to build up such a force to fight these sorts of attacks that he’s practically immune to them. 

Now THAT’S interesting. The idea of a collective hive mind trying to absorb his militarized mind is a fantastic story to tell! It’s exciting! Why? Because you should see HOW the system has learned to function together. How they protect one another. How much of a UNIT these guys are after all these years. 

I also really hate that Bemis is trying to get psychological on us. Attempting to reference big names that honestly are so far out of date that he’s not even using them correctly anymore. 

And seeing the way he writes, you get the feeling that he is pulling the “I know more than you” ego attitude and is prepared to fight/argue anyone that dares to try to disagree with his take. 

Knowing how he has written things here, and seeing how he has handled Moon Knight’s D.I.D so far, this whole issue was just one big jab at their mental illness. It was supposed to be funny and action packed and get MEN (specifically men who read Chuck Palahniuk or who take the Punisher to be pro cops) to agree and get excited about the new edgy Moon Knight. 

This isn’t where he’s supposed to be. The story isn’t supposed to go like this. The characters are all falling so short that I can’t wait to see them all leave again. 

….We’re so close you guys. Just…Just a few more issues to go.

Part 4 HERE

[yummytiger]

Get To Know Me: 06-20-2024: My Top 3:

+ My Top 3 Favorite Movies +

++ The Crow(1994)

++ Terminator 2: Judgment Day(1991)

++ The Matrix(1999)

+ My Top 3 Favorite TV Shows +

++ Buffy The Vampire Slayer(1997-2003)

++ Smallville(2001-2011)

++ Tru Calling(2003-2005)

+ My Top 3 Favorite Bands +

++ Metallica

++ The Beatles

++ Lush

+ My Top 3 Favorite Foods/Meals To Eat +

++ Pizza

++ Pasta(s)

++ Plant Based Meals(Vegan/Vegetarian)

+ 3 Cities I Want To Visit Someday +

++ Las Vegas, Nevada

++ Roswell, New Mexico

++ London, England

+ 3 Celebrities I Would Love To Meet Someday +

++ Steven Patrick Morrissey

++ Keanu Reeves

++ Arnold Schwarzenegger

+ Bonus: 3 More Celebrities I Would Love To Meet +

++ David Tennant

++ Michael Sheen

++ Andrew Scott

+ 3 Famous Men I Admire +

++ Jesus Christ(Yeshua Emmanuel/The King Of Kings)

++ Keanu Reeves(Canadian-American Actor and Philanthropist)

++ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a German Lutheran Pastor and Theologian who tried to kill hitler) (he's considered to be a 20th Century Christian Martyr)

+ 3 Famous Women I Admire +

++ Mary Christ(Jesus' Mother)

++ Mother Teresa(a 20th Christian Saint who was a Missionary)

++ Princess Diana(British Philanthropist)

+ 3 Things I Wanna Do Before I'm 50 +

++ Get Married

++ Get a few tattoos

++ Become a world famous artist/writer and director and activist

@snakelesbians

[heavensbusiness]

MY HELL TESTIMONY

It has taken me years to write down what i experienced when I was younger, but here it is. When i was a little boy, I had a near death experience that shook me to my core. I could not understand what happened back then but now, it all makes sense. As i slept peacefully in a room that I shared with my brothers, something weird happened. I was transported to an extremely dim place. There was an immense amount of smoke and steam, so much so that it was hard to breathe. I remember feeling this intense physical pressure that constricted my ability to breathe and move. I was drawn into a room that had torches lit on other side of a path, that led to a sort of "throne". I could hear a haunting demonic chant as i looked towards the throne. And then I saw him/it. He wore a pitch black robe and battle worn gauntlets, while his head was an abominable sight. Back then i thought he looked like a weird sort of goat or bull, but it is only now that i realised that it was baphomet. Terror flowed freely from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, and even after i woke up, my sweat and fear made for a potent alarm bell before my day officially began. This was over 20 years ago and it is still something I will never forget.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Hell is very real. There is no purgatory, there is no comfy waiting room. The saviour said that it is a place of torment and scripture confirms the unimaginable suffering that people shall endure ( See Matthew 13:42 and Revelation 14:10). The lake of fire is a sub-section of hell, in which all who do not have their names written in the book of life, shall spend all of eternity. I apologise if the testimony above is troubling or makes you feel uncomfortable, but the reality is that hell was not meant for us. You see, the Lord God almighty invented hell as a home for helel (as he was known then) and his rebellious angels. YHWH in all His considerate mercy did not want to force helel and his band of rebels, to live in a place where the latter was not comfortable. So He (YHWH) gave him (helel) what the latter wanted; a place where the former's light, love, mercy, forgiveness and perfection was absent. This place would be the place that we now call hell. A dimension precisely calibarated for spirit beings who hated YHWH's kingship. Kindly refer to Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 12:7-8 for context and clarity. If you have not place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, i implore you, surrender you life to Him today. Salvation is a free gift with no strings attached, simply put your trust in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. After this find a bible believing church and be fed with the word of God! I bless you all in the name of the Lord and saviour Yeshua.

[jbird5x5]

Very Sad to hear of the passing of Singer/Musician Sinéad O’Connor (1966-2023)

Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music has died.

She was 56 years old.

Recognizable by her shaved head and elfin features, O’Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. She was a star from her 1987 debut album “The Lion and the Cobra” and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U,”

“Nothing Compares 2 U” received three Grammy nominations and was the featured track off her acclaimed album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” which helped lead Rolling Stone to name her Artist of the Year in 1991.

O’Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing live on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and denounced the church as the enemy.

In 1999, O’Connor caused uproar in Ireland when she became a priestess of the breakaway Latin Tridentine Church.

O’Connor was born on Dec. 8, 1966. As a teenager she spent time in a church-sponsored institution for girls, where a nun gave O’Connor her first guitar, and soon she sang and performed on the streets of Dublin.

Her performance with a local band caught the eye of a small record label, and, in 1987, O’Connor released “The Lion and the Cobra,” which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and featured the hit “Mandinka,” O’Connor, 20 years old and pregnant while making “Lion and the Cobra,” co-produced the album.

O’Connor’s other musical credits included the albums “Universal Mother” and “Faith and Courage,” a cover of Cole Porter’s “You Do Something to Me” from the AIDS fundraising album “Red Hot + Blue” and backing vocals on Peter Gabriel’s “Blood of Eden.” She received eight Grammy nominations overall and in 1991 won for best alternative musical performance.

O’Connor announced she was retiring from music in 2003, but she continued to record new material. Her most recent album was “ I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss,” released in 2014.

The singer married four times; and had four children: Jake, with her first husband John Reynolds; Roisin, with John Waters; Shane, with Donal Lunny; and Yeshua Bonadio, with Frank Bonadio.

My Condolences to her Family and Friends.

#R.I.P. 😔🙏🥀🎙🎼

[globalworship]

Yeshua (new Hebrew song)

Shai Sol is a composer and performer in Israel. She has been part of the band Miqedem, which I first saw on their USA toun 2018. She also has a strong solo career.

She just released this beautiful song sung in Hebrew. English subtitles are on the screen.

+++ https://www.facebook.com/sol.shai

Streaming - https://nanadisc.lnk.to/Yeshua

Art for the song release:

+++

+++

[dfroza]

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures

for the 8th of October 2024 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New Covenant) of the Bible

[The Book of Matthew, Chapter 16 • The Book of Judges, Chapter 9]

along with Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms with Proverbs 8 and Psalm 8 coinciding with the day of the month, accompanied by Psalm 17 for the 17th day of Astronomical Autumn, and Psalm 132 for day 282 of the year (with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 2nd revolution this year)

A post by John Parsons:

Yom Kippur was the only time when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and call upon the Name of YHVH / YHVH (i.e., יהוה) to offer blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. This "life for a life" principle is the foundation of the sacrificial system and marked the great day of intercession made by the High Priest on behalf of Israel. For this reason it was also called the “Day of God’s Mercy,” or the “Day of God’s Name (יום השם). This alludes to the revelation of the attributes of God’s Compassion after the sin of the Golden Calf (see Exod. 34:6-7) -- a disclosure that foreshadowed the New Covenant. How much more, then, is Yom Kippur the "Day of Yeshua's Name" (יום ישוע) since He secured for all of humanity everlasting kapparah (atonement)? Yeshua the Messiah is Moshia ha'olam (מוֹשִׁיעַ הָעוֹלָם), the Savior of the world; He alone possesses the "Name above all other Names" (Phil. 2:9-10; Acts 4:12). It is altogether fitting, then, that God's "hidden Name" (i.e., shem ha-meforash: שֵׁם הַמְּפרָשׁ) was proclaimed before the cover of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies while atonement for our sins was made through the sacrificial blood.

This gives us a whole new perspective on Paul’s words (Rom. 10:9): “if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is LORD (יהוה) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (i.e., that his blood was shed and presented on your behalf upon the heavenly kapporet), then you will be saved (that is, you will be reconciled to God and made a partaker of the atoning work of Yeshua). Surely the Apostle Paul, a zealous rabbi who diligently studied Torah in Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel (who was himself the grandson of the renowned Rabbi Hillel the Elder), understood the theological implications when he stated that the prophecy: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the Name of the LORD (בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה) shall be saved” (Joel 2:32) applied directly to Yeshua (Rom. 10:10).

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

=========

Joel 2:32 reading:

Hebrew page:

More about Yom Kippur:

10.7.24 • Facebook

from Today’s email by Israel365

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

[shalomelohim]

Yeshu Masi Tere Jaisa Koyi nahi ( येशु मसीह तेरे जैसा है कोई नहीं / Yahshua, personne n’est comme Toi / Yeshua, Nobody is like you) by Yeshua Band - Chanson Hindi (from India - Mumbai Bombay) 

Un final avec guitare électrique et shofar. / A finale with electric guitar and shofar.

♥ ♥ ♥

Une pensée pour nos frères et soeurs qui habitent en Inde. A thought for our brothers and sister who live in India. हमारे भारतीय भाइयों और बहनों के लिए एक विचार।. Hamare Bhartiya Bhaiyon Aur Bahanon Ke Lie Ek Vichara.

Que Dieu vous bénisse ! God bless you! भगवान आपका भला करे ! Bhagwan Apka Bhala Kare !

♥ ♥ ♥

यीशु मसीह तेरे जैसा है कोई नहीं Yeshu Masih Tere Jaisa Hai Koi Nahi Yahshua personne n'est comme Toi, Yahshua no one is like You, तेरे चनों में झुके आसमान Tere Charnon Mein Jhuke Aasman Les cieux s'inclinent sous tes pieds The heavens bow under your feet और महिमा गाये सभी Aur Mahima Gaye Sabhi Et nous chantons tous ta gloire And we all sing your glory (x2)

[Refrain / Chorus] हम गाये होसन्ना Ham Gaye Hosanna Nous chantons Hosanna, We sing Hosanna, तू राजाओं का है राजा Tu Rajaon Ka Hai Raja Tu es le Roi des rois, You are the King of kings, तेरी महिमा होवे सदा Teri Mahima Howe Sada Ton nom sera glorifié pour toujours Your name will be glorified forever तू है प्रभु हमारा खुदा Tu Hai Prabhu Hamara Khuda Tu es le Seigneur notre Dieu You are the Lord our God (x2)

प्यारे पिता तूने हमसे कितना प्यार किया Pyaare Pita Tune Hamse Kitna Pyaar Kiya Père aimant, vous nous avez beaucoup aimés Loving Father, you loved us very much हमें पापों से छुड़ाने को Hame Papon Se Chudaane Ko Pour que nos péchés soient rachetés, That our sins may be redeemed, अपने बेटे को कुर्बान किया Apne Bete Ko Kurbaan Kiya Vous avez fait de votre fils un sacrifice. You have made your son a sacrifice. (x2)

[yhwhrulz]

Worthy Brief - May 1, 2024

react with boldness!

Psalms 2:1-3 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed [in Hebrew it is the word Meshiach], saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

Acts 4:25-28 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

When Peter and John had gone up to the Temple for prayer [Acts 3], they saw a man who was lame from birth, and were moved to heal him in the name of Yeshua (Jesus). Immediately the religious leaders laid hands on them [Acts 4:3] and kept them imprisoned for a day. The following day, with boldness, they declared this miracle was done in the name of Yeshua. I love what the "religious" leaders said next --- "they perceived that they were unlearned men and they marveled at their boldness!" Why were they bold? They had been with Yeshua, and the leaders took note of that!

It is no surprise that the world rages against the Messiah. Psalm 2 declares it clearly. Every year there are tens of thousands of believers suffering and dying for their faith, in large part because the kings and the rulers of the earth RAGE against the Lord and His Anointed. As followers of the King, we should expect this and be prepared for it when it comes.

But, the examples of Peter and John, and every other true Christian martyr are there to inspire and encourage us that if and when the time of persecution comes for us, we too can be bold as a lion. And this boldness is no merely human bravery, but an unction from the Holy Spirit Himself. So, though the kings of the earth will rage, our simple faith and Holy Spirit boldness will testify that we too have been with Yeshua!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka (Jerusalem), Obadiah and Elianna (Dallas, TX) (Baltimore, Maryland)

Editor's Note: Watch a recently uploaded sermon -- Passover, Marriage & the Kingdom of God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHszB_iEwfE&feature=youtu.be

Editor's Note: During this war, we have been live blogging throughout the day -- sometimes minute by minute on our Telegram channel. - https://t.me/worthywatch/ Be sure to check it out!

Editor's Note: We are planning our summer Tour so if you would like us to minister at your congregation, home fellowship, or Israel focused event, be sure to let us know ASAP. You can send an email to george [ @ ] worthyministries.com for more information.

[sylvialovej]

When the HOLOHOAX, the biggest lie ever pulled on Humankind, goes Bust! [Europa - The Last Battle] and Truth penetrates Human Consciousness; I wouldn’t like to be one of those Ashkenazi Jews, Child-killers out there. I wonder how long did animal-Rothschild think he can suppress human consciousness and human evolution with his fucking HOLOHOAX Lie. Children are being slaughtered with worldwide “conscious” impunity because of the fucking Holohoax LIE and the effects of Talmuldwood.

These animals killed our Messiah and then they band the entire world from disliking that fact. You cannot dislike Jews for killing Yeshua, that makes you anti-Semitic, which is a huge crime! isn’t it? Well I fucking dislike that they killed Yeshua, I’m very angry with these killers and I’m very anti-Semitic! Lies! Not anti-Semitic in fact, liars, because the animal “Jews” currently killing our…

[ancestorsofjudah]

2 Kings 13: 20-21. "The Bones."

The Moabite Raiders

Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 

21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

Moabites are traditionalists. They say silly things like "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". This sentiment is decidedly anti-Semitic. Mankind has shown an amazing capacity to get used to ways of life that are clearly no good and never will be but still, they persist.

Jews and Muslims have been hunted for thousands of years, pushed to the brinks of poverty and extinction because of a few drops of ink (badly misunderstood) on a few pieces of paper. Gay people have done not much better, neither have persons who are not caucasian.

But every spring, during the Passover, Jewish people anticipate mankind will usurp the rule of tyrants and end their traditions and the world, the entire world will go free. Passover is also a tradition, one we observe in order to shirk responsibility for things that do not serve the interests of God or mankind.

The greatest responsibility we can then freely undertake is the one that remains, called Elisha, the Free Market Economy. Tyrannies and this thing do not coincide.

Elisha means "to wail and negate, to cry for salvation, be heard, and become free to transact."

"In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.

The verb ישע (yasha') means to be unrestricted and thus to be free and thus to be saved (from restriction, from oppression and thus from ultimate demise).

A doer of this verb is a savior. Nouns ישועה (yeshua), ישע (yesha') and תשועה (teshua) mean salvation. Adjective שוע (shoa') means (financially) independent, freed in an economic sense.

Verb שוע (shawa') means to cry out (for salvation). Nouns שוע (shua'), שוע (shoa') and שועה (shawa) mean a cry (for salvation)."

The Melachim states though the real prophet Elisha is long since dead, we can still touch the bones in the Torah and exact a penance on humanity for its wicked warmongering ways by offering it freedom to live without fear of war and tyranny.

The Value in Gematria is 14649, יד‎ודט‎, "yad and dat" "the hand and the intellect."

The problem isn't that we don't see how things are going. For some reason, humanity is incapable of properly registering the suffering of other persons or animals. The Spirit of God in no way has assented to the causes that inflict suffering any place on this world for any reason.

The cries for salvation emitting their way into heaven are now so numerous, God and the Host must be going insane with anger at us. Especially since we have rules against all the causes of suffering. The sentiment is fine and dandy but we have ratified laws that we have chosen not to follow.

For some reason, human rights and suffering are not popular causes to pursue but they are the most important. Without sterling enforcement of protections for humanity and the plants, animals and places we depend on for survival all is lost.

We can lose it a little at a time as we have been and never put things back, or we can do it all at once like Vladimir Putin and Hamas, in which case the prospects for reconstruction are much less likely.

The Torah, the Tanakh, and the Melachim contained within say there is a Hand that wields absolute authority over this planet, and its Traditions, contained in these documents state our traditions begin with the Passover, the end of slavery and delusion, and then comes the work on the dream of a long-lived and contented humankind.

All the other traditions have to fold in favor of this one, which must come first.

Get rid of Vladimir Putin, kill him, kill Charles Mary and his foul Line of Succession, these persons are War Criminals and do not deserve to live among ordinary civilized human beings. The world must commit to the destruction of Hamas, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, their partners in crime, and put an end to the cheating, child molesting Republican Party.

Do these things today, end their traditions, and then everyone on this planet owes those whose cries for help were ignored every blessing we can possibly confer upon them.

Finally, the world's leaders need to be told, you do not let evil men overtake the good. You never ever let this happen. When an evil man raises his hand, you cut it off and you kill him. This is how intelligent people respond to the world around them. Eventually they will stop growing back.

*Be sure to book your next travel outing in Gaza through one of the many Marriott hospitality specialists now residing there.

[claudz-vision]

www.oneforisrael.org

Isaiah 9 -and the Day of Midian - ONE FOR ISRAEL Ministry

As the Christian world celebrates Christmas, the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 “Unto us a son is born”, comes into focus once again. But perhaps less familiar to many is the treasure just two verses before it, in 9:4:

“For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.”

It’s easy for Christians to gloss over texts which have war and battle in them, thinking that they are rather primitive and brutal, irrelevant to us in the twenty-first century. And brutal they may be, but no word of Scripture will ever become irrelevant. It is eternal, true, and cannot be broken. And often there is treasure buried in these unlikely places, if we steady ourselves to gaze on the less comfortable, the confusing, and seemingly contradictory texts.

The Day of Midian, it turns out, has everything to do with the coming and birth of Yeshua! It’s worth taking a look at that verse in Isaiah 9 again in context –

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 

For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. 

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

What was “The Day of Midian”?

The Midianites had a chequered past in the history of Israel, originally being descendants of Abraham, and the ancestors of Moses’ wife Zipporah, but also turning to be hostile enemies to Israel. This verse is referring us back to the miracles found in Judges 6-7 that God worked through Gideon and his pitifully outnumbered band of warriors. The Day of Midian was the day that God vanquished Israel’s foes through a mighty defeat that depended on a group of men armed with clay pots, torches and trumpets. God saved the day and made it quite plain that this was no ordinary military victory: this was the arm of the Lord at work, mighty to save.

A day of supernatural salvation

You might remember the story from Judges 6-7; an exasperated Gideon asks,

“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

On the Lord’s instruction, Gideon whittles the Israelites down to an army of 300, and equips them with a torch in a pot and a trumpet. They surrounded the huge army of Midianites, and at the right moment,

“They blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands… They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army.”

What a resounding and supernatural victory! This is the day of Midian – a day of trumpets, broken pots and light shining in the darkness. Victory for the Lord and his people, and his enemies are confounded by broken jars and brightly shining lights.

Victory of light and jars of clay

These themes might bring to mind some New Testament verses:

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world… But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:5, 9, 12-13)

Yes, Yeshua came into this fallen world, weak and vulnerable as a baby, brought God’s light and salvation to all who call upon him. The incarnation, the Son that was given, is like the Day of Midian, in that God is telling us we cannot do it ourselves. He delights to save us in our weakness as we trust and lean into him for salvation.

“The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.” Judges 7:2

God’s glory is insulted when we think we can do it all by ourselves. A reference to the Day of Midian in a passage about the incarnation of Yeshua our Messiah is entirely fitting. No word in the Bible is out of place. As we rejoice in the miracle of Yeshua, the true light coming into the world to save us, let us also remember the glorious day of Midian when God just wanted to clearly make it known to Israel that they could not save themselves. We desperately need a savior. Praise God for sending Yeshua, our salvation.

[hedgewitchgarden]

Barefoot girls hold a ribbon and loop around a maypole. Some, styled as the “Little Lambs,” dance for the hundreds gathered at the 15-acre Timonium estate known as The Farm. There are pony rides, potato-sack races, even a live band as people celebrate the end of history.

In faded photographs of the community, I see people who are trying to live their lives halfway to heaven. But that isn’t quite right. We were actually trying to bring heaven into this world. Along with others in the broader Catholic charismatic renewal, we believed that the Holy Spirit was pouring out right before our eyes. Because of our faithfulness, we were witnessing the breakthrough of the kingdom.

I was born into the Lamb of God, one of the dozens of covenant communities to take root in the 1970s when the charismatic renewal first swept the nation. Perceiving the American Catholic Church to be in a state of spiritual decline, Marylander Dave Nodar, his wife, Cheryl, Father Joe O’Meara, and a few others envisioned a kind of New Jerusalem in Charm City. They settled on the Westgate and Rock Glen neighborhoods off Edmondson Avenue on the City/Catonsville line. By the late 1980s, approximately 250 families occupied the two-story homes in those neighborhoods or on their periphery.

From the start, leaders encouraged Lamb of God’s members to eschew the modern world. Families were to limit television, secular news reading, even charity work. In Nodar’s view, offered to The Baltimore Sun in 1984, do-gooders meant well, but they “tended to fall into Marxism.” It was better to focus on one’s soul and the group than to become involved in “humanist” causes.

A policy notebook adopted from a parent community in Michigan stipulated that women (even higher-ranking “handmaids”) were to submit to their husbands, bear as many children as God willed, and refrain from masculine duties, such as spiritually directing children beyond the age of six. Men, in turn, were not to become too involved in domestic work or the more mundane routines of child-rearing. I don’t remember these specific rules, only knowing that feminists were miserable and that my mother loved me more than working moms loved their children.

On Sunday evenings, we convened at Woodlawn High School, UMBC’s event center, or some other place for prayer meetings. A music team worked the crowd into a zeal, then slowed the beat for adults to speak in tongues—ancient Hebrew, I was once told. “Slain in the spirit,” some fell to the ground and convulsed. Some went forward to deliver prophecies. There really was a sense of spontaneity, though it seems many of the divinations had been pre-screened by Nodar.  An unidentified community member later told Baltimore magazine in 1994, “He’d decide if it was from God.”

Not long after the story ran, the community dissolved amid an archdiocese investigation around their finances (no legal charges were ever filed) and cult-like tendencies, then faded from public memory.

When I close my eyes, I can see and hear those prayer meetings. If I close them really tight, I can even slip back into their imaginal realm, outside of ordinary time and into a kind of deep time. Charismania is wonderful before it is terrible—a swooning into the sacred.

As children at the community-run school in Halethorpe, we celebrated our religion’s Jewish roots. On Christian Heroes Day, we dressed as Mary and the apostles. Some of us, wanting to show off, called Jesus “Yeshua.”

We heard relentless stories about Christians’ persecution. A Holocaust lesson centered on Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch woman imprisoned for hiding Jews. It will be years before I understand exponentially more Christians were part of the Third Reich than victims of it.

My mother helped to vet the books in the school’s library, which included books like Little House on the Prairie and The Courage of Sarah Noble. These stories of early settlers made me feel even more chosen—a super-Christian. But I swiftly moved on to approved adult titles at home.

One day, I was absorbed in a volume of Chicken Soup for the Soul when I came across my mother’s marginalia. “NO,” she had written for my benefit in the white space, along with a note explaining why the author’s conclusion was all wrong. Part of me will always be nine years old, reeling from this blow. Her later perusing of my diary and listening to my teenage phone calls—these did not sting as much as this first, thunderous notice that even while reading alone I was under surveillance.

My best friend, “Lydia,” whispered with me about which of our peers’ parents left marks when they spanked them. The threat of violence pervaded the children’s sphere. A wooden paddle hung in the school headmaster’s office and in many of the homes in “the cluster.” Mostly, kids’ own dads did the job. They could deliver more force than our mothers, while serving as stand-ins for our heavenly father. When they explained that they only hurt us out of love, any confusion was subsumed by allegory.

I didn’t know it, but a Catholic woman in the Westgate neighborhood had been complaining about us to the archdiocese. Almost from the moment it took over her block, the Lamb of God seemed to Patricia Whitman like the proverbial whitewashed tomb: beautiful on the outside, but inside, full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.

“It wasn’t Jim Jones, it was one step below,” she’ll tell me three decades later, going on to explain how leaders manipulated some members to remain committed while “pruning the vine” of others. “They’d threaten that if people left, they wouldn’t have spiritual covering, meaning the devil might pop out and get them at the grocery store. They were in danger of losing God’s grace.”

As little girl, I was fond of Fr. Joe, who came over for dinner and squeezed my hand under the table, but Whitman distrusted the man whose collar gave the community a veil of legitimacy. She’d heard he made girls and women uncomfortable. On a beach trip, she was told, he’d walked in as some girls were undressing. She was privy to things because she was a confidante for those who’d been shunned by Nodar and his associates, or who were contemplating leaving. Her front porch was many neighbors’ only safe place to be.

Between 1983 and 1987, Whitman wrote a series of letters to Archbishop William Borders conveying her concerns about the Lamb of God’s cult-like tendencies, including its “view of women as submissive and subordinate creatures,” and citing scandals in covenant communities in other states. He urged charity toward her fellow Catholics and claimed to have no authority over the group.

Then, in the early ’90s, rumors began to spread that some community money was missing, and Borders’ successor, Archbishop William Keeler, summoned Whitman downtown to talk. Only after their meeting did she realize he had picked her brain to see how much she knew, not because he wanted to help the people in the community. He seemed worried she would go to the media.

Neither Borders nor Keeler honored her requests for confidentiality. It was never long after mailing her concerned letters about the Lamb of God community that members would linger outside her gate to pray, one even sprinkling holy water in her yard. One local priest threatened to have her excommunicated if she didn’t quit her crusade.

The financial controversy pertained to the $1.9-million sale of The Farm to developers. Some members, who tithed up to 10 percent of their income to the community, wanted to know: Where did all the money go? In 1992, former members John and Marie Cignatta were so perturbed by this question and other matters that they penned their own letters to Keeler, pleading with him to intervene. He agreed to formally investigate the community, then invited Nodar to apply for official status as an archdiocesan organization, subordinating the group to church authorities.

If Keeler hoped to avoid negative press, he was surely disappointed to see the exposé this magazine published in February 1994. In “The Cult Next Door,” Patrick J. Kiger luridly details how community tensions exploded into a “suburban holy war.” He quotes an ex-member on the “Stalinist” system of surveillance that had people reporting heterodoxy up the chain, also spilling ink over Nodar’s reputed perks, which, even before The Farm’s sale, included a free home and community-paid services ranging from plumbing to the babysitting of his children.

That was the year my family left Baltimore for the hour-north town of Hanover, Pennsylvania. If my parents were relieved to leave the community behind, they didn’t let on. When they claimed to be “getting away from crime,” they didn’t seem to mean their co-religionists’ crimes. My brother and sister were unfazed, but I cried, as I didn’t want to leave Lydia.

In those days before social media, it may have been inevitable that our childhood friendship wouldn’t survive the distance. As the years passed, I thought less and less about Lamb of God. I had no idea that, while the school remained, the community had largely dissolved, nor that Nodar had formed a new evangelization ministry. Even though I struggled for words to describe Lamb of God to my new school peers, I didn’t think of it as anything more than a group of like-minded families that my parents found. There was too much continuity before and after the community for me to view it with suspicion.

The parish we attended in Hanover was animated by the very same fantasies, especially pertaining to women. In fact, it was in a religious education class there that I learned that feminists were not only miserable, they were eminently rape-able. Unmarried women had no virtuous men to protect them, and contracepting women—well, they “asked for it” by disavowing their fertility and thereby objectifying themselves. Anyone who doubted this could read Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which foretold of a hellish world for women following the advent of the pill.

It got to me, this exhortation to marry and have a house full of babies “or else.” This was so, even though, by the early 2000s, the newspapers were reporting on rampant clerical sex abuse, and the tone of some laymen’s voices when they spoke to their wives was enough to raise the hair on my arms. There was also unremitting talk about sex: who was having it, who wanted to have it, who dressed like they wanted to have it. I was then a virgin, but I felt so ashamed. I needed Lydia more than ever, but I settled for eating as little as possible. I couldn’t be a Delilah if I disappeared.

Reflecting on the interregnum between the established order and revolution, the Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote in 1939, “The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” My dad drew upon a similar idiom to account for the way I was becoming more sullen and defiant. He took to remarking he once had a happy little girl, but aliens came and abducted her.

Spiritual abuse is such a quiet violence—a violence of the shadows—it was decades before I found the words to contradict him. By then, I’d left the Church, married one of the heathens, and born two children. Still, my father listened. He said he was sorry for not protecting me from the toxic elements of Catholic culture.

For all our conflicts, my father and I have never been estranged, and so I’m at ease telephoning him in 2020, after I’ve read about Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s People of Praise, to insist, “We were in a fucking cult!” No, he says, it wasn’t that. I do more research and circle back: “Mom was a handmaid.” He replied that she wasn’t and anyway, Lamb of God didn’t really use labels.

Still wanting answers, I joined a Facebook group for current and former members of covenant communities. It’s here that I see that Fr. Joe has been removed from ministry after three women accused him of “inappropriate touching.” I dial Dad again. He’s heard about it, but the language is so vague—it could mean anything, he says. My mother chimes in that Fr. Joe was always affectionate. These days, that can be misconstrued.

The archdiocese won’t release to me records pertaining to Keeler’s investigation of the community, but I find a slew of digitized documents about Lamb of God, including Whitman’s outgoing and incoming letters, at the University of Michigan. I call this woman, now 79, and listen as she talks about the community and the authorities’ tacit endorsement of it.

“It really made me question my faith,” she says of the latter. “I had to remind myself that my strength in God is what counts.”

Not long after our conversation I read more explosive news in The Baltimore Banner: Fr. Joe has been identified as #155 in the state attorney general’s report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He reportedly kissed children on the mouth and would try to move his hands up girls’ legs toward their genitals when a dinner guest at their homes. A housekeeper told of him talking about the size of her breasts. One woman described him tracing the outline of her bra, and another reported “a fondling regimen, inappropriate touching, and digital penetration.”

I text the story to my parents, but they don’t reply. When I stop by their house later that day, I notice The Sun’s pages on the table. I ask my dad if he’s read the Banner piece, and he says yes. He’s disturbed, though he needs to investigate the publication’s credibility.

A few days later, he and my mother come over for dinner, and we talk about Fr. Joe. There’s no question on anyone’s mind that he’s done grave wrong. At one point, my dad goes outside to join his grandchildren at play, and my mom offers that she did not like the way Fr. Joe would kiss her head, though it never occurred to her to object.

I wonder if Lydia has seen the news and if so, what she thinks of it. After years of meaning to do so, I reach out and ask if she wants to have lunch. After I send the message, I wonder if she’ll find it strange. It’s been so long; at this point, we’re really just the kind of friends who like each others’ social media posts. She quickly replies, saying how often she thinks of me. She’d not heard about Fr. Joe, so I send her some articles.

When we meet, I am startled by her voice. It’s not as I remember it. I let the sting wear off before making the observation. “I was thinking the same thing,” she says. “We don’t have our little girl voices anymore.”

Having found this common ground, or perhaps having named what is gone, we quickly fold back into each other. We share our scars, our dangerous memories. We acknowledge how impossible it was to move on. I tell her I’m thinking of writing about the community. She takes a deep breath, and I can see how heavy it all is.

Driving home, I think of the Valentine’s Day card I recently found wedged in a stack of old photographs. “To Audrey: We thank God for you and the happy way we feel loving you. Dad.”

Then my mind drifts toward the women who came forward about Fr. Joe. I wonder exactly how many of them were in the Lamb of God and how close they remain to its people, images, rituals. Do their children attend the school that is still around? Or is the community more of a spectre, something that only finds them in the dark?

It occurs to me, at the very least, each one of these women must have retained hope, as I have, that a new world really is at hand. Justice, democracy, the Kingdom of God, whatever she calls it—it’s coming.

[600shekels]

2 Chronicles 35: 20-26. "The Father of The Hidden Pig."

The Death of Josiah

Josiah II died at the Battle of Megidoo in 609 BCE.

This Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BC when Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt led his army to Carchemish (northern Syria) to join with his allies, the fading Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the surging Neo-Babylonian Empire. This required passing through territory controlled by the Kingdom of Judah. The Judaean king Josiah refused to let the Egyptians pass.[3] 

The Judaean forces battled the Egyptians at Megiddo, resulting in Josiah's death and his kingdom becoming a vassal state of Egypt. The battle is recorded in the Hebrew Bible, the Greek 1 Esdras, and the writings of Josephus.

While Necho II gained control of the Kingdom of Judah, the Assyrian forces lost to the Babylonians & Medes at the Fall of Harran, after which Assyria largely ceased to exist as an independent state.

20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle.

21 But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

=12837, אב‎‎חג‎ז‎ ab-khaz= "the father of disguised pigs".

23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.”

Necho=

נכה

The verb נכה (naka) means to smite or strike, or more precise: to immobilize someone (or something) and dissipate whatever had given them the power to move about freely.

The Gematria calls Necho 12478, yabadzu, יבדזו‎ ‎‎"That which works."

Carchemish on the Euphrates=

כ  כי  כה

The prefix כ (ke) means "as if" or "like." The particle כי (ki) means "in that," both in the sense of "because" and "when." The adverb כה (koh) means "thus."

The verb ישע (yasha') means to be unrestricted and thus to be free and thus to be saved (from restriction, from oppression and thus from ultimate demise).

A doer of this verb is a savior. Nouns ישועה (yeshua), ישע (yesha') and תשועה (teshua) mean salvation. Adjective שוע (shoa') means (financially) independent, freed in an economic sense.

Euphrates= be good, be noble, in fact go beyond

Megidoo=attacked on the river bank and exposed with a cutter

גדד

The verb גדד (gadad) describes making an invasive cut, mostly in order to expose something valuable. Noun גדוד (gedud) may describe an invasive band of raiders, or more general: a cutting, a furrow. Noun גדודה (geduda) means a furrow or cutting. Noun גד (gad) appears to describe the exposed treasure and may be used to describe a physical fortune, plain luck or a state of felicity.

Verb גדה (gada) also means to cut. Noun גדה (gadda) refers to a river bank. Noun גדי (gedi) describes a young animal, but mostly one that was either just slaughtered or soon will be.

24 So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.

26 The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance with what is written in the Law of the Lord— 27 all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

=10411, 100+4+ 11= קדיא‎, ‎kadia "God's pot."

The feminine noun כד (kad), meaning jar (Genesis 24:14, Judges 7:16). The link between the verb and the noun possibly has to do with either the pounding and kneading of the mortar that will become a jar (see for instance Isaiah 41:25, " . . . even as the potter treads the clay . . . "), or the pounding and churning that goes on inside the jar. It is important to note that in the Bible, a jar is not some vessel that simply sits there, but an item that was brought about with great toil, and which continues to be associated with great toil.

Our attention immediately turns to Adam's curse, who was to toil every day of his life (Genesis 3:17), and the name Adam literally means Corporeal or Clay Man. Jars play a very important role in Scriptures: from Gideon's campaign in Judges 7 (see 7:16) to Jesus' inaugurative miracle in Cana (JOHN 2:1-10) and installation of the Communion rite (MARK 14:13). In ROMANS 9:21 Paul uses a metaphor that was one of Isaiah's favorites, "Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?" 

The Honorable Pot vs. the Father of the Hidden Pig

And what is a hidden pig vs. one that lives out in the open?

A hidden pig is a symbol of hypocrisy: It pretends to be a kosher animal. The Midrash11 draws a comparison between the Roman empire and the pig:12 Just as the pig sticks out its hooves when it is resting, as if to say “I am kosher,” so did the Romans put on a show of justice to mask their avarice and corruption.

Hidden pigs need to be hit with an arrow- the hidden meanings in the Tanakh and all traces of hypocrisy rooted out.

Even though Josiah was a good king, his mistake at Megidoo caused the utter bane of an Israelite's existence: Slavery in Egypt.

[atlanticcanada]

Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer of 'Nothing Compares 2 U' and more, dead at 56, Irish media says

Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who became as well known for her remarkable music as her personal struggles, has died, according to RTE, Ireland’s public broadcaster. She was 56. 

According to a family statement shared by RTE:

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

No cause of death was immediately available. CNN has reached out to representatives and family members of O’Connor.

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MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENTS 

O’Connor was a vocalist known for her pure and crisp voice, paired with exceptional songwriting abilities that evoked her views on politics, spirituality, history and philosophy. Her first album, “The Lion and the Cobra,” was released to critical acclaim in 1987, but it was O’Connor’s 1990 sophomore album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” which broke her through as a well-known artist.

Her rendition of the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U” shot to No. 1 in 1990, buoyed by the iconic music video which featured O’Connor, with close-cropped hair and a dark turtleneck. 

The song was nominated for multiple Grammys and scored O’Connor wins for both MTV video of the year and best video by a female artist. Other songs on the album that reaped praise for the singer included the pointed and politically charged anthem “Black Boys on Mopeds.”

In the years following, the singer-songwriter was embroiled in controversy, once ripping a photo of the pope on “Saturday Night Live,” later becoming a priest of a Catholic group and taking to social media to air personal problems and outbursts.

In recent years, O’Connor was open about her struggle with addiction and mental health, and detailed her experience in her 2021 memoir “Rememberings.”

The singer is survived by her three children. Her 17-year-old son Shane died in 2022.

ORIGINS

Born in Dublin in 1966, O’Connor spoke often of her difficult childhood as the third of four children. Her mother, she said, was troubled and abusive.

“She used to go to houses that were for sale just so she could rob s–t out of them,” O’Connor told The Independent in a 2013 interview. “I suppose it was funny, in a way, without being funny at all. You know, she’d go to hospitals and nick the crucifixes off the wall.”

O’Connor said her mother, who died in a car crash when the singer was 19, “couldn’t help herself, God rest her soul” and that she began to steal as a way to appease her. 

“It was an illness,” the singer said. “And so that was part of what was going on at home: I’d steal to pacify her. 

Sent away to reform school as a teen after she was caught shoplifting, O’Connor turned to music for solace and was discovered at the age of 15 by the drummer for the band In Tua Nua while singing at a wedding.

She eventually left boarding school at the age of 16 and struggled to support herself while singing before moving to London, where she worked with U2 guitarist the Edge on the soundtrack for the 1986 film “The Captive” while also putting together her debut album.

CONTROVERSIES

By the time she broke through with her second album, O’Connor was a mother, having given birth to a son, Jake, by first husband, musician John Reynolds. She would go on to have three other children: a daughter, Roisín, from a relationship with journalist John Waters; a son, Shane, from a relationship with musician Donal Lunny; and son Yeshua from a relationship with businessman Frank Bonadio.

In 1990, she boycotted appearing on “Saturday Night Live” in protest over plans to have Andrew Dice Clay host, as she complained that his humor was both misogynistic and homophobic. That same year singer Frank Sinatra said during a concert that he would like to “kick her a–” because of O’Connor’s stated policy that she did not allow the national anthem to be played at her shows.

In 1992, O’Connor made headlines around the world after a controversial performance on “Saturday Night Live” in which she ripped a photo of Pope John Paul II in half while saying “Fight the real enemy.” The incident was lampooned and ultimately harmed O’Connor’s career because of the outrage.

She continued to make music, with standouts including her cover of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” in 1992 and 1994’s “Fire on Babylon.” Her sound spanned various styles and genres over the years, and the singer released a total of ten studio albums, including the ethereal 2000 record “Faith and Courage.” Her last album, “I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss,” came out in 2014.

Nonetheless, O’Connor never reached the commercial or critical success of her earlier work. Instead, she made headlines in 1999 after she was ordained as a priest in the Latin Tridentine church, though in 2014 she told Billboard she had stepped back from that office.

“I’m not interested in causing more trouble than I already am, and neither am I interested in making a circus of the sacraments,” she said.

She also took a similar approach to her sexuality, coming out as a lesbian in 2000 and then telling Entertainment Weekly a few years later that “I’m three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay. I lean a bit more towards the hairy blokes.”

In 2011, O’Connor married Barry Herridge, whom she met on the Internet. The couple split 18 days later before reuniting.

PERSONAL STRUGGLES AIRED PUBLICLY

The advent of social media made it possible for fans to witness first-hand the events unfolding in O’Connor’s life. In 2012, she used Twitter to send out a plea for help: “does any1 know a psychiatrist in dublin or wicklow who could urgently see me today please,” she wrote. “im really un-well… and in danger.”

In 2015 and 2016 authorities were asked to find her – the former because she had posted on Facebook that she had overdosed in an Irish hotel and the latter after she was reported missing after failing to return from a bike ride in a Chicago suburb. In both instances, she was found safe.

She continued to struggle with her mental health in 2017, and posted a tearful video of herself discussing her mental illness to her Facebook page. The footage showed her crying in a motel room and lamenting that her family had abandoned her in the wake of mental health issues.

“People who suffer from mental illness are the most vulnerable people on Earth,” O’Connor said in the video. “You’ve got to take care of us. We’re not like everybody.”

That same year, she changed her name to Magda Davitt, a name she took to be “free of parental curses.” She changed her name again in 2018 to Shuhada’ Davitt, after announcing her conversion to Islam following a series of posts at the time that included O’Connor singing the Islamic call to prayer.

The singer went on to release her memoir in 2021 titled “Rememberings,” where she told her story of “growing up in a family falling apart; her early forays into the Dublin music scene; her adventures and misadventures in the world of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll; the fulfillment of being a mother; her ongoing spiritual quest - and through it all, her abiding passion for music,” according to an official synopsis.

The following year, O’Connor’s 17-year-old son Shane died after going missing in the days prior. At the time, she shared a sequence of brief statements on her Twitter account saying her son “decided to end his earthly struggle” and called him “the very light of my life.”

She was admitted to the hospital a week after Shane’s death after posting a series of statements on her social media describing her plans to take her own life, and expressing guilt for her son’s death. She later updated her fans with an apology for the alarming posts, and reassured her followers that she was seeking help.

Earlier this year, O’Connor contributed her vocals to the opening credits of Season 7 of the acclaimed series “Outlander.”

TRIBUTES

Later on Wednesday, Irish leader Leo Varadkar paid tribute to O’Connor, among many others.

“Really sorry to hear of the passing of Sinéad O’Connor,” Varadkar wrote on Twitter.

“Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare. Condolences to her family, her friends and all who loved her music,” he added.

In a statement shared with CNN, Irish president Michael D. Higgins said his “first reaction on hearing the news of Sinéad’s loss was to remember her extraordinarily beautiful, unique voice. What was striking in all of the recordings she made and in all of her appearances was the authenticity of the performance, while her commitment to the delivery of the song and its meaning was total.”

“To those of us who had the privilege of knowing her, one couldn’t but always be struck by the depth of her fearless commitment to the important issues which she brought to public attention, no matter how uncomfortable those truths may have been,” Higgins continued.

“Sinéad O’Connor’s voice and delivery was in so many different ways original, extraordinary and left one with a deep impression that to have accomplished all she did while carrying the burden which she did was a powerful achievement in its own way,” he added.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/4kPL2db

[veale2006-blog]

Thorns Into Crowns Monday, May 8, 2023 The Sixth and Seventh Day Messiah was to be crucified. Roman soldiers took thorns, wove them into a crown for His head to mock, torture and humiliate Him. We know the crown of thorns as a horrible thing, but there's another side to it. In Genesis, the curse of the fall is epitomized by thorns. "The ground shall bear thorns for you." So why did Messiah wear a crown of thorns? Because He was becoming the King of the Curse. The power of Messiah is so strong that He can even make thorns into a crown. He can take your sorrows and wounds and make them beautiful and glorious. Give Him every part of your life even the worst part, and thank Him for it. Because even the hard things, in His grace, will be used for your good. He is a King that not only wears a crown of thorns but wears the thorns that are turned into a crown. If you follow Him, then all the things in your life that make you say, "Why God?" will be turned around. He will take your thorns and weave them into a crown of glory.

Today's Mission Take all the thorns in your life and give them to Messiah, to take them and weave them into a crown. Cast all your burdens upon Him.

Psalm 30:11 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.

Have a blessed day and week. May Yeshua Hamashiach bless you, Love, Debbie