#and yes as most positions of authority we are using jesus as a stand in for ourselves to try to assert our will is gods

[snekdood]

honestly i think the conception of proselytizing is what made people nowadays so concerned about what other people do/look like/identify as/whatever

[empresskylo]

beneath the mask ✩ chapter 3 ⬅ch. 2

➠𝐌𝐃𝐍𝐈; 𝟏𝟖+ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓; 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 ➠SIMON "GHOST" RILEY X AFAB!READER ➠CHAPTER TAGS | afab!reader. kinda mean!ghost. wc 2.5k. ➠AUTHOR'S NOTE | i do not have a tag list.

𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ✩ 𝐜𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ✩ 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

the following week involved you being the only medic on base and having to treat every soldier on your own; briefing sessions with soap; a few awkward run-ins with ghost; and a shit load of anxiety.

you couldn’t get over the fact that you were about to walk side by side with the most dangerous men in the world on the most important mission you’ve ever been on. soap was acting like it was no big deal—they do this kind of stuff all the time, he had said. you had to remind soap that you were new to this division and weren’t exactly a skilled killer like the rest of the men. you were used to helping wounded men when they were carted back to base, not being in on the action.

“soap,” you whined as the larger man refused to let you take a break from your current training match. “i wasn’t built for this,” you said dramatically, collapsing on the mats beneath you. 

soap chuckled, his hands resting on his hips. “i’m just tryin’ to prepare ya. ghost isn’t gonna go so easy on you.”

“ghost?” you asked, sitting upright–a bit faster than someone who wasn’t constantly thinking about their lieutenant would.

soap stuck a hand out and grabbed yours, heaving you up to stand before him again. 

“ghost insisted on makin’ sure we all met his standards.”

you knew this was about you and gaz specifically, even if he didn’t say it. these men were already the best of the best, that's how they got recruited into this task force. but gaz being recently hurt, and you not coming from a combat background, was probably plaguing his thoughts. 

“oh, wonderful,” you said sarcastically. you were almost positive soap was oblivious to your weird dynamic with ghost, but you couldn’t be one hundred percent certain; soap’s perceptiveness could surprise you sometimes.

you downed your water and stretched a bit more waiting for your imminent doom. 

gaz approached you, his arm outstretched over his head. 

“how’s your hand?” you asked him.

gaz released his stretch with a satisfied grunt and then held up his now unbandaged hand, smiling. 

“and your ribs?”

“still a bit sore. just glad they’re not broken.”

you smiled. “just don’t go too hard training today, okay?”

gaz mock saluted you. “yes, doctor.” you rolled your eyes. 

gaz had pulled you into a sparring match, trying to get your reflexes to actually function properly for when you’d be out in the field with the men.

you growled in frustration as gaz got another killing blow lined up. 

“dead. again,” he said with a laugh. 

“glad you find my suffering entertaining.” 

you felt your body tense and you knew that ghost had just strolled into the training room. you had a weird way of sensing whenever he was around. it was like he made the air thicker of any room he walked in to.

you tried to keep your focus on gaz. he grabbed your hands and helped you adjust your hand wraps that were starting to loosen around your knuckles. your eyes flickered over gaz’s shoulder and you spotted him.

his eyes were already on you and you felt your blood pressure drastically rise. you immediately looked back to gaz and tried to pay attention to what he was saying to you. 

“ready to go again?” he asked when he decided your hands were wrapped properly. you nodded.

after what felt like an eternity, ghost appeared beside the two of you, observing as gaz was in the process of showing you a new defense move.

gaz reached around you with his foot, knocking you off balance and sending you colliding with the mat. 

“jesus,” you mumbled, both amazed and annoyed with him. 

gaz chuckled and reached out a hand to help you up. you were impressed at his composed and collected attitude knowing what was about to happen in a few days' time. you, personally, couldn’t get your heart to stop racing worrying about everything that might go wrong. 

you ignored ghost’s eyes on you as gaz tried to demonstrate the move he just did once again. 

you attempted everything he showed you, repairing the order of the stances in your head as you executed each one, and you sent him flying on his back. 

“shit, nice job,” gaz praised. 

you helped him up when a looming presence from behind you startled you.

“oh!” you jumped, looking up at ghost who was only inches from your chest. “hi, lt.”

ghost was wearing one of his thinner balaclavas again, paired with a long-sleeved black shirt–that disappointingly didn’t have its sleeves rolled up to show off his tattoos–and dark tactical pants. he was a new level of intimidating without all his gear on. you felt like your body was going to melt from the heat he was putting off.

“she’s never gonna learn like that,” he grunted out, directly his words at gaz but holding your gaze. 

you knew gaz was letting you knock him on his ass, but how else would you understand the basics of the moves he was teaching you? if he blocked you and went on defense every time you went to try, you wouldn’t be able to learn anything. gaz had years of training on you.

gaz mumbled something about taking a break and you began to panic. shit.

“open your legs,” ghost demanded. 

a sudden blaze of heat raced up your chest and to your face. your eyes must have turned to moons because ghost’s foot jutted out to kick between your own and widen your stance as if to tell you to get your head out of the gutter.

you adjusted your feet and felt gaz slip off behind the two of you. 

just you and ghost now. great. 

“your waist feeling okay?” you asked, pointing towards the area of his wound from the week prior. 

he nodded. “good as new.”

“good. that’s good,” you said awkwardly. 

you both looked at one another, your cheeks warming, before ghost cut you out of your daydream. “arms should always be at the ready.” 

you lifted your own and did as he said, mirroring him, and taking on a solid but readying posture.

“now, try to hook your leg behind my own.”

you nodded, the heat from earlier subsided just to be replaced with the rushing sound of your heart beating in your ear. you prayed ghost didn’t have super hearing, but you wouldn’t put it past him.

you dipped down slightly and tried to get your leg to wrap behind ghost’s, aiming to knock him backward. 

before your foot even made it where you wanted it to go, ghost had spun you around and sent you stumbling back. 

“again,” he demanded. 

you took in a breath before approaching back up to him and going at it again. 

he blocked your attack and you tripped over his feet and fell to the mat. 

“again.”

you felt the sweat bead on your forehead, out of both anger and exertion.

and again he knocked you back. 

“this isn’t going to help!” you finally said, a scowl on your face. 

“don’t like bein’ pushed? think any of those men out there will give a damn about that? think they’ll give a shit that you’re just a medic?”

you let out an irritated breath. “i just don’t think training me like this will get me anywhere.”

“oh, and how would you like t’be trained then?”

you stared at him in silence. 

“should i let you tackle me to t’ground?” his voice was deeper than earlier, sending shivers up your spine. “is catering to your ego that important you’d risk your life?”

“this has nothing to do with my ego.” your voice felt faint as you struggled to come up with an argument. you were frustrated, sure. but he was right in a way. any bad guy you cross out in the field isn’t going to give a shit that you’re a medic and not a trained soldier. and you did not want to fucking die. 

“no? then go again.”

you brushed off your pants and readied your stance, going at him again. in an agile ebbed movement, you went flying to the ground. again.

you propped yourself up on your elbows and glared at him. frustrated beyond belief, and exhausted from already training for hours today. you did something you wouldn’t have normally done if you weren’t so peeved off. you sprung to your feet and rushed into him. ghost caught your hand but you spun around behind him, making him grunt as your foot collided with the back of his knee. 

he bent forward and you jumped onto his back. he had to release your hand in fear of choking himself out. ghost was so caught off guard that he sank to his knees. you caught your breath, still clinging to him. you may not have got him to go all the way down, but still, you managed something. 

“now if you’ll–” ghost cut your words short, shifting his weight so you slid sideways and he grabbed your waist and sent you sprawling out before him. before your back hit the mat, you grabbed his shirt, yanking him downward with you. his hands caught himself on either side of your head, his hips between your legs, his torso almost touching yours as you breathed heavily. 

ghost’s eyes bore into yours as he loomed over you. heat rushed to your face as you felt his hips pressing against your own, trapping you below his impressive weight. your hands were still tied up in his shirt, your heart racing out of your chest. 

“that hurt,” you mumbled.

“it was supposed to.” his voice was far softer than you’ve ever heard it before as if you stole the breath right from his chest. goosebumps immediately covered your arms and you hoped to the gods that he didn’t notice. 

you were at a loss for words as he held his position. “now how will you get out of this, pet?” he provoked. 

devoid of logic, you bucked your hips up against him, trying to wrangle your way free. ghost essentially growled above you, sending fluttering vibrations through your chest. you tried to roll out from under him, and if you didn’t know any better, you would have thought he let you. your positions quickly changed as you used all your muscles to turn him on his back. you straddled him, heaving again at the amount of force you had to exert to move his body.

your hands were resting on his chest and you felt your entire body go hot. there was no way you were straddling ghost, sitting right above his belt, your hands pressed flat against him, and his hands… his hands loose on your hips, edging towards your thighs. 

in pure embarrassment you quickly stumbled off of him, not even offering to give him a hand to stand back up. 

you thought for sure he would call it a day, probably irritated at you getting so close. those were definitely not proper techniques you executed back there. 

to your surprise, ghost grunted, stood, and mumbled, “again.”

you couldn’t help the displeased groan that left your lips. “ghost, please. i’ve been doing this all morning.”

he didn’t like the way his chest tightened momentarily at the sound of you begging him. 

he could see the exhaustion on your face. in a sort of compromise, he wanted one more spar. he slid the knife from his holster on his thigh and caught it expertly in his fingers. “unarm me,” he demanded. 

you looked at him with hesitation. “if ya unarm me, y’can be done for the day. i won't even fight back.”

something painful echoed in your chest. you just wanted to get away from him. why was he dragging out your time together? he didn’t even like you. he should just tell price they couldn’t risk taking you along on the mission. 

you mentally groaned and slowly stepped closer. ghost readied his stance. 

you darted to the left and he deftly blocked you. 

then you ducked down, coming up on the side he held the weapon and his arm stopped yours. you grunted before slipping around him and shoving him back. he stumbled a few steps and you dodged his arms. 

ghost spun to meet you, grabbing your wrist with his free hand, both of you stumbling so your back collided with the wall. 

with heavy breaths, ghost pinned your arm beside your head. your other hand struggled, but you managed to grip his knife and fling it out of his hand, sending it rattling on the hard floor away from you two. 

ghost’s hips were almost against yours, his body trapping you against the wall. your head clouded with so many unwanted thoughts about his chest pressed against your own. the way his body traced yours like a phantom.

“next time, try to hold on to the weapon you disarm. because now, you’re defenseless. and hate to break it to ya, but you against any man of my size, unarmed… you’re dead.”

your mouth hung open slightly as you caught your breath. you could feel ghost’s ungloved hands lingering by your waist. you nodded, unable to speak as you felt his fingers fluttering against your skin where your shirt began to ride up. it was almost like he was purposefully trying to touch you. 

your eyes flickered down to where his hands were and ghost immediately backed away. he gave you one look over and went to pick up his knife. 

“enough for today,” he grumbled, a tensing sense of aggravation filling the air. 

you straightened your clothes out, walking back onto the mat. “so that’s it?”

ghost turned in a way that made it look like he was forcing his body to move. “need me t’tell you how good of a job you did? pat you on your back and tell ya you’re gonna be fine next week?”

you glared at him. “no. i just–”

“you won’t. you’re gonna get yourself killed out there.” you sucked in a sharp breath at his words. you watched as his eyes avoided your own. “be back here tomorrow to train more with soap.”

you nodded even though he wasn’t looking at you. he hesitated another moment, almost like he was debating on saying something else, but then he turned and left you alone. 

you sank down onto the mat, sprawling out backward and breathing deeply. your body was sore and throbbing from all the collisions you took today. 

fuck. you had one chance to prove to ghost you were capable. that price trusting you to come along was the right choice. but you just made a fool of yourself. and ghost thought you nothing more than a weak link in their unit. you were going to get them all killed. 

you closed your eyes, a tear sliding down your sweat-stained cheeks.

chapter 4 ➡

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

During one of the interviews I had with a reporter from a secular news outlet during the opening of the Creation Museum in 2007, I was asked, “What are you really trying to do here? What’s your real motivation?”

I answered: “To stand on the authority of the Word of God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ—to see people saved so that they can be in heaven with us!”

The reporter replied: “So you admit it then?”

“Admit what?” I responded.

He said: “Well, that you’re deliberately trying to get people converted to Christianity.”

“Yes. Absolutely,” was my reply.

The reporter then looked at me and said: “Well, that’s refreshing!” I was somewhat surprised. “Why do you say that?” I inquired. The reporter stated something similar to the following: “I’ve interviewed many Christian leaders who are involved in issues such as creationism, prayer in schools, abortion, and so on.”

He then went on: “When I ask them what their ultimate purpose is in tackling the issues of the day, most would not admit that their involvement had anything to do with Christianity. These leaders usually say it’s because of ‘traditional family values’ or ‘what the Founding Fathers believed’—or something similar.”

The reporter added: “Why don’t they just come right out, as you did, and admit they’re involved because their real motivation is to see Christian thinking permeate the culture and see people saved as you say?”

The account above highlights what I consider to be a major problem in Christendom in general—and it has even greatly contributed (unwittingly in most instances) to the secularization of society and led to an increasing ineffectiveness of the church to impact the culture.

Many Christians have been duped into accepting a false idea: that there is a “neutral” position they can take in regard to social issues, or any issue. Some Christians in the USA even accept the myth that the U.S. Constitution declares that there should be a separation of church and state, and, thus, they don’t want their Christian beliefs to influence politics.

As I’ve stated many times, God’s Word, however, makes it clear that there is no neutral position. Matthew 12:30 states: “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Thus, people walk either in “light” or “darkness.”

When creation, prayer, and Bible readings were by and large eliminated from the public (secular) schools in the West , many people (including some Christians) thought that the system would then be “neutral” or “religion free.” But is it? All you have to do is read the main biology textbooks used in public (secular) schools to see that students are taught how the entire universe and all life can be explained by natural processes! These textbooks promote the religion of “naturalism” which is atheism.

A small minority of people has forced its anti-God religious views on the whole culture, and they have even succeeded in capturing the hearts and minds of children from church homes. Most of today’s youth in our churches attend the secular schools; so, we should not be surprised that most don’t think biblically!

Most Christians simply don’t know how to defend their faith against even “softball” attacks on the Bible. They freeze and avoid talking about the Bible; they don’t want to risk being confronted with tough questions and be forced to attempt a defense of their faith. Churches by and large haven’t equipped them to be ready for such a defense. And sadly, most of the church leaders and church goers have already (wittingly or unwittingly) accepted evolutionary ideas, and this has undermined the authority of the Bible in their own lives. They lack the ability to take on even the most blatantly unbiblical social issues.

God’s people need to be unashamed and uncompromising in their stand on the Bible. Like the apostle Paul, we need to boldly state: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). We need to unashamedly proclaim a Christian worldview and the gospel, all the while giving answers for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15).

The following admonition Paul gave Timothy is just as relevant for each one of us 2,000 years later: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Yes, we need to be equipped to be able to defend the Christian faith and boldly stand on God’s Word unashamedly, so his Word that convicts and saves will be proclaimed.

Now when you do this, be prepared to be mocked by our enemies. But let’s not be ashamed of what God’s Word teaches concerning biblical truths, including the accuracy of the book of Genesis and the doctrines that are found there (e.g., marriage between man and woman, the sanctity of life, origin of sin, creation, etc.).

My prayer is that all of us will be challenged to “not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:8).

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (2 Timothy 1:8–14). – Ken Ham

[sacredcynic]

Keeping It Real

It is that time of the year again. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking I mean Christmas when I say that. Yes, we are in the midst of the Christmas season, but that is not what I am talking about exactly. What I am referencing is the “let's use Christmas to make our modern political point” season. While I love Christmas, I hate hijacking the story just to make our point. It happens incessantly, and it always seems to generate enough likes for people to keep doing it, even though the likes are driven by political agreement more than anything else. Let me give you two examples. 

Mary and Joseph are trying to tenderly navigate not only the difficulties of pregnancy, but a pregnancy that is accompanied by whispers and rumor. Further complicating their lives was an arbitrary requirement by a tyrannical government to travel to a distant town just to take a census. Their lives would have been so much easier without an over-reaching government to make everything worse. Without getting into the merits of this description it is clearly not the point of the story. When we use a story for our purposes it loses its intended, rich meaning. We should be more careful. 

Here is a far more common example, and one most of us are familiar with. This is a story you will hear or read many times this week. Jesus is born into poverty, the son of homeless parents. He is one who is well-acquainted with being homeless, and his arrival is an example of his solidarity with the poor and dispossessed around the world. Therefore, we are required to stand with those around the world who suffer poverty. Here is the problem – that is not the story either. 

Joseph was a tradesman living in Galilee. Just a few miles away Herod was building a new city to be called Sephoris. A carpenter would have been in demand, and Joseph was close enough to walk to and from work each day. While nothing close to wealthy, Joseph would have provided for his family and even have enough to provide a Jewish education for Jesus. We have many such hints about this from the gospels. Jesus is typically in the company of Pharisees – a group strong in the Nazareth area, and in numerous encounters the Jewish leaders know who Jesus is. A homeless Jesus would have never posed a threat to the synagogue authorities. A Jesus whose family was known would have been prominent enough to be kicked out of Nazareth for his uncommon views. The Christmas story is not Jesus' economic status. The story from the gospels is that Jesus was utterly common. He grew up in a common village, in a family of common religious values, with fairly common beliefs in the Pharisaical community. Jesus was not special because of his wealth, or His absence of wealth. This is the point, unless you want to abandon the original story just to make a political point today. If you do then the original story is changed the story to fit your position today. 

It seems we purposefully miss the story for a variety of reasons. Our agendas are always more important and more needed that the point of the Gospels. The gospels tell us that Jesus came to Earth to share in our humanity, not our political viewpoint or our economic arguments. The problem with our agendas is not that they are wrong, but they pale in comparison to the point the gospels clearly want to tell us. The gospels are not trying to lecture to us about governmental theory, but about one who did not cling to His divine rights, but took on humanity to redeem us. It is also not a story about Jesus coming to economically identify with a segment of humanity. Any theory that has Jesus prioritizing one segment over another misses the mark. Economic Calvinism is not an improvement over the theological kind. 

Here is what I know this Christmas – Jesus came to redeem everyone. His message to my Republican friends is the same as his message to my Democratic friends, leave your political nets and follow me. Christ also wants to redeem those who are poor and those who are rich, and tells them both that money is not the central point of life – I am. I find it interesting that both lowly shepherds and wealthy Magi worshipped Jesus in those early days. It seems there is a message in there somewhere. As we move toward Christmas this week I hope that everyone will join me in recognizing and worshipping this Jesus. Merry Christmas. 

[destinyimage]

Discerning Visions, Dreams & Symbols: How to Hear God Through His Prophetic Language

I have often asked the Holy Spirit, “Why do we see in visions, dreams, symbols, and the like?

How is it that You don’t just tell me plainly, much like a friend would tell someone about an event they have seen or that is upcoming?” One day He answered me on this issue.

Why Visions, Dreams, Symbols, and the Like?

What dropped into my heart surprised me. I knew it was God’s Voice when He answered. It was a simple yet straightforward answer—“I want to be pursued.” The word came to me that plain—God wants to be pursued. It was that simple! Such a basic but profound revelation it was to me that He loves it when people seek Him. To seek Him is to seek His will, and He is a relational God.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).

The Scope of Encounters

The supernatural is an interesting space that is more real than this natural world; in understanding that, we will look at a few strange happenings, mysterious encounters, entities, and revelatory experiences and under- stand that they are all part of the spectrum in prophetic reality. However, we must determine case by case where each moment falls in the scope of encounters. We are going to take a look at many of the issues you may have heard of or even experienced and talk about them in a relatable way.

Although we will by no means cover the entire scope of encounters and experiences, we will offer thought and insight into some. I desire that you have a purposeful consideration as you see encounters through a biblical lens as a takeaway regarding what to do as encounters and situations present themselves, which are not mentioned in this book. Remember this—the answer is always the same. Surrender to Jesus, which means surrender to His Word.

And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:32).

As we explore some unique encounters and prophetic experiences, remember the scripture from 1 Corinthians 14:32, “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” Prophets should be subject to the voice of other prophets and able to control their vessel.

Controlling oneself and the gift of prophecy (including wild physical manifestations) is always in your ability. Are there exceptions? Yes. The Holy Spirit may invade a surrendered vessel’s space, similar to how John the Revelator experienced the apocalypse. His experience resulted in writing down some of the most dramatic revelations the world has ever been exposed to. However, God is not the author of confusion, nor is He giving people complicated gifts that do not draw people closer to the Word of God and Christ Jesus the Son.

Crucial

What we are about to talk about is crucial to anyone venturing into the realm of prophecy or any spiritual encounter. You are responsible for managing yourself and holding command of the gift God has entrusted you with—you are also to biblically wield prophecy or any power gift God has entrusted you. Remember, if you find yourself resonating with encounters as we look at them or have an unction to step out in prophecy, stay with the Bible, be honorable, have class, don’t over-dramatize, and when in doubt, use people skills!

Encounters are subjective in that they are difficult to quantify for those hearing and trying to understand as an outsider looking in. This is also why deception is so rampant in the prophecy space. Because anyone can simply say, I have had a vision. I just went to heaven, or an angel just spoke to me, etc.

The Lord has given us His Word as the absolute standard and a powerful source for accuracy and propelling legitimate prophetic ministry to a heightened position.

God’s Written Word is a Place of Rest

Remember that God’s written Word is a place of rest for your heart! When you receive the Word of God by faith, it creates a sense of ease, and you will be able to cease your striving and start flowing. As a result, this is what you will convey to others—a flow, a sense of ease and peace rather than tension. Safety is found in His Words of life, and He will never violate what He has said.

Here and now, before we venture into some of the strange and mysterious aspects of prophecy and the supernatural, remember your foundation must be on God’s written Word. As it will keep your heart safe in that place of rest—stay safe, dear reader.

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Unique Supernatural Encounters

I’m about to go into an arena that is sensitive to talk about but happens to believers and unbelievers alike.

I have experienced many unique encounters over the years but have learned to stand on the Word of God and refuse to go beyond what is written. If the Scripture doesn’t support a thing, then teaching it should be avoided altogether. The following is a sampling of what sensitive people can and sometimes experience.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what the experience might be—the Word of God is your final authority. It must be, or subjective conjecture about what is legitimate becomes based on how someone “feels” about the event.

It is imperative that you know you can control your experiences. This is a highly important truth to be understood regardless of what you might think or what others have taught you. Controlling yourself is required to become mature in the prophetic.

Following is a number of experiential occasions that happen more to those who are prophetically inclined. This is, of course, a partial scope of encounters or experiences. Yet we must acknowledge the unique encounters so many seem to have. We will look at a list of encounters or simple explanations. Let’s begin.

Symbolism, Signs, and Strange Encounters

I have chosen to list many things I have encountered and have had others come to me about over the years. The terminology for some of these experiences and events is words I utilize to label and explain some of these experiences.

Traffic

To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10).

Traffic is a term we have used for many years. It is a word we use to describe recurring experiences and encounters with the unseen. It is typically in reference to supernatural, emotionally impacting data that happens when in the proximity of people, events, or even when there are conversations pertinent to you or something you are picking up on about a person, place, or thing.

I have come to believe traffic is a heightened level of discerning of spirits as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10. The Greek word for “discern” is diákrisis which means to distinguish, decide, or judge.

Defining Traffic

Traffic is emotional and informational data. In my experience, it is a “ripple effect” of either information within a person or a precursor to a prophetic encounter due to an event about to take place or an event that has already happened. It is the gift of discernment arbitrarily picking up on unseen movement in the form of words, actions, and intentions.

At times traffic in the negative sense works this way. Imagine if someone was yelling in your face, saying the meanest and harshest things, and telling you heart-wrenching information. You likely can imagine the feeling to a degree of what I’m describing. Now remove the data, the words, and any logical connection to what was said. All that remains is the sensation on the inside. You now understand what I call traffic.

One of the best ways to navigate traffic you don’t understand or where it is coming from is to pray out loud, speak the Word of God out loud in faith, and press in by speaking in tongues. Spending time in the Spirit by speaking in tongues will help you discern and lessen the negative effects of traffic.

Traffic is not something you look for but something you walk into—like the wind. Traffic is being exposed to random data. It can be emotions or feelings—not always read right or interpreted accurately, by the way. Something emotional or informational that comes from seemingly nowhere.

Having been in situations when emotion overcame me leads me to believe that Jesus may have been so moved for the people involved with Lazarus and for Lazarus himself, it drove Him not to cry, but to weep. It is very possible that Jesus could feel their pain. Potentially, the most extreme form of traffic Jesus encountered was manifested in the sweating of blood (see Luke 22:44).

This term, traffic, which is in the scope of discerning spirits, encounters the semi-unknown. It can predicate an encounter, either good or bad. It is an elusive experience, yet very real. A person who is sensitive to the things of the spirit and not full of the Word of God might feel like a bystander—it’s not something you are looking for, but rather a sensory encounter induced by people or events.

Déjà vu

Déjà vu is a French term meaning already seen. Déjà vu is that sensation of familiarity or the sense that you have been in a particular situation before. It varies in intensity and the depth of familiarity it provides. For one person it may relate to what they are currently experiencing. Another individual might see or sense much more, to the point of names and moments they can call right before they happen.

When I attended university, studying psychology, déjà vu was one of the things we learned. It caused me to take somewhat of a deeper interest in it, primarily due to the fact that I have experienced intense moments of déjà vu. My takeaway from studying and experiencing it led me to believe there are two aspects to it. One purely natural, the other and a far less common experience touches the prophetic realm.

Let’s look at the natural explanation through the lens of what certain psychoanalysts say. Some attribute déjà vu to wishful thinking; some psychiatrists cite mismatching in the brain, causing us to mistake the present for the past.

Some researchers offer speculation that déjà vu is an occurrence of a mismatch in the brain during its continual attempt to gather data and create a perception of what is around it, having only a limited amount of input.

Researchers also refer to your memory and how it only requires small bits of sensory information (such as a familiar smell) to bring forth a detailed mental recollection of an event or moment in your life. Some believe déjà vu is a “mix-up” between sensory input and memory-recalling output.

Another related theory states that déjà vu is a fleeting malfunctioning between the long and short-term circuits in the brain. Researchers postulate that the information we take in from our surroundings may “leak out” and incorrectly shortcut its way from short to long-term memory, bypassing typical storage transfer mechanisms. When a new moment is experienced—which is currently in our short-term memory—it feels as though we’re drawing upon some memory from our distant past.

A similar hypothesis suggests that déjà vu is an error in timing. At the same time we perceive a moment, there is a parallel release of sensory information that may simultaneously be re-routing its way to our brain’s long-term storage. This causes a delay and, perhaps, the unsettling feeling we’ve experienced the moment before.

One characteristic is common to all déjà vu experiences: we are completely conscious that they are occurring, implying that participation of the entire brain is unnecessary to produce the phenomenon.

Over the years, researchers have pinpointed disturbances of the medial temporal lobe as the culprit behind déjà vu. Studies of epileptic patients investigated via intracerebral electrodes demonstrate that stimulation of the rhinal cortex (such as the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices—structures involved in episodic memory and sensory processing) can actually induce a déjà vu episode.

A study published in an issue of Clinical Neurophysiology analyzed the patterns of electroencephalography (EEG) signals from the rhinal cortices, hippocampus (involved in memory formation), and amygdala (involved in emotion) in epileptic patients for whom déjà vu could be induced by electrical stimulation.

The researchers found that synchronized neural firing between the rhinal cortices and the hippocampus or amygdala was increased in stimulations that induced déjà vu. This suggests that some sort of coincident occurrence in medial temporal lobe structures may “trigger” activation of the recollection system.

There may be additional theories that researchers and professionals postulate over. What can be taken away is that there is a natural phenomenon involving your brain’s perception and memory which gives many this sensation known as déjà vu.

The Prophetic Side of Déjà Vu

The other side of déjà vu may have much more to do with the prophetic spectrum. This would be in the sensory prediction category. It could be that, at times, you walk into a setting, and suddenly you are reminded of a dream or vision. Sometimes it can be much more involved, such as a familiar event begins to play out in front of you. Only you know what will happen next, like a film you have seen before plays out before you. It’s as if you know the lines, the setting, and who will arrive, as well as knowledge of what will happen following each moment. This can last a few brief seconds or a minute. It is my opinion that this is within the realm of prophetic visions, dreams, and word of knowledge.

Sensory Issues

And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me” (Luke 8:45-46).

Sensory issues are interesting. Mainly because they are subjective, I will try and explain this for the sake of helping someone. One of the only reasons I bring this issue out is because, on more than one occasion, when talking to prophetic people, this is part of the way their prophetic gift works.

Here is what I mean. Sometimes, there are moments when a person touches me, and that information will come to me about them—their life, past emotional issues, good, bad, and the ugly. An example of this is when I had a minor outpatient surgical procedure that required a little scalpel cut followed by a few stitches. I couldn’t move, and thankfully, Heather was with me.

When the doctor placed her hand on me around the halfway point of the procedure, I had a flash vision of this person’s life. I calmly said, “Oh, I see you play piano during the holidays.” She said, “Well, yes, I do,” and I proceeded to see and say things in detail about her life. Because of the proximity and close quarters of the doctor, it was like seeing into this person’s life.

I only shared a few things when this doctor began coughing violently and manifesting a demon! This is before I was to be stitched up! Meaning there was blood starting to roll as she coughed. Heather spoke up, saying, “Um, um, are you okay?” to the doctor, and the situation got worse until we prayed for peace in the scenario. Immediately the doctor was able to rush back over to me and finish.

Another time, I was having a routine blood draw, and with the needle in my arm, I saw something about the nurse who was holding my arm, and she burst into tears, which caused me a fair amount of pain! While Heather was hugging her, the nurse received a breakthrough in getting to know Jesus because of the prophetic moment.

Heather said to me, “Next time, wait until after the medical procedure before saying what you see!” Today, I take Heather’s advice!

My point in sharing these two stories is that there is a point of contact that draws on a certain spectrum of prophetic people.

Signs, Prophetic Symbolism, Numbers, etc.

Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds (2 Corinthians 12:12).

There is a level of subjective interpretation in the area of signs and wonders. Spiritual encounters can have a unique perception based on the recipient’s position. This applies to nearly all signs, wonders, prophetic symbolism, and numbers you see repeatedly or even wake up to in the middle of the night.

Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him” (John 12:29).

A great example is in John 12:29, where we recognize that some thought it thundered, and others said, an angel has spoken. This was the perception of those near the audible Voice of God. Jesus replied in the following verse by saying, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake” (John 12:30). Interesting that the words were to affirm Jesus; however, the real purpose was for the sake of those around Him!

Yet even with the sign directly from God, the perception was not all the same.

So what is a sign? One way to describe a sign would be to call it a marked event, token, or miracle with a spiritual end and purpose. Signs are miracles that lead to something out of and beyond themselves, like the fingermarks of God. Signs are not valuable for what they are or the scene they might make—but their purpose is for what they indicate.

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[leonbloder]

When "Faith Over Fear" Isn't Helpful

Over the past few years, I've seen a lot of, shall we say, interesting things posted by people professing to be Christians on social media.  Aside from all of the conspiracy theories, thinly veiled racism, misogyny, homophobia, Christian nationalist rhetoric, and the like, I have seen a particular phrase more than a few times. The phrase is Faith over Fear. I first saw this phrase crop up during the pandemic as a great many Christians publicly opposed safety measures, vaccines, etc.  But it pops up occasionally on my social media feed whenever there is a calamity, tragedy, or worrisome event.  The intimation of how some people use this phrase is that true Christians should never be afraid.   This phrase is usually posted on social media, typically as a response to a political or social issue where the person posting has stated a position and is defending it in religious terms.  Interestingly, the Bible has 365 instances where God-fearers and Jesus-followers are encouraged not to "be afraid." The folks using Faith over Fear have a leg to stand on, as it turns out.  But the problem with a phrase like this is that it supports the notion that Faith and Fear cannot co-exist.  In other words, you won't be afraid if you have enough faith.  The fact of the matter is that people of faith are frequently afraid.  The exhortations in the Bible to not be afraid are directed at people of faith, who are, in fact, afraid.  These biblical exhortations are God's encouragement to the faithful, who naturally felt afraid when fear was warranted.  The biblical messages are reminders that we can be freed from fear, but they don't say we shouldn't ever fear.  You can have faith and still be afraid.  Not to mention, some fears are healthy.  I don't have to remind anyone reading this today that there is a lot to fear in our current culture, not to mention the many things in our lives that are also fear-worthy.   Millions of people suffer from anxiety in our world, most of whom have no control over it without counseling and/or medication.   To hear the phrase Faith over Fear is like a slap in the face to those who can't help their fears and require treatment to be able to function.   It's also a dangerous thing for some who need treatment but then think that if they just had enough faith, they would be able to overcome their fears without it.  In her book, Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! author Kate Bowler wrote a variation of the Beatitudes that reflects the idea that we often hold faith and fear in the same space and why that's helpful: 

Blessed are we, the anxious,  with eyes wide open to the lovely and the awful.  Blessed are we, the aware,  knowing that the only sane thing to do in such a world is to admit the fear that sits in our peripheral vision.  Blessed are we, the hopeful, eyes searching for the horizon,  ready to meet the next miracle, the next surprise.  Yes, blessed are we, the grateful,  awake to this beautiful, terrible day. 

Here's something we all need to hear... 

We can have faith and still have fear, and we can also have hope in the midst of that tension.  Sometimes, being able to name the fear within us is powerful because it's there and needs to be confronted. 

Naming our fear also takes away some of its power and enables us to find the strength to look to the horizon for signs of hope.  

So consider yourself blessed today if you are anxious, aware, and afraid. It does not mean you don't have faith; quite the contrary.  It simply means embracing your current reality and reminding yourself that "this too shall pass." 

There are miracles and surprises aplenty if we are willing to lift our eyes and look beyond where we happen to be. 

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and always. Amen.  

[truthandlove]

I go to twitter and immediately there are so many distressing tweets and so much violence. While it is real, it is ALSO constantly shown to us to put and keep us in a place of UNPRODUCTIVE outrage.

Our emotions MUST be channeled into productive action. This is easier said than done. We need God to put us and keep us in the "zone" of productive and redemptive goodness in the face of lawlessness, crime, and apostasy.

So remember this:

1. The globalists (aka Molech worshippers in secret but politicians in public) need chaos, division, strife, fear and mass crisis in order to get compliance to reshape society all the way to Beast compliance.

2. They must foment enough distress, and OUTRAGE from every direction possible to put you and keep you in a traumatized state. Traumatized makes you reactionary, illogical, impulsive and imbalanced - just how satan like it.

Preparation and prayer are the antidote to being manipulated through their calculation reaction tactics. There is plenty to change, plenty to be mad about, plenty to hate - because God hates wickedness that hurts the humans he created and loves.

But we must do the right thing with it. Our outrage must not control us; we much control it in God's strength. We much let Jesus CHANNEL (redirect) all anger into POSITIVE action. We must: hate all evil, while also clinging tenaciously with both hands to all goodness.

"Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." -- Romans 12:9-21

These days it is so obvious that there IS much evil and we WILL have tribulation. We must thus use and train up a PURE heart (without guile and selfish ambition) and we must USE our spiritual authority to bless and not curse. We pray that GOD DOES THE JUDGING and also the ENFORCEMENT of JUSTICE of the wicked all around us.

Given that we are BOMBARDED by fear, by anxiety, by seeing so much distressing wickedness, we also have to KEEP ON GOING to Jesus for healing, for restoration, for balance. It can be AROUND us without overcoming us on the inside. Psalm 91 and other passages talks about this.

Yes we are proactive and in action, but our PRIMARY and FIRST action is spiritual action. We take it to the REAL AUTHORITY and we bring the victory of Jesus over and against all forms of evil, applied TO the many dark situations around us. We bring the victory of Jesus OVER AND AGAINST the fake authorities trying to usurp everything and claim the territory for satan in the spirit. The boss of the territory gets the most say over what happens in that territory.

We bring the IMPRECATORY words in Scripture over and against the dark spirits (of many kinds) trying to RULE OVER men.

Learn what imprecatory means, see all the words of the Bible where evil is condemned. Be very familiar with them, so as to USE THEM QUICKLY in situations, in attacks on yourself spiritual and on others. Again, God's Word has the REAL authority. You put the Truth of the Word of God BETWEEN YOU and the attack.

You must KNOW the scripture in order to apply if effectivelty. You stand on it, trusting it, staking your life to it (because you trust in the trustworthiness of God Himself and how He honors HIs word).

This is called not "leaning on your own understanding." This is called "walking in the Spirit of God." This is called "abiding in the Vine of Jesus". This is called "overcoming evil with good". And many other things in the Bible.

Pray and ask what verses in the Bible God wants you to memorize next and get intimate with through medication. Of course the devil hates this, this growing in authority, and will try to derail you, distract you. Expect the pushback. God allows this enemy resistance to STRENGTHEN you as you must "double down" so to speak on your commitment to pursue God's Word.

The Blood of Jesus get's you saved, but to be an OVERCOMER and enjoy the maximum delight and blessing for eternity in heaven, you must ALSO overcome the challenges. Jesus already won the WAR against evil. It is defeated but not yet locked up. Jesus allows us to fight BATTLES for our strengthening. We win by bringing Jesus TO our battles. We (a) submit to God, and then (b) resist the devil. That means we do have real attacks that need US to resist them, with our heart first aligned with and in subjecting to God's heart and will, of course.

These attacks on God's children are no accident or oversight on God's part. God gives you opportunities, in this way, to DEMONSTRATE your love back to Him. Love means obedience from a place of trust. Expect these battles to not feel good at all, but is is WORKING in you a lasting character development that is very attractive to God. And trust me you both want and need God to DRAW NEAR to you and your situations in every way.

[rosiewitchescottage]

Exactly! The entire region was under Roman Occupation.

The religious authorities and kings only got to keep on operating, as long as Rome 'allowed them to'.

One of the worries for the religious authorities, was that if one of the many wandering preachers got too enthusiastic a following, and the Romans considered this to be enough of a breach of the peace. The Jerusalem Temple cohuld be shit down.

And yes, it's true, some of the religious authorities had a long lineage of being in the Sanhedrin, enjoying considerable power and influence amongst the Jewish People.

But many of them were genuinely frightened about this, because throughout their trouble history, The Jewish People had always been able to cling to their Faith, Culture and Each Other, for mutual strength.

The film 'Son of God' about Jesus, feels rather rushed to me, comparing it now with the pace of The Chosen.

But there's one scene, which I though was well handled and put the dilemma of The Sanhedrin in a new light.

I'm not sure what the exact unrest in question was. But it was bad enough that Pilate had the population of a particular village/quarter of Jerusalem slaughtered for it.

We see Caiaphas walking through the devastated scene afterwards, and he's in tears.

It gave me a fresh perspective on the man, what's expected of him and where he stands overshadowed by Rome.

He's in charge of the Spiritual Welfare of the entire Jewish People.

All the while he needs to play a careful diplomatic game with Pontius Pilate, just to be able to keep The Temple open and running.

Wandering Preachers are nothing new or rare. But Jesus stands out, firstly for how especially successful he's proving to be, all the rumours of miracles, but most of all there's all the Messianic titles that he's claiming.

Yes. Maybe Caiaphas, his FIL Annas and other Sanhedrin members fear the loss of a 'cushy' position for themselves.

But it's a lot more. This is a people who are used to having to struggle to preserve their way of life and their Faith.

But it can't be anything but downright depressing when it comes up again and again.

Caiaphas, first and foremost is having to work out whether or not Jesus is a serious threat who could well bring down the wrath of Rome, even more heavily onto his People's heads.

Maybe even leading to the closing down of The Temple.

Be that as it may, though.

If 'The Jews Killed Jesus' then wouldn't it have been by the usual method of stoning to death?

it was hardly an unusual occurrence, particularly if the charge was 'blasphemy'.

But no. Jesus is put into the hands of Pontius Pilate, the representative of Roman Power.

He was well known as capable of being so brutal, that it was even too much for Rome!

It's apparently how he lost his position in Judea eventually. And it hadn't been the first time he'd been pulled up on it, either.

If he'd really decided that Jesus shouldn't die, under Roman Law, then he wouldn't have died under Roman Law.

But he did.

[curtklingermanposts]

Standing For Righteousness

Righteousness Exalts A Nation

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

Most want the best for their nation. They want to see it prosper and stand in a place of prominence. They’ll even fight for it, because they love their country. In recent years, there’s been moral decay, which has affected much of the world. That same decay has been responsible for the downfall of a number of nations throughout history. How many people fear their nation is on a collision course for the same end? Is that the way you view your nation?

So how do you stop it? What measures are you willing to implement to change its course? Some have taken the view that if we put the right people in positions of authority, it will change things for the better. In democratic societies that idea has proven futile. As a matter of fact, it’s backwards to think in those terms, especially if you’re a Christian. But to continue that line of thinking, to some degree, those in office are a reflection of the heart of those who voted for them.  

As our opening text says, righteousness exalts a nation. Would you agree it is time for those who claim Christ to take a stand for righteousness? If that is the case, it is important to understand that taking such a stance begins with us as individuals. It does not begin with voting for certain politicians, protesting while using picket signs and banners with platitudes, and the like. In short, leaning on our own understanding of things will never change a thing. We have to begin with the state of our own heart before addressing the state of the nation.

Get Rid of Hypocrisy

Psalm 2:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Hypocrisy can be very blatant, except to the one who practice it. Those quick to point out other people’s faults are usually just as guilty, if not more (see Romans 1:1-7). Self-deception accompanies duplicity, which is an important reason to become self-aware. More pointedly, it is essential to examine ourselves with the help of Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

There are some important questions we can ask ourselves, especially if a self-righteous finger begins to rise up toward another. “Are there things I’m tolerating in myself that should not be there?” “How does my life stack up against the Word of God?” Hypocrites avoid the Word, be it the Bible or spoken, because they do not want to be exposed. Jesus is our Standard, so if one should feel the need to compare one’s self with another, start with Him. That might put things in proper perspective.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Exposure from the Light of the Word is a very good thing. It leads to repentance for those who are willing to receive correction. How can we expect correction to take place in a nation or community, if we ourselves are unwilling to receive it? We know God disciplines those He loves, and it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those who are trained by it (see Hebrews 12:5-11). Peace is connected to righteousness, which can serve a barometer of sorts in relation to our hearts. One way to look at it is a lack peace may be a sign of walking in unrighteous territory. It could be something as simple as having the wrong attitude. We cannot afford to ignore the conviction of Holy Spirit when He calls us to repentance. In short, it is impossible to stand for righteousness if we live a life of hypocrisy. Change begins with repentance.

www.perfectfaith.org

[reedreadsgreek]

John 7:25–27

25 Ἔλεγον οὖν τινες ἐκ τῶν Ἱεροσολυμιτῶν· οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὃν ζητοῦσιν ἀποκτεῖναι; 26 καὶ ἴδε παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ λέγουσιν. μήποτε ἀληθῶς ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄρχοντες ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ χριστός; 27 ἀλλὰ τοῦτον οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ χριστὸς ὅταν ἔρχηται οὐδεὶς γινώσκει πόθεν ἐστίν. 

My translation: 

25 Some, then, of the Jerusalemites were saying, “Is this man not the one whom they seek to kill? 26 And look, he speaks boldly and they say to him nothing. Perhaps the rulers truly knew that this man is the Christ? 27 But we know this man, from where he is; but the Christ, whenever he might be coming, no one will know from where he is.” 

Notes:

7:25 

οὖν is transitional (“Then”, NET; “At that point”, NIV; “Now”, NRSV). 

The subject of the imperfect ἔλεγον (from λέγω) is the substantival indefinite pronoun τινες. The prepositional phrase ἐκ τῶν Ἱεροσολυμιτῶν is partitive (“some of the Jerusalemites”; “some of the people of Jerusalem”, most translations). Imperfect-tense verbs are often used with a subject of unspecified number (EGGNT). 

οὐχ introduces a question expecting a “Yes” answer. The residents of Jerusalem know better than the festival pilgrims of verse 20. 

The near-demonstrative pronoun οὗτός is substantival, referring to Jesus, and the subject of the present ἐστιν (from εἰμί). The accusative ὃν relative pronoun is its own antecedent (“the one whom”) and the direct object of the present ζητοῦσιν (from ζητέω). The nasal aorist infinitive ἀποκτεῖναι (from ἀποκτείνω) is complementary with ζητέω. The unexpressed subject of ζητοῦσιν is presumably the Jewish leadership (cf. οἱ ἄρχοντες, v. 26). The whole phrase ὃν ζητοῦσιν ἀποκτεῖναι functions as the predicate of ἐστιν. 

7:26 

For ἴδε, see note on 1:29. 

παρρησίᾳ (“openly”, NRSV; “publicly”, most translations) is a dative of manner with the present λαλεῖ (from λαλέω) whose unexpressed subject is Jesus. 

καὶ (“But”, NRSV). 

The substantival οὐδὲν (“nothing”) is the direct object of the present λέγουσιν (from λέγω) and αὐτῷ, referring to Jesus, is the indirect object. The lack of confrontation by the Jewish leadership leads the crowd to conclude (perhaps sarcastically) that they are beginning to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. 

In a direct or indirect question, μήποτε means, “whether perhaps” (BDAG); the term expresses uncertainty (e.g., HCSB: “Can it be true that ...?”;  NASB: “The rulers do not really know ..., do they?”); ZG calls it a ‘a tentative interrogative’. The adverb ἀληθῶς (“truly”; see note on 1:47; most translations: “really”) modifies the ἔγνωσαν (from γινώσκω), whose subject is οἱ ἄρχοντες (“the rulers”, NASB, NET; “the authorities”, NRSV, NIV, HCSB). The verb is an ‘effective aorist’ (Zerwick §252), where ‘verbs indicating action directed to some end may express the actual attainment of that end’: “have come to the conclusion”; NIV: “concluded” (most other translations: “know”). 

ὅτι introduces indirect discourse after a verb of cognition. 

The substantival οὗτός, referring to Jesus, is the subject of ἐστιν (from εἰμί) and ὁ χριστός is the predicate nominative. 

7:27 

ἀλλὰ introduces a statement that stands in contrast to the previous supposition (“However”, NASB). 

The near-demonstrative pronoun τοῦτον, referring to Jesus, is in the proleptic position as the direct object of the perfect οἴδαμεν (from οἶδα; perf. form with pres. sense): “We know this man, from where he is”, although it can be taken as the subject of the present ἐστίν (from εἰμί): “We know where this man is from”. The spatial interrogative adverb πόθεν is, “from where”. ‘Πόθεν does not refer to the Messiah’s birthplace ... but to His parentage’ (CGT). 

ὁ χριστὸς is in the proleptic position, in front of the indefinite temporal clause; ὅταν modifies the present subjunctive ἔρχηται (from ἔρχομαι; subj. after ὅταν), whose subject is ὁ χριστὸς: “The Christ, when he comes” = “When the Christ comes”. The temporal clause modifies the main verb γινώσκει below. The aorist-tense is more common after ὅταν (cf. ὁ χριστὸς ὅταν ἔλθῃ in v. 31); Robertson says the present-tense of ἔρχηται is ‘a trifle more picturesque.’ 

The substantival οὐδεὶς is the subject of the future γινώσκει (from γινώσκω). The interrogative spatial adverb πόθεν modifies the present ἐστίν (from εἰμί) in an indirect question; the unexpressed subject of the verb is ὁ χριστὸς. πόθεν ἐστίν functions as the direct object of γινώσκω.

[racefortheironthrone]

Among the general populace of New Rho, there is at least some cultural memory of religion - people use “God” as an interjection and mild expletive, much in the same way that culturally Christian but functionally atheist countries still use “Jesus Christ!” although we don’t see any religious establishments or forms of worship and the like. 

In terms of how John formulates his divinity, I think we need to consider what influences he’s drawing on and what kind of rhetoric he's using. Consider the following:

“Necromancer Divine, King of the Nine Renewals, our Resurrector, the Necrolord Prime.”

“The King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death!”

“His Celestial Kindliness, the First Reborn, begs this house to honour its love for the Creator...”

“...as many of them now lie waiting for the rivers to rise on the day they wake to their King...”

“I stand in the stead of the merciful God Above Death...”

“Let the King Undying, ransomer of death, scourge of death, vindicator of death, look upon the Nine Hosues and hear their thanks. Let the whole of everywhere entrust themselves to him. Let those across the river pledge beyond the tomb to the adept divine, the first among necromancers. Thanks be to the Ninefold Resurrection. Thanks be to the Lyctor divinely ordained. He is Emperor and he became God: he is God and he became Emperor.”

“Oh, Emperor of the Nine Houses...Necrolord Prime, God who became man and man who became God...”

There is a lot going on there in terms of embodied theology. In terms of the forms that the godhead is taking in these titles and prayers:

First, there is a strong emphasis on John as the Resurrector - that is the miracle that is the proof of his Divinity, and the covenant ("contract of tenderness") with his people. Thus the emphasis on the “Nine Renewals,” the “Ninefold Resurrection,” and his mastery over death. 

Second, there is a strong emphasis on John as the greatest of necromancers - the Necromancer Divine, the Necrolord Prime, the adept divine, the Lyctor divinely ordained, etc. This is where I think a lot of the cultural power imbalance between necromancer and cavalier come from - yes, there are other sources of authority in the Nine Houses (the Cohort chain of command, the colonial bureaucracy, the court at Koniortos, etc.), but it's still a system where necromancers are on top, from God on down to the Saints and the adepts below them.

Third, there is a strong emphasis on John as someone who is both mortal and divine, and that this transformation is bi-directional - he is the "God who became man and man who became God." This is where John is borrowing most directly from the half-remembered Catholicism of his youth, and while he avoids the whole wrangling over homoousios versus homoiousios that bedeviled the Council of Nicea by simply not having a Trinity, he is very much taking a firmly Chalcedonian position on the whole monophysite versus dyophysite controversy.

Fourth and finally, there is also a strong emphasis on John as a God-Emperor - he is the King Undying, the King of the Nine Renewals, "He is Emperor and he became God: he is God and he became Emperor." (Indeed, given his penchant for pop culture references and the heavy use of bones as Imperial architecture, it's quite likely that the similarity to the Imperium of Man in Warhammer 40k is a diagetic reference by a ten-thousand-year-old nerd.) We can also see that he's built his colonialist mission into his new religion, hence "Let the whole of everywhere entrust themselves to him."

So while it's true that the all-powerful necromancer thing is part of the package, it's not the whole.

how do you think athiests would fare in tlt? can there be athiests? also do you think there's people coming up with conspiracies like "the resurrection is a myth made up by necromancers" and stuff?

Well, atheism would be a very high-risk occupation in the NIne Houses - it's a theocratic empire with a state religion, so expressing atheistic views openly would probably not only be considered as blasphemous by the religious authorities of the Eighth House but probably would also be considered treason as well. Even rather high-ranking skeptical figures like Abigail Pent simply take the position that the God-Emperor has never claimed to be omnipotent (or omniscient).

Nevertheless, Gideon knows what atheism is an a concept, so it's not the case that there is such a degree of information control that the concept is completely alien to the people of the Nine Houses. Given that comics and porn mags produced as Imperial propaganda make up the bulk of her cultural knowledge base, I'm going to guess that the nameless "insurgents" who play the stock bad guys in those books are described as atheists, to inculcate House people against both atheism and insurgents.

Which suggests that atheism probably does exist among exo-humanity. Certainly, BOE deny John Gaius' divinity - and while they do have religious references in their names, we don't really see signs of religious worship other than reverence for the memory of Commander Wake, and it would be a bit odd if ten thousand years has sundered the chain of cultural meanings in virtually every area except for religion.

[jumerccadelina]

On Confession

     Some friends have commented on a previous post on Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a cure for the deep wounds of the soul. Most of the comments were encouraging.  But some, sent privately very valid questions. I wish to tackle these questions here.

     There were essentially two sets of questions. The first is, “Where is that in the Bible? Does the Bible specifically say that we must confess to a priest? Can’t I confess directly to God in prayer?”

     The other set came from Catholic friends who asked, “ What if I am not comfortable with our priest? I know some things about him, and believe me, he is not in a position to forgive my sins.”  Another said, “Can I trust the priests? These are my deepest, darkest secrets we are talking about here.” 

     To the first question: Is Confession in the bible, the answer is Yes. We just have to dig deeper because the answer comes in three stages.

     Stage one: Can Jesus forgive sins? Those of us today might answer this with, “Duh. It is a no-brainer. Of course he can forgive sins. He is Lord.” But I tell you, this concept was so foreign to his contemporaries that it turned their world upside down. Consider this scene described in 3 of the 4 Gospels. A group of four friends dug a hole through the roof to lower a fifth friend who was a paralytic. Jesus was preaching to a Standing Room Only (SRO) crowd and they could not go through the door. This is what Jesus said:

    “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to themselves, ‘How can this man talk like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God?’ (Mark 2:5-7)

     It was clear to the scribes at the time, that in only two instances can a sin be forgiven. One is when the person who is wronged faces the offender and says, “I forgive you.” Another is when God, who is the Father and Creator of all says to the sinner, “Your sins are forgiven.” Even the High Priest could not forgive sins. He could only offer sacrifices. Jesus claimed to have this divine power: the forgiveness of sins.  And to prove it, he went on to heal the man physically too. The outer, physical healing was a sign of the inner, invisible healing of the soul.

     Stage two: Did this power to forgive remain with Jesus alone, or did he pass it on, or delegate it to others? Consider these two verses:

     Addressing his disciples (like he did to Peter previously in Matthew 16:19 using the same words ‘loosing and binding’), he said, “I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18;18)

     When Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared before his disciples even if the doors were locked and he said:

     “’As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.’  After saying this he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’

     Question: How would they know which sins to forgive and which sins to retain, which ones to bind and which ones to loose? Those sins must be stated aloud or denounced publicly, right?

     Stage three: Did this authority to bind and loose, to retain or forgive, remain with the disciples only, or were they also passed on to the followers in the succeeding centuries?

     The answer can be seen from the Letter of James. The last section contains exhortations for the elders of the Church, those who succeeded the disciples. These elders were called presbuterous in Greek. The later terms Presbyters or priests came from this Greek word. This is what he says.

     “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders (presbuterous) of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:14-16)

     James does not say, “Confess your sins to Jesus alone.” or “Confess your sins silently, in your heart.” We can do these of course. Many other biblical passages describe people praying to God directly and expressing remorse for their sins. But if we are to truly follow the word of God, forgiveness of sins comes when we “confess our sins to one another” or more specifically, to a presbyter or priest. It is a gift, freely given by God. A way to seek and receive mercy and healing. 

     Which brings us to the second set of questions.

    A short answer to the concerns about the merits of the priests is the Latin phrase: Ex opere operato. The efficacy of the sacraments (in this discussion, the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation) is not derived from the merits of the priest but from the sacrament itself.

     A good analogy is to look at the field of Medicine. Not all doctors are the same. Some are more knowledgeable, more compassionate, more up to date than others. The same goes for surgeons. Some consider each operation to be a masterpiece, and would go to great lengths to make the surgery as well performed as possible. Some are more haphazard, going for speed and are happy if the basic steps are taken. But an antibiotic whether prescribed by a very knowledgeable doctor  or a  less skilled physician will have the same effect  on a patient who receives it. The removal of an inflamed appendix, whether done beautifully by a skillful consultant or haphazardly by a resident in training will have the same effect: a cure from appendicitis.

      Not all priests are the same too. It is of course, best to look for one you are comfortable with to make regular confessions to. But because the Sacrament is a gift instituted by God, it will work even if the priest is imperfect.

     May these clarifications help all of us to take a good look at this often neglected gift that is available to us all.

[bxcketbarnes]

Insomnia

Pairing: Jonathan Pine x Reader

Words: 3900+

Author’s Note: If you haven’t seen The Night Manager you definitely should. It’s super good and Tom looks incredible as usual. I hope whoever reads this likes it!

Your eyes bulge at the beautiful scenery of Milan as your school group walks towards the hotel you'll be residing in for two weeks. You're so glad that you could afford to come on this trip, wanting to visit Italy for a while, since you were a small child.

"Do you think we'll find some hot guys to fuck around with?" Kayla asks as the two of you walk into the fancy hotel.

You let out a snort and shake your head in reply, looking over at the short brunette. "In the time frame that we have? Maybe. I wouldn't think you can achieve more than just a hookup though," you explain to her as your teacher checks you guys in.

"Hm, true, but it doesn't hurt to try," she states and you nod your head in agreement.

"Okay, everyone!" Your teacher calls out to gather the group's attention. "We've got six rooms with two beds in each room. There's twelve of you so pair up and grab a key."

You and Kaya give each other a look before laughing, the two of you walking towards your teacher. You smile at the older woman as she writes your names down before handing you a key.

"Kaya and Y/N… room 145," she mumbles and you grab the key from her hands. The two of you head towards your room, deciding to relax a bit before you all head out again.

Hours Later…

You toss and turn in the queen-sized bed, a soft sigh leaving your lips as the insomnia kicks in. You throw your covers off of your body before getting up. You quietly grab your room key and glance over at Kayla, seeing her dead asleep.

You envy her, wishing you could be dead asleep. You've been dealing with insomnia since your early teens. You'd be surprised if you ever got a full eight-hour sleep. Most of the time it's about four or five hours.

You hold your breath as you quietly open the door to your room, slipping out before the hall lights can shine into the room. You release a breath after you hear the lock of the door click. You walk around the gorgeous hotel, your eyes looking at every art piece you walk by.

"I'm really surprised Mrs. Smith chose this hotel," you mumble to yourself while heading towards the lobby as you remember seeing a little seating area next to a fireplace.

You didn't notice the man standing at the reception desk as you walk into the lobby, your arms crossing over your chest as you head straight towards the loveseat sofa. The man at the desk watches you as you sit down before grabbing one of the magazines.

His eyes glance towards his watch to see that it's almost 1:45 in the morning. It's not often he sees any guests at this time of hour. You run a hand through your hair as you prop your feet up, another quiet sigh leaving your lips.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Miss?" An accented voice asks you and you jump in your seat, looking over your shoulder.

Your breath hitches in your throat as a tall man stands beside the couch, his blue suit making his blue eyes stand out just as much. Holy shit he's gorgeous. "U-Uh, no I'm okay," you mumble shyly and the man smiles.

"Are you sure? I can get you a water bottle or something," he offers and you feel your cheeks blush.

"Okay, sure," you smile softly and the sandy brunette nods before walking away from you.

The man returns with a bottle of water and holds it out for you to take. You thank him quietly while grabbing it, feeling your fingertips brush against his. You press your lips together as you could feel butterflies roaming around your stomach.

"May I sit with you?" He asks politely and you nod your head in reply. The man sits in the chair beside you, his blue eyes looking towards the fireplace. "I'm Jonathan Pine, the Night Manager."

"Y/N L/N," you introduce while tucking a strand of hair behind your ear and you lean forwards to set the magazine back onto the coffee table. "So, you stay up all night to watch the place?"

A chuckle leaves Jonathan's throat as he nods his head, crossing one of his legs. "I do, yes. Been doing it for years now," he explains and you hum in response.

"Don't you ever get… lonely?" You quietly ask and Jonathan furrows his eyebrows together.

"I've never really thought about that, honestly. I guess I keep myself occupied enough to not really think about it," he mentions and you grab a hold of the pillow beside you, hugging it to your chest. "Real question is why are you up at two in the morning?"

A chuckle leaves your lips as you lean against the arm of the couch, adjusting your position. You prop your feet up on the cushions as you turn towards Jonathan. "Oh, this is usual for me. I suffer from insomnia and don't usually fall asleep until three or three-thirty," you tell him and the man frowns slightly. "That's why I asked you if you ever get lonely because I'm lonely every night."

"Do you want some tea? I have this tea recipe I use when I'm trying to sleep," Jonathan offers and you smile at him, fond of his kindness.

"If you think it'll work, go for it. I could use the sleep," you joke and earn a laugh from the blue-eyed man as well.

Jonathan stands up from his chair before holding out a hand to you. "Come," he smiles softly and you hesitantly reach out to grab his hand.

He pulls you up from the couch and leads you towards his office. "Have you been to Milan before?" He asks while the two of you walk into the office, Jonathan shutting the door behind you.

"First time, actually," you tell him and fiddle with your fingers. "But, I've wanted to come here since I was younger. I'm glad that one of my college courses was able to make my dream come to life."

"That's pretty neat. So, you're here with a school?" Jonathan questions while motioning for you to sit at the small table. "You must be the one staying here for two weeks."

You hum in response as you watch him fill the kettle. How are you so calm right now? This man is beyond gorgeous. You think to yourself as your fingertips tap along the wooden table.

Jonathan grabs a cup from one of his drawers and sets it on the table in front of you. "I hope I'm not making things weird for you," he mumbles and you shake your head immediately.

"Oh, you're fine, Jonathan," you reassure him with a smile. "It's nice to have someone actually care? Like, I've roamed around places I've stayed and no one's stopped to have a conversation with me. Let alone make me tea."

You rest your chin against the palm of your hand as Jonathan lets out a chuckle. "I'm not like many people, darling. Plus, it's my job to take care of our guests," he informs you and your chest clenches a bit, the smile dropping from your lips.

So you didn't do it just because? You hum as you're suddenly not feeling up for tea. You stand up from your chair, gaining the man's attention. "I'm not feeling well," you whisper as you walk towards his office door. "I'm going to head back to my room."

The smile on Jonathan's lips fell as you leave his office without letting him get a word in. He clears his throat while turning off the kettle, not needing it anymore before letting out a sigh. "Was it something I said?" He questions himself while heading back towards his reception desk.

-

A knock on your hotel room door wakes you from your slumber, a small groan leaving your lips as the sun peaks into the room. "Be up and ready in half an hour!" Mrs. Smith calls from outside the door.

You look towards Kayla, seeing her bed empty and already made. You rub the sleep from your eyes and sit up slowly, glancing towards the alarm clock to see it was almost nine in the morning. "Jesus Christ," you groan and lay back down, placing your arm over your eyes.

"Morning, sunshine!" Kayla beams as she walks out of the bathroom. You move your arm to look over at her before letting out a grunt. "That's what happens when you roam around the hotel for two hours."

You sit up suddenly, your eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. How does she know that? "What- I-"

"Don't even try to come up with an excuse. I woke up to go to the bathroom last night and you were nowhere in sight," she explains and you deeply sigh.

"Sorry. I have insomnia," you tell her and her eyes soften a bit. "I went to the lobby to sit by the fireplace for a bit."

Kayla sits down beside you as she brushes through her wet hair. "How come you didn't tell me about this? We're best friends," she mumbles sadly and you shrug your shoulders.

"Not many people know. I usually just keep it to myself so no one else has to bother with it," you confess while fiddling with your fingers.

"Well, I care about you. Don't you forget that," she whispers and you give her a soft smile,  thanking her quietly. "Now get dressed. I need some coffee in me."

Kayla patiently waits as you get ready, the brunette scrolling through her phone. You tie your tennis shoes before standing up,  letting her know that you're ready. The two of you walk towards the lobby, your heart dropping a bit as you see Jonathan standing at the desk still.

When does he leave? 

Your friend drags you up to the reception desk, watching her eyes widen as she takes in the man standing in front of her. Jonathan looks up from the computer he's typing on meets your eyes first.

"Good Morning, Y/N," he greets with a soft smile before turning his attention to Kayla, "Miss, what can I help you guys with?"

Kayla quickly glances your way before telling him that she would like a coffee. He simply nods his head and moves away from the desk, doing as she asked. "He knows your name?" She asks you as soon as he disappears.

You rub the back of your neck and nod your head in reply. "I met him last night," you tell her and she slaps your arm, causing you to groan. "What the hell?!"

"You didn't think to tell me you met one of the most handsome guys in Milan?!" She laughs and you shrug your shoulders, feeling your cheeks blush. "Did something happen?"

"No. I'll tell you about it later," you mumble as Jonathan comes back with the coffee Kayla ordered.

She takes it from him with a smile before walking away from the two of you while giving you a look. You hated her sometimes. You think and chuckle to yourself.

"Do you need anything, Y/N?" He asks softly and you shake your head in answer. "Uhm, if you don't mind me asking… have I said something wrong last night that made you run away?"

You press your lips together before looking up at him. "I felt special. You actually made me feel special by taking time out of your night to talk to me… when no one has ever done it, and you ruined it by telling me it's just part of your job. So, what you're saying is that you wouldn't keep me company and offer me tea to help me sleep if you weren't the Night Manager?" You rant on, feeling yourself getting angrier by the second.

Jonathan's eyes widen slightly as you breathe heavily, moving to walk away from him when his hand grabs a hold of your wrist. "I'm sorry," he mumbles and you can see the sadness in his blue eyes. "I… I didn't mean to make you feel that way. That was never my intention."

You pry your wrist from his hand and give him a sad smile. "I've got to go," you mumble quietly as your group begins to walk out the door.

Kayla calls out to you and motions for you to come along when you glance back at Jonathan once more. You swallow thickly and your heart breaks at the look on his face. You shouldn't feel like this. You just met. You take a deep breath as you catch up to everyone else, linking arms with your best friend before walking out the hotel doors.

Jonathan taps his fingers against the desk and scrunches his nose. "That's your girl?" A random person asks and Jonathan glances towards one of the hotel customers.

"Oh, no, sir," he politely tells him with a small smile.

The man scoffs in response and glances back towards the front door. "Could've fooled me. The way the two of you looked at each other. It was like you've been together for years," he explains and Jonathan swallows the lump in his throat before clearing it.

"Heh, no. She's a guest just like you, sir," Jonathan awkwardly laughs while the gentleman working the day shift stands beside the blue-eyed man.

-

"Are you going to visit Jonathan again tonight?" Kayla asks as the group walks into the hotel. It's almost nine-thirty at night when you all return, most students feeling exhausted after today's activities.

You shrug your shoulders and glance towards the reception desk to see Jonathan relieving the man who you assumed works the day shift. His blue eyes meet yours and the two of you smile softly at one another.

"I don't know, maybe," you mumble as the two of you walk towards your room.

"Good Evening, everyone," Jonathan greets and your teacher gives him a warm smile.

You glance over your shoulder at him as you can't help but feel somewhat entranced by the man. A small sigh leaves your lips as you continue towards your room.

"You should. I can tell that the two of you have this unspoken thing going on," Kayla mentions and you hum in response. "I'm just saying… you don't have to follow my advice."

You're twiddling with your fingers as you stare off into the darkness. Tonight's the one night you wish you could fall asleep since you've been out in the sun all day. You're exhausted,  yet here you are, not able to get some shut-eye.

A sigh leaves your lips as you find yourself getting up, deciding to roam around for the second night in a row. Albeit you're a bit nervous to run into Jonathan, but part of you wants to see him again.

You throw a hoodie on before leaving your room quietly. You cross your arms over your chest as you wander into the lobby, seeing Jonathan standing at the reception desk still.

"Hey," you softly call out and the dirty blonde picks his head up, his blue eyes meeting yours before a smile comes to his lips.

"Y/N," Jonathan smiles and lets out a small chuckle, "I'm very surprised the Milan sun hasn't knocked you out."

A snort leaves your lips as you nod your head and rest your arms against the desk in front of you. "Honestly, I am too. I was hoping it would," you mumble loud enough for him to hear.

"If you want I can make that tea I told you about," he offers and your heart flutters at how gentlemanly he is.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Jonathan?" You suddenly ask and his eyes widen a bit before shaking his head. You tsk in response and look into his ocean blue eyes. "It's a shame because anyone would be so lucky to have you."

Jonathan's heart pounds against his chest at your compliment, having not heard it before from a guest… a stranger. A smile comes to his lips before taking a glance down at his shiny shoes.

"Well, thank you, darling. That's quite sweet of you to say." You chuckle softly as Jonathan adjusts the tie he's wearing. "If you're comfortable with it… would you want to come to my room? I can make you some tea and we can just hang out, get to know each other."

You bite your bottom lip softly as you think about it before nodding your head in reply. "As long as you don't murder me, sure," you joke with him and the blue-eyed man lets out a laugh while shaking his head.

"I promise, darling," he grins with a chuckle and logs out of the computer before walking around the desk. "This way."

You fiddle with your fingers as you follow Jonathan down the hall. He glances over his shoulder at you a few times and you give him a reassuring smile when his eyes meet yours.

"What did you guys do today?" Jonathan asks while inviting you into the spacious room.

"Oh, we did so much," you laugh while sitting down in the computer chair, hooking one of your legs beneath you. "We went for breakfast at this cute little Cafe near the hotel and then we went to all the famous tourist attractions. I swear my eyes have never been so wide before. This place is beautiful."

Jonathan grins widely as he listens to you rant while making your tea. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, darling," he mentions and pours the boiling water into the teacup.

"I'm really glad I was able to afford this trip," you chuckle as Jonathan walks towards you with your tea. You swoon a bit as you hear him call you darling once more, taking the cup from his slender fingers. "Thank you for this."

He sits down beside you on the bed and nods his head in response. "It's no problem. I'm hoping it can help you sleep. If so, I'll send you one to your room each night before bed," he offers and your heart flutters in your chest.

"But then I won't be able to have these late-night conversations with you," you whisper while looking up at him through your lashes.

You drink a sip of your tea as it becomes quiet between the two of you. You hum in delight at the taste of the drink and set it down on the nightstand beside you.

"Is it weird that I feel so close to you when I barely know you?" You suddenly ask and Jonathan raises an eyebrow. A dry laugh leaves your lips as you fiddle with your fingers. "I must sound crazy. It's just-"

"I feel it too," he mumbles loud enough for you to hear and your breath hitches in your throat. "There was this customer yesterday… he said that the way you and I looked at each other was the way a couple who's been together for years looks at each other."

You swallow thickly as you can feel yourself growing tired. "Maybe this is God bringing us together or something…" You trail off as you lay back on the bed. "Damn that tea really helps. Are you sure you didn't spike it?"

Jonathan frowns at your joke and shakes his head in response. "Of course not, darling. I would never," he softly tells you and you smile up at him before your eyes flutter shut.

The blue-eyed man stands up from the bed and adjusts your body so you're lying completely on the bed. He covers you up with the duvet before grabbing your cup of tea and places it in the little kitchenette area.

"Sleep well," he whispers to your unconscious body before flicking off the light and returning to the lobby.

-

Kayla's eyes widen when she wakes up as you're not sleeping in the bed beside her. "Y/N," she calls out, and her heart pounds in her chest when you don't reply. The brunette flings herself out of her bed and rushes towards the bathroom to see it empty. "Oh, no."

She quickly throws some clothes on before running out of the room. Kayla makes her way towards the lobby as she spots Jonathan standing at the reception desk, talking to the man who'll take over for him.

"Jonathan, right?" She calls out to him and the dirty blonde picks his head up.

"Yes, Miss?" He asks politely and Kayla breathes heavily as she frantically looks around.

"I… have you seen Y/N? She's not in our room," Kayla mumbles and Jonathan gives her a small smile while placing a hand on her arm in reassurance.

"Do not fret. Y/N fell asleep in my room last night. That's where she is now if you want me to bring you to her," Jonathan offers and Kayla lets out a breath of relief.

Thank God. The brunette thinks while nodding her head in reply. Jonathan leads her to where you're currently finishing up breakfast while watching whatever the blue-eyed man put on the television.

You pick your head up when you hear the door opening, your eyes widening a bit as you see Kayla walk into the room before Jonathan. "You gave me a scare, Y/N!" She immediately says and you give her a small smile while mumbling an apology. "I'm just thankful you were in Jonathan's hands rather than a stranger."

"Jonathan is kind of a stranger, Kayla," you laugh while covering your mouth, finishing the food you're eating. "But, I get what you mean."

A sigh leaves your best friend's lips as she crosses her arms over her chest. "So, what happened?"

"We were sitting here talking and whatnot and the tea he made me that would help me sleep better worked quicker than I expected it to. I ended up falling asleep on the bed," you explain to her as your eyes move to Jonathan, seeing him standing in the corner of his room.

"You take good care of her or I swear to-"

"Kayla!" You scold her embarrassingly, feeling your cheeks heat up as Jonathan lets out a laugh.

"I promise to take good care of her. No matter what," he says in his beautiful English accented voice.

Your best friend lets out a sigh of relief before turning to leave the room. "I'll let Mrs. Smith know that you're feeling ill," she gives you a wink and walks out the door.

"God," you mumble to yourself and hide your face in your hands. You feel Jonathan sit down beside you, his hand resting on your blanket-covered thigh. "Sorry about her she can be-"

"It's quite alright, darling. I understand where she's coming from," he grins and you giggle softly. "But, now that you're ill… I can spend the day with you. If that's what you want anyway."

You grin widely and look up at the beautiful man. "That would be fun, Jonathan," you tell him and lean forward to kiss his cheek.

Jonathan's eyes stare into yours as he brings his hands to your cheeks before connecting his lips with yours. A small gasp leaves your lips, eyes widening before fluttering shut. You begin to kiss him back while bringing one of your hands to his shoulder, your fingers gripping the suit jacket he's wearing.

After about a minute Jonathan pulls away from you, a stupid grin on both of your lips as the two sit in silence. "Okay… that… felt really good," you whisper out causing the blue-eyed man to chuckle in response.

"Well, there's more where that came from."

[mymoonagedaydream]

Only the Good Die Young (Part 2)

Summary: Angry and terrified, you were just glad to have Bucky looking out for you- even if you weren’t sure how long that would last

Pairing: Biker!Bucky x y/n

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: Language, implied smut, anti-religious sentiment throughout, harmful relationship with parents, smoking, panic attacks, some offence may be caused to people who enjoy economics

Author's Note: Who doesn't love a sequel? Maybe even a cheeky little series... This one is heavily influenced by 'Vienna', but I sprinkled in ‘The Longest Time’ too. This whole Billy Joel thing might’ve gotten on top of me a little...

---

Bucky’s bike shuddered to a stop outside an old, dilapidated apartment building. The cold air was deep in your bones and your arms felt like they were frozen in place around his waist. As soon as the engine died he jumped up and spun round, holding your head in his hands and rapidly scanning his eyes over your face and arms.

‘You alright? They didn’t hurt you did they?’ You gave him a reassuring smile and shook your head, prompting him to drop his hands down to your bare shoulders. ‘Man you’re freezing, c’mon let’s get inside.’ 

You let him wrap his leather jacket around your shoulders and guide you to the door. As you climbed the stairs your phone buzzed in your pocket, but you ignored it- even if it wasn’t your parents, you weren’t exactly in the mood for chatting. 

Bucky unlocked a grubby door and you followed him through it. His apartment was sparsely decorated and a little messy, but you’d take anything over shag carpets and crucifixes on every wall. He kicked an old pair of trainers out the way of the door and muttered something about how he would’ve tidied if he knew you were coming. You smiled up at him, just happy to be somewhere safe and peaceful.

Your phone buzzed again, more sporadically. Must’ve been a flurry of texts. Bucky heard the vibrations and stopped frantically tidying, his eyes moving down to your pocket and filling with concern. 

‘That them?’

You shrugged feebly and reached for it, feeling your whole body tense up when you started reading the string of messages from your mother.

Answer the phone now

You’ve chosen a criminal over your own family

If you don’t come back now that’s it, no more support

This is your last chance

Your heart started pounding and you struggled to catch your breath. A sudden, sharp pain shot through your chest, making you feel dizzy as you began trying to frantically pull air into your tightening lungs. 

Bucky pulled you over to the sofa, sitting you down and encouraging you to take deep breaths, your eyes still glued to the screen. More and more messages were coming through, only interrupted by the occasional phone call that you sent straight to voicemail. You felt him softly stroking your back, his other hand moving towards the device clamped between your whitening knuckles.

‘Maybe you should just take the phone off the hook, disappear for a while.’ He gently tugged it from your hands, feeling your slight resistance. ‘It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two.’

You nodded, wiping a tear off your cheek. Bucky switched the phone off and pushed it to the far side of the coffee table, keeping his eyes fixed on you. You knew he was right- staring at your phone like that was just another way of letting your parents get to you. How the hell did he always know exactly what to say?

He scooched closer and pulled you into him, leaning the two of you back into the sofa cushions. You were still making an effort to maintain controlled, deep breaths, but the rest of your panic was offset by the overwhelming safety you felt being wrapped in his arms. 

Completely exhausted, it was only a few minutes before you started nodding off. 

You were so grateful that your abiding memory of one of the most terrifying days of your life was soft fingers running through your hair and the faint smell of cigarettes.

---

Loud banging jolted you awake. 

Your eyes flickered open and you looked over to see Bucky standing by the window, one hand braced against the glass, staring intently at something below him. 

‘There’s cops outside.’ 

Banging again. 

You were still trying to figure out whether you were awake or dreaming. He folded his arms and turned to face you, the complete lack of concern on his face making you feel a little better.

‘They’ve been down there for a couple minutes already.’ He chuckled. ‘We should probably go see what they want.’

Bucky opened the front door and you saw three officers waiting outside- one right on the doorstep, one a bit further back and another leaning against a marked car parked on the road.  

‘Are you y/n?’ The closest piped up as soon as you appeared in the doorway.

‘Yes, why?’

‘Your parents have reported you as kidnapped, they gave us his name.’ The officer glanced over to your companion, looking remarkably unimpressed. ‘James.’

‘Hi Terry.’ Bucky grinned, folding his arms and leaning against the opened door. 

You were in complete disbelief, quickly trying to string together some kind of response whilst bracing yourself for being tasered and tackled to the ground. 

‘I’ve not been kidnapped.’ Well that definitely wasn’t high on your list of sentences you expected to say today. ‘I’m sorry, my parents have wasted your time.’ 

Terry’s eyes darted between you and the suspect, looking as though he was trying desperately to find something amiss. After an uncomfortably long silence he eventually drew a blank, nodded and apologised. You heard a gruff chuckle next to you.

‘Stockholm syndrome, officer. Ain’t it a bitch.’ Bucky remarked through a smug smile. 

The cops piled into their car and the two of you traipsed back upstairs. As you properly registered what had happened, you felt anger brewing in your chest. Jesus, did your parents really think everything would just go back to normal if they got him arrested? Even for them that was absolute madness. 

When you got into the apartment you slammed the door behind you, prompting him to spin round.

‘I can’t believe they did that.’ 

‘Really? I sorta can.’ He chuckled.

You looked up at him, clutching your forehead in exasperation and letting a hot tear fall onto your cheek. ‘I’m really sorry Bucky, I didn’t mean to drag you into this shit.’

‘Woah, woah. Please don’t cry.’ He pleaded softly, placing his hands on your shoulders. ‘I hate it when people cry. I never know what to do.’ 

You let out a trembling laugh at the panic in his voice, wiping your face and forcing a feeble smile. He pulled you into a tight hug and pressed a kiss into your forehead. Unable to hold back your tears, you buried your face deep in the crook of his neck in an attempt to hide them.

Any adrenaline you’d built up from your high-stakes escape had long worn off, now you just felt deflated. Admittedly you were a little scared too, after all you’d only known Bucky properly for a week and here you were basically moving in together.

‘We should get out of town for a while, let tempers settle a bit.’ He whispered. ‘I know a place we can stay.’

---

After getting you properly kitted out with a warm jacket and helmet, Bucky packed himself a few days worth of white t-shirts and underwear. Following him to the door, you glanced over at your phone and hesitated, debating whether or not to grab it. 

‘Let them worry.’ He whispered, wrapping his hand around your wrist and leading you out.

You drove for an hour or so, the warmth from Bucky and the steady vibrations of the bike soothing you into a tranquil relaxation. Your eyes surveyed the scenery whizzing past, watching the suburban landscape fall away, replaced by huge expanses of grass dotted with trees and the occasional old farm building.

He pulled off down a gravel side road, eventually reaching a small campsite. A couple tents were pitched, most of them inhabited by parents with miserable-looking children, all of whom expressed great distaste at the volume of the motorbike. When it finally stopped, you lifted your head and surveyed your accommodation for the next few days.

A trailer. If only your dad were here, his face would be an absolute picture.

You really didn’t mind though, it looked pretty cosy and you weren’t exactly in a position to turn anything down. 

‘Sorry it’s not much.’ Bucky smiled as he helped you off the bike and unlocked the door.

‘It’s great, Buck.’

You threw your stuff down in the bedroom before flopping on the sofa. Bucky opened up the fridge and offered you a beer, looking faintly shocked when you accepted and took a sizable gulp. He sat himself down next to you and ran his eyes over your face, frowning at your distant expression.

‘You good?’

‘Just thinking, trying to figure out how the hell I’m gonna solve all this.’ You sighed, taking another swig from your bottle.

‘What's the hurry about?’ He lifted his feet to rest them on the table. ‘You're so ahead of yourself, seems like sometimes you forget what you need.’

You narrowed your eyes at him, watching as he casually took a drink and stared out of the window, as if he hadn’t just come up with some of the most insightful shit you’d ever heard.

‘How are you so good at this, Buck? How do you know exactly what to say and do all the time?’

‘Y’know.’ He shrugged. ‘Parents suck, been there myself. Yours are too invested in your life, mine were the opposite I guess.’ 

Thinking on it, you did remember a couple incidents from school- Bucky having to sit out gym class cause he didn’t have a kit or getting picked on for wearing the same clothes for a week straight. You started to feel a little guilty, you always just assumed he was lazy or forgetful. 

There was probably much more to it, but you got the impression he didn’t want to talk about it so you swiftly moved on.

‘Thanks, by the way. You didn’t have to do all this for me. I mean we barely even know each other.’

‘We went to school together for like ten years.’ He laughed, nudging you with his elbow.

You gave him a cynical look. ‘Yeah, but we actually spoke maybe three times?’

‘You knew I always had a bit of a crush on you though, right?’ You snapped your head towards him in complete shock. ‘Oh c’mon, I wasn’t exactly subtle about it.’

‘I think you fucking were.’

‘Well you always hung around those weird Christian kids so I never made a move or anything, but I knew there was something different about you. Something in your eyes.’ He grinned. ‘Itching for rebellion.’

You burst out laughing, nodding at his analysis- here you were living in his bloody trailer, he was obviously right. 

‘There’s a grill outside.’ He finished his beer and jumped up. ‘I’m gonna make some hotdogs.’ 

‘The only food we’ve ever eaten together is hotdogs.’ You chuckled, leaning your head to the side.

‘We’re livin’ like trailer trash so we gotta eat like trailer trash, sweetheart.’

---

It was a warm evening. You lay back on the grass outside the trailer, staring up at the starry, cloud-dusted sky, taking the opportunity to decompress your mind after the last few days. You never imagined it was possible to pack so many intense, conflicting emotions into such a short space of time.

You heard Buck move over from where he was cleaning the grill, laying himself down next to you. He was close by, but not quite touching. You got the impression that he was worried about overstepping your boundaries but, while you really appreciated how considerate he was, all you wanted at that moment was to curl up in his arms. 

He turned his head towards you. ‘What is it you do at college?’

‘Economics.’ You felt your eyes glazing over as you replied, Christ you hated it.

‘Was that your choice?’

‘What do you think?’ 

You decided that closing the gap yourself would be the easiest option, saving him some internal conflict. You rolled onto your stomach and moved your shoulders over him, resting your head on his chest. He smiled as you heard the thumping in his chest quicken slightly. 

Once you were settled on him, you added ‘I wanted to study literature, but my dad said that a degree in being able to read wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.’ 

He brushed his hand across your hair, humming gently. ‘And what did your dad want you to do with this thrilling economics degree?’

‘No idea. But if I had to guess I’d say college, job, marry, kids, retire, die. The first four probably within the next few years.’

Bucky let out a surprised laugh. ‘Jesus. You barked that out like a well-trained dog.’ 

You feigned outrage and smacked him on the shoulder, causing him to grab your hand. He squeezed it and brought it to his mouth, pressing his lips gently against your fingers. Glancing down, he noticed you looking a little distant again.

‘Trust me, you're doing fine.’ He placed your hand back on his shoulder. ‘You can't be everything you want to be before your time.’

‘It’s not that, it’s just… my dad wanted a secure life for me, sometimes I think it was wrong how much I resented him for it.’

‘That’s the thing about you.’ He put a hand behind his head and craned it up to catch your eyes. ‘You can see when you're wrong, but you can't always see when you're right.’

‘Well they say opposites attract, James.’ You gave him a cheeky grin, raising your eyebrows in response to his outraged expression.

‘C’mere.’ He growled, flipping onto his side and grabbing your waist, pulling you towards him whilst you playfully resisted. 

You eventually relaxed, letting him hold you flush against his chest, one of his arms underneath you circling your waist and the other resting lightly on the side of your face. Both your hands were fiddling with the jersey fabric of his t-shirt in an attempt to soothe your jittering nerves. When you went to adjust yourself, you realised that your leg was hiked up over him, your inner thigh resting on his hip.

‘You shouldn’t go back if you hate it.’ He whispered. 

You raised your eyebrows, suspecting that your wellbeing wasn’t his only motive for suggesting that. 

He continued through a faint smile, ‘and, y’know, maybe I'll be sorry when you're gone.’  

‘Finally we get down to a confession?’

‘Well the way I see it, doll-face, you can get what you want or you can just get old.’ He swiftly flipped you onto your back, causing you to yelp faintly through a surprised laugh. You felt his body pressed on top of yours, his face hovering just a few centimetres away. ‘Besides, I’ve been a fool for lesser things.’

You moved your arms to circle his neck, feeling your stomach tremble as his grin grew wider. His gaze flickered down to your lips, brushing his thumb over them gently before lowering his face and locking you into a passionate kiss.

You adjusted your legs so that your thighs were squeezing his waist. His hand reached down to grab one of them, squeezing it firmly. He caught your faint moan in his mouth and chuckled in response, sliding his other hand underneath your shirt. His skin was cold as hell but it felt incredible, like faint electricity was passing between his skin and yours.

There on the grass, underneath the stars and the bright glow of the moon, you and Bucky slept together for the first time. 

Everything that’d happened, all the confusing emotions of the past few days, completely melted from your mind. For the first time in your life you felt completely free and completely loved. 

Christ, you hoped he’d still feel the same in the morning.

---

Part Three

---

[dickgreyson]

dearest symeona

i’d like to join your little discussion and fill you in, since you were watching cat videos last year and seemed to miss everything. sounds like a much nicer time than i was having! because at the time i was being sent death threats and anti semitic hate for a holding a fairly uncontroversial opinion, or at least in the circles in which i run.

yes, i got upset seeing damian in a santa hat. because for the last few years, my dash every christmas is pretty jam packed full of christmas themed batfam posts and art. and as a jewish person, understanding that the creators of bruce and most of the batfam are jewish, i found this to be quite confusing and hurtful. and let’s just get this out of the way, bruce is jewish. dc has even published articles about this, and has confirmed it in a pussy way. but even without that, his mother, kate’s maternal aunt, is a jew. that means that bruce is a jew. unless he takes real concrete steps to renounce his faith and community, ethnically he’s still jewish. and he can be an atheist and STILL BE JEWISH. there are actually atheist rabbis, who just really love our culture and tradition, want to have a central role in the community, and guide other jews in a positive direction. and thats actually pretty wonderful. because again, judaism is just as much an ethnicity as it is a religion.

over the years, christians have written bruce as catholic and christian and atheist, and a broad range of other things. hell, in the 80s the phrase ‘caped crusader’ was coined by a christian writer, and i dont love hearing him referred to as that. i think it goes against the very core of why he was created as a jewish allegory. the same goes for people who believe superman is a jesus allegory - he isnt. he was written as a modern day moses parallel. also by jewish authors. he’s a jewish character to his core too. the author of the 1990whatever robin run even said he wanted tim to be jewish, and showed his mother in a jewish cemetery. its not as if intent isnt there.

comics as a whole were created by jewish people, to tell jewish stories to a wider audience. yes, there is some old official art of bruce and dick standing in front of a christmas tree. and that might maybe be because.... it was from the 40s. and i dont know if you noticed but in the 40s americans werent really fond of jews, and neither was the world at large. judging by the response of people in my inbox, they still arent. so these characters can still be jewish allegories, written by jewish people to convey jewish ideals and stories, in an antisemitic world. back then this lipservice needed to be paid in the name of assimilation, and i would have hoped today the need for this would have diminished. 

i hope thats enough context to introduce what happened last year, i was upset that it was all going to start again, and made it known. the artist even reached out to me, and listened to my point of view. because this actually, at the end of the day, isnt a huge deal. and im not sure why it grew, and why other people got involved, when the artist, urs, and i had sorted it out. it became a lightning rod for ‘free speech/art’ anti semitic crusaders.

what is a huge deal though is the hate and vitriol and racism and anti semitism that poured out of the people who associate with your side. Urs, my brave friend who vocally stood by me, received countless hateful messages about her being a survivor and a first nations american. i cant even count how many times i was called a kike.

so the real problem here wasnt the santa hat, it was that a jewish and native american person expressed unhappiness about something, and was met with a disgusting display of hate. thats the problem. that your side was so ready to resort to death threats and slurs. because someone expressed an opinion.

I believe that there is a difference between a person choosing to celebrate a holiday, and a non jewish artist drawing jewish/created by jewish people’s characters celebrating christian holidays. because the jewish person has a choice, but the character does not. at this point in time, there are very few practicing jewish and muslim characters in comics, and in media at large. so i dont think it’s appropriate to make everything christian and say no big deal. i think its more important to display diversity in faith and culture, even if dc is reticent because of cultural antisemitism at large.

when it comes to damian, i can’t speak to that with the same certainty and intensity as i can to the others, since im not muslim. but i do know that several writers have intended him to be muslim (again never committing in canon because comic fans are obviously not very progressive people), and muslim members of this fanbase have really connected with him. and i think showing art where he is muslim, and practices that in a loving and meaningful way, is way more significant and impactful than drawing him in a fucking santa hat.

it is actually very important for jewish people to conserve and practice our culture, and to be vocal about doing so. because people have tried to take it away from us time and time again. so to just brush this aside and say that ‘christmas is a coca cola ad so who cares’ (?) isnt good enough. because we were killed for practicing chanukah, so now its really important that we do. that we remember our tradition, and we pass it on. that we dont allow it to be wallpapered over in the name of assimilation.

all that needed to have happened was for someone to accept and admit that these are characters created by jewish people, to tell jewish stories, and act accordingly and respectfully.

so the problem, in the end, was that i was viciously and ruthlessly attacked for being a jewish woman with an opinion on something, and 10 months later deciding to get involved? i think thats a bad look babe xx

[edge-lorde]

the religion of the galactic horde

“You seem reluctant to help me. But I only wish to use your weapon to bring peace to the darkest corners of the universe. (Glimmer: Peace? If you activate the Heart of Etheria, there will be no one left.) Yes. No war, no pain. Old worlds swept aside, a new beginning for the universe.” --Horde Prime explaining his motivations to Glimmer

the horde in shera was definitely inspired by Christianity and uses a lot of its imagery, the most iconic being the baptism scene. it certainly gives off the vibes of a christian or christian adjacent cult, but what is its actual doctrine? i have some thoughts about that. 

first here are what i consider to be the 3 main differences between real christianity and the horde: 

Their jesus didn't ascend to heaven. He's still with them.

They don't have a larger creator god. They worship horde prime like he is a living god but they don't believe that he created the universe.

They have no focus on the afterlife

this is going to be long.

before i begin heres the sparknotes version of christianity for anyone not familiar. I am not evangelizing this, just think of it as LORE. 

Once upon a time there was a guy named Jesus. He was the son of the one true god, who both created everything in the universe, is everywhere and knows everything, and controls the afterlife. Jesus is god born as a mortal person, sent by god to teach all of humanity the errors of their evil ways so they can repent and go to the good afterlife when they die. There're two afterlives, a good one and a bad one, heaven is the good one and its run by god and his army of angels, which are divine beings that god can send to earth to do things. The bad one is called hell. 

Anyway, in his time on earth jesus was the only person ever to never do anything bad ever (called sin). He tried to teach people how to be good but was Too Good for this Cruel World and was killed. 3 days later he came back from the dead, proving his divinity. Some time after that however, he ascended into heaven without dying, telling his followers to spread the word because hes going to be coming back. Christians today are still awaiting his return. In the meantime, christians follow his teachings left behind in holy texts. 

The crux of christianity is to get to heaven when you die, and this can only be done by following the teachings of jesus christ, believing in god, and believing that jesus was the son of god. Its a given that everyone will do bad things at some point in their lives so you're supposed to pray to god and ask for forgiveness regularly and if you really mean it then god will forgive you. 

thats the basics. 

to my first main point from above, if we posit that horde prime is the jesus equivalent of the horde religion, because hes treated as a living god, his goal is to spread his philosophy throughout the universe, then in the horde religions jesus never ascended into heaven. this would be like if jesus in our world rose from the dead and just picked up where he left off, and never died after that and was alive today. that would be pretty good proof of divinity. 

to my 2nd point, theres nothing in the show that suggests that horde prime thinks that he created the universe. this means that he did not get his divinity from anywhere but inside himself, hes not claiming that hes the rightful ruler of the known universe for any other reason besides his ideas are the best. 

the 3rd point is that the show does show horde prime or the horde caring one bit about the afterlife, save for one line from wrong hordak.

"Brother, I hope you, too, are full of only love for Horde Prime and have no crippling doubt eating at your soul."

meaning that they have the concept of the soul. which is very interesting and ill get to it, but on the whole the hordes focus seems to be on the here and now. this is a huge departure from christianity because chrisitanity is all about getting to the afterlife. that is the reason that christians are supposed to follow christ and recruit as many people as possible to do the same, because if they dont, they or other people will supposedly go to hell when they die. i say supposedly because at funerals, even if the person who died wasnt a believer, in my experience no christian would ever ever ever insinuate that someone went to hell. 

but the difference still stands. following real christian ideology is supposed to have benefits for the individual in the afterlife, while in the horde religion salvation seems to only be found by submitting to prime in this life and being either a tool that he can use to further his goal of purifying the universe or by letting him remove you from it. 

on top of all that, horde prime has the hive mind, which he uses to control the thoughts of all his followers. this means that theres no room for a bible study, no need of a holy text at all in fact, and no room for interpretation. horde prime delivers orders to your brain directly and can tell if you think anything out of line. real Christianity does have the idea that a sin that you just think about doing is as bad as actually doing it, but in the horde these thoughts can be easily discovered and punished. 

the horde religion seems to me to be a strangely secular version of christianity with only the bad parts remaining; the control, the blind faith, the certainty that you are right and everyone else is wrong, the not questioning authority. with none of the good aspects like community, and good deeds. it is a cult in the truest sense of the word, a religion that begins and ends with one person only, that person being horde prime.

so, if you take horde prime out of the equation, what, if anything, would be left? 

i find the plight of the horde clones here to be the most interesting. we know that they do have thoughts about their religion, as it was hordaks belief that he could earn his way back into horde primes god graces that kept him going all those years in despondos, and wrong hordak is distraught when he discovers that horde prime lied about krytis. 

unlike both the chipped people we see in the show and real religious converts, the clones were born into this cult that values blind obedience only, and have no prior ideology or cultural identity to fall back on when they are taken out of it. 

so to answer this question, i must add some conjecture to horde primes backstory and how the clones see themselves in horde primes universe. I already wrote up a brief backstory idea for horde prime/the clones and have it posted on here somewhere. I'm not going to dig it up but you could probably find it in the #horde prime tag on my blog if you dig hard enough. 

To summarize it though, I have it as horde prime was once a regular (bad) dude who became a cult leader under the premise of preaching peace --> he becomes disillusioned with people and even his own followers because he doesn't actually like people, he likes manipulating them. --> this and the power of being a cult leader go to his head and he starts to think that he is the only person in existence capable of living a moral life and everyone else needs to be saved from themselves, the world would be a better place if he could just make everyone's decisions for them. --> he somehow gets a hold of the technology needed to set up the hive mind, be it by inventing it himself, stealing it, finding it, or being gifted it. 

I'll pause here to address the theory that horde prime was originally an eldritch being that simply possessed a dude who would become the template for the clones. I think there's enough stuff in the show that this is a valid read and might even be canon but i don't really care for it. For me, what makes horde prime a compelling villain is that he's a very human evil, so having him actually be an evil demon thing instead of a really bad but believable dude who got near ultimate power weakens his character. BUT, i’m not going to address it in my comic so i'll leave it open as to whether he's got that going on or not. If he is, the clones don’t know about it and neither they nor the other characters have any way of discovering it. IF he is though, it would happen here. I could see it being a cool idea for him to get the hive mind from the eldritch being that would then possess him and haunt his lineage for time immemorial as a deal with the devil sort of thing, but he has to be a bad person before that.

Anyway he gets the hive mind--> he gets all of his followers to chip themselves --> gets those people to chip everyone else on his home planet --> use his planet wide army to harvest all resources on the planet and build his first space fleet and take to the skies and start his conquest--> realize that if he is to succeed hes going to need to both become immortal and find a steady source of new followers because chipped people die eventually and he doesnt care about people enough to figure out a way to keep a self sufficient population of followers alive, he just wants people around to adore him and do his bidding--> invents his cloning system-->

and heres the big one,

his original body has to die so he can upload his consciousness into a new clone.  

and THAT, to the clones, would be the moment that horde prime becomes a god.

his reliance on the hive mind and vast network of followers are what give him his godly abilities, but just as the horde clones could not exist without being cloned from horde prime, so too could horde prime not exist as he does in the show without them. 

i see it as both a christlike sacrifice and a cyclical system of debt and sacrifice. horde prime dies for our sins, so that he might continue to purify the universe so that there will be no more death and more clones will be born, while the clone hes possessing has to essentially die by giving himself up entirely to become the new prime so all this can happen too, and to repay primes death. not all clones can become the next prime however, but all must be ready to die for him, hence horde prime having clone infantries despite also having robots he could send instead. 

i dont have clear thoughts about what the green goo is, but horde primes words about his brothers lending him their life force go along with this idea. the clones give him theyre life force, so he can give it back to them.

another interesting aspect of this is that prime always portrays himself as a brother to his followers, never a father as christ is portrayed as in christianity. i know this is from hordak and horde prime being actual brothers in the 80s show but ive seen this trope come up a few times in media before, where a man raises a kid but has them call him their brother instead of dad. it seems so deliberate. because a parents job is to take care of you, but a sibling, might take care of you sure, but thats not their job. its like hes deliberately trying to place himself on the same level as his ‘sibling’ so he can demand the same amount of respect you would give to a parent without taking on the responsibility to not... ya know... screw them over in the head? idk it seems very slimy to me. but that says more about prime as a character than how the clones see him.

and we still have the concept of the soul to fit in here somehow, and do they have an afterlife? im going to say no to the afterlife. theres just not enough in the show to go off of and everything that we do know about horde prime points to him only caring about himself in life. HOWEVER, there is nothing more quintessentially christian than the concept of hell and i think that will be of use here. 

since the creation of the clones is tied with the creation of their religion, this would put the clones themselves less as allegories of people who need to be saved and more as the horde version of angels. in my telling here, horde prime views all people who do not submit to his will as net negatives to the universe who have to be removed for peace to exist, so by this view the chipped people are the saved, the people that horde prime kills are the sinners, and his military campaign is one long apocalypse slowly working its way through the universe, with the clones carrying out his righteous judgement. but the afterlife isnt involved in this, so even if some chipped people are left alive, eventually they will all die out, and then it will be just horde prime and is clones in a perfect, peaceful starless sky, and thats what heaven is. 

getting to heaven is the main goal of real christianity and it is the same in horde religion, but heaven isnt a place in the horde cosmology, its a physical goal that has to be created. not all clones will make it to heaven of course, because most will die before they reach total destruction of the universe but the clones arent supposed to think of themselves as individuals anyway. they have to be willing to die for horde prime and die for the cause or be cast out and thats hell. 

i dont see prime as someone who would kill his own followers outright too often even though he could. plus they arent supposed to value their individual lives the same way normal people do anyway it doesnt seem like a real punishment, they need something worse than simple death to fear. so by my view hell for the clones is separation from prime. it can be in life or death. no matter how bad it is in the horde being on the outside of it has to seem worse, and thats where the concept of the soul comes in. when one is a part of the hive mine, their soul is with prime. they are not supposed to have a will or any thoughts beyond love for prime, its essentially the same as not having a soul but they think of it as being at peace. being cast out is to be never at peace and would be told to them as being the worst possible thing that could ever happen to someone because it corrupts the soul. 

“a lot of unpleasant things happen in the horde so just imagine how terrible it must be outside of it! you cant because i protect you from that. now get in the goo, this is for your own good” - horde prime probably 

this is why outsiders are so resistant to submitting to primes light and also why its ok to kill them, in the hordes view. 

so, to start wrapping thigs up, there is no horde without horde prime. the religion starts and ends with him. because he is supposed to be the only person ever to be able to make true moral and just decisions, without him is followers cant take any actions without worrying that they are going against primes will. since they have no holy text they cant extrapolate and try to figure it out either. its up in the air whether or not they are going to find a way to get the horde to make the jump from cult to regular religion.

its late i got to go to bed now