#father abraham had 7 sons 7 sons had father abraham

[walkswithmyfather]

Genesis 22:1-8 (NLT). [1] Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” [2] “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” [3] The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. [4] On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. [5] “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” [6] So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, [7] Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” [8] “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT). [5] “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. [6] Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

“The Reward of Letting Go” By In Touch Ministries:

“We may not always understand God's plans, but if we choose to trust Him, blessing will follow.”

“We won’t always understand how God is going to accomplish His plans. All He asks is that we surrender our will to His and trust that He’ll show us the way (Proverbs 3:5-6). Abraham’s willingness to give up what was most precious to him came from his unyielding faith in the Lord’s trustworthiness.

However, if you tell God no because He won’t explain why He wants you to do something, you actually hinder His blessing. But when you say yes to the Lord, He will pour out His goodness and reward your obedience. What matters more than material blessings are the things He is teaching us in our spirit. Obeying the Lord naturally positions us to receive what He’s already trying to give us. But when we fail to trust Him and refuse to do what He says, we’re the ones choosing to close ourselves off from some of the good God would have accomplished in our life.

What has the Lord told you to do? Have you only partially cooperated? Or have you, like Abraham, given up your need to understand and obeyed completely?

If God says to give more than you think you’re able to part with, know that He will provide. Whether things are running smoothly or the bottom has dropped out, He is always trustworthy.”

[Photo thanks to Kiwihug at Unsplash]

[tinyladofladdies]

what is the Gospel?

history . .

there is one God in 3 persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God existed before anything else did; He created all things perfectly, including human beings, who He made in His image (Genesis 1:1, 26-28, John 1:1-3). God is the only holy, perfect Being in existence, and He created us to know Him forever.

God created humanity to partner with Him in ruling His perfect creation, however, humanity quickly fell into rebellion when adam & eve listened to temptation from satan, the serpent. the serpent twisted God's Word and adam & eve trusted in their own judgement rather than God's and listened to their selfish desire to define good and evil for themselves instead of letting God show them what was holy & good (Genesis 3).

adam & eve were cast out from God's perfect garden, severing ALL of humanity's relationship with God and separating us from His presence. because of this original sin (disobeying and distorting God's Word), all of humanity is born in a sinful state. the serpent, too, was cast from the garden and since the original sin, has been influencing the world into more and more evil, temptation, and distance from God. however, God promised that there would be a Descendant from eve Who would crush the serpent's head and defeat him (Genesis 3:14-15).

the sinful state of humanity causes all of us to be separated from God from birth and into eternity; sin cannot coexist with utter purity & holiness (Romans 6:23, 8:7-8).

God stayed faithful in taking care of humanity even despite our separation from Him; He made promises to abraham, isaac, and jacob, and their descendants (the jewish nation israel named after jacob), that they would be God's people and He would be their God (Genesis 22:17, Jeremiah 32: 38). He promised to multiply them, making them a countlessly large nation, to set them apart from the other nations to show the world what God is like (Deuteronomy 7:6), and to send them a Savior who would restore all things and bring justice (Isaiah 9:6). God gave them His Word and fulfilled every promise to them; He rescued His people many times from oppression and the downfall of their own mistakes, yet not even His holy people could stay obedient to God. God gave them His law (found in the 5 books of the Torah) to show His people how to be holy (set apart) and to show them who He is and what He values; in order to be worthy to enter God's presence, there would be animal sacrifices and sanctification rituals (Leviticus 16:21) in order to atone for the sins of Israel (God's people), yet none of His people were perfect and kept rebelling against Him.

God started sending prophets into the world, spoken to by His Holy Spirit who divinely inspired the Word of God (the entire Bible), to warn Israel of the gravity of their sins; soon, if God's people would keep participating in evil and turning away from God, they would be exiled from all of the peace and possessions God had promised them and fulfilled them with.

the prophets spoke of Jesus, who, centuries later, fulfilled every single prophecy spoken of Him . .

The Good News . .

Jesus is God, described as the Son of God and the Word of God become human; Jesus took on human flesh yet stayed completely sinless (Hebrews 4:15). He gave His life in the place of all of humanity, not just Israel, in order to extend God's grace, salvation, and presence, to anyone of any background who would repent and call upon Him (Hebrews 2:17, Galatians 3:8).

"The Gospel" means "the Good news."

to repent, means to completely turn around.

atone, means to make amends.

Jesus became the sacrificial lamb (symbolically) in order to fulfill the law of sacrifice that God's people used to participate in in order to enter God's presence (John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:19); because Jesus is God and was the only One holy enough to perfectly atone, this means that Jesus' sacrifice not only fulfilled every law and prophecy, but humanity finally had the chance to be in right-standing with God (1 Timothy 2:5). this means, that instead of being enemies of God, being estranged or distant from God, we now have the right to become God's children, His people, and His friends (Romans 5:10, John 1:12). to repent of our sins, means to pray to God our Father and confess our sinful nature, our rebellion, and the things we have done that have hurt our relationship with God as well as hurt ourselves & those around us. by confessing, we ask for God's forgiveness, we confess who Jesus is and what He did for us, and through this, we receive the Holy Spirit who testifies that we are God's children and Who seals our salvation in Heaven for eternity (Romans 8:16, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Jesus came to earth as a human, yet also 100% God; He lived a perfect life, started His ministry at 30 years old, baptised, healed, drove out demons, and taught of God's character, Word, and Kingdom. Jesus was persecuted by the nation of Israel in order to fulfill the prophecies, He died on a cross, was tortured and killed in our place, and after 3 days He rose from the dead, to fulfill every prophecy (Mark 8:31). in Jesus' death and resurrection, He defeated our sins, He defeated the enemy (satan), and He defeated death. setting us free, giving us eternal life and forgiveness from the Father if we repent and believe that this is Who Jesus Is.

in Jesus, there is forgiveness, peace, healing, joy, & hope (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Peter 1:3). God heals, God saves, God loves, His Spirit guides and reassures every believer and Jesus completely sets us free; no matter what you have said or done, no matter how much seems to hold you back, Jesus breaks every chain and meets us where we are, however, He loves us too much to leave us as we are. Jesus gives us the ability to live the life of righteousness (right-living) that God intended for us that we were not able to fruitfully & fully do without Jesus and without God's active help. for all time, God has kept His promises and His Word, He has kept His covenant with those He chose to be His people, and while those people always failed, Jesus never has and never will; Jesus fulfilled our side of the covenant, He paid the price that had to be paid for our sins, and in doing so, we can now have relationship with God for eternity, we can now partner with God in loving His people and doing the work of His Kingdom. God is always near, always present, and desires to help you, heal you, and save you.

there will be more Bible verses below that specifically address salvation & repentance; if you need more context or have more questions, this is a safe space to do so. <3

Acts 4:12 — Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 — Jesus answered, "I am the way, the Truth, and the life. no one comes to the Father except through Me."

Acts 2:38 — Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:16-17 — For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Romans 8:38-39 — For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9-10 — If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Hebrews 7:25 — Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

Luke 5:31-31 — Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Acts 3:19 — Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Mark 16:16 — Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 10:13 — for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 3:23 — for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Acts 22:16 — And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:23‬ ‭— For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

◌🌊🐚Ꮚ°˳´ creds . .

dividers: roseraris

[dailybrandonrogers]

A Summary of Bryce Tankthrust's Timelines within the BRCU

The intention of this post is to review all major events involving/centred on Bryce Tankthrust across the BRCU timelines. Following the conclusion of BRYCE, a lot of considerable changes have been made to the overall nature of the pre-BRYCE Timeline theory that have immense and confusing implications. This will be a hopefully more concise attempt at deciphering the current state of the Timeline by only investigating one character, albiet a very significant and important one, and how her personal life as played out so far to our understandings.

As always, here's my BRCU Timeline reference!

Before the list commences, there's a few things that need to be explored.

Bryce Tankthrust's Birthday

Utilising her the publication date of the first video she featured in, her fanon birthday has been declared January 12th. Her birth year however, isn't as a clear anymore. The previous widely accepted assumption was 1971. This was initially inferred in Blame the Hero where in Episode 3, Bobby Worst mentions he is 7 years old. Later, there is a jumpcut that informs 40 years have passed, implying he is now 47 years old in the year 2033. However, the 1971 assumption operates under the impression that Bobby is 47 in the 2018, not 2033, throwing another spanner into the works. Otherwise, he'd be born in 1986.

Approaching this from a newer angle, Bryce is at least 10 when she meets Bobby, and 20 when she begins working for CallCo Phones. Utilising this logic, she has to be 20 or older by Episode 3, in which we see a 1990 NYE party being celebrated

The Current Timeline

Late 1960s

Bryce Tankthrust is born.

Bobby Worst is born.

Late 1970s

Bryce Tankthrust begins learning the Double Diva Diversion.

Bryce Tankthrust meets Bobby Worst at school. She cuts out her heart for him, and after a seemingly random and unprecedented interruption by Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler, she grabs a dropped book about dictatorship and decides to run away with Bobby. Initially discarding the heart in a trash can, she retrieves it 20 minutes later.

Bobby Worst becomes an orphan after his father disowns him, and gets thrown into an orphanage.

Late 1980s

Bobby Worst is released from the orphanage at age 18.

Even Later 1980s

Bryce Tankthrust meets Donovan.

Bryce Tankthrust and Donovan begin seeing eachother.

Donovan dies after falling off a cliff.

Tammy Tankthrust is arrested and thrown in jail.

Bryce Tankthrust begins working at CallCo Phones

Bryce Tankthrust's heart (her own, that had been surgically reimplemented at age 10) fails. Gloria transplants an experimental mechanic heart into her; it is successful.

Bryce Tankthrust and Bobby Worst Reunite.

Bryce Tankthrust commissions Gloria to make a robotic reconstruction of Donovan.

After he was fatally injured by X, Bryce Tankthrust gives her heart to Donovan, so that he can perform surgery and give her his murder victim's heart.

Bryce Tankthrust murders the CEO of CallCo and his wife, and assumes his position as CEO of the company, now revamping it into Thankthrust Tellies.

1990

Bryce's heart (the one she got from the Accountant) fails, and she suffers cardiac arrest on New Years Eve.

Bryce Tankthrust moves offices.

Bobby Worst murders Delorio and the majority of Tankthrust Tellies' workforce and harvests their hearts to create a stockpile for Bryce. In the process, he undergoes a metamorphosis of sorts.

1990 - 1995

Bryce meets with the Angel Investment Firm, and declines their offer to take on 50% of her company.

Bryce Tankthrust rekindles with Gloria Goopty.

Bryce Tankthrust meets with the Angel Investment Firm again, and this time signs the contract with them.

Bryce Tankthrust moves offices again.

1996

Tammy Tankthrust is released from prison. Bryce and her mother also rekindle.

1996 - 2016

Bryce Tankthrust kidnaps the son of previous Tankthrust Enterprises employee Donna Phitts, and preserves his youth to make countless clones with hearts readily available for harvesting and utilising.

2020

Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential election, and Bryce Tankthrust finishes her tenure as president of the United States of America.

2021

Joe Biden is inaugurated into office, and Bryce Tankthrust undermines the course of the election by initiating a capitol riot on January 6th.

News gets out that Bryce Tankthrust staged the incarceration of Bobby Worst when footage of the two of them conspiring is hacked and released to the public. As a result, all the stocks for her company plummet, and she is rendered bankrupt.

Queen Elizabeth II, who still holds a vendetta against Bryce, kidnaps Bobby Worst knowing it'll cause her significant grief and heartache.

Bryce Tankthrust and Donovan team up with the Mingeworthies to save Donovan, and defeat Queen Elizabeth II.

A heart begins growing inside of Bryce.

Bryce Tankthrust revitalises her company endeavours and continues business as per usual.

Bryce Tankthrust and Bobby Worst get married.

2023

The Angel Investment Firm terminate Bryce's contract upon learning she is no longer heartless. This also entails killing her directly consequently.

Bryce Tankthrust, Tammy Tankthrust, and Gloria Goopty initiate their contingency plan, and murder all the Angel Investors in a scheme involving Bobby Worst and Donovan.

Current Day.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Pharaoh’s Daughter Adopts Moses

1 A man from Levi’s family married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw how beautiful he was and hid him for three months. 3 When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus plants and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus plants near the bank of the Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 While Pharaoh’s daughter came to the Nile to take a bath, her servants walked along the bank of the river. She saw the basket among the papyrus plants and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 Pharaoh’s daughter opened the basket, looked at the baby, and saw it was a boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

7 Then the baby’s sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 She answered, “Yes!” So the girl brought the baby’s mother.

9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to the woman, “Take this child, nurse him for me, and I will pay you.”

She took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child was old enough, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. Pharaoh’s daughter named him Moses [Pulled Out] and said, “I pulled him out of the water.”

Moses Commits Murder and Flees to Midian

11 In the course of time Moses grew up. Then he went to see his own people and watched them suffering under forced labor. He saw a Hebrew, one of his own people, being beaten by an Egyptian. 12 He looked all around, and when he didn’t see anyone, he beat the Egyptian to death and hid the body in the sand.

13 When Moses went there the next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who started the fight, “Why are you beating another Hebrew?”

14 The man asked, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought that everyone knew what he had done.

15 When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he tried to have him killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian.

Moses Marries Zipporah

One day, while Moses was sitting by a well, 16 seven daughters of the priest of Midian came. They drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep. 17 But some shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses got up, came to their defense, and then watered their sheep.

18 When they came back to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you come home so early today?”

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from some shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the sheep.”

20 Reuel asked his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Go, invite him to supper.”

21 Moses decided to stay with the man. So Reuel gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife. 22 She gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom [Foreigner], because he said, “I was a foreigner living in another country.”

The Israelites Pray to God during Their Suffering

23 After a long time passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to ELOHIM. 24 ELOHIM heard their groaning, and ELOHIM remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 ELOHIM saw the Israelites being oppressed and was concerned about them. — Exodus 2 | Names of God Bible (NOG) The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group. Cross References: Genesis 8:1; Genesis 11:3; Genesis 24:11; Genesis 29:3; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 3:7; Exodus 4:31; Exodus 6:16; Exodus 15:20; Numbers 12:1; Jeremiah 34:9; Jonah 1:9; Acts 7:20-21; Acts 7:23-24; Acts 7:25-26; Acts 7:35; Hebrews 11:13-14; Hebrews 11:24; Hebrews 11:27; James 5:4

Exodus 2 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (complete)

Key Passages in Exodus 2

1. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile. 5. He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter; 7. who employs his mother to nurse him. 11. He kills an Egyptian. 13. He reproves a Hebrew. 15. He flees into Midian, and marries Zipporah. 22. Gershom is born. 23. God respects the Israelites' cry.

[cordeliahrose]

Lucifer

Lucifer is a Latin word coming from the words lux, meaning light, and fero, meaning to bear or to carry. Literally translating to light-bearer.

Lucifer as a Roman Deity

Lucifer has had many faces throughout history. One of these being the Roman deity of the morning star, or Venus, considered the male equivalent of the goddess Venus. He is attributed to being the god of enlightenment and illumination. Lucifer is often depicted carrying a torch, and said to be equal in beauty to the goddess Venus. Due to being the morning star, I can also see Lucifer being associated with war as well. Especially considering his association with learning and knowledge, as well as that Venus also historically had war epithets. 

In the Greek pantheon, they separate the morning star and the evening star into two seperate deities, being Phosphorus/Eosphorus and Hesperos. Eosphorus meaning “dawn-bringer”, and Phosphorus meaning “The bearer of light”. Phosphorus and Hesperos are the sons of Eos, Goddess of dawn, and Astraios, God of dusk. Phosphorus is the father of the Hesperides, nymphs of the evening time and light of the sunset.

Lucifer in Abrahamic Religions

Historically, Lucifer was never mentioned in the Bible at all. His name being associated to Christianity nowadays is due to a mistranslation of a poem about a fallen king. However, he is a big part of Christian culture now, and there are myths associated with him. 

Lucifer was said to be the most beautiful and intelligent of God’s angels. He was God’s right hand. Until he defied God. There are many different versions of the fall of Lucifer. 

One version of this story says that Lucifer became overly prideful of himself, his beauty, intelligence, power, that he thought himself worthy of being worshipped equal to God. Because of this, God cast him out of heaven.

Another version is that Lucifer was jealous of Jesus Christ. He gathered the angels and brought forward the idea of worshipping him instead of Jesus. Some of the angels sided with Lucifer, while others did not. There was a meeting between God, Lucifer, and all of the angels in which God said that their rebellion was unforgivable. There was a war between the two sides, but ultimately God and his angels won. Lucifer and the angels who followed him were banished from heaven.

Lucifer in Modern Witchcraft

In more modern witchcraft, there is a tradition which states that Diana, queen of witches, created Lucifer when she split herself into two pieces, darkness and light. She kept the darkness for herself, and Lucifer kept the light. Lucifer and Diana also have a child, Aradia. In this tradition, Lucifer is seen as the god of light, and masculine energy. One of the most influential sources for this tradition is The Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland.

Lucifer in Demonolatry

In demonolatry, Lucifer has many titles. Prince, King, Emperor, Lord. Lucifer is a demon of transformation, enlightenment, awakening, self-discovery, self-empowerment, and more. He is usually attributed to the element of air, and also pride.

Lucifer’s Associations

Anything with the * symbol next to it means that it is my own UPG.

Animals:

Snakes

Rams

Peacocks

Corvids (crows, ravens)

Cats

Spiders

Moths

Colors:

Black

Grey

Gold

Red

Teal

Blue, especially pale blue*

Purple* 

Crystals:

Obsidian

Onyx

Hematite

Celestite

Seraphinite

Garnet

Sunstone

Clear quartz

Carnelian

Ruby

Copper 

I am aware that copper isn’t a crystal. 

Plants:

Apples

Pomegranates

Roses

Cinnamon

Cloves

Lavender

Blackberries

Sage

Black pepper

Garlic

Lilac

Spicy peppers*

Other:

Stars

The number 7*

Spring equinox

Autumn equinox*

Offerings

Strawberries

Blackberries

Chocolate

Apples

Pomegranates

Honey

Spicy foods*

Sweet things, especially baked goods

Juices, especially apple or grape

Coffee

Roses

Feathers

Devotional Acts

Shadow work

Learn about the sciences or the arts

Create art of any kind

Face your fears

Learn about any of his associated animals

Magical workings, especially those that fall under his sphere of influence

Learning in general

Developing  your psychic abilities and spiritual senses (the clairs)

Spiritual progression

Anything marked with the symbol * means that it is my own UPG

[trustfallwithgod]

Via Steward & Son TikTok

Day (Lost Count) - Do You Dare to Trust in Darkness?

It’s the hardest test to set aside our limited perspectives in the wake of tragedy. How could a good God let [insert disaster] happen?

There’s no neat solution or answer but it would be a matter of pride to pretend we are able to provide one or discern a better way. Why? The butterfly effect rests on the notion that the world is deeply interconnected, such that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system. A favourite discussion is often had around the potential murder of baby Hitler and while in our limited perspectives it might seem a clean solution, movies have often explored how it could give rise to a more terrible villain.

The reality is - we are limited in scope but an Almighty Father sits outside time and reality - trying to comprehend His ways are futile but from what we know about the Bible, His plan is ultimately blessing for His children: us.

Early chapters have been a tale of ever increasing sinfulness and separation from God. In Genesis 12, suddenly everything shifts as God reveals his solution – Abraham!

God promises Abraham: ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you… and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (12:2–3).

God chooses one individual and blesses him, and then one nation and blesses them – but his plan is always that they will pass the blessing on (v.3b). This is key for our understanding of the Old Testament, as it explains why God chose Israel – so that through them the whole world might be blessed.

Ultimately this promise is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the fulfilment of all the promises and hopes of Israel and through him ‘all people’ can be blessed.

This is now God’s purpose for you.

The apostle Paul writes, ‘Those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith’ (Galatians 3:7–9).

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

3rd April >> Mass Readings (USA)

Easter Wednesday 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

First Reading

Acts of the Apostles 3:1–10

What I do have I give you: in the name of the Lord Jesus, rise and walk.

Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o’clock hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 105:1–2, 3–4, 6–7, 8–9

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds. Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations— Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Sequence

Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal. Speak, Mary, declaring What you saw, wayfaring. “The tomb of Christ, who is living, The glory of Jesus’ resurrection; bright angels attesting, The shroud and napkin resting. Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.

Gospel Acclamation

Psalm 118:24

Alleluia, alleluia. This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Luke 24:13–35

They recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[madamlaydebug]

The 7 Stars and 7 Golden Lampstands of DNA......

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are7 stars, lampstands and churches the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. In the End Times, Saint John had prophesied the appearance of the "one like a son of man," who reveals what the seven stars and seven lampstands represent. (Revelation 1:14-20)

In the Gnostic biblical text, the Revelation of Saint John, we are told the truth of the seven stars by John, who clearly states that these stars are actually angels of the seven churches. The meaning of angel is a spiritual human being who is believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God. This angel would be an actual person in the flesh.

The seven churches do not represent actual buildings, but the Body of Christ who are represented by the DNA of people or groups (tribes) of people. The word "Church" comes from the Greek "ku-ri-a-kos" or "ku-ri-a-kon" that had later morphed into an Old English word "cirice (kirche or Kee-ree-ke) and in Scotland, it was "kirk." These words would eventually evolve into the modern English "church." (1) The Greek Ku-ri-a-kos is derived from its root: "Ku- ri-os," which means "lord." Thus, the Greek "kuriakos", that today in English is pronounced church, is something that "pertains to, or belongs to, a lord."

John then tells us that the seven lampstands are the seven churches and the big question is, "What does he mean by seven lampstands?" The golden lampstands remind me of the alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals (lead, for example) into the living gold of the philosophers. A substance we know of today in myth as the Philosopher’s Stone; that in reality is the fire of life, but this stone in science is called Phosphorus or in the occult and bible, Lucifer or the Morning Star. It is simply the Alpha and Omega of all chemical energies, including that of our very own DNA!

Phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate rocks and phosphate is the body’s source of chemical energy. The phosphorus atom is of the nitrogen family, but having that characteristic of firing. Phosphorus is the philosopher’s stone that is the central symbol of alchemy, symbolizing the light within our DNA and in nature, and it is the least abundant element cosmically relative to its presence in biology," says Matthew Pasek of the University of South Florida. Without phosphorus, there would be no thought or wisdom. This is the atom that fires our blood to produce chemical energy, consciousness, creativity and life.

The Lord in most ancient times was known by various names such as Marduk to the Sumerians, Aten or Aden to the Assyrians, Osiris to the Egyptians, Zeus to the Greeks, Saint Peter to the Catholics, Yahweh and now Adoni to the Hebrews. The Lord we know of today is actually the largest gas planet in our solar system, Jupiter.

In the bible, Jupiter becomes Japheth which means Jupiter, who is called one of the sons of Noah in the Abrahamic tradition and was the father of all the Indo-European people. Both the early Irish Celts and the early Britons traced the descent of their royal houses from Japheth, as did also the early Saxons who corrupted his name to Sceaf,–pr. ‘sheaf’ or ‘shaif’ (see chapter 7). (Refs: 1DB 2:802. NBD 599. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26). In Acts 14:12, Barnabas a Levite who is from the Tribe of Levi in which they called Zeus (Jupiter), and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

The number 7 is often called the holy number, the prophetic number, or the mystical number. One of the clues as to why this number is so special, is because we humans who have 7 body parts, Seven DNA Polymerase Families, and with our 7 senses, are the SO BELOW of the AS ABOVE. The AS ABOVE which correspond to the SO BELOW in us humans, are the 7 planets with their elements and gasses in our solar system. We are the microcosm of the macrocosm, in which everything is number and all is energy or should I say, chemical energy?

The earliest reference to the number 7 to DNA and the cloning of humans can be accredited to the Sumerian creation myth and flood myth found on a tablet excavated in Nippur. It is dated approximately 1600 BC during the first Babylonian dynasty. In the Sumerian text, the planet Jupiter represented by the Babylonian God Marduk (Merodach, Amar-uduk, and Marudulc) battles Venus the evil Goddess Tiamat who takes the form of a gigantic snake. Marduk (Jupiter) then goes to battle, ultimately defeating her. For his victory against the planet Venus, AKA Tiamat, the king of the planets, Jupiter, AKA Marduk is made the King of the Gods.

After Marduk (Jupiter) triumphed over Tiamat (Venus), he divided her corpse into two sections, the upper half becoming the sky and the lower half, the earth. Marduk then creates humanity from his blood and bone. This is key in understanding the number 7 because of the Seven DNA Polymerase Families that can be further subdivided into seven different families: A, B, C, D, X, Y, and RT. DNA polymerases are widely used in molecular biology laboratories, notably for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, and molecular cloning. Yes, the seven in DNA that was used in the cloning of the human race!

DNA polymerases from all kingdoms of life have historically been organized into seven distinct families based on phylogenetic relationships. These 7 DNA Polymerase Families may very well be the seven lampstands that Saint John had written about that resides in our very DNA.

This makes perfect biblical sense because my angelic Revelations above details the science behind what Saint John had meant by the seven angels, the seven churches, and now the seven lampstands- which we can connect to DNA and in which the gold would be Phosphorus, which as a phosphate is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Humans obtain their energy through phosphorus that is extracted from foods ingested into the body by converting it to the chemical energy that is then stored within the body. It makes up 1% of our total body weight and is present in every cell of the body; most of the phosphorus in the body is found (85%) in bones and teeth.

The ancient Sumerian allegorical stories in stone were not just talking about the planets and Gods they worshiped, but also the creation of the current human race that was created by the "blood and bone" of the Babylonian God named Marduk in mythology, but whose name in reality, truth and science is simply the planet Jupiter.

As I stated above, phosphorus is present in every cell of the body; most of the phosphorus in the body is found (85%) in bones and teeth. Could it be that the Sumerians were informing us that we come from, or our chemical energy in our DNA is from the planet Jupiter? I believe that My alien, Jupiter, and the Seven DNA Polymerase Families theory will start to become more apparent to you as you read more of my blog or past articles that I have written on the planet Jupiter.

The Future of the Race of Jupiter and Other Races

Many people today are operating on only the 5 basic physical senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The problem that we have if we only use these 5 basic senses, is that we are not being our true selves by not fully utilizing all the 7 senses, which we can tap in order to be fully conscious as a a true human being. These other two major sense are our minds for thinking, and our blood or DNA for Gnosis or intuition.

The human body has seven body parts and there are seven planets in our solar system. In astrology, parts of the body are ruled by the signs and planets. Hermes had written that there are seven holes in the head of an animal, distributed to the seven planets. There are seven days in creation, seven spirits before the throne of God, and seven days in the week. Monday for the Moon, Tuesday for Mars, Wednesday for Mercury, Thursday for Jupiter, Friday for Venus, Saturday for Saturn and Sunday for the sun who rules over the brain and heart.

In addition to the senses not being fully employed, many people are simply using only 6 of their 7 body parts in the 6th Age. The most important part is our 7th member, which is the head that contains the mind, and which many people simply are not using correctly or at all. Hence, a fully functioning human who has full control of their 7 body parts, including their head and mind, can then possibly activate all 7 forms or modes of perception to become a true Jedi or Gnostic Warrior.

As I have said in my previous articles on 666, this is the 6th Age in which man was created on the 6th day of Saturn and his number is 666. We fall short of the perfect number 7, which is Sunday that is represented by the sun who rules over our brains and hearts, because Christ which represents our true divinity was crucified at Golgotha (the place of the skull). Those who do not start using that 6th sense of their minds and developing their 7th sense of DNA activation via Gnosis will simply not evolve or ascend to the 7th Age.

1. Oxford Universal English Dictionary: Church [Old English cirice, circe; Middle English chereche, chiriche, chirche; whence churche, cherche, etc.: -Greek Kuriakon...]

[merlincersei]

Merlin BBC UK TV Show - A Psychological Analysis Series Part 7

Season 5 Episode 3 - “ Death Song Of Uther Pendragon”

One of the most interesting episode in the series is the “ Death Song Of Uther Pendragon”.

In this episode we are exposed to the some less flattering aspects of Arthur’s character:

1) HYPOCRISY:

Arthur knowingly uses witchcraft by blowing the Horn of Cathbhadh to communicate with his deceased father.

It seems Arthur is okay with using magic when it benefits him despite maintaining the overall ban on magic in Camelot.

2) LYING:

Arthur hides the fact he is going to use the Horn of Cathbhadh, even from GWEN…..(Let that sink in). But of course not Merlin….because of reasons……….

3) INSECURITY:

Arthur tells Uther that he is his own man ………but at the same time desperately seeks Uther’s approval.

But the most interesting moments in the episode involve Uther Pendragon.

1) HE IS A TERRIBLE FATHER:

Uther is back and he is hopping mad. He spends all his time criticizing and berating Arthur.

Their interaction helps emphasize the contradiction between Uther and Balinor.

When Uther comes back from the dead he spends his time criticizing Arthur.

When Balinor’s spirit communicates with Merlin in Season 5 Episode 12, he uplifts and encourages his son.

2) ATTEMPTED FILICIDE:

Uther actually tries to kill Arthur. The reason which Uther states is his disapproval on how Arthur has governed his kingdom.

This story point does not make sense because Arthur was Uther’s sole heir and if he had killed Arthur, Camelot would have been without a King and the Pendragon dynasty could have ended right there.

While Uther was one of the main antagonist of the series his one redeeming feature was his repressed affection for his son.

However the writers have given us a vital clue to help us decipher why.

3) USING MAGIC:

Uther in spirit form uses magic to harm Perceval, Gwen, Arthur and Merlin.

Uther using magic betrays one of his own cherished belief of a Camelot being free from Magic.

Uther using magic in spirit form could be dismissed as ghosts possess magical powers and hence is not an outlier. However when Balinor came in Spirit form to help Merlin he did not use magic. When Igraine came in ghost form to speak to Arthur she did not use magic.

By using magic, Uther has confirmed the subtext of what magic represents in the show.

4) WHAT MAGIC REALLY MEANS:

That Magic is a methaphor for queerness.

When Arthur confronts Uther and says Uther has been driven by hate and fear. It refers to Uther own self hate for indulging in “magic” and fear of it being found out.

That repressed side of Uther which he has indulged in and has been the source of his guilt. Igraine died because she was impregnated using magic.

It has been Uther’s justification for the persecution of “magic users”

Same as self hating closeted people always spout the most anti-LGBTQIA stuff.

Uther’s motivation for killing Arthur and reclaiming Camelot stems from his religious devotion to the idea of Camelot. Just like Abraham was willing to kill his son to please God. Uther is ready to sacrifice Arthur because he believes Camelot will be undone with Arthur’s more liberal nature. With Arthur marrying a commoner and elevating commoners to knight hood, legalizing magic could be something Arthur could consider (AND DID CONSIDER IN THE DISIR EPISODE). Arthur after all was not above using magic to get what he wanted as highlighted above

Merlin even has some very revealing words when it comes to magic:

“I was born with it”. LADY GAGA would be proud.

Uther even tries to out Merlin to Arthur before Arthur blows the horn to send him back to the spirit world.

5) MERTHUR FACTS:

Merlin tells Leon he is teaching Arthur poetry.

Gaya scienza (‘joyful, cheerful, or gay science’) was a term used by the troubadours in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries to refer to the art of poetry. In Ecce Homo Nietzsche writes that he has used the term gaya scienza here to designate the specific unity of ‘singer, knight, and free spirit’ which was characteristic of early Provencal culture…………………………….DO I NEED TO SAY MORE.

When Uther admits to trying to kill Gwen, Arthur tries to convince his father why Gwen is a worthy consort. When Uther tries to kill Merlin, Arthur straight up blows the horn without even letting Uther complete his sentence.

And I won’t even touch this one:

[resolvedbrunette]

sermon notes 10/13/2024

on breaking familial cycles

Genesis 26

The way you were raised doesn’t necessitate your behavior

“Like mother/father, like daughter” doesn’t need to be true

Isaac began to go down the same (fear-led) path that Abraham did

Egypt a common allegory for the (secular) world

The promised land had famines to test the faith of God’s people

The salvation of His people was unconditional - he would always look after them and keep them alive, at least to some remnant

the blessings were conditional (at times)

Isaac’s fear of what men would do to him made him trust God less

His fear actually put the person he loved (Rebekah) at risk

Isaac worked hard, and this brought him prosperity

God blessed him because of His promise to his family

God blesses us because of His promise to us through Jesus (???)

His promise that we’ll have eternal life

** What about here on earth? Salvation doesn’t apply to daily life

Isaac understood that there was a time to contest and a time to move on

Difference between approaches in father and son:

Abraham was confrontational during well disputes

** find scriptural evidence of this

Isaac was avoidant during well disputes (simply build another)

We need discernment to know which approach to use

Overarching theme: The faithfulness of God and His promises, mercy, and grace to us.

Supplemental scriptures:

*Psalm 27

*Proverbs 29:25

*Psalm 56:11/118:6

II Timothy 1:7

Side notes:

(I feel like) God is not doing great things in my life

(a relationship with) Jesus is like running water from a spring to satisfy the thirst of our soul

A parent can negatively influence a child, committing the same sin - affected by parents’ choices?

Idea of generational curses - Exodus 20:2 should not make carved images, iniquities of father upon son to 3rd and 4th generations to those who hate God - therefore believers are not susceptible.

[steveezekiel]

THE NEEDY

"FOR THE NEEDY SHALL NOT ALWAYS BE FORGOTTEN; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.”

Psalm 9:18 (NKJV)

• God hates poverty thus He has a soft spot for the poor: "BUT YOU, LORD, TELL THEM, “I will do something! THE POOR ARE MISTREATED AND HELPLESS PEOPLE MOAN. I'LL RESCUE ALL WHO SUFFER" (Psalm 12:5 Contemporary English Version).

- God does not want the poor to be oppressed or cheated. There are some couple of passages of the Bible where God said the poor should not be mistreated (Deuteronomy 24:10-13). That If the poor are mistreated and they cried to Him, He would fight for them (Exodus 23:6; Deuteronomy 15:7-10; 24:14,15)

- Note: God will not forget the Needy: "FOR THE NEEDY SHALL NOT ALWAYS BE FORGOTTEN; THE EXPECTATION OF THE POOR SHALL NOT PERISH FOREVER" (Psalm 9:18 NKJV).

- To be in need is not a crime, however, God does not want His own children, those who belong to Him, to remain in need.

- Poverty is a curse! It relegates and makes one unfulfilled in life, thus, God would not want it for whoever is His. He has delight and pleasures in the prosperity of those who serve Him (Psalm 35:27).

• The Solution.

- God has made provision in His Word through which every believer in Christ Jesus could live in abundance and chase lack and poverty away from their lives.

- God is able to meet all the need of those who belong to Him: "HE WHO DID NOT WITHHOLD OR SPARE [even] HIS OWN SON BUT GAVE HIM UP FOR US ALL, WILL HE NOT ALSO WITH HIM FREELY AND GRACIOUSLY GIVE US ALL ALL [other] THINGS?" (Romans 8:32)

- Jesus became poor that we might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Thus, the deliverance from poverty comes through the obedience of believers to the principles of abundance written in the Bible—God’s Word.

- God also works based on covenants. And He is a principled God. Wealth is a result of the covenant which God made with Abraham: "YOU SHALL REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU POWER TO GET WEALTH, THAT HE MAY CONFIRM HIS COVENANT THAT HE SWORE TO YOUR FATHERS, AS IT IS THIS DAY" (Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV).

- Emotional crying may not move God like being obedient to what He said to do in His Word that would lead to financial abundance. Covenant is higher and greater than any economic situations or circumstances of whatever the nation of the world.

- What makes a believer blessed is not the economic condition of his or her country, but his or her obedience to the terms of the covenant for prosperity which are stated in God's Word.

- When you walk in the principle of Giving:

a. Tithings.

b. Offerings: worship offerings, project offerings, offerings to the needy, prophet offerings, mission offerings, and others.

- Giving of your substance would not be enough, your commitment and being diligent, that is, being hardworking and smart, in whatever your assignment is; are very important also.

- Being prudent in spending is of utmost importance as well, because God is against any waste.

- God is moved by faith, when you believe His Word and act on It, that is faith. And faith is said to please God, but unbelief displeases Him (Hebrews 11:6).

- Thus, you had to obey the Word of God, practice it, and put it to work; then you see Him move on your behalf (James 1:25).

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

- Should there be any ailment in your body, receive your healing now in Jesus' name.

- Hold of sicknesses is completely broken in your life in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Peace!

STEPS TO SALVATION

• Take notice of this: IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).

a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).

b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, Thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).

c. Ask that He will write your name in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).

- If you took the steps As highlighted above, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Tuesday, June 4, 2024

may 22_june 4

RIGHTEOUS MELCHISEDEC, KING OF SALEM

The Righteous Melchizedek was the King of Salem (Jerusalem). He was both a king and a priest, laying the foundations of the city where the Messiah would appear. According to Mar Jacob of Serugh, Melchizedek was a Canaanite, asserting that the very site of his kingdom bears witness to this. Therefore, his genealogy is not recorded. He must have been born, and he must have died, but the Scriptures deliberately conceal both events, assigning him neither beginning nor end, so that he might be called a priest forever. Melchizedek (who appears in the Scriptures suddenly, and then disappears) is regarded as a type of Christ (Hebrews 5:6, 10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:2). He did not receive his priesthood from any other priest, nor did he pass on his priesthood to anyone else. In his homily "On Melchizedek, Priest of the Most High God," Mar Jacob of Serugh states that the priests of the past shed the blood of animals when offering sacrifices to God. By contrast, Melchizedek was made a priest "by the sacrifices of his soul," and did not sacrifice animals, nor did he offer anything but himself to God. Melchizedek did not adorn himself with splendid robes as Aaron did; and instead of offering bulls and rams, Melchizedek offered his holy prayers from a pure heart. The Son of God also resembles Melchizedek, because there is no beginning or end to His priesthood, and He offered Himself to the Father as a perfect sacrifice. As Priest, Christ brought Himself to the place of sacrifice, placing His body on the altar of the Cross, and shedding His blood for us.

In chapter 7 of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Righteous Melchizedek is called the King of Salem, and also a "priest of the Most High God." By the interpretation of his name, he is called the King of righteousness and the King of Salem, in other words, "the King of peace" (Hebrews 7:2).

Melchizedek met the Patriarch Abraham as he was returning from his victory over the kings (Genesis 14:18-24). He brought bread and wine to Abraham and blessed him, saying: "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Who made heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, Who delivered thine enemies into thy power." By offering Abraham bread and wine, Melchizedek foreshadows the Church's Liturgy.

Thus, the Righteous Melchizedek was shown to be greater than Abraham, because he blessed Abraham. Abraham, the lesser of the two, did not presume to bless one who was greater than himself (Homily of Mar Jacob, line 299). Abraham accepted the blessing and offered him a tithe of his spoils, and he also showed him reverence (Homily, line 310).

The priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of Aaron, because Melchizedek blessed Abraham. By giving Melchizedek a tithe, Abraham, the ancestor of Aaron, showed that he recognized him as a priest. Through Abraham, Levi's tribe offered first fruits to the image of the Son of God which was seen in Melchizedek. Nevertheless, the Lord did not choose to come forth from the tribe of Levi, but from the family of Kings.

Melchizedek did not serve "according to the priesthood that was to be dissolved, but according to that which unto the ages abides spiritually; and since his priesthood was never annulled, with respect to service; behold how he is spoken of as living, through his priesthood." (Homily, lines 361-364).

The Holy Prophet-King David speaks of him as a priest who would never die (Psalm 109/110:4). When he thought about the Messiah, in order to compare Him to someone whom He ought to resemble, he did not think of anyone from the priesthood of Aaron. Instead, he selected Melchizedek, who provided for his liturgy without any sacrificial victims. The spiritual ministry of this man, who was in the likeness of the Son, is incomprehensible. He wore two crowns, one hidden, and the other manifest. He had authority in two different realms. He was an earthly King who never engaged in battles with those on his borders, because of his peacefulness (Homily, line 538). He desired nothing but peace and righteousness (Homily, line 542).

The Church recalls Melchizedek at the beginning of Great Lent: "Imitate that Priest of God and solitary King (Hebrews 7:3), who was an image of the life of Christ in the world among men." (Thursday of the first week of Great Lent, the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, Ode 3).

St JOHN-VLADIMIR, PRINCE OF BULGARIA, GREATMARTYR AND MIRACLE-WORKER (1015)

The Holy Martyr John-Vladimir, a Serbian prince, was born in the tenth century. From his childhood he was raised in piety, and at maturity he wisely governed his holdings Illyria and Dalmatia, preserving the holy Faith in purity.

The noble prince was married to Kosara, a daughter of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel. Summoned for talks with the Bulgarian Tsar John-Vladislav, he was treacherously murdered by the Tsar on May 22, 1015, at the entrance to a church. Kosara, the pious spouse of the holy prince, entered a women’s monastery that she built, and where also she died, not leaving the church until the very end of her life. The relics of the holy prince are located near Elbosan.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_ OCA

ACTS 12:25-13:12

25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant. 6 Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? 11 And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

JOHN 8:51-59

51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death. 52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.' 53 Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be? 54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

[evita-shelby]

12 Days of Smuff: Day 7

Future + facesitting

Jack Nelson x Eva Smith

Cw: smut, slight mentions of American politics, alternative universe where jfk is someone else, cunnilingus, mentions of the male refractory period and inappropriate use of the white house.

“I thought the White House would be bigger.” Eva mused quietly as they made use of the amenities in the Lincoln bedroom.

It was slightly larger than the National Palace and Chapultepec, but it wasn’t as special as Jack and every American believed.

For fuck’s sake it wasn’t even a castle. Sure it was as white as its ruling class and very beautiful, but it lacked the charm and color of Mexico's seat of power.

“Snob.” Her husband snorts finding her honesty funny.

He had been hoping to impress her with it, it was sweet of him to scheme his way into a tour of the place with the help of his friends. Eva should reward him for it.

And what better way than getting the first lady to let them stay the night in a room of their choice.

One joke about Jack’s height, a well timed vision about the President’s secret heart condition and voila, the Nelsons were fucking like rabbits on the bed Abraham Lincoln allegedly slept on.

“When my exile is lifted you’ll see what I’m talking about. Does your country have a real castle as its seat of power?” Eva teased him as they caught their breath after a vigorous round of fucking.

A shame men had to wait to get back into action, Eva was going mad with the waiting. Luckily Jack was young, only a few years her senior and didn’t have to wait as long, but it felt fucking eternal to her.

Nothing like knowing you’ll make a future president today to get you firing on all cylinders.

“If it’s not as special why do you want to fuck here?” he asks finally noticing how needy she is right now.

“Its not everyday you make the 35th president in the bed of the 16th president, mi vida.” Eva answered as if it had been obvious.

Just knowing she’s going to leave this room pregnant had her humping his thigh like a bitch in heat. She needs more, and he knows that.

So she pouts when he refuses to use his hand to bring her release.

“You said it yourself, not everyday you make a president in the White House, darling.” He teases and gestures for her to straddle him.

He's good with his cock, so good she’d put toloache in his food to make sure he never strays. He belongs to her and only her.

“Go on, sweetheart, sit on my face.” He says instead and the witch is pleasantly surprised at his suggestion.

Jack had said she had the makings of a good wife when he fucked her face in the confessional and she’d returned the praise when he got on his knees and had her seeing stars.

He ate her like a man starved then and wastes no time to fuck her with his fingers and his tongue as she sits on his face.

The vision of their perfect son comes in flashes as she rode his face, forgetting he could suffocate between her legs as she tried to focus on the pleasure and the pieces if the future they were making.

She sees a charming man, older than they were but not as old as the presidents she’s seen. Dark hair like hers, blue eyes like his father and announcing his campaign at the house Jack had bought for them in Massachusetts.

She sees him waving at a cheering crowd with his picture perfect wife in a pink skirt suit on a sunny day when the coil inside her snaps and the only thing keeping her upright is Jack’s grip on her hips.

“Don’t tell me I tired you out, the night’s only just begun, Evie.”

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Jacob is Buried

1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; 3 forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, ‘I am about to die: in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father; then I will return.” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household; only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; it was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named A′bel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them; 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field at Mach-pe′lah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Forgives His Brothers

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died, 17 ‘Say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him, and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Fear not, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he reassured them and comforted them.

Joseph’s Last Days and Death

22 So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw E′phraim’s children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manas′seh were born upon Joseph’s knees. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, “God will visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. — Genesis 50 | Revised Standard Version (RSV) Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 13:15; Genesis 23:16; Genesis 27:41; Genesis 30:3; Genesis 37:8; Genesis 37:26-28; Genesis 41:43; Genesis 42:21-22; Genesis 45:5; Genesis 45:11; Genesis 46:4; Genesis 47:12; Genesis 47:29-30; Genesis 49:33; Genesis 50:15; Exodus 1:6; Numbers 20:29; Numbers 32:39; Deuteronomy 34:8; Matthew 26:12; Matthew 27:60; Mark 16:1; Acts 8:2; Acts 7:16; Hebrews 11:22

Trusting God's Direction for Our Lives

[the-drokainian]

‭Matthew 1:1-17 NIV‬

[1] This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: [2] Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, [3] Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, [4] Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, [5] Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, [6] and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, [7] Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, [8] Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, [9] Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, [10] Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, [11] and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. [12] After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, [13] Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, [14] Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, [15] Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, [16] and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. [17] Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

This is the Genealogy of Jesus Christ.

[female-malice]

Israeli Peace Activists Who Lost Loved Ones in the Hamas Massacre Stand Their Ground

Many of the victims of the Hamas pogrom and their family members were and continue to be peace activists. The surviving relatives now have to deal not only with profound grief and dread, but also with hateful comments; but their personal tragedy hasn't changed their dovish stance. On the contrary

Shany Littman Oct 27, 2023 10:35 pm IDT

Yakovi and Bilha Inon’s children didn’t wait to be officially notified that their parents’ bodies had been identified before they began sitting shivah. On the night of October 7 they posted a death notice and the next day they embarked on the week-long mourning ritual, according to their son, Maoz Inon, a social activist and entrepreneur, and co-founder of the Abraham Hostels in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Yakovi’s body was identified 12 days after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel that Saturday. Bilha’s body has yet to be identified at the time of this writing, 17 days later.

Maayan Inon, Maoz’s older sister, says that already on that terrible Saturday they had a feeling about what was happening in their parents’ moshav. “Early Sunday, my brother-in-law traveled to their home in Netiv HaAsara, accompanied by security forces, and saw two unrecognizable bodies, but it was clearly them,” says Maayan, 50. “That was enough for us, we didn’t need more than that to realize we need to start mourning.”

The first shivah of the October 7 War became a collective ritual of mourning. “Survivors from Nir Am, Netiv HaAsara, bereaved families – they all came to us,” says Maoz, 48. “It shook all of us up. There was an emotional bond between all the survivors, or maybe they’re better described as victims. During the shivah you’d hear about this guy from school who had been killed, and that girlfriend, and this person’s son – a lot of people you know.”

“We arranged the shivah in a very intuitive way, and in retrospect, it was correct,” Maayan adds. “We were together, and we had the space and the time to come to grips with the fact that they’re gone. Survivors from Netiv HaAsara were dispersed and didn’t have a place to gather and process what happened, so they came to us. I heard my parents whisper in my ear, ‘We’re fine, take care of them.’"

Yakovi was an agronomist and farmer, a native of Kibbutz Nir Am; Bilha was an educator and artist, born on Kibbutz Ruhama. Both were people of the Negev who lived their whole lives near the Gaza Strip. Their first home was on Nir Am, which is where their five children – Mor, Maayan, Maoz, Magal and Magen – were born.

“My father had Bedouin and Palestinian friends,” Maoz recalls. “I remember being 6 or 7 years old and traveling with one of them, Ali Khamis, to fix his truck at a garage in Gaza, and then he’d take me to a restaurant. When I told him my parents were killed, he collapsed and was hospitalized.”

When the kibbutz movement faced a severe crisis in the ‘90s, the Inons decided to leave Nir Am and start over some 60 kilometers to the north, in Netiv HaAsara, with barely any financial means. They bought a small plot of land and built a modest home. Yakovi was the head of moshav’s secretariat, helped plan a large logistics center adjacent to the Erez Crossing, and even advocated unsuccessfully for the opening of a hospital there that would serve the residents of Gaza.

On the morning of October 7, Yakovi sent a message to his children saying that he and his wife had locked the doors and were in their safe room. “When we realized that there was a terrorist infiltration, it became clear to us that they wouldn’t survive. We always knew the house couldn’t withstand an attack. We called it a cardboard house,” says Maayan. “But they felt safe. My dad always said: We can’t live in fear. He claimed that fear is a subjective thing and he didn’t really feel it. My mom had some bouts of fear and anxiety. But they still chose to stay because they loved the area and the people, they were pillars of their community, and they lived well. The fact that he locked the house was a sign that they sensed that something unusual was happening.”

It emerged that the terrorists who infiltrated the moshav fired a missile at the house, which went up in flames. Yakovi and Bilha died in the inferno.

“In their will, my parents asked that their bodies be cremated,” Maoz says. “They said the soil was a place for wheat, not graves. They asked that we spread their ashes in the moshav’s fields, and over the graves of my dad’s parents on Nir Am. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Maoz Inon says that up until October 7, he didn’t describe himself as a peace activist, but rather as a social activist. For two decades he has been coming up with initiatives that focus on using tourism as a tool for social change, and linking it with a vision of Jewish-Arab coexistence and joint cultural and business ventures. In 2005, he opened the first backpacker hostel in Nazareth’s Old City, the Fauzi Azar Inn, in partnership with the Palestinian family that owned the premises. He went on to help create hiking trails linking Jewish and Arab locales and founded the Abraham Hostels network, which in addition to accommodating travelers in an atmosphere of “sustainable tourism,” offers activities for different communities in Israel: Haredim, asylum seekers and LGBTQ people. Most recently, Inon founded Abraham Tours, which organizes trips to the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. One of the tours used to pass through his parents’ moshav.

After the flare-up of hostilities between Israel and Gaza in May 2021, Inon began organizing tours with a political agenda, together with Nazareth-born activist Kholoud Abu Ahmad. “We realized that the first step toward a life together is to get to know the other’s narrative,” he says. “It’s very dangerous to repress, silence and block out the narrative of the 20 percent of Israel’s citizens who are Palestinian. They are citizens, and they aren’t going anywhere. We shouldn’t be afraid of the Palestinian identity. We should get to know them, hear their story, know what causes them pain.”

The personal tragedy that struck the Inon family three weeks ago has not changed his views. On the contrary. Since that Saturday, Inon defines himself as a man on a mission. “Look at our state,” he says. “We’ve been warning for years that we were on the precipice of an abyss, and now the biggest disaster since the Holocaust has struck the Jewish people, under the leadership of the ‘fully’ right-wing government, which will be the end of us. We have to change all our terminology and our basic assumption that Israel’s security is based on military might.”

You aren’t angry, you don’t want to punish the people who did this?

Inon: “I understand the anger and the frustration, and I understand the desire for revenge, but I also see where this revenge has gotten us over the past century. If the Hamasnik who fired the missile at my parents’ house was sitting across from me right now, I would talk to him. I would want to understand. I would want him to see me cry.”

His sister Maayan also says she doesn’t feel hatred or anger – just pain. “It tears me up inside that people have gotten to the point where they are capable of behaving this way. The question is, do we want to continue this round [of fighting], is this round good for us? Or do we want to look for a different, less violent, less cruel and destructive path? I don’t think we can say hocus-pocus and reality will change. But I believe that through work and growth, there’s hope and opportunity for change. We can create healthy, balanced and proper relationships.”

‘No innocent lamb’

Quite a few peace activists and their relatives were murdered or taken hostage during the October 7 pogrom perpetrated by Hamas. In the three weeks that have passed since that terrible day, their families have had to deal not only with profound loss and grief, and dread over the fate of loved ones who are hostages or still missing – but also with hateful comments on social media and on the street.

Facebook posts mentioning Vivian Silver from Kibbutz Be’eri, one of Israel’s most prominent left-wing activists, who served on the board of the B’Tselem rights organization and helped to found the Women Wage Peace group, and is now being held hostage in Gaza, were met with comments like “she wasn’t abducted, she’s just visiting friends,” “she ought to stay there with her peace-loving friends,” and “this is a story of an Israel-hater who made her bed and slept in it,” among others.

Similar comments greeted Neta Heiman-Mina, a member of Women Wage Peace and a native of Kibbutz Nir Oz, after she published posts about her 84-year-old mother, Ditza, who was also taken hostage by Hamas.

“People wrote me that the blood of all the 1,300 victims is on my hands, that I deserve the fact that my mother was abducted to Gaza, and that they’d be willing to help me join her. All kinds of pearls of wisdom. After I appear in the studios of the main television channels, I am immediately attacked. A few days ago I was interviewed at about 2 A.M., I was sure no one was listening, but by the next day my inbox exploded. Someone wrote, ‘Yuck, you stinker – because of people like you there’s antisemitism. You’re the reason she’s there. Go help soldiers instead of stinking Arabs.’ Someone else wrote, ‘Leave Israel and move to Palestine.’”

You haven’t blocked comments on your page?

Heiman-Mina: “No. Facebook has blocked people who aren’t friends from responding in order to prevent all kinds of hateful comments about Israel, but it turns out we need protection from people who are among us. People who have been poisoned for so long don’t know when to stop.”

Heiman-Mina is sure that her mother was taken to Gaza alive because footage captured on October 7 shows Ditza being forced into a car by Hamas terrorists. In the clip, she appears to be healthy, but since then there has been no information about her fate. Meanwhile, her daughter has been traveling from funeral to funeral.

“Every day,” she says, “I have to choose which one to attend. First I go to the funerals of relatives of people I grew up with. Of the 13 people in that group, two members’ families weren’t on the kibbutz that Saturday, and two other members’ parents survived. The rest all have parents who’ve been kidnapped or murdered, or both of those things.” An estimated 79 residents of Nir Oz are among the hostages.

Heiman-Mina has been active in the Women Wage Peace organization since 2017, and explains that, “It’s a group that talks about a diplomatic accord [with the Palestinians], and doesn’t necessarily demand two states for two people. Some of the members live in the settlements … But it is a movement that believes ‘peace’ is not a dirty word – that it can belong to everyone, not just those on the left.”

When you were growing up, what was your attitude toward the Palestinians on the other side of the fence?

“They worked for us, they were around on the kibbutz. No one was afraid of them. Or at least that was my sense as a child. Most kibbutzniks believed in peace. There was a big group that belonged to the Peace Now movement. That was the feeling, that all people are equal and everyone deserves to live in peace. As children we didn’t feel like we were on a border. Before the first intifada, people from the area traveled to Gaza to shop.

Do you feel today that you were wrong about the Gazans?

“No. Not at all. Those who didn’t think like us were mistaken, and they got us into this situation. Those who didn’t think they [the Palestinians] deserve a fair life, who thought that we can rule over another people for so many years and it wouldn’t backfire – they were wrong. Many others were wrong. We weren't wrong. If they had listened to Women Wage Peace – who have been screaming at the top of their lungs since the 2014 Gaza war that the time has come to end the suffering, and that it’s possible to end it – we wouldn’t be in a situation where my mother is in Gaza in the hands of monsters.”

Heiman-Mina says that the horrific events of the past few weeks have only strengthened her belief that a diplomatic process is necessary to solve the conflict: “No matter how many times we try to eradicate Hamas – after all, we supposedly erased it a few times already – the next round will always be worse. The belief that the solution must be a diplomatic one hasn’t been undermined; it has grown stronger. Because this time I have been personally affected.”

Her opinions about the terror organization haven’t changed, either. “We didn’t think that Hamas was some innocent lamb. What surprised us now wasn’t that they tried [to attack], but that the army couldn’t protect us. The Palestinian people suffer a lot from the Hamas regime, but what can you do? Hamas is our enemy right now, and peace is waged with enemies, no matter how cruel they are. We have no other choice. It’s not easy, it will be painful, but it can happen. Of course I feel rage toward Hamas. Clearly the people who took my mom and the people who perpetrated the slaughter are animals. Of course the initial anger is directed at them. But that doesn’t reduce the anger I feel toward those who didn’t protect the victims, who include my mother, who helped to found the state.”

Speaking out while cannons roar

Tom Godo was 52 when he was murdered in his home on Kibbutz Kissufim, in the northwestern part of the Negev on the morning of October 8; he had been bodily blocking the door to the safe room in his home for 24 hours to protect his wife and three daughters. As the terrorists opened fire at the door with armor-piercing bullets, Godo’s wife and daughters escaped through the window – and survived.

In the eulogy he delivered at his son’s funeral, on Kibbutz Na’an, Yaacov Godo said: “The fingers that pulled the trigger and murdered, the hands that held the knives that stabbed and beheaded and slashed were the loyal and determined emissaries of the accursed, messianic and corrupt government [of Israel], which consists of an arch-criminal accused of illegal acts and a group of entirely incompetent sycophants who lack any political vision… At these very moments, a violent rampage of Jewish, messianic terrorism is being waged to ethnically cleanse and kill [Palestinian residents in] villages and communities around the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, backed by the army and the police.

“I can’t tell Tom, ‘rest in peace,’ because his tumultuous soul will detect the hypocrisy. At the end of this hellish ordeal, and after the stables are thoroughly cleansed, when the sun really starts shining, I will visit your grave, dear beloved Tom, and tell you: ‘Rest in peace, you are free.’”

In the eulogy for his father Eviatar Kipnis, 65, who was killed on October 7, Yotam Kipnis also chose to mention Eviatar’s commitment to peace. “We will not stay silent while the cannons roar, and we won’t forget that Dad loved peace. He wasn’t willing to serve in the territories ... Do not write my father’s name on a missile, he wouldn’t have wanted that … We will stand up and protect our home in the name of life. We will sanctify life, not death, because there is good in the world, and it is worth fighting for. Not for revenge … Dad never forgot that innocent people live in Gaza, stuck between the rock of the Israeli government and the hard place that is the Hamas dictatorship. Hamas is the enemy. Not the Palestinians. Hamas, knowingly strengthened by the [Israeli] government that believes in a race war. We will not forget and will not let it be forgotten that this war won’t really be over until there is peace.”

Yaacov Godo, 72, is active in Looking the Occupation in the Eye, a relatively new organization that aims to raise awareness of goings-on in the occupied territories, and accompanies Palestinian shepherds in the Southern Hebron Hills to protect them from settler attacks. Since the war broke out, he notes, almost all of the shepherding communities in that area have been driven away: “Immediately after the war began, a crazy ethnic-cleansing rampage was launched by the settlers. The army is observing from the sidelines. The settlers injured five of our activists. They detained and beat them.”

Godo wasn’t always a peace activist, but was motivated to become one by the so-called Balfour protests against Netanyahu and the government in 2020-21. “My opinions were always left-wing but weren’t given expression on the ground. Over the years I avoided visiting the territories. When I did go there, I was shocked. I was familiar with Judea and Samaria from my military and reserve service, and suddenly I saw a terrible reality there.”

Since Tom’s murder, however, Yaacov has not resumed his activist role. “My wife and I need to protect each other now,” he explains. “But I’ll be back. I told myself that if I go back there now, I might do something irrational. Sometimes the settlers push us and hit us, and we’re not violent in principle. But in my current state, I might lash out.”

Your feelings are aimed at the settlers, and not at Palestinians?

“I see these violent people using all means to commit ethnic cleansing, hurting people – children and women. They hit, shoot sheep sometimes. What happened on Saturday was terrible and unforgivable. But I don’t think that acts of revenge should be carried out against all Palestinians, or against all Gazans. I don’t think Gaza should be razed to the ground. Killing women, children, the elderly – how are they to blame? As much as I am mourning Tom – he was murdered by Hamas, and I believe that they were emissaries of Israel’s government, whether they knew it or not.”

Godo says he has not been able to sleep since Tom’s death; at night he replays the events that happened there, in the safe room. “Cruelty is cruelty, what happened there is unforgivable. But where was the army? My son, Tom, was in the safe room for 25 hours, under attack. At 4 P.M. Saturday, an Egoz [combat] unit arrived at their home. The soldiers told Tom and the family, ‘We’re not evacuating you yet; in a few hours someone will come rescue you.’ Who am I supposed to blame?”

Hamas wasn’t fighting soldiers, but attacked civilians, including children. How can that be explained, how can it be forgiven?

“If the army had been there, they [the terrorists] might not have infiltrated towns. I’m not justifying what happened. I can be angry and also in pain. But Hamas can’t be eradicated as an idea, so what we’re doing now beyond physically taking out Hamas’ members is that we’re raising the next generation of haters and pogromists. And they will be more hateful and bloodthirsty. Gaza already has more than a million refugees. How can that be justified? Can a state exist, based on revenge? ”

Have you gotten comments on your eulogy on social media?

“Yes, someone said, ‘If these are his opinions, why does he live on Na’an, he should go to Nablus.’ Someone else wrote, ‘I’m sorry for your loss, but why stick politics into a eulogy?’”

People also found it difficult to accept the comments made by 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released by Hamas this week along with Nurit Cooper, 79. Lifshitz told reporters that her captors in Gaza had provided food, hygiene and medical care. She said she even turned around to shake the hand of the Hamas operative who handed her over to the Red Cross, and told him “Shalom.”

Yocheved’s husband, Oded Lifshitz, 84, a former journalist, was also abducted and remains in Hamas captivity. Over the past few years, he volunteered with The Road to Recovery, an organization that arranges transportation for sick Palestinians from the Erez Crossing on the Gaza border, and at the Tarqumiyah Crossing in the West Bank, for treatment in Israeli hospitals. Many of the volunteers come from the Gaza border communities. Some were murdered in the Hamas rampage; others, like Lifshitz and Haim Perry from Kibbutz Nir Oz, were taken hostage.

“Almost every kibbutz in the area has a volunteer in our group – or two or three,” says Yael Noy, who heads the Road to Recovery nonprofit group and was born on Alumim, another kibbutz on Israel’s border with the Strip. “Most are retirees. They give as many rides as they can. Adi Dagan, from Kibbutz Be’eri, who was killed in the attack, gave a lot of rides, both from Gaza and from Hebron. Vivian Silver, who was taken hostage, Eli Orgad of Kfar Azza who was murdered, Tammy Suchman of Kibbutz Be’eri who was murdered – they all gave people rides from the Erez Crossing.”

Noy always saw helping Gazans as a natural thing for residents of the Israeli border communities to do. “Anytime someone would say ‘The poor people of your city take precedence,’ I would respond: Gazans are the poor of my city. It’s the city that’s closest to me. As far as I’m concerned what we do is a humanitarian act that helps the neighbors who live closest to us … In the Road to Recovery organization, we don’t ask people about their politics. We have volunteers from Nokdim and Kedumim and Kfar Etzion [West Bank settlements], and my dad who lives on Alumim votes for right-wing parties, and the organization is his home as well.”

Since that black Saturday, Noy admits that she has had trouble accepting the losses that have been suffered, as well as the complexity of the situation. “I’m torn. All day long I get WhatsApp messages from patients in Gaza who ask how I’m doing. There’s a lot more empathy and interest from patients and our coordinator in Gaza than from the people we work with in the West Bank. We continue to drive patients from the West Bank but it’s very difficult, because they’re silent. They don’t have even one word of empathy [for us]. I’m always looking for that place inside me where I can find peace in the face of this, and I don’t always succeed.”

And yet, Noy has no doubt that she has to keep going: “I always think about the morning after. There are cracks that have to be mended. A few days ago I didn’t notice that I left the house wearing a Looking the Occupation in the Eye T-shirt. I was on my way to visit a neighbor, and when I realized what I was wearing, I took the shirt off in the middle of the street and turned it inside out. I don’t feel comfortable wearing it now, I don’t want to cause anyone pain and I feel like my opinions may cause pain now. I never felt doubts before, or uneasiness. When I visit my parents, who have been evacuated to a hotel in Netanya, some members of the kibbutz say: ‘You realize that this is because of you and the people you drive around.’ I cause them pain with my presence.”

Does that shake you up?

“Yes, but it’s clear to me that I’ll keep going. I’m fighting to keep my humanity. I’m scared of turning into a monster like [Hamas]. I don’t want the seeds of evil to sprout within me, because they’ve sprayed us with that filth. We have no choice but to bear witness. You have to hear the stories and stay human, and I don’t know how that’s possible. There’s a very big rift inside, but I keep going. The requests come in and we respond. There are lots of new volunteers joining now, especially now.”

You don’t harbor any anger vis-a-vis the Gazans?

“Not even a drop. They’re being held hostage by Hamas, and are more afraid of Hamas than we are. Some patients would call to ask how our volunteers were doing each time rockets were fired at the border communities. I feel like the Gazans are, in a way, in the same boat as [our] volunteers from places near the Gaza border. They suffer the same way, the Gazans and the kibbutzniks. “

Nadav Weiman, a former senior figure at Breaking the Silence, credits his former commander in the Nahal Brigade, Shachar Zemach, with convincing him to join the anti-occupation NGO. On October 7, Zemach, 39, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s security squad, was killed after fighting the terrorists for seven hours, at which point his ammunition ran out.

“Shachar was a special person,” Weiman says now. “The week I was discharged, he called me and said, ‘I joined an organization called Breaking the Silence, and I think that you should join as well.’ I told him to leave me alone. All I wanted at that moment was to make enough money to go to South America. I took my trip and when I returned I broke the silence after all. Zemach was the activist who mentored me there, which gave me a lot of confidence. He was a very smart man who loved to argue about politics. From his first day at Breaking the Silence he didn’t accept the code of the organization [as it is], he questioned things. And he was the beating heart of the Zionist left at the organization. At some point he started studying economics and went to work at the Finance Ministry. I didn’t understand how a leftist could do such a thing. But that’s the kind of person he was.”

People from different periods of Zemach’s life attended his funeral, and everyone said the same things – he was a good person and a true friend, he was argumentative, loved Israel, loved hiking and loved flash floods. “His dad said that he died with a gun in one hand and a olive branch in the other,” Weiman says. “That’s also how I felt about him … It was the first time that I heard Breaking the Silence mentioned at a funeral.”

Have the recent events made you rethink your own political ideas?

“Yes and no. The ‘no’ is regarding the fact that the murderous rampage by the insane Hamasniks proves yet again that Gaza doesn’t have a military solution. It doesn’t work. No matter how many missiles we launch at them. Only a diplomatic solution can help. It also demonstrates the power of the settlement movement: that so many soldiers and weapons were transferred to protect the settlement regime [in the West Bank], to the point that there weren’t enough troops to protect the communities abutting the Strip. The settlers are above everyone in this state. From that standpoint, I still think that we need a diplomatic solution for Gaza and the West Bank.

“What did change is [the realization] that the scope and depth and murderous insanity of Hamas isn’t something that can be ignored. Not that I supported Hamas in the past, but there was an idea that Hamas is the one you talk to in Gaza, that you transfer money there and let the laborers in. But I don’t think these are people with whom you can discuss peace. This is a historic moment in Israeli society. It was the biggest terror attack that has ever happened here. Many things are shifting with regard to our attitude regarding possible solutions and the issue of who we talk to now on the other side. I was taught in the army that my role as a soldier is to protect the State of Israel with my life. If I’m wounded, it’s part of defending this place. But civilians are outside this story. To go to a house on a kibbutz and abduct people and torture them, that is entirely different from taking over an army post and shooting at soldiers.”

So what’s the conclusion?

“I don’t know. We’re still trying to grasp what’s happening now. It was one of the reasons that I immediately traveled south to volunteer at the war room set up by the aid organizations down there. Breaking the Silence is the most important thing that I do in my life, aside from being a dad, but now we have to help our own people, because the government doesn’t care. We’re in a holding pattern, and after that we’ll figure out what to do next.”