#it reads “godless shrine”

[yolomichaelz95]

I cherish being out of season, so here's a spooky Reimu 'w' "I mean baby Jesus in the manger is a classic play and all, but let's spice things up this year. I'm talking Revelations, with real pestilences, real human casualties"

[songofsoma]

worship of the godless

kinktober day 4: collar and leash

borrowing @guccipussay's cain for this <33

pairing: minthara x f!tav words: 1,135 rating: explicit

read it on ao3

Cain couldn’t help but shudder as Minthara’s cool fingers skirted over the sides of her neck. Nor could she resist the pleasure she felt when the leather collar slid into place and its clasp clicked shut. 

She watched as Minthara stepped back cooly, dragging out her touch so it traced the edges of the collar—her collar. A mark of who Cain belonged to. 

“Looks good on you,” the gravel of her voice rumbled in Cain’s ears.

She would say nothing unless asked to speak, just how Minthara liked her in their private moments. 

Her breath caught in her throat as Minthara hooked a finger through the metal loop at the front of the collar, yanking harshly to force Cain to stoop from her full height and bend down to be face-to-face with the drow.

The clinking of metal sounded as the matching leash was attached. “Such a good girl,” Minthara purred. “Now kneel. Not for your god, but for me.”

Cain obeyed. Minthara’a grip on the collar slipped as her knees hit the stone floor. Even though she tried, Cain couldn’t hold her resolve as she shivered against the chill drifting through the small temple of Tempus, the god to which her oath was sworn. It was only large enough to fit the two of them and an altar piled with various offerings. A handful of candles struggled to light the area and did nothing to break the chill of the night. 

Minthara stared down at her with a wicked smile. Her hand tugged on the leash experimentally, delight dancing in her eyes. 

Slowly, she bent down, wrapping the leash around her fist to force Cain to lurch forward. Her sudden proximity made her tip her head back to admire the beautiful, vengeful face that hovered above hers. Her entire being oozed with the silent hope of being rewarded with a kiss. And it did come. Barely a brush of lips against hers, just enough to leave her wanting more. 

The hand not holding the leash caressed Cain’s chin for a few heartbeats. Then she gripped it, jerking her face upward, forcing their gazes to meet. “Let your god watch you kneel. Let Him watch as you swear an oath, not to him, but to I. You no longer belong to him. You are mine. And I accept penance in pleasure.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Cain murmured. Blue eyes bore into red, not ever wanting to look away. 

The response satisfied her and Minthara straightened, letting slack off the leash so Cain could relax a bit. It didn’t last long because Minthara was already crossing the small room, tugging Cain along so she had to crawl on her hands and knees until they stopped beside the altar. Thankfully there hadn’t been far to go as grit and dirt dug into her palms. Although, Cain knew she would crawl through a pile of broken glass if Minthara asked her to. 

She ignored the discomfort already culminating in her knees. Pain was good. Pain meant you were alive. And Gods, was she ever more alive than now? Naked and kneeling before her woman. 

Without a second thought, Minthara swept her arm over the edge of the altar, sending offering scattering over the floor. The clink of gold coins bouncing echoed within the shattering of pottery and clatter of blades forged in the name of the war god. The shrine was alight with the noise of gifts discarded by a woman who considered herself godless. 

Before, Cain would have found herself horrified at the disrespect of her God. Only now, she watched her in mute anticipation. 

Minthara propped one foot on the now cleared altar, openly displaying the fruit she knew Cain craved. 

The action succeeded in unsteadying her. Her hands curled into fists, nails digging into the flesh of her palms. It was a struggle to keep herself from lurching forward. It would be so easy to bury her face in Minthara’s cunt, to wipe the teasing smirk off her face and twist it into one of ecstasy. But that’s not what Minthara wanted of her. Tonight was not a night she wanted to be ravished.

Her patience was rewarded. Minthara pulled the leash to pull Cain’s head closer. “Go on then.”

If Cain possessed a tail, it would be wagging in delight.

She leaned in, closing the agonizing space between them until her lips met the apex of Minthara’s open thighs. Cain couldn’t help the moan that escaped her as she began her feast, the vibrations making Minthara shudder.  

The flat of her tongue dragged over her, basking in the taste of her lover. She teased Minthara’s clit before running the tip of her tongue back down to trace the edges of her cunt. 

“Cain—” Her name was a strangled warning. One that she listened to. 

Most of the leash was wrapped in Minthara’s fist, not allowing Cain to pull away even if she wanted to. She didn’t. Not ever. 

A hand fell upon the back of Minthara’s thigh, blunt nails digging into the toned flesh. She wanted Minthara closer if possible. But the closeness Cain yearned for was only achievable if their flesh and bones were woven together to be one singular being. 

“More,” she demanded. The singular word fell into a moan as Cain curled her tongue into her.

Her head shook from side to side, nose rubbing against her clit just right with each motion. And when she felt Minthara’s fingers dig into her hair, nails scraping against her scalp, another groan fell from her lips. 

Cain yelped when her head was yanked back. She stared up at Minthara dumbly, watching as the drow heaved. Her leash was pulled taught and between that and the fingers twisted in her hair, there was nowhere she could go. 

Minthara looked at her with wild eyes. “Say you are mine. Swear yourself to me in front of your god.”

“I’m yours, Minthara,” she said without a second thought. It was true. The only god she could see was the one standing before her. It was she that Cain was on her knees worshipping. 

Minthara pressed a crushing kiss to Cain’s lips. It was an odd reversal in their statures. Cain usually had to bend down to kiss Minthara as she towered over her height-wise. Not now.

She was left dazed when Minthara pulled away, only registering she had moved when there was a tug at her leash. 

Cain turned her head to see her sit on the edge of the ruined altar. Slowly, Minthara propped both feet up, her legs splayed open. 

She began to wrap the leash around her hand once more, forcing Cain to crawl closer. 

“Now,” she finally said as Cain knelt before where she was perched on the altar. “Show me how you worship.”

[lawlessfm]

INTRODUCING THE FIRST ANNUAL PURGE,    011   /   ,       

(   PROCESS ONE,    )            WE ALL SAW THIS COMING,      didn’t we?     You think the government is equipped enough to keep those wolves away from the city streets?    You think the government has teeth large enough to swallow these criminal empires?      As we all know:    the godless often strive for a new kind of absolution.     Who is preparing the shrines?      (    PROCESS TWO,   )       THIS IS A DECISION THAT HAD BEEN MADE ACROSS THE COUNTRY.      Those dull knives that think crime and violence is a record,    a filed report with neat stats and names without faces.     They say keep your friends close and enemies closer,    but what about your people?    What about those civilians you promise to keep safe from these dark dark times?      Some sacrifice for the greater good    —     just as long as none of your money is touched.     Just as long as it’s not your hands washed with blood.  (    PROCESS THREE,    )       NO RULES,    OF COURSE,    TWENTY4 HOURS OF ALLOWED CRIME IN ORDER TO PERSUADE A DECREASE IN IT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR,        but we know what happens when we make deals with the devil.     We wind up without a soul and the devil?    Well,    he’s got his pick of where to place us.    Which inferno is going to eat us for this decision we wonder.   The SNAKE DEN agrees to hand over RED EYE identities for the annual purge. The GOVERNMENT? Greedily accepts.   

SUMMARY   :           THE FIRST ANNUAL PURGE FOR LAWLESSFM 2031,      this will all take place in twenty4 hours  in   GAME TIME.      However,   we will have until    MARCH  THE   FIFTEENTH   to write out new threads   +    such with this new storyline inside them.    Like any other event + plot drop, old threads may still be continued. We ask at least    ONE   character is slotted into one of our choose your own adventure storylines.      As usual give this a like once you’ve read    —    the link to the google docs for this to sign into slots with your chosen character(s) can be found here.       Happy first purge everyone!         For those unfamiliar with the films,    this means all crime is legal for the course of twenty4 hours.     No government power,    no FBI,    no detectives,    no CIA. This was brought into play by the SNAKE DEN, a new deal for the GOVERNMENT: red eye identities for a twenty4 hour period free of law. 

[partumreblogs]

The Occult and Divine in the City of Offal

The City of Offal is a godless city, in more than one way. There is no large organized religions across the city, there are no temples built in it's crammed streets, and clearly there must not be a god staring down and raining blessing upon it. Despite this however, there are still several who believe in a higher power, making up the cults who gather in ancient basements and forgotten tunnels, some screaming of stars that must exist somewhere above the black clouds, others celebrating the idea of light, entire factories may fall into the belief of some higher patron or saint that looks after them, cramming makeshift shrines into all available spaces.

(A member of the Cult of Candlelight)

Other than divinity, one of the main sources of superstition in the City of Offal is the idea of ghosts, the undead, and of soothsaying. Throughout the city of offal are numerate prophesiers and fortune tellers, all on different levels of being well off or poverty ridden. Street corner soothsayers and doom criers earn little, while the often grand and finery covered rooms of the elite fortune tellers drive even the Towers down into the the surface for their prophecies. Those who visit fortune tellers often leave with their pockets empty and their doom spelled out, but some leave with ideas of prosperity and charms sold to them to save their lives. Those people, sucking on crude tobacco and waiting in the blue smoke, fat on the funds of those who came to them for help are some of the least known, but richest in the city.

(Sketch of fortune teller)

Fortune tellers often speak of the dead and the undead, of the spirits at haunt all the world, vengeful ghosts who seek nothing but destruction. Occasionally though, they will speak of the same idea that ties all mediums and prophesiers together: Billions of souls, trillions of them, all from the cities dead, sitting in the atmosphere, pushing the clouds down, containing them all, hoping to one day choke out all the city.

Of course we also have some of the most feared and whispered of occult things in the City of Offal, the Stitchers. Unseen, unknown, and spoken of only in whispers, as saying of them out loud is to draw their attention, the Stitchers haunt the streets of the City of Offal like the plagues that rot the city from the inside out. The superstitions around them are endless: speak of a Stitcher thrice in one day and they will come and take your organs with a snip snip snip, if you see one you must cover your whole body lest they steal away your soul, if a Stitcher is in town, then disease is sure to follow, etc. Stitchers, at their core, are a type of boogieman for most, a semi imaginary being who punishes those who aren't careful, who only the most desperate and insane go and interact with.

(Potential Stitcher design)

In the end, whether or not the superstitions, cults and rumors of the city, the occult and divine, are real is going to be up to the dm. Some may be all too real, with death cults raising horrible monsters, or they might simply be folks who believed in the wrong thing too much. Either way, the occult and divine, hidden though they are, are part of the mechanisms of the City of Offal

Take care of yourself, thanks for reading, be safe and don't die!

[andybondurant]

New Post has been published on Andy Bondurant

New Post has been published on https://andybondurant.com/2023/06/13/contemplation-god-in-your-world/

Contemplation: God in Your World

Today I start with a bold statement: The God of the universe wants to speak…to you. In fact, God is constantly speaking in multiple ways. So then, if God is speaking, do you know how to hear him?

The past few weeks, I’ve shared with you the art of hearing God through contemplation. There are lots of of definitions for contemplation, so I’ll give you my own definition. This has helped me really synthesize what means to hear God in this way.

Contemplation is seeing God in the world around us in order for us to be God to the world around us.

Here are three ways we can contemplate God in the world around us:

We see God in culture (music, art, media).

We see God in creation.

We see God in the place he puts us.

I encourage you to go back to read more on what it means to see God in culture and creation by using the links above. This post will focus on what it means to see God in the place he puts you.

Contemplation in Scripture

In Acts 17, is one of the core scriptures about contemplation through culture. In that chapter, the Apostle Paul was alone in Athens where he experienced God in a godless culture. Through shrines built to false gods, Paul contemplated how they actually pointed to the God he served. 

I want to rewind the story to the beginning of the chapter where Paul and his ministry partner, Silas, had just arrived in the city of Thessalonica (who the letter of Thessalonians was written for). This is what Acts records about their arrival:

“Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.  As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.”  ‬‬

Acts‭17‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT

Paul found God in his world

Paul was first and foremost a follower of Jesus, but he was also Jewish. It was the world he lived in. Though he traveled through the Roman world, he was living among mostly Jewish people. So Paul entered Jewish places of worship to present the Good News of Jesus in a respectful but direct way to the Jews dispersed throughout the Roman world.

It didn’t always work out well, as was the case in Thessalonica, but Paul always started in the place he knew best. There Paul would contemplate what it meant to love Jesus through the context of Jewish scripture (the Old Testament). When he was forced out of the synagogue, as he usually was, Paul would then enter into the Roman world and do the same thing. This was the case in Athens. Paul was in the Roman world contemplating what it mean to see God in that place.

Contemplation Today

So what does this mean for you? Let me give you a few examples of what it means to see God in the place God has put you.

Contemplation in your world.

My friend Darty owns and runs a conference for portrait photographers – SYNC. I honestly don’t know the whole story (I need to hear it at some point), but let me tell you what I know. After running the conference for several years, Darty and his wife, Michelle, felt they needed to add a Christian element to the show. They saw an opportunity for God to be in the world where God placed them.

To be clear, this was not a Christian conference. It wasn’t a photography convention for Christian photographers. All different beliefs were represented at the show. At the same time, Darty and Michele knew they needed to incorporate their beliefs into the annual conference. So they took a big step.

Several years ago, Darty and Michele, included an interdenominational, Sunday morning worship service. It didn’t interfere with any other programming, but they allowed their faith to shine through in the place God had put them. Darty and Michele contemplated how God could be active in the place he had put them.

Contemplation in unexpected opportunities 

This year, Darty invited me to speak at the SYNC worship service. When he offered this opportunity to me, I jumped. After I accepted his invitation, I spent some time to reflect on the opportunity. It dawned on me that as a pastor I might have more to add that just speaking for 30 minutes. So I chatted with Darty and Michele about being the chaplain for the conference. 

To be honest, I don’t know if Darty and Michele were really able to wrap their heads around what that would mean. I only had a partial picture myself. They were open, but no true agreement was struck. So I arrived in Florida with an open and willing heart to serve as needed. I had no idea what this meant, but I soon found out.

I saw God in a hotel ballroom

During the opening session, there were multiple different speakers giving short 20-30 minute presentations. At one point, a woman stood and walked out to take a phone call, which I thought nothing of. A few minutes later, between speakers, Michele walked to the front of the conference room asking for anyone who knew the lady who had just walked out. Again, this was strange, but I wasn’t bothered by it. Then it got strange.

Image by One Day on UnSplash

In the middle of the next speaker, Michele interrupted him to ask for another person, again someone who knew the first lady. This was not normal to say the least.

This was followed by a text from Darty asking me to meet in the back of the room. There he discreetly shared with me the woman who got up to take the phone call had just received terrible news. Her young teenage son had just taken his own life. My heart was crushed at the news. I didn’t know her at all, but I know what this news means to a parent.

This may sound strange, but I saw God in this hotel ballroom he had put me. Another way of saying this is I heard God. God opened my eyes/ears to why I was there. God had put me in that place, and I was to do something. It was why I was in Orlando at the conference, and it was why I offered to be the chaplain. 

Contemplation = See + Be God

But this is only half of hearing God through contemplation. It’s not enough to see God in the place we are, but we also need to be God in that place. In my case, I needed to care for this woman.

Now, let me be completely honest with you. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to find the woman and enter into this pain with her. So let this serve as a warning, though God wants to speak to you, it won’t always be easy to deal with what he wants you to do with that wisdom and knowledge. 

I didn’t want to but I found this mother, and I walked into her room.

Peace into chaos

There is a lot to this story, but I’ll share the two most important pieces of information with you. First, peace was in my heart and mind as I entered into her hotel room. This year I am practicing meditation (another way to hear God). I also chose PEACE as my Word of the Year, so I had been daily mediating on peace leading up to this event.  Specifically, as I meditated, I saw myself stepping into peace and carrying this peace with me wherever I went.

This is important because the second piece of information was when I stepped into the mother’s hotel room, it was understandably chaotic. Her two friends were alternately attempting to find her a flight home (from Orlando to Denver at 8pm) while also consoling her. Bags were halfway packed. She alternately paced the room asking, “why!?” and fell on the bed crying. She was in shock.

I don’t have any formal training in dealing with family dealing with suicide. I’ve had just one other experience pastoring a family immediately following a suicide. I didn’t really know what to do.

So my contemplation (seeing God in the place he puts me) led me to what I knew most in that moment – peace. I hugged her, sat with her, listened to her questions, did my best to feel her pain, prayed and read scripture with her. I offered this mother the tiniest bit of wisdom I had for the moment. In total, I spent about 45 minutes in the room before they frantically left for the airport. 

I did all of this because contemplation isn’t just seeing God in the place he puts me, but it is also being God to the people he puts me with. It was a very intense hour or so, and I didn’t really know what I offered until a couple of days later.

The Fruit of Contemplation

I spoke as I was scheduled Sunday morning, and afterwards her friends who were in the room with her approached me. This is what they told me: “When you walked into the room, it was like Jesus was walked in.” Other than being obedient to what God had showed me, I take no credit in this compliment. But it is a testimony to hearing God and being God to the world around me through contemplation.

At the same time, the reason they were so singularly able to reflect on this event was the service that Darty and Michele made room for in their conference. They saw a space for God in their world, and they filled it with him.

Contemplation like this isn’t just for people like Darty who own and operate conferences, or myself who minister professionally. This is for you too. God wants to speak to you through the place you are and through you to the people around you. Let me share with you three tips on how to hear God in the place you are. 

1. Ask God to open your eyes.

I’ve made it a practice as I meditate in the morning to ask the Holy Spirit to fill me fresh for the day. As part of this process, I ask him to open my eyes and ears to see and hear him throughout the day. A great first step to seeing God where he has placed you is asking him to reveal himself to you.

2. Move past fear.

When God open your eyes to how he is moving around you, and how he wants you to to engage with where you are, it won’t be easy. Creating a worship service in a secular environment is nerve wracking. Walking into a room of a mother who has just lost her son to one of the more tragic ways possible is fear inducing.

When God shows you himself in your world, it will be simultaneously exciting and sickening. You’ll be forced to do something about it. Move past the fear. Simply take a step in the direction God is leading you and see who opens before you.

3. Share what you see with others.

Maybe this in implied with the above point, but at it’s core contemplation isn’t about ourselves. What we see in the world that is God we need to be to the world. 

In other words, what God shows you isn’t just for you. God blesses you, so you can bless others. The opportunities God is opening before you is for you, but it’s really for your world. 

Share it. 

[thedreamsmith]

Aemond Targaryen NSFW Alphabet

I am a godless heathen and am currently procrastinating my WIP 

Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

If they’re in their chambers, he will be the king of aftercare; cleaning his lover up and post-sex cuddles. If they’ve been teasing him and it’s after a quickie somewhere in the Red Keep, he’s more liable to tuck himself back together with a smirk and leave them wet and needy until later.

 Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Aemond has trained both his body and mind into formidable weapons, but if he had to choose, he would say the physical strength in his arms – not only is he capable of besting almost everyone in the training yard, but also holding his lover against walls with minimal efforts and ensuring they can’t wriggle away from his clever tongue.

On his partner, he’d probably say their mouth, but not for the reasons you’d expect. It is so expressive, smirking when they’re being clever, tongue poking out when they’re concentrating on something. He adores it and how vivid their expressions are. It’s no surprise that the mere thought of their lips wrapped around his cock can get him hot and bothered.  

 Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

Aemond isn’t hugely bothered about siring children anytime soon, but his favourite place to cum is still deep inside them; feeling them pulse around his cock as he brings them to the point of oblivion with pleasure.

Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

A consummate overachiever; rider of the largest dragon in the world, spending every moment training or studying, you’d assume Aemond felt the need to be in charge in every aspect of his life. For the most part he enjoys being the more dominant one in the bedroom, but every once in a while, he asks his lover to take the reins, and will gladly do anything they wish so long as they treat him nicely.

Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

After his less-than-stellar introduction into carnal pleasure on his thirteenth name-day, combined with his persistent insecurities about his eye, Aemond has very little practical experience with lovers of either gender. That being said, he is a very quick learner and has read more than a few books on the subject (not that he’d admit it, but he has been known to read torrid romance novels every once in a while)

Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

When he is feeling dominant, he enjoys having his lover perched on a desk or table, legs wrapped around his waist as he pounds into them. He enjoys having unrestricted access to their neck and breasts; marking them up in ways that are difficult to hide, showcasing to all who they belong to.

When he’s being submissive, Aemond prefers to have his lover on top, riding him as filthy praise spills from his lips. With hair like his, it’s no surprise that he enjoys his lover pulling his head back by the roots, exposing the column of his throat and leaving marks upon the pale skin.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

While Aemond is a generally serious man, he does have a sarcastic, dry sense of humour that often shows itself when he’s taking his time with his lover – teasing them and mocking their desperate noises as he denies them pleasure.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Definitely clean and tidy. The man spends far too much time on his hair to leave anything out of place.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Aemond isn’t one for casual sex. Even when things are fast and rough, he will still worship his lover’s body more devoutly than any shrine to the Seven. His first time with his lover is tender and emotional – it’s probably one of the first times they’ve seen him without his eyepatch, baring himself both physically and emotionally.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Aemond prides himself in his self-control, especially compared to his brother. So when thoughts of his lover consume him more and more often, he finds himself overcome with desire and needing to relieve himself far more often than he is normally accustomed.

Once he has become intimate with his lover, he much prefers to use them to sate his lust, rather than his own hand. He does enjoy it when his lover instructs him to touch himself, setting the pace and when he can cum using just their verbal commands.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Bondage, without a doubt. This goes both ways – both restraining his lover and being the one tied down. Also edging, when he’s in the mood to be cruel.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Aemond is, above all, the perfect gentleman. He much prefers to be intimate within the privacy of his own chambers, but if tormented enough, may give in to his desire in order to put his lover in their place.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

He is a consummate instigator and shit-stirrer. Getting his lover frustrated is a sure-fire way to get his dragon-blood burning.

Also, if his lover has any martial prowess, sparring with them and forcing each other into submission gets him going like nothing else.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Aemond does not share. Asking to bring another into their bed will be met with outright refusal. Also, he does not like to degrade his lover, or be degraded. A lifetime of torment has made some things too tender to be arousing.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

A God at giving head and he knows it. Will happily pin his lover down and eat them out for hours. Likes them to anchor their hands in his hair as he does so.

He cannot get enough of his lover’s mouth, and swallowing down his cock is a sure-fire way to remove every coherent thought from his mind. Would usually prefer to be inside their cunt instead, but seeing them on their knees before him gives him a rush like no other.

P = Pace (Are they fats and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Depends on his mood. If he’s come back from the training yard, high on adrenaline, or has had an argument with his nephews or brother; he is likely to be fast and rough, relieving his frustration with the sharp snap of his hips, fingers gripping hard enough to bruise.

In the mornings, or during particularly tender moments, he’s more likely to be slower and softer; savouring every inch of his lover’s body and the way they feel in his arms and around his cock.

If he’s in a teasing mood, he’ll combine the two; pulling out all the way, agonisingly slowly, before slamming back in just to hear his lover scream his name.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Much prefers to be able to peel his lover apart slowly, taking his time, but will occasionally indulge in a quick fuck or blowjob in a hidden corner of the Red Keep.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He’s game to try anything once, especially if his lover asks. He prefers not to get down and dirty anywhere they may get caught, however, as he is acutely aware of his brother’s reputation and has no desire to be spoken of in the same manner.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He is in peak physical condition, and the blood of the dragon besides; Aemond can go for hours. Even if he has already found his pleasure, he greatly enjoys wringing orgasm after orgasm from his lover until he’s ready to fuck them once more.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Frequently enjoys restraints and blindfolds. Other than this, he doesn’t use toys very often. Doesn’t really have any strong opinions on being pegged, but would likely try it if his partner asked, in one of his more submissive moods.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

The king of the shit-eating grin. Aemond’s temper is not explosive or violent, if his lover has displeased him, he will methodically spend hours either edging or overstimulating them, until they are begging for his mercy.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Quiet, at first, but once he becomes more comfortable with his lover, or when particularly turned on will be much more vocal. Tends to babble rather than moan – strings of praise and dirty talk falling from his lips as he comes increasingly undone.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Will absolutely bring daggers into the bedroom. Also has a fantasy of stealing his brother’s crown for a night and having his lover suck his cock while he wears it.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Big dick energy and the hardware to back it up. Thicker than expected for his slender frame, and at least 7-8 inches.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Until he fell for his lover, his sex drive was something he could easily push aside in favour of his studies or martial training. However once they’ve caught his eye, it’s hard for him to think of anything else.

Regular sex may calm him down, but he’s far more acutely aware of his lust once he has someone to stoke it.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Likes to hold his lover against him afterwards, also enjoys reading them stories until they’ve fallen asleep. Has a hidden protective streak that means he prefers to see his lover comfortable and asleep before he lets himself drift off.

[chubbs-the-fish]

thinking about that ask where someone asked if ghost could write. i wanna see ur notes on the 7 languages of hallownest bc that hc sounds amazing

Okay you asked! Languages of Hallownest Headcanons!

Divine Languages are gifted by a god and are fairly stagnant. whereas godless ones were developed the natural way with cultural drift. They're a little more interesting to study by etymologists since they actually, you know, developed.

There are 7 languages used throughout Hallownest and its surrounding territories.

Common Hallownest is a divine written language and can be read by anyone with a mind to understand but can only be learned within the confines of the kingdom. The Mantis Tribes use Common. Same with the Colosseum. Messages to the “Higher Beings” written by PK are in Common but have a Seal upon them that prevents anyone but Higher Beings from reading them.

Mosskin is the divine written language of Unn gifted to her children. It can be read by anyone who has the mind to understand it and is useful to warn pilgrims to say on the path. (Evidence: Lore tablets are readable, but some are written from prospective of the Mosskin to Unn)

Woven is the godless written language of Deepnest, brought by the weavers. It is woven into things and has an odd circular pattern to it. It must be taught. (Evidence: no lore tablets in Deepnest)

Hivestep is the godless written language of the Hive. You know how in real life bees communicate dancing? Yeah it’s a written version of that, and it has to be taught. (Evidence: no lore tablets in the Hive)

Shrumal is the semi-divine written language of the Shrumal people of the Fungal Wastes and can only be spoken, read, or understood by those gifted with it (the Shrumal's hivemind isn't a real higher being but can sometimes act like one) . It is fiercely protected and nearly incomprehensible to outsiders. (Evidence: you can only read the lore tablets in the Fungal Wastes while using the Sporeshroom charm)

Illuminate is the divine written language of the moths. Almost completely destroyed by PK when he took over to erase the presence of Her. You must give yourself to the Old Light to understand it. (Evidence: none, but it makes the most sense for them to have their own language, the only lore tablets in the Resting Grounds are made post-Radiance/that easter egg room in the Shrine of Believers. I bet the Radiance statue on the Crown of Hallownest has an inscription that is not legible)

Abyssal is the written language of the Void Civilization. Very few records of it exist today, such as the arcane eggs. Void beings are hardwired to know this language, and it is technically divine, but deeply tied to void. (Evidence: Lemm’s dialog on the Arcane eggs hint that they have a deep connection to the Knight. I’d like to think that Lemm is working hard to learn to read it) Ghost and Hollow can both write in it and cannot write in the other languages no matter how hard they try. Hornet has taught them to read Woven, and they in turn have taught her a few written words in Abyssal, such as their names.

[jimmynovac]

mistakes these hands have made. read on ao3. 459 words

for day 6 of @jimmynovakweek: jimmy of color/other religions

His mother's family used to be Shinto, but as the branches of the family tree spread wider and longer, they lost their devotion. It all led to Jimmy, who only sometimes went to shrines after school with friends. A couple of his friends, Kaito and Shunsuke, would go every day. Jimmy didn't like to go, didn't like the slow-moving rivers of tourists. But the ritual of praying there is nice. It's beautiful that people rinse their hands first, offering only their best selves to the gods. Beautiful that they clap to wake them, not begging to be heard but expecting it.

Not like he ever believed it, but it's a nice thought.

Moving to America, a country so religious yet godless, absolves him of any notion that devotion to a god was romantic or enviable. He abandons his given name, Kenji, for something simple, plain, American. But he never throws away his first hanko—a gift from his parents when he graduated elementary school—even though the ink pad dried out years ago and the rubber stamp is permanently stained red, scarlet fingerprints peppered up the wooden handle. Morosely ironic that his name meant strong when the echo it leaves on paper is so weak.

It's this memory that revisits him when a friend from work invites him to church and he folds his hands in prayer for the first time in at least a decade. He doesn't know why he agreed to come, or why he stuck to his word. Maybe just because his coworker is friends with Amelia, pretty and blonde and American and Christian—so not Jimmy's type, but precisely what he wishes he could fall for. When he pretends to pray alongside the congregation, bows his head and clasps so tight his fingers turn white, he thinks maybe there will be red-inked fingerprints on the back of his hands when he—amen—pulls apart.

But the nothingness there when he opens his eyes is just another sign that god doesn't exist.

The church is old and historical, with stained glass windows over a story tall of angels looking to heaven with their own delicate and pale hands pressed flat against each other. Candles line the perimeter of the room, glowing oddly against the velveteen-cushioned pews. It should feel holy here. It should. The closest Jimmy feels to any holiness is when he notices a mistake in the pattern of glass, perhaps a repair assumed good-enough; one angular shape in the shadows beneath the angel robes is blue, where they are purple everywhere else.

He affixes his gaze upon that discrepancy, remembering how beautiful hands are, how they must be kept clean to talk to god but they make mistakes in god's steeples and don't care.

[ao3feed-dadzawa]

The Obake's Soulless Boy

The Obake's Soulless Boy by Minette SH

Upon his first appearance, Shouta would like to say the child didn't startle him. He'd been in the main house, making tar to patch the roof when he heard it. It was very faint, a whisper in the wind that reminded him of his God's mindless humming, however, the more he strained to hear, the more it rang familiar. Someone was praying in the offering hall.

Suspicious and intrigued, he crossed the compound to the hall - shrouded in his obake form and invisible to the human eye. Thoughts of the torii having finally fallen came and went. That would explain why he didn't sense anyone's passage sooner, but when he laid eyes on the boy, he knew. There was no light within the small body goraged in a tattered, muddied kimono. There was no darkness, either. A human child with a mop of forest curls, bright viridian eyes, a galaxy of freckles, and without a soul.

OR: Aizawa serves an abandoned shrine and is intrigued by the shrine's only follower, a boy without a soul.

Words: 3923, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen

Characters: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Midoriya Izuku, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic

Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku

Additional Tags: Spirit AU, god AU, shrines, godless, no quirks, Edu Era, catzawa, Aizawa is an obake, Hizashi is a God, Abandoned shrine, soulless Midoriya Izuku, Outcasted Midoriya Izuku, Dead Midoriya Inko, I'm not good at tags, Angst, For InkTober but I'm Impateint, Midoriya Izuku is an empty vessel, Midoriya izuku is worthy, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Dadzawa, kind of?, i guess?

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33883234

[ao3feed-izuku-midoriya]

The Obake's Soulless Boy (Killed by the Messenger)

The Obake's Soulless Boy (Killed by the Messenger) by Minette SH

InkTober Day 5 - Raven

Deku is gone. Deku is gone and Shouta is alone and no one is helping. He can't tell how much time had passed between sprinting through alleys and jumping rooftops as a bakeneko but it couldn't have been long. On the edge of the village, scouring the streets from above, he sees them. In the forests bordering the village is an unkindness of ravens circling, diving, rising and circling again. Like vultures taking turns on the recently deceased.

OR: A part two to day 3 - Vessel

Words: 4373, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of Dadzawa InkTober - 2021, Part 4 of Dadzawa that's cannon in our hearts

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Midoriya Izuku, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Takami Keigo | Hawks

Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku

Additional Tags: Inktober, Day 5 - raven, part 2 to my spirit au, Spirit AU, god AU, shrines, godless, no quirks, Edu Era, catzawa, Dadzawa, Aizawa is an obake, Hizashi is a God, Hawks is a warrior, hawks is a taka, Angst, Sad boi hours, Protective Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34306882

[pokesplendor]

Welcome to the land of Unova, a civilization thriving under the protection of its very many Gods. Praying to the Gods grants one the Gift of Power, and the Gift of Growth.

There is a God to worship for almost anything, but the major pantheon is defined by eight major shrines set up in cities across the lands, and the hierarchy is maintained by those who dwell upon the Mountain on High, by the Great Four the Champion themself whom everyone in the Unova region pays tribute to. Pokemon may take a Pilgrimage once they reach a certain age to bring renowned to their own God they worship under their household. Spreading the good word and accumulating followers to their cause to possibly take their worship to new heights and honor their God as Champion.

The 'Godless' are those who abandon the great shrines and choose to do their worship alone, without the flare of the cities and the festivals, known for occasionally straying from their singular prayer to seek refuge among those seeking a Pilgrimage. N, a Zorua, an advocate for the Godless and Team Plasma, wishes to tear down the walls of secular worship and unite the region. He will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, even ripping the pantheon down itself.

Saffron is a young Oshawott, just of age to begin her Pilgrimage. She is a prodigy, gifted with swiftness and a cool head, and eldest daughter of the Priestess of Uriel, Goddess of Death. Most fear to speak their name, for fear of invoking their icy hold, and Saffron's mother wishes to change that with her daughter's journey. But Saffron does not wish to go. But her wants barely matter under their roof. Perhaps leaving might give her a sense of purpose which she lacks.

I’ve just started a nuzlocke and it’s comic is up to read on the forums!

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for Our Lady of Walsingham

Eccl 1:2-11; Ps 89; Luke 9:7-9

In the past few months there has been a worrying upsurge in enthusiasm for the destruction of statues and churches – not merely those statues that offend our current sensibilities about racial justice and equality, but, more upsettingly, there has been an upsurge of Christian iconoclasm and religious vandalism directed at the Church and her properties, her sacred images and objects. Two days ago, for example, the shrine of St Agatha in Sicily was desecrated, an image of Our Lady was destroyed, and the Blessed Sacrament was profaned. And every month, new stories emerge of churches destroyed by arson or by the Communist State in China.

But “what was will be again; what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun”, says Qoheleth, the Preacher in today’s first reading. And so, every night, I pray to Our Lady, asking her to protect our church here in London from such terrors. For until 1538, a great Augustinian priory had stood in the centre of the village of Walsingham, a great focus of pilgrimage and Marian devotion, and then, all came to an end. The statue of Our Lady, it is thought, was consigned to the flames. Also destroyed was the replica of the Holy House wherein Our Lady had received the angelic Annunciation of Christ’s incarnation, which Richeldis had built around 1061 following a vision of Mary’s home in Nazareth. Hence, “England’s Nazareth”, as Walsingham was called, became desolate.

“No memory remains of earlier times”, says Qoheleth, but in 1896, Miss Charlotte Person Boyd, a convert from Anglicanism, remembered. And so, the medieval Slipper Chapel, a mile from the ruins of Walsingham Priory, which had fallen into disuse and had in turn become a poor house, a forge, a cowshed, and a barn, was once again return to sacred use as a place of divine worship, and a focus of prayer. At its heart was a little statue, a recreation of the medieval statue of Our Lady enthroned, holding the baby Jesus, and with her foot on a toad, an East Anglian symbol of evil, and they called her ‘Our Lady of Walsingham’. And so, “what was will be again.” Thus, Walsingham was again a centre for Marian devotion, a place sacred to Our Lady.

Indeed, part of the Walsingham story is the endowment of the whole of England by King Richard II to Our Lady as her Dowry. Hence, England belongs to Mary; the whole of England is a place sacred to Our Lady. But all that made England sacred because England was Christian has also been subjected to vandalism and destruction – not merely our buildings and sacred art and relics and shrines, but more importantly, the very notion of what it is to be human, and our relationship to God and the world, and how our society is to be structured and governed and patterned. Much of this has also been torn down, and it continues apace.

England was once transformed for the true good by what had happened at Nazareth. There, in the Holy House, in Mary’s Home, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. And so, by his Incarnation, Christ had transformed the universe, and opened our eyes to the closeness of God to his people. Mary was truly our Mother, and we her Dowry, her treasure, her children. Human beings and life itself was acknowledged to be sacred and inviolable, endowed with a sacred dignity. But we live now among the ruins of this Christian worldview, as a society that rightly stands for black lives and against slavery and against unjust discrimination also incoherently defends the right to kill the unborn child; enslaves and sexualises the young through the acceptance of pornography and the hook-up culture, and we have become addicted to cheaply-produced goods, often produced through modern-day slavery. Without a coherent vision of the human person and his dignity; without the light of the Gospel and the liberating Word of Christ, then, as Qoheleth says: “All is vanity”! Herod the tetrach, mentioned in today’s Gospel, was himself prey to such vanities and practical godlessness. And yet, even he was attracted or at least intrigued by the marvels that Christ did, and the joy that he engendered.

Therefore, as Walsingham is restored as a sacred place of pilgrimage, so now is also the time to restore the sanctuary of human hearts and the sanctity of human persons. Now is the time to renew the joy of the Gospel in our lives.

For this reason, earlier this year, albeit during the lockdown, the Bishops invited us to rededicate ourselves to Our Lady. By divine Providence, the acts of rededication took place not in churches, but in our homes as we livestreamed the ceremonies taking place in Walsingham on the 29th of March. So, in giving our hearts and our lives to Christ through Mary, we were being called to make our hearts and our own homes into England’s Nazareth, into places that resonate with the joy of Christ’s Incarnation. For charity begins at home, and the task of sanctifying our culture and our country begins with the family, with those whom we live with. So, in our actions, in our speech, in our relating with others, our families, our communities, our homes, our priories, our workplaces at home, are all called to witness to this awesome transformative truth: God is with us!

The joy of the Annunciation, the joy of Our Lady at Nazareth and again at Walsingham stems from this truth. And this is a joy that England needs to experience once more. As Pope Francis said, he hoped that England’s rededication as Mary’s Dowry would inspire “all to persevere in the urgent task of sharing the joy of the Gospel to the men and women of our time”, as we strive to “bear witness to the beauty of our Catholic faith.”

So, on this feast day, let us ask Our Lady to share her joy with us. May we know this joy deep in our hearts and in our homes, so that we can share Mary’s joy with others. For the wicked might destroy our statues and burn our churches. But we stand steadfast in faith, with Christ in us; God with us! Thus, over the centuries, as things rise and fall around us, as viruses and economic crises come and go, we Christians can nevertheless say with the psalmist: “O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.”

[tomasorban]

Enoch & the Watchers: The Real Story of Angels & Demons: BY MICHAEL HOWARD

In 2002 the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Vatican had banned the veneration of those angels who do not appear in the authorised texts of the Bible. This was an attempt to counter the influence of unnamed New Age groups who were allegedly recruiting new members within the Roman Catholic Church. In future, prayers were only to be directed to the three archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael who are mentioned in the Bible. According to the apocryphal and banned Book of Enoch these were the angelic beings responsible for binding the wicked fallen angels or Watchers who had transgressed God’s law. The news report said that the early Church had excluded the book, attributed to the Old Testament prophet and patriarch Enoch, from the authorised version of the Bible because it described these fallen angels and their activities.

Who are the Watchers or fallen angels and why was the early Church and the modern Vatican so concerned about them?

Genesis 6:1-4 says: “When men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and took them wives of all which they chose.” Traditionally the Ben Eloha or ‘sons of God’ numbered several hundred and they descended to Earth on Mount Harmon. Significantly this was a sacred place to both the Canaanites and the Hebrews who invaded their land. In later times shrines to the gods Baal, Zeus, Helios and Pan and the goddess Astarte were built on its slopes.

These Ben Elohim or ‘fallen angels’ were also known as the Watchers, the Grigori and the Irin. In Jewish mythology the Grigori were originally a superior order of angels who dwelt in the highest heaven with God and resembled human beings in their appearance.1 The title ‘Watcher’ simply means ‘one who watches’, ‘those who watch’, ‘those who are awake’ or ‘those who do not sleep’. These titles reflect the unique relationship between the Watchers and the human race since ancient times.

In the esoteric Luciferian tradition they were a special elite order of angelic beings created by God to be earthly shepherds of the first primitive humans. It was their task to observe and watch over the emerging human species and report back on their progress. However they were confined by the divine prime directive not to interfere in human evolution. Unfortunately they decided to ignore God’s command and defy his orders and become teachers to the human race, with unfortunate repercussions for both themselves and humanity.

Most of the information we have about the Watchers and their activities comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. In the orthodox Bible the prophet Enoch, from the Hebrew ‘hanokh’ or instructor, is a mysterious figure. In Genesis 4:16-23 he is described as the son of Cain, the “first murderer,” and the first city built by his father is named after him. Further on in Genesis 5:18-19, and several generations later, Enoch is named as the son of Jared, and it is during his lifetime that the Watchers either arrive or incarnate in human bodies.

In the apocryphal Book of Jubilee, allegedly dictated by “an angel of the Lord” to Moses on Mount Sinai when he also received the Ten Commandments, it says that Enoch was “the first among men that are born on Earth [sic] who learn writing, knowledge and wisdom.” It says that Enoch wrote down “the signs of Heaven” (the zodiac signs) according to their months in a book. This was so human beings would know the seasons of the years in relation to the order of the months and their respective stellar and planetary influences. The indication is that Enoch received this information from extraterrestrial angelic sources, i.e. the Watchers, and therefore he was a cultural exemplar.

The Fallen Angels Instruct Humanity

Two hundred of the ‘fallen angels’ descended from the heavenly realm on to the summit of Mount Hermon and they were so smitten by the beauty of human women that, using their new material bodies, they had sex with them. This further incurred Yahweh’s wrath and, according to the Bible, the consequence of this miscegenation between the Fallen Ones and mortals led to the creation of half-angelic, half-human offspring (Genesis 6:4).

These children were called the Nefelim or Nephilim and they were the giant race that once inhabited Old Earth. The fallen angels taught their wives and children a variety of new technological skills, magical knowledge and occult wisdom. This suggests that psychic abilities and magical powers were originally an ancient inheritance from the angelic realm given to early humans. In the Luciferian tradition this is known in spiritual and metaphorical terms as the ‘witch blood’, ‘elven blood’ or ‘faery blood’ that is possessed by witches and wizards.

In the Book of Enoch it says that the leader of the fallen angels was called Azazel, and he is often identified with Lucifer (the Lightbringer) or Lumiel (‘the light of God’). He taught men to forge swords and make shields and breastplates (body armour). Azazel also taught them metallurgy and how to mine from the earth and use different metals. To the women he taught the art of making bracelets, ornaments, rings and necklaces from precious metals and stones. He also showed them how to ‘beautify their eyelids’ with kohl and the use of cosmetic tricks to attract and seduce the opposite sex. From these practices Enoch says there came much ‘godlessness’ and men and women committed fornication, were led astray and became corrupt in their ways.

This was the basis for the early Church condemning the fallen angels for teaching women to make necklaces from pieces of gold and bracelets for their arms. St Paul said that women should cover their head in the synagogue (Corinthians: 11:5-6). This was because the fallen angels were supposed to be attracted to human females with long flowing hair. The custom of women covering their hair in churches is still found in Roman Catholicism and also in the customs of Islam.

The fallen angel Shemyaza, another form of Azazel, is said by Enoch to have taught humans the use of root cuttings and the magical art of enchantment; the fallen angel Armaros taught the resolving (banishing) of enchantments; Baraqijal taught astrology; Kokabiel, the knowledge of the constellations (astronomy); Chazaqiel, the knowledge of the clouds and the sky (weather lore and divination); Shamsiel, the signs of the sun (the solar mysteries); Sariel the courses of the moon (the lunar cycles used in horticulture and agriculture and the esoteric lunar mysteries); Penemuel instructed humans in the art of writing and reading; and Kashdejan taught the diagnosis and healing of diseases and the science of medicine.

It is obvious from these descriptions of the teaching abilities of the Watchers that they were cultural exemplars and the bringers of civilisation to the early human race. It is therefore strange that in orthodox Judeo-Christian religious texts they are misrepresented as evil corrupters of humanity.

Some idea of the original exalted status and real nature of the ‘sons of God’ and ‘the angels of the Lord’ can be found hidden in the ancient annals of angelic lore. For instance, Kokabiel is described as “a great angelic prince who rules over the stars.”2 In the Sibylline Oracles, Araqiel is one of the fallen angels who guides the souls of the dead to judgement in the underworld.

Shamsiel, possible originally a Babylonian sun god, was called “the prince of Paradise” because he was one of the guardian angels who watched over the gates to Eden. In this role he took Moses to see the heavenly garden and he also watched over the treasures of King David and his son Solomon the Wise. This reference may be to spiritual treasures rather than physical gold and jewels. In the Jewish Zohar he is named as the chief aide-de-camp to the mighty Archangel Uriel and bore his standard into battle.

Sariel was an angel associated with fertility of the earth and the spring equinox (northern hemisphere) in March. He governed the martial zodiac sign of Aries the Ram and was invoked for protection against the malefic power of the Evil Eye.

Azazel – Lucifer – Lumiel

Azazel, the leader of the Watchers, as mentioned before, was identified with Lucifer or Lumiel. In the Quran it is said that Lucifer-Lumiel (Iblis) rebelled against Allah because he was told to bow down and worship the clay-born “man of earth” Adam and refused. He was forced to fight a battle in Heaven with the Archangel Mikael or Michael and his Army of the Lord. As a result Lumiel and his rebel angels were cast out of Heaven and fell down to Earth. Here Lumiel became the “Lord of the World” and in Christian mythology he was falsely identified with the bogeyman Satan. However, esoterically in the Luciferian tradition, Lumiel or Lumial is not an evil satanic figure luring humankind into temptation and acts of evil as the Church represents him. He is “the angel of God [who] rebelled against the static, established cosmic order and set in motion the forces of change and evolution…”3

It is possible that Lumiel may have originated in Canaan as Shahar, the god of the morning star (Venus). He had a twin called Shalem, who was also symbolised by the planet Venus, but as the evening star. These divine bright and dark twins represented the solar light emerging from the darkness of night at dawn and descending into it at dusk. They were the children of the goddess Asherah, and there is archaeological evidence from the Middle East that the Hebrews adopted her worship when they settled in Canaan and practised it alongside reverence of the tribal storm god Yahweh. The Old Testament has several references to the continued worship of Asherah as “Queen of Heaven” by the allegedly monotheistic Hebrews. This took place at shrines in sacred groves on hills where they made offerings of cakes and incense to the goddess. In Canaanite mythology, Shahar, as the Lord of the Morning Star, was cast down from heaven for defying the high god El in the form of a lightning bolt. In that form he fertilised Mother Earth with his divine phallic force.

Azazel is represented as a metal-smith and a fire-working sorcerer or magician. He has also been compared to the biblical first smith Tubal-Cain, a descendant of the half-human, half-angelic “first murderer” Cain. The actual name Azazel has variously been translated as ‘god of victory’, ‘the strength of God’, ‘the strong god’ and even ‘the goat god’. In the apocryphal Apocalypse of Abraham, he is called “the lord of heathens” suggesting he was originally a pagan god. He has also been identified with the serpent in the Edenic myth that seduced the first woman and “Mother of All Living,” Eve. In a Persian text known as the Urm al-Khibab or The Primordial Book, dating from the 8th century CE, the angel Azazil or Azazel is said to have refused to acknowledge the superiority of Adam over the angels. As a result Allah expelled him and his rebel angels from the heavenly realm to live on Earth. More generally in Islamic lore Azazel or Azrael is the angel of death and he acts as a guide for the souls of the dead.

In Leviticus 16:8-10 and in the Dead Sea Scrolls a curious Hebrew ritual is recorded that features Azazel as the name for the ‘scapegoat’ that takes on the communal sins of Israel. It says that the high priest Aaron took two goats from the flock and cast lots (practised divination) to choose which one would be the scapegoat and sacrificed as a “sin offering.” The Scrolls say that the high priest confessed all the “impurities of the children of Israel” over the head of the Azazel goat. By this ritually symbolic act he transferred to the unfortunate animal all their guilt and sins so they could be absolved of them. The goat was then either cast out into the wilderness to die or thrown over a cliff to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below.

This ancient and archetypal concept of the scapegoat sacrificed for the sins of the human race and abandoned in the wilderness is a powerful and potent motif that appears several times in biblical myths. It can be seen in the story of Cain who becomes an exiled wanderer on the Earth after being marked by God and banished “east of Eden” after killing his brother Abel. In one Jewish legend the wise King Solomon, a powerful magician who could summon and control demons, fell from grace because he “whored after foreign gods.” He was forced by God to leave Jerusalem and wander in the desert disguised as a beggar.

Also after their exodus from slavery in Egypt, Moses and the Israelites were forced to spend forty years wandering in the desert before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land (Canaan). In Ancient Egyptian mythology, the dark god Set is represented as a divine outcast who dwells in the desert and, after she left Adam, his first wife Lilith or Liliya fled to the wilderness away from human habitation. In the New Testament Jesus wandered in the wilderness for forty days and nights. He was not accepted as a teacher in his own town of Nazareth and was rejected as the promised messiah by his people. When Jesus was crucified he symbolically took on the role of the sacrificial scapegoat who dies to cleanse the sins of the human race.

It is possible that the account of the ritual of the goat-god Azazel may have been an autumn equinox or harvest rite of Syrian, Hittite or Canaanite origin adopted by the Hebrews. Originally a goat would have been selected by means of a divination ritual and then offered to a desert god or demon that had to be placated by the shedding of blood. Eventually the sacrifice was made to Yahweh as a petition to forgive the sins of his followers. Azazel was popularly believed to have a retinue of hairy he-goat demons known as the se’irim who, like the Watchers, lusted after human women. It cannot be a total coincidence that the Church imagined the Devil or Satan in the form of a hairy half-human he-goat with a massive erect phallus who had sexual intercourse with his female worshippers at the Witches Sabbath.

Shemyaza is seen by some modern Luciferians as either the emissary of Lumiel or one of his avatars (an incarnated divine being in human form). He not only fell in love with human women, but also with the Babylonian deity Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. She promised to have sex with him if he would in return reveal to her the secret name of God. When Shemyaza told her, Ishtar used this forbidden knowledge to ascend to the stars and she reigned over the constellation of Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. While the other Watchers were rounded up by the archangels and punished by God, Shemyaza voluntarily repented his error and sentenced himself to hang upside down in the constellation of Orion the Hunter, with whom he is sometimes identified in the Luciferian tradition. In the Qabalistic tradition, Naamah, the sister of the biblical first smith Tubal-Cain, seduced Azazel and she has been associated with Ishtar.4

“A race between Gods and men”

As we have seen, the end result of the illicit relationships between the Watchers and “the daughters of men” was, according to Judeo-Christian propaganda, the spawning of a monstrous race of warlike, blood-drinking cannibalistic giants called the Nephilim. Genesis 6:4 less dramatically describes them as “the mighty men of old, men of renown.” At first they were fed manna (ambrosia or the food of the Gods?) by Yahweh to stop them consuming human flesh, but they rejected it. They slaughtered animals for food instead and then began to hunt down and eat human prey.

It has been speculated that this legend is based on the culinary habits of the nomadic desert herdsmen in the Middle East, who were voracious meat-eaters. In the biblical myth of Cain and Abel the dispute between the two brothers that led to the first murder is over the nature of the offerings made to Yahweh. Abel, a “keeper of sheep” or nomadic herdsman offered the “firstlings of the flock…” and Cain, who was “a tiller of the ground” or farmer-gardener offered “the fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:2-4). Abel’s burnt offerings of animal flesh and blood were pleasing to Yahweh, but he rejected the vegetables, cereal and fruit offered by his brother. On a purely material level, as opposed to a mythic and spiritual metaphor, this story may reflect the struggle for dominance between nomadic herdsmen and the early farmers of the Neolithic Age in the Middle East.

The idea of semi-divine heroes was born from the ancient myths of unions between the Gods and mortals. The poet and writer Pindor (518-438 BCE) described the heroes of the past as “a race between Gods and men.” In the Dead Sea Scrolls the terrible human-eating Nephilim are in fact described as the guardians of arcane knowledge who “knew all the mysteries of nature and science.” There are also oblique references to the breeding techniques they taught that suggest they instructed early humans in the domestication and rearing of animals.

Additional references also hint at experiments that led to the creation of ‘monsters’ by the interbreeding of animals with different and unrelated species. In modern theosophical occultism there are legends about the lost continent of Atlantis that claim its scientists bred half-human, half-animal hybrids as a slave race. In our own time scientists are experimenting with genetic research and animal cloning experiments. It is widely rumoured that in China there have recently been abortive attempts to create a new half-human, half-animal hybrid species. These unnatural experiments led to the cataclysmic disaster that destroyed Atlantis. This also relates to the destruction of the Nephilim and the early human race in the biblical Flood. Records of such an event can also be found in the mythology of ancient peoples worldwide and especially among the Babylonians in the Middle East. In fact, it is claimed that the story of Noah and the Flood in the Old Testament originated in Babylonian and Sumerian myths.

10,000 BCE and the End of the Ice Age

It is known that around 10,000 BCE there seems to have been a cultural explosion that transformed early humankind. At the end of the last Ice Age the first signs of agriculture appeared in the Middle East with a shift from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to that of settled farming. This marked the beginning of civilisation in this area. As early as 9500 BCE barley, wheat and rye were being cultivated and oats, peas and lentils were being grown by our Neolithic ancestors in what is now modern Kurdistan, between Turkey and Iraq. At the same time dogs, goats and sheep were also domesticated. Within a thousand years copper and lead smelting was being practised in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and archaeologists believe this process was first discovered in Kurdistan, along with weaving and pottery making. The ancient Kurdish culture was also the first to develop a script and was one of the earliest literate societies in the Middle East.

The Kurds claim to be the descendants of the ‘Children of the Djinn’ (spirits), the offspring of a mating between the djinns and mortal women. In some parts of Kurdistan, especially among the sect of Yezedis, who worship the Peacock Angel (Azazel, the leader of the fallen angels), can be found tall, fair-haired people with blue eyes. Although anthropologists believe they may be of ancient European ancestry, popular folk belief among the Kurds says they are descendants of the ‘Children of the Djinn’, who in ancient times brought civilisation to early humankind.

In general the ancient Middle East was known as ‘the cradle of civilisation’ with the earliest city-states being founded in the Mesopotamian area (modern Iraq and Iran). The early indigenous people of the region, the Sumerians and Akkadians, developed the first written language, studied astronomy and created libraries. The Babylonians and Assyrians followed them and in the mythology of all these races are stories of how the Gods descended to Earth and taught them the arts of civilisation.

In the Book of Enoch it says that when Yahweh saw the lawlessness, chaos, corruption and sexual immorality that had been caused by the interaction of the Watchers and humans he decided to intervene through the agency of the archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel. He commanded Raphael to bind Azazel hand and foot like a sacrificial goat and cast him into a deep ravine in the desert. Gabriel was sent on a divine mission to destroy “the bastards and reprobates” and “the children of the Watchers amongst men.”5 The Archangel Michael, the commander of the Army of God, was sent to arrest Shemyaza and bind him “under the earth” until Judgement Day. As we have seen, the fallen angel repented his sins and sentenced himself to cosmic exile among the stars.

The Book of Jubilee says that the archangels bound the Watchers “in the depths of the earth” and in Judaic lore they are imprisoned in a mysterious “second Heaven.” However, it is also said that some of these “mighty warriors” have a special place reserved for them in Sheol, the Jewish underworld. There they are said to lie in state “with shield and spear intact.”

Christian O’Brien has suggested6 there is a connection between the biblical Watchers and the semi-divine, semi-mythical Tuatha De Danann (Children of the goddess Dana). This race of ancient magicians descended to Earth on the sacred hill of Tara in prehistoric Ireland. With the coming of Christianity, the Tuatha De Danann was banished into the ‘hollow hills’ and became the Sidhe (Shee) or ‘Shining Ones’, the elves and faeries of Irish folklore. There has always been a strong belief among the peasantry in Ireland that the Good People or faeries were originally the fallen angels who sided with Lucifer in the Battle of Heaven.

In this article we have constantly referred to the Watchers as angelic beings with a spiritual form who incarnated in physical bodies to have sexual relations with mortal women. In recent years a considerable amount of speculative literature has been published suggesting that instead they were of earthly origin. Popular best-selling authors such as Andrew Collins,7 Graham Hancock and Ian Lawson have claimed that the biblical myth of the Watchers represents memories of a primeval ‘elder race’ of super-humans belonging to a lost civilisation who taught their technology to more primitive people. Lawson has claimed that this (unknown) ancient race may have been spiritually advanced souls who incarnated to help early humankind and were corrupted by them in the process. Collins has also recently launched a new project to investigate the magical aspects of the legend.

Symbolism of the Myth of the Fallen Angels

What is the esoteric significance behind the myth of the fallen angels, the expulsion of Lucifer from Heaven and the Fall of Man as represented by the Garden of Eden saga? In the Bible Lucifer is often depicted in the reptilian form of a dragon or serpent and in the West this creature is symbolic of evil and the powers of chaos. Babylonian, Hittite, Canaanite, Iranian, Egyptian, Greek and Norse myths all describe in various forms a struggle between a supreme father-god, representing cosmic order and harmony, and a younger rebellious god who challenges and tries to overthrow divine authority. Although these conflicts usually take place in a pre-human epoch, they are also sometimes depicted as occurring in world history and are often connected with the creation and early development of the human species and the rise of ancient civilisations.

Symbolically, Lucifer or Lumiel is known as the Lord of Light as he is the first-born of creation. He represents the active cosmic energy of the universe and has been identified with fire, light, phallic power, independent thought, consciousness, progress, liberty and independence. The founder of the modern Theosophical Society, Madame Helena Blavatsky, described the Lightbringer as “the spirit of intellectual enlightenment and the freedom of thought” without whose influence humanity would be “no better than animals.”8

In the Bible Lucifer (or Satan as he is mistakenly called) is often depicted in reptilian form as either a dragon or a serpent. In Western mythologies this creature is commonly misrepresented as a symbol of the powers of darkness, chaos and evil. In contrast, in Eastern mythology the dragon is a good omen representing fertility and good fortune. Lumiel-Lucifer is often identified with the serpent in the Edenic myth described in Genesis. In the Luciferian tradition, the biblical serpent is regarded as the personification of knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment who liberated the first humans from the spiritual ignorance imposed on them by Yahweh. The serpent is seen as the symbol of an outside liberating force that quite literally opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to the reality of the created universe and the wonders of the material world.

The snake, serpent or dragon is an ancient mythical and archetypal image of the solar phallic power or life force that is associated with Lucifer and the explosion of light following the divine celestial event that created the universe (known by modern scientists as the Big Bang). When the first man and woman ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the astral or heavenly garden, they became consciously aware. Their first realisation was that their physical ‘cloaks of flesh’ were naked. They rushed to cover their genitals as they had become aware of the so-called ‘serpent power’ or kundalini that can be raised by sexual intercourse and non-reproductive sex acts. They also ate from the Tree of Life which initiated the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth and of human souls incarnating in physical form.

Interestingly, the anthropologist and shamanic teacher Dr. Michael Harner has described an experience he had in the jungle of the Peruvian Amazon after partaking of the hallucinogenic vine ayahuasca. He had a vision of a dragon-prowed ship with a crew of bird-headed humans. He then encountered an ancient race of reptilian entities that he believes exist within each human being in the brain stem at the base of the skull and the top of the spinal column. These reptilian life forms told Dr. Harner they had arrived on Earth aeons ago from the stars. Allegedly, they created life here so they had somewhere to hide and were the true masters of the planet. The anthropologist mentioned this to an old Indian shaman and he said he knew about these entities and called them the “Masters of the Outer Darkness.”9

The myth of the Watchers, the Fall of Lucifer and the Fall of Man all represent the primeval Dreamtime or ‘Golden Age’ of cosmic and earthy harmony and primal innocence that may have existed on the material plane or on some kind of astral or pre-material plane. It is the symbolic or actual physical destruction of this heavenly or earthly paradise, where humans and animals lived together and communicated by a universal language, which is reflected in such myths and legends. In shamanic terms it is known as the Great Separation when humans no longer knew or understood the language of the animals. It was also a time when humans began to communicate together in different languages and this is represented by the biblical story of the Tower of Babel.

The myth of the Golden Age or Paradise on Earth is closely linked with the fall of Lucifer from Heaven and the diminishing of his former status as the first-born of creation to become the Lord of the World. On a symbolic and metaphorical level, as well as a physical one, it is also connected to the separation of humans from nature and their natural environment that is manifesting in our modern times. It was the deliberate intervention of Lucifer and the fallen angels in human evolution, rather than any defiance of cosmic authority, which ultimately lead to their fall from heavenly grace. The Watchers’ only ‘crime’ was that they wanted to help the progress of their human flock. However, the refusal of Lucifer-Iblis to recognise the creation of human beings means that the Fall from heavenly grace was inevitable.

In the Luciferian tradition Lumiel is promised redemption and the restoration of his former status in the cosmic plan. This can only come to pass when the human race spiritually evolves. So it is to the benefit of Lumiel and his teaching angels to help us achieve that end. The relationship between humanity and the leader of the Fallen Ones is therefore very much a symbiotic one, as they need each other.

[nikonut3]

NORAGAMI YATORI FICS REC LONG POST

Tagging these people because I was surfing the Noragami tag and I came across these people who were thirsty for Noragami/Yatori fics

@cheekymissalexis​ @titosu-moved​ @natsukashii-ken​ @mistermrbee​

Not in any particular order.

Fanfiction.net

(Some of these may or may not be available on ao3 under a different name.)

Just one selfish wish by DepressoxEspresso Oneshot

The blanket shrine by animomma Oneshot This is so cute and I love the end too https://archiveofourown.org/works/9396311

God by wingdesire Oneshot Just some kissing but the context is cute

The Art of fighting over a carton of milk by sheegurrseagull Oneshot

Where spirits tread by blue and gold Multiple chapters (THIS NEEDS NO REVIEWS ITS GORGEOUS ITS BEAUTIFUL AND ITS HISTORICAL AU MY WEAKNESS GOD DAMN I LOVE THIS SO DAMN MUCH I WISH IT WAS CONTINUED....)

Summary:  A series of mysterious and brutal murders have been plaguing the countryside, and when Hiyori meets a strange boy in the forest, she can't help but wonder—is he the hero, or the killer? – [Warring States Period, AU]

In the land of gods and monsters by blue and gold Lovely Noragami drabbles collection

A god and a girl. – [YatoHiyori/ 34 drabbles]

Intertwined by jaded.envy.sora Long Oneshot (This fic will take your heart, break it into tiny pieces, mend those pieces back together and give it back to you) https://archiveofourown.org/works/7232845

Discipline by scarlthesnarl

I'm not a big fan of the tsukuyomi theory, but I absolutely LOVE the fanfics it has spawned!!! The plot of this one is my favourite I think. I so damn wish it were continued...3 chapters, every word is worth reading. This fic is absolutely in-character, and well written, excellent.

A Recurrence of the Color Blue by Skyelara A beautiful one shot to break your heart :)

A Lovely Coincidence by exiethewriter Summary: Multi-Chapter (High School, Godless AU) She stepped into his life by mere coincidence; and at first, he despised her presence, but with the warmth she brought to him, he came to learn that it was more than just a meeting by chance, and he began to understand what love truly felt like. Yatori. Incomplete, but JUST READ IT

Flirting with Crime by runwithskizors The plot in this really intrigues me. Give it a try. Incomplete

Together Forever (Noragami) by KickinitMeow I would like to see where this goes but it's incomplete so.. give it a try.

Death Rose by ChiakiFenrir OH OH OH OH THIS WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU COULD UNDERSTAND CHINESE AND TIME TRAVEL. I mean, it's translated from chinese and its still ongoing. Anyways, it's AMAZING, UNIQUE PLOT NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN NORAGAMI FICS, AND IT LOOKS PROMISING. I WISH IT WOULD UPDATE... Incase you guys can understand chinese, below is the official post link for the fic: http://c.tieba.baidu.com/p/4329489195?lp=5027&mo_device=1&is_jingpost=0&pn=0&

Stray Reminiscence by RuskaSky Oneshot, angst with a happy ending :)

Archive of our own (Ao3)

If you're only just starting to read yatori fics and are caught up to the manga, then check out all the fics by @thedeliverygod​ (thankyou <3 for the fics) and hiyoris_scarf (scarfblogs on Tumblr <3 thankyou for the fics)

May our fates intertwine by 79AuRa88 FEEEEEEEEEEEEELS GODDAMN JUST READ THIS BEAUTIFUL ONESHOT and HISTORICAL AU!!!!!!!! THOSE KILL ME!!!!!

Swing for the Fences by JoKay

Summary:

"This will be my year." "But it is morning. Morning of a new period in our education. The Yato-sama era."

Hiyori Iki has one dream: become a renowned MMA fighter. There's only one place that can help her achieve that: Hafuri Studio and the God of Calamity, an impossibly skilled trainer whose name sends shivers down the crowds' spine. But, what is the truth behind this man and what is the meaning of the notorious underground fight club that seems to have its claws sunk deep into Hafuri's bright lights?

Warning: child abuse, violence

JUST READ IT IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY Patiently waiting for updates ( @eerna​ , thankyou <3) I think most of the nora-fam know about this awesome masterpiece

SHRINE by MissX28 Summary: 20 chapters, ongoing. (AU) (MUSIC/ROMANCE/DRAMA) (Yatori) (Kazubisha) (Daifuku) (18+ due to language, mature subjects and a little smut) With her earphones on and melodies filling her ears, the girl looked at the ceiling, thinking. She, Iki Hiyori, a regular schoolgirl, had jumped at the street to save the life of a promising rock star.

What words can not tell by BeatrixCaelum (I CAN'T FIND THE FIC OR THE AUTHOR ANYWHERE...)

For somebody's sake by myrkks Oneshot apocalypse au!

Springtide by Leopah Summary: What if Yato was reincarnated once, in the recent past? AU where Yato and Hiyori knew each other as children.

Now and Forever by Leopah Summary: Simply put, it’s an AU where Yato makes Hiyori his shinki during the hospital arc. But things are never as simple as that, are they? Multichapter fic, was an amazing read.

Than You Bargained For by littleladysugar I'd like to see where this goes. Incomplete/ongoing.

Familiar by thedeliverygod (Honestly, check out all the Noragami fics by this person please)

A Slaver's End by orphan_account It's a nice read. Completed 20+ chapters. (actually I had found the person who wrote it on tumblr a while back but I don't remember the username..)

Brought Together by Norakami Completed, 17 chapters. It was really sweet. Summary: Yato and hiyori adopt baby yukine. Godless au. There's even Fanart by eerna.

That's all for now!

[bylagunabay]

Feast Days of Our Blessed Mother

Dec. 2:  OUR LADY OF DIDINIA

(1-min read)

Our Lady of Didinia is in Cappadocia.  It was before this shrine that St. Basil begged the Blessed Virgin to remedy the disorders caused by Julian the Apostate. The Saint was granted a vision from Mary, which foretold the death of the emperor.

The godless Julian threatened the city of Caesarea with destruction because of a grudge he bore.  St. Basil gathered the frightened inhabitants on Mt. Didinia, where there was an ancient Church of Mary.  After three days of prayer and fasting, Basil had a vision in which he saw our Blessed Mother surrounded by her celestial army and heard her say, “Do call Mercurius to me. He shall kill the blasphemer of my Son.”

On the night of Julian’s death, both Basil and Libanius went to the Church of St. Mercurius, and found the arms which usually hung there, missing.  They went back to Mt. Didinia and spread the news of the death of the tyrant to the inhabitants.

When the faithful went back to the city and the Church of Saint Mercurius, they found the lance of Mercurius back in its accustomed place, although now it was wet with blood.

The Emperor Julian had gone on campaign in Persia but was forced to retreat from the region. It was later learned that he had died in that foreign land on that same night that Saint Mercurius' lance had gone missing. History records that he received a wound from a spear that had pierced his liver and intestines, suffering a major hemorrhage from the wound which killed him.

(ourladysrosarymakers / roman-catholic-saints)

[dfroza]

An act of rebirth that we are to conserve

to share it with all of beautiful earth.

and this is the pure significance of having it written down for all to be able to read and to personally choose for themselves to “believe...”

for only the True illumination of the Son promises us rebirth of the heart (inside, Anew) as well as the rebirth of the body when it will be made eternal. death will no longer exist at some point.

and Love invites us into Light as to not force love to be, since it can never be forced to be True. for we are first chosen as a call of the Spirit that is seen by our own, but we still have to open the heart to reply... to believe inside and to speak through a body of earth and time. it is life’s purest treasure to be known as a child (a son or a daughter) of our heavenly Father.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the closing chapter of the book of Mark:

At the rising of the sun, after the Sabbath on the first day of the week, the two Marys and Salome brought sweet-smelling spices they had purchased to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Along the way, they wondered to themselves how they would roll the heavy stone away from the opening. But when they arrived, the stone was already rolled away in spite of its weight and size.

Stepping through the opening, they were startled to see a young man in a white robe seated inside and to the right.

Man in White: Don’t be afraid. You came seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the One who was crucified. He is gone. He has risen. See the place where His body was laid. Go back, and tell Peter and His disciples that He goes before you into Galilee, just as He said. You will see Him there when you arrive.

The women went out quickly; and when they were outside the tomb, they ran away trembling and astonished. Along their way, they didn’t stop to say anything to anyone because they were too afraid.

[After He rose from the dead early on Sunday, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, a woman out of whom He had cast seven demons. She brought this news back to all those who had followed Him and were still mourning and weeping, but they refused to believe she had seen Jesus alive.

After that, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked through the countryside, and again the others did not believe it.

The eleven did not believe until Jesus appeared to them all as they sat at dinner. He rebuked them for their hard hearts—for their lack of faith—because they had failed to believe those witnesses who had seen Him after He had risen.

Jesus: Go out into the world and share the good news with all of creation. Anyone who believes this good news and is ceremonially washed will be rescued, but anyone who does not believe it will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: they will be able to cast out demons in My name, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, drink poison without being harmed, and lay their hands on the sick to heal them.

After the Lord Jesus had charged the disciples in this way, He was taken up into heaven and seated at the right hand of God. The disciples went out proclaiming the good news; and the risen Lord continued working through them, confirming every word they spoke with the signs He performed through them.]

[And the women did everything they had been told to do, speaking to Peter and the other disciples. Later Jesus Himself commissioned the disciples to take this sacred and eternal message of salvation far to the East and the West.]

The Book of Mark, Chapter 16 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 8th chapter of the book of Job where Bildad chimes in:

Then the second of Job’s three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job.

Bildad: How long will you say these things,

your words whipping through air like a powerful wind?

Does God corrupt justice,

or does the Highest One corrupt the good?

If your children sinned against Him,

He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins.

But if you search for God

and make your appeal to the Highest One,

If you are pure and righteous,

I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place.

From your modest beginnings,

the future will be bright before you.

Ask those who have come and gone!

Explore what their fathers learned and taught them.

For we are not of ages past, nor even of years gone by.

We are ignorant creatures of yesterday,

and our time on earth is only a shadow.

But the ancients are not similarly bound, are they?

Won’t they speak to and instruct you?

Won’t they draw up words from deep within?

Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?

Can reeds flourish without water?

Even if they are hardy and unbroken,

without water they will dry up before any other plant.

So it goes with any who forget God.

The hope of the godless soon withers and dies.

His confidence breaks,

for he trusts in the tenuous threads of a spider’s web.

When he leans into his house of silken threads for support,

it won’t hold;

Though his arms grab to steady him,

it will break—he will fall and never get back up.

Still the godless appears to be a hardy plant,

thriving in full sun, sending his shoots across the garden.

The roots twine and grip the stone heap

and search for a home among the rocks.

If he is pulled up, the place will disown him saying,

“I have never seen you.”

See, his sole joy consists of this:

knowing that others will spring from the earth to take his place.

Do you see it? God will not reject the innocent;

He will not reject you or support agents of evil.

He will fill your mouth with laughter;

your lips will spill over into cries of delight.

Those who hate you will don the garment of shame,

and the home of the wicked will disappear.

The Book of Job, Chapter 8 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Thursday, April 15 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about being welcomed by Love:

"The Son of Man came ... and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Matt. 11:19). People, especially the religious people, were scandalized by Yeshua because he was a “friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Yet what sickness of heart is this, to despise those who are sick? It is a sorrow of heart to realize that religion often creates an “in-group” mentality that attains its status at the expense of the “outsider,” the “stranger,” the “sinner,” and so on... The prayer of the self-righteous is always: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector" (Luke 18:11).

The religious leaders of Yeshua's day were offended because he "welcomed sinners" and enjoyed eating meals with them (Luke 15:2). We can almost hear their disapproving whispers and their dismissive accusations: "How could a good Jew behave like this? Does he not understand the call to personal holiness? Does he not know the Torah of "clean" and "unclean"? If a man is known by the company he keeps, we know enough about Yeshua to know that he's not truly pious..." And to this very day the self-righteous find offensive the idea that God welcomes the sinful, the needy, the broken, the despised, and the "outsider" into His presence... As Yeshua said, "those who are well have no need of a physician," and indeed offering them God's cure will always be regarded as a kind of poison...

We greatly rejoice that God indeed is the friend of sinners; He is the Good Shepherd who seeks and saves the lost. Thank the Lord that he comes not for the “righteous” but for those who are brokenhearted, for those mortally wounded by their own sin... Any so-called theology or religion that repudiates or minimizes God’s love for the sinful, the needy, the broken, is little more than a shrine to human pride and vanity... On the contrary: the heart of the Compassionate One always welcomes a sinner who sincerely turns to Him. [Hebrew for Christians]

4.15.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

April 15, 2021

The Trumpet of God

“And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.” (Exodus 19:19)

This is the first reference to trumpets in the Bible, and it is significant that the “voice” of the trumpet was coming not from man but from God. The setting was the awesome scene at Mount Sinai, when the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments for His people.

The last reference in the Old Testament to trumpets again refers to God’s trumpet. “And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south” (Zechariah 9:14).

The trumpet as used in Israel (Hebrew shofar) was made of rams’ horns and was used on many important occasions. One of the most notable was when the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land at Jericho. “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and...the wall fell down flat,...and they took the city” (Joshua 6:20). These were human trumpets, of course, but they were sounded with the authority of God, and God gave the victory.

We also today can speak with the authority of God if we speak His Word plainly and clearly. But “if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8).

We ourselves may soon hear the trumpet of God, for the return of Christ is drawing near. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven...with the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). As we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, we (like John long ago) will hear a voice “as it were of a trumpet,” saying, “Come up hither” (Revelation 4:1), and then “shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). HMM