#john said NOT TODAY SATAN!

[johnsbleu]

Hold My Hand: John Wick x Reader Chapter 170

warnings: dual pov, nsfw hmh masterlist

I can tell something is off. There’s a shift in the atmosphere or something. Maybe a natural disaster is on the horizon. There is a static in the air, an electricity. I can feel it as I sit on the patio and read a book to Ronan. The sun is shining. No clouds in the sky. It’s not even supposed to rain until this weekend, but something is…off.

Looking to my left, I see Y/N as she pulls into the driveway. She doesn’t pull into the garage though. She just gets out, tilts her head back and lets out the loudest groan before stomping her way over to me.

I figured out what is so different: my wife is absolutely pissed.

Y/N throws her bag on the chair across from me and Ronan, then she stomps her foot and groans again. I get up and bring Ronan over to the blanket I’ve put out, set a few toys around her, then I walk over to Y/N and rest my hands on her shoulders. I rub my hands down her arms a few times and breathe deep with her, and she looks up at me before she pouts and closes her eyes.

“What’s going on?” I ask, and she tilts her head back and pouts with her whole body. “Are you hurt?”

She shakes her head, “No.”

“Did someone say something to you? Was someone rude? Who upset you?” I ask, and she looks at me. “Who did this?”

“Calm down, babe, I don’t need you to fight anyone.”

I furrow my brow, “Someone upset you. I’ll do what I have to do.”

She laughs a little and looks down at her hands.

“Talk to me,” I say, pulling her over to sit on the love seat.

Y/N pulls her knees close to her chest and frowns, “My mom is too nice.”

“She is very nice,” I say, then I furrow my brow quickly, “Why is that a problem?”

“Because…” she sighs loudly and looks at me, “She invited my aunt to come here.”

I slowly nod my head as I hold her gaze, “I see.”

“Guess where she’s going to want to stay.” she whispers, raising her brows, “Here. Why can’t she stay with my parents? You’re probably wondering. She won’t say it but it’s because their house isn’t as nice as ours, even though their house is gorgeous!”

“I know you’re not the biggest fan of her.” I say, and Y/N gives me a dirty look. I laugh, “Okay, you’re not a fan at all, but it’s just the weekend, right? It’ll go by fast, and if you want, I can handle it all. I’ll take care of it.”

Y/N scoffs before she laughs loudly, “Oh, then I’ll have to hear about how I don’t do anything around here, how my husband--my gorgeous and sexy husband--bends over backwards for me while I sit around and get fat, or how I don’t deserve you. Yeah, absolutely not.”

“If she’s so horrible, why does your mom invite her out?”

“Because she’s too nice!” she says, and I laugh. “Tonya is coming here for some Broadway show with her friends. And even though Tonya loves to brag about how much money she has, she also loves a good deal. Or even better, she loves something free as long as no one else can know that it was free. That’s how the whole staying with my mom thing came about. But again, my mom’s house is just sooo beneath Tonya.”

I laugh as I wrap my arm around her shoulder, “That 1.3 million dollar home we bought your parents. Yes, I agree.”

“Ugh!” she groans, sighing loudly as she leans against me, “So, I guess she’s staying with us. She’ll be here next Friday, but she’s leaving Sunday.”

“I can always put my foot down and say no,” I say, and Y/N looks up at me and starts to laugh, which makes me laugh, “You needed a good laugh.”

Y/N leans up and cups my face as we kiss, then she smiles at me, “I need my partner in crime now more than ever.”

“I got you.” I whisper, then we both look down when Ronan walks over to see her mom.

“My beautiful little girl! Hello!” she reaches for Ronan and puts her in her lap as she kisses her cheek, “Have you been hanging out with daddy?”

I tuck Ronan’s brown hair behind her ear, “We’ve been learning our colors today.”

“Ooh,” Y/N beams, “How are we doing?”

“Really well.” I pick up the book and open to a random page, “Bug, where is the yellow ball?”

Ronan looks at me and Y/N, then she looks at the book before pointing her sticky little finger towards the yellow ball. Y/N and I both cheer, which makes Ronan grin and giggle, and I lean over to kiss her cheek.

“Good job. Where is the blue hat?” I ask, and Ronan looks around before pointing at Bleu laying under the table. I look over at Y/N and laugh, “Yeah, we’re still working on that.”

“Maybe you should have thought about this before you named him.”

I laugh, “Because I knew all those years ago that I would meet you and have a baby who would struggle with the color blue.”

Y/N smirks as she shrugs, then she scoots over to lean her head on my shoulder, “Please have my back this weekend.”

“I always will, mouse. You don’t even need to ask.” I whisper against her forehead, then I tilt her chin up to look into her eyes, “We’re a team.”

__

Not only is this weekend not a good weekend because Tonya is coming, but with Logan being here, it’s also a bad time. We’ve been trying to make this transition for Logan as smooth as possible and Tonya coming definitely isn’t going to help. And if that wasn’t enough, Ronan is currently having a really hard time sleeping lately. She’ll go down to bed just fine, but she wakes up at about 1 in the morning and is up for an hour or so. We don’t like having her sleep in bed with us, but sometimes we’re just so tired that we don’t want to bring her back to her room. Anytime she’s in our bed, I’m a light sleeper. All of those years I spent always having to sleep with one eye open really has come in handy with a baby.

Since I know she’s just having a hard time with her aunt coming, I told Y/N that I would handle Ronan tonight. I should have known better when I got up to settle Ronan down that Y/N wouldn’t be far behind me.

I turn to look at her as she walks in Ronan’s room behind me, “Go to bed.”

“It’s okay.”

“Baby,” I rest my hands on her shoulders and lean down to meet her gaze, “Go. To. Bed. I got this.”

She looks up at me and bites her cheek, “I’ll grab her bottle. Bring her to our room?”

“Yeah.” I press a kiss to her forehead, then I get Ronan, who is crying and reaching out for me.

As soon as Ronan gets into my arms, her cries turn to soft little whimpers. I grab her blanket and her favorite stuffed bunny, affectionately named Coco, then I bring her into our bedroom. I get Ronan situated in my arms, then look up at Y/N as she comes in. She hands the bottle to me and scoots onto the bed until she’s leaning against my arm.

Ronan is looking around with her big brown eyes as she drinks her bottle, then she points up with her finger and touches the tip of my nose, which causes her to laugh. I make a funny noise when she does it again, and she laughs a little harder this time, the bottle slipping from her mouth. Y/N chuckles as she watches us, and Ronan reaches over to do the same thing to Y/N but she’s too far. I hold Ronan up so she can touch her nose.

“What is that all about?” Y/N asks as Ronan giggles. “You’re such a goober.”

“She gets it from you, you know?” I say, and Y/N rolls her eyes and laughs.  

I know that Y/N wasn’t sleeping when I got up to get Ronan. I know she’s just nervous about her aunt coming, and I don’t blame her. Tonya is incredibly critical of Y/N--she is of everyone, which is probably why Bev invited her to stay. Bev didn’t want to be at the receiving end of her wrath and she probably had no idea that Tonya would want to stay with us. Tess is obviously off limits since Tess, well, Tess can’t always keep her mouth shut. In my opinion, it would do Tonya some good to have someone like Tess tell her off.

“I love you.” I whisper to Y/N, and she smiles softly as she looks up at me, “Why don’t you get some rest?”

Y/N chews on her lip for a few seconds before she nods and scoots down in bed. I set Ronan’s bottle aside and lay her down next to Y/N, then I lay down with them, wrapping my arm over both of them. I lightly rub my hand over Y/N’s shoulder and hold her gaze when she looks over at me.

“A team.” I whisper, and she smiles again before closing her eyes.

__

Despite me getting up at 7, Y/N was already up. She showered and got to work on cleaning the house, which didn’t even need cleaning. We like to keep our place pretty nice, but obviously with having a baby, that doesn’t always last long. We try to keep Ronan’s toys contained to one area, but since she’s walking, she tends to bring them with her wherever she goes. We always clean up her toys at the end of the day though so we don’t trip over them in the night or something.

With me living here for years alone, I never really made much of a mess and I was always quick to clean up after myself. I still am that way, and Y/N has gotten that way as well since Ronan likes to get into things. I won’t lie and say Y/N was the neatest person to live with--she left shit everywhere--but she’s gotten much better now.

I never complained before though because I liked it. I liked walking into the kitchen and seeing her lipstick on mugs. I liked finding her socks on the bathroom floor, or her sweater tucked into the cushions on the couch. My house actually looked lived in once she moved in. My house looked like a home. Because it was. Because she was here. I loved it. I still love it.

I hear the door close and look up to see Logan. He abruptly stops and widens his eyes when he sees all the cleaning supplies around.

“What have I walked into?”

I smile as I stand up from wiping off the coffee table, “We have some family--”

“Ew, don’t call her that!” Y/N says with her face scrunched up.

Looking over at Y/N, I laugh, “Okay, not family,” I look back at Logan, “Y/N’s aunt is coming today.”

“Oh,” he nods, then he glances over my shoulder towards his room.

“We’re not kicking you out,” I laugh, watching his shoulders relax, “You can stay as long as you want.”

“Did you really think we’d just kick you out? You’re stuck here, bud.” Y/N says, and Logan shrugs bashfully. “Your room is your room. She can stay in there.”

I look over when Y/N lazily gestures to the other guest bedroom, then I nod when I look back at him.

“Well, I mean, if you guys need me to leave…”

“Nope!” she smiles, shaking her head, “You’re more than welcome to say, in fact, we insist.”

Logan has only been here about two weeks, but he’s already been doing much better. His attitude is much more positive too, and I can see so much more confidence. Y/N and him talked a few days after he moved in about going to therapy and he had his first session the other day; he said it went really well. We really enjoy having him here and despite me thinking it might have been a big change, it really hasn’t been. He’s fit in perfectly. We love having him here.

“Do you need me to like, stay away or anything?”

“Between you and me,” Y/N walks to him and puts her hand on his shoulder, “I would.”

I laugh, “Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t like her aunt, which admittedly, she’s not great.”

“At our wedding she asked if you were single. At our wedding!”

“I think that was a joke,” I say, and she rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “But yes, she is…”

Y/N huffs, “Rude! She’s a bitch!”

“Why don’t you go get something to eat?” I suggest, and she nods her head and walks off to the kitchen. I look over at Logan and walk closer, “Her aunt is, yeah, a bitch. She’s very critical of her, and she’s made several inappropriate comments about me.”

“So, why is she staying here?”

I shake my head and sigh, “It’s complicated. All you need to know is that Tonya might make some off handed comments, but don’t take anything she says personally. If you don’t feel comfortable being around here, then definitely stay in your room. I’m gonna try to keep as much focus as I can on myself, so that she isn’t too hard on Y/N.”

“Sounds brave,” Logan jokes.

“I just don’t want her to be upset. I’ll take the brunt of Tonya if it means that Y/N will be fine.”

“And this is why he’s too good for this world,” Y/N says behind me, then she wraps her arms around my waist, “I can handle her too, but Logan, you don’t need to be around her.”

Logan nods as Y/N tells him about Tonya, then he laughs, “Sounds like my mom.”

“Whoa,” she lets go and blinks before she looks up at me, “You know what, yeah, she is a bit like Laura.”

“Well, in that case, I will make myself scarce this weekend, which won’t be too hard.” Logan says as he leans down to untie his shoes, “I’m picking up extra work at the shop.”

Logan pops into the kitchen quick to grab himself something to eat before he retreats to his bedroom. I look over at Y/N as she stares blankly out the window, and she jumps a little when I touch her elbow.

“Everything will be just fine,” I say, and she turns around and leans against my chest. “Logan will be busy all weekend, so he won’t have to even meet her.”

“If she’s mean to him,” she says, shaking her head, “I’ll…fucking freak out. If she’s mean to any of you.”

I laugh, “She won’t be mean to me. She loves me.”

Y/N groans as she rolls her eyes, “Pretty sure she wants to fuck you.”

“Nah, I’m good.” I say, smiling when she looks up at me. I reach for her and pull her into my arms again, “I will be by your side all weekend and I’ll protect you with my life. No one is going to put you down while I’m around.”

She starts to laugh, “You better by chained to my side then.”

“Gladly.”

__

It’s kind of comedic that with Tonya’s arrival, it started to storm. The moment we heard that she arrived in New York, it’s like the whole state was under a big thick cloud of thunder and rain. It’s fitting, it really is. Y/N thought it was pretty funny. There’s a break in the storm right now, but surely it’ll start raining again.

I volunteered to get Tonya from Bev’s house by myself, but Y/N wanted to come with since she wanted to drop off some pictures of Ronan that Tess took the other day. We packed into the car and drove to Oyster Bay. Y/N clung to the door handle the whole time with her right hand, and her left hand was gripping mine tight. I know that she’s nervous and anxious for this weekend. I just hope she knows that I have her back through this whole thing.

Ronan is beyond excited to get inside and see Grandma and Grandpa, but I’m wondering how she’s going to react to seeing Tonya--someone that she hasn’t met yet. Of course Ronan is happy to meet pretty much anyone, but she also is very intuitive and wary. She gets it from me.

Opening the door, I hold it to allow Y/N and Ronan in first, and I smile when Ronan takes off looking for Bev and Dan. She runs off, then she turns around and runs back to Y/N with her arms out and her big brown eyes are wide and scared. Y/N looks at me and smirks a little as she bends down to pick Ronan up.

“She’s in there,” she whispers, and I inhale deeply. She looks over at me with such sad eyes, “We got this, right?”

“We absolutely do, baby.” I lean over and kiss her.

Walking into the living room, I stand next to Y/N and place my hand on her lower back. Bev turns around and smiles when she sees Ronan, then she smiles at Y/N, almost apologizing with her eyes. She knows how awful Tonya can be to her. Tonya is sitting on the couch, looking up at us with a small smile on her face. She hasn’t said anything to us yet.

“Hey, mom.” Y/N sets Ronan down and walks over to hug Bev, then she gives Tonya a small wave, “Hi, Tonya.”

“Hello.” she finally says, then she looks at me, “I see he’s still married to you.”

Y/N scoffs as she nods, “Yup. Lucky me.”

“I’m the lucky one.” I chime in, and Tonya nods her head as she smiles.

“And this must be Rowan.”

Y/N exhales quietly and glances at me, “It’s Ronan. R-O-N-A-N. Ronan.”

This pisses off Bev, I can tell. Bev loves to boast about her grandkids like any grandparent, so Tonya has to know Ronan’s name.

“Ronan, right. My apologies.” she leans up and smiles at Ronan, but Ro just tucks herself into Y/N’s leg.

I look over my shoulder when I hear the back door sliding open and Dan stepping in, and he bends down and laughs when Ronan runs over to see him.

**

You watch Ronan and your dad as he lifts her up and hugs her, kissing her cheek a few times before setting her back down.

“Want to see what I got for you?” he asks, and Ronan just looks up at him for a moment before nodding her head. He looks up at you and John, “Hey, mom and dad.”

John reaches out to shake his hand, “Hey.”

“Hi, dad.” you walk over and hug him, “What did you get?”

“Come with me.”

You’ll take any excuse to get out of the house and away from Tonya and her evil gaze. You don’t even care if all it is is some new yard tool he got. You just want out of this damn house.

Dan holds tight to Ronan’s hand as you all walk back outside, but you get a glimpse of Tonya tagging along. You laugh when you see the brightly colored playset that Dan has set up near the back of the yard far away from your mom’s most prized possession, her garden.

“Wow, baby, look at that.” you kneel down and look at Ronan, “That’s so cool!”

The playset has a slide, swing, basketball net, and a soccer net. Finn and Ronan are going to absolutely love it.

Dan smiles as he walks over to it, “And look, on hot days, we can hook the hose up to it and it sprinkles water down the slide and it comes out the top too.”

“Oh, god, dad, she’s never gonna want to leave. Half the time, we can’t get her to leave here anyway.” you say as you look up at him, “This is amazing.”

“I know you have a pool and some playsets at your house, but…” he shrugs and looks at you, “Figured it wouldn’t hurt to have one here too.”

John shakes his head, “Absolutely not. This is awesome.”

Tonya clears her throat, “I had a friend who got one of these. She wasn’t paying attention and her son broke his arm.”

“Well, we do pay attention.” John looks at you, “We are always with Ro when she’s playing on it. She only gets to play on it when we’re with her, so we don’t have to worry about that.”

You look at John when he reaches for your hand, “We allow Ronan plenty of time to play by herself, but we don’t let her get on any of her playsets unless we’re there.”

John smiles softly and leans over to kiss the top of your head before he lets go and walks over to help Ronan up the stairs so she can go down the slide. He looks up at you and gives you a wink, and you smile before walking over to them.

God, it feels so good to be a team.

__

Tonya was just so desperately hungry and needed to eat as soon as possible! So, naturally, the best restaurant in New York City (she wouldn’t eat anywhere else) was called and you all got ready and headed out. You were pretty quiet in the car, so was John, but he held your hand the entire time.

It’ll be a little better tonight since Tess will be there. Not only do you have John to have your back, but you have Tess. Tonya and Tess can go head to head. You’ll sit out this round.

You’re just waiting for everyone else to get to the restaurant but you’ve already finished one glass of wine and had a few bread sticks to get something in your stomach. You certainly don’t want to be tipsy and say something you’ll regret.

John rubs your back and leans over to press a kiss to your shoulder, “How are you feeling?”

“She’s not so bad right now, so I’m okay. She has her Broadway show tomorrow, so she’ll be gone all day. I can get through this.” you say, and John nods his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” he asks, tucking your hair behind your ear, “You don’t need to apologize.”

You sigh, shaking your head, “She’s just a lot. And that comment she made to you earlier when we were about to leave. It’s just…it’s not right that she’s so rude.”

Tonya made some vaguely sexual comment about John, and it pissed you off. It pissed him off too.

“Well, no, but you can’t control her. She’s a grown woman. You’re not responsible for her behavior.” he says, and you reach for your wine to take another sip, “You’re stressing yourself out for what? Don’t worry about her. She’s not worth it.”

You set your drink down and look at him, “She’s gonna say something that will make you second guess everything.”

John laughs like you’ve just told him a joke, “No, she is not. I think she’s an idiot.”

You start to smile when John looks at you, “Really?”

“Absolutely. Look,” he turns to face you more, “You know me, you know I don’t use this word a lot, but she’s a bitch.”

You laugh loudly as you lean over to kiss him a few times, “She is.”

“She couldn’t say anything that would make me second guess us or you, because her opinion does not matter in the slightest.” he gently touches your chin, “She’s an idiot.”

“She is.”

John looks over the top of your head and smiles when everyone makes their way to the table. Tess searches for you and smiles, then she deposits Finn into the booster seat next to Ronan. She smiles at John for a few moments before he laughs and gets up so she can sit next to you. He presses a kiss to the top of your head and moves to sit across the table from you instead. As soon as he sits down, you both move your legs closer so they’re touching under the table.

It’s all about physical touch with that man.

“Was Tonya a nightmare?”

Tess looks at you and rolls her eyes before hiding behind her menu, “She was berating Jimmy! I was this fucking close to knocking her out.”

“Why?” you ask, closing your eyes and shaking your head, “I mean why was she berating him?”

“He’s too rough with Finn, he shouldn’t play with him on the hardwood floors, we shouldn’t allow him to have a binky still.” she rolls her eyes, “She says all this as if parenting is fucking easy. Our hardwood floors are fine. Jimmy is not rough with Finn at all. They play wrestle. If anything, Finn beats up Jimmy! You know how many times that kid has kicked poor James in the balls? And the binky thing, we’re working on it. It’s not her business though.”

You nod your head, “Yeah, I get that.”

“She been hard on John?”

“More like she has a hard on for John.” you roll your eyes, “She doesn’t like me but she certainly likes my husband.”

You look across the table at John as he holds up the menu and looks at it with Ronan. A smile tugs at your lips when he leans over and kisses the top of her head before looking at the menu with her again. He’s the best dad.

“Children are allowed here?” Tonya asks, and everyone looks at her. “I mean, this is a very nice place--”

“Well, we have very nice children, so…” Tess looks at her and shrugs before she looks at you and rolls her eyes again.

Everyone but Tonya knows that no one is going to come over and kick out John Wick and his family, of course. Yes, this is a nice restaurant that usually kids aren’t in, but Finn and Ronan are fine. And yes, the restaurant made an exception for you--well, for John Wick.

Tonya sits up straight and looks at your mom, surely boasting about something. You feel John tap your leg with his under the table, and you look up at him. He smiles softly before he looks down at his phone and glances at you. You let out a small laugh as you grab your phone.

You okay?

Yeah, she’s just annoying me. You good?

I have the most beautiful woman sitting across from me, of course I’m good.

Kiss-ass.

I love you, mouse. Don’t let her bother you.

I love you too.

You look up at John as he puts his phone back in his pocket, then you text him again.

Thought you were going to send me something dirty.

John gets his phone back out and puts his hand over his mouth causally as he chuckles, his cheeks begin to turn red. He taps away on his phone and glances at you again.

You want me to?

I’m just saying it would be nice.

Well, you look absolutely beautiful in that dress, but I can’t wait to see it on the floor of our room tonight.

Oh, really?

John glances around before looking back down at his phone.

Can’t stop thinking about you riding me and I can’t wait to get my hands on you tonight.

I can’t wait for that either. Can’t wait to feel you inside of me.

I’m gonna put my phone away before I get too carried away and whisk you off to the bathroom.

You laugh as you put your phone away, then you tap his leg with your foot before he reaches across the table for your hand. He squeezes it a few times and holds your palm up so he can press a kiss to it, then he turns to talk to Jimmy while you talk to Tess but he doesn’t let go of your hand.

__

You have your arms wrapped around John’s waist as he gently cups your face in his hands and kisses you repeatedly. He’s doing a good job at showering you with love (he always does, let’s be real) but he’s doing it to keep your mind off of Tonya, which you appreciate. He’s actually been cracking really random jokes for the past 15 minutes and you’ve been laughing your ass off. Why is he so damn funny?

“What state has the most streets?”

“Um,” you hum as you look up at him, “I dunno.”

John begins to smirk, “Rhode Island.”

“That’s so stupid,” you laugh, hugging him tighter as he smiles proudly.

You’re all standing outside the restaurant waiting for the valet to bring your cars around. John presses a kiss to your lips so gently that it causes you to close your eyes and lean in for more, and you laugh when he makes a little noise.

“God,” you tilt your head back and laugh loudly, “You’re so in love.”

“I am. You have no clue, Mrs. Wick.” he buries his face in the crook of your neck and tickles you with his beard as you laugh.

You turn your head to the side to get away from John but you open your eyes and see Tonya watching you. It immediately stops the laughter and causes John to look at you.

“Certainly a lot of PDA in front of your child.” she says, looking at Ronan in Jimmy’s arms.

“I think it’s adorable.” your mom says, and you smile at her for coming to your defense. “Ronan gets to see how much her parents love one another. They’re setting such a good example as to what love looks like.”

Tonya raises her brows, “Well, it’s not very appropriate.”

“Oh, please,” your mom scoffs, “They’re hugging and kissing, not having sex on the kitchen table in front of her. Stop being so hard on them. Stop being so hard on her.”

You look at your mom in surprise when she blatantly sticks up for you. Your mom isn’t a confrontational person, so this means a lot to you. She walks over to you and kisses your cheek as she hugs you tight.

“Don’t listen to her. I’ve had enough of her tonight.” she whispers, then she cups your face and tears up, “I am so sorry that she’s so hard on you.”

“I just take it too personally. I need to stop.”

Your mom shakes her head, “No, she needs to stop. I’m sorry that she’s staying with you. I tried to convince her during dinner to come to our place.”

“I know. I heard it. It’s fine.” you shrug a little, “I’ll just keep to myself.”

It pains your mom, you can tell. Obviously it’s not her fault that Tonya is so damn pushy. Tonya is hard on your mom too. She talked down to her all night.

Jimmy brings Ronan to your car when it pulls up, and he puts her in her car seat and kisses the top of her head before he walks over and shakes hands with John, quietly wishing him luck. Since Tonya is staying with you, she’ll be riding home with you too. You’re not looking forward to that.

“We all set?” John asks, and you nod your head. He walks over and opens the back door for you, then he kisses you when you get in and buckled. “Just ignore her.”

“I will.” you nod, then you turn to look at Ronan as she holds up a toy to show you. Thankfully she’s entertaining.

John, being the gentleman that he is, helps Tonya into the front seat and makes his way over to the driver’s side. You see him look at you through the rearview mirror, and you smile when he gives a wink and reaches his right hand back to touch your knee.

“Ready?” he asks, and you nod your head. He exhales softly and puts the car in drive, and you grin when he keeps looking back at you in the mirror.

__

Logan’s car was in the driveway when you got home, so you knew you’d have to introduce him and Tonya--she’d throw a fit if she woke up and just saw some random kid in the house, which admittedly, would be a little worrisome.

Lightly knocking on Logan’s door, you wait there for a few moments before he opens it. He must have just gotten home from work since his hair is wet like he’d taken a shower.

“I’m sorry,” you grimace, “But I have to introduce you two. She’d be very confused as to why there’s just a kid in our house.”

Logan laughs, “Yeah, makes sense.”

“I promise you don’t have to stay long,” you say, escorting him to the living room. “Hey Tonya, I wanted to introduce you to Logan.”

Tonya turns around and looks at him, then she looks at you like she’s waiting for an explanation. Obviously you have no plans on filling her in on the car accident that led to you meeting Logan. You and John both decided to leave that in the past.

“He’s staying here with us for a little while,” John says, jumping in to help you.

Tonya just stares at Logan when he reaches out to shake her hand, but Logan just laughs.

“Okay then.” he says, then he looks at you, “I won’t be a bother. I’m going to just grab something to eat and crash for the night. I have to be at work kind of early tomorrow.”

You smile at him as he walks into the kitchen, then you look over at Tonya as she watches him.

“Who is he?” she says loud enough for Logan to hear.

“He’s a family friend,” you say, and John nods. “He’s just staying here with us for a bit. Goodnight, Logan.”

Logan smiles as he walks past with a sandwich and a small bag of chips, “Goodnight everyone.”

You look back at Tonya, “He’s a family friend and he’s staying here. Don’t make him uncomfortable.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s 18,” John says, “He’s just a kid.”

Tonya furrows her brow, “Does your mother know about this?”

“Yes, actually, she does. She thinks it’s very nice of us to let him stay here, and she also really likes Logan.” you say as you walk over to turn off a lamp, “He’s part of this family now, so I would appreciate it if you’d treat him as such.”

You regret saying that because she treats her family like shit, but hopefully she gets the point. Logan isn’t going anywhere, this is his home, and you won’t allow her to make him feel uncomfortable in his home.

“Is he your…son?”

John laughs, “Does the blue eyed blonde kid look like he could be my son? Have you seen my daughter?”

You smile at him. Ronan looks exactly like John.

Tonya waves it all off with an exhale, “I’m tired, so I’ll be going to bed now.”

“Goodnight,” you and John both say at the same time since you’re definitely in a hurry to just go to bed.

After Tonya shuts her door, you and John check on Logan. He’s fine and is just now heading to bed after eating. You make your way up to check on Ronan too and see she’s fast asleep with Bleu laying by her bed.

“Well,” John closes the bedroom door and laughs, “Never thought someone would think Logan is my kid.”

You roll your eyes, “She knew he wasn’t, she was just trying to upset me with the thought of you having kids with someone else.”

“That’s…crazy.”

“That’s Aunt Tonya.” you exhale, and John wraps his arms around you while you take off your jewelry. You tilt your head back against his shoulder and smile at him, “I love you.”

John smiles, “I love you too.”

You move out of his arms and turn to him, “But I’ll fucking cry if you have kids with someone else.”

“Well, I don’t plan on it.” he says, pulling you back to him, “Just more kids with you.”

You smirk as you wrap your arms around his neck, “Do you want to take a shower with me and…practice making more kids?”

“I would love that.”

__

**

Today has been absolutely perfect--Tonya has been gone all day. I got a car to come pick her up since there was no way in hell that I was spending all day in NYC just so I could drive her around. She suggested that I do just that, but I had plans for today. I told her that I wasn’t a chauffeur and that I had ordered a car to drive her around instead. I wanted to spend the day with my girls and I wasn’t going to let them down after we had already made plans.

Y/N and I packed a lunch, got Ronan and Bleu, then we headed out and had a picnic at a park in Oyster Bay. It was perfect. We ate, then we decided to play on the jungle gym until Ronan started to get tired. We came back home and got her cleaned up before we put her down for a nap. Now Y/N and I are just lounging on the couch finishing up a movie.

“How are you feeling?” I ask, looking down at her in my arms.

“Fine,” she shrugs, then she sits up to get a drink of water. “Happy that she hasn’t been here all day and that she’s leaving early tomorrow morning.”

I chuckle, “Yeah, I think I’m going to hire a car again. I don’t want to drive her to the airport, and your parents shouldn’t have to either.”

“Yeah,” she inhales deeply and sighs.

“Are you…” I stop and sit up, “Are you upset with your mom?”

She looks at me in confusion, “Why would I be?”

“Well, I just mean that Tonya stayed with us instead of your mom.”

“Oh,” she sits back and shakes her head, “No, I’m not upset with her. Tonya has always been like this, so we’re all used to it. I just…take it a little more personally than everyone else, which is probably why she’s even harder on me.”

I nod my head and look at her, “Well, I think she’s an idiot, so definitely don’t listen to anything she says.”

Y/N laughs as she looks at me, “I know.”

We both look at the TV when the credits start to roll, and I reach for the remote and turn it off. We sit in silence for a few moments and look out the window when we hear the distant thunder. We planned on swimming for a little bit after Ronan woke up since there was a break in the storm, but we won’t be doing that now.

“Serious question.” I clear my throat, “Why doesn’t your mom just cut off contact with Tonya?”

“I know that you don’t quite understand family dynamics because you didn’t grow up around this type of stuff,” she says with no judgement in her voice, “But I don’t know, sometimes you just have to kind of live with them. Obviously if she was this terrible person, we’d cut her off, but…”

I reach out to cup her face, “But she is a terrible person.”

Y/N swallows as she nods and looks down, “I know. I guess, for me anyway, I’m here. I’m in New York now, so I don’t have to worry about it. She’s not my problem. Not that she ever was, but seeing her is so rare now.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s kind of just putting up with her when you have to.” I say, and she nods, looking into my eyes. “Well, you have me, so it’s never going to be just you alone dealing with her.”

“Thanks,” she smiles wide and leans over to kiss me.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her over to straddle my waist as we kiss, and she sinks down until she’s sitting in my lap. I slide my hand up her thigh and underneath her shirt, and she melts into my touch as I move my hand up higher to rest on her breast, gently fiddling with the silver piercing hidden under her shirt.

Y/N kisses me and sits back, tucking her hair behind her ear, “Ro is down for a little longer and Tonya won’t be home for a few more hours…”

“Yeah.” I smile since I know exactly where she’s going; I know she can feel me hard underneath her. I sit up and kiss her neck as I hold her tight in my arms, and she wraps her legs around me and giggles. “What?”

“Can’t believe you can still pick me up.”

I laugh as I lean back to look at her, “Of course I can.”

“Oh, yeah, I forget. You work out now.” she says, playfully rolling her eyes.

“I haven’t seen you complaining about it.” I say, and she laughs as her cheeks turn red. “I see you watching me when I’m downstairs.”

Y/N laughs as I carry her up to our room, “And I’ve seen you watching me.”

“Well, I can’t help it.” I say, then I plop her down on the bed, “Look at you.”

“Look at me? Look at you! Most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’m not even exaggerating.” she says, pulling me on top of her. She lifts the sleeve of my t-shirt and bites my bicep, “You’re so hot, John.”

I smooth her hair back and gently kiss her lips, “You are too.”

Y/N slowly closes her eyes as I kiss down her chest and lift her shirt up, kissing and licking over her stomach and down to the waistband of her jean shorts. She giggles when I nip at the skin there, then I unbutton and zip them down. I hum when I see the underwear she’s wearing, and she puts her hand over her face and laughs.

“What? I like these.”

“I know. I knew I’d get a reaction as soon as I picked them this morning. They’re not even special. They’re just black.”

I shrug as I pull her shorts off, “Black looks good on you. Looks good off of you too.”

Y/N laughs again when I toss her underwear aside. She props herself up on her elbows and looks at me between her legs, and I reach up and slide my middle finger into her mouth before moving it back down between her legs. She bites her bottom lip and tilts her head back as I slowly insert my finger, and I suck on her thigh for a few seconds before I bury my face between her legs, listening to her moan my name.

“You sound so pretty when you moan for me,” I whisper, and she lets out a little gasp when I pump my finger in and out, “Let me hear it again.”

Y/N runs her hand through my hair, then she arches her back and moans my name loudly, causing me to grow harder in my pants. I kiss my way up her stomach to her lips, and she hums and pulls me closer to her, feeling my weight on top of her.

“I need you to fuck me right now,” she whispers, and I laugh quietly as I brush my lips over her jaw, “Right now. Please. Don’t make me beg.”

I hold her gaze for a moment and smirk, “I would never.”

Hearing her beg for me would probably send shock waves through my body right now.

I move her up the bed and kneel as I unbutton my jeans, then I stand up and pull them off along with my boxers before I crawl back in bed. I pull my shirt off while she takes hers off too, then I lean down and kiss her neck.

“John,” she whispers, moaning softly, “Please. Stop teasing me.”

“I just like hearing you beg for me,” I whisper, and she starts to laugh. I look into her eyes and smile at her, “I like hearing how much you want me.”

Y/N smooths my hair back and tugs it a little, “I want you so bad, you know that. I want to feel you inside of me right now. I want you to blow my back out.”

“Blow your back out?” I laugh incredulously, “That’s a lot of pressure.”

“Oh, something tells me you’ll do just fine.” she brushes her lips against mine and wraps her legs around me, pulling me closer to her.

I slot myself between her legs and hold her gaze as I slowly slide in deeper, warmth and wetness wrapping around every inch of me. Y/N closes her eyes and clenches her jaw as she stretches around my cock, and I smile when she whimpers a little before moaning. I jerk my hips hard to bury myself to the hilt, and she gasps loudly, fingernails digging into my back.

“Fuck…” I groan as I sit up a little, then I move her right leg so it’s over my shoulder and I get such a better angle that we both moan in unison. “Oh, shit…”

Y/N laughs quietly as I look at her, “You’re gonna do just fine with my request.”

“Good,” I smirk as I lean down, kissing her as we both hold tight to one another.

__

I’ll take a little bit of the credit, but Y/N is fast asleep in bed. After we messed around, we got up, cleaned ourselves, got Ronan and had dinner. We all snuggled on the couch and watched an episode of Ronan’s current favorite cartoon, then we took her to her room, read a book, and put her down for the night. Y/N was tired the whole time. Naturally, I teased her about it, and she just blushed and laughed. She got into bed while I took Bleu for a quick walk around the block, but I’m on my way back home now.

The rain has started to fall a little harder as I get inside with Bleu, and I let him off his leash before he quickly runs into the kitchen where I know he’s already waiting for his food. After I feed him and turn off the lights, I head up to the bedroom and find Y/N curled up and watching TV.

“You were supposed to be asleep.”

“I don’t like to go to sleep when you’re still out.” she says as I crawl onto the bed and lay next to her, “I always worry.”

I chuckle, “I know. That’s very sweet of you.”

A smile spreads on her face as she leans over to kiss me, “I know Tonya isn’t home yet, so I figured we’d watch a movie.”

“You mean I watch a movie while you fall asleep,” I laugh, getting off the bed to change into my pajamas. “Sounds like a plan.”

Y/N watches as I move around the bedroom, then she lifts the blanket and smiles when I lift my arm so she can snuggle in next to me. I stroke her hair a few times and lean down to kiss her forehead, and she lets out a content sigh.

I will never take this easy comfort for granted. It’s something I absolutely look forward to.

You whispers softly, “Besides Tonya being here, this has been a really good weekend.”

“It has been. Ro is sleeping well too.”

Y/N scoffs, “Just jinxed it.”

“Probably. If she does wake up in the night, I got her, okay? Don’t get up with me. I mean it, peach. You’ve been so restless this weekend. I want you getting some rest.” I whisper against her forehead and feel her nod her head, “Hey, look at me.”

She looks up at me with a smile on her face, “Yes, Mr. Wick?”

“I love you, and you’re an amazing mother and wife, and on top of all of that, you’re an amazing woman. No one could ever change my mind on that. You make me so proud every day. I’m so lucky to be yours.” I say, and she tears up a little as she nods, “I know it’s hard having her here and thinking about all the things she’s said to you, but I can promise you that none of that is true, okay? You’re an amazing, intelligent, funny, kind, and caring woman. You’re the best person I’ve ever known.”

“Stop!” she laughs, putting her hand over her face, “Why do you do this to me, Jonathan? God!”

I laugh as I hug her tight to me, “Because I like to make you blush.”

“You do make me blush a lot.” she smiles, tilting her head back to look at me, “I like it too.”

__

Unfortunately a big clap of thunder woke up Ronan, so I have to get up and get her. Y/N is still completely knocked out, which is great though. I carefully get up from the bed and reach over to smooth Y/N’s hair back, then I tuck her in before heading down the hall to Ronan’s room. It’s a little after 1 in the morning, so hopefully I can just get Ronan a bottle and soothe her so she’ll go back to bed. If she doesn’t, I can just bring her into our room until she’s asleep.

Pushing the door open, I look at Ronan and frown as she bawls her head off and reaches out for me. I turn on the lamp and get her out of the sleep sack she’s in, then I tuck her in my arms.

“I know,” I whisper, bouncing on my knees, “I got you. I got you, bug.”

Ronan’s cries turn to hiccups before long, but I know she’s not ready to go back to bed yet. Another loud clap of thunder startles her, and she starts crying again and calling out for Y/N. I grab her blanket and wrap it around her as I head downstairs.

I notice the light in the kitchen is on and I expect Y/N to be there already making a bottle for Ronan, but I stop short when I see Tonya sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.

“Can’t sleep?”

Tonya looks at me and gestures outside, “Not with the storm--never could.”

“Y/N is sleeping like a rock upstairs. She loves the storms.” I say as I get a bottle started.

Tonya smiles briefly, “Her uncle was like that too.”

I don’t know much about Y/N’s uncle, her mom’s brother, they never really mention him. Most likely because it’s hard for Bev to talk about her deceased brother, and Y/N didn’t really know him that well since he married Tonya and stopped talking to a lot of the family.

“She doesn’t like them either?” she gestures to Ronan crying in my arms.

I look down at Ronan and fix the blanket, rubbing her back to soothe her, “She usually can sleep pretty well through them; she’s just like her mom in that way. She’s just having some trouble sleeping lately. I usually just get up, give her a bottle, and she’s back to bed shortly after.”

“Hmm,” Tonya nods her head and looks back out the window, “So, you kind of do everything around here.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“I said--”

I cut her off, “No, I heard you.”

Tonya looks at me, “Well, you cooked dinner the other night. I saw you doing laundry and cleaning up. Now here you are with the baby at one in the morning while your wife sleeps. I see how you look at her and make sure she’s okay, but she never does that for you. She never really checks on you, and here you are doing everything that your wife should be doing. Now, if you were dating my daughter…”

I don’t like the way she says ‘your wife’. It immediately strikes a nerve and I grow beyond angry. This is exactly what Y/N was worried about, and a weaker man would maybe fall for this, but I’m not that man.

I keep my voice quiet but firm since it’s one in the morning and I’m holding Ronan in my arms, “Y/N has been completely overwhelmed lately because Ronan hasn’t been sleeping very well. She cooks, she cleans, she does laundry. Same as I do. Because that’s how our marriage works. We both put in the work to make this household function.”

Without missing a beat, I reach back and grab Ronan’s bottle, shake it a little, and begin to feed her, all while Tonya just stares at me.

“I have to beg her to stay in bed half the time because she always feels like she isn’t doing enough for Ronan and me when that couldn’t be further from the truth. This house--this family--would fall apart without her. I would fall apart without her. She takes care of me, just like I take care of her. And we always check in with one another. You’re seeing just a glimpse at our life this weekend.” I narrow my eyes a little as I look at her, “I have never appreciated the way you talk down to her, but the fact that you continue to do it when you know that it hurts her, and the fact that you do that in front of me and our daughter is inexcusable. I don’t know what it is that you have against her, but the way you speak to her will not longer be tolerated, especially when I’m around.”

Tonya takes a sip to her tea like she’s unfazed, then she stands up from the table, “I’m heading to bed.”

She walks over to put her cup into the sink, then she walks past me and keeps her gaze down as she heads down the hall to her room. I finally let out a big breath and look down at Ronan as she gazes up at me. The bottle slips from her lips as she starts to smile at me, and I chuckle a little before kissing her forehead.

I am always going to stick up for the woman who completely changed my life.

I smile when I see Y/N curled up in bed, then I place Ronan in the middle of the bed and lay down with them. Y/N starts to move a little when Ronan accidentally swats her in the face.

“Ow…” she laughs quietly, then she peeks her eyes open, “There’s a baby in our bed, Wick.”

I lean over to kiss her, “Figured she’d be less fussy in bed with us.”

“Remember how we used to say we’d never sleep with her in our bed?”

“Well,” I laugh as I get the blankets adjusted, “You know I can’t say no to her.”

Y/N chuckles sleepily, “Me neither.”

I wrap my arm around both of them and rub my thumb over Y/N’s arm, then I lean up to kiss her a few times before laying back down. Ronan is kicking her legs a little and babbling to herself, so I rub her tummy to calm her down. Y/N reaches up and lightly trails her finger around Ronan’s face and smiles when she stops moving and starts to fall asleep.

“My mom used to do this to me when I was little. I would pass out in her lap.”

I laugh, “I remember I did it to you once and you just passed out five minutes later.”

Rain is pattering against the window and lulling us all to sleep, and I open my eyes to see Y/N is already asleep again. I reach over and lightly rub her arm before pulling her a little closer so I can hold the two most important things to me.

__

Not long after Ronan fell asleep, I got up and brought her back into her room. We really don’t like to sleep with her in our bed since we don’t want her to get attached to it and we don’t want to roll over and hurt her in our sleep. I went back to bed and held onto Y/N, and she sighed against my chest before snuggling closer to me. The rest of the night went by way too fast after that. It was like I closed my eyes, then opened them 20 seconds later and it was morning. I wanted to sleep for longer just holding onto my love, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

This morning we got up and made some breakfast, and then Y/N took Ronan for a little walk around the block with Bleu while I mowed the lawn. Tonya did whatever inside until we were all finished. She must have showered and gotten her stuff packed since when I came back in, her suitcase was already by the door.

Y/N came in and put a sleepy Ronan to bed, then she came downstairs and immediately started cleaning the living room, which didn’t need it. I finally was able to pull her away before she started reorganizing the books on the coffee table for the fourth time. I wrap my right arm around her shoulder and tuck her into my side, but she doesn’t stay there for long.

“Oh,” she perks up, “Mom is here.”

Before I can, she gets up and rushes to the door to let Bev in. She hugs her and shrugs, whispering something to her that makes Bev cup her cheek. I get up and wave at her as she walks in.

“I’m here to take her to the airport.” Bev says, and I nod and look over my shoulder to the guest room, “I’m so sorry--”

“It’s fine. We survived.” I say, and Y/N smiles softly at me. “No big deal.”

Y/N tenses up when the guest room door opens and Tonya comes out with her carry on. I reach for Y/N’s hand and pull her closer to my side, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

“Hello, Beverly.” Tonya says, and Y/N rolls her eyes when I look at her. “I’m ready when you are.”

Bev smiles, “Let’s get going then. I’ll see you two later.”

“Bye, mom.”

I let go of Y/N to get Tonya’s suitcase and carry it out to the car, and I put it in the trunk. I don’t want to leave Y/N with Tonya for too long so I quickly shut the trunk and walk back over to her.

Tonya looks at Y/N and smiles, “Thank you letting me stay here. You have such a beautiful home. And Ronan is such a sweet and precious little girl. You two should be very proud of what you have, not just Ronan. I see what you two have. It’s wonderful. So, thank you again.”

“Uh, yeah, you’re welcome.” Y/N stutters a little, clearly shocked by Tonya’s change in attitude, but I know why she’s changed her tune.

“I look forward to seeing you three again soon. Maybe even Logan if he’s still around.” she says, and I nod my head before she turns and walks down to the car.

Bev looks just as confused as Y/N, and I chuckle a little when Y/N looks at me with widened eyes, mouthing ‘what the fuck?’ as she walks down to the car. She says goodbye to her mom, then she walks back up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and closing her eyes.

“And peace has been restored to the land.” she says, wiggling her fingers, “Our kingdom has defeated the evil.”

I laugh, “Oh, look at that. The sun is shining again.”

Y/N lets go of me and holds my hand as we head inside. I open the door to allow her in first, then I turn around to close it. When I turn back, I see her with her arms crossed and a big smile on her face.

“Thank you.”

I furrow my brow, “For?”

She reaches for my hands and steps closer, “Your voice carries. Especially at one in the morning.”

“Oh.” I look into her eyes and shrug a little, a little unsure if she’s upset or not.

“So, thank you.” she looks down at our hands and inhales deeply, “No one has ever stuck up for me like that before. I mean, I know you have, but not to her. It really meant a lot. I heard what you said, and this family would fall apart without you too. I would fall apart.”

I cup her face and rub my thumb over the apple of her cheek, “Well, good thing you’ll never be without me.”

“Yeah, good thing.” she says, and I lean down to kiss her, “And thank you for…not being interested in her daughter.”

I let out a small laugh when she rolls her eyes, “Definitely not interested.”

“She already dated one of my ex’s, she does not need my husband too.” she slides her hands up my chest and wraps her arms around my neck, “She’ll have to pry you from my cold dead hands anyway because I am not letting go of you.”

I put my hands in the back pockets of her jeans and smile, “Good.”

“There was one thing in particular that bothered me though…”

“Oh?”

Y/N sighs, “Do I really never check on you and make sure you’re okay? Am I really selfish?”

“Not at all,” I shake my head and look into her sad eyes that are quickly growing wet with tears. “We check in with each other every night. You check in on me during the day. Remember the other day I was getting upset about something and you came over and gently told me that you’d handle it? And you did! That’s you checking in on me and making sure I’m okay.”

“I feel like I’m selfish.”

I cup her face in both my hands, “You are not selfish. Every night before we go to bed, what do we do?”

“We talk.”

“We talk,” I repeat as she looks at me, “We talk about our days. If there’s anything bothering us, we air it out and talk to each other. Do I ever have a lot to complain about? Other than little shit, like someone pissing me off while driving or someone being rude.”

She smiles when I raise my brows, “No.”

“Because I’m okay.” I whisper, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, “Because I have a wonderful wife who knows when I’m at my limit, just like I know when she’s at hers.”

“So, I’m a good wife?”

I let out a small laugh, “A great wife and a great mom.”

“Thank you,” she leans up to kiss me, “You’re a really great husband and a great dad too.”

“You know why else I’m okay?” I ask, and she looks up at me, “Because you’re okay. Because you and Ronan are okay.”

Y/N scoffs as she backs away, “There is absolutely no fucking way you’re real and that you’re married to me. No fucking way! How?”

“Because I fell in love with you! Get back here,” I pull her back into my arms and kiss her, “Because we fell in love with each other, and I’m fucking glad we did.”

“Me too.”

I cup her face as we share a few sweet kisses, then I kiss her forehead and hold her tight to my chest, standing there in the middle of the living room.

“Now…” she tilts her head back a little, “Didn’t we have plans before they were so rudely interrupted by my evil aunt?”

“Did we?”

Y/N starts to smile, “I’m pretty sure we did.”

I rack my brain to think if we had plans or not, but I’m coming up empty handed. I look at her and grimace since I can’t remember. I’m fairly certain we were just going to hang out at home this weekend.

“I’ll give you a hint,” she says, and I nod. She slides one hand down my chest to the crotch of my pants, and I immediately start to laugh. “Does that help?”

“It certainly does.”

Y/N cocks up a brow and smirks, and I push her up against the wall as we kiss. I lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist, then I carry her up to our room, kicking the door shut behind us.

__

taglist: @lilithlinen @multifandombliss @ruby-octo @tnu-ree @sakurachan-9 @beingnerdyissupercool @scream-queen-25 @ladyren33

[zhelin-thames]

Fuck off Satan

inspired by this post

Danny Phantom, the Ghost King and part-time Justice League member, stood in the Watchtower briefing room, arms crossed and very much trying to look professional. The meeting had been dragging on, and his phone had already buzzed twice, much to Batman’s annoyance.

The third time, it started vibrating again, drawing glares from the Dark Knight and a few raised eyebrows from other Leaguers.

"Phantom," Batman said, his voice a growl.

Danny sighed, pulling out his phone. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Ghost King business doesn’t wait. Let me just—" He hit the answer button with a sharp jab.

"What?!" Danny snapped, glaring at the screen.

The room fell silent. They hadn’t seen Phantom lose his temper like this before.

On the other end, a smooth, deep voice oozed through the speaker.

"Respectfully, my liege, I ask that you reconsider my proposal on—"

Danny cut him off mid-sentence. "Not today, Satan." With an exasperated sigh, he ended the call and pocketed the phone without another thought.

The reaction was immediate. Superman chuckled, Green Lantern grinned, and Flash burst into laughter. Even Wonder Woman's lips twitched upward.

"Nice," Hal said, giving Phantom a thumbs-up. "Solid delivery."

Danny waved it off. "What can I say? He’s persistent, and I’ve got no time for his nonsense today."

But not everyone was laughing. Constantine sat ramrod straight, pale as a sheet, his cigarette dangling precariously from his lips.

"Danny," Constantine croaked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Was that the Satan? Like... Lucifer Morningstar Satan?"

Danny blinked, tilting his head. "Uh, yeah? Who else would it be? Dude’s been pestering me about a territorial dispute with the Infinite Realms for weeks."

The entire room went quiet again, and all eyes turned to Constantine. The seasoned warlock looked like he might pass out on the spot.

"You just hung up on the actual Devil," Constantine hissed, his British accent thick with disbelief.

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, and? He’s one of my subjects. I’m the Ghost King. I outrank him. If he wants to whine about his little hellish boundaries, he can take a number."

Constantine’s eyes darted around the room, desperately seeking someone to share in his existential terror, but the rest of the League didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of what just happened.

"You outrank..." Constantine trailed off, rubbing his temples. "Bloody hell, kid, you don’t just hang up on Lucifer!"

Danny smirked, leaning casually against the wall. "Oh, I do. And I’ll do it again if he calls during League meetings. I’ve got enough on my plate without playing arbiter for Hell’s bureaucracy."

Clark patted Constantine on the shoulder. "Relax, John. Sounds like Danny has it under control."

John groaned. "We’re all doomed."

Danny, unfazed, pulled out his phone again and started texting. "Now, if we’re done freaking out, can we get back to the meeting? Or do I need to block Satan’s number to make that happen?"

The League collectively laughed, except for Constantine, who was muttering something about needing stronger wards and a drink.

[robinvomit]

I come with an idea for John Constantine. What if like the reader comes home after an exhausting day of work to find John did something stupid like almost burn down the house or summoned literal satan into the living room but is just too tired to deal with him.

[ this is actually a fucking mess and i.. the end might be a bit jumbled. i am exhausted. enjoy, or try to. ]

you pause the moment you try to open the front door and it sticks. the wood is warped and you want to blame it on the weather or spontaneous freak of nature thing - something that won't make you drop your head back and question your life choices. the moment you finally step in, you're met with the smell of burnt fabric, smoke and something sulfurous that suddenly makes you feel like you're standing in a rotting cathedral instead of your apartment.

you look around, lips pursing in thought;

the curtains are singed, no longer the soft color they were the day you bought them. your couch is half burnt and you don't even ask how that happened. you stop at the floor - the dark wood now split open in a violent, gaping hole. you nod, slow, like you're debating how to react.

everything makes a lot more sense when your gaze shifts to the other side of the room and lands on lucifer, settled at your counter with a far too amused smile. he goes to speak and you hold a hand up, shaking your head. you aren't sure if you've got the patience left to hear whatever he may say. you don't even have the energy to be surprised when he doesn't comment on the audacity to silence him.

not too far away is john, slumped against the wall. his coat is scorched and dusted with soot, his hair a mess and sticking up like he'd tried fixing everything by pushing his hands through it. you spot the ash that's smudged on his cheek, the way he's avoiding eye contact. "...didn't go how it was meant to," is all he says, like that alone will somehow explain why it looks like you're standing in the middle of a spiritual war zone.

thirteen hours on your feet. under eight hours of sleep prior. no good food, no caffeine and not a single person who'd made your day easier - you were not in the state to deal with any of it. utterly drained and numb from work, you just started walking towards the hall, pausing only long enough to ask, tired and flat; "you takin' him with you?"

"not today." lucifer raises a finger like he's on a game show, the amusement bringing a grin to his features. "he said the wrong thing," he offers, waving the hand he'd lifted. "i decided to drop by. for the ambience."

you nod again. "ah, yes.. the entire devil is in my kitchen for.. funsies.. because my boyfriend.. is an idiot." you sighed, knowing it wasn't the first, nor the last, time you'd walk into such a situation.

you return your attention to heading to the hall, finally lifting your bag off your shoulder. "this is not my problem, john," you call over your shoulder. "but i swear if it's not fixed by the time i get out of the shower, i will let him take your corpse."

john flinches like the words physically hit him. his mouth opens, closes. no argument. no snarky response. no plea. something told him, for once, that was the best route to take. he'd never heard you so done with him before and it left that broken look. like the only person whose forgiveness he'd do anything for just walked out of the room without bothering to spare him a second glance.

♡

two hours.

you gave him two hours to at least get rid of the hole in the floor and figure out what to do with the couch. get lucifer out of your house. you notice it's gone quiet - too quiet. the kind that settles after disaster and lurks, waiting to see if forgiveness or resentment will follow.

taking a deep resigned breath, you step out of the bedroom and make your way to the living room once more. more awake, feeling less grimy and not so much like you might punch the next person that breathed crooked.

the salt is gone. the floor is finally in one piece, no more marks and smoke. your couch can't be fixed but there's now a throw and two pillows trying to hide the ruined fabric and metal skeleton. the curtains have been replaced with a bedsheet pinned up unevenly. and lucifer? long gone. no note. no trace. no lingering anxiety. only the faint scent of brimstone and that awful aftertaste that came from only certain beings.

john's not on the couch, but back on the floor. back pressed to the wall, knees drawn up with your mug in both hands. it's empty now but held like it's the only warm thing left in the room; like it's the only thing he hasn't touched and destroyed.

you note that his knuckles are scraped up and decorated with a smear of red. his eyes are red rimmed; not from crying but from wearing the weight of his own mistakes and repeating every wrong thing he'd done since he opened his eyes earlier that morning.

he looks up when you step into the doorway. doesn't speak. doesn't try to explain. just watches you like a kicked dog, too proud to beg but too tired to pretend he doesn't want you to stay. he can see you evaluating everything and he's waiting to be cussed out, lectured or for you to start with; "maybe this won't work."

you don't say anything at first, thinking over what to say that won't make his shoulders drop any further.

"you didn't have clean everything, just wanted to not, i don't know.. have a hole in the floor."

his voice cracks on the first syllable. "didn't want you to come back out and have to see it."

"i already saw it."

"yeah." he sighs, head dropping back against the wall. "just... didn't want you to be reminded of who you live with."

you cross the room without a word and sit beside him. not to comfort, not fix him, but just to exist shoulder to shoulder. it's quiet for a few minutes, everything settling in. his hand moves and his knuckles brush against yours and you don't pull away.

the words that follow are ones you could have predicted. they're low, a little bitter. "y'don't have to stay." he says it like he's trying to protect you from all the awful things you'll walk into in the future. like he believes it was just annoying enough to make you regret it.

you shrug before tilting your head to rest on his shoulder. "kind of do," you mumble, hand sliding to press your palm to his, lacing your fingers together. "i pay half of the rent, babe."

the breath he lets out tells you he doesn't know if he should laugh or sigh. his eyes flick to you in a quick glance because the response lands hard. you're not gone. you're not angry. you're not afraid of the mess or what fresh hell might crawl through the floor next week. you're here... and you're joking.

for a second, he stops. something low, brief, almost disbelieving behind his eyes.

"christ," he mutters, rubbing at his face. "you're a bloody nightmare."

you smile to yourself and squeeze his hand, eyes closing as you answer; "takes one to know one, yeah?"

the silence after that isn't cold. it's tired. worn in and painfully familiar. it's a safety he isn't sure how to sit in. he squeezes your hand back in a wordless thank you, gratitude he won't say out loud. not to tonight.

he won't verbalize it. not tonight - but when he finally peels himself up from the floor to nudge you to bed and turns off the lights, he reminds himself to be more cautious about having you walk into a warzone. he crawls into bed beside you after a moment, sinking against you as he whispers, just loud enough to reach you in your dozing state;

"thanks for staying. rent or not."

because deep down, he knows. you didn't stay for the lease. you stayed for him. scars, smoke, lucifer and all. it makes no sense, but he can let that go for the next several hours.

[drmaddict]

The Lovers

Summary: Jason accuses (Y/n) the town witch that she has cast a spell on him. Neither of them would have expected, what was really behind it.

Wordcount: 7.370

"Ah!" I cried out in surprise, when I heard the crack and the dull bang behind me and whirled around. I had expected to see a heavy branch lying on the ground and not... Jason Carver?

"What are you doing here?" I shouted, still slightly tense.

He got to his feet and knocked the leaves off his jacket. "I could ask you that? What are you doing?", he asked angrily, pointing at the basket I was holding.

I looked at him in irritation.

"What kind of voodoo are you going to do, huh?"

I raised an eyebrow. "They're daisies, you moron." I demonstratively held up one of the small flowers. "You can use them to make an ointment for sunburn." I rolled my eyes. "You followed me all the way through this forest to play witch hunting? How long have you been following me?" He was absolutely crazy.

He came up to me. "Long enough to see that these aren't daisies.", he bit out, holding up the second plant in my basket.

"Yes, this is St. John's wort. My cousin has neurodermatitis. The creams from the pharmacy are all too expensive and they don't want anyone else to pay for them, so I make her one from this. It soothes chapped skin." I grabbed the little plant and threw it back into the basket. "And before you ask.", I continued, reaching into the basket. "Mint. For my satanic tea against bloating."

Jason looked at me dully, then shook his head. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm just here collecting some herbs and you're the stalker, who's been following me through the forest for at least fourty minutes.", I hissed.

Jason took a step back. "I know you're one of those weird wiccans."

"Witch."

"You admit it!"

"I'm correcting you.", I said simply.

He furrowed his eyebrows in irritation.

"Wicca is a religion. Most wiccans are witches. Not all witches are wiccans. It's like quadrates and squares." I teased him. "If you're going to hate me, you should at least use the right terms."

He looked at my basket. "Just because you're not doing anything wrong today, doesn't mean you're otherwise innocent."

I sighed. I just wanted my peace and quiet. "Yes, I'm usually sin itself. Can I have my peace now, please?"

"No."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "You know what? Do what you want." With that, I turned around and tried to concentrate on the plants. "At least don't trample everything.", I snapped at him and kept walking.

"What is this stuff really for?"

"I just told you."

"You're lying."

"I could pass a lie detector test Carver."

I bent down to grab a small wild garlic plant.

"What's that?" Jason asked, almost angrily.

"Wild garlic.", I explained. "It's simply delicious in food." I threw the plant into the basket. "You're welcome to keep stalking me Jason, but try to be less angry."

"Why?"

"Because I want this", I pointed to my basket, "to have positive energies."

"It's a plant."

"Do you pray for other people's misfortune?"

"No! I'm not."

"Then don't spoil my work, wanting to do something good for the people in my life... Even if it's just to help them with sunburn."

Jason stopped short and looked at me insistently. "How do I know you're not lying?"

I looked at him as calmly as you can look at someone who calls you Satan's bitch. It was his upbringing or the media. How was he supposed to know any better? "Look for Hildegard von Bingen's herbal bible in the library. I know everything about medicinal herbs from her."

"I'm not reading the book of some devil worshipper."

"Hildegard von Bingen was a nun.", I corrected him.

Jason faltered.

"If you don't trust me, maybe you trust one of your people."

He walked slowly backwards. "I'll keep an eye on you.", he said emotionlessly.

"I'll see you at school."

"I'm just saying. Be prepared for something to come up today.", I grumbled to Eddie, poking at my salad.

Eddie shook his head, upset. "He's been stalking you?"

"Yes.", I laughed. "If he hadn't been alone, I would have been really worried."

"He's out of his mind."

"Is that news?"

I didn't know what to expect today. That got me down. Ever since my former friend Melody unintentionally outed me as a witch, I never knew what to expect the next day. She had snooped through my things and found the little pentagram pendant. After the whole school knew about it, even the head teacher called me in and told my parents.

My dad thought I had a chip on my shoulder, but otherwise wasn't interested and my mom... Well, before I explained what I was doing and that the newspapers had no idea, it took a good three hours. Three hours with a lot of tears.

I never spoke to Melody again. Eddie had taken me in with the outsiders and Jason and his gang wanted to see me at the stake.

"We'll keep watch.", Eddie said, looking down the hall.

"My heroes.", I sighed dramatically.

He grinned and bowed exaggeratedly.

I was sitting at one of the tables at the edge of the forest, scribbling listlessly on my piece of paper, when a book banged on the table next to me.

I literally jumped up and stumbled backwards, so frightened, that I toppled over the bench and fell onto my back.

I saw blonde hair and a green and white jacket.

I picked myself up stiffly. "What the hell are you?" I grumbled. "Are you making any noise at all?"

I knocked the grass off my butt and gave Jason a dirty look. He looked back just as crossly.

I looked at the book on the table. Hildegard von Bingen. "You've read it.", I said in surprise.

"Skimmed it."

I looked at his angry face and sighed. "What's wrong now?"

"The herbs might be good, but you're doing something."

I ran a hand over my face. "Jason.", I began humbly. "I'll leave you alone. Can't you do me a favor and do the same to me?"

"No!"

"Why not?" I whined.

He was breathing heavily and turned away in a huff. "Because you did something. You did something to ME. ADMIT IT!"

I faltered. "Jason what are you talking about?"

"Why do I feel this way if you haven't done some witchcraft to me?" he hissed, coming closer and closer to me. I backed up until I bumped into a tree. Jason encircled me with his arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about.", I said almost fearfully. "I don't know what you mean Jason."

"Stop saying that!"

"Say what?"

"MY NAME!"

"Jas-" I bit my lips.

He was breathing heavily. "Undo it."

"I didn't do anything. You're scaring me."

"Undo it!", he growled. He looked at me almost frantically.

"You have to tell me what's wrong or I can't help you, but I didn't do anything."

"Then why do I feel like this?", he whispered angrily.

"How do you feel?", I asked, almost pleadingly. Hoping that he would stay calm.

"How do you feel Jason?"

No sooner had his name crossed my lips than he pressed his mouth to mine. Hard and unyielding. His hands held my head in place and his body pressed against mine. I was so caught off guard, that I just stood there, like a pillar of salt, waiting. Not quite grasping what was happening.

He abruptly disengaged and stumbled back. Tears streamed down his cheeks. "Undo it.", he whispered.

I looked at him in disbelief. Not a word escaped my lips. Not a sound escaped my throat. Until a fuse in my brain clicked into place and I ran away. I ran away as fast as I could, not wasting a single thought on my stuff, which were still lying on the table.

"He's did WHAT?", shouted Eddie angrily.

I sat at the kitchen table of the trailer and looked at the tabletop in disbelief.

"I think I'm going to be sick.", I whimpered. No. I really felt sick. I was sick to my stomach. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. I made it just in time to take the contents of my stomach to the toilet.

Eddie stumbled after me and held my hair out of my face. He stroked my back reassuringly.

When I was sure nothing more was coming, I dropped onto my butt and felt the tears on my cheeks. I wrap my arms around my legs. Eddie held out a bottle of water to me.

"Take a deep breath.", he mumbled.

"They're going to kill me Eds."

"They won't. We'll keep you safe." He pulled me into his arms. "Nothing's going to happen."

My backpack was gone, of course. What had I expected?

I sat in the library and waited impatiently for Gareth to come. I hid behind my book and tried to stay calm. One of the boys had been keeping an eye on me all day. Just in case.

Jason had been like a madman. He'd gotten it into his head that I'd cast a spell on him. He had kissed me. Jason Carver. The poster boy Jason Carver somehow had... had a crush on me and now thought I'd made him. Jason Carver had a crush on me and he hated himself for it. I was startled when I heard a backpack fall onto the table, but before I even looked up, I saw Jason's back disappearing quickly and my backpack in front of me. I reached for it hesitantly. Slowly pulled open the zipper. Carefully peeked inside. Nothing happened.

"Your backpack is back?"

I winced.

"Since when are you so jumpy?" Gareth grinned.

"Since I'm waiting for the Inquisition.", I grumbled.

POV Jason

How had I let myself get so carried away? How could I have been so stupid? Why hadn't I stayed away from her? I had given her far too much power over me.

My head was buzzing with thoughts as I walked into the theater room as Luke's note told me to.

That little witch. Why had she run away, when this was exactly what she had wanted? That had been her goal. To cast a spell on me. Had she realized that this couldn't be love? Had she perhaps really done nothing - I interrupted the thought immediately. Of course she had done something. I would never think like that about someone, who went against everything I stood for.

The door of the theater room slammed shut loudly. I turned around with a jolt and caught sight of Eddie Munson.

"Ball boy. Glad you got my message."

I looked at the note in my hand. How could I have been so stupid?

"I heard about your little meeting with (Y/n) in the woods.", he continued, walking slowly towards me.

I shouldered my backpack and moved towards the door, but Munson grabbed me firmly by the shoulders and stopped me.

"Not so fast. Where are you going?"

"Let me go!"

"Why is that? I guess it's not so much fun being hassled yourself?"

I pulled my shoulders out of his grip and pushed him away. "That's what she wanted! She started this voodoo.", I hissed. "So tell her to undo it or leave me alone!"

Munson laughed. First in disbelief, then louder, harder, until he seemed almost unable to breathe. "Oh God!", he struggled to breathe. "You really believe that."

"What's so funny?", I shouted angrily.

Munson held his stomach and sat down on one of the folding chairs. "You have a crush and you don't realize it." He wiped a tear from his face.

"I don't-"

"You think you're pretty important, don't you?", he interrupted me, still slightly breathless. "Don't you think she'd have better targets, than some bore with a twist in his panties?"

I turned away angrily and left.

"Bother her again and you can find out how to throw your balls with crutches.", he shouted after me.

I pushed the door open hard and stormed through the corridors.

I don't have a crush on that witch. I don't want anything from her. No matter how many dreams I had in which she lay with me and in which she seduced me with her smile and her scent... Those dreams weren't real. They weren't my dreams. They couldn't be mine.

"Jason." my name fell from her lips like a prayer. She clawed at my back. I kissed her neck, marking it as my own, as I thrust into her again and again. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. I let her dance on the threshold of pleasure. Never quite gave her what she wanted. I devoured her and she gave herself to me. (Y/n's) eyes were glassy and yet warm. Looked up at me with affection and admiration. Her hands caressed my back. Her legs wrapped around my hips. She moved towards me. We were united. Two bodies and two souls in harmony.

She twitched around me. Her body tensed. She collapsed in waves of excitement. She took me with her and caught me.

The fabric under my cheek was damp. I sat up with a jerk. I was alone. Alone in my room. Just me in my bed. Sweat was sticking to my body. I wiped the saliva from the corner of my mouth in disgust. My shorts were sticking to my crotch. I pulled a face.

Why in God's name did I have to be the target of this witchcraft? Why did these dreams have to feel so good? Why did I feel so safe in them? She was a witch! She was evil. She was not gentle and sweet. I had to remind myself that she had cast a spell on me. I couldn't love her!

Where did that word come from? Why did it want to creep into my head?

I felt tears running down my cheeks. I don't want to have these thoughts!

(Y/n)s POV

The last week I had gotten away with it. None of the jocks had hit on me or hinted at anything. It just made me even more paranoid.

I was waiting for a prank. Some kind of humiliation. I was almost longing for it so I could finally get it over with.

I was walking home when a sadly too familiar car drove up slowly beside me. I didn't look up, stubbornly continued straight ahead.

I heard the side window being rolled down.

"Get in!" Jason said stubbornly.

I walked on silently.

"Get in the car now!"

"No!" I replied stubbornly.

The car came to a halt. A door opened. I quickened my steps.

A hand clutched my upper arm. "I told you to get in.", he hissed.

"But I don't want to.", I spat back.

His grip on my arm became painfully tight. "And I don't want to have these thoughts, so get in."

I tried to pull away, but it didn't help. His hands were on my arms like vices.

"What are you going to do?"

"We're going to church."

I looked at him, perplexed. "Is the pyre ready or what? For fuck's sake, Carver! I don't want anything from you except to be left alone! Even if I could do what you accuse me of, which I can't by the way, why would I want the guy who's been spitting on me for months?"

He looked at me blankly. "We'll go to the church now and talk to the priest."

I realized tears were welling up in my eyes. It was all so absurd. It... It was humiliating. Someone had a crush on me and it was so absurd that it was really happening that he suspected I had bewitched him.

"Now come on!" he ordered, pulling me roughly towards his car.

I stumbled after him.

The drive was silent and tense. I had tried to jump out at a red light, but Jason had immediately had grabbed hold of me.

When we arrived at the church, Jason dragged me up the steps of the building and through the door into the large main room.

I had never been in a church before. My parents weren't believers, so there was never any reason to attend one.

He looked at me insistently.

I remained stubborn. "What? Did you expect me to burst into flames?"

His jaw tightened. "Come on." he growled.

Roughly, he dragged me to a small room and knocked.

Priest Mitchel opened it for us. "Jason. Hello... And you must be (Y/n)."

I nodded hesitantly.

"Can you give us a moment alone Jason?" the priest asked, stepping aside to clear the way into his office.

Jason reluctantly let go of me.

I cautiously stepped into the priest's office. I only knew him by sight, but he always seemed nice and friendly.

"Why don't you sit down for a minute? Would you like some tea?"

"Uh... No. Thanks."

He just nodded and sat down on an exercise ball opposite me. "They don't look particularly professional, but they're good for your back.", he smiled.

I just nodded. "My mom has one too."

He grinned. "Very well." He became more serious. "Jason told me about his situation." I stiffened. "Don't worry. I won't drag you to the torture chamber. But whether you've done anything or not... Jason... Got stuck on that idea and knowing the boy, he's not going to let it go."

I sighed. "So you're not getting out the pitchforks?"

He smiled. "No. Believe it or not. My wife went through a phase like you once."

"And if it's not a phase?"

"Then I pray you stay true to the right path anyway."

I looked thoughtfully at the table in front of me. "And how do I get rid of that witch hunter out there now?" I muttered. "You know him better than I do."

Father Mitchel looked thoughtfully at my bag. "You don't happen to have any herbs with you?"

I looked up irritated. "What? No. I was at school. What do I want with herbs there?" 

"Hm... Well, the tea will have to do then."

He reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out a packet of fruit tea. Relaxed, he cut open a good six bags and tipped them into a small decorative bowl.

"What are you up to?"

He grinned. "We're breaking a spell for Jason's sake. Under my supervision, of course, so he'll feel more comfortable and confident about it."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Don't you always say you shouldn't lie?"

"Special situations call for special measures."

"You're a strange priest."

"And I'm very proud of that."

Less than five minutes later, I was sitting behind the church in front of a small bowl of fruit tea, trying to remain serious. Jason and Father Mitchel watched me from a safe distance, how I lit a small piece of paper on which my and Jason's names were crossed out.

Normally, you would use two candels with a connected wick to break a love spell, but Jason didn't know that.

I threw the note into the bowl and watched it burn. The tea left a sickeningly sweet smell, but the light breeze made it disappear quickly.

I waited patiently for the flames to recede and then grabbed the ashes to let them blow away with the breeze for show.

Jason watched everything with eagle eyes, but actually seemed a little calmer with Father Mitchel at his side.

I got up from my cross-legged position and lifted the bowl. A pretty little thing.

I put it in Father Mitchel's hand. He nodded at me with a smile. "If you ever think about it, the church is always open to you."

"That... That's very nice. Thank you."

"Well then. Accounting is waiting." He sighed and walked back around the building.

Jason looked at me appraisingly. I let him.

"Can you at least take me home now? I don't have any money for the bus."

He struggled with himself, but then motioned for me to follow him.

The journey was calm. Tense, but calm.

I quickly squeezed out of the car when we arrived at my house. "Thank you. Bye.", I mumbled and disappeared into the house as quickly as I could.

Hopefully, this haunting was finally over.

POV Jason

She kissed me so tenderly. Her arms were wrapped around my neck. Her body was warm as it pressed against mine. I could feel her breasts through both our shirts. I enjoyed her hands in my hair. I stroked her ribs. She giggled slightly. Bit my lower lip playfully. I laughed. I felt bliss. I felt light. Here in this meadow, lying on a scratchy picnic blanket, with her in my arms. She kissed the tip of my nose. She ran her thumb over my cheeks.

"I love you.", I murmured and gently kissed the diamond ring on her ring finger. 

I woke up suddenly. Annoyed, I hit the alarm clock and buried myself under the thick comforter again. Still slightly foggy, I tried to fall back asleep and continue dreaming where I had left off. I wanted to go back to the meadow and (Y/n)-

I stiffened up. No. No. No!

Why another dream like this? I curled up under the blanket and pressed my hands against my forehead. I tried to push these wishes out of my brain.

But she had dissolved the spell. Father Mitchel was there. That couldn't be. It couldn't be.

I wanted to be normal again.

POV (Y/n)

I sat on my favorite table in the woods and looked thoughtfully at my tarot cards. The lovers had been extremely persistent in my last readings. I threw all the cards back on the pile and shuffled them vigorously. That didn't make any sense. I haven't really felt it anyway.

I shuffled and suddenly one of the cards flew out of the pile. I turned it over and sighed in surrender. The fool glared at me maliciously. "All right. I get it.", I growled annoyed and put the cards on the table.

I heard it crack behind me. I quickly jumped up and looked around.

God no.

"Jason?"

He didn't say anything, just sat down at the table. He looked tired. Listlessly, he threw his backpack in front of him and lay down on it. But he kept his eyes on me. His eyes wandered to the cards on the table. Strangely, he didn't react.

I didn't say anything. I didn't move.

"What do you want here?"

He was still looking at the cards and reached for one that had clearly slipped out of the deck. When he threw it back down, annoyed, I saw the lovers again.

"I give up.", he mumbled. His voice was low and raspy.

I hesitantly sat down next to him. "What are you giving up on?"

"It didn't work... The voodoo from yesterday."

How could it? It was just for show. I sighed anyway. I had somehow hoped that maybe it would influence him enough to finally put his mind at rest.

"Go on, then. Do what you want.", he grumbled.

I furrowed my eyebrows in irritation. "What?"

"You wanted me. Go on."

I breathed in and out in a controlled manner to control my anger. "Jason.", I groaned, annoyed.

He looked at me devotedly. I rubbed my hands over my face. "Okay. How about you pray?"

He sat up. "You want me to beg you too?"

I rolled my eyes. "To your god, you idiot."

He faltered. "Why?"

"Can't you ask him what's right and what's not? Ask him for the truth."

He faltered. His eyes screamed with confusion.

"Come on," I groaned and put my cards away. "I'll even clean up."

He sat up straighter. Watched me. "All right.", he murmured. His hands pushed together almost cautiously. He rested his elbows on the tabletop and gave me another quick glance. "No games.", he ordered.

I held my hands up in the air defensively.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hands. It seemed so... antiquated. The way he sat there mumbling to himself. The way he held his hands. It all looked so ancient.

I went about my own thoughts until I suddenly heard him sobbing.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts. Jason was still in his prayer position but I heard him turn up his nose.

His hands separated and immediately ran over his face. I quickly looked in my backpack and grabbed the small pack of tissues.

"Here." I held them out to him.

He grabbed it without a word and wiped his tears away, blew his nose loudly and then threw it on the table.

"Jason." I was practically whispering. As if every loud noise would destroy the world.

He just shook his head. "You're not supposed to say my name.", he replied just as quietly.

"Then what am I supposed to call you?"

He wiped away another tear. Silently, he looked at the tabletop.

"Why do you hate me so much?" I asked.

He grimaced. "I think we both know that the opposite is the problem."

I shook my head. "No, you're conflicted. You hate the... Interest in me."

He sighed and reached for another tissue. "Why do you have to be a witch?"

I smirked. "That's it?"

"You go against everything I believe in.", he pressed out.

I sighed. "How about you pay your debt?"

He looked at me, confused. "What kind of debt?"

"You dragged me to your priest and now you're meeting one of my friends. Don't worry. She's a Christian... And a witch."

He laughed dismissively. "No such thing."

I held out my hand to him. "Let's make a bet, then."

He hesitated. "What bet?"

I thought about it for a moment. "If I win, you stop putting the basketballtaining on the Hellfire meetings."

Jason's jaw tightened. He reached for my hand. "If I win, you come to the service with me. For a month."

"Deal.", I grinned.

"Deal.", he bit back.

"Here?" Jason asked incredulously as he brought the car to a halt.

My friend's house was a simple terraced house. A small front garden with flower beds and a bright yellow façade.

I just nodded. "Yup. This is where she lives." I got out and waited for him to do the same. We walked down the small driveway and Jason eyed the cross on the thermometer next to the door.

It opened and my friend Jannice emerged. She was in her mid-thirties and, as always, a bit over the top.

"(Y/n)!", she shouted happily.

"Hey Jan.", I laughed and let myself be pulled into a hug.

"You haven't been around for far too long. You really need to make me some of that lavender oil again. I've just dried some. You can take it with you right away. Uh! Who have we got here? Let me look at you!" She hugged Jason, who was completely taken by surprise and just stood there.

"I can't believe you're fishing for such a tasty treat. I would have bet on the curly head with the puppy eyes..."

"Jan, we're not a couple.", I quickly interrupted her.

"Oh... Oh well." She brushed one of her wild curls out of her face. "Well, come in."

We entered the house and went into the kitchen, which, as always, smelled wonderfully of all kinds of flowers and herbs.

Jason stopped in the doorway and looked at a small table with a cross and a candle on it. He looked at them closely. The candle was bright pink. Definitely not a candle that was available at the service.

He turned back to us. "(Y/n) says you are a Christian.", he said clumsily, but Jannice just smiled again.

"Yes, that's right."

"And she says you're a... witch."

She put a tin of cookies on the table. "Yes. That's true, too."

Jason looked at her suspiciously. "But that can't work."

Jabnice laughed. "Oh boy. Have a seat. Eat a cookie and then I'll explain everything you want."

Jason still sat stiffly on a chair. "What's in the candle?", he began and Jannice started.

"But there are rules!" Jason huffed.

Jannice nibbled on a cookie. "I live by the rule of being a good person. How many more rules do you need? Treat your fellow human beings with love and helpfulness."

Jason put his coffee cup down firmly on the table. "But then everyone can do what they want!"

"If the law was repealed tomorrow that killing someone was illegal, would you do it?"

"Of course not!"

"And yet there are people who do it despite the law." She poked Jason's chest with her finger. "Because our ethics aren't always governed by rules."

She leaned back in her chair. "Why do you want to understand it, if you're so sure of your religious interpretation?"

Jason faltered.

They were a mismatched pair. So different and yet so similar.

"Jason wants to broaden his horizons a little.", I interjected.

Jannice eyed him. "To broaden your horizons, your heart has to be open."

Jason sighed. "Open heart. I just don't get it!", he huffed.

Jannice put a hand on his shoulder. "Your head doesn't understand or your heart?"

Jason gave her a pained look. "What's the difference?"

She smiled gently at him, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Because your head only tells you what you've learned. Your heart tells you what you've always known."

Jason's eyes sparkled treacherously wet again, but he blinked bravely.

Jannice's gaze showed understanding. "You were never really allowed to ask questions."

Jason shook his head. "There were rules."

She nodded. "Well. I listen to every question. My door is always open."

Jason didn't respond. Just grabbed another lavender cookie.

He stayed silent for a long time on the drive back. "I really want to understand this," he whispered.

Even though I didn't know what had happened to him, I had seen that something inside him had been shaken awake. Something that he had put to sleep was stretching and trying to understand why it hadn't been allowed to go through all those years.

"These things take time," I replied calmly.

Jason nodded. "Should I apologize?"

I grinned. "What does your gut say?"

He shook his head, annoyed. "I thought we were focusing on the heart."

I laughed lightly. "Everyone gets their knowledge from somewhere else."

He was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry." His eyes shot to me very briefly.

I bit my lip. "It's okay."

"And now what?" Eddie asked me as we lay on the roof of the trailer and looked up at the sky.

I shrugged my shoulders, even though he couldn't see that. "I don't know."

He sighed. "Do you think he'll shut up now?"

I had to smile. "I think it's more likely that things are just starting now. You should have seen them." I let the thought slip away and the confusion of the last few days settled over me. "This is all so absurd.", I muttered.

Eddie laughed. "I still can't believe he thought you put a spell on him."

I sighed. "Why wouldn't he? I'm not exactly his typ."

Eddie nudged me. "Of course you're not. They're completely hollow."

I shook my head. A sad smile spread across my face. "Can you play my best girl-friend for a minute?"

"Shall I get the nail polish?"

I punched him lightly.

"Sure.", he grinned.

I closed my eyes in surrender to make it easier. "It was so far-fetched, that he could really have a crush on me, that he thought I'd jinxed him Eddie.... That's... Why is it so far-fetched to have a crush on me?"

He patted my shoulder. "I'm sticking to the fact, that they're hollow."

I continued to gaze at the stars and fell silent. How could you treat someone you had a crush on with such disgust?

"What's going to happen with him now?" Eddie had turned his head towards me and was looking at me questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, he understood that he thinks you're hot and now what?" He twirled his rings. "Are you going out? Are we still seeing each other? Do I have to find another club witch because you're hanging out with the cool kids now?"

I looked at him, confused. "We're not going out.", I blurted out. "We're just... I don't know. There's a truce?"

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "He fancies you (Y/n).", he said forcefully. "We know that now. How do you feel about him?"

I looked at him dully. "I've never thought about it.", I confessed. "Don't look at me like that! I was waiting for the funeral pyre."

Eddie shook his head in amusement. "I don't believe I'm saying this, but you two seem to be perfect for each other."

I nudged him roughly. "That's not funny!"

"Yes it is."

I pouted.

"So. How do you feel about him? Tell your best friend."

I rubbed my face. "I don't know. He... I mean he hasn't exactly been nice over the last few months." I listened to the rustling of leaves around us. "Can you like someone you're supposed to hate?"

"If we asked Jason, he'd say yes. Come on. What do you think of the Bible boy, non-judgmentally."

I sighed. "It's not that simple.... I mean... I don't know... He seems ambitious?"

"Very romantic." Eddie nodded, playing serious.

I groaned in annoyance. "He's probably quite good looking."

A grin appeared on his face.

"But I don't understand how he can dress like that.", I grumbled

Eddie continued to grin. "I knew you had a thing for Andrew!"

"Andrew?"

"Breakfast Club... Jock Andrew."

I blushed. "Shut up."

Eddie chuckled. "Would the basketball shorts on Jason be more your thing?"

"I told you to shut up."

"Oh, no. I'm going to enjoy this. Besides, he's definitely dreaming about banging you. So you can let it all out."

"He doesn't." I blurted out immediately.

Eddie couldn't stop laughing. "He has a cock and he likes you. He definitely dreams about you two fucking."

I gave him a petulant look. "You really are a catty best friend."

"And I love you very much."

"But... You could curse someone?", Jason asked me hesitantly.

We were sitting at the table in the woods again. As usual, Jason had come to me like a ghost and then started asking questions.

"I could probably try it. No idea if it would even work. Anyway. It's not my thing."

Jason looked very thoughtful as usual. "Why are you so insistent on only doing good?"

His blue eyes looked confused. "You could and you don't think anyone will punish you for it. Why don't you?"

"I never said I wouldn't be punished for it.", I objected.

He played with the zipper on his backpack. "And who's punishing you?"

"Karma.", I said simply. "Everything you send out comes back to you threefold."

"Hm."

He was silent for a moment. Let it sink in. "Okay."

Meanwhile, I sat in my seat and couldn't get the conversation with Eddie out of my head. Somehow the fact that Jason had admitted to having a crush on me had made it real. Did he really dream about me? Did I want him to dream about me? My ego wanted it, but did I want it?

I sighed without realizing it.

Jason looked at me questioningly. I waved him off. He looked thoughtfully at the table again. "Is there a spell to get rid of feelings?", he asked quietly.

I looked at him, irritated. "What?"

He rubbed his forehead. "I don't know which synapse has locked onto you, but we both know that there's no future in this. Apart from the fact that I very much doubt by now that you want anything from me." He stood up angrily. "So please. Do something and set me free."

I felt the anger boiling up inside me. First mixed with shame, then all the clearer and stronger.

"Set you free? I'm sorry that your limbic system isn't playing along with your image planning. I'm sorry that it's so disgusting to have a crush on me that you even have to assume you've been cursed. I'm sorry, Carver", I bit out his name, "that I'm not good enough."

I could feel the heat in my cheeks. "But you could at least have the decency not to throw that in my face every time you see me!"

I grabbed my backpack gruffly, which unfortunately only caused my tarot cards to fall out and scatter across the forest floor.

Jason just looked at me dully. A gust of wind hit me in the back and blew the last card away.

Jason bent down for it and held it out to me unseen.

I tryed hard not to crumple it up. The damn lovers. I breathed in and out in a controlled manner.

"I'm sorry-"

"Save it." I interrupted him immediately. I held my hands in front of me defensively. "Just let it go." I put the card with the others and zipped up the backpack.

The wind picked up, but I paid it no mind. I just kept going, no matter how hard the wind tore at me. How could the weather change so quickly?

"Now wait!" Jason called after me. "You can't walk through the forest in a storm like this. Let me drive you."

"No!"

I felt a hand around my upper arm, yanking me backwards. I heard a loud crack. A rumble of thunder rolled through the forest. The ground vibrated.

Jason had held me protectively against him. It was only when I managed to free myself that I saw his shocked face. When I turned around, I saw it.

A not exactly delicate branch was lying right where I was about to go. That thing would have easily broken every bone in my body.

As soon as I'd gotten over the situation, the wind died down, but only a little.

"Come on," Jason said and pulled me along with him. His hands were firmly on my shoulders and he swiftly escorted me to his car.

I stayed still for the rest of the journey. Jason had thrown his jacket on me because he had decided I would definitely be cold. The radio was switched off because it had started raining halfway and the signal was gone.

I hated that Jason's jacket smelled good. He wasn't supposed to smell good. He wasn't supposed to look good. His stupid upper arms shouldn't be so attractive.

Pouting, I averted my eyes.

"I can't see anything.", Jason grumbled loud enough to drown out the pattering of the rain. I didn't look at him. But then I felt the car stop.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't see five feet far. We have to wait for the rain to stop.", he explained defensively. I groaned in annoyance and rolled my eyes. Great. Still sulking, I crossed my arms and sank further into the seat.

He did the same. His upper arms stretched his shirt. I shook my head to get rid of the thought.

"I'm sorry, but you have to admit that I don't really fit into your life either.", he grumbled at me from the side.

I grit my teeth. "You know what? Maybe things would have been different, if you hadn't spent the last few months making my life a living hell.", I spat at him.

He looked back just as angrily. "And I'm sorry! God knows I'm trying to understand, but I can't change the past!"

"Where did your sudden interest in me come from anyway? Heh? How can you be so divided in your desires?"

His hands were clenched into fists. "Because not everyone can be who they want to be!", he shouted. "Because I can't like everyone! Because I can't just feel the way I want to!", he continued to shout, looking at me angrily. "Do you think I care what you do with your herbs? Do you think I want to be like that? I don't want to! I want to be normal, but I can't!" He breathed heavily and narrowed his eyes. "There were always rules. I was NEVER allowed to question them. I wasn't allowed to play with everyone. I wasn't allowed to be friends with everyone.... And I wasn't allowed to fall in love with everyone." He took a deep breath. "And people look... They talk when you don't do what they expect you to do." He looked stubbornly at the steering wheel. He continued to speak so quietly that I almost didn't hear him over the rain. "I'm not supposed to like you. I do... I do, but I'm not allowed to... Not until I... Before I... Before I've moved away and have a life for myself. Before I can... can be new."

And that's when a light went on. The fool. New. "Those were your cards!", I blurted out before I could hold it back.

"Wh-what?" He looked at me, snapped out of his emotions.

I rummaged for my little notebook. "I've been drawing the same four cards over and over again for weeks.", I explained. "The ten of wands. You suppress your feelings and desires and thus prevent yourself from being happy. The lovers. I probably don't need to explain. Then the tower. Tower moments bring down all walls... And the fool. New beginnings... Those were your cards!"

He looked at me, perplexed. "Okay?"

I looked at him insistently. "You... You can't spend your whole life pretending to be someone else!"

He sighed. "Not my whole... Just until... after college... Until I get a job." He closed his eyes. "That's a long time, but... Not forever."

"And then what? Do you just get up one day and become a different person? Ignore all the connections you've made up to that point?", I asked.

I saw the turmoil on his face. "What else am I supposed to do? If it gets out that I have a crush on someone like you, my father will call an exorcist."

I laughed in disbelief.

"I'm not joking! My father... is strict.", he concluded choppily.

I faltered. "How strict?"

He shook his head. I put a hand on his. He exhaled shakily. A tear rolled down his cheek. He didn't wipe it away. The rain continued to pelt down. Shielding us from the outside world.

"I can only really be me in my dreams.", he said more calmly now. "And now you've just snuck in there." He took a deep breath. Seemed to want to calm himself down.

"What am I doing in your dreams?" I asked cautiously.

"You just make me happy," he confessed. "You're there and give me so much affection. I can let myself go. I can laugh and... and... and I know I've ruined any chance of it really being like that." He roughly wiped the next tear from his face. "It drives me insane to wake up every morning and all of this is gone. I have to put that possibility of happiness behind me every morning and pretend that desire doesn't exist."

So that was him. Jason Carver. Behind the speeches and the facade. Behind the perfection and bravado. Broken. Unhappy. Alone.

"Jason.", I whispered.

He shook his head.

"Jason... I understand." I just said. "And... I think I can forgive you... With a little time."

He wiped more tears from his face. I squeezed his hand. "When you're ready, I'd like to meet the real Jason."

"I don't know when that will be.", he confessed.

"I can be very patient. But do me a favor."

He looked at me questioningly.

"No matter when you show the world, please figure out who you want to be by then."

His breath was shaky. "I'll try."

POV Jason

Seven years later

I sat exhilarated at the table of the small café, looking at my watch for the fifth time in two minutes. She probably wasn't coming. God it had been seven years. Seven years since we graduated. Since we only met rarely and secretly in the woods. Seven years since she had kissed me the last time we met. Seven years that I had thought about that kiss again and again, dreamt about it, longed for it. Seven years in which we had only exchanged letters and I had kept them all.

Seven long years in which so much could happen.

Seven years and now she was suddenly standing in front of me again. Grown up and as radiant as ever.

"Hi." She smiled gently at me.

"Hi." I whispered back in awe.

8 years later

She was lying in my bed. She cuddled up to me. It wasn't a dream. It was real. I smelled the scent of her hair. I felt her body against mine. I felt the warmth of her skin. I heard her steady breathing.

I pulled my arms tighter around her naked body and closed my eyes. It was real. We were both real.

9 years later

"Yes. Yes I do!", she smiled at me and euphorically wrapped her arms around me.

I felt a weight fall from my shoulders. She had said yes.

With nervous hands, I put the ring on her finger.

I immediately pulled her into a kiss, unwilling to let her get away again in the near future.

10 years later

I was lying with her in a meadow. The weather was warm but pleasant. The sun danced through the leaves above us.

We kissed lazily. I ran a hand under her shirt and over her ribs. She giggled. Ticklish as she was. She playfully bit my lip. Then kissed me on the tip of my nose. Stroked my cheek. I kissed the ring on her ring finger. "I love you.", I murmured.

She smiled warmly at me. "I love you.", she replied.

I smiled. "I've dreamt about this before.", I whispered.

"And is it as good as your dreams?"

I felt the warmth and bliss inside me and shook my head. "It's better." I kissed her lips softly. "It's real."

[artist-issues]

Okay, Just to Keep My Sanity and Remind Everybody that I’m NOT GOING ANYWHERE Because They ARE Christians and HE FINISHES WHAT HE STARTS:

Here are all the evidences that twenty one pilots are probably not attempting to deconstruct the faith or creating a story that’s all about religious guilt -

The Torchbearer character has a lot in common with the one and only true God, the God of the Bible: there’s three of him but one of him. He has tape that stretches in the shape of a cross which connects over his heart. He never leaves Clancy (Tyler) no matter what Clancy’s feelings might be about being alone. He’s undefeated. He does all the rescuing.

7 of the 14 tracks on Blurryface have to do with God directly. These usually paint God in a frightening, but ultimately desperately-needed, only-hope light. Not in a “if only I could get away from You” light. And a desperately-need-You-even-if-I’m-scared light is the kind of light you paint Him in when you actually know what He’s like, not when you’re just parroting religious lines or vibes you’ve grown up with. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” - Hebrews 10:31 goes together with: “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish—ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” - John 10:28. You have to know what it feels like, being in that Hand even if you’re—in body—on this World for a little while—to write something like that.

Even the tracks that aren’t directly about God are stuffed with Biblical principals. Not every worldview believes that to be loved truly you need to have someone who’s willing to hurt your feelings to clean out your crap. A lot of worldviews go for “accept me as I am if you love me,” they don’t say, “tear into my heart.” But the Bible does. And twenty one pilots does. For example. “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

In the DEMA storyline the bad guys are bishops, but bishops is not always a term associated with a real Christian leader. In Jesus’ time Pharisees would’ve been considered “tradition of the elders,” and “elders” is where we got our version of “bishop” that more modern people use today—but Jesus sure didn’t think of Pharisees as the actual leaders of the kingdom of God. He said they were whitewashed tombs. Imposters. They used false religious practice to warp real devotion to God. Artificial. Like the artificial lights in DEMA versus the natural light of the Bandito torches.

The artificial light of DEMA versus the natural light of the Bandito torches! That’s a clue too. God made natural light. Fire. Sun. Both things that the DEMA storyline paints as good (though with that element of “fearful but our only hope.”) In 2 Corinthians 11:14 Satan, the BAD GUY, is described as “disguising himself as an angel of light.” Fake light. Versus verses like this, about God and the sun: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” There are like over one hundred verses about Him and Light. Also “For our God is a consuming fire.” There’s several about Him being or bringing fire, too. Plus the Sun.

The Sun rises in the East. “The revolution shall arise with the Sun.” And “East is Up.” In the Ancient world, the maps had East at the top of their compasses, instead of North. Just like the DEMA lore’s corrected map. “Their compass lies” but if you turn it so that East is Up, you can see things for what they are, in twenty one pilots lore. Ancient maps, too, had East as up—because what was significant was that the sun rose in the East. Not just the sun. The morning and evening star. And the Bible specifically likens Christ to the Morning and Evening Star—heralding the dawn, the end of night. Christ is also going to come back in the East. East is associated with God, and good. And a Christian knows it.

So much of the DEMA lore is about escaping something old and routine because it’s evil and twisted and finding the Good, Beautiful, True. And now it’s even about “Destroy Them So We Don’t Become Them.” The idea is that the bad guys have distorted the truth, but there is still truth out there. The bad guys are doing things the wrong way, but that doesn’t mean there is no right way. Clancy even writes “true freedom, real hope.” And every scrap of the above hints seem to be pointing at the right way having something to do with Christianity.

Trench might have been where Tyler was imagining a world with no God, but also, on a meta level, Trench is the part in the story where the character has been imprisoned by wrong thinking and is just now trying to escape—but it begins and ends with him getting locked up in the wrong thinking. So if Trench begins and ends with wrong thinking, and Trench is about a world with no God, it stands to reason he won’t stay there.

Tyler started this whole mask thing with Christianity. Clear: “I wish I had two faces to prove which theory works / Yelling on the street corner or cleverly masking your words.” That whole song is about how to share the Gospel, the fact that you’re an imposter but your Father determines your identity anyway, and how to make that make sense to outsiders so they can be saved, too. Take that concept, that “I’ll use masks, I’ll communicate who I really am by starting with a mask” and superimpose it over their whole career.

The skeleton keys. Josh likes aliens and Tyler likes dead imagery, but it’s never just that. They always have more than one reason for something. The Bible calls Christians “dead to sin,” the old self is “dead,” the spirit is “alive.” And the Bible calls Christians “strangers and aliens” in this present world, and when it says “world” it means an idealogical and spiritual system that is in rebellion to God. Christians live in that but they’re not apart of that. Aliens and skeletons.

Tyler Joseph wrote Dead Come Alive. I know he had Travis Whitaker’s help. But I don’t believe you can write something like that and not have been shown who God is.

They both made professions of faith. He who began a good work in them will be faithful to complete it. And if they don’t endure, if they drop the faith, it’s not a sign that He doesn’t hang on. It’s a sign that they were never in His hand. Like the seeds that get excited about the kingdom of God for a period of time, but ultimately excitement isn’t relationship, and they’re carried away by the next exciting ideology or circumstance the World throws at them.

Thanks for coming to my list

[lacilashea]

I love Jesus more than all and all my posts belong to Jesus and he is my Lord and savior, the Messiah, the Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ the truth, Jesus King of the jews, the rest on the earth and that much being God's son. as my Lord and savior and this is not about me but about Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ the truth, Jesus King of the jews and the rest on the earth and that much being God's son with Mary, and Jesus, God, and the Holy Ghost have feelings like you and others do that also exist because of God, and you can talk to Jesus, God, and the Holy Ghost literally all the time and they do talk back to you and outside of prayer also and will be that close to you and talk to them and others that exist like you all day and night long and you'll never be alone and start talking to Jesus about everything and your lives will improve, No one needs governments, kings, queens, etc of people anywhere when people could just help one another as God and Jesus said and with God and Jesus being kings over us and all the people even now God and Jesus should be-1 samuel 8:6-9-It displeased Samuel when they said to him, “Appoint a king over us,” so Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to him, “Listen to everything that the people have requested of you. It is not you whom the people have rejected, they have rejected me as their king. They have done this from the day that I brought them up out of Egypt to this very day. They have rejected me and served other gods, just as they have rejected you. So grant their request, but warn them solemnly and inform them what the king who reigns over them will do.” and then what happened to Jesus-John 18 and 19 and he-JESUS IS EVERYONE'S KING and GOD'S BEGOTTEN SON with Mary and GOD JESUS'S DAD AND OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS KING-as for you, DO NOT BE CALLED RABBI. you have but one TEACHER, AND YOU ALL BROTHERS. CALL NO ONE ON EARTH YOUR FATHER; you have but one FATHER in HEAVEN. DO NOT BE CALLED MASTER; you have but one master, the MESSIAH-JESUS-MATTHEW 23:8-10. Just more FACTS.

This post belongs to Jesus along with the whole Blog and others input. Also Jesus shows people now visions-seeing, dreams, let's you hear different sweet and nice voices and it is not a mental problem and more and God did before Jesus had came and before the Holy Ghost came and poured himself out on those that love and accept Jesus as the Messiah after Jesus's Crucifixion and murder and God still does with Jesus as his son and the Holy Spirit the Comforter who came after Jesus murder and poured himself out(Acts 2:17 and before see Joel 2) on those that love and accept Jesus as their Messiah and how much you love him, are you free-never you were bought and paid for by Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Corinthians 7:23, Matthew 11:28-30 and you feel the way you feel now because instead of slavery today you have been made to labor for wages that are barely enough to pay your fucking bills instead doing what Jesus, God and the Holy Ghost intended which was helping one another with Jesus God and the holy Ghost over you only(1 samuel 8, John 18 and 19, Matthew 11:2) -Jesus, God, and the Holy Ghost's words with Satan's(and their is no church of Satan as church refers to the body of believers in Jesus, and Satan is tired of being lied about and sold and wants Satanism shut down and the buildings of Satan shut down and more that do not accept Jesus Christ as God's begotten son which Jesus is and Jesus is the Messiah but you do not kill people in Jesus, God, or the Holy Ghost name regardless of their choices John 14:6. All of this is Jesus words not mine and Michael's too and others input not my-laci's words with entire post and all my Blog belongs to Jesus, God, the Holy Ghost and then others input. You have got to be that honest with Jesus and choose what you want people over you or God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as your king and that is with all people everywhere he knows everything about you and God and the Holy Ghost does too and others they want to know about you specifically

[creature-wizard]

hi!! i saw ur take on DID programming being a conspiracy theory, and i'd like a further elaboration if that's fine with you. i'm just curious and a bit confused, since i've met numerous systems claiming to be victims of programming

Sure! It's kind of a long story, but I'll try and summarize things as best as I can.

So, back in the early 20th century, mystical types were looking at hypnosis, trancework, and even drugs as a way to retrieve memories of past lives. The idea that you could retrieve lost memories made it way into ufology communities, where people tried to remember alien abductions. It also got into actual psychology, with therapists attempting to help patients retrieve lost early life memories. There was never any real evidence that these practices actually worked the way these people thought they did, and today we know that you can get people to confabulate memories of just about anything under the right circumstances. (If you need evidence, I can show you some very obvious examples here and here.)

Edit to add: In 1952, the book The Manchurian Candidate came out. It was basically a political thriller about a guy who'd been captured by Russians and brainwashed into being their secret assassin, complete with special triggers to activate his programming and everything. This had everything to do with the US painting communism as something subversive that people were sinisterly brainwashed into. In 1962, a film adaptation was released to theaters.

In the 1950s, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur started treating her patient Shirley Mason for seeming DID. (Which, Mason did not actually have.) Dr. Wilbur was extremely irresponsible and unprofessional in general, and very notably gave Mason sodium pentothal to help her remember. (Yikes!) Dr. Wilbur would push the baseless myth that DID could only be caused by severe childhood abuse (such as SA), and push drugs and hypnosis as methods for finding said abuse if the patients didn't seem to remember it. The 1973 book Sybil was based on Wilbur and Mason.

In the 1970s, radio host, notorious prankster, and platformer of weird fringe content Long John Nebel apparently started using hypnosis on his wife, Candy Jones to try and figure out the reason for her mental health issues. Supposedly, he helped her "remember" being a CIA agent, whose alter Arlene had been trained as a spy. The 1976 book The Control of Candy Jones describes what they supposedly uncovered. Also, here's an article that talks about some of their claims, and the context around what happened.

Also in the 1970s, Dr. Lawrence Pazder (who was inspired by Sybil) attempted to find the source of his patient Michelle Smith's issues by helping her remember supposedly lost memories. Under his coaching, Smith "remembered" being abused by a Satanic cult. They didn't use hypnosis as most of us know it, but Smith was putting herself into a kind of trance. Now like, this whole book is extremely discredited. They made a lot of claims that were very easy to check, and each time somebody checked said claims, it turned out they were full of shit. Like just for one example, her school yearbook picture from the year she was supposedly being tortured by the cult doesn't show any sign of the abuses she claims she was suffering, which would have been very, very obvious.

Then in 1988, Mark Philips used hypnosis on Cathy O'Brien to help her "remember" being a mind-controlled slave for the New World Order under the CIA program Project Monarch. They published what O'Brien supposedly remembered in the 1995 book Trance-Formation of America. O'Brien claimed that she and her daughter were tortured to induce DID, with the alters being programmed to carry out specific tasks for the CIA/NWO. The whole thing was an extremely racist crock of pure conspiracy theory bullshit; it claimed, for example, that the NWO was letting Mexicans ruin America and shipping white women off to Saudi Arabia as sex slaves.

In 1994, Fritz Springmeier used hypnosis on Cisco Wheeler to supposedly uncover her memories as a member of the NWO/Illuminati. In their three books published across the mid to late 90's, Springmeier and Wheeler gave an incredibly elaborate narrative around alter programming, incorporating elements from just about every other conspiracy theory you can name. They claimed alter programming was an ancient practice developed by pagan priests, and used in modern times by a global cult that intended to enthrone the Antichrist in the year 2000. The pair of them made so many claims that are absolutely beyond ludicrous, and I posted a sample of them over here.

Basically everyone who claims that alter programming is a real thing these days is downstream of Springmeier and Wheeler, whether they realize it or not. One reason we know this is that a lot of them cite a blogger who calls herself Svali, or cite people who cite Svali (such as Dr. Alison Miller and Dr. Ellen Lacter). Svali first popped up in the early 2000s claiming to be a former Illuminati/NWO programmer. She described the same kind of Illuminati and the same kind of practices as Springmeier and Wheeler. If you need examples, here she is claiming that color, metal, and jewel programming are things. And here she is claiming Disney moves are made for Illuminati programming.

Unwelcome Ozian is another clear case of someone who's getting their material from Springmeier and Wheeler; for example, their book Chainless Slaves not only describes the same methods and styles of alter programming; it even reproduces complete paragraphs from Springmeier and Wheeler's work. Edit to add: Unwelcome Ozian's other book, Rules of Programming, reproduces material not only from Springmeier and Wheeler's work, but also from a lot of literature on topics such as abuse, cults, and self-help in general. I have a post exposing this over here.

Basically, the whole idea of alter programming/trauma-based mind control has a long, long history of medical malpractice, pseudoscience, fraud, and conspiracy theory behind it. It just doesn't take very long to start finding it once you actually start digging. Meanwhile, real evidence just never turns up, and what we do find often just flat-out contradicts these claims. Like, many people who claim to have undergone brutal tortures or major surgeries at the hands of programmers don't have the scars to show for it. The sites, tools, and costumes for the elaborate rituals described by a lot of these people are just never found.

What's very notably missing are technical manuals for the actual programming process. I'm talking about literature that fully describes the actual procedures in full, step-by-step detail, rather than the vague, suggestive descriptions you find in conspiracist literature. The fact that nothing of the sort has ever turned up anywhere you might expect it to in over seventy years is pretty damning, because this isn't the kind of thing that a bunch of random, unconnected people would just independently invent on their own.

Meanwhile, what very demonstrably does exist are therapists who still believe the in the pseudoscience and misinformation pushed by Dr. Wilbur, Dr. Pazder, etc, who will push people both with and without actual DID to try and uncover repressed memories. There are websites and articles that suggest guided imagery and hypnosis for retrieving memories you think you might have suppressed. There are hypnosis videos on YouTube that will supposedly help you recover repressed memories. We have clear cases of memory confabulation within the New Age movement, where people vividly "remember" traumatic events that very obviously never happened because they take place in non-existent places such as Lemuria and incorporate narratives from the pseudoscientific and racist ancient astronaut hypothesis.

So, hopefully this should answer things. I tried to keep this post as short as possible, but there's just a lot of history and context here. The very, very short version of this is that there are a lot of misled people who've unknowingly run afoul of 20th century conspiracy theories and psychiatric quackery.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

1404 – Gilles De Rais [also spelled Retz] (d.1440); A French noble, soldier and one time brother-in-arms of Joan of Arc accused and ultimately convicted of torturing, raping and murdering dozens, if not hundreds, of young children, mainly boys. Along with Erzsébet Báthory, another sadistic aristocrat acting more than a century later, he is considered by some historians to be a precursor of the modern serial killer.

If one is to believe his confession, and there is good reason not to, de Rais had run through his fortune and was convinced that sacrificing young boys to Satan would restore his riches. Somewhere along the way he decided that sodomizing his victims before killing them would satisfy his needs along with the Devil's, and so more and more boys disappeared in his castle, never to be seen again. When Gilles was arrested on charges of blasphemy, the grisly murders were uncovered. He confessed to having killed some 150 boys, "for the pleasure and gratification of my senses." Having been an ally of Joan of Arc, there is good reason to suspect that the murders were the invention of the Catholic Church.

1927 – Singer and songwriter Johnnie Ray (d.1990) caused a sensation in the 1950s with energetic concert performances of hit songs, including the chart-topping "Cry." Because of his emotional on-stage style he was dubbed the Prince of Wails.

John Alvin Ray was born on a farm near Dallas, Oregon on January 10, 1927. Several years later, at the height of the Great Depression, the family lost the property and moved into town, where Ray's father found work at a lumber mill.

Young Johnnie Ray showed musical talent early. At the age of three or four he began playing tunes by ear on a pump organ. His parents arranged for him to take lessons from the church organist, and soon Ray was playing at services. The boy's musical taste ran to pop, however, and he and his older sister began performing together at schools. By the time he was five Ray knew that he wanted to be an entertainer.

An accident in the summer of 1940 nearly derailed his plans. During a blanket toss at a Boy Scout Jamboree, Ray fell to the ground, suffering a concussion and severe ear injuries that cost him about fifty percent of his hearing.

When World War II broke out, Ray's family moved again, this time to Portland, where his father worked in the shipyards.

During high school and for several years thereafter he performed in Oregon, but at twenty-two he headed for Hollywood. Although he found some jobs, he did not enjoy much success in California. Within a year he was broke and on his way home.

Ray was delighted when the male-female comedy team of Bob Mitchell and Jay Grayton came to perform in Portland. The couple had helped him get some bookings in Los Angeles and had also made him part of a ménage à trois. Ray's participation in sexual activities with both Mitchell and Grayton is an exemplar of his bisexual tendencies; although he seems to have been mostly homosexual in orientation, Ray also participated in heterosexual liaisons. Once again the couple took him under their wing.

When Grayton and Mitchell, who were performing at the Flame Showbar in Detroit, persuaded the management to give Ray an audition, he barely had enough money for a bus ticket to Michigan.

While playing at the Flame in 1951, Ray was "discovered" by disk jockey Robin Seymour of WKMH in Dearborn. He brought him to the attention of record producer Danny Kessler, who said of his first view of Ray's performance, "I was probably more overwhelmed with what I heard and saw than by anything else I ever encountered artistically in my life." He signed Ray to a record contract.

Ray's recording of "Cry" topped the pop charts in late 1951, and the song on the flip side, "The Little White Cloud That Cried," reached number two. An appearance on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town television program in early 1952 added to Ray's popularity.

In the spring of 1952 Ray married Marilyn Morrison, the daughter of a Los Angeles club owner. Morrison had avidly pursued the handsome young singing star. She was aware of Ray's homosexuality but told a friend of his that she would "straighten it out." Her resolution was doomed, as was the marriage. The couple separated within a year and were divorced in 1954.

Ray's long-held dream of being in films was realized when he appeared in Walter Lang's There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Ray hoped that more movies would follow, but when producer Darryl Zanuck, who had praised Ray's performance, left Twentieth Century Fox to form his own company, neither studio offered him any further projects.

When Ray appeared as the "mystery guest" on the What's My Line? television show in 1956 he met journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, who was a regular panelist on the program, and the two began an affair.

The romance was an unlikely one. Married and fifteen years Ray's senior, Kilgallen embodied cosmopolitan sophistication, while Ray had the image of a country boy turned pop singer. Kilgallen remained with her husband, and Ray took one man after another as lovers. Nevertheless, the affection between the pair was genuine, and the affair lasted for years. Ray was devastated by Kilgallen's mysterious death in 1964.

Although Ray's 1951 arrest for cruising a public washrrom had been alluded to in various scandal sheets over the years, the general public was unaware of it. That changed in 1959, when he was once again arrested by the Detroit vice squad on a charge of soliciting an undercover police officer in one of the city's gay bars, the Brass Rail.

This time Ray hired an attorney and fought the charges. Kilgallen stood by him, even calling the judge in the case to insist that that he receive a fair trial. After hearing the testimony, the jury took less than an hour to find Ray not guilty, apparently concluding that he had been entrapped. Ray promptly left Detroit and never set foot in the city again.

The hard drinking in which Ray had indulged since his teens caught up with him in 1960. Weakened and exhausted, he contracted tuberculosis. He recovered after several months of treatment and resumed his career. He did not give up alcohol, however, and landed back in the hospital in 1963, suffering from cirrhosis.

Once again Kilgallen was at his side, but this time so was Bill Franklin, who had worked in public relations in the entertainment industry before becoming Ray's manager and also his lover.

The relationship with Franklin gave Ray's personal life a stability that it had lacked for many years. With Franklin's encouragement, he started paying attention to proper nutrition and swore off drinking.

However, the 1959 arrest and widely disseminated gossip about Ray's homosexuality took a toll on his popularity, and contributed to the decline of his career, especially in the United States. Ray continued to play club dates in the U.S., though at increasingly less prestigious venues.

Eventually Ray started drinking again. Despite Franklin's efforts to limit his intake of alcohol, he reverted to his old ways. His career, already in decline, suffered further, although he could still draw adoring crowds in England and Australia.

Franklin, frustrated by Ray's self-destructive behavior, left him in 1977.

The concert that would be Ray's last took him home to Portland, where he did a benefit for the Center for the Performing Arts in October 1989. Afterward he went back to Los Angeles, where he became reclusive and withdrawn. He was malnourished and seriously ill with liver disease. To cope with his pain, he was using, in addition to alcohol, the tranquilizer Halcion.

Ray was soon hospitalized. He lapsed into a coma for a few days; although he came out of the coma, he had no chance of recovery from the liver disease. He died on February 24, 1990.

1929 – Tintin, the beloved comic strip character, is gay, claims Matthew Parris, British ex-Tory MP. Parris insists that the boy reporter whose adventures have sold more than 200 million copies and been translated into 50 languages, is gay and that fans are in a state of "denial". Parris, himself gay, is a well-known newspaper columnist who notoriously 'outed' Business Minister Lord Peter Mandelson in the middle of a television interview in 1998.

Tintin, who was born January 10, 1929, on the pages of a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, has an unknown background and origin, says Parris, adding: "This is common among young gay men, some of whom find it hard to believe that they really are their parents' child".

In fact, Parris suspects Tintin may well have been a spy - "secret intelligence has always attracted gay men. I myself applied for and was offered a post in MI6."

He finds Tintin's world full of men. Of the complete list of 350 characters in Tintin books, Parris counts only eight women, and he doesn't find them attractive. The best known of them, chain-smoking opera singer Bianca Castafiore, is a "diva fag-hag," while Peggy, the wife of a Latin American dictator, is a "curler-wearing virago". "The butch, bitchy, bullying, cigar-smoking, hard-drinking, flame-haired wife of General Alcazar may well have been lesbian," Parris proclaims.

Snowy the loyal fox terrier is the only "unambiguously heterosexual male mammal in Tintin's entire universe," Parris says.

Parris is not the first person to speculate on Tintin's sexuality. In 2001, Belgian police seized 600 copies of an unauthorised book titled "Tintin in Thailand" - which showed Tintin and his friends living it up in Thai gay bars.

Belgium-based Studios Herge reacted stoutly, with spokesman Marcel Wilmet declaring: "Tintin is not at all gay - he was very macho in fact. He has many friends who are boys but they are not boyfriends."

Sal Mineo with James Dean in "Rebel..."

1939 – Sal Mineo, American actor (d.1976); A Golden Globe winning American movie and stage actor , best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause, Mineo, born in The Bronx, New York City , the son of a Sicilian coffin maker, was enrolled by his mother in dancing and acting school at an early age. One of the articles of faith of the James Dean cult that grew out of the actor's early death in 1955 is that Mineo "turned queer" after the auto wreck that took his co-star's life. As the story goes, young Sal left a séance in which he had attempted in vain to contact his fallen friend, only to wreck his own car. His life was spared, but the words "James Dean" suddenly appeared indelibly on his smashed windshield. Supposedly he was Gay from that moment on.

However, Mineo's homosexuality was a fairly open secret even at the height of his Hollywood success. He was rumored to have pursued numerous affairs, including one with Nicholas Ray during the filming of Rebel without a Cause.

The Hollywood Code of the `50s may have dictated that Dean win Natalie Wood at the end of Rebel Without A Cause, but anyone with half a brain knew that it should have been Mineo's Plato and Dean's Jim who embraced at the climax.

Other films in which Mineo appeared include Giant (1956), The Gene Krupa Story (1959), Exodus (1960),Cheyenne Autumn (1964),Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He also had a modest success in the 1950s as a rock 'n' roll singer.

With maturity, Mineo sought to explore his homosexuality more fully in both his life and his art. Although he appeared in several television productions and films, in his latter years he increasingly found the theater more supportive of his aspirations. Sal Mineo grew up to produce the revival of John Herbert's Fortune and Men's Eyes, about homosexuality in a Canadian prison, and to star in a West Coast production of James Kirkwood's P.S. Your Cat is Dead, both of which enabled him to say without a word "I'm Gay. So what?"

Rumors that he spent his off hours in the company of rough trade have led to lurid speculation about his grisly murder in 1976. Such is Hollywood fame and popular legend that no one wants to believe that, like so many innocent Americans these days, he was "merely" mugged, robbed, and left to die just a few short steps from the safety of his own home.

1953 – Dennis Cooper is one of the most controversial writers working today, He is best known for his series of strikingly original, critically acclaimed, albeit transgressive and contentious, novels exploring the nature of sexual obsession, alienation, brutality, and death. His works obsessively feature callow but beautiful adolescent boys, predatory older gay men, punk rock music, drug abuse, explicit sex, and graphic violence.

He has also courted controversy and debate for his works' extreme sexual nature, seemingly bordering on pornography, and his alleged fascination with pedophilia. Cooper himself has even been the recipient of death threats and protests by outraged gay activists.

Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Pasadena, California. His literary aspirations were explored early on and often took the form of imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, De Sade, and Baudelaire. He wrote poetry and stories in his early teens that explored scandalous and often extreme subjects. As a teenager, Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punks, stoners and writers.

In 1976 Cooper moved to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press.

In 1987 he moved to Amsterdam, mainly in pursuit of a boyfriend, where he finished writing Closer which took as inspiration a postcard that featured an image of Mickey Mouse carved onto the back of a young boy.

While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including The Advocate, the Village Voice and others. He returned to New York in 1987 and began working on his next novel, Frisk. In the next few years Cooper worked on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men.

He completed his renowned, ten years in the writing sequence of five interconnected novels, 'The George Miles Cycle,' in the year 2000 - Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period. Since then he has written three novels: My Loose Thread, The Sluts (winner of the Lammy Award for best book of gay fiction of 2005), and God Jr.

George Miles, a recurring character in two of the series' five novels, as well as the model for most of the other major young male characters in the cycle, is also the name of an actual person in Cooper's life: his most important and influential friend from high school onwards.

As Cooper explained in an interview: "[Miles] was a few years younger than me, and very sweet and brilliant, but he had a severe chemical imbalance, so he was all over the place; really chaotic and unpredictable. Our relationship was intense and unforgettable, and if I have a muse, it's him."

The two remained extremely close friends, and years later, when Cooper was 30, he and Miles had a brief sexual relationship. Cooper lost contact with Miles, however, after he moved to Amsterdam, and tried tracking him down, but without luck. "In a way," Cooper noted, "I wrote the novels for him, and assumed that somehow, somewhere he was reading them, and knew how important he was to me."

In 1997, Cooper finally learned that Miles had killed himself ten years earlier while Cooper was still living in Europe.

A film adaptation of the novel Frisk was released in 1995, directed by Todd Verow and featuring Craig Chester and Parker Posey. Cooper himself makes a cameo appearance in the film.

Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris, France. While there, he has worked a stage adaption of his novella Jerk (2008). These theatre works have been highly acclaimed and have toured extensively in Europe and the UK.

As of late 2009, Cooper was completing his ninth novel, tentatively titled The Marbled Swarm.

1961 – The New Jersey Supreme Court suspends, until he is "cured," an attorney who had sex with another male.

1975 – The Chicago Board of Education approves a plan that allows, for the first time, the city’s teachers to answer students’ questions about homosexuality.

2005 – Israeli Supreme Court allows each partner of a lesbian couple to adopt the other’s children. The case involves Tal and Avital Yaros-Hakak who are raising three children conceived through donor insemination. Tal gave birth to two children, Avital to the third. They unsuccessfully sought to adopt each other’s children in the Family Court in Ramat Gan. The Supreme Court ruled that the Family Court should grant these adoptions if it were in the best interest of the children to do so. The ruling came at the end of a long legal battle, decided at the High Court. The Yaros-Hakak couple had lived together for 16 years.

2011 – In a ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" is effectively banned from Canadian radio airplay, after 25 years of airtime, after a gay resident of St. John's files a complaint because the lyrics contain the derogatory slur "faggot". It occurs in the line: ''That little faggot with the earring and the make-up." The ruling is later rescinded on August 31, with the council leaving it to individual radio stations' discretion whether or not to play the song.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

A quick breakdown of The Book of Revelation in Hannibal because unfortunately for everyone I am deeply autistic about this particular book of the Bible.

The most obvious references are found in two key places: Will Graham being depicted as the Lamb, and Francis being depicted as the Dragon, paired with Reba, the Woman Clothed in Sun.

The painting of the Red Dragon depicts a scene from Revelation, where a pregnant woman appears, clothed in sun, with the Moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head appears in heaven. The Dragon too, appears, knocking stars out of the sky with his tail and standing before the woman, intending to eat her son the moment he is born. I won’t go into every detail as the painting only depicts that particular scene, but what I will say is that the Dragon fails to devour the child, and fails to kill the mother, however hard he pursues her, he is always bested by heaven.

In many ways this reflects Francis’ turmoil regarding Reba — akin to the war between heaven and the Dragon. The Dragon sees the woman, likely the Virgin Mary, as a threat, as something to be slaughtered, while Francis seeks to protect her.

The Dragon, of course, is Satan. He is described as having ten horns and seven heads, which isn’t entirely relevant to Hannibal I just love that description.

Then, there’s the Lamb. Jesus Christ.

The Lamb in Revelation is possibly one of my favourite figures, being depicted as being slain, and having seven eyes and seven horns. It is a sacrificial Lamb, but also God’s most beloved.

The Lamb is also responsible for starting the apocalypse, unleashing the first seals upon the world, and eventually, the Lamb — Jesus — will overcome the Dragon — Satan — and will rule the other for a thousand years.

When it comes to who is God, it could be either Jack or Hannibal, but I’d argue more Jack. The Lamb is deemed worthy as it has been slain and sacrificed in the name of the Lord, as Will is only worthy once he has been broken down and hurt beyond repair, nearly slain himself. Will is pushed to his limits by Jack, one sacrifice to save countless more. The Lamb’s rise is akin to Will’s becoming.

Like the Lamb, Will is defined by his empathy and compassion, but beneath the surface is God’s Old Testemant wrath, and his righteousness.

Hide us from the Wrath of the Lamb is said for a reason.

And while Francis represents Satan, Hannibal is also frequently compared to the devil as well, but more this idea of Lucifer we’ve developed. Lucifer isn’t actually a name in the Bible, it likely references the Morning Star, or Venus, and a lot of what we understand about Lucifer in modern media today tends to come from Paradise Lost — An Epic Poem written by John Milton.

Francis is the Dragon, but Hannibal represents a more modern idea of the Devil.

Why am I bringing this up? Because the Wrath of the Lamb finds both of them. Jesus is always guaranteed to win against the Devil. It’s the nature of Revelation, a pre-destined prophecy of the end. Will kills Francis, and he takes himself and Hannibal off the cliffside, leaving their fates to chance.

[queersatanic]

The Satanic Temple loses SLAPP libel case against Newsweek

The Satanic Temple is very bad at court cases.

A federal district court judge in New York today sided with the online magazine Newsweek against The Satanic Temple, a tax-exempt church, finding there was no basis by the nontheistic religious organization to continue the defamation case against the publisher.

This should be the end of a case that started either three or five years ago, depending on what you want to start counting by.

The Satanic Temple sued the Newsweek and its reporter Julia Duin in February 2022 in retaliation for Duin writing and Newsweek publishing a critical article about TST in October 2021; that article centered on TST suing four former Washington State members in April 2020. That is, us. The Temple repeatedly lost their lawsuits against us over the next four-plus, the final one ending in October 2024.

More here:

Also, it's not official yet, but "Satanic Temple’s Idaho Abortion Ban Appeal Looks Likely to Fail"

Title comes from this Bloomberg writeup that probably is paywalled, but is pretty negative:

A panel of Ninth Circuit judges on Wednesday appeared unlikely to give the Satanic Temple another shot at suing Idaho over measures that bar it from providing abortion care to members in the state. Questions of the group’s standing to sue—personal, associational, organizational, or otherwise—dominated the oral arguments, with Judge M. Margaret McKeown asking attorneys for both sides to clarify how the Satanic Temple can proceed when it hasn’t named any member who lives in Idaho, is pregnant, and wants to end the pregnancy. It can’t, state’s attorney Alan Hurst told the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. But W. James Mac Naughton, a private practitioner in Newton, N.J., representing the Satanic Temple, said there’s a “statistical probability” that such a person exists. In his analysis, at least three people in Idaho currently are being harmed by laws that prevent the Satanic Temple from setting up a clinic or mailing abortion-inducing pills into the state, he said. Without a name, however, there’s no way to show the Satanic Temple’s claimed harm is anything more that pure speculation, Hurst said. Judge John B. Owens didn’t have any substantive questions for the attorneys, while Judge Ronald M. Gould stayed silent.

It goes on about some more of the background, but you can also just see all of their cases on The.Satanic.Wiki.

This Courthouse news article should be fully accessible and also characterizes it similarly:

“This case is about coerced motherhood and money,” James Mac Naughton, an attorney representing the Satanic Temple, told the court. But before Mac Naughton got too far into his argument, U.S. Circuit Judge Mary McKeown questioned him about the Temple’s standing. “Maybe you can explain to me what have you alleged that give you the predicates of associational standing?” Bill Clinton appointee asked.

[ministerpeacefulpoetwordwitch]

The state of Israel is one very big lie

The state of Israel is one very big lie who used the bible to support it, a book that was written thousands of years ago, yet the the state of Israel isn't even a hundred years old. The Zionist movement was created by Theodor Herzl - not only was he not Jewish, but was an atheist who happened to read the bible and realized how powerful religion was and concocted a way to put it to use. The history books skip over the part where a large sect of Jews paid Hitler millions of dollars to be transported to Palestine where they would create their new Zionist state where one had already existed, just like they did it in the bible thousands and thousands of years ago. Eastern European Jews, often referred to as Ashkenazi, Turkic, from the land of Khazar, a nation that converted to Judaism in hopes to save their nation from defeat but were defeated anyways; Who became an outcast people all across Europe and have absolutely no blood line to the land of Palestine that was once called Israel, now claim to be decedents of Abraham, but are not.

The real Jews however where now called Philistine after their last defeat by the Romans. The Romans decided to get rid of them all together by renaming Israel to Philistine, later, re-interpreted as Palestine. Palestine is Israel and the state of Israel is fake created by a man who didn't even believe in God - Those of you who believe that the words of revelations are coming true today - well here's one for you:

"I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you." Revelations 3:9

Zion by the way represents the Kingdom of heaven on earth. What do you think Jesus was talking about when he said:

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12

I don't know about you - I find it hard to believe that our creator God would encourage the killing of its own creation, all, innocent women and children. Did not Jesus teach that God was our Father full of mercy and forgiveness. Here is something that isn't taught in churches today. Recently (within the last 20 or 30 years) the dead sea scrolls were discovered that contained scriptures not found in the bible that spoke of a false god - could this be the same god that ordered all the Philistines to be killed, including women and children? Surely this isn't the same Father Jesus taught us about?

You want to know something about these dead sea scrolls, they were held by the Essen. (A Jewish Sect by the way) Probably the most righteous people who ever lived on this earth. They hid these scriptures for future generations knowing that they were about to be killed, and they were, completely wiped out by the Romans. The word never dies but the people did, and this word I believe should be read and studied in every church around the world, because this word was saved for us today, and that's the truth.

OH - and by the way, do you know where the bible came from? The Roman Catholic Church that would later replace the Roman empire. You may not believe in conspiracies, but maybe you should. #Israel#palestine#Jews

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

For all the unbelievers and those uncertain about God’s love for you, and for all those who say that God is not good because evil exists…

In Genesis, when God created mankind, he made it so that they knew no evil. In the garden of Eden, God made it so that man could choose. And Satan is the one who interfered with that Satan is the one who took the form of a snake and convinced Eve to take the apple off the tree. Now, because God gave me the ability to choose, she was able to do this. The definition of free will is being able to do whatever you want whenever you want however you want. Very meaning of this free will means that whoever has free will should be able to do, like I said, whatever they want. Because we are unable to multiply ourselves and shrink ourselves and supply any item we want with a snap of the finger, we do not have free will by definition. What we have is the ability to choose. And because God gave us the ability to choose he did not interfere when we chose evil. When Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked in the garden, God was upset. He said “who told you that you were naked?” And because they knew right from wrong God knew that they had taken a bite out of the apple from the tree of life, which he explicitly had told them not to do. Now because God loves us, he made love a choice. If God had not given us free, will, we would have loved him as slaves. we would not have had a choice, but to be loyal to him. Now God, because he is just and right, did not want to force us to love him. God wants a real relationship with us. So he gives us a choice. Just like we chose to do wrong in the garden of Eden we can choose whether or not to love him. So because Satan influenced Adam and eves choice with the Apple, we now know if evil. Because we know of evil, we have the choice to do evil. Now, as I said, God is all right, and just so he’s not going to take back the ability to choose. A lot of the things that God does are above us because he is God. And only God knows the full truth, because God IS the full truth!!

Now, because God is just and must put an end into sin and punish those who have sinned (for this is true righteousness, and we all must be judged for our actions), he still loves us. And because of this great and undying love that he has for us, he chose, and might I repeat that the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE *chose,* to sacrifice his only begotten son for us. Look at John 3:16 one of the most widely known verses in the Bible. If you read the Bible, I’m sure that you will know what I’m talking about. God gave us the ability to choose because he wants an authentic relationship with us. If someone kidnapped you and locked you in their basement and told you you’re gonna be my wife and you’re gonna have sex with me and you’re gonna be my slave for as long as you live or else I’ll kill you, that wouldn’t be true love. God is not a kidnapper, nor is he going to force us to be his slave. Because he truly loves us, he wants the best for us.

Because Satan brought into this world, God offered a way out.

And that way out??

THE ONE AND ONLY JESUS CHRIST!!!

I hope this has helped anyone struggling with their faith, God has really used me to help others understand today and has even brought others to help me understand at the SAME TIME!!!!!

I LOVE YOU MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST!!! <333

~Hopey, OUT!! 🫶✨🕊️🥰

[scotianostra]

January 8th 1697 Edinburgh student Thomas Aikenhead was executed in Edinburgh.

This is a cracking, if sad tale, and shows you how religious beliefs can be a blight on our history.

So who was oor Thomas, a villain?, a murderer?, a smuggler?, or some enemy of the state? No Thomas’s crime was blasphemy who took the lord’s name in vain…….this would be comic if it wasn’t for the tragic fact that he was executed, unlike the man in Life of Brian, who uttered the words Jehova, Thomas complained that he wished he was warming himself in hell rather than that chilly night walking past the recently built Tron Kirk on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Well that’s the simple story that the tour guides that take you round the Old Town will tell you, there is a bit more to it so I will bore you with a bit more of the detail. Thomas Aikenhead came from a well-to-do family in Edinburgh, his father being listed as a surgeon but more probably an apothecary, a dispenser of herbs and potions. Both his parents were dead by the time he became a student at Edinburgh University at the age of 16 or 17.

His mother had been a daughter of the manse, and you would think that would have made Aikenhead wary of challenging the established religion of the time, namely the all-powerful Church of Scotland, especially while still a student and under the constant gaze of professors, lecturers and, as it turned out, his fellow students.

These were the dying days of a curious period in Scottish history. Aikenhead would have been four when the ‘Wizard of the West Bow’ Major Thomas Weir was executed in 1670. Our own ghost hunter-member Leonard Low mentioned him in a comment already today. Weir was by day an extreme Calvinist but by night an incestuous Satanist and it takes no great leap of reason to see that an impressionable young boy might well have been affected by the trial and execution of a local celebrity that lived not far from him.

The 1680s was also the ‘killing time’ for the Covenanters when many died because of they worshipped their same god in differing ways!

Thomas was a keen student and an avid reader, he may or may not have known and Edinburgh bookseller, John Frazer, who had been prosecuted after admitting either reading, or being in possession of Charles Blount’s Oracles of Reason a book I know nothing about but gather it relates to Deism, which questioned the existence or more importanyly, non-existence of God or Satan, Frazer had repented ad as it was a first offence was sackclothed and jailed in the old Tolbooth for a number of months.

Anyway, Thomas had a friend, well he thought he had a friend, Murdo Craig, but Murdo, on the sly had been keeping notes on Aitkenhead, and his dalliances with blasphemous ideals, we know that because they formed a large part of the indictment against Aikenhead.

“Nevertheless it is of verity, that you Thomas Aikenhead, shakeing off all fear of God and regaird to his majesties lawes, have now for more than a twelvemoneth by past, and upon severall of the dayes within the said space, and ane or other of the same, made it as it were your endeavour and work in severall compainies to vent your wicked blasphemies against God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and against the holy Scriptures, and all revealled religione, in soe far as upon ane or other of the dayes forsaid, you said and affirmed, that divinity or the doctrine of theologie was a rapsidie of faigned and ill-invented nonsense, patched up partly of the morall doctrine of philosophers, and pairtly of poeticall fictions and extravagant chimeras, or words to this effect or purpose, with severall other such reproachfull expressions.”

That was just for starters. Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, the Lord Advocate of the day, had taken a personal interest in the case and he decided to throw the whole lot of Craig’s testimony at Aikenhead who was arrested in November, 1696, and charged under the Blasphemy Act of 1661 which carried the death penalty. He also charged Aikenhead under a more recent act, which made it a criminal offence to ‘deny, impugn or quarrel’ about the existence of God.The prosecution papers go on to record

“You have lykwayes in discourse preferred Mahomet to the blessed Jesus, and you have said that you hoped to see Christianity greatly weakened, and that you are confident that in a short tyme it will be utterly extirpate.”

For Mahomet, read Muhammad, could young Thomas be an Islam convert in 17th century Edinburgh, I very much doubt it, they just needed to make an example of the young student, and he knew by now that he was in very great trouble and protested in effect that he was guilty only of the sin of being youthful and had been led astray by the books he had read. He claimed to have repented of his anti-Christian beliefs and was once again a good Presbyterian. In this way he seems to have thrown himself upon the mercy of the court, but there was no mercy. On Christmas Eve, 1696, a jury found him guilty. Sir James Stewart asked for the death penalty and it was granted and “pronounced for doom,” as Scottish judges were still saying well into the 20th century in capital punishment cases. Aikenhead pleaded for his life to the Privy Council emphasising his youth, his dire circumstances, and the fact that he was reconciled to the Protestant religion. There was some support for the death sentence to be commuted from at least two councillors and two Church of Scotland ministers, but the General Assembly of the Kirk intervened, demanding that Aikenhead suffer

“vigorous execution to curb the abounding of impiety and profanity in this land”.

In his last letter to friends, written in the Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh as he awaited execution, Aikenhead at last gave a plausible explanation for his conduct – that he had been a disappointed seeker after truth. He wrote:

“It is a principle innate and co-natural to every man to have an insatiable inclination to the truth and to seek for it as for hid treasure. So I proceeded until the more I thought thereon, the further I was from finding the verity I desired.” In truth, in a repressed society the student had just gone too far in rejecting the doctrines of Christianity calling it “feigned and ill-invented nonsense”

Aikenhead went to his death on January 8, 1697, hanged on the scaffold at Shrubhill between Edinburgh and Leith. It is said that before he died he proclaimed that moral laws were the work of governments and men. In his hand as the noose was plced around his neck was the Holy Bible. The execution angered many people for many years afterwards. The great English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote an account of the hanging and called the execution “a crime such has never since polluted the island.”He continued: “The preachers who were the boy’s murderers crowded round him at the gallows, and, while he was struggling in the last agony, insulted Heaven with prayers more blasphemous than any thing that he had ever uttered.”

There was other evidence of church authorities being present as Aikenhead died. He was the last man in Britain to be hanged for blasphemy.

According to Arthur Herman in his book “How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It”, the execution of Aikenhead was “the last hurrah of Scotland’s Calvinist ayatollahs” before the dawning of the age of reason in the Enlightenment.

Now we can all rejoice in The Enlightenment but a full 30 years later in the small town of Dornoch in Sutherland, Janet Horne was put on trial for the “crime” of having a daughter whose feet and hands were misshapen and who had herself given birth to a son with disabilities. She was the last woman in Britain to be burned at the stake for being a witch, her death bringing to an end the “burning time” when perhaps 4000 Scottish women were executed for the crime of witchcraft.

I thought I would add a wee bit more about Shrubhill in Leith, as most of us usually only regard Edinburgh’s Old Town, The Tolbooth, and Grassmarket as sites where executions took place. I can’t find out why Aikenhead was taken to, at what at the time, was a different town for his executions I did however find records of several taking place at the site, now student accommodation, but the site of Edinburgh's tram workshops and powerstation, but beforehand not many know that it was the site of he gibbet known as the Gallow Lee, literally the “field with the gallows”,

Bodies were buried at the base of the gallows or their ashes scattered if burnt. The most famous of those that met their end here was perhaps Major Weir, the Wizard of the West Bow.

1570- Two criminals strangled and burned to death.

1570 (4 October)- Rev. John Kelloe minister of Spott, East Lothian (near Dunbar) strangled and burnt for the murder of his wife

1664- Nine "witches" strangled and burnt

1670- Major Thomas Weir, the self-confessed warlock, strangled and burnt for witchcraft (almost the only self-confessed witch executed).

1678- Five "witches" strangled and burnt

1680- Part of the body of Covenanter David Hackston was hung in chains after his execution at the mercat cross in Edinburgh for the murder of Archbishop Sharp in 1679.

1681 (10 October)- Covenanters Garnock, Foreman, Russel, Ferrie and Stewart hanged and beheaded. Their headless bodies were buried at the site and their heads placed on the Cowgate Port at the foot of the Pleasance. Friends reburied the bodies in the graveyard of the West Kirk (St. Cuthberts). The heads were retrieved, placed in a box and then buried in garden ground at Lauriston. They lay there until 7 October 1726 when the then owner, Mr Shaw, had them exhumed and reburied near the Martyrs’ Monument in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

1697 (8 January)- Thomas Aikenhead, a 19-year-old theology student at Edinburgh University became the last person to be executed under Scotland’s blasphemy laws (and the last in Britain to be executed for that crime).

1752 (10 January)- Norman Ross, a footman, hanged for the murder of Lady Baillie, sister of Home, Laird of Wedderburn. The body was left to hang in a gibbet cage “for many a year” and became a local ghoulish tourist attraction.

Shrubhill House sits on the site now and houses up to 260 students, I wonder how many know of it's past?

Post mid 18th Century the Nor’ Loch was drained and the city expanded to the north by the building of the New Town with stone quarried from nearby Craigleith quarry. In such building sand was needed to add to the lime mortar and Gallow Lee proved to be just what was needed. The owner of Gallow Lee charged the builders to cart away the sand, containing the ashes and other remains of thousands of victims.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

15th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Tuesday of Holy Week (Inc. John 13:21-33, 36-38): ‘After Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him’.

Tuesday of Holy Week

Gospel (Except GB & USA) John 13:21-33,36-38 'What you are going to do, do quickly'.

While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, wondering which he meant. The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus; Simon Peter signed to him and said, ‘Ask who it is he means’, so leaning back on Jesus’ breast he said, ‘Who is it, Lord?’ ‘It is the one’ replied Jesus ‘to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish.’ He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. At that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’ None of the others at table understood the reason he said this. Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’, or telling him to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen. When he had gone Jesus said:

‘Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified. If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon.

‘My little children, I shall not be with you much longer. You will look for me, And, as I told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come.’

Simon Peter said, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later.’ Peter said to him, ‘Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ ‘Lay down your life for me?’ answered Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.’

Gospel (GB) John 13:21-33, 36-38 ‘One of you will betray me… The cock will not crow till you have denied me three times.’

At that time: Jesus was reclining at table with his disciples. He was troubled in his spirit, and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at the side of Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.’ So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the feast’, or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, “Where I am going you cannot come.” ’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow till you have denied me three times.’

Gospel (USA) John 13:21-33, 36-38 One of you will betray me; the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

Reflections (15)

(i) Tuesday of Holy Week

The love we give to others isn’t always returned to us. This was certainly the experience of Jesus. He loved all his disciples equally. He washed the feet of all of his disciples, including the feet of Judas. In laying down his garments to wash the feet of his disciples, Jesus was anticipating the laying down of his life in love for his disciples and for all humanity. In the Oriental culture of the time, Jesus’ action in today’s gospel reading of dipping a piece of bread in the main dish and giving it to Judas was a sign of honour and affection. Jesus’ outreach of love to Judas meets with a rebuff. At the moment Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. He was confirmed in his resolve to betray Jesus to his enemies. Although the light of God’s love was shining through Jesus upon Judas at that moment, Judas showed that he preferred the darkness to the light. He left the presence of God’s light and went out into the night, into the darkness. Yet, Jesus continued to love Judas to the end, laying down his life for him as much as for others. When the love we give to others is not received it tends to die off. This was not the case with Jesus. He continues to love those who fail to receive his love. He seeks out those who turn away from the light and go out into the darkness. The light of the Lord’s love continues to shine in the darkness and the darkness never overcomes it. This Holy Week is an invitation to us to receive the Lord’s love, like the beloved disciple in the gospel reading, and then to reflect something of the Lord’s faithful love to others.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday of Holy Week

This morning’s gospel reading from John comes immediately after Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. He washed all of their feet, including the feet of Judas Iscariot. Jesus loved his disciples until the end and his love showed no discrimination. This morning’s gospel reading goes on to portray Jesus as showing a particular sign of affection to Judas. For a host to take a morsel of food and dip it in the sauce and give it to one of the guests was a gesture of honour and affection in that culture. Jesus’ final outreach of love to Judas, enacted in the gift of the morsel, is rebuffed. On receiving the morsel, Judas promptly leaves the company of Jesus and the other disciples and goes out into the darkness of the night. The evangelist is implying that Jesus’ love for Judas was never in doubt. Yet, Jesus seemed helpless before the freedom of Judas to refuse his love. The Lord’s love for us is never in doubt, but he can never force our loving response. Yet, even Judas’ dark deed would serve God’s greater purpose, rooted in God’s love for the world. That is why, when Judas left the room, Jesus could exclaim, ‘Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified’. We are being reminded that even our failings can somehow serve God’s purpose of drawing all people to himself through his Son. Even when, like Judas, we head out into the darkness, God’s light is not extinguished. The light of God’s love continues to shine and to pursue us.

And/Or

(iii) Tuesday of Holy Week

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus, at the Last Supper, singles out Judas as the one who will betray him. He goes on to single out Peter as the one who will disown him three times. This immediately follows upon Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet in John’s gospel. Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet was a gesture of loving service which symbolically anticipated his supreme act of loving service in laying down his life for them and for all on the cross. Jesus washed the feet of all his disciples, including the feet of Peter who would deny him and of Judas who would betray him. Similarly, Jesus would lay down his life on the cross for all, including those who were responsible for his death. Paul expresses this truth in his letter to the Romans when he says, ‘God proves his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us’. Christ loves us in our weakness, in our failings, in our sinfulness. That is the message of this Holy Week. His love is not a reward for good behaviour. The Lord gives his love to us before we do anything and he is faithful in his love for us even when we betray and deny him in various ways. His faithful love encourages and inspires us to keep returning to him and to keep renewing our following of him.

And/Or

(iv) Tuesday of Holy Week

 In this morning’s gospel reading three of the disciples at the last supper are singled out by the evangelist, the disciple Jesus loved, Simon Peter and Judas. Judas symbolized total failure in discipleship; he left the room and went out into the darkness to betray Jesus. Peter symbolized partial failure; he publicly denied Jesus three times but after the resurrection he would renew his love of Jesus and would die a martyr’s death. The beloved disciple symbolizes the complete absence of failure; he remained faithful to Jesus at all times, and was the only male disciple at the foot of the cross, according to John’s gospel. If we wanted to identify ourselves with any of the three, probably Peter is the one we find it easier to identify with. He has that mixture of failure and loyalty that is in us all, to different degrees. The beloved disciple is the one we would like to be; we would like to have a love for the Lord that is as faithful as his love for us. Yet, it was to Peter that the Lord entrusted the care of his flock, ‘Feed my lambs, feed my flock’. The story of Peter reminds us that the Lord does not wait for us to be complete disciples before entrusting us with pastoral responsibility for others. We all have been given such responsibility in one shape or form. All the Lord asks of us is that we keep on renewing our love for him.

And/Or

(v) Tuesday of Holy Week

One of the most dramatic verses of John’s gospel is to be found in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘As soon as Jesus had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen’. Judas chose to leave the company of the light, the light of the world, and to go out into the darkness. He turned his back on that greater love which Jesus was showing in laying down his life for the world. Judas had his feet washed by Jesus, just like the other disciples. Jesus’ love did not discriminate between his disciples; he loved them all equally. What distinguished them from each other, what discriminated, was how each of them responded to that love. No one can do our responding for us. Each of us is asked to make a personal response to the Lord’s love. He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for each of us and who calls each of us by name. Our response to the Lord’s love has to come from deep within our own hearts. The very personal question that was addressed to Simon Peter by the risen Lord is addressed to each one of us, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter took the opportunity of that question to renew his love for the Lord. The same opportunity is given to all of us, over and over again. The Lord’s personal love for each one of us constantly calls forth a personal response from each of us.

And/Or

(vi) Tuesday, Holy Week

There are three disciples in this morning’s gospel reading, Peter, Judas and the one referred to as the disciple Jesus loved. Judas leaves the table and goes out into the night about his business of betraying Jesus to the authorities. Peter stays for the moment but Jesus announces to him that later on that night Peter will betray him three times. The disciple Jesus loved is the one closest to Jesus, physically in that he is reclining next to Jesus, but also the closest in love. This is the only disciple, according to the fourth gospel, who will remain with Jesus all through his passion and who will be there at the foot of the cross. The gospel reading this morning from John’s gospel comes just after Jesus has washed his disciples’ feet. Jesus washed the feet of all three of these disciples; his love does not discriminate; what does discriminate is how people respond to his love. We can behave like any one of those three disciples at any time in our lives. This holy week we are asked to identify with the disciple Jesus loved. Like him, we are invited to experience the Lord’s love for us, to receive it and to respond to it generously and faithfully.

And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Holy Week

This morning’s gospel reading from John comes immediately after the scene where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Addressing himself to the disciples whose feet he has just washed, Jesus declared, ‘one of you will betray me’. Jesus loved each disciple equally; he washed the feet of each one of them. Yet, one of them, Judas, having experienced his great act of loving service, went on to betray him. We all have the potential to betray the Lord, in spite of the many ways that he has blessed and graced us. We betray him when we fail to love him and to love one another as he has loved us. As well as Judas, another disciple features in this morning’s gospel reading; he is described as leaning back on Jesus’ breast. In contrast to Judas, who separated himself from Jesus, leaving the room to walk out into the night, this disciple remained in loving communion with Jesus. He is the faithful disciple who was there at the foot of the cross. We all have the potential to become this disciple too, the disciple who was as close to Jesus as Jesus was to his Father, the disciple who bore witness to Jesus as powerfully as Jesus bore witness to the Father. That is the disciple we are all called to identify with this Holy Week and that we are all called to become beyond Holy Week.

And/Or

(viii) Tuesday of Holy Week

This morning’s gospel draws attention to how different disciples responded differently to Jesus as he entered into the final days of his earthly life. Jesus announces that Judas will betray him and Peter will deny him. However, one of the disciples is described as ‘reclining next to Jesus’, literally, ‘close to the heart of Jesus’. In the very first chapter of his gospel, the evangelist described Jesus as ‘close to the heart of the Father’. In other words this disciple has the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. This disciple is not given a name in John’s gospel; he is simply spoken of as the disciple Jesus loved. That is because we are all invited to put our own name on him; we are to identify ourselves with him, to become like him. The evangelist presents him as the disciple we are all called to become; we are all called to have the same relationship with Jesus that this disciple had. We are called to be as close to Jesus as Jesus is to his Father. That is why Jesus in John’s gospel goes on to say to all his disciples, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love… as I remain in his love’. Jesus wants us to have that same intimate relationship with him that he has with his Father. That is something worth pondering upon this Holy Week.

And/Or

(ix) Tuesday of Holy Week

This morning’s gospel portrays very different responses to Jesus on the part of his disciples as he enters into the final days of his earthly life. The disciple Jesus loved is described as ‘reclining next to Jesus’, literally, ‘close to the heart of Jesus’. In the very first chapter of his gospel, the evangelist described Jesus as ‘close to the heart of the Father’ (‘in the bosom of the Father’). In other words this disciple has the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. The evangelist presents him as the disciple we are all called to become. This disciple is not given a name in John’s gospel, because we are all invited to put our own name on him; we are to identify ourselves with him, to become like him. For the fourth evangelist, we are all called to have the same relationship with Jesus that this disciple had. We are called to be as close to Jesus as Jesus is to his Father. That is why Jesus in John’s gospel goes on to say, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love… as I remain in his love’. Jesus wants us to have that same relationship with him that he has with his Father. That is something worth pondering upon this Holy Week.

And/Or

(x) Tuesday of Holy Week

Three disciples feature in this morning’s gospel reading. Judas left the company of Jesus at table to go out into the night, rejecting the light and embracing the darkness of betrayal. Peter was full of good intentions, ‘I will lay down my life for you’, but couldn’t follow through on them, and went on to deny Jesus publicly three times. Then there is the disciple, described as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. It is said of him that he was close to the bosom of Jesus. In the opening chapter of John’s gospel it was said of Jesus that he was close to the bosom of the Father. This disciple was as close to Jesus as Jesus was to his Father; he loved Jesus as Jesus loved his Father. He did not deny Jesus, much less betray him. He is the only male disciples found standing at the foot of the cross in this gospel. He is the ideal disciple, the disciple we are all called to become. Like him, we are all called to remain in Jesus’ love, as Jesus remains in his Father’s love; like him, we are to reveal the love of Jesus to others, as Jesus revealed his Father’s love to the world. Of the three disciples in the gospel reading, perhaps we instinctively identify with Peter. We know we are not ideal disciples. Like Peter, we have good intentions but we do not always carry through on them. Like him, we want to be faithful to Jesus, but sometimes our lives suggest otherwise. We see in Peter the person we are and in the beloved disciple the person we are called to be. Peter’s experience reassures us that when we deny Jesus, he does not deny us. When we fail the risen Lord asks us the same question he asked Peter, ‘Do you love me?’ It is a question that invites us to return once more to his love and to remain there, like the beloved disciple.

And/Or

(xi) Tuesday of Holy Week

There is a very dramatic verse in today’s gospel reading. ‘As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen’. Jesus had offered Judas bread that had been dipped in the dish as a sign of affection and friendship. Judas took the bread but not the love that it expressed. After taking the bread, he walked out into the darkness of the night, having turned away from the light of the world. This scene happens in John’s gospel immediately after the scene of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. He washed the feet of all his disciples, including the feet of Judas. He showed the same love to Judas that he showed to the other disciples. Judas, however, did not receive Jesus’ love. He chose to turn his back on it. We see the mystery of human freedom at work here. The Lord needs our free response to the offer of his love and friendship. If it is not forthcoming, he cannot force it. Yet, as risen Lord he continues to seek out the lost. His seeking us in our weakness and sin is never in doubt. The only question is whether we will allow ourselves to be found. This Holy Week is a good time to allow ourselves to be found by the Lord who has laid down his life for us. As we contemplate the final journey of Jesus, as we celebrate it liturgically, we allow ourselves to be touched by the love which that journey expresses. It is the love of the good Shepherd for all the scattered children of God.

And/Or

(xii) Tuesday of Holy Week

Two of the disciples who gathered with Jesus for his last supper are mentioned by name in today’s gospel reading, Judas and Simon Peter. Both of these disciples failed Jesus in the hour of his passion and death. At the beginning of the gospel reading, Jesus says, referring to Judas, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me’. At the end of the gospel reading, Jesus says directly to Peter, ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times’. There is one significant difference between Judas and Peter. Judas is portrayed in the gospel reading as having already decided to betray Jesus. Having taken the bread from Jesus, he went out into the night about his treacherous business. Peter, on the other hand, had no intention of disowning Jesus. He says to Jesus, ‘I will lay down your life for you’. His intention, his desire, was good. His heart was in the right place. It could be said of Peter that his spirit was willing but his flesh was weak, whereas it would be truer to say of Judas that both his spirit and his flesh were weak. It is Peter more than Judas with whom we might find ourselves identifying. We know from our own experience that we do not always follow through on our good intentions. We don’t always act out of our better desires. We want to be faithful to the Lord in all we say and do, but there are times when we go astray, when we disown the Lord. At such times, we need to remind ourselves that there is always a way back, as there was for Peter, when the risen Lord asked him, ‘Do you love me?’

And/Or

(xiii) Tuesday of Holy Week

The scene in today’s gospel reading has a certain dramatic quality. Immediately after washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus solemnly announces, ‘One of you will betray me’. The disciples wondering who Jesus might be talking about. In a final gesture of affection towards Judas, Jesus offers him a piece of bread that he had dipped in the dish. This is the moment when Judas confirms his decision to betray Jesus to the authorities. In the words of the gospel reading, ‘Satan entered him’. Judas then left the company of Jesus and the other disciples and went out into the night; he left the company of the light and went out into the darkness. Judas intended to betray Jesus and he did not move from his intention. Peter was also present at the table. He would go on to deny Jesus. However, it is clear from the gospel reading that he never intended to deny Jesus. He declares to Jesus, ‘I will lay down my life for you’. With Peter, it was a case of the spirit being willing but the flesh weak. Judas’ spirit was weak. Most of us belong with Peter. We have good intentions but we don’t always follow through on them. We want to be faithful to the Lord by what we say and do, but we fall short in various ways. We can take encouragement from Peter’s story after his denial of Jesus. The risen Lord appeared to him and gave him the opportunity to renew his faithfulness and then gave him an important mission, ‘Feed my lambs, feed my sheep’. The Lord comes to us in our own times of weakness and not only offers us the opportunity to renew our following of him but continues to entrust us with a share in his work.

And/Or

(xiv) Tuesday of Holy Week

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus announces his betrayer. Betrayal by a close friend or associate is probably one of the most painful of human experiences. If we are betrayed by someone close to us, we have to painfully conclude that the friend was not what he seemed to be. Jesus had to come to terms with the realization that one of his closest associates in whom he had invested so much time and energy, whose feet he had just washed, was not the disciple he appeared to be but was intent on betraying him to his enemies. It was one of Jesus’ many sufferings in the final hours of his life. It is a different kind of suffering to the physical suffering of his crucifixion he would soon endure. It was a suffering of the heart and spirit. The gospel reading declares that as Jesus announced the presence of his betrayer at the table, ‘he was troubled in spirit’. Many people are suffering physically at the moment because of the coronavirus, because they have contracted it. Many more are suffering at the level of heart and spirit, because they are anxious about the future, or because of a sense of isolation or because they have to forego activities that are important to them, whether it is grandparents not being able to hug their grandchildren or people of faith not being able to come to Mass. This is a different kind of suffering to physical suffering but every bit as real. It is a suffering that Jesus understands because he endured it himself. He knows what it means to be ‘troubled in spirit’. Yet, Jesus saw his suffering, including this suffering of his heart and spirit, in the setting of God’s greater purpose for his life and the life of humanity. As Jesus says at the end of the gospel reading, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and in him God has been glorified’. Jesus shows us how to place our own suffering against that broader canvas of God’s greater purpose for our lives and the life of humanity, a purpose which always has in view our present and ultimate wellbeing, our ‘glory’.

And/Or

(xv) Tuesday of Holy Week

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus dips a piece of bread in the main dish and gives it to Judas. In the culture of the time to take a morsel of food and dip it into sauce and hand it to a guest would have been considered a gesture of honour and affection. Jesus had already washed the feet of the disciples, including the feet of Judas. He now offers Judas a final gesture of affection. As the evangelist stated earlier, Jesus loved his own to the end, including Judas. Yet, even divine love, present in Jesus, is powerless before the human refusal to receive such love. According to the gospel reading, when Judas received the bread, Satan entered him. He left the company of Jesus, God’s light in the world, and went out into the night.  Jesus could not prevent Judas from betraying him, and, yet, Judas’ betrayal came to serve God’s purpose for the world. God worked powerfully through the betrayal and the resulting death of Jesus to reveal his love for the world. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, even when that giving meant the death by crucifixion of his Son. The Lord may be powerless before human resistance to his self-emptying love, but he can work in a life-giving way for all, even in and through the human refusal to receive his love. Jesus reveals a God who does not desire death but who can bring new life out of death. There is much death at the moment resulting from the war in Ukraine; such death is the consequence of some people’s refusal to receive the Lord’s love into their lives. We are witnessing a terrible tragedy, but the events of this holy week allow us to trust that God is at work bringing light into this darkness and bringing forth new life out of this death.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Good morning, USA and the World Daily Devotionals for November 6, 2024

Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living

Devotional Scripture:

Proverbs 27:20 (KJV): 20 Hell and destruction are never full; so, the eyes of man are never satisfied. Proverbs 27:20 (AMP): 20 Sheol (the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the place of destruction) are never satisfied; so (the lust of) the eyes of man is never satisfied.

Thought for the Day

Worldly lusts, idolatry and power oppose God's will. Look around you and see what’s going on. Those who yield to them are never satisfied, just as hell is always hungry for more inhabitants. Lust can never be satisfied. Our Heavenly Father gave us elections as a motorization of our wickedness. He allows us to see the evil and distaste in others for a reason. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (1 John 2:16-17).

Satan tempts us in three areas of lust, idolatry and power; by using the same lie he told Adam and Eve. We can benefit from studying how this hostile fallen angel struck at God through the man and woman He had created and loved: "...And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:4-6).

Notice Satan's method of tempting Adam and Eve. First, he challenged God's Word and cast doubt upon His judgment and goodness. Next, he placed three temptations before her through the lust of the flesh (Eve saw that "the tree was good for food"), the lust of the eyes (it was "pleasant to the eyes"), and the pride of life (it was "a tree to be desired to make one wise"). Our desires for the things of the world tempt us today as stated in James 1:14: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." The "world" consists of the systems of fallen human society without God: education, science, arts, religious systems, politics, etc. This "world" is controlled by Satan. Many of us do not realize that when we touch the things that make up fallen society, we touch the power of Satan. Therefore, we become independent in the way that we use them, if we do not put them under the power and direction of God. God does not want to deny us these things, but if we do not allow Him to rule over us as we partake of them, they become like forbidden fruit to us.

I do not believe that God intended to forever deny man access to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but He had a plan that would have opened his eyes to good and evil in time; when human beings had matured enough to be able to live with that knowledge. By eating prematurely from that tree, it brought death instead of wisdom, just as God warned. Physical death did not come immediately, but spiritual death did, as man could no longer face God. Fear and shame are the fruit of sin. If we fellowship with God on a daily basis, we find that there is simply no guilt that troubles us. However, when we sin and do not repent, we run from the presence of God just as Adam and Eve did.

Prayer Devotional for the Day

Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for all the wonderful things You created in this world for us to enjoy. Lord, I know when You restrict anything from us, it is for our good, and because You love us. Help us to understand but not yield to the temptations to go beyond the boundaries that You have set for mankind in Your Word. Deliver us from all lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride within its greed of this life that may set our eyes on eternal things and hold loosely the things of this world and use them for Your glory. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Wednesday, November 6, 2024, Jacksonville, Florida USA From: Steven P. Miller, @ParkermillerQ,gatekeeperwatchman.org , TM ‎Founder and Administrator of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups. #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO. www.facebook.com/gatekeeperwatchnan www.facebook.com/ Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Serpent That Deceived Eve Deceives Women Today by Helen Louise Herndon

The nature of this current deception involves the serpent seducing women to take God’s prerogative and decide the life or death of their child in vivo by abortion. This is accomplished by convincing her that the nature of her pregnancy is not two persons but just about her body alone. The living entity she carries, a real human being, is defined and reduced to a clump of cells much like a cyst or tumor. This deception allows her to choose to end the life of the newly created human being she carries at any time during her pregnancy.

In the beginning, according to both the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament, Satan, appeared as a serpent to Eve and deceived her. This deception resulted in Eve and Adam’s rebellion of against God, eviction from the Garden of Eden, death, humankind’s fall into depravity, and responsibility for its choices between good and evil. Judaism and historic Christianity are fundamentally in agreement about this event and its consequences. Thus, a woman—the first woman—based on her being deceived played a role in ushering in life as we know it from the beginning, that involves a great struggle between good and evil.

Fast forward years and millennia to today, and many of Eve’s daughter-descendants are once again taken in as she was, deceived by that same ancient serpent. However, they are not alone, since men are also taken in by his deception. It’s both interesting and provocative that the serpent would focus on deceiving womankind. That deception involves tricking her to believe that her pregnancy, what she carries in her womb, is only all about her body and only all her choice as to how to handle it.

The first deception in the Garden of Eden involved the serpent rebutting God’s command, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2: 16-17). “You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3: 4-5).

The nature of this current deception involves the serpent seducing women to take God’s prerogative and decide the life or death of their child in vivo by abortion. This is accomplished by convincing her that the nature of her pregnancy is not two persons but just about her body alone. The living entity she carries, a real human being, is defined and reduced to a clump of cells much like a cyst or tumor. This deception allows her to choose to end the life of the newly created human being she carries at any time during her pregnancy. And this act involves the most brutal and cruel methods. She does so simply by believing and repeating the lie, “My body, my choice.”

Is this what the Torah and the Christian Scriptures teach? Exodus 21: 22-23 refers to a scenario where men are quarreling and a pregnant woman is hit: “And should men quarrel and hit a pregnant woman, and she miscarries but there is no fatality, he shall surely be punished, when the woman’s husband makes demands of him, and he shall give [restitution] according to the judges’ [orders]. But if there is a fatality, you shall give a life for a life . . .” (Torah). Consequently, if the baby in the womb dies, the one who caused the death is also to die, since a murder or manslaughter has taken place.

Furthermore, many Old Testament Scriptures teach that God knows all who are in the womb and even appoints them with a purpose while still in the womb:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5).

“Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name” (Isaiah 49:1).

In the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is pregnant and visits her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist, and this occurs: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41).

Besides modern technology via ultrasound and sonogram expose the developing child in the womb as definitely and visibly a human being. Both Judaism and Christianity considered the one in the womb as separate from the woman’s body. So, it’s really not “My Body, My Choice.” It’s factually and truthfully “His/Her Body, God’s Choice.”

For those of us who are women, it’s time to stop being deceived by that ancient serpent. It’s also time to prove to the world we are not naïve and so easily deluded. Our ancient mother, Eve, would be pleased. And, men, you, too, are not to be taken in by the serpent’s lies. The clarity of biblical truth, as well as basic scientific facts, upholds the real life in womb and urges us to pray against the serpent’s deceit and to work for the cessation of the mass murder of the unborn in our day?

Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.