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The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
was a religious cult that sprouted in Uganda during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group was led by Credonia Mwerinde (a former prostitute) Joseph Kibweteere, Bee Tait, and Ursula Komuhangi, whom all professed visions of the Virgin Mary and the impending apocalypse.
The cult had a following mainly composed of disenchanted Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, and other Christian denominations alongside some converts from other faiths. Initially, followers were attracted by the core belief of the group, which was a strict adherence to the Ten Commandments, embodied in the group's name.
This strict adherence was taken to an extreme where breaking of any commandment was strictly criticized, requiring members to communicate mainly through signs and the use of formal codes. It was believed this hard-lined approach would help followers avoid damnation come the apocalypse.
Notably, the leaders prophesied that the world would end on January 1, 2000. However, when this prophecy failed, an alternative date of March 17, 2000, was given. This was claimed to be the day God's wrath would consume the world, sparing only the cult members.
Their teachings included end-of-day prophecies, abstaining from sex to prepare for the end of times, fasting, and the banning of soap. The group's leaders discouraged speaking, claiming that it led to sin, and consequently, the followers communicated primarily through sign language.
The group came to global attention when, on the prophesied date of March 17, 2000, a fire broke out in the group's main church in Kanungu. Approximately 778 members of the cult died in the inferno, which is believed to have been a mass murder ignited by the cult leaders. This event followed the murder of various members across multiple cult properties.
BBC link
#true crime#serial killers#crime after crime#criminal investigations#cults#movement of the restoration of the ten commandments of god#credonia#uganda
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#the ugandan apocalypse cult#into the shadows#Youtube#movement for the restoration of the ten commandments of god
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New/Fringe Religions & Cults Tier List, from least to most charismatic!
N/A but also A: Jiddu Krishnamurti
F: Generic New Age, Nation of Yahweh (NOT NOI), FLDS, Happy Science, Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani (Grand Mosque Seizure), Bible Student movement, Christian Scientists, Millerism, Ezra Millerism
D: Moonies, Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, Branch Davidians, Unarius, Worldwide Church of God, Love Has Won, Rajneesh movement, Theosophy, Raelian Movement, Eckankar
C: International Peace Mission, Davidians, Ahmadiyya, Arnold Potter, Medical Medium, Sky Kingdom, Falun Gong, Wicca
B: Tenrikyo, NOI, Seventh-Day Adventists, Community of Christ (formerly RLDS), Rastafari, Divine Truth, Oomoto, Rosicrucians
A: Peoples Temple, Jeungsanism, Mormonism (Latter-Day Saints or LDS Church), Church of the Last Testament (Vissarion), Bahai'i Faith
S: God Worshipping Society (Taiping Rebellion), Manson Family, Cargo Cults, Scientology, Heaven's Gate
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The Tragic Tale of the 2000 Uganda Cult Massacre
In the heart of Africa, nestled within the lush landscapes of Uganda, there existed a community that was once vibrant and filled with life. It was the year 2000, a time when hope and fear coexisted in the shadows of the Rwenzori Mountains. Amidst the beauty of this region, a sinister darkness began to unfurl, one that would culminate in an unimaginable tragedy: the Uganda cult massacre
The Genesis of a Movement
Joseph Kibwetere, a former politician turned spiritual leader, was the man behind the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. Alongside his co-founders, Credonia Mwerinde and Dominic Kataribabo, he preached a message of strict adherence to the Ten Commandments, apocalyptic warnings, and a promise of salvation from an impending apocalypse predicted to occur at the dawn of the new millennium.
Kibwetere and his followers retreated to the village of Kanungu, creating a secluded and insular community. Their doctrines were extreme, forbidding even the simplest of pleasures and demanding absolute obedience. This cult, which many believed would offer them redemption, was slowly turning into a prison for its members.
Signs of Trouble:
As the year 2000 approached, the pressure within the community began to build. Kibwetere's predictions of the apocalypse had not materialized. Disillusionment and dissent started to seep through the once unified group. Members sold their possessions and handed over their wealth to the cult leaders in preparation for the promised salvation, only to find themselves trapped in a cycle of exploitation and manipulation.
Rumors of abuse, forced labor, and coerced donations reached the ears of local authorities and concerned relatives. Yet, the tight-knit nature of the cult and the remote location of Kanungu made intervention difficult. The cult leaders maintained a façade of peace and piety, skillfully evading scrutiny.
The Day of Reckoning:
On March 17, 2000, the tranquility of Kanungu was shattered. The day began like any other, with prayers and rituals. But there was an undercurrent of unease, an ominous sense that something terrible was about to happen. The cult leaders gathered their followers into their church, a simple yet solemn building that stood as a testament to their faith.
As the congregation assembled, the doors were locked from the outside. In an act of chilling premeditation, the church was doused in gasoline and set ablaze. Flames quickly engulfed the building, trapping over 500 men, women, and children inside. Their screams echoed through the village, a haunting symphony of despair and horror.
Witnesses reported seeing thick, black smoke billowing into the sky, a grim beacon signaling the end of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. By the time authorities arrived, it was too late. The church was reduced to smoldering ruins, and the charred remains of the victims were all that was left of the once-vibrant community.
The Aftermath
In the days that followed, investigators uncovered a series of mass graves across properties owned by the cult, revealing that the fire was only part of a broader, orchestrated plan of mass murder. The total death toll was estimated to be over 700, making it one of the deadliest cult-related massacres in history.
The leaders of the cult, including Kibwetere and Mwerinde, were initially believed to have perished in the fire. However, their bodies were never conclusively identified, leading to speculation and conspiracy theories about their fates. Some believe they may have escaped, vanishing into the shadows they had long manipulated.
A Legacy of Pain and Reflection:
The Uganda cult massacre left an indelible mark on the nation and the world. It served as a grim reminder of the dangers posed by manipulative leaders who exploit faith and fear for their own gain. The tragedy sparked conversations about the need for vigilance, education, and support to prevent such atrocities in the future.
For the survivors and the families of the victims, the wounds remain deep. The memory of that fateful day lingers, a painful chapter in Uganda's history. Yet, amid the sorrow, there is also a call for resilience and hope, a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of unspeakable horror.
In the quiet corners of Kanungu, where the land is now reclaimed by nature, the echoes of the past still resonate. The story of the 2000 Uganda cult massacre is a somber one, a tale of deception, faith, and ultimate tragedy that serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of human life and the enduring quest for truth and justice.
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Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls Lecture 7 12 15 2016
COMMENTRY:
In regards to your closing statement that the rabbis generally abandoned Apocalyptic literature after 70 CE, Revelation needs to be understood as a literary portrait similar in nature to Picasso's Guernica of the spiritual realm of Jerusalem after Barabbas was restored to the Zealots. It is the cosmic book end to the cosmic opening of בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית,
For example, Revelation 13 is a literary Cubist portrait of the centurion in Mark 15:39. Rome was a sea power that dominated the Mediterranian and is symbolized by Leviathan at the beginning of the poem and the Roman legions were symbolized by Behometh as the river monster that conquered Gaul under Jules Caesar by the rivers. Originally, the number of the Beast was Six hundred ten and six, which reflects the numerological figure of Genesis 41. but was changed to Six hundred sixty and 6 apparently to accommodate the Gematria of Nero's name, which I personally find very satisfying,.
And, of course, this is where Mohammed comes in with the Indio-Arabic numerical symbols of 666. which can be understood as ideograms for the 3 bent nails that pinioned Jesus to His cross. And, of course, the numbered versification wasn't added until 1525 or so and the Revelation 13 is a numerological reference to the Mount Olivet discourse in Mark 13.
You are exactly correct, of course, that the Apocalyptic literature ended with the Bar Kokhba revolt, but is has been resurrected by the Pro-Life Fascists of Evangelical Christians as a political agenda and money pump of the Total Depravity Gospel of Calvinism. Hegel rejected Calvinism because it violates the paradox of Free Will.
Love all your lectures. I have been working on the thesis that the Gospel of Mark was written by Cornelius immediately after his encounter with Peter in Acts 10 using the Quelle archive as his base. It is my contention that εὐθὺς is an apparatus of the Roman intelligence services to distinguish eye witness testimony in the narrative. The Gospel of Mark begins when Jesus takes command of John the Baptist's Repentance movement and virtually all the εὐθὺς references were collected before Jesus was arrested except for Acts 10:16, which is Peter's testimony the rounds out Quelled for Cornelius..
Just for the record, euangelion is the operative word in Mark 1:1.. It refers to the intelligence report Pilate sent to Tiberius immediately after Resurrection. Cornelius conveys Pilate's report to Peter off-stage in Acts 10 and becomes the Gospel of Peter and displays the characteristics of the oral tradition Bart Ehrman hangs his hat upon.
Just for the record, it is not an accident that it is Acts TEN as you point out, the Tenth Legion occupied the Galilee during Jesus's ministry and generally defines the boundaries of the action of the narrativeu Until Palm Sunday.
When Jesus feeds the 5000, he creates the para-miliary organization the same size and organization as a Roman legion that participated in the Ben Huron defeat of the Twelve Legion and is the military formation Josephus is given command of and betrays.
If you track the εὐθὺς references, the Romans begin to lose interest in Jesus after this pericope. His mission isn't Apocalypse, but as a force multiplier for the servant leader mission of the synagogues and a return to God's agenda in Judges. The One was never happy with the whole kingdom thing and I can only observe that Diaspora was Gods intent, all along.
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Cult Profile: Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a Uganda-based doomsday cult that operated from the 1980s to 2000. The two founders of the cult preached that January 1, 2000 would mark the end of the world. They instructed followers that to avoid damnation during the apocalypse, they must follow the ten commandments exactly, including such practices as never speaking in order to not ‘bear false witness’.
When the turn of the century came and went and the world was still turning, the cult leaders began to lose some of their control over their followers. The leaders stated that there had been a mistake – January 1st was not the end of the world, March 17 was.
On March 17, 2000, the cult hosted a huge party. At some point during the night, the building the party took place in exploded in a massive ball of flames, killing 530 people, including children, inside. Investigation found that the doors had been boarded shut, and hundreds of poisoned, stabbed, and strangled bodies of former cult members were found around Uganda days later. Officials believe the event to have been a case of mass murder, not cult suicide. The leaders of the Movement were never accounted for, leading to some speculation that they created the massacre for monetary reasons and fled, though this has not been substantiated.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
#cults#cult profile#mass murder#movement for the restoration of the ten commandments of god#cult suicide
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There is no proof that cults kill people. It's all because of the Satanic panic that people believe that.
Cults and various religious beliefs have killed/sacrificed people for centuries. Charles Manson is one of the most famous cult leaders whose followers killed people.
Here’s some information:
Church of the Sacrifice
School of Prophets
Angel's Landing
Matamoros cult
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
Panama cult sacrifices children
Oz
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Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
In the late 1980s, the environment of Uganda was chaotic, rife with political and social turmoil. After the rule of Idi Amin (one of the most brutal leaders in recent history) the AIDS pandemic, and the Ugandan Bush War, people were becoming pessimistic. Participation in church and catholicism was backsliding. This time period was full of fringe religious movements, one of them being The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (TMRTCG). The founders, Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere stated that they had seen visions of the Virgin Mary and that the Catholic church was in need of reform. Although most members of the group originated as Roman Catholics, they ended up believing the Catholic church was evil and lost in its ways. They believed the only “true” way of practicing their religion was within TMRTCG. They followed Mwerinde’s visions of the Virgin Mary to tell them how to practice their religion.
In the most basic terms, they believed in strictly following the Ten Commandments and preaching the word of Jesus Christ. The group fasted regularly, only eating two days out of the week. Sex was forbidden, as was bathing with soap. They rarely spoke and at times only used sign language to communicate. The leaders of the group also preached the apocalypse would occur on December 31st, 1999. The leaders compared themselves to Noah’s Ark, keeping their members afloat during the end-times.
When January 1st, 2000 passed with no catastrophic events, the movement began to dissipate. As people began to question the legitimacy of the group’s leadership, donations to the church fell dramatically. Almost immediately, a new date of March 17th, 2000 was predicted. The events that occurred on March 17th and after are believed to have been orchestrated by the sect leaders in response to their dwindling support.
On March 17th, 2000, a ceremony was held in Kanungu to welcome the end of the world. Reportedly, the group finished 70 crates of soft drinks and ate three bulls. When the ceremony was in full swing, nearby villagers heard an explosion. The compound where the ceremony was held had been destroyed in a fire that killed nearly 530 people.
The police began to investigate the cult immediately.
On March 21st, police discovered hundreds of bodies across southern Uganda. Six bodies were discovered in the latrine of the Kanungu compound, as well as 153 bodies at a compound in Buhunage, 155 bodies at a leader’s estate at Rugazi, and another 81 bodies at leader Joseph Nymurinda's farm. Police stated that they had been murdered about three weeks before the church exploded.
The police do not consider this a mass suicide, but a mass murder orchestrated by various leaders of the cult due to their failed predictions of the apocalypse.
Supporting this theory is that the doors of the church were reportedly nailed shut from the inside, indicating the leadership wanted to keep people from escaping the burning building. Those that died three weeks before the fire were killed by poison or strangulation. It also does not seem like group members would willingly commit suicide three weeks before the apparent date of the apocalypse while the church leaders hid their deaths from other members of the group.
Unfortunately, there is very little known about the cult itself due to insufficient investigation into the cult while they were still active. In fact, the church fire was what began the police’s first and only investigation into the cult.
While the leaders of the movement were initially assumed to have died in the fire, police have allegedly found evidence as recently as 2014 to support the theory that Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere are still alive and in hiding.
#true crime#true crime community blog#true crime research#buzzfeed unsolved#buzzfeed unsolved true crime#true crime unsolved#cult#weird cult#tragedy#conspiracy#cult conspiracy#mass murder#criminology#forensics#unsolved mysterious#mysterious#mystery#unsolved mystery#unsolved murder#missing persons#wtf#weird facts#strange facts
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Events 3.17
45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius. 455 – Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him. 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England. 1400 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1776 – American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city. 1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy. 1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch. 1860 – The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars. 1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed. 1862 – The first railway line of Finland between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, called Päärata, is officially opened. 1891 – SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board. 1921 – The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution. 1942 – Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland. 1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture. 1948 – Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO. 1950 – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "californium". 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others. 1958 – The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit. 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion. 1963 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali killing more than 1,100 people. 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb. 1968 – As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead. 1969 – Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel. 1973 – The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers. 1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree. 1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143. 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet. 1992 – Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242. 1992 – A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%. 2000 – Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead. 2003 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed. 2016 – Rojava conflict: At a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society declares the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
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Daemonic Harbinger, Shagrath
Image © @tredlocity
[Commissioned by @crazytrain48. Shagrath the Red Moon Spyder was first mentioned in the original Arduin Grimoire but never got much elaboration, beyond being Chaotic and Evil and having a holiday devoted to him. The 90s “Compleat Arduin” edition misspelled his name with 2 Gs, and that’s what I have used previously in the spiga entry. The Arduin Eternal version from the 2000s made him a creator god, but that information never made it into any of their published books, and their website is only available via Wayback Machine. So this version merges him with another spider-themed archfiend from Arduin, Calyandagg, but incorporates some of my own personal interests in making evil deities based on real-world evils. The idea that conspiracy theories are authored by a giant spider who lives on the moon sounds like a conspiracy theory in and of itself.]
Daemonic Harbinger, Shagrath CR 22 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This immense creature looks vaguely arachnid, with thirteen legs and thirteen eyes. Its carapace is a metallic red, with a mantle of bristling fur on it. Alien runes decorate its legs and abdomen.
Shagrath The Red Moon Spider, The Second Opinion Concerns alternate history, misinformation, torture Domains Darkness, Destruction, Evil, Knowledge Subdomains Daemon, Moon, Thought, Torture Worshipers conspiracy theorists, interrogators, spiga Minions crucidaemons, fiendish giant spiders, piscodaemons Unholy Symbol a ring of twelve red moons showing the lunar cycle Favored Weapon heavy pick Devotion Spend one hour promulgating an alternative version of a commonly held idea or belief. It does not matter whether you believe what you say, or if it is true, only that the information is spread. Gain a +4 profane bonus to saving throws against confusion effects and mind-influencing effects that deal damage (such as mind thrust). Boons: 1: web 2/day; 2: freedom of movement 2/day; 3: extended true seeing 2/day
Shagrath the Red Moon Spider is an ancient being, the first of the race of fiends known as spiga. When first formed, Shagrath lacked magical power, but he realized that belief was a strong enough force to shape the cosmos. By viewing himself as a god, he gained the ability to cast divine spells, and eventually forced his way into the courts of the daemonic harbingers through sheer force of will. His ultimate goal is to achieve full divinity, and his primary means to accomplish this is to expand his cult—if enough mortals believe him to become a god, he will be one.
As part of this agenda of apotheosis, Shagrath tells outrageous falsehoods: that he wove a planet out of his webs; that he can see everything that transpires in moonlight; that he knows literally everything. It matters not to him that the majority of his lies do not stick. If repeated forcefully enough, to enough people, they will take root and become history. His worshipers gleefully create and distribute “alternate facts”, particularly those that demonize a vulnerable group or that promote selfishness and disunity. Of course, Shagrath does enjoy inflicting pain in a more direct sense as well. He is a master of torture, and is especially interested at how the application of pain can cause mortals to weave extravagant falsehoods or completely change their beliefs.
Shagrath has all of the abilities of a spiga, and uses them in similar fashion in combat. He enhances his combat prowess with divine magic, entraps foes in his webs, and then paralyzes them with his claws and venomous bite. Shagrath can create new spiga by implanting eggs inside of paralyzed victims, which he keeps helpless but alive long enough for the spiga to grow inside them. Shagrath has access to many powerful clerical abilities, which he uses in combat as much to impress upon enemies his divine powers as much as to injure and kill.
Shagrath is about thirty feet long and weighs ten tons. He spends little time in Abaddon, perhaps because his interests in divinity make him distrusted by the Horsemen. He typically lairs on a moon of the planet in the Material Plane he is currently interested in. From this vantage point, he descends earthward to spread lies and torture, and returns to his airless abode to avoid retribution.
Shagrath CR 22 XP 615,000 NE Gargantuan outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +39, tremorsense 120 ft., true seeing Aura fear (30 ft., Will DC 33), unholy (DC 29) Defense AC 38, touch 18, flat-footed 30 (-4 size, +7 Dex, +20 natural, +1 dodge, +4 deflection) hp 420 (24d10+288); fast healing 10 Fort +30, Ref +21, Will +30 DR 20/good; Immune acid, death effects, disease, electricity, fire, mind-influencing effects, paralysis poison; Resist cold 30; SR 33; Weakness vulnerable to cold Defensive Abilities freedom of movement Offense Speed 50 ft., climb 40 ft.; air walk Melee bite +33 (2d12+13 plus poison), 3 claws +33 (4d6+13 plus paralysis) Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (80 ft. cone, Ref DC 34, 20d10 piercing plus entrap, 1d4 round), entrap (hardness 10, 30 hp, 1 hour), implant, paralysis (DC 34, 1 round), rend (2 claws, 4d6+19), tortuous rend Spell-like Abilities CL 24th, concentration +35 (+39 casting defensively) Constant—air walk, true seeing, unholy aura (DC 29) At will—greater scrying (DC 28), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), harm (DC 27) 3/day—glibness, empowered greater shadow evocation (DC 29), plane shift (DC 28) 1/day—interplanetary teleport, mind blank, power word kill, summon (9th, 100%, any CR 20 or lower daemon) Spells CL 20th, concentration +32 9th—energy drain (DC 31, x2), mass heal (DC 31), shades (DC 31)D, quickened slay living (DC 27), quickened wall of stone 8th—quickened blessing of fervor, quickened cure critical wounds (DC 26), demand (DC 30)D, discern location, quickened divine power, fire storm (DC 30) greater spell immunity 7th—blasphemy (DC 29), quickened blindness/deafness (DC 24), destruction (DC 29, x2), disintegrate (DC 29)D, greater restoration, repulsion (DC 29) 6th—banishment (DC 28), blade barrier (DC 28), dreamD, greater dispel magic (x2), heal, quickened owl’s wisdom 5th—cleanse, quickened divine favor, dispel good (DC 27), quickened entropic shield, flame strike (DC 27), greater command (DC 27), shout (DC 27)D 4th—cure critical wounds (DC 26), death ward, dimensional anchor (x2), moonstruck (DC 26)D, sending, spiritual ally (+36/+31/+26/+21, 1d10+5 force), tongues 3rd—bestow curse (DC 25), contagion (DC 25), cure serious wounds (DC 25), deeper darkness, prayer, protection from elements, seek thoughts (DC 25)D, stone shape 2nd—bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, death knell (DC 24, x2), make whole, pain strike (DC 24)D, silence (DC 24), spiritual weapon (+36/+31/+26/+21, 1d8+5) 1st—cure light wounds (DC 23, x3), detect good (x3), faerie fireD, sanctuary (DC 23) 0th—detect magic, guidance, read magic, stabilize D = domain spell Statistics Str 36, Dex 25, Con 35, Int 35, Wis 34, Cha 32 Base Atk +24; CMB +41; CMD 63 (73 vs. trip) Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Empower SLA (greater shadow evocation) Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Quicken Spell, Spring Attack, Stand Still, Whirlwind Attack Skills Acrobatics +34 (+42 when jumping), Bluff +38, Climb +53, Diplomacy +38, Intimidate +38, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, engineering, geography +, history, local, nature, nobility) +31, Knowledge (planes, religion) +35, Perception +39, Sense Motive +39, Spellcraft +36, Stealth +22, Use Magic Device +35 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 300 ft. SQ daemonic harbinger traits, expert climber, no breath Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abaddon) Organization unique Treasure double standard Special Abilities Aura of Fear (Su) A creature that fails its save against Shagrath’s aura of fear is panicked for 1 minute. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to Shagrath’s aura of fear for the next 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma based. Daemonic Harbinger Traits (Ex/Su) Shagrath is a daemonic harbinger, a powerful unique fiend. This grants him the following traits:
Immunity to acid, charm and compulsion effects, death effects, disease and poison
Resistance to cold, electricity and fire 30
Telepathy 300 ft.
Shagrath’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons he wields, count as evil and epic weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction
Shagrath can grant spells to his worshippers.
Expert Climber (Ex) Shagrath can climb on any surface. Treat this as a non-magical spider climb effect, and this ability doubles its racial bonus on Climb checks to +16. Freedom of Movement (Su) Shagrath is constantly protected by a freedom of movement effect as a supernatural ability. Implant (Ex) As a standard action, Shagrath can implant an egg inside a helpless or paralyzed creature. This creature must succeed a DC 34 Fortitude save or the egg begins to grow inside its body for 1d4+1 days. Every day a creature has an egg incubating inside it, it takes 2 points of Constitution drain. Attempts to remove this larva require a DC 30 Heal check, or any magic that removes disease with a successful DC 34 caster level check. Once the duration elapses, the egg bursts free as a squirming larva, dealing 10d10 points of damage as it goes (Fortitude DC 34 halves). The larva is treated as a giant maggot with a spiga’s immunities, spell resistance and defensive abilities. It grows into a full-sized spiga in 13 days. The save DC is Constitution based. Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 34; duration 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution based. Spells Shagrath casts spells as a 20th level cleric. Shagrath gets a bonus spell prepared each day for his domains, and can choose between all of his domains and subdomains for that spell. He does not gain the ability to spontaneously cast inflict spells. He treats his own body as a holy symbol for the purposes of spell components. Torturous Rend (Su) A creature affected by Shagrath’s rend ability must succeed a DC 33 Fortitude save or be overcome with intense pain, suffering a -4 penalty to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, skill and ability checks for the next 1d4+1 rounds. Multiple failed saves cause the duration to stack. The save DC is Charisma based.
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Unification Church babies dying and members starving – as they follow the orders of Sun Myung Moon
▲ Moon with his 1959 birthday cake at Chongpa-dong in Seoul. Pak Bo-hi is on the right, Eu Hyo-won is on the left.
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is another name for Sun Myung Moon’s organization.
Steve Kemperman: “Sharon related the story of the early days of the Korean Church—couples had sometimes left their babies in garbage cans to die. I’d heard about these tragedies before from the higher-ups and understood that there’d been barely enough food for the parents to keep from starving to death. But why then, asked Vick, had Sun Myung Moon continued to receive the choicest foods?”
Lord of the Second Advent (1981) by Steve Kemperman (page 20)
_________________________________
This testimony, given in the early 1980s, confirms the starvation.
Mrs. Kang Chung-won (36 couple), the wife of Lee Jae-seok
“We witnessed on the streets. In 1970, we left our children behind and went pioneering again for three years. This was the beginning of the tradition in the Korean Church, today, whereby all Blessed wives must go pioneering for the same period. After witnessing and doing itinerary work around the country I returned to my home. Immediately Father ordered me to work with the Woman’s I.F.V.O.C. and that is where I work today as the General Secretary.
Having attended Father until now, I think that those of us who still remain are those who submit themselves completely to Father’s words, those who have no self and those who are concerned only for the fulfilment of God’s will.
I was raised as a daughter of a rich family, and after receiving the Blessing I have suffered more than I can ever express in words. When I was pregnant with my first child, I was sent out witnessing. I had nothing to eat so I sometimes went to the mountains and gathered wild vegetables to eat. While I was witnessing, I fainted on the street from lack of blood. I once had no place to go and had to spend the night in the room of one of our members. At times I had to stay in a place like a storage house with many students. I endured these difficulties, however, because I knew that Father, too, had gone through much suffering. When I thought about his having walked the way of restoration through indemnity, my only thought was to accomplish his will for him. Father had told us that those who were rich before joining our church had to indemnify this by going through much poverty.
I kept these words and I went through the typical indemnity course. I would witness, with my baby son on my back. He became seriously ill. Because of malnutrition, he was always getting sick. I had no money to take him to a hospital so I took him to a Health Clinic for poor people. The doctor there felt so sorry for me that he gave me several years supply of vitamins for my baby.
In 1966 when our church began a movement to quadruple our membership I worked very hard because as the wife of a church director I had to stand on the front line. When we collected used articles to raise money for witnessing, I worked harder than anyone. Once on my way home from having visited the house of a member I suddenly felt all strength go out of my body and I fell down on the street. I began to sweat cold sweat and the right side of my body became paralyzed. Someone passing by stood me up against a fence and went to contact my church. Our members carried me into a room.
We had no money to go to hospital, so we locked the door to the church and prayed together. “Father, what shall I do if I am like this? Your glory will be hidden within me. I am not thinking of myself but of your will when I ask you to make this body whole again.”
After a week of praying like this, I recovered completely and started working again. My husband also worked so hard that he caught T.B. and sometimes vomited blood, but he never left his public position and maintained it to the end. When I look back upon my life I myself wonder how I could have come through such a difficult course without stumbling. Although I am not worthy, I have tried to become a person who can appear without shame on a page of history. I worked hard for the day when my children would ask me “Mother, what did you do for God’s will when we were small?” and I would be able to answer them with pride.
To help my husband I became a door to door salesman, I carried merchandise around in a cloth sack and sold them. I opened a dress shop, a small Chinese restaurant and sold guns.
One time I became so tired that I collapsed on a sofa and water shot out from my cheek like a fountain. I went to a skin doctor and he told me that this sometimes happens as a result of fatigue. He said that if the water had gone up to my head I would have died. He told me that God must be protecting me.
Even after giving birth to a baby, I didn’t have the chance to rest my body for a long time, because I had to keep working. During the effort to quadruple our membership, we came into contact with two ministers and had a revival meeting with them. This became the beginning of the Super Denomination movement.
I worked very hard at the dress shop to support my husband while he pushed forward, in spite of all opposition and persecution, to reach the ministers who were reluctant to attend our seminars. With the help of God my business went well but I never used any money for myself, never even making any clothes for myself.
Even while doing business I witnessed on the street and in the countryside whenever I had time. I always told my employees that I would not be doing that business forever and that if I were to be commanded to do public work I would have to comply.
Finally from December 1, 1970, I began the three year witnessing course. At the time my children were six, four and ten years old. Also I had not yet returned the money I had borrowed to open the dress shop. I couldn’t afford to be away from the shop for even an hour, but I left it behind and went to my witnessing area. A few days later I received a letter from my husband. He said he had always known that I was brave but had never thought that I could be as brave as this.
I have been opposed by society, expelled from school and criticized by all people. The reason I have been able to come through even the most difficult course is that I always think of how Father has suffered so much more in order to do God’s will and that I will endure anything for him. As long as the living God exists, I will accomplish his Will.
This is how I have come this far and this is how I will continue into the future. All of you are going through many difficulties now but let’s endure and become victors before God.”
_________________________________
Why love matters – Sue Gerhardt
More hungry Unification Church members
Unification Church children sent to orphanages in Korea, or left behind in the US
The baby was very small and undernourished
Another mother, Shin-hee Eu, gives her testimony
VIDEO: Eu Shin-hee spoke on Japanese TV, and her son, Gap Yoon-gil, was also interviewed about being sent to an orphanage.
“Children … taken from the parents and placed in nurseries for three years,” Margie Laflin.
Jacob House: A Chorus of Sorrows: Limi Bauer (podcast Part 1)
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Music of Religious Cults
vimeo
Music Made By Religious Cults
YouTube Playlist: Cult Music
Spotify Playlist: Cults & The Cultic Milieu
#true crime#criminal investigations#crime after crime#Cults#religious cults#cult music#occult#sect#Spotify#Manson family#source family#aum shinrikyo#raelism#serial killers#movement of the restoration of the Ten Commandments of god#children of god#yahowa#Vimeo
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Fate and Phantasms #12: Gilgamesh
Greetings, Mongrels! You can’t be as great as the King of Heroes, but if you play as Gilgamesh you can at least pretend to be him! We have three main goals for this build:
1. You need to be able to spam your treasures as ranged attacks
2. Swordplay needs to be an option if you find a worthy opponent. Not an option you’ll use, but an option.
3. Your armor needs to be powerful and fancy.
A spreadsheet for Gil is over here, with a detailed explanation below the cut!
Race and Background
You are 2/3 Divine (don’t worry about how that maps out genealogically), but the best we can do in D&D is 1/2, making you an Aasimar. You’re not one for protecting the weak, nor are you dark and gloomy, so that would make you a Scourge Aasimar, granting you +1 Constitution; +2 Charisma; 60′ of Darkvision; resistance to necrotic and radiant damage; Healing Hands, which lets you heal a creature you touch as an action, restoring HP equal to your level, once per long rest; and Light Bearer, meaning you know the Light Cantrip. Being mostly god nets you a lot of bonuses.
This is a bit of an understatement, but grab Noble for you background. This gives you proficiency in History and Persuasion checks, as well as mechanically enforces the fact that people of high status would want to earn your favor.
Stats
A true Gilgamesh build would be all 30s, but we’re trying to keep this balanced, so we’re using the standard array. Roll if you want, but keep multiclassing requirements in mind. Make Charisma the highest, you know how to leave an impression, and also you really need that. Next is Constitution, you think Iskandar’s a lightweight, so you need to be able to drink him under the table at the least. After that is Strength so you can use Ea when you need to. You don’t need to, though. Then get Intelligence so you can laught at everyone who falls for your master plans. Then grab Dexterity, because you don’t need to dodge that often when you’re a walking missile barrage. Finally, dump Wisdom because that’s how you always lose.
Class Levels
1. Paladin 1: Despite being a ranged combatant, you need heavy armor and a good sword, so you’re starting out as a paladin. First level paladins get Divine Sense, so you can tell when mongrels are trying to sneak up on you, and Lay on Hands, so that you can heal either you or Enkidu for five times your paladin level.
2. Paladin 2: Choose Defense as your fighting style for +1 to your AC. You won’t be using a weapon that often, so it’s not a huge loss. At this level you also gain Spellcasting, opening up all 1st level paladin spells for you to use. You don’t have an armory yet, so focus on preparing whatever spells tickle your fancy. You also gain Divine Smite, letting you burn spell slots for extra radiant damage.
3. Paladin 3: You get Divine Health, making you immune to diseases, including Sumerian Fever. You also gain your paladin oath, the Oath of Conquest. (You are a tyrant, after all.) This gives you two Channel Divinity options, Guided Strike and Conquering Presence. The former lets you add 10 to any attack roll, and the latter forces the mongrels within 30′ of you to make a wisdom save or be frightened of you for a minute. Your divine heritage gives you one last gift, Radiant Consumption. You can activate a burning aura as an action, dealing half your level to all creatures within 10 of you (including yourself) at the end of your turns. You can also deal your level in radiant damage to any one creature when you hit them with an attack or spell, once per turn. This aura lasts for a minute, or until you turn it off with a bonus action, and you can use it once per long rest.
When you become a conquest paladin, you also gain two spells that you’ll always have prepared, Armor of Agathys and Command.
4. Paladin 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Heavy Armor Master feat, reducing all slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage from nonmagical weapons by 3. This doesn’t make your armor gold, but it is significantly better now.
5. Sorcerer 1: Now that your armor isn’t offensively unacceptable, lets start building your treasury. As a sorcerer, you get access to more spellcasting options (check the phb for how your slots work now), and a Sorcerous Origin. You are, of course, a Divine Soul sorcerer, Allowing you to pick spells from both the cleric and sorcerer lists. You also get an extra spell (Cure Wounds), and are Favored By the Gods, letting you add 2d4 to a failed save once per long rest. Grab Acid Splash, Word of Radiance, Sword Burst, and Fire Bolt as your cantrips, giving you a nice range of treasures to fling at your enemies. Also, grab Magic Missile for ranged spam and Thunderwave in case any mongrels try to touch you.
6. Sorcerer 2: You get a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level. These aren’t very useful at the moment, but you can use them to make more spell slots if you need it. Grab Ray of Sickness for some more damage variety.
7. Sorcerer 3: Grab Distant Spell and Heightened Spell for your Metamagic options so you can fight from a greater distance and make your treasures even harder to resist. Grab your first 2nd level spell, Shatter to remove any rubbish around you that isn’t worthy of your treasury.
8. Sorcerer 4: Use your Ability Score Improvement to round out your Constitution and Charisma. Grab Resistance to help your saving throws even more, and Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm for an easy blast of treasures. Ice sculptures probably count as treasures, right?
9. Sorcerer 5: Not much happens at this level, but you get 3rd level spells! Grab Erupting Earth to throw a treasure so large it causes property damage, not only hurting enemies but turning a 4x4 square of terrain into difficult terrain. Finally, your bard can feel justified in picking Freedom of Movement!
10. Sorcerer 6: You gain Empowered Healing, letting you spend a sorcery point to reroll any number of dice used in a healing spell as long as the target is within 5′ of you. Since your target is yourself, that won’t be an issue. Get Spirit Guardians so you can create a protective barrier of treasures to rain down on mongrels that get too close to you.
11. Paladin 5: You get an extra attack, which by now probably won’t be used too often. You also get access to second level paladin spells, as well as your oath spells Hold Person and Spiritual Weapon. Your paladin spells are mostly melee based, but they make Ea more effective, and they’re free.
12. Paladin 6: You gain an Aura of Protection, giving a bonus on all saving throws equal to your charisma modifier to all creatures within 10′ of you. Suddenly your low dexterity and wisdom don’t matter that much any more, because you’re just that good at life.
13. Paladin 7: As a paladin of conquest, you gain an Aura of Conquest. Creatures that are frightened of you within 10′ cannot move, and if they start their turn in your aura they take psychic damage equal to half your paladin level. Ten feet is a bit close for comfort, but it’s a good way to whittle down opponents who are resistant to your other forms of damage, like... I think it’s just bear totem barbarians at this point, honestly.
14. Paladin 8: Use your Ability Score Improvement to max out your Charisma, as well as every save you have.
15. Paladin 9: You gain access to your 3rd level paladin spells, and gain Bestow Curse and Fear as oath spells. You probably have plenty of treasures that can curse people by touching them, and if the Gate of Babylon can’t frighten someone, I don’t know what could.
16. Paladin 10: You now have an Aura of Courage, making you and all friendly creatures within 10′ immune to fear.
17. Paladin 11: You gain an Improved Divine Smite, adding 1d8 radiant damage to all melee weapon attacks you make. Now you have a bit of Ea’s power available without using any spell slots.
18. Sorcerer 7: Let’s head back to polish up your treasury a bit. Grab Sickening Radiance at this level to deal not only a ton of radiant damage but also exhaustion damage! Do nukes count as treasures? Silly question, of course they are.
19. Sorcerer 8: Pour your last Ability Score Improvement into Strength. Also pick up Ice Storm for another option to pelt your enemies. Your treasures stick around for a bit with this spell, making it harder for anyone to pass through that area.
20. Sorcerer 9: With your last available level, grab Flame Strike so you can finally unleash the full power of your Enuma Elish on your foes. With that, you have finally made a passable copy of Gilgamesh at 12th level.
Pros: You have a very wide variety of damage sources available to you, with very high AC and health for a caster. You have good constitution, and when that’s mixed with your Aura of Protection you won’t be dropping concentration spells that often. If worst comes to worst and you need to get physical, you have the stats to hold your own.
Cons: Your highest level spell is only level 5. While you have a couple higher level slots, fifth level spells don’t hold a candle to what 8th and 9th level spells can do. A lot of your paladin abilities are also held back by the fact that you don’t want to enter melee combat that often, holding you back from your true potential. That is pretty in-character for you, though.
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Consider the Lilies
Alone I sit overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and the activity that surrounds me. A speed boat is hurrying past the Thimble Shoals lighthouse in the east while the songbirds gather food from the sand dunes. The quietest sound is my fingertips on the keyboard which is being dwindled by the water returning to the shore. I have been living by the bay for only a few months now. In these last few months, I have allowed the bay to teach me, change me. Each morning, I surrender my will and what I think life should be for a glimpse into the way it was initially designed. Sand, grass, rock and a vast amount of water meeting air has taught me to stop.
My dog is beside me in a comfortable position on my green, outdoor cushions. The only movement is an occasional twitch to reposition ensuring a deeper sleep. I marvel at her peace. Just being beside me is enough for her to surrender. I used to look at my dog and think how useless it was to sleep her life away. Now, after ten months of my front yard being sand and water, I surrender my foolishness and eagerly await a new existence where rest, leisure, and play are the whole of my existence.
My mom has a dog, a teacup Yorkie, who only weighs less than three pounds but abounds with endless energy that makes the world take notice. One day, late at night, I was watching this dog play, leap, and cuddle. He found great pleasure in wrestling a stuffed animal into submission or snuggling in your arms for a quick doze. The world was a playground. Its master had supplied the water, food, shelter, and security necessary to feel free to play, leap, and cuddle with little care for harm or sudden danger. Financial woes and relationship worries were of little concern. In Matthew 6:25, God says, "Take no thought for your life..." More continues but consider that advice. Do you think dogs obey the command? Does the bay and the rocks, the foul and the air heed that advice? I can boldly reply that each of these creations know their creator and His original intent. We were meant to take no thought.
I was in the shower one day allowing the water's heat and pressure to dull my senses. I was craving release from random anxieties when a still, small voice uttered these words:
LIVE
LOVE
DREAM
I laughed as shampoo ran into my eyes and I felt everything within me, the creation that I am, be released to obey these three words. I add this thought to Matthew 6, "Take no thought and while you are at it, live, love and dream." I felt God say, "Go ahead, you're allowed."
Be like the dog who knows his master has provided food, shelter, water, and security. Child of God, you are free to play. Your complexity has been exchanged for His simplicity. Your shame for His righteousness. The striving stops and the toil ceases. The moment I stopped and "let go and let God" was the moment life, loving, and dreaming began. My labor now is simply to enter into rest. This rest mentioned in Hebrews 4:10 only occurs when we stop, when we cease from our own works. Joy erupts at this moment because you are finally allowed to be who you were created to be. The revelation of the original design becomes the blueprint of your life and toil ceases.
I was watching Oprah's new network OWN at my mom's house one day and I was listening to her share stories of people and experiences that have shaped her philosophy. I was gripped instantly by a story she told of a mother and her son. This mother had spent every second of her son's final moments beside his hospital bed. She was vigilant and actively aware of his every need. As her son released his last breath, the mother said that he looked upward and cried, "Oh! It was so easy." I quivered. I was frozen by Oprah's statement. I realized I was holding my breath as the realization was awakening within me. That precious child met His creator, face to face, and listened to the still, small voice. Haven't we made this thing too hard? Maybe that's it...it's supposed to be easy. I believe we have made it too hard. When we glimpse eternity, we see what His design was meant to be. This present existence is meant to be easy, stress-free. We are designed to live, love, and dream. When the hard interferes, we don't see interference, we see an existence that is meant to be hard and laborious, taxing and exhausting. We don't see the original intention. The original design was meant to be easy but was severed by sin. This design was perfected in Christ. Eternity had come to Earth and easy was restored. Through Him, sweet rest is the norm. Thinking on Earth should be like thinking in Heaven. When we understand the original design, we can understand how to live sweat-free.
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On bodies and time
There is a 50-60 year gap between my age and those with whom I spend my time at Chateau Lescure. My hosts are 85 and 68 years old respectively, and our gatherings with their friends balance the median between them to a ripe 75.
I do not mind the valley of time between us; in fact, I cherish it. I do not know what to attribute to their voracity for life (magic herb? Everlasting spring at the base of a tree?), but my hosts and their friends seem to command time backwards. They swim endlessly in the lake, bike at breakneck speed down mountains, and canoe standing up. It is as if their golden years never knew how to dull.
Michel enjoys rediscovering medieval trails and organizing group hikes along them. On these hikes, I find myself walking in tandem with another person for stretches of time that invite personal questions: I ask fellow hikers about the first thud of falling in love. What it was like when they knew which career made their heart flutter. How they experienced war. What it was like to hold their first grandchild.
Their eyes always search. Perhaps it takes time to sift through years and years of living. I imagine there is a space in our minds which store the moments worth passing on to prying 20-something year olds. When asked, people usually have something beautiful to share.
I love to hear how a person filled the time between the benchmarks of growing older - those liminal stretches of insignificance that comprise a lifetime. I have hiked alongside a retired French professor at Oxford, an economic analyst for the World Bank, and a restorer of historic wallpaper. I have been the listening ear to a woman who described how Wuthering Heights flung her medical degree offcourse for a career in English literature. At a dinner party, I sat beside a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago who found God in the lines of an equation.
Among the older generations I meet, there is an inescapable awareness of time's steady ticking. One Sunday, we sit around the dinner table with some of my host's friends. Although the meal brims with life and laughter, we dine with arthitis, deafness, memory loss, a brain tumor, and cancer. We treat one another with care as we pass the wine, advice, and braised chicken around the table. We include and we adjust according to each person's ability. This is what must be done for us all to have a seat at the table.
Living here has been an exercise in what I can anticipate about aging and what I cannot. There are the facets of time's passage that are obvious: the paths that each smile will etch around my mouth and eyes, each frown and moment of confusion stored between my eyebrows in sweeping valleys. Freckles will dot my shoulders like constellations. Perhaps stretch marks from motherhood will reach across my belly, hoping to connect to the other side.
It's not that I am afraid of my body's evolution.
I am afraid of forgetting the familiar flight of my fingers on a piano. To laugh with my sister. To walk miles and miles without direction. To lift a child.
Perhaps, one day, my memories will evaporate. I think I am afraid of that most.
Among my elderly friends, I feel my youth more acutely. I appreciate the flexibility of my body, the ease of my tendons, knees, and the dexterity of my fingers unhindered by pain and arthritis. I hear what they can no longer: the telephone ringing inside while we are in the garden, the calls for the other spouse from one side of the house to the other. I remind them of their daily pills at breakfast and carry our basket at the farmer's market, heavy with future meals.
I notice small hills forming at the peaks of my arms, straining from lifting buckets of water each morning and afternoon to sheep and chickens. I now fly up the winding stairs of the tower which once left me panting. I feel happy in my skin.
Concurrently, I am discovering how fragile bodies are: my arms, scratched each evening from wading into rose thorns. The tension stored in my back from hunching over weeds. The nettles which send my skin on fire at the briefest touch.
I am learning about the strengths, flexibility, and fragility of my mind, as well. I notice how my mental wellbeing changes with the influx of fresh vegetables, sunshine, and movement. I observe the simultaneous loneliness of solo travel as well as the need for isolation and learning how to balance the two. I test the limits of my anxiety and forgive myself if the anxiety wins out.
A lot of uninterrupted time passes in my mind here, which is not always a peaceful place to rest. I frequently retreat to the nearby creek to read or skip stones. Sometimes, I sit by a window at the top of the tower and simply hide.
Sophie and Michel's 2 1/2 year old granddaughter, Ellen, arrived a few days ago. Knowing the fragility of my own body makes me aware of hers; perhaps she, too, may wander into nettles and graze rose thorns.
She seems fearless, however; while cautious at first, she now wraps her arms around my legs in a tight hug. We even water the garden together and take turns counting the seconds that it takes to quench the thirst of a stalk of corn.
One, deux, three, quatre, five...
After spending so much time with people a century older than her, her mind's plasticity charms me. The constant changeability of the world enchants her: the flickering of my hands over my face reveals a syncopated raising and lowering of my mouth's corners. Smile, frown, smile, frown. Cue Ellen's ecstatic giggling.
Like Ellen, the world's changeability delights me, too. The beans I planted weeks ago now waver in green, young stems. The rose buds I pruned now blossom and lettuce falls open in concentric circles.
I am filling time here with moments I hope my eyes will search for when I am older, distilled into wisdom to pass onto a curious 20-something year old. Maybe I will be able to recollect the taste of sugar cookies with electrifying sherbert made from the red currants I collected. The nightly task of herding the chickens to their coop to sleep. The solo ten-mile hike when I slurped apricots in the grass overlooking volcanic mountains. The way Ellen spins when I play piano for her and the taste of fresh bread at breakfast. I'll fix these memories in the space I think they are stored and hope that time lets me fall in love with them again.
- Em
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Azusa Street Miracle: Amputee Regrows Leg
“I recall witnessing two of the greatest miracles where Seymour was greatly used by God,” said Brother Lankford, Azusa Street congregant and resident of Pisgah Home.
Seymour had approached a man with a wooden leg and asked why he had come to the mission. His leg had been crushed at his job at the railroad yards. They had amputated it mid-thigh. The man explained that he wanted prayer for his leg because it was starting to get gangrene where the wood attaches to the flesh. He said they would have to cut more leg off or he would need to be healed.
Seymour told him that he was upset because “You have the wooden leg on. It would be a challenge for God to grow a leg out when the wooden leg is attached.” After removing the artificial limb, the man stood before Seymour balancing on his good leg. Seymour laid hands on the gentleman and prayed, “Let Thy name be glorified. In the name of Jesus, I command this leg to grow out. The gangrene is gone; you are healed.” To everyone’s amazement, they saw movement in the empty pant leg; suddenly, the leg grew out. The crowd went wild with rejoicing and praise as the man ran around the room. Brother Seymour could not even preach that night; everyone was shouting and dancing until two in the morning. About 1,000 people were saved because of this one miracle.
Sister Lankford, wife of Brother Lankford, remembered one event that happened about a year after the man’s leg grew out. A man came in with one arm missing; it had been severed ten years earlier in 1897, in a work-related accident. You could see down into the hole where it was rotting and turning black; bone was visible. Seymour asked the man, “Can you work with just one arm?” The man replied that he was given minimal paying jobs and could barely make enough money to even eat. Seymour shook his head and asked the man if he was married and had children, to which the man replied yes to both questions. “This man needs to be able to make a living. This man needs to work and he needs to be able to pay his tithe. Will you tithe if I pray for you and God gives you your arm back?” Seymour asked teasingly. The man said yes. Seymour burst out laughing. “I’m just having fun.” He then laid his hands on the man’s shoulder and commanded the missing arm to grow out.
Witnesses could see the bone growing and the flesh turning pink. Within a few seconds, the arm grew out, even down to the fingernails. Completely. The healed man stood in utter amazement. A few weeks later, the healed gentleman came back and explained how his former job was restored to him. He brought 200 coworkers with him; not all at once, but at different times. All were saved and healed when the saints laid hands upon them.”
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"googleFonts": [ "Roboto", "Droid Sans" ] }, "productSet": { "styles": { "products": { "@media (min-width: 601px)": { "margin-left": "-20px" } } } }, "modalProduct": { "contents": { "img": false, "imgWithCarousel": true, "button": false, "buttonWithQuantity": true }, "styles": { "product": { "@media (min-width: 601px)": { "max-width": "100%", "margin-left": "0px", "margin-bottom": "0px" } }, "button": { "font-family": "Droid Sans, sans-serif", "font-weight": "bold", ":hover": { "background-color": "#d87a35" }, "background-color": "#f0873b", ":focus": { "background-color": "#d87a35" }, "border-radius": "25px", "padding-left": "26px", "padding-right": "26px" }, "title": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif", "font-weight": "bold", "font-size": "26px", "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "price": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif", "font-weight": "normal", "font-size": "18px", "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "compareAt": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif", "font-weight": "normal", "font-size": "15.299999999999999px", "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "unitPrice": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif", "font-weight": "normal", "font-size": "15.299999999999999px", "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "description": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif", "font-weight": "normal", "font-size": "14px", "color": "#4c4c4c" } }, "googleFonts": [ "Roboto", "Droid Sans" ] }, "option": { "styles": { "label": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif" }, "select": { "font-family": "Roboto, sans-serif" } }, "googleFonts": [ "Roboto" ] }, "cart": { "styles": { "button": { "font-family": "Droid Sans, sans-serif", "font-weight": "bold", ":hover": { "background-color": "#d87a35" }, "background-color": "#f0873b", ":focus": { "background-color": "#d87a35" }, "border-radius": "25px" }, "title": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "header": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "lineItems": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "subtotalText": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "subtotal": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "notice": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "currency": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "close": { "color": "#4c4c4c", ":hover": { "color": "#4c4c4c" } }, "empty": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "noteDescription": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "discountText": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "discountIcon": { "fill": "#4c4c4c" }, "discountAmount": { "color": "#4c4c4c" } }, "text": { "title": "Checkout powered by Faith & Flame" }, "googleFonts": [ "Droid Sans" ] }, "toggle": { "styles": { "toggle": { "font-family": "Droid Sans, sans-serif", "font-weight": "bold", "background-color": "#f0873b", ":hover": { "background-color": "#d87a35" }, ":focus": { "background-color": "#d87a35" } } }, "googleFonts": [ "Droid Sans" ] }, "lineItem": { "styles": { "variantTitle": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "title": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "price": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "fullPrice": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "discount": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "discountIcon": { "fill": "#4c4c4c" }, "quantity": { "color": "#4c4c4c" }, "quantityIncrement": { "color": "#4c4c4c", "border-color": "#4c4c4c" }, "quantityDecrement": { "color": "#4c4c4c", "border-color": "#4c4c4c" }, "quantityInput": { "color": "#4c4c4c", "border-color": "#4c4c4c" } } } }, }); }); } })(); /*]]>*/
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