#related note but DAMN this book about Rome is good so like is also a book rec

[lesbi-lan]

Current mood: drinking wine, listening to Doja Cat, and reading about the fall of Rome... if this isn't a Jing Beiyuan mood I don't know what is

[clovis-enthusiast]

Little thought about The Tyrant’s Tomb. [SPOILERS!!!!]

oKAY, so I’m gonna start off by saying that, as usual, Rick Riordan’s writing style never fails to impress and draw me in to keep reading and not stop until I’ve devoured every last word. I was DESPERATE to read this book because it took me longer to get it than usual, and I was trying to go into it spoiler free (aside from reading the snippets that Uncle Rick posted on his Twitter every now and then.) I pretty much managed to do so, and it made the experience that much more emotional for me. I went into The Burning Maze KNOWING that Jason was going to die, but I had absolutely no idea what I’d be facing in this book.

Camp Jupiter

I’m just gonna flat out say it; I was never really all that interested in Camp Jupiter in the beginning. I didn’t like the majority of the characters (aside from Dakota who is my legal son) and the camp structure (though accurate to the Romans) seemed too strict and harsh to me. The ranking systems confused me, and it all in all just did not appeal to me the way Camp Half-Blood does. However, the more I read, the more attached I grew, and although I still MUCH prefer Camp Half-Blood and would choose it in a heartbeat when choosing between the two camps, it still became an interesting place to read about. I ADORE the idea of New Rome and the sharp contrast of silly demigods like the fifth cohort vs. the strict rules and upbringing of the camp.

When Jason died in The Burning Maze and the next book was set to take place surrounding Camp Jupiter, I grew excited. I REALLY wanted to meet more of the demigods of the Roman camp and explore them more (mostly Dakota but I digress.) Although I knew reading about everyone’s reactions to Jason’s death would be hard, I fought through it and was somewhat surprised by the lack of grieving that was presented. I mean, the ENTIRE first few chapters were ALL about Jason’s coffin and Lester and Meg grieving and trying their best to get it to camp but when it actually got there there really wasn’t that much of an uproar. At first I thought that was strange but looking back at it the Romans are brought up to be strong and not let emotions take over them, and people like Hazel have to show absolute strength. Besides the camp was already in mourning over DOZENS of other campers at the time.

That was another thing that sort of bugged me. I was absolutely ITCHING to meet some new characters and granted I got a few, but the majority of the ‘newer’ characters had already been killed and served only as the undead army.

THAT WAS SO FUCKED UP. It was one thing that I think Rick did a really good job with in upping the deep and darkness of the Riordanverse series. Can you imagine fighting your undead comrades and friends?? Like holy shit, that was emotional. I was super worried I spoiled something for myself on Istagram bc I read a post someone made about Jason trying to get the undead Romans to follow him instead or direct them away from camp, but I should have known it wasn’t true since he was literally burned.

Frank

Speaking of burning, I ACTUALLY thought Rick killed Frank off. Up until this book, I hadn’t really realized how much I loved this man. His character is just so well-written and likable and when he sacrificed the wood, I was like NOOOOOOOOO. I was SO grateful he came back in the end because I was sure Rick would never hear the end of THAT one if he allowed it to really happen. On the bright side, my baby boy can now enjoy his life with a little bit more vigor and less fear now that the stick is gone for good.

New Characters

Lavinia Asimov: Okay, Lavinia is a REALLLLLLLY weird character to me. She reminds me a lot of Lou Ellen to be honest, but for some reason, she doesn’t appeal to me as much as Lou Ellen does. (Maybe it’s just because I tend to prefer minor characters) Her rebelliousness seemed a little too... forced at times?? And her whole thing with the dryads and fauns was kinda weird too, but I guess since she likes Poison Ivy, it makes sense. However, she kinda did grow on me, I suppose, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.

Poison Ivy: I REALLY wished we could have met her even just once. Lavinia would not shut up about her and was CONSTANTLY rebelling against the rules in camp just to see her, so I wanna know just what kind of a character she is. I’m sure she would have been very interesting and sassy to have been Lavinia’s love interest lol

Pranjal: He’s a good boy!!! Not quite sure how to pronounce his name properly, but his appearance is adorable and I LOVE the fact that he’s a son of Aesculapius because he’s one of my favorite gods soooo... I really wish we could have seen more of him!! He’s kinda like Clovis in the way that he has like one important part, gets mentioned like two times afterwards and then never again :^/

Aristophanes: he’s a cat,,, i love him,,, 

Harpocrates: This was SO interesting and out of the blue to me having gone in spoiler free!! He’s earned a new spot up in my favorite gods list because of how interesting and mysterious he is. His concept was great and although i was sad to see him sacrificed, I hope that he and Sibyl are together wherever they are bc that was damn cute and made me so emotional afgkjldg why did Apollo have to be such a dick as a god,,,

New names with little to no info: Carl (Roman demigod,) Reza (Roman demigod,) Reginald (faun,) Felipe (faun,) Harold (faun,) Lotoya (dryad,) Buster (unicorn,) Muffin (unicorn,) Whagadoodle (unicorn,) Shirley (unicorn,) Horatio (unicorn,) One Eye (pegasus,) Small Ears (pegasus,) Boost (pandai,) Ida (Roman demigod,) Caelius (Roman demigod,) Thomas (Roman demigod,) Colum (Roman demigod,) and Terrel (Roman demigod)

Lester/Apollo

MY BOY HAS GROWN!!! He’s so human now, and I’m so proud. He doesn’t even second guess sacrificing himself or humiliating himself to save his friends. I just... I have a lot of feelings over his character development. Rick handles him SO well, and I just,,, I love him,,, i am,,, in love with him,, i would date lester papadopoulos

Meg

She’s grown to be such a doll!! I was SUPER annoyed by her in the first books, but now she’s my daughter. I love that she’s actually expressing emotions other than ‘annoying 12 year old’ now. Like I wanna protect her.

Reyna

She was a pretty good character in this book and her leaving the camp was a HUGE surprise to me. I kinda wish she was still praetor because idk Hazel just doesn’t rlly seem as fit for it as Reyna was, and I like Reyna a lot, but idk i guess it’s coolio. I was also glad Rick cleared up all the romance discourse about her too though the way he did it was kinda weird (she literally was using the word ‘ship’ out loud like wh-- and i don’t remember the venus thing at all so maybe i missed it from a different book? idk it came out of nowhere to me)

Ella and Tyson

I actually like Ella a lot now!! I used to find her quite annoying, and her relationship with Tyson felt forced, but now that I had the time to get used to her and figure out her character a little more, I do like her. She sort of treats Tyson weird, but I think towards the end, I fell for their relationship more. Tyson was literally excellent, show-stopping, breath-taking, amazing,,, like YESSS KING I LOVE YOU AND YOU PEANUT BUTTER-SMELLING SELF (that one scene where he just started dancing and apollo didn’t know if it was for the ritual or just bc he felt like it killed me)

Character Deaths

Dakota: I AM NEVER GOING TO GET OVER THIS ONE FOLKS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO REREAD THE SAME SENTENCE TO MAKE SURE THAT I WASN’T HAVING A NIGHTMARE. I PHYSICALLY CANNOT BELIEVE THAT RICK KILLED HIM OFF. I’M STILL EMOTIONAL OVER IT, AND JUST AJSDHF;AMNJ ‘;  NOOOOOOOOOOO THIS IS THE SECOND SIBLING POLLUX HAS LOST IM GOING TO  S C R E A M  HE WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS AND HE DESERVED BETTER DAMN IT I’M LITERALLY IN SHOCK LITERALLY DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE I’M STILL IN SHOCK FROM CREST’S DEATH IN THE LAST BOOK TBH AND NOW THIS??? NOW I’M SCARED CLOVIS IS GONNA DIE JSDKLFKS the only thing that gives me comfort is that Jason can be with his friend in Elysium now fuckkkk,,, rick why did you do this to me,,, I LITERALLY CANNOT EXPRESS HOW UPSET I AM I WILL  N E V E R  HEAL

Don: Don was sort of a comic relief character in SoN, and it was very sad to see him go. He reminded me a lot of Grover, and his death scene with Lavinia ACTUALLY made me tear up. THIS BOOK MADE ME SO EMOTIONAL GOD DAKOTA AND DON WERE LITERAL BABIES RICK GIVE THEM BACK

Bobby: listen,,, we never even met this kid rlly and i was still super sad when lavinia had to kill him again and hannibal is without him and just ughhh whyyy

Julia’s mother, father, AND foster parents: HOLY SHIT RICK WASN’T THAT KIND OF OVERKILL??? I felt so bad for the poor girl, especially cause she’s like six??? But it’s very sweet that Terminus adopted her. I really liked that.

Jacob: AAHHHAHA this one made me sad too!!!! he was such a minor character, but he reminded me of Damien White and Ethan Nakamura (if he were allowed to actually be a kid,) so I think that’s why I was sort of partial to him. The way he died was SUPER horrid too, so I just,,, im big sad for him (on a good hand, he went down F I G H T I N G)

Mentions of anything relating to Hypnos or his children

Yes, i am keeping track, sue me. Somnus was mentioned one time in this book as one of the gods Apollo briefly considered summoning to his aid, and it is presumed he has some sort of tribute at Camp Jupiter had he not before. You’ll make another appearance someday Clovis, I know it :’^D 

Final Thoughts

I literally CANNOT wait for the next book (which I presume is the last one.) From what it seems, we’re returning to New York, so Camp Half-Blood will be present. I can’t wait to see my babes again, and I’m REALLY hoping more minor characters will be allowed to shine (cough clovis cough) but like i KNOW some will die and just,,, im sad,,, dakota’s death has wrecked me,,, but on the side note, the new book is coming out in my last year of school!!! i’m so excited because this series holds emotional value to me like i’ve literally gone through my high school career with trials of apollo like it was with me the whole time and it’s one of the only things that keeps me going. i just,,, i have no words to express how much this series and all the others mean to me...

thank you so much for keeping me going, uncle rick. i can’t wait to see how this all ends :^) <3 

[aslanjadecarlyle]

book review: call me by your name

note: I posted this review on Goodreads in September of 2019. I’ve considered posting it here too, and finally caved.

enjoy.

My Review: (Edited To Add: When I first read this book, I, at the very least, thought that the author, Andre Aciman, was part of the LGBT+ community, but... NOPE! Asshole is a fucking STRAIGHT MAN. MOTHERFUCK.) And the most disappointing read of the year goes to...

Lads, I hated this book. Absolutely fucking hated it. Hated it, hated it, hated it. Words cannot describe how much I fucking regret reading this book — it just might be one of the worst books I have /ever/ read. I literally cannot deal. There were a few different reasons why I hated this book, all of which I will go into, but there was one reason why I hated it most of all, and I’ll put that reason here: Elio. I. COULD. NOT. STAND. HIM. OH MY GOD. This asshole. Full disclosure, before I go on, I am asexual as fuck. I do not feel sexual attraction, never have, probably never will. I am also sex-repulsed — However, I AM sex-positive. Normally, I do not give a single fuck what people do in their sex lives as long as everything is legal and consensual, and as long as it doesn’t involve me. However, this little asshole was a motherfucking CREEP. I get it. He’s 17. Most 17 year olds who actually do feel sexual attraction are horny as fuck, all day, every day. They probably, like, look up porn and shit — before PornHub, there was Playboy. Can’t relate, but okay. It’s whatever. BUT THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE ANY OF WHAT THIS KID DID. (Pretty big spoilers from here on out, heyo). Right, so he pretty much starts lusting after Oliver 0.2 seconds after meeting the dude. It is literally your textbook definition of instalust, and if you looked it up in the dictionary you would see Elio’s face (do we ever even learn his last name???) in the dictionary. He starts fantasizing about Oliver’s cock right off the bat. Fine. Creepy, but whatever. I thought his little comment comparing Oliver’s ass and balls to an apricot was pretty cringey (he literally went as far as to call it Oliver’s “apricock”), but I would EASILY take a million apricocks over the bullfuckery (no pun intended) that happens next. But first, before we even get into the cringey sex shit, I would like to point out that there is a point somewhere in the beginning part of this book where Elio literally wishes that, “Oliver was a cripple in a wheelchair so he couldn’t run away.” If that’s not the direct quote, it’s pretty damn close. UMMM. Nice dose of casual ableism there, but okay. Moving on. Okay, so basically the context of the relationship is that Elio is a kid from Italy, and during the summer his parents run a vacation home. They rent out some rooms in the house, including Elio’s bedroom (he temporarily moves into a smaller spare bedroom whenever this happens). Oliver is an American and he’s vacationing in Italy for like 6 weeks, so they rent out Elio’s room and he moves into the spare during this time. Fantastic. So, pretty quickly after Oliver moves in for the summer, Elio catches him wearing swim trunks. Totally normal, it’s summer, it’s hot, and Oliver is staying at a resort near the beach. He is totally justified in wearing swim trunks during this time. Except Elio takes things to a whole new damn level, and after seeing Oliver in these evidently very sexy swim trunks, he sneaks into Oliver’s room. His justification of this very brilliant decision is basically, “Well, it’s actually MY room and he’s just borrowing it so I am TOTALLY JUSTIFIED in going through his belongings.” Right. Anyway, so this kid starts snooping through Oliver’s room (I will be calling it Oliver’s room during this review since he’s renting it). He starts snooping through their guest’s clothes and shit, starts going through his closet... and, lo and behold, what is the very first thing Elio finds in said closet? The very smexy swim trunks. (They’re red, in case you wanted to know). And so. What does Elio do upon finding these sexy red swim trunks? This absolute treasure among treasures? First, he takes the swim trunks out of the closet. And then... He :) holds the swim trunks up to his face :) and INHALES the scent of the inside of the crotch area :) where Oliver’s dick goes. :) BONUS POINTS: He also narrates that he wishes! he could find! “some sort of bodily fluid or a pubic hair!” 😍 I mean, what a guy, hey? *TV Announcer Voice* BUT! THAT’S! NOT! ALL! So while Elio is in Oliver’s room, he, naturally, has to strip naked and try on Oliver’s swim trunks. Because that is very clearly the next step in creepiness after inhaling some random dude’s cock-smelling swim trunks like it’s a goddamn Yankee candle. But that’s not even the weirdest thing that happens. I can’t remember if this happened before, during, or after Elio tried on the trunks (this entire scene was a goddamn nightmare — one of many), but at some point before leaving Oliver’s room, Elio gets on the bed, finds a pillow that Oliver brought with him, and :) dry humps :) the goddamn thing. :) Literally puts it between his legs and rides it out like a goddamn pony. Why I didn’t stop reading at that point, I will never know, but sometime after all this happens, a sort-of relationship forms between Elio and Oliver (more like a summer fling). I have no idea what Italy’s age of consent laws are, so that’s really not my place to say — I don’t want to seem like I’m defending the situation, and I know that most of my rant has been about Elio, but I just... the whole situation is really hard to judge, in my opinion. Oliver’s in his early 20s so the age gap isn’t HUGE huge, but he is American while Elio is Italian, different countries with different laws, so like... that further muddies the age of consent shit. But, even if the ages WEREN’T a problem, the relationship itself is a goddamn train wreck. Overthinking it all highkey stresses me out. Instead, Imma just tell y’all about an ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING thing that happened afterwards because WHAT THE FUCK. WHY WAS THIS IN A FUCKING BOOK. OH MY GOD. (I feel like I’m radiating strong Gus from How To Be A Normal Person vibes right now and, honestly, I need my inner Gus to get me through this shit because WHAT THE FUCK). So, they hook up and have sex for the first time. Whatever. I don’t even know what the fuck happened because, honestly, the writing style was not the best (I’ll rant about that later, if I make it through this shit) and they did this thing where they called each other by each other’s names during sex (which is, I guess, where the title comes from — hardy har har). The idea is fine in retrospect, but between the name-swapping and the shitty writing style, the scene overall was very confusing to read. All I got out of it was that Elio bottomed and Oliver topped. (<—— Almost accidentally typed Gus there and, um, Gustavo Tiberius deserves better than that. I am so sorry, Gus). After they have sex, Elio starts to question whether that was a good idea, whether he was actually into Oliver like that, etc., etc.. And at some point during all of this — I don’t even know how or why this became a thing — he ends up fucking a peach. You read that right. He :) fucks :) a :) peach. :) Like, I’m talking, splits it open and just! shoves his cock right on through! He even cums in the damn thing! ... And, like, I have never seen the movie, but I looked it up, AND THAT SCENE IS IN THE GODDAMN MOVIE. LITERALLY COMES UP AS “THE PEACH SCENE.” WHY. WHY. WHY. WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY. What kind of American Pie, 50 Shades bullshit did I just read AND WHY DID ABSOLUTELY NO ONE WARN ME ABOUT IT. Oh, and, uh, Oliver eats the peach. Just. Gobbles that thing up like it’s his favorite piece of goddamn candy. At that point, my soul just kinda detached itself from my body and plummeted straight into hell. I have become numb to any sort of emotion, and I am never touching a goddamn peach ever again, oh my god. So um. Yeah. Outside of the creepy sex shit and questionable age shit, the book was actually boring as fuck. I thought I would actually like the Italian setting, but nope! Outside of being traumatized, I have absolutely no recollection of what happens after Oliver and Elio go to Rome together. All I remember is that I’m pretty sure the ending was bullshit. And the writing style was Not Great either. The author tried SO HARD to be stupidly poetic and it absolutely did not work in the goddamn slightest (especially during the sex scenes, with fruit and otherwise). The paragraphs were super long and rambling, and the author went through patches of writing where he just. Straight up did not break the paragraphs at all when a conversation happened. I read whole paragraphs where I had no idea who was talking because it went back and forth so much. I have no idea if that was done as a stylistic choice, but it was bullshit and I’m judging everyone who liked it. Why??? Did this??? Goddamn book??? Become a movie??? I have never wanted to roundhouse kick a book into the goddamn ocean so badly. I regret ever buying it. I regret not stopping after the goddamn swim trunks shit. I want my money back. In conclusion, to sum up this goddam monstrosity of a book: WHY. (If you want better LGBT+ books, please consider reading How To Be A Normal Person by T.J. Klune, A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York & Rowan Altwood, or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, just to name a few. They are all SO much better than this goddamn... experience... and do not include questionable age laws. And also, the first two titles are written by indie authors who are part of the LGBT+ community!).

[tes-trash-blog]

Mycosis, Or A Slightly More Scientific Take On How The Falmer Came To Be

(Alt title: I’m Never Eating Mushrooms Again)

Yep. This is happening.

Preface: This essay/rant/overanalysis is focusing only on the theoretical physical and biological aspects Falmer devolution. Expect a shorter rant on the spiritual aspect on a later date, thanks to oyarsas.

Part 1. Just Who Were The Falmer Anyway? A Brief Primer

According to the one surviving Snow Elf in Skyrim, the ancient Falmer were a wealthy and advanced race of Elves that occupied a portion of Skyrim during the Merethic Era. A few shenanigans, some unspeakable war crimes, and a genocide later, the remnants of this race fled underground into the waiting arms of the Dwemer. They laid it down in simple terms:

“Many of your people had perished under the roaring, snow-throated kings of Mora, and your wills were broken, and we heard you, and sent our machines against your enemies, to thereby take you under. Only by the grace of the Dwemer did your culture survive, and only by the fifteen-and-one tones did your new lives begin.”

(Fun fact: If you translate the Stone using Ayleid words, it’s actually a lot more sinister!)

This wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts, as the Dwarves were, in objective terms, dicks. While they didn’t want tearful songs of gratitude or boot-licking, they weren’t about to let a bunch of homeless and traumatized Elves, y’know, recover. No, they wanted something.

“We only request you partake of the symbol of our bond, the fruit of the stones around us. And as your vision clouds, as the darkness sets in, fear not.”

That something was their sight, and their obedience. Given what very little we know about Snow Elven culture, this looked to have been a bit of a big deal. After all, all the Prelates at Auri-El’s wayshrines implement light and sight in their blessings, much of the surviving iconography depicts the sun and its radiance, and what few surviving accounts remain mention the “dread of night” and “blessed sun”.

This wasn’t a decision made lightly, is what I’m getting at. The fact they agreed at all surely meant the Dwarves could do what they wished. Seeing some of the more elaborate torture chambers and traps, we can safely assume they did.

The Blinding happened in the Late Merethic Era, some hundreds of years before the Dragon War and the beginning of the First Era. Now comes the fun part.

And by fun part, I mean gross part.

Part 2. Can’t We Just Wrap This Up And Blame The Dwarves?

It wouldn’t be an overanalysis if I did, now would it?

There are theories abound as to how the Dwarves corrupted them, or they were part of a failed experiment (Underkiing, Lord_Hoot). This essay is going to ignore these theories, and focus on the more biological aspects of the Falmer transformation. Starting with a quote from the last surviving Snow Elf:

“The blinding of my race was supposedly accomplished with a toxin. Certainly not enough to devolve them into the sad and twisted beings they've become.”

This is further supported with the poem The Betrayed:

“Thrown into the pitch black dread of night.

Living in fear as their minds become lost.

As their eyes began dimming the light.”

This lost book also points to the slow creeping of insanity among the Snow Elves, no doubt from the unspeakable horrors seen above ground and the fancy word that made me write this whole damn essay in the first place: Mycotoxin!

Mycotoxins are a broad name for the various types of poisons produced by the Fungi kingdom, specifically those that affect animals, humans, and in this case, Elves. From NCBI’s extensive article on Mycotoxins:

“The majority of mycotoxicoses, on the other hand, result from eating contaminated foods. Skin contact with mold-infested substrates and inhalation of spore-borne toxins are also important sources of exposure. Except for supportive therapy (e.g., diet, hydration), there are almost no treatments for mycotoxin exposure”

“[...] Acute toxicity generally has a rapid onset and an obvious toxic response, while chronic toxicity is characterized by low-dose exposure over a long time period, resulting in cancers and other generally irreversible effects.”

That sounds… bad.

So, there are few if any treatments for mycotoxin exposure, and the Dwarves were not ones to use magic, so the only feasible treatment for the mass-poisoning would have been a good diet and hydration, but something tells me the Dwarves were not keen on giving their slaves either of those. From the Diary of Faire Agarwen, we can reasonably deduce that conditions were cramped, dark, and damp even among those who had political clout:

“Seventh Marking, Tenth Kulniir

[...] Often the surroundings make it impossible to dwell on any happiness. We have been locked together in such close quarters for so long.”

Keep in mind here that a kulniir was a notched basin that functioned as a simple time keeper, using drops of water. The diary also mentions there’s no real natural light, so we see the combination of dark, damp, and cramped. This was from a woman who held some social capital. We can assume that conditions for your average Joe and Sally were much worse.

Even among the best of conditions, the Snow Elves were kept in were prime real estate for molds and fungi to thrive. There is (thankfully) no evidence to support my next claim, but it’s also not exactly a stretch of the imagination.

The Falmer: A Study makes clear that the blinding was a multi-generational effort. Within perhaps two or three generations, the Snow Elves were eternally blind. Adding to the permanent blindness, there very well could have been the more unpleasant, unwanted, and unplanned changes.

I’m talking about mutagens.

To pull a real life example, Fumonisin B1 can cause neural tube defects in utero, which means that the toxin affects the development of the brain and spinal cord, as well as the central nervous system. In extreme, chronic cases of fumonisin poisoning, it can keep the brain from forming into a viable state, causing stillbirths. In a universe where dragons fly around and singing plants can make poisons, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that there is something equally terrifying growing in Blackreach. Already blinded, chronically ill, and hopeless, the next generation of Snow Elves were doomed to an ever lower standard of living without even the knowledge that things could be better. Combine that with whatever mold infected whatever flora that grew underground, similar to how say, fumonisin blights grains and how black mold is generally Really Bad For You.. Well, we can assume that there was a more subtle force that guided them to their ferality than whatever the Dwarves did to them.

In the same way the lead pipes of Rome contributed to developmental problems among their populace, I can imagine the toxic spores creating more violent, more feral Falmer, until finally their very sentience was taken from them. Seeing as all of this culminated into a war that spanned decades, something tells me the Dwarves didn’t see that coming.

Part 3: So… CAN They Be Cured?

The short answer is no. From the words of the Knight Paladin himself:

“I'm afraid that they're well beyond a cure at this point. The twisted forms you've seen didn't occur overnight. It isn't a plague or a disease that ravaged our species. The dwarves may have stolen their sight, but it took many generations for them to become what they are today.”

And as found earlier, there are no effective cures for mycotoxin exposure, and I imagine even less for chronic, multi-generational poisonings like what happened to the Snow Elves of old. I’m assuming, but I really don’t want to ever see that tested in the field.

But not all is lost. Gelebor also notes that the modern Falmer have started to re-develop their intellect. This grabbed me, as the Forgotten Vale is vastly different than the caves and ruins you normally find Falmer in. There’s fresh air and cool breezes, and open spaces for those sad little gremlins to lurk about. In short, they’re away from the poisonous influences of those dark caves and toxic spores.

It’s entirely possible that the Falmer of the Vale are developing, and it’s in part because they’re no longer confined to the dark and damp that was their prison. It’s entirely possible that with enough time, and enough patience, the Falmer could slowly undo the effects of their chronic poisoning. Not enough to become the Snow Elves of legend, those days are long since past, but perhaps enough to break their chains, and finally put a voice to thousands of years of suffering.

Sources, inspirations, and tangentially related articles:

Mycotoxins, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. A recommended primer on the nature of mycotoxins and their effects on more complex organisms.

Toxic effects of mycotoxins in humans, from the World Health Organization, another excellent starting point if you like reading about poisonous fungi.

Repeating Mistakes of the Past: Another Mycoherbicide Research Bill, a condemnation of using mycotoxins in of all things, drug control. This article also calls the use of mycotoxins against humans for what it is: Biowarfare. An interesting, insightful, and very depressing read.

A review of the toxic effects and mechanisms of action of fumonisin B1, from the journal Human and Experimental Toxicology. Behind a paywall, but the abstract sums it all up quite nicely.

A Wikipedia article on the Mexican Tetra, because I think they’re cute.

UESP, without which I would be even more of a babbling trash gremlin.

[gallifreyandemigoddess]

Listen, I have a lot of emotions about “The Burning Maze” and everything that unfolded in this particular book. It destroyed my soul in many ways, but it also gave me an immense amount of satisfaction and joy.

But, to start it off in the same way that I’ve started my other two posts about “The Hidden Oracle” and “The Dark Prophecy”, I will start with my favorite sun god, Lester Apollo.

    I’m really happy with how profound his character development has become.

“All of this,” I announced, “is my fault.”

You can imagine how difficult this was for me to say. The words simply had not been in the vocabulary of Apollo.

We have this former Olympian who was used to having everything he could ever desire and who was arrogant and self-centered (though in the first book he admitted that his self-centeredness was a pretense, something to hide how lonely and heartbroken he actually was, more specifically on the twenty-seventh chapter, on page 258) I add the source to show that I’m not making shit up. And through the course of his trials he has, in a way, grown to accept his fate as a human.

He still laments his fate, and he still wishes he could become a god and leave all those problems behind, but he has grown to understand what it means to be a human, and to accept his emotions and to feel.

“In times past, I would have scoffed at any nymph who dared to call me poor thing. Now, Mellie’s show of concern caused a lump to form in my throat. I was tempted to rest my head on her shoulder and sob out my troubles.”  

“Gods wouldn’t normally mourn the loss of a griffin, or a few dryads, or a single ecosystem. The longer I was mortal, the more affected I was by even the smallest loss.”

There are several parts where he is gentle to Meg and to Grover when they seem to be hurting. The Apollo from the first book would have never done that, he would’ve cared only about himself and his own feelings.

The few times he mentioned how much he missed being a god, he wasn’t thinking only about how he could simply pass his duty to the demigods and return to the safety of Olympus, he was also thinking about the lives he could’ve saved had he still been the god of healing.

This part, however, shows great depth because in the past (around the first book maybe), he wouldn’t have given the choice a second thought, he would’ve just left:

I wondered, if my own father, Zeus, appeared to me just then and offered me a way back to Olympus, what price would I be willing to pay? Would I leave Meg to her fate? Would I abandon the demigods and satyrs and dryads who had become my comrades? Would I forget about all the terrible things Zeus had done to me over the centuries and swallow my pride, just so I could regain my place in Olympus, knowing full well I would still be under Zeus’ thumb?

Also, the little fucker tried to sacrifice himself so many times in the story I was about to tear my hair out. I lost it when he actually impaled himself with the Arrow of Dodona, I was very, as the scientists call it, shooketh.

“Let my friends go,” I said. “All of them. Then you can have me.”

The emperor’s eyes gleamed like a strix’s. “And if I don’t?”

I summoned my courage and issued a threat I never could have imagined in my previous four thousand years of life. “Ill kill myself.”

On a familiar note, Apollo is starting to realize that perhaps Zeus had a valid reason for sending him down to Earth as a mortal, which shows more growth, because on the last books he had only seen his punishment as something unfair.

“I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, Zeus had been right to send me to earth, to correct the wrongs I had allowed to happen.

 Sassy Apollo is the best thing to happen:

“Girl, I see you- I felt like saying- You are not subtle, and we really need to have a talk about crushing on dryads.”

“Full points for vagueness, girl, but I want the dirt.”

Supporting (and charming) Apollo is also an amazing thing:

“Such a gorgeous blade held by the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth. (No offense to the billions of other women out there who are also quite enchanting; I love you all.)”

Also, this part in which he was literally the Dad Friend?

“Meg!” I chided. “Sit back and buckle up, please. Grover, stop eating your seat belt. Your setting a bad example.”

Just imagine this scene please, “Meg summoned her golden swords. Grover fumbled for his reed pipes. I prepared to run away screaming.” because I pictured little Lester shifting uncomfortably on his spot as his friends prepared to fight like in a scene of The Avengers, and he just, he had nothing.

The time in which Meg was a straight up savage:

“Unbelievable,” I muttered. “After four thousand years, I am still discovering new things.”

“Like how dumb you are,” Meg volunteered.

“No.”

“So you already knew that?”

 Caligula’s character.

Caligula wants to be the new fucking sun god, and his whole plan to extract what is left of Apollo’s divinity? Fucking twisted but at the same time so...I don’t know how to explain it. I hate his character and I would die if anything happened to Apollo (I’d be damned if by the end he doesn’t go back to being a god) but at the same time, that plan shocked me to my very core. Its unnerving and unsettling but it makes sense. He always wanted to be seen as a god.

On the past book, the second emperor revealed turned out to be a former lover of Apollo, but on this book, it is shown that Caligula’s personality startled the god since ancient times. I find it curious how he seems to have history with each emperor.

Finally, Caligula laughed. “Well done!” He patted my shoulder, then snapped his fingers. One of his servants shuffled forwards and handed me a heavy pouch of gold coins.

Caligula whispered in my ear, “I feel safer already.”

After that, I stayed away from Rome for decades. It was a rare man who could make a god nervous, but Caligula unsettled me. This particular part though, I could almost feel the sexual tension, and no one can convince me otherwise that this wasn’t Caligula flirting with the disguised Apollo.

Another thing I found really interesting is the explanation for when Apollo became the new sun god, and his words to Helios nearly at the end of the book:

“But I remember you- your brilliance, your warmth. I remember your friendship with the gods and the mortals of the earth. I can never be as great a sun deity as you were, but every day I try to honor your memory- to remember your best qualities.”  

Now let’s move on, kids.

Let’s talk about Piper, Grover, and Jason for a moment.

I had forgotten how amazing Piper McLean was, specifically, how caring and sweet she is? She comforted Meg a lot of times thorough the book, and she was such a badass too? I love her? She’s the best? How could anyone hate her?

I also like how well she clicked with Apollo. It was cute.

Piper gave me a wry smile. “That’s nice. I like that. You’re sure you’re not the god of wisdom?”

“I applied for the job,” I said, “but they gave it to someone else. Something about inventing olives.” I rolled my eyes.

She burst out laughing, which made me feel as if a good strong wind had finally blown all the wildlife smoke out of California. I grinned in response. When was the last time I’d had such a positive exchange with an equal, a friend, a kindred soul? I could not recall.

I liked this too:

Piper arched her eyebrows. “Are you sensing a disturbance in the Force?”

“Please,” I muttered. “I’m sensing my usual bad luck.” Because RELATABLE.

Grover is still a sweet, dorky child. I like that we had more information about him as the book proceeded, specifically that he is yet to see Percy again (when will we have that reunion? I don’t know, but I need that to happen asap) and that he has never been to Camp Jupiter. All those months he had been in Palm Springs dealing with the natural disasters happening all around and with the disappearing dryads. It warmed my heart how he was so happy to go back to Camp Half-Blood, to his home.

I wasn’t expecting the news of Piper and Jason’s breakup, but I like that at least we got an explanation and that it was rational.

“You’re wondering who you are without all the pressure.”

Piper loves him, but their relationship had a wrong start.

Hera messed with their memories, made them start dating for a reason that did not exist. Her mother, the goddess of love, made her believe that she needed to have a boyfriend to be a proper daughter of Aphrodite. It’s only reasonable that after everything ended and they tried to settle down she’d realize that she doesn’t know where that leaves her. She needs time to decide who she is- not the daughter of Aphrodite, not as one of the Seven of the prophecy- as her own person.

And even when they’re not a couple anymore, they’re still partners.

It struck me how easily they talked together, even about difficult things, and how well they seemed to understand each other.

Jason Grace. This part is certainly harder to write.

Let’s start with nice things:

“I tried to talk sense into Zeus. I told him it was wrong to punish you. He wouldn’t listen.”

I stared at him blankly, whatever remained of my natural eloquence clogged in my throat. Jason Grace had done what?

Zeus had many children, which meant I had many half-brothers and half-sisters. Except for my twin, Artemis, I’d never felt close to any of them. Certainly, I’d never had a brother defend me in front of Father. My Olympian brethren were more likely to deflect Zeus’ fury by yelling Apollo did it!

This young demigod had stood up for me. He’d had no reason to do so. He barely knew me. Yet he’d risked his own life and faced the wrath of Zeus.

My first thought was to scream ARE YOU INSANE?

Then more appropriate words came to me: “Thank you.”

Jason took me by the shoulders- not out of anger, or in a clinging way, but as a brother. “Promise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when you’re a god again, remember. Remember what it’s like to be human.”

A few weeks ago, I would’ve scoffed. Why would I want to remember this?

Now, however, I had some inkling of what Jason meant. I had learned a lot about human frailty and human strength. I felt…different towards mortals, having been one of them.

“I promise,” I told Jason.

I really loved that part. I think it defines exactly the kind of person that Jason Grace was.

All right, let’s move on.

His death. Jason Grace’s death.

I won’t describe the scene, out of respect, but I honestly think that (while he didn’t deserve to die) he died as a hero, and that it is the only thing that matters. He died to protect his friends- his brother and his ex-girlfriend- and he knew what would happen, he was ready for it. He made his choice. It hurts, of course it does, but he had a hero’s death.

Other parts I liked about the story:

How were heroes with accessibility needs supposed to enjoy this death trap?

 Grover summoned the cry of Pan again.

You humans. You’re why we gods can’t have nice things. Are you sure, Apollo? Because I’m pretty sure that Percy Jackson could do a flawless PowerPoint presentation on how wrong you are.

That could be my life motto, I thought. He takes a lot of damage. Same, Apollo, same.

Imagine this scene, please, because it honestly gave me life:

Behind me, Grover wrestled with Coach Hedge, who was desperately trying to claw open a family fun pack of grenades while cursing the tamper-proof package.  Apollo is trying to be diplomatic and remain calm while they’re being threatened to life, and behind him are two satyrs wrestling over opening or not a big pack of grenades.

The Ares-so-lame video that went viral in mount Olympus that Apollo was definitely not responsible for uploading.

I enjoy running people over in a chariot as much as the next deity, but I did not like the idea of being the guy run over. Honey, now you know how demigods feel.

Apparently, Hephaestus throws great pool parties.

 If a goat wears a goatee, is it a man-tee?

 Apollo’s bitterness towards his family: “The Olympians allowed Zeus to strip me of my powers and toss me to earth. They’ve done half Caligula’s job for him. They won’t interfere. As usual, they’ll expect heroes to set things right.” Tune down the salt, Apollo, not a month before that moment you were one of the gods that expected heroes to fix everything.

This quote: “It’s been my observation that you humans are more than the sum of your history. You can choose how much of your ancestry to embrace. You can overcome the expectations of your family and your society. What you cannot, and should never do, is try to be someone other than yourself.” 

Mount Olympus Mega-God lottery.

The oracle’s riddles; the little game they had to solve to get to her. 

 The multiple mentions of Apollo’s love handles.

Imagine this, please: I still have nightmares about Hermes skating through Olympus with his big hair and gym shorts and high striped socks, listening to Donna Summer on his Walkman.  

Carry him away! I prayed, knowing that no god would listen. Please, just let Tempest get him to safety. This part wrecked me. How pained everyone was to Jason’s death, how a former god knows that his kind never listen to those kinds of prayers because they don’t care.

The maze giving Apollo the middle finger.

Apollo’s imminent rage and heartbreak when the maze used Hyacinthus against him.

Apparently Camp Half-Blood has a satyr school for young satyrs that want to be protectors?

Very few people look as good in tights as Spider-Man. 100% agreed.

Who cared about Apollo? I DO, BITCH, I DO.

How Apollo thought of his family when he was under Medea’s spell. Of his parents, of his twin sister.

The heartbreak that came with Crest’s death. How much it affected Apollo. The poor thing was just a child, and he died to protect them.

REYNA AVILA RAMIREZ ARELLANO IS GOING TO APPEAR ON THE NEXT BOOK. YES. MY QUEEN.

How Jason wanted to fulfill the promise he made to the sea goddess he met with Percy all those months before.

Leo’s arrival broke my heart. He couldn’t say goodbye to Jason. I pictured Piper and Leo’s reunion a million times, but I never imagines that.

I found myself crying. It was ridiculous, gods don’t cry. But as I looked at Jason’s diorama in the seat next to me, all I could think about was that he would never get to see his carefully labeled plans finished. As I held my ukulele, I could only picture Crest playing his last chord with broken fingers.

This line: “I would not allow those who had sacrificed themselves to do so for nothing.”

And the ending: But from now on, I would be more than Lester. I would be more than an observer. I would be Apollo. And I would remember.  

Everything that happened on this book has shaped Apollo, has made him more human. I think on the next book his promise of being more than an observer (or remembering) will come true- I think he will be stronger than before, because he wants to honor the memory of those that died for his cause.  

I want to see Reyna interact with Meg and Apollo, but most of all, I’m kind of worried for Thalia Grace. She deserves to know what happened to Jason, but I know that it would break my heart. She could react in so many ways…It’s only going to be painful.

But I’m so ready for it! (NOT)

As a whole, I loved the book. I’m really looking forwards to “The Tyrant’s Tomb.”

[twinflameshardcore]

The Sun had spoken again - 33 Pisces Virgo

Ladies and gentleman, it has begun! According to my channelings, there’s a rise of the proper, max love energy coming from the Galactic Central Sun, the Galactic Heart, through our Sun. I feel it as an increased flow of love, inspiration, easiness, and pleasure crawling down from my heart into my solar plexus.

I’m very connected with the twin, the heart communication is joined by the third eye’s activation, and the minds are also attuned. We also talk at times and we love each other much more openly than anytime before, online (LDR). Fears of showing and receiving feelings of love and care are gone. We gaze at each other on a cam just as in the beginning, with a difference that we don’t shy away after a few seconds Even the look of ourselves in an additional little Skype window doesn’t distract us. He had matured while I have less ego issues, expectations, survival impulses but more understanding that everything had been planned above to favor this relationship, to give us the best, to make us together to stay in this lifetime, just as every other true twins should get. I stick to patience and I detach from any incoming triggers of the evil energy which are less and less effective. They have no more power over my mind. Because it’s been always the brain, as the heart knows the truth and remains confident. We just gaze with love and passion - we know we’re both worth of gazing. I somehow know that September it’s his time to awaken more (he told me he didn’t have any channelings or other spiritual experiences so it looks it’s only me being hyperactive and learning about my angelic, galactic & Earthy past since 2014). For me, this is the time to enter then root into the new and better! I believe all what I have done so far will be rewarded with that what I need the most. I’m so excited as I didn’t suspect it’s coming that soon.

Now, why I’m writing here on this blog again. Watch the Sun! Some of us come from the Galactic Central Sun, I’m confident I do. Our Sun is the most important star to me as I cannot stand cold and darkness. So I talk to the Sun and I observe it. I take notes when I receive impulses to look at a clock and then I know the Sun (or some other unmonitored star here which I’m also connected too, like Betelgeuse or Eltanin) made a flare. I check results on a few websites which report solar flares and I compare. In most cases hours and minutes match together. I was hoping for X-flares when I noticed there was a sudden activation of the sunspots 2 days ago. And here we go, X2.2 followed then by X9.33 today on 09/06/17 (=16=7, I was born on 16th)!! This is big time. It is also accompanied by G3 solar storm which (somewhat badly) effects all living beings, the head, and the heart. It’s a level when the satellite communication can blackout. Or rather the black - out, the darkness out of here!

How strangely, it’s happening during the full Moon in Pisces too (I’m Pisces/Aries). The number 33 is very meaningful here as well. It’s assigned to alchemical symbols of water and fire, blue/indigo and red/orange (a triangle symbols turned up and down), dualities, the year Christ was reported to die, and also I was born as number 33 :)) Thus when I saw the Sun was active so much on Sept. 4th, flaring up all that plasma at :33 minutes during the day (see screenshots below), I knew I am being called out to receive, that my soul has been receiving messages which only it understands for the time being but it’ll send decoded messages into the body’s systems next. And I felt so much of love, release, freedom in the solar plexus and heart that I know this is what most of us had been waiting for. I felt my twin and myself coming into my higher heart chakra today morning. It was amazingly open, I felt his joy, his satisfaction, his love. I was no more drained by low vibrations, the fog in the brain, and it was such a difference! I heard a little voice in my head asking to repeat: ‘I AM the Sun. I radiate’ to feel like the Sun next. So I repeated and for a moment I felt like the major star in our Solar System - unmovable, static, the highest where all others planets are bound to, where the Sun is loved, respected, supports life, transmutes with the extreme heat, powerfully releases the excess of its content, and is somehow related to Seraphim angels as well.

What I’m trying to tell here, today marks the very preparation of so called the Event which is related to love, not politics yet. I’m sure of it because I have connections with the Galactic Central Sun and I somehow knew this would start with the X flare after many months of silence. The silence before the storm, the good one!

Twin flames will play a big role here as we’re going to keep the grid of love, the new, powerful one which is above the old grid of abusive, hacked energy. It’ll be trying to restore itself but we need to hold steady to keep it (via being connected with the twin and loving them unconditionally, this is enough) so the old can dissolve and so we can spread and replace it with better values.

What’s more, areas effected by the areas on Earth which had absorbed the most of the big solar flare have been... the countries related to war and slavery to start from the area where Atlantis was said to be, Africa (Egypt!), then the entire Europe - Italy (Rome, Catholic religion!), and call countries affected by war, slavery and/or religion - Poland, France, Czech, Sweden, Germany, UK, Norway, Belgium and more, but also Brazil and Peru etc. All these places were affected by the evil energy which originates from Egypt and which was incorporated by the Roman Empire along with manipulative techniques of muting people’s heart connections and threatening the brains, killing good people (burning alive herbalists, shamans, wisemen, Cathars and healers called by them ‘witches’!) in the name of Christian religion and their big fake book full of distortions. I’m of the Dragons and I know the very truth but this is a topic for another post. In addition, I’ve discovered lately that I have strong connections with Andes and Inca (I was probably a shaman, an astronomer). When I had a look at the place on Google street view, poor Peru is all covered with crosses and churches, manipulation, enforcement, brainwashing! Damn the Crusaders-mercenaries hired by the Roman Church, you’ve stolen the spirit, the many beliefs and the gold too. We praised the Sun, the connection to the only source of Love and Creation! Today marks the beginning of the religions’ cleanup. We don’t need any religions. Bloody wars were brought by religions exclusively, by enforcing good, innocent people to take in what they didn’t want. What their hearts didn’t resonate with. What was feeding their brains with fear, dependance, enslavement, and confusion. The only love, forgiveness and wisdom are inside, in our own hearts. We don’t need leaders or god’s messengers.

Solar flares between September 4-6th, 2017:

(I’ve marked all timestamps which I’m prompted to see on any clock during every day, in random order as I receive impulses from the Sun).

We haven’t seen any X-flares since I believe 2015. The strongest ever recorded was in 2003 (X23). I was missing them as they keep me high, excited. They feed my inner fire, in tune with Mars’ passion. X9.33 solar flare has happened exactly during the full Moon in Pisces, the last and the most wounded zodiac sign as we - Pisces have given away, dedicated everything including ourselves so the Love, Peace and Balance could return. We were tricked and disconnected from ourselves. The most dualistic sign (the other is Gemini, Twins) has the duality inborn for the reason to understand it and stand against separation. To unite itself within, and unite others by generating the energy of balance and love. But what we kept is the ability to receive messages and energies from realities higher than this of the 3D. Thus the last who are usually bullied, misjudged, misunderstood, who are shy and isolate themselves from the world are becoming the first creators of the New-er World Order, where Oneness within and with all that is is the only option. Today we’re affected by the Sun which heals what had been damaged. The Moon acts like a download today and will purify everything which was damaged in Pisces and all other zodiacs too because today people are fragile, sensitive and accessible to the higher powers. Today everybody can feel what Pisces feel and understand why we live in isolation, why we hate crowds, why we’re so defensive when it comes to the environment - sounds, light, energy. Why we don’t participate socially. Because we’re so affected by everything that we’re sick of it and it disturbs our inner balance.

I’m also excited because this full Moon is my twin’s natal aspect while the Sun is in Virgo, and it’s a very opposition to my aspect. Which means that we’re upside down with each other thesedays. Alchemically, we’re fire and water, 2 triangles of a hexagram. He’s a Neptune-water person, I’m Mars-fire person, these planets were the closest to the Milky Way when we were born. Milky Way is the scar surrounding our Universe, it was sealed that way along the Milky Way once the Light entered between now Scorpio and Sagittarius constellations, then started bouncing against crystals with heat and noise creating more colors, more frequencies, more matter, more stars, planets etc. Like a stroboscope driven by one beam. In fact I’ve seen a pattern of 3 stars merged together in my mind’s eye on 09/4 and it flashed like a stroboscope then disappeared :)

The next thing is that on 09/16 Mars will have a close randez vous with Mercury, both are very influential planets in my natal chart (I’ve Mars in Gemini, Mercury is Gemini’s planet). They will communicate something to each other, either demanding or negotiating. Maybe I’ll learn what my most advanced self prepared for me -the human- to proceed with next.

On 09/21st, there’s a new Moon in Virgo, again, Pisces-Virgo opposition. I feel I’m going to go through the same upgrade like I had in February March this year, when the full Moon was in Virgo and new moon in Pisces (which also was a solar eclipse in Feb.) thus inverted to where it’s now and yet it’s 6 months later = 33, balance.

(From Stellarium program)

Then on 09/22 and 23th, during the autumn (and spring Down Under) equinox, a few major planets will align along with the Sun: Mercury, Mars, Venus on one side in Leo, but Jupiter and the Moon on the other, in Virgo. This sign will play an important role here. This tells me that the feminine energy (which agreed to do the hardest part in the TF relationship) will get a long awaited boost. Imagine an energy beam which as if initiated by Regulus, the major star in the Leo constellation. Leo and its natives got their vibrational ‘messages’ during the solar Eclipse. Next, the energy of Leo will spread it onto other planets and these, into people who are linked with these planets too - ex-Venusians, Mercurians, Marsians. The beam goes through all these planets, then though the Sun where it gets boosted again, then flashes into Jupiter (which is a radio-like planet) and the Moon, pointing towards Libra next.

Virgo represents stability, perfection, organization, being savyy, prioritizing an order of things and clarity, the family, often the love for children too but rather thanks to the traditional approach as as mother and/or wife, not a hippie. Negatively, they love criticizing (which is the ego stuff) and also a very strong self-criticism doesn’t let them shine either, despite of own talents, great memory, and always hard, routine work. Virgo works like an ant, is meticulous and has an eye for detail. Anything what Virgo does, its done perfectly, precisely, organized well too but then they won’t yell about it (unlike Sag, Gemini or Aries) so many people just won’t even know such a work had been done. Similarly, many people with the feminine energy (not just mothers, wives, lovers and employees but also many men who feel & understand like women) had been plotting silently, doing the hardest work for many years while getting no encouragement, motivation, applause or payment. They never liked the ‘comfort zone’ (or ‘comfort jail’) of the known and predictable but they were hoping that somebody could kick their ass and say - ‘Do something unusual, break the rules you’ve established. Go for a chance, the new, refreshing‘. Thus here come the full Moon in Pisces before the New Moon in Virgo,  followed by a reward, from all other planets aligned and the Jupiter bringing abundance, opportunities, love, money, dreams coming true. I believe we’ll be getting noticed for the perfect job which the feminine energy had done so far on any levels, spiritually and physically.

Libra will then judge and equalize in late September and in October to give everybody a chance, encouraging - ‘Turn to love and harmony, we need that. Ditch war, unite the duality’. Then when we pass Libra and enter Scorpio in late October to November, here the revenge-loving warrior will vibrationally ‘execute’ those who remained attached to war, fear, dualities, patriarchy, matriarchy, religions, manipulation or anything which is not related to own self, own heart and peace. I don’t know yet what Sagittarius will do with that energy, but considering there’s the middle of the Milky Way near by, it may help remove those individuals who resist love as the only force out of the Solar System and open the ‘door’ to those who have been waiting to enter this New Earth behind the veil. They are our most advanced original versions, galactic families of many races, positive aliens, higher selves, you name it. Sagittarius is a man/woman of many contacts, it’s a human-animal hybrid too. Many of us were non-human beings before and this essence had remained in us waiting to be embraced and re-animated when the time comes. Then in December many of us who are ready and open, may have the first serious contacts with such galactic families, aliens, because our consciousness will expand drastically and we’ll be able to hear, see, detect, call, host, travel etc. We’ll be able to see and read with the 3rd eye, to navigate in many dimensions whenever we want, not only when the timing is right or when ‘under influence’. December may be also the very first month when a huge amount of love from the Source, (the original love we were basking in up there before we came down on Earth), will be processed by those twin flame couples who are ready to be conductors for it. Those who will not get fried :) I’ve volunteered to process it a long time ago because it feels like a fiery orgasm, so I’m sure I’ll be a part of it. Thus most possibly, this task will be done by Seraphim (here, here!), supported by all other highest ranked energies - Cherubim, Ophanim, healed djinns, healed 'fallen angels’, etc., any fire beings as these are the most capable to engulf themselves in ‘flames’ and fire up the new energy grid so the vibration can be delivered to others and stay within, bounced between the ‘conductors’.

From September to December, it’s also the time to draw yourself, your primal  energies and attributes from elements. Draw the You from all 5 elements into your heart, solar plexus, root, your mind and the body. Draw your healed sexuality from water into your sacral chakra and the body (swimming, taking a shower etc), draw passion and courage from fire into your heart (ie. looking at flames), draw air (multi-dimensionality, versatility, wisdom) into your mind so the air could refresh it, draw earth (stability, peace, also money) into your root chakra so you don’t fear to receive from Gaia anymore as Gaia is mostly healed. Finally, draw from the aether - your divine, your I AM Oneness, all of your versions, your most advanced Self, your galactic essence as you’re one with everything that is around. Let the elements, your energies return to where they belong.

Twin flames who are ready, who learnt their lessons, got rid of the ego’s impulses, surrendered to love and understood why they cannot live without the other, it’s time to host our higher Oneness into our bodies and switch from the timeline of separation into the timeline of togetherness, permanently. We exist as One above in the other dimension and we stay in less or more realized contact with those separated, human versions of us below. Those above and those below are us (like reflected in a mirror- the horizon, anchored with hearts and heads). We above join our human bodies below once we ascend into 5D and 6D, a bit after bit. We fill our body and the twin’s with the self and the other. The galactic you returns to you. The galactic marriage as you are returns into you two. This makes us closer, and closer and finally One again here on the New Earth. It’s called the New Earth as it runs on the new grid of energy re-created by twin flames and light/earth/galactic warriors. Merging is a slow process and only the end of it goes fast. Most of this is handled by your soul. I don’t believe we can help it in any other way that just allowing the soul to run the show. Do not resist, do not sabotage your near future joy, because you want to exit the struggle incl. everything around, and once for all.

Now I need to rest. I got so exhausted being touched by so many solar flares and this channeling. Time will tell if I was right or wrong. Bye for now!

This post is copyrighted by the author of this blog who prefers to remain anonymous. My posts must not be used for commercial purposes of any kind. Respect my work - ask first before you copy, always include a link back to my site when you quote a part of my writing!

[thelonelyrdr-blog]

Thoughts on the Heroes of Olympus series (Part 2)

As promised, see below (God, I’ve written way too many work emails) for the continuation of my review of Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series! (Look out for big, bad SPOILERS!) The House of Hades Ah, the revelation of Nico’s crush on Percy, which was half the reason I wanted to read this series, to be honest, comes at last!  What I enjoyed most about it was Jason’s reaction. Part of the reason that Nico keeps his distance from other people is that he fears that they won’t accept him. As a son of Hades, he has already experienced being ostracized because his differences make others uncomfortable, so why wouldn't he expect the same response to his homosexuality, especially because, as Riodan later points out, he was born in the more socially conservative 1930s?  During Nico's encounter with Cupid, though, Riordan demonstrates both the strength of the young heroes' loyalty to one another and the principle that “love is love" without having to preach. The latter, in particular, becomes evident when Cupid gives Jason the opportunity to feel the agony of Nico's unrequited love for Percy and he immediately understands and empathizes with his pain. Nico's love isn't some foreign emotion merely because he's a teenage boy in love with another boy instead of a girl; Jason gets it, and he gets Nico in a way that he didn't before, leading him to develop an almost big-brother-like protectiveness of him that persists throughout the remainder of the series.   Brilliant, as is Riordan's portrayal of Cupid - and therefore love - as more unfair and unkind even than death. I love (ha) that a character depicted as infantile in our culture is such a harsh adversary here.   Which relates to another point I'd like to make about the characterization of Piper and the other Aphrodite kids.  I want to give so many kudos to Riordan for addressing the monsters' and other demigods' dismissal of the Aphrodite kids in this book. To me, devaluing love and beauty equates with devaluing the feminine, as love and beauty are typically considered feminine. The same can be said of acting according to instinct rather than logic. But Piper saves the day using nothing but heart in not one, but three epic scenes: the one with Jason and Percy in the Nymphaeum in Rome; the one with the Boreads on the Argo II; and, finally, the one with Annabeth at the shrine of Phobos and Deimos in Sparta. The first two gave me chills (the chills may also have been caused by the air conditioning on my train, but I choose to attribute them to Riordan's writing). Even without these scenes, though, Piper proves so incredibly useful to the quest even before Hazel teaches her to fight - hello, her charmspeak, similar to feminine empathy in how it operates - that her contributions completely invalidate any symbolically sexist prejudices against Aphrodite kids. As with Nico's homosexuality, Riordan shows rather than tells the ridiculousness of these prejudices; and, as with Nico's homosexuality, it is suggested that the other characters' mockery of Piper stems from their fear of her uniqueness, because it makes her powerful. The implication being, of course, that our differences make us unique and therefore powerful. Talk about an inspiring message for kids. Aphrodite makes this suggestion, by the way, and with the exception of maybe Hades, she's the best damn parent of all of the gods. Just saying.         On a related note, I also appreciated the friendships between the girls in this series, particularly the one between Piper and Annabeth. In addition to the fact that there is a dearth of well-executed female friendships in children's (hell, all) literature - both the Harry Potter series and the original Percy Jackson series suffer from this flaw - their friendship is important because it illustrates that both emotion and logic can be vital to decision-making and the successful completion of a task. The above ties in with Riordan’s defense of Aphrodite and the feminine too.   Wrapping up, I feel the need to comment a bit on Percy and Annabeth's journey through Tartarus because 1) I alluded to the fact that I would in my previous blog post and 2) it comprises a significant portion of the book. First, I loved the oppressiveness of the place, and the sense that Percy and Annabeth had that every part of it was designed to kill them and working hard to do so. I wasn't scared for them - the plot armor in this series is impenetrable - but at times I did feel...uncomfortable? Tense or anxious, maybe? My anxiousness was never more intense, though, than when Percy (SPOILERS ahead, for Avatar: The Last Airbender too - not as random as it sounds, I promise) tries to drown Akhlys in her own tears. I'm a huge fan of the dark and gritty in children's media, and this scene delivered. It almost reminded me of the bloodbending episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I consider one of the best, except that unlike Percy, Katara does not feel a rush of pleasure and power while bloodbending. Though she is forced to bloodbend to protect Sokka and Aang from Hama, the act repulses her. Percy, on the other hand, doesn't stop his attack on Akhlys until he perceives Annabeth's terror, and even then, it’s only reluctantly. He doesn't seem all that remorseful for his behavior either. I never fully realized, until this scene, how fragile Percy's status as a hero is, to what extent his goodness hinges on his connection to his friends - Annabeth, most of all - and the impulse control that it affords him. I understood, when I finished reading it, why Percy makes other demigods wary.   As an aside, if anyone knows of any good Dark!Percy fanfics, please feel free to recommend them to me. I'm sick, guys, I know.   So that you don't think the darkness inside of me rivals Percy's, note that my favorite characters in Tartarus were Bob (not Iapetus; they're different) and Damasen. I have a soft spot for redeemed villains, or, in this case, villains who don't want to be villains. They have to be logically written though (Once Upon a Time writers, if you insist on keeping the show on the air, take several notebooks' worth of notes).   I'll conclude here, because I wrote "too much" (i.e. too much for maximum reader engagement, I'm assuming) again. Oops? Stay tuned for The Blood of Olympus and (hopefully) my closing remarks next time!

[johnfmyles]

Albinati’s The Catholic School

Albinati’s The Catholic School is a huge rambling novel, pretty much damned by Colm Toibin in a recent NYRB for its imprecision and sheer length. I found this book important because of what it conveys to the reader about western cultural, bourgeois, and general social conditions providing the grounds for rape and the deeply-ingrained misogynistic male mind-set underlying it. Although the nomination of the Catholic School in the title of the novel might suggest that this is the key institutional source for that culture of rape and violence towards women, it actually isn’t key. Rather culture, psychology of the mid-20th century male and the bourgeois family, come across as the more significant sources - the actual ‘schools’ for rape. 

At places in this novel, as it lumbers relentless along, Albinati’s narrator, a writer and sometime prison lecturer, as if to remind himself stops and states what he thinks the novel is all about:

“The story that his book is going to tell, alongside other stories, ought to show how, on at least one occasion, on the basis of groundwork laid long ago by numerous contributing factors, around the middle of the eighth decade of the last century - the 1970s - the priest’s got their formula wrong.”

This might seem to suggest that rape culture is a question of schooling, pedagogy, particularly of the catholic school variety, a view that Toibin seems to follow when he blames the institution, comparing the Catholic school to the boarding school bullying in Musil’s in Young Torless. But then:

“The central story of this book will confirm that you can be obedient students by day and nevertheless go out to kidnap and rape underage girls by night.” 

So, maybe we think this is going to be about conformity, like Moravia’s The Conformist. No, or not really, although it is about rape culture. Then he says, again trying to keep a grip on his subject:

“This book of mine also belongs to the genre of true crime exploitation, though at arms’ length, as we’ll see.”

But again, not really, or not so consciously as this suggests. So the writer/narrator’s summary posts did not help this reader and their status is like that when at one point the narrator asks himself as he rambles on:

“Does it have anything to do with the events described in this book? Yes and no.”

This is often the case, one has to plough on in the rambling reflections of the writer/narrator. But it is correct I think that that which ineluctably shapes the phenomenon of rape, is a shape which is complex, irregular, and just cannot be understood pat.

So the story of The Catholic School may seem to be about a single act - the notorious kidnapping and rape of two young girls and the murder of one of them. One might say agreeing with the narrator that this event is the ‘axis’ of the novel, appearing as it does well into it. This is the CR/M (the Circeo/Criminal rape and murder) that is constantly, fleetingly, referred to in the lead up and the aftermath sections of the novel/book (this seems to be Albinati’s own ambivalence about the genre of The Catholic School). [SPOILER ALERT FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH] The CR/M is described as monstrous, a dreadful assault, notorious and widely shocking late 1970s Italy, a huge event. But, strangely, when the event actually arrives and is described it is conveyed in prose and style that is almost pedestrian and the act seems ambiguous, non-specific in depiction. It is pretty anti-climatic  and the reader feels something is missing. Certainly, by this stage any idea that the novel belongs to the genre of ‘crime exploitation’ goes totally out of the window because it isn’t lurid or graphic.

I was puzzled by what Albinati was doing. He signalled that this is a novel about the real crime, that which all of Italy knew about, but 90% of the 1200 pages hardly touch the actual crime. And many of what are presented as integral dimensions of the CR/M are also never fully developed. One would think that maybe theological-ethical questions of sin and guilt might be integral, especially as many of the elements of the story seem to arise from the Catholic school and the behaviour fostered there either by the priest/teachers or by the particularities of the cohort that included the rapists or their associates. But sin is rarely mentioned as a concept in the novel - just 92 times in all (such counts being one of the benefits of reading this as an ebook, alongside not having a doorstopper in one’s lap) and in nearly all senses is inconsequential when it does appear.

Similarly, porn, surely at its apogee in the 1970s, at least in terms of its crudest and casual forms of objectification of women and girls, although regularly addressed as an issue by the narrator, tends to take a secondary role. He notes the affinity press reporting and crime fiction, have in feeding on the porn industry:

“…the flesh trade, continues to expand limitlessly until an unbroken pornographic continuum that takes in territories of crime reporting, given that these territories are where excitement runs most unbridled, expertly camouflaged behind the mortal condemnations that we customarily reserve for true sties and events…”

Porn is thus seen as a reflection of the broader culture of abuse and hatred of women underlying the individual CR/M, but it isn’t the essential issue (as, say, 1970s feminist writers like McKinnon had it) - it has only the status of being a reflection of a much broader, institutional, problem.

Also of really only secondary consideration is the role/legacy of Fascism in the broader ‘field’ of the crime (I use 'field' in the way Bourdieu uses it. At places Albinati seems to refer to Bourdieu’s sociology. He talks, for instance, of intellectuals being the ‘dominated fraction’ of the dominant class, a phrase that echoes the French sociologist, and Albinati is very much a sociological novelist.) Fascism is discussed at some length around half-way through the novel. There seems to be an underlying epistemology at work here which privileges form over content, and in relation to fascism this is presented as:

“Fascism in fact constitutes the dilemma of unrepresentability; and perhaps for that reason, it loved to depict itself in whole healthy forms. The specificity of fascism is that it is, as we say of certain diseases, non-specific, which means that it does not consist of its ideology, but rather the way it conducts around that ideology an action and an identity.” 

This view of signfication, of significance of form over content, reveals much about how the writer sees the world. It also explains the sort of novel The Catholic School is: where any meaning of anything like the CR/M has to be situated in the widest of sociologically-understood landscapes.

So porn, fascism, sin/morality, seem to be only elements in this landscape or field of rape, rather than either central or critical figures that might explain it alone. But although the field of the CR/M is presented in the broadest, most rambling of terms, there are significant features in the field. As a sociological novel the characters are nearly all ‘flat’. Plot is also substituted with the delay and then denouement of the actual CR/M. There  are few topographical descriptions of place and little or any real feel for the flow of time. But Albinati states at one point “now we come to the bourgeois family that this book is about…” and what the novel is good at is in the analysis of the bourgeois family’s role in the field of rape, its role in setting the behaviour marking male sexuality and sexual aggression. Even in Italy the 1970s was a time when society was becoming more permissive, but the consequences were ambiguous:

“Free to do what? Many of us experienced scraps of old-style family oppression, hybridized or alternating with a permissiveness that was the product still of our parents’ specific beliefs…”

But this period is seen by the narrator as a time when fathers, ‘sires’ as he calls them, become something of a ‘nullity’, and compared to mothers in the novel, hardly figure except for (the Huck Finn' boy) Arbus’s  whose dad publicly in the Rome press announces his homosexuality and abandons his family for a gay lifestyle. Albinati develops this theme when he evokes Thomas Mann and Moravia in the sections on the role of the bourgeois family. From Mann, he argues our understanding of the centrality of the bourgeois family:

“It is therefore a class that progresses by contradicting itself, that defines itself by its opposite. Perhaps that is why as…Thomas Mann maintains, it is the class with the greatest number of points of contact and things in common with the human race as a whole.”

An overstatement, but with some element of insight, at least in regard to white 1970s’ European societies like Italy. In relation to Moravia, Albinati argues that, in fact, indifference is seen as part of the legacy of the 60s (“a new attitude surfaced in the history of family relations, namely indifference, a reluctance to interfere, to judge…”) but it is not really as significant as Moravia made it out to be:

“…if only the sin of the bourgeois was indifference…if only the Bourgeois really did let life slide off his back…Quite the contrary, there is no creature on earth more highly alert than he. His existence unfolds under the banner of an incessant comparison and measurement between himself ad others.”

The character of the male progeny of the bourgeois family, then, is located as a key factor configuring the wider culture/field of rape - this is the class figure seen by Albinati as the epicentre of the contemporary manifestation of rape as a social phenomenon. The bourgeois male is the one who is particularly ‘fucked up’ by the retrogression of father figures. So this is a very conservative position and feminist historians, analysers of patriarchy might have something to add or contest here. But, perhaps, it is balanced by the odd, strange, obsession in the novel, only indirectly addressed as a causal factor in rape culture (as is the case with most of Albinati’s opinions.)

This is the figure of the bourgeois mother (again, and aside, it is strange that Toibin did not pick up on this in his NYRB’s review, given his own perceptive work on the literary and other influences of mothers.)Throughout the novel many of the schoolboys’ mums are depicted as being sexually attractive to the boys. The boys consciously note the way mums dress, their attractiveness, their sexual allure. The boy Max’s mum is described as having “bronzed shoulders, her bronzed back, the neckline that revealed freckled flesh…”. I found it hard to believe that real boys consider their own, or their mates’ mothers in this way - surely they were more likely to see them as nonentities, like their fathers. Falling somewhat into cod-psychology Albinati directly evokes the figure of the mother as a deep psychological animus in the boys’ sexuality:

“It is the angry bite to the mother’s breast. By brutalising that breast, we escape from the figure that dominated the most important years of our lives. We take vengeance on our mother by devastating the wombs of women…”.

So, related to this, we find that Stefano, one of the rapists, is reported to have had sex with the mother of one of the other boys. But the psychology here seems weak, a bit crass, a repercussion of the general flatness of characters in this novel. But in a surprising reversal the narrator states:

“In the early years of psychoanalysis, people learned for the first time that many non-sexual acts had a hidden sexual source; now, in contrast, we realise that may sexual behaviours have a non-sexual motivation.”

But into this Freudianism gets mixed the underlying epistemology of form over content we have seen at work in the novel. So it is not the content, sexual gratification of any particular sexual form, but sex as a container for apparently non-sexual motivations. Sex between men and women is actually, then, a displacement of what Albinati calls ‘penis embarrassment’ - something that he sees as common to all (bourgeois) men. Women, in contrast, are seen by men as psychically-threatening because of they have no immediately visible sex organ. This absence is threatening to men whose sexuality is based fundamentally on symbolism that is phallic. 

So the young men at the catholic school are shown to be, a little like Moravia’s conformist, shy, burdened by the cultural demands associated with masculinity, fearful of being called, for example, ‘queer’ (‘if anything what we did hate was the thought that we might be taken for queers…’) because it is the form, here queerness, rather than the actuality which is the more significant, cultural, sociological, animus. So, when the narrator goes to high school he befriends a gym teacher who is also a painter of nudes, nicknamed Courbet because of his subject matter, the nude and female sexual organ (as in Courbet’s ‘Origin of the World’.) The female sexual organ is described, though, as a ‘gross field of nothingness’ and Courbet argues that all men are basically queer or half-queer and that when having sex with women they are really in auto-erotic stimulation. They also are seen as being/becoming androgynous:

“…men who really like women sooner or later desire not only to have women, but also to be women…”

In the Catholic school it was ‘alright to be half-queers…but not an iota more’. If you were becoming identified there as a ‘faggot’, however, you had to find some other boy to bully and call a faggot. 

These are some features of the cultural and social field that Albinati situates the singular act of rape and murder in the CR/M. The purported centrality of the Catholic school, given so much significance in the novel’s title, is not really the key locus for understanding the crime. The crime itself is diminished, a mere cameo appearance in the much broader field of bourgeois culture, a culture marked by a warped form of male sexuality. The actual ‘school’, then, is not the Catholic SLM Institute, but the ‘school’ of a bourgeois familial culture that forms its young men into a perversely misogynistic mind-set, a warped psyche, a sexuality where rape and a murderous compulsion to dominate/deny women’s own sexuality is inevitable.

Yet the figures of the priests at the school are interesting in so much as they seem to represent, consolidate or configure many of the factors of bourgeois toxic masculinity that the novel traces. If actual fathers are very much absent in the novel, the priests appear in the guise of old-fashioned, Thomas Mann’ types of bourgeois respectable fathers (their tunics ‘inspire[d] respect in me…’.) This is shown to be an illusion at the end of the novel when the narrator recalls what happened at a school camp and he reflects more broadly on the priests’ ‘mutilating’ vow of celibacy: 

“what moral authority might I acknowledge, for what reason on earth should I allow myself to be guided, aided, instructed or even just advised by a man who has so horribly mutilated himself? By giving up the only thing that makes this beastly life worth living at all, namely, love?”

He goes on:

“This is not renunciation, cecil nest pas une pipe: there are times when Catholicism appears to be a forerunner of surrealism.”

The pedagogy of the Catholic school is based fundamentally on type of muscular christianity. But this ‘formula’ is seen as wrong, and perhaps allied with the perversity of the priestly life, this much at least is a part of the ‘story this book is [going] to tell…’

But sociologically the ‘school’ of rape is much larger than the school run by the priests - it is an entire social field, a moral field corrupted at its core - via the media, by salacious movies, the lurid sex-crime novel, ‘then you can see that the degree of moral involvement can stretch out to touch the whole of society’. The issue, the moral issue of rape is made up of the ‘absence’ of women; either at the catholic school, the absence of female genitalia, the absence of wives for priests, absence of women in the army (a lot in this novel about rape as an act of war):

“…in middle school it already starts to sound odd, it’s becoming increasingly clear that half the world is missing in there, but the unhappiness of developing male bodies is still thus protected from all embarrassing comparisons and can be vented almost entirely in sports and fisticuffs…”

Albinati offers no easy solutions - like a Bourdieusian (but passionate) sociologist he rather plots out the field of forces involved in the cultural, moral, political dimensions of rape culture. The contrast can be made to Ben Lerner’s Topeka School, a novel with similar concerns to The Catholic School. A recent review in the NYRB describes when the character Adam, like an avenging Adam, knocks the phone from the hand of a man who’d been abusing his female partner: the reviewer noting that the novelist’s position on western masculinity is captured in this action. But Albinati’s novel isn’t conclusive in that kind of way: it simply fizzles out. But for me, having endured the long meandering journey into the school of rape, I feel I have experienced many of the dimensions that go into making the culture of rape.

And for me this is the reason why The Catholic School is an important novel, with an important moral purpose. Yet the actual language, diction and syntax, of the writing betrays the lesson. There are long sections, particularly in the last third of the novel, when the narrator describes his sexual affairs with women. The prose in these sections is unconsciously (?) objectifying of women:

“I slid into her. She gasped. She held her breath. And with her voice in a falsetto she asked if it had excited me to hear about Romina, about the two of them together. Had she done it intentionally? ‘Do you…do you want me to tell you more…?’ ‘No. Shut up now’ - that wasn’t why. But she went on talking. And I went on fucking her…”

But maybe Albinati’s approach, mainly sociological, falters when it comes to producing a counterpoint, an alternative discursive, linguistic-syntactic, an alternative erotics to convey his argument - we have to look elsewhere (Kristeva?) for that.

[johnchiarello]

The Seed

THE SEED Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. https://youtu.be/Bx2bCUCqTxY The Seed https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1-5-17-the-seed.zip ON VIDEO- . ‘I thought you were one of us!’ .Alice pool closes down .Media bias [who’s doing ‘fake’ news again?] .Mosul- U.N. vote- etc. .ISIS- Shia- Sunni .Protoevangelion .The coming seed [child] .Eve’s child will crush his head .Abrahams son will bless the world .David’s offspring will sit on the throne .Jesus fulfills it all .Ishmael and Isaac .Jesus is the Lion of Judah NEW- In my Galatians study I talked about the promised ‘seed’- Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. God promised to bless the world thru one of the offspring of Abraham. We also saw in my Samuel study that God made a promise to King David that one of his sons would sit on the throne ‘forever’- 2Samuel 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. These promises were fulfilled thru Christ. The first promise of a coming Messiah was given to Eve in the creation account-Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. We call this the Protoevangelion – meaning the first time we see the good news [gospel]. At the time of Christ they were awaiting for a Messiah who was prophesied to come. Yet they were looking for a deliverer In the natural sense- meaning someone who would save them from the ‘occupation’ of Rome. Yet- Jesus fulfilled the promises in a different way- He told us his kingdom was not like the world’s kingdoms- John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

God made these promises to various people thru out the history of the Old Testament. The main figures he gave these promises to did not understand all of the implications at the time. Abraham obeyed God- yet the promise of a son- Isaac- came to pass thru many trials. David had his struggles as well- yet he did Father Solomon- experienced divisions in his kingdom and family- but yet the one seed- the one child spoken about- was still to come. The first promise foretold that this coming deliverer would ‘bruise his head [satan] and he would bruise his heel’- Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Hmm? Heel? The prophecy was fulfilled at the Cross. Yes- Jesus would indeed suffer a bruise- wound- in this battle. Yet- it was thru this ‘bruising’ that he would fulfill the promise. Yes- he is the seed of Abraham- that would bless the world. He is the Son of David- that would arise to sit on the throne. And he is the woman’s Son- who would suffer an injury- And in doing so- would redeem the world- Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

PAST POSTS [These are my past teachings that relate to today’s video ‘The Seed’] GALATIANS [Links] https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/26/galatians-1/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/30/2nd-samuel-3-homeless-friends/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/02/galatians-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/10/galatians-3/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/ https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/ JOHN 19 https://youtu.be/iS9OG-fiBL0 John 19 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-13-16-john-19.zip John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! ON VIDEO- .Media bias .Yemen rebels shoot at us .Iran nuke deal .My question for Margie Rose? .animal rescue .Voter I.D. laws? .Did dead people vote? .Passover .No broken bones .Gamble for the coat .Final sacrifice .Made damn sure the Pilate washed his hands… NOTE- just a brief note before I post. In the news right now we are seeing- every night- the ‘advance’ on Mosul- a city in Iraq that ISIS took. Why is this- now- a major news story? [Beside the nonstop talk about Trump]. Because it is an effort- by the media- and our country- to change the narrative. Meaning ‘look- we are really attacking- and killing- ISIS’. ISIS has had this city for about 2 years- many of the people in the city see ISIS as their defenders- because they are on the religious side of ISIS- in the division within Islam. The Iraqi govt. forces are not on the side of some of the citizens in Mosul- and the history is when the Iraqis take back a city- with our help- the people are treated like ISIS. So- we- the U.S. – are willing to side with the actual murder of some of the citizens in Mosul- simply because it serves our political purposes leading up to the election. It gets the story on the front lines ‘look- the Obama administration [who Hillary was secretary of state] is really doing a great job fighting ISIS’. Yet- when [if] the city falls- what will happen next? In a year or 2 [or a month after the election in the U.S.] it will either go back to ISIS- or the Iraqis will persecute the citizens [kill] who they see as siding with ISIS. Some in the city sided with them because ISIS gave them a type of government- which they did not have under the American backed Iraqi leadership. So- that’s why you are seeing this as a top story- sad indeed.

PAST LINKS [verses below] NOTE- The proclamation of John ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’- In Latin the term is Agnus Dei- as a boy we sung this hymn in Catholic church ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world- have mercy on us’. [Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.- this is the full phrase in the Latin – taken from John’s declaration- where the Christian song/chant comes from] JOHNS GOSPEL LINKS- https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/amos-5/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/jesus-christ/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/father-abraham/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/the-flood/ John 3 https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/the-well-john-4/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/john-5/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/john-6/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/john-7/ https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/8-10-15-john-14.zip https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/john-8/ https://youtu.be/f8VpxlYM_kU John 8- ‘who the Son sets free’ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/john-9/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/john-10/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/john-11-the-8th-sign/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/i-found-a-verse/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/john-12/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/samuel-john-hebrews-review/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/john-13/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/john-14/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/john-15/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/john-16/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/john-17/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/john-18/ I mention Corinthians and Ephesians on today’s video- below are my studies- https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/ephesians-highlights/

Exodus 12:46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it. Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they [parts] ANTI- CHRIST- [Church Unlimited notes- 2nd- 3rd John] 3John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. https://youtu.be/7dfLhO2HBf8 anti- Christ [2nd, 3rd John] https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-23-16-anti-christ-2nd-3rd-jn.zip ON VIDEO [past posts below] .See my Hillary drawing [sorry] .Who is anti-christ? .Some thought Hitler .Apostles relate to the bride .Soteriology .Was John a theological liberal? Mosul .Iraq- Libya .ISIS .Sunni- Shia division .Execution- or human shields- or just murder? .Abortion .Docetism refuted [parts] OBADIAH- Obadiah 1:7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; that they eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. https://youtu.be/LaG8b0etYK8 Obadiah ON VIDEO- .Peace treaty? .Leaked emails .How to skew the polls .Do I like to lynch Black people? .The 1 dollar cheese story .Homeless stuff .Iran- Yemen- Libya- Syria .The shores of Tripoli .ISIS .Turkey .Britannia ruled the seas- and lost .Mosul NEW- In this small book- 1 chapter- we read of the judgment of God upon Edom. They were a people that felt like they were unstoppable. The alliances they made were their downfall. As I read the book the other night- it made me think about our present situation. Let’s see if I can hit some high points. [parts] NEWS- [Mosul- 3 Americans shot and killed yesterday in Jordan- Wiki leaks reveals real corruption] I mentioned the last few weeks about our actions in Mosul Iraq. The U.S. is backing up the overthrow of this city- for political purposes. I mentioned how the Iraqi troops we are backing are Shia [Muslim division] and some of the population of Mosul are Sunni. Should we be backing up a ‘genocide’- meaning one group [Iraqi Shia] wanting to eliminate another [Sunni]. I saw a report on PBS news- the interviewer brought up the fact that the tanks that are now rolling into Mosul are flying Shia flags. Meaning- they are not there to ‘liberate’ people- but to murder Sunni. I saw another report where the U.S. backed Iraqi troops shot bullets ‘blind’ into a hiding place. The report on U.S. news did not say if women and children were hiding in there- and if they were murdered by U.S. backed troops. The military man that was confronted with the question ‘why are U.S. backed tanks flying Shia flags’- he avoided the question- and used ‘spin’. As of now- its possible women and children have been murdered- with the backup of U.S. power. That’s wrong. 3 of our men were shot and killed in Jordan yesterday- Last year a Jordanian captain shot 2 Americans. In yesterday’s incident the Jordanians claim the U.S. men did not stop at the gate- so they killed them. Yet- there are resentments that our men are there. The U.S. says it is investigating- because we don’t want it to ‘strain relations’. Meaning- yes- it’s possible they murdered our men- but- it’s more important to not have such a bad headline right before the election- because it might make Hillary and her record on foreign policy look bad. So- maybe they simply murdered our men- but- we have more important political things. Our nation is obviously divvied on the election- and it’s shocking to actually see the corruption in our government that was exposed the last few weeks by WIKI leaks. It shows a level of collusion within politics that covers up for those who have connections. The FBI agent who tipped off the Clinton people about an investigation into the emails- broke the law when he did this. The government’s official response was ‘when he tipped Clinton off- he was using his own personal email- so that’s ok’. People have gone to prison for stuff like this- but it is showing you a level of corruption inside our government. This is not simply a ‘Trump- Clinton’ thing- it is a national corruption scandal. [parts] (1143) THE FALL- God puts man in the garden, he gives him only one restriction ‘don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ sure enough, he does! The serpent [satan] tempts Eve in 3 areas, the tree is good for food [lust of the flesh] good to look at [eyes] and can make you wise [pride]. In 1st John 2 we see these three areas mentioned as the common categories of all other temptation. These were the same areas the devil used on Jesus in Matthew 4. The temptation to Eve essentially said ‘look at this God of yours! He wont give you the freedom to do anything you want, he is withholding such a good tree from you’ sounds like the philosopher Freud, he taught that the problem with man was Gods restrictions. That if man would cast off the limits that religion imposed upon them, then all would be well. But what man did not know was that these basic limits were for his own good. When man would choose to walk out from under Gods limits, he would suffer for it. In this chapter [Gen. 3] we also see the great prophecy of the child of the woman eventually crushing the serpents head [called the Protoevangelium- Latin] a prophecy about Christ’s future victory at the Cross. God also covers man with animal’s skins, a type of the future sacrifice of Christ on behalf of man. Man tried to cover up with leaves, God said it wont do, so he sacrificed the life of an animal and used the skins as a covering. The wages of sin is death, the price was paid. In Romans chapter 5 Paul will show us that death and sin passed upon all mankind from Adams sinful act, but thru the obedience of one man [Jesus dying on the Cross] righteousness comes to those who believe. This is the basic Christian doctrine of original sin. Some refer to this as the federal head theory of redemption. I believe it’s vital for Christians to have a grasp of this doctrine. In the 19th/20th centuries you had liberal theologians deny the doctrine of Jesus dying on behalf of man. Along with this they also denied that original sin existed. Most believers realized that this denial was heresy and avoided it, but some are playing with the idea again. The bible clearly teaches the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the behalf of man [Isaiah 53] and it is a foundational doctrine for all true believers. To some it seemed unfair to charge God with the doctrine of original sin, and along with it the doctrine of Penal substitution [Christ being punished for us] these are core Christian truths, if people want to deny them, that’s their choice. But to be a Christian in the biblical sense of the word, these truths are necessary, they are part of the foundation of all true Christian churches.

VERSES- Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: Genesis 3:5 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. Genesis 3:6 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 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Genesis 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Genesis 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Genesis 15:2 And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? Genesis 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. Genesis 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Acts 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Acts 2:35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Hebrews 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Hebrews 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. Hebrews 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Hebrews 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Hebrews 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

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Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Thanks- John.#

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Galatians 3

Sunday sermon 3-24-19

2017- Jan- Nov stuff

[louisonurmark]

If you’re a keen follower of Along Dusty Roads, you’ll know that we fell a little bit – okay, a lot – in love with Puglia during last year’s road trip.

And for good reason.

This delightful region of Italy, with its stunning coastline, cute little towns and villages and oh so very Italian way-of-life has everything one would hope to find – whether it’s your first time in the country or sixth.

As with every holiday however, knowing a little more about what to expect (and some insider tips from people that have already been) can be the difference between a good trip and a great trip. So, that’s where this post comes in.

Keep on reading to discover 17 really useful things to know before visiting Puglia.

THE FOOD, ALTHOUGH DELICIOUS, IS PRETTY STANDARD THROUGHOUT To those that have travelled extensively in Italy, this won’t come as a surprise. Cuisine here is fairly regional, with most restaurants serving a variation on a theme all year round.

Now, don’t get us wrong, food in Puglia is delicious. Seafood is plentiful and freshly caught in almost all towns, pasta is handmade, the pizza is divine, olive oil is local and we never met a piece of bread we didn’t immediately inhale. There’s no denying however, that it can get a little repetitive. Not a problem if you’re only in the area for a week or so, but if you’re travelling for a couple of months, cooking for yourselves may become more appealing.

For any vegetarians out there, you’ll be pleased to know that this is not a difficult region to find plant-based food, and even in the fanciest of seafood restaurants you’ll find a bowl of orecchiette pasta with a tomato sauce.

LIFE FOLLOWS A SLOWER PACE… This is a part of the world where the beating heart of community is set firmly in the past. This means long siestas, shops opening early in the morning and late afternoon (but not in between) and a true sense that however much of a rush you may be in, it really makes very little difference to those that live here.

Sure, it can get a little frustrating when you want to be productive in the afternoon, but instead of fighting it, go with it. Do your sight-seeing in the morning and save the afternoon for beach time, have an extra scoop of gelato for your afternoon treat to tide you over til your late dinner and generally do what the locals do!

…AND EVERYTHING IS JUST SO ITALIAN Yeah, we know this sounds ridiculous; we were in Italy afterall. However, having previously only spent time in Rome, Venice and Milan, we weren’t prepared for just how Italian Puglia would feel.

Elderly nonnas chatting on the side of the street (each sporting identical haircuts), ‘Ape’ trucks still being used, as, well, trucks, vespas EVERYWHERE and groups of old men playing cards in the late afternoon sun. It was like watching a movie – and all kinds of fabulous!

YOU REALLY DO NEED A CAR As travellers who have spent many an hour (or day) on buses, we’re strong believers that you can reach most places with public transport.

Puglia, however, may be an exception to this rule.

Sure, there are trains and local buses, but using them exclusively to get across this varied region is going to take more time than most travellers have. It also means you may miss many of the small coves and cute little towns that make Puglia so wonderful.

Thankfully, car rental doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, we got a rental for 10 days for just £250 – including insurance. If you want to know more about our experience and tips for a road trip in Puglia, read this post.

THERE’S AN ABUNDANCE OF ITALIAN TOURISTS Although Puglia has not yet experienced the explosion of tourism so faced by the likes of Cinque Terre on the opposite side of the country, the days of it being an off-the-beaten-track destination are firmly in its past. In fact, after we’d booked our flights and started doing some research, it seemed like everyone was off to Puglia this summer!

There is a silver lining however – outside of Polignano a Mare, the vast majority of tourists are Italian, which means that although there’s still a healthy dose of grey nomads and tour groups, at least you’ll still feel like you’re in Italy.

IT EXTENDS FAR FURTHER THAN OTRANTO… When we were researching this trip, it took some time before we released just how large the region of Puglia was, as most people who had blogged about it stuck firmly to the east coast.

In many cases this was a time-related thing – after all, if you only have three days, you don’t want to spend hours in the car. However, we just want to make clear that there is soooo much more to Puglia than just Polignano, Ostuni, Alberobello, Lecce and Otranto!

If you’ve got more than a couple of days, we implore you to head all the way around the coast, especially if you’re a beach lover.

THE LIDO IS KING – AND BLOODY CONFUSING And, if we’re honest, kind of annoying.

There are some fabulous beaches in Italy, and we happen to be of the opinion that everybody should have access to them. Unfortunately, in Puglia (as in many areas of Italy), large sections of beach along the coast are either completely inaccessible without paying a fee (many of which tout themselves as beach clubs), or covered in privately owned pay-to-play sun loungers which means that those of us that make do with a oversized sarong and artfully crafted piles of sand have no choice but to bed down together along narrow slithers of sand that provide ‘public access to the sea’.

It’s a thorny issue in Italy, and whilst you may see some brave Italians placing towels right at the water’s edge, directly in front of the sun loungers, technically they’re on private property and could be moved along. It unfortunately meant that we pulled up to what we thought as a beautiful beach area, only to find it a horrendous explosion of signs, sunbeds and people, meaning we didn’t even get out of the car.

If the somewhat nuanced rules of these beaches become a little too much for you, consider visiting one of the ‘free beaches’, or spiaggia libera. Although significantly rarer, they at least allow you the opportunity to plonk your towel wherever you damn please!

YOU HAVE TWO AIRPORTS TO CHOOSE FROM Flying into Puglia? You have two choices – Bari in the north, and Brindisi about a two and half hour drive further south.

For those travelling from the UK, Bari is the obvious choice. The flights are more plentiful and a little bit cheaper but in all honesty, if you’re doing a full Puglia-loop, it really shouldn’t matter which one you fly into, or out of.

Oh, and you do know that ‘Apulia’ is just ‘Puglia’ in Italian right?

To check flight availability and prices, click here.

YOU CAN STAY IN A TRULLI The trulli dotted across the Puglian landscape are a curious structure. Present for hundreds of years, these cone shaped dwellings have a history that although widely discussed, continue to mystify historians as to their true origins. Were they the result of Greek invasion or deforestation? Or could it be the heavy tax laws of the 17th century, when any permanent structure incurred a significant levy – being able to topple your trulli with the removal of a single keystone would have been of tremendous benefit to poor farmer!

Perhaps we’ll never know, but that doesn’t make their existence – and experience – any less of a Puglian must.

If simply visiting the trulli-heavy spot of Alberobello isn’t quite enough for you (and in another post, you’ll understand why this may be the case…), consider staying in one overnight.

FOR A QUIETER TIME, AVOID AUGUST This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Kids all over the world have holidays during specific months of the year – choose to take yours at the same time and you’ll be sharing the beach with noisy adolescents and everything from restaurants to boat tours will be chock-a-block with tourists.

Obviously, we’re not saying that to avoid the crowds you have to head over to Puglia in the dead of winter (although we’re sure it would lovely, that ocean deserves to swum in!), but by opting for late June or mid-September, you’ll get the fabulous weather, but with fewer people, cheaper prices and emptier beaches! THERE’S NO ESCAPING THE ‘COPERTO’! The first few times we ventured to a restaurant we couldn’t understand why we were getting charged an additional fee. We’d established that there were service charges levied in many restaurants but the rules of their application didn’t seem clear – a google search revealed all…

The vast majority of restaurants in Italy (and almost all we came across in Puglia) charge something called a ‘coperto’. This is an additional fee, charged per person, that is applied to the bill irrespective of what you eat, how much you spend and where you sit. Generally it ranges between one and two Euro per person, which may not seem very much if sitting down for a large evening meal, but will make you think twice if just nipping in for a quick cheap and cheerful lunch. The charge should be noted in the menu or signs outside.

Note that the coperto tends to increase the closer you are to big tourist destinations or plazas – yet another reason why it’s always a good idea to explore some hidden streets! It is also almost certain to be higher (or supplemented by a ‘terraza’ charge) if you choose to dine in the outdoors space provided by a restaurant, rather than inside.

YOU CAN NIP ACROSS TO MATERA When we were planning the first leg of our road trip, one place kept popping up – Matera.

This remarkable city, one of the longest inhabited in the world – and soon to be the European City of Culture – is a no-brainer when planning your Puglia road trip. Of course, it’s not actually in Puglia (something that embarrassingly took us a while to realise), but don’t you dare let that put you off.

We’ve created a lovely little guide to Matera, full of things to do, where to stay and how to get there – and of course, lots of pretty pictures!

ENGLISH IS NOT THAT WIDELY SPOKEN Not a surprise given that it’s not an English speaking country, but definitely one to note if you’re used to travelling in the north of the country or other popular tourist destinations in Europe.

The larger hotels will be fine, as are hostels, and fancier restaurants should have at least one member of staff who can speak English. But in small eateries, tiny towns, petrol stations, even our car rental depot, we had to rely on our limited Italian.

See it as a fun way to learn a little more about a country, spend some time before your trip learning some basic Italian (a phrase book might come in handy – this is the one that we got) and have fun chatting with locals – you’d be amazed how far a little of the local language can go!

YOU’RE BETTER OFF MAKING YOUR OWN BREAKFAST Breakfast in Puglia (and perhaps all of Italy) is not a fancy affair. Sure, you can have a glass of guilt-free prosecco at ten in the morning – and trust us, we saw this happen A LOT – but beyond this, it’s croissant and coffee. Fine on the odd occasion, but if you’re anything like us, when we holiday we actually enjoy having a big breakfast of eggs, fruit and all the trimmings.

That’s why we love to stay in accommodations with a kitchen – be that a hostel, an AirBnb or hotel-apartment.

ALWAYS STAY IN THE OLD TOWN Every single town and city in Italy has an ‘old town’, a wonderful place of crumbling facades and labyrinthine streets, now returned to ancient splendour by those who left for the new town many years ago.

Naturally, this is where the tourists flock, and for short stays, by virtue of sights and amenities, where you’ll likely spend most of your time. It’s practical – but they’re also so beautiful.

IF YOU STAY OUTSIDE OF THE BIG TOURIST CITIES, PRICES CAN BE PRETTY CHEAP Not long after booking our flights, we began the arduous task of weighing up various accommodation options – unfortunately, that search began in Polignano a Mare. Not keen to shell out a small fortune, we couldn’t believe that the best Airbnb could offer for £100 a night was a shoddy looking apartment in a not-so-great location. We thought Italy was supposed to be more affordable than that?!

It wasn’t until we began searching elsewhere in the region, in tiny towns we’d never heard of – tiny towns many Italians had never heard of – that we discovered exactly how far our money could go.

Obviously, if you’re in Puglia on a short trip (especially if you don’t have a car), you’ll inevitably end up in the larger tourist spots, but if budget is a real concern, do look around. Simply heading a few kilometres out of town or opting for a beautiful place in the countryside can save a small fortune and open up some amazing travel experiences.

THERE’S EXCELLENT WEATHER ALL YEAR ROUND We visited in late September and were amazed at just how wonderful the weather was. Beach days are shorter than the height of summer but with plenty of days breaching 28C we had ample opportunity to top up our tans, and bar one stormy day in Gallipoli, never had to change our plans because of bad weather.

And whilst the winter months certainly require a jumper or two, you’ll still be able to enjoy most of what the region is famous for – just with a little more time to discover pretty little towns rather than secluded coves.

17 REALLY USEFUL THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE VISITING PUGLIA If you're a keen follower of Along Dusty Roads, you'll know that we fell a little bit - okay, a lot - in love with Puglia during last year's road trip.

[johnchiarello]

The Seed

THE SEED

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

https://youtu.be/Bx2bCUCqTxY  The Seed

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1-5-17-the-seed.zip

ON VIDEO-

. ‘I thought you were one of us!’

.Alice pool closes down

.Media bias [who’s doing ‘fake’ news again?]

.Mosul- U.N. vote- etc.

.ISIS- Shia- Sunni

.Protoevangelion

.The coming seed [child]

.Eve’s child will crush his head

.Abrahams son will bless the world

.David’s offspring will sit on the throne

.Jesus fulfills it all

.Ishmael and Isaac

.Jesus is the Lion of Judah

NEW-

In my Galatians study I talked about the promised ‘seed’-

Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

God promised to bless the world thru one of the offspring of Abraham.

We also saw in my Samuel study that God made a promise to King David that one of his sons would sit on the throne ‘forever’-

2Samuel 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

These promises were fulfilled thru Christ.

The first promise of a coming Messiah was given to Eve in the creation account-Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

We call this the Protoevangelion - meaning the first time we see the good news [gospel].

At the time of Christ they were awaiting for a Messiah who was prophesied to come.

Yet they were looking for a deliverer In the natural sense- meaning someone who would save them from the ‘occupation’ of Rome.

Yet- Jesus fulfilled the promises in a different way-

He told us his kingdom was not like the world’s kingdoms-

John 18:36

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

 God made these promises to various people thru out the history of the Old Testament.

The main figures he gave these promises to did not understand all of the implications at the time.

Abraham obeyed God- yet the promise of a son- Isaac- came to pass thru many trials.

David had his struggles as well- yet he did Father Solomon- experienced divisions in his kingdom and family- but yet the one seed- the one child spoken about- was still to come.

The first promise foretold that this coming deliverer would ‘bruise his head [satan] and he would bruise his heel’-

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Hmm?

Heel?

The prophecy was fulfilled at the Cross.

Yes- Jesus would indeed suffer a bruise- wound- in this battle.

Yet- it was thru this ‘bruising’ that he would fulfill the promise.

Yes- he is the seed of Abraham- that would bless the world.

He is the Son of David- that would arise to sit on the throne.

And he is the woman’s Son- who would suffer an injury-

And in doing so- would redeem the world-

Hebrews 2:14

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

 PAST POSTS [These are my past teachings that relate to today’s video ‘The Seed’]

GALATIANS [Links]

https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/26/galatians-1/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/30/2nd-samuel-3-homeless-friends/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/02/galatians-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/10/galatians-3/

 https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/

JOHN 19

https://youtu.be/iS9OG-fiBL0  John 19

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-13-16-john-19.zip

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

ON VIDEO-

.Media bias

.Yemen rebels shoot at us

.Iran nuke deal

.My question for Margie Rose?

.animal rescue

.Voter I.D. laws?

.Did dead people vote?

.Passover

.No broken bones

.Gamble for the coat

.Final sacrifice

.Made damn sure the Pilate washed his hands…

NOTE- just a brief note before I post. In the news right now we are seeing- every night- the ‘advance’ on Mosul- a city in Iraq that ISIS took.

Why is this- now- a major news story? [Beside the nonstop talk about Trump].

Because it is an effort- by the media- and our country- to change the narrative.

Meaning ‘look- we are really attacking- and killing- ISIS’.

ISIS has had this city for about 2 years- many of the people in the city see ISIS as their defenders- because they are on the religious side of ISIS- in the division within Islam.

The Iraqi govt. forces are not on the side of some of the citizens in Mosul- and the history is when the Iraqis take back a city- with our help- the people are treated like ISIS.

So- we- the U.S. - are willing to side with the actual murder of some of the citizens in Mosul- simply because it serves our political purposes leading up to the election.

It gets the story on the front lines ‘look- the Obama administration [who Hillary was secretary of state] is really doing a great job fighting ISIS’.

Yet- when [if] the city falls- what will happen next?

In a year or 2 [or a month after the election in the U.S.] it will either go back to ISIS- or the Iraqis will persecute the citizens [kill] who they see as siding with ISIS.

Some in the city sided with them because ISIS gave them a type of government- which they did not have under the American backed Iraqi leadership.

So- that’s why you are seeing this as a top story- sad indeed.

 PAST LINKS [verses below]

NOTE- The proclamation of John ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’- In Latin the term is Agnus Dei- as a boy we sung this hymn in Catholic church ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world- have mercy on us’.

[Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.- this is the full phrase in the Latin – taken from John’s declaration- where the Christian song/chant comes from]

JOHNS GOSPEL

LINKS-

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/amos-5/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/jesus-christ/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/father-abraham/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/the-flood/  John 3

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/the-well-john-4/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/john-5/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/john-6/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/john-7/

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/8-10-15-john-14.zip

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/john-8/

https://youtu.be/f8VpxlYM_kU  John 8- ‘who the Son sets free’

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/john-9/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/john-10/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/john-11-the-8th-sign/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/i-found-a-verse/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/john-12/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/samuel-john-hebrews-review/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/john-13/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/john-14/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/john-15/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/john-16/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/john-17/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/john-18/

I mention Corinthians and Ephesians on today’s video- below are my studies-

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/

https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/ephesians-highlights/

 Exodus 12:46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.

Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they

[parts]

ANTI- CHRIST- [Church Unlimited notes- 2nd- 3rd John]

3John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

https://youtu.be/7dfLhO2HBf8  anti- Christ [2nd, 3rd John]

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-23-16-anti-christ-2nd-3rd-jn.zip

ON VIDEO [past posts below]

.See my Hillary drawing [sorry]

.Who is anti-christ?

.Some thought Hitler

.Apostles relate to the bride

.Soteriology

.Was John a theological liberal?

Mosul

.Iraq- Libya

.ISIS

.Sunni- Shia division

.Execution- or human shields- or just murder?

.Abortion

.Docetism refuted

[parts]

OBADIAH-

Obadiah 1:7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; that they eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

https://youtu.be/LaG8b0etYK8  Obadiah

ON VIDEO-

.Peace treaty?

.Leaked emails

.How to skew the polls

.Do I like to lynch Black people?

.The 1 dollar cheese story

.Homeless stuff

.Iran- Yemen- Libya- Syria

.The shores of Tripoli

.ISIS

.Turkey

.Britannia ruled the seas- and lost

.Mosul

NEW- In this small book- 1 chapter- we read of the judgment of God upon Edom.

They were a people that felt like they were unstoppable.

The alliances they made were their downfall.

As I read the book the other night- it made me think about our present situation.

Let’s see if I can hit some high points.

[parts]

NEWS- [Mosul- 3 Americans shot and killed yesterday in Jordan- Wiki leaks reveals real corruption]

I mentioned the last few weeks about our actions in Mosul Iraq.

The U.S. is backing up the overthrow of this city- for political purposes.

I mentioned how the Iraqi troops we are backing are Shia [Muslim division] and some of the population of Mosul are Sunni.

Should we be backing up a ‘genocide’- meaning one group [Iraqi Shia] wanting to eliminate another [Sunni].

I saw a report on PBS news- the interviewer brought up the fact that the tanks that are now rolling into Mosul are flying Shia flags.

Meaning- they are not there to ‘liberate’ people- but to murder Sunni.

I saw another report where the U.S. backed Iraqi troops shot bullets ‘blind’ into a hiding place.

The report on U.S. news did not say if women and children were hiding in there- and if they were murdered by U.S. backed troops.

The military man that was confronted with the question ‘why are U.S. backed tanks flying Shia flags’- he avoided the question- and used ‘spin’.

As of now- its possible women and children have been murdered- with the backup of U.S. power.

That’s wrong.

3 of our men were shot and killed in Jordan yesterday-

Last year a Jordanian captain shot 2 Americans.

In yesterday’s incident the Jordanians claim the U.S. men did not stop at the gate- so they killed them.

Yet- there are resentments that our men are there.

The U.S. says it is investigating- because we don’t want it to ‘strain relations’.

Meaning- yes- it’s possible they murdered our men- but- it’s more important to not have such a bad headline right before the election- because it might make Hillary and her record on foreign policy look bad.

So- maybe they simply murdered our men- but- we have more important political things.

Our nation is obviously divvied on the election- and it’s shocking to actually see the corruption in our government that was exposed the last few weeks by WIKI leaks.

It shows a level of collusion within politics that covers up for those who have connections.

The FBI agent who tipped off the Clinton people about an investigation into the emails- broke the law when he did this.

The government’s official response was ‘when he tipped Clinton off- he was using his own personal email- so that’s ok’.

People have gone to prison for stuff like this- but it is showing you a level of corruption inside our government.

This is not simply a ‘Trump- Clinton’ thing- it is a national corruption scandal.

[parts]

(1143) THE FALL- God puts man in the garden, he gives him only one restriction ‘don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ sure enough, he does! The serpent [satan] tempts Eve in 3 areas, the tree is good for food [lust of the flesh] good to look at [eyes] and can make you wise [pride]. In 1st John 2 we see these three areas mentioned as the common categories of all other temptation. These were the same areas the devil used on Jesus in Matthew 4. The temptation to Eve essentially said ‘look at this God of yours! He wont give you the freedom to do anything you want, he is withholding such a good tree from you’ sounds like the philosopher Freud, he taught that the problem with man was Gods restrictions. That if man would cast off the limits that religion imposed upon them, then all would be well. But what man did not know was that these basic limits were for his own good. When man would choose to walk out from under Gods limits, he would suffer for it. In this chapter [Gen. 3] we also see the great prophecy of the child of the woman eventually crushing the serpents head [called the Protoevangelium- Latin] a prophecy about Christ’s future victory at the Cross. God also covers man with animal’s skins, a type of the future sacrifice of Christ on behalf of man. Man tried to cover up with leaves, God said it wont do, so he sacrificed the life of an animal and used the skins as a covering. The wages of sin is death, the price was paid. In Romans chapter 5 Paul will show us that death and sin passed upon all mankind from Adams sinful act, but thru the obedience of one man [Jesus dying on the Cross] righteousness comes to those who believe. This is the basic Christian doctrine of original sin. Some refer to this as the federal head theory of redemption. I believe it’s vital for Christians to have a grasp of this doctrine. In the 19th/20th centuries you had liberal theologians deny the doctrine of Jesus dying on behalf of man. Along with this they also denied that original sin existed. Most believers realized that this denial was heresy and avoided it, but some are playing with the idea again. The bible clearly teaches the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the behalf of man [Isaiah 53] and it is a foundational doctrine for all true believers. To some it seemed unfair to charge God with the doctrine of original sin, and along with it the doctrine of Penal substitution [Christ being punished for us] these are core Christian truths, if people want to deny them, that’s their choice. But to be a Christian in the biblical sense of the word, these truths are necessary, they are part of the foundation of all true Christian churches.

   VERSES-

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Genesis 3:5 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.

Genesis 3:6 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 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Genesis 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Genesis 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

Genesis 15:2 And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

Genesis 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Genesis 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Acts 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

Acts 2:35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Hebrews 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Hebrews 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

Hebrews 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Hebrews 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

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   Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Thanks- John.#