#this is why strive takes up like 20% of my testament posting if that. so like whatevies

[lesbiangiratina]

Lets play a game called how many characters are in the new dual rulers promo largely cuz theyre popular and then lets play another game called how many of them ranked below testament on the last poll

[dew-line]

Life, death, and rebirth – developing and redeveloping a personality on a progressing timeline

So. I had a little fun today. The last task on the psychology course was to write an essay on personality development based(ish) on Mischels theories about personality development. The guidelines were a tad loose, and I choose to run with it. The text below is what I submitted, hopefully I’ll get som feedback on it tomorrow or in a few days and I’ll keep you posted on that. :D //Jimmy How does one begin to describe, in any relatable fashion, the development of one’s personality, especially as it is a work of perpetual process? One must, I assume, begin at the beginning: I was born. Then there was nothing until I developed a basic sense of self awareness and the ability to define myself in relation to other people and objects. In that very moment I created the world; but you may rest easy, for I am a humble god. Especially so since I stopped demanding the immediate satisfaction of my basic needs and allowed myself to be shaped into this present form by the mold created by my parents and by society; by boundaries drawn by cultural and linguistic traits Thus, like the Christian God I was made flesh and blood – now writing before you as this maculate conception, ever learning as I progressed over the years, constantly striving to fill out this rudimentary sketch of “me” drawn by my parents with ever more content and subject matter. I learnt of poetry and philosophy – the power of word and thought, and thus, in my late teens, I entered a new phase. Let it begin with these words from the gospel [abridged] of St. Charles the Inebriated.

  ”Born like this

Into this

Into these carefully mad wars

Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness

Into bars where people no longer speak to each other

Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings

Born into this

Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die

Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty

Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed

Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes

Born into this

Walking and living through this

Dying because of this

Muted because of this

Castrated

Debauched

Disinherited

Because of this

Fooled by this

Used by this

Pissed on by this

Made crazy and sick by this

Made violent

Made inhuman

By this

[…]”

Charles Bukowski – ”Dinosauria, We”.

Now, I may not have turned out quite as bitter and fatalistic as the aged Bukowski, but I do confess to a certain faiblesse for the absurd, in Camus’s use of the term, that existence is without meaning and purpose, and that beauty lies in –the absurd– meeting between this knowledge and continuing to striving too, despite this knowledge, fill life with love, beauty and personal meaning.

I was born into a classical working class home at 09:28, December 25th 1974, the first child of  a young mother and an alcoholic and controlling father; two parents that had the unusually common sense for their time to realise that they should not be together, and thus early becoming a child of separation – my parents were not married. I was doomed to the life of bi-weekend migrations between families – as this was long before the enlightened era where parents manage to handle child care in an adult fashion and share the weeks equally – a conduct that, in my case, created a feeling or rootlessness and a sense of drifting rather than establishing solid connections within either family – my mother and my father’s new families respectively. This rootlessness in turn created the foundation of a lifelong fear of abandonment and also of a shyness that manifested itself in an extroverted way – acting like the class clown, hiding emotions behind first erratic behavior and later, as I grew older and developed an arsenal of wit and amassed at least a modicum of knowledge – in early attempts at humor. I also developed the foundation of a contrarian mindset that is still present to this day. I despise the consensus – mainly because a consensus promotes a lack of progress and a lack of progress is the base definition of death. However, when I was a child the main reason for causing disruption, even if I was not aware of it at the time, was that it is easier to hide where there is disorder. Being judged by one’s behavior was far more preferable to being judged on who I actually was.

 It was at this age, around the age of seven or eight, that I came to the conclusion that religion was not the answer. Being introduced to a light version of Christianity in an after-school setting, being taught the core concepts of the New Testament, I promptly told the teacher that it was nonsense and, if I recall correctly, was not invited back for the second semester. Much to my mother’s dismay, I presume. By this time, we had left Uppsala and moved out into the countryside, a move that lead to an increased isolation on my behalf – this suited me perfectly as my main interests, especially as I started fourth grade, turned into literature and music. My mother had always read out loud for us when we were little, and I have always had a strong imagination – making the immersion into literature both smooth and welcome. Music also became an important present at this early age – literature and music has followed me ever since. The main part of the eighties was spent in my room reading and listening to music.

What beautiful time it was. 

Reading has had a huge impact on the forming of the person that I am today. All adults that I was surrounded by, in a formative sense – part from teachers – lacked any higher education and we did not really discuss much at, particularly not on my mother’s side, where I spent most of my time. My father, on the other hand – and this is based on long term memories, I cannot vouch for the validity of these memories as I have not spoken to the man in over 20 years – had a creative side – he tried to keep up to date, enjoyed certain intellectual activities. And whisky. And to listen to music. And whisky. And occasionally to beat his kids. Personally, I can’t remember to have ever being beaten by him, that seem to have developed later. My two brothers on my father’s side got to take the brunt of it as I can remember, however – he also had a knack for the words and was happy to share his opinions on how useless we were. That one has stuck with me. As I grew up and became older, and also stronger, this abuse increasingly became a greater and greater problem for me – culminating in me eventually starting to step between my father and my younger siblings when he got ”into the mood”. Eventually, however, I came to the point where I could not keep doing this and as I neared adulthood the relationship with my father and also my father’s side of the family slowly ebbed out. Initially, and for some years I felt that I had let my siblings to fend for themselves, but that feeling is long since passed. I have processed this, and I have moved on. It had to be done. 

I once asked my mother why they did not put any pressure on us when we were younger. Why they never pushed us to do better in school or had any opinions on what we choose to study in high school. The answer was that they wanted to let us choose for ourselves, that we should study what we wanted. The guidance counselor, I remember, told me to look find a job in a warehouse. Packing vegetables at the COOP.  The direct result of that was that I ended up studying for two years to become a bricklayer. I had no ambitions. I choose what I knew, since my stepfather and my father both worked in construction. I should not have been there. My only proper skills after being through the Swedish school system in the 80’s and early 90’s was a decent grasp of English. There were no jobs for me in construction, nor would I have been interested if there were any. If change was to come it was not through family, the school system or anything else. It was through me.

Looking back, however, it is interesting to see how much my life has been formed from the experiences of these formative years. I have no friends or acquaintances from before I started studying at university for the first time in 1998. Non whatsoever. I was social, I had friends – but I have never been sentimental – and I would rather let friendships run out from time or distance. No strong ties, no risk for emotional trauma. One might say that I started to reconstruct my life in my early twenties, I got into a new profession, I applied and got accepted into Grythyttan, Sweden’s premier hospitality industry education, a higher education under the management of the university of Örebro. This pretty much meant everything. Getting away from Uppsala and then – by the slight detour of three years in Grythyttan – to Stockholm meant everything. There is a reason why the Stockholm tends to draw people to it: the chance to rebuild yourself, to turn you into the person you want to be, to let yourself take center stage, if you will. Those were the formative years. They were great years. Working in the restaurant business in Stockholm in the early 2000’s was a smorgasbord of hedonism; food, wine, spirits, drugs. The sky was the limit. What a time to be young. And had not an underlying feeling that there must be more to life kept on nagging me I’d probably still be there today, standing on the brink of being a burned out wreck – but instead I got out, I diversified and got into wine import, into copywriting, photography – always searching; and I think that I am finally starting to get an idea.

I woke up one morning in December 2018, taking stock of my life. What I had done, where I had been, where I was and what I wanted to do. The same day I applied for a late admission course at Södertörn and started studying the very next month. I am very curious to see where I will end up. 

[loveofyhwh]

January 18: Genesis 32–33; Matthew 11; Psalm 18:1–24; Proverbs 6:1–19

New Post has been published on https://loveofyhwh.com/january-18-genesis-32-33-matthew-11-psalm-181-24-proverbs-61-19/

January 18: Genesis 32–33; Matthew 11; Psalm 18:1–24; Proverbs 6:1–19

Old Testament:

Genesis 32–33

Genesis 32–33 (Listen)

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.Mahanaim means two camps‘>1

3 And Jacob sentOr had sent‘>2 messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease himHebrew appease his face‘>3 with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”Hebrew he will lift my face‘>4 21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,Or sons‘>5 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,Israel means He strives with God, or God strives‘>6 for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,Peniel means the face of God‘>7 saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this companyHebrew camp‘>8 that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead ofOr along with‘>9 you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.Succoth means booths‘>10

18 And Jacob came safelyOr peacefully‘>11 to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of moneyHebrew a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value‘>12 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel‘>13

Footnotes

[1] 32:2 Mahanaim means two camps [2] 32:3 Or had sent [3] 32:20 Hebrew appease his face [4] 32:20 Hebrew he will lift my face [5] 32:22 Or sons [6] 32:28 Israel means He strives with God, or God strives [7] 32:30 Peniel means the face of God [8] 33:8 Hebrew camp [9] 33:12 Or along with [10] 33:17 Succoth means booths [11] 33:18 Or peacefully [12] 33:19 Hebrew a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value [13] 33:20 El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel

(ESV)

New Testament:

Matthew 11

Matthew 11 (Listen)

Messengers from John the Baptist

11 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepersLeprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13‘>1 are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A manOr Why then did you go out? To see a man . . .‘>2 dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet?Some manuscripts Why then did you go out? To see a prophet?‘>3 Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,

  “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,     who will prepare your way before you.’

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,Or has been coming violently‘>4 and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear,Some manuscripts omit to hear‘>5 let him hear.

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

17   “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;     we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”Some manuscripts children (compare Luke 7:35)‘>6

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.Or for so it pleased you well‘>7 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Footnotes

[1] 11:5 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13 [2] 11:8 Or Why then did you go out? To see a man . . . [3] 11:9 Some manuscripts Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? [4] 11:12 Or has been coming violently [5] 11:15 Some manuscripts omit to hear [6] 11:19 Some manuscripts children (compare Luke 7:35) [7] 11:26 Or for so it pleased you well

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 18:1–24

Psalm 18:1–24 (Listen)

The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

18   I love you, O LORD, my strength. 2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,     my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,     my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,     and I am saved from my enemies. 4   The cords of death encompassed me;     the torrents of destruction assailed me;Or terrified me‘>1 5   the cords of Sheol entangled me;     the snares of death confronted me. 6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;     to my God I cried for help.   From his temple he heard my voice,     and my cry to him reached his ears. 7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;     the foundations also of the mountains trembled     and quaked, because he was angry. 8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,Or in his wrath‘>2     and devouring fire from his mouth;     glowing coals flamed forth from him. 9   He bowed the heavens and came down;     thick darkness was under his feet. 10   He rode on a cherub and flew;     he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,     thick clouds dark with water. 12   Out of the brightness before him     hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. 13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,     and the Most High uttered his voice,     hailstones and coals of fire. 14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;     he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. 15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,     and the foundations of the world were laid bare   at your rebuke, O LORD,     at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16   He sent from on high, he took me;     he drew me out of many waters. 17   He rescued me from my strong enemy     and from those who hated me,     for they were too mighty for me. 18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,     but the LORD was my support. 19   He brought me out into a broad place;     he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;     according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,     and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22   For all his rulesOr just decrees‘>3 were before me,     and his statutes I did not put away from me. 23   I was blameless before him,     and I kept myself from my guilt. 24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,     according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

Footnotes

[1] 18:4 Or terrified me [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath [3] 18:22 Or just decrees

(ESV)

Proverb:

Proverbs 6:1–19

Proverbs 6:1–19 (Listen)

Practical Warnings

6   My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,     have given your pledge for a stranger, 2   if you are snared in the words of your mouth,     caught in the words of your mouth, 3   then do this, my son, and save yourself,     for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:     go, hasten,Or humble yourself‘>1 and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4   Give your eyes no sleep     and your eyelids no slumber; 5   save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,Hebrew lacks of the hunter‘>2     like a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6   Go to the ant, O sluggard;     consider her ways, and be wise. 7   Without having any chief,     officer, or ruler, 8   she prepares her bread in summer     and gathers her food in harvest. 9   How long will you lie there, O sluggard?     When will you arise from your sleep? 10   A little sleep, a little slumber,     a little folding of the hands to rest, 11   and poverty will come upon you like a robber,     and want like an armed man. 12   A worthless person, a wicked man,     goes about with crooked speech, 13   winks with his eyes, signalsHebrew scrapes‘>3 with his feet,     points with his finger, 14   with perverted heart devises evil,     continually sowing discord; 15   therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;     in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. 16   There are six things that the LORD hates,     seven that are an abomination to him: 17   haughty eyes, a lying tongue,     and hands that shed innocent blood, 18   a heart that devises wicked plans,     feet that make haste to run to evil, 19   a false witness who breathes out lies,     and one who sows discord among brothers.

Footnotes

[1] 6:3 Or humble yourself [2] 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter [3] 6:13 Hebrew scrapes

(ESV)

[dfroza]

we’re not here to please the world because we belong to our heavenly Father.

this world isn’t even our Home and many things in the world oppose the spiritual truth of the Son.

but while we’re here, as brothers & sisters of faith, we should strive towards humility and getting along.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 4th chapter of the Letter of First Corinthians:

Rather than power brokers, think of us as servants of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, caretakers of the mysteries of God. Because we are in this particular role, it is especially important that we are people of fidelity and integrity. It makes little difference to me how you or any human court passes judgment on me. I even resist the temptation to compare myself to the ever-changing human standard. Although I am not aware of any flaw that might exclude me from this divine service, that’s not the reason I stand acquitted—the only supreme judge, our Lord, will examine me in the proper time. So resist the temptation to act as judges before all the evidence is in. When the Lord comes, He will draw our buried motives, thoughts, and deeds (even things we don’t know or admit to ourselves) out of the dark shadows of our hearts into His light. When this happens, the voice of God will speak to each of us the only praise that will ever matter.

Right now, brothers and sisters, the best thing I can do for you is to apply these principles to the situation with Apollos and me. Maybe we can show you the meaning of the saying, “not beyond the things written.” If you learn that, perhaps none of you will swell with pride because you fall into the seductive trap of pitting one against the other. Is there any reason to consider yourselves better than others? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If you received it as a gift, why do you boast like it is something you achieved on your own?

Now let’s see if I have it straight. You suppose that you already have all you need. You already are rich and prosperous. And without us you’ve already begun to reign like kings. To be honest, I wish you did reign so that we could reign with you because it seems to me that God has put His emissaries at the end of the line, like convicts in their final walk to certain death. We have become a spectacle to the rest of the world—to all people and heaven’s messengers. We are nothing but fools for the cause of the Anointed One while you are wise in Him. Am I right? We are feeble and tired while you are mighty and full of life. You are well respected by others while we’re treated as contemptuous creatures by pretty much everyone everywhere. Up to this very minute, we are famished, we are thirsty, and our clothes are shabby, practically rotted to pieces. We are homeless, hapless wanderers. But still we labor, working with our hands to meet our needs because, despite all of this, when a fist is raised against us, we respond with a blessing; when we face violence and persecution, we stay on mission; and when others choose taunts and slander against us, we speak words of encouragement and reconciliation. We’re treated as the scum of the earth—and I am not talking in the past tense; I mean today! We’re the scraps of society, nothing more than the foulest human rubbish.

I am not telling you all this so that you’ll feel guilty or be ashamed of how you have acted. I am only trying to warn you, just as a father would warn his children. You may have 10,000 instructors in the faith of the Anointed One, but you have only one father. In Jesus the Anointed I have become your father through my efforts in spreading the good news. So as your father in the faith, I want to encourage you to live as I have lived. Imitate my life. This is one of the reasons I sent Timothy to be with you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. His mission is to remind you of the way I experience life in the Anointed. In all the churches everywhere I go, I teach the same lessons the same way, and I live out those lessons. But the reality is, some of you have put yourselves on pedestals and live like you are high above the rest—it’s as if you assumed I would not return to confront your misguided pride. But I am coming. Lord willing, I will be with you soon. Then I will know what power is backing those arrogant folks and their words. The kingdom of God is not a realm of grandiose talk; it is a realm of power. So tell me what you want. Should I visit you, rod in hand ready to discipline a crew of self-important people; or should I embrace you, love you, and gently teach you as we celebrate the blessings of God together?

The Letter of 1st Corinthians, Chapter 4 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 39th chapter of the book (scroll) of Isaiah where the Babylonian exile was prophesied:

Shortly after Hezekiah was healed of his illness, the king of Babylon, Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had been deathly ill and had recovered. So he sent envoys carrying letters and a lavish gift. Delighted by the king’s gesture, and having a desire to impress them, Hezekiah welcomed the envoys from Babylon and opened the doors of the king’s storehouses of treasures and showed them to the envoys. He let them see all of his gold, silver, spices, and costly fragrant oils, as well as his entire armory. All of the king’s royal treasures, all that was in the king’s palace, and all the wealth of his whole kingdom was shown to them.

Then Isaiah the prophet visited the king and said to him, “What have you done? What did these men say and where did they come from?”

Hezekiah replied, “They are envoys from distant Babylon.”

Then Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They have seen everything in my palace,” responded Hezekiah. “I showed them everything in my royal treasuries.”

Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is what Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, has to say to you: ‘The days are coming when all the treasures in your palace and all the wealth that your ancestors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; absolutely nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ’Some of your own sons who come after you will be deported, be castrated, and become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word Yahweh has spoken through you is good and right.” For he thought, “At least for me, there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

The Book (Scroll) of Isaiah, Chapter 39 (The Passion Translation)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, july 17 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons that points to rebirth:

Then he said to them all, "If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:23-24). Paradoxically only those willing to give up their lives will take up their cross, but the prospect remains an offense to those who seek to protect themselves. We must let go, say goodbye, and turn away from the allure of this world. The cross of Messiah crucifies your relationship to this world with its ignorance and vanities (Gal. 6:14). Through the cross you die to this world and its idolatry and cross over to a new realm of existence altogether (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:1-4). The cross marks the beginning of life in the spirit...

"If then you have been raised with Messiah, seek the things that are above (τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε), where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God (לִימִין אֱלהִים). Focus your thoughts on the things above, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life has been hidden with Messiah in God. Then when the Messiah, who is your life, appears, you too will appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:1-4).

All of this turns on our faith... If we are spiritually identified with Yeshua, we are “dead” to this age (olam hazeh), and therefore we are awakened to a realm that transcends the appeals of carnal flesh (olam habah). We no longer live chayei sha'ah (חַיֵּי שָׁעָה, "fleeting life") but chayei olam (חַיֵּי עוֹלָם, "eternal life"). The arorist verb “you have died” indicates “you have died once for all,” that is, this is a condition granted by the power and agency of God on your behalf. You don’t “try to die” to the flesh; you accept what God has done by killing its power over you through Yeshua... You are dead to this world; you are dead to sin’s power; you are no longer enslaved to the deception of the worldly matrix, etc. Now you are made alive to an entirely greater and more powerful order and dimension of reality, namely, the spiritual reality that is not disclosed to the vanity of this age. Therefore we are to consciously focus our thoughts (φρονέω) on the hidden reality of God rather than on the temporal world that is passing away: “For we are looking not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient (i.e., “just for a season,” καιρός), but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

"When faith in God begins to affect an individual, his entire existence is transformed. His obsession with immediate pleasures and pains dies away. Instead his attention is increasingly focused on God. He comes to conceive God in his heart not just at a particular moment, but at every moment. He desires to share the infinity of God, and so feels himself confined within his present existence. He is like a bird in a cage, dreaming of flying free; he is like a fish on dry land, dreaming of swimming in a pool. He is acutely aware of the contrast between God's power and his own frailty. Yet even in his confinement, he feels joy in the knowledge that soon he will be free." (Kierkegaard: Journals)

We share the (in)visibility of the Messiah in this age... Since He is presently hidden from view, "the world knows us not, because it knew him not" (1 John 3:1); on the other hand, when He is revealed from heaven, so we will appear with him in glory... Therefore “being dead” is an inversely reciprocal relationship: being dead to this world is to be alive in the other world, and vice-versa.... We have “hidden life” in the Messiah, as it is written: “your life has been hidden (i.e., κρύπτω, “concealed,” “disguised”) with the Messiah in God.” By faith you are made dead to one order of reality so that you would be made alive to another order of reality, to the reality of God that transcends the shadows and decay of this world. Your life has been hidden - like a “hidden treasure” - with the Messiah, who holds its store for you and will reveal its glory in the coming age. Because Yeshua knows you by name, calls you to follow Him, and is your Sin-Bearer, Priest, Advocate, and Savior before the throne of God, your life is indeed “hidden with Him,” and you are made secure through His all-powerful providential care... Praise His Name forever.

Salvation is forever a matter of life and death. We esteem earthly doctors because they are healers of the body, but how much more do people need true healers of the soul? "Be not deceived" about your own hope for eternity; "God is not mocked" (μυκτηρίζω). He knows your inner motivations with perfect clarity (Gal. 6:7; Heb. 4:12). To "serve" God in the truth means being willing to face ongoing self-examination, to own up to the truth about yourself, to be real, to be honest. We are here to share the message of God's love and to help bring others to eternal life. Yeshua's fiercest words of condemnation were reserved for those who played games with "religion" - for those who forgot that people were literally dying without God's love... May God help us remember what is closest to His heart, friends... [Hebrew for Christians]

7.16.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

July 17, 2021

Partakers of the Promise

“That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:6)

There are many Christians who regard themselves as almost exclusively New Testament believers, arguing that the Old Testament was for the Jews under the dispensation of law and thus not applicable to Christians today.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While the old animal sacrifices, temple rituals, and Levitical priesthoods have indeed been superseded by Christ’s “one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:12), there are many “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) of the Old Testament that can be properly and joyfully appropriated by Christians. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” wrote Paul (2 Timothy 3:16), speaking particularly of the Old Testament Scriptures.

In the context of our verse for the day, Paul is stressing that his own new revelations, given in connection with the Christian gospel, actually involved bringing Jew and Gentile together as one body in Christ. The “dispensation of the grace of God...by revelation he made known unto me,” he wrote, but in previous ages, it had not been “made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:2-5).

And what was it that had not been made known? The hidden mystery was simply “that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs” with the Jews, and therefore “partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).

Thus, Gentile believers can now share in all the gracious promises of God in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 23; Isaiah 26:3; etc.), except those directly dealing with the future of Israel as a nation, “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:14). HMM

[avaliveradio]

Pop Country Songwriter Eileen Carey's New Release 'Leave It All Behind'

Artist: Eileen Carey

New Release: Leave It All Behind

Genre: Pop-Country, singer-songwriter

Sounds like: : “Carey— a little bit cosmopolitan, a little bit country, a true musical chameleon, blending pop and rock and country influences with ease .Fans have recognized Carey’s star-quality for years, but now the critics are starting to take notice as well”. – (ElmoreMagazine.com)” 2017 “Blending pop, country, and rock in a music that feels uniquely hers.” (POPDOSE) “Eileen Carey is a singer-songwriter-vocalist in the Pop-Country genre who has emerged over the last few years as both an accomplished storyteller and effective, appealing stylist, while making music that deftly combines country influences with pop arrangements. Her songs also offer distinct, prominent messages about personal empowerment and emotional fulfillment.” - Ron Wynn, Nashville Music Guide “The crowd was hooked from the moment “Hearts of Time” kicked off the night. Carey’s sassy yet humble stage demeanor gave off Gretchen Wilson meets Miranda Lambert vibes, which clearly appealed to the crowd, which engaged in hand clapping, line dancing and singing along.” - Heather Allen, Music Connection

Located in: : Altadena, CA 91001

Onwards and Upwards: In Motivational “Leave It All Behind” Single, Artist of the Year Eileen Carey Urges Listeners to Move On From the Past “Blending pop, country, and rock in a way that feels uniquely hers.” (POPDOSE) HEAR EILEEN CAREY’S ODE TO INDEPENDENCE “LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND” HERE In both her new single “Leave It All Behind” and her overall career trajectory, it’s onward and upward for New Music Weekly AC/Hot AC Breakthrough Artist of the Year Eileen Carey. Continuing her knack for crafting perfectly blended country and pop, Carey’s latest single is the latest testament to her positive, forward-looking approach to life and love. “Leave It All Behind” is available June 21 via _______. Carey is heading to her home away from home, Nashville, Tennessee from June 15 to 20 to record new songs and will kick off the summer concert schedule with a show at the Orange County Fair on Saturday, July 24 (1:30 PM on the Hanger Stage). Co-written by Kathryn Grimm and Travis Allen, “Leave It All Behind” is an upbeat anthem of self-belief, endurance, and independence. Described by Elmore Magazine as “a little bit cosmopolitan, a little bit country,” the critically acclaimed Carey explains how “Leave It All Behind” is meant to inspire listeners who feel trapped in a negative situation: “Sometimes we get stuck in the past or in a mess that we can't get out of. We then think everyone else somehow has the answer. But the truth is that we will always find a way - if we believe in ourselves.” Believing in herself seems to come naturally for Carey. The chart-topping singer has forged a wildly successful career through her tenacity and her desire to let love rule. Nashville Music Guide best explains why Carey and her feel-good blend of pop, rock, and country has connected with fans and critics alike: “Eileen Carey has emerged over the last few years as both an accomplished storyteller and an appealing stylist. Her songs offer much needed messages of emotional fulfillment and personal empowerment.” Now situated alongside household names like Post Malone, Five Seconds of Summer, and the duo of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Carey has done things her own way and very much on her own timetable. The result is an astonishing eighteen music awards in half a decade, including: IMN Fan Favorite Female Country Artist for 2020 Reverbnation #1 Regional Country-Pop Artist for April 2019 Los Angeles Music Awards Crossover Artist for 2018 Los Angeles Music Awards Country Music Performer of the Year for 2017 Independent Radio Network Crossover Artist for 2016 Carey also uplifts women via her blog The Music Mom. Much like “Leave It All Behind,” The Music Mom reveals Carey's desire to positively impact others through the sharing of her experiences and wisdom: “The world is filled with ups and downs, so I want to help people see things in a more positive light and find a better place in life.” For more information on Eileen Carey, visit her social media: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE For press inquiries, please contact ________

This single represents Eileen's continuing move over to Pop. So many influences Sheryl Crowe, Martha Davis, Keith Urban, Singers like Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. Songwriters Lennon McCartney and Diane Warren

Right now we are...

Heading to Nashville Tuesday, June 15, going into the studio at Nashville Tracks to lay down a number of vocals on her new material.

Artists Bio..

A Long and Winding Road: How One Night’s Drive Turned Eileen Carey into a Pop-Country Phenom By Matthew Kayser As the late twenty-something wife and mother of two daughters drove home from yet another exhausting 15-hour shift, something snapped within Eileen Carey. After spending years booking entertainment for a Los Angeles hotel, Carey realized that it was now her turn to write, sing, and perform the songs she loved. Yes, she had been the consummate family woman, fully devoted to her kids and her husband. And yes, she knew that most professional artists launch their careers when they’re young. Or at least younger. But the California-based Carey has a habit of trusting her heart. And her heart was quite emphatic in insisting that now was the time Country to pursue her lifelong dream of a career in music. That now was the time to prove to her daughters that any woman - no matter her age or her social status - can achieve whatever it is she wants.

Besides, Carey thought, if not now, when? And with this realization, Carey’s most unlikely and inspiring music career began. Eileen Carey has always been a lover and a fighter. The chart-topping country pop artist has forged a wildly successful career through both her tenacity and her desire to let love rule. Carey has proven that very good things can come to those who wait - and work. While Elmore Magazine describes Carey’s sound as “a little bit cosmopolitan, a little bit country,” Nashville Music Guide best explains why Carey and her feel-good blend of pop, rock, and country has connected with fans and critics alike: “Eileen Carey has emerged over the last few years as both an accomplished storyteller and an appealing stylist. Her songs offer much needed messages of emotional fulfillment and personal empowerment.” Empowerment is evident in Carey’s long and winding path to being named the New Music Weekly’s AC/Hot AC Breakthrough Artist of 2019 and 2020. And in 2018 was their Country Breakthrough Artist. Now situated alongside household names like Post Malone, Five Seconds of Summer, and the duo of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Carey has done things her own way and very much on her own timetable. This includes crashing the low glass ceiling facing women in country music: “When I was thirty, an A&R guy in Nashville told me, “You’re too old. Go home.” He is now one of my biggest supporters. I don’t believe that anything should hold back talent, effort, and aspiration. Not gender, age, or race.” Carey credits her urge to push for equality to heroes from multiple spheres of social influence and her desire to positively impact her daughters: “I am inspired by the huge numbers of women making waves in society, whether it’s in sports, business, or the political arena. I have two daughters, so this is very important to me.” Fueled by her hunger for equality, her self-belief, and her love for her family, Carey followed her car-ride epiphany with the release of two tracks, one a cover, and one original. The cover was Carey’s take on Patsy Cline’s hit “Walking After Midnight.” Carey’s rendition of the Cline classic was the winning track in a Nashville radio syndicated fan contest. Carey just so happened to beat out Martina McBride. Carey’s other track was “That Town,” a nostalgic look back at the songwriter’s youth spent in Ohio. “That Town” soon took off on Adult Contemporary radio. Carey’s first two songs convinced her that she really did have the goods to succeed in the music industry. A look at her list of accomplishments since then has proven Carey correct. She’s won an astonishing eighteen music awards in half a decade, including: • New Music Weekly AC/Hot AC Breakthrough Artist of the Year for 2019 & 2020 • Reverbnation #1 Regional Country-Pop Artist for April 2019 • IMN Fan Favorite Female Country Artist 2020 • Los Angeles Music Awards Crossover Artist for 2018 • New Music Weekly Country Breakthrough Artist for 2018 • Los Angeles Music Awards Country Music Performer of the Year for 2017 • Independent Radio Network Crossover Artist for 2016 Perhaps most indicative of her magical rise is the who’s-who of legends with whom Carey has shared a stage, including Rita Coolidge, Wilson Phillips, Don McLean, Jefferson Starship, Martha Davis, Johnny Rivers, Peter Noone, Nelson, and Tal Bachman. Following in the footsteps of what The Hype Magazine calls a “long line of radio hits,” Carey’s recent single “Keep Your Love to Yourself” is a rally cry for women who find themselves in abusive relationships. The song’s message is loud and clear: every woman deserves a healthy, positive relationship in which they are treated as equals - and anything less simply won’t cut it. It is this unrestrained tenacity and commitment to positivity that has inspired the songstress to take part in several projects aimed at making Carey and her fans healthier and happier human beings. Whether it’s promoting physical and mental health via kickboxing and time spent outdoors, caring for animals through her work with FixNation and her family’s nonprofit organization Stray Paws Animal Haven, or providing thoughtful parenting advice on her blog The Music Mom, Carey strives to offer support and encouragement for listeners everywhere: “I try to give people a different way of thinking about the world and their role in it. I want them to focus on the positive aspects of life. I genuinely believe that very good things will happen for them if they do.” In addition to positivity, two other words perfectly describe Carey, her music, and her career: passion and persistence. Carey’s endless enthusiasm and determination to see the good in life has produced a career that teaches a valuable lesson: slow and steady may win the race, but genuine and likable earn the winner much applause. And while she was familiar with applause due to one of her hotel management chores being the booking of the entertainment many years ago, it took a fateful drive home and lots of hard work for Eileen Carey to finally be on the other end of it. Written by Matthew Kayser nowishistory@gmail.com an accomplished writer, teacher, and musician.

LINKS: www.EileenCarey.com www.TheMusicMom.com www.cdbaby.com/Artist/EileenCarey www.facebook.com/EileenCareyofficial www.Twitter.com/EileenCarey https://www.instagram.com/eileencareymusic/ www.youtube.com/user/Rolley23EileenCarey https://soundcloud.com/EileenCarey www.reverbnation.com/EileenCarey https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/eileen-carey/id4240542 https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-carey–1775528

Reviews:

Mountainlady of Back to the roots wrote:

“Great song, just way too pop for my current playlist, reminds me of my teen years when I liked music like that:) I look forward to listening to more form you in the future.”

Post To Wire wrote:

Thanks for sending your track our way . This is right on point for that country pop listener. Keep up the great work. 

Run Hundred wrote:

"The guitars remind me of U2—while the soaring vocals make for an excellent contrast—but the tempo is too slow for our audience otherwise I would have posted you for sure.”

Glasse Factory wrote: 

“The vocal styling in this has a bit of a commercial feel for what we like to share with our audience but you have a great song and vibe to your music.!"

EarToTheGround Music wrote: 

"I appreciate the pop energy here, unfortunately with country we're looking for a bit more of a throwback style overall. Great work.” 

Nam Radio  wrote: 

"Awesome track, it is lively and I enjoy listening to your music.”

Press:

CBN Network of Caribbean Broadcast Network has shared "Eileen Carey - Leave It All Behind" on 6/16 in rotation.  They had this to add: Greetings, your MP3 was distributed to our stations' DJ's (32) and was played and will continue to be played by DJ’s who choose to include it in their regular line ups and or when they play at events! ♛♬

Mark-Xtreme of Ejazz Radio has shared "Eileen Carey - Leave It All Behind" here: 17th June 1-2pm EAT.

They had this to add: Radio link : radio.ejazzug.com

Playlists Supporting this single:

🔥Release Radar New Music Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2JOBcgSYgGmV2g27N1CUXx?si=PQFpAPUbQ0m4ByZEbtBtLg

🔥JAX DAILY Morning Coffee Playlist:

  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7pEY8BiSj6sLLSHAoOo9k0?si=IrwIjmHVRN2vswRyw_P6gA

🔥Songwriter Gold https://open.spotify.com/playlist/68x51bTCMLuLi4o6vqwGfh?si=hXz5kG-rTN-bGkZBJuPm9g

🔥SUMMER SINGLES Fresh Indie Music Finds https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7oQCpI2xEN2RaGWLcRGQJX?si=o93Tf3RwSH2HLg4B57qAVw

🔥Road Trip Best Indie Folk 2020 Music Playlist - Indie / Pop / Folk / Rock https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1PLd9drToDxT0rUcGWGpZ9?si=FvfbaXtcQ1-HJyHf3h59oA

🔥 Country Gold  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1mOu6js2o1Vqwst3r6Znq3?si=j-WKFuWfQ8qPw3nx2nwryg

[numbersbythebook]

Genesis 26 split, 12 Tribes Split, Church Split

written by Will Schumaker

God has told the end from the beginning.

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

God prophesied that Ephraim would become the “fullness of the gentiles.”

Genesis 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

This is Bible verse 1471.  Strong;s H1471 = gentiles or nations

Ephraim, the head of the northern kingdom, rebelled and Assyria took them over and they have become known as the 10 lost tribes.

Somehow God sees the Gentiles as Ephraim.  I wrote a post on this a while back called “I am Ephraim”.  It would be very helpful to read to understand what I believe the Bible says on this.

About 10 years ago I started studying the Bible through Jewish eyes.  I was struck by the fact that the early church was all Jewish.  Then the Gentiles or “Ephraim” was brought in. Both Gentiles and Jews were meant to be one and worship together; James indicates this in Acts 15.

Acts 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.        

Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

My understanding is that there was a split in the early church that began with the destruction of Jerusalem and was pretty much finalized with the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Over time the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, there is no observance of God’s feast days, and the Torah is looked upon as a burden.

Many messianic Jewish rabbis that I listen to still keep the Saturday Sabbath, still observe God’s feast days and although they see the Torah as not able to save them, only Jesus can, they see the Torah as a protective fence sent by a loving and merciful God to guide them.

Since God has already told the end from the beginning, I looked at one story in the Old Testament that seems to be a type of what has happened to the Church.

Solomon, the son of David, and builder of the Temple is a type of Christ. There is a glorious reign under Solomon which reminds me of the Acts 2 Church where everyone is acting like one body through the Spirit.

But then there is a split.

Jeroboam and the northern kingdom which is Ephraim (who becomes the fullness of gentiles) splits from the southern kingdom and King Rehoboam.

The first thing Jeroboam does is change God’s feast days (what the gentile church did) and where they worship.

1 Kings 12:27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah

1 Kings 12:32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah.

When you read why this happened it was because Rehoboam, King of Judah wanted to lay a heavier yoke upon Israel and Ephraim didn’t want this heavy yoke.

1 Kings 12:14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Recall Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  In Jewish writing the Torah was likened to a yoke.  So Jesus is saying take my Torah upon you and learn it.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

Now I understand that Rehoboam wasn’t talking about the Torah when he said he would add to his father’s yoke.  I believe this is a prophetic type though.

The other interesting thing Rehoboam said is that he would chastise Israel with scorpions.

Recall God called the “false prophet” leaders of Israel “scorpions”.

Ezekiel 2:6  And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Jesus called the enemy “scorpions and serpents”.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

So scorpions or serpents are a visual picture of people against God.

In the New Testament, the false prophet of Jesus’ time was the religious leaders of Israel.  He called them serpents or vipers.

Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

Matthew 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

The false prophet Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time had made a mockery of God’s Torah. They had taken each command and made a set of strict rules to follow for each.  It became a huge burden.  It is called the “oral Torah”.  It is a man-made law,  not of God.  Jesus was regularly against it.

Peter spoke of this in Acts 15. The Torah through the scribes and Pharisees had become too much of a yoke to bear.

Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Peter then gave minimal expectations of the Gentiles to worship with the Jewish people because they will be listening to Moses (God’s Torah) every Sabbath, and thus learning how to live obediently.

Acs 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.        

Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

SO, I hope you see the prophetic type. The "scorpion" religious leaders of Judah tried to impose their definition of God’s law on the people just as Rehoboam made the burden too heavy and chastised with scorpions.

The gentiles, not used to God’s law, said the burden is too much and separated from the Jewish church. They made up their own feasts on their own schedule on their own days just as Jeroboam and the 10 tribes did.

There is an example of the rift between the Gentile and Jewish part of the Church in 3 John.

3 John 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

3 John 1:10 Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

Diotrephes loved preeminence.  Strong’s G1361 = Diotrephes. Strong’s H1361 =  haughty or lift up.

Strong H1361 seems to be a definition of Strong’s G1361.

There seems to be another story in the Bible related to Jeroboam and Rehoboam as a type of the church split.

Jeroboam is Strong’s H3379 and means “the people will contend”  It is formed from Strong’s H5971 and H7378.

Rehoboam is H7346 and means “a people has enlarged”  It is from H5971 and H7337.

So Strong’s H5971 = ”people” and they both have that root.  So the difference in their names comes from H7378 meaning “strive or contend” and H7337 meaning “to enlarge or make room”

Both of these roots are used for the first time in Genesis 26 in these two verses about Isaac digging wells.

Genesis 26:20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive (H7378) with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room (H7337) for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

Isaac is the promised child of faith.  Wells are a type of God’s Torah.  Philistines are the enemies of God’s child of faith.

The story starts with Isaac digging the wells of his father Abraham which the Philistines had stopped up.

Genesis 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

Isaac’s servants then finds a well of “springing water”.  This of course is Jesus who a Messianic Jew calls the “ Living Torah” since John calls Jesus the “Word of God”.

Genesis 26:19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

However there is strife and it is named Esek, meaning “strife”. Isaac’s servants then dig another and call it “Sitnah”, which interesting has the same root as “satan”.

Genesis 26:20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.    

Genesis 26:21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

So Isaac moved again and dug another well and called it “Rehoboth”.

Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

This sure looks to be the same story. Israel, the child of faith, dwelled with the enemies of God and was seeking the faith of his father Abraham that the enemies of God and “stopped up”.  The child of faith found a well of springing water - the righteousness found through Christ and not man made laws.  That well turned into strife through the adversary Satan.  Many Jewish people clung to the man-made laws and their belief that as a natural child of Abraham they are saved.  Many gentile believers didn’t want anything to do with God’s Torah.

The ideal would have been to continue being fed by the well of living water, Jesus. Instead there is a split just like the northern and southern kingdoms, and the Jewish and Gentile church.

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Songs of 2019

2019 was a fantastic year for music, but then again every year is. We as listeners have been blessed with abundance, and tasked with the delightful work of sifting through freshwater to find gold. This year, the most reliably golden genres were West African pop and West Coast Rap. Go figure.

The following represents my favorite 100 songs of the year. My only rules: 1) one song per lead artist (a lucky few earned multiple placements through the “featured artist” loophole).

Below are the write-ups (everyone’s favorite part) and stay tuned for my albums list, coming next week. Don’t forget to scroll all the way down for a Spotify playlist of the full list!

25. Desperate Journalist - “Satellite” - A sweeping, emotional rock song by a veteran rock band that can uncork one of these in their sleep. What makes this one special? The dynamic changes in the pre-chorus, the soaring guitar solo, and the passionate performance from lead singer Jo Bevan.

24. Jacques Greene - “Stars” - A brilliant bit of ambient techno that evokes the seminal electronic classic “Little Fluffy Clouds,” by The Orb. Instead of desert clouds, the anonymous female narrator describes a pastoral dream about the night skies of her youth. A transporting piece of music that should’ve been twice as long--five minutes is a cruelly short lifespan for this kind of bliss.

23. Rosalía - “Con Altura” ft. J Balvin - After the brilliant and singular El Mal Querer demonstrated Rosalía’s singular talent, “Con Altura” announced her intentions for worldwide domination. Created with frequent Rosalía collaborator El Guincho and chameleonic superstar J Balvin, “Con Altura” contains two of the year’s most insidious hooks--the soft-spoken call-and-response chorus, and Rosalía’s snake-charming bridge, the strongest indication yet that global stardom won’t stop the Catalonian chanteuse from pushing music forward.

22. Faye Webster - “Room Temperature” – 2019’s answer to “Swingin’ Party,” the Replacements’ great anthem for introverts, the introductory track on Webster’s Atlanta Millionaire’s Club album drifts along with Hawaiian-flavored pedal steel and a palpable sense of regret, as the 21-year-old singer longs to escape her perfectly comfortable surroundings. 21. Yhung T.O. - “Lately” ft. Lil Sheik - Easy, breezy, beautiful Bay Area rap, carried by T.O.’s dulcet tones and Sheik’s unrepentant dirtbaggery. The beat by Armani Depaul is one of my favorite retro-facing rap beats in a while, complete with smooth digital strings and security-pad synths. 20. The New Pornographers - “You’ll Need a New Backseat Driver” - Every five years or so, A.C. Newman writes a melody so strong that it requires Neko Case’s ultra-powerful alto to properly do it justice. This year, that song is “You’ll Need a New Backseat Driver,” which strives for, and nearly approaches, the heights of previous Pornos stunners like “The Laws Have Changed” and “Champions of Red Wine.” 

19. Floating Points - “LesAlpx” - Surrounded by outré synth experiments and beatless soundscapes on Crush, the first Floating Points album since 2015, “LesAlpx” is Sam Shepherd’s gift to club-goers everywhere. It’s a lean and mean house track, foregrounding propulsive percussion and rubbery bass, but it’s also deeply cerebral, creating a sense of foreboding urgency with detuned synths and ambient sine waves. 18. Daphni - “Sizzling” ft. Paradise - Built around a sample of Paradise’s seminal single “Sizzlin’ Hot,” Dan Snaith’s “Sizzling” extends the best moments of the classic post-disco smash to create five minutes of pure euphoria. The song starts in media res, with the groove in full form, and peaks at the end, when Snaith finally allows Paradise’s June Ventzos to finish her thought atop jubilant trumpets. 17. J Hus - “Must Be” - The latest genre-blending collaboration between J Hus and genius producer JAE5 proves that no man is safe from Hus’s dazzling logic, as he stacks syllogism after syllogism over an irresistible, afropop-flavored groove: “If it walk like an opp/Talk like an opp/Smell like an opp/Then it must be.” 16. Vampire Weekend - “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” - Ever indulging his literary ambitions, Ezra Koenig uses the final track on Father Of The Bride to examine his Jewish identity, and to reckon with a world that hasn’t made sense since World War I. The prettiest melody on an album dripping with pretty melodies, “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” packs enough symbolism into three minutes to inspire a seminar at Koenig’s Ivy League alma mater. Supported by yearning, spritely piano, Koenig ends the song with a poignant plea for peace, within reason: “So let them win the battle/But don't let them restart/That genocidal feeling/That beats in every heart.” 15. Great Grandpa - “Bloom” - The highlight from Great Grandpa’s outstanding Four Of Arrows album, “Bloom” is two songs in one. Part one brings punchy acoustic guitar that recalls ‘90s adult alternative (think Matchbox 20) and prime-era Saddle Creek (think Rilo Kiley) in equal measure. The second par tcompletes the song’s emotional arc, slowing down for a hypnotic wordless chorus, backed by weeping violins,. The key line here: “Please say I’m young enough to change.” 14. Spellling - “Real Fun” – Gleefully dramatic and overflowing with evil-sounding synths, “Real Fun” synthesizes Neneh Cherry, Bauhaus, and Cabaret into something that sounds like a villain’s theme in an animated musical that hasn’t been written yet.   13. Earthgang - “Proud Of U” ft. Young Thug – There’s no straight man to ground this ATL trio, as all three emcees lean into their vocal eccentricities while expressing their thanks to the women in their lives atop a mutating, guitar-driven beat. 12. Stella Donnelly - “Tricks” – In which the young heroine attempts to rid herself of a particularly toxic ex, who isn’t just misogynist, but a potential white supremacist sympathizer (her subject’s “Southern Cross Tattoo” is like an Aussie version of the MAGA hat). Heavy stuff, but Donnelly delivers everything with a grin, as if she’s wondering in real time why the hell she ever bothered with this jamoke. 11. Jenny Lewis - “On The Line” - The title track and emotional climax of Jenny Lewis’ latest album, “On The Line” boasts one of the finest vocal performances in her long career, sweetly assassinating her cheating ex-lover with a lilting melody and wry smile.

10. Lucinda Chua - “Whatever It Takes” – Lucinda Chua makes languid art pop in the tradition of fka twigs, but I prefer her understated longing to twigs herself. Her main instrument is the cello, but this track foregoes that sound almost entirely, opting instead for resonant Wurlitzer keys and multi-layered vocal harmonies, and shunting traditional song structure aside in favor of one enigmatic verse, repeating at odd intervals throughout: “Wait/The demons I carry are fake/I will fight our fire, too late.” 9. ShooterGang Kony - “Charlie” – The year’s most cold-blooded mob banger starts with the line “fuck the police and your mama if you ask me” and only escalates from there. Rhyming without affect over hiccuping bass, Kony mercilessly ethers cops, R&B singers, and women named Ashley before threatening to shoot you with a gun that sounds like Fozzy Bear. 8. KEY! - “Miami Too Much” – My favorite Atlanta rap song of the year gets its power from its hilariously specific central conceit, with KEY’s impassioned vocal selling the bit: “If you seen that ass, you'd make a song too.” How often must someone visit Dade County before it becomes an irreconcilable difference in an otherwise healthy relationship? 7. Raphael Saadiq - “Something Keeps Calling” ft. Rob Bacon - Named after his older brother, Raphael Saddiq’s towering Jimmy Lee album examines the personal cost of the crack epidemic, and the outsized role addiction plays in the lives of the destitute. “Something Keeps Calling” is the album’s crushing centerpiece, painting substances as at once a seductive lover and a heavy burden, one that overrides all common sense and decency: “My friends say I can never pull it together/Well they might be right, at least tonight/My kids say I'll never come home again/And I know they're right, at least tonight.” The song climaxes with Rob Bacon’s wailing guitar solo, which tries in vain to reach out to those beyond hope. 6. Bad Bunny & J Balvin - “La Canción” - Nestled in the middle of Balvin and Bunny’s summer smash OASIS, “La Canción” takes a break from the party to dwell on the inherent emptiness of their hedonistic lifestyle, as a mournful trumpet echoes the Reggaetoneros’ longing for meaningful connection amidst their chaotic lives. 5. Polo G - “Pop Out” ft. Lil TJay – Only Polo G would interrupt his own robbery to examine the sociological causes of his behavior: “We come from poverty, man, we ain't have a thing.” But on the rest of “Pop Out,” Polo leans into the dark side of his persona, before 2019’s most unlikely guest verse assassin Lil TJay brings the pathos: “If I showed you all my charges, you won't look at me the same.” In contrast to how effortless the two rappers sound atop the dramatic piano loop, listening to Lil Baby and Gunna wheeze through the remix hammers home the high degree of difficulty of such nimble melodics. It’s a testament to how fast rap music moves these days that Polo and TJay can make last year’s It Duo sound like geezers. 4. Octo Octa - “I Need You” – It starts as an intoxicatingly minimal expression of dancefloor lust, but halfway through, “I Need You” morphs into a sincere and moving tribute to everybody who helped Octo Octa become the woman she is today. It’s a moving moment tucked within an epic club track that works equally well as build-up or comedown.

3. Purple Mountains - “All My Happiness Is Gone” - It’s hard to find the words for this one, a matter-of-fact documentation of a man slowly losing his will to live--which became heartbreakingly clear when David Berman committed suicide in August. But because it’s Berman, “All My Happiness Is Gone” is packed with genius-level wordplay and devastating observations, and enough gallows humor to truly emphasize the gravity of his situation: “Friends are warmer than gold when you're old/And keeping them is harder than you might suppose//Lately, I tend to make strangers wherever I go/Some of them were once people I was happy to know.” I’ll keep going: “Ten thousand afternoons ago/All my happiness just overflowed/That was life at first and goal to go.” And one more: “Where nothing's wrong and no one's asking/But the fear's so strong it leaves you gasping/No way to last out here like this for long.”

2. Big Thief - “Not” - A torrid, slow-burning rocker, “Not” showcases lead singer-songwriter Adrienne Lenker’s skill with oblique imagery and wild-eyed intensity. Lenker rattles off a long list of poetic observations, trying to get to the heart of something (everything?) without ever finding a satisfactory answer, as the music morphs from a controlled simmer to a cacophonous freakout. “Not” climaxes with a riotous guitar solo from Lenker herself, one that reaches towards the cosmos and echoes her frayed vocal. As always with Big Thief, though, the song soars in the smallest moments, like when guitarist Buck Meek enters with plainspoken backing vocals, and at the beginning of the second verse when the guitars drop out and Lenker’s voice stands alone.

1. Burna Boy - “Anybody” - Sometimes the best song of the year is the one that makes you feel the best, and no song this year made me feel better than “Anybody.” “Anybody” is both inviting and aloof, urgent and relaxing. Riding an irresistible groove defined by syncopated keys, driving percussion, and an eager-to-please saxophone, Burna Boy slides between Pidgin English and Yoruba chasing a feeling that resonates beyond the capabilities of language. It’s a song about demanding and receiving respect, dripping with the contagious confidence of an African Giant. And for three minutes, you’ll feel like a giant too.

THE REST: 26. DaBaby - “Intro” 27. Perfume Genius - “Eye On The Wall” 28. Yves Jarvis - “To Say That Is Easy” 29. Doja Cat - “Cyber Sex” 30. Mannequin Pussy - “Drunk II” 31. Better Oblivion Community Center - “Dylan Thomas” 32. Shoreline Mafia - “Wings” 33. Kehlani - “Footsteps” ft. Musiq Soulchild 34. Obangjayar - “Frens” 35. Ariana Grande - “NASA” 36. Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch - “Ballin” 37. Baby Keem - “ORANGE SODA” 38. Jessie Ware - “Adore You” 39. 03 Greedo x Kenny Beats - “Disco Shit” ft. Freddie Gibbs 40. Martha - “Love Keeps Kicking” 41. Lucki - “More Than Ever” 42. Park Hye-Jin - “Call Me” 43. DaVido - “Disturbance” ft. Peruzzi 44. The Japanese House - “Worms” 45. Spencer Radcliffe - “Here Comes The Snow” 46. Dawn Richard - “Dreams And Converse” 47. ALLBLACK & Offset Jim - “Fees” ft. Capolow 48. David Kilgour - “Smoke You Right Out Of Here” 49. Sandro Perri - “Wrong About The Rain” 50. Nilüfer Yanya - “In Your Head” 51. Julia Jacklin - “Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You” 52. Miraa May - “Angles” ft. JME 53. (Sandy) Alex G - “Gretel” 54. Kelsey Lu - “Due West” 55. glass beach - “classic j dies and goes to hell, pt. 1” 56. Peggy Gou - “Starry Night” 57. Cate Le Bon - “Home To You” 58. Busy Signal - “Balloon” 59. NLE Choppa - “Shotta Flow” 60. Dee Watkins - “Hell Raiser” 61. Ari Lennox - “I Been” 62. The National - “Not In Kansas” 63. Shordie Shordie - “Both Sides” ft. Shoreline Mafia 64. Alex Lahey - “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” 65. Angel Olsen - “New Love Cassette” 66. Young Dolph - “Tric Or Treat” 67. Koffee - “Throne” 68. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - “Half Manne, Half Cocaine” 69. Noname - “Song 32” 70. Anthony Naples - “A.I.R.” 71. Samthing Soweto - “Omama Bomthandazo (feat Makhafula Vilakazi)” 72. KAYTRANADA - “10%” ft. Kali Uchis 73. Moodymann - “Got Me Coming Back Right Now” 74. Drakeo The Ruler - “Let’s Go” ft. 03 Greedo 75. Teejayx6 - “Dark Web” 76. Cass McCombs - “I Followed The River South to What” 77. Gunna - “Idk Why” 78. Sharon Van Etten - “You Shadow” 79. Tresor - “Sondela” ft. Msaki 80. E-40 - “Chase The Money” ft. Quavo, Roddy Ricch, ScHoolboy Q & A$AP Ferg 81. Spielbergs - “Running All The Way Home” 82. 24kGoldn - “Valentino” 83. Quelle Chris - “Box of Wheaties” 84. Emily King - “Go Back” 85. AzChike - “Yadda Mean” ft. Keak Da Sneak 86. Club Night - “Path” 87. Zeelooperz - “Easter Sunday” ft. Earl Sweatshirt 88. Kim Gordon - “Murdered Out” 89. YS - “Bompton” (Remix) ft. 1TakeJay & OhGeesy 90. Future - “Never Stop” 91. Lowly - “baglaens” 92. SAULT - “Masterpiece” 93. Earl Sweatshirt - “TISK TISK/COOKIES” 94. Fireboy DML - “Energy” 95. Rio Da Young OG & Lil E - “Buy The Block” 96. Sacred Paws - “Write This Down” 97. Wilco - “Everyone Hides” 98. Black Belt Eagle Scout - “Real Lovin” 99. Sleepy Hallow - “Breakin Bad (Okay)” ft. Sheff G 100. Aimee Leigh & Baby Billy - “Misbehavin’ (1989)”

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the full list: 

[automatismoateo]

I wrote a research paper after my parents made me meet with the preacher. via /r/atheism

Submitted June 01, 2019 at 06:18PM by amc1519 (Via reddit http://bit.ly/2XqqvRW) I wrote a research paper after my parents made me meet with the preacher.

Below is a research paper I wrote in response to the preacher of my church and moreover, my family. I've always tried to avoid religious discussion with those of faith as to avoid a dissension, but our local congregation has been hard-pressed getting me to attend church and worship. After my parents gave up trying to persuade me to go, I was involuntarily set up with a meeting to see the preacher of our church, to which I happily attended. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to engage in a two-way discussion with someone educated on the topic that I was not only passionate about, but had spent a very long time researching. After only a few meetings, we resorted to email based discussion to allow him time to research my questions and arguments. After a few debate styled emails back and forth, I was met with radio silence. I emailed him a couple times to set up more meetings and even prompted new debate topics, but I never heard from him again. This was very odd to me because all the way through he seemed very enthusiastic and we both agreed that if anything, we could learn a great deal from each other. If this post gets any significant attention at all I will post the email chain. The research paper below was written in response to his final in-person argument. In an attempt to present me scientific evidence, he had me read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel and tell him what I thought about the hard evidences given for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Here was my response (I look for feedback on the strength of the arguments and any errors I may have made).

​

CLAIMING THE RESURRECTION

My intention for this paper is not to make claims to truth or represent a particular belief system, but instead require that sufficient evidence be provided for claims being made about the supernatural nature of an event in history, considering such evidence has been claimed to have already been discovered and subsequently presented in “The Case For Christ.”

-Writer’s Notes-

Even though my most compelling disputes for a belief in God would be superfluous in the context of this paper, I hope it is conveyed to you why I chose a skeptical position among the preachings of religion as a whole and refer to myself as an agnostic.

-Preface-

This section thoroughly explains how and why Christianity became so popular and grew into the world religion it is today.

Jewish presence entered Jerusalem when (3)King David overthrew Jerusalem in 1000 B.C. and named it The City of David. After this injection of religion, Judaism gripped the region even as the Egyptians finally overthrew the capitals placing Jewish rulers like Herod in place to control the increasingly rebellious Jewish population.

ENTER - THE ERA OF JESUS

While Rome expanded its territories into the Middle East for better trade routes, it left ancient cities and peoples dismantled in its wake (1)“[creating] an era of apocalyptic expectation among the Jews of Palestine.” (4)The previously Jewish state was overthrown when Rome conquered the city of Jerusalem in 63 B.C. Consequently the city of Jerusalem was often confronted with political activists looking to defend the Jewish faith against the Romans. In the aftermath of defeat, the Jewish people were desperate for a savior.

(1)“It is a miracle that we know anything at all about the man called Jesus of Nazareth. Itinerant preacher[s] wandering from village to village clamoring about the end of the world, a band of ragged followers trailing behind, was a common sight in Jesus’s time— so common, in fact, that it had become a kind of caricature among the Roman elite.”

“Countless prophets, preachers, and messiahs tramped through the Holy Land delivering messages of God’s imminent judgment. Many of these so-called false messiahs we know by name. A few are even mentioned in the New Testament. The prophet Theudas, according to the book of Acts, had four hundred disciples before Rome captured him and cut off his head. A mysterious charismatic figure known only as “the Egyptian” raised an army of followers in the desert, nearly all of whom were massacred by Roman troops. In 4 B.C.E., the year in which most scholars believe Jesus of Nazareth was born, a poor shepherd named Athronges put a diadem on his head and crowned himself “King of the Jews”; he and his followers were brutally cut down by a legion of soldiers. Another messianic aspirant, called simply “the Samaritan,” was crucified by Pontius Pilate even though he raised no army and in no way challenged Rome—an indication that the authorities, sensing the apocalyptic fever in the air, had become extremely sensitive to any hint of sedition. There was Hezekiah the bandit chief, Simon of Peraea, Judas the Galilean, his grandson Menahem, Simon son of Giora, and Simon son of Giora, and Simon son of Kochba—all of whom declared messianic ambitions and all of whom were killed for doing so.”

Jesus was yet another one of these prophets. (1)“Jesus’s crime, in the eyes of Rome, was striving for kingly rule (i.e., treason), the same crime for which nearly every other messianic aspirant of the time was killed.” Where he differed was in his teachings. He brought forward a progressive form of Judaism that welcomed all non believers and sinners into the church instead of the previously held belief that the Jews were God’s chosen people. Shortly after Jesus’ death 30-36 C.E., (1)“...the Jewish rebellion against Rome [took place] in 66 C.E. In that year, a band of Jewish rebels, spurred by their zeal for God, roused their fellow Jews in revolt. Miraculously, the rebels managed to liberate the Holy Land from the Roman occupation. For four glorious years, the city of God was once again under Jewish control. Then, in 70 C.E., the Romans returned.” Christianity was adopted under Roman rule to temper the feud between the Jews and the Romans.

The Romans thought of themselves as (5)highly religious, and attributed their success as a world-power to their collective piety. Even the most skeptical among Rome's intellectual elite such as Cicero saw religion as a mechanism for social order. The Roman Philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” The Romans realized that Christianity was a progressive new age religion far superior to Judaism as a means to subliminally control a population. The people would fear God, not rebel against “exalted ones” providing his message, pulling the strings up in the high thrones of government. Additionally, There were no chosen people; anyone could be initiated into this belief system. Furthermore, the Jews openly accepted this new chapter to their religion as the followers of the old Jewish faith became pariah and felt targeted by the Roman church. It is this incredible compromise that allowed this particular dogma to take hold and expanded rapidly outward as other nations witnessed its effectiveness in the Roman empire.

-The Case Against Christ-

“The Case For Christ” provides a multifarious list of evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ. Lee Strobel uses this abundance of evidence for his existence as a means to prove the supernatural resurrection occurred. While there is undoubtedly sufficient evidence that Christ was indeed a man and that he did indeed die on the cross, as many others like him did, it is specifically the miraculous resurrection that requires evidence for those who want to prove there was a supernatural intervention into the natural order by a deity, GOD.

“If I told you I own a car, I usually don’t have to present much evidence to prove it, because you’ve already observed mountains of evidence that people like me own cars. But if i say I own a nuclear missle you would have just as much evidence that people like me don’t own a nuclear missles so you would agree I would need much more evidence to prove it. Now suppose I told you I own a interstellar spacecraft that can travel the cosmos through teleportation. That would be an even more extraordinary claim because there is no general knowledge supporting it all. Not only do we have an abundance of evidence that interstellar spacecrafts do not exist but [we] have no evidence that they could even possibly exist at all. The burden of evidence for something like this is truly enormous. Just think about what it would take for me to prove to you that I actually own an interstellar spacecraft. The claim that people like Jesus rose from the dead is an extraordinary claim and requires extraordinary evidence. Not because it’s impossible, but because it’s incredible.

-Richard Carrier

The Case for Christ provides no such evidence. Instead, we are provided simply with one type of “evidence” specifically for the resurrection, word of mouth from his followers. The writings of Paul, a zealot of the faith, written two decades after their occurrences that Jesus appeared to 500 people after he was raised from the dead are presented as concrete evidence and repeatedly used in The Case for Christ. Considering his fervent involvement in the faith, evidence of this nature is not viable by any means. Simply put, “Its true because I myself saw it 20 years ago and I say it’s true” is the weakest form of evidence (if it can even be considered evidence at all), especially from someone predisposed to the faith. Yet, it is this type of evidence that is used to build the cornerstone which those with faith stand on to make claims to the supernatural.

“If you claim to witness a miracle, you can say, either an extraordinary event has occurred, or that you are under a very grave misapprehension. What is more likely, that the laws of nature have been suspended in your favor, or that you have made a mistake, especially if you didn’t see it yourself and are hearing it from someone else.”

- Christopher Hitchens

Think how abundant magicians are even in this day and age and how easily they are able to trick our minds even when we are aware of the deception at play. Just watch any David Blaine video and see how convincing illusionists can be. Imagine how powerful your belief would be if you wanted these illusions to be real. Imagine if the safeguard of your entire way of life, the preservation of your people as a whole, the effectiveness of your leadership in a rebellion rode on proving the validity of this event. How much effort are you going to put into trying to disprove it. Would you even question it at all? (1)“recognize that almost every gospel story written about the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth was composed after the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 66 C.E” when it was most important to the cause.

Aside from the followers of Jesus’ testimonies, there is a complete void of non-partisan accounts of Jesus’ appearance or any of those raised from their graves on record. REAL evidence would be a single testimony from one of these 500 people who Paul claimed to have seen Jesus, or from the lot risen from the dead in the final moments of the crucifixion of Jesus as proclaimed in Matthew 27:51-53 (“The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”), or from the family members of those who were raised, or a single record of the event recorded by the Roman government in a census or (6)record. The simple fact is, they do not exist. The only eyewitness testimonies we have of the resurrection come from the Bible. The testimonies of the 4 Apostles, (8)written up to four decades after their occurence, are in defense of the faith to support a rebellion.

(1)”That leaves us with the gospels, which present their own set of problems. To begin with, with the possible exception of the gospel of Luke, none of the gospels we have were written by the person after whom they are named. That actually is true of most of the books in the New Testament. Such so-called pseudepigraphical works, or works attributed to but not written by a specific author, were extremely common in the ancient world and should by no means be thought of as forgeries. Naming a book after a person was a standard way of reflecting that person’s beliefs or representing his or her school of thought. Regardless, the gospels are not, nor were they ever meant to be, a historical documentation of Jesus’s life. These are not eyewitness accounts of Jesus’s words and deeds recorded by people who knew him. They are testimonies of faith composed by communities of faith and written many years after the events they describe. Simply put, the gospels tell us about Jesus the Christ, not Jesus the man.”

-Conclusion-

(6)Permanent city records were kept by the state about all types of occurrences throughout the life of the empire. (6)”One of the greatest innovations of the ancient Romans was the collection of governmental documents in archives... including legal texts, military documents, and historical texts.” For this particular supernatural event, one of numerous resurrections, an event considered to be the single most important event in history, to evade a single manuscript or a single written testimony by a government official is yet another strike against the resurrection’s sustainability. (1)“In the end, there are only two hard historical facts about Jesus of Nazareth upon which we can confidently rely: the first is that Jesus was a Jew who led a popular Jewish movement in Palestine at the beginning of the first century C.E.; the second is that Rome crucified him for doing so.”

-Further Examinations-

Uncertainty

“Pretty soon you will have to place your flag on a mountain of uncertainty.” -The Case For Christ

Religion’s strongest selling point is the comfort it provides in the face of uncertainty. It portrays skepticism as a weakness and provides a path for those who wish to escape the responsibilities of discovery. What religion tends to forget is that the universe does not owe us an explanation. Outside of our innate survival instincts, we are required to hypothesize, test, and conclude in order to reach understandings. Science intends to reveal underlying truths, all of which can be respectfully repudiated given ample corroboration. Furthermore, It is with these repudiations that we are capable of advancements and avoid the stagnant disposition of religion. Progress throughout human history has come from the diligent demeanor of those who wish to uncover the sometimes unpalatable truths. Nevertheless, It is within these endeavors that most can generate lives of true fulfillment. The idea that a life without certainty is unsustainable or lacking purpose is fallacious.

Truth

“How do we know anything is true then?"

Believing in the validity of mundane events throughout history does not require belief in anything supernatural. It is when you claim there has been a suspension of the natural order of the universe by intervention of a deity that you must provide evidence. Otherwise we as a human race will be continually hoodwinked by those seeking power presenting us with stories by which we are provided no evidence, but instead required to have “faith.” We know from history this practice of mental subjugation is prevalent and effective and even continues on to this day leading movements like the Jamestown Massacre and terrorist groups like I.S.I.S.

Spiritual Experiences

In Lee Strobel's story, his wife says she became a believer partly because she felt something when she went to church. This is a common feature among all faiths. To profess reliability to new believers and solidify itself to those indoctrinated, it is a required part of the LDS doctrine to impart to the church a significant spiritual experience induced by God himself i.e. an unquestionable sign from God. Undoubtedly these people are experiencing something truly spiritual; does this truly count as evidence of God? If so, then shouldn’t only one religion be claiming to have these experiences? If not, then why should any spiritual experience be used as evidence?

Faith

If what the church requires is indeed faith - a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof- then what do we make of the chapter laid out by the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. These too are historically rooted, scripture based testimonies to the will and testament of Jesus Christ. If you find it easy to believe that claims made by the Church of LDS are obviously false, (7)Keep in mind it is the fastest growing religion on the planet.

If we should simply have faith and not question Christianity or seek valid foolproof evidence for its validity before believing in its teachings, then shouldn’t we accept the teachings of Mormonism as well? When it comes to faith as described by any church, there is no clear line as to where the faith should begin and where it should end. If I am suppose to believe any single thing without evidence, shouldn't I believe in anything?

5. The Gospel John

To answer the question about the relevance of the Gospel of John and the fact that it is the most abundantly copied document from the first century. To be clear we are talking about copies of a single document, not 5,000 unique testimonies. Simply because something has been copied abundantly does not make it true. If that were the case then The Iliad is the second truest document we have from ancient history.

(9)“Strobel makes much of the fact that there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in existence, far more than any other ancient writings. He does this in order to argue that we can be quite sure that the original forms of the New Testament writings have been transmitted accurately. While this number of manuscripts sounds very impressive... that in no way proves the historicity of the resurrection.”

Significance

In The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel is met with the assertion “If it’s not true it is of zero significance, but if it is true it means everything.” This is misleading. Of course the statement is true on the surface, but what it fails to disclose is that this is true of every religion out there. “If Islam is not true it is of zero significance, but if it is true it means everything” is just as valid and should be taken just as serious if you intend to give the statement credence in the first place.

-Sources-

BOOK - Zealot - Raza Aslan

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS822US822&ei

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/history-of-jerusalem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Roman_Empire

https://www.coursehero.com/file/p6t1fem/The-Romans-thought-of-themselves-as-highly-religious-and-attributed-their/

https://blog.recordsbackground.com/do-any-ancient-roman-records-still-exist-today/

https://www1.cbn.com/churchandministry/mormons-are-fastest-growing-religion

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/mmfour.html

https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-christ-whats-the-evidence-for-the-resurrection-75530

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/christianity/a/roman-culture

[shropsnews4u]

Shrewsbury + Special event celebrates employment internships of young people with disabilities

A special celebratory event was held this week (Wednesday 20 March 2019) at Shrewsbury Town FC’s stadium to mark the achievements of young people with disabilities completing their supported internships.

Celebrating their supported internships: some of the young people who attended

The event, organised by Shropshire Council’s SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) team and Enable Employment Services, was attended by over 170 people.

Attendees included young people who have completed, or are currently on, a supported internship, Shropshire employers who have offered placements and employment to the young people, social care practitioners, IASS workers, Shrewsbury Colleges Group, Hereford and Ludlow College, as well as their parents and carers who came along to share in the celebrations.

There was also a dance performance from Derwen College students (Derwen on tour).

“Thank you for supporting me and always believing me – and thank you for trying to think of other jobs for me to do” Georgie

“I was really impressed by all the young people who stood up and gave their views on their internship.  It is wonderful how much help you give these sometimes forgotten youngsters and the progression they have made into adulthood. Enable is truly a wonderful organisation.”  (mother of supported intern)

Supported internships are for young people aged 16-24 with learning difficulties or learning disabilities, who want to get a job and need extra support to do this.

Alongside their time with the employer, young people complete a personalised study programme which includes the chance to study for relevant qualifications required by the employer, which includes English and Maths.

During the conference employers and interns described their experiences of taking part in the programme. The event also provided attendees an opportunity to share good practice around how to achieve an inclusive workforce as well as highlighting the benefits of employing a young person with a disability.

 “It was a great day and it was inspiring to see the journey the young people had made in a supported environment.  I felt it was a real success – and hopefully will encourage other employers to give a young person a chance.” Shropshire employer

James Mitchell, a supported intern and member of the Enable focus group* spoke to attendees about his employment journey and how he is now starting an apprenticeship with his employer.

James Mitchell

James said:-

“With Enable and supported internships, you get out what you put in. Doing a supported internship has made me come out of my shell a lot. I like the world of work!”

The celebration event marked the end of an 18-month employment project SEND and Enable have been working on to increase employment opportunities for young people with disabilities.

Councillor Lee Chapman with some of the supported interns

Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult social care, health and social housing, added:-

“Shropshire’s supported internship event was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of young people and the employers who generously give their time and support to develop our learners’ independence skills in the workplace.

“Their success is also a testament to our SEND and Enable teams who over the past 18 months, have worked in partnership with young people to ensure the success of the supported internship programme.

“It was a humbling experience seeing their hopes and aspirations turn into reality and seeing their proud parents and carers, who I know constantly strive for the best for their children.

“This event served as yet another reminder of why we do what we do – the effect the programme has on each learner and their families is extraordinary, we are so proud of all involved.”

For further information about supported internships and inclusive apprenticeships please contact Tracey Newell at Enable tracey.newell@shropshire.gov.uk or call 01743 276900

Further information

Enable were commissioned by the SEND team to raise awareness of supported internships and to increase the number of employers involved in the programme. Supported internships are a structured study programme based primarily with an employer with the aim of getting a paid job.

They enable young people aged 16-24 with a disability who have an Education, Health and Care Plan to gain employment by equipping them with the skills they need for work, through learning in the workplace.

*Enable established a focus group made up of young people with disabilities who have met regularly over the last 18 months and contributed substantially to the success of the project.  The group have delivered presentations to senior managers at Shropshire Council and have been instrumental in helping the council provide inclusive apprenticeship opportunities as a progression route after a supported internship.

The focus group have been involved in preparing for the celebration event and all of them were involved on the day.

The post Special event celebrates employment internships of young people with disabilities appeared first on Shropshire Council Newsroom.

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[mikemortgage]

Battlefield V review: A welcome respite from twitch-driven combat

Score: 8.0/10  Platform: Xbox One (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Windows PC Developer: EA DICE Publisher: EA Release Date: November 20, 2018 ESRB: M

That EA DICE’s latest Battlefield instalment is loads of fun despite some very noticeable technical issues at launch should be interpreted as testament to the strength of its core design, modes, aesthetic and sincerity.

During my pre-release play period I encountered endless little glitches, ranging from a scoreboard screen that refused to update over the course of several matches to AI enemies running through thin air. Most had little impact on play, but some did. For example, I encountered some consistently troublesome problems traversing rough terrain, especially when trying to climb over low objects or shimmy around the ground while prone.

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And yet I willingly overlooked these issues — many of which, hopefully, will eventually be addressed by patches — in favour of the broader experience, a grand and respectful foray back to the military shooter franchise’s Second World War roots.

Unlike the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which ditched any attempt at incorporating a campaign, Battlefield V includes a single player mode — dubbed War Stories — that strives to create a foundation for the game’s setting, soldiers and action. There are three stories to start (with at least one more to come), each of which lasts perhaps a couple of hours. These stories not only endeavour to tell reverent tales of bravery and sacrifice, but also exemplify DICE’s progressive studio philosophy by placing the focus not on typical American GIs but instead a trio of fictional characters meant to represent little known or unsung groups of fighters: Africans fighting for France, a female Norwegian rebel, and a rule-breaking British convict drafted into service for queen and country. These tales depict the grisly horrors of the battlefield with unflinching realism and provide all the reason anyone should need never to want to go to war. But they also offer an appreciation of the strategic thinking, camaraderie, and courage that lead us to respect those who fight.

The story missions suffer a bit from schizophrenic design — DICE’s team seems torn between wanting to give players the option to play stealthy or engage in all out open world war, and the two never quite manage to mesh — but they’re genuine in their intent to depict the horrors and heroes of war. What’s more, they help to create a sense of time and place that informs the rest of the Battlefield V experience. I’m happy the stories are here, warts and all.

But the reason why most players will pick up this latest instalment is to jump straight into multiplayer, which should feel familiar to franchise veterans but also introduces some interesting new tweaks to the formula.

The primary multiplayer mode, Conquest, delivers classic Battlefield action, with two teams of 32 players dropped onto massive, beautifully drawn, wonderfully destructible maps with the objective of taking and holding control points while whittling down the opposing teams respawn tickets. The environments are expertly designed to spread out the action, with natural choke points, defensive positions and flanking routes. As usual, a collection of vehicles — tanks, planes, and cars — and emplaced guns are at both teams’ disposal, but new this time out is the ability to build fortifications to protect specific locations against enemy armour, which is particularly handy when defending against armoured vehicles.

New players might find all of this a bit overwhelming at first, but Battlefield V slots players into squads and organically encourages us to fight in groups by respawning on squadmate positions so that we can work together and support each other, which in turn often gives rise to longer-term group strategies uncommon in most shooters. Plus, inspiring players to work together as teams can result in some memorable and cinematic moments. Being hopelessly overwhelmed by a sudden wave of dozens of enemies on foot and in vehicles, and then lying there, slowly bleeding out as foes trample past is like being a part of the chaotic final battle in Saving Private Ryan.

A new mode I might like even more than Conquest, however, is Grand Operations, in which teams fight together over four in-game “days,” working as a group to achieve a variety of objectives. The results of each day set the tone for the next, with a brief textual narrative between battles that sets the tone for the next mission, as determined by your success or failure in the previous operation. If the four days end in a deadlock, a tense final battle takes place in which no respawns are allowed, resources are limited, and a battle royale-style boundary wall slowly pushes everyone together to force conflict. You’ll get to know your allies’ play styles, develop rivalries with specific enemies, and feel a grander sense of purpose than most multiplayer modes allow. If you’ve got an hour or two to spare, this is definitely the way to play.

A third node in the multiplayer menu focuses on smaller maps and modes more common in other shooters, such as team deathmatch and domination. I confess I didn’t spend as much time here as the other modes, not because there’s anything amiss but rather simply because Battlefield is, to me, a game of grand scale and teamwork and these smaller skirmishes simply don’t satisfy in the same way.

Regardless of which mode is your favourite, you’ll always be working toward growing the squad members of your Allied and German companies, which are broken into familiar classes such as medic, assault and engineer. A seemingly never-ending series of mini-objectives associated with both specific classes and the weapons you use gradually unlocks new customization options. It’s not quite as deep or multifaceted as the progression systems seen in recent Call of Duty games, but it does have the advantage of being significantly less confusing/intimidating, especially for first time players.

It might lack the spit and polish seen in some other shooters, but Battlefield V delivers a visceral thrill unique to the series. Its adrenaline-filled, large-scale battles give rise to memorable moments simply not seen in other games, and these moments are augmented by the faithful Second World War setting. Those looking for an alternative to the twitch-driven combat of other popular shooters will find it here.

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[argorpg-blog]

CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the crew of the Argo II, KAEL! The Gods have spoken: welcome aboard ANASFALEIA, known as VIRGIL VELASCO, with a faceclaim of JAMES REID. Please take a look at our checklist, and send in your account in the next 24 hours.

ADMIN NOTES: Reading your app, Kael, you took us by surprise. Virgil is not how we ever pictured Anasfaleia - and yet, we like it better this way! Your writing is so beautiful, and he is heartbreaking in the best possible way. We were particularly in love with the way you wove temptation into your app, posing Gaea as a very real (and personal) threat. Your extra plot arcs have the potential to bring a lot of depth to this group and our future plot, and we’re excited to see what else Virgil can bring! 

NAME/ALIAS: Kael

AGE, TIMEZONE, PRONOUNS: 20, GMT+8:00, He/him/his

ACTIVITY  & EXTRAS:  Between a thesis and my course, I might post around once to twice a week, as much as possible, but be real active on the Discord chat! Oh, and I’m down for all and any plots so you know,, ,, , , , wig.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED SKELETON: Anasfaleia

CHARACTER NAME: Virgil Andres Velasco

AGE & GENDER: 22, Cisgender male

FACECLAIM: James Reid, Brandon Perea, Lee Jong-suk (Name subject to change)

BIOGRAPHY:

ACT I: MORTAL.

You are no demigod.

Demigods are cloaked in legend, their fame or infamy written across the night skies as a testament to their greatness. There are songs and hymns of their deeds, written in stone for time to weather and grow. But from the whispers that follow you, it feels like the ichor in your veins was nothing more than water, the godhead in you merely a wilting flower, doomed to die at an early age. ( Hear them: dulled blade, tarnished silver, unwanted son. )

From the moment you were placed at your father’s doorstep, you became a liability, a fissure in the perfect mold of a marriage that he strived to keep—the duct tape and hot glue of his efforts finally breaking as you were brought to your home. He left, not even giving you a second thought, the mistake that he’d made a year ago a sight too harsh to bear. So you lived with your step-mother, who took you in all the same, and a half-brother that loved you as if nothing had ever mattered. Love was all you had known, but you knew you were different, a problem child in the family, only destined to break everything you’d ever known.

You were sent to a private Catholic school, where you’d learned about God and his love for humanity, where you couldn’t understand the words on holy text, where you thought you’d been cursed with stupidity your whole life. It was a disaster, you think, as you sat, making doodles on notebooks and looking at words floating off pages, not even bothering to make an effort anymore. Viciousness was a language you quickly understood, their words cutting you down as you failed quiz after quiz, the doodles on your notebook erased just as fast as they had appeared. You were never picked for anything, not as a date, not as a friend, not as anything but the facade of a boy as a laughingstock. Virgin Mother and Holy Father above, you prayed, as all sinners were wont to do, for guidance with all your heart. The nuns said that the Lord never heard selfish prayers, that he only dabbled in altruism, but you know you had to try and They had to listen—They owed you that much.

Burning passion never worked, so maybe reverence did—you got on your knees and prayed, prayed for blessings, to not be a disappointment, chanted Hail Marys and Our Fathers until your throat went dry. God was supposed to look at all Their creation as if it was good, so maybe he wasn’t part of Their plan, maybe he was a smudge, an unholy stain that would leave if bleached far enough. But you wouldn’t, you won’t. You will shake the heavens, and make God hear him, if you had to.

ACT II: DIVINE.

It was October, you remembered, that you were being followed. You were sure it was a stalker, someone who saw you as an easy mark, ready to stab you and take you wallet. The gaping maw that greeted you told you that you were definitely wrong. Death was a sure thing, with the flurry of claws and fangs greeting you, but you pushed, and you found only yellow dust on the palms of your hands. You told your step-mother, when you came home limping, fear and worry in her eyes. You grinned and laughed it off, the nonchalance on your face standing firm, as if the claw marks on your arm hadn’t faded yet. ( Hear it: godling boy, divine morsel, golden blood. )

The next day, your father came home.

Maybe that wasn’t right. It was another man, with a crisp tie and a purpose when he walked, far from the sullen man and dead eyes that seemed to greet you during visitation. Pack your things, he said, we leave in an hour. You looked to your mother—step-mother, and she only could give you a smile, and a pat on your cheek. Be brave, bunso. You can do this.

It wasn’t long before you had your things: a leather jacket gifted to you on your fifteenth birthday, a pair of boots from your brother, a silver ring from your mother, a picture of your family during Christmas, baubles of no real value to anyone but you. Maybe the place where they’d stick you was going to be comfortable, with a padded cell instead of cold rock. Maybe you could call Dante, your brother, once in a while after you were all better. Maybe it was going to be a surprise family trip, somewhere warm and sunny with lounges and tanning lotion. The world was full of maybes, and it seemed like you were going to find out what they were.

You counted twelve hours, from the flight to the cab ride. You asked where the two of you were going. Long Island. A campgrounds full of people. Somewhere safe. So you thought of the two of you in a tent, living off s’mores and hot dogs, looking up at the stars. It was a childish dream, foolish for someone of your age, but you didn’t have many things left to you but your hope, and you were going to be damned if someone took that away from you.

In your dreams, there is a woman, as beautiful as the day is bright. She looks at you with curiosity, a cracked chalice in her hands. There is an eternity in her eyes that you cannot comprehend; maybe it was weariness, maybe it was sadness. She does not speak to you when you talk, nor can she hear you, her radiant form flickering in and out as you try and reach out to her. You can hear her voice almost, barely above a whisper, but clear. Be safe, Virgil. Be safe.

ACT III: DEMIGOD

You are a demigod. But you’re not so sure.

Greek myths walk the halls, children with divine blood walking down the campgrounds with bows and blades alike. You are nothing like them, with only perfect skin and wounds that knit faster than they open. They are your family, Chiron said, and you will grow to love them. But you walk into the Hermes cabin, with bodies packed into each other, and you can see no love, only desperation. Desperate voices crying out for parents, for a place to stay, for anyone to hear their prayers. ( Hear yourself: I am worth more than this. I am. I am. I am. )

The other campers laugh at you, the way a foot stumbles during practice, or the way arrows miss the mark in front of you, but you wipe your tears  in secret and try again. You are born from divine blood, Olympian blood, and you are more than what they say. You learn the art of bravado and biting insults, accompanied by thick skin to defy their insults. For years, you burn your meals, giving reverence to the gods, and begging them to claim you. You talk to Eros, to Aphrodite, to every Charity and Season and Muse that they would choose you first and claim you in front of the camp. Maybe then, you would have the chance to prove yourself for all you’re worth, to prove them wrong with a triumphant smile on your face.

And you got your wish.

It wasn’t long before your mother claimed you, youthbringer to the gods, a flash of a wine-glass above your head and everyone thought they knew who you were. A child of a minor goddess, with no talents or traits to give him any notoriety, given too late when the best of them had fallen to the Titans. He was a Band-aid to a problem that the gods made themselves, only serving to further the interests of a dying goddess, and the immortals around her. He was cannon fodder, a fourteenth wheel. He was going to let them all down. He was a snake, a traitor in waiting for the Earth Mother. He was useless, unwanted, unworthy.

Did Achilles not beat his chest, nor did Atalanta call for men to best her? Demigods were called to rise above, so why shouldn’t you? This was a challenge in wait—your first quest, prophesied to bring greatness to all who partake in it, and you will master yourself and come out on top. The Earth Mother may look down upon you, as the Greek demigods do, but you will prove yourself, you will be better than any of them.

However, a voice creeps into your head as you board the Argo II: ruin, ruined, ruination. The worthless child of a worthless immortal, able to do not even the least of what his companions can do. The bravado you had built begins to give way, as you watch them all, heroes in their own right, embarking on a quest to save the world. A few days in, you turn into a silent observer, dealing with minor things: polishing Celestial bronze when you are wont to do, and leaving food for pegasi that return.

You will be better than any of them, the first of the Greeks, you whisper under your breath, a promise, a prayer.

But the voice whispers back: Perhaps. The first to turn. The first to leave. The first to fall to the Earth Mother.

FATAL FLAW/DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC: ανασφάλεια

The gripping insecurity at the back of his mind never stops, hounding him as he walks the Argo II. Virgil has always felt out of place, almost a beat behind other demigods in terms of his skill and experience, always striving to catch up, but always just a ways behind. Trying hard comes as second nature to him, and so does his hypercritical eye, whenever he fails at something spectacularly, his thoughts growing black as he tries to redo and replay scenes of failure over at his head as he hides behind his well-constructed facade. Perfection is an absolute that he’s learned to love and loathe, never being enough to reach it, but always tasting the slightest drop when he comes close every time.

EXTRAS:

POWER BREAKDOWN

THE GENERAL:

Virgil can alter appearances at will, but he can do it to himself better. For himself, it’s usually a few minutes of concentration to alter minor features, such as add or subtract crow’s feet or a few freckles on his face. It takes longer to alter important things, such as eye and hair color, or even the whole face on himself. For other people, he can do it as long as he focuses really hard, and thinks about it well. It takes around an hour to fully transform someone’s face to the exact specifications, but portraits or references significantly reduce

Changes usually are irreversible, which make it harder for him to maintain a semblance of identity, but are usually helped by using prior pictures of the subject.

Unknown to him, he can change the age of someone he comes into contact with, partially or fully, sapping or retrieving their youth. This is a sort of healing that being a child of Hebe does, but he adds a few hours, or years, depending on the length of contact, while shortening his own. This presents itself as mild to severe exhaustion, depending on the length of time he has with the afflicted.

THE PHYSICAL:

As a child of Hebe, the goddess of youth, Virgil is blessed with a wellspring of youth wherever he goes, being resistant to both sickness and the detriments of age, since his cells are in a state of perpetual health. While he does have the ability to heal faster than the average demigod, enough hits will send him to a state of rapid degeneration, deteriorating quicker than the average demigod. Sufficient ambrosia or nectar will always restart his systems and get him to rapidly heal, after some rest.

Whenever he “heals,” he actively shortens his lifespan, transferring whatever energy he has left into a certain body. This manifests in dark circles and a loss of pallor every time he transfers some of his youth to a patient. Massive transference of youth gives him a few wrinkles, and permanent loss of melanin in the hair, and may result in lasting long-term effects, though he’s never tried it, nor learned to do it before.

HEADCANONS

i. godhead

You have a brother. Mortal, vulnerable, but better than any demigod you’ve come across—Greek or otherwise. You would give your godhead up for him, the endless sheen on your skin, to protect the frayed edges of a grey sweater and the wrinkles on his godawful suit. It is a shame that he wasn’t a demigod, you think, that a flickering flame can have an immortal mother instead of a star burning bright, but there is no use in wondering. You know you will defend him, leave him the last burning vestiges of your godhood so that he will live far longer than you will. It will be your last wish, a final protection. You may prove to be useless to everyone else, but not to him. Not ever.

ii. prayers.

Once, you thought Aphrodite was your mother. It came up, a question during visitation, when you asked your father what your mother looked like. Beautiful, he said, like a model in one of those runways. So you prayed, and prayed, and prayed, until you came across doves that wouldn’t even look at your way and roses that seemed to close whenever you passed by. But you learned, through portents and prayer and a prophecy, that you were not the child of an Olympian, but rather a forgotten goddess, a cupbearer in the corner of the skies. You know your mother now, and you love her as a child does, but you could not help but think of what could have been if she weren’t.

iii. better.

There is an uncertainty in every demigod unclaimed in the Hermes cabin, unknown children and the children of esoteric gods that dot the halls, and you know them all. Children of Nemesis and the weighing of their scales, children of Thanatos and their peaceful eeriness, even the children of Deimos, with their shark grins and pointed teeth. You know their names and their stories, when the twelve cabins stay blind to all of you in the rafters of the Hermes cabin. There is a righteous anger sometimes, whenever shame does not come to visit, burning inside your chest. You hate the gods, your fellow campers, as you watch everyone scoff and laugh at the group—you are demigods too, and you all deserve better than scraps of acknowledgement and backhanded compliments.

TIDBITS: will kill for dark chocolate but has an itchy throat a lot because of it. knows all disney songs up until the new ones because he hasn’t learned them yet. has a pair of boots and a leather jacket as a present from his brother always on hand. knows english, tagalog, fifth grade mexican and some vague ilocano. good with his hands, but better with a shortsword or a dagger. hates long range fighting after being nailed overhead by a water balloon by an apollo camper. loves the word soliloquy, since it looks and sounds ridiculous to him. modeled once for some bulgarian line of clothing, but refuses to talk about it.

AESTHETIC: the greyness of rainy days hidden by lights in the living room. looking at the mirror, seeing only imperfections where there are none. lipstick stains on skin, rubbed off from a mistake you’d made. heat in a leather jacket, and the stubbornness of not taking it off. sweat pooling on your brow, from hard work and exhaustion. louder whispers in the back of your mind. the lingering heat of body warmth and the emptiness that comes with its absence. a promise, a prayer, a proposal. an eternal photograph, never fading.

TRAITS:

(+) thick-skinned, determined, amiable, observant

(-) guarded, deceptive, critical, blunt

CONNECTIONS

i. pthonos — the motivation

You are a lightning rod for their ire, more often than not and you bear it better than most. Perhaps it was the years of insults and mockery that helped you cope with their anger towards you, towards the world, towards Ares. Backing down was never an option back then, not from the way they laughed at you or their vicious tongue, and it sure wasn’t right now. You exchange words like sparring partners, and leave like embittered enemies. Their hate fuels you, and you just know that the first moment you get, you’re going to show them how wrong they are.

ii. amarus — the righteous

The anger that they feel towards the gods strikes true, and has caught your attention—no demigod would ever say it out loud, but you know that they are right. Between petty grievances, blood feuds, and the way that they treat others like pawns in their celestial games, it’s a wonder that the gods haven’t torn themselves asunder. You’re never one to discount a good idea, and you’re keen on hearing what they have to say, Roman or not.

iii. cynici — the question

Children of Aphrodite, or of Venus, always leave you with a copper taste in your mouth. They talk to you about beauty, about manipulation, about bending wills with the bat of an eye, and you could only wish you could have the power that they have. But they’re cut from a different cloth, all hard lines and cold gazes, as if love has done them a personal offense. Maybe it’s because they’re Roman, all about order and structure, but you want to ask them what’s made them so disenchanted.

PLOT POINTS

i. guidance of the earth mother.

I’d like an arc where the Earth Mother tries to wear him down by her whispers, telling him that all of their effort is futile, and to join her in bringing down the gods of Olympus. It would be fun to see, since the Greeks aren’t exactly on the best terms with the Romans, and to solidify the thoughts of him not being enough for this quest. The fallout would be amazing as well, since a fracture between the groups would be an unimaginable wrench in their plans.

ii. legacy of the legion.

Roman demigods put stock in work and dedication, he thinks, not the way your blood is made, not whose god you’re sired from, and to Virgil, that makes him envious of what they have in Camp Jupiter. From the lives they built inside New Rome to the praetors that walk the halls, he feels like there, he would be taken seriously. I’d like to see him try and connect with the Romans, in a way that would at least make him use his grit and dedication. Don’t trust Romans, but he’s sure he can make some exceptions.

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The beauty of getting old is that it is natural

Once upon a time, the consolation for reaching center age turned into being allowed to go cheerfully to seed. What bliss, in a way, to in the end permit your self-pass; throw away the hair dye, purchase a bigger length, forestall feeling terrible about in no way doing any workout, and gratefully surrender the pretense of maintaining up with fashion or song. Simply throw on a cardigan, and allow it all dangle out. Liberation certainly. But times have modified, and the generation newly rebranded as “midlife” — so much much less frumpy-sounding — is no longer any such comfortable region to cover.

Welcome to the world of the new antique, in which the over-50s are nearly as closely bombarded as their teenage youngsters via a recommendation on staying leaner, meaner and hotter for longer. Mimi Spencer, writer of the notorious 5:2 weight loss program e-book — the only that had all of us, from George Osborne to Benedict Cumberbatch, fasting for two days every week — is back as co-writer of a new recipe book for the over-50s, which seems to boil all the way down to no longer many energy plus a whole lot of “anti-getting old” turmeric and flaxseeds. The point of her Midlife Kitchen regime is, she insists, no longer so much conventional weight loss as defying the slowing down, spreading out and softening up that historically comes with aging bodies. And it’s testament to her unerring eye for a fashion that you could barely open a ladies’ magazine or Saturday supplement without stumbling across a few faintly onerous new strategy for defying the inevitable — all illustrated through pics of what appearance suspiciously like 20-something bodies, with abs so taut you could trampoline on them, spiced with anti-growing old suggestions of on occasion dubious medical provenance. Will the arrogant superfood-munchers start to resent deciding to buy those who don’t consume sufficient avocado or flaxseeds? devour extra walnuts! Raise weights! Research a new language, and don’t forget about to do sudoku to maintain your brain active! The self-improvement enterprise is moving on from 100 different approaches of pronouncing “don’t get fat” to something more like “don’t get old”, or at any rate, no longer in a burdensome manner. For its miles starting to experience almost delinquent, with Britain’s Country wide Health Provider visibly creaking at the seams, not to combat the demise of the mild.

As soon as we would have visible the painful, chronic diseases of vintage age as unavoidable twists of destiny or genetics. But the growing proof that even situations like dementia — let alone diabetes, most cancers or coronary heart disorder — are at the least partially related to food regimen and exercise brings a creeping experience of obligation. Striving to stay younger became Once taken into consideration useless. At this price, it may begin to look more like saving for a pension: A prudent investment in a comfy antique age (especially whilst we’ll all want to work for longer), and practically an ethical obligation to folks who might otherwise need to appearance once you. Final week, a examine became published suggesting that having a “brain age” — basically a degree of ways well your gray cells are conserving up — older than your chronological age may suggest which you are vulnerable to death younger.

That opens up the opportunity of a take a look at that may in future be to be had to every circle of relatives preferred a medical doctor, allowing them to predict fairly optimistically, which in their center-aged patients are risking extreme contamination in the event that they don’t smooth up their act. It sounds unethical for doctors not to share know-how that might, in concept at least, prevent premature deaths, But the problem is less simple than it appears — now not least because so lots of that maximum at threat ain’t always need to realize. I felt faintly ridiculous traipsing to the surgical procedure for my over-40s MOT — a unfastened NHS check-up now provided to all and sundry in that age bracket, to select up early warning signs and symptoms of situations which include high blood strain — whilst there’s not anything wrong with me.

The nurse admitted that most of these taking the check come to be revoltingly healthful. The people who smoke, the overweight and the heavy drinkers are frequently reluctant to absorb the provide for worry of being told something lousy. So instead, she sees greater than her honest proportion of “concerned wells” and men in Lycra, desperate to get a gold megastar for cycling two hundred miles (322km) each weekend. The greater without difficulty identifiable the causes of untimely getting older and contamination, in the meantime, the greater the hazard of unpleasant public blame video games.

These days’ pensioners can hardly ever be held answerable for behaviour they never knew was so volatile, However in years to come may want to the smug superfood-munchers — who’re statistically much more likely to be wealthy — start to resent paying for the effects of what they see as other humans’ failure to devour enough avocado and flax seeds? Willingness to pool risk through the NHS — which is predicated on anyone chipping in thru taxation because none of us is aware of whilst we might need its services — may start to appearance very fragile. It’s scary stuff, that is precisely why most people opt for not to consider it.

Less difficult to make a indistinct mental notice to absorb going for walks someday, and then cheerfully neglect all approximately it. However human information of the getting old system is converting, and that in turn will necessarily trade what it manner to be middle-elderly. Like free college schooling, embracing the elasticated waist with out guilt can be one of these pleasures that die with the infant boomer generation. And actually, we should be grateful for it. know-how is electricity, and it’s certainly higher to have greater manipulate over our fates than we idea; to recognize there’s something we will do to stave off the feared prospect of decrepitude — although it’s Easier for a few to acquire than others, and even if it’s no longer assured to paintings.

If the chance of existence-lengthy devotion to soya beans and the treadmill is much less than exciting, the chance of brittle bones, diabetes or an impoverished early retirement on Health grounds is infrequently hedonistic. And who might deny the over-50s a proper to their personal energy, to not being put patronisingly out to grass? However pay attention the factor wherein the self-development industry realises that feelings of inadequacy and frame shame no longer have an age restrict, and that there’s gold in them wrinkly antique hills. There’s a first-class line among being pleased on the manner someone like Helen Mirren is breaking down expert barriers for older women, and being made to experience horrific for not searching like Helen Mirren did at 62 in a bikini; among rightly looking to live healthy, and feeling beneath completely unrealistic stress to stay warm. permit’s hope age nevertheless brings the information to recognise the distinction.

Find out the manner to Hold Stunning natural Skin Let’s accept it. To be able to Keep Lovely herbal Skin you have to use products that comprise the proper combination of ingredients. Locating merchandise that have the right balances of healthy, natural ingredients had to come up with tender & Stunning Skin can be tough, due to the fact the fact is that there are only a few companies that make such formulas. most organizations provide formulas so as to do little if anything on your Pores and skin.

Stunning natural Pores and skin is stored that manner via the use of formulas containing all herbal elements in them. Plant primarily based elements are observed in the great of these products, due to the fact they include residences which cause them to greater effective at repairing your Pores and skin. They are full of antioxidants and important nutrients that your Pores and skin desires so as for it to remain wholesome.

Clearly tender & Beautiful Skin can be made even softer by the form of oils, extracts, and waxes which might be utilized in making these formulation. Plant primarily based oils and waxes extra intently resemble sebum, which is the oil of the Skin, in texture than any herbal compounds regarded to exist. it is a disgrace that greater products do no longer contain elements along with these.

The majority of the products which are available will not assist you to Hold Lovely natural Pores and skin, and in reality ought to doubtlessly rob you of it. these merchandise are advanced using chemical substances as ingredients, and these sellers could really prove negative for your Skin. The worst component of the selection of components in those merchandise is that they will additionally be unsafe in your Fitness.

these products not most effective are ineffective in treating gentle & Stunning Pores and skin, However they had been linked to several Fitness related issues. The components and preservatives determined in these products have the capability to have estrogenic effects on the frame, and purpose nervous device disorders, and organ toxicity. One organization of preservatives especially has been related directly to breast most cancers in women.

For Beautiful natural Skin, stay with the plant primarily based merchandise that offer you extracts consisting of Phytessence Wakame, that is a spinoff of a kelp range best found in the Sea of Japan. This compound prevents the breakdown of the hyaluronic acid to your Skin by rendering the enzyme that usually attacks it inert. more hyaluronic acid will make your Skin appearance younger.

Some other element that works right in conjunction with Phytessence Wakame is Functional Keratin. That is a aggregate of keratin proteins that offer you with tender & Beautiful Skin by way of stimulating the manufacturing of the cells vital for forming new collagen and elastin. The addition of a more amount of those critical tissues does wonders on the subject of erasing strains and wrinkles for your Pores and skin.

Make no mistake approximately it. For Stunning herbal Pores and skin it’s far all inside the ingredients, like I said. If you need your Pores and skin to be in the quality form feasible, and also you need products that may not affect your Health, then provide the formulas with the anti getting older miracles that I described. those are the type of merchandise that everyone must be the use of.

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October 11: Isaiah 39–41; James 2:1–13; Psalm 94; Proverbs 25:17

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October 11: Isaiah 39–41; James 2:1–13; Psalm 94; Proverbs 25:17

Old Testament:

Isaiah 39–41

Isaiah 39–41 (Listen)

Envoys from Babylon

39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

Comfort for God’s People

40   Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2   Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,     and cry to her   that her warfareOr hardship‘>1 is ended,     that her iniquity is pardoned,   that she has received from the LORD’s hand     double for all her sins. 3   A voice cries:Or A voice of one crying‘>2   “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;     make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4   Every valley shall be lifted up,     and every mountain and hill be made low;   the uneven ground shall become level,     and the rough places a plain. 5   And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,     and all flesh shall see it together,     for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Word of God Stands Forever

6   A voice says, “Cry!”     And I said,Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says‘>3 “What shall I cry?”   All flesh is grass,     and all its beautyOr all its constancy‘>4 is like the flower of the field. 7   The grass withers, the flower fades     when the breath of the LORD blows on it;     surely the people are grass. 8   The grass withers, the flower fades,     but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

9   Go on up to a high mountain,     O Zion, herald of good news;Or O herald of good news to Zion‘>5   lift up your voice with strength,     O Jerusalem, herald of good news;Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem‘>6     lift it up, fear not;   say to the cities of Judah,     “Behold your God!” 10   Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,     and his arm rules for him;   behold, his reward is with him,     and his recompense before him. 11   He will tend his flock like a shepherd;     he will gather the lambs in his arms;   he will carry them in his bosom,     and gently lead those that are with young. 12   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand     and marked off the heavens with a span,   enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure     and weighed the mountains in scales     and the hills in a balance? 13   Who has measuredOr has directed‘>7 the Spirit of the LORD,     or what man shows him his counsel? 14   Whom did he consult,     and who made him understand?   Who taught him the path of justice,     and taught him knowledge,     and showed him the way of understanding? 15   Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,     and are accounted as the dust on the scales;     behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16   Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,     nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17   All the nations are as nothing before him,     they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18   To whom then will you liken God,     or what likeness compare with him? 19   An idol! A craftsman casts it,     and a goldsmith overlays it with gold     and casts for it silver chains. 20   He who is too impoverished for an offering     chooses woodOr He chooses valuable wood‘>8 that will not rot;   he seeks out a skillful craftsman     to set up an idol that will not move. 21   Do you not know? Do you not hear?     Has it not been told you from the beginning?     Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,     and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;   who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,     and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23   who brings princes to nothing,     and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24   Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,     scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,   when he blows on them, and they wither,     and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25   To whom then will you compare me,     that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26   Lift up your eyes on high and see:     who created these?   He who brings out their host by number,     calling them all by name;   by the greatness of his might     and because he is strong in power,     not one is missing. 27   Why do you say, O Jacob,     and speak, O Israel,   “My way is hidden from the LORD,     and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28   Have you not known? Have you not heard?   The LORD is the everlasting God,     the Creator of the ends of the earth.   He does not faint or grow weary;     his understanding is unsearchable. 29   He gives power to the faint,     and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30   Even youths shall faint and be weary,     and young men shall fall exhausted; 31   but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;     they shall mount up with wings like eagles;   they shall run and not be weary;     they shall walk and not faint.

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;     let the peoples renew their strength;   let them approach, then let them speak;     let us together draw near for judgment. 2   Who stirred up one from the east     whom victory meets at every step?Or whom righteousness calls to follow?‘>9   He gives up nations before him,     so that he tramples kings underfoot;   he makes them like dust with his sword,     like driven stubble with his bow. 3   He pursues them and passes on safely,     by paths his feet have not trod. 4   Who has performed and done this,     calling the generations from the beginning?   I, the LORD, the first,     and with the last; I am he. 5   The coastlands have seen and are afraid;     the ends of the earth tremble;     they have drawn near and come. 6   Everyone helps his neighbor     and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7   The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,     and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,   saying of the soldering, “It is good”;     and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8   But you, Israel, my servant,     Jacob, whom I have chosen,     the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9   you whom I took from the ends of the earth,     and called from its farthest corners,   saying to you, “You are my servant,     I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 10   fear not, for I am with you;     be not dismayed, for I am your God;   I will strengthen you, I will help you,     I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11   Behold, all who are incensed against you     shall be put to shame and confounded;   those who strive against you     shall be as nothing and shall perish. 12   You shall seek those who contend with you,     but you shall not find them;   those who war against you     shall be as nothing at all. 13   For I, the LORD your God,     hold your right hand;   it is I who say to you, “Fear not,     I am the one who helps you.” 14   Fear not, you worm Jacob,     you men of Israel!   I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;     your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15   Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,     new, sharp, and having teeth;   you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,     and you shall make the hills like chaff; 16   you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,     and the tempest shall scatter them.   And you shall rejoice in the LORD;     in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. 17   When the poor and needy seek water,     and there is none,     and their tongue is parched with thirst,   I the LORD will answer them;     I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,     and fountains in the midst of the valleys.   I will make the wilderness a pool of water,     and the dry land springs of water. 19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,     the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.   I will set in the desert the cypress,     the plane and the pine together, 20   that they may see and know,     may consider and understand together,   that the hand of the LORD has done this,     the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;     bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. 22   Let them bring them, and tell us     what is to happen.   Tell us the former things, what they are,     that we may consider them,   that we may know their outcome;     or declare to us the things to come. 23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,     that we may know that you are gods;   do good, or do harm,     that we may be dismayed and terrified.Or that we may both be dismayed and see‘>10 24   Behold, you are nothing,     and your work is less than nothing;     an abomination is he who chooses you. 25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,     from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;   he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,     as the potter treads clay. 26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,     and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?   There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,     none who heard your words. 27   I was the first to sayOr Formerly I said‘>11 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”     and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news. 28   But when I look, there is no one;     among these there is no counselor     who, when I ask, gives an answer. 29   Behold, they are all a delusion;     their works are nothing;     their metal images are empty wind.

Footnotes

[1] 40:2 Or hardship [2] 40:3 Or A voice of one crying [3] 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says [4] 40:6 Or all its constancy [5] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion [6] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem [7] 40:13 Or has directed [8] 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood [9] 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow? [10] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see [11] 41:27 Or Formerly I said

(ESV)

New Testament:

James 2:1–13

James 2:1–13 (Listen)

The Sin of Partiality

2 My brothers,Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 14‘>1 show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Footnotes

[1] 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 14

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 94

Psalm 94 (Listen)

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

94   O LORD, God of vengeance,     O God of vengeance, shine forth! 2   Rise up, O judge of the earth;     repay to the proud what they deserve! 3   O LORD, how long shall the wicked,     how long shall the wicked exult? 4   They pour out their arrogant words;     all the evildoers boast. 5   They crush your people, O LORD,     and afflict your heritage. 6   They kill the widow and the sojourner,     and murder the fatherless; 7   and they say, “The LORD does not see;     the God of Jacob does not perceive.” 8   Understand, O dullest of the people!     Fools, when will you be wise? 9   He who planted the ear, does he not hear?   He who formed the eye, does he not see? 10   He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?   He who teaches man knowledge— 11     the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,     that they are but a breath.Septuagint they are futile‘>1 12   Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,     and whom you teach out of your law, 13   to give him rest from days of trouble,     until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14   For the LORD will not forsake his people;     he will not abandon his heritage; 15   for justice will return to the righteous,     and all the upright in heart will follow it. 16   Who rises up for me against the wicked?     Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17   If the LORD had not been my help,     my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 18   When I thought, “My foot slips,”     your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. 19   When the cares of my heart are many,     your consolations cheer my soul. 20   Can wicked rulers be allied with you,     those who frameOr fashion‘>2 injustice by statute? 21   They band together against the life of the righteous     and condemn the innocent to death.Hebrew condemn innocent blood‘>3 22   But the LORD has become my stronghold,     and my God the rock of my refuge. 23   He will bring back on them their iniquity     and wipe them out for their wickedness;     the LORD our God will wipe them out.

Footnotes

[1] 94:11 Septuagint they are futile [2] 94:20 Or fashion [3] 94:21 Hebrew condemn innocent blood

(ESV)

Proverb:

Proverbs 25:17

Proverbs 25:17 (Listen)

17   Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,     lest he have his fill of you and hate you.

(ESV)

[dfroza]

to defend the True hope of his heart.

we all have to choose what our hope and treasure will be.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 26th chapter of the book of Acts:

[Paul’s Defense before King Agrippa]

King Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now state your case.” Paul motioned with his hand for silence, then began his defense.

“King Agrippa, I consider myself highly favored to stand before you today and answer the charges made against me by the Jews. Because you, more than anyone else, are very familiar with the customs and controversies among the Jewish people, I now ask for your patience as I state my case.

“All the Jews know how I have been raised as a young man, living among my own people from the beginning and in Jerusalem. If my accusers are willing to testify, they must admit that they’ve known me all along as a Pharisee, a member of the most strict and orthodox sect within Judaism. And now, here I am on trial because I believe in the hope of God’s promises made to our ancestors. This is the promise the twelve tribes of our people hope to see fulfilled as they sincerely strive to serve God with prayers night and day.

“So, Your Highness, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me. And how should you judge this matter? Why is it that any of you think it unbelievable that God raises the dead? I used to think that I should do all that was in my power to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that’s exactly what I did in Jerusalem, for I not only imprisoned many of the holy believers by the authority of the chief priests, I also cast my vote against them, sentencing them to death. I punished them often in every Jewish meeting hall and attempted to force them to blaspheme. I boiled with rage against them, hunting them down in distant foreign cities to persecute them.

“For that purpose I went to Damascus, with the authority granted to me by the chief priests. While traveling on the road at noon, Your Highness, I saw a light brighter than the sun flashing from heaven all around me and those who were with me. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself when you resist your calling.’

“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Get up and stand to your feet, for I have appeared to you to reveal your destiny and to commission you as my assistant. You will be a witness to what you have seen and to the things I will reveal whenever I appear to you. I will rescue you from the persecution of your own people and from the hostility of the other nations that I will send you to. And you will open their eyes to their true condition, so that they may turn from darkness to the Light and from the power of Satan to the power of God. By placing their faith in me they will receive the total forgiveness of sins and be made holy, taking hold of the inheritance that I give to my children!’

“So you see, King Agrippa, I have not been disobedient to what was revealed to me from heaven. For it was in Damascus that I first declared the truth. And then I went to Jerusalem and throughout our nation, and even to other nations, telling people everywhere that they must repent and turn to God and demonstrate it with a changed life. That’s why the Jews seized me when I was in the temple and tried to murder me.

“But in spite of all this, I have experienced the supernatural help of God up to this very moment. So I’m standing here saying the same thing that I’ve shared with everyone, from the least to the greatest. For I teach nothing but what Moses and the prophets have said was destined to happen: that our Messiah had to suffer and die and be the first to rise from the dead, to release the bright light of truth both to our people and to the non-Jewish nations.”

Festus interrupted Paul’s defense, blurting out, “You’re out of your mind! All this great learning of yours is driving you crazy.”

Paul replied, “No, Your Excellency Festus, I am not crazy. I speak the words of truth and reason. King Agrippa, I know I can speak frankly and freely with you, for you understand these matters well, and none of these things have escaped your notice. After all, it’s not like it was a secret! Don’t you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you do.”

Agrippa responded, “In such a short time you are nearly persuading me to become a Christian.”

Paul replied, “I pray to God that both you and those here listening to me would one day become the same as I am, except, of course, without these chains.”

The king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others got up. As they were leaving the chamber, they commented to one another, “This man has done nothing that deserves death or even imprisonment.”

King Agrippa said to Festus, “If he hadn’t appealed to Caesar, he could have been released.”

The Book of Acts, Chapter 26 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 17th chapter of the book (scroll) of Isaiah where he continues with a message of Judgment:

A message about Damascus:

Eternal One: So much for the “city of Damascus.”

It’s done for. Soon it will be just a pile of rubble.

The towns around it will empty of people and be turned back to open land.

Imagine—sheep grazing and lying down where people used to live.

There won’t be a soul to scare them off.

The defenses of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, will fall—

Ephraim’s fortress walls will tumble down;

Damascus will no longer rule itself.

Aram—what is left of them—will resemble Israel’s fading glory.

That’s what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says.

Eternal One: Israel will be humbled then too;

our cousins, the children of Jacob, will lose their luster, their wealth and excess.

The land will resemble a field stripped until it is nearly bare,

like when the harvest has come and gone,

like the meager grain gleaned in the valley of Rephaim.

But some gleanings will remain

like when olive trees are beaten,

Where two or three olives remain at the top of a tree

and four or five hold on tight to its fruitful branches.

So says the Eternal One, Israel’s God.

Then, in that day, people will turn to the One who shaped them.

They’ll look on the Creator, the Holy One of Israel,

And disregard the things they’d made into gods.

They’ll turn away from worthless, handmade objects, sacred poles, and incense altars.

And then, in that day, their great cities will be abandoned

like defenseless outposts in a hilly forest,

Like those deserted when the Israelites took the land;

the scene will be eerily quiet and empty.

You have proven forgetful of God—how God pulls you clear of danger,

how God stands firm, like a great Rock where you can take shelter.

Because you have forgotten the one True God,

you planted pleasant gardens and set out tender vines of a strange god.

They sprouted so quickly the day you set them out;

they budded immediately the morning you planted them;

But you will never gather any sweet grapes from them.

What you reap will be illness and pain; that day will be filled with sadness.

Listen to the restless roar of the peoples!

They roar like a fitful sea.

Listen to the crashing thunder of the nations;

they thunder like a powerful surge of water.

But even if they thunder like a wall of water,

when God rebukes them, they will run far away;

With a word they’ll be driven like chaff in a mountain gust

or dust in a windstorm.

In the evening, look, their enemies terrorize them;

but by morning, they’re gone.

So it will be for those who attack and steal from us;

those who take, take, take will come to nothing and run away.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 17 (The Voice)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, june 25 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons that points to the True message of grace:

The message of the cross of Messiah is that your deepest need for love, peace, and happiness is not to be found in this world, nor in the religious philosophies of this world, but instead is found by being healed from the sickness of spiritual death. That’s the gospel message, after all, which presents an offense to the “flesh,” that is, to natural human pride and humanistic aspiration. Indeed many religious people seem to think that something more is needed than the miracle of Messiah, and they therefore both underestimate the severity of our lost condition while flattering the ego with the conceit that it can contribute something to prospect of genuine eternal life... The Apostle Paul admonished: "If with the Messiah you died to the axioms of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its presuppositions (i.e., δόγματα)?" (Col. 2:20). Religious “legalism” (i.e., adherence to formula or ritual rather than living in personal faith) is a worldly practice that leads to a false sense of security in the mantras, ceremonies, “virtue signaling,” theological jargon, and various “mummeries” of religion. Worse still may such worldly religion lead to a “holier-than-thou” sense of spiritual superiority or elitism. Yeshua denounced the religionists of his day by focusing on what mattered most of all -- healing the outcasts, touching the lepers, seeking the lost, and being a "friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Matt. 11:19). Focusing on outer forms of religion -- even Torah based religion -- elevates the law to an end in itself rather than as a means to the greater end of love and healing. We have to be careful not to make an idol out of religious practices, for all the commandments are meant to serve the end of receiving God's love and sharing that blessing with others. Any "Torah observance" that leads you to "thank God that you are not like other people" (Luke 18:11) is therefore not genuine Torah observance at all, for the heart of the Torah is love, just as love is the Torah of the Gospel (John 15:12).

"Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life" (Isa. 43:4). Receiving this message takes faith that is not based on your human experience. If you really know yourself, that is, if you are conscious of your own inner condition, then you are familiar with the voice of self-rejection and you may harbor the conviction that you are unlovable, unworthy, and essentially unacceptable. This is a place of profound loneliness and exile.... the hell of self-hatred. The deeper Torah of God's love (i.e., the cross), however, looks away from the self to the beauty of the LORD, to the one who calls you "precious and honored," "beloved," "redeemed," "treasured," "my child." Faith in God demands that you understand that he esteems your life as infinitely valuable, and indeed worth the very sacrifice of what is most dear to himself, so that you may know yourself as his beloved.

"Escape for your life. Do not look back...” (Gen. 19:17). You must turn away from what once defined you and never look back... This includes not only turning away from your former sins, but turning away from the guilt and shame of your sins... Living in the past, wallowing in your sin and regretting your mistakes, can cause you to feel worthless and even hopeless. If you feel compelled to revisit your former life, then be sure to do so before the foot of the cross, in light and presence of God’s redemptive love for you. You can't change the past, but you can leave it behind by turning it over to God for healing. Teshuvah (repentance) means accepting who you are in light of God's love and salvation for your soul. “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this, though I am single-minded: I forget the things that are behind and reach out for the things that are ahead ... heeding the upward call of God in Yeshua our Messiah” (Phil. 3:13-14). May you "find yourself in Him, not having a righteousness of your own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Messiah, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:9).

Remember that God's way of deliverance is entirely different than man's way. Man tries to suppress the flesh, to cover it up, to justify its failings, or to enlist its power in the battle against sin (i.e., religion), but God's way is to remove the flesh from the equation. The goal is not to make us stronger and stronger, but rather weaker and weaker, until the flesh is “crucified” and only the sufficiency of the Messiah remains. Then we can truly say, "I have been crucified with Messiah. It is no longer I who live, but the Messiah who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). The word “Hebrew” (עִבְרִי) means one who has “crossed over” (עָבַר) to the other side, as our father Abraham did (Gen. 14:13). It is on the other side of the cross that we experience the very power that created the universe "out of nothing" (i.e., yesh me'ayin: יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן) and that raised Yeshua the Messiah from the dead. [Hebrew for Christians}

6.24.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

June 25, 2021

In the Midst

“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.” (John 20:26)

Jesus, in His earthly life, was often “in the midst” of things. At the age of 12 He was found in the temple, “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). Then, early in His adult ministry, His hometown enemies at Nazareth attempted to kill Him, “but he passing through the midst of them went his way” (Luke 4:30). Later, in Jerusalem, a group of Pharisees sought to stone Him, but He simply went “through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59).

Finally, however, they were able to put Him to death, and as a bitter testimony of their hatred, they had Him crucified with two common criminals, “on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:18). Three days later, the tomb was emptied, and He would never again be in the midst of enemies. Instead, He met His disciples in the upper room.

There, “when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19). Eight days later, with Thomas present, Jesus once again appeared in their midst and greeted them with reassuring words of peace.

Though now in heaven, His presence still speaks peace to us through His Holy Spirit, for He promised: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Even in the ages to come, He will be in our midst, for John says, describing that scene: “In the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,” and then all creation will sing “unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:6, 13). HMM

[netmaddy-blog]

Why Did Christ Come Into the World?

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/why-did-christ-come-into-the-world/

Why Did Christ Come Into the World?

It seems to be a foregone conclusion today that Christ came into this world over 2000 years ago to establish his glorious earthly kingdom in Israel. And since he failed to do that at that time, he must return soon to set it up! This establishment of an earthly kingdom in Israel was the same thing that was on the minds of many apostate Jews of that day also, and so we see the impetus of their thought processes when they sought to take Jesus by force and make him their king over Israel, but he would have none of it (Jo. 6:15). We still see thinking like this today, so not much has changed, even though we have the inspired Word that should set us straight on such things.

Had the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day been more intent on actually listening to what Christ really had to say on the matter, instead of persistently following all of their own thoughts, they would have likely been led to seriously question their own ideas as to Christ’s real purpose in coming here. But we see the very same problem manifested today, even among those who profess Christ. The Jews clearly had no interest in bothering themselves and their time with the truth. Is this what we are going to continue to see today among this other modern group as well? Perhaps so! From all that I have seen and experienced they seem very determined to cling to something outside of the real Scripture testimony.

And just what is the real Scripture testimony? Well, we see many things in many different places in Scripture that lead any rational person to an entirely different conclusion. Let’s take a good look in one specific area.

Christ made it very clear what his real purpose was for coming into the world. We read at Matthew 20:28: “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” (See also Ma. 10:45.)

We read at Luke 19:10: “And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those …who are lost.”

We read at Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

We read at Jo. 12:27: “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from what lies ahead’? But that is the very reason why I came!”

Christ precisely confirms the words of the Old Testament prophets that spoke of his coming to bear our load of sin. You can read these prophecies that refer to what he was about to do at places like Isaiah 53:10-12 and 61:1-2. The Jews of Jesus’ day failed to see the truth in these Scriptures, just as the modern professing Christians and apostates of today also do.

Again, he told us that “My kingdom is not of this world” (Jo. 18:36). He further states that he was born as a King, but not in the earthly sense that they thought. He tells them that he came “to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true” (Jo. 18:37. See also I Jo. 4:4-6). Indeed, instead of an earthly kingdom he told those in Capernaum that the Kingdom of Heaven was near (Mt. 4:17). Other Scriptures such as Phil. 3:14, Col. 1:5 and 3:2-3, and Heb. 3:1 and 6:19 tell us that our calling is heavenward! This was clearly his Kingdom! No earthly kingdom is ever mentioned by our Lord at all, nor by the apostles! So who do we believe, if not our Lord himself? Do we just keep on believing the made up stories of men?

By the modern church’s believing in the words of men, much damage has been done everywhere. Our President, Barack Obama, is on a mission this week, hopefully, to repair some of the breach and damage that a false theology and a misleading message has created in the Moslem world. It is a pretty tall order indeed! You see, they call us “the great Satan”. When the church turns its back on the truth and makes up something else instead in its place, it is no longer serving the King of glory. It has sold itself out to the service of another power instead!

The Scriptures warn us of the lies of the “official interpreters” of the Scriptures. You can find such warnings as these and warnings against following other lies of men at numerous Scriptures like Mat. 16:11, 23:1-39, Ma. 8:15, I Cor. 5:3-8, Gal. 5:6-9, Col. 2:8-10, II Pet. 2:1-3, Ps. 36:1-4, 119:59-61, Prov. 4:18-19, 26-27, Isa. 58:2, 59:1-4, 66:2-4, and many other places. But “The honest will be rescued from harm, but those who are crooked will be destroyed” (Prov.28:18).

Is the church in America really being honest today? Will the church come to its right senses and recognize its own grievous mistake before it is forever too late? It really needs to turn over a new leaf and get right with God and his program to spread the Good News of salvation in Christ in all of its purity to all the waiting world. Only in this true Gospel of Christ can real healing ever come to a needy and hurting world. It alone has the powerful potential of God to stop terrorism dead in its tracks and to set the captives free.

Modern Christians desperately need to ponder the direction of their lives and hurry to correct their misguided thoughts and ways (Ps. 119:59-61. See also Prov. 4:26-27, Heb. 3:7-19, and 4:8-11-all of the chapter, really). Then they need to follow God’s ways (Prov.8:32-33, 14:12, 16:25).

I think that maybe President Obama is doing what he can to usher in a better day of peace this week. Whatever “tough love” he gives to Israel, it is badly needed. Whatever expressions of apology and reaching out to Muslims , these are badly needed. For we have been so very wrong for such a long time, and the price has been enormous, both to the precious Gospel of love and grace to all peoples and nations, which is now slandered and ridiculed, and to our own nation. Our combat veterans are in trouble, our economy is buckling under the heavy weight of wars and other demoralized behaviors in our midst, and true godliness does not really exist in America’s churches. The topsy-turvy mindset of the apostate American Christians has brought us to a most serious impasse, and very close to falling over the precipice into the violent vortex of anarchy and chaos. Truly, the country is ripe for God’s judgment, and too blind to know it or to care.

But if Christians will indeed humble themselves, and repent of their being so sold out to lies before God, then will God hear from above, and heal our nation (II Chr. 7:14). May it now be so, for the President cannot do everything all alone for you! Christians, you really do need to start getting down to your real business with God today!

And that business is not at all grievous. It is the sweetest business that you will ever know on earth, and not at all the most dreaded or difficult. For God went far out of his way to send Jesus here to us. He didn’t have to but he loved the world that he had created so much that he sent his beloved only Son to us to be our ransom lamb without spot or blemish to suffer and die for our sins, so that we could be reunited with him. Christ bridged the gap between God the Father and us. And it is as we come to his real truths and cherish them above all else that he reveals himself in all of his glory, majesty and grace to us. This I discovered throughout and especially at the end of all of my personal longings and searchings. Ideas of an earthly kingdom do nothing to accomplish what we really do want to accomplish by our coming to God in the first place. We stagnate, and cannot move forward into his secret, larger place where he patiently waits for us to come further on with him, and then abide most happily with him for whatever remains of time and for all of eternity. This victory he provides, not of our own grueling efforts at all, but of something, or Someone else, and his amazing power.

As I personally progressed further on in my own searching for real Scripture truths, I sought after the facts. I figured there just had to be more to Christianity than what I had experienced at that point. I knew nothing else, but just to uncover the facts. And I did not see the facts for which I was searching in the church. So it came as quite a wonderful surprise to me that many spiritual blessings accompanied my finding and love of the truth. It seems to me that, unbeknownst to me, God had long ago built into these wonderful facts a spiritual life force that had hitherto been escaping me almost completely. Nothing ever completely prepared me for that. It was a really nice surprise. It was the dear Holy Spirit’s confirmation of the Gospel truth, and it was and still is my treasure far beyond anything earthly. And so it remains for me to this very day, and I think it always will. It is the way that God enlightens us and reveals himself to us, and nothing is ever quite the same after that. But these wonderful facts that God had built in, and the dear Holy Spirit’s power that accompanied my glad acceptance of them, I did not find there in the church. And to this very day, the church still shuns them! I have wondered for some time what was going on. Now I believe I know.

This is why it is so important to listen to Jesus and his own words very closely. We ought to listen anyways and always, but we must first want to listen. I always wanted to find God, and to listen to him, but was confused with just how. Now I know how, and I strive to show you the way, because I know first hand how strong the lies can be, and just how confused we can become as we explore the possibilities. We get drawn in and can utterly lose our way in that blinding maze of ideas. And only Christ can rescue us all over again! We first come to him to own him as our Savior who died in our place to save us from our own sinful fallen condition. But then we discover that we need to come back to him to help show us the way back when we have lost our way and strayed far away from his dear side once pierced for us on Calvary’s cross. We didn’t realize the ramifications of it all until we are rescued and jerked back to where we belong.

Perhaps it is by the bended wooden crook in the great Shepherd’s hard rod as it snags us by the neck and none too gently pulls us back to the safety of the sheepfold, but one thing we do learn from it. We humans are a lot like sheep who wander away from the Shepherd to get eaten by the wolves. On one occasion we might be dexterously scooped up and tenderly sheltered in the warm arms of the Shepherd. At another moment we may find ourselves more vehemently jerked around by the Shepherd’s crook and returned to safety.

This article may seem a bit severe to some, like that hard crook in the Shepherd’s rod, and we grimace at it, but it is intended to get serious attention, not chuckles and laughter. Serious attention to our serious situation is very badly needed. Even in these bad economic times, many still seek to be entertained at movie theaters across the nation. Other diverse distractions are the ways that people find to cope. But the most beneficial and wondrous gift of all is little thought of, even today, when times are so bad. Many are fed up with what churches have to offer, as they all seem to be waiting for something better from on high to come along soon. Well, Something better has already come along, and the church needs to busy itself proclaiming just how really good it is! But the church is out-of-touch with it itself! Because it is really, really good, and mere words alone can never completely give adequate expression to it! Today is the day that the church needs to rise to the occasion and grasp these truths itself so that it really can throw out the lifeline to other poor sinking souls in this day that is so desperate for many who need the true light to lift their troubled spirits now. It is no good to say that next year, or in three or four, things may get better. In God’s bigger view of things, today is the day for the church to be salt and light. The watering down of the blessed truths that are there to lift us up into the heavenly realm of love, joy, and glorious light is the modern church’s bane. And, as we see in the opening chapters of Revelation, and in the notes of some renowned Bible commentators of the last century, it is not pleasing to God. For the church is called upon to be God’s messenger of blessed truth in a dark and needy world. And an awful lot goes wrong when it has taken unto itself a completely different direction and cannot be bothered to right itself with God’s real command nor desire.

[loveofyhwh]

September 22: Ecclesiastes 4–6; Philemon 4–7; Psalm 77; Proverbs 24:7

New Post has been published on https://loveofyhwh.com/september-22-ecclesiastes-4-6-philemon-4-7-psalm-77-proverbs-247/

September 22: Ecclesiastes 4–6; Philemon 4–7; Psalm 77; Proverbs 24:7

Old Testament:

Ecclesiastes 4–6

Ecclesiastes 4–6 (Listen)

Evil Under the Sun

4 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanityThe Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 7, 8, 16 (see note on 1:2)‘>1 and a striving after wind.

5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with thatHebrew the second‘>2 youth who was to stand in the king’sHebrew his‘>3 place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Fear God

5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead youHebrew your flesh‘>4 into sin, and do not say before the messengerOr angel‘>5 that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verse 10 (see note on 1:2)‘>6 butOr For when dreams and vanities increase, words also grow many; but‘>7 God is the one you must fear.

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor

8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain‘>8

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoymentOr and see good‘>9 in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

6 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 4, 9, 11 (see note on 1:2)‘>10 it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoyOr see‘>11 no good—do not all go to the one place?

7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.Hebrew filled‘>12 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vainThe Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)‘>13 life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Footnotes

[1] 4:4 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 7, 8, 16 (see note on 1:2) [2] 4:15 Hebrew the second [3] 4:15 Hebrew his [4] 5:6 Hebrew your flesh [5] 5:6 Or angel [6] 5:7 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verse 10 (see note on 1:2) [7] 5:7 Or For when dreams and vanities increase, words also grow many; but [8] 5:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain [9] 5:18 Or and see good [10] 6:2 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 4, 9, 11 (see note on 1:2) [11] 6:6 Or see [12] 6:7 Hebrew filled [13] 6:12 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)

(ESV)

New Testament:

Philemon 4–7

Philemon 4–7 (Listen)

Philemon’s Love and Faith

4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.Or for Christ’s service“>1 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Footnotes

[1] 1:6 Or for Christ’s service

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 77

Psalm 77 (Listen)

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

77   I cry aloud to God,     aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2   In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;     in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;     my soul refuses to be comforted. 3   When I remember God, I moan;     when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4   You hold my eyelids open;     I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5   I consider the days of old,     the years long ago. 6   I said,Hebrew lacks I said‘>1 “Let me remember my song in the night;     let me meditate in my heart.”     Then my spirit made a diligent search: 7   “Will the Lord spurn forever,     and never again be favorable? 8   Has his steadfast love forever ceased?     Are his promises at an end for all time? 9   Has God forgotten to be gracious?     Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah 10   Then I said, “I will appeal to this,     to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”Or This is my grief: that the right hand of the Most High has changed‘>2 11   I will remember the deeds of the LORD;     yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12   I will ponder all your work,     and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13   Your way, O God, is holy.     What god is great like our God? 14   You are the God who works wonders;     you have made known your might among the peoples. 15   You with your arm redeemed your people,     the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16   When the waters saw you, O God,     when the waters saw you, they were afraid;     indeed, the deep trembled. 17   The clouds poured out water;     the skies gave forth thunder;     your arrows flashed on every side. 18   The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;     your lightnings lighted up the world;     the earth trembled and shook. 19   Your way was through the sea,     your path through the great waters;     yet your footprints were unseen.Hebrew unknown‘>3 20   You led your people like a flock     by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes

[1] 77:6 Hebrew lacks I said [2] 77:10 Or This is my grief: that the right hand of the Most High has changed [3] 77:19 Hebrew unknown

(ESV)

Proverb:

Proverbs 24:7

Proverbs 24:7 (Listen)

7   Wisdom is too high for a fool;     in the gate he does not open his mouth.

(ESV)