#was to try save his sons greatest and most beloved creation

[anna-dreamer]

I bet in the end Finwe did regret bringing his people to Valinor. To Valinor that was paradise but only as long as you submit. To Valinor where his wife died and those Powers could not do anything about it anyway. To Valinor where they controlled both his private and political life so that he had to ask permission to remarry and could not affect their judgement on his son. His son. He who had to grow up without a mother with people whispering behind his back that he was too much of a flame, too potent, too rebellious, that it was him who killed his mother. His son whom he failed. His other children whom he deserted. His second wife who loved him so much and whom he abandoned. His family that was cut in two irreparably because of him. His people whom he aspired to lead to safety and prosperity, but brought to death and ruin. Now darkness has taken it all, and as it was before there is nothing and no one to stop Melkor but a tiny, puny, weak elf. Then so shall it be. He won’t run from his duty. No more. 

[yandere-wishes]

Dr.Frankenstein

💀Yandere Idia Shroud x Reader

💀Summary: Idia wants to prove the world wrong. To show that there is more to life than good and bad, villains and heroes. But somewhere along the way, he falls in love with what he is trying to prove. 

💀Warnings: Dead reader, delusional tendencies, gore,

💀Edited by my beloved Peri!! @tealyjade-libran

💀 Alternative title: Dr. Frankenstein falls in love with his monster. 

Idia had known, from an all too young age that his heart was fashioned to be enraptured with misery and sympathy.  

Once before, a few thousand eons ago, Idia had been a meager child, boyish, shy and happy with life. Sitting on his mother's lap, as her thinner than bone fingers ignited themselves on his scorching hair. He'd listen as her sunken lips recited story after story from forgotten books and dead myths. content, long ago he had known the feeling of contentment. 

And yet said feeling had died so long before Idia even comprehended the narrative behind death. His joy at hearing tales about daring heroes and bewildering gods ran dry all too soon. He'd grown numb to the stories of good and evil, the same formula used over and over and over again. Good won, good prevailed; evil lost, evil vanished. It lacked logic and sense. The probability behind mindless heroes saving the day each and every time was astronomical. It couldn't happen. Yet the history of their world and his darling mother's tongue told a different tale. 

-Not only could it be done, but rather it had been done on endless occasions.-

There had, however, been one story that stood out amongst the rotten batch. An anecdote that lacked morals and didn't defy a single law of nature. One would never think that a god born would find solace in a tale of a simple human trying to play god. The only story that sunk deep into his arteries like fragile needles, swimming through his blood before pricking manically at his heart. The only story mama told with faint nostalgia and a distant voice. The spiel of a scientist, whose mind was both his greatest ally and worst foe. A man who looked at the heavens with neither admiration nor hope. A mortal who wasn't satisfied with what good and bad had to offer. Dr. Frankenstein, whose one true desire was to do what gods did, to prove that he too could accomplish what the heavens claimed a miracle. 

It was then and there among the pitch black of his parent's room that the oldest -no the only- son of the Shroud family proclaimed in a hoarse voice that cracked at each interval. That he too would be like Victor Frankenstein. That he too would live in a world of his own, a world with no room for good and evil. A world free of wretched stories that filled the minds of jovial children. And on that day, fate had the gall to listen to the claims of a brainless brat. 

Even after countless millennia, Idia Shroud had not changed, he'd only grown into the role he forged for himself some centuries ago. 

Yet nobody ever said it would be so hard to suffer the pain of a once maddening genius. The stories made it seem easy, made Frankenstein’s pain into pretty poetry that held only a fraction of the weight. Idia came to question time and time again, what it really was he was trying to suffer for. Why did he bestow upon himself the endless torment of alienation from a world that he too longed to be a part of?

Victor Frankenstein had something to prove, he longed to be a god in the most unclassic way. All the frenetic doctor wished was to shout at all mankind and the heavens above that he was the greatest. For in his suffrage he had discovered the antidote to what sets men apart from gods. That he, the overlooked boy, the forgotten pupil had -with solely his intellect- created life. 

-Idia too desired to do just that. To scream at this fairy tale world that he, the cursed heir, the villain, the monster, was superior to every prince and hero in existence.-

Somewhere along the line, in the space between todays and tomorrows, he'd somehow lost the method behind the madness he had come to cage himself within. He lost purpose, lost hope, forgot why he'd declared to earth and Olympus that he too would be a genius akin to Dr. Frankenstein. 

Idia didn't know what spark had flared his senses, what made him realize what it was he lacked from the hopeless doctor. He liked to think it had been the moment glacial fingers rinsed in fair blood and washed away gold and been stripped from his pale clammy hands. Phantom kisses had waltzed away from his burning cheek to float back into the spiral from which they had risen. 

The dead marching back to the land of the deceased.

Leaving him to crawl back into the dark pits of his self-made hell.

Only this time, he'd understand why Frankenstein had dedicated his life to seclusion. Why he'd taken gulps of anguish, rather than air. 

It was so painfully obvious, sitting in front of him on a golden throne this whole time. How in Hades' name had he been so blind? How had he forgotten?

Although admittedly his chagrin of forgetting far outweighed his elation of finally remembering. Frankenstein hadn't suffered for not, he had suffered to build, to create. His isolation wasn't of choice but rather out of necessity. 

-The monster-

 The Monster was Frankenstein's raison d'être, The final fruit of his endless labors. He had risked everything to build him and that's exactly what Idia would do too. 

Victor Frankenstein had his monster. 

Idia Shroud would have his monster.

//

It was on a dreary night that Idia beheld the accomplishment of his toils. anxiety burned through his fragile body, amounting ever so quickly to agony. Thoughts of do's and don't's flooded his body, pilling on top of each other like corpses after a genocide.

Inside the lights were just barely surviving, every few minutes they would flicker breathing in a final breath before a short death, only to be revived minutes later, spilling their artificial glow throughout the chamber. The room itself reeked of rotting flesh and something so sickly sweet, it almost made the dorm leader of the nearly deceased heave. 

Idia's eyes remain static, seemingly stitched to the thing on the metal slab of a table. The body lays limp like a porcelain doll. No, not a doll, Idia thinks, like the monster, Frankenstein’s monster before it arose from its deathly slumber. 

Outside A flash of lightning crackles through the night sky, rough sparks of electricity flow through the murky air. They jolt and dance before dying in the night's void. 

After it, the world falls still, trapped behind the iron bars of an endless minute. The once meek god feels a surge dance through his core. The levity of his dreams prancing about. He's close, all so close. A breath away and it will be done. A minute away and all the world will see that there's never been any need for good and evil. Morals are merely prejudice beaten into every living thing, a simple way to keep mortals in their place and gods ruling above them. 

The bloody needle in his hand slips through his leather-covered fingers, chimes as it hits the blood soaked ground. Idia's mind races through the odds and ends of everything. Through the fairy tale that is his life. He wonders, would they be proud of him? Would His darling dead brother whose soul now rests in a metal body, shut down and laid to rest in a forgotten corner, advocate what he's about to do? Would his mother's sickly lingula sing praise to him, retell the glory of her son's endeavors to the children of the accursed isle? Probably not, it's a bitter thought, but as true as they come. What parent or brother on this damn earth would be proud of their monster trying to fabricate an abomination? Who, in the millennia to come would look back on him and declare with pride that Idia Shroud had been a genius, one who stood above the heroes and villains and gods? Who would ever call him something better than a hero, better than a villain, better than a god? 

In hindsight, Idia likes to think he always knew what he was doing. Always knew that he wanted the world to remember him as the one who broke the rhythm that the universe had been dancing to for endless years. To show this story-obsessed world, that good, and evil were merely perceptions of broken minds. Ideologies fabricated to justify meaningless actions. 

Good could be bad.

Evil could be nice. 

But science prevailed over all else.

Idia's knees quivered as he bends down by the table, his pale blue lips hovered above his creation's stitched-up forehead. He knew it was wrong, so, so wrong. But it couldn't be helped. For some ungodly reason, as the days ticked by and he began to sew together the bag of mismatched limbs. Idia had, in some way, come to love his creation. He wouldn't call it love per se. But he did long to hold his fragile creation in his arms. To kiss their reddened lips as their torn tongue invaded his mouth. 

In the dead of night as he laid beside his still dead lover, no monster, not lover, not yet. He began to wonder, had Frankenstein fallen in love with his abomination somewhere along the road? Had fate once again played its silly little games and twisted their paths to forever meet? Did Victor Frankinstine ever wish to kiss his creation, to have them kiss him?

It may have been wrong. The storybook-bound people of this world may even call it evil. But it wouldn't be that way for long. Idia's fingers curled into his palm, the shards of his bitten-off nails dug deeper into his flesh. His chest tightened with a foreign sensation. A feeling that made cold sweat run down his thin neck. 

Using what little strength he had left, Idia pushed himself off the ground and wobbled over to his mainframe machine. He braced himself on the heavy machinery trying to regain a semblance of his balance. He could do this, he had to do this. 

His bony finger coiled around the silver leaver, the patched of rust bite into his skin. He held the power to defy everything. To make a new world. His golden pupils land on his fingers for a second. a faint memory of his mother slither back into his mind. It's murky and foggy but he remembers the way her boney fingers use to trail down his hair and arms and legs. How she traced ghosts and blood splatters on his chubby wrists, as she retold the story of the mad scientist. Comically enough she had been the reason why Idia had fabricated this self-induced prophecy and now he'd grown to be her spitting image. A carbon copy of the person who fueled his obsession with defying the laws of good and evil. 

The leaver budged forward, clicking in protest as Idia pulled it lower and lower. Outside thunder boomed through the air, louder and louder. Maybe the ancient gods knew what he was doing. Maybe this storm was their warning to him. Yelling and shrinking to get him to stop. Threatening him to give up this game he had played for so long. 

No.

Not this time. 

Idia had operated by the book, he'd done everything like Victor Frankenstein. No ancient deity or prized warrior would be able to stop him. The gods' threats were the last part of his plan, all he needed was the lightning, the stray string of electricity. Then you would come alive. You'd be his to hold, to love, to cherish. To show to the whole damn mindless world. 

A crackle shot through the air, twisting itself around the rod connected to the device and to an extension, you as well. It slated around the iron, like a wild tiger trapped in a cage. Squawking and fighting to free itself as it slid downwards. The moment it came in contact with the larger body of the machine, it roared, a deafening white noise that reverberated off the stone walls. It pierced Idia's ears, causing a thin line of blood to drool down the side of his head. The apparatus buzzed to life, bright lights filled the chamber and the wires attached to your corpse began to stir. 

The once still carcass began to jerk violently, its head and arms and feet shaking, twisting in inelegant gruesome movements. Its torso would lift from the table only to crash down once more, with a force that surely fractured a few bones. Amid the madness, the mouth of the monster began to open, popping the loose stitches around the edge of her lips. Its long tongue darted out like a snake. And though it was mostly hushed by the hissing of the loose electric bolts and the harsh rain that had started to pour outside. Idia swore he heard her whisper his name.

The fire-haired boy ran across the room, tumbling to the side of the metal table. His large arms wrapped around your tiny ones. His eyes bore into yours. Watching as your inconsistent eyes stared into his. Your face was soft and tender, painted in an innocence only worn by young children. You were his now, his perfect creation. Something began to build inside of him, a forgotten feeling. 

Contentment; this was contentment, something he hadn't felt for a long long time. 

What are gods if not humans who possess a secret no one else could obtain? With you by his side, in his arms, Idia could finally, finally triumph overall. He had made life, he had defied all else, surely now everyone could see he was superior to all else in this make-believe world. 

But the moment ended all too soon. Your eyes began to dull over, darkening with every blink until they shut permanently once more. The thumping of your borrowed heart began to slacken. Pounding slower and slower until it stilled. The patched up body came next, falling limp, dead again, floating back to the yonder of the grave. Out of his grasp, out of his life.

The world didn't stand still this time, instead, it scrambled forward at aching speed. No sooner had you taken your first breath had you taken your very last. You'd left without ever saying "hello".

Maybe in the midst of all the chaos, glorious altering chaos, he screamed, maybe he cried. Maybe it finally dawned on him why Dr. Frankenstein was merely a myth. A fable told to accursed children. Because Victor Frankenstein wasn't good or evil. He neither harbored joy nor malice. He wished only to be the best. And for so long Idia had wished the same. Searched for the same purpose in his meaningless life. 

What is a scientist if not a harbinger of grief and pain? 

Someone who devotes their life and loin, riddle and reason, in search of true purpose amongst the forces of the universe. What's a scientist if not a god in their own right. 

Had he been a god just now, Idia was left to ponder. For two glorious, astonishing, baffling moments Idia had been better than any god in existence. He had prevailed where every hero had failed. He had accomplished what villains went mad trying to achieve. He had been victorious.

Yes, Idia Shroud had fulfilled his dream. 

If only for a couple of inert moments. 

Gods were merely that, humans who had created something from the very soil they too were made of. 

And he too had done it. 

But alas in the end, maybe the legends and the myths had been true, credible good always won and evil did always vanish. Barring you had been so young, so new, you didn't even comprehend good or evil, you hadn't been alive long enough to understand what those two defining forces even were. The world didn't yet know if you were even good or evil. But it matters all so very little because you were his creation, his monstrosity, his, and Idia Shroud had always been and would always be evil, a villain in his own right. Just another gear in the predominant forces of the universe.

He'd been a fool to think he could defy the structured narrative this world had come to accept as law. 

Although, no narrative could ever change how much he had loved you, dead or alive. It wouldn't change how he had almost, almost, became Dr.Frankenstein. 

Although at the final page just before he closed the book. In the back of his mind, Idia was sure he had become the doomed doctor. 

For he too had both fallen in love with his creation and driven himself mad over it.  

[k7l4d4]

Plane Shift: The Boiling Isles, Brief Character Portfolio

Hello all, today I am going to go into some measure of detail for the characters in this crossover between the Owl House and Dungeons and Dragons 5e. Everybody clap your hands!!

Now, to give a little heads up, the way this portfolio is set up is based on the following Format:

Character Name

Defining Quote/Motto

Alignment Inclinations

Favored Classes/Known Classes

Brief Profile

Okay, now that the format is listed, time to get into the nitty gritty!

Luz Noceda

“Limits? What are those!”

Chaotic Good/Neutral Good

Primary Class: Wizard, Subclass: Order of Scribes. Secondary Class: Artificer, Subclass: Battle Smith. Tertiary Classes: Paladin, Rogue, and Bard.

The young daughter of the famed Plane Warden and Cleric, Camila Noceda, Luz has always had her head in the clouds, longing for adventure and friendship. Upon entering the Adventurer’s Academy, she proceeded to rock the very foundation of Plana and adventuring by choosing not one, not two, but FIVE classes to train in! She would’ve tried them all, but was talked out of it when they professors made it clear it would be physically impossible for her to take them all, and that the number she had selected would push her to greatest of limits. Luz lives life without limits or regret, and while her extremely impulsive nature has resulted in a rather poor social life, she is greatly beloved among the street dwellers and lower ranks of local organizations and groups of her home.

Amity Blight

“Perfection is impossible. That’s why we seek it.”

Lawful Good/Neutral Good

Primary Class: Warlock, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Artificer.

The youngest child of the affluent Blight Family, recently displaced from her home dimension, Amity holds herself to a strict standard of decorum. Her methodical nature, dedication to study, and respect for authority has made her a divisive figure within the Adventurer’s Academy, as while her new instructors find her dedication admirable, they also worry it will disallow her from living a healthy and happy life. Amity regularly runs afoul of Luz, but the human girl’s friendly nature, genuine endearment, and appreciation for magic and learning has served as a bonding bridge between the two. Hints of something deeper within her heart grow clearer all the while.

Willow Park

“Nature is a blessing to us all. We have a duty to care for it, and each other.”

Neutral Good/Chaotic Good

Primary Class: Druid, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Barbarian.

The only child of the Park family, Willow is a quiet, gentle child all around, but within her lurks a frightening power over nature itself that constantly threatens to break free if not for her ironclad self-control, and kind nature. Once friends with Amity Blight, circumstances forced a rift between them, and she holds that pain as a torch within her heart, always wary of letting it burn her down to nothing but unwilling to let go. Willow’s incredible connection with Plants has made her a rare talent among the Druid classes, and she is constantly called to demonstrate her power before her new peers, much to her delight.

Augustus “Gus” Porter

“So much to learn! So much to experience!”

Neutral Good/Chaotic Good

Primary Class: Wizard, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Bard.

A young prodigy who skipped several grades in his home dimension, Gus is still an outstanding figure when it comes to both technical skill and application of magic. Excitable, kind if somewhat insensitive on occasion, and with a fierce need to prove himself, Gus often finds himself in difficult situations, both socially and dangerously, but he never allows it to affect his optimism. He’s rapidly built a bond with Luz over their shared passion and energy, not to mention his excitement over befriending “an actual real-life human!”

Boscha Triplet

“I saved the day! Why? Because I’m a Star of Course!”

Lawful Neutral

Primary Class: Monk, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Artificer.

An athletic star with an incredible ego, Boscha is by all accounts an unpleasant individual, yet since coming to Plana, she’s gradually shown signs of a more vulnerable personality, one she vehemently denies and buries within herself, much to the chagrin of others. While she initially chose Monk as a joke, thinking it of a blow-off course or something similar, the relentless physical training, and the brutally humiliating smackdown dealt on her first day have served to motivate her to continue and succeed in the Class she chose, if only out of pure spite. The philosophical aspects of Monk training seem to go over her head, yet her friends and foes alike have noted her occasionally seem to verge on saying something mean or crude, only to stop herself and stare off in contemplation.

Skara Levine

“Just go with the rhythm. Everything will work out, right?”

Lawful Neutral

Primary Class: Bard, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Sorcerer.

A young girl who lived at the top, Skara had many halmarks of being a potential problem child, often being easily lead and influenced by those deemed her friends, Skara is typically very sweet and outgoing, but for all her social butterfly moments, they are undercut by her poor interpersonal skills, frequently stumbling onto sensitive topics without any inclination she understood why she shouldn’t bring them up. She is a paradox, being both kind and cruel, nice and mean, in equal measures, the parallel nature of her behavior often befuddles those around her. She’s recently begun stating that she hears things suddenly when no one is around.

Emira Blight

“Don’t worry, I can handle this on my own.”

Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral

Primary Class: Rogue, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Fighter.

The oldest daughter of the Blight family, Emira is a mischievous girl with a fondness for mayhem. Nonetheless, she cares for her family and friends, even if her methods occasionally leave much to be desired. Of the Blight Children, Emira is the most independent, often resentful of any perceived restrictions, but calm enough to find workarounds rather than lash out. She frequently professes that looks forward to the day she can live her own life, and enjoys teasing her sister along with her brother.

Edric Blight

“We got this, we just got to stick together.”

Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral

Primary Class: Rogue, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Bard.

The lone son of the Blight family, Edric is Emira’s twin, and is in many ways both her equal and her mirror. While sharing her sense of mischief and love of tricks, Edric is far more flighty and whimsical, often hyper-fixating on animals and whatever shiny thing catches his eye, often projecting a childish air about him. He is the most insecure of the Blight siblings, though he hides it well, and dreads the idea of being alone, particularly from his twin.

Viney Arkswood

“Animals are our friends. They have just as much capacity for good as we do.”

Chaotic Good

Primary Class: Ranger, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Druid.

One of three students sentenced to the Detention Track for their mixing of magical disciplines, Viney has a caring heart and a love of people and animals that manifested in a rather strange way, in that she attempted, and technically succeeded, in training her pet griffin to be a nursing assistant. Viney is genuinely unsure if she wishes to return, with the lone benefit in her mind being to see her parents again.

Jerbo Underslack

“I might be nervous, but that doesn’t make me incompetent.”

Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral

Primary Class: Cleric, Subclass: Nature Domain. Secondary Class: Druid.

One of the three Detention Track students, Jerbo’s love of plants and his fondness for the idea of loyal aides combined in his creation of plant monsters that trashed the gardens of his school. Jerbo is the most suspicious and leery of his friends, often being slow to trust and even slower to act, he nonetheless is a kind soul, and used his admittance into the Adventurer’s Academy to try and kind some new meaning in his life.

Barcus Howsberry

“Your soul glimmers with the joy of a newfound toy in the arms of a lonely child.”

Chaotic Good

Primary Class: Wizard, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Artificer.

Last and oddest of the three Detention Track students, Barcus’ unusual body and strange speech make him truly bizarre, and his cryptic demeanor doesn’t help. Barcus enjoys both the art of Potions and Prediction, and frequently seeks to join the two. Upon arrival, and confirmation that yes he is a sapient being, Barcus was checked by Camila, and was determined to have a hereditary curse bound to his being, and when offered to have it removed, his comfort with his form initially made him refuse, only to be told that the speech impediment and oddness of his form would destroy any chance of him being able to integrate into society, causing him to compromise and have the curse suppressed instead.

Camila Noceda

“To bring goodness and love in this world means I can rest easy, knowing I left it in the hands of those I love.”

Lawful Good

Primary Class: Cleric, Subclass: Life Domain. Secondary Class: None.

Mother of Luz Noceda, Camila is the current Plane Warden of Plana, being entrusted with guarding the city from extraplanar threats and to help guide and aid those lost between realms. Camila is a loving soul, but the strain of her job has worn on her over the years, with the sole reprieve being her precious daughter. Camila often adopts a motherly role for the displaced children now in her care, offering both advice when needed, and discipline as necessary. Camila also frequently aids and offers advice to the adults now sharing her living space, hoping to help them adjust to their situation.

Edalyn Clawthorne

“I’m the most powerful witch in the Isles, but it never meant a thing until I found someone to use that power for.”

Chaotic Good

Primary Class: Sorcerer, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Wizard.

Fiercest Wild Witch to grace the Boiling Isles since Belos’ ascension, Eda marches to the beat of her own drum, no exceptions, but she still holds a beautiful heart for those she cares for, and people in general, no matter how much she denies it. Eda was genuinely shocked to learn that Camila could, and did, heal her curse, effectively if not easily, and feels a deep sense of obligation towards the woman a a result, not to mention her all around soft spot for Camila’s daughter. Eda genuinely has no desire to return to the Isles at this point, beyond maybe a chance to reconcile with her mother and retrieve Hooty and all her stuff.

Lilith Clawthorne

“I am far from perfect, and have made many mistakes. This is the least I can do.”

Lawful Good/Lawful Neutral

Primary Class: Paladin, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Wizard.

Lilith Clawthorne, elder sister to Eda, means well, but is both painfully naive and far too trusting for one her age, as well as disturbingly childish and immature. For all that though, Lilith holds a good heart and thrives in a structured and ordered environment and system. When she received the knowledge that Eda’s curse had been cured, Lilith was nearly left catatonic, as the curing of Eda rendered all her efforts meaningless and her life without true purpose. When Eda bluntly stated that even with her curse cured she will NEVER join a coven, Lilith forced herself to accept it, no matter how much it hurt. Since that day, Lilith has attempted to find a new direction in life, and to help others as best she can.

Odalia Blight

“Like it or not, one’s word is their bond.”

Lawful Neutral/Lawful Evil

Primary Class: Wizard, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Bard.

Matriarch of the Blight family, and a near-Karen level individual, Odalia is both incredibly goal-oriented and driven by a desire to succeed. Domineering and controlling, Odalia exerts a highly unhealthy and toxic level of influence over her childrens’ lives, though she does truly love them. Odalia enjoys having the upper hand, and will do anything to allow her children and family to not only survive but thrive, and is very much fond of disproportionate retribution against her enemies.

Alador Blight

“This could prove interesting.”

Lawful Neutral/Lawful Evil

Primary Class: Artificer, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: Rogue.

Patriarch of the Blight family, and all around bizarre individual, Alador cares for little in his life aside from his inventions, his wife, and his children, in that order. Often dazed and easily distracted, Alador is highly curious and constantly seeks new inspiration for his devices and creations, no matter how dangerous the circumstances. He cares little for his wife’s antics and schemes, but in no way does he find them unacceptable, he often acts as a stabilizing influence upon her, and is perfectly fine with calling her out on her behavior when she genuinely goes too far.

Hieronymus Bump

“Dedication and Focus are important, but true passion and joy for what you do makes all the difference.”

Neutral Good/Lawful Good

Primary Class: Wizard, Subclass: Undetermined. Secondary Class: None.

Principal to the famed, some would say infamous, Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, Principal Bump loves to teach and help others learn, and is perfectly willing to play the system to ensure he can do so. While he genuinely loves all his students and wishes them to succeed, he is willing to admit he is old-fashioned to a certain extent and can have trouble keeping his views on a topic unbiased, and can occasionally act in unethical ways if it means finding a solution to a problem, though he does not enjoy such measures. He aids Camila in searching for a way to return home for him and his fellows, and often acts as a reasonable authority figure for the students who came with them.

[solohux]

Ooooooohhhhhh YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, I always love me some Good Dad Brendol™ content! I sadly have no prompt for you, but I'd love anything of it that you'd throw at us♡

Armitage is aware of a tremendous pain in his chest as soon as he wakes. It spreads the width of his body and down his abdomen, burning with each breath he takes and he can’t help but cry out when he tries to move and the air feels like it’s being squeezed out of his lungs.

“Steady, my boy. You’ve got a long road of recovery ahead.”

The room is relatively dark, which Armitage is thankful for. His head aches too, he finds, as he opens his eyes and tries to find the source of the voice. There’s a man sat beside him on the edge of the bed with a small bowl in his hand and a bacta wipe in his hand, gently swabbing over the wound on Armitage’s chest.

“F-Father?” Armitage blinks a few times but finally, his eyes adjust to the low light and he’s able to make out his father’s soft, bearded face and concerned eyes. “You’re—”

“Lie still, Armitage,” Brendol says, finishing up cleaning the wound, reaching for bacta bandages next. “You could have been killed.”

“Pryde—”

“I know.”

“Because I was a spy—”

“So I heard.”

“I had to, I had to, Father. I’m sorry—”

“Armitage. Please. Try not to move.” Brendol places his hand on his son’s cheek, rubbing his thumb over his freckles skin. “I almost lost you. My precious son.”

“But I betrayed the Order,” Armitage says, trying hard to fight back the urge to cry. The last thing he’s ever wanted to do is disappoint his father. “Betrayed you.”

“What you did, feeding information to the Resistance, you thought it was for the best,” Brendol smiles, shrugging. “It’s not what I would have done.”

“I wanted to save him.”

“Who, my boy?”

“Ren,” Hux sighs. “He became someone I didn’t know when he took on the title of Supreme Leader. He was destroying himself, destroying us. I thought, I just thought if I could sabotage his reign then he’d come back to me and be the man I loved—”

He can’t stop the tears this time. Even though he jostles his wound and his breath hitches with the pain, Armitage covers his face with his hands, hiding his weakness from his father. How dare he be so weak and allow himself to be compromised by someone who, in the end, treated him so terribly?

“Loving someone isn’t a weakness, Armitage,” Brendol says softly. “Never. Would you have called me weak for sending your mother away before the siege happened?”

“No,” Armitage sniffles. “You wanted to make sure she was safe. But—”

“And what you did is the same, in principle. It was Pryde’s pride that betrayed the Order, he thought the Final Order was the path to follow and he was wrong.”

“But everything you built is gone. The First Order, all of your creations. Destroyed.”

Brendol smiles, running his hand through Armitage’s messy red hair, “I have my greatest creation here, alive, and that’s all I’ll ever need.”

Armitage’s chest tightens but not because of his injury; he feels as though he’s about to burst with emotion. Brendol, too, has tears on his cheeks, as he leans forward and places a kiss on his son’s forehead.

“We need to get you better,” Brendol says, changing the subject with a clear of his throat. “We’ll find Ren, tell him—”

“He’s…dead.”

“What?”

“He died in a duel with the last Jedi on the Death Star’s wreckage.” It pains Armitage to say it aloud. “His…his lightsaber was found in the sea, but no body.”

“There’s no body because he’s alive,” Brendol speaks slowly, like ripping the plaster off slowly.

“He’s…No, no, he—”

“Whilst I searched for you, I glanced at the New Republic’s most wanted. Kylo Ren was in the top ten, reportedly last seen 48 hours ago in Mos Eisley spaceport. They even had a photo of him.”

“He’s alive,” Armitage can’t believe it. His beloved is alive! He survived the fight with Rey, he’s clearly on the run from the law. Only scoundrels hide in Mos Eisley. “He’s alive!”

“Hey, settle down, son. You can go chasing after Knights once you’re healed. Not a moment sooner.”

“Yes, sir,” Armitage can’t wipe to smile off his face, not even when the pain comes back as Brendol dresses his wound.

He’s alive, his father is alive, and now Ren is, too. Yesterday, Armitage had nothing. Now, he has everything.

[absolutiions]

´   ･   .   ✶   ⧼    madchen   amick,   non   binary,   she   &   they   /   fucked   my   way   to   the   top   by   lana   del   rey   +   eyes   the   color   crimson   and   hands   stained   in   crimson,   too.   victim   of   the   underworld,   you   are   not.   you   came,   not   to   sit   silent   at   his   side   as   dutiful   wives   do,   but   to   whisper   in   his   ear.   pouted   lips   smeared   ruby   stoke   the   flames   of   his   darkest   impulses   and   his   deepest   desires.   you   are   the   conqueror.   you   are   the   queen.   and   may   god   have   mercy   upon   anyone   who   underestimates   this   :   because   you   will   not.    ⧽   ━━   don’t   look   now,   but   that’s   ATHENODORA.   the   TWO   THOUSAND,   FIVE   HUNDRED   &   TWENTY   TWO  (   varying   physical   )   year   old   GIFTED   VAMPIRE   has   been   here   in   seattle   for   three   minutes,   and   is   considered   a   member   of   the   VOLTURI.   they’ve   always   been   MACHIAVELLIAN   &   INDOMITABLE,   but   i   guess   this   town   just   brings   out   the   worst   in people   ;   apparently,   they’ve   been   way   more  INSOUCIANT   &   SUPERCILIOUS   than   usual.   it   wouldn’t   surprise   me   if   they   knew   what   was   going   on.   click   HERE   to   check   out   her   stats.

they   told   you   that   you   were   a   nobody,      so   you   became   the   QUEEN.   (   now   everybody   knows   your   name   )

SECTION ONE OF THREE : background / human era. trigger warnings for talk of pregnancy, death, abuse

born circa 502 bc, in a little village that has no lasting name nor impact in ancient greece. 

five of the children born to her parents survived to adulthood, and since she was the last one... it is almost like, her whole life, she has been suffering from younger child syndrome. who knew !

she very literally grew up in a diff time, so when i say she wasn’t rly close to any of her siblings, i don’t mean it in a like... horrible way. it’s not a reflection of character. they just didn’t have a tight sibling bond, though she loved them greatly. 

same w her parents. they were unexceptional people who lived unexceptional lives, and though she was grateful for, u know... their creation of her - they were not close. they did not, in laymans terms, have the lorelai and rory gilmore dynamic. 

her whole family were content to live their dismal lives, and... tho athenodora did not vibe, she, again - grew up in a diff time. of course she dreamt of more. of course she prayed to the gods for something better. but she was achingly aware of the fact that no such future would ever exist for her. such is life in 400 whatever bc, bumfuck, greece.

she was just barely eighteen when she was married to athanasios, to secure land, or smth, because those were the times. of course it was something like that. 

he was... fine, at first. a little small minded ( that wasn’t the ONLY thing that was small, haha ). he, like everyone, was content to live the same old life, and athenodora just... wasn’t. she had been raised on stories of grandeur, and her parents had thought she would settle for the regular - it should not have been a surprise that she didn’t want to, but gods, did she try.

she never loved him, she can safely say ; but she wished that she did. for a long while, athenodora thought it would be easier, and thought that she could do a lot worse. unfortunately... she cld not.

their lives were meant to follow a certain pattern. they had gotten married, and now he would work all day, make them money, tend their land. she would stay home. cook. clean. raise the children that they were sure to have. athenodora was capable of almost everything expected of her, except for the most important part - she couldn’t seem to give him children. not strong sons. not beautiful daughters. 

at first, he told her that it was fine. 

after a year or so, he still told her that it was fine, but she could see in his eyes that it wasn’t.

two years after this, he called her the ancient greek version of defective for the very first time - and things only got worse from there.

he had always been a perfectly fine husband, until he was not, and athenodora had always wanted to love him, until she did not. she prayed to the gods every morning and night, to give her what her husband so desired. to give her that which would make her life better, even if she knew it would not heal the wounds already caused.

sometimes the gods r not dicks. a miracle! she becomes pregnant, aged twenty four ( i kno it sounded like she was a crone but again please remember the times ). she always thought it was just what was best n only athanasios would care, but , wow... suddenly. she cares. she has never felt this level of love with anything, until now.

but, tragedy :// straight white men ( idk, i just feel like her husband was the root of all evil ) are not so easily satisfied. who wld have guessed he wld continue to be an abusive asshole even after his wife succeeded in getting pregnant? i bet i shocked u all. who wld have guessed that a huge part of his problem wld end up being that suddenly, athenodora clearly cares abt something - and it isn’t him. again. got you all!

over the course of her pregnancy, he becomes, for the first time, a real threat to her - or maybe, athenodora simply never took him seriously until there is another person to think of. either way, she TRULY fears him and what he’s capable of by the time she gives birth, and after he makes some passing remark abt their baby, she yeets the FUCK out of there in the middle of the night, eirene ( baby ) only a handful of days old. she takes what she can carry and nothing more, and she... makes it pretty far, thanks to the kindness of strangers. you love to see it.

she settles somewhere ( she considers to be ) far away, and she makes up a good story : her husband died in a war ( there were probably a lot of time, i dont know ) and she was widowed, left to care for their young daughter alone. i know. its really original. they didnt have tv shows back then to rip stories from though.

stays in a hovel on the edge of their village. think the shittiest home you’ve ever seen and then make it shittier. there are rumors about her being a witch, and she kind of appreciates them, because it keeps kids out of her yard. and shock of all shock : in spite of being... u know. a woman. and not very skilled. she finds a very hot ticket job - working for the very wealthy volturi family who live on the other ( opposite ) outside of town, but like, in a considerably better home, obviously. 

honestly, i don’t kno what the ancient greek equivalent of that secretary in new moon is, but that’s the vibe we’re going for, here. she’s like, a chambermaid or smth. and she makes a tidy little sum. doesn’t question her weirdo bosses that much. doesn’t know what anemia is because im p sure it wasnt discovered by then, but presumes they have it.

and maybe, just maybe, it’s the finesse of the century : or maybe, just maybe, it is destiny. in no time at all, she has caught the eye of the volturi’s most eligible bachelor(tm) : caius volturi. many another worker is made upset by this fact, as athenodora is very quickly alotted VERY special treatment as the apple of his eye, which includes, i don’t know... hand delivered baskets of pomegranates, a nicer home and in due time, the simple pleasures of the flesh.

so that’s pretty neat. and life’s pretty fine. she feels like an ancient greek sugar baby, and honestly, isn’t that all she’s ever deserved? she’s got some nice digs ( i don’t think she’d have called them that ) and a man who worships the ground she walks on and who spoils her with pretty things, and most importantly : she is taking care of her daughter, who i absolutely didn’t forget about. eirene is the literal light of athenodora’s life, and everybody knows it. if i say jean valjean and cosette vibes, can we all pretend we get it?

and then it goes to shit. as things do.

her daughter is fourteen years old, when her father finds them ; and she doesn’t know, she never knows, if he was seeking them out or whether it was all DUMB luck. regardless of it all, he is stood inside her home, his breath coming in angry half pants, and athenodora is convinced that this is it. that her end has come. that her freedom is over. she dies, she thinks, or she returns back to the house that was not her home with him. these are her options. 

she tells her daughter to leave. she stops him from following. when she is shoved and her head hits the table, she is aware of the option he has chosen for them more than all else - but the gods, or perhaps, just one - intervenes.

until this night, athenodora had never known the truth of the volturi. but when her beloved saves her from athanasios, she sees him for what he is. she UNDERSTANDS. and she isn’t frightened. she should be, for sure, she should be running as fast as she can - but all she can think in that moment is that she is free now in all the ways she has never been... and caius, her love, is something so much larger than this life. 

for the first time, the godhood that athenodora has always dreamt of is within her grasp. she makes him promise that once eirene comes of age, he will make her into the same creature that he IS. she makes him swear a solemn oath, and he who has been so infatuated by her for so long cannot argue.

four years. this is all it takes, and then eirene is eighteen - capable of standing upon her own two feet. athenodora leaves her everything - all the gifts she has ever been given, all the wealth accumulated, the home. everything she will not need, once she is gone. and she says a final goodbye.

caius turns her himself. the greatest gift he could ever give her.

and reborn, athenodora is MORE than everyone in her life could ever dream of being. she is the queen of the underworld, the goddess of death. she is all of this, and more. at his side, she finds GREATNESS. and once she had it, athenodora decided she would never again be without. 

SECTION TWO OF THREE : volturi era.

became cool. became powerful. very emma frost of her, rly 

didnt rly care for the rest of the coven outside of caius but sometimes u gotta hang w scrubs 

didyme dies sometime after her turning, and that kind of fucks everybody up

not so much her bc like i said she didnt rly care but... caius b frightened of losing her, i guess

kind of throws a spanner in the works 

she spends a lot of time ‘locked away’. not , like, literally ( bc that’s gross! ) but... caius takes over protective to the extreme

uses this time to harness her power and fuck

not always in that order

also spends a lot of time telling him he deserves to b leader

deserves to b the new aro

who needs powers?

not u, caius

go kick their ass baby i got ur flower-

( he doesn’t go kick their ass but man she wishes he wld )

she’s genuinely devoted to him, however, as much as it sometimes seems as if she’s using him as a means to an end

she DOES do that with a LOT of people, but caius... that’s her baby! her darling! her sweetie pie! fuck everybody else in this house caius, she respects YOU ! 

she jus wants to see him be the best there ever was, and he’s.... p... happy to giv her everything she wants, so their dynamic is actually p equal 

we love to see it

anyway lots of years happened and now she’s here

seattle sucks -athenodora’s official review

but she’s fucking SICK of aro’s shit and thinks her 2020 birthday wld be the best time for an official change of pace

obviously aro can read minds so he knows athenodora has high aspirations but he has learned his fucking lesson w killing ppls mates, i guess

lucky for her!

that’s all i got

hehe

SECTION THREE OF THREE : power.

athenodora is an ungifted vampire in twilight canon, but to that i say : fuck ya chicken strips. in equinox, she be special. her power is life force manipulation, in a pretty unique ( and dare i say ) way.

she was a forty two year old woman, when she was turned. she had lived a life, and she had the MARKS to show for it. but the very first time that she drank human blood from the vein, athenodora realized that she was not as unexceptional as she had always been lead to believe she was. vampires do not change. they’re frozen in time, like statues, portraits, photographs... and yet, before caius’ very eyes - athenodora did what no other vampire could. mere seconds passed, and suddenly ; she was stood before her beloved, decades younger. it lasted as long as her thirst was sated, with her age returning to her as her eyes darkened once more. and it happened all over again, when next she fed. 

over time, she’s come to understand it well enough. she has a particular love of younger humans ; those in their twenties, and thus, physical primes. she thinks that is, in part, down to her gift ; she seeks these out to drink from because when she feeds, she’s not simply drinking their blood, but also, their life force. she’s taking theirs to add to her own.

like many gifted vampires, she has spent time learning what she can of her gift, and learning whether there is some other way to apply it. it took almost two thousand years, but eventually - athenodora discovered that with a touch, her fingertips to their skin ( and a great deal of focus ), she could render another changed, also. it lasts for only a short amount of time - an hour, maybe a little longer, depending on how strong she is. but it works. and it makes her think that, in all her unlimited time : she might just be able to do even more. be a danger. manipulate life force in a way that can DESTROY. she’ll keep on working on that for as long as she lives. 

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Tomás Nochteff (Mueran Humanos)

Mueran Humanos, an Argentinian duo now based in Berlin, mixes post-punk, industrial-inflected synth explorations, garage rock and psychedelia. Carmen Burguess and Tomás Nochteff share vocal duties and play a very basic line-up of instruments: bass, synths, drum machines and samplers. In his review for Dusted, Andrew Forell called their latest, Hospital Lullabies, “a thrilling concoction of electronic, industrial, bass-driven body music fueled by the transgressive spirit of a DAF or a Psychic TV.” Here, Tomás presents his list of visionary music.

A list of visionary music

What is a visionary? Visions can come in dreams, in journeys to other worlds, in hallucinations. They can be the product of will, of a derangement of the senses, or they can come uninvited to save you or to haunt you and destroy your mental balance, even your life. It can be heavenly, or hellish, but to be authentic visions they have to be otherworldly. And to be visions rather than just imagination, they must have an element of truth. Not literal truth, like “that wall is green,” but a different kind of truth, the one that´s expressed in symbols, in metaphors, in omens and obsessions. In “Heaven and Hell,” Aldous Huxley analyzed the visions of people under the influence of psychedelic drugs, the visions of mystics and the visions of schizophrenics. He found fundamental parallels and concluded that they must have been visiting the same places. These people are not merely hallucinating, but they are perceiving another reality, visiting a different world, or maybe they are perceiving the world as it really is. And he quotes Jung on this: “schizophrenics and mystics are on the same ocean, but schizophrenics are drowning and mystics are swimming.” A visionary could be a mix of all these archetypes. Like Philip K Dick: was he on drugs? Yes. Was he mad? Yes. Was he seeking enlightenment? Yes. Had his visions an element of truth? No doubt about it. Were his visions revelations? To some extent, yes.

On our last album, Hospital Lullabies, the songs deal with all these different experiences on the journey to another world and on the invasion from another world into everyday life, with its horror and its beauty, the agony and the ecstasy. And how one copes, or doesn´t, with it.

So to celebrate it, I made a list of music that I do consider visionary. There’s madmen, there’s mystics and there’s psychonauts, all possible combinations of the three archetypes and everything in between.

Pharoah Sanders—“The Creator has a Masterplan” (Impulse)

I don´t know much about cosmic jazz, or any jazz for that matter, but what I know is that this record is pure bliss. “Harvest Time,” on Pharoah is another masterpiece. Alice Coltrane and Don Cherry are also incredible. This is music of the spheres; it has the touch of God.

Rudimentary Peni—CacophonyI (Outer Himalayan Records)

One of the few perfect punk bands ever, for lots of reasons. The bass lines are extraordinary, for example. But they belong here because of schizophrenic member Nick Blinko: incredible artist & novelist, obsessed with Catholicism and the supernatural horror. A guy who stopped his medication to force himself into a psychotic crisis just to write an album. Hero. Martyr.

Nico— “Janitor of Lunacy” (Cherry Red Records)

For me, Nico was the best and more underrated of all Velvets (and we love Velvet Underground as much as anyone). Also, the production from John Cale on her records is probably his best work too, or at least among his best. I feel that she is not appreciated enough. Iggy said that meeting her changed him. I suspect that´s true for all her famous friends: Bowie, Lou Reed, John Cale, Leonard Cohen, etc. They were all larger-than-life characters. And we know there is an element of self-built mythology on all that, a bit of acting. There is nothing wrong with that; rock and roll at its best is a complete artform and we must appreciate this self-built mythology as part of their craft. But with Nico you don´t get that feeling. She seemed that she didn´t care about her image, she was born Nico and I suspect that in that sense she inspired them all to no end. She was the genuine article. One of our main loves in music. Essential with a capital E.

Coil—“I Don’t Want To Be The One”

Jhonn Balance wanted to be a magician, and he died trying. I think he succeed in building a shamanic body of work with the help of the great late Sleazy and a myriad of brilliant contributors. Coil´s music at its best it´s like a plasma between worlds, or a very, very good psychedelic drug. My most beloved electronic/industrial/post-industrial project ever and one of our main influences. This performance is superb.

Lungfish — Feral Hymns

I´m not interested in DC post hardcore per se, and I don´t have any tattoos. I shouldn´t care about Lungfish the way I do, but they knock me out every single time. Daniel Higgs is a seer. I don´t know what he is talking about, but at the same time, my gut knows exactly what he is talking about. He speaks in images, like Tarot, like the religious painters, like Rimbaud and San Juan de la Cruz. His delivery is supreme. Raw and fragile, yet powerful and precise. Over circular, repetitive, minimal structures of music that have a haunting, arresting effect. Hypnotic, magical, devotional music. Either you get it, or you don´t. I can´t explain it. That´s the beauty of it, I suppose. And the truly mark of the visionary artist.

Ghedalia Tazartes—“Une Éclipse Totale De Soleil Part 2”

Ghedalia for me represents the pure, untouched, sui generis artist. Applying the techniques of musique concrete to the ancient folk music of the Sephardic Jews with a raw energy that usually you can only find in punk, or blues. I see in him an archetype, the Fool card in the Tarot. The madman that opens the gates of heaven and hell, gives himself to these supreme energies and survives only because of his perfect innocence.

OM—“Sinai (live at Sonic City)”

Maybe the greatest rock band of the last 20 years. Here with Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe to maximum effect.

Charlemagne Palestine—Live in Holland 1998

Like Ghedalia, Charlemagne Palestine is a Jewish artist that works in the avant garde field but subverts it with the tradition of his folk music instead of sticking to the cold, cerebral, rational program of academia. He has his own world. Watch this and you will understand what I am talking about.

Virgin Prunes—Excerpts from Sons Find Devils/“Walls of Jericho”

There is a VHS tape called Sons Find Devils, comprised of live shows and short experimental films (some of them made by Balance, from Coil). I had it as a teenager and watched it countless times. Sadly, it is not complete on YouTube or elsewhere but here are some small extracts. With their heretic mix of Irish Catholic imagery, Irish Paganism, Bataille, performance art and post punk, the Virgin Prunes made a unique and extraordinary body of work. A testament of its importance is that Gavin Friday was guest singer of two bands in this list: The Fall and Coil. And Mr. Scott Walker himself invited him to sing on a play. Maybe the historians ignore them, but Mark E. Smith, Scott Walker and Coil knew where it’s at, didn´t they? Their record If I die I die is a masterpiece. Produced by Colin Newman from Wire, no less, if you need more validation.

Boredoms—Vision Creation Newsun

I like some of the more comical, early work of Boredoms, but with Super AE and this one they got me. They got serious and spiritual, channeling Alice Coltrane, tribal drumming, kraut rock and noise into a glorious, euphoric sound. Maybe they are not visionaries, but their music can produce visions. I saw them around 2005 (on acid) with the three drummers line up, still in this phase. I remember thinking “this is what cavemen had in mind when they invented music.” I actually saw it, with my eyes closed. Early humans. In caves. Inventing music. God bless LSD.

Aphrodite´s Child — 666

The one record I bought for the cover only, it cost me 50 cents, best deal of my life. A concept album about the apocalypse. Easy contender for the best psychedelic rock album of all time. Pet Sounds? Get outta here. An absolute masterpiece.

Tim Buckley—Starsailor

Tim Buckley is a mystery. He died too young. How he went from his L.A. folk rock first album to the absolute unique sound of Starsailor and Lorca is impossible to understand and a miracle of music. All six records in between are masterpieces. He was possessed by genius and has the most beautiful voice. I don´t know much about him, but his music put me out there.

Sun Ra—Night Music 1989

Watch this. Space is The Place, indeed.

Pescado Rabioso—Artaud

This guy, Luis Alberto Spinetta, is considered by many to be the most important rock musician in my country. So being an arrogant teenage punk, or whatever, of course that alone was enough to reject him altogether without even thinking. But a couple of years ago I was blown away by a book of poems he published in 1978. Incredibly beautiful, unique and sophisticated poetry. I recently started, too late, to listen to his music. This is one of his most famous and revered records. It´s dedicated to, and inspired by Antonin Artaud, who tried and failed to reach the mystic enlightenment, generating a body of work in the process which is a testament to his spiritual ambition, his radical rejection of the material world and his pain. Spinetta understood this, he said the record was trying to find an answer to Artaud, a way out of it, a way out of the pain. It´s psychedelic music of the highest order. The lyrics are incredible but you can enjoy it even without understanding them.

Dead Can Dance—Dyonisios

I kept forgetting this band exists. This new album is great. I listened to it non-stop during last Winter/Spring. It´s the perfect time because the record is about Dyonisios, so as a soundtrack for the rebirth of Nature it´s perfect. Probably their best work in years. Sublime.

The Fall—“Garden” (Live at the Hacienda, Manchester, UK, 1984)

No list of visionary rock and roll would be complete without Mark E. Smith. Famously he said, “I used to be a psychic but I drank my way out of it.” Indeed, there was a time, between 1978-1990, when he was possessed by something, injecting realism with mysticism, mixing high and low planes, exposing the supernatural forces that hides in the cracks of everyday life. He never talks about hell neither heaven, but rather the way they mix and manifest here on Earth. You’ve got countless of bands using occult/mystic imagery, and you know it´s nice but it´s just a game. You’ve got thousands of bands referencing Burroughs and the cut-up technique, but no one can write as Burroughs did. MES did it. MES wasn´t playing. He was a realist of the augmented reality, he told it like it is, in his fragmented, hallucinatory, unpretentious, visionary prose poetry.

There is a lot in his lyrics that can be read in a mystic, occult way. He left a lot of clues for the ones that can read them. His texts are kaleidoscopic, and they reflect what´s in your mind, really. I think he will be recognized with time as the great experimental writer that he actually was rather than merely an angry Mancunian punk. He had more in common with someone like Iain Sinclair than with any other rock musician. One of my favorite web sites is The Annotated Fall, where fans analyze his lyrics in depth. Pay a visit if you can, I can´t recommended it enough. In many ways, he was too intelligent for rock and roll, and that´s why he was misunderstood, but he didn´t care, he believed in constant work, never explain, never apologize. The Fall took all the best things in rock and roll: Can, Velvet Underground, punk, Captain Beefheart, and pushed it to the next level. Our favorite rock group ever.

Huun Hur Tu — “Prayer”

I tried to stick to Western, modern music but I can´t help including this.

[basicsofislam]

PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH)’s BIOGRAPHY :  The Year of Sadness.Part 2

Everyone would taste it, everything had its moment. The old and dying Abu Talib turned to the representatives of the Quraysh and said the following:

“O people of Quraysh! You are among the chosen ones from Allah’s creation, and you hold a most central place among the Arabs. The masters that are to be obeyed, valiant people who care nothing for danger and generous men have always come from among you. You should know that you have been preferred among the Arabs and have been brought to a special position. When it comes to your honor; you live by it! Then it falls upon you to share with others these gifts you have, and people will have to seek different ways to partake in this bounty.

Now people are against you and there is a war between you. I would advise you to respect this constitution, for in it is the contentment of your Lord, ease of sustenance and consolidation of your position! Look after your relatives and never stop visiting them, for visiting relatives eases the sadness of your bereavement and it also means strength in numbers, and you will have someone there for you.

Stay away from excess and rebellion, for in both these you will find the causes of the perishing of centuries, and you know the histories of those before you.

Help those who seek help from you and never send away anyone who comes to you with an opened hand, for in these two you will find the honor of life and death.

Speak the truth and keep safe what is entrusted to you, for in both these there is a special kind of love and greatness.

Lastly I advise being graceful towards Muhammad, for he is the most trustworthy person in Quraysh, the most upright man among all Arabs, the most virtuous man that embodies all that I have just enumerated. He has come to you with such a thing that although the heart recognizes it, the tongue denies it for fear of being censured! I swear, I almost see the Arabs come running, I see good people from around coming, coming and following him and their hearts thus finding solace.

If things continue this way, while these strangers will benefit from him, leaders of Quraysh will be left behind, their stars will wane. The weak of today will become the mighty of tomorrow; the proudest of you will become the most needy, and those who are distant to him today will be closest to him in the future! Look, the Arabs have already opened their arms to him, they have run to his help; they have opened their hearts to him and have made him the crown over their heads.

O Quraysh! Take care to recognize this value that has risen from among you! Be his helpers and protectors of his cause! I swear by Allah that whoever follows his path he will reach maturity, and whoever takes what he had brought as his guide, becomes the happiest of men! I wish my life were a little longer, and my death was a little delayed, I wish I could help him fight the difficulties he faces!”

This advice that everyone needed to heed would have made sense only to those who were ready to receive them. It was clear that the polytheists had not liked what he had said at all. No doubt they too had other plans in order to further their stance in denial, and they would put these plans into action, digging a bigger whole for themselves. Once again they complained, lifted their heads in arrogance, and left Abu Talib’s presence.

When the leading men of Quraysh left Abu Talib’s side, he turned to his nephew and said with the experience of his years: “I swear, O son of my brother, you have not asked them to do an impossible thing.”

This was a statement that heartened the Messenger of Allah. At last his uncle was showing signs of accepting Islam, for he had set his door ajar for faith. The affectionate Messenger who wanted to make use of every opportunity turned towards him with great hope; he just couldn’t accept his beloved and protective uncle leaving him without having taken any steps towards faith: “O uncle! Then you say that word so that with it I may be able to vouch for you on the Day of Judgment.”

This was a great opportunity for a soul who had devoted himself to saving other people’s faiths; he wanted his uncle to believe so much! But faith was a matter of destiny, for even if one was a Prophet, no one was able to hold another fast to the right path as long as Allah did not will it, he could not make this route easier to get on to for people he wanted. Revelations said the same thing: 

“You cannot guide to truth whomever you like but Allah guides whomever He wills. He knows best who are guided (and amenable to guidance)” (al-Qasas 28:56).

The Messenger’s strife was the result of his love for his uncle, but it did not yield any results. This last push had been a new and last hope. When he saw that his nephew had such high hopes, Abu Talib said: “O son of my brother,” even this address had the tone that said “Do not have such high hopes.” Then after a pause he continued: “Had I not feared that people after me may attribute senility to the son of their forefathers, or the Quraysh saying that I said these words because I feared death, I would have said those words. But I can say them to make you happy.”

Our noble Prophet would still try to make something of each moment and would try to make his uncle give him a definite response.

The leading men of denial once again came to the side of his uncle. The Messenger of Allah started to walk towards his uncle Abu Talib in his sick bed. Another uncle made for the bed as well and sat where the Messenger of Allah had meant to sit. His aim was to prevent the Messenger of Allah from influencing Abu Talib in his last moments and from inviting him to Islam. Even at a moment when Abu Talib was in his death throes, denial kept up its stern front; it did not want to allow any steps that might lead to belief. They couldn’t even tolerate the Messenger looking at his uncle’s eyes with affection. On top of that, the Messenger of Allah was trying to invite him to faith at every opportunity. Even in these last moments, the struggle between faith and denial was being played out to the full. Abu Talib was asked: “O Abu Talib! Are you now giving up the religion of Abdul Muttalib?”

“No. I am staying on the religion of Abdul Muttalib,” he answered.

He was now closer to death. Sitting closer to him was his brother Abbas. He was trying to see the movement of his lips, and then the greatest patron of our noble Prophet closed his eyes to life.

However, the Messenger of Allah would not stop praying and seeking forgiveness for Abu Talib who had been prevented by the pressure of denial to come to the path of faith: “And me, I will continue to ask forgiveness from Allah for you as long as I am not prohibited to do so.”

This statement of the noble Prophet was going to be validated by the good news brought by Gabriel. The verse that came first spoke of the situation which made the scene eternal. Then it gave an example from his ancestors thereby showing the correct attitude to be taken under such circumstances:

It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allah for the forgiveness of those who associate partners with Allah even though they be near of kin, after it has become clear to them that they (died polytheists and therefore) are condemned to the Blazing Flame. The prayer of Abraham for the forgiveness of his father was only because of a promise which he had made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he (Abraham) dissociated himself from him. Abraham was most tender-hearted, most clement. (at-Tawbah 9:113–114)

After the burial, Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib approached the Messenger of Allah and said to his bereaved nephew: “O son of my brother! I swear by Allah that Abu Talib said the word you wanted him to say at his last moment.”

The Messenger of Allah wasn’t thinking the same way.

“I didn’t hear it,” he said. Upon that Abbas approached his nephew and said that he needed to be softer and more balanced towards his uncle. He was a man of balance anyway; he was the representative of the straight path, and everyone needed to take him as an example. That is why he said to his uncle:

[dalyunministry]

Pas. Johnraj Lamech

💗

Greetings in the matchless Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Topic: The Greatest need of the hour.

Rhema Word: Mark 16:15-16 “Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Let’s pray. Our Gracious Loving Father, thank you for giving us an opportunity to meditate your Word today. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping us to understand your Words which are living and active. Please help us to live a life as per your Word Lord. Father, we give all the Glory and Honour to you. We pray in the mighty Name of your beloved Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

I believe that this is the most critical hour in the spiritual time-table of this nation, this continent, and this world.

Let us try to understand with the help of our Holy Spirit, the following today:

[1] The Supreme Command:

[2] The Supreme Burden:

[3] The Supreme Need: Labourers:

[4] The Supreme Cost: Supreme Sacrifice:

[5] The Supreme Responsibility: The Blood of men:

[6] The Supreme urgency:

[7] The Supreme Goal: The Local & the International field:

[1] The Supreme Command:

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20 ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

He again said in Mark 16:15-16 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

He again said in Matthew 24:14 ” And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The Lord meant that this command should be obeyed; In a sense, it is His greatest command; for all His plans for all men are bound up in it. The early disciples obeyed it. Paul, for example, separated the disciples from the Jewish religionists, and within a period of two years all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:8-10). The disciples in Jerusalem filled the whole town with the teaching of the Lord. The religious leaders said, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (Acts 5:28) Further the Bible says in Acts 8:4-6 ”Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.”

These early disciples treated the command with the importance that the Lord gave to it. They gave it their all. Yes, they gave it their all – time, energy, intelligence, and all. If they were tent-makers, their true profession was proclaiming the gospel. They made tents to pay the expenses involved in proclaiming Christ. They never gave their hearts to tent-making. They dreamt about proclaiming the gospel, about filling the world with the Good News that Jesus saves and saves completely.

They knew that the gospel had to be preached throughout the whole world as a witness before the Lord Jesus would return. They did not spend time day-dreaming about the second coming and hair-splitting about details when most of the world had not yet heard of the first coming.

They obeyed the Lord in all things at all times. This was the Lord’s foremost command, and they made it the one command that had to be obeyed before all the other ones.

Yes, they assessed their lives by one invariable standard, ”Am I obeying the command to go into the world and make disciples of all nations?

They did not deceive themselves. They faced facts – the facts related to the making of disciples of all nations. If you are not actively obeying that command, you are disobedient and, consequently, outside God’s will!

[2] The Supreme Burden:

There is a burden on God’s heart. His burden is that the people whom His Son purchased by His death on the cross are yet lost in sin, not because they do not want to hear about Him, but because they have not been told about Him. He does not want anyone to perish. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 ”The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Yes, people at different times have caught the burden that God has.

Apostle Paul saw the vision of what God had in mind and also saw the lost condition of his tribesmen. He, then said that he had unceasing sorrow, great anguish, and a heart’s desire for the lost Jews whom he wanted to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. The burden weighed so much on him that he considered that he was under a curse if he did not preach the gospel. The early disciples so felt the burden of lost souls that they went everywhere preaching the gospel of the Lord.

God needs people whose burden for the lost is so great that they will not know one minute’s joy while multitudes pass away without Christ into the lake of fire.

[3] The Supreme Need: Labourers:

The Lord Jesus saw the obvious need for labourers. He encouraged the disciples to pray for labourers. He said in Matthew 9:37-38 ”The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” The harvest is His. Only He can send out labourers. There are three types of labourers needed by the Lord. He needs labourers who will:

1] Preach the gospel.

2] Intercede.

3] Give sacrificially.

1] Preach the gospel:

Those who will live and preach the gospel are the ones who have died to the world, the flesh, and the devil and who, of consequence, cannot be trapped by the wicked one. These are people whose character has so undergone the purifying and perfecting work of God that God can depend on them to rightly represent Him.

2] Intercede:

God needs those who will intercede for the lost. The Bible says in Ezekiel 22:29-31 ”The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore, I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. Here it was principally a divine need. Although the people deserved destruction, God, out of love, did not want to destroy them. He, however, could not just twist the demands of divine justice. Two things were possible. Someone either stood in the gap and interceded so that the people were spared, or they had what they deserved. Because God wanted to spare them, He Himself went out looking for one person who could stand in the gap so that they would be spared.

Remember, God did not require two people – just one – but He did not find that one. So He reluctantly poured out His anger. What If He had found an intercessor? The people, though sinful, would have been spared so that they could have another chance to respond to the love of God. Because no intercessor was found, multitudes perished. Could it be that the sin of some particular nation, province, town, village, etc., has gone up continually to God, but, yet He wants to spare it if He could find an intercessor? Can you be counted upon to stand in the gap? Do you know the secret of standing in the gap? Do you know the authority of an intercessor? Are you able to satisfy this current need of God?

Where are those who can say to the Lord, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.”

Can God today say the following because you are available?

The Bible says in Isaiah 62:6-7 ”I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord,do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Others may be unavailable but can He at least say of you, ”I have set a watchman?” Do you know something of taking no rest and giving Him no rest night and day as you labour in intercession? Have you ever interceded until all of your body was bathed in sweat?

The Enemy is attacking God’s special property – the Church. Where are those able soldiers who can wage prayer warfare and carry out the following as explained in Psalm 118:10-12 ”All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; they were quenched like a fire of thorns; for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”

Are there faithful intercessors to whom God can say the following as Psalmist sings in Psalm 149:5-9? ”Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment— this honour have all His saints. Praise the Lord!”

Will God find faithful men and women of prayer who will surround each aspect of the work with prayer and build prayer walls round each worker so that all attempts of the Enemy to destroy them are frustrated? This is God’s greatest need at the moment.

The sad thing about it is that although this ministry of intercession is open to all the saints: the rich, the poor, the healthy, the sick, the educated, the uneducated, males, females, etc., yet it is the one where labourers are in the shortest supply. This surprises God. The Bible puts it bluntly in Isaiah 59:15-16 “So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

God wondered! He was surprised! He was “shocked”! Must it repeat itself today?

3] Give sacrificially:

God needs those who will give sacrificially. The truth is that the gospel enterprise needs funds. Remember, people have not heard the gospel because believers are giving too little. It costs to send pioneer workers. Just the cost of transportation to mission fields and basic allowances for clothes and food excluding all luxury, amounts to considerable sums. Must people die without Christ while believers live in the comforts of an earth-bound people?

Could the closing of our eyes to the financial needs of God’s work be the reason for our spiritual bankruptcy?

Could it be that the Lord is speaking to us in the following message in Haggai 1:2-11 (NLT) ”This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’ Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”

Remember, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 ”Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

Apostle Paul while writing to Romans says in Romans 10:13-15 ”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Just see how God uses everyone in saving a lost soul:

The process starts from Verse 15 upwards – “One (may be you or me) sends one missionary by his sacrificial giving -> that missionary goes and tells about Jesus to some one in the mission field where he/she has not heard about Jesus so far in his/her life -> then the person hears about Jesus from this missionary (sent by you and me) and believes Jesus, accepts Jesus as his/her personal saviour and becomes a child of God. Yes, our Lord Jesus does everything beautifully and uses every one in this great process of salvation of one lost soul. Yes, everyone is participating in this harvest and getting blessed by our Lord which is the greatest need of the hour. Shall we either GO AS MISSIONARY OR SEND SOMEONE BY OUR SACRIFICIAL GIVING FOR GOD’S GREATEST NEED OF THE HOUR?

[4] The Supreme Cost: Supreme Sacrifice:

The greatest need of the hour is for people who will pay the price that is needed to do God’s work, God’s way.

(a) There is an urgent need for crucified men to proclaim a crucified Saviour. Yes, God would raise prophets!

(b) God needs people whose lives are written off. Paul was one such man. He said in Acts 20:24 ”But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Such men will proclaim the whole counsel of God and bear the consequences. They will not be found fighting with kings, governors, and presidents. They will be hated men – trouble makers – whose presence, like that of Elijah, will not negotiate peace on sin. They will reply as he did in 1 Kings 21:20 “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah. “Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight.”

Such people will not hesitate to pronounce judgement on a monarch who has deliberately parted with God. They will say to him, ”So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel! I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.” (1 Kings 21:21-22)

(c) There is an urgent need for people who will give their lives and their all as Jesus gave His. He gave His all willingly. He held nothing back. He emptied Himself of all but love.

(d) The widow gave her mite and satisfied the heart of God. She had nothing left that she could give. God is not as interested in what is given as He is in what is left behind.

(e) One woman broke her alabaster box of ointment and poured the contents on the Lord Jesus. Jesus said that she had done all that she could. In other words, the Lord was saying that she had done all that she could do.

(f) Remember, those who will win “the day” for Christ, like Paul, will know suffering.

[5] The Supreme Responsibility: The blood of men:

The Lord had promised to require from believers the blood of all those who have not heard the gospel. They will perish in their sins, but the Lord will turn to the believer and say: “Their blood is upon you.” The extent to which you did not do all that you could do in full co-operation with the Holy Spirit to warn sinners of the consequences of their sin, is the extent to which you are guilty of their blood. Can we sit at ease when the blood of men is on us? Let us examine ourselves.

[6] The Supreme Urgency:

There are many reasons why now is the only right time to act. It is the only time anyone rally has to respond to the greatest need of the moment:

First of all, God says, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). If the Lord says “now”, and someone says “tomorrow”, that one is an adversary of the Lord. All who change God’s “now” into some other time are enemies of the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, it is urgent to get all the gospel out to all the world now because the doors may be closed. There is no time to wait. Every minute lost is lost forever.

Thirdly, the harvest that is now ripe may be spoiled. There are a number of ways by which this could take place:

(a) Softened hearts that are now ready may be hardened if not reached for the Lord. There is a limit to the time when softened hearts can remain open to the gospel. A day’s delay can make all the difference.

(b) Other doctrines may reach a hungry heart before the gospel of Christ reaches the ready soul. A person who is seeking God will open up to the first message about God that reaches him. What if the first message is the devil’s lie? It could be a matter of hours and a soul is lost for all time and eternity.

(c) Sinners may die without Christ. In as much as today is the day of salvation, today is also dying day. A sinner who is not reached today may be dead by tomorrow. Every minute is dying time. To say that you will only reach out to that person tomorrow may also imply that he will never be reached at all. Death may reach him before the gospel.

(d) The Lord may come suddenly. This is the time of grace. The Lord may come sooner than expected and all who do not know Him will be lost eternally. The Lord is coming. It would be tonight. Since the proclamation of the gospel is the most serious thing in all the world, is it fair to take the risk of pushing into the future what may be interrupted by the sound of the trumpet of God?

(e) Finally, you and me, the one entrusted with the gospel, may be called home. Our life could end at any moment. No one has an absolute guarantee for tomorrow. This night the Lord of the harvest may suddenly call us to give an account of the harvest that He has entrusted to us. If He wants something done today and we push it into the future for our convenience and then suddenly He says: “Procrastinator, come tonight and give account of your stewardship of souls,” what would you say? Can you afford the tragic luxury of meeting the Lord with an unaccomplished commission?

These reasons and many others make proclaiming the gospel the most urgent thing on earth. There are things that can wait without serious consequences, but the gospel cannot wait. All waiting is fatal and beyond repair.

[7] The Supreme Goal: The Local & the International field:

The Lord Jesus said that the gospel was to go to all the nations. The whole world is included in the great commission. Those who are rooted in the ground may only see one individual or one place. Those who rise higher with the Lord in the Spirit see whole villages.

Those who rise higher still see whole provinces and then entire nations and continents; and those who fly into the heights where the Lord moves see the whole world. God’s vision is world vision. His harvest is world harvest. God belongs to all people and is interested in all men. He has not partisan spirit. Chickens can be partisan. They are on earth. Eagles cannot be partisan. They fly high.

Those who are faithful in witnessing to one person will be allowed to witness to other people. Those who are faithful in praying for one person and persisting in prayer until the person is saved will receive the capacity to pray for more. He who is faithful in a little will be given much to steward.

The best thing is to be faithful where you are. You will be given more in proportion to your faithfulness. The world may promote failures through corruption. God cannot be corrupted. He will not promote failures. Men can use the power of the television, money, etc., to give themselves a “World ministry”. God has no part in it. He promotes those who pay the price and who pay it in its totality.

The supreme goal must be winning souls to Christ and establishing them in Him. That is the only goal that will do. God will accept no other goals. That goal eliminates all other goals.

The supreme goal demands just one thing. Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:20-21 ”It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

Paul set his heart on those who had never heard the gospel. He had not only the one ambition of preaching Christ but he wanted to be the first person to preach Christ to a certain people. He wanted to be a pioneer. He knew he would lay the right foundation. He was not so sure about the quality of foundations laid by too many people. He did not want mixtures.

There are still many places where Christ has not yet been named. There are still whole tribes without a single individual’s name from there in the Lamb’s book of life. This is a most urgent need, for the Lord cannot return unless this happens. There must be people in the Kingdom from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. The Bible says in Revelation 5:9-10 ” And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

May we repeat that this is the most urgent, the greatest need of the hour. God desperately needs those who will go where Christ has not yet been preached and has not yet been named. These kinds of places are the most difficult. They are the most challenging, but they provide the opportunity for dependence on God and the manifestation of the power of God as other situations do not.

God wants lives wasted on Him. He wants people who will pour out their lives as a libation on the altar of God’s programme for the total evangelisation of the world. Such men will give their all to Christ, suffer the loss of all for Him, die possibly unknown to the mad world of religious play actors, leave hardly anything behind as personal wealth, but win a coveted position in God’s Hall of Fame. The question remains, ”Will God find such men?”

Such people will stand in the way of their accomplishing God’s eternal purpose and will use the most powerful weapons of the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit to bring down whatever the obstacles and destroy them completely. They will never resort to physical violence or force. They will war in the Spirit and in the Spirit alone.

Such people will accept NO NEGOTIATIONS. They will state God’s position and stand by it even at the COST of their LIVES.

Such people are the greatest need of the hour. May God raise them quickly! May all who know and love Him co-operate with Him so that He can find the right labourers for His harvest. Amen.

Let us examine ourselves..

Shall we obey to our Lord’s Greatest command today?

Shall we have the burden of God’s heart for the people whom His Son purchased by His death on the cross are to be saved before Jesus’ second coming?

Shall we have the burden to pray so that the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest?

Shall we have the burden to pay the price that is needed to do God’s greatest command?

Shall we take the responsibility for the unreached souls as their blood is upon us?

Shall we have the supreme urgency to reach the dying souls before it’s too late?

Shall we have the supreme goal of reaching nations across globe ?

Let us Pray: Heavenly Gracious Father, we thank you for helping us to understand about “The Greatest need of the hour – to reach the unreached people across globe, Father. Thank you for reminding us with your Word, “ Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Yes Father, we commit ourselves today to obey your greatest command, to have Your thirst for souls who have not so far been reached, to pray for sending labourers into Your harvest, to pay the price that is needed to carry out Your Supreme Command, to take the responsibility, have the urgency and supreme goal of reaching nations across globe. Please help us to stand firm in accomplishing Your eternal purpose and anoint us with Your Spirit of Prayer so that we can use the most powerful weapons of the power of prayer and to bring down whatever the obstacles and destroy them completely with the help of the Holy Spirit Father. Please help us to preach the gospel where Christ is not known, so that those who are not told about Jesus will see, and those who have not heard will understand and be saved Lord. Father, the harvest is plentiful and it’s Yours Lord. Father, only You can send out labourers into Your harvest. We submit ourselves today to you unconditionally for Your harvest Father. Please use us mightily for accomplishing your greatest command before Your Son’s Second coming Father. We give all praise, glory and honour to Your Holy Name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

God bless you all..

[aion-rsa]

Top New Fantasy Books in September 2020

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Here are some of the upcoming books we’re anticipating for the fall:

Join the Den of Geek Book Club!

Top New Fantasy Books September 2020

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Type: Novel  Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Release date: Sept. 15

Den of Geek says: Clarke’s atmospheric Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was an eerie, old-fashioned take on the fairy genre, delicate and complex at once. She returns with a haunted house tale (!) featuring endless rooms, mysterious characters, and “A Great and Secret Knowledge.” Publisher’s summary: Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

Buy Piranesi by Susanna Clarke on Amazon. 

Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston 

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: Sept. 8

Den of Geek says: A lyrical, apocalyptic fantasy epic, Master of Poisons sends two very different characters into an unforgiving world in a creative new alternate empire. Publisher’s summary: The world is changing. Poison desert eats good farmland. Once-sweet water turns foul. The wind blows sand and sadness across the Empire. To get caught in a storm is death. To live and do nothing is death. There is magic in the world, but good conjure is hard to find.

Djola, righthand man and spymaster of the lord of the Arkhysian Empire, is desperately trying to save his adopted homeland, even in exile.

Awa, a young woman training to be a powerful griot, tests the limits of her knowledge and comes into her own in a world of sorcery, floating cities, kindly beasts, and uncertain men.

Awash in the rhythms of folklore and storytelling and rich with Hairston’s characteristic lush prose, Master of Poisons is epic fantasy that will bleed your mind with its turns of phrase and leave you aching for the world it burns into being.

Buy Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston on Amazon. 

 The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart 

Type: Novel Publisher: Hachette Books  Release date: Sept. 8

Den of Geek says: The magic system in this debut has a pleasantly video game-like system of magic talismans and animal automatons. Publisher’s summary: The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.

Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.

Buy The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart on Amazon.

Top New Fantasy Books August 2020

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Release date: Aug. 11 

Den of Geek says: The Baru Cormorant series features as its hero a mentally ill accountant with the fate of an empire at her fingers. The third book in the series promises more dark, twisty introspection and grim, creative world-building. 

Publisher’s summary: The hunt is over. After fifteen years of lies and sacrifice, Baru Cormorant has the power to destroy the Imperial Republic of Falcrest that she pretends to serve. The secret society called the Cancrioth is real, and Baru is among them.

But the Cancrioth’s weapon cannot distinguish the guilty from the innocent. If it escapes quarantine, the ancient hemorrhagic plague called the Kettling will kill hundreds of millions…not just in Falcrest, but all across the world. History will end in a black bloodstain.

Is that justice? Is this really what Tain Hu hoped for when she sacrificed herself?

Baru’s enemies close in from all sides. Baru’s own mind teeters on the edge of madness or shattering revelation. Now she must choose between genocidal revenge and a far more difficult path―a conspiracy of judges, kings, spies and immortals, puppeteering the world’s riches and two great wars in a gambit for the ultimate prize. 

If Baru had absolute power over the Imperial Republic, she could force Falcrest to abandon its colonies and make right its crimes.

Buy The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson on Amazon.

Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

Type: Epic Poem  Publisher: MCD x FSG Originals Release date: Aug. 25 

Den of Geek says: Headley got an intimate look at Beowulf in the modern interpretation The Mere Wife. She turns the intellect behind that inventive, scathing novel about complex and furious women to a translation of the poem featuring new research. 

Publisher’s summary: Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf―and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment high-school students around the world―there is a radical new verse translation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements that have never before been translated into English, recontextualizing the binary narrative of monsters and heroes into a tale in which the two categories often entwine, justice is rarely served, and dragons live among us. 

A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history―Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment, powerful men seeking to become more powerful, and one woman seeking justice for her child, but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation of Beowulf, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation.

Buy Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley on Amazon.

The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

Type: Novel (Reprint)  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: Aug. 11 

Den of Geek says: Gene Wolfe is a modern master of fantasy. This reprint of a 2004 duology provides both original stories in one paperback package. 

Publisher’s summary: A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm consisting of seven levels of reality. Transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Sir Able of the High Heart and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, the blade that will help him fulfill his ambition to become a true hero―a true knight. 

Inside, however, Sir Able remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive what lies ahead…

Buy The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe on Amazon.

Top New Fantasy Books July 2020 

The Book of Dragons: An Anthology by Jonathan Strahan

Type: Anthology  Publisher: Harper Voyager  Release date: July 7 

Den of Geek says: I’m always looking for a good book about dragons, and this incredible list of authors promises adventurous and unique stories. Anne Leckie, Zen Cho, Seanan Maguire, J.Y. Yang, Patricia A McKillip, Brooke Bolander … it’s an astounding, literary-flavored list of people qualified to write cool creatures.

Publisher’s summary: Here there be dragons . . . 

From China to Europe, Africa to North America, dragons have long captured our imagination in myth and legend. Whether they are rampaging beasts awaiting a brave hero to slay or benevolent sages who have much to teach humanity, dragons are intrinsically connected to stories of creation, adventure, and struggle beloved for generations. 

Bringing together nearly thirty stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today— Garth Nix, Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Ann Leckie & Rachel Swirsky, Daniel Abraham, Peter S. Beagle, Beth Cato, Zen Cho, C. S. E Cooney, Aliette de Bodard, Amal El-Mohtar, Kate Elliott, Theodora Goss, Ellen Klages, Ken Liu, Seanan Maguire, Patricia A McKillip, K. J. Parker, Kelly Robson, Michael Swanwick, Jo Walton, Elle Katharine White, Jane Yolen, Kelly Barnhill, Brooke Bolander, Sarah Gailey, and J. Y. Yang��and illustrated by award-nominated artist Rovina Cai with black-and-white line drawings specific to each entry throughout, this extraordinary collection vividly breathes fire and life into one of our most captivating and feared magical creatures as never before and is sure to become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales.

Buy The Book of Dragons by Jonathan Strahan on Amazon.

Or What You Will by Joe Walton 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 7 

Den of Geek says: Jo Walton is a writer’s writer, highly praised but still generally skating under the radar. I found her 2014 My Real Children to not nearly live up to its very high concept, but she’s one of those authors with technical prowess who is at least worth checking out for context for women’s science fiction. The metafiction plot sounds fun. 

Publisher’s summary: He has been too many things to count. He has been a dragon with a boy on his back. He has been a scholar, a warrior, a lover, and a thief. He has been dream and dreamer. He has been a god. 

But “he” is in fact nothing more than a spark of idea, a character in the mind of Sylvia Harrison, 73, award-winning author of thirty novels over forty years. He has played a part in most of those novels, and in the recesses of her mind, Sylvia has conversed with him for years. 

But Sylvia won’t live forever, any more than any human does. And he’s trapped inside her cave of bone, her hollow of skull. When she dies, so will he.

Now Sylvia is starting a new novel, a fantasy for adult readers, set in Thalia, the Florence-resembling imaginary city that was the setting for a successful YA trilogy she published decades before. Of course he’s got a part in it. But he also has a notion. He thinks he knows how he and Sylvia can step off the wheel of mortality altogether. All he has to do is convince her.

Buy Or What You Will by Jo Walton on Amazon.

The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal

Type: Graphic Novel  Publisher: First Second  Release date: July 14 

Den of Geek says: The Adventure Zone is a wildly popular humorous fantasy podcast. It’s part of the big 2010s wave of Dungeons & Dragons coming back into the geek space. Especially for someone who might not want to listen to hundreds of episodes of a podcast, the illustrated version does a good job of smoothing out the story into a graphic novel format without removing the goofy chaos of the original podcast. 

Publisher’s summary: START YOUR ENGINES, friends, Clint McElroy and sons Griffin, Justin, and Travis hit the road again with Taako, Magnus and Merle, the beloved agents of chaos from the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novels illustrated by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins and The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited.

Our boys have gone full-time at the Bureau of Balance, and their next assignment is a real thorny one: apprehending The Raven, a master thief who’s tapped into the power of a Grand Relic to ransack the city of Goldcliff. Local life-saver Lieutenant Hurley pulls them out of the woods, only to throw them headlong into the world of battle wagon racing, Goldcliff’s favorite high-stakes low-legality sport and The Raven’s chosen battlefield. Will the boys and Hurley be able to reclaim the Relic and pull The Raven back from the brink, or will they get lost in the weeds?

Based on the beloved blockbuster podcast where three brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG in real time, The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal has it all: blossoming new friendships, pining for outlaw lovers, and a rollicking race you can root for!

Buy The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal on Amazon.

The post Top New Fantasy Books in September 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/30f7KEw

[seekfirstme]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2020. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Do you allow any troubles to rob you of God's peace? As much as we try to avoid it, we all inevitably encounter trouble and difficulties. Jesus knew his disciples would have to face trials and persecution after he left them to return to his Father in heaven. Adversity can make us lose hope and become discouraged, or it can press us closer to God and to his promises for us.

"It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed" (Deuteronomy 31:8).

A place for you in my Father's house

Just as God, who appeared as a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night, went ahead of Moses and the Israelites to lead them safely through the wilderness to the promised land, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going ahead through his ascension into heaven to prepare a place for them in his Father's house - a place of lasting peace, friendship, and happiness with God. God's house is never closed nor over-crowded - there is plenty of room for everyone who believes in God and in his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest fear in this present life - whether it be the separation and loss of a loved one or the threat to one's own life - is put to rest by Jesus' promise that we will live forever with him and the eternal Father. There we will be joined with a great company of saints and angels who will be our friends forever as well.

Do you know the way to the Father's house in heaven? Jesus expected his disciples to know where his life was headed - to dwell in everlasting glory with his Father in heaven. And he expected that his disciples would recognize that this was their ultimate destination as well. Thomas, who was both a doubter and a realist, spoke for all the disciples when he said, "we neither know where you are going nor how we shall get there on our own?" Thomas was a very practical "down to earth" kind of person who wanted to see the map and landmarks showing the exact path that would lead the way to the desired haven. Jesus assured Thomas that he would not only give him everything he needed to complete the journey, he would be Thomas' personal guide as well.

Traveling alone in unfamiliar or uncharted places can be unnerving and bewildering without a companion or guide. And some places are impossible to pass through without the right person who knows the way and who can guarantee a safe passage. Several years ago I was invited by Christian friends to visit their community in Lebanon. They were in the middle of a civil war that would last for 15 years (1975-1990). Months and years of hardship, exposure to danger, and the uncertainty of the war's outcome, as well as being physically cutoff from outside contact with friends, was weighing heavily. I was eager to visit to offer some support. Since I had never traveled there before, nor spoke the local language, I knew that I was helpless without a trustworthy guide. Fortunately a close Christian friend from Lebanon met me half-way on my journey and personally guided me through some unfamiliar territory, including check-points, road-blocks, physical danger, and some social, religious, and political hurdles as well. My guide got me safely to my destination. I literally owed my life to his safe-keeping. The Lord Jesus promised his followers that he would be their personal guide and friend who would lead them to the source of  lasting peace, enduring friendship, and abundant life.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

The disciples were surprised that Jesus was going to his Father's house and would return to take them with him. And they were even more surprised when Jesus said he expected them to know the way to the Father's house. Jesus' answer to there question, "show us the way", was both a reminder that his disciples should trust their Master and Teacher to show them the way, and a challenge for them to recognize that Jesus had intimate knowledge of God and where God came from. Jesus made a statement that invoked the very name which God had revealed to Moses, "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14), and he made three claims which only God could make. He stated unequivocally to his disciples: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6)

Jesus proclaims: I am the Way (John 14:6). He alone knows the way to the Father because he has been with the Father from the beginning - before time and creation ever existed. The Lord Jesus gives us more than a road map and guide book. He personally is the way to the Father's kingdom, and we cannot miss it if we follow him. He accompanies us on our daily journey and watches over us as the good shepherd who leads and sustains us each and every step of the way. Are you in step with the Lord and do you trust in his guiding hand for your life?

Jesus proclaims that he is the Truth (John 14:6). Many can say, "I have taught you the truth." Only Jesus can say, I am the Truth. He possesses in himself the fulness of truth. Jesus claims to be one with the Father and to speak the truth which proceeds from the Father. Jesus promised his disciples that if they continued in his word, they would learn the truth and the  truth would set them free" (John 8:31). The truth which Jesus proclaims has power to set us free from ignorance, deception, and sin. The words which Jesus speaks are true because there is no lie or falsehood in him. Moral truth requires more than mere words or ideas because the person who speaks them must be true - true in thought, speech, deed, example, and action. Jesus embodies the truth in his person.

Jesus proclaims that he is the Life (John 14:6). He not only shows us the path of life (Psalm 16:11); he gives the kind of life which only God can give - abundant life that lasts forever. Is there any trouble, fear, or distraction that keeps you from the perfect peace and joy of a life surrendered to Jesus Christ?

 "Lord Jesus, you fill us with the joy of your saving presence and you give us the hope of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. Show me the Father that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2020.

THE UNTROUBLED ARE IN TROUBLE

"Do not let your hearts be troubled." —John 14:1

Shortly after Jesus commanded His apostles not to be troubled, He was in agony. He prayed so fervently that "His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Lk 22:44). To be untroubled does not mean not to be in trouble. Jesus was in trouble with the authorities because of His obedience to His Father. To be untroubled does not mean to be without fear or agony. Jesus' heart was broken. To be untroubled does mean to have faith in our heavenly Father and thereby to have a peace beyond understanding (Phil 4:7).

To be untroubled means to rest in living God's will. To be untroubled means to avoid letting our troubles pressure us into committing sin. Paradoxically, to be untroubled means to be in trouble with the world, for in doing God's will we oppose the ways of the world. To be untroubled can mean even to be persecuted with all the fear and distress that comes with persecution. In summary, to be untroubled means to have the faith to accept the grace to do God's will, resist the temptations to sin, get in trouble with the world, and even deserve persecution.

To be untroubled means to carry our daily crosses. "The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God" (1 Cor 1:18).

Prayer:  Father, make me a troublemaker by Your standards.

Promise:  "God raised Him from the dead, and for many days thereafter Jesus appeared to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are His witnesses now before the people." —Acts 13:30-31

Praise:  Joseph is learning to pray always. Every day he prays that he will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Reference:  (For a related teaching on Jesus and Peace, order, listen to, or download our CD 42-1 or DVD 42 on our website.)

Rescript:  †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, September 24, 2020

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

[johnhardinsawyer]

God Works Together

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

6 / 16 / 19

John 16:12-15

Romans 5:1-5

“God Works Together”

(Cooperation. . . Dig It!)

When I was growing up, my father would pick me up from school and we would go home and sit on the couch for a little while and watch Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street.  That time with my daddy was very special and I learned some things that have stuck with me.  The other day, I was stuck in traffic on our beloved stretch of New Hampshire Highway101 through Bedford.  And, as I watched the big earth movers and the dump trucks and the steam rollers and the people who step out into traffic to hold up stop signs so that the heavy equipment can move in and out of the work zone at the right time, all of a sudden, from the cluttered recesses of my mind, I found myself singing an old song from Sesame Street:  

Cooperation, makes it happen.  

Cooperation, working together.  Dig it![1]

I know, I know, I could have sung a song about how ready I am for the road-widening project to be finished, but I don’t know any songs like that.  What I do know is that it takes a lot of cooperation to build a road, to play a sport, to build a car, to send people into outer space, or as the original song goes, to plant a community garden.  Cooperation is key in so many ways – people working together to do more than one person could do on his or her own.

In the Christian tradition, we believe that God cooperates with God’s own self.  God works together in different ways to achieve the holy purposes of God in the universe.  Please note that I said, “God (singular) works together” not “gods (plural) work together.” One God.  Three Persons.  This is the tangled linguistic web that some of our Christian fathers and mothers in the faith wove together as they were trying to come up with the different ways that God works.  Christianity, like Judaism and Islam, is a mono-theistic religion.  We believe in oneGod.  But, we Christians, believe that our one God is at work in “three persons,” as a “Trinity.” You just might remember singing “God, in three persons, blessed Trinity,”[2]a few minutes ago at the start of the worship service.  In the church, the Trinity – also known as “the Triune God” –  is often referred to as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”  By the way, for those of you who might be interested or concerned about such things, there are places in the Bible when the word “Father” is used to talk about God.  Jesus does this in today’s passage.  But God is so big and mysterious that God does not fit so nicely into the labels that we human beings will often use to try to describe God.  This is one reason why the concept of the Trinity is both so helpful and also hard to understand.  God – as Loving Parent, and Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – works together creating, redeeming, and sustaining all of creation, all living things, even you and me.

Throughout the centuries, using scripture and traditional ways of thinking and talking about God, the church has formulated how we believe it is that the Triune God works together.  As we get into the subject of the Trinity, you should know that the words “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” do not appear in that specific order and pattern very much in the Bible.  Jesus only says the Trinitarian “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” once – when he gives his disciples the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28:19)  Instead, what the Bible does give us is glimpses of the Trinity throughout scripture – God, in three persons, working together, cooperating, to bring about the creation of all things, the salvation of the world, and the continued care and support of all creation, working toward God’s great and glorious purposes.

Over the years, people have tried to describe how the Trinity is organized and what the Trinity looks like, but this can all get pretty confusing, pretty fast.  Is the Trinity like an egg, as Pastor Karen explained earlier?  I do like that example, by the way!  Or, if you were to draw a diagram of the Trinity, would it be three circles – one for each person?  Are the circles concentric or are they just touching?  Does the Father beget the Son and does the Spirit proceed from both of them or do the Son and the Spirit both proceed from the Father?  Again, this is the tangled web of words and images and metaphors that our Christian ancestors spent a lot of time and energy arguing about.

For me, one of the more helpful, recent, examples of a way to try to understand the Trinity comes from a British theologian named Jeremy Begbie, who says that there is a big difference in the ways we see things in the world and hear things in the world.  For example you can’t see two or three colors in the same place at the same time without them melding together to make some new color.  In the same way, Father, Son, and Spirit exist in the same place at the same time – as God – but it can be hard to figure out how they are three distinct persons, and yet one God.  As Begbie teaches, though, if you hear one note. . . [A] and then you hear another note. . . [C#] and then you hear another note [E]. . . the notes are existing in the same space at the same time. . . and, if you listen carefully, you can hear each distinct note, but you can also hear the notes working together – cooperating to make a chord, to make beautiful music.  The notes are inside of each other, resonating with each other, and enhancing each other. . .[3][End Chord]  We might not be able to envision what the Triune God looks like in terms of diagrams or visual metaphors, but I find the use of sound to be helpful here.

One of my seminary professors once wrote that

The doctrine of the Trinity is the always inadequate attempt to interpret [the witness of God’s unfathomable love incarnate in Jesus Christ and celebrated in the community of faith] in the most suitable images and concepts available to the church in a particular era.[4]

In other words, the ways that we try to describe exactly what the Trinity is and how it exactly works always fall short of the mystery of what exactly God is and how exactly God works.  There are just some things we do not understand and cannot describe. . . yet. God knows this, and God wants us to know that it will all be okay.

In today’s reading, we find Jesus, on the night of his arrest, giving his “Farewell Discourse” – his fairly lengthy goodbye to his disciples as part of their after-dinner-but-before-going-out-to-the-Garden-of-Gethsemane conversation.  Jesus says a lot in his five-chapter-long farewell:  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. . .” (John 13:34)  “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. . .” (14:2)  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. . .  Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in me. . .” (14:27)  I could go on. . .

As part of his farewell, Jesus also talks specifically about the Trinity, when he says:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  This is the Spirit of truth. . .”  (14:15-17) Here, we have Jesus talking specifically about the Father and the Spirit – one person of the Trinity talking about the other two (and not in a bad way, mind you).    

Today’s reading – a short paragraph from Jesus’ farewell to his disciples – is not one of Jesus’ greatest hits.  It doesn’t get read at weddings or funerals and isn’t quoted very often, if at all.  By this point in the Gospel of John, Jesus has been talking for a while and – I imagine – his friends are in a bit of information overload.  Maybe Jesus senses this, when he says, “I still have many things to say to you,” (16:12) at which point I imagine the disciples thinking, “Oh no, here we go!”  But then Jesus gets specific:  “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”  “They would be too hard to endure, too heavy for you to carry.”[5]  Jesus goes on, though, saying something like, “There are things that God, the Father, wants to say to the world and wants us to understand about what God is doing through Jesus, but we need the Spirit to help us understand the truth about these things.”[6]  There is plenty that we do not know about God, but God is working together to reveal the truth about these things in God’s own way and time.

God works together – to teach us, to save us, to help us understand it all a bit better, or maybe just catch glimpses of understanding. But all of God is working together for and with and through all of us – in our hearts, and minds, and souls.  God is working together through the mighty acts of creation, that began at the beginning and continue, still.  God is working together through the birth, and teaching, and healing, and hospitality, and forgiveness, and love, and dying, and rising of Jesus.  God is working together at the heart of who we are, giving us the gifts of faith, and understanding, and hope, and love.  Even when the going gets rough – as the Apostle Paul writes in today’s reading from Romans – “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. . .”  (Romans 5:5) God is working together to do all of this.  God’s cooperation makes it happen. . . you dig?

There are all kinds of things about the Trinity that we could talk about this morning, but if there is one thing I would like to leave you with, it is that none of the persons of the Trinity are ever greater than the other two.  Yes, there are times when each person of the Trinity has more prominence in a story from the Bible, or we are able to feel a deep sense of God as Creator when we go out into nature, or God as Spirit when we get a sense of God’s presence with us. Some people love Jesus so much that they hang him on a cross on the wall or around their neck.  If you go into some churches in Eastern Europe, you can see God the Father depicted prominently as an old white dude with a beard.  But true cooperation – true “working together” – is never about who is in charge or more prominent.  It is about the task at hand – the love that God has for all of creation.

There are all kinds of things that the Trinity can teach us, but one of the best lessons we can learn is how to work together.  If there is anything the world – our country, our community, our church – needs right now, it is more and more working together.  There is so much more that can be accomplished together – not just to build roads or send people into outer space, but to build the kingdom of God.

God, in God’s own way of working together, gives us an example to follow.  May we do so, trusting that there might be things that are hard to bear or hard to understand.  But it is in working together – cooperating in community – that God’s truth is revealed.

May it be so.

In the name of the Triune God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

------------

[1]To see and hear this wonderful song in all its fun glory:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR34PJOl3K8.

[2]Text:  Reginald Heber, 1827.  “Holy, Holy, Holy” – Glory to God – The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) 1.

[3]See Dr. Jeremy Begbie describe this, very well, here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E021XK7tHlc.

[4]Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding – An Introduction to Christian Theology (Grand Rapids:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991) 59.

[5]Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. . .(Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 137.

[6]John 16:13-15 – Paraphrased, JHS.

[aurora-borealis-love]

*Who was Lady BARAKAH????* A young Abyssinian girl ended up for sale in Makkah. There were many like her, boys and girls, Arabs and non-Arabs, who were captured and brought to the slave market of the city to be sold. A terrible fate awaited some who ended up in the hands of cruel masters or mistresses who exploited their labor to the full and treated them with the utmost harshness. A few in that inhuman environment were rather more fortunate. They were taken into the homes of more gentle and caring people. Barakah, the young Abyssinian girl, was one of the more fortunate ones. She was saved by the generous and kind Abdullah, the son of Abdul-Muttalib. She became the only servant in his household and when he was married, to the lady Aminah, she looked after her affairs as well. Two weeks after the couple were married, according to Barakah, Abdullah’s father came to their house and instructed his son to go with a trading caravan that was leaving for Syria. Aminah was deeply distressed and cried: “How strange! How strange! How can my husband go on a trading journey to Syria while I am yet a bride and the traces of henna are still on my hands.” Abdullah’s departure was heartbreaking. In her anguish, Aminah fainted. Soon after he left, Barakah said: “When I saw Aminah unconscious, I shouted in distress and pain: ‘O my lady!’ Aminah opened her eyes and looked at me with tears streaming down her face. Suppressing a groan she said: “Take me to bed, Barakah.” “Aminah stayed bedridden for a long time. She spoke to no one. Neither did she look at anyone who visited her except Abd al-Muttalib, that noble and gentle old man. “Two months after the departure of Abdullah, Aminah called me at dawn one morning and, her face beaming with joy, she said to me: “O Barakah! I have seen a strange dream.” “Something good, my lady,” I said. “I saw lights coming from my abdomen lighting up the mountains, the hills and the valleys around Makkah.” “Do you feel pregnant, my lady?” “Yes, Barakah,” she replied. “But I do not feel any discomfort as other women feel.” “You shall give birth to a blessed child who will bring goodness,” I said. So long as Abdullah was away, Aminah remained sad and melancholic. Barakah stayed at her side trying to comfort her and make her cheerful by talking to her and relating stories. Aminah however became even more distressed when Abdul-Muttalib came and told her she had to leave her home and go to the mountains as other Makkans had done because of an impending attack on the city by the ruler of Yemen, someone called Abrahah. Aminah told him that she was too grief-striken and weak to leave for the mountains but insisted that Abrahah could never enter Makkah and destroy the Kabah because it was protected by Almighty. Abdul-Muttalib became very agitated but there was no sign of fear on Aminah’s face. Her confidence that the Kabah would not be harmed was well-founded. Abrahah’s army with an elephant in the vanguard was destroyed before it could enter Makkah. Day and night, Barakah stayed beside Aminah. She said: “I slept at the foot of her bed and heard her groans at night as she called for her absent husband. Her moans would awaken me and I would try to comfort her and give her courage.” The first part of the caravan from Syria returned and was joyously welcomed by the trading families of Makkah. Barakah went secretly to the house of Abdul-Muttalib to find out about Abdullah but had no news of him. She went back to Aminah but did not tell her what she had seen or heard in order not to distress her. The entire caravan eventually returned but not with Abdullah. Later, Barakah was at Abdul-Muttalib’s house when news came from Madinah that Abdullah had died. She said: “I screamed when I heard the news. I don’t know what I did after that except that I ran to Aminah’s house shouting, lamenting for the absent one who would never return, lamenting for the beloved one for whom we waited so long, lamenting for the most beautiful youth of Makkah, for Abdullah, the pride of the Quraysh. “When Aminah heard the painful news, she fainted and I stayed by her bedside while she was in a state between life and death. There was no one else but me in Aminah’s house. I nursed her and looked after her during the day and through the long nights until she gave birth to her child, “Muhammad”, on a night in which the heavens were resplendent with the light of Allah.” When Muhammad was born, Barakah was the first to hold him in her arms. His grandfather came and took him to the Kabah and with all Makkah, celebrated his birth. Barakah stayed with Aminah while Muhammad was sent with the lady Halimah who looked after him in the bracing atmosphere of the open desert. At the end of five years, he was brought back to Makkah and Aminah received him with tenderness and love and Barakah welcomed him “with joy, longing and admiration”. When Muhammad was six years old, his mother decided to visit the grave of her husband, Abdullah, in Madinah. Both Barakah and Abdul-Muttalib tried to dissuade her. Aminah however was determined. So one morning they set off- Aminah, Muhammad and Barakah huddled together in a small hawdaj mounted on a large camel, part of a huge caravan that was going to Syria. In order to shield the tender child from any pain and worry, Aminah did not tell Muhammad that she was going to visit the grave of his father. The caravan went at a brisk pace. Barakah tried to console Aminah for her son’s sake and much of the time the boy Muhammad slept with his arms around Barakah’s neck. The caravan took ten days to reach Madinah. The boy Muhammad was left with his maternal uncles of the Banu Najjar while Aminah went to visit the grave of Abdullah. Each day for a few weeks she stayed at the grave. She was consumed by grief. On the way back to Makkah, Aminah became seriously ill with fever. Halfway between Madinah and Makkah, at a place called al-Abwa, they stopped. Aminah’s health deteriorated rapidly. One pitch dark night, she was running a high temperature. The fever had got to her head and she called out to Barakah in a choking voice. Barakah related: “She whispered in my ear: ‘O Barakah, I shall depart from this world shortly. I commend my son Muhammad to your care. He lost his father while he was in my abdomen. Here he is now, losing his mother under his very eyes. Be a mother to him, Barakah. And don’t ever leave him.’ “My heart was shattered and I began to sob and wail. The child was distressed by my wailing and began to weep. He threw himself into his mother’s arms and held tightly onto her neck. She gave one last moan and then was forever silent.” Barakah wept. She wept bitterly. With her own hands she dug a grave in the sand and buried Aminah, moistening the grave with whatever tears were left in her heart. Barakah returned with the orphan child to Makkah and placed him in the care of his grandfather. She stayed at his house to look after him. When Abdul-Muttalib died two years later, she went with the child to the house of his uncle Abu Talib and continued to look after his needs until he was grown up and married the lady Khadijah. Barakah then stayed with Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and Khadijah(R.A.) in a house belonging to Khadijah(R.A.). “I never left him and he never left me,” she said. One day Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, called out to her and said: “Ya Ummah!” (He always called her “Mother”.) “Now I am a married man, and you are still unmarried. What do you think if someone should come now and ask to marry you?” Barakah looked at Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said: “I shall never leave you. Does a mother abandon her son?” Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) smiled and kissed her head. He looked at his wife Khadijah(R.A.) and said to her: “This is Barakah. This is my mother after my own mother. She is the rest of my family.” Barakah looked at the lady Khadijah(R.A.) who said to her: “Barakah, you have sacrificed your youth for the sake of Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Now he wants to pay back some of his obligations to you. For my sake and his, agree to be married before old age overtakes you.” “Whom shall I marry, my lady?” asked Barakah. “There is here now Ubayd ibn Zayd from the Khazraj tribe of Madinah. He has come to us seeking your hand in marriage. For my sake, don’t refuse.” Barakah agreed. She married Ubayd ibn Zayd and went with him to Madinah. There she gave birth to a son whom she called Ayman and from that time onwards people called her “Umm Ayman” the mother of Ayman. Her marriage however did not last very long. Her husband died and she returned once more to Makkah to live with her “son” Muhammad in the house of the lady Khadijah. Living in the same household at the time were Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hind (Khadijah’s daughter by her first husband), and Zayd ibn Harithah. Zayd was an Arab from the tribe of Kalb who was captured as a boy and brought to Makkah to be sold in the slave market. He was bought by Khadijah’s nephew and put in her service. In Khadijah’s(R.A.) household, Zayd became attached to Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and devoted himself to his service. Their relationship was like that of a son to a father. Indeed when Zayd’s father came to Makkah in search of him, Zayd was given the choice by Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) of either going with his father or staying with him. Zayd’s reply to his father was: “I shall never leave this man. He has treated me nobly, as a father would treat his son. Not a single day have I felt that I am a slave. He has looked after me well. He is kind and loving towards me and strives for my enjoyment and happiness. He is the most noble of men and the greatest person in creation. How can I leave him and go with you?…I shall never leave him.” Later, in public Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) proclaimed the freedom of Zayd. However, Zayd continued to live with him as part of his household and devoted himself to his service. When Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was blessed with prophethood, Barakah and Zayd were among the first to believe in the message he proclaimed. They bore with the early Muslims the persecution which the Quraysh meted out to them. Barakah and Zayd performed invaluable services to the mission of the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). They acted as part of an intelligence service exposing themselves to the persecution and punishment of the Quraysh and risking their lives to gain information on the plans and conspiracies of the mushrikin. One night the mushrikun blocked off the roads leading to the House of al-Arqam where the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) gathered his companions regularly to instruct them in the teachings of Islam. Barakah had some urgent information from Khadijah(R.A.) which had to be conveyed to the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). She risked her life trying to reach the House of al-Arqam. When she arrived and conveyed the message to the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace), he smiled and said to her: “You are blessed, Umm Ayman. Surely you have a place in Paradise.” When Umm Ayman left, the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) looked at his companions and asked: “Should one of you desire to marry a woman from the people of Paradise, let him marry Umm Ayman.” All the companions remained silent and did not utter a word. Umm Ayman was neither beautiful nor attractive. She was by now about fifty years old and looked rather frail. Zayd ibn al-Harithah however came forward and said: “Messenger of Allah, I shall marry Umm Ayman. By Allah, she is better than women who have grace and beauty.” Zayd and Umm Ayman were married and were blessed with a son whom they named Usamah. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, loved Usamah as his own son. Often he played with him, kissed him and fed him with his own hands. The Muslims would say: “He is the beloved son of the beloved.” From an early age Usamah distinguished himself in the service of lslam, and was later given weighty responsibilities by the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). When the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) migrated to Madinah, he left Umm Ayman behind in Makkah to look after certain special affairs in his household. Eventually she migrated to Madinah on her own. She made the long and difficult journey through the desert and mountainous terrain on foot. The heat was killing and sandstorms obscured the way but she persisted, borne along by her deep love and attachment for Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. When she reached Madinah, her feet were sore and swollen and her face was covered with sand and dust. “Ya Umm Ayman! Ya Ummi! (O Umm Ayman! O my mother!) Indeed for you is a place in Paradise!” exclaimed the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) when he saw her. He wiped her face and eyes, massaged her feet and rubbed her shoulders with his kind and gentle hands. At Madinah, Umm Ayman played her full part in the affairs of the Muslims. At Uhud she distributed water to the thirsty and tended the wounded. She accompanied the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) on some expeditions, to Khaybar and Hunayn for example. Her son Ayman, a devoted companion of the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was martyred at Hunayn in the eighth year after the Hijrah. Barakah’s husband, Zayd, was killed at the Battle of Mutah in Syria after a lifetime of distinguished service to the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and Islam. Barakah at this time was about seventy years old and spent much of her time at home. The Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace), accompanied by Abu Bakr(R.A.) and Umar(R.A.) often visited her and asked: “Ya Ummi! Are you well?” and she would reply: “I am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as Islam is.” Barakah was unique in that she was the only one who was so close to the Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) throughout his life from birth till death. Her life was one of selfless service in the Prophet’s household. She remained deeply devoted to the person of the noble, gentle and caring Prophet(may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Above all, her devotion to the religion of Islam was strong and unshakable. She died during the caliphate of Uthman(R.A.) and her place in Paradise was assured. BARAKAH, better known as Hadhrat Umm Ayman(May Allah be pleased with her) is one of the very few persons, if not the only woman to have the special honour of having witnessed the different stages of the life of Nabi Muhammad(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) from before his birth, through his childhood – through his young and adult life through – to his demise. *A SPECIAL HONOUR INDEED !*

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I keep thinking about Noah lately.  Wondering what he thought about things in his day, how people treated him as he built the ark and when he warned them that God was about to judge them for their vile abominable sins.  I imagine it was much like today; where sin, lies, deceit, denying of the Truth, rejection of the Lord are common place, even applauded.  But  God-fearing, bible teaching, America loving freedom patriots are the target of all those a fore mentioned evils. I think Noah would get what I mean, and that is what worries me.  I feel such a sense of urgency, it grows by the day, to spread the good news of Christ to as many as I can before time runs out.  And trust me, it is running out fast folks. Jesus is coming back soon, he is going to claim his own, those who are saved through his grace by believing in him and this world is going to become a literal hell on earth for all those scoffers, deniers, unbelievers, and such for seven very long years before he returns in triumph for the entire world to see and puts an end to all the suffering and sin in this cursed world.  He is gonna bind ole slew foot the Devil and toss him in the pit for a thousand years during which Christ will reign in our “7th day”, earth’s sabbath.  Think of it, this world will be changed, somewhat restored to it’s original glory, not totally the scars of six thousand years of sin and death can’t totally be erased but it will be better than anything we can imagine, ruled in perfect justice and perfect love by Christ our King and Savior.

But just like in Noah’s day, and as Jesus said the latter day’s would be, most people don’t believe it, they say believers like me are crazy, stupid, or worse.  They hate our message because it makes them face, even if only for one split second, the fact that all have sinned, are unworthy before God and need a Savior to be restored before Him so He sent Jesus, his only Son, to take our place and die for our sins, to make us clean then rise from the grave, conquering death and offering eternal life to all who believe in and confess Him as their Lord and Savior.  In Christ we have hope, love, rebirth,fresh starts, heaven, eternity, God!.  They hate facing the truth, knowing they are lost.  They would rather continue on in their comfortable, distracted, entertained, sin not seeing truth.  But just like Noah we have work to do, just like Jesus we must see it through no matter the cost.  So let’s read a little of 2 Peter tonight and get let’s so good seed onto as much ground as possible so that some of those who are willingly ignorant will no longer be too blind by it to see.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:  2 Peter 3:1 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:  2 Peter 3:2

Peter tells us straight up why he’s writing this letter, to warn us to be diligent to remember the words of the prophets as well as the commandment of the Lord through the apostles.  He wants to inspire us, lead us, and yes in a way convict us, spur us to embrace our call as disciples, Christ followers. Because he knows we need to be strong in our faith and walk with the Lord because it isn’t all gonna be sunshine and roses, a walk in the park.  Nope, we’re gonna face trials and tribulations, taking up the cross isn’t always easy but it is so worth it.  Nothing we can or will ever do is as important as this, answering God’s call on our lives.  Peter knew this and he wants us to bear it in mind as he proceeds to tell us what to expect.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,  2 Peter 3:3

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.  2 Peter 2:10

Scoffers, I know more than a few of those; I’ve spent a lot of time on my knees for them, praying that the scales fall from their eyes, they see and hear the truth.  I also know those who walk after their own lusts, doing whatever they want without considering who it hurts or what the consequences may be.  For instance having sex outside of marriage and ending up pregnant so you decide to have an abortion to fix your mistake instead of owning it – by doing so you kill an innocent life and miss out on one of the greatest joys you will ever know.  But you what, I walked after my own lusts too, before I knew the Lord.  My soul was filthy, I was dirty, weak, broken.  But the day I stopped being willful and saw what I was, where I was headed I knew I had to do something.  That’s when I met my Lord, my Savior, my Christ accepting the gift of grace He offered me.  Nothing I could ever do would save me, except my decision to let Jesus take my sins and wash me clean through His blood shed on Calvary.  Without Him I would be lost to this day, all I can do is praise Him and thank Him, serve Him.  That means following Him, sharing the gospel, the good news, the love He has for us all with all of you in the hopes that the seed takes hold in fertile soil and snatching another soul out of Satan’s grasp, out of the lake of fire.

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  2 Peter 3:4

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew 24:48-51

In some ways those who say all things continue as always have a point; the earth keeps going around the sun, seasons come and go, people are born others die.  But at the same time it’s not the same at all.  What Daniel said in his prophecy about the end times has come true:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.  Daniel 12:4

Up until the last century things had pretty much stayed the same.  Sure there were a few advancements in medicine, travel, industry, etc.  But the main mode of transportation for the majority of the world was still basically the same as it was in Daniels day – your feet, a horse, and maybe a buggy or wagon of some sort, a chariot in the old days.  But look at travel today: we zoom around in cars, planes, even rockets;  going in farther in a couple hours than we could in days just 100 years ago.  We’ve sent men into the heavens and chased the sun around the planet.  We truly run to and fro, all day long, but only in the last 50 – 75 years did that phrase of Daniels really start to make sense.  Knowledge did increase over the years but not at the rapid pace of today when we have an explosion of advances in every field imaginable.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  2 Peter 3:5

We know so much it seems but man willingly rejects the most basic of truths, turning instead to his supposed knowledge.  Knowledge which is often only correct in his own eyes, because he uses it to try to deny God.  And you God will let him twist and use it that way, He’s a gentleman God is He won’t force us to believe in Him, accept Him.  Nope, but when we decide to reject God then there are natural consequences we will suffer for our folly.  Let me tell you, they are not worth it.  Nothing in this world is worth denying, rejecting, and ultimately spending eternity separated from the God who created you, knit you together in your mother’s womb, made himself man just to then suffer and die for you before rising from the grave triumphant over death thereby offering you eternal life.  No there is nothing more precious, than God and his love for us, for you.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  Genesis 1:6

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  Genesis 1:9

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.  Psalms 33:6

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.  Hebrews 11:3

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  Colossians 1:17

Man today vehemently denies the very existence of God, a supreme, intelligent creator of all things.  Instead he scoffs and says that of course the universe created itself, through the chance collision of well nothing.  Nothing collided with nothing and bang! something. They got it right in one part, it started from nothing but they missed the key, God created, God spoke and BANG! there was light!  Then over the course of six 24 hour days (let’s be real here folks, he’s God he just spoke and a universe was born, I am certain He can pull this off in six days, he could have done it all at once if he wanted!) he created the entire heavens and earth complete with plants, animals, man.  God did that and it all started with one simple sentence “Let there be light.”  Now I think that the power of that sentence being fulfilled might have been loud, might have been a bang, but it wasn’t millions or billions of years ago.  Nah, it was just about six thousand years ago.  Which puts us in a unique time today, because I think there is a reason God took six literal days and then later told us that to Him a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years a day.  See scripture interprets scripture, and when we really dig into the word even seeming puzzles and so called issues make perfect sense because God gave us all the answers.  We just have to look for them, seek them.  So I think that the six days of creation work were a foreshadowing of the six thousand years man would rule the earth, the Sabbath day or 7th day symbolizes the millennial  reign, the last thousand years before eternity.  That means it’s time, time to wake up, realize that God loves you and wants to spend eternity with you, it’s why he created you.  You are His precious creation, His child.  He loves us so much he died for us.

This post is getting long, and I don’t want to overwhelm you, God’s telling me it’s time to shush for the night and get some rest, give Him time to work on some hearts with what he put on me to talk about so far.  So I will pick up again tomorrow night with 2 Peter 3:6 in pt.2.

Let me make this appeal to you tonight, do not wait, accept Christ tonight, repent of your sins, be saved, made new, accept the gift of eternal life with the God who created you, loves you, wants you just as you are.  All you have to do is let him in.  Pray the prayer below right now and know that no matter what the next second brings you are secure in the arms of the Lord.  Because Jesus could come for us, His church, tonight or he may tarry a bit longer for it is not God’s wish that any should perish but that all should come to the saving knowledge of Christ before it is eternally too late.  And trust me, one day it will be too late for each of us.  If we go through the grave and we are not Christ’s then it’s too late.  There will be no second chance then.

      Willfully Ignorant pt. 1 I keep thinking about Noah lately.  Wondering what he thought about things in his day, how people treated him as he built the ark and when he warned them that God was about to judge them for their vile abominable sins. 

[dalyunministry]

We must all appear before the judgement seat of Jesus Christ.

By. Pastor Johnraj Lamech

💥

Greetings in the matchless Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Topic: We must all appear before the judgement seat of Jesus Christ.

Rhema Word : 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

Let’s pray. Our Gracious Loving Father, thank you for giving us an opportunity to meditate your Word today along with your children who have been called to live a holy life Lord. I commit everyone who are all meditating this message into your mighty hand Lord. Bless them and give them the oneness of Spirit and make their heart as a good land to receive each and every Word which is living and active Lord. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping us to understand the in-depth treasure of your Word and helping us to live a life as per your Word Lord. We give all the Glory and Honour to you only Lord. We pray in the mighty Name of your beloved Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Yes…Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon as Judge…!!!

We are living in this world wherein most of the verses Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:6-14 are happening now…

Jesus said in Matthew 24:6-14 ”You will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Yes, so far in 2020, for the past 7 and a half months, the entire Globe is under pandemic and it has spread with alarming speed, infecting millions of people and lakhs of people died across World besides bringing economic activity to a near-standstill as countries imposed tight restrictions to halt the spread of virus.…Whatever happening currently is beyond mankind’s imagination or comprehension.. Casualties are increasing day by day without any clue for human brains to predict when this would stop….

Our Lord says in Revelation 22:12-13 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Paul cautions us in 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

Let us try to understand, with the help of our beloved Holy Spirit on the following points from the Word of God, today:

(1) On what basis the Judgement will happen?

(2) Who are will be accepted by the Lord on the day of Judgement?

(3) Who will be rejected by the Lord on the day of Judgement?

(4) What is the greatest invitation by our Lord who is coming as a Judge?

(5) As we are going to face the Judge, how we should safeguard ourselves?

Firstly, let us try to understand “On What basis the judgement will happen to us”?

a] Judgement will be based on works of every one: David says in Psalm 62:11(b)-12 ”Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love; and, You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

Jesus also said in Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.”

Yes, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad…

Are we prepared to meet Him? Let us introspect…

b] Judgement will be based upon the Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus says four points on this in John 5:21-31..

(1) Jesus gives life to whom He wishes: (John 5:21) “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

(2) God Father has given the full authority to His Son Jesus Christ to judge: (John 5:22-23, 27) “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”

(3) Those who hears Jesus’ Words and Believes God Father, has eternal life and will not come into judgement: (John 5:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

Yes.. Jesus confirmed in _John 5:29 “those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned”

(4) Judgement by Jesus is just: (John 5:30-32) “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just,

because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.”

Yes, God Father has given the full authority to His Son Jesus to judge us..That’s why Jesus says in Revelation 22:12 & 13 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Remember, all who are in the tombs will also hear the voice and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgement.

Secondly, let us try to understand, who are all will be accepted by the Lord on the day of judgement?

a] Those who hear Jesus’ Words and believes God Father: Jesus said in John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

b] Those who know God Father and His Son Jesus Christ: Jesus while praying to His Father in John 17:3 said “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

c] Those who wash their robes in the blood of Jesus: Revelation 22:14 says “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.”

Yes, the only way a person can ever eat the fruit of the tree of life is to wash his/her robes in the blood of Jesus Christ…

Yes, if we are washed by the blood of Jesus, we will be accepted by the God Father to enter into eternal life..

Peter also confirms in 1 Peter 1:17-21 “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Yes…Jesus Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.

d] Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life: Revelation 21:27 says “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, _but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Let us check ourselves…How is our belief on our Father God and the Words of His Son Jesus Christ? Whether we know our Father God and His beloved son Jesus in a personal capacity as sons and daughters with deep intimacy? Whether we have the confidence and belief that our sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ and remain in the priceless salvation which we got as a free gift? How is our level of confidence that our names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life?

Thirdly, let us try to understand, “Who will be rejected by the Lord on the day of Judgement?”

Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:27(a) says “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful.”

Revelation 22:15 also says “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Here, the word “dogs” refers to all types of ceremonially impure persons and following are the verses which give deeper meaning of “dogs” in the Bible: In Deuteronomy 23: 18 male prostitute (referred in this verse) refers to “dog” – a word often associated with moral or spiritual impurity.

In Psalm 59:5-6 it denotes wicked traitors

In Psalm 22:16 it denotes a band of evil men.

In Isaiah 56:10 it denotes blind watchmen – who do not safeguard the people who are sliding in their ways..

In Isaiah 56:11 it denotes who never satisfied with what they have and seek their own gains.

In Philippians 3:2 Paul uses this harsh word “dogs” showing his opponents’ opposition to gospel and those who depend on their self-righteousness rather than God’s righteousness - the truth that God made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Let us check ourselves. _Whether we find a place in any of these categories of people who will be rejected by the Lord on the day of judgement?

Fourthly, let us try to understand “What is the greatest invitation by our Lord ?”

In Revelation 22:17 our Lord invites us - “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

God invites us in Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

In Revelation 3:19-21 our Lord says ”Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on His throne.

Shall we accept our Lord’s invitation for our complete salvation today by opening our hearts in total to Him?

Fifthly, As we are going to face the Judge, how we should safeguard ourselves?

a] Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus..

Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:5-8 “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

b] Let us watch ourselves: Jesus says in Luke 21:34-36 _“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

c] Remember – “One who stands firm to the end will be saved:”

Jesus says in Matthew 24:13 _”But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

This specific verse is best understood when read in context. Matthew 24:9–14 says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Jesus is speaking of those who are truly born again, whose lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. True followers of Jesus Christ will withstand the onslaught of wickedness, recognize and reject false teaching, and cling fast to the truth of God’s Word. They will overcome this world and be granted reward in the world to come (Revelation 3:21). Those who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22) have His power working in them to enable them to stand firm (Romans 14:4; Jude 1:24–25).

Yes, we need to stand firm in our faith till the end…

Let us examine ourselves..

d] Let our love be sincere: Paul reminds us in _Romans 12:9-10 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.”

You may be aware of Lactometer – an instrument used to check the purity of milk.

Paul gives us a lactometer to check our genuine love in _1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Just replace the word LOVE with <your name> in these verses and read again, for example,

Johnraj is patient..

Johnraj is kind and does not envy.

Johnraj does not boast and he is not proud.

Johnraj does not dishonour others.

Johnraj is not self-seeking.

Johnraj is not easily angered.

Johnraj does not keep a record of wrongs.

Johnraj does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

Johnraj always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

While reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 by putting our name in the place of “love”, our Holy Spirit would speak directly to us and help us to improve upon the areas where we need to still improve so as to achieve the level of love what Jesus expects from us.

Am I really having genuine love?

Let us examine ourselves whether our LOVE is really sincere?

e] Let us conduct ourselves in fear during the time of our stay on earth: Peter points out this in 1 Peter 1:14-16 “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

f] Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God:

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

g] Run in such a way that we may win: Paul reiterates the need for self-discipline in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Let us examine ourselves. Yes.. we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Shall we throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith?

Yes.. Let us run in such a way as to get the prize.

Let us Pray: Heavenly Gracious Father we thank you for helping us to understand that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Lord I pray that we remain faithful to you until the end of our life so that we may inherit the crown of life which you have kept for us in heaven. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on our Saviour Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of faith and walk our Christian life with faithfulness in every situation Lord. We give all glory and honour to you only Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

God Bless you all.

[seekfirstme]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2019. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Do you allow any troubles to rob you of God's peace? As much as we try to avoid it, we all inevitably encounter trouble and difficulties. Jesus knew his disciples would have to face trials and persecution after he left them to return to his Father in heaven. Adversity can make us lose hope and become discouraged, or it can press us closer to God and to his promises for us.

"It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed" (Deuteronomy 31:8).

A place for you in my Father's house

Just as God, who appeared as a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night, went ahead of Moses and the Israelites to lead them safely through the wilderness to the promised land, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going ahead through his ascension into heaven to prepare a place for them in his Father's house - a place of lasting peace, friendship, and happiness with God. God's house is never closed nor over-crowded - there is plenty of room for everyone who believes in God and in his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest fear in this present life - whether it be the separation and loss of a loved one or the threat to one's own life - is put to rest by Jesus' promise that we will live forever with him and the eternal Father. There we will be joined with a great company of saints and angels who will be our friends forever as well.

Do you know the way to the Father's house in heaven? Jesus expected his disciples to know where his life was headed - to dwell in everlasting glory with his Father in heaven. And he expected that his disciples would recognize that this was their ultimate destination as well. Thomas, who was both a doubter and a realist, spoke for all the disciples when he said, "we neither know where you are going nor how we shall get there on our own?" Thomas was a very practical "down to earth" kind of person who wanted to see the map and landmarks showing the exact path that would lead the way to the desired haven. Jesus assured Thomas that he would not only give him everything he needed to complete the journey, he would be Thomas' personal guide as well.

Traveling alone in unfamiliar or uncharted places can be unnerving and bewildering without a companion or guide. And some places are impossible to pass through without the right person who knows the way and who can guarantee a safe passage. Several years ago I was invited by Christian friends to visit their community in Lebanon. They were in the middle of a civil war that would last for 15 years (1975-1990). Months and years of hardship, exposure to danger, and the uncertainty of the war's outcome, as well as being physically cutoff from outside contact with friends, was weighing heavily. I was eager to visit to offer some support. Since I had never traveled there before, nor spoke the local language, I knew that I was helpless without a trustworthy guide. Fortunately a close Christian friend from Lebanon met me half-way on my journey and personally guided me through some unfamiliar territory, including check-points, road-blocks, physical danger, and some social, religious, and political hurdles as well. My guide got me safely to my destination. I literally owed my life to his safe-keeping. The Lord Jesus promised his followers that he would be their personal guide and friend who would lead them to the source of  lasting peace, enduring friendship, and abundant life.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

The disciples were surprised that Jesus was going to his Father's house and would return to take them with him. And they were even more surprised when Jesus said he expected them to know the way to the Father's house. Jesus' answer to there question, "show us the way", was both a reminder that his disciples should trust their Master and Teacher to show them the way, and a challenge for them to recognize that Jesus had intimate knowledge of God and where God came from. Jesus made a statement that invoked the very name which God had revealed to Moses, "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14), and he made three claims which only God could make. He stated unequivocally to his disciples: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6)

Jesus proclaims: I am the Way (John 14:6). He alone knows the way to the Father because he has been with the Father from the beginning - before time and creation ever existed. The Lord Jesus gives us more than a road map and guide book. He personally is the way to the Father's kingdom, and we cannot miss it if we follow him. He accompanies us on our daily journey and watches over us as the good shepherd who leads and sustains us each and every step of the way. Are you in step with the Lord and do you trust in his guiding hand for your life?

Jesus proclaims that he is the Truth (John 14:6). Many can say, "I have taught you the truth." Only Jesus can say, I am the Truth. He possesses in himself the fulness of truth. Jesus claims to be one with the Father and to speak the truth which proceeds from the Father. Jesus promised his disciples that if they continued in his word, they would learn the truth and the  truth would set them free" (John 8:31). The truth which Jesus proclaims has power to set us free from ignorance, deception, and sin. The words which Jesus speaks are true because there is no lie or falsehood in him. Moral truth requires more than mere words or ideas because the person who speaks them must be true - true in thought, speech, deed, example, and action. Jesus embodies the truth in his person.

Jesus proclaims that he is the Life (John 14:6). He not only shows us the path of life (Psalm 16:11); he gives the kind of life which only God can give - abundant life that lasts forever. Is there any trouble, fear, or distraction that keeps you from the perfect peace and joy of a life surrendered to Jesus Christ?

 "Lord Jesus, you fill us with the joy of your saving presence and you give us the hope of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. Show me the Father that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2019.

SUBPOENAED AS A WITNESS

  "These are His witnesses now before the people." —Acts 13:31  

Throughout Acts of the Apostles, the Lord repeatedly commands us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8; 2:32; 3:15; 10:39; 13:31). Now that we are more than halfway through the Easter season, it is appropriate to ask ourselves whether we have obeyed the Lord's command to be His witnesses. Hopefully, we have done this throughout our Christian lives and even more intensely in this Easter season.

If you were subpoenaed as a witness by a human court, would you obey? If not, you would face contempt of court charges. Each Christian is subpoenaed daily and even more frequently to witness for Jesus. If we refuse to obey, we potentially face not contempt of court charges but contempt of God charges. We must obey and witness.

The Lord insists on this because He loves us so much that He died on the cross for us and He wants all to be saved by His death (see 1 Tm 2:4). To be saved, we must accept Jesus as our Savior, Lord, and God (see Jn 20:28). Those who have already done this are called to witness for Jesus and invite others to accept Jesus. Witnessing for Jesus is an essential part of God's plan. If we love Jesus and people, we must witness for Jesus.

  Prayer: Father, send the Holy Spirit to give me the power to witness for Jesus (Acts 1:8). Promise: "No one comes to the Father but through Me." —Jn 14:6 Praise: Elizabeth witnessed to her family by word and deed after her own conversion.   (For a related teaching on , order, listen to, or download our or on our website.)  

  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") for One Bread, One Body covering the period from April 1, 2019 through May 31, 2019.

†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, November 28, 2018.  

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements