#when i was 18-19. and you had the gall to say that i had POWER over you? that i ABUSED you? i wanted to get AWAY from you!!! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

84reedsy · 8 months ago

Text

The Mentorship, Part 19

The Mentorship

Characters: Curt Hennig/FemOC , Scott Hall/FemOC

Part 19 of 22 (Parts not chapters, parts length varies)

Warnings/Considerations: Smut, Age Gap, Power Dynamics, Dirty Talk, swearing

Word Count: 3835

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Taglist: @writeandsurvive @theweaselandthekilt (DM or comment to be added!)

Brinkley stopped in her tracks, surprised by Scott's voice. She felt nervous, knowing how this must've looked to Scott. She wasn't sure how much she cared if it hurt him or not, remembering his degrading treatment.

“Nothing.” She stated simply, “I needed someone to talk to. Curt was kind enough to listen,” she spoke confidently, though she felt so much smaller than him as he took a step toward her.

Curt did not move from behind her, but was ready to step in if she needed him. He tried to remain visually neutral.

“Did you sleep with him?” Scott accused through gritted teeth.

“Did we sleep in the same room? Yes. Was he a friend when I needed it? Yes. But if you're asking if we fucked? No, Scott, we didn't. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate you not waiting to talk to me about this in private, just in case anyone else in the house wanted to know.” The more she spoke the angrier she got, the more bold she got, the louder she got. Her confidence seemed to crack Scott’s exterior a little, “Hell, maybe I should have if you're gonna think I did anyway,”

The last words made Curt feel uncomfortable and Scott noticed. His memory from the night before was fuzzy, but he recalled being angry with her, he was just unsure why.

“Brinkley…I'm sorry, you gotta know how it looks to me,” Scott took another step toward her.

“I can understand how it looks. But I'm telling you what happened. Believe me, don't believe me. I really don't care.” She rolled her eyes and walked past him into the room, feeling more emboldened by the second.

Curt was shocked at her gall, exchanging surprised looks with Scott.

A few moments later, Scott followed Brinkley into his room, the chair in his room triggering a memory from last night.

“Are you mad at me about something?” Scott was the one lacking confidence now, sitting on the edge of the freshly stripped mattress.

“Why would I be mad?” She vollied back with an iciness in her tone.

“Obviously, I upset you. I was hoping you might help me remember why,” he kept his tone even, not used to her not being putty in his hands.

“Oh did you forget? Did you get wasted and forget what happened?” She spat at him as she spun around from pulling clothes out of her suitcase, “isn't that convenient,” she stalked to the bathroom. She'd be damned if she let him see her naked at this point.

Scott had never seen her like this. He had to admit, she was even more attractive when she was assertive, but he felt like something bigger than he realized must've happened. He walked over to the closed bathroom door.

“Brinkley,” he knocked gently, “please talk to me. Tell me what I did. Can I at least try to make it right?” He was met with silence on the other side of the door. He leaned back against the frame as another fuzzy memory filtered through his mind.

He remembered throwing her over the chair. He remembered the look in her eyes, slightly fearful of him. It made his stomach turn now. He remembered demanding she call him ‘daddy’ and how timidly she responded.

He remembered saying he owned her.

He remembered how coldly he'd treated her after. Leaving her sitting there, still naked without a kind word or touch. He could understand her being upset. He wondered how much she'd confided in Curt.

It wouldn’t have been the worst thing he’d ever done when drunk. At least she didn’t tell him no and he’d ignored her. He hoped that was the case at least.

She opened the door and walked right by him without a look.

“I think I know why you're mad,” he took a couple steps in her direction, rubbing his palms together nervously, “Last night was kind of a blur,”

“Aw, do you remember now? Did you have a rough night? Poor baby,” she feigned concern, roughly packing her clothes away.

Scott felt himself break out in a cold sweat. He'd never known Brinkley to be this upset. He couldn't very well blame her, but he was feeling more and more desperately hopeful she'd let him try to fix it.

“Did…did I force you?” He asked, bracing himself for a verbal and perhaps physical onslaught. Hearing no response initially, he carefully looked toward her. The betrayal in her face felt like a gut punch.

“Not entirely. But I'm not sure if I only said yes because I was worried my consent didn't matter,” she answered honestly, “I've never been treated like that, Scott. And I can't do anything about your hangups with me and Curt. But it wasn't like I lied about it, you knew all about us. And I feel like you're punishing me for something I can't change,” she tried not to ramble but so much was building up behind her frustration.

“I'm sorry that I scared you,” he responded gently.

His tone surprisingly angered her. How could he be so considerate and understanding now when last night he was so cruel and unforgiving?

“I'm not the most stable guy, Brink, I don't think that's any big secret…but I think the pressure of hiding it got to me. And that's still on me. Not you.” He cleared his throat.

His calmness was nearly infuriating. She wished she didn't feel such ire, but she knew she was justified.

“I don't know if I ever want you to touch me again,” she said flatly, but had to look away from him, unable to cope with the vulnerable look in his eyes.

Scott felt dread wash over him. He'd kept telling himself that it was too good to be true, that it'd fall apart like everything else. He'd wished the opposite, but couldn't deny that he architected that exact reality to perfection.

“I'm really sorry you feel that way. I would like to try to make it right, if I can. If you'd let me try.” He felt the sting of hypocrisy, having pledged to nearly kill Curt and he'd only grabbed her arm. He was feeling a bit of desperation in salvaging what he could of their relationship.

He felt his heart aching and he knew he'd loved her for far longer than he'd allowed himself to admit.

“I just…I don't know, Scott. I'm really…I'm just so…so mad at you! And at myself for still being here having this conversation with you instead of walking out and getting as far away from you as I can. And I can't do that because I feel like it's going to literally rip my fucking heart out of my chest,” the last words drawing streams of tears down her cheeks. She was desperate for him to comfort her but knew she shouldn't let him.

“Brinkley…” his own voice cracked and she looked at him, his own eyes bloodshot as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat, “Please don't give up on me yet,”

Though tears blurred her vision, she could really see him. He was not a man 20 years her senior, he was just a man. She wasn't the young, inexperienced girl, she was just a woman. She felt as if for once they were equal.

“Scott,” she shook her head, going against her better sense, “I want to trust you again…but I just don't know how,”

Scott felt a surge of hope, all he needed was a chance from her.

“You don't have to do anything. Just let me try,” he hoped to assure her.

“But you have to let this thing with Curt go. He's my best friend. I know things were weird for a while, but I’m not going to stop being his friend,.” She added a stipulation, knowing that making Curt a forbidden fruit would only inflame her hunger.

“I can work on that,” he assured her, “I just ask that you be honest with me in return.” He didn't intend to disallow anything if she'd just agree to stay.

“I've always been honest with you, Scott,” she reminded him. He nodded, scrunching his forehead and he looked downward. She had been, almost to a fault.

“I know you said I can't touch you. I respect that. But…can I at least hold you for just a little bit, just for now?” He asked, hating the pleading tone that he tried to mask.

Brinkley knew she should say no, but she was still pining for the embrace she was denied the night before. She nodded, trying not to sob as he cleared the space between them, quickly pulling her into him and wrapping his arms around her.

“Baby, I am so sorry, I'm such an idiot,” he felt her shaking against him. He could only hope it was anything but fear.

She gripped into the front of his shirt, her fingers curling into the fabric. She felt comforted against his firm chest, by his scent. She knew feeling this way was absurd. But she didn't have the energy to be logical.

“Are you alright? If I hurt you please tell me,” he begged, wishing he never had to let go.

“You didn't. Not physically…” she mumbled against him. In her mind, she wanted to pull away from him just enough to kiss him and let him apologize with his body, but she couldn't let herself.

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

The locker room was tense that evening, though they all did well enough to remain professional. No one else could quite put their finger on it, but other than Kevin and Page, the three of them were the only ones who knew that anything was different.

Curt was relieved tonight wasn't a full match. It was against a fill-in jobber, but would be interrupted by a run in. He wasn't sure if he had a whole match in him anyway.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked Brinkley as they arrived near the staging area early.

She shrugged, looking as gorgeous as ever but he could tell she was tired.

“You pretty much know the gist of it,” she rotated her head around her neck, trying to stretch her tense muscles, “I just don't know what to do,”

“You think I'm going to tell you what to do?” He had to smirk, “You know I can't do that anymore…girl, you gotta figure this out on your own,” he looked remorseful that might have sounded cold, “as much as I wish I could help you,”

“Just marry me and let's run off to the woods together,” she joked out loud the silly fantasy she used to imagine when she was still sleeping in his guest room.

“In another life, I'd take you up on that,” he replied honestly, “But in this life…not in the cards,”

“I know.” She followed him into the gorilla curtain.

“I want you to know,” he said, his hands holding her face gently in the private, dark space, “regardless of whatever else, I'm really proud of you, Brinkley,” he could feel her smile against his palm, dropping his hands to let her walk out first. She wasn't even phased by the cameras anymore, he noticed. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it.

Brinkley hadn’t talked to Scott at all since leaving the embrace that morning. She didn’t know what else to say to him and making small talk felt pointless. Her hand had felt so bare walking in without him holding it, but so far he’d respected her demands.

As he stalked out to the ring, for once without Kevin, she let her very real nerves show themselves, putting their tense situation to good use. She cut him off at the bottom of the ramp, blocking him from interfering. Scott grinned, his signature cocky smile on full display. It turned her on and she hated it, she let that hate burn through her.

“You better step back,” She loudly announced.

“What are you gonna do, sweetheart? Stop me?” He trivialized her position, “Hennig too chicken shit to fight his own battles? Gotta send in a girl to do a man’s job?”

“Nope, I just take care of all the light work for him,” She criticized him back, pretending to yawn.

Scott pretended to take a deep offense to her words, pinning her against the side of the ring with a hand on either side of the apron. He was as close to her as he could get without touching her, staring her down intensely. She didn’t have to fake the heavy rise and fall of her chest. She tried her best to keep animosity in her eyes instead of desire.

Scott’s face only changed as Curt leaned over the ropes and grabbed a handful of his black hair and pulled him into the ring. She watched as Scott was pulled upwards right in front of her. She slapped the ring, supporting Curt as he held the upper hand against Scott.

She thought of how cathartic it felt to let kayfabe allow her to vent her frustrations. She had to wonder if all the drama in the locker room was easily squashed because they could act out what they wanted in front of the camera and forgive and forget backstage.

But this wasn’t typical backstage politics. It was much more.

With his attention on Scott, the opponent took the opportunity to roll up Curt for a two count, broken up by Brinkley’s interference. The referee called for the bell, ending the match in a disqualification.

Brinkley left Scott in the ring, not looking back as she helped Curt backstage. She wasn’t going to wait for him by the staging area either, but Curt encouraged her to.

“Don’t kick a man while he’s down,” He gently suggested, “He got a couple receipts out there,”

Brinkley was ready to argue, but saw Scott holding his cheek as he emerged from behind the black curtains. She hated that she wanted to help him.

“I’ll find some ice,” She offered, but not warmly at all. She found an ice machine and a towel, wrapping ice in it, remembering the night at Lex’s house where she’d done the same. She’d pulled him outside and doctored him the best she could. She remembered the things he’d said and the memory alone made her shiver.

She didn’t hurry back to the locker room, walking casually and not taking the most efficient route either. But as she returned to the locker room, Curt motioned towards the bathroom. She pushed the door in, seeing Scott leaning forward across the sink, examining the swollen bump under his eye. He saw her in the reflection, looking relieved.

“I brought this for you,” She held up the towel of ice and walked toward him.

“Thank you, that was really thoughtful,” He seemed genuinely appreciative, but didn’t reach out for it, hoping she’d doctor him like she had before. She seemed to contemplate her options for a moment, but did walk up to him, placing the chilled fabric against his cheek.

“You have to stop letting people punch you in the face,” She joked without a smile, pressing slightly to combat the swelling.

“Maybe I should stop doing things that make people want to punch me in the face,” He countered with self depreciation. He could see the corner of her mouth fighting a smirk, “You did really well out there tonight,” He complimented her.

“It’s easy for me when I’m working with really talented people,” She admitted, sitting on the edge of the counter as she continued to hold the ice to his face, “You guys do most of the work,” she shrugged.

“But we don’t carry you like we’ve had to some broads. You’re up there with Sherri, I think anyway,”

“I know you’re just trying to earn brownie points,” She tried to brush off his compliment, “I still want to be mad at you, though,”

“I deserve it,” he turned to face her fully, his legs so nearly touching hers, but he didn’t close the gap, “I want you to be mad at me,”

“You do not. You want me to forgive you and fall into your arms so you can have your own personal sex slave back,” She didn’t feel like mincing words at the moment and if she wanted to feel heard, she would have to say what she felt.

“My what?” He looked at her, confused, “My own personal…what?”

She just scowled back at him, refusing to repeat it, “We both know it's true…” She mumbled, “You just proved it last night, that’s all,”

“But it's not true,” He said more firmly than he meant. He got her attention, her eyes flickering up to his immediately. He didn’t want to be demanding and reinforce any negative thoughts she had about him - but he couldn’t let her trivialize what he felt, “That’s not true at all,”

“Are you sure about that?” She countered, “You know what the road does. It's like this insulated little separate reality. Were you really planning on introducing me to your family? Your girlfriend who’s half your age?”

“Maybe…but we’ve only been together a few weeks, baby girl,” He thought better of the term only after he said it. She glared at him a little, but did not correct him, “If I wasn’t serious about you, I wouldn’t have brought up dating. And then told people about it.”

“Well last night really made me wonder,” She could feel an ache in her throat, but she swallowed it, “Made me feel like I was nothing but a kinky play toy for you that you could just use and dispose of as you pleased,”

“Well…sometimes sex isn’t always gentle and sweet…” He instinctively tried to defend himself, realizing it sounded bad as soon as he said it.

“I’m fully aware of that,” She snapped at him, pressing the ice too firmly making him wince. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “You really should work on not making people want to punch you in the face… “I know that it can be dirty and mean and fast and slow and everything in between. But I at least want to be in on the idea…” She wasn’t sure how to say what she wanted. She could see herself agreeing to let Scott be that rough, hell even demeaning as long as afterwards he treated her well. Or at least like a human being, “I’d probably role play anything you wanted if you’d just ask me first,”

Scott nodded, willing every gross thought in his mind to keep himself from being aroused.

“I understand. And I can do that from now on,” He agreed quickly, “If there’s still a now on for us…” He asked carefully.

She was quiet as she looked away from his gaze again. Would she really leave him and end it? Was what happened really that bad or just a misunderstanding? Will they ever be able to really trust each other when their first time was a trick threesome?

“Scott…” She started, her thoughts jumbling into an overbearing din, “Do you really even want me?” She asked.

“Are you serious?” He asked genuinely, “I have been literally sick to my stomach all day. There have been women in my life that I really liked having around, but the second they weren’t, I couldn’t have cared less. I’m not always the greatest guy - but the thought of not being with you? I can’t even think about it, Brinkley,” He looked at her with such honesty and sincerity that she could barely stand it, “I don’t know when, how, why it happened, but you got in here,” He tapped his chest with the inside of a closed fist, “I never said it - but I felt it. I know that’s a pretty bullshit thing to say…”

“Just a little,” She interjected.

“But I didn’t want to tell you that and just lose you anyway. Women usually realize what a fuck up I am and take off. Can’t say I didn’t give you the perfect example,” he shrugged.

“I’m not really interested in who you were with other women. It doesn’t pertain to right now,” She said with a wisdom that made him feel foolish, “Just like your mistakes with them don’t either,”

He felt panic in his gut, wondering if she was going to cut him loose.

“Don't make me suffer because of your past when I want to be in your future…” Brinkley slipped her free hand in his as it hung at his side. Her touch startled him, but he squeezed gently.

Relief flooded him so profoundly he almost felt sick to his stomach all over again.

“But,” she wasn't sure her caveat would be well received, “both times I've had problems…you guys have been drinking,” she didn't think they'd ever stop completely. How could they, being on the road like this?

“You're right,” his will was there, but he knew it would crumble without much pressure.

“I'm not going to ask you to stop,” she quickly interjected again, “but I need you to understand that I might not be able to trust you for a while…if you're drinking,”

“What about when I'm sober?” He questioned, his thumb stroking the top of her hand.

“I don't know yet,” she mumbled as she shrugged, “I don't have an answer for that,”

“What about right now?” He asked, his voice softer and lower. The tone made her look back to him, “Do you trust me now?”

She knew he wanted to touch her and more than just her hand. She knew he wanted to relay his apology physically. But he was resisting. She wondered how much he was holding back.

“I do,” she said, glancing at their joined hands.

“Will you come home with me tonight?” He carefully asked.

“What if I say yes, but I sleep in Curt's room?” As she asked, she felt cruel, but didn't apologize.

“You are free to do what you please” he said, the idea crushing him, “I just ask…if you're going to be with me to be honest…”

“You don't own me?” She postured now, remembering how he made her repeat that.

“No, not at all,” the memory of his drunken words haunted him, “I don't want to own you. I just want to be with you,”

Brinkley looked into his eyes, thinking for a few moments before answering.

“I'll come home with you. I'll sleep with you. But the rest of the terms stay the same for now. I need you to respect my boundaries. No touching and I want privacy,” she laid out her rules, knowing they were the opposite of what he wanted.

“I understand, you'll have whatever you need. We can even change the match if you don't want me touching you,” he offered.

“Well,” she smirked a little, “I don't think we need to go that far…”

#wrestling fan fic #wrestling fic #wrestling fanfiction #curt hennig #wcw #wwe #wrestling #fanfiction #pro wrestling #1999 #Scott hall #kevin nash #The Mentorship #wrestling smut #cameos by a lot of wrestlers

18 notes · View notes

thegospelofstjohn · 28 days ago

Text

"The Prodigy."From the Gospel of Saint John, 11: 17-24.

I do not yet know how the Gospels were formulated, they are not at all like the Torah or the Talmud, which consist of object lessons "little missions". I do know, thanks to John they explain the transubstantiation of the Angel of the Highest Order, called Tawuse Melek, the Spirit of Happiness, the King of Heaven, a champion of the burden of freedom for all persons into the science of civics, but how John and the others came up with their formula and cadence of their lyrics I do not know.

We must try to figure it out and apply civic mindedness to our lives. We are failing at this utterly. I know the Spirit of God is pressuring us to get our acts together but the response is not sufficient. We are still openly discussing the possibility of a second Trump White House and this is quite impossible.

The law is clear, this cannot happen, we need to return to our civics and do what is clearly right and good and today would be a perfect day for this.

The Gospel of John continues stating the people require effective government without lapses of reasonableness at all times. Somehow we have managed to infract, repeatedly, against the Law and the laws and a trained chihuahua could see this and do something about it. John calls this process of making right what was done wrong by the government the Sisters of Lazarus. They are 1525, י״הךה, yethachah‎, "there will be power, but only just power."

John calls the will to power for this kind of energy, "Ha" "rule of law for the sake of the brilliance of the people, especially children."

Donald Trump and his Republican Party have openly engaged in acts of corruption and terrorism. They must be decommissioned and disposed of. This is the right and proper and legal way to handle the evil they have done in the Eyes of the Lord. Sane, spirited persons will make their intentions know to settle for nothing less.

John explains below using the voice of Martha, "gall", stating "if you had been doing your job, there would have been no trouble."

Jesus says, "it's not over yet." Except Lazarus had been dead for four days. Recall any terminology in a scripture related to Judaism with a number in it must be translated properly using Gematria. Four days= 831, ףלא‎‎‎, ephale, "to marvel at the miracle of the prodigy."

The Prodigy is the Mashiach, a human race that does no harm. We are the Prodigy Jesus speaks of. We are mankind's second chance at a Garden of Eden where people listen to God and not to the fuckups. John says a meager two miles or less separate us from this opportunity. Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem=ה‎בטד‎‎, ha‎beted‎‎, "the habitat."

God says we have all that we need to do this already. We are missing one thing. A public announcement by Joe Biden that a man who is a pedophile, a crook, a filth, a terrorist and a traitor shall not be entering the White House a second time. This will comfort God, nature, and the people, just like the fucking law says must be done. The Zohar says this noble and long overdue act will start a cascade reaction around the world that will start the New Age. I do not understand why we would wait for a single second to do this.

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

John says Jesus arrives and finds the progenitor of the Age of Eden, Lazarus, "the military defense of the people" lying in a tomb. His storage there was a mistake, one Jesus fixes.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 17: The Number is 5361, הג‎‎ו‎א, hagva, "the height of the hil."

the Hebrew word for "height" is "קומה" (qoma), which is a feminine noun derived from the verb "קום" (qum) meaning "to stand or rise up."

Like Jesus I am trying to get the world to compound its efforts to force Joe Biden to dispose of the Dragon and His Angels. There are no excuses for failing to do this for any length of time. The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a premeditated, carefully organized terrorist attack perpetrated by the Republican Party and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. None of these persons who participated should even be breathing at this moment in time.

v. 18-20: The Jews came to comfort Martha and Mary, "gall and the rebellion." The brother, Lazarus, was not availalble to them. To solve this Martha went to greet Jesus, Mary stayed home.

Going out to greet Jesus=1795, יז‎טה‎, yazta, "do it now."

Staying at home=785, ן‎ףה‎, hanhaffa, "they are the mouth."

The police are the mouth of the law. Now Jesus did not have a batphone or even a police whistle to blow, but He knew the Seder. The Seder is a red alert that tells the world when its happeness is being delayed. It is not legal, according to the Torah to forestall the happiness and security of the masses just so a small bunch of fucktards can sin, then run from the law and successfully escape unscathed.

Once again we see this scripture is very intricate and cannot be taken literally under any circumstances. We must always be aware Jesus was born the same year the first Seder was observed in 5 BCE. His life culminated much as it began, steeped in anger at Rome and its unholy ways. We are still at war with them because we do not keep the Seder a staple practice within Jewish homes.

The Number is 14682, ידוחב‎‎ ‎, yadochav‎‎ ‎, "you need to be pushed."

v. 21-22: God will give you what you ask.

The Number is 13487, יגדחז‎ ‎‎, ‎yagdachaz‎ ‎‎ ‎, "will squeeze." "For a lobster to grow, a lobster must press against its shell and cause the outer hull to break. A saint is the same way. One must push against the vulnerable outer wear and allow the light emerge. Societies that oppress individuals work the opposite, they stigmatize self-definition, even resort to violence in order to ensure the balance of power does not change.

Saints and oppressive societies will always be at odds.

v. 22-23: Your brother will rise again. Brothers are 415, ד‎י״ה, dyeta, "the diet of a kestrel."

Hawks, falcons, and kestrels prey on criminals. They have keen eyes for the tenets of proper citizenship and understand the ways civilization are the same as the ways of God.

John says the Last Day, the moment we call the Sabbath is the day all men will be able to participate in and benefit from the Diet.

The Number is 8870, ףחע‎‎, ephacha'a‎‎, "where Ha," "the approach to the formation of the locality...so that the young learn to ascend into eminence instead of gloomy or darkened sky."

"An identical but unused verb יעף (ya'ep) exists in cognate languages with the meaning of to ascend, and note that creatures that protect their young don't merely end up being able to rise up into the sky, but more importantly, they also ascend on a scale of success and prominence. It's no coincidence that birds are revered in all cultures. The derived noun תועפה (to'apa) does occur in the Bible and means eminence."

0 notes

fordecree7 · 5 months ago

Text

THE BIBLE BOOK OF GOD

New Testament

Acts 8

Saul Ravages the Church

8 And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.

Simon the Magician Believes

9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 8

Diane Beauford

0 notes

bills-bible-basics · 5 months ago

Photo

JEWISH FALSE PROPHETS, SORCERERS AND EXORCISTS -- KJV (King James Version) Bible Verse List Visit https://www.billkochman.com/VerseLists/ to see more. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:24, KJV "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." Mark 13:22, KJV "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done . . . And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me." Acts 8:9-13, 18-24, KJV "And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand." Acts 13:6-11, KJV "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." Acts 19:13-16, KJV "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was." 2 Timothy 3:8-9, KJV "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, KJV If you would like more info regarding the origin of these KJV Bible verse lists, go to https://www.billkochman.com/VerseLists/. Thank-you! https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/jewish-false-prophets-sorcerers-and-exorcists-kjv-king-james-version-bible-verse-list/?feed_id=192652&JEWISH%20FALSE%20PROPHETS%2C%20SORCERERS%20AND%20EXORCISTS%20--%20KJV%20%28King%20James%20Version%29%20Bible%20Verse%20List

#All_Posts #Bible_Verse_Lists #bible #bible_study #bill_kochman #bills_bible_basics #exorcists #false_prophets #jewish #king_james_version #kjv #list #scripture #scriptures #sorcerers #topical #verse #verses

0 notes

vincewillard-1971 · 1 year ago

Text

A Jealous God

Deuteronomy 32:15-44

15. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to God's whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth to beast upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to crease from among men:

27. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.

28. For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30. How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord has shut them up?

31. For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges .

32. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34. Is not this lad up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35. To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste

36. For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38. Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40. For I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live for ever.

41. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

#Christian

0 notes

coeurvrai · 2 years ago

Note

TROP asks: 16-19 & 25

The Rings of Power themed asks

16. What is your favorite item from the series? (For example, Finrods dagger, the piece of mithril Durin gave to Elrond, Adar’s gauntlet)

This is not surprising to you or many others, but it is definitely Finrod’s dagger. The most prominent emotional support dagger in all of the land. I never thought I would get emotional over when Galadriel had to give it up - and therefore give up the last piece of Finrod she had with her, a piece she has been carrying around for centuries! - in order for them to forge the rings and yet there we were, getting fucking emotional about it!!!

17. What are your thoughts on the original characters? Do you like them? (For example: Nori, Bronwyn, Adar)

I love the original characters, I think they all bring interesting and refreshing things to the table! For as much as we joke about Adar, his introduction does bring a new perspective when it comes to the Orcs and a way to expand on them - and the untold plight of the elves who were kidnapped and transformed into the first Orcs, making them sympathetic without totally removing the fact that they are genuinely a real danger to others and there are reasons why they are justifiably feared and hated.

Nori was delightful and I appreciate the insight into the proto-Hobbits and their customs and way of life. I hope we find out more about what exactly happened to Nori’s mum Rose, and still see Poppy and the others as Nori and The Stranger adventure on towards his home.

Bronwyn and Arondir are beloved and I was on board with them individually and as their romance from day one.

Disa and her marriage to Durin are also delightful. I want to see more of her in the next season, and more of her Lady Macbeth’ing it up.

18. What are your thoughts on the portrayal of the canon characters? (For example: Galadriel and Elrond)

I think they’re perfectly fine. I think the people who are complaining about Galadriel being OOC and a “girlboss” are stupid and clearly revealing themselves to be either not watching the show, or gave up after the first episode, or are not as knowledgeable about Tolkien as they claim to be.

And I say that as someone who describes myself as a “casual fan” of Tolkien in general. Like, as I’ve been told, Galadriel murdered a not-insignificant amount of her own relatives, so the idea that she has been “girlbossified” because she swings a sword and wears armour and has the gall to show anger is so fucking stupid. Like, this is a Galadriel in a different time compared to the Galadriel of Sir Peter Jackson’s movies.

But yeah, I think they’ve been handling them well. Galadriel is wounded and grieving and vengeful and entirely flawed yet heroic in her goals.

And Elrond is as kind as summer, what can I say? He, too, is in a different time and different place in his life - bothered by sending Galadriel away to Valinor yet driven by the belief that it was the right thing to do; attempting to fix his friendship with Durin after being away for 20 years; trying his best to save his people from fading away.

19. Is there a dynamic or a story arc you would have liked to see explored in more detail? Any character you would have liked to get more screen time?

I hope Disa gets more screen time and we get more bonding between her and Elrond.

25. Any predictions for the next season? Or anything you would like to happen?

Galadriel is probably gonna have to fend off mental invasions/dream invasions by Sauron, because he’s already shown he’s more than capable of entering her mind and manipulating illusions based on her own memories.

Also Adar and the Orcs’ partying is soon gonna end abruptly when they see Sauron as Halbrand and I predict that Adar is going to be so fucking confused why the random pissed human from before has simply walked through Mordor looking like he owns the place.

Also I would like more info about Celeborn. It’s too soon for Celeborn to come back into the picture from wherever he currently is, likely held hostage, so I would like more of Galadriel reminiscing sadly but fondly over her husband who she currently thinks is dead.

#the rings of power #lotr #ask #folatefangirl #Thank you for the ask Cinnia!

6 notes · View notes

letterstothemidnightsociety · 4 years ago

Text

It’s week three of my Global-Pandemic-Induced decision to rewatch all of Supernatural, and so I’m still attempting to make this watch more productive than the last show that I binged.

So I’m on disc two now - that’s episodes 5 - 8 for those of you watching on Netflix. By the time we get to this disc, we know the basic formula for Supernatural as a series - Two Hunks + Fighting Evil to the Power of Acceptable Levels of Gore x Missing Dad = Ratings Gold. Or at the very least, good enough ratings that we’ll give you a season (or fourteen). And then...well...then.

Episode five is “Bloody Mary”, easily the scariest episode of this first season and, based on the nose dive that the formula takes after season 1, probably the entire series. Maybe it’s that the Bloody Mary legend was one that really got me as a kid, maybe it’s just that I don’t do so hot with ghosts, but guys this episode still made me turn on all the lights and avoid all my mirrors. I accidentally turned this episode on at 9pm and regretted it immediately. I walked away at one point to go clean my kitchen to strategically miss some of the spookier points and I walked back in during an even spookier point. I was mad that there were no commercials at the commercial break cut-to-black! The first time I watched this episode, I’m pretty sure I watched it through my fingers. This most recent viewing, I ALSO watched it through my fingers. Guys, THIS EPISODE.

I will say it a-hecking-gain: This episode scared the SHIT out of me.

AND THEN, THEN! Then this show has the gall to go ahead and drop a major season/character plot point right there in the middle of all this content that I am actively trying not to look at: SURPRISE! Sam has premonition powers and sorta kinda knew that his girlfriend was gonna die a terrible death weeks before she dies. Because sure, why not?

Ohmiglob the DRAMA.

I’m gonna take a moment to say that, yes, technically this piece of plot gets dropped within our first six episodes, so we can still safely say that, you know, they’re still setting up the story for the rest of the series. It’s not like a sudden twist they drop half way through the season, it’s being laid down as ground work. And I know that this turns out to be a MAJOR issue for the next four seasons at least, but can I just say: Kripke, you’re really throwing a lot at us. I mean, OK. here’s what we’ve got -

The Winchester’s lost their mom at a young age to some evil thing. Cool, got it.

THEN they have daddy issues with C-minus Single Dad John Winchester. Alright, that seems logical.

The brothers hunt bad guys looking for the thing that killed their mom. Ok still on board.

There’s family drama, relatable.

Dad’s gone missing and we gotta find, ok ok ok.

Also Sam’s girlfriend dies in a fire, alright, so we’re looking for that thing now too.

OH! And now Sam has magic powers.

I mean, it’s a lot, right? We got a lot of layers here. That’s all I’m sayin.

So “Bloody Mary”, right? Big episode, big bad guy, they kinda loophole their way into defeating her but I’m not mad. Big reveal at the end, so kind of an important lore episode. And then...well...then we get the following episodes:

“Skinwalker” - gross-out fx, establishes Dean as a lonely asshole with a lot of APB’s out on him

“The Hook Man” - takes the Urban Legend angle of the show and dials it up to 11

“Bugs” - Does what it says on the tin.

Now to be fair: all three of these episodes have at least ONE shining moment that reveals a little more about the characters we’re working with, and that character development plays out in important ways in the rest of the season/series. But all three of them are arguably---

FILLER EPISODES-ODES-ODES-ODESSssssssss.

Alright, maybe that’s unkind. Maybe we should call them standalones or self-contained. A Filler is an episode designed to “fill out” your season. It doesn’t necessarily move the overarching story of the season forward, although it may contain some concepts or revelations that are important later. I’d argue that Supernatural has only ever had two kinds of episodes - Series Arc and Filler. Not that that’s a bad thing - I like a filler episode now and again. Depending on how heavy your season gets (and by all accounts Supernatural gets pretty heavy), they can be a nice breath of fresh air - also known as a Breather Episode. Or they can be just for fun. I’mma reference “Once More with Feeling” again because sure, why not throw in a musical episode in season 6 of a show about vampire slaying, that’s fine. I wanna reference something from Community here too, but honestly anything after season 2 could probably be called filler or self contained, so who even knows. I’ll point at the Voltron episode where they spend a day in the mall to gather some unobtainium for the ship and wacky shenanigans ensue. Point being, they can be times to break the mold and experiment and have fun with what you’re writing. Or they can be ridiculous nonsense. Mileage may vary.

The crazy thing about these episodes is that they most closely resemble what Kripke intended the show to be in the first place. Kripke wanted a show that revolved around characters investigating American urban legends. What is more quintessentially urban legend than Bloody Mary, the Hook Man and curses from ancient Native American burial grounds? These were stories that I as the viewer was already sort of familiar with because I’d heard of all of them before. What I appreciated, specifically about the Bloody Mary episode, was that they a) acknowledge the fact that these are Urban Legends (capital letters and all) and then b) acknowledge that the legends vary wildly so a part of their job is figuring out what is true and what is rumor. I guess you could also call that a cop out but when I was a kid, I was told that Bloody Mary was the ghost of Queen Mary of England who was sister to Elizabeth I and was also violently anti-protestant. WHERE did I get this story? I have no idea. But I also have no idea where Sam got the “mutilated bride” story from either.

In an old article I found circa season 2, Kripke actually talks about preferring standalone content to mythology/lore episodes in television. Both as a creator and as a viewer, he wants a show where people can jump in at any time and “join the party” wherever they are. That’s the beauty of procedurals - you don’t need to start from the beginning to enjoy them.

But what really got me personally hooked on the show was the mythology, was the season long arc to find John Winchester and whatever killed their mom. Those mythos episodes were where the meat of the show was for me - it usually involved a lot of feelings and a lot of character development which is still mostly my jam. If I’m obsessively watching a show, it’s because I’m connected to the characters and watching them struggle through the challenges in their path, not because I want to see what monster they kill next.

And again, I’ll reiterate that each of these episodes contains an important nugget of character. In “Bloody Mary”, easily the least likely to be called Filler, we find out that Sam has weird magic powers that are the real source of his guilt over Jessica’s death.

In “Skin”, we find out a lot about Dean’s inner landscape from the DopppleDeaner, who reveals that Dean is probably most afraid of people leaving him (be still my 19-year-old heart).

Wasn’t mad about this bit...

Coulda done without this bit tho...

In “Hookman”...alright, you kinda got me on “Hookman”, but we do get the first appearance of the rocksalt shotgun and Sam talks with a girl about her dad issues which is really Sam talking about his own dad issues in the language of tv shows. Also, he maybe starts to move on from Jessica???? It’s unclear, and also a little weird but I guess he’s only 22 and that’s not that far off from 18/19.

Really, WB?? Sneaking into sorority houses?

And then in “Bugs”, yes, even in “Bugs”, we get juicy little bit of tension between the brothers as they advise some teen boy about family dynamics. The fight shows a lot about what each character feels about their own experiences growing up the way they did, how they manage the expectations from their own father, and how they believe those family dynamics should exist. I mean I guess you could also argue this is the episode that plants the seed for Wincest, but I don’t really want to go there, let’s not talk about it.

This kid’s like, “This is...not a conversation about me and MY dad, is it?”

So they could be worse. I mean the last two definitely aren’t great, and we’ll see how they measure up to the Monster Truck episode later in the season, but they’re not bad episodes.

So let’s flash forward to Now again - have we seen the end of Filler Episodes?

As I have mentioned in previous posts and will probably continue mentioning in future posts, the 22 episode season is not the norm anymore. A lot of articles I’ve read point to Breaking Bad as the first American show to really break that mold. Breaking Bad released only 7 episodes in it’s first season in 2007. When you’ve cut your story down that much, there’s no room for filler - you’re basically producing a 7 hour movie.

Now notice I said American TV show. I’m pretty sure for most of the rest of the world, 22 episodes is way outside the norm, but really I can only speak to UK TV. Seasons in the UK do not last as long as seasons in America. Doctor Who, one of, if not the, longest running show on BBC, aired its first season with 42 episodes, which is mind boggling. But since the series revived in 2005, it hasn’t had more than 13 episodes in a season. Spooks/MI5 never had more than 10 episodes. The IT Crowd only aired 6 episodes per season. Broadchurch had only 8. And because I must complete the Superwholock trifecta, Sherlock seasons were only 3 episodes a piece. These are the shows that spring to mind while I’m writing this, but you get the idea.

So why does American broadcast TV have such long seasons? Well, the answer is: moneymoneymoney.

We live in an age of “prestige” TV. Some throw around “Golden Era”, but there’s been like, a Golden Era of television every 10 years since tv’s became household commodities, so that phrase basically means nothing. TV today is more similar to long-form film making than it was a decade ago. We associate terms like “film” with other terms like “art”, and sometimes we forget that television is, and always was, a business. It’s a business that’s making a lot of money entertaining you for hours on end, but a business nonetheless. I’d argue that it doesn’t mean it’s not art, but I don’t think we can separate the art and entertainment value of tv from its actual monetary value.

Strategically, the 22-episode season was to get a show to a magical number of total episodes - 100. Once you hit the 100th episode, somewhere around season 5 (thanks math), then you can sell the show in syndicated reruns. This is also referred to as second-run syndication or off-network syndication. When a show is syndicated, that means the production company that produces the show can now sell the right to air episodes to other channels. Think channels like TBS or TNT or even USA Network - they don’t really dabble in producing their own content, they just repackage content from other networks to plug in to empty slots in their programming. And because these channels can air episodes 5 days a week, 365 days a year, that means the production company can actually make more money by selling the show in syndication than when they sold the show to the primary network. The more episodes you have in a season, the faster you get to syndication, and sometimes that means a show that’s on the brink of cancellation due to poor numbers may still get greenlit for another season or two if they’re closer to that magic 100th episode. For a show like Supernatural, that has a very procedural, not-super-heavy-mythos, structure, you can do very well in syndication. Just cuz another network agreed to air your show doesn’t mean they agreed to air it in order, so procedurals work better in syndication than your season-arc shows do. And that’s why we have episodes like Bugs, that have nothing to do with the overarching plot of the season and also phone in some questionable CGI.

Apparently they DID use real bugs to shoot this scene and everyone got bit to hell but the bugs didn’t show up good and they went with CG anyway?!?

But these days, you don’t have to hit 100 episodes. Sometimes only 80 episodes will do. Sometimes, you run a streaming site and you don’t have to worry about reruns at all because your revenue isn’t generated from air time or even ads, but from subscription prices. Honestly, when you think of it that way, it makes way more sense to greenlight shorter seasons so that you have the budget to buy more and more diverse shows that will appeal to a broader audience of viewers.

So if Supernatural was produced today, would we get these off-shoot, self-contained episodes that have little to do with the plot of finding Sam and Dean’s dad? It’s hard to say. Knowing what I do about Kripke’s original plans for the show and his thoughts on procedural standalone episodes in general, its possible that he’d still try for a traditional season aired on a traditional TV network. But in that same interview I quoted above, he also mentions that the only way to get into a show with a heavy mythos is to buy the DVDs. We don’t need DVDs anymore - we have Netflix. And Hulu and Prime and any number of other streaming services that pick up any show they can get just to have a larger library of content and attract new viewers. I think a good indicator of what Supernatural would look like if it aired today is Hulu’s Helstrom - a show about two siblings with a childhood marked by strange and terrible happenings, who spend the season trying to defeat an evil demon. This show is a Hulu original that dropped all 10 episodes on October 16, 2020, and damn if that doesn’t sound familiar. I told a friend, “it’s like Supernatural but more emotions.” (Her response was, MORE emotions?!?!?) And before you dive down the rabbit hole, the characters in Helstrom made their debut in a Marvel comic back in the 70’s, so you can just chalk it up to nothing new under the sun.

Big Mood, guys. Big Mood.

I’ll close this one by reiterating I don’t mind a filler episode. Some fillers can be weird and great and wonderful. I’d say “Tales of Ba Sing Se” (Avatar the Last Air Bender, Season 2) is a great example - with the possible exception of Appa, the vignettes presented in “Tales” are basically side quests that have nothing to do with the main quest of season 2 and only serve to develop characters. The stories are sweet and touching and also light and fun.

I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying! It’s ok, I’m also crying.

And the longer a show runs, the more likely you are to run into these fillers - episodes that take a break from the main action to bring something that’s new and out of the box and possibly/probably writers getting bored with the every-day formula of the show. I think season 1 of Supernatural does a decent job of balancing the two styles of episode so that neither gets boring. In fact, I’m pretty Supernatural was what taught me the difference between the two episode styles in the first place. And the first time around, I was hyped for those season arc episodes, because back in the late 2000’s, I hadn’t seen a lot of TV content like that. Now, 15 years on and mired in a sea of seasons that stick mainly to a season arc story with little to no room for breathing, I think that if all TV became nothing but season arc episodes...well, it’d get pretty boring.

#Supernatural #Supernatural Season 1 #Bloody Mary #Hookman #Bugs #Skin #Jensen Ackles #jared padalecki #kripke #helstrom #Filler episodes #TV #TV history #Supernatural Rewatch #CW #Sam #Dean #Winchesters

2 notes · View notes

roman-catholic-mass-readings · 5 years ago

Photo

27th June >> Mass Readings (USA)

Saturday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green)

First Reading

Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

Cry out to the Lord over the fortresses of daughter Zion.

The Lord has consumed without pity

all the dwellings of Jacob;

He has torn down in his anger

the fortresses of daughter Judah;

He has brought to the ground in dishonor

her king and her princes.

On the ground in silence sit

the old men of daughter Zion;

They strew dust on their heads

and gird themselves with sackcloth;

The maidens of Jerusalem

bow their heads to the ground.

Worn out from weeping are my eyes,

within me all is in ferment;

My gall is poured out on the ground

because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,

As child and infant faint away

in the open spaces of the town.

In vain they ask their mothers,

“Where is the grain?”

As they faint away like the wounded

in the streets of the city,

And breathe their last

in their mothers’ arms.

To what can I liken or compare you,

O daughter Jerusalem?

What example can I show you for your comfort,

virgin daughter Zion?

For great as the sea is your downfall;

who can heal you?

Your prophets had for you

false and specious visions;

They did not lay bare your guilt,

to avert your fate;

They beheld for you in vision

false and misleading portents.

Cry out to the Lord;

moan, O daughter Zion!

Let your tears flow like a torrent

day and night;

Let there be no respite for you,

no repose for your eyes.

Rise up, shrill in the night,

at the beginning of every watch;

Pour out your heart like water

in the presence of the Lord;

Lift up your hands to him

for the lives of your little ones

Who faint from hunger

at the corner of every street.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21

R/ Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?

Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your flock which you built up of old,

the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,

Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.

R/ Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;

toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;

they have set up their tokens of victory.

They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.

R/ Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.

They set your sanctuary on fire;

the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.

R/ Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Look to your covenant,

for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.

May the humble not retire in confusion;

may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.

R/ Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Gospel Acclamation

Matthew 8:17

Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ took away our infirmities

and bore our diseases.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Matthew 8:5-17

Many will come from east and west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And at that very hour his servant was healed.

Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.

When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:

He took away our infirmities

and bore our diseases.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

————————-

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.

Beloved: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 21-22, 25 and 27

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

The favors of the Lord I will sing forever;

through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.

For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;

in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David my servant:

Forever will I confirm your posterity

and establish your throne for all generations.”

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have anointed him,

That my hand may be always with him,

and that my arm may make him strong.”

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,

and through my name shall his horn be exalted.

He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,

my God, the Rock, my savior.’”

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel Acclamation

Matthew 5:16

Alleluia, alleluia.

Let your light shine before others

that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Matthew 5:13-19

You are the light of the world.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

——————————

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading

Genesis 3:9-15, 20

I will put enmity between your offspring and the offspring of the woman.

After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me– she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” The Lord God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this, you shall be banned

from all the animals

and from all the wild creatures;

On your belly shall you crawl,

and dirt shall you eat

all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

He will strike at your head,

while you strike at his heel.”

The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

R/ My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“My heart exults in the Lord,

my horn is exalted in my God.

I have swallowed up my enemies;

I rejoice in my victory.”

R/ My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“The bows of the mighty are broken,

while the tottering gird on strength.

The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,

while the hungry batten on spoil.

The barren wife bears seven sons,

while the mother of many languishes.”

R/ My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“The Lord puts to death and gives life;

he casts down to the nether world;

he raises up again.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich,

he humbles, he also exalts.”

R/ My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“He raises the needy from the dust;

from the dung heap he lifts up the poor,

To seat them with nobles

and make a glorious throne their heritage.”

R/ My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

Gospel Acclamation

cf. Luke 1:28

Alleluia, alleluia.

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;

blessed are you among women.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

cf. Luke 1:45

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

cf. Luke 2:19

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God

and pondered it in her heart.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

Luke 11:28

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are those who hear the word of God

and observe it.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;

from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary;

without dying you won the martyr’s crown

beneath the Cross of the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Either:

Gospel

Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23

For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.

After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Matthew 1:18-23

For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Matthew 12:46-50

Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers.

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 1:26-38

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 1:39-47

Blessed is she who believed.

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 2:1-14

She gave birth to her firstborn son.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 2:15b-19

Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

The shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 2:27-35

You yourself a sword will pierce.

Simeon came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;

your word has been fulfilled;

my own eyes have seen the salvation

which you prepared in the sight of every people:

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 2:41-52

Your father and I have been looking for you.

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

Luke 11:27-28

Blessed is the womb that carried you.

While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

John 2:1-11

The mother of Jesus was there.

There was a wedding in Cana at Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from although the servers who had drawn the water knew, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Or:

Gospel

John 19:25-27

Behold, your son. Behold, your mother.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

5 notes · View notes

nidhoggssoultrap · 4 years ago

Text

Headcanon Part 4

I am the storm sent to wake you from your dream.My "Headcanon" (Nidhogg, Louie, and Yvette. Mostly Nidhogg) Part 1 This one is a long one, so I'll be splitting it into parts. I don't thinkI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

Headcanons/Vingettes/snippets part 2Oh lordy...this is it. Love Nikki has the longest list of headcanons EVER...or well, that I’ve written. Jesus...never thought a dress-up gamI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

Headcanon Part 3Dress up game...one character...inspired all this...wow. But, I was able to dig up some old “flames” because of this, so it’s all good. PrevI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

And now, page 4. I don’t think this record will ever be surpassed by any other fandom. Geez..Also, spoilers for the CN Dawn Front event that happened around Sept 15th.

1. When it comes to the human trafficking for Grey Raven situation, there is plenty of blame to go around. I believe that because Regent 7 is found necessary, Grey Raven has a lot more leverage in the Night Order than he should. Both Reid and Nidhogg balked at the idea the way Johnny Lawrence did when his sensei told him to “Sweep the leg” in the Karate Kid. Both used arguments similar to what I used in the Discord along with Reid saying that he has plenty of money for clothes/designers to use as a means of breaking the Curse through Styling Contests. However, Grey Raven was successful at manipulating both of them to gather prisoners and use them for his experiments/more Shade people. “Are you not the King of Swords?” Grey Raven asked. Nidhogg makes it clear that he would only do this when Regent 7 no longer works and “not a moment before”. Guess what conveniently happened? So, Nidhogg gives the order to send prisoners to Grey Raven. The Blood Curse mutates to resist any drug to counteract it, but it’s still convenient for Grey Raven, who has ulterior motives.

He actually has the GALL to blame Louie for this. The Nameless Knights hold the key to breaking the Blood Curse so the kidnappings for Grey Raven could have been prevented if Louie would simply give up the Key/NOT destroy shipments of Regent 7. I predict that someone in the Night Order(most likely Nidhogg) will use the victims as leverage against Louie in order to obtain the Key.

2. Speaking of Louie, when he rescued someone from the “holding camps”/Grey Raven, he was beside himself with rage. You could have heard him on another planet and he was especially vocal when fingers were pointed at him.

3. Nidhogg has pursued Louie twice by car. First instance, Louie tells him “you’re not man enough for me and even if you were, I WON’T STICK MY DICK IN CRAZY” before speeding off. Second time was after Louie rescues a victim who “lived among fields of gold.” The second time is where Louie goes off on him and he has other people in a “three way call”/eavesdrop. He knows that people might think he is crazy, but since the trafficking has become widespread with many escapees/whistleblowers, he is certain that people won’t easily believe that “it’s all made up”.

4. Grey Raven loves teasing Nidhogg. His other hobbies include slamming fingers in car doors and setting his hair on fire. Anyway, he views Nidhogg’s conscience as a “taint” and tells him often that “I can change that. I can make it go away. Things would be much easier then.” Nidhogg constantly refuses saying that “I am strong enough to bear the burden.” However, he admits only to himself that he has been tempted to let Gray Raven take away all feeling/conscience, but knew that doing so would mean losing a lot more.

5. Confession Bear: Grey Raven is a riot and I ADORE him. I don’t quite ship him with Nidhogg, but I love the teasing and Grey Raven being very much aware of the leverage he has in the Order.

6. The reason why Nidhogg killed Lunar was because Grey Raven wanted her for experiments as a means of getting back at Louie for ruining his reputation. He intended to make sure that she suffered immensely before making her into a “better version of Shade.” Nidhogg made it clear “that is not going to happen.” Since Louie claimed the body, Grey Raven would be hard pressed to find it, much less take it for himself.

7. The Night Order is on the hunt for butterfly jewelry. So is Nikki. Louie has one of the butterfly items(his veil), but that wasn’t made by Sayet. Still, he’s not surprised that Night Order would want it.

8. Louie has a lot of white wigs and some of them make him look more beautiful than he already is. But, like Griffith, he has the “hawk eye” along with a hard edge when provoked. The difference is that Louie’s temperament is well, a bit more hot and he can be frightening to witness. He has an astonishing amount of clothes and a lot of that is due to Blue Bird packages sent by Lunar. He tried to “ghost her”, but found that he couldn’t. He often joked about changing the name of the Nameless Knights.

9. He has two lieutenants: a young woman and a young man. Both are considered “voices of reason” to Louie’s occasional outbursts.

10. The trafficking situation is where everything started to “slip away” for Nidhogg and finally decided to do what needed to be done to gain the “great power.”

11. There were multiple whistleblowers in the trafficking and not one of them were found out. It is, however, known that they were appalled at what was happening and blew the whistle as soon as they had the chance. Everyone has their limits.

12. Louie didn’t ultimately leave because of the “kiss”, but because he didn’t want to go to Lilith to help with Nidhogg’s plans and he was not about to defer to Nidhogg. At first, they argued about it with Louie being shut down. He appeared “deferential”, but on the day they were supposed to leave, Louie packed up his things and left to become a mercenary—something Nidhogg never approved of him doing.

Louie was the one who tore up the picture of him and Nidhogg and left a torn half on the bed. That’s what Nidhogg came home to and it devastated him as he felt very much betrayed(ironic considering what he later on did in Lilith/Yvette).

13. Louie hated the fact that Nidhogg seemed to conflate understanding with agreement and repeatedly called him on, especially at the final car chase. He went so far as to call Nidhogg, “A victim piece of shit!” and that he was understood “ALL TOO WELL!” That’s the CHARITABLE way to put it. Please keep in mind that the drama between these two men were in front of a young woman, three teenage girls(Bobo was actually with them. I made a booboo in one of the parts) and a talking cat.

14. While a lot of what Louie claimed about Nidhogg was largely true, it doesn’t change my headcanon “fact” that he had a distorted view of his adopted brother. According to Reid, Louie was “blinded by hate”. ALL of the Night Order viewed Louie as the greatest threat with Nikki at a very close second(really, it’s Nikki, but Louie has a louder personality, a stronger Dawnblade, and ties to Nidhogg). They found it baffling that Nidhogg was willing to kill Nikki, but not Louie. After all, Nidhogg is “The King of Swords”, right?

15. Liliana was supposed to be the “alternative bunny” if Yvette didn’t work out. He wanted to take Liliana instead of Yvette, but the former was deemed “unacceptable.” Liliana would have been way more cooperative as she wasn’t fond of styling contests either and didn’t like the Blood Curse either as she felt that Styling Contests were imposed on everyone, regardless of their ability. Those with other talents were basically screwed unless they had support from those with “the clothes”. As for the Blood Curse, she has been affected by it on more than one occasion due to her constant misgivings about how disputes on Miraland are settled and the occasional refusal to do what is required should she lose. She loves Yvette’s school and appreciates the non violent revolution Yvette is leading.

16. This is really more of an odd theory, but I think that Hostess L may have been a Nikki lookalike who was part of the Nameless Knights, hence her name. Because of this, the Nameless Knights have “the key to the Blood Curse” if not one of them. I actually came up with this quite suddenly. Would be an interesting twist for sure and it would explain the suit she was wearing when she won(black dress with a sun pendant).

17. Despite what the current Lore says, I still consider Nidhogg a Scorpio. I have him born on November 13th(number of the Tarot Death). He shares the same birthday as Leatherstrip(industrial/ebm musician), ftr. Coincidence. Also, this year, it falls on Friday the 13th. But, since I still adore him, I guess he gets two Bdays. :) He really should have been an Air sign though. Gemini would have been perfect, especially since Bobo is currently the only one.

18. I also hold on to Nidhogg being 4 years older than Louie. At least I got the OLDER part right. :p I just fee like being under 30 is too young, but too much into the 30’s would be too old. 31 is just right, imo.

19. Before the black Camaro(aka, Maro) and the white Mustang(White Horsey), Nidhogg and Louie shared a Jeep. It was known as a “Rubicon” or “Rubi”. When Louie left, Nidhogg drove in that jeep to Lilith and Pigeon. He ended up eventually giving away for “image” reasons. He purchased the Camaro right before he became Prime Minister.

20. Glossing Rose was inspired by an abstract art piece done by Liliana. When he first arrived at Cicia Design School, Liliana, who was around 11 at the time, was among the first people he met and he knew her for years. He was accused of stealing from her when the Pink Bunny stockings were introduced “That’s not his style!” He admitted that they were inspired by one of Liliana’s drawings and she often was an inspiration. Emperor’s Woman, otoh, is clearly his actual design style and he does have a similar suit. He never actually stole from her nor did he ever claim credit for any of her works.

#love nikki #love nikki dress up queen #lnduq #headcanon #love nikki nidhogg #love nikki louie

2 notes · View notes

tangyyyy · 4 years ago

Text

I’ve been tagged by the sexy and lovable @juuuunaaaaoooo ! Thank you Dear !!! Je kiffe ta playlist !

rules: hit shuffle on your media player and write down the first 20 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping!

Sooo...

1 - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company by The Dead South

I listened this song wayyy too much so I can’t listen it anymore but I can’t remove it from my playlist, this is soooo good !

2 - The Lady In Red by Chris De Burgh

Most romantic song ever ! I dream to slowdance with my crush on this song in an empty ballroom full of balloons... Iconic rom com scene !!

3 - Ride On by Christy Moore

Oh how I love Christy Moore’s voice...

4 - Krik Manivelle by Les Elles

Old songs good songs !

5 - Les sucettes by France Gall

Iconic...

6 - A-RA-SHI : Reborn - By Arashi

I’m back boooysss ! Aaaah... Huge fangirl vibes here...

7 - There is Power in a Union by Billy Bragg

This song makes me want to go on strike for... For anything, nothing and everything actually.

8 - Float by the Flogging Molly

Crazy about this song for many many years now.

9 - Platypus (I Hate You) by Green Day

Remember me my angsty teenage time... Ahah now it seems fun ! Used to sing this song in my bedroom in front of my mirror... I especially loved that part : “Dickhead, fuck face, cock smoking, Mother fucking, asshole, dirty twat Waste of semen, I hope you die hey”

Pure poetry ! Did I say to you such an angsty teen I was ? ^^

10 - La Mirada by Nicola Cruz

Another age, another atmosphere... I’m in love with Nicola Cruz !

11 - Amen Omen by Ben Harper

Same vibes as the previous one... So chill... Perfect for lazy cosy afternoons !

12 - A corps perdu by Grégory Lemarchal

Ah ! One guilty pleasure song at least ! Ok... Well... They were talking about him on the radio few days ago so... I wanted to listen his songs then... I cried... A bit... And... Ok ok, I have no excuse ! But... he had a pretty voice, ok ?!!! Not my fault...

13 - Mon papa à moi est un gangster by Stomy Bugsy

Oooh CLASSIC ! I love m’ambiancer on this song...

14 - Todo se transforma by Jorge Drexler

Jorge Drexler makes me feel many many things, I can’t deny it...

15 - Las Tapas by Narcos soundtrack

Ouuh... Latin corner ! Can’t stop to dance on this one...

16 - Mon père m’a dit by Zebda

Know the lyrics by heart ! I looove this song ! Feel sooo badass when I sing it !

17 - Sloop John B by the Bitch Boys

Good old school pop rock song... They could almost drive me to smoke weed again ! ^^

18 - Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood

I loove this song... So many regrets for not being a lesbian in London in the 80′s ! :P

19 - I’m on Fire by Bruce Springsteen

Ok... If The lady in red is the most romantic song, this one is the sexiest...

Guys, you need to make love on this song ! Alone, with someone else or many people, I don’t mind, just put this song and let's get it on...

20 - Aimer sans amour by Guts

My current favourite song ! I could listen it all day long.

Wow ! I’m impressed ! No Macarena, L5 or Michel Sardou ?? Shuffle Mod has been nice with me tonight !

#I've been tagged...#AGAIN !#Thank you !#Cant believe people still think about me ^^

2 notes · View notes

orthodoxydaily · 4 years ago

Text

Saints&Reading: Fri. Aug. 14, 2020

The Procession (Carrying-forth) of the Venerable Wood of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord

Commemorated on August 1 ( old “Julian” calendar)

In the Greek Chasoslov (Orologion) of 1897 is explained thus the derivation of this feast: "By reason of the sicknesses, often everywhere occurring in August, from of old customarily it was done at Constantinople to carry out the Venerable Wood of the Cross along the roads and streets for the sanctifying of places and for the driving away of sicknesses. On the eve (31 July), carrying it out from the imperial treasury, they placed it upon the holy table of the Great Church (in honour of Saint Sophia – the Wisdom of God). From this feastday up to the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, making litia throughout all the city, they then placed it forth for all the people to venerate. This also is the Issuing-forth of the Venerable Cross". In the Russian Church this feast is combined also with a remembrance of the Baptism of Rus', on 1 August 988. In the "Account about the making of services in the holy catholic and apostolic great church of the Uspenie-Dormition", compiled in 1627 by order of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Philaret, there is provided suchlike an explanation of the feast: "And on the day of the procession of the Venerable Cross there occurs a church-procession for the sanctification of water and for the enlightenment of the people, throughout all the towns and places". Knowledge of the day of the actual Baptism of Rus' was preserved in the Chronicles of the XVI Century: "The Baptism of Great-prince Vladimir of Kiev and all Rus' was on August 1". In the practice now of the Russian Church, the service of the Lesser Sanctification of Water on 1 August is done either before or after Liturgy. Together with the Blessing of Waters, there is made a Blessing of Honey (i.e. first-honey for the Saviour: "Saviour of the Water", "Saviour Moisture" [apparently in place of the vinegar and gall offered Him on the Cross?]). And from this day the newly harvested honey is blessed and tasted.

The Seven Holy Maccabean Martyrs: Habim, Antonin, Guriah, Eleazar, Eusebon, Hadim (Halim) and Marcellus, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar suffered in the year 166 before the Birth of Christ.

The seven holy Maccabee martyrs Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar suffered in the year 166 before Christ under the impious Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This foolish ruler loved pagan and Hellenistic customs, and held Jewish customs in contempt. He did everything possible to turn people from the Law of Moses and from their covenant with God. He desecrated the Temple of the Lord, placed a statue of the pagan god Zeus there, and forced the Jews to worship it. Many people abandoned the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but there were also those who continued to believe that the Savior would come.

A ninety-year-old elder, the scribe and teacher Eleazar, was brought to trial for his faithfulness to the Mosaic Law. He suffered tortures and died at Jerusalem.

The disciples of Saint Eleazar, the seven Maccabee brothers and their mother Solomonia, also displayed great courage. They were brought to trial in Antioch by King Antiochus Epiphanes. They fearlessly acknowledged themselves as followers of the True God, and refused to eat pig’s flesh, which was forbidden by the Law.

The eldest brother acted as spokesmen for the rest, saying that they preferred to die rather than break the Law. He was subjected to fierce tortures in sight of his brothers and their mother. His tongue was cut out, he was scalped, and his hands and feet were cut off. Then a cauldron and a large frying pan were heated, and the first brother was thrown into the frying pan, and he died.

The next five brothers were tortured one after the other. The seventh and youngest brother was the last one left alive. Antiochus suggested to Saint Solomonia to persuade the boy to obey him, so that her last son at least would be spared. Instead, the brave mother told him to imitate the courage of his brothers.

The child upbraided the king and was tortured even more cruelly than his brothers had been. After all her seven children had died, Saint Solomonia, stood over their bodies, raised up her hands in prayer to God and died.

The martyric death of the Maccabee brothers inspired Judas Maccabeus, and he led a revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. With God’s help, he gained the victory, and then purified the Temple at Jerusalem. He also threw down the altars which the pagans had set up in the streets. All these events are related in the Second Book of Maccabees (Ch. 8-10).

Various Fathers of the Church preached sermons on the seven Maccabees, including Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Saint Ambrose of Milan, Saint Gregory Nazianzus and Saint John Chrysostom.

Source Orthodox Church of America

1 Corinthians 1:18-24

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written:

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

John 19:6-11; 13-20; 25-28; 30-35 (Gospel, Cross)

6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."

7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."

8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,

9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?"

11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"

15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"

16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"

27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"

30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.

33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #ancientfaith #wisdom #gospel #christ #spirituality

2 notes · View notes

mysterious-sacred-heart · 5 years ago

Text

32 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12 So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19 And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.

28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35 To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36 For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

#deuteronomy #bible #bible verse #christian #christianity

1 note · View note

thesportssoundoff · 5 years ago

Text

“I....Man I dunno, dudes.” The UFC on ESPN 5 Preview

Joey

July 29th

To be honest, I don't know. Really don't to be honest with ya folks. On paper this card is utterly unappealing. I wouldn't call it bad (we saw bad last week) but I'd call it an unappealing collection of names and faces in weirdo fights designed to fill spots on an afternoon main card. There in lies the rub though; it's an afternoon card on ESPN. It's here to kill some time, try something new and give us some fights on "free" TV. It's not awful but it's also nothing special either. This card is nondescript in a string of nondescript events leading to a much more appealing late August slate. We're gonna get there, people. Our headliner is a great fight in terms of names and rankings but a potentially stinky matchup with Colby Covington vs Robbie Lawler at the top of the bill. Under that you have three really fun on paper lightweight fights that border on being somewhat inconsequential as Jim Miller vs Clay Guida, Dong Hyun Ma vs Scott Holtzman and Joakim Silva vs Nasrat Haqparast aren't going to change your top 15 around any but will at least be damn fun. Throw in some kinda intriguing fights at 125 for both men and women and ya got something not offensive but not worth hustling to your TV to catch live.

Fights: 12

Debuts: Cole Williams, Melinda Granger, Hannah Goldy

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 3 (Volkan Oezdemir vs Ilir Latifi CANCELLED/Zelim Imadaev OUT, Mickey Gall IN vs Salim Touhari/Ramazan Emeev OUT, Cole Williams IN vs Claudio Silva)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 5 (Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Robbie Lawler, Colby Covington, Mickey Gall)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 3 (Robbie Lawler, Lucie Pudilova, Salim Touhari)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 4 (Colby Covington, Nasrat Haqparast, Claudio Silva, Matt Schnell)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 24-18

Colby Covington- 3-0 Robbie Lawler- 1-2 Jim Miller- 2-5 Clay Guida- 3-1 Nasrat Haqparast- 2-1 Joakim Silva- 2-1 Trevin Giles- 2-1 Gerald Meerschaert- 3-3 Scott Holtzman- 3-1 Dong Hyun Ma- 2-1 Darko Stosic- 1-1 Kennedy Nzechukwu- 0-1

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Lightweight- 3 (48) Women’s Flyweight- 3 (24) Welterweight- 3 (44) Light Heavyweight- 1 (30) Flyweight- 1 (10) Middleweight- 1 (25)

Featherweight- (37) Women’s Featherweight- (7) Heavyweight- (22) Bantamweight- (39) Women’s Bantamweight- (13) Women’s Strawweight- (19)

2019 Number Tracker

Debuting Fighters (20-44)- Cole Williams, Melinda Granger, Hannah Goldy

Short Notice Fighters (20-27)- Cole Williams, Mickey Gall

Second Fight (42-20)- Kennedy Nzechukwu, Jordan Espinosa

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (15-28)- Colby Covington, Lauren Murphy

Undefeated Fighters (25-29)- Miranda Granger, Hannah Goldy

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (9-8)-

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (23-17)- Matt Schnell

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Colby Covington's "Flying too close to the wings of pastrami" run has been something to take in over the past two years in the UFC. Covington embraced a Chael Sonnen run as a heel, carving up a bit of a path of solid yet unenthusiastic decisions before really hitting his stride both verbally and in actuality when he fought Demian Maia. He beat Maia after dropping the first round (in my estimation of course) and then cut a promo on Brazil that was basically his twitter rantings done live on air. The follow up to this was Covington getting into it with Fabricio Werdum where both guys threw around the unacceptable F word and Werdum also threw around a boomerang at Covington's head. Oh and after that, Covington got into a shoving match with Charles Bennett at what I'm going to bet is Camsoda's first and only MMA event. Colby Covington's reward for that stretch of idiocy was an interim title fight vs RDA, originally scheduled for Brazil before security concerns moved it to Chicago. In what seemed like the blueprint for EVERY RDA to follow, Covington point struck with RDA long enough to close distance, mind the gaps and then get in for clinch work. To RDA's credit, he fared better vs Covington than he did the likes of Usman and Leon Edwards which I suppose paints the plight of Covington pretty well. Colby wins but never impressively enough to carry his heel gimmick beyond certain reaches of the internet. Colby's one of those guys who is very online as they say and more often than not, the translation from being VERY ONLINE to an average audience is slimmer than folks realize. Colby then managed to turn two years of productive high level fuckery into a wasted 2019 (so far) when he turned down a September fight with Tyron Woodley, got stripped of his interim title for not being ready for the beginning of 2019, got usurped as #1 contender by Kamaru Usman, chased Dana White around a hotel with a camera phone and then finally got pretty much told he takes this fight vs Lawler or else.

This fight on one hand feels like punishment but on the other hand also feels like a solid lesson to be learned for Colby. He was never good enough or popular enough on paper to dictate his own terms. That's reserved for a very select few who ultimately turn bigger profits. The hype has never quite always matched the results for Covington who basically got passed up by a busier more talented model of himself. Kamaru Usman fought when Covington didn't, Usman was better against their respective similar opponents. While Covington was trying to coast on a gimmick that seemingly had no real serious appeal to anybody, Usman was just trucking through main event level fights until he got the Woodley fight that Covington was offered. Now Colby's fighting Robbie Lawler in what feels like the ultimate "Win this one or fuck off" style booking. It's one MORE hurdle to a title fight but the hurdle is self inflicted by a guy who got too comfortable and assumed he was a bit chummier with the boss than he was. Perhaps that's another lesson to be learned.

2- On paper this fight feels like the perfect test between two contrasting styles of fighting. Covington is a tremendous pace and space fighter; he controls distance well, understands when to push the pace and when to take a breath, knows how to rest on the inside and finds ways to always be on offense even if he's not doing much. The addition of teep kicks at range allow him to keep fighters at bay and when a fighter starts going backwards, he's got a great understanding of how to pressure them to keep that level of discomfort at a high. On the other hand, Covington still fights like a bully who needs to go one way to win and his striking defense is so lax that Lawler feels like a high risk opponent. Robbie hits really hard and when he decides to just go, few fighters can keep up with him. I have concerns about him being shopworn and about the injuries (broken hand vs RDA, torn ACLs in the past two years alone) but against Askren he looked positively brutal up until the "submission" happened. Lawler is still prone to resting against the fence, relying on his reads defensively and giving up space which plays into the hand of Covington. I also have zero idea if this version of Lawler and off for a year Covington have the cardio to go five rounds at the pace Covington's going to want to fight at. A lot of high level intrigue at play in the main event.

3- Dana White has said/suggested that if Covington beats Lawler, the title shot is his. The question is a) when and b) will either he or Usman be healthy enough to fight before the end of 2019?

4- Jim Miller vs Clay Guida is a back up main event (Oezdemir/Latifi got moved) so I can't be too too upset but the idea that Clay Guida is co-main eventing after scraping by vs the corpse of BJ Penn is quite frustrating and downright churlish.

5- I've seen some talk that Hannah Goldy vs Miranda Granger (just added to the card mind you) could be moved up to the main card with a swap happening with one of the heavier weight class fights and that just seems like an awful lot of pressure to be honest.

6- Joakim Silva vs Nasrat Haqparast is a damn interesting fight that is well worth your time. A short notice signee, Nasrat Haqparast gave a lot of trouble to Marcin Held before losing a decision in October of 2017. Since then he beat the hell out of Marc Diakiese and followed that up by beating the shit out of Thibault Gouti before he tuckered out and took it easy in the third round. Haqparast is freakishly athletic and has a lot of those flashy highlight reel techniques you see other fighters use while also being able to wrestle really well. His cardio is a concern but it's also not damning in my eyes either. Joakim Silva has one loss in his career; a close split decision to

7- Mickey Gall has had an interesting run in the UFC. He got signed off of Lookin' For A Fight at 2-0 because the UFC was looking for guys to fight CM Punk. He beat Mike Jackson as a filler fight to get some experience and then followed that up by beating up on Sage Northcutt. From there? It's ugly. Gall is super raw but athletic but he struggles with the finer points of MMA and while he's powerful, his striking and takedown defense is ass ugly. I feel like they feel like he's going to be good but they have no idea when that'll be and have no idea how to nurture him from point A to point B. He takes on Salim Touhari on the prelims as the big prelim fight.

8- If I had told you a dude who fought on Bellator's Fight Master wound up on a UFC card in 2019, would you be shocked, surprised or saddened? Cole Williams fought on Fight Master and is making his debut as a short notice guy vs Claudio Silva.

9- Going back to card placement, I think we can move up Matt Schnell (riding a three fight winning streak) vs Jordan Espinosa (one of the best flyweight fighters signed off of DWCS) since flyweight is gonna be a thing again.

10- Antonina Shevchenko vs Lucie Pudilova should be a fun striking battle but I also have a sneaking suspicion it's going to disappoint.

11- I'm not giving up on Trevin Giles just yet. Giles started off 2-0 in the UFC and then disappeared for a bit before returning to fight proven veteran Zak Cummings. He started really good and then just kept trying to fight at the only range Cummings could win. Sure enough he gets popped, dropped and subbed to lose his undefeated record. Giles is really talented but his chin has long since been a question, this performance now bringing his fight IQ into the discussion as well. Needless to say, this fight vs proven gatekeeper veteran Gerald Meerschaert is a big one.

12- Is Kennedy Nzechukwu (a DWCS guy signed primarily because he's big and fought twice) vs Darko Stosic (who got shut down by Devin Clark) the worst fight ESPN is going to air this year or does that still belong to Sam Alvey vs Kleidson Abreu?

#MMA #UFC #Covington #Lawler #ESPN #Giles #Pudilova #Shevchenko #Miller #Guida

4 notes · View notes