#might post his ref someday???

[zan0tix]

Pleaseeee tell me more about that homescryption au

A little something between you and me and everyone else who happens to look at this post. Im working on a lineup for the four scrybes :D

Roxys design is subject to change and you guys have already seen D1rk. Jane and Jake are in progress!!! (Also D1rk and Harley are the names for dirk and jake but weve been struggling to come up with appropriately fantasical/magical names for Jane and Roxy that align with magnificus and grimora😞 Harley feels old-manish enough that it fits in well… im sure well get there but if anybody has ideas feel free to comment ✌️)

But yes i can tell you more!!! ILL PUT IT ALL UNDER THE CUT THIS POST IS GOING TO BE LONG o7

Working with cyrus repliiku to flesh it out x3 he was the one who got me into the game and im CRAZY NOW!!!!

The four alpha scrybes methods of inscribing cards are that Harley uses his magic blunderbuss and the things he shoots become cards, Roxys cards are the fantasical characters she creates in her stories, Jane will be a detective of death, uncovering how cards die and writing up a casefile in her detective agency about them (might give her a magic magnifying glass. Well see), and D1rk were trying to figure out something with Sburbs captcha card + ghost captcha system like how Po3’s cards are printed from real robots

The students/the scrybes underlings are going to be other homestuck characters or splinters!

D1rks will be the robots (aradiabot, arquius (wanted him to me more unique than just brobot + hal so he gets to be a robot) and jadebot.

Harleys will be jake-ish splinters rather than new characters. Thered be the Adventurer (prospector), the Hunter (trapper/trader), the Sailor (angler), the Ectobiologist (mycologists), and the Actor (woodcarver) and his campaigns would be more Action packed like jakes action movies type stuff hehe

Janes will be the dead trolls, nepeta, equius and feferi. Not much to say besides them being dead lol 😭

And roxys were still figuring out but nerm. Viceroy/Casey, Rose (maybe goobert but they are actually nice and kind to her) and Eridan….(lonely wizard he was banished to the shadow realm for being annoying 😁👍)

Luke Carter is going to be Calliope and Satan in the greater scheme of the daniel mullins-verse will be Caliborn/Lord English because i think itd be very funny for him to just. Be making video games and thats his evil plot. LOL and Sado would be Gamzee. (Will not expand to pony island or the hex this is just clearing up the ending of inscryption)

Kaycee would probably be Aranea but like just some normal girl. Not all that sure abt the OLD_DATA tho ??? Maybe just all the wrong doings Lord English has committed and influenced culminated into the files or the code that brought him into the universe I DUNNO.

Retconning the drawing i did when i first scribbled this AU, i believe when harley turns the other scrybes into preexisting cards d1rk would become a seagull (kingfisher replacement) roxy would become a jaguar (wolf replacement) and jane would become a jackalope (pronghorn replacement) 😁

And the way harley would be defeated would be using his blunderbuss on him with a special bullet instead of film. Po3’s decapitation fulfilled the Dirk prophecy too LOL

I think that of the gameplay/card gimmicks themselves would work basically the same but i might try and come up with more creative homestucky twists on them

Im planning on finishing the designs and making sprites and more mockup screenshots :3

I might write up or draw a comprehensive ref sheet for this au someday but for now heres what weve jotted down 👍

#homestuck #inscryption #homescryption #my art #zan0tix #daniel talks #IM GLAD PEOPLE ARE LIKING IT SO MUCH ITS SO FUN TO THINK ABOUTTT

[blindecho6]

Just a drawing of my third ever Deleth :v

Lore under the cut as always:

Well, befoe lore, some links:

Her first ref sheet (verly lacking, I need to make her a new one someday) is here: Deleth - Forgotten Queen/The Mad One

For more info about what are Deleths look here: Deleths - what are they?

Some lore of hers is in her sheet, but because I feel so much cringe looking at it I didn't read the description, so I have no idea what is written there. I'll probanly repeat a lot if it here, and maybe even give some more info here.

So... she's a Deleth. She once was a human with ability called "Guiding light", told that with it's help she would bring her kingdom glory, etc. She was also a Princess/Queen of this kingdom called Astoria.

She was supposed to mary a king of neighbouring country (without a name for now), but for some reason (I don't have a reason though up) the king decided to just erase her kingdom from existence. They destroyed everything and killed everyone and made sure any mention of this kingdom from history was also destroyed. They kinda didn't expect her to becoma a Deleth, but since she was a bit (a lot actually) traumatized from everything she didn't do anything at the beggining. The king just went with his plan to erase everything and kill eveyone who managed to surviwe just to make it harder for her to fix everything later.

Well, unfortuantely for her the most loyal knight of this king (this guy, who also need a new sheet, because man, he's ugly) also became a Deleth (which was a big suprise to have two people become Deleths so close to each other). He decided to follow kings order to keep Astoria forgotten many years after the king died and she just wasn't able to go against a knight who literally killed her.

The scar on her neck is her death scar (the only scar that deleths have). The cloth around her waist is the last flag of her kingdom she managed to retrieve from castle's rubble. It's the one and only important thing for her, so you better not even thing of touching it.

She just went and became mad from all of this. You can look at her the wrong way and she might kill you if she's in a bad mood. But if you help her (ex. let her live for free) she will protect you.

She lives in the country that attacked her, mostly because it's absorbed her country inside. And the knight wanted to have an eye on her, so he wouldn't let her leave so easly anyway.

The only records of Astoria are in the Library (the one protected by a harpy deleth), but in a section that isn't open to the public, so no one except the owner can't access them (the kingh basically forced the harpy to make it like that). As for the traveling historian (from one of the ealrier posts), she was basically threatened into signing a pact to keep info about it hidden (She's just waiting for the knight to forget to renew this pact, so she can sneak some information about it into history books again).

I guess that's it for her lore. It was mostly about her country, so I guess it's world lore more than a character lore.

#big wall of text under the cut #so expand at your own risk #also why was it so hard to find a good reference for this pose #there are so many references of people sitting on stairs but nothing like this one (from what i could find) #forgotten queen #mad one #deleth #gamborgia universum #my art #my post #blood #tw. blood #gore #tw. gore #forgot about trigger warnings at first but friend reminded me

[skunkes]

Curious: why would u unfollow inactive blogs? What if they someday decided to post again? Personally I always wanna stay following them in case I got to see their art/stuff again someday.

Sorry if this comes off as rude, it’s not intended to be! I’ve just always wondered why people might do that & ur the first person I’ve seen say they unfollow for that reason!

I guess it depends! Theres ppl that havent been around in YEARS that ive remembered recently and then unfollowed...my reasoning is like, idk how to word dis. If that person never posted again, im not exactly always looking thru blogs i follow, so if ill only ever see their stuff when i remember, then why follow em? Idk

There might be other factors, like ive unfollowed ppl here that have recently started posting again because I know I follow them on twitter, and all they do is post art here.

I already have one source for seeing their stuff, and use twitter bookmarks to keep things while I save em to my ref/insp folders, so I'd rather do that than see it on Tumblr (i used to use tumblr for art insp also but idk my view on it has changed LOL now i wanna see ppl Talking along with their doodles, not just art only blogs, i can usually just see their art on twitter, which i get to have separate from my private account too. Ykwim)

You're also talking to someone who regularly deletes tweets (+ sometimes old tumblr posts) bc he hates seeing the numbers get higher, only has like 1k posts saved in his tumblr likes because he hates seeing the numbers get higher and not having control of em, etc etc i just like stuff to be Organized

#long post - #anonymous #skunk mail

[animaginaryartblog]

Hello there! I'm Grace, aka AnImaginaryColor. You can call me Imaginary or Grace, I'm not picky. I'm a young Christian woman with a passion for storytelling - written, drawn, and hopefully, someday, even animated! Of course, you're probably not here to read a lengthy bio, so I'll put that under the cut and get right to the goods.

[Image ID can be found in alt and in the original post, here: https://www.tumblr.com/animaginaryartblog/730474364565405696/two-versions-of-a-digital-painting-of-blaze-the?source=share&ref=_tumblr]

This blog is safe for work and (mostly) clean. All my content is at most PG-13, always swear-free, and never sexual. Posts I reblog may occasionally have swear words or heavier content, but typically they match my own content (and again, nothing sexual). I'm working on writing up image IDs for all the art I've posted; I'm new to the practice, so lemme know if I'm getting anything wrong!

Primary fandoms: Sonic, my own (unpublished rip) books, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rise of the TMNT

Primary tags:

My art - all art (that's been posted on Tumblr) by yours truly. my art can also be found on DeviantArt, Twitter, and Instagram.

My writing - that's right, it's words! by me!!! mostly fanfiction. all fanfiction. my fics can also be found on Archive of Our Own and Fanfiction.net.

My sketches - rough sketches and WIPs

Other people's art - reblogs of art by other people that I think is cool

Not art - everything that isn't art (like this post!)

Still here? Great, I'm gonna ramble. I'm a hobbyist artist, primarily self-taught and very reliant on internet tutorials. I started out in traditional art, but nowadays I'm almost entirely digital. Most of my drawings are created using Procreate on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil.

I draw a mix of fan art and original content; I'm also an aspiring writer (I started writing books long before I started seriously learning to draw), and I'll often draw character and creature designs from my various projects. In the fan realm, I primarily draw Sonic fan art (especially Blaze, I love she), with occasional sprinklings of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Ninja Turtles, and whatever else strikes my fancy. also AUs. a lot of AUs.

The content of this blog is entirely safe for work and clean. I try to keep everything PG-13 at the most (I have younger brothers, after all). As mentioned before, I am Christian; I believe the universe was created by a just and loving God, that He sent His son to die and be raised again in order that we might be saved, and that the Bible is the inspired word of God. My faith influences everything I do, and I am always seeking how to better live as an ambassador of God's Kingdom. I stumble, frequently, and I definitely don't have all the answers, but the goal is always Jesus.

All that to say, I don't bite! I may be socially awkward, a little timid, and have a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, but I'm always open to making new friends and learning new things. I hope you enjoy your visit and have a lovely day!

#not art #about me #christianity #artists on tumblr #meet the artist #i don't really need to put a lot of tags on this #it's just so i can actually have a designated pinned post instead of just whatever art piece #giving this blog a veneer of professionalism it absolutely does not deserve #imaginary ramblings

[largerthanaveragedragon]

My fursona is kinda lame.

I've jokingly told my friends that he's mistakable for a base. He's a generic dragon colored background character blue.

This was intentional, I told the artist that I commissioned for his ref sheet to make him boring. Because he's a self-portrait.

How did that one post go? "I am the average American citizen, I get fired from the hamburger factory every day and say thank you every time." I quote that post often. That's me, I'm the gringo with the forgettable face who's pursuing a degree in who cares. I'm the zero factor, the one without impact, the nothing burger. The dime a dozen. The dude at the party who has absolutely nothing interesting to talk about. Christmas card recipient #27.

I really thought I was at peace with that. I figured that I'd live a boring life, die a boring death, and be a forgotten name in the back of some archive in the far future.

Some of my friends have taken issue with this philosophy. They say it's not a healthy philosophy to have. They say that insulting myself like that isn't a good thing to do. They say that me talking about myself in that way hurts them.

And that bothers me. It's not just that I don't like hurting my friends, but when they say these things, I start feeling uncomfortable with my own words.

Am I really at peace with being the zero factor? Do I want to not be remembered? Do I want to live and die this way?

I've started wanting to change that. But I don't know how. I'm not really talented at anything, I can hold a job and hopefully will fumble a degree within the next year and a half, but I don't have much else going for me. I don't know who I am outside of being average.

I'm just...some guy.

... If I do change somehow, Doak will change with me. He's always been a self-portrait, I can only hope that I can reach a point where both him and I feel more unique someday.

Tusks are pretty neat, I might think about adding that to his design. The boring blue leaves over my dead body though, I like that color.

[buntsbetterthanyou]

𝓦𝓮𝓵𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓰𝓮!

Why Hello There!

I’m a multi-fandom digital artist who loves biology! I go by she/her, lesbian, (Minor, 16)

The main fandoms that I’m in is Baldis Basics, ENA, Cult of the Lamb, and possibly Amanda the Adventurer. (Although I mainly draw Baldi’s Basics stuff sense it’s my favorite fandom and game!)

My favorite genre is Webcore; specifically when it involves Meta stuff! I mainly am a nerd on video game stuff, but sometimes I’ll fixate on shows and stuff…Weirdcore and Dreamcore also rock tho.

I also have many oc’s that I would love to post here some day.

I have a main mascot for my page, and his name is Bunt! He is my mascot for my art stuff, sense I’m working on a REAL big project involving this character! A ref might be posted someday when the project is posted.

Message me on Discord if you wanna chats about stuff!!

BuntsBetterThanYou#6987

Commissions may one day be open as well, and if they are, this post will be edited with commission information including contacts and price ranges. I’m not online too much, so I may not respond right away to anything.

Any sort of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or pro-shipping is not accepted on this page!!! You will be blocked if anything like this is messaged to me or commented on my stuff!!

Buh-Bye.

[rothalion]

Hihi hello I'm still alive!! I kinda tumbled into my pit of depression, then started drawing a ref for Silvaire finally as my idea for his appearance is very off model. The ref is almost done, I've decided to finish it up tomorrow and will probably post here so ppl can see? I'm very proud of it xhcjvjjv

My other issue, though, is that since my laptop's charger is loose and the battery retains maybe 5 minutes of life I've had to get... creative with it. I'm very concerned though that it'll give out someday, which I don't know what I'll do if that happened seeing as I have no income. Regardless, I've started taping the charger to my laptop with the only tape we have and have to be very careful to avoid moving the thing too much, making replying to things difficult as I only write with my laptop and usually shift around a lot.

I was given an idea though, and might give it a shot. I'm considering answering threads and asks on my phone; unfortunately that means I'll likely be unable to use icons as I have way too many for my phone and formatting is too difficult for me to bother with. I'll try, in cases of bulk replies, to save things so I can cut threads on my desktop but icons still won't be available because my desktop has almost no disk space left. Nothing will be pretty but at least I'll have replies out, although I will absolutely miss having them.

I don't think I'll be able to get a new laptop for a while. Saving up isn't possible when I still have to pay for my medications every few months and the only money I get is $70 every 3 months. The best I can hope for is getting my hands on an external hard drive so I can back-up my images and sims 4 mods ): Will probably order one after Christmas. For now, I'm gonna be without format and icons. I'm sorry for any inconveniences x.x

#ooc #updates #my laptop is 6 or so years old now and slow as balls anyway #so maybe I can find more writing motivation on mobile

[sylyoru]

my twst oc in a hoodie 👀 

#Leif Hallowlantern #twst #twst oc #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst original character #twisted wonderland original character #oc #original character #sketch #fanart #my art #might post his ref someday??? #lowkey did this for a friend lol

[thecreaturecodex]

Infernal Duke, Saurafer

Dinosaurs Attack! © The Topps Company Inc. Image accessed on Flickr here

[Monster 1000, everyone! I think! In updating my indices, I found that that’s harder to pin down than I had thought, what with templates, multiple monsters in one entry, and non-monster but game mechanics posts. But I’ll be treating this as Monster 1000 because even if it isn’t officially, it’s darn close.

I figured I would commemorate the milestone with a monster that embodies the Codex somewhat. I’ve been thinking about how to do it for a while (since around monster 900 or so). I was eventually inspired by some of the major themes of the blog. There’s a lot of dinosaurs and a lot of fiends around here. So here’s a patron for them both. The Supreme Monstrosity originally appeared in the Dinosaurs Attack! series of super-violent trading cards (seriously, be aware if you’re going to click through the source link) as the leader of an army of time-displaced, ferociously murderous prehistoric beasts.]

Infernal Duke, Saurafer CR 26 LE Outsider This orange scaled horror is a bipedal reptilian humanoid taller than a giant. Its skull is swollen and features a crown of horns and six eyes. Its arms end in muscular paws, leathery wings grow from its back, and its tail ends in an immense spiked club.

Saurafer Devil Dinosaur, the Supreme Monstrosity Concerns dinosaurs, competitions of strength, savagery Domains Evil, Law, Scalykind, Strength Subdomains Devil, Ferocity, Judgment, Saurian Worshipers evil druids, reptilian humanoids, gladiators Minions fiendish and half-fiend dinosaurs, horned devils, stygionyx Unholy Symbol a fanged maw biting a globe Favored Weapon heavy flail (or natural weapons) Obedience win a competition of strength. If you are alone, spend 1 hour writing an argument about why one individual or creature would win in a fight with another one. Gain a +4 profane bonus on Intimidate checks, and add 4 to the DC needed to successfully intimidate you. Boons 1: rage 1/day; 2: mass bull’s strength 1/day; 3: extended frightful aspect 1/day

Saurafer, the Supreme Monstrosity, is an infernal duke who rules over violent competitions of strength. He is perhaps the physical embodiment of the doctrine of “might makes right”, and seeks forever to test his power against other creatures. His chosen species are dinosaurs, which he sees as emblems of ferocity and power. Saurafer delights in pitting creatures against each other, especially dinosaurs against creatures of other eras and worlds, in order to see who is the superior. He is a sore winner, but an even sorer loser. He despises birds, as they are a reminder that in many worlds, dinosaurs succeeded not by becoming larger and stronger, but smaller and more intelligent.

As to be expected of the patron of savage combat, Saurafer is an absolute terror on the battlefield. He toys with weaker foes, using his fear abilities to send them scattering and then picking them off one by one. Those that resist are blasted with spells and breath weapons. If all else fails, Saurafer flies into a savage rage, which rarely ends until either he or his enemies are slain. Although he delights in one-on-one battles, if he fights multiple foes at once, he evens the odds by summoning devils and dinosaurs to aid him, or even uses animal shapes to turn devils into dinosaurs and improve their melee abilities.

Saurafer stalks the blighted realm of Avernus, single-handedly destroying armies that attempt to make a foothold in Hell and testing the forces of other infernal dukes. He is an example of a malabranche promoted, as he was successful in dragging an entire planet into the clutches of Hell. He hopes to someday repeat this performance, and is looking for ways of summoning and controlling enough dinosaurs at once to invade a whole world. Although he is not terribly intelligent by the standards of the hosts of Hell, he does not tolerate condescension, and is a shrewd judge of character. He has eaten at least one malebranche who did not show him proper respect.

Saurafer               CR 26 XP 2,457, 600 LE Gargantuan outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, law) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +37, scent, see in darkness, true seeing Aura frightful presence (150 ft., 5d6 rounds, Will DC 34), unholy aura (DC 27) Defense AC 45, touch 15, flat-footed 40 (-4 size, +5 Dex, +4 deflection, +30 natural) hp 555 (30d10+390); regeneration 10 (good and epic or silver and epic) Fort +27, Ref +26, Will +31 DR 20/good and silver; Immune charm and compulsion effects, death effects, fire, poison; Resist acid 30, cold 30; SR 37 Defensive Abilities fire shield, freedom of movement Offense Speed 50 ft., fly 100 ft. (average) Melee bite +42 (2d8+15 plus 2d6 fire and 2d6 acid), 2 claws +41 (2d6+15), gore +41 (2d8+15), tail slap +39 (3d8+22 plus reeling blow) Space 20 ft.; Reach 20 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (100 ft. cone, 15d6 acid and 15d6 fire, Ref DC 38, 1d4 rounds), frenzy (75 rounds/day), powerful blows (tail slap), trample (2d6+22 plus 4d6 fire, Ref DC 40) Spell-like Abilities CL 26th, concentration +35 Constant—detect chaos, detect good, fire shield (warm), freedom of movement, speak with animals, true seeing, unholy aura (self only) At will—blasphemy (DC 26), fear (DC 23), flame strike (DC 24), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. only), mass charm monster (animals only, DC 25), telekinesis (DC 24) 3/day—greater shout (DC 27), quickened mass inflict pain (DC 25), primal regression (DC 26) 1/day—animal shapes, gate (DC 28), meteor swarm (DC 28), summon fiendish dinosaurs, summon (1 devil of CR 20 or lower, 100%, 9th level) Statistics Str 40, Dex 21, Con 36, Int 23, Wis 31, Cha 28 Base Atk +30; CMB +49 (+51 bull rush); CMD 68 (70 vs. bull rush) Feats Blind-fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dazzling Display, Flyby Attack, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (mass inflict pain), Shatter Defenses, Snatch, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Acrobatics +29 (+37 when jumping), Climb +39, Fly +26, Handle Animal +36, Intimidate +51, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (nature, planes) +33, Perception +37, Sense Motive +37, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +20, Survival +34, Swim +39, Use Magic Device +33 Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal, speak with animals, telepathy 300 ft. SQ infernal duke traits Ecology Environment any land or underground (Hell) Organization solitary (unique) Treasure double standard Special Abilities Frenzy (Ex) Saurafer can enter a frenzy, granting him a +4 morale bonus on attack rolls, melee damage rolls and Will saves, as well as 120 temporary hit points.  These temporary hit points are lost first when Saurafer takes damage, and disappear when the frenzy ends. While in a frenzy, Saurafer suffers a -2 penalty to Armor Class and cannot use any Dexterity-, Intelligence- or Charisma-based skills, except for Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate and Ride, or any ability that requires patience or concentration (such as using spell-like abilities). Saurafer can end his frenzy as a free action. If he frenzies again within 1 minute, he does not gain temporary hit points again. Treat this as the mighty rage and tireless rage ability of an unchained barbarian. Infernal Duke Traits (Ex/Su) Saurafer is an infernal duke, a powerful unique fiend. He possesses the following traits:

Immunity to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, fire, and poison.

Resistance to acid 30 and cold 30.

Telepathy 300 feet.

Saurafer’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon he wields, are treated as epic, evil and lawful for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Reeling Blow (Ex) A creature struck by Saurafer’s tail slap must succeed a DC 40 Fortitude save or be dazed for 1 round. On a critical hit, creatures that fail this save are instead stunned for 1d4+1 rounds. The save DC is Strength based. Summon Fiendish Dinosaurs (Sp) Once per day as a swift action, Saurafer can summon one or more fiendish dinosaurs with a combined CR of 20 or less. These dinosaurs obey his commands without question and remain for 1 hour or until slain. This is the equivalent of a 9th level spell.

#saurafer #devil #dinosaur #pathfinder 1e #dinosaurs attack

[quackspot]

i started thinking about that gay bastard oc of yours. platano. can u tell me about him

omg u wer thinkgin about platano..... mr banana man... mr 4011. i am obsessed with the banana code srry i just got back from work (it was good :-D)

any way. um. im going below the cut. he kidnaps people and he murders people and i hate him because he’s also a massive weeb so. hm

HISTORY OF PLATANO... yea his name is spanish for banana

his father, pablo, will probably get a name change someday but i literally never think of his father since the only thing he did in platano’s backstory was disappear 

since platano’s world has characters based off like. fruits and vegetables (there aren’t really any limit to what the characters are based off of. it was in my lazy google translate name phase so we have like... a gay character named arcenciel who becomes dadlike through my powerful canon-changing touch. also arcenciel wears the colors of the rainbow as often as he can i haven’t figured out a good design for him since i’m not used to using more than 5 colors. he also owns a hat factory)

i think arcenciel and platano are friends they met when platano was like. 17 probably and arcenciel would be around uhhhhh ummmmmmm 21??? idk man but in canon he’s probably around 30 . yes i m saying “in canon” because i wrote a really dumb and horrible story back in 2018 arcenciel used to have HUGE internalized homophobia and i turned that into a running joke and i dislike that so that’s a reason why i’m not sharing the fun little story i wrote for my friends

(the best part of that story is when arcenciel threw his light-up rainbow heelies at platano, thus starting the boss fight which the main cast LOST.)

ok back to the topic at hand. platano.

i have a whole doc named platano where i just wrote drabbles about him so i’m going to summarize them

the first one was his friend, percisi (my only cishet oc he’s very short and very aggressive while also dressing in a soft-colored turtleneck since he’s based off of peaches) using a misunderstood form of satanism to summon satan. guess what percisi and platano summoned satan for. it was a manga update! wow

i won’t say the mangas name it was an inside joke

so platano was like “hey satan can i have this manga now please please” and satan went “sure just kill people for me” 

that determined platanos job for the next 7 or so years <3 wonderful. 

(it was basically me writing a backstory for a scene to happen in the main writing i wrote for my friends. he killed someone because someone else in the building was trying to summon satan. very confusing but okay i guess.)

i think right after that i wrote about platano meeting his boyfriend, sage, for the first time. i have horribly mixed feelings about their relationship since it’s very. Hm.

so platano kidnaps people to watch anime with him because all his friends left him and his best friend, mangue, is too busy being a dictator over the Land of the Fruits. i shit you not fruits oppressed the vegetables. i wrote that dynamic between the two because i was learning about the revolutionary war in US History. something like that at least

(the Land of the Fruits is not the official name)

on the topic of kidnapping people. guess who his favorite person was. sage. it was sage. so he tried to take sage often but they probably discussed Proper boundaries since everyone else tried to run away. hmm i am now going to write a bit right now 

“Platano,” Sage started. “Why do you keep kidnapping me? It’s rude and I hate it.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” The yellow-haired fool leaned on his sword, digging the tip deeper into the ground. 

“ASK ME IF I WANT TO HANG OUT??” 

“I can do that?”

“You keep making my dads worried.” Sage looked around the area, fidgeting with his hands. 

“Oh. Okay. Want to hang out? Watch some anime?” Platano paused for a moment, but managed to say “Maybe kiss?” before Sage got to answer.

“I- KISS??? We can watch anime together. We can go now.” 

Sage ushered Platano through a portal as fast as he could. 

His dads were never worried.

hmmm maybe that’s alright idk i’m a little tired so it’s probably a little out of character. sage probably isn’t that loud but i think it was trying to be the dynamic of “oh, we’re not dating” when they kiss every sunday at 5 pm by a romantic river scene 

he’s a character who is, at his very core, horrible and bad. he is portrayed in a way i DESPISE but i’m too lazy to correct it. his interest in sage actually started with me going “hmm i think platano would draw sage like this” then sauce giving me fun facts about his oc, sage, yea sage is sauce’s oc <3 epic win . so sauce gave me fun facts about sage and i was like “time to doodle these in platanos ‘art style’” when in reality it’s just the mockery of people just getting into an anime art style, with the chin so pointy it could cut a cake 

i might reread my old writing from 2018. i gotta agree with the judges for that year i did not write very well

it mightve actually been made in 2017 which would be FUCKIN CRAZY im gonna check rn 

yea it was started in 2018. february 14th... huh . finished it completely in june of that year it was 41 pages total and it’s not even double spaced how did i write something without double spacing it

OH MY GOD BOB IS GOING TO HIJACK THIS RANT JUST FOR A LITTLE

so bob is a fluffy little anthro cloud with a grey top hat and bowtie. he is amazing. i love bob. bob is another one of sauce’s character and mangue (mentioned earlier) was made by my friend jamie 

(you can always ask for their tumblrs but i’d ask them if its okay to share their tumblrs. i might just look at them and reblog their stuff cuz i like their art!!! maybe jamie posted a drawing she made recently on her blog but tbh i don’t think she would she’s more of a twitter user)

ok so im skimming thru UMG which is the story it stands for “Universe of Magic Gardens” and it was originally made for a prank on ponytown so people would go “what’s UMG” and my friends and i would be like “ur mom gay xDDDDDD” or something like that . horrible but i’m glad i’ve changed from . that.

here’s a bit i actually like AKLJFISJFIO

“What the actual FUCK, Ilkie?!” Arcenciel cringed in fear. “Put it back- it’s too ugly.” He pointed at Platano, whose arms were crossed. 

why is it bolded. anyway.

i just saw a part where eau used y’all... water cowboy moments <333 i really need to make refs for all of those old characters. all of my umg-related characters have to be my oldest-living ocs. 

i cant believe this is making me genuinely reread my old writing just to go “WJHFSIDAJKSFIOJ WTF????” 

some of the lines on it sound like something you would hear on like. a school bus or somethin 

looking at umg like “wtf how did i add so much Meat to this writing” bc most of my writing now is mostly quotations to progress the story (like the quickie i wrote earlier. i could add meat to it but im  tired lol)

OK THIS IS MORE GENERAL BUT MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS WAS WRITING HAIKUS FOR PORTALS. after you visit a place enough times it’s kind of just an instinct to open a portal there so you don’t have to recite a haiku 

uhh ok here’s another bit becuase im feeling like living la vida loca.  ur biggest regret should be “can you tell me about him” by this point bc i’ve written too much to go back now

He landed on his face once he was outside of the hat. Meko quickly walked over to the guest room, opened the Portals for Dummies book, and flipped to a page. It looked devious.

“Banana, mango,

Each tasting amazingly.

A taste of evil.” 

Meko did the dance on the page, it consisted of something that looks like it’s from an anime. A portal opened, the familiar scent of bananas and mangoes coming from it. With some hesitation, Meko stepped in. He quickly made it so only his head peeked in.

it wasnt bolded this time but i like it bolded. ok i understand how i added meat it was just shitty expired meat ALKFSJSHDAIUJKFEIODSJAK . it wasnt even that much meat DAMN. it just looked like more.

actually that’s all i will write. i could  do more w platano but yea at his base he is a blonde twink who kills people because he wanted a manga but now he’s friends with a dictator. woo! wow. amazing character writing. i cant wait to get motivation to rewrite everything and make platano a good villain (he will still be very interested in anime sadly. idk why around that time i liked making characters who were obsessed with anime i didn’t even watch it much myself. i think it was because i wanted to put capes on them)

#I REALLY WENT SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC #like i went broader then refocused in at the end #so if you want the basics its just. right at the end #my brain's out of work mode now it's going into the deepfry machine #melon-official

[the-christian-walk]

MADE FOR THE MASTER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13 (NLT)

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Anything goes.

It’s an attitude that has been around since the dawn of sin in the world for we can look across the landscape of the Bible and find people who felt they could do whatever they wanted to do without consequence, even people who were professed believers. Even the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem, those who were supposed to be the most devout God followers, decided it was okay to sanction the murder of Jesus, the one and only Son of their God.

This has always amazed me, how people claiming to be so pious could violate God so easily but this is what happens when Satan has his way with people. His will ends up being done instead the will of our Lord, the One who is the Maker and Master of all living things, and when Satan’s will is being done, sin is always produced.

Now, it’s very obvious that God did not endorse an “anything goes” life. Not even close. One only need remember the infamous ten commandments He laid out for the Israelite people at Mount Sinai through Moses to know that. God did not support people thinking they could do anything even though He did allow them the free will to make choices in life. Yes, technically they could do anything but not everything was good for them, physically or spiritually. There were inappropriate behaviors that could easily enslave a person and this would make sin more of a master over a person than the Lord.

This is the point Paul is making in his words to the Corinthian Christians. They were made for the Lord and for Him alone, and He expected them to honor Him in every way possible to include the way they used their bodies. God cares about our bodies just as much as He cares about our spirits and ultimately, He wants us to glorify and honor Him through everything we do.

Are you living your life as if anything goes?

If so, you really need to adjust your thinking and understand that the only actions truly approved by the Lord are the ones that He dictates through His will and Word. We find these behaviors in the scriptures and in particularly in the Gospels where we get to learn how Jesus did so we can model our lives after Him.

After all, isn’t being a Christian supposed to mean we strive to be Christ-like?

It’s the one way that we can show everyone that we were made for the Master and therefore live for Him in everything we do, even when the world would say that anything goes.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[deitiesofduat]

I was wondering if u can do a bunch of random facts/headcannons for the main cast?

Oh man, I mean, I’m happy to try, but I’m not sure where to start for the entire cast of 10… well, now 11 gods. I know have some that are scattered around the blog’s tags, and also in places other than tumblr, but It’ll take me a bit to find them or think of new ones without revealing spoilers, hmm…

So here’s what I’ll try that’s similar to the 1 Like 1 Fact meme I did on twitter a while ago: for every note this post receives, I’ll add a DEITIES-related headcanon or fact about the main cast. The main cast includes Set, Horus, Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Bastet, Sekhmet, Thoth, Ra, and nowwwww Sobek – and maybe the Set Spawn and the big bad serpent too, if relevant. You can add a note by +liking this post, and if you’re interested in learning about a particular deity, you can mention their name in a comment (and it’s not necessary to reblog this, unless you want to!).

This should help give me a bit more focus and time to think of some decent non-spoiler headcanons/facts to share. I’ll come back to this post in a few hours and add any many as I can, depending on the amount of notes it receives, and I’ll bump and place them under the cut for easy access. So yeah, go for it /o/!!

[1] Been playing with a headcanon where Horus’s Eye can see an object’s or person’s weak spots – though only for like, a moment once it’s activated, cuz I’ve wanted to avoid him being OP (but then again… he’s a literal god… so >>)

Also a related-headcanon where he can see a person’s past injuries thru his Eye too, including the hidden ones that have long-ago healed and left no visible scar. I’d like to draw the ones he “sees” on others one day if I keep it…

[2] Set is the only one of his siblings that doesn’t have an avian sacred animal, and for a while I wanted to keep it that way and literally keep him “grounded” compared to his family (sans Anubis). But I found that he’s sometimes also associated with crows (and falcons??? interestingly enough), and even though I haven’t found solid evidence of this yet, I also like the idea of him being associated with bats even before I read about it in Kane Chronicles I swear– So those 2-3 animals are probably some alternate animal form that he has but just rarely takes.

[3] Actually while I’m at it– aside from the Sha Animal, here’s a list of 30-ish animals that I keep as Set’s canon forms in DEITIES verse (based on a combination of historical speculation, recorded myths, and personal headcanons), and would love to eventually draw him as one day:

Aardvark, African Wild Ass (and Donkey), Giant Anteater, Baboon, Bat, Boar/Pig, Bull, Camel, Crocodile, Crow/Raven, Dog (some sort of sighthound?), Fennec Fox, Fish (Eel?), Gazelle/Antelope, Giraffe, Goat, Goose, Hare/Rabbit, Hippopotamus, [Spotted] Hyena, Jackal, Jerboa, Okapi, Oryx, Panther, Rat, Scorpion, Shark, Snake (Viper), and Zebra/Quagga.

[4] RELATEDLY… I REALLY REALLY like the idea of Set somehow acquiring a Thylacine form even tho it’s in no realistic way in the current timeline because thylacines weren’t native to Africa let alone Egypt. BUT… I JUST… THEY REMIND ME OF SHA ANIMALS SO MUCH o)——–

[5] When I was considering the color schemes for the main cast, I once briefly envisioned a purple/violet scheme for Nephthys, but decided to scrap it because (1) I wanted her colors to contrast with her sister’s and match a bit more with her husband’s and son’s and (2) I found that purple was nigh impossible to find in AE wall art and admittedly worried “maybe it won’t look authentic if I use those colors;;;”

Even though I’m happy with her orange/black/red scheme now, I’ve recently found that purple is a common association / kemetic UPG (or doxa?) with her?? SO THAT WAS INTERESTING… I don’t think I’ll change her color scheme for DEITIES, but maybe I’ll draw her in an alternate purple outfit one day to see how it looks on her >>

[6] One of the reasons why I like Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as their own casual friend group in DEITIES verse is that, because they’re all relatively young gods, they all share the experience/pressure of being measured up against their older royal relatives – Horus being seen as both his father and mother’s legacy and feeling the pressure to restore his family’s throne; Anubis being know for his infamous father, and even having his paternity questioned (via rumors and “myths��); and Bastet being the youngest of Ra’s daughter, sometimes being compared to her sister’s roles and achievements.

They’re all really good at masking any pressure they feel, but they also probably confide in each other about it more than with others, cuz they’ve all “been there.”

[7] Relatedly, one of the earliest version of DEITIES Project, before it was known as “Deities Project,” had Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as the main trio. That’s been changed “for reasons” since then, and their characters were quite different back then, but it might be fun to explore a story that focused on the 3 of them someday.

[8] Okay ya’ll know the part during The Contendings where Horus and Set are racing in stone boats and Horus “wins” by painting his wooden boat to look like stone? I have ideas for how that entire race happens in DEITIES verse that would be fun to explore as a side story, but in order for me to give Horus a “legit” way to win without outright cheating, he covers his boat with stone casing/accents, and after he wins and is confronted about it… well…

HORUS: “The rules we agreed on were to sail a boat made with stone. They said nothing about it needing to be made entirely out of stone.”SET: “…”HORUS: “ :)c ”SET: “…” *Internally raging*

[9] I’ve headcanon’d that Nephthys has her own set of ~7 Shabti who act as her personal assistants while she’s conducting her nightly duties, or working around her home, but I haven’t decided much more past that (still debating on how she acquired them, and if she more-than-likely named them…).

The concept and number were loosely based on how many of the other goddesses had their own sets of 7 as extensions of their power and/or control (7 Ribbons of Hathor, 7 Arrows of Sekhmet, Isis’s 7 Scorpions), and I thought it’d be neat if the Goddess of Service had her own Shabti that exemplified that part of her domain.

[10] Thoth is an avid lover of puzzles, trivia, and strategy games, and he’s also exceptionally skilled at games of chance. He doesn’t gamble or make bets often because he understands the risks, but when he does he tries to be calculative about it… and also has a natural knack for luck going his way (EX: That one game of senet that he won to help assist Nut with having her children… which is another story for another day)

[11] Ummmmm Isis is the only one of the main cast who I haven’t drawn a ref of her sacred animal form yet… or at least, not digitally. Her animal is the kite, but I’ve been debating on a while for what species to base her design on. I like the idea of her kite form looking like the Black-winged Kite, although those species aren’t native to Egypt… but some are native to Africa… and they’re so fricken pretty and they fit her colors so well so I might cave on this ffffffffffff–

[12] While we’re on the subject of sacred animals (and to help me get somewhat closer to the note count lmao I’m trying guys–), Horus’s falcon form is based on both the Peregrine falcon and the Lanner falcon, with more simplified markings for my own sanity when I draw him in dozens of panels.

At one point, I considered making his falcon form leucistic to contrast more with Anubis and Set, buuuuuut I also liked the brown colors on the falcons’ normal coloration, so I kept it. (That and more leucistic birds of prey are hawks, so… maybe for Khonsu tho if I don’t change him to an owl, hmmmm…)

[13] Okay continuing thoughts on animal forms, Bastet is able to shift her cat form into nearly any coloration or breed she desires (aside from her eyes, which remain green), but for the purposes of DEITIES I draw her as a brown cat with light gradation markings. I knew of the Egyptian Mau but also realized the spots would take a lot of effort to redraw in the panels where she appears as a cat (much like the spots on falcons for Horus). I also personally really like solid-colored coats on cats, and in particular I liked the coloration of the Havana Brown, so it may be a little less authentic but it did factor into her colors as well.

[14] I'm still debating on Sekhmet's main hairstyle and want to play with it a bit more -- not the arrangement per se but whether to keep it as locks or to make them more obvious twists -- or perhaps a combination -- since I can see her with both style at certain points in time. Either way, at full length Sekhmet's hair is very long: if she were to loosen her tie and let it fall, her longest locks would reach past her hips.

[15] I initially gave Set yellow eyes because even though he's often depicted with red eyes, I didn't want to over saturate his design with just... well, red -- especially in his animal form where his entire body is covered in red fur (red eyes + red sclera would have been, a lot). I like how his yellow eyes provide some contrast, and I've since found some story-related reasons where his eyes might play some role in the plot… but anything further might be spoilery 8')c

[16] It took me a while to settle on Osiris's "resurrected" skin tone because there were a lot of sources that describe his skin as being green, or blue, or black in coloration. I even tried them out in an earlier color test that I shared on patreon, but I eventually went with black since the color has had various meanings in Ancient Egypt that include both life and death. (It also gave me some opportunity to give green skin to Ptah and blue skin to Hapi to help vary the designs for each of those gods).

[17] Relatedly, Osiris's mortal form is a naturally dark skin tone, but following this death he can no longer appear in that form. He is also unable to travel to the overworld / realm of the living, though I'm still debating on how restrictive this is (if it's limited to his physical body or if he can split his soul under special circumstances, or with assistance). Regardless, most of his correspondence with other deities have to be arranged within Duat for this reason.

[18] I haven't made any plans to designate a spouse or romantic partner for Ra. I understand that there were a number of goddesses that were associated with him in the myths and often said to be his wife, but for that reason it was hard to settle on choosing one -- or multiple, and I realized that for the purpose of the main story it might not be necessary. I also kinda like exploring the idea of this high king and powerful creator deity who's also a happily single father, and where it's not for tragic reasons like the separation from or death of his spouse (not to knock that trope at all tho sdjfdsf). I'm not opposed to him being shipped with anyone though, I just don't think I've been inclined to do it myself lmAO;;

[19] RELATEDLY, while Ra's daughters (Sekhmet, Mafdet, Hathor, Serqet, Bastet) don't have a biological mother, I like to think that they were raised in an environment with a lot of parental figures and mentors to go around, aside from just their father. I haven't quite settled on how it was organized though, but I know that the daughters regard Thoth as something of an uncle/secondary dad (tho their dynamic with Thoth is can vary a lot from the one the have with Ra), as well as their teacher and mentor. I can also see where other gods like Khnum, Khepri, and Bes, and goddesses like Neith, Seshat, Taweret, Ma'at, and Mut, might also have played some direct mentor role in the daughters' upbringing and sense of self.

[20] (squick + implied nsfw) I uh… have this minor gag headcanon where Horus, Isis, and Osiris just don't eat fish. They just… don't. And it's entirely based on that one part of the myths after Osiris's death, where a certain part of Osiris's desecrated body ended up in the river and was swallowed by a fish 8')c (should be noted that I'm not saying that event did happened in DEITIES canon, but I'm also not disputing it either >>).

Apparently that was considered a bad omen, and I still find conflicting information on whether consumption of fish was taboo for some or all in Ancient Egypt (I think "for some" makes better sense, cuz why would an entire society that resides near the Nile river pass up on a perfectly available food source?? But I digress, I might need to review this again so take my thoughts with a grain of salt--). I also admit that I've seen it mentioned that fish are not ideal food offerings for Isis and Osiris?? and I can imagine that maybe Horus adopts the distaste for them as well. Either way, I go with the DEITIES canon that while most people and deities happily consume fish, Horus and his parents will not, and they don't enjoy it as offerings either.

I’MMMMMM gonna end it here for now cuz my headcanons have run dry for the time being, thank you guys!!

#// I'M SRSLY JUST blanking on new facts right now o)-----< but I wanna give this a try later after I make dinner in a bit #// I will… also see if I can make a tag for the headcanon-type replies since it seems that people are interested in them! #DEITIES asks #general asks #meme #Horus #Set #Anubis #Bastet #Nephthys #Ra #Thoth #Isis #Osiris #Sekhmet #headcanons

[obsidianarchives]

Minnie and Poppy

Persephone Apolina Pomfrey hated Quidditch. Aside from finding all sports, wizarding and Muggle, frightfully dull, Quidditch led to too many injuries. It made her squirm every time a player crashed into another player's broom, she bit her lip whenever the Ravenclaw Seeker did a nosedive, and Bludgers must have been made by the rueful Salazar Slytherin himself.

Today's game was no different, except with the added pressure of it being the last Quidditch game for her best friend on the Gryffindor team: Minerva McGonagall.

If they weren't in different houses, Minnie (Poppy being the only person who dare call her that) and Poppy would be inseparable; but Minerva's drive, her fiercely competitive nature, and her bold sternness meant she was a Gryffindor through and through, even if Professor Flitwick always argued with Professor Dumbledore over whose house she should truly be in.

Poppy met Minnie on the Hogwarts Express their first year — Minerva, a half-blood witch who grew up in the Muggle world with a pure-blood mother, had spent her first train ride trying to figure out how to stop bleeding after an older Slytherin pushed her for talking back to him. Minnie couldn’t even remember what she’d said — or what he’d said to set her off — but Poppy showed up with a Muggle band-aid and a bar of chocolate.

“Are you a Muggle-born?” Minnie had asked.

“Nah. My parents are both pure-blood, but Muggle stuff is genius,” Poppy replied, shrugging like it was nothing, but looking carefully at Minerva as she slapped on the band-aid.

“Lucky you had one of these.”

“Lucky for you.”

The two spent the entire train ride fussing over their books and imagining Ravenclaw tower, but were severely disappointed to be Sorted into different houses.

“I almost got sorted into Ravenclaw, the Hat told me so, but as my mum says, I have a smart mouth,” Minnie said to Poppy as a simple way of explanation as the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor houses passed each other on the steps of the Entrance Way on their way to their respective towers.

They remained a rare case of inter-house best friends, sharing everything but their class schedule and, of course, Quidditch.

It drove Poppy absolutely mad that her best friend was so enamored with the violent sport. It was the source of nearly all of their fights, mostly because Poppy was who Minnie called when the Gryffindor Quidditch team had rough after-hours practice sessions. Their only non-Quidditch fight was in second year when Minnie got jealous that Poppy was hanging out with some older Ravenclaws. That was also technically about Quidditch (“Well, what else am I supposed to be doing when you're on the pitch practicing every second of the day and night? I’m not your private nurse at your beck and call, Min,” Poppy said angrily), but Minnie just didn't understand that the older Ravenclaws gave Poppy something she couldn't get from anywhere else. “They teach me haircare spells,” Poppy said. Minnie glanced up at Poppy's curly kinky hair — which all the well-known spells and potions did nothing for  — ran her hand over her own straight ponytail and said, “oh, right.” It was never an issue again.

Minnie was the only reason Poppy even went to the stupid games. In fifth year, Minnie slammed her arm into a goal post trying to save the Quaffle (success) and Poppy wasn't there. It upset her for a week. “I’m fine,” Minnie said dismissively as they studied together on the lawn, still nursing a sore arm. The Hogwarts doctor was kind of terrible.

“That's not the point! One day you might not be fine! The odds are—”

“Oh hush, don’t tell me the odds.”

So from then on, Poppy went to every Quidditch game and watched with her hands covering her face, peeking through her fingers. Usually, she brought Muggle textbooks that Minnie's mum sent from their Muggle Scottish village that explained biology and medicine.

After the games, Poppy met Minnie on her way back up the castle. “You could have fractured your patella if you had crashed into the goal post.”

“You worry too much.”

“You don't worry enough! You take too many risks on the field, Min. You're gonna get hurt someday.”

“And if I do, I'll have you to tell me which very fragile bone I broke. Come on, my mum sent Muggle biscuits. The ones with cinnamon and sugar you like so much.”

Poppy pursed her lips. Those cookies were delicious.

--

Poppy sat in her usual seat in the stands with a textbook propped up on her lap. She was studying hard for her NEWTs and a silly Quidditch game wouldn't stand in the way, House Cup or not. She’d almost bailed to hole up in the library, but she never missed a game Minnie played; it was the finals against Slytherin and Minnie would never let her hear the end of it if Poppy missed her trounce Slytherin in her last school game. There were scouts from Appleby Arrows in the crowd; Minnie could make it to the pros if she played her cards right.

Poppy, on the other hand, had eyes to work at St. Mungo's. Years of watching Minnie and the other Quidditch players break bones led Poppy to develop an interest in magical healing. Plus, her fascination with Muggle medicine made her want to study the marriage of the two healing forms. Healing was a useful, but clearly undervalued skill that had saved Poppy herself when she failed her first Apparition test.

Somewhere past the pages of her text, the Gryffindors screamed bloody murder as the Slytherin Beater hit a Bludger toward the opposing Seeker, who'd made a dive for the Snitch. Poppy turned a page. As a Ravenclaw, she had no house to root for here. Ravenclaw was third place in the house championship (the poor Puffs were fourth this year and hadn't even come close to the Quidditch final) and by the points count in the game so far, Slytherin and Gryffindor had solidified the top two spots. It didn't matter, she’d be at St Mungo’s training this summer and would only have to worry about the occasional professional Quidditch player. She'd mostly be helping people who didn't foolishly put themselves in danger. She laughed to herself as she turned another page — who was she kidding? Wizards were born to be foolish no matter what they did.

The crowd screamed again, but this time it was the whole crowd, many of whom had stood to peer down at the grassy pitch below the airfield — a player was down…

Poppy searched the skies for the swooping straight ponytail of Minnie and her heart dropped to her stomach when she didn't see the Chaser fiercely zooming her way to the ref to demand… a redo or some such thing.

No, instead, the remaining Gryffindors were sailing down to the grass to check on a wounded player that Poppy just knew was Minnie. She stashed her books under the bleachers and raced down the steps the Quidditch pitch, squeezing past other concerned students, unable to hear what the referee was announcing about the downed player, but guessing by the roars the of the crowd, it wasn't good.

Poppy swung around a corner from the stairway and onto the field. Professor Dumbledore was staring icily at the referee, who was pointing at the Slytherin Seeker, who was gleefully plucking the feathers from the twitching snitch as his teammates grinned at the frantic Gryffindors on the other side of the field. Headmaster Dippet was near the huddle, speaking softly with the school doctor Rheum who was maybe 142, nearly blind, and, rumor had it, had actually given a student with a broken nose a second nose, causing her to need to stay at St. Mungo’s for an entire term. Fear, fury, and worry rose in Poppy’s chest as she pushed past the Gryffindors to find Minerva sprawled on the ground. She was unconscious.

The scarlet-clad players looked at the short and plump Black girl pushing them to the side with annoyance, until they realized it was Poppy — she was the one they went to when they needed healing off the books, since Rheum was a damned tattle. They knew they wouldn’t get in trouble, she was always discreet, and she got to practice for her NEWTs and St. Mungo’s apprenticeship exam with very adventurous and accident-prone Gryffs who were always up for her experiments.

“What happened?” Poppy asked, staring at her best friend. Minnie’s cheeks were pale, her ponytail was coming out of its holder, and her lips were frightfully dry.

“I saw what happened,” said one of Minnie’s fellow Chasers on the team, Cecily Swann. She had her arms crossed, cheeks flushed, her hand clutched over her wand like she was going to curse the entire Slytherin team when she was done talking. “Greengrass pushed her when he ‘dodged’ that Bludger.”

The other Gryffindors nodded and murmured in agreement.

“Now, now,” Headmaster Dippet interjected, “We don’t know that for sure.”

“Oh, come on,” several Gryffindors roared.

“Minerva’s the best Chaser we’ve got,” said Swann, “She didn’t just fly off her broom! She was pushed!” Though a fifth year, she was next in line to be captain, Minnie had told Poppy a few weeks earlier. Minerva hadn’t been captain officially — because the previous captain didn’t think she could handle it with being Head Girl, head of the Transfiguration Club, and with a full course load (they clearly didn’t know her very well) — but Minnie was basically co-captain with her fellow seventh year Terrance Brick. Everyone knew Minerva did all the work, wrote all the plays, and challenged them the hardest in practice. She was why they were in the finals against Slytherin. And now they’d lost and she was down for the count.

Poppy, though listening during the back and forth, was glaring at Rheum, who was just staring at Minnie. He hadn’t even taken his wand out. Poppy wasn’t even sure he was really thinking, he was so old he was barely breathing.

“Well? What’s wrong with her?” Poppy demanded, snapping the old man out of his daze. He seemed startled to see so many eyes on him.

“We should take her to the hospital wing,” he then reached for his wand, preparing to Wingardium Leviosa Minnie’s prone form, but Poppy shook her head.

“What are you doing? You can’t move her! She fell 50 feet--”

“--pushed!” several Gryffindors shouted.

“She was pushed 50 feet. She could have broken something! She needs a stretcher!”

“I have never needed to conjure a stretcher, that’s a Muggle contraption we have no use for,” he said, clearly offended someone would mention a Muggle idea in his presence.

“Muggles have quite a few perfectly good ideas, and I think we should use them.” Poppy then conjured a crude Muggle stretcher — it didn’t have wheels or anything, but it would get the job done. Several students ooh’d in awe, but she wasn’t second in seventh year for nothing. Only Minnie had her beat.

Poppy and Swann then gently put Minnie on the stretcher, careful not to move her torso much, Poppy was worried she’d broken a rib. Once she was on the thin bedding, Poppy levitated the stretcher and she and Minnie’s floating (but more secure) body led the way back to the castle. Meanwhile, Rheum puffed and puttered and sighed as he walked behind them.

Poppy put all her effort into holding the Levitation spell steady, so as to not bump Minnie against anything, namely the doors of the castle, but she could hear the Quidditch players, and really, the rest of the castle, chattering angrily about the game behind her.

“He definitely pushed her.”

“He totally pretended to dodge that Bludger--”

“I think Perkins beat it his way on purpose--”

“And they won! In all the confusion, they caught the snitch!”

“We can’t tell McGonagall, she’ll be furious.”

Poppy broke into a smile, imagining how red Minnie’s face would be when she found out what happened. Few people could look like a spitting cat the way Minerva McGonagall could. But then Poppy frowned as she entered the hospital wing. She hadn’t spent much time in there, but it was dusty, the drapes were drawn tightly over the windows, and the beds were a mess. It made her feel a bit sick herself. Before settling Minnie down, she asked Swann to clear off the nearest bed, which still had crumpled sheets that Poppy swore had green pus residue still on them. Disgraceful.

Rheum stepped in front of her as she attempted to settle Minnie’s crooked limbs more comfortably on the bed.

“I’ll take it from here. Shoo, all of you.”

The Quidditch team and the 50 or so students who’d crammed in the wing behind them all grumbled on their way out, everyone looking back at the unconscious player forlornly.

Poppy remained resolutely where she was.

“I said out,” Rheum said, annoyed. But Poppy was startled when Professor Dumbledore said softly behind her, “I think she should stay, Doctor Rheum.”

Rheum grumbled some more.

Poppy hadn’t realized Dumbledore had followed the team, but it was no surprise. Minnie was his best and favorite student. Dumbledore was never good at hiding his favoritism.

Rheum stared at Minnie some more, like he’d never had a concussed patient before. It was driving Poppy crazy, to see such incompetence.

Finally, Rheum performed the spell to wake Minnie up and Poppy nearly slapped him. Minerva woke with a start and tried to sit up, before howling in intense pain.

“Why would you wake her up before fixing her other wounds?!” Poppy had never shouted at a teacher or elder before, and she knew she’d probably feel guilty about it later, but now was not the time for weak emotions. “She clearly has a broken rib, why wouldn’t you tend to that first?” Poppy rushed over and held Minnie’s hand and coaxed her back into lying down. “Come on now, don’t be stubborn. We’ll fix these ribs first, and then you can go running off to fight the Slytherins single-handed.”

Minnie smirked through her pained expression and Poppy almost smiled. Her best friend was going to be fine.

Rheum was, however, feeling petty, and stood back. “Well then, if you know so much, you heal her.”

He was clearly expecting Poppy to balk at the offer, but she merely rolled her up sleeves, pointed her wand, and got to work.

She first assessed Minnie’s condition, performing the scanning spell she’d mastered four weeks ago when a third year thought he had dragon pox. Then, seeing three -- three! -- broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and evidence of a concussion, Poppy wave her wand and reset the ribs, hearing them snap back into place. Resetting bones was relatively easy -- for some people, not so much for the senile Rheum -- but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The pelvic fracture would take some time -- and even then Minnie might have trouble sitting comfortably on a broom. It all would have been much less painful if Minnie had remained unconscious. She then apologized to Minnie and left her side, heading to the vast medical closet in the back room. She stared at the ingredients -- half of the vials were nearly empty, and there was little organization. But Poppy found the ingredients to aid with Minnie’s pain, and to make her go to sleep. If Minnie wasn't tied down and or drugged, it didn’t matter if she’d broken seven ribs and both legs, the Slytherins would be in danger tonight.

She mixed up the ingredients and came back to the main room to give Minnie the droughts. She could hear Rheum muttering loudly, like he was pretending to whisper but didn’t bother -- “really, Dumbledore, letting a student into MY hospital wing like this, she could really injure this student.”

“Like Carlyle’s second nose?” McGonagall muttered equally loudly as she slurped down the potions.

Poppy could see Dumbledore stifle a laugh and Rheum sputtered in reply. There wasn’t anything he could say.

“Come, Doctor Rheum. I think another Muggle invention we could potentially discuss is a word they call ‘retirement.’” Dumbledore led Rheum from the room and gave the girls some space, winking at Poppy as he left.

There was silence as Poppy stared at Minnie and Minnie clenched her eyes tightly, as she waited for the potions to take effect and kill the pain. Poppy counted to five, then:

“This is what I’m talking about!”

“Can I get another minute, Pop? Your spell work is good,” she spat out, “but I can still feel my bones knitting back together.”

Poppy bit her lip, then looked around the room.

She headed over to the dark and dusty drapes and opened them, letting the gray but bright day give light to the hospital wing. She then waved her wand and watched as each messy bed folded and tucked and ripped sheets away, dirty sheets flying into a pile in the middle of the room.

“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time. Poppy walked over to Minnie’s bedside and pulled up a chair.

“You go first, I still might throw up that last potion.”

“I think some of the ingredients are past their expiration, but you should be fine.” She paused. “I’m sorry to yell. You were hurt and don’t deserve to be yelled at. Today, anyway. But I was really worried. You’re not just my best friend, Min. You’re the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“I get it. My brothers are too young for me to really bond with them. I just have you, too.” The girls smiled at each other softly. “And I’m sorry too. For not taking your warnings into consideration. I mean, this wasn’t my Gryffindor recklessness -- I was pushed! -- but if I’d been listening to you more closely, I might have been more vigilant.”

“That’s right.”

More silence. Minnie leaned her head all the way back against the pillows.

“You better go mix more of this sleepy potion, Pop.”

“Why, are you still in pain?”

“No, but when I wake up, I’m going to want to burn down the Slytherin common room, and I need you to stop me.”

Poppy laughed.

“Besides,” Minnie said as Poppy walked towards the storeroom, “You look really comfortable here.”

Poppy smiled and looked at the already brighter and cleaner hospital wing. She was.

---

Connie (@constar24) is a Hufflepuff who keeps getting sorted into Ravenclaw. She is not about that lofty tower life. If she’s not sorting characters from every single source of media (TV, books, the founding fathers via Hamilton the Musical, the Bible, her co-workers, etc), she’s writing about television and all sorts of nerd stuff all over the internet.

#Harry Potter #Black Wizard History #Quidditch

[arsonforcharlie]

bonus fuck squad post- excerpts from my DM notes

when i took the fuck squad back to the first location they saw in the game, i had to go back to my notes from the first session i ever DMed. not only had i tried to do some organizing instead of my current “dump it all in a text document and let god sort it out” style, i realized that i tend to write non-dialogue bits in my own internal monologue style. here are some of the best bits from this first arc. 

He tells you his name- FABIAN O-FUCKING-HARA

1D4 fire damage if you try to reach into the fire with your bare hand to get it, dumbass.

If they ask Fabian, he’ll tell them the solution. If they wait a while and don’t get it, he’ll offer the answer. “well, you looked like you were having fun.”

then end the session and we have two weeks to decide what the fuck i’m gonna do about that shit

Fabian, barring any sort of murder, lets Rhonia know

That is the only way to get the horses in. Unless they come up with some other bullshit.

Manor layout is in a file that i might fukkin make someday????????

How else to solve it? EHHHHHH

Fabian is a cool dad.

looking for magical doctor never mind they killed the magical doctor

Do they remember to translate the books? Of course. Sure they will. I believe in these fucks

(NOTE FOR ME AND JUST FOR ME DO NOT READ THIS) 

that was on a lot of things, only a few things of which i accidentally started reading and had to improv something else to finish the sentence

ROOM 13, IF THEY MAKE IT THIS FAR, ALSO HAHA I JUST NOTICED THE END ROOM IS THE SPOOK NUMBER, HELLA

She knew you were coming, because she is psychic as shit

She hasn’t had much of an advance on their motivations because fuckin’ and truckin’ is all they crave

Do you want to try to save her? Or the mannequin? They might not. That’s cool. Whatever. I only popped open the name generator for them. No big deal, you fucking ingrates.

Let the team respond. They’ll do some shit.

this one and some variant of same showed up a LOT

Let the squad decide what is morally right, that’s a good idea.

Fabian doesn’t trust her as far as he can throw her. Which isn’t far, because he only has one arm now.

Even on the quiet road leading towards the WHEREVER THEY DECIDED TO FUCKIN GO

DC 19 ref save for half damage on wall of blades- it does 6d6 otherwise. Now some of them might be able to survive it. Who wrote that shit? Level 1 adventure my ass.

Because, like, our arcane caster is a scrub

It will attack if provoked. By which i mean bothered, at all. If someone gets too close to that baby, it’s goin.

I don’t need to actually bellow, BUT I MIGHT

#the fuck squad #DM notes #i have fun

[johnchiarello]

Sunday sermon

SUNDAY SERMON 3-31-19

 Matthew 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

 https://youtu.be/54aI6rJ-Cl8 Sunday Sermon

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-1-17-sunday-sermon/

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/10-1-17-sunday-sermon.zip 

 Blog- www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks

Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg?view_as=subscriber

Other sites- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/  

Cloud links- https://ccoutreach87.com/cloud-links-12-2018/

Youtube Playlist- https://ccoutreach87.com/youtube-playlist/

[Links to all my sites at the bottom of this post]

NOTE- Every so often some of my sites think I am Spam- or a Bot- I am not. My name is John Chiarello and I post original content [all videos and text are by me]. I do share my past posts from my other sites- but it is not spam- Thank you- John.

 ON VIDEO-

.Famous verses?

.Brief history of Old Testament

.Is God fair?

.Jesus is the Christ

.Parables

.How did Jesus respond?

.The hookers and addicts believed John!

.But the leaders did not

.Promised land

.The slave kid

.The son of the slave woman

.Then the son of Sarah was born

.Ishmael and Issac

.Conflict in the home of Abraham

.What does all of this mean today?

.It’s not about Muslim versus Jew

.It’s about the promise that we can all become the children of God- Jew- Muslim- all of us-

 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Rom. 2

  Panic- Prince- https://youtu.be/Ro2VkFpWmB0 

https://vimeo.com/236333803  [Made this short clip on the way into Church Unlimited- I reviewed a little from this teaching post]

OTHER VIDEOS- [More teaching below]

11-19-17  Sunday sermon  https://youtu.be/6GGDsv8Ecl4

Teaching at the Lexington https://youtu.be/mfKdSHcMURo

1 of the days of the Son of man  https://drive.google.com/file/d/16ZV8BRFO-wtcaN4qf02Bc0FrVMD5EaN-/view?usp=sharing

Galatians 6  https://www.dropbox.com/s/8p7q3cc47gtv6gb/1-31-17%20Galatians%206%20%5BConc.%5D.mp4?dl=0

Plymouth Rock  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg2p-Ll8OTYtWqBPI

Acts 12  https://mega.nz/#!2KhhjCTY!SLP_PtbGo-AFzQHB_W9Q02Tjia02piMDuUHLkRfP2DU

Samuel  https://icedrive.net/0/6a9WlGJ32d

1-20-19  Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMikYc30VvFVnVlHnn

5-6-18  Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldjx7kfegjfbfq3/Sunday%20sermon%205-6-18.mp4?dl=0

1-7-18  Sunday sermon https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMcX_RR1U1bfeROjo

1 Lord- 1 baptism  https://youtu.be/3mrwpTp4TJQ

Apologetics  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMcqT0iKU_ZT_0qsM

John 7  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FnS4CPzeFcXBExUF3VZ_9zT6pfcmgDsP/view?usp=sharing

Matt. 23  https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7ph28qk50csibg/1-29-17%20%20Matt.%2023.mp4?dl=0

1-20-19  Sunday sermon  https://dai.ly/x730iho

Homeless friends  https://flic.kr/p/29qfDXq

Ephesians 2  https://www.dropbox.com/s/dcterll6r8stc28/12-9-17%20Ephesians%202.mp4?dl=0

Romans 1-3  https://www.bitchute.com/video/ayM4pvRo15LP/

Samuel 5-6  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PIygHG-LyafcLQAA_bFOg-CEtE3Acl-g/view?usp=sharing

1-28-18  Sunday sermon https://www.dropbox.com/s/ok99cciktacbccq/1-28-18%20Sunday%20sermon-%20it%20is%20finished.mp4?dl=0

Kings 7  https://mega.nz/#!nPQ1UY6Y!NSlRSSMAwek7rVzklZeegZ7OTQDEnUqN6nBElZ97TZM

Galatians 6  https://icedrive.net/0/2eVCQRtWk7

Jerome- NYC  https://ln.sync.com/dl/cc8cc4690/fbcjw43f-2a9tx8cm-fdqa2ykb-6s59knuk

God- science- logic  https://d.tube/v/ccoutreach/e6v9pfwr

The unknown God  https://youtu.be/wZeEPrdyZ20

Samuel 26  https://youtu.be/KtVY_f5Fap8

God’s set time  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg2iXhEatBtj5xSsb

John 6  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q1KzBmr3bBtYgrxXSfpW6iiEFpzQQj-Y/view?usp=sharing

Samuel 31   https://www.dropbox.com/s/xdvzyidcsjp8i3j/12-8-16%20Samuel%2031%20%5BConc.%5D.mp4?dl=0

3-17-19  Sunday sermon  https://www.bitchute.com/video/N83Qcy3swssp/

Jonah 4  https://youtu.be/qxe68bFwwEc

12-30-18  Sunday sermon  https://dai.ly/x72sflh

 North Bergen  https://www.instagram.com/tv/BvOnWYiHfEU/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 Real time teaching  https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccoutreach87/shares/R72js0

The paintings of the atheist  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg2UQzQyhVLnAg6pp

7-23-17  Sunday sermon  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vw1X_lZox7Yx9it6lsKrO_3IyqXZUxcy/view?usp=sharing

Kings 18  https://www.dropbox.com/s/o69uyea4a0yndfd/1-27-18%20Kings%2018.mp4?dl=0

Teaching at NeWay  https://youtu.be/DvzW72GvGuM

The seed  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMcE6961pCHM63GqU

Would you be Isis?  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yH9Tf_FlTjEeOvFNIyyvIEJ9ovh2Qo3E/view?usp=sharing

5-7-17  Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/cahvsj1qiunmfgg/5-7-17%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0

Galatians 3  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMb7uGiBkitnB9foQ

John 5  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UN5-HVHsOvoj6voQ562zg0uQq0_1ZouU/view?usp=sharing

Eat the bread  https://www.dropbox.com/s/hiz4f226je8o3v5/12-6-16%20Eat%20the%20Bread.mp4?dl=0

Troy’s first swim  https://d.tube/v/ccoutreach/d26vfkro

John 13  https://flic.kr/p/2f9XTTs

Kings 6  https://mega.nz/#!HfYgmCaZ!nufu5H9iSMt5GspWfmOc9HFvkZTIthMFJ-umuTBNF28

Acts 3  https://www.dropbox.com/s/nwvlfuujle9q5rf/1-26-17%20Acts%203%20-Alamodome.mp4?dl=0

2nd Samuel 6-7  https://youtu.be/9fCkO9vYK94

Galatians 6  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgQzjBmUmaRVxQ7NI

8-20-17  Sunday sermon  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZHjqE2u8QjPY1KjYW_Rduhk8XSJqj9tp/view?usp=sharing

The mind of Christ  https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq6uov5r7xdrnlz/12-6-15%20The%20mind%20of%20Christ.mp4?dl=0

The journey  https://flic.kr/p/2fcnSAB

Tonnelle Ave  https://www.instagram.com/tv/BvJjdzeHQgG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

8-13-17  Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/z708gslzuuyzg9n/8-13-17%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0

Acts 11  https://mega.nz/#!qOhGwaCZ!fhFKZmqyKcR0OYlTFri8Gwx3_z2rlMYM_64ZMPPczzE

Christmas eve- NYC in the background  https://ln.sync.com/dl/11b3e1c70/hzsyjqxn-ja564am6-ru8b68j2-a8rr4wu8

  PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates to this post- SUNDAY SERMON]

https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/

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

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

https://ccoutreach87.com/justification-by-faith/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/10/02/sunday-sermon-7/ 

https://ccoutreach87.com/islam/

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

 (1329) GALATIANS 2- Paul recounts his meeting with the apostles at Jerusalem; some feel he is talking about his first visit [Acts 11- before AD 50] others think he is discussing his Acts 15 meeting [right at around AD 50] I’m in the latter camp. Paul is basically telling the churches of Galatia that he already went thru this whole discussion with the main apostles at Jerusalem [Peter, James and John] and that they had already agreed that the Gentile believers did not need to get circumcised and come under the law in order to be saved. I do find it interesting that out of the 4 decrees that were made [read Acts 15] that the only one Paul recounts here is ‘to remember the poor’. The only decree worthy enough for Paul to recount is the one on charitable giving; those of you who have followed this blog for a while know how much I emphasize this point. If the early church was teaching tithing to the Gentile churches, surely it would have come up at the Jerusalem meeting, but it didn’t. This chapter has some important verses that all believers should commit to memory ‘if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain’ ‘the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’ etc. I really want all my Catholic/Protestant readers to pay attention to the verse’s that I just quoted; the bible clearly teaches that if men could ‘be saved’ by keeping Gods law, then Christ died in vain. Paul will go on to teach [chapter 3] that if there had been a law given that could have given men eternal life, then ‘being saved’ would come that way; but he then goes on to say that there never was a law given that men could keep in order to be saved. Paul always gives the caveat ‘does this mean we go out and break the 10 commandments’? And his answer is always a big NO! The point of this chapter is we as believers are saved because Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin; the proof that the penalty was completely paid is in the fact that Jesus rose again [Romans 5]. All who believe in this reality are now the children of God, indeed ‘we are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ’.

 (1330) GALATIANS 3- The main point of this chapter is God made a promise to Abraham that he would ‘bless’ all nations thru one of his kids someday [Genesis 12). This promise was given to Abraham 430 years before God gave the 10 commandments to Moses. Therefore the promise that men would be justified/saved by faith cannot be ‘undone’ by a later act of giving the law to Moses. The point being that Paul is arguing with the Galatians that their new view that they need to keep the law in order to ‘be saved’ [the blessing of Abraham IN CONTEXT!] is false because God already told Abraham it would be by faith in the coming Messiah. Paul then asks ‘is the law then against Gods promise’? No, it was given to man [Israel] until the time came for the promised child to be born [1st century], but now that the promised child is here we are no longer under the ‘schoolmaster’. The schoolmaster term can be confusing; the word in Greek means the person who walked the kids to school [truth] and then dropped them off AND LEFT. Paul is saying the law period served its purpose; it revealed mans sinful nature to him and then ‘dropped him off at the Cross’. Paul is saying the law fulfilled its purpose and we are now under grace. As new creatures in Christ we walk in love and fulfill the righteousness of the law by our new nature, it’s not a legalistic thing. There is some confusion today on this chapter; some were taught that ‘the blessing of Abraham’ was speaking of the promises in Deuteronomy on financial blessings. And that the curse is speaking about the curse of ‘poverty’. Though it is true that the bible does speak about this in the Old Testament, in context Paul is not saying this here. Paul explains what he means about the ‘curse of the law’. He says it’s the curse of never being able to do enough to appease God, the man that is under the law puts himself under this mindset of perfectionism and lives under this constant feeling of never being able to do enough. This was Paul's previous experience as a Pharisee. When Paul teaches that we are delivered from ‘the curse’ so the ‘blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles, that we might receive THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT BY FAITH’ he is not saying Jesus died to make us financially rich, he is saying Jesus delivered us from the old law mindset of legalism and we now have forgiveness and acceptance as a free gift- ‘being now justified by faith we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ’ [Romans 5].

 This post deals with the faulty understanding expounded by many Evangelical/Protestant ministers [end times scenarios, Tim Lahaye type books] that exalt ethnic/racial elements into the gospel, and contribute to the many present tensions between Muslims/Jews/Christians.

 (1331) GALATIANS 4- Paul says there was a time period before the promise would be fulfilled thru Christ; that time has come to an end [the law] and we are now in ‘the fullness of times’. When we were under the law we were no different than servants, but now in grace we are mature sons, people able to inherit the promise. Paul says why do you desire to go back under the ‘restraint’ phase, the time of discipline and legalism, we are now in a fullness stage thru the New Covenant and we don’t need the old mentality anymore. Once again Paul really ‘spiritualizes’ the Old Testament in his teaching, he says that the law [Old Testament] taught this difference between law and grace. He uses the story of Abraham having 2 sons [Ishmael, Isaac] and he says ‘cant you hear what the law is saying’? One son was born by promise [Isaac] the other thru the works of the flesh [law]. And just like it was back then, the one born after the flesh persecuted the one born after the Spirit, so today [1st century] those after the flesh/law are persecuting those born after the Spirit. It’s important to see that Paul DOES NOT use this analogy to describe Jewish/Muslim [Arab] relations; he actually refers to natural Israel as ‘Ishmael’! He says the Judaisers [Jews zealous of the law] were fulfilling the type/symbol by persecuting Gentile believers. We need to keep these distinctions in our minds, because when we don’t rightfully discern the truth we do damage to the non ethnic testimony of the gospel. Paul says the law relates to natural Israel/Jerusalem who is under bondage with her children, but the ‘New Jerusalem’ which is above is the mother of us all, and this Jerusalem relates to the church. The New Jerusalem is not referring to a physical city that will ‘hover over the earth during the millennium rule’ [EEK!] But it refers to the new community people of God, the church. I have written on this before and these references in the New Testament [Revelation, Hebrews- us being the new Zion, etc.] are speaking of the church, the people of God. Paul once again speaks of ‘natural Jerusalem’ in a negative light, in the sense that he teaches those who are under the law are not walking in the fullness of the promises of God as come in the Messiah. The New Testament spends no time engaging in the glorying of any ethnic group [whether it be Israel, Gentile, etc.] It’s not that the apostles were being anti Semitic, it’s just the emphasis is on the new kingdom of God and the new people of God [the church made up of both Jew and Gentile]. Its striking to compare the writings of the first Jewish believers to the current trends amongst many evangelical preachers, the two don’t mesh well.

 ROMANS 2:14- 3:18- Paul says ‘you are called a Jew and are confident that you are a teacher and an instructor of the law’. Read my Hebrews commentary, chapters 5 and 6. It is interesting that Paul understood the teaching role that the Jewish nation was to play among the Gentile nations. In Jesus parables he also hits on these themes. Hebrews says ‘when the time has come [the appointed time of Messiah- Galatians 4] that you ought to be teachers, you have need to be taught the first principles again’. Here Paul tells them they are proud to be the ‘possessors’ of the Old Testament, yet thru their disobedience to it the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles [ouch!] Paul fully acknowledges the privileged role that Israel had, he himself was brought up with this ‘elitist/intellectual’ mindset. But here Paul rebukes them for not fully living up to the law. ‘Well brother, how could they live up to it? Paul himself says that this is impossible.’ If they carried thru with the receiving of Messiah, which their law spoke and testified of, then truly they would have been fulfilling the law as new creatures in Christ. In essence their indictment is ‘you never fully followed thru with your own law’! Now Paul will flatly say that circumcision and being the guardians of the law profit nothing. That the ‘circumcision of the heart’ is what matters. He says if the gentiles, who have no historical attachment to the law, if they do by nature the things in the law then they are ‘spiritually circumcised’ [set apart unto God]. But if the circumcised do not obey the law and character of God [thru the new birth] then it profits nothing. I want to note the strong disconnect between the way Paul speaks about natural Israel and her heritage, and how some in the American church present her. Paul, who himself is a Jew, makes it very clear that Israel is in a state of ‘danger’ by not receiving Messiah. Though he will admit their special place and role in history, yet he refuses to exalt her in her natural ‘state’ [of being]. Now Israel’s response to Paul [which by the way Paul interjects himself. I want to make a note here. Paul will give ‘both sides’ of the argument in his letters. He will say things like ‘and you will say to me such and such’. He actually try’s to add both sides of the conversation in his letters. Recently there has been some discussion on whether or not we can really understand the New Testament without fully knowing all the background and history of the letters. Some have said just  knowing the letters are like hearing only one side of a phone conversation. To be honest this isn’t really true. The writers of the letters and the gospels lived in an ‘oral culture’. This is why Paul himself gives instructions on his letters being read- as opposed to saying ‘pass the letters around for everyone to personally read’. The point is we can understand a whole bunch of scripture just by reading it!] Now Israel asks ‘what good is the whole thing, why even have Jews or circumcision or any history with God at all’? Paul realizes that his whole argument for law and circumcision meaning nothing without a changed heart, that some would respond back like this. He in turn says ‘the law and all the history of Israel with God were very important! It was Gods way of getting his prophetic word [oracles] to man’. In essence God chose to ‘start a conversation’ with Abraham and extend it forward to his children. Over a long history of God interacting with Israel, God would speak thru prophets and ‘wise men’ and these prophetic words were being recorded [meticulously by the way!]. God would reveal himself and his purpose of Messiah thru these writings that came from this relationship [though rocky!] that he had with Israel. Now Paul will say ‘does their unbelief negate Gods promise’? No! Let God be true and every man be a liar. The fact that Israel as a nation were ‘not believing’ in their Messiah, didn’t effect the actual power of the Messiah to be believed on among the Gentile nations. A couple of things here; dispensational theology teaches that the Kingdom of God has been postponed until Christ’s return. I think this contradicts Paul's argument. Paul said Israel’s unbelief could not negate the full purpose of God. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead and is presently seated at God’s right hand proves this. Also Paul will teach later in this letter that the actual reason why salvation has gone out to the gentiles is because Israel rejected Messiah. In essence Israel’s unbelief could not negate what God purposed to do all along.

 ROMANS 3:19-31 ‘Now we know that what things the law says, it says to those who are under the law… that every mouth may be stopped and all the world becomes guilty before God’. One of the questions that arise as a response to Paul’s gospel is ‘if the law cannot make us righteous, then why even have it’? Paul will consistently teach the concept that Gods intention for the law was simply to reveal mans sin to him. Man would have this ‘form’ of the law written on stone tablets and as he tried to live up to God’s standards he would come to the proper diagnosis that all men are sinners. This diagnosis would then lead him to a place of faith in Jesus. After he believes in Jesus he then fulfills the law naturally, out of having a new nature ‘yea, we establish the law’ [3:31]. I have found it interesting over the years to teach people this. To explain to sincere people, church goers. To say ‘did you know the bible says that no man can be saved by trying to obey Gods Ten Commandments’? I will always explain that this doesn't mean that God wants us to break them! But when we come to the Cross we by nature keep them. These verses lay down the foundation of ‘justification by faith’. He that believes is righteous. To declare Jesus righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. Having faith ‘in His Blood’. Both Jews and Gentiles need to be made righteous thru faith/belief in Jesus. I want to establish this fact in your mind. Paul without a doubt describes this experience as being ‘justified by faith’. This is the same as saying ‘believing with the heart unto righteousness’. Later on [chapter 10] this needs to be understood when parsing the verses that say ‘with the heart a man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ many are confused about this, to get it right you need to see that Paul spends much time early on establishing the fact that ‘those who believe unto righteousness’ are justified by faith already!

  Below are just a few clips from Romans 1-3- I hope to hit on these in the video.

 Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Romans 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

     ROMANS 4-7

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/2-11-15-romans-4-7.zip 

Video

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/700-galatians.wav?_=1 This is an old radio show I made years ago- thought it fit well with what I’m teaching now- you’ll need to use Internet Explorer browser to hear it.

 The apostle Paul quotes a lot of Old Testament scriptures in this letter- I hope to cover some of them on the video- but as you read these chapters- it would be helpful to read Genesis 12- 13- 15-and 17- these are the main chapters Paul uses in the life of Abraham to show Abrahams faith- and how he was justified by faith- before he was circumcised [Gen 15].

He will describe the faith of Abraham by using the story of Abraham and Sarah having a son in their old age [Gen. 17] - and talk about how the heirs of the promise- that Abraham would be ‘heir of the world’ was made to ALL THE SEED- meaning not just to his Jewish brothers who would believe- but also to the Gentiles- who were never granted the ‘right of the covenant’ [circumcision].

Paul explains that Abraham was justified BEFORE he was circumcised- so- he is the father of all the kids- even the Gentile believers who were never circumcised- but had the faith of Abraham.

Now- there’s’ a lot I am trying to cover in this Romans study- for those who watch the videos- you will see that I’m also covering the divisions within Christianity- primarily those that arose out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. I quote the book of James- and show how James says ‘was not Abraham our father JUSTIFIED BY WORKS when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar’. It’s important to see- that these words JUSTIFIED BY WORKS- are indeed used in our New Testament- in the videos I’m explaining this- but the point I’m making is James uses the account of Abraham- in Genesis 22- and shows us that the progressive work of ‘Justification’ can- and is- applied to the act of Abrahams obedience- and when God saw Abraham DO A JUST THING [a work] James says ‘he was then justified’- the same word used in the initial act of our Justification- seen in Genesis 15- ok- this might be a bit much to take in now- but over time when we get a better grasp on this- I believe it will help to foster unity in the Body of Christ.

 James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

James 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

NOTE- As I do this study- I’m copying/pasting an old commentary I wrote years ago- I guess I should read the commentary first- after I penned the above- I read it- I basically covered the same thing- at least I’m consistent!

   ROMANS 4: 1-12  Now, Paul will use one of his most frequent arguments to prove that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, need to be justified by faith and not ‘by works’. The most famous singular figure that natural Israel looked to as the ‘identifier’ of them being a special people was ‘Father Abraham’. Paul does a masterful job at showing how Abraham was indeed justified by faith and not by works. The ‘work’ of circumcision came before the law. It would later become synonymous with law keeping [Ten Commandments] and Paul can certainly use it here as implying ‘the whole law’. But to be accurate this work of circumcision was a national identifying factor that Israel looked to as saying ‘we are better than you [Gentiles]’. Paul is showing Israel that God in fact ‘made Abraham righteous’ before he circumcised him! [Gen. 15] And the sign of this righteousness was circumcision. This meaning that Abrahams faith in Gods promise [a purely ‘passive’ act! This is very important to see. Later on as we deal with the famous ‘conversion texts’ we need to keep this in mind] justified him without respect to the law. God simply took Abraham outside and said ‘look at the stars, your children will be this abundant’ and Abraham simply believed this promise to be true. Much like the passive belief of Cornelius house at their conversion [Acts 10]. The simple belief in the promise of Jesus justifies the sinner! Now this fact of Abraham believing and being made righteous, before being circumcised, is proof [according to Paul] that Abraham is the father of ‘many nations’ not just natural Israel. All ethnic groups who HAVE THE SAME FAITH AS ABRAHAM are qualified to be ‘sons of Abraham/ heirs of God’. The fact that Abraham carried this justification along with him as he became circumcised, shows that all Jewish people as well can partake of this ‘righteousness by faith’ if they have the same faith as Abraham had. Jesus did say ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day’[ John’s gospel]. In Gods promise to Abraham of a future dynasty of children, this included the promised Messiah. So indirectly Abraham’s belief in the promise of being the father of ‘many nations’ included belief in the coming Messiah. So according to Paul, all ethnic groups who have faith in Jesus are justified/made righteous. The very example Israel used to justify ‘ethnic/national pride’ [Father Abraham] was taught in a way that showed the truth of the gospel and how God is no respecter of persons.

 (820) ROMANS 4:13-14 ‘Now the promise that Abraham would become the inheritor of the world was not going to be fulfilled thru the law [natural Israel] but thru faith [all who believe, both Jew and Gentile]’. I have spoken on this before [see note at bottom] and will hit on it a little now. The historic church can be defined for the most part as ‘a-millennial’, that is they interpreted the parables on the Kingdom of God and the promise of ‘inheriting the world [which includes the Promised Land]’ as being fulfilled thru the church. That Jesus established Gods kingdom and the church basically fulfills these promises by expanding Christ’s ‘rule’ thru the earth. Some historians saw the 4th century ‘marriage’ of Rome and Christianity as a fulfillment of this. During the 19th and 20th century you had the rise of Dispensationalism, a ‘new/different’ way of interpreting these land promises. Many good men showed the reality of Christ’s literal coming and pointed to a future time where Jesus literally sits on a throne in Jerusalem and rules all nations. These brothers are called ‘Pre-millennial’, they believe that Jesus comes back first [pre] and then establishes his ‘millennial rule’ on earth. The Premillennialists would see the Amillennialists as ‘replacement theologians’. They said that these brothers were taking the actual promises that God made to Israel and ‘replacing’ Israel with the church. In essence they accused the Amillennialists of spiritualizing the promises to Israel and saying the church would be the recipients of the promises. Now, both sides have truth to them, I personally believe the Amillennialists have a lot more truth! But I do see some of the good points that the Premillenialists made. I want you to simply read these verses [Romans 4:13-14, Galatians 3:18] and see for yourself how Paul does teach the reality that the promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled thru the church [spiritual Israel]. This does not mean that there is no future physical return of Jesus. But the body of scripture leans heavily on the Amillinnialists side. [see entry 703] NOTE- To be fair, some historic thinkers held to the Premillennial position. The majority were Amillennial.

 (821) ROMANS 4:15-25 ‘For the law worketh wrath, for where there is no law there is no transgression’. I simply want to touch on the concept of ‘wrath’ being a very real part of judgment. One of the ways the gospel ‘saves us’ is by promising a future [and present!] deliverance from wrath. While death ‘reigned’ before the law was given, it wasn’t until the law where you had a clear picture of transgression and atonement. We will deal with this later in Romans. Now Paul once again hits on the theme of Abraham being the ‘spiritual father’ of many nations [all who believe] and how the promises of God to Abraham were to be fulfilled thru this ‘new race of people’ [the church]. Paul is careful to not demean Israel; he couches his terms in a way that says ‘God will fulfill these things thru the circumcision who believes [Jews] and the un-circumcision who believe’ [Gentiles]. I want to stress the very plain language Paul uses to show us that we should not be seeing Gods ‘covenant promises’ thru a natural lens. Christians need to be careful when they support [exalt!] natural Israel in a way that the New Testament doesn’t do. ‘To the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is the faith of Abraham’. Now Paul tells us that when God made promises to Abraham that Abraham believed against hope. When all things looked really bad, he still believed. When he was 100 years old and Sarah around 90, he held to the promise [read my commentaries on Genesis 15-18 and Hebrews 11] and therefore God imputed righteousness to him. How closely are you paying attention to Paul’s free use of Abraham and Genesis? If you carefully read this chapter you see Paul ‘intermingle’ the story of Abraham being ‘made righteous upon initial belief’ [Gen. 15] and the later story of Sarah having Isaac [Gen. 17]. I think Paul was simply using the description of Abrahams faith, as seen in the Gen. 17 [and 22!] accounts of his life, to show the type of faith he initially ‘exercised’ [I don’t like using this term to be honest. God actually imputes faith to the believer at the initial act of regeneration]. The important chapters from Genesis that we all need to have a ‘working knowledge’ of are Chapters 12 [the initial promise], 15 [the oft mentioned ‘imputed righteousness’ verse], 17 [the receiving of the promised seed- Isaac], and 22 [the ultimate act of obedience that Abraham showed in offering up Isaac. This will be described in James epistle as ‘righteousness being fulfilled’. James, who is concerned about ‘works’, will say that when Abraham offered Isaac he was fulfilling the ‘imputed righteousness’ that God gave him earlier. James actually describes this as ‘being justified by works’{James 2:21} and James says ‘the scripture was fulfilled that saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness’… ‘see how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only’. The classic view taken by many confuses the ‘justified’ part with the initial act of justification that Paul centers on. James uses ‘see how he was justified by works’ in a future ‘judicial decree’ sense; that is God having the ongoing ‘freedom’ to continually say ‘good job son, you did well’. The word justification is used in a fluid sense much like salvation. Christians need to be more ‘secure’ in their own assurance to be able to see these truths. When we approach all these seemingly ‘difficult passages’ in a defensive mode, then we never arrive at the actual meaning]. When we see the overall work of God in Abraham’s life we see the purpose of God in ‘declaring people just’ [initially ‘getting saved’]. The purpose is for them to eventually ‘act just’ [obey!] ‘Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification’ thank God that this process is dependant on the work of the Cross! [see # 758]

 (822) Romans 5:1-9 ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ’. There are certain benefits ‘results’ of being ‘made righteous by faith’, peace being one of them. Paul goes on and says we glory in hope and also trials, because we realize that thru the difficulties we gain experience and patience. Things that are needed for the journey, we can’t substitute talent and motivation and ‘success principles’ for them. We need maturity and God produces it this way. Those who teach otherwise have a ‘self inflicted wound’ their teachings are very immature! That is there was a ‘strain’ of teaching in the church that said ‘we don’t learn thru difficulty and suffering, we learn only thru Gods word!’ [that is reading it].  Those who grasped onto this false idea have produced some of the most unbalanced teaching in the church, stuff that even the younger generation is saying ‘what in the heck are these guys preaching’?  If you by pass the difficult road, you will be shallow. Now Paul says ‘God commended his love toward us, that when we were sinners Christ died for us’ ‘being now justified by his death, we shall be saved thru his life’ [saved from wrath thru him]. Once again this theme pops up; ‘since we are justified, made righteous by believing with the heart, we shall be saved [continual, future deliverance] from wrath thru him’. I don’t know if you ever realized what a major theme this is in Romans? The ongoing, future ‘being saved’ is a result of ‘being made righteous’. Later on in chapter 10, when we read that the righteous call for salvation, we need to understand this context. Remember, when the two are linked together in the same verse, it is not saying ‘saved’ in the sense of some sinner’s prayer. It is speaking of the ongoing, promised deliverance [from many things, not just wrath!] to the ‘justified caller’. We have access ‘by faith into this grace wherein we stand’. Wow! That's some good stuff, Jesus ever lives so that those who come to him are ‘being saved’ to the uttermost. This grace we are in is available to us all of the time, are we availing ourselves of it?

 GENESIS 12- Abraham goes into the Promised Land. God begins appearing to him, and Abraham builds an altar and calls on the Lord. A key principle to ‘possessing your land’ is responding right! Each time you move forward in the journey it is imperative that you ‘hear God’. He must ‘appear to you’ in some way [thru scripture, prophetic direction, etc] and your response should be prayer. This sequence of events will take place more than one time with Abraham and his kids. Though they are strangers in the land, each time God appears to them they set up ‘outposts’ [altars] for the Kingdom. Altars are places of prayer and sacrifice. They are ‘contact points’ between heaven and earth. Abrahams grandson, Jacob, will ‘set up one’ at Bethel [house of God] and have a dream of angels ascending and descending on a Ladder. Which of course is a type of the Cross. Abraham goes into Egypt and commits a familiar sin that he will pass on to his kids. The famous ‘this is my sister, not my wife’ deal. Pharaoh takes her and God curses Pharaoh and Pharaoh rebukes Abraham for lying out of fear. Isaac will do the same later on. Notice in this chapter the Lord told Abraham to ‘leave his family and go into a new place’ did he fully obey? Not really. He takes Lot [nephew] with him. Of course he was to take his wife, but I am not sure if he fudged on the Lot thing. You will notice later that as soon as he separates from Lot that the Lord begins reaffirming the promise to him. I kinda get the feeling that things were put on hold until he fully obeyed. One of the things we will see in Abraham’s life, was though he was a great man of faith. Yet he struggled like everyone else. He still clung to stuff out of fear. We end this chapter with Abraham going up out of Egypt, a short excursion and lesson in disobedience. Some of these early failures will plague his future dynasty!

 GENESIS 13- Abraham leaves Egypt and the scripture says HE WAS VERY RICH! One of the things we want to do as we review these chapters is to rightly divide the word of God. The church went thru an ‘immature’ level of thinking and teaching. She [the church!] saw all these truths on God blessing Abraham. The many true verses on ‘the blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and he adds no sorrow to it’ ‘the Lord gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant in the earth’ and all the other truths on God meeting the needs of his kids and blessing them. But the teachers went overboard and taught a doctrine of a rich Jesus who died to make you rich. They would become the false prophets that Paul would warn Timothy about in 1st Timothy 6. So here we want to see and understand that the Lord blessed Abraham and did make him rich. We also want to balance this with all the teachings of Jesus on ‘beware of covetousness, for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses’ ‘you can not serve God and money’ ‘the love of money is the root of all evil, while some have gone after it they have left the faith’ [Paul]. All of these scriptures are true, not just the ones we like the most! In this chapter Abraham separates from Lot and the lord reaffirms his promise to him. It seems like God was waiting on Abraham to ‘fully leave his family’ like the earlier verse said ‘get thee out of thy country AND FROM THY KINDRED’ here he finally left ‘the kindred’ and God said ‘now lets keep going’! Sometimes the only thing holding us back is full obedience. You don’t need to re do everything! Just bring some stuff back into alignment. Also after the Egypt ‘side trail’ Abraham renews his ‘first love’ and reconnects with God at bethel, but then moves to another spot and builds another altar. This chapter says ‘he went on his journeys’. God didn’t want Abraham to go stagnant, enjoy the area around the first altar and never advance. The purpose for Abraham was to be a father of MANY NATIONS. You can’t do that if your comfortable just settling down on the street corner and ‘pastoring your little flock’ [ouch!]. God wants us to ‘go on journeys’. I am not saying there are not times where ‘Pastoring the flock’ is OK. But the modern church goes to extremes. She either wants to build huge 20 thousand seat auditoriums [which tends to lead to a spectator mentality] or preach to 30 people at a time! God’s purpose is to impact all of society with the gospel. Jesus gospel was bigger than the one we embrace today. Hey, if you really enjoyed God’s presence at ‘Bethel’ just wait until you get to the next altar! Don’t forget Bethel [your first love] but you have a nation [nations!] to inherit!

 GENESIS 14- Abraham goes after the kings who took Lot captive. He takes his 318 trained men and gets Lot and the rest of the spoils from the invading armies. When Abraham brings the stuff back to the King of Sodom, the king tells Abraham ‘take all the goods as well’. Abraham refuses and takes only his expenses. You also find Abraham later on paying for the burial site for Sarah and his family. Even though the people wanted to give it as a ‘tax free gift’! It is important to see that although Abraham was rich, he often refused free handouts! The problem with the church today is you have too many Preachers who see the truths on Abraham being rich and they mix it with a message that says ‘sow seed into my ministry, don’t disobey God!’ it is taught in a way that violates the whole character of Abraham. If you want the lord to bless you, reexamine the way your are expecting it. Abraham would not take free stuff! The church needs to teach prosperity in balance with all the other principles of diligence and giving to God and being smart investors and AVOIDING FREE GIFTS! This mode of operation will be found in the life of Abraham more than once!

 GENESIS 15- Abraham has been living for a bunch of years since God told him ‘you will have lots of kids, great nations and peoples’ yet he hasn’t had any children yet! You begin to see the natural mind working. Abraham suggests that one of his servants might become the promised ‘seed’. It was not uncommon for a father with no natural children to give the inheritance to a servant. Scripture says a wise servant will rule over a foolish son. Remember the movie ‘Gladiator’? The King/father chooses the Roman gladiator [Crowe] over the son. So Abraham is thinking maybe this is Gods plan. He will do this later with Ishmael as well. A son born from him, but not from Sarah. The Lord will have to keep reaffirming the original vision, so Abraham will have to trust. Also scripture says ‘the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision’. Let’s do a quick study. The New Testament teaches faith comes by hearing and ‘hearing by the Word of the Lord’. In the book of Acts the phrase ‘they preached the Word’ appears. Paul says ‘all scripture is given by inspiration of God’. What exactly is ‘the word of the Lord’? While you certainly can apply it to our bible, yet Paul will use this phrase before the New Testament was complete. The preaching in Acts was ‘the word’ yet they had no bibles like we have today. What is the ‘all scripture’ Paul is speaking of? It is specifically the promised ‘word’ that was fulfilled thru Messiah as the completion of the revelation of God to man. This certainly included the Old Testament, but it was more specific. The preaching in Acts was focused on Jesus being the fulfillment of the promise that all Israel was waiting for. So ‘the word of the Lord’ is not simply some general belief in scripture [though it is good to have this belief!] but it is belief in the promise and revealed will of God to you thru out your life. It is the thing you have been waiting for, as revealed by God to you. If you will, it is the actual vision of God for your life. When you believe and see the purpose of God for you, you will have momentum and a dynamic that can not be achieved thru other means. When God calls you and reveals his will to you, you must reattach to this purpose thru out your life. Even in Abraham’s doubts, he is still trying to figure out how to complete the mission! The whole ‘let my servant be the son’ or later on ‘let Ishmael live before thee’ are doubts that are arising out of his determination to see ‘the word of the lord’ [Gods original promise to him] fulfilled! So I want to encourage you to do a little housecleaning. Have things moved so fast [or slow!] in your life that you have lost the original purpose? Are you spending your time doing things that are not primarily connected to your destiny in God? Re attach to the original purpose. In verse 6 Abraham believes God again and it is accounted unto him for righteousness. God is still wanting you to believe him to bring it to pass!

 GENESIS 16- Abraham is around 85 years old. He’s been waiting around 10 years for God to fulfill the promise and give him a child. In the last chapter he suggested for the Lord to count his servant from his household as the heir. Now Sarah says ‘take my maid Hagar and have a son with her’. Of course the sons name is Ishmael. For all you preachers who read this site, well you know the story. But for all my buddies let me explain. Ishmael is usually looked upon as ‘the flesh’. That is Abraham went out in his own strength and tries to make Gods promise happen. True. But Paul will use this story in Galatians 4 and teach the difference between law and grace. Though Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations [Muslim people for the most part]. Yet Paul does not compare Ishmael to ‘natural Arab descent’. He compares Ishmael to JEWISH PEOPLE WHO ARE LAW KEEPERS AND WHO PERSECUTE TRUE BELIEVERS! Now, I don’t want to go anti Semitic. I want you to see this very important distinction. Today we should see this whole story thru the eyes of law versus grace. Not thru the eyes of Jew versus Muslim! When you preach it the ethnic way [Jew versus Muslim] you do harm to the purpose of God. Paul will use the illustration to show how all those who are under grace are free and don’t have to be under a legalistic mindset. He will compare Ishmael to those who are NATURAL JERUSALEM [not Arab people!] and say ‘you must be free from trying to please God thru the law, and come to the Cross!’ [Hebrews, Romans, Galatians, etc.] Preaching it like this is consistent with the New Testament. Preaching it like the American Fundamentalists causes strife in the world! So read this chapter along with Galatians 3 and 4. Think about what I just told you as you read, and see if it falls down on the side of grace versus ethnic division. God loves all people. He is calling all nations to himself thru Christ. Let’s keep this in mind as we ‘preach the bible’. Many times we do damage to the purpose of God because we think ‘preach the bible’ means spewing out hatred to Muslim people. Here we have shown you that this is not the will of God!

 GENESIS 17- Once again God appears to Abraham to reassure him of the original promise. What did God promise him again? He will be the father of many nations [Paul will refer this to Abraham being the father, spiritually, of all believers. Not just natural Israel!] God told him he would be a blessing to the whole world thru his offspring [Both Jesus individually, all men being justified and receiving the Spirit by faith. And also thru the ‘corporate Christ’. The whole body of Christ, including Jew and gentile believers] and Abraham would ‘inherit all this land thru his offspring’. If you go back and look at the actual borders that God spoke of, it is much more than what you see on a map of Israel today! We are going to deal with the mistaken idea of the Protestant American Evangelist and his preaching on so called ‘replacement theology’. Now The Lord will reaffirm this basic promise and tell Abraham ‘walk before me and be perfect’. I get the sense that the Lord was waiting until Abraham’s faith was ‘perfect’ enough to fulfill the promise [read my commentary on Hebrews 11 on this site!] It’s like the Lord was saying ‘walk right son, I am waiting to give you all the stuff I spoke of!’ Abraham is 99 and Sarah is 90. God says ‘Sarah will be the mother of many nations’. It seems like Abraham all ready gave up on his future son Isaac and had all his hopes on Ishmael. Abraham will say this in response to the promised Isaac. ‘O that Ishmael would live before thee’ in essence ‘just do the promise thru Ishmael, I’m all right with it’. God says no, he will do it thru the promised child! Now, let’s get into it. Read Galatians 3-4 and Romans 3-4. Paul will take all these promises and say ‘the promise that God made to Abraham that he would inherit the world was not to Abraham or his kids thru the law, but by faith. So at the end [fulfillment] the promise might apply to all the kids, not just to natural Jews who are living by the law’. Paul absolutely is a REPLACEMENT THEOLOGIAN! He is really not guilty of  what this so called accusation means. Some preachers will say those who ‘spiritualize’ the promise of God to Israel and apply them to the church are ‘replacement theologians’. But the fact is Paul is doing this! Read Romans 4: 13-14. Paul interprets these passages to refer to the church. Both Jew and non Jew who believe. ‘Why brother, how can the church fulfill the promise of God to Abraham that his seed [kids] would inherit the holy land’? Easy, the New Testament clearly states that we are joint heirs with Christ. We basically own the planet. There are believers right now in every part of the Holy land and all Palestine and Iraq and Egypt and as a matter of fact all over the world! Did you notice Paul will expand the ‘land promise’ from the holy land to the world! Jesus is actually seated at Gods right hand in heaven ruling from a universal throne [which includes Israel!] and is expanding his actual earthly presence thru the church. The fact that right now Abraham has spiritual children inhabiting the whole planet, including Israel. Shows that the promise to Abraham is being fulfilled thru ALL THE SEED, not just those who are ‘of the law’ [natural Israel]. Well in a nutshell, Paul was a ‘replacement theologian’ but I prefer to see it more as a ‘full world theologian’ a type of interpretation that sees all of Gods kids possessing all of Gods world thru the ‘promise of the Spirit’. NOTE; It is vital for believers to see this truth. It will keep us from getting involved in ‘holy wars’ between Israel and Palestine and advocating actual murder as a fulfillment of Gods word!

 GENESIS 18- The Lord appears to Abraham and tells him he is going to destroy Sodom. Abraham has family living there [Lot] and pleads with the Lord not to judge the place. Abraham says ‘what if 50 righteous people are there, will you destroy them with the rest’? The Lord says ‘No’. Abraham goes all the way to ‘what about 10 people’ and the Lord assures Abraham he will not destroy the place if there are 10 righteous people there. Well, you know the story. Lot and his family will leave and God will judge the place. Peter will use the example of Lot and say ‘the Lord knows how to deliver [save] the righteous’. He ‘delivered’ just Lot. Also the Lord ‘saved’ Noah who was a preacher of righteousness. David in Psalms says ‘The righteous cry [call upon] and the Lord hears and saves them’. The theme of God ‘saving the righteous’ is different than God ‘saving sinners’. This is actually what Paul is referring to in Romans 10 ‘with the heart mans believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’. In essence ‘you are saved’ when you believe. And the process of ‘ongoing promised salvation and deliverance will come to all who call’. Hey, once you believe [are made just] you can’t help but call! For the Spirit of God is sent forth into your heart and you will cry ‘Abba, father’. I don’t want to get technical here. If you asked Jesus into your heart and are truly serving God, great! But in context there is a ‘salvation of the righteous’ as well as a ‘salvation of the sinner’. They are intricately connected, but you see the doctrine here. God will save the just over and over again as they call upon his name. The righteous cry and the Lord hears their prayer and delivers them.

 GENESIS 19- The Lord tells Lot to leave Sodom quickly. Lot has to be forcibly removed by the angels! The men of Sodom wanted to have ‘relations’ with the angels! Lot offers his daughters instead and the men pass on the offer. God initially tells Lot to flee to the mountain [the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into and are safe- once again we will see the doctrine of the righteous being saved by the Lord]. Lot offers the angels a compromise. He says ‘let me go to this nearby city instead’ the angels say ‘fine’. The next day lot wakes up and sees the total destruction of Sodom and realizes this was the last city he lived in that the Lord wasn’t to happy with. He must have turned around and thought ‘geez, the lord also wasn’t to happy with me going to this other city [Zoar] either, he wanted me to go to the mountain’ and he tells his kids ‘you know what, that mountain retreat sounds like a good idea after all’! The scripture says he feared to stay in Zoar! If you read 2nd Peter 2 and Jude you will see Lot mentioned. The writers will once again say the Lord knows how to save the righteous. These chapters speak of both the deliverance of Noah and the story of Lot. Many times rapture theorists will see the truth of God saving his people from wrath and mistakenly apply it to a geographical deliverance. Both lot and Noah are examples of believers who were ‘removed from wicked places and preserved from God’s wrath’. It was a geographical salvation if you will. In the New Testament the wrath of God is seen in a more universal dimension. In John 3 the scripture says ‘the wrath of God continually abides on the unbeliever’. Paul will say ‘Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come’. Past tense! The New Testament doctrine of promised deliverance from ‘the wrath to come’ is not contingent upon a geographical location. It is based on ‘being in Christ’ [the city of God, the bride the lambs wife! Revelation] and coming ‘out of Babylon’. The world [not the earth!] and its false systems of pride and sin. So in context you can apply these geographical deliverances to the child of God being spared from future wrath. But you shouldn’t develop a doctrine that says ‘Jesus comes back 2 more times, one to take away believers for 7 years and another to reveal himself’. Jesus will come back, but if you haven’t already been ‘delivered from Babylon’ by the time he comes, then be assured ‘the wrath of God abideth on you’.

 GENESIS 20- Abraham does it again! He travels to Gerar and tells the king ‘Sarah is my sister, not my wife’. This time the king takes her but before he sleeps with her God appears to him in a dream and tells him not to do it. In this chapter we see dreams, prophets and healing mentioned. All before Pentecost! In the following days we will cover Joseph and his dreams. I want you to see the reality of God communicating and interjecting himself into the human story as he wills. The fact that all thru out scripture AND CHURCH HISTORY we see an ongoing work of God in supernatural things shows us that God is still sovereign and can do all the things he has ever done. One of the big divisions in Christianity today has to do with the Charismatic movement and the more Orthodox/Reformed brothers. While I realize the Reformed brothers do accept the supernatural workings of God, some of them hold to cessationist views of the gifts of the Spirit. The Charismatics will accept the gifts, but often fall short in the simple teaching of scripture. I have been frustrated over the years in trying to tell Charismatic brothers that you can’t teach that Jesus was a very wealthy person who taught a money message. No matter how much proof from scripture or history you give them, they dismiss it as ‘that old tradition’. I can see why the more Reformed guys just avoid the whole deal. But to be honest to scripture we need to see and have a basic belief in a supernatural God who can communicate thru dreams and can use Prophets and does heal miraculously! Now after God appears to Abimilech and tells him ‘don’t do it, she is the mans wife’. The king is also told ‘restore her back to the man and he will pray for you and I will heal you, he is a Prophet’. So Abraham makes it right. Now, the king also gives restitution to Abraham. Lots of stuff. Does this contradict what I taught earlier about Abraham? We showed how he didn’t take free handouts. In this case this is really not a free handout, it is the biblical doctrine of restitution. Jesus taught this in the New Testament. When someone is wronged by you, do what you can to make up for it. So we leave this chapter with Abraham once again coming out on top, even though he messed up! This shows you that it is only by the mercy and favor of God that you are where you are today. You might think ‘you know, I really am a pretty talented guy. If I weren’t with the lord I probably would have succeeded in some other endeavor’ NOT! It is his grace alone that has exalted you to success. If it weren’t for the Lord you would be a big mess!

 GENESIS 21- God gives Abraham a child thru Sarah in their old age. Sarah was ‘beyond the time to have kids’ and it was truly a miracle. The child grows and Abraham’s son from Hagar, Ishmael, mocks Isaac. The scripture says ‘cast out the bondwoman’s son, he shall not be heir with Isaac’. This thing grieves Abraham but God says ‘listen to Sarah’ and he sends Ishmael and Hagar out. Once again in Galatians 4 Paul says ‘these things are an allegory’ [wow, talk about presumptuously spiritualizing the word! Many preachers believe doing this is wrong. They seem to not see the heavy amount of ‘spiritualizing’ that Paul does!] Paul says these are examples of how the legalistic Jews would persecute those born of the Spirit. Paul clearly says ‘just like Ishmael made fun of Isaac, so today [the New covenant] those who are born of the Spirit are being persecuted by those born ‘after the flesh’. There simply is no other way to see this. Paul flatly applies this story to law versus grace. Not Jew versus Arab [Muslim]. Paul will even call ‘natural Jerusalem’ Ishmael, who is under bondage with her children. And call those who are born of the Spirit children of ‘the heavenly Jerusalem’ who are born from God. For a first century Jewish former Pharisee to absolutely reject any glorifying of natural Israel, and to call her ‘in bondage with her children’ shows you the strong disconnect that the modern fundamental evangelist makes with scripture when he applies such honor to natural Jerusalem!  In a previous chapter Abraham circumcises his son [Ishmael] and himself the same day. Paul will also teach that this shows Abraham to be the father of ‘many nations’. The fact that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised shows you that Abraham is not only ‘the father of Jewish heritage’ but of ‘all who believe, even those who are not circumcised’. This might not mean as much to you today, but in 1st century Rome the Jews considered the uncircumcised as ‘dogs’. For Paul to say Abraham is the father of all who believe, even the uncircumcised, was a major break with ethnic tradition! Sort of like what I just showed you about the ‘natural’ versus ‘spiritual’ Jerusalem. It challenges the strong ethnic ties that believers hold to when they do not rightly interpret scripture. Paul was hated for this type of theology! So we see the Lord finally fulfill his promise to Abraham. The child has arrived! Boy is he gonna be surprised when God says ‘now, go and offer him as a sacrifice’!

 GENESIS 22- The big test day! It comes to all of us. A time in your life where you choose to obey or keep playing around the danger zone of disobedience. God tells Abraham ‘you see that boy Isaac, the one you have been doubting me about thru out this journey. You thought I would fulfill the promise thru your servant at first. Then for sure you had your hopes on Ishmael. Boy don’t you remember what we went thru in order to get you to the place of promise’? I could hear Abraham saying ‘I know Lord, forgive me for being so stubborn. I had a hard time believing Sarah could really have a son. She was ‘beyond the time of child bearing’ and I doubted it would happen. But now that it did happen, well I can see Isaac truly being the father of nations, just like you said’. God ‘yeah, it’s been a wild ride son. Oh yeah, one more thing. Take the child and offer him up on an altar!’ WHAT! I am sure Abraham thought the major days of testing were over. The miracle boy has arrived. Things are going well for Ishmael, he’s on his own and enjoying some bow hunting [he became an archer!]. And Abraham wants to settle down and enjoy the rest of his life. But the Lord says ‘let’s go for another round’. In Hebrews 11 the Word says Abraham at this point simply learned how to trust. He knew in his own mind that the only way to get any where was to obey. He tried all the other angles before and they just delayed the promise. He also knows that this child is the one that the promise will be fulfilled thru. Hebrews says Abraham just figured ‘what the heck. I got the boy by way of a miracle. He was as good as dead when he was born. He came from a ‘dead womb’. If God wants me to kill him, I guess he will just raise him up again!’ Abrahams mind was trained at this point in his life to fall down on the side of ‘I will do what God says, and he will do whatever needs to be done to bring the future to pass’. [Read my commentary on Hebrews 11 on this blog!] Often times this Isaac story is taught in a way that says ‘God will ask you to give up on the promise. You must ‘lay Isaac down on the altar’. While there is some truth to this idea, it really doesn’t grasp the full picture. I just showed you how in Abraham’s mind he didn’t think he was ‘giving up on the vision/destiny’ he just learned to allow God to do it the way he said. It is really not a test of giving up the vision, it is a test of how do you think it will come to pass! Have you learned to not try and organize and strategize and be ‘motivated’ enough to make it happen? We usually create idols out of the process, the way we think it should be done [wrong concepts of ‘Local church’] and God doesn’t say ‘lose the vision/purpose’ he says ‘quit trying to do it in ways that are heavily dependant on your own strength’. Abraham wasn’t giving up on the vision, he was giving up on his own wisdom!

 (588) John 10[radio # 593]- I forgot to mention in John 9 when they asked Jesus who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus said ‘no one’. Later in the chapter after the Pharisees get done with the guy, they say ‘you were altogether born in sin [after all you were BORN blind!] who do you think you are, trying to tell us what to do!’ that secret mentality of condemnation came out. Religion does this to people. It treats them like ‘yes, God is merciful and we are all sinners’ but in the heat of the argument the mentality of ‘we are really better than you’ exists. Now in this chapter Jesus says ‘I am the door’ and also ‘I am the shepherd who comes thru the door’ how can he be both? Jesus was the one who would fulfill all the required prophetic aspects spoken of in scripture. There were tons of Old Testament prophecies that Jesus met to the tee. These requirements were like a door, as the Jews were waiting for their Messiah they were looking for someone who met this criteria, Jesus met them! He also IS the door, from this time onward all other future leadership in the church would have to come ‘thru’ him and exemplify the servant attitude that he had. Jesus says ‘the hireling flees when the wolf comes’ the hireling is a mentality that looks at church leadership as a hired position. People vote on their pastor, if he does a good job he stays, if not he leaves and they screen for another hired position. Many good men have been down this road. Often when the ‘wolf comes’ he actually says to the leader ‘you cant stay in this town any longer, look at all the mistakes you made’ the accuser gets the hireling to flee, sometimes without the pastor realizing what’s going on. Jesus wants us to ‘come thru the door’ into the sheepfold. The ‘prescribed way’ of servant hood and giving your life for the sheep. I want to encourage all the pastors who read this site, don’t see your job as completing some vision, or rallying people to a cause. Though these things are included in pastoring, the main job for all of us is to give our lives unselfishly for others. It is easy to fall into the trap of ‘the hireling’ but God wants us to view our callings thru a servant hood mentality. The good shepherd gives his life [goals, dreams, etc...] up for the sheep. The Pharisees say ‘he is a mad man, he has a devil, why do you even listen to him?’ The leaders decided to bypass Jesus, they thought ‘we will just ignore him and he will go away’ the only problem was the average ‘congregant’ was listening! Often times in prophetic ministry you will find the bulk of leadership by passing the prophetic word [that which God is saying at the season] it is only later, after the ‘people’ hear it, that leaders will give it a second look. Leaders, don’t fall into this category, if you get in on what God is saying from the start, then you can partake of the good stuff along with the people!  Jesus in these last few chapters said he is Gods Son and the Jews understood it to mean his claim of equality with God. They understood right! I mention this because some feel that Jesus didn’t claim deity, he most certainly did. Even 1st century historians noted this in their writings, that the believers worshipped ‘a God named Jesus’. The deity question is vital, if you miss this one, you’ve missed it all! NOTE; Let me make a note here. It would be very easy for me to develop a teaching from this chapter that says ‘because of all you have seen about the idea of modern church, and the unbiblical roles of the hired clergy. That therefore all ‘pastors’ are hirelings’. Some have actually taught this. There are a few reasons why I don’t fall into this camp. First, when God initiates reformation ‘a reforming of the practices of modern church’ he does it with the sheep in mind. Jesus told the disciples ‘I have many things to say to you, but you are unable to hear it’ he could have blown them away with doctrine, but the goal was their development. If all doctrine, even true doctrine, does not build you up in some way, then it is not accomplishing the purpose that God intends. So in all the stuff I have taught you guys, the goal is for all of us [Pastors and people] to grow and change in Gods timing. To use my influence in a way that would split churches, or have the people viewing their pastors as ‘hirelings’ would be unprofitable. Eventually we all, as a Body, will change and reform as God directs. But to use this chapter to tear down all current forms of leadership presently functioning in the church would be irresponsible. With knowledge comes responsibility. God will give us knowledge and wisdom for the purpose of edification, not destruction.

 VERSES- Below are the verses I either taught or quoted on today’s video- SUNDAY SERMON

October 1, 2017

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Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 136

Reading 1

EZ 18:25-28

Thus says the LORD: You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord. Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. R. Remember your mercies, O Lord. Remember that your compassion, O LORD, and your love are from of old. The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not; in your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O LORD. R. Remember your mercies, O Lord. Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice,  and teaches the humble his way. R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Reading 2 

PHIL 2:1-11

Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Or

PHIL 2:1-5

Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia

JN 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia. My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."

Ezekiel 18:1 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

Ezekiel 18:2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

Ezekiel 18:3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Ezekiel 18:5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

Ezekiel 18:6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,

Ezekiel 18:7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

Ezekiel 18:8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,

Ezekiel 18:9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 18:10 If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,

Ezekiel 18:11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,

Ezekiel 18:12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

Ezekiel 18:13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Ezekiel 18:14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

Ezekiel 18:15 That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,

Ezekiel 18:16 Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

Ezekiel 18:17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

Ezekiel 18:18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

Ezekiel 18:19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Ezekiel 18:22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Ezekiel 18:24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Ezekiel 18:25 Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Ezekiel 18:26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

Ezekiel 18:27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

Ezekiel 18:28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Ezekiel 18:29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

 John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

John 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

John 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

John 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

John 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

John 10:6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

John 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

John 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

John 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 10:19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.

John 10:20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

John 10:21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

John 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

John 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

John 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

John 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

John 10:30 I and my Father are one.

John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

John 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

John 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

John 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

John 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

John 10:39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

John 10:40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.

John 10:41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.

John 10:42 And many believed on him there.

28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Rom. 2

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[tekmodetech]

Ted Chiang is a genius, but he’s wrong about Silicon Valley

Ted Chiang isn’t simply one of many best science-fiction writers alive — he’s one of many best writers alive full cease. Which is why I used to be so saddened and disillusioned by his latest excoriation of Silicon Valley in BuzzFeed. Because the tech business grows ever extra highly effective, we want sensible minds critiquing and dissecting its many flaws. As an alternative we bought a trenchant takedown of a Valley that solely exists within the minds of particularly shallow journalists.

To be clear, his bigger level is lifeless on: that being that the fear about an AI which maximizes for the improper factor, most famously one which is instructed to make paperclips and responds by turning your complete planet into paperclips, is a fear which applies completely and precisely to capitalism itself.

The maximalist capital mindset, i.e. “all of the world’s issues might be solved simply by making markets freer” and “the social accountability of companies is to extend their earnings” are certainly examples of robotic pondering, both profound mental laziness or a really flimsy fig leaf for grasping narcissism. Such pondering — name it “paperclip capitalism” — is devoid of any context, nuance, or understanding that even at its well-regulated finest, capitalism is barely ever a way to an finish, not an finish of itself.

(as an apart: the paperclip analogy has given us what’s clearly 2017’s sport of the 12 months, Universal Paperclips, which ate an evening of my life a number of months in the past. Hilariously, and/or semiotically terrifying, individuals have now in fact begun to train AIs to play and win at this game…)

However the factor Chiang doesn’t get is: Silicon Valley is definitely not a house of paperclip capitalism. That’s Wall Road. That’s Confessions of an Financial Hit Man-style neoliberal globalization. That’s not the tech business. The Valley is a flawed and generally horrible place, true, nevertheless it’s a nuanced generally flawed and horrible place.

Chiang: “Who adopts a scorched-earth strategy to growing market share? … It’s assumed that the AI’s strategy will likely be “the query isn’t who’s going to let me, it’s who’s going to cease me,” i.e., the mantra of Ayn Randian libertarianism that’s so common in Silicon Valley.”

His argument is improper as a result of his postulate is improper. Uber and Peter Thiel will not be Silicon Valley; they’re excessive outliers. Silicon Valley is usually full of people that actually need to construct rocket ships and remedy most cancers with knowledge evaluation and who genuinely believed that “making the world extra open and related” might solely ever be useful; who go to Burning Man every year and speak about how nice it’s that it’s decommodified and the way terrible capitalism is; who see capitalism because the engine that may drive them to their purpose of [insert technical breakthrough here], not wealth as a purpose in and of itself.

It is a main cause that Elon Musk is so hero-worshipped. Silicon Valley desires to do as he did, and comply with the path he blazed; first, make some huge cash from paperclip capitalism, sure (like Musk did with PayPal) however solely so as to use that cash to make rocket ships and electrical vehicles and photo voltaic roofs. Not as an finish in itself. They don’t need paperclips. They need to use the paperclip machine to construct a paperclip catapult to launch humanity to Mars.

It seems that this can be a hopelessly naïve and confused and counterproductive and corruptible strategy, flawed in lots of or a minimum of a number of other ways, every of which deserves thought-about dissection and repudiation — nevertheless it’s nothing just like the straw Valley that Chiang assaults in his piece. I hope he takes a second swing at it someday, perhaps in fiction. We completely want sensible, vital eyes watching and criticizing our each transfer. However they must be shut sufficient to see by way of the cliché, and into the nuance.

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