#Legalism Denies What Christ Died For

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 26

1564 – The English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era Christopher Marlowe, was baptised on this date (d.1593). Marlowe was a foremost Elizabethan dramatist , next to William Shakespeare, and is known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own untimely death. Marlowe is often described today as homosexual. Some believe that the question of whether an Elizabethan was "Gay" or "homosexual" in a modern sense is anachronistic; for the Elizabethans, what is often today termed homosexual or Bisexual was more likely to be recognized as simply a sexual act, rather than an exclusive sexual orientation and identity. There is, perhaps, even some wisdom in this.

Two documents suggest that Marlowe was homosexual. The most graphic is the testimony of Richard Baines, an informer who made a long list of allegations against Marlowe after his arrest. Most of these allegations concern Marlowe's atheism, but Baines also claimed that Marlowe said "all they that love not tobacco and boys were fools" and that "St John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned always in his bosom, that he used him as the sinners of Sodom".

In 1593, Marlowe's one-time room-mate and fellow dramatist, Thomas Kyd was imprisoned and interrogated after atheistic papers were found in his room. Claiming the papers belonged to Marlowe, Kyd later produced a list detailing some of Marlowe's "monstrous opinions," which included the claim that Marlowe "would report St. John to be our saviour Christ's Alexis ... that is, that Christ did love him with an extraordinary love."

In addition, it has been pointed out that there is no evidence of any marriage or female companionship for Marlowe. Some scholars argue that the documentary evidence is inconclusive and that the reports of Marlowe's sexuality may simply be exaggerated rumors produced after his death. David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen describe Baines's evidence as "unreliable testimony" and make the comment: "These and other testimonials need to be discounted for their exaggeration and for their having been produced under legal circumstances we would regard as a witch-hunt." It has also been noted that Kyd's evidence was given after torture, and thus may have little connection to reality.

Marlowe's writing is notable for its homosexual themes. Edward II (c.1592) is one of the very few English Renaissance plays to be concerned with homosexuality, since Edward II of England had that reputation. The portrayal of Edward and his love, Piers Gaveston , is unflattering, but so too is the portrayal of the barons who usurp him, and the play's numerous modern revivals have demonstrated that Edward's tragic decline and death can elicit sympathetic responses; it is thus conceivable that some contemporary audience members might have responded similarly.

In Dido, Queen of Carthage, he opens with a scene of Jupiter "dandling Ganymede upon his knee" and says "what is't, sweet wag, I should deny thy youth?, whose face reflects such pleasure to mine eyes." Venus complains during the play that Jupiter is playing "with that female wanton boy." In Hero and Leander, Marlowe writes of the male youth Leander, "in his looks were all that men desire" and that when the youth swims to visit Hero at Sestos, the sea god Neptune becomes sexually excited, "imagining that Ganymede, displeas'd... the lusty god embrac'd him, call'd him love... and steal a kiss... upon his breast, his thighs, and every limb", while the boy naive and unaware of Greek love practices said that, "You are deceiv'd, I am no woman, I... Thereat smil'd Neptune."

The mere inclusion of same-sex love themes in Marlowe's works has been seen as signifying a biographical interest. Diligent classicists often mimicked the homosexual themes they found in Greek and Roman texts (as Edmund Spenser did in The Shepheard's Calendar), but Marlowe accords these themes more prominence than almost any other writer besides Richard Barnfield.

In conjunction with the rumors preserved in the historical record, the prominence of homosexual themes in Marlowe's work has led, especially in the 20th century, to a presumption of interest in same-sex love (although not necessarily of homosexual activity).

1836 – Elihu Vedder, the American symbolist painter, book illustrator, and poet, was born on this date (d.1923). He is best known for his fifty-five erotic illustrations for Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Born in New York City, he studied under the genre and historical painter Tompkins Harrison Matteson, at Sherburne, N.Y., later under François-Edouard Picot, in Paris. After eight months in the studio of Picot, he settled in Florence until the end of 1860. There he learnt drawing from Raffaello Bonaiuti, became interested in the Florentine Renaissance.

After 1867 he lived in Rome, making occasional visits to America. For the rest of his life he travelled frequently in Europe and back to America.

Vedder worked on line illustrations from the 1860s, when he found difficulty supporting himself in New York as a painter of then-unfashionable topics. He continued with illustrative work even after he established himself, including pictures to accompany his own poetry, and most well-known, 56 illustrations for a version of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (published 1884).

Vedder's Adam with a decidedly masculine Eve

He sought out and became friends with Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Simeon Solomon. Apart from his home in Rome - after the financial success of his 1884 Rubaiyat work - he had another on the Isle of Capri, then a haven for male "aesthetes," a polite word at the time for homosexuals.

1861 – Ferdinand I (d.1948), born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was the ruler of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1918, first as knyaz (prince regnant, 1887–1908) and later as tsar (1908–1918). He was also an author, botanist, entomologist and philatelist.

The first Knyaz (Prince Regnant) of the Third Bulgarian State, Alexander of Battenberg, abdicated in 1886, only seven years after he was elected. Ferdinand, who was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army was elected Knyaz of autonomous Bulgaria by its Grand National Assembly on 7 July 1887 in the Gregorian calendar (the "New Style" used hereinafter). In desperate attempts to prevent Russian occupation of Bulgaria, the throne had been previously offered, before Ferdinand's acceptance, to princes from Denmark to the Caucasus and even to the King of Romania. His accession was greeted with disbelief in many of the royal houses of Europe. Queen Victoria, his father's first cousin, stated to her Prime Minister, "He is totally unfit ... delicate, eccentric and effeminate ... Should be stopped at once." To the amazement of his initial detractors, Ferdinand generally made a success during the first two decades of his reign

On 11 October 1915, the Bulgarian army attacked Serbia after signing a treaty with Austria-Hungary and Germany stating that Bulgaria would gain the territory it sought at the expense of Serbia; even though Ferdinand was not an admirer of German Emperor Wilhelm II (his second cousin once removed) or Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I whom he described as "that idiot, that old dotard of a Francis Joseph".

As WWI drew to a close, Tsar Ferdinand abdicated to save the Bulgarian throne in favour of his eldest son who became Tsar Boris III on 3 October 1918. Under new leadership, Bulgaria surrendered to the Allies and as a consequence, lost not only the additional territory it had fought for in the major conflict, but also the territory it had won after the Balkan Wars.

Ferdinand entered a marriage of convenience with Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of Robert I, Duke of Parma and Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, on 20 April 1893 at the Villa Pianore in Lucca. The marriage produced four children.

Marie Louise died on 31 January 1899 after giving birth to her youngest daughter. Ferdinand did not think again about marriage until his mother, Princess Clémentine died in 1907. To satisfy dynastic obligations and to provide his children with a mother figure, Ferdinand married Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz, on 28 February 1908. Neither romantic love or physical attraction played any role, and Ferdinand treated her as no more than a member of the household, and showed scant regard.

In his private relations, Ferdinand was a somewhat hedonistic individual. He was thought to be bisexual throughout his life, but up to middle age, his inclination was more towards women, and he enjoyed affairs with a number of women of humble position, siring a number of illegitimate children whom he then supported financially.

But rumours abounded of homosexual trysts with blue-eyed lieutenants and valets. Ferdinand's bisexuality was both well-known and exploited throughout European diplomatic circles. It became the custom for visiting dignataries seeking favour from Ferdinand to be accompanied by a handsome young equerry. Ferdinand's regular holidays on Capri, then a famous haunt for wealthy gay men, were common knowledge in royal courts throughout Europe. In 1895, an interview given by the embittered former Prime Minister, Stefan Stambolov to the Frankfurter Zeitung created a nine day scandal across Europe, when he focused strongly on his personal witness of Ferdinand’s alleged homosexual interests.

1879 – A true female aesthete, Mabel Dodge Luhan, an American patron of the arts, was born (d.1962); Dodge Luhan is particularly associated with the colony of artists who settled in Taos, New Mexico. Mabel Ganson Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan, to give her all her names, was married four times (the last time to an American Indian), had countless lovers, was enormously rich, and virtually originated the idea of "radical chic" by inviting to her salons in New Mexico, New York, and Italy the sort of people usually excluded from the guest lists of the rich — labor leaders, homosexuals, revolutionary artists, Bolsheviks, outré types like John Reed, Margaret Sanger, and D.H. Lawrence.

She was actively bisexual during her early life and frankly details her passionate physical encounters with young women in her autobiography, Intimate Memories, published in 1933. In every way she was fifty years ahead of her time. Mabel Dodge Luhan died at her home in Taos in 1962 and was buried in Kit Carson Cemetery. The Mabel Dodge Luhan House has been designated a national historic landmark and is a historic inn and conference center. Natalie Goldberg frequently teaches at Mabel Dodge Luhan House, where Dennis Hopper wrote Easy Rider .

1897 – An all-male house of prostitution is raided in Eureka, Utah. The owner and three prostitutes are arrested.

1951 – Jerry Mills (d.1993) was a gay cartoonist, noted particularly for his creation of the "Poppers" comic strip. The strip told of the adventures of Billy, a West Hollywood muscleboy, and his sidekick Yves (based on Mills), a big-hearted nebbish who offered good advice and caution (usually unheeded) for his glamorous friend. Yves always went along for the ride with Billy, commenting on the action, a function he took over from a witty crab louse that lived on Billy's pubic hair, when it was phased out after the first few strips.

In the early 1980s Mills worked in the subscriptions department of In Touch for Men, an adult magazine targeted at the gay male community. John Calendo, editor at the time, encouraged Mills to write a regular comic strip, to add variety to the magazine's content. The result, "Poppers", began in April 1982. (The title referred to "poppers", alkyl nitrites which were commonly used in the gay community.) By the mid-80s the strip was also being published ( in translation ) in Gai Pied Hebdo, a French-language gay magazine, and in the Japanese magazine Barazoko. Reprints of the strip also appeared sporadically in Gay Comix under the editorship of Howard Cruse, Robert Triptow, and Andy Mangels.

When Mills moved to the classifieds department of Advocate Men, the "Poppers" strip followed him, and was published sporadically. By the beginning of the 1990s Mills' health was deteriorating, as he developed complications associated with HIV infection, and in his final few years he worked less and less. He did, however, attend ACT UP demonstrations in Los Angeles and design posters for the off-shoot organization Queer Nation, concerned with gay visibility. Mills died of his illness in January 1993, survived by his partner Sal Lucarello.

As well as writing "Poppers", Mills also created ad hoc cartoons, and wrote an eight page history of gays in comics for the first Meatmen anthology. His predominant contribution to gay cartooning, however, was the "Poppers" strip, which was notable at the time for being one of the first cartoon strips to develop gay characters at home both with their sexuality and their humanity. Where earlier comics had tended to the stereotypical - either the nelly queen or the muscleman - Mills was one of the first to present his characters with lives beyond the stereotypes. Though overshadowed by contemporaries, most notably Tim Barela and Howard Cruse, both of whom also worked with continuing characters in comic strip format, Mills made a substantial contribution to gay cartooning. In particular, the "Chelsea Boys" strip by Glen Hanson and Allan Neuwirth is influenced by Mills.

1969 – Chris Willis is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Although initially a gospel singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with house music artist David Guetta, including the songs "Just a Little More Love", "Love Don't Let Me Go, "Love Is Gone", "Tomorrow Can Wait", "Everytime We Touch" (with Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso) and "Gettin' Over You."

Originally a gospel singer, he was featured on the pop-classical album Handel's Messiah – A Soulful Celebration in 1993, singing a contemporary version of "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted".

His first job after college in Alabama was touring with a group that sang hundreds of shows in churches over a two-year period. In the mid-1990s, he toured as backup vocalist for Twila Paris. In 1996, he released his debut self-titled album, for which he wrote or co-wrote eight of the eleven songs, and earned a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 1996 Nashville Music Awards. That year, he opened on tour for Mark Lowry, and was one of several featured singers in the musical showcase Emmanuel, a national tour put together by Nashville producer Norman Miller. The tour spawned an album, which won a GMA Dove Award in 1998 for Special Event Album of the Year.

He did mostly gospel until 1998 when he signed with a small music label. The label was bought out by a large corporation and Willis took that as a cue to move on.

During this time he also worked to resolve the "angst" from being closeted about his sexuality,

"I always felt like God really understood – but that wasn't the message I was receiving in the church. So, when I moved out on my own I really internalized that message that God makes us who we are and that it's up to us to embrace that or not. I chose to embrace all those things as freedom, and that freedom begat the freedom I experience now."

He cites his being gay as important to his transitioning out of gospel music,"I think there's this unspoken denial that you go through in gospel – maybe so in other musical art forms too – but I just felt for me it just wasn't easy to keep perpetuating that."

Willis is now openly gay and resides in Atlanta, GA. He now sees both his color and sexuality as assets rather than liabilities. However, on June 2, 2014 Willis married his best friend of 25 years Jacqueline Leiske.

Rikaart with Sudduth

1977 – Greg Rikaart is an American actor, best known for being on the cast of the soap opera The Young and the Restless, playing Kevin Fisher since July 2003. In May 2017, Rikaart confirmed earlier reports that he would be exiting the soap with his last film date to be the following month. However, on August 3, the official twitter account for The Young and the Restless confirmed Rikaart was back filming. In September, Entertainment Weekly reported that Rikaart was back for a 2-week stint.

Rikaart was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up on Staten Island, New York. He graduated with honors from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. While in college, he spent a semester in Washington, D.C., as an intern for a congressman on Capitol Hill.

In June 2013, Rikaart revealed that he is in a committed relationship with writer Robert Sudduth. Rikaart posted a photograph of himself on Twitter with his boyfriend, with the caption "Not getting married anytime soon, but celebrating #equality tonight nonetheless", in response to the 2013 United States Supreme Court decisions in favor of same-sex marriage equality.

On May 9, 2015, Rikaart and Sudduth married in Maui. Their first child, a son, was born June 12, 2016, via surrogacy.

1991 – Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser.

2009 – On this date Washington DC's Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously to designate the home of veteran Gay rights leader Franklin Kameny as an historic landmark — the first time a Gay-related site had been approved for landmark status in the nation's capital.

[iviarellereads]

Nona the Ninth, John 9:22(1)

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)

(No icon) In which the first necromancer gets a taste of what death feels like, and it feels like drugs.

In the dream he finally took her to the front of the concrete wreck. It had taken him a while to clear the rubble away from the door. He seemed to want to do it by hand. After watching him for an hour, she helped. The rocks cut their fingers and strained their wrists, and the cuts knitted back up so quickly that they were in danger of healing their skin over the sharp edges of the jagged concrete chunks, of sucking slivers of glass into their hands. Sometimes they did suck glass in. Every few hours they had to pause so he could get rid of all the grit that was accumulating underneath their skins, stuff they’d healed over by accident.(2)

They go inside, to the old reception area, devastated by water and the fighting before that. Some of the bones still have clothes, still have meat.

He continues his story, that people came in droves to join them, despite threats of arrest by governments. International forces were flown in, and the NZ government argued that might not even be legal. Meanwhile, he started expanding the wall outward. He didn't need more cows by that point, he could grow more bone from the previous material, but this just freaked people out more.

 It even scared A—. He was all, Matter doesn’t play by these rules! You’re doing bone parthenogenesis! I told him his mum did bone parthenogenesis. A— told me he’d kill me one day.(3)

He was getting stronger almost by the minute, and they were running out of bigger tests to throw at him. The only thing he couldn't do was souls. M-'s nun was sure that once he figured it out, it would bring them all closer to God. He admits she was right, but not in the way she wanted to be. Still, he was so frustrated trying to figure it out. He can't do it, however, without seeing more people die.

Shortly, he got his wish: new faithful arrived wanting admission, and when denied, they exchanged fire with the watchful crowd, "and five people died."(4) He'd never done crack cocaine, but he thinks that was what it felt like, to be present for the thalergy-thanergy flip of those deaths. He used the energy of those five deaths to kill everyone with a gun in a kilometre radius. He was selective enough to not take out the helicopter pilots, just the gunmen beside them, but every single person not on his side wielding a gun. The more he killed, the more the energy fed him, the closer he felt to seeing the missing piece.

He came to with P- shaking him, and makes a joke about police abuse. She was angry and scared, and she almost never got either. John stopped all those people's hearts, but he didn't restart them again. He swore up and down that he just forgot, he got overwhelmed, he didn't know what he was doing. He said he just made a mistake.

She let it go eventually because the others were telling her to lay off. Just said, Guys as careful as you shouldn’t have accidents. If you’ve got a gun learn how to aim it. This is too big for fuckups now. Poor G— didn’t know what to do. He never knew how to pick between me and P—.

In the end, they kept the corpses, and he wasn't kidding when he said it was for the skeleton army.

She said, “Did you ever find out what happened? With your accident?” He turned to her and he smiled a funny little smile. It only used one half of his mouth. In the dream his new eyes did not show happiness or unhappiness. And he said, “Come on, love. Guys as careful as me don’t have accidents.”(5)

=====

(1) "These things his parents said, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had already agreed among themselves, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue." The Pharisees are investigating Christ and his acts, and this particular passage comes as they ask the parents of a man who was healed of his blindness how he was healed, and they say, he's an adult, let him speak for himself, but out of fear of the Pharisees, not support for their son. On the other side of meaning, THE TOWER HAS REACTIV- and we're very close to another word completed. (2) The part of Wolverine healing that very few people ever think about. (3) Well, almost right, it was Mercy in the end, though August definitely contributed to the atmosphere of it all. (4) I almost changed this to a more passive voice, just out of stylistic habit, but then I really stopped myself and asked why I wanted to do that when Muir didn't take that route, or give John's culpability that out. (5) I have such complicated feelings about this line. A lot of people see it as cementing his irredeemable villain-ness. I still can't add that "irredeemable" to it. Especially the way this is right after he shows neither happiness nor unhappiness at his choice, I feel like it implies a sort of resignation that the past is unchangeable and he doesn't necessarily still agree with his actions. As for me, maybe it's just the way everyone in this series is rich with shades of grey, and no one else gets quite as universal a hate as John from the fandom. Maybe it's that this is an Indigenous/Maori character in a series that's certainly racially diverse but also dealing with colonialism in its own right, not least through his story of coming to power as god emperor and the fallout of him in many ways obviously repaying the violence of his history with violence into his future because he never tried another way. Maybe... maybe a lot of things. But I hope that if some dyed in the wool John haters have been reading my posts, that they at least consider whether he's as capital-e Evil as they think he is on first reaction, or if there might be more depth to explore just like with literally every other character in the series. IDK.

#the locked tomb #tlt #nona the ninth #ntn #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #emperor john gaius #harrowhark nonagesimus

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Authored

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2KJV

The beginning and the end of faith IS Jesus the Christ. Raised in a holiness church, I’d heard about Jesus all my life. But I’d never really believed for Jesus to save my soul, to send me to hell— yes, but do good for me? Not. When the doctor said, ‘the PAPST Smear indicates you have cervical cancer,’ I panicked. Hell, I believed in that place and I knew I was headed there.

My mind suddenly had the faith to believe Jesus ‘might’ve’ died for my sins too. I asked Jesus to come into my heart, telling Him that if He was just a God who ruled clothing and jewelry, forget it. Immediately, He authored faith in my heart for me to be born again. Immediately, He “…Has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come…” 2Corinthians 5:1NIV. That occurred 47 years ago and still holding.

Are you aware, it’s nearly impossible for a non-believer to have faith in Jesus Christ? Think about it. People who’ve never heard the name of Jesus as anything other than a curse word, believe nothing. There’s no point of reference for His goodness, saving grace, nor their need of a Savior.

Before anyone becomes a believer in Jesus— does this person randomly think, ‘I believe Jesus is God’s Son,’ unprompted? I believe— usually there’s been someone praying for them to believe? Because He’s so good, He’ll come seek out people who are radically in need. Then Christ initiates the faith in all hearts to believe for salvation.

Probably the second greatest faith needed in Christianity is the faith to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the most disputed topics in all— —Legalism, religion of law, is what killed Jesus. They deny Holy Spirit. —Baptists evangelists at heart, deny Holy Spirit baptism. —Evangelical views varies from denomination. All are passionate regarding their view.

Is faith for salvation the only kind of faith He authors? When the doctor pronounced, I had lung cancer, it wasn’t my strong faith that brought me through. (The testimony is a chapter long, too much for here.) He gave me the supernatural faith to carry me through to the end of being healed.

“…Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” At times He gives us scriptures to rely on. But notice, I said ‘He gives.’ Did we just randomly find the scripture? Really? How’s that working for you? Rather did the word suddenly come alive, jump up and down full of life on the page? When the word leaps off the page alive and bold, we’ve just had faith authored into our hearts.

How else could He be the Finisher of our faith, unless He authored what must be finished? Have you ever heard the statement— ‘finish what you started?’ Would God do less than finish what He started? “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6NIV.

Here’s my take— talk to the Author and Finisher of our faith about needs. Ask, (see Matthew 7:7-8), Him to activate the gift of faith, (see 1Corinthians 12:9), given by Holy Spirit’s baptism in our hearts to receive those needs. Will you receive? It’s your choice. You choose.

LET’S PRAY: Sovereign God we need faith authored in everyone of our lives. Each of us has great needs, which only You can take care of. I know from experience, the moment that faith is authored, it is finished. Please author our faith, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2023 You have my permission to reblog

#Jesus Christ #lord of lords #word of god #God #Holy Spirit #it's your choice #devotional #authored #finisher #activate #suddenly #hell #receive #testimony #love #hope #faith

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Victory Over Everything

Verse of the day

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+ 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN AFFIRMATION **

I AM A SLAVE TO CHRIST

I AM TRUSTING GOD

I AM STRONG

I AM UNIQUE

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Thoughts

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When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he did so much; he not only gave us grace and mercy, he not only gave us eternal life, he not only set us free from our sins BUT, BUT he gave us victory over sin too, I remember when I got my first job, It was at a video store. The district manager gave me the title of manager of the building after being there for several months, but he didn’t give me the keys. I remember this one older lady said to me, she said why didn’t he give you the keys to the building; I said I don’t know, I didn’t know suppose to get them; she said yes, that’s part of the job title, and so I went to him one evening. I said Aaron, I said when will I get the keys to the building he said when I can trust you.

See, I was granted access to the title but not the keys yet because he didn’t trust me, and he didn’t let me sign off on things for the building because he didn’t trust me. I had to prove he could; one of the most amazing things about God is we don’t have to prove our worth; he doesn’t wait to give us authority, and he doesn’t wait to give us mercy; it is given to us the moment we surrender our lives to God, see people we will always have to do things to prove to them but God we don’t have to do anything but BE HIS.

“Romans 4:15 For the law always punishes those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

When we live a life based on legalism, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We can’t live by the law; it says it here the law brings punishment the only way to avoid breaking the law is to not have one in place, and Christ took the law and did away with it; he was the ultimate sacrifice for us a lot of time we find ourselves adding pressure to ourselves trying not to do certain things in our life, but all we have to do is surrender to God. He will take the urges away to sin; all we have to do is place our attention on God and not our desires; all we have to do is read our word, and it will help kill the desires for us to fulfill the FLESH.

“Romans 7:5-6 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”

Our old man was full of old sinful desires within us, and because we have no control over our own body without the help of God, it aroused evil and sinful deeds which caused us to die spiritually, BUT NOW WE ARE RELEASED FROM THE LAW !!! Now we have died to it; we are no longer held captive to this mindset and ways because we serve God; now, we are obeying the spirit, not the law. WE HAVE VICTORY!!

We are given the authority from God immediately to fight ourselves, the flesh; we don’t have to wait, and we don’t have to ask; all we have to do is give ourselves to God and see him pull us through our old mindset. God trusts us from the start; we have to trust God enough to say I need you, and I give myself to you! God is willing to help us if we are willing to deny our ways.

Verse 14-15 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. “

Paul is saying that the trouble isn’t the law; it’s us, it’s our flesh because we become slaves to sin, we stop focusing on God and focusing on our sin; Paul even says, I don’t understand why I don’t do what is right, and I do what I hate instead, We all have had this problem of not wanting to drink, but we drink, not wanting to smoke, but we smoke, not wanting to fornicate, but we fornicate because we are made of sin when we don’t surrender to God; we are allowing our body to lead us to sin !!

**Today, if you feel that you don’t trust God or that he doesn’t trust you, he does; he trusts us more than we trust him, and he gives more than we do ourselves to him; we place this wall between God and us, making God prove himself! And he already did that; he already proved he loves us, and he wants to be in a committed relationship with us, but we won’t dare give him that because we LOVE SIN more. When we finally discover that we need him, that’s the very moment we allow ourselves to become his, surrender to God, and he will help you .©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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Prayer

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Heavenly Father, help us to do the things we should be doing and not the things we shouldn’t. Please help us to stay in a committed relationship with you, help us to keep our eyes on you, and depend and lean on you for everything. God, we realize we shouldn’t desire to sin, but we ask you to help us to lose the chains of sins over our lives. Father, we decree and declare victory over our mind; Father, we surrender every aspect of our lives to you! Forgive us of anything we have done; help us to be more grounded in you; lord, give us more and more wisdom to study your word. Lord, touch every person reading or hearing this devotional in Jesus' Name Amen.

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Reference

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+Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

+Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.

+Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned

========================

Further reading

=========================

Joshua 24:1-33

Luke 21:1-28

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 13:20-23

#bible #bible quotes #christian quote #daily devotion #daily devotional #inspiration #scripture #bible verse #christian life #christan life

[donveinot]

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Legalism Denies What Christ Died For As humans, we have an instinct to want to contribute something to our salvation. In this brief clip, Derek Thomas explains how the book of Galatians addresses the problem with works-based faith.

#Ligonier (channel) #YouTube #Derek Thomas #video #legalism #salvation #Galatians #Bible #Legalism Denies What Christ Died For

[ashiristic]

Perhaps hero and villain are stuck somewhere together. Yk close proximity :)

Request:

I haven't posted for like two days and I am panicking. Sorry for the delay!_______________

After the villain pushes the hero inside the cabinet and locks the door, instinctively, despite knowing that they don’t have the key to open the door. The villain blushes from head to toe as they realize how close they are to the hero. The only thing separating them is the hero’s bag in between the two of them. Or else something really horrible would happen.

The cabinet is small enough to fit two people inside, but face to face with each other. There is nothing inside it and they could at least swing their right arm, with nothing to wound them or to poison them. The freedom of their right arm inside is a miracle and a curse at the same time. Why? It’s because the goddamn right hand of the one and only hateable, despicable, and most importantly annoying hero kept on touching them somewhere inappropriate.

Their hands wandered from their neck to their chest and stopped at their hips. Even if the villain places a no trespassing sign on their porch, the hero still lifts the hem of their suit and caresses their supple skin. Red patches appear after each pinch as hasty breaths pass out of their lips.

How much the villain hates what is happening right now, but they can’t bring themself to pin the hero’s arm in the wall. Instead, they kept on glaring at the hero, hoping that their half hazy eyes would stop the hero. The villain knows they can stop the hero if they wish, so why is their body paralyzed as if waiting and begging for more touch every second?

Thank god that bag in the middle is here to prevent the hero from touching the thing down below them. They can see a prominent frown on their lips while they try to push the bag down, disappointment traces in their eyes after the bag doesn’t budge.

“Is it your plan to push me in this tiny space so I can do you?” the hero asks. Their hand halts from doing anything as their eyes blink gently like an amateur hostess would do. Amateurs, of course, don’t always get the big fish as the villain turns their head away, ignoring the hero’s attempt at seduction.

“You are not fun at all.”

“Aren’t you going to say thank you for saving your ass? Good thing the supervillain has nothing inside this closet…” the villain mutters their last sentence.

“I didn’t ask you to save me, so I don’t really know what to thank you for. So thank you, I guess.”

The villain rolls their eyes after such a sarcastic remark. If splitting ahead into two is legal, they would’ve done that to the hero, but the villain can’t do that as long as they have these little butterflies rampaging and causing chaos around their stomach whenever the hero is near. Butterflies inside their stomach aren’t just fluttering their wings, but also causing them to almost puke once at how hard they fly around. Like a pillow is being twisted into a tight rope while they suffer because of these feelings.

God, if they aren’t hot and being sarcastic, then they would’ve died years ago. The thing is the hero is the definition of perfection, as the second coming of Jesus Christ, but they aren’t Jesus. And just an ordinary human being, carved by God, like a sculpture and placed down to earth for a wonderful exhibition. Jealousy and envy bomb in the air like a geyser every single damn time the hero breathes. What is wrong with the almighty person above about placing an alluring creature in a bunch of corrupt and ugly creatures’ world that even hell can’t be compared to it?

“You are thinking something deep again, aren’t you?” the hero asks.

The villain immediately shook their head, denying it as always. They do not want the hero to know them more than they know themself, which already fails without their knowledge as a smirk draws on the hero’s face. Villain shifts their position and moves their arms, their position hindering the bag from further blocking the two of them as it drops to their knees. A curse passes out of their mouth as they try to reach for the bag below them or kick it back to its original spot. But it proves futile after the hero pushes their leg into the bag, making it stuck there and unremovable.

“Here I am thinking how much you hate physical contact, yet here you are…” The hero pauses as their finger lifts the villain’s chin and tilts it. The villain inhales a sharp breath, and their rival’s face leans so close to their face that their heart almost jumps up to go into outer space and clash with a meteor. They told themself once that if the hero has no single scars or marks on their face, then they’ll kneel before them. But they didn’t expect that they’ll lose their own bet, and here they are trying to figure out if they’ll follow it or remain silent.

“Demanding for more,” they tutted.

“That is just your imagination. Go away.”

“How about go closer? I prefer that phrase more.”

“Shut up…” the villain mutters.

Their dignity clashes with want as their mind rampage with different thoughts and ideas whilst the hero observes them lost in thought. Should they do it or not? Who wouldn’t love such a perfect person who is probably close to being morally grey as the villain can’t see any wrong with their face? If they are only talking about the personality, then the hero wouldn’t surely pass. Their monthly salary is high enough to satisfy the villain’s thirst for money than what the supervillain gives them, anyway. But the only question remaining unsolved is how big is that thing hiding beneath those suits?

Before they can speak up, the door opens with a loud creak, revealing the supervillain with their signature glum face plastered in their face. And superhero behind them, wiggling their hand with a mischievous smile dancing on their lips. The supervillain examined the two of them first before sighing in either disappointment or they were exhausted from everything and life.

“You two fucking don’t make out inside my cabinet.” the supervillain groans and the superhero snorts out behind them, laughing at the two of them.

#hero x villain #hero and villain #villain x hero #hero x villain prompts #fantasy #writeblr #snippet #writing snippet #creative writing #writing #flirty hero #flustered villain #hero and villain community #heroxvillain community #heroxvillain snippet

[entity9silvergen]

I recently asked reddit for some LGBT history from countries other than the US. Here’s what I got:

Germany

The Weimar Republic was surprisingly accepting of "alternative lifestyles."

During the Weimar Republic, Germany had a pretty active LGBTQ scene, with some major films and songs being produced, despite it still being illegal at the time. However, there was also a push to decriminalize homosexual behavior which sadly wasn't passed as the Nazis came to power.

This was based of two factors: after WW1 the authoritarian culture of Prussia sorta received a long overdue pushback. People were kinda sick of it, especially since these losers led them into a seemingly pointless war to begin with. Second: A LOT of men died in WW1 - and the army did not exactly prefer LGBT people. So with a lot of regular folks dead, the percentages of the total populace was sorta shifted. This also pushed the women's rights movements at the time for a similar reason.

Magnus Hirschfeld was helping trans people transition, crossdressers get crossdressing 'licenses', and generally advocating for and helping the LGBT community in the early 1900s in Germany. Nazis ended up raiding and burning down his research institute.

Hirschfeld was a gay polyamorous man. He was one of the first advocates for trans and gay rights but his work was destroyed by the Nazis.

The institute he headed even did the first modern gender affirming surgeries. The institute was destroyed and many people who were there (including the first known person to undergo complete MtF surgery) were killed by the nazis and the place was little more than bombed out ruins at the end of the war.

More information on the institute

Pre Nazi interwar Germany (Weimar Republic)  was pretty open when it came to not only sexuality, but also gender identity. The Nazis put a stop to that & tried to destroy any & all research into either, but, for a brief moment, it was there.

Russia

Pretty sure all Russian LGBT history was erased before we even had a written language, but Russia almost got gay marriage legalized in the first soviet constitution (didn’t happen bc Stalin)

The early soviet period (pre-Stalin) is sometimes called “the first sexual revolution” as opposed to America’s “sexual Revolution” of the 60’s. Broad women’s suffrage, female employment and education, parental leave, advancement of GSM rights & decriminalization of abortion. This unfortunately did not stand the test of time & reactionary sentiment.

Additional Source

UK/ Britain/ England 

The lead singer of Judas Priest is gay. The commenter’s father thought it was kinda funny because it didn’t match with his biker aesthetic, but the commenter doesn’t think he considered how much leather he wears on a daily basis

Hell bent for Leather was a track off Killing Machine. It was written by lead guitarist Glenn Tipton (who is straight), but it's fun to find alternative meanings in Priest songs. A second commenter likes to pretend a lot of the lyrics Halford sings are gayer than they actually are.

A couple people mentioned how uncomfortable it was seeing Ru Paul interact with British drag queens because he barely knows anything about British culture.

Ru Paul got angry that a British drag queen hasn’t seen the Golden Girls because “it’s gay culture” and then not five minutes later someone had to explain to him who Alan Turing was.

Alan Turing, who was an incredibly noteworthy figure (He made the Enigma codebreaker machine, which broke the code that was used by Nazis during the war and basically sped up the war by a significant margin. He also set the foundations for artificial intelligence, one achievement he was named for: the Turing Test), was homosexual and prosecuted multiple times because of it

Shakespeare was probably bisexual (some of his sonnets had homoerotic subtext/were sent to a younger man). Plus, Hamlet is gay as fuck. 

Sonnet 46 was very gay. Here’s a link!

King James 1st was corrupt and used his position to promote his gay lover to higher positions than he should've gotten. 

The 13 year old king James 6th of Scotland and 1st of England fell in love with a 37 year old catholic Franco Scottish man. The king gave the older man so much free shit that other lords started getting salty and his lover ended up converting to Presbyterianism out of loyalty to his young lover. He also fell in love with a man who ''was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence.'' 

Clearly James was into himbos, and women too.

He had a secret tunnel connecting his bedroom to George Villiers’s bedroom.

His relationship with Villiers was basically common knowledge and a source of much amusement and mockery. He also once said that his relationship with Villiers was equivalent to the relationship that Christ had with John the Baptist

Much more recently, there's obviously JKR and the banning of puberty blockers and Margaret Thatcher opposing LGBTQ+ rights by passing a law meaning you couldn't 'promote homosexuality'. 

Prince Philip was a racist twat (and probably a huge homophobe knowing him).

Gay marriage only became legal in 2014.

The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and it recommended the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was a huge topic of public debate, and ultimately led to the Sexual Offences act of 1967, which legalized sexual acts between consenting men aged 21 or over in England and Wales (sexual acts between women were never explicitly criminalized). Scotland decriminalized sex between men in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982. 

For a totally batshit real-life bit of gay history, check out the show A Very English Scandal. It's about a politician, Jeremy Thorpe, who put a hit out on his former lover who was threatening to go public with the fact they had had a relationship. 

Austria

Gay marriage was legalized in Austria about 3 years ago. The worst thing is that it'd have staid illegal if the Supreme Court wouldn't have jumped in and declare it to be unconstitutional.

Austria did have something called "partnership" which was where gay couples could officially register with the state as couples but not receive any of the benefits of married het people

They still have super backwards Transphobic laws requiring for example "real life experience" to get even diagnosed. Basically you're forced to be and live as feminine/masc as possible and a doctor them judges if you're femme or masc enough. It's torture

Australia had widespread, over 60% approval of gay marriage for well over a decade before the government legalized it. The governments were actually going against the people for a very long time by denying it.

Taiwan/ Hong Kong/ Mainland China

When Taiwan recently legalized gay marriage, their official statement was something along the lines that they were casting off Western-imposed values and returning to their own traditional values and the entire western lgbt community ridiculed them in a "if that's what you need to tell yourself" sort of way but it's actually the truth. 

Prior to western colonization, the Imperial Chinese attitude toward sexuality was not dissimilar to Greco-Roman attitudes in that a man must marry a woman to beget legitimate heirs but whatever else he does on the side is his own business. It wasn't until Victorian colonizers came along and imposed homophobic attitudes on China that China started treating gays like abominations. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, as indeed most of the world, homophobia is a western value imposed by colonizers.

Bonus history: there is an actual saying in Arabic that was in widespread use across the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years from classical antiquity until European colonization. The saying goes "Women are for babies, [young men] are for fun."

The commenter specifies that this means “college-aged twinks,” not children

Another commenter speculates about when homophobia arose in China and how. They also add that in Rome, bottoms were stigmatized. 

There’s a story of Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty & him cutting off his sleeve for his boyfriend

There is also a god worshipped in Taiwan, the Rabbit God Tu'er Shen, whose domain is managing love and sex between same-sex attracted people. He is meant to be the incarnation of a soldier from the 17th century, who fell in love with an imperial inspector and spied on him bathing, and was tortured and killed by that official because he was offended by the spying. A villager from the soldier's hometown dreamed that Tu'er Shen appeared to him and said that because his crime had been love, he had been appointed to manage the affairs of gay people. The villagers erected a secret temple to the soldier, and people have been praying to him ever since.

South Africa

South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. It was also first country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2006. What really set them back for so long was apartheid.

There is some speculation that that Shaka Zulu was gay since he never took any wives

South Africa's post Apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996.

South Africa was also the 5th country in the world and only country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2005.

Even before that the Constitutional Court ruled that sexual orientation was not relevant when deciding child custody in 2002.

Transgender folks have been allowed to change their sex in the population registry since 2003.

Conversion therapy is not illegal yet and public opinion still needs some work.

Spain

In Spain gay marriage was legalized in 2005, now they are considered one of de gay-friendliest countries in the world. The commenter is a lesbian and has never been closeted or directly experienced discrimination for being a lesbian.

In July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to explicitly legalize gay marriage, after a thirty-year struggle following the fall of Franco's dictatorship, during which most activism was carried clandestinely (as it was illegal).

From 2007 onwards, Spanish [binary] trans people can legally correct the name and sex fields of their IDs and currently, there's a push for a law that would allow for legal recognition of non-binary Spaniards.

Despite the dictatorship in the 60s, there were cinemas that specialized in gay meet ups. Trans women also had ways to get passports so they could go to the US for surgery.

Ireland

In Northern Ireland, same sex marriage only became legal in 2020 and the leader of the most popular party is homophobic transphobic racist and sexist af. In fact, the majority of the party are but some of the quotes from the biggest party leader are depressing.

Same-sex marriage was only legalized in Ireland in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993. 

When Ireland legalized same sex marriage by popular vote in 2015, it was still something you got horribly bullied for in schools if you were out. Queer people got an apology from the Taoiseach in 2018, for the suffering and discrimination we faced from the State prior to the legalization of homosexuality.

In the case of trans rights, in 2015 the Gender Recognition Act was signed into law. It allows legal gender changes without the requirement of medical intervention or assessment by the state as long as you are over the age of 18. 

Ireland has fines and jail time for anyone found guilty of attempting conversation therapy. 

Ireland has seen a lot of progress in LGBT rights in the last 6 years but even up to the 2000s, citizens left their family members and friends to rot for being LGBT+. It still happens all over the country, especially in circles that are still fanatically Catholic. As the Catholic Church has lost the iron grip on the country, people have become more accepting of the LGBT+.

India

The Kamasutra(ancient text on sexuality etc.) has an entire chapter dedicated to homosexuality

The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely.

Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast"

Milk, curd (cheese), ghi (clarified butter), urine, and dung are the five products of a cow

The commenter adds that this is not a terrible punishment.

The Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim

On 6 September 2018 the Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making homosexuality legal in India

Prior to the British colonization of India homosexuality was not all that looked down upon when compared to what happened when the British took over and instituted anti gay laws.

The Hijra (literally means third gender) were seen as normal and have been accepted since long before Christ, as evidenced by the Karma Sutra. The British took videos of them to take back to demonstrate how the Desi were “barbaric”.

Bonsia

In Bosnia, there was a one pride parade that ended with religious extremists ruining it and the police not doing anything. It was supposed to be 5 maybe 3 days long but ended in like 1 or 2.

The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe mapped out the entire night sky with only his eyes. It laid the foundations of many later scientists, such as Isaac Newton. He was a very rich nobleman, so much so that he owned 1% of Denmark's money. He had a pet dwarf that apparently could see the future, which sounds pretty gay. He was also part of the Elefant Ordning, which consisted of rich and strong Danish men.

Philippines 

Despite many attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, the Philippines still didn't budge. Being gay in itself is legal, but same-sex marriage still isn't.

Philippines ,the most Catholic Country in Southeast Asia, has held the largest Pride Parade in Southeast Asia.

Serbia

Serbia didn't have history from about 16th century to 1800's when the 1st revolt happened and failed till 1813's... Then yet another in 1830's for semi independence from Turks, and full in 1836

During the last lingering Ottoman rule over autonomous Serbia, Serbia was one of the very first few countries to have legal mostly everything... it then got removed with like 3 constitution changes and then it didn't move forward for a looong time

Switzerland

Would you have thought that small, conservative Switzerland was a center of the international gay community during the mid-20th century? The magazine "Der Kreis"- the circle - was the only queer magazine in the world that kept publishing during WWII. It was edited in Zurich and distributed internationally, which often meant illegal smuggling, even into nazi Germany. The magazine's annual ball was attended by hundreds of gay men from all over Europe each year. The whole thing was kept strictly secret from the public, though it was known and tolerated by the police.

The Kreis club disbanded in 1967, as repressions grew heavier after a number of murders in the scene had caught the public's attention. By then, other European and American groups took its place, publishing their own magazines.

They made a movie about it.

More info about Der Kreis

As of today, Switzerland doesn't allow gay marriage. A country-wide referendum will be held this fall on gay marriage.

The commenter speculates that gay marriage will be legalized.

A few people expressed surprise that Switerland is socially conservative and several people explained that women’s right to vote was only place in the 70s.

There’s a movie about it

Turkey

A Muslim Persian (born in modern day Turkey) philosopher/mysticist named Mewlana who is known for his sayings on acceptance and love for one another was gay! He had exchanged letters with his instructor Shams and wrote homoerotic poems to him! In Turkey this is ignored by many due to the country's stance on homosexuality

More information

Norway

The commenter’s hometown and the neighboring town arranged their first pride parade/event in 2017, which is a big deal for a small place and one of the local priests went livid and went straight to the newspaper and social media to condemn it. A local rapper wrote a short and to the point article in the newspaper calling him out for all kinds of things which was a great read. Then to top it off, the priest arranged for a "Jesus Parade" in protest to be held the day before the pride parade. Only like five people walked in it, not including the priest of course because he happened to be on vacation in Spain that week. The pride parade itself was a success though! It's become an annual event. Covid has put some breaks on it though, but they're making a documentary this year about the pride celebrations.

Hungary

Hungary has no same sex marriage or transition rights

Police are unkind to protestors

During “commie times,” being queer was illegal so queer people went to the gulag

Belgium

Same sex marriage was legalized in Belgium in 2003 (right after the NL who were the first in the world). The commenter says that same-sex marriage has always felt possible and she is confused about other countries’ actions.

Poland

Polish president on public assembly: 'LGBT is not people, this is ideology'.

Denmark

WHO took their sweet time declassifying being transgender as a mental illness, so Denmark got sick of waiting and became the first country to stop classifying it as an illness.

Australia

In Australia same-sex marriage wasn't legal until 2017.

Portugal

Portugal is know for having one of the most (if not THE most) peaceful revolutions in history back in the 60's, with only 4 deaths total.

Canada

Operation Soap.

Mexico

To learn more, watch Dance of the 41 on Netflix.

Netherlands

NL was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage in 2001

Sweden

In Sweden they used to classify Homosexuality as a disease during the 20th century so in protest people would call in too gay to work.

New Zealand

When same sex marriage was legalized, the parliament broke into song.

The song

Other

Homosexuality is illegal in 73 countries, some by death or life in prison.

Only one country in Asia has legalized same-sex marriage: Taiwan

FNAF is older than same-sex marriage in the US

Condor Operation

I think this is some important stuff so please reblog so more people can see! And, if you would like to add to or correct anything here, feel free to do so!

#history #lgbt #lgbt pride #pride #lgbt history #world history #queer #usa #germany #uk #world war 2 #austria #taiwan #south africa #spain #ireland #india #bonsia #philippines #serbia #switerland #turkey #norway #hungary #bengium #poland #denmark #australia #portugal #canada

[on-maars]

Indigo Night

Just a cute lil fic based on this post because it was honestly hilarious.

Title doesn’t really have anything to do with the fic, I just like the song. 

Read it on AO3.

It’s a quiet night inside the fire station.

Eddie is comfortably seated on the couch, waiting for their next call but secretly hoping he can sleep until the end of his shift.

Hen is seated on his right side. She seems focused on a book but from the way her eyes keep shutting every few seconds, Eddie knows she’s one second away from falling asleep.

Chimney’s there too, sprawled on the armchair, his eyes fixed on the television currently broadcasting an old episode of Friends, his mouth agape.

And then there’s Bobby, seated at the table, focused on some documents. Only Buck is absent, probably still fast asleep in his bunk downstairs.

“What you doing, Cap?” Hen asks from the couch, her voice low.

“Just getting the paperwork ready for when Eddie and Buck finally get together.” Bobby answers and his voice is deadly serious but a small smile still stretches up his lips at the edges. Eddie whirls his head around and rolls his eyes at him.

“That’s hilarious, Cap.” He says sarcastically and sighs, throwing his head backwards until it touches the backrest of the couch.

“He’s not wrong, y'know.” Chimney adds. “Just tell the damn man you’re in love with him already. This is getting embarrassing.”

Eddies lets out a small laugh and shakes his head in disbelief. There’s no point in denying it any longer – he thinks. Because he is. In love with Buck, that is.

And it’s not breaking news either. It might have been a few years ago, might have been a few months ago, even. But not anymore.

It seems to be a widely accepted truth among the 118. Whether it be among his closest co-workers or among the b-shift as well, everybody just seems to be in the confidence. Nobody questions it. No-one even doubts it. It’s just there, so vibrant, so loud, and Eddie just came to the conclusion that there was simply no need to acknowledge the elephant in the room. No need to make it clearer than it already is. Not after what happened. Not after that day.

Not after the shooting.

Christopher knows, too. Eddie thought he had been discreet enough not to arise suspicion from his own son, but when this one asked him whether the reason he broke up with Ana was because he was in love with ‘his Bucky’, Eddie realized that he had read it all wrong once again. Christopher was just too damn smart for his own good.

Even his own family. Abuela, Tia Pepa, his sisters, all of them confronted him with the truth the day after his break-up with Ana.

“For the love of god Eds please tell him because we’re getting real tired to hear you whine about it every single time we have you on Skype.”

And in his defense, Eddie’s trying. He’s trying really hard to get the message through the thick brain of his best-friend but he may as well waste his breath.

“Yeah well.” Eddie starts and rubs his temples with his hands, holding back a yawn. “I’ve been trying, guys. Buck is just… Clueless.”

“Maybe it’s time you use a more direct approach?” Bobby dares asking after a few seconds.

“Clearer than making him the legal guardian of my own son?” Eddie asks, raising his eyebrows at him, unimpressed.

“Fair enough.” Hen admits quietly. “But you know, maybe you should just be m-”

The rest of the sentence dies in her throat as Buck makes his way upstairs. His steps are heavy with sleep, a steady beat that gives Eddie more comfort than he’d care to admit. His hair is completely disheveled, his face grizzled as he makes his way towards the couch. He takes a seat next to his best-friend, their thighs pressed together and that’s just another thing that drives Eddie crazy, the way Buck always seems to seek comfort in his arms, whether it be after a short nap inside the fire station, after a long shift or a hard call.

And who’s Eddie to deny him? He can’t.

So once again, he lifts his arm and his face softens when Buck instantly leans against him, shyly, discreetly, as if he’s still wondering if it’s allowed, as if he’s still wondering if that’s not crossing a line in their friendship. Eddie wraps his left arm around his shoulders and ignores the knowing looks of both Hen and Chimney, tracing small patterns on Buck’s chest instead.

“What were you guys talkin about?” He says, his voice still groggy from his nap.

“Eddie’s new crush.” Hen says so naturally Eddie almost misses it. But then Buck suddenly sits straight, whirling his head around until his eyes are fixed on him.

“Your… Your new crush?” Buck asks and his face scrunches up in the most adorable confusion Eddie has to physically refrain himself from cradling his chin and kiss him right there on this couch. “You… You didn’t tell me you were… Interested in someone.”

“Yeah well… That’s actually the reason I broke up with Ana.” Eddie tells him, looking at his best-friend without batting an eyelid. For a few seconds, Eddie thinks he can see a flash of hope and longing cross his best-friend’s eyes but it’s gone just as fast. Buck’s eyes still shuttle back and forth, though, as if performing an internal scan of his face and Eddie only wishes he could know what kind of thoughts invade his best-friend’s brain.

“Oh.” Buck only answers, looking away. His eyebrows are furrowed in confusion and there’s that faraway look plastered on his face, the one he gets when his brain is working too fast for his head to catch up. “I- I didn’t know.” He adds. “That’s cool, man.” He says, his tone so cheerful and it’s like a switch flipped in his brain. There’s no confusion, anymore. No hesitation. No hope either. Almost like he pushed these feelings far, far in the back of his brain and forced himself to adopt his good old careless, bright and sparkling attitude.

“Yeah. I’ve actually been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for, like, six months now. No response.” Eddie says. Hen snorts next to him.

“Wow they sound stupid, Eds.” Buck answers.

“But they’re not.” Eddie contradicts him. “They’re really smart, actually. Just… dense.”

“Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like I don’t know… ‘Hey I love you.’”

Eddie raises his eyes until they fall on Chimney and Hen who’re both watching him with so much expectation and what the hell? Eddie thinks, the opportunity is right there and it’s too good to be true and he would be damned if he didn’t use it.

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” He says, and takes a deep breath before adding: “Hey Buck, I love you.”

“Yes exactly!” Buck answers, smiling big and Eddie raises his eyebrows in confusion. “Just say that!”

“Holy fucking shit.” Eddie whispers while pressing his hand on his forehead, disbelief clearly shown on his face. Hen dissolves in laughter and Chimney hits his head with his book, like he can’t quite believe he saw that scene with his own two eyes.

“If that flies over their head then sorry Eddie, but they’re too dumb for you.” Buck adds after a few seconds, and really, Eddie always prided himself for being a patient man but there’s only so much he can do. “What’s her name?” Buck goes on asking and Eddie sighs.

“She’s a he, Buck.” Eddie instantly answers, exasperated. “He. Masculine. A guy. I like dudes, alright?”

“Really?” Buck smiles. “Do I know him?”

“Oh for Christ’s sake.” Hen groans, rolling her eyes.

And just when Eddie thinks he got through to Buck-

The bell rings.

The call is not bad. Nothing too major. No fire. No major injuries. Just a small car accident, the people involved more frightened than injured. They still take a few minutes to make sure everyone is okay and Eddie’s honestly thankful for the distraction.

Buck is there with him and they’re working in sync just like they always do, but his friend seems to be in a faraway land, his face constantly scrunched up in confusion. Eddie can feel his gaze out of the corner of the eye and there’s nothing more he wants than to turn around and kiss him to finally remove any doubt from his best-friend’s head but they’re on a call and Eddie knows that this is probably the least suited place to have that kind of conversation.

They need to keep it professional.

The drive back is silent, filled with an uneasiness no-one dares to question. Buck is seated right next to him in the ambulance, their shoulders touching with every turns and jolts. No-one questions it anymore. They stopped doing that a long time ago. Hen and Chim are there as well, facing them, invading their safe space and so Eddie gently nudges Buck, making sure his best-friend knows he’s there and ready to talk as soon as they can have some form of privacy.

When they get back inside the fire station, Eddie is once again drawn to Buck. He takes a seat next to him on the couch and smiles to himself when Hen, Chim and Bobby all collectively decided to give them the room.

Eddie can sense the anxiety radiating from his friend’s body and so he decides to take the matter into his own hands and gently catches Buck’s wrist and regularly taps his soft skin with his index, until he can feel his best-friend’s body relaxing next to him.

“Eds, this… this guy.” Buck starts, his voice uncertain, filled with doubt. “Is he uh... a good friend of yours?” He asks and Eddie knows there’s more to it than Buck lets himself express.

“Yeah, Buck.” He answers, squeezing his wrist and looking up at him. “The best-friend I’ve ever had.” He says and Buck’s breath catches in his throat.

“Well for the record, I- I’m pretty sure he likes you too.” Buck says, glancing at him nervously but looking away just as fast.

“Oh, you think?” Eddie teases him and that brings a smile to Buck’s face.

“I know.” He corrects himself. “I know he does. He just- I guess he just didn’t know how to tell you, and- and he also needed to be 100% sure that this was the direction you two were taking to- to actually do something about it.”

When Buck looks up, Eddie smiles softly at him and runs his right hand through his hair, letting it on the back of his head afterwards, making sure he has his undivided attention before saying these next few words.

“Then maybe you should tell him he’s it for me.” He says, and then adds: “I’m all in, Buck.”

“I love you.” Buck blurts out but he doesn’t stop there. “And I love Christopher. So damn much.” He adds. “So damn much.” He repeats. That makes Eddie smile. “But- Eds, you- I’m a lot of hard-work and I- I’m so messed-up man you have no idea how messed-up I am.” Buck marks a pause, and adds. “I mean, who am I kidding, of course- of course you do because you’re you and you’re putting up with my shit all the damn time and I’m just-”

Eddie cuts him off by pressing their lips together.

His thumb rubs his cheek while the rest of his fingers play with the roots of his hair. Buck’s palm is pressed on his chest and the next second, Eddie can feel Buck’s fist hold his shirt tightly, creasing it.

“There’s nothing to put up with.” Eddie says against his lips, cupping his cheeks with his hands to make him look up. “Alright?” He adds.

“Alright.” Buck’s voice is still fragile.

“Good.” Eddie says. “Glad we got that cleared up.” He adds casually and Buck scoffs. “Next time though, maybe be a bit quicker on the uptake?”

“Oh fuck off.” Buck says, nudging him playfully. He stays silent for a while before adding: “Can we go back ho-” He closes his eyes and shakes his head, correcting himself. “Can I hang out at your place tonight?”

Eddie sighs and intertwines their fingers together.

“Course you can.” He only says. “This is your home too, Evan.”

#buddie #buddie fic #9-1-1 #911 #my writing #buck x eddie

[in-christalone]

*just to go off of the previous question.... what if a person confesses they are a sinner & believes Christ died for them, but they do not believe that homosexuality, specifically, is a sin, so they continue to act in it? are they saved? ty for answering!

You see, if a person truly has Christ, then their life will reflect it! 🥰

One of the marks of a Christian is sanctification, when God changes them to be more like Christ.

I used to believe in abortion, legalization of marijuana, same sex marriage, but today I am against all of those because God is not for it and God has given me a mind that wishes to honor and love Him rather than the things of the world.

So for a person to say, “I believe in Jesus” but continues to live in sin without ever repenting (in this case, homosexuality) then they are not truly Jesus’ disciple.

——

Titus 1:16 they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work

Matthew 7:21-23[Jesus saying] “not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter to the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me lord lord, did we not prophesied in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and to many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you workers of lawlessness”

—-

The life in darkness is a long, cold and deceiving one. I know what it’s like to be in love with someone you cannot have a relationship with, many times over. I’ve been single for over five years, but the loneliness far exceeds the pleasure of a relationship to me. Because if I were to give into a relationship where God would be dishonored, I would be the most distraught and in immense regret.

Besides! I’m never truly alone, because God would never abandon me like a lover could

Sin is never worth it, it only brings death, destruction, and brings forth a broken heart and a broken spirit.

#lgbt #lgbt Christian #gay Christian

[freudensteins-monster]

You Say “Mad Scientist” Like It’s A Bad Thing

Based on my own tumblr post: 3am thoughts… Has anyone written Jane Foster as a mad scientist, I mean like a villain?

Chaotic neutral Darcy and Jane featuring modern/human SHIELD Agent Bucky.

Available on AO3.

Content Warnings: Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Amnesia, Memory Suppressing Machine | The Chair (Marvel), Dark, Sort Of, Ambiguous/Open Ending...

In a world full of megalomaniacs, straight up supervillains, and fricking aliens, mad scientists were a dime a dozen. Dr Foster was one such scientist who was quickly moving from mildly irritating to SHIELD’s Most Wanted.

Dr Foster’s gimmick was portals. She first gained international attention when she claimed responsibility (via an untraceable Instagram account, @dr-mthrfckng-foster) for diverting LA’s 405 to a dirt road in rural Australia. Then came a string of impossible robberies – bank vaults and the private collections of the world's richest assholes stripped bare in seconds. Then she created a portal that caused an Indonesian typhoon to bear down on Wall Street, flooding the trading floor. And then she robbed a top secret government black site of some classified technology.

And that’s when Director Nick Fury made finding and stopping Dr Foster SHIELD’s number one priority.

Agent James Barnes had been stuck on suspension for two weeks, with two more to go, and was itching to get back into the field. He had way too much free time on his hands: he’d caught up on his sleep and everything in his Netflix queue. He’d cleaned out his refrigerator, done laundry and enough meal prep to last him until next month. He’d caught up with his family, cleaned his whole goddamn apartment twice, and now he was well and truly bored.

He was out for his fifth run of the week (and it wasn’t even Wednesday) when his work phone rang.

“Thank Christ,” he muttered before answering.

“Barnes.”

“It’s Hill. How’s the arm?”

“Fine,” Barnes grunted, rotating his metal shoulder irritably. “You got something for me?”

“Are you up for a recon mission?”

Usually he would have protested. He headed tactical units. He was an elite ‘first through the door’ kind of field agent. Not that he couldn’t be stealthy and patient - he’d been a sniper in the army for christ's sake - but going unnoticed in public was kind of a problem for him these days; he’d have to wear jackets and gloves in the middle of August to hide his prosthetic for starters.

On the other hand, his mother had been calling him every second day to feed him carb-heavy meals in exchange for help around the house, all while dropping not-so-subtle hints that he should start dating again. Requests for more grandchildren couldn’t be far behind.

“I’ll be there in thirty.”

Thirty-five minutes later Agent Barnes was back at his desk at SHIELD HQ perusing through the increasingly large file of one Dr Jane Foster. 

She had been a brilliant student and had earned a PhD in Astrophysics from Culver University by the age of 25. By all accounts she should have been one of the leading researchers in her field, and if doctoral programs handed out superlatives Dr Foster’s would have been “Most Likely To Win a Nobel Prize By 30”. 

Unfortunately for Dr Foster, and the rest of the world, she had been forced from that path by a sexist tenured professor who publicly denounced her theories, and the woman herself, as crazy, discredited her published work, and used his influence to ensure she was denied all of the more lucrative research grants.

When federal agents went to interview him after the 405 incident they found his office looking like a tornado had gone through it and the professor himself was nowhere to be found. A few weeks later he stumbled into a US Embassy in Russia after being found wandering in from the forests outside Vladivostok, half mad and still decrying the evils of allowing women into scientific fields.

He had been placed into witness protection and promptly admitted into a psychiatric facility under his new name, and was being monitored by several undercover agents in case Dr Foster felt like punishing him some more. 

Anyone else who had a part in ruining Dr Foster’s legitimate career was also under surveillance, as was her mother in London, a terrified ex-boyfriend in Boston, and a handful of known associates, though Dr Foster hadn’t been in contact with any of them in years.

SHIELD and other federal agencies had tried the usual methods of tracking down a rogue mad scientist. They tried to find out where her base of operations was, firstly by looking for any properties in her name, but Dr Foster had been a broke student with an impressive amount of debt (until the day she decided to wipe it, and the rest of Culver’s student debt, out). So if she had property it would definitely not be in her legal name and all but impossible to trace back to her. Then they tried to look for drains on the powergrid. However she managed to generate her portals - SHIELD scientists still hadn’t figured that out - it surely had to be using huge amounts of electricity. So far they’d found six grow labs and two server rooms running illegal god-knows-what, but no Dr Foster.

Agent Barnes read the file twice, reviewed all the transcripts of the interviews with her known associates, and came to one very important conclusion: she had an accomplice. 

As smart as Dr Foster was there was nothing in her academic history to suggest that she had a background in computer science that would account for the notable hacks and the untraceable nature of her activities. To add to that several interviewees had made passing remarks about her not having a cell phone for most of her academic career, and how she had zero interest in social media.

Two days later, after getting the okay for a field trip from Hill, Agent Barnes made his way to Culver University to speak to anyone who had even the vaguest recollection of Dr Foster. And that’s how he learnt about the intern.

He’d started by dropping by one of the physics labs where Dr Foster had spent most of her time, and by pure chance met a doctoral candidate who remembered her, and her intern.

“I think her name was Darlene. Glasses. Always on her phone.”

…which led him to the academic advisor who put the two of them together...

“Darcy. Darcy Lewis. She was actually a PoliSci major but left it too late and Dr Foster’s internship was the only one available. She had only been working with her for a few weeks before… before Dr Foster’s funding was revoked and she was asked to leave.”

...who pointed him to one of Darcy’s former professors…

“Average student. Good debater. Often late, and always had a coffee in her hand.”

...who gave him a few names of some former classmates who might remember her…

“Not the worst person to be stuck with on a group assignment. Pulled her weight. Obsessed with her stupid iPod.”

“I swear she lived off pop tarts and coffee. And not Starbucks either. Some stupid hipster chain.”

“Deja Brew. Serious problem. Went through one of those loyalty punch cards every week. Always complained about having to go home for the holidays and resort to big chain coffee shops.”

...which had him driving out to Darcy Lewis’ hometown, located a few hours south of Roanoke, Virginia, stopping first at the local high school to speak to the school principal…

“She’d always been good with computers but wasn’t allowed to use them at home for some reason so she spent a lot of time at the local library using theirs. We had to suspend her once. One of her classmates accused her of accepting payment from other students to hack the school’s records and alter their grades. Their grades were definitely getting altered, but we couldn’t get any concrete proof it was her.”

...who was able to find a photo of 16 year old Darcy in an old yearbook and told him what bar he could find Darcy’s mother in.

“She knows not to come to me if she’s in the shit, because I would call the cops in a heartbeat. Especially after that stunt she pulled before she went off to college…”

“What stunt was that, Ms Bennett?” Agent Barnes asked patiently, hoping he wouldn’t have to enable her alcoholism to get some useful information. 

“I made some mistakes, okay,” she slurred defensively. “I was having an affair with my boss. Don’t know how Darcy knew. She told her stepfather but he didn’t believe her. Then a few weeks later we went out to dinner for my boss’s birthday... all the tv’s in the bar start showing security camera footage of us falling into offices and motel rooms. Took her all of a minute to ruin two marriages and a law firm.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied diplomatically. “Is there anyone she could turn to for help? Her father, perhaps.”

“He died when she was about twelve. They were as thick as thieves,” she recalled with a tinge of bitterness.

“Was there any place that was special to them? Someone she might go to ground?”

She shook her head. “He used to rent this old cabin near the Catskills off a buddy of his every other year. Winter or summer, Darcy loved it. But it's long gone. Forest fire, I think, the year before his accident.”

Back in his car Agent Barnes reviewed the data points.

Dr Foster had a base of operations somewhere. Had to be private, and as best SHIELD could guess it must be off the grid and Dr Foster must be generating her own power.

Dr Foster was a space nut at heart, and while an abandoned observatory might be too much to ask for, she’d probably want somewhere with minimal light pollution.

And while they could portal anywhere, neither of them spoke any other languages and had no familiarity with any international locations, so they were most likely still State-side. (Dr Foster’s mother had moved to London when Jane was twenty-three, but she’d never found the time to visit.)

Miss Lewis was familiar with the Catskills area. A base of operations there could be very isolated.

Dr Foster was most likely building and modifying her own own equipment so she had to be able to access materials. Sure, she could portal to her local hardware store, but having Darcy drive into the nearest town for supplies would attract less attention.

Miss Lewis had an addiction to coffee procured from Deja Brew, a small hipster chain with only a handful of locations along on the east coast. While she could have found another way to get her caffeine fix, people were creatures of habit.

Miss Lewis was also known for stocking up on poptarts. In one of the only images of the other side of one of Dr Foster’s portals there was what appeared to be, if one squinted, a box of limited edition pop tarts on a counter.

He plugged it all into SHIELD fancy search engines and got a few results back. The most promising was an abandoned ski chalet turned abandoned research station halfway up a mountain, an hour drive away from an up and coming tourist town, whose main street hosted a Deja Brew cafe. They also had a small mom and pop hardware store, as well as a post office, and a grocery store that had still been selling pumpkin pie pop tarts around the time Dr Foster’s portal had been caught on camera.

Agent Barnes came to with a groan. The flesh of his shoulder where it met his prosthetic felt like it was on fire, and he was pretty sure he could smell fried wiring.

The research station had come up in SHIELD’s initial search for a potential mad scientist's lair, but had been dismissed for not using any power and for not sending back any heat signature readings. Perhaps they’d found a way to fool the scanners. Or maybe they just weren’t in the day the readings were taken. Whatever the reason, Agent Barnes had a good feeling about it. He filled his tank up at the nearest gas station and got on the highway, forgoing checking in at the Triskelion on his way past in favour of driving all night. He’d call Hill when he had something solid. 

** *** **

“Fuck…”

He willed his eyes open and came face to face with Darth Vader.

Barnes reeled back at the sound of the synthesized voice. “Who sent you? Who do you work for?! The Rebellion?” 

“What the fuck!”

It took him until his eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lighting to realise that Darth Vader was wearing a grey knit dress and black tights. Darth Vader laughed and ripped off his mask to reveal a smiling bespectacled brunette underneath. The accomplice. Darcy Lewis.

“Sorry, I was just messing with you, dude,” she teased, tossing the mask over her shoulder. “I’ve always wanted to do that. But seriously, who do you work for? Who knows you’re here?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he lied. “I was just camping in the woods, man. I saw the lights and decided to check it out,” he rambled in a lazy Canadian accent. “How the hell did I get here? Did you electrocute me?”

He used his not-quite fake panic to test the limits of his restraints. He’d been strapped into some sort of junkstore barber chair, with thick metal shackles locked around his wrists, ankles, and chest. His metal arm could probably make quick work of them but the damn thing was not responding. His panic became a little less fake.

“Just camping, huh?” she echoed back with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward to the point where Barnes couldn’t avoid getting a good look down her top and the 15-carat pink diamond (worth about 40mil and reported stolen in one of Dr Foster’s vault heists two months ago) hanging around her neck. “So that wasn’t you poking around town this morning?” she asked pointedly, drawing his attention to the wall of monitors he hadn’t noticed showing various street cameras around the town. “I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere, dude. You got into town bright and early in a beat up looking truck with plates that didn’t exist two weeks ago and started flashing my yearbook photo around. So, who do you work for?”

He levelled his best steely-eyed agent stare at her and switched back to his native pissed-off Brooklynite accent. “I ain’t tellin you shit, sweetheart.”

“C’mon now,” she cooed, taking a seat on his lap. “Who do you work for? FBI? Interpol? SHIELD? Crawford County Library Services? Listen, I was totally going to return Eat Pray Love, but we had to skip town in a hurry and it got lost in the move. I will totally pay to replace it.”

Years of training (and regular poker games with the Black Widow) had taught him to school his features, even if that last one threw him for a loop.

“Nothing? You sure you don’t want to talk to me? Fine,” she whined. “Jane!”

It was only then that Barnes switched his focus from his captor to his surroundings and realised that there was another occupant puttering about on the other side of the large telescope that took pride of place on a hydraulic platform underneath the research station's retractable roof. The infamous Dr Foster.

“Jane!”

“What?” came the irritated reply. 

“Come over here and practise your monologue. Look! You’ve got a captive audience and everything!” she announced, laughing at her own joke. 

“I don’t have time, Darcy,” the disgruntled voice argued. 

“Hey! I spent two days writing up that monologue, the least you can do is spend twenty-five minutes reading it out loud so I can make sure it doesn’t make you sound too much like a cartoon villain.” 

“Twenty-five minutes?! Are you kidding me?” Dr Foster stormed out from behind the telescope to wave a wrench at her assistant. She looked less put together than her ID photo, appearing to be long overdue for both a shower and a nap. “I’m in the middle of something. I’ve almost figured the problem with the mobile portal generator, and… Darcy, why is there a man tied to a chair in my lab?”

“This man?” Darcy snorted, taking Barnes’s chin in her hands and wiggling it about. “This is the intruder. You remember the intruder alert, like fifteen minutes ago? Lots of flashing lights and alarms? Well, I found this guy passed out on the lawn. For most people, hitting my force field would be like getting lightly tased, but this bad boy,” she continued, tapping a fingernail against his dead metal arm, “meant you ended up getting the full 50,000 volts to your heart. Thanks for letting me practice my CPR by the way,” she added with a wink.

“It’s not a force field, Darcy. It’s a glorified invisible pet fence, upsized and modified so it reacts to the electrical impulses in the human body.”

“It keeps people out; I’m calling it a force field.”

This was definitely the weirdest interrogation he had endured by a large margin, Barnes mused as he followed their bickering like a pingpong game.

“Who is he, Darcy?” Jane sighed wearily. “What is he doing here?”

“Fiiiine. Janey, meet Agent James Barnes of SHIELD.”

“What?! SHIELD?!!”Jane screeched. “Why did you bring him here?”

“He found us, Jane. What was I supposed to do?”

“Something other than bringing him inside our secret hideout.”

“I am not killing him and burying him in the woods; I just did my nails.”

Jane scowled, turning the full force of her overtired fury on James. “Why can’t you SHIELD issue jackbooted thugs just leave me alone? Can’t you understand how important my work is? I am challenging the very foundations of modern science - of the laws of the universe! I am on the verge of a breakthrough! And if you or Nick Fury think you can stop me, you’ve got another thing coming!”

Before his mouth could betray him and ask how the hell they knew his boss Darcy spoke up.

“A little off script, but I like the energy, Jane. Very much the mad scientist vibe we’re going for. But next time, try not to make it so personal – we’ve got to hide the target of our frustrations, remember? Instead of saying “SHIELD” say “government”, instead of saying “Nick Fury” say “president”.”

“Right, right,” Jane nodded absently, tapping the side of her head with the wrench she had just been waving around like a weapon.

“Now, go back to work. I’ll handle this.”

“Okay, thanks Darce. Oh, have you seen my soldering iron around?”

“It’s in the locked cabinet because you’re not allowed to use it unsupervised, you know that. Gimme ten minutes, I’ll bring it to you.”

Jane wandered back to her side of the observatory, muttering under her breath, leaving Barnes at Darcy’s mercy.

“She’s not the criminal mastermind here, is she?” he wondered, his eyes roaming over the strange cupcake of a woman in his lap.

“Not exactly,” Darcy admitted. “I mean, it’s not like she set out to be a mad scientist. I kind of rebranded her after that little freeway incident.”

“Rebranded?”

“Yeah. She was in a bad way after New Mexico and then when the first live test of her portal engine went a little sideways I didn’t want dudebros on the internet coming after her, so I changed the narrative. Instead of ‘girl scientist makes mistake, should stick to making sandwiches’ I changed it to ‘Dr Foster, genius astrophysicist, causes chaos, totally on purpose.’”

“And all those robberies?”

“I may have encouraged that. I’m all for sticking it to the one percenters, and Jane needed to fund her experiments somehow,” she added with a shrug.

“So Jane’s the absent-minded professor and you’re the brains behind this operation, huh?”

Darcy laughed and slid out of his lap causing a distracting amount of friction. “I’m really not. So you, Coulson, and Fury should be really, really scared.”

“How do you know those names?” he had to know, cover be damned.

“You don’t know? Of course you don’t,” she huffed. “Fury and his clearance levels. I’d tell you to ask him about New Mexico sometime, but you’re not going to be able to.”

“Why not? What are you going to do to me?” Barnes fretted, unable to ignore the sinking feeling that he was in big trouble; she wouldn’t have told him anything if she intended on letting him walk out of here.

“Oh, relax. I’m not going to kill you. I’m just gonna scramble your brain a little.”

She circled his chair, flipping switches as she went, and something behind him started humming ominously.

“So, admittedly I didn’t major in hard sciences. I had an ex who did, but he also fancied himself something of a cat burglar, so when he went to jail I liberated all his college textbooks and gave myself a crash course in electrical engineering. And it helped that those HYDRA designs were really easy to follow.”

“HYDRA?” Barnes cursed.

HYDRA had been the scientific branch of the Nazi regime and believed that discovery required (human) experimentation. They were supposedly eradicated at the end of WWII but Project Paperclip saved some of HYDRA’s greatest minds, giving them immunity in exchange for their genius. If Foster or, more worryingly, Darcy had aligned themselves with some surviving HYDRA faction the results could be catastrophic.

“Yeah, I found them in that SHIELD warehouse when we recovered Jane’s stolen research.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They just call it ‘The Chair’, which is totally not creepy at all,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “And this is the Halo,” she added, drawing Barnes’s attention to the whirring circle of metal that was lowering itself over his head.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, renewing his efforts to break free of his restraints. “Get that piece of scrap metal the fuck away from me!”

“Hey! Don’t mock my work. It may look like I raided a junkyard for the components - and I did - but my welding game is on point. It’s totally safe. Mostly safe. It’s just going to send focused electrical pulses to your…” she paused to consult some smudged writing on her hand, “hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.”

The Halo stopped moving and two metal plates extended, pressing against the sides of his head, holding it like a vice.

“Please… don’t do this,” he begged as she approached him with a rubber mouthguard.

“C’mon, open wide. You don’t want to end up braindead and unable to chew your food,” she jested, waving the thing in front of him. “Oh, just one question before I fry your brain,” she added just when he was about to give in. “How did you find us? I was so careful,” she whined.

Agent Barnes, terrified as he was, still managed to look smug at his small, short lived success. “Deja Brew coffee.”

“Curses!” she wailed theatrically. “Betrayed by my one true love!” 

Darcy huffed and quickly returned her attention to the matter at hand. 

“Thanks for that,” she said with a smile as she forced him to bite down on the mouthguard. “I’ll know better for next time. Start making my own coffee at home… but it never tastes as good,” she muttered to herself.

She stepped away from him and bent down to pick up a similarly frankensteined industrial remote with long wires snaking back to the chair and a clichéd big red button at its centre. He began struggling anew, screaming around the foul tasting rubber, begging for mercy.

She took great delight in his terrified expression and put on her best supervillain voice, “Give my regards to Nick Fury.”

Nick Fury observed his agent from behind a two way mirror as he sat behind a table in an interrogation room. Barnes had been sitting there for the past hour as still as a statue, except for his unfocused eyes which flitted about the room. 

In true horror movie fashion, Agent Barnes’ screams echoed down the mountainside like an avalanche, sending animals fleeing in terror for miles around.

** *** **

Local LEO’s had found him wandering aimlessly down a stretch of highway just outside the ruins of what had previously been Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, and ten minutes after they ran his prints Agent Romanoff had been on a quinjet to collect him. She’d been directed to the nearest hospital and found him sitting up on a bed but not responding or reacting to any of the medical staff as they buzzed around him. Agent Romanoff took a cautious step forward and held her breath as his unfocused eyes settled on her. 

“Hello James...”

An excruciating minute later the veil lifted and he attempted a smile. 

“Hey Tasha.”

She’d brought him back to base and dragged him to SHIELD’s medical bay for more tests - not that Barnes put up much of a fight, in fact he was terrifyingly compliant. The SHIELD doctors confirmed what the New Mexico doctors suspected: the bruising and electrical burns around his temples and his memory loss were indicative of some back alley version of electroshock therapy. His memories should come back in time - how long was anybody’s guess - but for the moment Agent James Barnes had no memory of the last four weeks.

Fury picked up a tablet with depressingly little information on its screen and stepped into the room, waiting for Barnes eyes to focus on him before taking a seat. 

“Agent Barnes.”

“Director.”

“I know you’re probably sick of questions by now, but I have a few more for you, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, sure…”

It rankled Fury to no end how meak and passive Barnes seemed. Heaven help him, he missed the argumentative sonofabitch.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Being called into your office.”

“What for?”

“I punched Rumlow.”

“Why?”

“He was bragging about taking advantage of a drunk woman at a club when he was last on leave. He didn’t like me calling out his shitty behaviour. He punched me, I punched him back.”

Fury sighed. He hadn't gotten a straight answer out of Barnes at the time of the incident and he couldn’t feel happy about getting one now. 

“Do you remember what happened once I called you into my office?”

His brow creased and his eyes zipped back and forth like the carriage of a printer as his mind searched for the elusive memory.

“You suspended me?”

“I did,” Fury confirmed. “For a whole month. But two weeks into it I pulled you in for a special assignment.”

Barnes tensed, shrinking in on himself. The confusion about his lost time seemed to be the only thing that got under his skin, but only when someone brought it up. Once the moment passed he forgot to be concerned about it.

Fury took pity on him. “For the past two weeks I had you running down leads on the whereabouts of Dr Jane Foster.”

“The scientist with the portals? Did she do this to me?”

“It’s not exactly her MO, but then again no law enforcement agency’s ever managed to have a confrontation with her. Never had the chance. Those portals of hers let her keep at a distance. You might have been the first person to have a face to face with her, but I can’t confirm it because I don’t know where the hell you were when this happened,” he grumbled, letting a little more of his usual exasperated tone filter through. “You missed check in by two days. The last we heard from you, you were at Culver running down leads on what you said was a potential accomplice. We found your car in Tromso, Norway, a day after you were found on the side of a road in New Mexico. You don’t appear on any security footage or speed cameras in the area. There’s no activity on your work or personal credit cards. Your activity logs on our highly secure system for the last two weeks are nonexistent, as are your call logs on your work phone. Even the messages you sent Romanoff from your personal phone complaining about your assignment have since been deleted - from her phone too. She’s real pissed about it. As far as your digital footprint is concerned you disappeared from a gas station outside Roanoke, Virginia, last week - do you know how weird it is to know you were headed out towards a place called Roanoke only to up and vanish?” He sighed at Barnes’ painful silence. “Is there anything you can remember, anything at all about Dr Foster or her accomplice? Anything that will help us catch up to you without talking to everyone on campus to figure out what you discovered?”

Barnes’ brow creased in painful confusion.

“I think… I think I saw Darth Vadar.”

Director Fury blinked. “Right…” He took a deep breath to stop himself from venting his frustrations at Barnes, the sorry bastard looked like a kicked puppy as it was. Instead he got up and tapped the tablet against the metal tabletop harder than strictly necessary. “Well, I’ll just go put out a BOLO out for Darth Vadar then.”

“Okay,” Barnes murmured, and promptly zoned out again.

Agent Romanoff exited the viewing room looking uncharacteristically unsettled. 

“I want a full detail on him at all times,” Fury ordered as he stormed off towards the elevators. Hill had just stepped off and was looking even more grim than usual. “Until his memories come back he’s vulnerable, and once they do he’ll be a target.”

“I’ll get a STRIKE team on it. Not Rumlow’s.”

“Get another one along with any assets currently not on assignment. Flood that campus, interrogate everybody. I wanna know who the hell Dr Foster’s accomplice is, and I wanna know yesterday. Understood?”

“I think we might have more pressing concerns, sir,” Hill reported, tapping at her tablet as it beeped erratically. “Coulson’s said there’s an issue with the Tesseract. Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from it fifteen minutes ago.”

“NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase,” he grunted, taking the tablet from Hill.

“He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement.”

“Motherfucker.”

#you say mad scientist like it's a bad thing #freudensteins-fics #mad scientist jane foster #competent assistant darcy lewis #shield agent bucky barnes #torture #aftermath of torture #amnesia #winter soldier memory wipe chair #darcy lewis #jane foster #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff #nick fury #maria hill

[stages-of-mania]

Lord Huron Timeline Masterpost

Disclaimer: A lot of this information is speculation and consists of a lot of theories. Feel free to take things with a grain of salt.

Lonesome Dreams: 

Setting: 19th century Wild West (some theories suggested could be the Middle East in the mid-20th century) 

Characters:

Huron (main character)

Blaquefut (Huron’s best friend)

Helena (Huron’s girlfriend)

nameless Helena’s Ex (we're gonna call him Sonny for convenience)

Story: (I’m sure that most of the songs are in chronological order from the album but a few of them I believe are flashbacks so I had to move them around.)

She lit a fire/one of the best love songs ever written: The story goes earlier in the timeline technically, as it’s flashing back to how Huron met Helena. This is how the pair met. She lit his fire to travel the world or something.

Ends of the earth: early on in Huron and Helena‘s relationship. He wants to travel the world but she doesn’t so they’re kinda like “let’s split up for a bit”

Setting sun/the most mindfucking song (yes this bonus track is played at the end of the song, but hear me out ): Sonny has noticed that Helena has found someone else. They both know that Huron is better for her, but Sonny’s still pissed so he goes full yandere and chases after Huron. This story was put at the end and made “unfinished” because Sonny will always have a vendetta while Huron’s alive.

Time to run: Huron and friends are being chased by Sonny’s goons. Blaqufut gets shot in the head while helping Huron escape.

lonesome dreams: now this is a bit of a stretch, but from this theory, LD is basically purgatory and Huron travels to it to rescue Blaqufut from death.

Ghost on the shore/best song: nothing too significant to the story, it’s just Huron talking about how he misses home/the Great Lakes

I will be back one day: again, nothing much, just Huron reminiscing over Helena in pursuit to find her.

Man who lives forever: again nothing too significant, just Huron not wanting to die.

Brother: this is possibly the aftermath of an altercation between Huron and Blaqufut that they resolve. It pretty much just reaffirms their friendship.

In the wind: this one actually occurs while Huron is still on the run but from Helena’s perspective. It’s basically her reminiscing over him. I think they put this one at the end because it’s spiritually the end of the album, as it discusses how long distances and death can stop love.

Lullaby: Huron finally makes it back to Helena. He’s a complete wreck but Helena’s just happy he’s back

Sidenotes: Lonesome dreams are a collection of stories from Jorge Ranger Johnson, a writer character that Ben made up. Because of this, some of lonesome dreams might not actually be real within the universe of Lord Huron. Or they might be real events and just happened to be written about by an author. 

Alternate theories suggest that Setting sun was actually about Huron the entire time and it did take place at the end of the album, causing Helena to find someone else and Huron to becoming a murderer. 

One last important thing, because these are stories and might not actually occur within the universe of Lord Huron, it is possible that there is no afterlife, as suggested in later albums.

Strange Trails: 

Setting:

1950s, somewhere in America.

George’s: A bar that several characters tend to spend time at (probably in reference to George Ranger Johnson)

Characters:

Frankie Lou: washed up singer who presumably had a failed romance that fucked up bad. Probably an alcoholic. Sings at George’s

Cobb Avery: zombie brought back to life out of vengeance. His family was killed because his boss gave him a piece of land on a sinkhole. leader of the “World Enders” gang. Basically a bunch of terrorists. Kills everyone from the company that sold him the house. Hangs out at George’s

Jonnie: member of the world Enders. Kind of trigger-happy in a thrill seeker. Probably one of the less malicious members of the group. Probably 19.

Buck Vernon: I also think another washed-up singer. What’s important though is that he suffers from hallucinations and is desperately trying to find the girl of his dreams.

Lily: some girl that every guy in town has the hots for. Hangs out at George’s

Jim: Lily's boyfriend. Hangs out at George’s.

Danielle: Young girl. The only child character, I’d say 11-14. Best character. You’re never too young to have an existential crisis.

Justine: not really important, presumably a writer.

Louisa: some random girl (Assuming that this theory is true, she might also be a witch and might’ve started out as an asshole, might also hang out at George’s)

There’s also some other guy but he was part of one song and it wasn’t significant so disregard him.

Story:

Love like ghosts: this is Frankie reminiscing over her failed relationship

When the night ends: Jonnie talking about appreciating the finer things in life while everything’s going to shit

Dead man’s hand/also best song: buck finds Avery presumably dead while wandering the desert. He buries him only to find out that Avery is still alive. Avery says that there’s no afterlife for him and he doesn’t want to go back in the grave. The pair become friends and go their separate ways.

Hurricane: just Johnny talking about living life on the edge

La belle fleur sauvage/the beautiful wildflower: just the lead singer gushing over Lily. The guy singing this only shows up in this song, but it’s just meant to establish that everyone has the hots for Lilly. The song could also be talking about Buck in his pursuit.

Fool for love: Buck goes to George’s to win over Lily, but Jim is already with her. Being delusional, buck tries to take on Jim (in the music video he gets Avery to fight him), he trashed the place and because of this is kicked out. He’s pretty optimistic but after this, he feels kind of defeated. (*Post-Rejection Depression Time*)

World ender: focuses on Avery‘s story. Follows him as he seeks vengeance and kills the people from the company that sold him the shitty house.

Meet me in the Woods: more of Frankie reminiscing over her failed romance

Yawning grave: (OK so this is the first big roadblock in the story, so the character that this song is about is very much left up to interpretation) I assume Avery has kind of calmed down But still intends to pursue the people that have wronged him.

Frozen Pines: (disappointingly) The only song about Danielle. Her parents were abducted by aliens in front of her. She is sort of in denial and refuses to leave where she is in the middle of the forest out of the delusion that they’ll come back. The song ends with her realizing that she has to move on as she attempts to leave the forest. (also, frozen Pines is the name of the motel so it could also just be that maybe Danielle is stuck at a motel which would honestly be kind of funny.)

Cursed/best love song ever written: Buck has found himself a new girl. However, due to previous failed romantic endeavors and hallucinations, he thinks that she’s an asshole trying to put a curse on him. (The song is presumably about Louisa. It’s entirely possible that Louisa was being manipulative but they sort things out)

Way out there: (The most difficult song to figure out) presumably about Avery. I can only best describe it as him having an existential crisis and him missing his dead family.

Louisa: after Buck was tempted to kick bricks, Louisa helped him out and gave him a newfound appreciation for life. Now they’re happy =]

Night we met: last song of Frankie reminiscing over her ex. Also, the lyric video confirms that Buck & Louisa either broke up or she was just a figment of his imagination, so uh, ya. Hopefully you weren't as emotionally invested in these characters as much as I was because that tore me a new one.

Sidenotes: this album definitely had the most interpretations. The biggest issues are the stories of yawning grave and way out there, as I am unsure that it is even about Avery. The real issue tho is the lack of songs about Danielle. Ben Come On!

There are also a couple connections between this album and the next

Vide Noir: 

Setting: 1960s. Detroit & Los Angeles. 

Background info: A drug called vide noir has recently been legalized. It’s basically just a hallucinogenic that destroys the fabric of reality, good times.

Characters:

Buck Vernon: Christ Ben just can’t seem to give this guy a break.

Lee Green: Buck’s new girl. Probably wants to be an actress or something.

Lady moonbeam: A medium/psychic. I think she’s black but it’s hard to tell because of the lighting.

Cobb Avery: Best Boy Electrician on “Products of the Universe” TV show. (only mentioned in 1 song)

Marsha Tanley & Dale Frander: “Products of the Universe” host; guy selling vide & its derivatives. (not in the songs)

Story:

Lost in time and space: Buck is upset because Lee left. He decides to chase after her nonetheless.

Never ever: Buck's spirits are lifted as he heads out to find Lee.

Ancient names: Buck goes to Lady Moonbeam For advice but she sees into the future and sees that Buck will become a drug addict. He’s in denial but she knows otherwise.

Wait by the river: just Buck talking about how you would do anything for Lee. Also reveals the potential of an altercation between the two of them, presumably the two of them having a fight before she left.

Secret of life: (OK this one’s a little hard, the singer is clearly Buck, but it’s hard to tell if he’s confronting either Lee or lady moonbeam) either way, whoever he is confronting has allegedly made a pact with Avery that will cause something bad to happen to Buck. Because of this, he downs a bottle of fukitol/vide noir.

Back from the edge: the MF dies but comes back (where have we seen that before)

Balancer's eye: Buck runs into God and is denied access to heaven. Either because he wasn’t supposed to die or maybe people who take drugs aren’t allowed in. Or God has really high standards and no one‘s allowed in (again, weird knowing that Blaqufut experienced purgatory and Avery said there’s no heaven at all)

When the night is over: realizing the effect of VN, Buck is becoming worried for Lee that she might overdose if he doesn’t find her soon enough

Moonbeam: Like with Louisa, Buck ran into a girl that saved him from a bad place. Hard to tell if it’s Lee (it likely isn’t because of later in the story)  or lady moonbeam.

Vide Noir: Buck talking about the effects of the drug.

Emerald star/The most depressing song ever written: after doing everything he can and fucking dying, Buck finally finds Lee but he is turned down as she would rather be a junkie. It’s also possible that she might die or be dying, judging by the fact that the second half of this song is just instrumental followed by a sudden halt at the end. {Yay, I get to experience “close to you” all over again}

Sidenotes: George ranger Johnson is a spiritual advisor for the show that Avery works on.

The events of the film are claimed to come at the end/after the album.

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

All information was aggregated from the albums, interviews with Ben, music videos, articles about the film, Products of the Universe, & whatever else I could scavenge from LH’s YouTube channel.

I’d also like to give a huge thanks to the fanbase for their theories and research. It really helped out a lot piecing this all together. I had a lot of fun discussing this with fellow Wanderers and Enders and really appreciate being a part of this fanbase.

If you have any alternative theories, timelines, etc, be sure to mention them. A huge chunk of this info will probably become obsolete when the film/next album comes along so enjoy this while we can still be optimistic.

Dear Balancer help us.

#lord huron #lonesome dreams #strange trails #vide noir #cobb avery #buck vernon #ben schneider

[christianotome]

Extremism is always somehow to be avoided

Humans have a weird tendency to exaggerate. Lewis said, in Mere Christianity, that the devil sends mistakes in opposite pairs in order to lure us into one of these mistakes while we focus our attention in despising the other.

For example, Ecclesiastes 7:16 tells us “Do not be overly righteous [...]” By being overly righteous one takes the risk to become judgmental, inflexible and merciless. Romans 14:1 asks us to “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.” On the other hand, if we're insufficiently righteous we become complacent with sin but Ephesians 5:11 orders us to “[...] have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

Another example is the legalism/antinomianism issue. People became so obsessed with following the law, that they basically rejected God’s grace by trying to achieve salvation on its own merit contradicting Romans 11:6 that says “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.”. Later people decided to “embrace” grace and threw themselves back into sin, even though we can read “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1‭-‬2) and “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4)

#bible #personal opinion #christianity #religion #cs lewis #mere christianity #extremism #we need to find balance

[laufire]

Supernatural s3

It’s so unfair that the season that has Ruby AND Bela is so short :(((. I was done with it waaaay too quickly, and now I’m speed running through s4 xD (which, like the first time around, is Strong Mixed Feelings territory).

-My girl Ruby!!!! I was so happy to have her back, I kept grinning like a loon every time she was on screen. It’s quite interesting watching the 1.0 and 2.0 versions so close to each other, instead of as they air. I have... Thoughts, on whether Ruby as a double agent was something planned or that they decided as they went, but that’s for the s4 post. s3!Ruby really doesn’t come across as one (“I don’t believe in the devil” oh I wish sometimes xD, I love my nonbelievers), imo, but the beauty of such a device is that you can rationalize anything she does as devious if you want to xD

And it goes without saying that I love her interactions with Sam. THIS SHIP ISTG. I love how immediately ~attuned to her he is lol, his present and instinctive concern for her even if he tries to mask his interest as “practical”. And all the repeated times Sam’s conflicted between her and Dean -like when he deviates Dean shot (wasting one of the Colt’s bullets lmfao) or during the argument about the virgin sacrifice xD. And the “that’s my boy”/ “little fallen angel on your shoulder” quotes!!! Ruby 1.0 deserved to be railed by Sam too, smh.

My favourite episode of hers is “Jus in Bello” (which would be my fave of the season just by virtue of having both Bela and Ruby in the same episode lol. Not interacting, of course, the world as we know it wouldn’t have survived). I just love that she gets that final moment of I TOLD YOU SO to the brothers xD. I really like how she expands on the demonic lore of the show- I love, LOVE the detail about how all demons used to be humans, how they’re souls corrupted in hell. And that in her past life she was a witch (there was this really good fic in Spanish fandom about it... I need to hunt it down).

BTW, though I think her interactions with Dean in that episode are interesting, it really hammers home how much I hate him sometimes xD. Can you stop saying misogynistic slurs for TWO GODDAMN MINUTES, DEAN (and as we know from as early as this season, only HE can have demon/monster friends!! What a fucking hypocrite xD). I freaking love the moment in the finale when she viciously yells him about how she wishes she could see him in hell lmao (and how it foreshadows that when she shows sympathy later, it’s actually Lilith in disguise lmfao). I hate Dean gets the last word in their dynamic, tbqh. Until the s15 cameo, at least xDD

One thing that’s been bothering me xD: the French fries. Demons are vulnerable to salt, like other spirits, right? (and hey, look what a nice piece of foreshadowing that was). How does that translate to food lol. Because Ruby adores French fries, and they obviously contain salt. It’s like spicy food for humans? Or like pineapple? Inquiring minds etc. xD

-I still cannot believe Bela Talbot was only on the show for six episodes lmao. Her presence still lingers in the watchers’ heads so much?? Which is understandable because she’s Lead Girl Material if there was ever any lol. The care with which they styled her even?? You don’t do that for just any character lmao (I mean, just look at most of SPN’s female characters for comparison xD).

Her ship with Dean could’ve really been something, too -even if I hate Dean in it, I can’t deny it packs a punch, narrative-wise. I mean, the Batcat undertones alone!! The fake married undercover shenanigans!! And I think it’s really interesting that she’s such a blind spot for him; Dean’s unusually intuitive about people, but with Bela he takes everything at face value and she can fool him like no other (while, OTOH, is Sam who questions her facade and wants to see more). If he hadn’t been such an idiot (and such an asshole) he could’ve had a really powerful ship. Sucks to be him lol.

Anyway. Man, I love her. So much. I love how Gordon’s threats to kill her don’t work on her, and I love that the show basically said “Bela killing her abusive parents is good, actually” (I’m so tired of forgiveness narratives, you guys. This entire show is founded on revenge, so let me get my revenge fantasies in peace!!) xDD. And I love, LOVE that she withheld that truth from Dean, that she decided he wasn’t worth it. OTOH, you know, fuck the fans that got her written out, definitely; but on the other, I do love how her story ended (and that it was a clear "fuck you" to shitty fans). Doesn’t stop me for wanting to read and re-read (and maybe write!) even more “Bela escapes hell” fix-its, but still.

Also, very important question: what happened to her cat?? It’s the cat alright?? I’m going to headcanon that she left them with that cougar friend of hers lol.

-So. THE DEAL. Okay. Oof. I love this storyline, a lot. A loooot. I love the conflict it creates between the brothers (as long as there’s still conflict and Sam hasn’t yet started taking everything lying down I can enjoy that part of their narrative lol). I love Dean’s initial forced giddiness about “making the most out of his last year” and I love the moment Dean decides he does want to try to live because it makes the last few episodes all the most desperate and cruel (and hey, I’ve heard he only went to hell because the season was cut short due to a writers’ strike... if that’s true that’s so funny lmao).

My absolutely favourite part however? That you can FEEL Dean’s unvoiced resentment towards Sam. For Dean having to die for him, even if Sam never asked him to. He lashes out to Sam repeatedly through the season, but it really came to ahead in the dreamspace episode, where Dean confronts another version of himself that talks about how Sam was “dotted on” (the revisionism asldfkaf). This show is absolutely ruthless when it comes to showing you its characters’ ugly, unfair reactions to things and it’s my favourite thing evah.

Speaking of the dreamspace episode, OMFG. I loved both brothers there. Dean’s hallucination, seeing himself as a demon? And how he let out his anger about John?? Beautiful, truly (regarding John, I also loved their different reactions when it looked like his spirit had contacted them: Dean jumping on it and Sam detached skepticism). But my favourite part has to be when Sam uses the villain’s abusive father against him. Like. Damn. That was cold-blooded o.0

The second-to-last episode, when Sam tracked down that Frankenstein doctor to try and make Dean immortal was ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING OMG. I loved that. I love that Sam wanted to use it for both them. It was some scary shit. I also love the scene where the crossroads demon questions whether Sam really wants to break the deal, I’m gathering it’s going to be nice foreshadowing later on in the show lol.

Anyway. I also found Dean’s death scene more impactful than Sam’s. Partially because of the horror of it, but mostly because I think at this type of scenes, Padalecki is better. Sam’s grief felt more real, Dean’s got me out of the scene (it’s the voice, I think. Sometimes Ackles’ voice takes me out of scenes, it sounds... forced).

I also really enjoyed how the time loop episode wrapped around this subplot. It managed to be both heartbreaking and mind-numbly hilarious lmfao. Like?? All the deaths?? Were so pathetic?? I tip my hat to Ackles because I don’t think most actors could carry plots like this half as well lmfao.

Sidenote, it’s always a trip to see The Trickster God knowing that fucker is Gabriel. Archangel “hey Mary do you accept God knocking you up” Gabriel. Which I guess isn’t exactly a thing in this show?? Since according to the wikia SPN Jesus was “just a man” (and let me tell you, I’m tickled pink by the fact that out of ALL mythological figures, specifically all CHRISTIAN mythological figures, the show decided to go “nah” on Jesus Christ. I mean, I guess he’d take away from Dean’s, Sam’s and Castiel’s resurrection narratives, but still. It’s so funny!!).

-Gordon Walker remains a superbly acted and fascinating character with extra racist nonsense alsdkfjasdf. But I can’t deny I loved seeing him as a vampire. He was terrifying. And I’m definitely shipping him with Kubrick, ouch xD

-The Ghostfacers episode is... something. As in, incredibly exploitative and homophobic and with an egregious case of BYG (and the first where I’d say it’s incontestable to claim the trope was used. s1 and s2 are muddy territory given the circumstances, IMO, but this one is 300% BYG), but so successfully manipulative my heart hurt for Corbett and Corbett x Ed still. Fuck them for that ngl. I do still enjoy how anti-Winchesters they all are though xD

-3x01 introduces the one nice marriage of hunters so far, between a black couple. The man dies in a gross, horrifying way within the episode ofc (because he was Mean to the the brothers duh). She makes it out alive, and since she doesn’t reappear in the show she gets to live. So for now black women have a sliiiiiightly better track record in SPN than track guys there: they get to appear in a few more episodes and be more fleshed out (Victor, Gordon), but as long as they’re only in one episode they get to live!! (Cassie, Tamara).

-Rufus and Bobby are exes, right? Right?? Probably still married in some state? You know that post about how when gay marriage was legalized across the USA there were a lot of issues because some couples had split and never bothered to divorce, since it was only legal in one place? That post was made for them. Pity Rufus is a black man, and as such has a limited number of allowed appearances before he’s killed off ¬¬

-I would’ve enjoyed Dean’s moments with Lisa and Ben more (it’s just so RIGHT that in this moment he’d want Ben to be his) if my knowledge of future spoilers didn’t perpetually have me in a state of “pls keep this guy away from kids” lol.

-They had Harmony’s actress (BTVS) and they made her a vampire!! The show’s hard on for the Buffyverse is a bit of a hit and miss but I can’t say I don’t relate xDD.

-I know Jensen Ackles can sing (in fact thanks to youtube I know a few of the actors can... is there a musical episode. Does this show have its own OMWF. I need to know). So why. WHY. Does he sound like that during “Dead or Alive”??? I actually like the scene but he sounds so off-key lmao.

-BTW, I found out that apparently Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan originally auditioned for each other’s roles añslkdfjasf. I can’t picture it. Ruby 1.0 is Ruby 1.0 and Bela is Bela xD. Although I’ve seen each playing roles that could meld with the other, just. Nope. Good choice on the casting there lol.

#talking to the void #my thoughts #spn thoughts #supernatural #spnruby #samruby #bela talbot #deanbela #deanruby #sam winchester #dean winchester #gordon walker #ruby 1.0 #spn gabriel #ghostfacers #alan corbett #bobby x rufus #spn s3 #the winchesters get to have a tag I GUESS

[winfredkipling]

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[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Today is a black day in church history - especially for Protestants and evangelicals - and provides an opportunity to remember those who have suffered and died for their faith at the hands of those opposed to the truth.

On 23-24 August, 1572 (and the days following) thousands - if not tens of thousands - of French Protestants (known as "Huguenots") were viciously slaughtered by mobs in Paris and the French countryside. The event, which has come to be known as the St. Bartholomew Day massacre, was incited by Catholic members of the French royal family and had the endorsement of leading members of the Catholic clergy in Paris. It remains one of the worst massacres in history and is certainly the largest scale and most barbaric persecution of Protestants by religiously-motivated adherents to Roman Catholicism.

Nearly a century later in England on 24 August, 1662, two thousand or more evangelical and other non-conformist ministers were booted out of the Church of England for refusing to fully comply with the dictates of the Act of Uniformity and running church services by the letter of the Book of Common Prayer. This meant many of them were either completely prohibited from carrying out gospel work and pastoral ministry, or at least severely restricted in what they could do. Many faced government and religious persecution for following their convictions and continuing to preach the gospel and teach the Bible in spite of the legal restrictions.    

I certainly don't commemorate this day to incite any hatred towards people who might today be adherents to the religious persuasions responsible for these events, but I do think it's worth remembering on this day that people and institutions who supposedly represented God and Christ have used their power and influence to do great damage to the cause of the gospel and to shed the blood of Christ's people and cruelly afflict those who love the truth.

Moreover, I think its worth remembering on this day how many through the ages have been prepared to lose privileges, possessions, reputation, freedoms, comforts, health, loved ones and even their own lives for the sake of Christ and the gospel. Whether the persecutors have been imperial Romans or ecclesiastical Romans; corrupt religious leaders with institutional power or angry, radicalized militia with arms; cannibals in unevangelised islands or Communists in industrialized societies - let us remember the fallen, the harassed, the maligned, the tortured and the banished.

Thomas Watson, whose quotes I've been sharing a lot as of late, suffered under the Great Ejection of 1662. As a way of commemorating those who've suffered for Christ through the ages, I thought I'd share some reflections of his on the final Beatitude:

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:10-12, ESV).

"Religion will cost us the tears of repentance and the blood of persecution."

"The saints have no charter of exemption from trials. Though they live ever so meek, merciful, pure in heart—their piety will not shield them from sufferings."

"Persecution is the touchstone of sincerity. It discovers true saints from hypocrites. Unsound hearts look good in prosperity—but in time of persecution fall away (Matthew 13:20, 21). Hypocrites cannot sail in stormy weather. They will follow Christ to Mount Olivet—but not to Mount Calvary." "God lets his children be in the furnace that they may be 'partakers of his holiness' (Hebrews 12:10). The cross is cleansing. It purges out pride, impatience, love of the world. God washes his people in bloody waters to get out their spots and make them look white."

"It is true the saints have their infirmities—but the wicked do not hate them for these—but for their holiness, and from this hatred arises open violence."

"The church's enemies are those 'of her own house'. Such as are open pretenders, but secret opposers of the faith, are ever worst. They are the vilest and basest of men, who hang forth Christ's colors—yet fight against him."

"No sooner is any man a minister—but he is part martyr." "It is the cause which makes a martyr. When we suffer for the truth and espouse the quarrel of true religion, this is to suffer for righteousness' sake."

"The primitive Christians burned more in love, than in fire." "It shows us what the nature of Christianity is, namely, sanctity joined with suffering. A true saint carries Christ in his heart—and the cross on his shoulders. 'All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution' (2 Timothy 3:12). Christ and his cross are never parted. It is too much for a Christian to have two heavens, one here and another hereafter. Christ's kingdom on earth is the kingdom of the cross."

"He who does not prize truth above life will never lay down his life for the truth. The blessed martyrs sealed the truth with their blood. There are two things God counts most dear to him, his glory and his truth."

"Alas! how far are they then from suffering that cannot deny themselves in the least things; who in their diet or apparel, instead of martyring the flesh, pamper the flesh! Instead of taking up the cross take up their cups! Is this self-denial, to let loose the reins to the flesh? It is sure that those who cannot deny themselves, if sufferings come, will deny Christ. Oh Christians, as ever you would be able to carry Christ's cross, begin to deny yourselves."

"There is a time shortly coming, that if you do not deny the world for Christ, the world will deny you. The world now denies satisfaction, and before long it will deny place. It will not allow you so much as to breathe in it. It will turn you out of possession; and, which is worse, not only the world will deny you—but Christ will deny you. 'Whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is heaven' (Matthew 10:33)."    

"The primitive Christians, though they were boiled, roasted, and dismembered—yet like the adamant they remained invincible. Such was their zeal and patience in suffering, that their persecutors stood amazed and were more weary in tormenting—than they were in enduring!"

"And as the saints' sufferings adorn the gospel, so they propagate it. Basil says that the zeal and constancy of the martyrs in the primitive times made some of the heathens to be Christianized. 'The Church is founded in blood and by blood it increases'."

"A Christian may lose his life—but not his reward. He may lose his head—but not his crown."

"While Christians are wading through the deep waters of persecution—they should fix the eyes of their faith on the land of promise. 'Great is your reward in heaven!' Those who bear the cross patiently—shall wear the crown triumphantly!"

"First martyrs for Christ—then kings for Christ."