#if i were religious i would absolutely say it is holy because this feels sacred | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rudjedet · 3 years

Note

Would love your knowledge (however brief this is rather silly specific) on birds in Egyptian mythos and religion, were certain birds types of omens? Did the portrayal of certain deities as birds have any effect on how they would have treated that species? I know sparrows were considered pests. This is such a specific question I just really like birds and have hyperfocused on the Bennu Bird for many years I thank you for your time

I love this question because birds are great and ancient Egyptian birds are even greater. Hoopoe? Yes, thank you, I’ll have five.

Birds in a tree, Tomb of Khnumhotep III, Beni Hasan

Ancient Egypt had a super rich avian fauna - as anyone who ever cast a look at the extended library of bird signs in hieroglyphs can attest. We know of at least seventy species of birds from tomb paintings and other images, and even more thanks to osteological remains. The Nile valley and especially the swampy areas of the Delta were an absolute paradise for many birds. So with such an overabundance of avian species, it makes a lot of sense for the Egyptian pantheon to have as many birds as it does, and for them to be of importance in the mythology. Though with that having been said, the first and foremost role birds had was as food. Fowlers and bird catchers aplenty, many people in all social classes kept geese for eggs, and the elite loved hunting ducks for sport.

Nebamun hunting in the marshes, Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes

Now ancient Egyptians for most of their history didn’t really work with omens, so birds weren’t really considered omens of good or bad luck (exceptions apply once the Romans enter the scene). Sparrows were, as you say, considered pests and in that sense connected to the god Seth, but I don’t believe we have any evidence of an ancient Egyptian going “oh shit a lot of sparrows, get out the priests to stave off whatever evil they’re boding”. They probably just went, “look at those little agents of chaos, ugh”, and called their neighbour a sparrow-head when they were being a dick.

As for how their connection to the religion reflected on their treatment, I’ve copied a part from the entry on birds in Redford’s Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt:

Many birds played a role in Egyptian religious beliefs and practices. Several raptorial (predatory) species, however, were prominent. The most notable and frequently illustrated, especially as a hieroglyph, was the distinctive falcon belonging to Horus, the powerful god of the sky, who was closely connected with kingship; if the ancient Egyptians had a national bird, this would have been it. The Horus falcon, though, was regularly used as the emblem for other deities, such as Montu and Re-Horakhty; it was principally modeled after the Lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus) and the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the huge lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotus) were abundantly figured too and were linked to the Upper Egyptian goddess Nekhbet, who protected the king. The two sister goddesses, Isis and Nephthys, had associations with both the kestrel (Falco naumanni and Falco tinnunculus) and the black kite (Milvus migrans), in their capacity as divine mourners for the dead. The barn owl (Tyto alba) appeared as a standard hieroglyphic sign, but only rarely appeared in art and seems to have played a minor part in religion. Precisely the same holds true for the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Among waterside birds, there was also the special relationship between the sacred ibis and the god Thoth, lord of the moon and patron of the art of writing. The god Amun, chief deity of the city of Thebes, chose as one of his manifestations the Egyptian goose. The gray heron, or bnw-bird, symbolised the god Atum when he emerged from the waters of chaos and first revealed himself on the primeval eart. As a solar creature, the Benu-bird was identified with Re, the sun god, at the rising sun, and with Osiris, god of the West, at sunset. Sacred pelicans were maintained by priests in the Solar Temple of Any at Abu Ghurob, having mythological associations with the sun cult. During the late dynastic and Ptolemaic periods, the ancient Egyptians bred and mummified millions of birds, primarily the sacred ibis and certain smaller falcons, which were then used as votice offerings at religious centers, especially at the sites of Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel, in what was a phenomenon unique to that age: the birds were eventually interred in vast cemetaries situated near the temples. It was believed that such prepared animals were capable of transmitting the prayers of the pious peilgrims who purchased them and who wished to petition the gods.

Birds were treated roughly similar to any other animal in ancient Egyptian that was connected to the cult of a specific deity. That is to say, they had symbolic values attached to them when it came to religion, and certain individual animals could be considered a manifestation of that god on earth, but in the real world the species as a whole would not have been treated like “holy” animals the same way other cultures do/have done. At least throughout most of Pharaonic Egypt - it gets a little iffy when the Greco-Roman Period comes around, because then we have a cultural shift from “Egypt” to “actually Greece, but like, Egypt-flavoured”.

I hope that more or less answers your question (if not feel free to specify further!) and thank you so much for being so patient about it!

#Egyptology #birds #ancient egypt #queenburd

157 notes · View notes

enbies-and-felonies · 3 years

Text

Only Then I am Human / Only Then I am Clean

(AO3 link)

@jatp-rules-my-life, this is your fault (based on this post)

Summary: Alex listens to 'Take Me to Church' by Hozier and maybe it affects him in a way he wasn't prepared for, maybe it just let's him heal a little bit.

warnings for homophobia and religious themes

taglist, just ask to be added or removed (i know it's not my normal work but,, yeah): @barrel-of-cat-mituna @completekeefitztrash @tiergan-andrin-alenefar @lemontarto @hershis-kotlc @genesiscaveat @everything-else-and-mars @juline-dizznee @chaotic-basics @an-absolute-travesty @classyfunnyquotesmuffin7 @smolanxiouscatvoids @itstiger720 @introvertedscarecrow @sunset-telepath @an-idiot-in-a-trenchcoat @cowboypossume @anaccidentwaitingtohappen @sofia-not-sophie @fire-sapphics @dr-alan-grant @real-smooth @juline-dizznee

The first time Alex heard 'Take Me to Church' he was on the verge of dozing off, which was an interesting feeling as a ghost, like he was a boat tethered to a dock and he might drift away if he fell asleep for too long. The evening sun was casting lazy beams through the windows of Julie's garage, and he smiled as the warmth hit his face, causing his eyelids to droop lower. At least as a ghost, he could still enjoy some of the simpler things in life.

An old radio crackled on the little table nearby, playing songs Alex had never heard before. He enjoyed a few of them, but others he rolled his eyes at. Idly, he wondered if Reggie and Luke were having fun with Julie; She had taken them on a trip to see some sights, but Alex had opted to stay home, feeling listless, and decided to catch up on whatever new tunes had came out since he was alive.

He bopped his head slightly to 'Bad Liar' and hummed a bit to 'Counting Stars'. He had missed out on a lot of good songs. Yawning, he stretched and settled deeper into the couch, giving a contented sigh as the next song started playing, a strong piano coming in and setting the tone.

Alex liked the man's voice, and he raised an eyebrow at the lyrics.

"-She's the giggle at a funeral / Knows everybody's disapproval / I should've worshipped her sooner."

He sat up and cocked his head by a margin, feeling a tiny, guilty thrill at the way his lips quirked at the lyrics. There was a forbidden excitement that came from it's gentle blasphemy.

"Every Sunday's gettin' more bleak / A fresh poison each week."

His heart twinged. A choir, a pulpit, fire-and-brimstone preaching, he was just a kid-

"We were born sick / You heard them say it."

He sucked in a breath and his eyes flew open, throat tightening like a noose, trapping his breath like a fluttering bird in his lungs.

~~~

"This Sunday we will be touching upon the topic of a Biblical marriage!" The preacher's voice booms across the congregation, and fourteen year-old Alex's stomach sinks as he tries to slouch further down in the pew, as if he could just slip low enough that the words won't catch in his heart and weigh him down like so many stones. He briefly thinks about the millstone the preacher once mentioned. He tried to remember the context, but the only thing he comes up with is that it was for people who sinned. He gulped.

"Now, 'what exactly is Biblical marriage?' you might be asking yourself! Biblical marriage is a holy union between one man, and one woman-"

Pastor James' voice carries on, and Alex does his best to let the words pass through his ears without hearing them, the rocks weighing him down turning to boulders. His stomach turns.

"-now, the men gotta love their wives!! Just like Christ loves the church, and cares for her. Marriage is a wonderful blessing, the greatest blessing we could ever experience in fact! It is perhaps the second greatest gift God has given to humans, and as such we must respect it.

"There are many ways you can disrespect the holy marriage bed. Divorce of course is one of them. In fact, in Matthew chapter nineteen, verses one through eight-"

Alex tries to tune him out harder, knowing what's eventually coming and yet still hoping to avoid it. He counts the number of stained-glass windows -twelve without turning to either side, thirty-six if he rotates all the way- and taps his fingers on his leg to the cadence of Pastor James' words.

One, two, three, four. One and two, and three, and four-

He makes increasingly faster and more intricate beats, imagining drumsticks in his hands, base-drum pedal beneath his foot.

One and two-o-o, and four and, one and two and three-e, four-

His fingers are pattering rapidly, and he forces himself to swallow, trying to remember not to bounce his leg, trying not to distract his mom and dad, trying not to dwell on the words he can't avoid, trying not to scratch at his wrist, trying-

He can't breathe. He's trying to calm himself down but his fingers aren't a drumset and he can't play away the sin that coats his soul and he's just a kid but he can't breathe, he can't-

"And that leaves us with those who have disrespected the sacred act of marriage by letting themselves be lost in sexual perversion. I am, of course, referring to those disgusting individuals who have chosen to live the transsexual and homosexual lifestyles. People like these were born sick."

Alex's hands quit their anxious movement. He's completely still. He was born sick.

He was born sick.

~~~

"The only heaving I'll be sent to / Is when I'm alone with you."

And he started breathing again.

"I was born sick, but I love it / Command me to be well / A-a-a-amen amen amen"

Air was rushing back into his lungs and maybe it was the way reliving that memory gave him closure, but it felt like the song was purging the preacher's burning words from where they'd branded his heart with wounds he never thought would scar-over.

Alex felt his eyes close again, letting the lyrics and the lilt of the man's voice wash over him in a cleansing baptism. His fingers began pattering against his lap, joining in with the beat, weaving him together with the music, becoming one with it.

"We've a lot of starving faithful."

He thought of himself when he was younger, sitting in church week after week begging God to fix him. He thought about the girl who bowed her head at the foot of the altar the Sunday after a lesbian couple was attacked, he thought of the way her fingers linked together like someone else's hand used to hold them, and he thought of the way she cried: silent, tears streaming down like shooting stars, her lips whispering unspoken prayers.

This song was for him, he realized. It was for him, and every moment he cried himself to sleep under his parents roof, thinking he was dirty, thinking he didn't have God's love, didn't have God's forgiveness.

It was for every time a prayer caught in his throat like a trapped butterfly, the prayers he could never bring himself to say because he was 'unworthy'.

"I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife / Offer me that deathless death / Oh good God, let me give you my life"

The lyrics seeped under his skin, replacing the lies that he had believed over the years. The lies about himself, about his faith, about his gayness-

Washed away like a world-destroying flood.

Because this song? This song was for every cold-shoulder from his parents instead of a warm hug, and it was for every time he had to watch him mom recoil from his touch, every time his father didn't quite meet his eye.

"There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin."

The first tear slipped past his eyelashes, and he heaved a shuddering sigh.

"Only then I am human / Only then I am clean."

He cried, but there was a smile on his face.

~~~

When Julie and the boys got back, the radio was long silent, but Alex still sat on the couch, tear-tracks on his cheeks and a relieved smile on his face.

He had sat there a long time, reliving moments in his life, and then letting them go, letting them be washed away. He was quiet when he was surrounded by the rest of Sunset Curve, letting himself be held by them; Julie comfortingly running her fingers through his hair, Reggie linking their fingers together and side-hugging him, and Luke tugging him halfway onto his lap. They were his family, and they loved him.

"You okay, Lex?"

Alex took a deep, slow breath, letting himself take in each of their faces, and he gave a small smile.

"Yeah, I really am."

76 notes · View notes

qedavathegrey · 4 years

Text

Okay, so I’m somewhat annoyed with the interpretations I’m seeing of Midsommar where the Hårga are just written off as a white supremacist death cult. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they’re not, at least in part, but I think those that see them only as “villains” is missing an alternative narrative of Western exploitation of indigenous groups and religious minorities.

Yes, they’re white; yes, they employ runes and symbols frequently co-opted by white nationalists; and yes, that specific interpretation is even somewhat confirmed by Ari Aster himself, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only interpretation and thus where all consideration should end.

Let’s talk about the group Pelle invites: anthropology students. As an anthropologist, I can speak for days on the fields’s dubious origins and only slightly less dubious recent past leading up to its present form. But these aren’t just anthropology students, they’re anthropology students who very clearly have a tenuous grasp on anthropological ethics and are more concerned with exploiting the Hårga for personal, academic (or sexual) gain than they are with actually engaging with the group and employing any measure of cultural relativism. To these students, the Hårga are a resource to be exploited. Each of them came — with the exception of Dani — not out of genuine curiosity for or with an interest in what value the Hårga’s culture innately possesses, but as a means to an end, whatever that invididual end might be.

And each of them — again, with the exception of Dani — pays the price for their selfishness in ways befitting their specific transgressions: Josh is bludgeoned in the head (for literally stealing images of their most holy book despite being told explicitly that this would be a huge taboo); Simon and Connie for their very loud and dramatic criticism of a ritual that they view as ‘barbaric’ (very ethnocentric, I might add); and then Mr. I-Have-No-Control-Over-My-Dick (read: Mark) who just came to bed their women and desecrate their ancestors by urinating on a sacred site. And, finally, Christian (aptly named), King of Misognyny. In other words, the Four Horsemen of Colonialism ride in and I’m supposed to feel sorry for them? No. Absolutely not.

Especially interesting, I think, is that Aster assigns to the Hårga all things that modern, Western cultures associate (if almost always from a place of ignorance and ethnocentrism) with indigenous groups now and in the past: valuing magic and ritual over ~sCiEnCe!~, sacrifices, use of entheogens, community>individual (to the point that they all share collective responses to stimuli), negotiating modernity or “choosing the old ways,” cannibalism, “barbarism,” etc. I think a good comparison to make is with the Green Inferno, which is just flat out racist. I honestly have no idea who thought that was okay, but that’s a story for a different day. However, if you take the same elements assigned to the “those evil, backwards brown people!” and place them, necessarily, on an all-white group, then you’ve avoided the stigma while also being able to pose some interesting scenarios. In other words, consider if Aster had set the film not in Sweden, but rural Africa, the Amazon (looking at you, Green Inferno), and imagine if instead of being white, the Hårga (or whatever they might be called) were black or brown. He would have been — rightfully — eviscerated. So yes, the all-white Hårga kill all of their black or brown “guests,” which isn’t especially exciting or nuanced unless you recognize it as a sort of role reversal where the people of color are engaging in their own versions of neo-colonialism. Could it have been handled better? Undoubtedly, but I find it is still somewhat effective if considered in a different light that isn’t just: surprise, surprise, a “horror” movie kills another black/brown person first while the blond actually “wins” this time. Which yes, we’re all tired of. Do better.

But I think that’s actually part of Aster’s genius here, because he’s pitted the forces of colonialism against their own fears: he makes real all the hateful, ignorant stereotypes the colonizers malign their victims with and pits them against the monsters of their own misunderstanding. He makes their nightmares into a reality and that is fun to watch. And I would argue that his borrowing from pre-Christian Europe is a nice, added bit of flesh. It’s not something we think about frequently, but the history of colonization does not begin with Europe and the rest of the world. They, too, were colonized; they, too, had their ways and practices stolen from them by outside influences and were forced to adopt practices that they would undoubtedly interpret as backwards and made to suffer. Which you’d think would have prevented them from doing the same to others, but that’s another topic entirely.

All that being said, does the narrative actually forward our thinking or just reinforce the age-old danger of the Other? In this case, the Other is something rightly feared on both sides: the Hårga are faced with exploitation and find themselves in danger of being exposed (if of their own invitation), while the anthropology students (and others) face the horrors of stereotypes made real. Does Aster offer a take any different than Green Inferno? Maybe not, but he does so with at least more tact, consideration and nuance. He revives old tropes in horror, but does so in a way that dances around condemnation. It’s impressive in how decidedly not-fresh it is, while also seeming distinct, different.

Anyway, that’s the very loose overview of my take, not considering the role Dani plays and without looking deeper into Aster’s borrowings from pagan European mythologies and how they play into the ultimate scheme of the film. Do with it what you will.

60 notes · View notes

grimoire-of-geekery · 3 years

Text

Embrace the Mythic: an Enchantment for 2021

“YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?” ― Death, from Terry Pratchett's “Hogfather” (image is the winterized Mildred Payne’s Masquerade spread I designed a couple years ago)

I was listening to a conversation between some witches a few days ago, wherein they were arguing about whether or not gods were real. Their debate was getting very heated, so I had to ask them, “have any of you ever interacted with a deity?”

Two of the debaters said no, and then a third said “that’s not the point.” I asked her what her idea of the point was, and she said “just because one has an experience doesn’t mean what one is experiencing is objectively real.” She went on to talk to me about how they were debating the objective reality of gods, not the subjective reality, and... well, I suddenly remembered this scene from the Hogfather where the wizards were talking about belief and gods and other things, and that very discussion suddenly made little deities appear.

I felt like that was a silly fight for witches to have. Are there benevolent forces which rule over creation? Entities with intelligence and agenda who guide our fates and make the world what it is?

That’s not a question I think any of us can answer in a way that others can make use of. I can tell people over and over, I’ve interacted with deities, I’ve talked to them and seen their handiwork in this world. Until they experience that, it’s completely unhelpful for them to hear such from me. Consider: if gods do exist, and this one guy gets to interact with them all the time, but this other guy has never heard nor seen nor felt any sign of gods, what makes the first guy so special, or the second guy so unworthy?

Plenty of fights have been born out of this particular question, and no small few wars.

I think this is why so much of the Craft is hidden behind the whole “To Be Silent” edict. What I experience is valid, but it’s for me, not for anyone else. My responsibility as I see it isn’t to tell people about it. My responsibility, answerable to nothing less and nothing more than my self and my heart, is to become it. I think that’s the role of the witch, to become the gateway through which dreams enter this world and become flesh.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who called themselves a witch who thought of it as just a name for a hobby or career, like “engineer” or “painter” or “cyclist.” Most people I meet who call themselves by those labels tend to invest in them a lot too, I suppose.

My point is, taking up a label means making it a part of one’s identity, and I think everyone knows on some level that it’s a big step, an important one.

Calling oneself a witch is unique, but in nuance mostly. An engineer is no less special than a chemist, a mapmaker, a singer, a chef. In Abrahamic myth, that knowledge and skill was taught by angels to mankind. In Ireland, most of the myths about gods and heroes define those figures through their skills and professions.

“Witch” is another profession, and I think it’s supposed to be a sacred one, a hallowed one. I think all professions and skillsets should be venerated, no matter what they are. It’s my feeling that the thing many of us search for our whole lives is how to embrace the sanctity of our own nature, and the path we’ve chosen.

Sanctity isn’t just about goodness, it’s about purity, commitment to one’s core nature and one’s virtue. That’s a big thing in witchcraft- accessing and working with virtue. In fact, I would say it’s central to our purpose.

The thing is, witches don’t always have gods or tutelary spirits. “Yeah, secular witchcraft!” I hear people say.

No, actually, after a long time thinking about it, I don’t think so. It’s not that I think one needs to be religious to be a witch, and obey or follow or worship or even engage with gods (although frankly, that’s not my personal practice, and I dunno how some witches manage to avoid them). Nor is it that I think secular witchcraft doesn’t work.

It’s that so far as I can tell, the sacred and mythic center witches need to find, and honor, is ourselves and those like us. In my experience, the Craft is about connection, intimacy, bringing forth that which lies across the barrier and communing with it. By its nature, it’s about making significant the bonds between things, and interacting with them.

Regardless of how one views one’s witchcraft though, we wouldn’t fight so hard to defend our views if we didn’t consider them sacred, at least to us. Maybe we consider our beliefs and our disbelief sacred, maybe we consider our ideas sacred, maybe we just consider the work sacred. Whatever it is, we have a special place for it in our hearts, and I think that’s right and necessary.

This year, I am going to focus on embracing the mythic. I’m going to focus on embodying the Mysteries I work with, embracing the very sacred and larger-than-life nature of what I am and call myself. I’m going to take everything seriously, and elevate the joy of things without profaning them. No mockery, no snark, no snideness. I’m aiming for the mythic. I’ll leave the puerile and the salty behind me, and just focus on the sacred and deep.

To all of you who wanted more from your holidays, your spiritual practice, your magic, your gods, yourself this year- I offer this. If you promise me that you’ll look in a mirror and remind yourself daily to embrace the mythic and the sacred, I’ll work magic with you to bring goodness into your life, to banish the profane and bring about the sacred. If you make yourself a door, I’ll send you gifts through it.

Celebrate holidays, either traditional ones or ones you invent yourselves, but do it in earnest.

Talk to your gods if you have them, yell at them even if necessary, but do so with the absolute certainty that you’re someone they have to answer.

Cast your spells, and decide to proceed as if nothing profane or unaligned can affect or influence them.

Sanctify your self-care with a dedication, and treat it as an unassailable spell of protection and healing which is all the more potent because you invented it.

Make stuff, and don’t be concerned with whether or not it’s “good enough.” It’s good enough, because you made it, it’s basically a holy artifact!

2020 was an ordeal, a crucible, and we’ve survived. That’s the stuff of legend, y’all. Let’s all tell the myth of ourselves, and those who have departed, and those who still stand with us. We’ve got this, all of us, and whatever happens from here on out, it’s part of the Myth of Us.

May we all have a happy New Year, and may the stories and legends around us begin to unfold in wonder and joy. So Mote It Be.

14 notes · View notes

noonymoon · 3 years

Text

JUSTICE FOR JESUS — Misconceptions & Prejudices about the Faith in the Biblical Jesus Christ.

PART TWO: But why are Judaism and Christianity extremely different from one another, if they worship the same God?

The short answer is: Satan has infiltrated Christianity around 300 A.D. and turned it into something ENTIRELY else than God said, and Judaism developed to be an extremely religious system with 48942084 rules on top of the rules that YHWH originally established for Israel - like the food laws (which according to modern Science are for a very good reason and me personally, I try to eat as „kosher“ as I can as well because I know God doesn‘t say ANYTHING just to show His dominance, He ALWAYS has 100% good reason to say things and usually all these things are in OUR best interest). Also, at some point Judaism had all the oral traditions of the Rabbis, and the Kabbalah, which is 100% mysticism and magic, when God makes abundantly clear from the VERY beginning that He HATES sorcery, witchcraft, divination, all kinds of occult secrets and arts; and He has all reason to do that. Which you will probably only understand if you watch this video series

I‘m going to adress „Christian Witches“ and „Christian Mystics“ for a second directly and I pray you would listen and REPENT because God makes it abundantly clear that you can not serve two Masters, there‘s no way you can be God‘s child and dabble in occult practices. The Bible says very clearly that everyone gets judged according to their knowledge. So, knowing the Truth about God and Jesus, you still decided to turn your back on Him and mock Him and His Truth („Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.“ — Galatians 6:7) - I really don‘t want to be in your shoes when Judgment Day comes. I understand that you have been hurt by the institutional church, that you needed „more“ than „this“ and that you thought Occultism would make you more „spiritual“ and more „fulfilled“; thousands of Christians have been hurt by the church and dabble in the New Age. But there‘s NO WAY that God will forgive you for being a CHRISTIAN WITCH. It‘s. Not. Possible.

The longer answer is: From the moment Jesus was crucified and was raised to life again by his Father, the Devil knew that he has literally NO POWER anymore. Satan has held humanity in chains since practically the beginning of time, because he had the keys to Sheol since Adam and Eve fell into a linear existence in Eden and would ultimately die, and every single descendant of them (to be more specific it is the Father who bequeathes the spiritual nature of a human, that‘s the whole point of Jesus having a human virgin mother and God Himself as His Father) would be under the curse of death, and when people are afraid to die someday, well, they do all kinds of ridiculous things. The only way Satan can accomplish his goals (of ruining every single person on the planet) is to discredit, confuse and alter the work that Jesus finished on Golgotha. So basically, He can‘t change that it‘s all done, but he can change the way we perceive Jesus; he can change the way we collectively think, behave, feel, act - to take us away from God and His Truth as far as possible; he can change the way how humans „interpret“ God and Jesus and what has been done for us, he can basically distort EVERYTHING, except the fact that it is DONE. He KNOWS there‘s not much time left for Him - because Satan is a diligent student of Bible prophecy and uses literally EVERY flawed translation, every piece that could slightly be misunderstood and develops WHOLE doctrines and denominations and cults of them; in some few cases he even managed to alter the text of the Bible entirely to create a doctrine, today the CORE doctrine of Christianity - without it, you can‘t be a pastor or preacher without getting extreme backlash and will be considered a Heretic or cult leader, and that „you would lead people astray“, and this doctrine will steal your salvation and 90% of all Christians don‘t even notice it, it‘s just so sad. And when you speak up against this doctrine, the Holy Christians suddenly become nasty and call you a Heretic, like? Yes, of course that is God‘s Holy Spirit dwelling within you, and not that counterfeit one from Satan (because Satan can disguise as an angel of Light if he needs to, he once WAS the most beautiful and glorious Angel in Heaven, but his pride and arrogance ruined his heart. So basically, YES, Lucifer‘s/Satan‘s powers are VERY real and VERY powerful, but he will NEVER be as amazing as Jesus, and he most certainly will NEVER be as amazing as God, who created him!)

Basically, when Satan knew that the brilliant plan of Salvation was accomplished when Jesus was raised alive again after His crucifixion, he tried his first attack: relentless persecution of the Apostolic Church from 31 A.D. until ~320 A.D. through both the Jews and the Romans. But Christianity EXPLODED to that time, because the Gospel was pure, the Apostles and Disciples were extremely effective and the body of believers was just amazing. Then, Satan noticed that the message of Salvation in Jesus spread so hard that there was no point in persecuting every single Christian, so his new strategy was to infiltrate it and morph it from within.

“From the first moment of his accession declaring himself the protector of the church...the first emperor who publicly professed and established the Christian religion...rendered Christianity the reigning religion of the Roman empire” The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, Vol 2 Chap 16, pg 138.

This was no other than the Roman Emperor Constantine who professed to be converted to Christianity in 323 A.D. himself, but his belief at best was a blend of paganism and Christianity for political purposes, to keep unity in his empire. This change of events was the reason why pagan and occult practices, traditions and beliefs from Ancient Babylon could infiltrate the true Gospel of Salvation, and sadly it‘s been like that EVER SINCE.

So basically, there‘s no reason at all why Christianity and Judaism should be THIS much of a difference. The faith should be the exact same with the only (major) difference, that one group accepts Jesus, the Son of God, and gains everlasting Life and the other group refuses to accept Jesus, and will not. But both groups have developed into something that God absolutely never wished for. Christians always feel like they are so high and mighty and yet they have NO IDEA that they will not make it to Heaven themselves, because they ALL teach, believe and practice doctrines and traditions (of men) that have NOTHING to do with the God of Israel and mock Him without even knowing it. God says in the Bible that people who diligently SEEK Him and who don‘t fall for man-made doctrines and traditions, THOSE people who overcome the world and overcome THINGS OF THIS WORLD with the magnificent power of Christ, will have Everlasting Life.

Satan raised up his own „Christian“ church through pagan Rome and when he made it big and strong enough, he went back to his first strategy: relentless persecution and execution of true Bible-believing Christians, which we all know as the years of Papal Supremacy or „the Dark Ages“ from 538 A.D. to 1798. And why was it dark? Because there was no spiritual light in the world: The Papacy has managed to destroy all of the ~500 different language translations of the Bible in that time, the common people had no access to the Word of God and the only language the Bible was available in was Latin, and most people could not read Latin. This was a truly dark time for humanity and believers in God. And then, thank God, the protestant Reformation started, the Bible got translated for the common people again, preachers stood up for the Truth of God‘s word, risked their own lives for spreading the true Gospel, got rid of a lot of the terrible blasphemy in those days, millions of true Bible-believing Christians got burned alive as Heretics and Witches, only because they wouldn‘t bow down to the Papal Church.

Sadly, they as well, adopted an essential doctrine from the Roman Catholic Church and so now today, only people who are not indoctrinated by Religion and discover God, Jesus and the Bible for themselves, without Church, Pastors and Creeds, have the Truth of God. I remember at the beginning of my walk with Jesus, I‘ve thought I need to find a church congregation and attend church every Sunday and so I‘ve tried it once. My local Church is a VERY beautiful church on the inside and I was moved to tears just being there, but as soon as I listened to the sermon, felt the atmosphere and saw the other people in there, i just KNEW in my spirit that God is not present at ALL. It was very disappointing and so I never went to church again. Ever since then, I‘ve learned A TON and know exactly why I had felt this way. God truly is not in the institutional Church - how could He, when all churches belong to Satan?

Up until this day the Papacy, who claims to be the Mother of ALL churches, even the protestant and evangelical ones, says things like: „Let Judaizers be anathema!“ which means that people who practice Jewish traditions rather than Catholic traditions should be accursed (!) as if the Jesus that walked the Earth 2000 years ago was a Roman European and NOT A JEW, like..????. It‘s just bewildering what Satan has accomplished to make people stray away from God and His Son.

In case you ever wondered why „Christian“ Holidays, rituals and beliefs are so similar to the ones of Pagans, why monumental church buildings have been planted on ancient sacred pagan sites, why Christianity seems like a „high and holy“ version of Paganism - it was NOT God, it was NOT Jesus, it was NOT even the Bible, simply said: it was the Roman Catholic Church (Satan) and no one else. 98% of all things that Catholicism believes, teaches AND REQUIRES is absolute blasphemy when you take God‘s Word as the highest authority (which the Scriptures says we SHOULD do, lest we be deceived, nothing will ever contradict the Bible that is true and of God) yet Catholicism is the largest, most influental and most powerful Church; how? Because the Papacy developed something that is called „Papal Infallibility“ which enables them to literally be the scum of the Earth (if you think that I am being rude, please read the following picture carefully) without facing any repercussions!

Maybe it becomes more clear now why Christianity is utterly misunderstood, hated and judged. It was not Jesus Christ, it was „MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.“ — Revelation 17:5 .... and Christians today get confronted with, for example, the Crusades and how Christianity is the worst Religion in the world and they don’t even know how to answer because they never cared to investigate their own Faith! Every evil deed that has ever happened within “Christianity” was, in fact, the Roman Catholic Papal Church who belongs to Satan himself.

According to an Ex-Jesuit (special order of Roman Catholic Priests) whose whistleblowing testimony I‘ve posted a few posts back, the Opus Deii (who disguise themselves as „Christian Democracy“ like my country pretends to be) is an arm of the Jesuit Infiltration that is responsible for the Illuminati, the Masons, the New Age Movement, the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome, and many more; and all of them serve just one purpose: The total control and world domination of the Roman Catholic Church (Satan).

If you love Jesus and are a Catholic brother, PLEASE LEAVE IT BEHIND.

Thank God that He not only gave us our world, our existence, and his Son Jesus, but also the Bible, which tells us EXACTLY what is going to happen and who the Enemy is, when we make the effort to study, and keep Jesus close to our hearts.

It grieves my heart that God and Jesus are so misunderstood because of Satan‘s works and that millions, the majority of all humans that ever lived and all humans that live right now, in these last days of humanity, are all deceived and will perish. And to any other generation in the past I would have said „well.. at least you had an entire human life experience, if it made you happy, then so be it“, but this generation right now, is the one that will regret their decision the most because every person under 60 will not even be close to having an entire human life experience, nor will it be happy. The worst thing is that which is going to manifest until ~2025 will not even be worth considered as a whole „human life experience“. If you think that Covid-1984 was a tough year, buckle up, because from now on it‘s going to get worse and worse.

I know I say this a lot but today I cried on my way back from the supermarket because it‘s just so devastating to see Prophecy unfolding right in front of my eyes and everyone is VAST ASLEEP. People STILL wonder why it was possible that Hitler (who, by the way, was a Catholic, not a true Christian like he claimed, no wonder he was deeply wrapped up in the Occult) rose to power, how it was possible that we Germans didn‘t notice and didn‘t do anything to stop him from the evil things he did, why we gave him power and authority ... One word: Propaganda. Germans back then were absolutely brainwashed, just like today, WE are being brainwashed globally. And I can PROMISE you 100% that you WON‘T like where our world is heading and everyone will cry „but how could this happen?“ just like they cried about Hitler.

I pray that God‘s chosen people wake up in time, that these posts can help someone to find Christ, see through the deceptions of this world and be set free from Satan‘s bondage. Life is so much more than what we think it is, and honestly, if you‘re like me; always craved for deeper connections, more support and more honest affection in your social circles but never received it, always felt like an alien to everyone else, never had anyone to talk to about meaningful things because everyone was just shallow, then please just maybe consider Jesus as your best friend, because HE LOVES YOU and you will never ever be lonely ever again and you will always, always feel loved and „at home“. Jesus is literally the BEST thing that has ever happened to me, and I truly tried to be happy in this world. You have NO IDEA what I‘ve experienced in my 30 years, I‘ve literally experienced ALL OF IT, and nothing has ever given me peace and love and sanity. Only Jesus. I will never exchange that ever again for nothing! And I wish this experience to literally everyone because it‘s the most beautiful thing ever.

TESTIMONIES

How I Know God is REAL... my encounter with Jesus

Atheist To Believer In Jesus Christ: How Jesus Cured My Eating Disorder

Ex-Muslim Conversion Story

Homosexuality Was My Identity

My Testimony for Jesus 2020- WEED, ALCOHOL, PORN, LUST, TOBACCO, PRETTY MUCH IT ALL! SET FREE!

#Jesus Christ #christian witch #jesus loves you #God is Good #spirituality #catholic #paganism

11 notes · View notes

annqbthchse · 3 years

Note

🍓

Why hello there aggiexteddy! how are ya? doin good? ahhh thats great to hear sir, shall we start? yes ok first of all everytime i see your pfp i am reminded to watch she-ra because you know what? you're right she is very hot and nowadays thats reason enough for me to watch something, i even added it to my netflix list and thats very sacred territory nowadays,,, that pinned post of that edt you made of them dancing.. the gay that it radiates 😳... yea i need to watch it

THAT TAGTHA EDIT YOU MADE HOLY SHIT THE VIBES>>>>>> that song you used? yea i added that to my sleep playlist, then my downloaded songs playlist, then my favourites playlist and now i listen to it religiously and i love it and its all thanks to you so thank you for giving me gift of great music (best gift ever i swear) and the edit itself IS ADORABLE AND CUTE AND ARGHRJGBG THE COLOURS AND THE CLIPS YOU USED OFTHE GIRL IN THE TRAIN STATION I LOVE IT SM! DEF ONE OF THE BEST TAGATHA EDITS IVE EVER SEEN,, seriously you don't know how much i want to live in that video

don't think I haven't forgotten about how you iconically added onto @essaofcamelot post about never!agatha and ever!tedros. i still think about how much that pains me the angst and the way i want that i can confidently say... a cultural reset. i think i reevaluated my entire life at that point becuase of how personally that affected me andthe deals with the devils prologue?? WTF MAN i can't wait for it!! i love me some enemies to lovers tagatha especially if its going to be anything like that. know that whenever your ready to post it I WILL BE THERE AND WILL READ THAT SHIT WITH ALL MY HEART your incorrect quotes BEST HJSDHG although i love the lad i have to admit your incorrect quotes about tedros and his trauma & himboness are so fucking funny they’re my fav kind of incorrect quotes and yyou do them s o. w e l l . also you don't know how much your red school review made me laugh! on such a day i wish didn't exist it was a shining light amidst the darkness that was the traumatising no one denies me... it was great and i would go through the horror that was red school again just to read your review for the first time again. BASICALLY YOURE SO TALENTED AND FUNNY; a rare combination i might add

that ask you sent me a wee while ago actually, quite literally made my heart sOAR. THAT IS the NICEST things anyones ever said to me and someone once said i was mysterious in primary school. I cannot believe that someone like YOU would think ANYTHING like that about me holy shit. but thats also like the kind of vibes you give off tho??? absolute sweetheart but also bad bitch which is a very impeccable combination that you pull off VERY WELL MA'AM. i feel like you would give great hugs but also ready to cut a bitch, if i ever had to nominate someone to defend me in a fight, you're the first person i would call in this hellhole. also tedros stan??? we stan taste here in this 2am wendys 😌thats also another reason why i have to stan! your tags are always so nice!! SO suportive of everyone and you know what??? we love to see that energy and it just furthermore proves that you're a great ass human and whenever you show up in my notifs... i cant wait to see what you tag with because you're sO HECKING NICE WTF MAN

anyways you're so talented, and i love the vibes you give off and i now want to watch shera :D

have a great day (or night shbsjg i remembered different time zones were a thing)

#aggiexteddy #strawberry asks

4 notes · View notes

averydistinctivestyle · 4 years

Text

So, I've been thinking about the peace talks.

Specifically my thought is this: if the Mighty Nein don't convince someone in the Assembly that handing over the Dynasty's missing Beacon is in their best interests, in three and a half weeks the war is going to reignite in a very bad way. Bear with me for a second here.

The Dynasty claims ownership over all Beacons, that's true, just like many state-sponsored institutions have claimed things that rightfully have no owner, if they even existed (holy relics, the idea that the "Holy Land" of Israel belonged to Christendom, not the Islamic rulers of that age, that sparked off several religious wars). If the Dynasty learns that the Empire has a new Beacon, they will no doubt want to claim both it and the stolen Beacon as their rightful property as followers of the Luxon. This is true whether they discover the Beacon's existence at the peace talks or later, and there's nothing the Nein can do to change that.

However, the rules of negotiation, in war, require good faith on the part of both sides. This is why, once negotiations were set, the temporary truce became much less tenuous and much more stable. Historically, you did not want to be the bastard that broke a truce. Not only was it seen as dishonest and dangerous (peace talks are a necessary part of wars, of all wars, if you want them to ever end; a people who know there is no option for peace start doing the really ruthless shit only desperate people do, and the law of reprisal means that if it got that bad for one side, the other would be forced to respond in kind, which ends in extermination), but especially in our world, oathbreaking had a decidedly religious undertone to it (see Dante's Inferno, in which oathbreakers are relegated to the deepest circle of hell, considered worse than a lot of horrifying people). There was also the Greek concept of hospitality, in which host and guest were bound to a sacred pact of non-aggression that Zeus supposedly would randomly test out and curse or bless people as appropriate, that shows how long the idea that treachery is very bad has been around.

No surprise, then, that in our world peace talks were massively important. There is little evidence of any such divine prerogative in Exandria, but that evidence might well only be missing because the first exposure we've had to peace talks hasn't happened yet. The one thing that we do know is that envoys do travel even between kingdoms, and they are able to offer the possibility of negotiations even during open war. As a semi-aside - for these envoys to exist and survive, the system of peace negotiations has to be well-established. Messengers, good ones, are valuable, and without a system in place to protect them, very vulnerable. They got killed sometimes ("don't shoot the messenger"). Potentially they could be accused as spies, as the Mighty Nein were, and imprisoned and executed as unlawful combatants.

But these envoys from Rosohna are confident enough to speak with their counterparts on the other side without fearing death, because the system in place protects them from the violence they could otherwise face (because, again, no war could ever end in anything less than total annihilation without some sort of negotiation system in place - see why they're valuable?). Therefore, some form of formalized protection exists for them, and this means that, very likely, formalized parlay procedures also exist, with the same sort of restraints that existed in our world during the past.

This gets to my point: lying during peace talks, especially the way the Empire is about to try to lie, is a very bad idea. It’s an indication of bad faith on the part of the liars, and with that excuse for the delegates from Xhorhas, the parlay can easily break down and even reignite the very war that it is meant to stop. If the Empire claims to offer a stolen beacon at one point, one which is already some sort of anchor for souls in Xhorhas, and they then produce another Beacon, one without the same sort of significance that an in-use Beacon has culturally, which the Dynasty still feels is their rightful property, and they also claim to have never had that missing Beacon at all, the best-case scenario is that the negotiations get really tense and the delegates from Rosohna leave them unresolved to inform the Bright Queen of this new information. The worst-case scenario, the delegates from Rosohna declare that the Empire has broken faith during peace talks, thus enabling the Dynasty to attack then and there without themselves being considered bastard oath-breakers, all hell breaks loose, and the Mighty Nein are forced to pick a side in this horribly gray conflict.

I want to say that Matt wouldn’t go worst-case scenario with the Kryn representatives. I want to. However, the Kryn have shown themselves to operate on the laws of war almost to a fault. Their treatment of unlawful combatants such as the Scourger and the Taskhand (though in a semi-unrelated conflict, an unlawful combatant himself) indicates some very brutal policy choices predicated on the laws of war. Add to that the Bright Queen’s insistence that the cycle of violence can only be broken permanently by literally breaking the enemy, indicating a terribly strict adherence to the law of reprisal, and the knowledge that Trent Ikithon will most certainly be present at the talks, leads me to believe that if the talks don’t devolve into utter violence and chaos, it will only be by some form of divine intervention.

Because Essek was right; if the Kryn know that the Empire has two Beacons, the war cannot stop. The Kryn can and might view the Empire’s deceit as a bad-faith interference in their most holy of commands, as well as an attempt to deceive and formulate a peace treaty on fraudulent grounds. So the Mighty Nein, having received that warning from a very highly-ranked NPC, but not having the realization that, oh, fuck, we have to go to Rexxentrum right now and persuade Oremid Hass that the Assembly’s best interests are to turn over the stolen beacon, are absolutely fucked right now. Even if the peace talks don’t go ass over teakettle as I think they will, the Kryn delegates are going to report back to the Bright Queen, and the fact that the Beacon isn’t already in-use is going to come out, and the Mighty Nein are the people who told her that the Empire was willing to trade the in-use Beacon back to the Dynasty. The Nein are in a much more precarious position than they realize right now by having not spoken to any Assembly members since the peace talks were organized, and the worst thing is, I think they think the problem is solved. Which is going to be a damn horrible realization when it does come out that, oh fuck, we forgot the most important detail you could possibly ever forget.

Like, I hope that the live show features a conversation where one of them points out that the Empire is lying and should at least lie better, and that the reason Nott’s offer to Isharnai was so potent is because, right now, she wouldn’t have to do a damn thing to fulfill her side of the bargain other than spike a drink and watch.

Oh, and when the war sparks back up, the Nein are, literally best-case-scenario, gonna be on an island in the middle of nowhere, with no news, possibly with no idea that it’s happened until they return from that clusterfuck of possibly an accidental ascension-worthy miracle to utter chaos.

#critical role #critical role speculation #critical role spoilers #they're fucked guys that's the whole point of this #the braincell the m9 share disappeared in the wake of ten million emergencies #which is very fair #but it's also very very very bad #long post

33 notes · View notes

sepulcrorum · 4 years

Text

JUDE LAW, FIFTY, ARCHBISHOP DE MEDICI. ❝ ⤚⟶ EUROPE, 1458. thanks is given by the DUCHY OF FLORENCE, ARCHBISHOP GIANCARLO DI GIAN GASTONE DE’ MEDICI, from FLORENCE. they are at best CHARMING, and at their worst IMPIOUS. whilst abroad, their ambition is to REAP EVER MORE GREATER LUXURIES FOR HIMSELF. HE seems to remind everyone of JUDE LAW & DESIRES BOTH HERETICAL AND UNHOLY : THE SONG OF SOLOMON SPILLING FORTH FROM ONE’S LIPS WHILST IN THE THROES OF PASSION ; INTELLECTUALISM SOUGHT FOR HEDONISM’S SAKE : ANTIQUATED TEXTS SMUGGLED FROM THE CRUMBLING REMNANTS OF ANCIENT ROMAN VILLAS AND DISPLAYED TO EXPECTED LOOKS OF AWE ; & HOLINESS FOUND, HOLINESS LOST, HOLINESS REVERED : A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT SHINING THROUGH HIGH-VAULTED ARCHES. ❞

introduction

Provide a blurb introducing your character generally. This should include an overview of strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, and set backs.

It has been once said by the Lord: be ye like children, for ye to enter the Kingdom of God. Capricious, selfish, absorbed only by thoughts of himself, petty, and whimsical, the Archbishop de’ Medici does not assume the dignity of his station as a member of the Church but he does assume all the qualities of a child in him, and that makes him saved by default.

His theology is quaint, bordering on unorthodox, and it’s almost tempting to call him out for heresies but he knows too much about Scripture and can run circles around any fellow servant of Christ, much more the ordinary layman. He’s either mystical or absolutely canonical: at a certain point in theology, everything becomes one and the same. Give him time, and he can justify anything—the cruellest of acts as well as the most compassionate acts of goodwill and charity—with verses pulled from the Holy Book and the most seraphic smile on his face, almost as if his lips are intoning a blessing. He’s a Devil’s advocate in perhaps more ways than one, the destruction of Rome entire as one itinerant preacher once called him, and yet he luxuriates on wealth on top of the social pyramid, secure in his position and backed by the splendorous wealth made available by his family’s support.

Yet despite all this, despite possessing all the qualities of a man who could be—intelligent, charming, sociable, and ambitious—Giancarlo ended up being the man who isn’t, by some strange (perhaps cruel) twist of fate. With his dubious origins erasing any hope for a cardinalate, much less a chance for the Throne of St. Peter, he languishes in his role as a mere archbishop. As the years pass, he has turned bitter, cruel, recalcitrant—for what does a child do when they are given what they want?

They throw a tantrum.

What are some potential plotlines you are interested in pursuing?

I’ve inserted the little nuggets of the plotlines I plan to pursue on the blurb but to expand on it:

First is I am definitely very interested in making him a Cardinal and that is very much a thing he also wants for himself, even as much as he denies it and says he never wanted it anyway. It’s a way for him to rationalise the fact that, strictly speaking, his life didn’t go the way he wanted it to go, and so he subsists on the lie that his life (as it is right now) was what he always wanted—but ultimately, I do think that he’s still on the lookout for any opportunity to finally have the red robes of a cardinal.

Second is the state of Florence and of Italy as a whole. The blemish of the riots on the Florentines’ reputation is something that must be rectified—not even because someone died (after all, very many people die everyday) but because it sends the message that they are unable to control their own people. The Church as an institution that does much works of charity can be used to pacify the rebellious masses and perhaps turn them into the better angels that they haven’t been before. Meanwhile, Italy as a whole concerns him because they are still, ultimately, disparate nation-states with differing goals and ambitions. In a world filled with empires and hegemons, Giancarlo realises that the Italian peoples must unite—far better that it be headed, of course, by the Church or by Florence, but unity itself is non-negotiable. If the Italians do not want to be swallowed up by their neighbours, they must pool together their resources and make a stand for their existence.

Thirdly is the option of interfaith dialogue. Giancarlo is by no means perfect, but I do imagine he’s a touch more tolerant than most holy men are. He’s less a crusader and more of a diplomat, far too disillusioned to really believe in any cause of holy war. Entrenched in cynicism—usually a character flaw—he’s cognisant enough of the fact that humans are going to be shitty one way or another, and religion has almost no bearing on whether one is a good person or not. As such, I do think he has a lot of plotting potential for those characters following a different faith, and it’s fun to see how that might all play out.

three bullet-points.

Giancarlo di Gian Gastone de’ Medici is born a stain of shame. Birthed by a servant-girl and the man from whom his name marks out as his progenitor, he is kept by his father as a spare heir—only to be tossed away when a legitimate one finally comes. In this act, his father has taught him the harsh realities of life: one minute, you can have everything in front of you; the next, it all comes crashing down with nothing to show for it. He is left with no security save that which his father carved out for him: mastery of an abbey at twelve years of age and, from there, the religious life. There was nothing else for him. There is nothing else to him.

Giancarlo takes to the intellectual and monastic life quite quickly. His learning under humanist tutors in the household of his father has enabled him to take quickly to reading dense texts that speak of grand contexts. It helps that he is good with languages, and that he is friendly to everyone he meets. How bright his career would be, some would say, before adding: if only he wasn’t illegitimate. And so that stain of shame that adorned the Medici family history now mars his own future: he was always going to be a mistake, and the world will never let him forget it.

He is, by all accounts, a very disenchanted man who works himself through a façade of mustered charm gathered from who-knows-where with his mind an utter repository of Scripture and theological concepts. He can quote from Papal Bulls enacted centuries ago as easily as if they had been dictated to him just that moment; yet he always says it so drily that you’d think he’s mocking the words he’s citing. He’s in the habit of mentioning what kind of sins one is doing but always concludes it with a small note of how God is a forgiving God. He delights in the company of the wicked and the infamous; truly good people disgust him. He thinks God is present more in ugliness than any kind of beauty exemplified in art and song, and that He is dirt-covered, bloody and bruised, made with mulch and rot and diseased flesh. His God is filthy; it is only natural. We all fashion God into the form that would accept us the most.

character sheet.

FULL NAME : giancarlo di gian gastone de’ medici TITLES :

commander of badia fiorentina ( from 1420 - 1428 )

commander and rector of badia fiorentina ( from 1428 onwards )

metropolitan archbishop of florence ( from 1446 onwards )

master of the sacred apostolic palace ( from 1450 onwards )

BIRTHPLACE : florence, italian peninsula

AGE : fifty, b. 10 november 1407

LANGUAGES : fluent — italian ( tuscan ), french, ancient greek, latin, arabic, spanish, german, bavarian ; conversational — english, portuguese ; learning — ottoman turkish, farsi / persian

DYNASTY / HOUSE: house de’ medici

MOTHER & FATHER : unnamed servant girl & gian gastone de’ medici

SPOUSE : none

ISSUE : none

SIBLINGS : giovanni, lucrezia, and girolamo ( half-siblings )

OTHER : lorenzo de’ medici ( tbd )

ZODIAC : scorpio sun / sagittarius moon / scorpio rising

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION : roman catholicism

ORIENTATION : bisexual biromantic ( with a medium to high preference for his own gender )

PERSONALITY TYPE : estj-a / choleric-sanguine / enneagram tbd / slytherin

VICES : everything

VIRTUES : knowledge can be and is a virtue but not with giancarlo, babyyyyy

FACECLAIM : jude law

HEIGHT : 6′1″ or 1.85m

RECOGNISABLE FEATURES : kindly-seeming blue eyes that speaks to unfathomable depths — look too closely, and you just might find yourself falling in them; an ever-present smile that can turn earnest or mocking depending on the conversation; a smug demeanour that you can’t help but feel that he thinks he knows better than you

REPUTATION IN PORTUGAL : a famed master theologian but also a widely known libertine, giancarlo both attracts and repulses the whole of christendom with his easy smiles, his kindly-looking blue eyes, and the power of the storied lineage that has produced him. for all those who’ve had the chance to coalesce in rome—or perhaps even the italian peninsula—his name will revoke memories of scandalised whispers erupting from people huddled in corners as soon as they see him make entry into a room. portugal as of yet is a new frontier, not for reasons of lack of opportunity but due to lack of interest. after all, why stray from that eternal city whose glory is sung in ancient ballads and whose place in the world is the envy of millions? now that he is here, however, he is more than eager to make his mark.

WANTED CONNECTIONS :

i sought whom my soul loves — were giancarlo any other man, they could have been together, a couple enjoined in the warm embrace of love and unity; yet, alas, the Church has bound giancarlo to herself, and he is a weak and foolish man who cannot find himself able to stand up to anybody. ever since then, their meetings have been few and far between—but no less precious to giancarlo, no less treasured, no less sought for. ::: ( open to anyone, preferably female but any gender can technically work ! )

a young deer on the mountains of Bether — arcadian idyll had been the theme of their shared years, wild and wandering, when responsibility had been a far off concept that seemed as foreign as greying hair and the yoke of adulthood. they frolicked in sun-kissed green-topped hills and ran as carefree as the wind. now they are old, both with their respective offices, and there is nothing else to them save nostalgia over lost innocence—if they had innocence at all. ::: ( open to anyone of the same age range as giancarlo ! )

beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun — a look at them and they’re like fourteen again, dumbstruck and awed, ashamed of his own lowly station and the stain of his origins—yet now they are old, and they have significantly more resources available to them now than they had before. giancarlo has always loved what he has thought is lacking within himself; he has always sought the true, the good, and the beautiful. he deludes himself into thinking he’s found it in god, but he is about to discover he’s wrong. ::: ( open to anyone ! )

with my royal people’s chariots — people have the propensity to think that giancarlo’s last name and relative wealth and status makes him the gatekeeper to the pope’s favour. he does not think himself as holding the keys to anything, but he lets other people do—mainly because it affords him the simulation of power the likes of which he only imagined as a child. of course, there is no real backing to the promises he says he’ll fulfil for them, but it is a merry show nonetheless and a piece of theatre that giancarlo’s keen to continue in lisboa. ::: ( open to anyone who’s looking to curry favour with the pope ! )

you who dwell in the gardens — there are many blooms in the garden of God’s creation and it is not a stretch to say giancarlo is absolutely besotted with the idea of experiencing all of them. this meet in lisbon might prove to be a more fortuitous moot than the one in florence, and he is always keen to start dialogue with any and all those who would like to exchange knowledge for knowledge’s sake, even those that the rest of christendom would not welcome. ::: ( open to non-christian characters ! )

the shadows flee away — giancarlo isn’t known for moderation and temperance; he has always been one driven to excess, and he has never toned down his appetites for the sake of any cause or person. he is a flit of a thing, a butterfly eager to sap the nectar out of any willing flower before moving to the next, willing to spill honey-laced words out of cherubic lips if that is what it took to mark one as his next conquest. in this, he has doubtless transgressed against many, and there are some whose memories run long and whose desire for correction would cover even those who are consecrated to God. ::: ( open to anyone ! )

#crhs.intro #* ( 𝔤𝔦𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔬 ) ╱ per speculum in ænigmate : info !

4 notes · View notes

allycat-writes · 5 years

Text

False God

A/N: “Oh wow, Ally, another songfic with a Taylor Swift song. You must think you’re so clever, don’t you?” The answer to that is: yes. Yes I do. Requested? Absolutely not. Random idea that just took hold and took on a life of its own? Absolutely. Will there be a part 2 of mostly fluff and showing an actual healthy relationship? Probably, if anyone even cares that much. Is this significantly shorter than most things I write considering that 75% of it is song lyrics? Absolutely. But OH WELL. Title obviously comes from the Taylor Swift song of the same name. Honestly, if you squint, this could sort of be the other half of The Archer that I just wrote complete with 80% more angst? (Marriage to Stephen before the accident, ups and downs of a rushed-into relationship, waltzing back into the loft after months at Kamar-Taj, finding yourself in his threadbare room.) As always, thanks @unknownauthor for listening to my rambling and stupid ideas and for reading everything for me, as usual, before I post it to make sure it’s at least good enough to post instantly because I need the validation.

Warnings: Smut-ish. Not the most descriptive thing ever as far as smut goes but it’s there. Swearing, absolutely. Showcasing an UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP (seriously guys this is not like “ooooo look at this great relationship” because it’s not). Uh. I think that’s it this time. Absolutely no spoilers in this one.

Word Count: 1,141.

You know the drill. Likes= meh, okay, reblogs= “I would probably kill someone for this person” so please, please reblog the things you enjoy. I am begging you.

(Not my GIF)

We were crazy to think Crazy to think that this could work Remember how I said I'd die for you? We were stupid to jump In the ocean separating us Remember how I’d fly to you?

“I’m not sure I can do this anymore.”

“So what? You’re just gonna walk out?” Stephen’s voice is cutting, dripping with sarcasm and that same level of snark, his voice more bitter than you’ve ever heard from him. He scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Stephen, why do we keep doing this? It’s just a fucking cycle where things are fine before we fight again and we just keep hurting each other.” Stephen stares at you, his body still tense before he deflates, like a balloon punctured with a needle. You let your guard down, observing him before he opens his arms and you know the storm has passed. At least for today. And as you lost yourself in a kiss, the feeling of his body pressed tight against yours, you can’t seem to recall what the fight was even about.

And I can't talk to you when you're like this Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town I'm New York City I still do it for you, babe They all warned us about times like this They say the road gets hard and you get lost When you're led by blind faith, blind faith

You and Stephen sit in silence, your husband stares out the window, his stormy eyes fixing on a point somewhere in the distance. “We should have listened. They told us. We shouldn’t have rushed into this. They tried to warn us.” Stephen laughs, the sound humorless and hollow. The car is silent for a moment before you reach over, laying your hand on his thigh and finally those stormy eyes acknowledge you. Stephen looks at you like the city, like you’re naive and optimistic but ultimately shrouded in danger and heartbreak but then his lips are on yours in the back of this car with the divider up and you can’t bring yourself to care for now. You can feel all of him against you when he pulls you onto his lap, deepening the kiss, and some sort of feeling, of faith, probably far too blind and as optimistic as a child, settles in your chest.

But we might just get away with it Religion's in your lips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship We might just get away with it The altar is my hips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship this love We’d still worship this love We’d still worship this love

Stephen is all you can feel, his lips devouring yours and his body trapping yours against the wall. He hoists you up and you wrap your legs around him. You know Stephen is not much of a religious or spiritual man but the only religion you need is his lips against yours as he lowers you onto the bed. You reach down to slide your shirt off, tossing it to the side as he pulls his shirt off, and your mouth goes dry at the hunger in his eyes as his eyes rove over the newly exposed skin. You lay back on your elbows as he shed the rest of his clothes. You kicked off your pants and underwear and then his body is covering yours again. Your lips seek his out and the kiss is absolutely searing. He breaks the kiss and his lips start a path down your neck, to your collarbone. Your fingers tangle in his hair, his lips reaching your hipbone. His eyes flick up to meet yours before his lips are on you and, before long, his name is falling from your mouth like a prayer, a holy chant to whatever sacred deity might happen to hear. As you come down from it, this rapture, he raises himself to capture your lips again and the taste of you mingled with his breath is more of a religious experience than anything you’ve ever experienced.

I know heaven's a thing I go there when you touch me, honey Hell is when I fight with you But we can patch it up good Make confessions and we’re begging for forgiveness Got the wine for you

And you can't talk to me when I'm like this Daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you You're the West Village You still do it for me, babe They all warned us about times like this They say the road gets hard and you get lost When you’re led by blind faith, blind faith

“This isn’t good for anyone, you know.” The words are said so casually one night, after another fight and another instance of a desperate make up session in your shared bed. Stephen lays beside you, his eyes fixating on the ceiling above and, for a moment, you think he’s going to just ignore the words spoken into the night.

“No, it’s not, is it?” His expression is serene and unbothered by the truth of the statements. After a moment, he rolls towards you and his lips attach to your neck and you can feel all of the words, the confessions of his wrongs, the begging for forgiveness, the apologies your husband is too proud to say aloud poured into worshiping you. And when you take him into your mouth later, his head thrown back as he lets himself buck into you until he’s sated, you hope he can feel all of your own unsaid words.

But we might just get away with it Religion's in your lips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship We might just get away with it The altar is my hips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship this love We'd still worship this love We'd still worship this love, ah

Still worship this love Even if it's a false god Even if it's a false god Still worship this love

Months. That’s how long it had been since your husband had gone missing only to return to your shared loft one evening as if nothing had ever happened. And now he’s back to worshiping you, this time on some threadbare bed in a bare room you assume must be in Nepal. But you know, you can feel that this Stephen is changed. This is not the Stephen that would pick fights when bored and hope that he could push you far enough, not the Stephen you married and, as he sheaths himself inside of you, your name whispered into the night like a chant, you think that maybe you can love this Stephen more. And that maybe, just maybe, things will be good. Things will be right this time.

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

Permanent Tag List:

@mezzomercury

@angeleyesmalek

#allycatwrites #AllyCat writes #allycat-writes #Doctor Stephen Strange #stephen strange fic #doctor strange #doctor strange fic #doctor strange fanfic #doctor strange imagine #doctor strange x reader #stephen strange imagine #stephen strange x reader #stephen strange fanfic #stephen strange #my writing #songfic

59 notes · View notes

quills-and-golden-ink · 6 years

Text

Welcome one and all to the second part of the Monthly Guide to Monsters! The talented @downwithwritersblock and I have teamed up to bring you some quick and easy guides to some of the world’s most infamous creatures.

The guide will include: basic background, historical information, abilities, how to defeat them, and portrayals in media. They’ll probably also come with some short stories or prompts!

For this week, I’ve been tasked with probably one of my favourite mythological beings: vampires. These will be posted on Mondays and Thursdays, excluding this week (since I’ve been busy with stuff). We hope you enjoy!

Monster Guide #2: The Vampire

Definition: A vampire is an undead or immortal being from folklore that subsists by feeding off the vital force (usually blood) of the living. Vampires are typically creatures that bring about mischief or death. For a long time, vampires were synonymous with demons. Many cultures actually classified vampires as being corpses that were possessed and animated by a demon.

Description: Many early tales described vampires to be bloated; with ruddy, dark, or purple skin, and almost always wearing some kind of dark shroud to hide themselves in (that they usually bring with them from their own grave). It wasn’t until the 19th century, with our more modern day lore that we started to see the classic frail, or gaunt and pale vampires that we have grown used to seeing in the media.

Abilities: These change from culture to culture, although many of them were birthed by Bram Stoker's Novel “Dracula” (which were, btw, super OP). Included are some of the most common abilities associated with vampires (you’ll notice that “glittering in sunlight” is absent because of this).

Usually immortal, or with at least a very prolonged life span

Increased abilities such as strength, speed, sight, hearing and smell.

Flight

Some hypnosis, telepathy, illusionary magic.

Shapeshifting (typically into a bat)

Vampire’s Baptism: the act of healing one with a vampires blood, or turning one into a vampire through mutual biting

Regenerative healing

Immune or really unaffected by conventional or normal means of attack (like being punched, stabbed or shot)

Night vision

Preventing Vampirism: Vampires eventually caused a bit of hysteria in some cultures, so we see many examples throughout the world of people trying to prevent the rise of the undead.

Some ways found to prevent the rise of a vampire were:

Buried upside down or flipped over.

Some cultures places scythes or sickles beside graves to satisfy the demons they thought would possess the dead. Why? Don’t know but that’s sick.

Religious symbols, like wax crosses or pieces of pottery with biblical messages like “Jesus Christ Conquers” were commonly placed on corpses to prevent vampirism.

Some took the practical route and decided that separating or destroying the tendons in the legs of the deceased would also keep the dead from rising.

Shooting a bullet through the casket right before burial was also common

Some would put pieces of steel or silver over the corpse’s eyes, in their mouth, in their ears, or in between their fingers.

Pushing Iron needles through the heart was also said to stop a vampire from rising.

Decapitating after death.

Curing and Killing:

Garlic was said to keep away vampires

Crucifixes and rosaries were typically said to keep a vampire away.

They could not cross onto sacred or consecrated ground (like a church)

It’s also said they could not cross over running water (no bridges for vampires)

Some folklore says that they lacked shadows and would not show up in a mirror or a photograph (some folklore states that this is a reflection of their lack of a soul, although it could be due to the use of silver in these things)

Sprinkling mustard seeds along the roof of your house was said to keep vampires away, but if it didn't, you’d be alright becauseeee

Vampires, in many myths, could not enter a home without first being invited in. Be careful though, they only need the one invite. After that they might just be able to come and go from your house as they please.

Wild rose stems or hawthorn branches could potentially harm them

In many legends, vampires are warded off, and sometimes even harmed by silver. (Old mirrors were commonly backed with silver, and old photography also used silver specks, which might be the reason they’re not seen in them)

Holy Water or other items blessed by a priest were said to keep them away, and possibly even hurt them.

Vampires were said to be nocturnal, and were very vulnerable or damaged in sunlight. It might have even been able to kill them.

Being set on fire can kill just about everything, and vampires were no exception.

@downwithwritersblock‘s favourite way to stop a vampire: Arithmomania. An expression or type of OCD in which the person who suffers from it feels compelled to count either their actions or the objects around them. In many cultures around the world, especially in Eastern Europe and in Asia, it’s said that if you place small seeds (usually poppy seeds), sand or a type of grain like rice beside the grave, or in front of the vampire, they would compulsively have to count it, and that would keep them busy until either you kill them, or until the sunrises and the light kills them for you.

Decapitation was also a very common method in both preventing, and killing vampires.

And of course the most famous of all; A wooden stake through the heart. Many cultures will also tell you that the stake has to be made out of the same kind of wood as the cross that Jesus was crucified on.

History: Here we’ve included two of the most famous “real life vampires” in history! Up first we have...

Vlad Tepes (or as he’s more commonly known: Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula).

Born between 1428 and 1431 and died in either 1476 or 1477.

He was Prince of Walachia 3 times between 1448 and his death

The second son of Vlad Dracul, who ruled Walachia

Imprisoned in Transylvania, held in Visegrad from 1463 to 1475.

Vlad II got the name ‘Dracul’ when he joined ‘The Order of the Dragon’, a ‘monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility’ in middle Eastern Europe (aka it was mainly Germanic states).

Dracul(a) means ‘Dragon’, and in more modern Romanian it means ‘The Devil’

Vlad III’s prefered method of execution was impalement. Hence the nickname ‘Vlad the Impaler’

Rumours and stories of Vlad spread fast, in fact, books about his cruel acts were best sellers in the German speaking territories.

However, to his own people, Vlad was usually seen as a warrior and a hero.

Bram Stoker was the one to turn Vlad into the legendary vampire with his well known book “Dracula,” published in 1897. It relied on many of the ancient myths of blood suckers found in Romanian folklore. The novel was very loosely based on Vlad, considering Bram Stoker didn't actually know a whole lot about Vlad and Walachia.

Bram Stoker is also among the first to change the traditional vampire into what we know today. His book is, or at least part of the reason that the image of vampires shift into one that is pale and thin, the lack of a reflection or shadow probably starts with his novel as well.

Secondly, we have my favourite: Elizabeth Bathory, aka “The Blood Countess.”

Considered to be the first female serial killer.

The accusations change a bit depending on the story, but, Elizabeth was a Countess who was accused of taking, torturing and killing hundreds of young girls. She was accused of some pretty gnarly torture methods like covering people in honey and ants, or burning and then dunking people in freezing water, not to mention mutilation. She was accused of cannibalism. She was also said to drink the blood of her victims, earning her the nickname ‘Countess Dracula’. Some also say that as a regular part of her beauty regimen she would drain the blood of young virgin girls, and bathe in it to help keep her young and beautiful. Sometimes I like to call her the inventor of the first bath bomb.

The highest number of victims she was accused of was 650; however, this, like many parts of her story are questionable, and from unreliable or iffy sources.

Vampires in Media: This list is absolutely massive, so I’ve included twelve titles. This includes books, tv shows, and movies, but excludes video games.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (TV show, movie, comics)

The Vampire Chronicles/Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice (movie and book)

Carmilla (1871 novel, cute lesbian 2014 youtube series, movie)

The Vampire Diaries (TV Show)

True Blood (Book series, TV show)

Van Helsing (Movie, TV show)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897 Novel)

30 Days Of Night (movie)

Twilight (Book series, movie)

The Originals (TV show)

Angel (TV show)

Blade (Movie)

And my personal favourite, which doesn’t fall under any specific monster, is the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. Would highly recommend. It’s 13 books in the main series, and features all sorts of awesome and well-known supernatural entities such as (but not limited to): werewolves, vampires, half-demons, witches, sorcerers, demons, angels, and necromancers. Fun 18+ supernatural mystery read (with triggers for violence, gore, and explicit sexual content however. Reader discretion is advised.)

Prompts:

1. “You’re so coldblooded!”

“Uh, yeah? I literally don’t have any blood?”

2. “The worst part about being a vampire is not being able to take selfies. Do you know how much I miss looking at my own beautiful face?”

3. “I suppose the best part of this whole ordeal is not having to spend so much time in the vanity.”

4. “I’m scared to do my eyeliner.”

5. “Werewolves have it so easy! What’s the big deal with turning into a wolf every once in a while? I’d slaughter a country if it meant I could go outside and enjoy the sun. Even as a four-legged mutt.”

1K notes · View notes

dustydahlin · 4 years

Text

Beloved - Your New Identity in Christ!

Subject: A look at our new identity as Beloved. How a closer look at this biblical identity statement can draw us into a deeper relationship with God.

This is going to be exciting! Today, we will be discussing our identity as the Beloved of God. I am excited about this because an appropriate teaching on our identity as Beloved requires a discussion on what I believe is one of the Bible’s deepest topics. A topic that gives life, changes lives, and sustains the soul through life’s most difficult times.

But before we dive in, I want to disclose the purpose of this study. I believe that God has a word for us. I believe God has given this study as a Word that is intended to be more than positive affirmations and personal declarations. I believe that God desires to lead us into deeper experiences. I pray that this is more than just another identity lesson. Something more than just information that creates positive feelings. This teaching, I believe, can truly baptize the heart into the rich joy of God’s goodness.

That being said, let us begin with a recap of what we have already learned about a biblical understanding of our identity in Christ. In the Bible, the believer’s new identity is presented to reveal much more than something about us. It is divinely inspired to communicate more than just personal professions of WHO WE ARE. It highlights a deeper truth. The Bible presents our new identity in such a way as to demonstrate something specific about God – the Giver of identity. Also, each identity statement reveals a specific expectation of God for his people. This is what Douglas Buckwalter says:

“These names are rich in theological detail. The giving of personal names in biblical times often signified a religious conviction about their recipients or something that would be done through these people. The giving of Christian names, likewise, expresses something about the religious status and character of the person and group named and something about what God has done, is doing, and will do in and through them. These names, in effect, provide us with a first-century compendium of Christian belief."

It should become more and more evident to us that the Bible, first and foremost, points us to God. It reveals His actions, His desires, and His covenant faithfulness to His people. The same thing is revealed through the Believer’s identity. We must first ask, "what does this say about God?”

Secondly, we must ask the question, “What does this require of us?” These biblical designations also highlight Heaven’s expectation for God’s people. Each name, statement, and designation shows something different. Each one is unique. There are around 175 different identity statements in the New Testament alone (Douglas Buckwalter). Each one of these communicates a specific revelation about God and about what is expected of God’s people. Of Beloved, we must ask the same thing. What expectation does this communicate of us?

This being said, let us address the answer to our first question…

Theological Implications - What does this say about God?

It should be obvious that our identity as Beloved emphasizes the love of God. The rich, infinite, and lavish love of God. I believe this, as alluded to earlier, is the deepest topic in the entire Bible. God’s love. This is nothing short of breathtaking. It is not indifferent. It is not cold. It is not distant. It is not without emotion. The fact of God’s love is one of the most life-changing and sustaining pools in which we can dunk our thirsty hearts.

And yet, sadly, it seems this has become a platitude. We have heard it said so many times. We have said it so many times. We have read it so many times. It can be very easy to forget how precious and profound it is. God is restlessly concerned about us. He is attentive and active in His care for us. Our God pursues us.

1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love.” Love is an integral part of God’s character. It motivates His actions, and it guides His decisions. So loving is God, the Psalmists, the Prophets, and the Apostles seem incapable of separating love from all that God is. God’s love was seen through creation. He created a beautiful and perfect universe for mankind. As a Master Craftsman, He fashioned the world as the perfect place in which to have a relationship with His Beloved – those created in His image. God’s love was seen when His Beloved fell in Eden. They, not He, brought death into the world. They scratched the surface of a perfect canvas. They tore the fabric within the frame of God’s plan. And yet, God’s love was seen in His actions to restore mankind. His love was seen in the gracious historical movement of redemption. As He moved His Beloved back to a right relationship with Himself, God’s love was seen. With the work of Christ, God’s love is seen in the eventual crescendo of recreating the heavens and the earth. God is love.

Rom. 8: 35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.”

Our Identity as Beloved further illustrates this. We are Beloved of God. God loves us! This tells us that God is love. It communicates the loving commitment of God to us. It reveals a God that is active in His care and concern for people. He chose it; He dispenses it. It informs us that love comes from a personal God. He offers His affections to all that would receive it.

Rom. 5:1-5, “… Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God… and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Finally, our identity as Beloved emphasizes two primary concepts. First, it conveys God as being the loving Groom. This is absolutely a picture of closeness, intimacy, and tender affection. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew for “beloved” is ‏דּוֹד (dowd). It can be seen about 32 times in Song of Solomon. The symbolism of this Old Testament Scripture grants us a glimpse into the Heart of God for His Beloved. God’s love for His Beloved (the Bride of Christ) is greater than any earthly love possibly imagined. Even the sweetest and most romantic of earthly loves pale in comparison.

Secondly, this reveals the love of a Father for His children. In the New Testament, the title of Beloved (ἀγαπητός - agapētos) is associated with the eternal love of the Father for the Son. It is also used of God’s love for His children. In Ephesians 5:1-2, Believers are affectionately described as “beloved children” having received the most lavish gift of love imaginable – the substitutionary sacrifice of Messiah. God is truly a loving Father to His children. He is protective. He is generous. He is nurturing. He is unconditionally caring.

1 John 3: 1-2, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

Identifying Christians as Beloved reveals the extravagant love of God. Now that we have answered the question of what it says about God, let us attempt to answer the question of what it requires of us!

Practical Expectations - How does our new identity as beloved instruct us?

Now that you know you are Beloved of God. Now that you have had a brief glimpse into the depths of God’s love. Now let us look at heaven’s expectation for us! This particular designation infers that we “be loved.” Being the Beloved of the Lord, we are to celebrate and rest in that love. Having drunk deep of the waters of God’s love, we now get to treasure it. We are to allow that constant stream to regularly flow over us.

This is one of my favorite passages:

Eph. 3:17-19 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith— that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Wow! Speaking to a people that already have the Spirit of Christ dwelling richly in their hearts, this Sacred Text tells us to root ourselves in love. We are to rest upon the foundation of God’s love. This is a place where we can send out our roots into the nutrient-rich soil of God’s boundless loving-kindness. I submit that our first response to the love of God is that of rest and celebration. Being Beloved, we are to treasure, cherish, and rest in that precious reality.

When God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt, it revealed God’s love. He had not forgotten about His people. It was nothing less than a demonstration of God’s love and faithfulness. But it did not stop there. Not long after delivering the Hebrews from slavery, God commanded the most peculiar thing. In Leviticus 23, God gave a directive. God spoke and commanded His people. With great authority, God instructed His people to regularly rest and celebrate. God instituted seven festivals and celebrations that were to be regularly engaged. They were intended to train His people to rest in, and celebrate, what God had done, is doing, and will do. Israel was His Beloved! He desired His people to rest in His love and celebrate His covenant faithfulness. From God’s perspective, these festivals were to train His people to trust him and to remember His goodness. It was to provoke their hearts to worship. But from the Israelites’ perspective, it became "just another command.” It was just another thing. It was something they had to do. In this passage, we can conclude that rest and celebration are God’s design.

Often, I wonder if we do the same. I wonder if the ocean-silencing love of God has become a platitude. I wonder if it has become just another teaching. Just another sermon. Just another passing phrase. I wonder if we, also, forget to rest in (and celebrate) our God. Like Israel, we are God’s Beloved! He loves us intensely!

The Ephesians 3 passage is one of my favorite passages. It is so profound, and it is so simple. It also shows us that establishing ourselves in God’s love leads us deeper. As we root and establish our hearts and minds in the love of God, we position ourselves “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is something that we can train ourselves to do. With the Help of the Spirit, we can train ourselves to rest in and celebrate God’s love. As we go. As we work our 9-to-5’s. As we struggle to pay our bills. As we work through broken relationships. As we sludge through the waters of loneliness. As we stare at the towering wall of discouragement. We can train ourselves to rest and celebrate. On the fly, wherever we are, we can make intentional and conscious efforts to pray, meditate, worship, fast, and thank God! We can utilize the spiritual disciplines to train ourselves to rest in God’s love. We are, after all, His beloved. We are vessels of His affection. There is ALWAYS something for which to be thankful!

Lastly, as Beloved children, we are to imitate the Love of God. Ephesians 5:1-2 says this, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” As we train our hearts to meditate upon this great love, we allow the loving example of our Heavenly Father to seep into the very fabric of our being. As we train to establish ourselves in Christ’s love, we learn to walk after the pattern of our God. As God’s beloved children, we are to look up to the example of our father. Being Beloved of God implies that we will live lives of outrageous love, as we have seen from our Father. As we have been loved, so shall we love others.

1 John 4: 7-11, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

“To love someone means to see him as God intended him” (Fyodor Dostoevsky).

“I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master” (John Newton).

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jesus of Nazareth).

Additional Recommendations:

Militant Thankfulness: An Essential Practice to Experiencing a Full Spiritual Life (my book)

Bibles

Crazy Love!

How Happiness Happens

Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

#identity in christ #new identity in christ #new identity #love #beloved #beloved of god #godislove #god is love

1 note · View note

kiruuuuu · 5 years

Text

Glaz/Echo oneshot in which they go out together and eat sushi. Simple enough, right? (Rating T, fluff/humour, ~3.7k words) - thank you @magehir for the prompt and for generally fuelling any kind of insanity 💜💜

“You”, Echo says with pathos while indicating the delicacies laid out in front of them with a grandiose gesture, “are about to have a religious experience.” It could be a painting with how pretty they’re laid down, a speck of colour here, a rich, warm stripe there; a still life mostly kept dark and white, simplistic, tasteful, exquisite. All it needs is a drop of grass green, a touch of a full, earthy colour, and it’s perfect. “You’re going to ascend. Before this, your life was woefully lacking and now it’s about to send you into another dimension of flavour, you’ll taste things you’ve never tasted before. Are you sure you’re ready?”

Next to him, Glaz is following his praise with a raised eyebrow, both amused and sceptical. “It’s just fish and rice”, he states, missing the point so spectacularly Echo is amazed they’re even in the same room when clearly, they must be talking to different people. Because he did not just say that.

“There are a few things I need to tell you before you even touch any of this and if you try to regardless, I’m going to taser you, so be patient.”

“I am very patient”, Glaz replies calmly and as much as Echo might want to convince himself his boyfriend needs to sit on his hands to hold back on devouring the whole platter all by himself, he has to admit that the Russian is indeed nothing but composed. He can’t even successfully weave this into his own narrative because trying to portray it as negative would earn him nothing but a snort and a slight shake of the head which he’d very much deserve. Oh would he ever. Especially after all the patience Glaz has shown him in the unsteady months leading up to their tentative relationship, and even more so afterwards – were Echo religious, he’d call him a saint.

“I’d hope so as I actually have one with me. Since you’re about as adept with chopsticks as a monkey is with a typewriter – implying that potentially, eventually, you’d get something into your mouth but it might take several generations –, you should -”

“Wait, are you for real? You brought a taser?”

Rolling his eyes at the interruption, Echo affirms: “Yes, Manu asked me to take a closer look because she might want a similar version for her drone. Moving on: you can use your hands, that’s how it’s eaten traditionally, and if people stare, just ignore them.”

“When I tell you the same thing while we’re holding hands, you complain.”

Somehow, Echo is beginning to think Glaz is getting tired of his lengthy introduction. “Listen”, he hisses, “that’s two completely different things. This is sacred, alright? No one can tell you how to eat sushi properly, don’t let anyone interfere when you’re sitting down and enjoying some. Unless you’re doing it wrong. Then it’s your own fault.”

“Sweetheart -”

“Don’t call me that.” A quick glance around the room assures Echo that no one is paying attention to them, fortunately. Even now, he’s still paranoid about anyone coming to the wrong conclusion – or maybe it’d be the right conclusion, because they are together, aren’t they? They kiss behind closed doors and spend more nights in each other’s company than not, but it’s different. Isn’t it? Two men, it’s just -

“I’m really hungry. Just tell me what to eat and how.”

Echo snaps out of his brief internal crisis to remind himself that he’s about to introduce a person very dear to his heart to one of his most important passions. “These are called Nigiri and you should dip them fish side down in the soy sauce, just lightly so the rice never touches it, and then you eat them whole. If you bite them off or drench the rice in sauce, you’ll bring dishonour over your entire family.”

“Don’t worry, they support my decisions”, Glaz responds good-naturedly and reaches for a salmon Nigiri, only to pause and sigh when Echo catches his wrist to teach him about which kind of fish to eat first. Was he raised in a barn? “Do I need to visit the kitchen and thank the chef personally for preparing such a beautiful meal for me before I’m worthy enough to even look at it?”

“What? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” Echo considers the suggestion for a moment. “Then again, you could -”

Glaz shoots him a look which expresses just how done he is and quickly snags the salmon with his other hand, almost drops it in the soy sauce and pops it into his mouth before Echo can stop him. How very dare he, salmon tastes too strong, now the others – like butterfish – will pale against it and probably not appeal to Glaz as much as they might have had he started out with them, he really has no idea what he’s doing which Echo supposes should be alright as Glaz has never had sushi before, and yet he could’ve listened and that’s when the Russian makes a gagging noise.

And what the fuck.

What the actual, everloving fuck.

“Oh no”, Glaz murmurs around a mouthful of literal ambrosia, grimacing and paradoxically looking like he’s not enjoying himself which is utterly impossible. Only when he downs half his water to apparently wash the taste from his tongue (and who would ever do that?), it dawns on Echo that he’s being serious. And as if he couldn’t be affronted enough, his boyfriend adds a croaked: “This… is disgusting.”

Echo blinks, uncomprehending. “You’re joking, right?”

He has to be. There’s no other way. No one would voluntarily turn down the nectar of the Gods, except for Glaz it looks like, since he’s still making a face and regarding the rest of the sushi warily. “How can you eat this? The fish is cold and still raw, aren’t you going to get sick from this?”

It makes no sense. Scowling up a storm, Echo picks up one of the salmon pieces himself and eats it – maybe the restaurant doesn’t live up to its ratings, but no, it’s delicious. The fish-rice ratio obviously isn’t as generous as in his home country, and the rice isn’t quite the same, but at its core it’s correct and tasty and why doesn’t he like it. “You’re obviously doing it wrong”, he announces, still taken aback.

“Well, I did what you told me and it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever put in my mouth, so that doesn’t really make it my fault.”

“Yes. It absolutely does, there must be something wrong with you. Don’t you Russians eat a lot of fish? How can you dislike this?”

“To be quite honest, I don’t see how you can like this, but go ahead, eat it all and we’ll stop by a chip shop on the way back so I can get something for myself.”

“A chip -” Echo almost chokes on the words. “That’s what you want to have instead? Instead of the pinnacle of haute cuisine worldwide?!”

“I don’t like it, so yes, I’d rather have something else.”

“You haven’t even… You know what, try another piece. Here, this is tuna. Everyone likes tuna. You like tuna, I know as much, so eat it. Maybe put a little wasabi on it.”

Glaz looks at him in exasperation, but it says a lot (and a lot of very positive things about him) that he reaches out nonetheless, just to appease Echo. Sometimes it worries him, the lengths to which Glaz will go to make him happy; it worries him because he’s not sure he won’t keep demanding more. “Wait, wasabi is hot, isn’t it?” As soon as Echo nods, the Russian basically slathers the piece he’s holding in the green paste, probably under the assumption that since he enjoys hot and spicy dishes and doesn’t even shy away from Blitz’ curry, he’ll be alright.

Echo doesn’t get a chance to warn him that chilli and horseradish tolerance are two completely different things because Glaz can be fast when he wants to be, and so he’s merely left to powerlessly (and maybe a tad spitefully) watch as his boyfriend’s eyes widen in disbelief after having gotten a proper taste.

“This”, he gasps and once again reaches for his glass, “is still awful and now my mouth is on fire. Why is my mouth on fire? Masaru, are you trying to kill me?”

“You’ll never get sick from properly prepared sushi, and you only have yourself to blame if you take this much wasabi. I told you it’s hot.”

“Holy crap, I’m dying, give me your wine.” Echo barely gets to open his mouth before Glaz has snatched the aforementioned drink from his side of the table and poured it down his gullet. By now, a few people around them have noticed Glaz’ predicament and glance at them now and then, making Echo’s cheeks redden. Why can’t he just -

“You’re causing a commotion”, he says quietly and is met with a wild look.

“You’re a commotion, I’m still… ow, it hurts. How can you eat any of this?”

“Quietly and more elegantly than you are right now.”

For some reason, Glaz seems to have had enough now and his tone of voice shifts from the one he usually uses for playful banter or mock indignation to genuine irritation. “I just don’t like it, accept it. I’m not going to apologise for what I like or don’t like, this is just – it’s almost slimy in my mouth, and it’s raw on top of that!”

“These kinds of things don’t normally bother you”, Echo shoots back, annoyed as well now. Glaz stares at him, incredulous over the comment, and he feels more blood rush to his face. They’ve both gotten worryingly loud by now, garnering even more attention and it makes him horribly uncomfortable to feel eyes in his back, to know that people are wondering about what’s going on; it turns him prickly and sharpens his words. “It’s an acquired taste, I should’ve figured you’re not ready to appreciate it yet with all that junk you normally eat.”

“You’re usually right there with me, so don’t pretend you’re any better.”

“This is just typical, you never show any respect for my culture.”

“I show no – Masaru, you asked me whether I had electricity growing up!”

“You made no move to learn any Japanese so far.”

“The only word you asked me to teach you in Russian was an equivalent to Yokai so you could go around and wax on about how much you love your stupid drone without anyone realising.”

“Did you just call Yokai stupid?”

“I did, and I’m also calling sushi revolting.”

Momentary outrage makes any retort impossible for Echo, so instead he just gapes at the other man like… well, like a fish out of water. They have their fair share of arguments, some of them valid, constructive and actually useful, some of them none of these things, but Glaz always makes a point out of never hurting or insulting him intentionally. He refrains from saying things out of anger no matter how upset he is and rather withdraws than to resort to name calling, so him going against this really quite important principle signifies that Echo has overstepped a line.

Well. He’s not above doing the same. “And you are a heathen and a philistine who is too blind to appreciate the good things in life.”

“Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, you are, too?”

And when Echo doesn’t respond, Glaz simply gets up and leaves, stalks out of the restaurant and leaves him staring after him.

Echo only calls after having drummed sufficiently on his steering wheel with his fingers, then counting until ten red cars have passed him by, and then some. Since he’s parked not directly in front of the restaurant, he felt safe staying for a while until his guilty conscience won and his hands navigated to someone in his contact list by themselves.

Though she sounds busy, Hibana picks up on the second ring. “Hey, what’s up? How’d your date go?”

“It wasn’t a date”, he blurts out without thinking, disregarding the fact that Hibana knows and probably knew before he himself did.

“Right. So how did your date go, you pure ray of sunshine?”

“That’s why I’m calling.”

“Uh-oh.” Some rustling, and then the noise level on her end drops considerably – she must’ve moved to a more private spot. “Don’t tell me you had another fight?”

“Well. He hated the sushi.” Silence. His friend quite obviously expects him to add something, anything else, but he feels he’s said quite enough.

“… and?”

“He hated it. He called it disgusting. I’ve never been so insulted in my life.”

“You’re telling me you fought because he didn’t like sushi?”

He scoffs. “Wouldn’t you have?”

Hibana allows for a brief grace period during which she quite obviously waits for him to admit to his gaffe, but when he doesn’t, she starts yelling.

Mute’s expectant expression turns appallingly smug as soon as he realises for whom he just opened the apartment door. His smirk is so self-satisfied Echo is this close to telling him not to bother, he’ll come back later, preferably when Glaz’ flatmates aren’t home. Or maybe just Mute – for some reason, the Brit watches him like a hawk whenever they interact. “What a pleasant surprise”, Mute announces, crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe in an obvious gesture of denying Echo entry without explicitly stating so. “How come you’re gracing us with your presence?”

“I want to speak to Glaz.”

Even slouched like this, Mute is infuriatingly still a tad taller than him and doesn’t look like he’s moving any time soon. “I bet you do. But what if he doesn’t want to speak to you and asked me to get rid of you if you showed up?”

Panic settles low in Echo’s stomach though he does his best not to show it. It’s going to be fine, they’ve had tiffs like this before and though it never turned out this way with anything as trivial as this (and doesn’t that indicate there’s a different underlying problem behind their disagreement, unsolved trouble neither of them have openly addressed yet) – so it’ll be fine. Right? Glaz still likes him enough to stay with him, but maybe he should apologise still. Just to be safe.

“Then… I’d ask you to convince him to hear me out anyway.”

“Sounds like you have something important to tell him.”

Echo falters. He supposes he does, or rather: there are entirely too many things he probably needs to tell Glaz yet not all of them fit into this context, almost none, in fact, so he’s not sure he’ll go through with it. Still, he nods wordlessly which makes Mute thaw considerably and finally step away to allow him in. “He’s in the living room. Don’t be a twat.”

The glare he sends the Brit only garners a meaningful if sarcastic smile indicating the warning is more than warranted in his eyes, and worst of all, Mute follows him when he steps inside the central room connecting their individual bedrooms. Smoke is half draped over an upset-looking Glaz and spreads out over Mute’s legs as well once he joins them, and Rook, despite seeming cosy all curled up in his armchair, changes his expression to something carefully neutral when Echo enters the room. They’re all staring at him as if he just kicked a puppy, which to be fair -

“Can I… talk to you alone?”, he addresses his boyfriend without much hope for success. The undivided attention he’s getting is leaving him flustered and wondering whether it really was such a good idea to come here – even if Hibana had been awfully blunt about it earlier.

Three pairs of eyes slide back to the flickering TV screen yet the volume is so low there’s no doubt they’re listening anyway. “I’d rather we talk here”, Glaz tells him earnestly. “Or else no one’s going to believe me afterwards.”

Alright. Fair enough. Echo knows how important Glaz’ friends are to him, has learnt it the hard way after he’d dropped a few remarks about the inefficiency as well as idiocy of some of Rook’s work routines (really, if he didn’t spend at least an hour talking to people each day he’d be home so much earlier) and Glaz refused to take his side, even defended the Frenchman. So he wants to spread his love life out before them too. Okay. Echo is… not at all prepared for this but he’ll make it work. “Fine. I just thought you might want to hear what I came to say privately.”

“You might as well practise saying it in the presence of other people, right?” Glaz is not budging and his tone of voice makes it crystal clear he feels it’s more than justified. He seems intent on humiliating Echo, or at least that’s what it seems like to him – never before has he…

“So you know why I’m here?”, he tries buying himself some more time. He thought Glaz would receive him with less anger in his demeanour but if that’s how it is, he’s going to make it count. He’s not going to back away like a coward.

“Of course I know. You came here to tell me one thing and quite frankly, it’s long overdue.”

Is it? Echo frowns but nods reluctantly. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Yes. So go ahead and tell me for the first time since we’ve known each other.”

He’s fidgeting though he’s trying not to, attempting to ignore the others who pointedly don’t look in his direction and manages to focus mostly on Glaz’ expectant face. Over months, he’s been a reliable friend and more, became a soothing warmth beside him not only when they sleep but also in daily life. If he’s going to say it to anyone in his life, it’ll be him and it doesn’t matter that his friends will hear and that it’s awkward and embarrassing because Glaz is worth it nonetheless.

And so he looks him in the eyes and says: “I love you.”

Four people freeze for a moment before turning to gape at him, aghast, with Glaz being the most aghast one of them all, and Echo has no idea what’s going on – especially not when Smoke starts laughing, Rook beams at him happily, Mute nods in a ‘not bad’ gesture and Glaz turns crimson.

“That’s not – Masaru, what the hell -” Thoroughly flustered, the Russian fights his way off the couch only to grab his wrist and drag him into his room, accompanied by excited whispering behind them.

By now, Echo is wholly confused. Did he do something wrong? Was he not supposed to…? He doesn’t get a chance to ask, however, as Glaz immediately slams the door shut, then Echo against it and finally himself against Echo to apparently try and shove his tongue down his throat and oh.

Maybe he didn’t do anything wrong after all.

Sometimes, Glaz’ passion intimidates him just like his devotion does; it’s easy to get caught up in it and lose himself yet right now he has no objections. One of his hands finds its way to Glaz’ dark hair and the other snakes around his torso while they kiss like they’re drowning and when they eventually separate again, they’re both breathless. “Does that mean -”

“Yes”, Glaz interrupts him quietly.

“So you also -”

“Yes.”

“Say it.” He earns a pained look and knows exactly how Glaz feels but he’s not going to let him get away with it. “I’m serious. If you made me say it in front of the others, it’s only fair -”

“I didn’t know that’s what you wanted to tell me! I thought you were going to apologise”, Glaz hisses.

And… well. Whoops.

On second thought, that scenario makes a lot more sense than him demanding Echo lay himself bare before his friends, especially since his inability to apologise has been an issue several times before. “Oh”, he says dumbly. It’s not like he’s complaining, not really, not when it ended up with Glaz in his arms and the knowledge that they’re both… But still, there’s something nagging at him.

“Does that mean you’re going to apologise for not liking the sushi?”, he wants to know quite reasonably.

Oddly enough, when he gets tossed out of Glaz’ room again with the door being slammed shut once more (though this time it separates them), none of the three people populating the living room bat an eye.

“C’mere, sit down”, Mute tells him, entirely unconcerned over Echo’s dishevelled appearance.

“Shouldn’t I -” He points towards the front door. “Maybe he wants me to leave?”

“Nah. Whatever it is you said this time can’t be worse than what you normally say”, Rook waves his concerns aside. “Especially not after declaring your undying love – you get a few freebies for that.”

After some more non-verbal insisting, Echo awkwardly weaves himself into the British cuddle puddle and nearly gets kneed in the crotch in the process. Part of him is screaming to leave and nurse his wounded pride, both from misunderstanding Glaz completely and generally making a fool of himself, but on the other hand he’d like to spend more time with Glaz. And so he stays.

“Don’t worry”, Smoke grins at him, “Glaz is gonna cool off in a bit and it’ll all be fine, forgiveness runs rampant in this flat. I ate the entire chocolate cake Manu made for us and Mark still loves me.”

This gets him Mute’s undivided attention as well as a death glare. “You did what?!”

And while an enraged Mute tries to throw his lover off the sofa for such insolence, Echo thinks back to Glaz’ previous words. He’s probably right, there are some things in life he’s not appreciating enough and it’s not only Glaz himself. It’s good friends as well.

Maybe he should call Hibana later and thank her.

Or he could invite her out for some sushi instead.

#rainbow six siege #glaz #echo #glaz/echo #fanfic #oneshot #also these two would need some time #but they could be utterly adorable and wholesome #whoever gets together with glaz mute rook or twitch #basically adopts the rest as family

44 notes · View notes

wisdomrays · 5 years

Text

THE GUIDE FOR THE YOUTH: The Twenty-Third Word.Part10

IN HIS NAME WE GLORIFY

This lecture which has been written with the spiritual support of our beloved and precious Teacher Bediuzzaman and with the influence of the lessons from the Treatises of Light, is a sweet pleasant conversation regarding the Treatises of Light. I am not capable of explaining the value of the Treatises of Light, And I dare not. Please do not suppose that I can do this. Because I am an ignorant and the most novice reader of the Treatises. My cultural background is not sufficient to describe the value of such a masterpiece which acquired such a fame amongst the Nations. I have to admit this.

The great honor belongs to the intellectual, scholarly, virtuous readers of the Treatises of Light who are intelligent and appreciative.

Yes, I had not read any single article in the Press and in our Books that was explaining the value of the HOLY QURAN until the moment I met the Treatises of Light.

Later I understood that the foreign great men admired the Holy Quran more than the intellectuals rising in our country over the last fifty years. The Noble Quran the Sun of the entire World has been placed at the high position which it deserves inside the green silk fabrics in the White House in America.

Inventors, philosopher, doctors, lawyers, psychologists have been studying and making use of the books written on the principles of the Noble Quran. These important persons have been acquiring international fame thanks to the informations they extract from this Holy Book.

Sweden, Norway and Finland have organized a special Board of Scholars that has searched for a Great Book to save their youth. Finally they decided that the HOLY QURAN must be studied by all in order to make the Youth to gain best moral qualities and become broad-minded intellectuals.

There have been many Foreigners who admired Islam and the Quran. Since Non-Muslims admire and make use of the Holy Book of Islam, the smart Muslim Youth cannot hesitate and be negligent any longer.

Our Glorious Lord has responded to the most sacred and most sincere desire of the Youth also in the Twentieth Century.

He granted the TREATISES OF LIGHT (RISALE-I NUR) which are the genuine commentary and interpretation of the HOLY QURAN for this century of civilization. These treatises have been sourced from the Holy Quran and authored within the principles of the Holy Quran.

The author is Bediuzzaman (The Wonder of the Age). Great many scholars and scientists confirmed that the honourable author of the Treatises of Light had been deservedly called Bediuzzaman (the Wonder of the Age). Nevertheless, such a famous and powerful person has not become known to all.

Yes, the Communists worked in our society over the last fifteen-twenty years. Let alone present such Genius of ours, they slander Him with several false stories. They made use of all Media and opportunities in order to succeed in this. They are trying very hard in speaking ill of our Scholars before the Nation. We perceived the truth of the matter only within the last one year. We understood that our Press and Media were full of Communist Microbes thanks to the development of Democracy in our Country. And all the while we were deceived.

We cleaned our minds from the false propaganda and lies about our Religious Scholars. We got rid of the negative impressions about them. Then we embraced our QURAN from which all the genuine intellectuals of the World benefited.

And afterwards we began to study the masterpieces interpreted from the QURAN into our Language. Just like the young generation do not know the true value of the great works of our Great Men such as MAWLANA JALALUDDIN, YUNUS EMRE and EVLIYA CELEBI, the youth do not know much about BEDIUZZAMAN.

However those who happened to learn the existence of such a Precious Person have immediately perceived His high value, and desired strongly to benefit from Him. Inshaallah (Allah willing) many millions of people in Turkey and in the whole World will benefit from the works of this Great Man.

This estimate and wish has been much more reinforced by the power, strength and innovation inside the Treatises of Light.

Yes, the books which can make the contemporary human beings happy are solely the Treatises of Light. This is certain belief of those who read and study the Treatises of Light, not only the words of some Lazy student like me.

Just like that those who embrace the Holy Quran will have happiness in both the World and the Hereafter, those who study and practice the Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light) which are illuminating and high commentaries of the Quran, will attain the True Happiness. The youth who will study them will have a bright future, they will become intellectual and cultural persons. We believe unshakably that our morality will be elevated as long as we study them...

As much as we study them, we learn obedience to OUR ALLAH, OUR PROPHET, our parents and to the right and just Law... Let the people read them and try them. Then those who read personally will decide themselves on these opinions.

If I can enter into the Masjid of our Prophet Hazrat MUHAMMAD (Peace & Greetings be upon Him) and if I can go up to the Minaret of His Masjid and if Allah gives me a strong voice so that the entire World can hear me, I will proclaim with all my power and strength that :

“the Treatises of Light are the Masterpiece works which will save all the Youth and the Humanity from evil, error, corruption and bestiality...”

I cannot estimate the greatness of the sacred desire of those people who dive into the OCEAN OF LIGHT since the Treatises of Light have awakened such a high desire in me even if I studied only nine or ten books yet.

You don’t need to receive explanations from any source in order to have an idea about the Treatises of Light. You read these luminous works yourself. The Light of the Holy Quran will fill in you and will develop your Faith. The Treatises of Light will convince you that due to belief the World is more delightful than the Paradise. You will begin to love the World not for a transient life but for an Eternal Life. You will understand once more that performing the ritual prayers is a great genuine pleasure.

You will begin to enjoy so much to enter the presence of our Great Allah during prayers that your days without prayers will become full of distress and suffering. You will feel most joyful, most pleasing and happiest moments of your life during prayers. In fact you all know too that those who perform this sacred duty properly will have joy and happiness in the World and in the Hereafter and they actually do.

When you will be engaged in the service of the Treatises of Light (Risale-i Nur), if they invite you to the Paradise while living on Earth, you would not want to go to Paradise yet leaving that service, such a great honor like to serve the Holy Qur’an, by realizing that such a sacred duty and such a high happiness are available right now in this world.

When we say that the world can be considered as a virtual paradise from the point of view of Faith, some may reply: what pleasure have we had till this day in this world life and how in the future can we lead a life of pleasure?

In fact the Treatises of Light have proven with their strong logical proofs and definitive evidences that this World is like a spiritual paradise for the people of Faith and it is like a spiritual Hell for the people of Misguidance.

Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light) have been authored with the Divine Favor, not written by the author’s own choice, in order to save the Muslims of the 20th Century and all Human Beings from the deep Darkness of Materialist Opinions and terrible

roads of Misguidance. You can read the Treatises of Light continuously with the unhurried behaviour and by learning the meanings of the theological words in them. Some kind of cheerfulness and a strong zeal will be aroused in you like those who work hard night and day.

If you are taking a little slowly, remember that you are under the influence of your carnal mind. Then you must increase the level of your activity immediately. Because the youth is going to end. It is our strong determination not to waist even five minutes in the way to study such books whose values are not measurable.

The fortunate people who study the Risale-i Nur are definitely not concerned with personal material benefits. Because their goals are to obtain the Divine Consent. Thanks Allah, now these are millions of our beloved friends who have perceived that studying and working for the Risale-i Nur is the service for our Holy Book. No one can deny this fact which is clearly apparent for those who have sound minds. There are even some students who do not complete their night-sleeps for the sake of Risale-i Nur Studies which are for sake of Allah.

There are even such true students of THE LIGHT who are at the service of the Treatises of Light: If he is offered the wealth of American Billionaire Ford for copying and publishing some other books instead of Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light), he will reply as follows even without lifting his pen from the lines of Risale-i Nur :

“Even if you give the whole wealth and the kingdom of the World to me, I will not accept. Because Allah Almighty will give me an inexhaustible eternal Treasure due to the Service of Risale-i Nur. I wonder if that wealth of yours can make me happy? That is quite doubtful. But there is no doubt and misgiving about an Eternal Treasure and a True Happiness which Allah Almighty will bestow on me.”

If a young man was a little late to appreciate the value of Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light), he will say with great grief:

“ I must dedicate this poor Youth of mine which awakened lately for the Services and Studies on the path of the Qur’an and the Faith for the sake of our Beloved Allah and our Beloved Prophet, absolutely not for the temporary things of this world. I cannot fail to write and publish the Treatises of Light (Risale-i Nur).”

Some people might think that we are disconnected from this World completely when they see that we are so much engaged in the Treatises of Light. On the contrary, we first complete our job correctly if we are single professionals, or our lessons and home works if we are students, or our duty if we are civil servants. Reading the Risalei- Nur has been giving us strength and enthusiasm by multiplying our success in these world affairs.

2 notes · View notes

romancatholicreflections · 5 years

Photo

9th December >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections on Today’s Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on the Second Sunday of advent, Cycle C

Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

Second Sunday of Advent – Year C

Gospel Reading: Luke 3:1-6 vs 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, vs 2. during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. vs.3 He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, vs.4 as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah: A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. vs.5 Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. vs.6 And all mankind shall see the salvation of God

******************************************************** We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose .

Michel DeVerteuil :A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin: Prof, MRIA, FRHistS, FSA , President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, Director Studia Traditionis Theologiae, Professor of Historical Theology University of Nottingham NG7 2RD Sean Goan:Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and is now a Religious Education/Religious Studies teacher at Blackrock College located in Blackrock, Dublin. Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger and National Director of The Apostlship of Prayer.

****************************************

Michel DeVerteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels www.columba.ie

Textual Comments

On the second and third Sundays of Advent, the church gives us John the Baptist as a model of someone who knows how to wait. In this first passage we have Luke’s summary of the mission of John the Baptist. It is none other than the mission of Jesus himself and of all preachers of the gospel. In verses 1 and 2 St Luke invites us to meditate on God’s word which comes to John in the wilderness, bypassing the powerful ones of the world. Verse 3 is a concise summary of John’s (and Jesus’) preaching. There are two aspects to verses 4 and 5: the fact that John lived out the vocation of Isaiah, and then the content of his preaching expressed in poetic language. We are invited to identify with both aspects.

Scriptural Prayer Reflections

“I thank you, Father, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.” Luke 10:21

Lord, we forget your way of doing things. We think it is important to seek the favour of the great ones of the world, as if their patronage is necessary for the spread of your gospel, while we neglect the wisdom of the poor. But your word has always bypassed * Tiberius Caesar reigning for 15 years, * Pilate, the great governor, * those powerful tetrarchs Herod, Philip and Lysanius, and come to a humble person, living in the wilderness.

Lord, we remember a time when we were in the wilderness: * our family relationships were at their lowest level; * at work everything seemed to be going wrong; * violence and crime ruled in the country; * our prayer life was as dry as dust. Yet within that very wilderness there was a voice within us, crying out that things would turn out right. We felt so sure of this that, even in the midst of all that desolation, we prepared a way for your coming and made the paths straight so that we would be there to welcome you. We saw some deep valleys and wondered how we would ever get across them, but we knew that every one of them would be filled in. There were high mountains before us; they would all be laid low. The road was winding, so that every time we turned a corner another one appeared; it would be straightened. As for the rough roads that had our feet sore and bleeding, they would become smooth as glass. We knew for sure that we would experience your salvation. Thank you, Lord.

“We live in a world where no one cares.” … School principal, Trinidad

Lord, we pray that in our heartless world the church may, like John the Baptist, fulfil what is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah, and be a voice crying out to those who feel themselves in a wilderness that you have not abandoned them, that every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth.

“If all people are God’s children, why are we rejoicing when our sons and daughters are safe while death and destruction is wreaked upon innocent people?” …Religious Superiors of the USA after the Gulf War

Lord, we still need John the Baptist to teach us your will that all must see your salvation.

“A critical ingredient of the Caribbean today is collective self-knowledge as the vital pre-condition to collective self-possessiveness.”… Lloyd Best

Lord, give us the grace to know that what we are doing is written in the books of the sayings of the prophets.

*************************************

Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie

Introduction to the Celebration

Why do we gather here each Sunday to celebrate the sacred meal of the Lord? Because as we say later: when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Now in Advent we recall the past when Jesus first gathered disciples, but we also remember the future when he will come again in glory. Then we will be delivered from all that binds us, but before then we must take John the Baptist as our model: ‘we must prepare a way for the Lord’ within the world we live in.

Homily notes

1. We can view repentance in two ways. Looking backwards it can be a question of making up for what has been done in the past. Looking forwards it can be getting the matter sorted out and making sure that, as far as possible, the problem does not come back. As with all such ‘two ways of looking at something’, people will then say that this is just a matter of whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, or whether you think that the bottle is half-full or half-empty. But the issue of repentance is more complicated that just manifestations of two ways of looking at life. We can see this by asking which view is embodied in most institutions in the societies to which we belong? We want criminals to go to prison: it is a time to ‘pay back’ for the past. We want criminals ‘to get what they deserve’ on account of their deeds in the past. We want compensation for the past, we want reparation for the past, and we very often want vengeance. Penitence – as the word is used in such words as penitentiary or penal – is linked to a belief that if someone has done something wrong, then later they must suffer for that crime, and somehow that later suffering ‘makes up for the past’. How it could make up for the past is another question: we seem to certainly want ‘people to pay’. This notion that penitence is linked to the past, that it is someone’ getting his /her just deserts’, is found in every society. Indeed, paying up for the past with suffering is often seen as the essence of justice. The people who come out of a court when a criminal who has hurt them has been sentenced to a long sentence often say ‘we have finally got justice!’

2. This is certainly the human perspective, but is it something that we as Christians who believe in a God of love can accept as just a ‘fact of life’? Certainly, many Christians in the past, and indeed today, imagine God as the great score-settler: if people don’t pay in this life, then ‘divine justice’ will get them in the end. Hell, then, is imagined as God’s final reckoner. Indeed, many contemporary Christians are schizophrenic about hell: they find it repulsive to believe in hell for themselves, but are quite happy that it should be there so that God can finally grind out his justice – on others. But is this view, however common, an adequate expression of what Christians hold as their story of God’s dealing with humanity?

3. The prophets – we have the examples of Isaiah and John the Baptist in today’s readings — were in no doubt that people sinned and that the people of God had fallen into sin. Yet, when they call the people ‘to repent’ they start looking forward not backwards. To repent is to start anew, to make sure that the former ways disappear, that a new way of living appears. The repentance is the act of preparing the way for the Lord to Come along. Repentance is change so that in the future all can see the salvation of God.

4. Christians have never been in doubt that humanity had fallen into sin and needed a redeemer. But to say it needed a redeemer is to look forward. God’s justice was not the destruction of the sinful people, but to send his Son. When Jesus came he was not here to punish for the past, but to be the redeemer who would open up the future after sin and its effects. Jesus called us to a new way of living, he did not come ‘to call to account’ for the past.

5. When the church has preached penitence, it is as a medicine to train the person in a new way of living. We come as sick people to the source of healing (St lhomas). ‘God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins’ (Formula of Absolution). God is love, not vengeance – but.this is a very hard notion for us to grasp and to believe. lhe problem is as old as Ezekiel: ‘Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?’ (18:23); ‘For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live’ (18:32); ‘Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, 0 house of Israel?’ (33:11). And we, two millennia after seeing how God deals with his people – he sent them the Christ whose coming we are preparing to celebrate – seem to have as much difficulty in looking forward and seeing repentance as starting afresh with God’s love.

6. But believing that God gives a new future to those who turn to a new way of thinking, living, acting, loving is just part of the task. We are called not merely to follow the Christ who brought the Father’s love in his coming among us. We are called to become like him in our lives. As there is no place for vengeance, and no place for getting a ‘pay back’ for the past in God dealing with us; then there must be a similar desire to let people start over again among us. 1his is what we pray: ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’

7. Christmas recalls God’s great new start with humanity: Jesus the New Adam. We hear that proclaimed today in the call to repent and to prepare the way. But if we want Jesus to come within our own lives today as he once came in Bethlehem, then we must be prepared to turn from notions of vengeance and become people of forgiveness who look forward. Looking forward is far more difficult than looking backwards – we should honestly admit that as a fact about the human condition, most of us both as individuals and as groups are better at raking over old hurts than at looking for new ways to co-operate with one another. Yet it is only when we adopt this habit of looking forward that we can truly become Christ-like. We see Jesus’s way of looking forward in what he said to the woman they wanted to stone as payment for her past: ‘Go your way, and from now on do not sin again’ an 8:11). The task was to set out into the future: ‘Go’; and start a new way of living: ‘do not sin again’.

8. We are looking forward to Christmas: the Christ we seek to welcome calls us to look forward in the way we live – this is repentance and preparing the way; and he calls us to look forward to his own coming in glory.

*********************************

Sean Goan Let the reader understand www.columba.ie

Gospel

Luke begins his account of the ministry of Jesus by putting it in its historical context. He tells us about who was in charge in the worlds of politics and religion and then introduces us to someone who was something of a threat to them both. John the Baptist is presented as inviting the people to repent, to turn again to God and to show their desire to do this by being baptised – a symbolic washing. In so doing John is seen as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah in which there is a call to remove every obstacle that might stand in the way of God showing his salvation to his people. This gospel reminds us of one of the key themes of Advent: repentance.

Reflection

Repentance and its associated colour purple remind many people of the season of Lent rather than Advent but it is not difficult to see why it is so central to our preparation for the coming of Jesus. Without it, the season of Christmas can simply slide into an excuse for over-indulgence, an opportunity to party in an effort to get over the darkness of winter. These readings show the true meaning of repentance, for they speak about leaving aside anything that might blind us to what God wants for us, and opening ourselves to something new and wonderful and beyond our wildest dreams: God coining in the person of his Son.

*******************************

Donal Neary SJ Gospel Reflections

www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

All reminds us God is near

A poet wrote: ”when I am an old woman I shall wear purple’, to remind her that life can be different day by day or that she might be personally noticed and change her life. This time of the year the Church wears purple and we remind ourselves that Jesus is near, that life can be different and that we can change our lives.

The gospel from John the Baptist encourages a change in our lives. We would look on ourselves and regret what we should regret – our sins, our meanness, our minor faults and failings, our injustices and hurt of others. In his time the people would immerse themselves in the river and be forgiven. We can immerse ourselves in the healing and forgiving love of God in many ways, including the sacrament of reconciliation (penance, confession). We can immerse ourselves in the mood of waiting for Christmas, and take this on the spiritual level and well as the ordinary.

All of the weeks of Advent can be a preparation for the way of the Lord, which we will hear of during the readings of the coming year. This is a time of joyful waiting, knowing we cannot be let down. The purple of Advent is not the purple of mourning but of joyful anticipation – like when we dress in the football team’s colours early in the morning to look forward to a match.

If we take time for the spiritual preparation with some prayer, sacraments (maybe go to Mass once or twice a week, or daily for Advent), and if we help our neighbour a bit more than usual, then nothing of all the preparations can be just secular. Everything of this month can remind us of God… trees, lights, carols, parties, Santa hats, cards, gift-buying – big reminders that God is near.

Give us this day our daily bread and daily truth, Lord God.

********************************************

2 notes · View notes

osmw1 · 6 years

Text

Poison-Wielding Fugitive Chapter 26

“Uh, umm… Yukihisa?” “Hmm? What?”

I stop in between bites and look up at Arleaf and her parents.

“Are you okay… eating that much? Please don’t force yourself.”

Arleaf’s mom comes to her senses and brings me countless bottles of antidotes from the shop.

“Oh, I’m fine. In fact, I can’t get enough of this incredible flavor. Heck, I feel stronger than ever before.”

Let me check my status. Whoa… that’s crazy! All my stats have gone up, along with my health and mana regeneration. I even earn experience and skills quicker too. Oh, and my poison attacks do more damage… I can’t believe how many bonuses I’m getting. Just out of curiosity, I open up the menu and see what kind of poisons I can create.

Toxin of Arleaf’s Poison Cooking

The text is flickering a little, but I got a new option. Kinda cruel for a name. But it seems quite powerful, so I’d better not mess with it. I finished my plate while checking my status.

“Thanks for the meal.”

Mm. My body feels light and nimble. The fatigue that had built up seems to have disappeared as well. I feel so ready to go hunt in the swamp right now.

“Let me take a look at you, alright?”

Arleaf’s mom holds her hand to my forehead. I was told this afterwards, but apparently her class is Physician.

“Clean bill of health for you. No adverse effects or anything at all.” “C-Cohgray knows how to use storage magic. I bet he was just pretendin’ he was eatin’ it.” “Dear? Have you forgotten that our daughter’s cooking has Resist? He would be quite the monster if he were able to do that.”

Resist, huh? I didn’t know that was a thing. Does that mean I can’t store it? But what’s the reasoning behind it?

“Oh, uhh, that reminds me…”

Arleaf’s dad looks like he’s in deep thought as folds his arms together, muttering.

“It’s just some rumor I’ve heard from other adventurers, but they say you bathe in the swamp, Cohgray… I just laughed it off, but…”

Gah?! Don’t tell me I was being watched? It’s so unrealistic, it could be passed off as a joke. But now it might seem credible after all. Maybe I can brush it off with one of the Black Company Secret Techniques, Poker Face?

“You were floating face up when I found you too. Could it be…”

Arleaf follows up with a snipe, dealing critical damage! What should I do?! How do I brush them off now? Does magic solve everything? Help me, Veno!

‘… blub blub blub.’

Damn it! You useless dragon! I bet you’re just blowing bubbles right now, aren’t you?! I have no choice! Time to get serious!

“Uh, yeah… the truth is that I’m a Poison-Wielder, an uncommon specialty class. Not only does poison not hurt me, it even makes me stronger. And I’m here in this village because of the proximity to the swamp. So that’s why I was able to eat all of that…”

That was a little harsh, but it’s the truth. I’m sure it’s okay telling them. In fact, they might suspect me more if I were to hide it from them. And since Bloodflower is a disease from a long time ago, they won’t be able to blame me for it either!

“What’d you just say?!” “That’s… but… hmm…”

Arleaf’s dad sinks into deeper thought. At least he understood why I was able to eat Arleaf’s cooking.

“I’m an expert with poison, so I know what’s safe and what’s not for human consumption. That’s also why that acquaintance of mine was so willing to train me.”

Finally, the father pats his daughter on the shoulder.

“Arleaf, this may just be fate. Cohgray… I’m sure he will accept all of you. Don’t let this slip by.” “What are you saying?”

Wasn’t he fine with his daughter marrying late?

“Cohgray. Don’t be a stranger anymore. From now on, call me your father-in-law.”

Well, it’s refreshing that he’s changed his attitude about me. But who was it that threatened me with poison again?

“I am very grateful, but Arleaf herself has not said agreed to this, so I’m afraid that I cannot accept your offer.”

We’ve already agreed to have Arleaf only assist me, not to mention that she’s only helping me while I’m here.

“Yukihisa… umm, my father has already given you his blessing… so please treat me well from now on.”

No, wait, time out. Sure, your father has given me permission, but this ain’t quite right. Plus, the one they call Cohgray of the Swamps just finished a plate of Arleaf’s Poison Cooking… they’ll start calling me Cohgray, the Poison Eater.

“Oh, who’da guessed?! Haha! I didn’t think there’d be anyone in this world to have such a talent to not only eat, but to finish all of Arleaf’s cooking! Ah-haha!”

I join them for a meal again; this time lunch. Arleaf’s mom is cooking for us all. Yeah, I feel fine. I can eat. In the midst of lunch, Arleaf’s father takes out a bottle of liquor from somewhere and starts knocking back drink after drink. He sure is happy. Why would he—a man who dotes on his daughter so much, he’s willing to chase away all his likely sons-in-law—be so happy to have found a potential groom for his daughter? I don’t think I’ll ever understand how he thinks.

“Aren’t you being a little too honest, dear?” “No way I can stop! We’ve found someone to accept Arleaf completely! She’ll no longer be accused of poisoning people anymore. She didn’t even have to sacrifice anything either. How can I not be happy?!”

He was probably against marrying his daughter off to protect her, but maybe also to protect her husband. So that she doesn’t come to any harm with her ability of Poison Cooking…

“One of these days, Father, I shall mix my cooking into yours.” “If you think yer up to it, bring it on! Haha!”

Don’t egg your daughter on. The murderous rage hiding behind that smile of Arleaf’s is terrifying.

“Mu.” ‘Unbelievable… the flavor was revolting. To be able to knock out a dragon… from time to time, humans are truly capable of great feats.’

Muu began to regain consciousness shortly afterwards and Veno did so only slightly sooner. Maybe he recovered quickly since he’s a Poison Dragon after all.

‘Just tasting it was enough. If I had eaten it, who knows what would have happened.’

Veno guessed what had happened while he was knocked out.

‘I would never recommend thee to let others know thy intent, but it could have gone worse, especially considering the bonuses thou had gained from the food.’

Well… If I ever need to go slay monsters, I could always go and have some of Arleaf’s cooking first. It’ll buff my abilities and give me a bonus to leveling up my skills too. No reason not to use it right up ‘til the enemy comes knocking at the door. I could also get Arleaf to pack me a bento. It’d be more effective than any half-assed potion.

Well, I can gloss the whole uncommon Poison-Wielder thing over. I didn’t say anything about having a dragon inside my mind. And it doesn’t really have anything to do with Veno anyway.

“Good grief… how shameful, drinking before your meal even started. Dinner’s ready.”

Arleaf’s mother begins to bring course after course out. Wow… there’s a soup with a bunch of different ingredients and something that resembles a pizza. It smells absolutely delicious.

“Then, let us pray first. Oh, you don’t need to mind us, Mr. Cohgray.” “No, please, go ahead.”

Arleaf’s family gets seated, rests their elbows on the dining table, and clasps their hand together.

“The Holy Dragon who slumbers in our world, we are able to join together here today for a meal at your mercy. We vow to do good with your gift, which we are about to receive.”

Arleaf’s whole family mutters the same words and pray together. They’re the type to pray before every meal, eh? I’m not much of a religious man and I don’t understand much. But I know that prayer important to them religious types, so I remain silent for them. And I’m guessing that it’s good that they’re praying to some holy dragon, since it’d have nothing to do with the country that’s after Veno’s head.

‘Aye, indeed. Followers of the Teachings of the Sacred Yggdrasil would dedicate their prayers to something like “Mother Nature, our tree” or something like that.’ “Muu muu muu…”

Muu plays along and mutters something too. You’re a sly dog, aren’t you? Acting all cute.

“Now then, let’s dig in. Mr. Cohgray, you go ahead as well.” “Hahaha. From now on, Cohgray’s got Arleaf’s cooking to look forward to. Don’t worry about it.” “Father, if you don’t cut that out, I will be angry at you.” “That’s right. It’s a big day for Arleaf, so hold back a little, won’t you?” “Ah-haha! I can’t help myself!”

I ignore Arleaf’s father being all jolly and start eating. Mm. This is indeed really delicious. Considering I’ve been eating tough steaks at the tavern and as well as my own cooking, this is miles better. It seems like this isn’t the cheap stuff either. Must be because I’m over for lunch.

Oh, yeah. I could also give them some steak that’s been marinated in Mollifying Poison. I may have used poison, but it tastes great after all. As long as I explain it clearly to them, it should be alright.

“Oh, I had almost forgotten. Sorry for interrupting the conversation, but Arleaf, you’re going to have to explain to Mr. Cohgray what you can do.”

Having been instructed by her mom, Arleaf goes all embarrassed and nods without making eye contact.

“Umm, right. Before I was a Chemist, I had been a unique first job. I’ve changed back to that job to aid you as a party member.” “Oh? You were specced into a weird class like I was, Arleaf?” “It would be more accurately described as unique to our lineage.” “That’s right. We have quite the weird clan! We’ve even got relatives who are clergymen, y’know?”

Arleaf’s father, that drunkard, says boastfully.

“This part is the one that is a little different. I’ve changed into a more magic-focused class called D-Psy Earth. I am level 13 with my D-Psy Earth and level 18 for my Chemist. Hopefully, I will be useful to you in battle.”

Hmm, I see… seems like Arleaf not only knows Poison Cooking but has foundations in magic as well. That initial D doesn’t stand for anything weird, like “Deadly,” does it? She does know Poison Cooking after all.

“And since I’ve learned Magic Sense before I was a Chemist, I am able to attack and heal with magic. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be of any use to you…” “And that D…?” “…”

Ah, Arleaf looked away.

“I… I was born with a skill called ‘Death-Beckoning Cooking’…”

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /next/ (full list of translated chapters) (discussion thread on Novel Updates) (please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

#Poison-Wielding Fugitive #PWF #Average Translations #AvgTL #osm #毒使いの逃亡者 #一般の英訳 #アネコユサギ #ライトノベル #ラノベ #Aneko Yusagi #light novel #ln

3 notes · View notes