#Promotion Text Message In Egypt

[fatimauae]

BOOST YOUR BUSINESS WITH BULK MESSAGING

WHAT IS BULK MESSAGING AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

With a world moving at high speed digitally, companies require instant, trustworthy, and economical means of communications. BULK MESSAGING is the answer to all their requirements, and they can send numerous text messages in seconds to customers, employees, or subscribers. For promotions, transactional notifications, or customer care, SMS MESSAGING helps in direct and instant communication with high response rates.

BENEFITS OF BULK MESSAGING FOR BUSINESSES

Unlike emails that often go unread, BULK MESSAGING has a significantly higher open rate, with over 90% of text messages read within minutes. It ensures instant delivery with no delays, enabling businesses to reach their audience in real-time. With simple API integration, companies can automate SMS MESSAGING for seamless customer interaction. Cost-effectiveness makes bulk messaging an affordable option for startups and large enterprises alike. Most importantly, it helps build customer trust through personalized, interactive messaging.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST BULK SMS COMPANY?

Selecting the right BULK SMS COMPANY is critical for businesses looking for high deliverability, reliability, and advanced automation. Key factors to consider include:

Delivery Rate: Ensure the provider offers high message deliverability with direct carrier routes.

Pricing Transparency: Look for providers with no hidden charges and competitive pricing.

API and Integration: Seamless integration with CRM, e-commerce, and marketing tools.

Scalability: Ability to handle thousands of messages per second without delays.

24/7 Support: Reliable customer service for troubleshooting and campaign management.

USING PROMOTION TEXT MESSAGE IN EGYPT FOR BUSINESS GROWTH

Businesses in Egypt can maximize their marketing efforts with PROMOTION TEXT MESSAGE IN EGYPT, allowing them to send exclusive deals, limited-time offers, and brand updates directly to customers' mobile devices. This strategy ensures better response rates compared to traditional advertising. Some key benefits include:

Localized Marketing: Reach the right audience in Egypt with targeted campaigns.

Immediate Customer Engagement: Prompt responses to promotions and offers.

Higher ROI: Lower costs and higher conversion rates than email or display ads.

Personalized Messaging: Tailor messages based on customer preferences and purchase behavior.

HOW BULK SMS IN EGYPT HELPS COMPANIES CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS?

Taking advantage of BULK SMS IN EGYPT enables companies to promote customer relationships and enhance retention levels. From appointment reminders, transactional alerts, to promotional news, SMS marketing in Egypt is now a key communication tool. Some of the uses are:

HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL BULK MESSAGING CAMPAIGN?

To achieve maximum results, businesses need to focus on:

Audience Segmentation: Target the right customers for higher engagement.

Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Messages should be concise with a compelling CTA.

Optimal Timing: Send messages at peak hours when users are most active.

Personalization: Address recipients by name and customize offers.

Performance Tracking: Monitor delivery, open rates, and conversion rates to optimize future campaigns.

FINAL THOUGHTS: WHY BULK MESSAGING IS THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

In a competitive market, businesses need instant, scalable, and cost-effective communication strategies. BULK MESSAGING ensures businesses stay connected with their customers, drive higher engagement, and boost sales. Whether you are looking for a trusted BULK SMS COMPANY, planning a PROMOTION TEXT MESSAGE IN EGYPT, or optimizing your outreach with BULK SMS IN EGYPT, investing in SMS marketing is a game-changer. Start leveraging bulk messaging today and take your business communication to the next level!

[pixelpastry]

eSIMS are still being requested / gazaesims.com

As of 8 AM 1/22. Nomad and Holafly are most needed to be sent to gazaesims@gmail.com

Instructions for purchasing and sending an eSim can be found here (this zine is featured on the site and can be downloaded to hand out/distribute/etc)

More instructions summarized by gothhabiba can be found on this post as well

(posted by @Mirna_elhelbawi via twitter)

[Image 1: To the left is a list of instructions. The title reads, "Buy an E-sim!!" Under the title, the list goes, "1. Nomad and Holafly most needed (guide linked) 2. Send QR code screenshot to gazaesims@gmail.com (direct email linked) 3. All GB amounts are helpful - the more the better!!" To the right is an artistic design of a Palestinian flag, a dove carrying an olive branch with the words Free Palestine on it's wings and the motif of a keffiyeh.

Image 2: The image contains text that has "Let's Keep Gaza Connected" as a title. Underneath, it reads "Nomad (regional Middle East) Use promotional code NOMADCNG for discount". Below this is written, "Holafly (Israel) and (Egypt) Use promotional code HOLACNG for discount". At the bottom of the image, the message "Send QR code screenshot to: gazaesims@gmail.com" is written.]

id provided by mysteriousbeetle !

[fantasyinvader]

Hmm...

In the Japanese text, the Sword of the Creator is called the Sword of the Heavenly Emperor. This links to the whole Confucian oudou/hadou thing, as the Heavenly Emperor, also known as the Jade Emperor, is the one who oversees the Mandate. The Jade Emperor is sometimes identified as Sakra, the leader of the gods in Buddhism who consults with the Buddha on morality as well as the one who banished the Asura.

The thing is, Sakra and Indra are more titles at times. Sakra is a god and is long lived, but isn’t immortal. Another god is supposed to step in and take his place, becoming the new Sakra. With Indra, there’s a cosmic cycle that sees a new Indra.

Thinking about this though, we have the Sword of the Heavenly Emperor aka the Jade Emperor who is sometimes thought of as Sakra who is also Indra, and the game itself mentions Indra. Thales-as-Arundel gives the Arrow of Indra weapon to the player as an extra bonus if the Agarthan mages survive Hubert’s paralogue. Adding to that, despite being identified as an Agarthan weapon it is repaired with arcana crystals.

But think about it, both the Sword of the Heavenly Emperor and the Arrow of Indra are named for what could be seen as the same being, just seen through different beliefs. In Houses, that being is Sothis, but we get the latter from Thales, whose personal class is Agastya. Agastya is described as “a high ranking guru among those who slither in the dark” in the game, a guru being a spiritual teacher in Hinduism and Buddhism, Agastya was a vedic sage in Hinduism. Indra is originally from Hindu belief. Agastya is also associated with Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius, which is associated with Egyptian Sopdet who was known as Sothis to the greeks.

And then there was this. In the paralogue where Byleth obtains Rhea’s shield, they fight spectral soldiers Rhea left to guard her shield. These include spectral dark bishops, a class tied to Agartha and their dark seals. But in the case of this paralogue, the dark bishops are in white robes like Church bishops.

If we put these things together, we have the Agarthans getting drunk on the power Sothis gave them. They begin to, looking at the line through DeepL here, disobey Sothis’s teachings and begin to wage wars. If we add in the document from the shadow library, Sothis was “sleeping” in a land called Thinis (a link to Egypt like her name being the Greek version of Sopdet), and when she awoke and saw what the civilization she build had become in her absence she wasn’t happy. DeepL gives us a different line on the whole Thinis bit, “In Thinis, the supposed home of the ancient gods, the ungodly awakens at last.” They’re not calling Sothis a false god, they’re saying she’s immoral and lacking what the people saw as religious belief. And of course they believe that, as the people had begun to view themselves as gods when they strayed from Sothis’s teachings.

Owing to that, we get the guru Agastya class, seen as a promotion to dark bishop, which is a promotion to dark mages. And while there is a link between the dark bishops and the Church, the Agarthan version wears black robes instead of white. They took what was likely religious robes and altered them to suit their new faith. We actually get an example of Edelgard doing this herself, the armor of her Emperor class is meant to be the legendary armor of the Adrestian emperor. It’s meant to be Wilhelm’s, a holy knight. It’s been taken and reshaped to suit Edelgard, I believe Heroes confirmed this, and Edelgard is someone shown using the Church in Hopes to begin pushing a different message than the Central branch, one Mercedes doesn’t support, and takes over the Church after Flower ends. And on top of that, she wants Byleth to refer to her as “El,” which is the name of an ancient god of the Canaanites or simply a semetic word for a god or deity. This draws her into close parallels with the Agarthans and them believing they were gods themselves.

Owing to the idea that history is repeating itself and the stuff concerning Indra and Sakra, the Sothis who created the ancient civilization went to sleep because she ran out of juice. She effectively died, and when she returned it was in a new form that the people didn’t recognize. This would help discredit the idea their ancient god had returned and wasn’t happy, it’s a different being to them. ,

When Sothis rebuilt the world, the effort once again caused her to die. She attempted to not repeat history by leaving the Nabateans in charge to govern the land (owing to the devs saying they did, albeit with positive implications to the word they used such as healing) at least until she revived on her own (with order to not attempt to revive her, possibly the cause of her memory loss). This plan was trashed when Nemesis broke into where her body was resting, stole it, and then took it to the Agarthans (kinda like Elfric, now that I think about it). The Agarthans took the body, used it’s blood to empower Nemesis and turned it into the Sword of the Heavenly Emperor, instructing Nemesis to go slaughter the Nabateans. We know the Elites really did believe their weapons were holy, so the story of Nemesis being given the sword by Sothis to slay “wicked gods” likely came as a pretense to Nemesis throwing the land, once governed, into chaos and persecuting the people. Sothis was appropriated by the Agarthans to validate Nemesis.

Then we have Seiros building the Empire with Wilhelm, leaving, then acting as various archbishops throughout history only for the Empire to go after her current incarnation of Rhea. In Flower, her putting on her old outfit is her trying to get the empire to realize that, yeah, she’s not just some archbishop she’s their goddamn founder. A person who their emperor’s family claims to be descended from. Again, trying and failing to stop history from repeating itself which falls in line with the route, Flower, being the one where Byleth loses Nirvana symbolically falling back into the cycle rather than breaking out of it.

Also worth noting that in Hinduism, Nirvana means achieving unity with Brahman, the universal soul. Byleth fusing with Sothis, their souls becoming one and granting Byleth her powers through the Nirvana class? That Hindu Nirvana at play.

So, the Sword of the Heavenly Emperor isn’t just the game invoking Confucian morality that Pat attempted to erase, the name ties it also tied Buddhism and through it Hinduism. And, of course, it serves to reinforce the fact that, but it also ties into the big reveals of Verdant Wind. There’s all these ties and links to real world religions, meanwhile the Agarthans are named after Greek philosophers. Really feels like there’s something there, like mankind using philosophy to elevate itself but losing it’s own morality along the way. Kinda like Caspar attempting to think about what to do following White Clouds before following his gut telling him Edelgard was wrong and fighting against her. You can attempt to rationalize your actions in doing X or Y, but if you become disconnected from morality in doing so it can turn people into monsters. Edelgard serves as an example of this, literally in Azure Moon.

[courtana]

‏Hi, I am Omar Hilles

‏This is my third account after the other two were suspended

‏I'm fighting for everyone and just want help with my campaign

‏I didn't do anything illegal, I just asked for help

‏I hope you can help me by donating or sharing

‏Hello, my name is Yousef Hilles from Gaza. I followed my campaign and was verified by @el-shab-hussein I hope you can help Campaign number (206)

‏https://www.gofundme.com/f/btuqqt-save-my-familys-life

Thank you for your message! ❤️

Youssef and Omar's campaign was vetted by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi and is #206 in their vetted fundraisers masterlist.

He currently has €6,892 raised of his €23,000 target.

Omar is promoting his father's campaign to rescue his family from Gaza. Youssef's family was forced to leave their home on Al-Nasr Street after receiving threats from the Israeli army. His family had no choice but walk 8 kilometers along Salah al-Din Street to escape to southern Gaza. His family has witnessed and face death and other forms of human destruction that no children should have to see. First they tried to find shelter in an UNRWA school in Khan Yunis, but it quickly became unsafe. Then they moved to Rafah where they lived in a humble tent with little food, water, or medical care. Conditions became unbearable, and they were forced to flee to Deir al-Balah. Youssef has already lost many relatives in this brutal war, and he does not want to lose his family. Donations would help them evacuate to Egypt and hopefully reunite with Youssef.

Please donate to & share their GoFundMe page:

Please reblog and boost their text post, too, especially since their accounts keep on being deactivated by tumblr's moderators.

[mariacallous]

"To my brothers... I tried to survive and failed, forgive me. To my friends... the experience is harsh and I am too weak to fight, forgive me. To the world... you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive."

That was the final message of Sarah Hegazi to the world before she took her life in Canada, where she sought asylum after being released from prison in Egypt on charges of promoting "homosexuality and sexual deviance”.

Sarah was a lesbian activist who identified as a communist and was a founding member of the Bread and Freedom Party. After leaving Egypt for Canada, she joined the Socialist Spring Network there. The Egyptian authorities arrested Sarah and Ahmed Alaa, a law student, in October 2017 after they waved the rainbow flag at a concert by the Lebanese band "Mashrou' Leila," which supports the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, in September of the same year.

The Egyptian state had accused her in what was posthumously referred to as the "Rainbow Flag case" of joining a banned group promoting "deviant ideology." However, she denied these charges and said that she had waved the flag in solidarity with the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. She was released on bail in January 2018 and travelled to Canada, where she announced news of her suicide on May 13, 2020.

The suicide of Sarah was not an ordinary incident in Arab circles, but despite its bitterness, it ignited a flame that spread across social media platforms in the Arab world, and Syria was no exception. Since the news of her suicide spread, many Syrians declared their solidarity, and have spoken out about the discrimination and persecution that LGBTQ+ individuals suffer in Syria. They saw a significant similarity and a shared experience between their own struggles in a society that rejects them and what Sarah endured in terms of significant persecution and bullying. Many Syrian LGBTQ+ individuals have been struck with the fear of meeting the same fate, especially those who have recently discovered their sexual orientation. They find themselves struggling with the internal conflict between their past selves and newly found identity on one hand, and between their families, society, and religion on the other.

The news of Sarah's suicide forced many to wrestle with the question of their destiny in societies that still criminalise sexual and gender differences. It should make us feel more concerned when we identify similarities in our social and political circumstances with what she experienced in her homeland, as well as the loneliness and feeling of alienation she endured in her country of asylum. It is not easy for a person to reach the point of suicide without having first exhausted all their resilience, lost their family and friends, and all sense of belonging and security.

The internet has played a significant role in connecting LGBTQ+ individuals inside and outside of Syria through social media platforms. This has also allowed them to organize meetings, parties, and shared trips under covert names to avoid surveillance.

The increasing presence of LGBTQ+ individuals in both physical and virtual spaces seems to have had no tangible effects on their social perception, however. Socially, homosexuality in Syria is still stigmatised as a "social phenomenon." Some classify LGBTQ+ individuals as criminals who must be punished with imprisonment and more, while others consider them as mentally ill individuals whose deviation needs to be treated by competent authorities. Some do not hesitate to assault them if caught in “suspicious” situations. Religious leaders always emphasize that Syrian society is Islamic and conservative, and there are no Quranic texts that call for tolerance towards LGBTQ+ individuals, suggesting that they deserve punishment.

In line with societal attitudes, the authorities do not protect LGBTQ+ individuals from the pressures and repeated humiliations they face. For example, it is not uncommon for police patrols to raid places where they hold private events and detain them. As they are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, members of the community are subjected to extortion by individuals affiliated with Syrian intelligence agencies. This can involve surveillance, threats of publishing private photos or disclosing secrets that could potentially threaten the lives of many LGBTQ+ individuals in Syria.

[sandy1674686]

How Small Businesses in Egypt Can Win with Video Marketing

In Egypt’s competitive digital space, small businesses often struggle to stand out. With limited budgets and rising customer expectations, the question becomes: how can local brands truly grab attention? The answer is clear—video marketing.

Video is no longer just a trend—it’s one of the most powerful tools for connecting with audiences, building trust, and driving conversions. And with the rise of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, social media companies in Egypt are helping small businesses turn simple video ideas into serious business growth.

Why Video Marketing Matters More Than Ever

Video content is everywhere—and it works. Here’s why:

Higher engagement: Videos capture attention more effectively than images or text.

Better retention: People remember 95% of a message watched in a video, compared to just 10% read in text.

Boosted reach: Social platforms prioritize video, especially Reels and Shorts.

Increased trust: Seeing real people, products, or behind-the-scenes footage builds authenticity.

In short, if you’re a small business owner in Egypt, video is your best friend in a noisy marketplace.

Affordable Video Ideas for Egyptian Small Businesses

You don’t need a huge budget or professional camera crew to start. Here are simple, high-impact ideas:

1. Product Demos

Show your product in action. A short video explaining how to use it can answer questions and drive sales.

2. Customer Testimonials

Record happy clients sharing their experience. It’s a powerful way to build trust with new audiences.

3. Behind the Scenes

Take your audience inside your workspace or process. This humanizes your brand.

4. Tips & How-To’s

Share useful tips related to your industry. Whether it’s fashion styling or tech hacks—educational content performs well.

5. Before & After

Perfect for salons, renovation services, or anything visual—show results!

How Social Media Companies in Egypt Can Help

Creating and promoting video content might sound overwhelming. That’s where the best digital marketing agencies in Egypt come in.

These agencies can:

Develop a video strategy tailored to your goals and target audience

Produce and edit high-quality videos, even on a small budget

Optimize for each platform (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube)

Run video ad campaigns to maximize reach and ROI

Track performance and help you adjust your content for better results

Working with a professional team saves time, ensures consistency, and helps your videos actually convert viewers into customers.

Where to Share Your Videos in Egypt

Instagram Reels & Stories: Great for lifestyle and visual products

TikTok: Perfect for fun, fast, and viral content

Facebook: Still strong in Egypt, especially for older demographics

YouTube Shorts: Ideal for educational and searchable content

WhatsApp: Yes—short videos can be shared in broadcast lists or statuses

Tailoring your content to the platform boosts its effectiveness.

Tips for Success

Keep it short and snappy: 15–60 seconds is often enough

Add Arabic subtitles: Most users watch without sound

Use local music or trending audio: Boost discoverability

Include a call to action: Tell viewers what to do next

Stay consistent: Post regularly to stay top-of-mind

Final Thoughts

Video marketing is no longer optional—it’s essential, even for small businesses. With the help of social media companies in Egypt, you don’t need big budgets to create content that connects.

Start small, stay consistent, and watch your business grow—one video at a time.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Confronting our antisemitism during Holy Week

“Jesus of Nazareth, charged by the Roman authorities with sedition, dies on a Roman cross. But Jews ― the collective, all Jews ― become known as "Christ-killers." Still haunting, the legacy of that charge becomes acute during Holy Week, when pastors and priests who speak about the death of Jesus have to talk about "the Jews." Every year, the same difficulty surfaces: how can a gospel of love be proclaimed, if that same gospel is heard to promote hatred of Jesus's own people?”

- Professor Amy-Jill Levine

___________________________

Holy Week is here, so I thought I’d remind myself and other Christians that it is imperative to resist antisemitic interpretations of Jesus’s Passion.

Holy Week has long been a dangerous time of the year for Jewish persons (See this article for the history of antisemitic hate crimes on Good Friday in medieval Europe, for instance). And the scriptures that we choose to read in our churches during this time fuels that antisemitism not only this week, but the whole year round. 

When our Gospels’ various versions of the Passion narrative are full of inflammatory language about “The Jews” shouting “Crucify him!,” about the disciples (despite being Jewish themselves!) hiding away “for fear of the Jews,” it’s no wonder that we absorb an antisemitic message when we read those scriptures every year -- especially when we aren’t given any guidance on the context as to why these texts were written this way or what to do about it.

So. How can we acknowledge and combat the antisemitism that has too long been entrenched in our communities?

________________

RESOURCES

First, let’s get educated on the basic facts about antisemitism in Holy Week’s typical scriptures, and alternatives to concluding that “the Jews killed Jesus”:

Article: “Who are ‘The Jews’ in John?” .

See this article from My Jewish Learning - “Who Killed Jesus?” .

You might like my sermon from last Palm Sunday that discusses antisemitism in the “triumphal entry” narrative and connects it to the perennial search for someone to blame when we feel afraid or helpless, including parallels to anti-Asian sentiments in this pandemic .

See also Jon M. Sweeney’s book: Jesus Wasn’t Killed by the Jews: Reflections for Christians in Lent

Next, let’s reimagine the stories we read during Holy Week in ways that don’t do harm to our Jewish neighbors! Replace the bad with good!

I most highly recommend Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine’s book Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week. .

Get a summary of and link to a pdf of her chapter on Palm Sunday and the “cleansing of the temple” (Jesus flipping tables) here .

And if reading a whole book isn’t your thing, Levine also has a video series where she talks about the Passion story -- here’s the first video, just 9 minutes long

This quote from Levine in this article sums up the purpose of her scholarship as a whole:

“A number of Christian commentators feel the need to make Judaism look bad in order to make Jesus look good. Instead of portraying Jesus as a Jew talking to other Jews, he becomes in their views the first Christian, the one who invented divine grace, mercy, and love, and all that other good stuff. Such views neglect the presence of these same virtues within Jesus’ own Jewish context. There should be no reason this Jewish Jesus is used to promote anti-Judaism.”

Finally, if you only have time for one resource, make it this article:

“Holy Week and the hatred of the Jews: How to avoid anti-Judaism this Easter,” also written by Amy-Jill Levine.

In this article, Levine describes how the anti-Jewish language got into the Gospels to begin with; how interfaith conversations today help stem the tide of antisemitism; and explores and ranks the 6 strategies Levine has seen people use when trying to resolve these problems with the New Testament. .

From least useful to most useful, she names these strategies as excision (just removing the problematic stuff and pretending it was never there); retranslation (changing up the way we translate problematic texts, such as changing “the Jews” to “Judeans”); romanticizing (this includes Christians holding their own Passover seders -- read this part of the article to see why we should Not Do That); allegorizing; historicizing; and, best of all, just admitting the problem:

“We come finally to our sixth option: admit to the problem and deal with it. There are many ways congregations can address the difficult texts. Put a note in service bulletins to explain the harm the texts have caused. Read the problematic texts silently, or in a whisper. Have Jews today give testimony about how they have been hurt by the texts.

Those who proclaim the problematic verses from the pulpit might imagine a Jewish child sitting in the front pew and take heed: don’t say anything that would hurt this child, and don’t say anything that would cause a member of the congregation to hurt this child. Better still: educate the next generation, so that when they hear the problematic words proclaimed, they have multiple contexts - theological, historical, ethical - by which to understand them.

Christians, hearing the Gospels during Holy Week, should no more hear a message of hatred of Jews than Jews, reading the Book of Esther on Purim, should hate Persians, or celebrating the seder and reliving the time when “we were slaves in Egypt,” should hate Egyptians.

We choose how to read. After two thousand years of enmity, Jews and Christians today can recover and even celebrate our common past, locate Jesus and his earliest followers within rather than over and against Judaism, and live into the time when, as both synagogue and church proclaim, we can love G-d and our neighbour.’

___________

What do you think? 

Do you have more questions you’re wrestling with? more ideas on how to actually deal with our antisemitism, in Holy Week and beyond? more resources on this topic you’d like to share?

[x0401x]

Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #25

Feel free to message me about possible corrections, and please consider supporting the creators by purchasing digital copies of the official releases: Novel || Manga || Fanbook. In case anyone is feeling generous: Ko-fi | PayPal. ( ╹◡╹)っ’･*

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Sri Lanka Nakata Diary

 Title: I got to make some time all of a sudden.

Hello, this is Iggy.

Just as the title says, I suddenly managed to make some time for myself here in Sri Lanka. The guest who was supposed to come over had to go on a last-minute trip, so I wound up with almost an entire day off.

My boss told me that I should take it easy while I was at it and that studying was forbidden, so if you’d like, please give me suggestions. I think there aren’t many people living in Sri Lanka among the ones who are seeing this, so anything goes. Like your favorite ways to spend your leisure time, for example.

By the way, I like cooking when a senior acquaintance of mine comes over, but I noticed lately that I don’t cook much when I’m alone. Eating out is best when it’s Sri Lankan curry.

 Ely_03

Hi, Iggy. I always have fun reading your blog. I live in Greece. I have interest in Japanese people because my daughter is studying abroad in Japan, so I’m happy to have found this blog.

 1975Halleluja

Do they not have night clubs there? How about you try going to one? I’m reading you all the way from Egypt.

 BB_Typhoon

How about trying to clean up your room? It might be surprisingly messy.

 Archangel

Hello, nice to meet you, Iggy-san. If you are in Sri Lanka, apparently, there is a Sri Lankan massage called Ayurveda. You are finally having a day off, so isn’t it a good idea to relax in a way you have never experienced before? Take care of your body. I found the spa below. Not so bad, is it?

(This URL is only visible to the administrator.)

   Title: I went to do Ayurveda!

Hello, Iggy here. Thank you for your previous comments to my blog.

I went to the spa that Archangel-san introduced to me, and it was a series of first experiences, so I was very excited. Back in my country, I kind of imagined that women were the ones who get this kind of massage, but if my tired body would get better, I could keep getting it in the future too.

The owner of the spa was a Tamil speaker. It would have been great if I were more able to talk to them. Thanks to them, I experienced enrichment in many aspects.

Iggy out.

 Archangel

Iggy-san, it seems you had a fulfilling day and nothing makes me happier. I think that the most efficient way to study about languages ​​and gemstones is to proceed with the two paralleling each other like wheels. I hope your training will be fun.

 Punk_Of_England

When I read a blog from someone who’s having fun, I have fun too! If there were a ‘like’ button, I might have pressed it nonstop. Take care of your health. Man, anonymous sections sure are convenient.

   Title: Three-Wheeler

Hello, Iggy here. I had a question in one of my updates.

Do you remember that, last time, I wrote an article about purchasing a three-wheel bike called Three-Wheeler? I’ve been addicted to riding it around lately.

I did have a driver’s license in my motherland, but I was the kind who didn’t have a car or bicycle, so maybe my eyes opened up to the fun of driving a car when I came here.

This thing is like a bike with a hood, so it feels good when the wind hits my face. Finding waterfowl when I’m running around the man-made areas in the evening makes me feel satisfied.

I’m going to study now. After I’m done, I’ll go ride on the Three-Wheeler again. Looking forward to it.

 Archangel

Iggy-san, hello. It seems that you are enjoying your new vehicle. Although this is excessive concern, but if I may share my worries about the Three-Wheeler, while it does have a casual ride quality to it, is not appropriate for crime prevention. For example, there is no wall to protect your body if a thug happens to attack from the side of the vehicle while it is temporarily stopped. Your senior and boss have probably already told you not to carry valuables with you when you are riding. Please be careful.

 Iggy

>Archangel-san, thank you for always leaving comments. Indeed, I do recall my boss telling me that. I never take valuables with me when I use the Three-Wheeler, but I’ll make sure to take it to heart once again. Thank you very much.

 ilovestones

I went back to read the article about the Three-Wheeler. So cute! I don’t see bikes like that in my country at all. Must be fun to drive around one of those. I think this would come in very handy if you ever feel like renewing all the strata within a 20km radius of your house. I’m jealous.

 Punk_Of_England

This might be the anonymous section and all, but I think people’s quirks show in their text, so it’s hard to tell if they haven’t yet been discovered or if they’re just being let through...

   Title: Men in Skirts

Iggy here. Just as the title says, I’ve passed by several men who were wearing skirts. I wonder if it was traditional wear. But it also had a colorful and casual feel to it, so I’m slightly confused about what it was. I’m not very confident as to whether or not I was making a rude face when I looked at them. My apologies to them.

 Archangel

>Iggy-sama.

That is called sarong, which is a traditional wear in Sri Lanka. Please refer to the URL below.

(This URL is only visible to the administrator.)

I believe you understood that it is used as formal wear. Perhaps the fact that there were so many men wearing colorful sarongs means it was a wedding ceremony? Do not be so discouraged.

   Title: I was given a sarong!

Iggy here. For now, please take a look at this photo.

(The image is displayed only to accounts authorized by the administrator.)

I got a red and blue gingham check sarong! It’s comfy! Since it’s the locals who wear it, as expected, there’s lots of pros to it – it’s breathable, doesn’t bleach in the sunlight, and it’s easier to walk in than I had imagined.

As you can see in the picture, the length is down to the ankles. It’s longer than a Scottish skirt and that helps. It seems people put this on to go to wedding ceremonies. So cool. Above all, it suits the climate of Sri Lanka, so I think that’s better to wear than Bermuda shorts if you want to spend time here.

I received this from my neighbor, but it’s extremely comfortable, so I’m planning to buy one or two more for myself. I wonder if this can’t be worn every day.

 Shinghalion

I am a local. It makes me happy that you like my homeland’s clothes. This sort of garment also seems to be trending amongst Sri Lanka’s elite college students in the recent years, so if there are any places near you where college students hang out, then the boutiques next to them are where you should aim to go. Please have a pleasant life. By the way, it seems to me that someone is leaving several comments. Are you okay? If they are being a nuisance, it seems that there is also a block function here. Just my excessive concerns.

 Archangel

>Shinghalion

Pleased to meet you (just for the sake of it). Please do not say such outrageous things to someone you have never even met.

   Title: I ended up accumulating sweets.

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I made too many...

The picture is of coconut rolls, pudding and caramelized date. As one would expect, I can’t eat them all on my own, but when I tried to share with my neighbors, they told me that it’s bad for children’s teeth and got a bit angry, so things are awkward. What should I do?

   Title: My boss came over!

The sweets that I made in big quantity didn’t go to waste. Lucky me.

Weird coincidences do happen. I’m truly glad for that.

I wonder what I should make next time he comes. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions. As for Sri Lankan sweets, I still only know about things like watalappan, and also the rolls, cream buns, and coconut dumplings sold at the station’s kiosk. But all of them are delicious, aren’t they? If you have any recommendations, please tell me.

 Archangel

>Iggy-sama, I saw your post with great interest. However, I do not think you should forget about the true feelings of the person in question. Please use every day to improve your own skills and promote your physical and mental health. In that respect, as expected, I think that the sweets you are supposed to make should have focus on your current specialties, but do you agree?

 Shinghalion

>Archangel, overprotection can be a bad habit if it goes too far. How about you realize that already?

 Archangel

>Shinghalion, Neither I nor you know each other at all. Please refrain from speculating and saying such things on your own accord.

 Punk_Of_England

Phew~! This is getting kinda interesting. I’ll be watching over the course of events.

 ilovestones

Hum, please leave it as that. This is Iggy-san’s blog. Aren’t you being a bother to him?

 Archangel

I resent my actions.

 Shinghalion

I apologize.

 Punk_Of_England

I’m sorry.

 Mura_Shimo

Heya, Iggy-san! It’s your well-acquainted H.S. I came to see your blog! It’s a fun one with lots of comments. Considering that you said you didn’t advertise it to anyone, that’s amazing! Natural virtues maybe?

I wanna see you again and talk! Do lots of updates~! I’ll do my best at guitar practice too~!

 Punk_Of_England

The possibility of toleration has disappeared, huh. A-san, you okay? Are you going to be silent for the rest of your life?

 Archangel

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, but I am hesitating as well. Remaining silent might be the safest.

 Archangel_Of_Archangel

Hello, nice to meet you, Iggy-san.

I read your entire blog. You seem to be having lots of fun. That is a relief. I have experience with working in a country a bit farther to the southeast than Sri Lanka, so seeing you live a fun daily life reminds me of my youth, which makes me both cry and laugh. This is a very good blog where your daily life comes to mind in vivid colors.

Also, the way that so many people are looking after Iggy-san in the comment section made the corners of my eyes feel hot. Speaking of which, do the people who leave comments on this blog really have no relation to Iggy-san and just watch over him through this blog?

>Archangel-san, can we talk again?

   Mail account

 Sender: richard@xxx.uk

Destination: n_yasuhiro@xxx.jp

Message: I shall contact you through the usual phone number.

 Sender: n_yasuhiro@xxx.jp

Destination: richard@xxx.uk

Message: I will be waiting for it. Thank you for always taking care of my son.

   Title: The comments decreased?

Hello, Iggy here. Ever since the last update, I feel that the people who always send comments to the blog have gone quiet somehow. Have I written anything weird? It is weird for me to make such a request, but if there is no problem in particular, please be as dynamic as always. I mostly spend my time by myself, so I get encouragement when I read from you.

The city has become lively with the preparations for Perahera. It seems there will be many plans for the summer again, but will I be able to see it live? Iggy out!

 Archangel

>Iggy-sama, hello. I shall write a long comment in due time.

[alain-keler]

# 90- Mercredi 2 novembre.

Dans l’avion Milan Tel-Aviv. 

Je vois la terre au travers du hublot et cela me procure toujours une intense émotion. Banlieue sud de Tel-Aviv, probablement Bat Yam et Holon. Des immeubles, tel un jeu de dominos blancs, se dressent comme plantés sur le sable et semblent regarder vers le sud, un peu comme un champ de tournesols penchés vers la lumière. Irrésistible désir d’habitation des lieux. Une autoroute se glisse au milieu comme un serpent à la recherche d’une proie.L’avion se rapproche lentement du sol. Il ralentit. Les quelques minutes qui nous séparent de l'arrivée sont pour moi un moment de bonheur.La gigantesque cimenterie à droite se dresse près d’un quartier de Lod où vivent des bédouins rencontrés lors d’un précédent voyage. Virage sec vers la gauche. Des arbres apparaissent comme un tapis vert poussant sur la terre rouge. A droite, au loin, on voit des collines qui s’étendent en grandissant progressivement jusqu’à Jérusalem. Elles nous montrent leurs formes arrondies et féminines. La descente semble maintenant plus rapide comme si l’avion était pressé de toucher le sol. L’ombre portée d’un nuage rougit encore plus la terre.Des  avions blancs comme des jouets d’enfants semblent attendre que l’on s’occupe d’eux et sont stationnés devant des  hangars vieillissants.L’atterrissage se fait en douceur, un peu comme si le pilote avait pris soin de ne pas vouloir abîmer le sol, de peur d’irriter des Dieux déjà fort occupés à régler les problèmes existants. La lumière blanche du Moyen-Orient jaillit soudainement dans la cabine de l’avion qui roule maintenant vers son point d’ancrage. La terre rouge a laissé la place à une mer de bitume.« Mesdames et messieurs, nous venons d’atterrir à l’aéroport Ben Gourion… ».Nous sommes le 2 novembre, il est 15.25 heures et c’est le début de mon huitième voyage.Ensuite tout va très vite. Le sourire de la fonctionnaire qui rajoute un tampon à ma collection, comme une preuve de mes présences répétées dans cet endroit magique, objet de toutes mes interrogations sur mon appartenance au peuple d’Israël.Bagages, voiture de location et des instructions que je n’écoute plus à force de les entendre. La lumière d’hiver est douce. La route se faufile entre les collines. Le soleil descend vers l’horizon. Il se couche tôt, comme fatigué d’avoir trop éclairé depuis longtemps les hommes qui se disputent cette terre. Il a besoin de repos car ils vont encore pendant longtemps lui donner du fil à retordre.Sur la route, les voitures passent d’une file à l’autre sans crier gare, dépassent à droite des véhicules attardés du côté où ils ne devraient pas se trouver, comme si leurs pilotes têtus et accrochés à leurs volants comme une bouée de secours avaient peur d’être dépossédés de quelque chose. C’est peut-être aussi ça d’être juif. La route a été très longue jusqu’à Jérusalem.En tout état de cause, les conducteurs israéliens n’ont pas amélioré leur conduite depuis mon dernier voyage. Peut-être qu’ici les règles sont autres. Après tout, nous sommes au moyen orient et comme mon chauffeur de taxi m’avait si bien dit le premier jour de mon premier voyage, même la terre est différente, elle est rouge.Jérusalem, l’auberge dans le monastère de Ratisbone, Natacha et ses quinze chats, Elio. Je m’installe. Je suis ici chez moi.Café avec Eyal de passage à Jérusalem. C’est dur professionnellement pour lui.Alex au téléphone. Rendez-vous demain matin pour un café.Je vais dîner au Link. Pas question de rester sur la terrasse, ma terrasse. Début novembre, il fait trop froid à Jérusalem. Ici, tout me semble familier. J’ai vraiment l’impression d’être chez moi.Je reprends un verre de Merlot. Il est onctueux. Je suis bien même si je ne suis pas sur ma terrasse.

Jeudi 3 novembre. Jérusalem.

J’ai rêvé de ma mère. Elle me demandait d’aller voir la maison d’Igny. Au premier étage, des enfants devaient avoir joué avec un ballon dont on voyait la trace sur la peinture blanche fraîchement étalée. Je passais une éponge mouillée et les tâches disparaissaient. Cela me rassura. Au rez-de-chaussée, la disposition des pièces était complètement changée. C’était très bizarre. Il me semblait que tous les murs étaient sombres, peints en noir. Il y avait beaucoup de monde qui se préparait à prendre la crémaillère.Je sors pour aller à la rencontre d’Alex. Dehors, il fait frais, un peu comme chez nous au début du printemps. Quelques chats attendent patiemment devant la maison de Natacha, la gardienne de Ratisbonne, l’endroit où je loge. Il y en a un, noir et blanc, perché sur ma voiture et qui miaule en me voyant, comme s’il me reconnaissait. En fait, cette machine à ronronner miaule systématiquement à la vue d’êtres humains pensants.Aroma café. Alex est déjà arrivé. On se fait la bise. Le voir me rempli de joie. On parle.La lumière est extraordinaire. J’entends dans la rue beaucoup de gens parler français et anglais. La plupart portent la Kipa.Beit Agron. Accréditation. J’en sors à 10H30. Le soleil est encore monté et me caresse le visage. Il fait doux.Au retour, je croise Natacha. Elle garde un petit chat amené en mauvais état par une jeune fille hier, à mon arrivée. Elle me fait remarquer qu’à sa mort, elle ira au paradis des chats. C’est son destin, rajoute-t-elle.11H30, assis sur un petit muret avec mon ordinateur devant la Sainte vierge qui monte la garde dans le jardin de Ratisbonne. Internet en wifi, ça marche. Miracle ou technologie ? Un peu long quand même. Je la remercie.Supermarché. Je fais mes courses.Déjeuner. Liana, 84 ans me parle avec fierté de son fils qui finit sa carrière comme directeur d’une école juive à Milan.Téléphone à Jaafar pour aller dans un village en Cisjordanie pour photographier la récolte des olives. OK pour samedi.Dîner de spaghettis, le tout arrosé d’un très bon Merlot israélien.Vendredi 4 novembre.Aujourd’hui, c’est le dixième anniversaire de la mort de Itzhak Rabin. Le soleil n’est pas au rendez-vous. La météo annonce de la pluie pour cet après-midi.Je vais à Tel-Aviv.Devant le monument qui lui a été dédié, en bas de l’escalier qu’emprunta Ytzhak Rabin après son discours, un homme joue de l’accordéon, accompagné par quelques personnes qui chantent son morceau préféré, « Shir Ha-reut », la chanson de l’amitié. Une jeune femme, appuyée sur son vélo se recueille (it’s my grief, c’est mon chagrin), perdue dans ses pensées en écoutant la musique qui s’échappe de l’endroit où le premier ministre israélien fut assassiné. Trois drapeaux israéliens dressés devant le monument sont en berne. Il n’y a pas beaucoup de monde. Je crois que la célébration officielle aura lieu le 12 novembre, avec la participation de Bill Clinton.Un peu plus loin, on peut lire le texte du dernier discours de Ytzhak Rabin:

en anglais suivi d’une traduction française :

 Tel Aviv, november 4, 1995.

 « Allow me to say, I am also moved,I want to thank each and everyone of you who stood up here against violence  and for peace. This government which I have the privilege to lead together with my friend Shimon Peres decided to give peace a chance, a peace that will solve most of the problems of the state of Israël.I was a military man for 27 years, I fought as long as they were no prospects for peace. Today I believe that there are prospects for peace, great prospects. We must take advantage of it for the sake of those standing here, and for the sake of those who do not stand here. And there are many among our people. I have always believed that the majority of the people want peace and are prepared to take risks for it. And you here, by showing up at the rally, prove it, along with the many who didn’t make it here, that the people truly want peace and oppose violence. Violence is undermining the very fondations of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned, denounced, and isolated. This is not the way of the state of Israël. Controversies may arise in a democracy, but the decision must be reached throught democratic elections, just as it happened in 1992, when we were given the mandate to do what we are doing, and to continue to do it. I want to thank from here the president of Egypt,  the king of Jordan and the king of Marocco, whose representatives are present here, conveying their partnership with us on the march toward peace. But above all- the people of Israël- who have proven, in the 3 years this government has been in office, that peace is attainable, a peace that will provide an opportunity for a progressive society and economy. Peace exists first and foremost in our prayers. Peace is what the jewish people aspire to, a true aspiration. Peace entails difficulties, even pain. Israël knows no path devoid of pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war. I say this to you as one who was a military man and minister of defense, and who saw the pain of the families of IDF soldiers. It is for their sake and for the sake of our children and grandchildren that I want my government to exert every effort, exhaust every opportunity to promote and to reach a comprehensive peace. This rallt must send a message to the israeli public, to the jewish community throughout the world, to many in the arab world and in the entire world, that the people of Israël want peace, support peace, and for that, I thank you very much ».

Traduction en français.

Tel-Aviv, 4 novembre 1995.

« Permettez-moi de dire que je suis profondément ému. Je souhaite remercier chacun d'entre vous, qui êtes venus ce soir manifester contre la violence et pour la paix. Ce gouvernement, dont j'ai le privilège d'être à la tête, avec mon ami Shimon Peres, a décidé de donner une chance à la paix - une paix qui résoudra la plupart des problèmes d'Israël.Pendant 27 ans, j'ai été un soldat. Tant qu'il n'y avait aucune chance pour la paix, j'ai combattu. Je crois qu'aujourd'hui, il existe une chance pour la paix, une grande chance. Nous devons en profiter, pour tous ceux qui sont présents ici, et pour tous ceux qui sont absents, et ils sont nombreux.J'ai toujours pensé qu'une majorité du peuple aspirait à la paix et était prête à prendre des risques pour elle. En venant ici ce soir, vous démontrez, ensemble avec de nombreux autres qui ne sont pas venus, que le peuple désire sincèrement la paix et s'oppose à la violence. La violence s'attaque à la base de la démocratie israélienne. Elle doit être condamnée et isolée. Ce n'est pas la voie de l'Etat d'Israël. Dans une démocratie, il peut y avoir des désaccords, mais la décision finale sera tranchée par des élections démocratiques, comme celles de 1992 qui nous ont donné un mandat pour faire ce que nous faisons, et pour continuer dans cette direction.Je voudrais dire que je suis fier du fait que des représentants des pays avec lesquels nous vivons en paix soient présents avec nous ce soir, et continueront à l'être : l'Egypte, la Jordanie et le Maroc, qui nous ont ouvert la route vers la paix. Je voudrais remercier M. le président de l'Egypte, le roi de Jordanie, et le roi du Maroc, représentés ici ce soir, pour avoir été des partenaires dans notre route vers la paix. Mais, plus que tout autre chose, depuis un peu plus de trois ans que ce gouvernement est en place, le peuple israélien a prouvé qu'il est possible de faire la paix, que la paix ouvre la porte à une économie et a une société meilleures, que la paix n'est pas seulement une prière. La paix est d'abord dans nos prières, mais elle constitue aussi l'aspiration du peuple juif, une aspiration sincère à la paix.La paix a des ennemis qui tentent de nous atteindre, pour torpiller le processus de paix. Je voudrais dire sans détour que nous avons trouvé chez les Palestiniens aussi un partenaire pour la paix : l'OLP, qui était notre ennemi, et qui a cessé de s'impliquer dans le terrorisme. Sans partenaires pour la paix, il ne peut y avoir de paix. Nous exigerons qu'ils accomplissent leur part du travail, comme nous accomplirons la notre, pour la paix, afin de résoudre l'aspect du conflit israélo-arabe le plus complexe, le plus long, et le plus chargé en émotions : le conflit israélo-palestinien.Il s'agit d'un parcours semé de difficultés et de douleur. Pour Israël, il n'est pas de chemin qui soit sans douleur. Mais la voie de la paix est préférable à celle de la guerre. Je vous dis cela en tant qu'ancien soldat, en tant que ministre de la Défense qui connaît la douleur des familles des soldats. Pour elles, pour nos enfants, et dans mon cas, pour mes petits-enfants, je veux que ce gouvernement exploite chaque ouverture, chaque occasion de promouvoir et de parvenir à une paix totale. Même avec la Syrie, la paix sera possible.Cette manifestation doit envoyer un message au peuple israélien, au peuple juif partout dans le monde, au monde arabe et en fait au monde entier : le peuple israélien veut la paix, il soutient la paix.Pour tout cela, je vous remercie. »

  À 17.30 heures, il n’y a plus personne. Dans le bassin qui jouxte la municipalité, à une trentaine de mètres de l’endroit où Rabin a été tué, deux jeunes filles hilares  retirent de l’eau un parapluie rouge complètement pourri.

[theparanormalperiodical]

The REAL Story Behind Sinister (2012), And The 11 Scariest Pagan Gods That You Don’t Want To Bump Into

It’s damn near impossible to find a really good horror film.

No, I mean a really good horror film.

You know, where the plot is winding, and unravels oh so gently until it snaps us back into its web, leaving us tied up in the lair of a monster as it inches closer and closer towards us.

Most horror films simply don’t make the cut.

But in recent years, there is one that does just that, twisting together an incredible plot, a truly terrifying monster, and the subtleties of gore that have you promising yourself you will never purchase a lawn mower again:

Sinister (2012).

That being said, this story of an unforgiving Pagan god and the innocent families that stumble across his path shouldn’t be shaking you to your core - it’s the real, historic legends that inspired this film.

Bughuul/Bagul is based on 3 Pagan gods, bringing the events behind the camera outside of our TV screen. But the thing is, it turns out Moloch, Baal, and Tlaloc are far from the only holy entities you don’t want to cross paths with.

Bughuul might just be more real than you’d like to think.

What Happens In Sinister (2012) And Sinister 2 (2015)?

Before Bughuul was conjured up from the darkest corners of our nightmares, and before Ellison Oswalt - the main character in the film - even signed the lease on his new house, was an idea.

Sure, the real Pagan gods inspiring Bughuul might be enough to keep you awake at night, but C Robert Cargill, the writer of the film, was inspired by something else at first:

It was a nightmare after watching The Ring (2002).

From here the fundamental building block of the plot was set in place: a supernatural entity spreads itself via films that need to be created and then passed on. The thing is, this being doesn’t channel as much sympathy as we all harboured for Samara.

The starring role of the Super 8 movies in this flick is taken by a far more terrifying being that doesn’t stick to such a rigorous time scale.

Our story follows a true-crime writer attempting to uncover an unsolved murder case to propel himself back to his former fame. But his distant family and obvious alcoholism are about to be the least of his problems when he accidentally unleashes a Pagan god.

You can’t find a Citizens Advice leaflet on that.

The tale begins when the author, Ellison Oswalt, moves into a new home. The thing is, he has a nasty habit of picking houses nearby to the cases he researches - only this time, he’s shacked up in the house where a whole family was murdered in the backyard and the youngest child went missing.

Nothing creepy here, right?

Oh, there’s a box in the attic with a Super 8 film projector and reels of film which display the murder of several families in their own horrific way.

*Inhale*

*Exhale*

Our new favourite true crime writer decides to team up with a lovable police deputy who does some digging around the murders. He discovers these murders took place from the 1960s up to present day, and occurred across the entire US. But what connected these murders - aside from that creepy figure in the background of the clips and the symbols - is that a child from each family went missing after the murder.

One quick Skype call to an esteemed occult professor later, and hey presto he’s realised he’s encountered a Babylonian deity known as Bughuul. But you can call him the Eater of Children, a nickname that caught on when they discovered he likes to consume the souls of children.

In case you can’t do the maths, Bughuul likes to have families murdered, and spare a child as a light snack post-murder.

Throughout this process of unveiling the truth of Bughuul, the paranormal activity begins. The steady climb in the supernatural peaks however when he hears the projector running in the attic. He checks out the situation, and realises all of the missing kids are enjoying a movie night - think less Netflix, more bloodthirsty Pagan god - when Bughuul rocks up via an unnecessary jumpscare.

Oswalt then makes the executive decision to burn the film and projector, and then swap this murder house for his previous residency.

Three cheers for common sense!

The thing is, Oswalt didn’t do his reading on basic horror movie monsters - ghosts haunt places, demons haunt people.

(Rooky error.)

Unfortunately Oswalt learns this when he’s mid-unpack of his old house. The professor then gives him a ring and lets him know that it's images of Bughuul that serve as a gateway for the deity to enter our mortal world. But it’s when kids come into contact with the image that they can be possessed.

That’s right - it’s the kids that do the murdering, the filming, and then the pissing off with Bughuul.

Shortly after this bulb lights up, our lovable deputy also gets on the blower, and lets him know that each family that was murdered did the exact same thing:

They realised their new home was haunted by some presence, shacked up at a new location where there were no Super 8 movies included in the rent, and then were killed by their child.

Yep - our favourite true crime writer has only gone and set off the exact chain of events he attempted to investigate.

(Rooky error.)

Just as he realises he’s been played by the B-man, he passes out. He’s just been poisoned by his daughter. He wakes up moments before being slaughtered with an axe.

The film ends with the child being carried away by Bughuul and teleported into the film with him.

Sinister 2 picks up the plotline several years later, following around the lovable police officer as he takes matters into his own hands; he attempts to destroy the houses that continue Bughuul’s spread across America.

But in this film, we actually get a behind-the-scenes view of Bughuul’s process of encroaching on children. And it turns out the possession is actually peer pressure from the missing children - but instead of trying a cigarette outside the back of the local Lidl, you’re being forced to murder your family in your very own brutal way.

And if this exclusive preview into our favourite Pagan deity wasn’t enough, Bughuul also upskills and learns to utilise a radio to spread his message.

*Deletes BBC Sounds App*

So - Who Is Bughuul?

Found footage is a difficult genre to break into.

Bughuul, however crashes into it, reviving the boring clips that dragged The Blair Witch Project into horror movie infamy and sent the Paranormal Activity viewers to sleep.

Sinister plays with the horror genre in a whole new way, using silent, grainy Super 8 movies to leave the viewers convinced they might awaken a long dead spirit by listening to their favourite murder mystery podcast.

But the visual horror - whether of the gory deaths we witness or of Bughuul himself - confines the movie to the streaming platform you chose that evening.

It’s the unnervingly real concept of Bughuul which allows the events concerning Oswalt to haunt us on a whole new level.

In the film we are told that Bughuul is a Babylonian deity - a Pagan or early Christian demon, if you will - who can possess children, is transmitted through images, likes to murder entire families, and then make do with a child’s soul.

You know, the basic stuff.

Whilst the finer details of Bughuul is not mapped out in theology, the fundamental building block of the body horror in this movie - that of sacrifice in horrific ways - has been practiced throughout history and devoted to 3 specific Pagan gods that the writers drew inspiration from.

And the first is called Moloch.

This Canaanite god was associated with many things, including agriculture and fertility, and sacrifice and fire, all of which are firmly represented in the movie. Whether it's the films’ focus on children, or its the spontaneous combustion of the Super 8 movies and the victims that do not conduct his bidding, Baghuul directly mirrors this entity.

Well, maybe ‘mirrors’ isn’t the right word.

Baghuul has the lookbook of a modern horror monster, from the Slender Man inspired suit to the smokey eye only a 13 year old could pull off. Moloch, on the other hand, is often depicted as a Bronze statue of a humanoid bull sitting down.

And it’s his statue form which lets you in on his preferred method of worship:

The statue would be heated with fire, and victims thrown in as a form of fiery sacrifice.

In fact, in both the 1920s and later in 1962, it was discovered via excavations of the ancient Carthaginian civilisations that both young people and animals were often the most popular victims, forging a link between the youth we saw on our TV screens, and the ashes left in the urns that were found.

This link was even addressed by the writers of the second film, with the promotional poster claiming Bughuul was the brother of this brutal god - but this isn’t the first time Moloch has appeared on the big screen.

Remember that episode in Buffy, you know, the one about online safety cause you won’t run into a paedophile but a glorified demon that wants to become a physical beast and wreak havoc on the world and is going to use you as a source of power?

Yeah, that’s the one.

In fact, Buffy stuck to the same premise, claiming Moloch was unleashed when an ancient text was scanned into a library system.

Sinister had less broody vampires, though.

Our next contender for coulda-been-Bughuul is Baal, a demon which has actually featured in a few other horror flicks of his own, so far. The Rite featured this ancient god who focused his attention on fertility, just like Moloch.

And, just like Moloch, archaeological evidence of sacrifices was discovered, but in a region of Egypt from which he was worshipped.

Amongst the sacrificed infants found was a collection of animals and prostitutes. Even the ancient texts detailing their powers and premise suggests a sibling-like link: Baal Hammon was worshipped by the Carthage people as a supreme god, just like the former entity, and instead of bearing the body of a bull, he appears as a ram.

Yet despite sharing both a ritualistic and physical approach with Moloch, it’s Baal’s backstory that brings us even closer to Baghuul.

Too close.

Legend has it Baal was considered more powerful than his father, suggesting children overpowering their own family is a vital premise of this god.

Our final contender for Baghuul-but-without-the-eyeliner is Tlaloc. And, once again, this entity is just like the previous gods, but belongs on the other side of the globe.

This Aztec god is the god of rain, water and fertility, and despite his rather more peaceful and popular worship today, historically things have been a little, uh, sacrificey.

The remains of war captives have been found near his statues, but this only hints towards his association with death; it is said that he was essentially the destination in the afterlife for those that died from a variety of ailments.

And one of these ailments was child sacrifices.

Think back to the Sinister movies for a second.

In the short Super 8 films we see Bughuul make cameo appearances (like Stan Lee in Marvel films, only he’s a wholesome old man and isn't going to gobble up Hugh Jackman’s soul when the credits roll). This suggests that Baghuul not only enjoys a hobby of snacking on innocent children, but also takes pleasure from the sacrifices of the other family members, and appears at their time of death.

Unfortunately, according to historic worship, Tlaloc prefers his sacrifices a little more niche than just dead parents. Typically he likes his sacrifices to have their hearts extracted from the corpses, and collected in a bowl by the temple.

If you thought Sinister was grotesque, be thankful you didn’t witness a 7 year old stabbing their mother in the chest with a cheese knife.

The 11 Other Terrifying Gods You Don’t Want To Encounter In Your Attic

Paganism is an incredible thing.

It’s a religion that puts the believer at the centre of a huge selection of gods, demons, and deities to choose from. Even modern paganism doesn’t follow any rules.

Simply choose an entity, and get worshippin’!

But there is a downside.

We already know that three Pagan gods are enough to have you avoiding your 5 year old nephew at the next family dinner. But unfortunately, Moloch, Baal, and Tlaloc are far from the only deities that will make you left eye twitch when you see so much as a polaroid camera for fear Bughuul might have taken a #vintage selfie.

There’s 11 more terrifying deities that you don’t want to know about but I’m going to tell you about anyway!

(Yay.)

#1 Chinnamasta

Self-sacrifice and sexual restraint sounds like values we should all practice, but when a Hindu goddess tells you to do it - and she has no head - you might be more reluctant to listen to her wise words.

The legend claims that a group of Hindu gods and demons churned the ocean in order to extract an elixir of immortality. Chinnamasta took a sip, swallowed the entire share for the demons, and chopped her own head off to prevent them from reclaiming it.

An alternative version tells a different story: Chinnasmasta and her crew were bathing too long and realised they were hungry. So, she satiated their hunger by decapitating her own head and allowing her attendants to drink the blood spurting from her neck.

And so, her image is immortalised by three fountains of blood coming out of her neck, and her attendants gulping back the liquid.

Casual.

#2 Pan

As well as being one of the most famous gods to date, this Greek deity is also one of the oldest. And whilst he he is the god of nice, wholesome things like cosy forests and flocks of cute animals, he would be deemed a sex offender today.

Pan would try and have sex with anything - yes, anything - that moved. And when one of these things tried to run away, such as the nymph Syrinx, he chased her down, and then turned her into a pan flute.

And when another nymph also turned him down, he had her murdered by his minions.

Fact is, you can choose which gods you can believe in, but the real horror in the world - sexual predators - will always exist.

#3 - Ishtar

Most gods are known for their brutal acts, whether in the name of justice, or for selfish purposes. The thing is, this goddess has a thing for gore.

And rightly so.

Having been raped by a gardener as she slept underneath the shade of his tree, she got her vengeance by punishing the Earth. She made the rivers flow with blood, she tormented the planet with storms, and she cast disease over our lands.

And similar to the gods already mentioned, she too has a habit of sacrifice. But she doesn’t want people to be sacrificed to her - she prefers to do her own sacrificing of her own lovers.

#4 - Cronus

Next up is the leader of the Titans. But his attempt to eat his own children to prevent them from completing a prophecy and overthrowing him doesn’t get a mention here - it’s what he did to his father.

He scythed off his genitals.

And if that wasn’t enough, he then chucked ‘em into the sea, spawning the goddess Aphrodite.

#5 - Teutates, Esus, and Taranis

Christianity’s got Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. Paganism on the other hand has its own trio. But these guys rely on routine human sacrifice. But what really sets them apart is that each individual god has their own preferred murder method.

Teutates likes to drown his victims headfirst in ale, Esus likes to have his sacrifices stabbed, hung from trees, and left to bleed out, and Taranis likes wickerwork figures that are set alight to contain his victims in a fiery death a la Nicholas Cage.

Squad goals?

#6 - Tezcatlipoca

The second Aztec god to feature in this post continues the trend of these deities preferring bodily organs. But this deity sets itself apart by craving a far slower ritual that culminates in a sacrifice.

A priest would select a prisoner who was to impersonate the god. Luxurious shenanigans would ensue, including 4 maidens dedicated to his every need. Unfortunately, his needs wouldn’t last too long.

He would have a year of this god-like life, walk up the steps of a temple, and have his heart ripped out.

#7 - Huehueteotl

He was the god of death, hot, and cold. And he liked his sacrifices to have experienced all three at the same time, apparently.

The process of sacrifice would include drugging the victim, roasting them alive, ripping out their heart, and then burning the remains again.

According to other accounts, the victim could simply be drugged, and then dragged with hooks to platforms for the ritual. And then the heart would be cut out and tossed into the fire. And then the rest of the bodies would follow.

Your choice, I guess.

#8 - Toci

Life must’ve been hard back then.

You know, the constant fear that you - yes, you - might be the next victim to be tossed to the flames of fiery sacrifice, or an organ of your deity’s choice was to be placed into what can only be described as a ritualistic olive bowl.

But at least you’d have an inkling of what’s to come. The worshippers of Toci weren’t quite so lucky.

Toci was the goddess of healing and a patron of midwives and healers. But rather than wanting to celebrate life in all of its glory, she actually preferred dead people as gifts.

And so, women were dressed as the goddess, told they were going to see the local ruler, climb the temple, and be met with a priest with a knife. The unlucky woman would be beheaded, her heart removed, and skin flayed.

The priest would complete the ritual - yep, it doesn’t end there - by wearing the skin of the victim.

#9 - Chac

When we discuss sacrifice in the name of a god, it is often assumed that the act took place many years ago, and that the traces of the murders have long since decayed and disappeared from our world. But it turns out that you can actually visit the location of 2 wells in Chichen Itza where sacrifices took place in the name of Chac, the Mayan god of rain, water, and lightning.

But aside from casting storms over his worshippers, he encouraged human sacrifice.

And so, his worshippers obliged by tossing their young children into their wells; they believed Chac resided at the bottom of sinkholes, and wanted their human sacrifices to be as close as possible to him to ensure safe delivery.

According to the film’s lore, Baghuul lives inside of the images, and uses the pictures, the films, and any other form of media as a gateway to our realm.

In that case, God only knows what this article may have unleashed.

Traumatised? Afraid to turn the light out and turn in for fear of hearing Bughuul filming his YouTube outro in your attic? The you might as well check out my other articles in the mean time…

And while you’re there, why not hit follow and see a new real ghost story everyday?

[a-queer-seminarian]

Working through antisemitism in Holy Week, post 2

cw: violent antisemitism in history

The article below is the most helpful I’ve found so far in my search for information on how to confront the antisemitism of Holy Week. It’s by Amy-Jill Levine, who is Jewish herself and is the Professor of New Testament Studies and Judaism Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. 

The article’s simple list of “options” we have for how we approach all the anti-Jewish sentiment that permeates the New Testament is much appreciated, because I’ve felt directionless! I’ve felt like there are “no options,” that this whole thing is too overwhelming, too complex for anyone to get a handle on -- now there are options, and some of them are actually good options!

I’m pasting most of the article below -- “Holy Week and the Hatred of the Jews: Avoiding Anti-Judaism at Easter”

_______

‘ Jesus of Nazareth, charged by the Roman authorities with sedition, dies on a Roman cross. But Jews - the collective, all Jews - become known as “Christ-killers."

Still haunting, the legacy of that charge becomes acute during Holy Week, when pastors and priests who speak about the death of Jesus have to talk about "the Jews."

Every year, the same difficulty surfaces: how can a gospel of love be proclaimed, if that same gospel is heard to promote hatred of Jesus's own people?

The charge against "the Jews" permeates the pages of the New Testament.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Pilate literally washes his hands while "all the people" - all the Jewish people - clamour for Jesus's death: "Let him be crucified ... His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:23, 27).

John's Gospel identifies the Jews as "from your father the devil" (John 8:44) and blames them for backing Pilate into a corner and forcing him to kill an innocent man.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter charges "the entire house of Israel" (Acts 2:36) with crucifying Jesus and so having "killed the Author of life" (Acts 3:14-15). Paul then bluntly refers to "the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 2:14-15).

Perhaps this vilification was inevitable. Jesus's followers could not understand how the vast majority of Jews could not accept their belief in him as the Messiah.

The majority of Jews, in turn, saw no sign of the Messianic age having dawned: no general resurrection of the dead; no ingathering of the exiles to Zion; no end to death, war, disease, or poverty. What was self-evident to one group was incomprehensible to other. Incomprehension turned to mistrust, and mistrust, on both sides, turned to vilification.

Today, interfaith conversation, in which Jews and Christians learn to appreciate their common roots and better understand the reasons for the gradual and often painful separation, can reverse the process. Official (and unofficial) church statements facilitate healing as well:  Nostra Aetate , the 1965 declaration of Vatican II, proclaimed that all Jews at all times should not be held responsible for Jesus's death, and Pope Benedict XVI, in the second volume of his Jesus of Nazareth , strongly reiterated the point. Christians from many (but not all) other branches of the tradition, generally agree.

But we still have to deal with our pasts, and with our Scriptures. Every time the Passion narratives are read, the threat of anti-Judaism reappears.

There is no catch-all for resolving the problems in the New Testament - or in Tanakh/the Old Testament, for that matter; we all have difficult texts in our canons. But there are strategies. Here are six, in order of usefulness.

Excision The first option is excision: take a pair of scissors to the offending passages - or, in today's parlance, hit the delete key. Howard Thurman recounts hearing from his grandmother how the plantation minister always preached, "Slaves, be obedient to your masters ..." and how she determined that if she ever learned to read, she would never read that part of the Bible. The story has morphed into the common sermon illustration that Thurman's grandmother, once both freed and literate, took a scissors to the text. Had I suffered what Thurman's grandmother suffered, I may well have taken the same approach. However, the destruction of a text considered sacred seems to me extreme. To erase offending texts is to erase memories of both the victims of those texts and those who struggled against them. Moreover, if we each design our own canons, we eliminate community. A variant on the excision approach is to claim that Paul or Jesus never made the problematic comment and therefore, we can ignore them. For example, scholars commonly argue that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians 2:14b-16 - it is inconsistent with his positive comments about Jews (such as, "They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises ... as regards election they are beloved ... for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" [Romans 9:4-5; 11:28b-29]). The offensive passage can also be removed from the letter without harming the rhetorical flow. Similarly, many scholars argue that Jesus's invectives in the Gospels stem not from the man from Nazareth, but from the later church in competition with local synagogues. Comforting as such arguments may be, they are based on hypothesis, not fact. Paul may well have changed his mind; Jesus would not be the first Jew critical of fellow Jews. Moreover, Christian proclamation is not based on some scholarly construct of an original text or a "historical Jesus" apart from the Gospels. It is based in the words of the Bible as interpreted by the faithful community. Therefore, Christians must deal with those words.

Retranslate The second option is to retranslate - or, bowdlerize. For example, some "progressive" translations read John's Gospel as condemning not "Jews" but "Judeans" or "Jewish leaders" or "religious leaders" or simply "leaders." Such translations are well-meaning, and at least "Judean" is legitimate translation of the Greek term Ioudaioi. But to replace the New Testament's "Jews" by other terms is to have a judenrein text, a text "purified" of Jews. Such bowdlerizing obscures part of the reason why Jews have been persecuted over 2,000 years, divorces Jews not only from Jesus and his earliest followers, and even serves to de-legitimate the relationship of Jews today from the land of Israel. Hence, politically correct translations are not necessarily biblically faithful ones.

Romanticize The theological answer to the question ‘Who killed Jesus?’ is not ‘the Jews’ but humanity. This is an excellent place to begin. The problem, however, is that those who see themselves as ‘Jews’ on Good Friday then see themselves as redeemed "Christians" on Sunday morning. The Jews, by not accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour, remain in their guilt. The same romantic approach today is best exemplified in the celebration of the Passover seder in churches, usually on Holy Thursday. ...Baptizing Jewish symbols in Christian terms is not a strong move in interfaith sensitivity. Nor do Christian seders remove the problem. To the contrary, the performance serves to absolve the congregation: how could they be anti-Jewish if they are doing something so Jewish as having a Passover seder?

Allegorize The fourth option is to allegorize: to say that the text really doesn't mean what it says. For example, we take Matthew's blood-cry (27:15) not as a self-curse, but as a plea for redemption: the people are ironically asking to be redeemed by Jesus's blood. While this approach redeems the verse theologically, it also suggests that the Jewish crowd wanted and needed this redemption, so that Judaism apart from the Christian message is ineffective. The move turns Jews into crypto-Christians.

Historicize The fifth approach, the darling of the academy, provides historical rationale and often justification, for the problematic statements. For example, we claim that Matthew is a Jew writing for a Jewish community; therefore his words cannot be anti-Jewish - as if Jews cannot be anti-Jewish, which is a silly idea. Also complicating this view: we know neither who wrote the Gospels, which were originally transmitted anonymously, nor the community to which they are addressed. It is a dirty little secret in biblical studies: we determine, based on the contents of the Gospels, both author and audience. Then we interpret the text on the basis of our reconstruction. This is a circular argument. Similarly, we note the historical unlikelihood of "all the people" saying, "his blood be on us and on our children" - that all of us Jews would say the same thing, ever, is a tad unlikely. Then, we see how Matthew understands the destruction of Jerusalem, witnessed by the "children," to be punishment for the Jews' refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Therefore, so the argument goes, since the people never said the line, we can ignore it. But the line remains in the text; ignoring it is not an option. Another variation on the historicizing approach is to claim that the anti-Jewish language is reactionary: invective would be quite natural from the pen of those excommunicated from the synagogue. The problem here is, first, that we have no evidence, other than John's attestation (John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2) of synagogues tossing people out. If some synagogues did expel Jesus's followers, we should ask why. Because they wanted to replace Torah with Jesus? Because they were seen as compromising monotheism? Because they told synagogue members that unless they worshiped Jesus they would go to hell? Because they put the community in danger, given Roman distrust of the new messianic movement? Because they cherished their own traditions, which they found completely fulfilling? Any of these would be quite good reasons, and would likely result in censoring in my synagogue today. Finally, if we define this polemic as reactionary, again we blame the Jews for the problem. Finding history behind the text can help. But we cannot be secure with the history we posit, and when all the historical work is said and done, we still have to address what the New Testament actually says.

Admit the problem We come finally to our sixth option: admit to the problem and deal with it. There are many ways congregations can address the difficult texts. Put a note in service bulletins to explain the harm the texts have caused. Read the problematic texts silently, or in a whisper. Have Jews today give testimony about how they have been hurt by the texts. Those who proclaim the problematic verses from the pulpit might imagine a Jewish child sitting in the front pew and take heed: don't say anything that would hurt this child, and don't say anything that would cause a member of the congregation to hurt this child. Better still: educate the next generation, so that when they hear the problematic words proclaimed, they have multiple contexts - theological, historical, ethical - by which to understand them. Christians, hearing the Gospels during Holy Week, should no more hear a message of hatred of Jews than Jews, reading the Book of Esther on Purim, should hate Persians, or celebrating the seder and reliving the time when "we were slaves in Egypt," should hate Egyptians. We choose how to read. After two thousand years of enmity, Jews and Christians today can recover and even celebrate our common past, locate Jesus and his earliest followers within rather than over and against Judaism, and live into the time when, as both synagogue and church proclaim, we can love G-d and our neighbour.’

[mariamallahan]

Chapter 4: The initial 13 Heralds

Since I could not find additional information about VFD in Josephus' writings, I began researching other historians living at the same time. I found nothing useful. At first I believed that the writings had been completely destroyed by the passage of time or the passage of fire. So I decided to turn my attention back to the main content of my research, which was the writings of Lemony Snicket. Finally, one detail caught my attention. In book 13, called The Penultimate Peril (TPP), there is a passage in which a close relative of Lemony Snicket is described as saying two extremely significant sentences to the history of VFD.

TPP chapter 2:

"There was an enormous cavern, but a treacherous team of realtors claimed it for themselves. And there was an immense headquarters high in the Mortmain Mountains..."

The mention of a cave seemed to suggest that VFD used caves as a base of operations. So I contacted the group in Tel Aviv if they had found evidence of some secret cave organization around a few centuries after the establishment of the VFD in Alexandria. The Tel Aviv group sent me the following information:

"Miss Maria Mallahan, the answer to your question is yes. There was a secret society in the Middle East called the Essenes. This group is known to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Apparently the Essenes used various caves in the Qumran region as large libraries, they also devised methods to preserve their writings over the years, preventing moisture from reaching the libraries, and the rocky walls prevented the spread of fires.

They promoted peace and order, and formed very peaceful communities. We hope we helped you.

PS: They have developed very interesting secret codes. They also did not accept money for their work.

Apparently I had discovered one of the VFD groups. I wanted to know about the secret codes used by the Essenes. The group in Tel Aviv allowed me to talk to their Kabbalah specialist, Dr. Handler. According to this expert, the Essenes develop a method to hide some important secrets of the organization through letter counting. Basically, the thirteenth letter of each text should be selected so that the hidden message can be understood. Based on Dr. Handler's information, I came to the following conclusion: If the Essenes were a derivation of VFD present in the Middle East, perhaps they would have had in their writings more information about the origin of VFD. This information would have been hidden from the world at large for so many centuries because it was encoded. But the Essene writings were so large that finding specific information in so many manuscripts would take too long. After speaking of my concern for Dr Handler, he told me, "Well, we found a catalog of manuscripts inside the cavernous libraries, and when we used the letter count, we realized that the catalog itself and the index of each manuscript was also in code. Then we can find the information you want relatively quickly. "

Dr. Handler, however, explained that this service could only be performed by 4 hands, but he only had two hands available to perform this activity. When I spoke to my editor about this, he said some bad word in Chinese, and said that one a plane ticket to Tel Aviv would be too expensive. The only option would be to travel by ship to Tel Aviv, hitchhiking with the merchant ship called Bendecido.

And that's exactly what I was determined to do. I thought I could take the trip to research what Lemony Snicket's trip might have been on board the Prospero ship, as recorded in LSTUA. But I had no opportunity for that, because the day before the Merchant ship arrived, I received a letter from Dr. Handler containing a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv. I flew the next day to Tel Aviv.

After a warm welcome from Dr Handler, and an excellent lunch at a restaurant far more upscale than my editor could afford for me, I asked Dr Handler to personally see the caves where the Essene libraries were located.

The trip to the West Bank was faster than I expected. It was amazing to see the damage caused by World War III, and how despite all that, the local population was making it back after more than 100 years. After an hour we were on the shores of the Dead Sea. We continued the walk until we reached the entrance to the Qumran museum, which was mounted at the entrance to one of the largest caves used by the Essenes. I briefly visited the nearest gallery with Dr Handler. But as I was in a hurry, we went to one of the offices set up inside one of the caves. Dr Handler was happy to accompany me for the next 4 weeks. He and I work about 10 hours a day dealing with precious manuscripts. We needed to wear gloves and masks all the time, and we couldn't take pictures of the manuscripts. So we need to copy many, many words in blue cover notebooks. Good thing my understanding of ancient Hebrew was at an acceptable level for that work. It was amazing to be able to sleep in an adapted cave as a bedroom, and to have meals in an adapted cave as a bedroom (there were no restaurants inside the caves to avoid the possibility of fires). It was also fun to bathe in the Dead Sea, and not sink even at great depths because of the large amount of floats I took with me. Dr Handler said there is a legend that people in the past could bathe in the Dead Sea without sinking, even without the use of floats, but I don't believe in legends. Anyway, after four weeks, we returned to Tel Aviv, with a lot of information about VFD. The most relevant information from my research was as follows: Unlike what I imagined, the Essenes came into existence as a secret organization before the creation of VFD in Alexandria. However, around 5 BCE, a man arrived at the Essene camp. This man came from Alexandria, Egypt. He carried a sealed manuscript. He requested a meeting with the older men in that group of Essenes. The mysterious man reported that his name was Sachiel Snicket. He was one of the 13 heralds of Alexandria. These 13 heralds were sent to 13 different locations with a manuscript in hand. They had the mission of finding people and organizations noble and willing to promote the principles that were written in the manuscript. Dr Handler and I found the names of the 13 heralds, who was informed by Sachiel Snicket.

(I will translate the names from Hebrew to English using an approximation system taught to me by Dr Handler).

Sachiel Snicket

Shamshel Snicket

Ramiel Snicket

Gaghiel Snicket

Israfel Snicket

Matariel Snicket

Sahaquiel Snicket

Ireul Snicket

Leliel Snicket

Bardiel Snicket

Zeruel Snicket

Arael Snicket

Armisael Snicket

I cannot deduce if these are codenames or if they are all members of the same family. I spent a month without reading the news, so when I arrived in Tel Aviv I decided to buy a newspaper. My gratitude for Dr Handler increased greatly when I read the news of the Bendecido ship sinking. If I had boarded, I would be dead and my body would be found in that converting zone of sea currents where Lemony Snicket narrated that there was the Island a long time ago, before rising sea levels.

"I'll keep an eye on you, Miss Mallahan," was what Dr Handler told me earlier at the airport. He also bought a return ticket that day. Now I could continue my research from the comfort of my apartment. The only problem was that when I arrived at the building where I lived, I realized that the whole building had been consumed by a fire.

[quakerjoe]

For anyone who doesn’t have the time or inclination to read the “Mueller report”...

I noted some highlights from Volume I that you can read in 5 minutes. I couldn’t help myself. 😆

*”The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.”

*The counter-intelligence investigation was opened because Papadopolous told a foreign diplomat that the Russian government could assist Trump by releasing damaging info on Clinton.

*The Trump campaign “welcomed the potential damage” resulting from Russia’s “information warfare” and “active measures.”

*The IRA (Internet Research Agency), based in Russia and funded by “Putin’s Chef” Yevgeniy Prigozhin, launched an information warfare campaign to undermine the US electoral system.

*Trump, his sons, and many of his minions like Flynn and Kellyanne Conway promoted Russian generated content alleging voter fraud and other Russian propaganda lies.

*An estimated 126 million people saw posts made by the Russians to influence the election.

*The Russians “organized and promoted” dozens of “political rallies inside the US while posing as US grassroots activists,” going so far as to communicate with Trump campaign members to help coordinate the rallies.

*The Russian military hacked the computers and email accounts of hundreds of Clinton campaign employees, advisors, and volunteers, the DNC and the DCCC, releasing documents timed to interfere with the election. They implanted malware on their networks. GRU officers captured their passwords, banking information, sensitive personal information, internal communications, etc.

*GRU military units targeted military, political, governmental, and non-governmental entities in the US.

*Russian military GRU officers targeted and hacked computers belonging to US state and local entities, Secretaries of State, state boards of elections, county governments, and private technology firms that manufacture and administer “election-related hardware and software, such as voter registration software and electronic polling stations. The GRU continued to target these victims through the elections in November 2016.”

*In just one example, the GRU gained access to info on “millions of registered Illinois voters.”

*Russian government officials and prominent businessmen made a concerted effort during the campaign and post-election transition period to make inroads into the Trump camp.

<Kushner just blew that all off as a few FaceBook posts.>

*Trump fired Comey and freaked when the Special Counsel was appointed, saying it was the end of his presidency. He tried repeatedly to get Sessions to “unrecuse” and to curtail the investigation.

*Trump’s cohorts lied to Congress and the SCO, destroyed evidence, and in some cases refused to be interviewed to avoid accountability.

*Amidst many redacted paragraphs, a few words indicate that while Trump and Gates were driving to La Guardia, Trump told Gates that more releases of Clinton emails were forthcoming.

*Trump continued to express frustration that the Clinton emails had not been found. The Trump Campaign planned an entire strategy around their release by WikiLeaks.

*Harm to Ongoing Matter* Looks like Corsi is in very hot “ongoing matter” water, which is redacted. Unless Barr can still save him.

*Podesta e-mails stolen by the GRU are released by WikiLeaks less than an hour after we all watch the video of Trump say disgusting things about women - “I moved on her like a bitch” and if you’re a star you can do anything you want like “grab them by the p*ssy.”

*Trump Jr “colluded” with WikiLeaks by messaging with them and tweeting links they requested he share. However, they did not conclude it was a “coordinated effort” with Russia to disseminate the e-mails.

*Trump repeatedly asked people affiliated with his campaign to find the “deleted Clinton emails.” Flynn took it to heart and sent people looking, like Peter Smith, the man whose suicide note read “NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER.” Smith claimed he was in contact with Russian hackers and was coordinating his efforts with Trump campaign members Flynn, Sam Clovis, Bannon, and Kellyanne Conway. The SCO could only verify he communicated with Flynn and Clovis for certain.

*Again, because it’s so much worse than Watergate because it involves a hostile foreign adversary directing a concerted attack on our country, TRUMP DIRECTED his campaign people to find the emails he assumed to have been hacked by the Russian military so he could use them to harm his political rival.

*There are a gazillion (by my count, only 101 per Business Insider) “links” between the Trump campaign and those with ties to the Russian government, but the Office could not prove with the info available to them that it rose to the level of a chargeable criminal conspiracy. Again - none of the players “remember” or “recall” anything damning, or they refused to be interviewed or destroyed evidence. This is an incredibly high bar of proof for a narrowly defined crime, so carry on being traitors.

*Trump Jr. seeks documents and info to incriminate Clinton via Goldstone, who says the Crown Prosecutor of Russia is offering them, prompting the “Trump Tower Meeting.”

*On page 187 there’s a paragraph that I find pretty gross. They are letting the Trump Tower meeting participants like Jr. (who refused to be interviewed) and Kushner off in part because they may have been ignorant of campaign finance law. Also, they can’t prove how much the damaging info the Russians claimed to have was worth monetarily, so they get another pass. President Trump and Jr. went to great lengths to cover up this meeting, which any reasonable observer knows is because they KNEW it was ethically wrong, and that it might also be illegal.

*Trump’s written answers to Mueller’s questions state he doesn’t remember if he was involved with changing the RNC’s platform stance on armed support for Ukraine.

*Manafort had Gates give Kilimnik (ties to Russian Intelligence) Trump Campaign updates and polling data, which per Manafort’s own attorney’s admission in Manafort’s trial was “very detailed” and “focused.” Many of Manafort’s shady dealings were covered up by using encrypted applications.

*Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs fully intended to use Manafort to get Trump to support their plan to control eastern Ukraine.

*Pages and pages of shady stuff about Russians, Erik Prince, Nader, the UAE, a chess tournament, the Seychelles, Libya, etc.

*Bannon and Prince’s phones had no text messages on them prior to March 2017, and neither one of them knows why. What a mystery. Provider records show they exchanged dozens of messages.

*Kushner asks Kislyak if they can communicate “using secure facilities at the Russian Embassy” so that, per Kislyak’s suggestion, Russian generals can talk to the Trump transition team to brief them on Syria. Kislyak says no to the Russian Embassy idea.

*Kushner meets with Gorkov, the head of the Russian-government-owned and US sanctioned VEB bank. Kushner says the meeting was “diplomatic.” VEB bank’s public statement says they met to discuss “business.” Mueller here reminds us that Kushner was about to owe a ton of money on 666 5th Ave.

*The Trump Transition team attempted to undermine the Obama administration regarding a United Nations resolution calling for Israel to “cease settlement activities in Palestinian territory.” There was media speculation that the US would not oppose it. Multiple Trump team members, including Michael Flynn and President-elect Trump, communicated with foreign governments such as Russia and Egypt to undermine or delay the resolution, and thereby the current US administration. It passed 14-0 with the US abstaining.

*In sum, despite all the many contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, the Trump campaign was receptive to their offers of help only sometimes and it did not rise to the level of conspiring with the Russian government’s election interference campaign. It would be difficult to prove they “willfully violated the law.” Their actions may not be sufficient to sustain criminal charges under FARA or criminal conspiracy law, but several of them blatantly lied and obstructed justice anyway and were charged accordingly, like Papadopolous and Flynn.

*Insufficient evidence to charge Jeff Sessions with perjury because his cagey answers and faulty memories (colloquially known as “lies”) were plausible in the context of the questions.

*Some other characters not charged with perjury/making false statements because of evidentiary hurdles to prove falsity, others because the witnesses were ultimately truthful, and others because of “considerations of culpability, deterrence, and resource-preservation.”

- Elizabeth Renfrow Madison

[creepingsharia]

Illinois: Mayor of Champaign  Appoints Muslim Supremacist to Anti-Discrimination Commission

In 2013, Taha republished a photo on his Facebook page...accompanied by the text: “O Muslim, O servant of God. There is a Jew behind me, come kill him."

When Deb Feinen, the mayor of Champaign, Illinois, suddenly and unexpectedly decided to replace one of the members of her city’s Human Relations Commission, she cited the importance of “diversity” as the reason. Out went Kenton Elmore, an unquestionably white Commission member; in came Ahmed Taha, an Egyptian immigrant and a prominent figure in the city’s Muslim community.

Elmore appears to have been a popular member of the Human Relations Commission, and his abrupt removal left other members of the Commission a little unsettled. But the mayor said she felt the city was “underrepresenting the Muslim-American community.”

At a cursory glance, the decision to appoint Ahmed Taha made sense. Champaign has a significant Muslim community, and Ahmed Taha is a significant figure in that community. But just a slightly closer look would have found that he is significant for one thing more than anything else: His hatred of Jews.

Taha’s anti-Semitism is no secret, and has been unveiled before — mostly because of his involvement with two prominent Islamist organizations, the Muslim American Society (for which he runs the Champaign branch) and the Islamic Circle of North America. The latter group is a proxy for Jamaat-e-Islami, a violent South Asian extremist movement.

In 2013, Taha republished a photo on his Facebook page, ostensibly of a brutally killed Egyptian teenage boy, which was accompanied by the text: “O Muslim, O servant of God. There is a Jew behind me, come kill him."

In March 2014, Taha shared a conspiracy theory by a far-right website claiming that the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, was secretly Jewish. "Is that true?" Taha asked, "If yes, this is a castastroph [sic]." In October that year, he then posted a video supposedly exposing Joe Biden as a “Zionist” and revealing the "Rothschild Zionism Secret Regime in America."

After we at Islamist Watch revealed Taha’s extremism in 2017, he quickly deleted his vile posts. We kept screenshots.

Tellingly, Taha only deleted the Facebook posts we mentioned — and none of the extremist posts we didn’t mention. Today, his Facebook account remains replete with support for Egypt’s leading theocratic movement, al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen. The page is also full of various other hateful, mad conspiracy theories — mostly written in Arabic, about such "topics" as Jewish control of the current Egyptian government and how President Sisi comes from a family of Jews and CIA members.

Given that the role of the Human Relations Commission is to promote “equal rights and opportunities” and to serve as a “hearing board for complaints of violation of [the city’s Human Rights] ordinance,” few can doubt that appointing a man infamous for his hatred of one of the city’s minority groups is a thoroughly injudicious choice.

Did the city know about Taha’s hatred of Jews? And now that they know, will they do anything? We asked the Human Relations Commission if they were aware of Taha’s extremism, and whether they now still believe he is a suitable member for the body? We were only told the Commission has “no comment.” We also left a message for the mayor’s office, but have not yet heard back.

However, the city council is not alone in its elevation of Ahmed Taha. A number of pieces published in the media have praised Taha as a moderate. Illinois’ News Gazette ran a puff piece on Taha on July 16, discussing his recent appointment. Taha is quoted, incongruously pledging “to stand for justice, support social justice causes and investigate against every kind of discrimination.”

The journalist, Adalberto Toledo, notes Taha’s involvement with the Muslim American Society (MAS), although neatly leaves out widespread accusations by politicians and law enforcement alike about the organization’s links to the designated terrorist group Hamas — and its own designation as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates in 2014. Readers may remember that MAS made national news in May 2019, after its Philadelphia branch hosted an event at which children sang about their violent hatred of Jews: "We will chop off their heads" and "we will subject them to eternal torture."

Convinced that a respected local newspaper would undoubtedly want to investigate a decision to appoint a hateful anti-Jewish activist to a Commission tasked with fighting discrimination and hatred, the Middle East Forum contacted Toledo, the journalist, and sent him evidence of Taha’s extremism. Astonishingly, Toledo refused to investigate, claiming the Middle East Forum was “racist,” and that he imagined we were conspiring to “besmirch a man's name with false accusations.”

America was once famous for local journalists dogged pursuing the truth. Now it seems there are too many examples of local journalists doggedly avoiding it. At the very least, Toledo decided on a political agenda over a factual one. Some might conclude, though, that Toledo must have a degree of tolerance for Taha’s hateful rhetoric; why else, truly, would he refuse to investigate, even if he objects to the politics of the messenger?

It is also difficult to believe that no one in the mayor’s office, the Human Relations Commission, or at the News Gazette thought to carry out a quick Google search of a man appointed to a public role — a man tasked with the well-being of Champaign’s residents.

There are thousands of Muslims in Champaign who would undoubtedly make excellent members of the city’s Human Relations Commission. Very few have published calls for the killing of Jews. And yet the city and its puff piece writers managed to find and promote the one resident who did exactly that.

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Many more, likely thousands more, agree with him.

[reading-the-torah]

Parasha Re’eh

I originally wrote this for an LGBT Newsletter but they overbooked the Dvar section so I’m posting it here :)

~~~

This week’s Torah portion is titled Re’eh, or “See.” It can be a very difficult passage for modern readers. It begins with the Jews at the end of their journey in Egypt, about to enter the promised land. Moses says that those who follow HaShem will be blessed, while those who do not shall be cursed. He then gives a list of rules for them to follow. The first thing that is commanded is to destroy everything there that other people use to worship their Gods. It also describes that we should only sacrifice to HaShem at the Temple, and not at our own homes. We should not “inquire about their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:30). If someone claims to be a prophet and leads us away from HaShem, we are commanded to stone him to death. The next topics discussed are laws about eating kosher animals, loaning money and collecting debts, the treatment of slaves/indentured servants, and how to celebrate Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

Going back to the beginning of the parasha, it is very difficult to read the passages commending violence against people who are different or follow foreign customs. People can explain this violence in the historical context because the Jews of that time period were facing a lot of turmoil. In today’s world, we encourage the acceptance and tolerance of those around us. It is not okay to promote that type of violence. Or, we can instead try reading the text in a way that makes sense to us today. These commandments are telling us to destroy things which are considered wrong. We can turn this into fighting against the wrongs we see in our lives today.

However, for us as contemporary LGBTQ+ Jews, it can read as though we are being told to follow these commandments which are traditionally opposed to our queerness. Many Jews who grow up in more religious homes and communities can have a hard time finding acceptance. Living a queer life can be seen by some as disobeying Gd, which is clearly warned against in this passage from the beginning. “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).

I am reading these passages, trying to look beneath what seems to promote the destruction of all that we do not recognize, and find a lesson. In this same parasha, we find commandments to help the needy among us. We are commanded to “Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the LORD your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings” (Deuteronomy 15:10). While this seems to be referring to physical or financial needs, we can extend the meaning to include offering acceptance and understanding to the people around us.  We can take away the message that rather than spreading hate, we can contribute compassion to our communities.

Source: Sefaria.org

[pooma-bible]

Olusola Babarinde Nigeria

Praise God. It's time for another powerful study.

Let us pray.

Father we praise you for another time of light, we pray that you will manifest your glory in Jesus name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Something to pray for is the message..In the kingdom, prayer is indispensable. To get things done, to access divine resources and lot more

The necessity of prayer. What is something to pray for?

Something to pray for is that which we want to study this very evening. There are many things to pray for but today I want to reveal from the scripture, something to pray for. The text we are studying is Ecclesiastics 9:11

That is something to pray for. Let us look at the passage mentioned.

11, I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

Something to pray for is your time of opportunity. The time of opportunity is something to pray for.

Race here is said not to be for the swift , nor the battle to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.

One can pray, let my time come.

My time of ministry

My time of blessing

My time of promotion

My time of breakthrough

My time of mercy and lot more.

Lord let my time come. If your time for ministry has not come for instance, all your efforts with be useless. When your time comes, your season has come. It means that your season has been divinely activated and nothing can stop it. When you work in such atmosphere, you make success.

During such period, Angels assigned to assist you, and nature is commanded to cooperate with you. That was what happened to Obededom. His season was activated, his time came, and was like a person who did ritual. Prosperity just came to him from nowhere, and he appeared as if he had been rich for several decades, meanwhile, all just happened overnight.

We were told that when Joseph season was activated, from prison, he became prominent in the palace and the kingdom of Egypt. You need to pray for the activation of your time and season.

During your time, no

Struggle

Failure

Partial success

No abortive project

No icabod

Because it is your time. Whosoever is competing with you during your time is wasting time. Nobody can outshine you during your time.

May your time come and come now. But you need to pray for it. Why you are complaining is because your time has not come. Your time has not been fully activated. If your time is activated, you won't complain. Journeying during ones time gives speed that wasn't there when one's season was not yet activated. I pray once again, may your time come and come now.

Lord, let my time come, let my season of manifestation be activated.

Pray that prayer for 10 minutes.

Closing prayer:

Lord we thank you because you have helped us today. I pray that you will activate our time and cause us to manifest your glory. Thank you for answering us Lord, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus name we pray. Amen..