#The Christian in Complete Armour

[yieldfruit]

[theemporium]

Max ready to destroy the earth if someone so much as disrespects or pisses Trouble off

it’s low-key giving will smith🤠anyways thank you for requesting!🫶🏽

.

Max was always very blunt and honest in conferences and interviews, it was just the way he was.

And it wasn’t uncommon for him to defend himself and his friends in said interviews. He did it countless times when journalists tried to push stories about him being too aggressive, too angry, too competitive on track.

He did it countless times when they would come for Charles and blame he was taking for his team’s mistakes. He did it countless times when people questioned Daniel’s performance and his right to have the Red Bull seat. He did it countless times when they tried to drag Lando for not achieving highly when McLaren weren’t giving him the car he needed to be proving he could do as much.

And he would be damned if he didn’t do it for you too.

It was after a race. He was tired, exhausted even, and all he wanted to do was wrap up the rest of his duties so he could maybe sneak a nap in with you before you both joined the rest of the team for a night out to celebrate his win.

He was approaching the last interviewers, a name he vaguely recognised and his nose scrunched up when he remembered most of the man’s questions were tasteless and dry. But he shrugged it off, keeping a passive face as he approached the journalist with his PR manager lingering behind him with a tape recorder in hand.

“Max Verstappen, how does it feel to be a winner again?”

He gave the man a tight-lipped smile and hoped it was enough to hide his exhaustion as he continued the interview.

And it was going fine, in retrospect. The man’s questions were similar to the countless ones he had been asked before. But he couldn’t complain because they were easy to answer, and easy to mostly zone out until he knew he had to answer.

Until he asked something that caught Max’s attention right away.

“Any plans to celebrate with your side piece after your race win? Maybe get her on her knees?”

Max blinked, and for a short moment he wondered if he just completely mistranslated what the man said.

“What?”

But the man repeated the question again, a slimy smirk on his face and your name was rolling off his tongue. And truthfully, Max didn’t even remember moving or reacting or even breathing in that moment.

One second the man was holding a microphone to his face, awaiting his answer. And the next, he was on the floor as he clutched his bloody nose and screamed Bloody Mary.

He was vaguely aware of other drivers and journalists and PR managers looking over, trying to understand the scene in front of them. He was vaguely aware of security being called and someone mentioning Christian or Helmut. He was vaguely aware of someone trying to tug him back, but he just shrugged them off.

“She’s my girlfriend, you moronic dickhead,” Max spat at the crying journalist. “Put some fucking respect on her name.”

“Alright, let’s go before you break any more noses,” he heard Daniel mutter behind him, and this time he let himself be pulled back.

But then his eyes caught the wide, scared gaze of the cameraman who was recording the whole thing, and he glared. “I hope that bullshit was live. Because next time, I’m breaking more than a fucking nose if anyone ever disrespects her again.”

Despite the commotion being sudden, news spread very quickly around the paddock so it was no surprise to Max that you knew by the time he made it to his driver’s room.

“Playing the knight in shining armour now, huh?” You teased as he entered, still sprawled on the couch without a bother in the world.

“He deserved it,” Max stated simply as he made his way towards you. No matter what happened, no matter what put him in a shitty mood, just being near you always helped.

“He did,” you hummed as you opened your arms and let your boy settle on top of you, his face pressed into the crook of your neck. “Thank you for defending me.”

“Always, Trouble,” he murmured in reply.

A few beats passed.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind seeing you do it again,” you said, trying to keep your voice as casual as possible as you ran your fingers through his hair. “It was kinda hot.”

You could feel his smirk against your neck. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Max lifted his head, his eyes a little darker and his mood significantly different to when he entered minutes ago. “Hot enough for me to fuck you over this couch?”

“Hot enough for you to have me any way you want me,” you confessed, your words a little breathier than usual as you felt his hands graze down your side.

Max’s smile was almost sadistic. “Bend over the couch, Trouble.”

.

[glaciergore]

UNO REVERSE CARD!

What made your brain do an edit of john's mutilated body as your "humble application to jirvnation" (asking as someone else whose first jirvnation contribution was fanart of his dying moment (affectionate))

sincerely @werewolfsone

you got me. okay, okay, let's see... what is the appeal of jirv's mutilated body?

pioneering new kinds of top surgery

hot

no, so, first off, that post was meant to be longer. it felt too cluttered, couldn't get it to work, so I said 'less is more' and left it as you find it. that said, the body was still the first image I selected for the post, the first I edited, and the one that stayed, so it's still significant. but it's maybe enlightening that the other screens/edits were going to be 1) jirv's raggedy bandage hands (fraying bandage, symptom of decay that you are) and 2) the same dying moment as your own art (with hickey's hand over his mouth). aka, there's a recurring theme, and it's called 'I love DnD' (death and decay).

as for the body specifically — it's both the brutality and brutal beauty of it. it's antithetical to john's character (that shy, repressed, christian self vs. his mutilated corpse, basically nude, on display as the centre of attention). it's also used in a way antithetical to john's character (to deceive, to justify murder/sin, which we discussed in the comments of that post). so, on the one hand, you have his body being twisted against the purposes he applied it towards in life. this comes across even more strongly in the context of jirv's evangelicism and related values of your own responsibility in your salvation plus your 'duty' to share this with others (but all his body's used for is violence against those he might seek to convert — which can also be violence, but that's a whole other essay or ten).

on the other hand, it also drives me back to hickey's quote about him being a man afraid of chaos... which, to me, implies a man in need of control, if only over his own self. that, in death, he's entirely stripped of such control is wonderful to me. mr. uptight man gets his insides spilled in death. yippee. you can't hide anymore, johnny boy. they all see you now, grotesque, humiliated, dehumanised. all he has to hide behind is the cross that did sweet fuck all confronted with a hickey that is, in the script, likened to the antichrist. that has me thinking of the 'armour of god' in ephesians: 'the breastplate of righteousness' (cue stabbed chest), 'the helmet of salvation' (cue scalped head). so much for that, then. the image of his body can be a post-mortem confession of fundamental human truths: flesh and blood after all, animalistic, chaotic. control as illusion. a comforting prayer in the face of chaos, but not one that protects.

where I'm going now isn't very related to the tragic element of jirv's body, but probably heightens the brutality of it: I'm always struck by the incoherence of his mutilation. aka he's stabbed, scalped, has his genetalia, fingers, and parts of his chest removed. it plays like some bizarre, nightmarish, colonialist fear-driven pastiche of stereotyped 'native violence'. like someone read a heap of frontier tales (or maybe listened to one too many of hodgson's anecdotes) and stitched them together incomprehensibly. irving's mutilation is no specific practice, only a depraved approximation of one engineered to prey on existing racism to hickey's own ends. which is more relevant to a point about empire, but I think simultaneously deepens the what-the-fuckery of john's corpse and embodies (ha) the complete disrespect with which it's treated. it isn't just 'unchristian', but godless by any faith or sense of spirituality — except for hickey's pursuit of 'survival'.

it's also relevant that I'm predominantly a film person. I feel like there are two broad categories of terror-heads (it's more nuanced than this but let me have my fun): history majors with media minors and media majors with history minors. not literally, and many enjoy both aspects equally, but in terms of what brought/kept them in the fandom. so, of those, I am most definitely the latter. why is that relevant? well, as my intro states, I love my body horror! I'm an enjoyer of blood and bodies and wounds and scars and mutilation. on the surface, it's 'wow blood cool' (and, yeah, blood cool), but, on a deeper level, I adore what you can express visually through bodies, their desecration and distortion.

I also find images far more viscerally emotive than spoken or written word. which ends up being pertinent to jirv's mutilated body running amok in the rafters of my mind, because it's an image that has stuck with me since seeing it (alongside many others from the terror — the precise moment during hickey's flogging when he turns his head to look at crozier, irving dying with hickey's hand over his mouth, jop's table crawl, etc.). aka, I like chasing dread, anxiety, sad things, and expressions of pain (in the least edgy way! I approach it all with curiosity), so images evoking these have me hooked.

building on bodies and body horror as expression — what does the mutilation express about irving? fuck knows, really. look, I do love my media in context; I also love it in a void with meanings I apply to it for what they personally stoke in me (i.e., I think you can ascribe all kinds of personal meaning to a single frame of a film outside of the film it is part of). jirv, to me, is a man whose mental space is fucked. so seeing that body, as well as everything I've already mentioned, just feels like almost a cathartic (though twisted) expression of said mental fuckery in a way he'd never confess or communicate in life. bodies or wounds as embodiment of internal truths. I love physical symbols for internal things (why that frame of his bandaged hands gets me — bandages as a symbol, a sign of a wound you can't see, becoming almost an abstraction of a wound itself). but that's drifting further still to the realm of body horror, and I have drifted far enough off course.

tl;dr, bodies cool, fucked up bodies cooler, jirv's fucked up body coolest for being antithetical to his character, incoherent butchery, a representation of the failures of faith, and the undeniable, physical expression it can be for a bloke whose life appears defined by discomfort and repression (to me, shame as well).

thus it made sense to include his body in a post partly about his piety because of the perceived juxtaposition between brutality and faith (though faith itself can often be brutal) and its image of a 'human undone' or failed by god, if you want to be dramatic about it.

that was an overlong, poorly-organised, broad-strokes response, and I commend you for making it to the end! I couldn't discuss the jirvbod and my attachment to it without chatting body horror just a little bit though. thank you for the ask and long live (?) jirv's broken body

[tusk-rumours]

sweat & girth — sam winchester/leon kennedy x reader

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─

wc: i dont fucking know i can’t see

warnings: ?

summary: sam fucks you. ft leon.

a/n: happy new years. everything’s fuzzy. i’m a tad drunk!!!! so i write fanfic at 3am. featuring leon kennedy for @mxilkyways . she’s sleeping next to me. dream about cock my love!!! 🫶🫶🫶🫶

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─

sam already had you sprawled out on the sheets. you were already breathless from his big hands roaming your skin, his hot breath and lips on your neck. you squirmed underneath him, his lips working harshly on your neck, creating marks and bruises.

“can’t keep still for me, can you, baby?” he breaths out, his fingers squeezing your waist. all you can respond with is a little desperate noise, causing his lips to quirk.

he makes quirk work of your clothes, the humidity making you already sweat. he’s gonna lick it. and you’re gonna like it. yeah, you will, you goddamn dirty freak. me too honestly.

you cant help the moan that leaves you when his palms drag from your shoulders to your hip bones, his fingers hooking into your panties. when he sees your desperate eyes, he pulls them down slowly. you both knew this would happen. it’s new years, and what better way to start the year than you both desperately fucking each other literally into next year? orgasming again and again, with one of the first thing you hear in the next year being his pretty moans?

once your bare, he lets out a moan that honestly exceeds the limit of possible decibels. insane, i know. but you’re hot. and sam totally knows. you’re completely naked, your face desperate and your jaw slack as you wait for him to fill you up with his thick girth. he stretches you horizontally almost as much as vertically. instead, your lover is pushed to the side my strong biceps.

it’s leon kennedy. from resident evil. god damn put those juicy biceps around my neck.

he makes quick work of his belt and leather armour. it’s the hottest goddamn thing you’ve ever seen. almost as hot as tom blyth in billy the kid saying ‘then let’s fight with our fucking fists’ as he takes his belt off in record time. so sexy.

he’s naked before you know it. his long and angry erection is pressed between your stomach and his.

“Fuck, gonna pound you into the new year, mom i’d like to fuck.”

who the fuck says the full abbreviation during sex?? you think. or the full abbreviation??? or that for any instance???? you don’t know, it’s weird. you let him, however, your pussy leaking onto the sheets.

But Sams strong arms are pushing leon before he can penetrate you.

“Get off my sugar cookie!” he exclaims in that sexy, rough yelling voice he has.

he grabs that demon blade, slicing your attackers penis off with one clean cut. it’s stomped on by the buffalo stampede that killed Mufasa.

quick.

“I’m your dom. We signed the contract remember? I i’m don’t make love. I frick, hard.” Christian grey???? ew get tf out.

“EUGH!!!!!!!!!!! GTFU MANGY BITCH!!!!!!”

He cries. You’re triumphant; downing shots like you’re getting paid double for it, like damn will make you cum double the amount of times. that nana GOOD at making you cum. i know.

he’s off you now, ashamed. leon kennedys whimpering in the corner. Get back to being sexy; notherfucker hellloooooo?!?!?!?!!? anyhow, you wanna save leon’s toned abs and girthy cock for later. sams just come back from a hunt, which means sweat.mm

Soon enough you’ve got him on his back. licking with your tongue all his sweat and the sweet taste of your body. He could play in a goddamn rubbish bin and kids ball pit and still be lovely.

Leon laid on the concrete by the rickety bed, his fragile limbs broken.

“Wait— wait! my cocks eleven inches!”

“That won’t even fit. Break it in half and give it to me twice.”

He whimpers, like a scared infant animal retreating

to its cage.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

15th June >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity (Inc. John 16:12-15): ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth’.

Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity

Gospel (Except GB & USA) John 16:12-15 The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’

Gospel (GB) John 16:12-15 ‘All that the Father has is mine; the Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you.’

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.’

Gospel (USA) John 16:12–15 Everything that the Father has is mine; the Spirit will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

Homilies (5)

(i) Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity

We find it difficult to speak about God as Trinity or to grasp its full meaning and, yet, we express our faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, every time we bless ourselves. The sign of the cross that we make is a profound statement that we belong to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a very short prayer to the Trinity that we all learned as children and that we often pray, such as when we recite the Rosary, ‘Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit’. You may have noticed that many of the official prayers of the church are addressed to God the Father, through the Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is so much a part of our prayer, and how we pray reflects what we believe.

Belief in the Trinity was at the heart of early Irish Christianity. There is an ancient Irish prayer, often associated with Saint Patrick, called Saint Patrick’s breastplate. The word ‘breastplate’ suggests the military image of armour for self-protection. Saint Patrick’s breastplate is an early Irish prayer for protection against troubles and dangers of various sorts. The prayer begins, ‘I rise today, with a mighty strength, an invocation of the Trinity, believing in the threeness, confessing the oneness, of the creator of creation’. Long before even that ancient Irish prayer, Saint Paul, writing to the church in Corinth about twenty five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, expresses his faith in the Trinity in his concluding blessing, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all’. That blessing of Saint Paul has made its way into the text of the Mass.

It has been said that the Trinity is not so much a puzzle to be solved as a mystery to be contemplated and celebrated. When we express our faith in God as Trinity, we are celebrating the good news that the life of God is a community life. At the heart of God is a communion of love, a mutual giving and receiving of love. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares, ‘Everything the Father has is mine’. God the Father has given everything to the Son in love and the Son has received everything from the Father in love. This loving communion between the Father and Son is not closed in on itself but is open to all humanity. If the Son received everything from the Father, it was with a view to giving everything he received from God to humanity, to all of us. God send his Son into the world to pour out the love between them upon all of us. This was the whole purpose of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

When Jesus was put to death because of his love for his heavenly Father, and God raised Jesus from the dead out of love for his Son, the Father and the Son together sent the Spirit of their love upon the disciples, the Holy Spirit. That Spirit has been poured out upon each one of us. As Saint Paul says in in today’s second reading, ‘the love of God (the love between the Father and the Son) has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given us’. In sending the Spirit of their love into our hearts, the Father and the Son show that they want to draw us into their communion of love. It has been said that the deepest meaning of the Trinity is ‘God is for us’. To speak of God as Trinity is to speak of God’s movement of love towards us, so as to draw us into their communal life of love.

It is only in eternal life that we will be fully drawn into that communal life of God’s love. Saint Paul in today’s second reading speaks of ‘looking forward to God’s glory’. Yet, here and now, in the course of our earthly life, we can open ourselves up to God’s movement of love towards us and we can allow ourselves to be drawn into God’s communal life of love. That is our calling since our baptism. God wishes to draw us into this communal life of love so that we can be empowered to build communities of love that, in some way, reflect the life of the Trinity, the life that is within God. The feast of the Trinity not only speaks to us about who God is but also speaks to us about our God-given mission in life. If God is for us, our calling is to show ourselves to be for God, and we do this by allowing God to work in our lives to create loving communities where all are treated with equal respect and dignity, where the weakest and most vulnerable among us are cared for and helped to live fully human lives. In various ways that is happening among us, in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our parish communities, in our towns and cities. This work of building community is truly God’s work, and whenever or wherever it happens the light of God’s love shines more brightly in our world.

And/Or

(ii) The Most Holy Trinity

There have been eight murders in Dublin in recent weeks. The taking of another person’s life is no longer the taboo it once was. We have become accustomed to hearing about the taking of human life on a more vicious scale in places like Iraq and elsewhere. In recent weeks we have been celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the ending of the Second World War. The scale of the loss of life in that war is almost more than our minds can take in. What a very different world it would be if individuals and nations committed themselves to never taking the human life of another under any circumstances.

The taking of a human life is only the most extreme form of eliminating another human being. There are less extreme expressions of that tendency to eliminate others, as when we try to exclude others in some way. Whole communities can exclude other communities with the result that one group within a society can be made to feel like second class citizens. Society can be structured in such a way that large sections of the population can be have very restricted access to what others take for granted. There are areas of our own city, for example, where young people are very poorly represented in third level colleges, if at all. As individuals we can exclude people from our lives for a whole variety of reasons. When we are angry with people we tend to cut them off. When we perceive them as some kind of a threat to us we work to keep them at arms length.

Jesus took a strong stance against any form of eliminating others. He not only reiterated the fourth commandment, ‘You shall not kill’, but he went further and called on his followers not to be angry with another. He rebuked the disciple who drew a sword at the moment of his arrest, telling him to ‘put your sword back in its place’. He ignored his disciples when in their anger they suggested that they command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans who had just rejected Jesus. Jesus came not to eliminate or exclude others but to gather them together, to form a new community. The fullest expression of this new human community is what Jesus referred to as the kingdom of God. He had a vision of people coming from east and west, from north and south, to eat together in the kingdom of God. Everything he said and did was shaped by this vision. The tensions between north and south, east and west in our own world suggest that this vision of Jesus has yet to be realized.

Jesus had this vision of a new human community because he understood more than any of us could that God was a community of life. That is what we mean when we speak of God as Trinity. Even thought the term Blessed Trinity is not to be found in the New Testament, the essence of that central teaching of the church is to be found there. In today’s second reading, Paul wishes the church in Corinth the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Here we find Paul placing God the Father, Jesus the Lord and the Holy Spirit on the same level, as it were. Reflecting on all the writings of the New Testament, the church would very soon come to state that the Father is God, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God. The reverse is not true. It is not the case simply that God is Father, or that God is Son or that God is Holy Spirit. Rather, God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, within God there is a series of loving relationships; the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, and the fruit of that loving relationship is the Holy Spirit who is loved by both. So great is this love within God that it has overflowed to embrace us all. As John says in today’s gospel reading, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’. We can add to that and say that God and God’s Son so loved the world that they both gave the Holy Spirit. No community worthy of the name is closed in on itself. The Trinity as the perfect community imaginable is certainly not closed in on itself. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit move towards us to draw us into their wonderful community.

However, we cannot be in communion with the Trinity unless we are striving to be in communion with each other. Jesus who revealed God to us as Trinity calls us to form the kinds of communities that are, to some extent at least, a reflection of the community that is God. That is why the mission of the church in the world is to build community. The mission of each of us as members of the church is to do the same. At its best, a parish is a community of communities. Most of our parishes are too big to have a sense of the parish as a community. However, within any parish there is scope for a number of smaller communities that are linked together. These small communities can take the form of prayer groups, pastoral care groups, justice and peace groups, liturgy groups and so on. They might consist in gatherings of people who share a common interest or who are of a similar age range. In our own parish, many people are giving of their time and energy to make sure that such communities, such gatherings, happen. Today’s feast of the Trinity is a good day to commit ourselves afresh to this work of forming communities within our parish that reflect the communal life that is God.

And/Or

(iii) The Most Holy Trinity

Probably one of the first things we were taught about our faith was how to bless ourselves. We were taught to touch our head when we said, ‘in the name of the Father’, our heart when we said ‘and of the Son’ and our shoulders when we said ‘and of the Holy Spirit’. Many of us of a certain generation were taught to bless ourselves when we passed a church. That was something I was taught as a child and always did. In the course of my studies for priesthood, after my four years in Clonliffe College, I was asked to go to Rome, to study theology. I remember my first week there I was being show around the city by one of the more senior students. Every time I came to a church I blessed myself. He quickly put me straight by telling me that if I blessed myself every time I passed a church in Rome I would be blessing myself all day because there are so many churches there.

Whenever we bless ourselves we are making an act of faith in the Trinity, in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From a very early age we are taught to make that act of faith in the Trinity by blessing ourselves. Most Catholics no longer bless themselves passing a church, but many still bless themselves coming into a church. They place their hand in the Holy Water font and bless themselves. There is something very appropriate about that particular gesture. It links back very clearly to the moment of our baptism. We were all baptized with water in the name of the Trinity, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we take blessed water and bless ourselves in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are renewing our baptism in a very simple but very significant way. There was a time when most houses had a holy water font on the wall beside the hall door. When people left their house, they placed their hand or finger in the font and blessed themselves with the blest water in the name of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Once again that was a very simple gesture which put people in touch with their baptism. Although people may not have thought of it in that way, it was a real act of baptismal renewal as they left the house and headed out about their daily business, whether it was going to work or to the shops or to some kind of recreational activity. It can be tempting to make light of those forms of ritual as if they belonged to another era. However, properly understood, that particular ritual can continue to have great significance. It is a daily reminder of our baptism and all it entails; it brings to our minds in the context of our daily lives that faith in the Trinity which defines us as Christians. No other world religion conceives of God in this way, as Father, Son and Spirit. That way of understanding God has been at the centre of the church’s faith from the very beginning. We find it there in today’s first reading which is the conclusion of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, written about twenty five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The greeting or blessing that Paul extends to the church in Corinth has become very well known to us because it is one of the greetings used at the beginning of Mass, ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’. It might be worthwhile reflecting a little more fully on that greeting.

Paul speaks of the love of God the Father. In the words of the first letter of Saint John, ‘God is love’. That fundamental insight into God which we are given in the New Testament is anticipated at times in the Old Testament. We find one example of that in this morning’s first reading which speaks of God as a ‘God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness’. Paul also speaks of ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’; we could express that as the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was God’s greatest gift to us; he is the greatest expression of God’s love. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son’. In raising his Son from the dead, God showed that he continued to give this most precious gift to the world, even when that gift had been rejected. Jesus reveals God to be a gracious God, a God of grace, who delights in giving. Finally, Paul speaks of the ‘communion of the Holy Spirit’. God not only gave us his Son but, together God the Father and God the Son have poured and continue to pour the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and the fruit of that Spirit in our lives is love, that divine-like love, which is capable of building communion between peoples of the greatest diversity. The Trinity speaks of the movement of God towards us in love, so that a communion of love may be created among us, a communion that is a real reflection of the love at the heart of the Trinity.

And/Or

(iv) Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

There is a story told about Saint Augustine who was strolling along the seashore, struggling to understand the mystery of the Trinity. He encountered a youngster with a little bucket. The boy moved back and forth, emptying bucket after bucket of seawater into a hole he had dug in the sand, a short distance back from the shoreline. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, the boy replied that he was trying to put the ocean into the hole he had dug in the sand. When Augustine told him that was impossible, the boy responded that it was just as impossible for you to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity. There was a wisdom in that reply of the young lad that Augustine, the great theologian of the church, appreciated. I come across a statement recently that appealed to me, ‘the Trinity is no so much a mystery that puzzles but a fascination that captures our imagination’. Today’s feast speaks as much to our imagination as to our intellect. How does the word ‘Trinity’ help us to imagine the life of God?

I find it helpful to imagine the Trinity as a dynamic interacting community of love. Some of the early theologians of the church, especially in the East, used a word to speak of the Trinity which means a ‘going around’. It suggests a vigorous dance like movement within God, with Father, Son and Spirit, circling, interweaving, in vibrant interaction with one another. This dance of love is an open dance, drawing all of us right into the energetic flow of divine love. It is an image which might help to give us a feel for what we mean when we speak of God as the Blessed Trinity. When we speak of God as Trinity, we are speaking of God as love, reaching out to embrace us all. God’s inner life of love finds various outward expressions so as to draw us all in. The fullest outward expression of the love that is within God is the person of Jesus. He is God’s love outwardly expressed towards us fully so as to draw us into a loving relationship with God. That is the message of today’s gospel reading, especially that memorable verse, ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. Jesus is the human expression of the love within God, sent to us so that we might have eternal life, a sharing in the life of the Trinity. When we hear the term ‘eternal life’ we tend immediately to think of life after death. However, ‘eternal life’ is the loving life of the Trinity, and God desires us to be drawn into that life here and now, in the course of our earthly lives. If the Trinity is a mystery, it is a mystery of love, a love that needs to express itself in a human body, the body of Jesus, so as to draw us all into the love that is the life of God.

A further outward expression of the life of love that is within God is the Holy Spirit. If God sent his Son into the world, God the Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world. It is the Holy Spirit that allows the love that is within God to enter deeply into our own inner being. Saint Paul expressed that very succinctly in his letter to the Romans when he said, ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’. Through the Holy Spirit, the very life of God, which is a life of love, can come to reside deep within each one of us. As we open ourselves to this life of love, the life of the Spirit, we become loving people, we become people who create communion with others. In today’s second reading, Paul wishes his church the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. The love of God finds outward expression in both the grace or gift of Jesus and in the gift of the Holy Spirit who creates a communion of love among us. The communion of love that the Holy Spirit creates is a reflection of the communion of love that is God. The role of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to live in ways that reflect the dynamic community of love that is God and that we call Trinity.

It has been said that the challenge this feast puts before us is not so much one of understanding but one of acceptance. We are being asked to accept God’s movement towards us in love. We are invited to believe in God’s tender working in our lives. Today’s feast reminds us that the primary movement is of God towards us, rather than the reverse. God’s movement towards us in love is always a given; it does not depend on how good we are or how well we are living. In the first reading, Moses speaks of the people of Israel as a ‘headstrong people’, whose faults and sins need forgiveness; they had just been worshipping a golden calf.  Yet, it is towards this people that God proclaims his identity as a ‘God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich is kindness and faithfulness’. Those marvellous qualities are the outward expression of the God’s inner dynamic of love. The word ‘tenderness’ there comes from the Hebrew word for ‘womb’. It is a strong feminine word. We are being reminded that the love within God is beyond gender. It is a love of which even the very best of male and female love is but a pale reflection.

And/Or

(v) Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity

Long before we were taught the traditional prayers of the Our Father and the Holy Mary, we were probably taught to bless ourselves in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, touching our head, our heart and our shoulders. We were introduced to God as Trinity at a very young age. Whenever we bless ourselves, we are expressing our faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When I go into the junior classes in the local primary school, they may not have been taught the Our Father or the Hail Mary yet, but they all know how to bless themselves. There is something appropriate about learning to bless ourselves so early in life, because as babies we were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Making the sign of the cross over ourselves while expressing our faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is a very ancient custom in the church. It was one of the ways that Christians recognized one another in the early centuries when Christians had to keep a low profile or risk persecution and death. It remains a form of recognition among Christians today. When you see someone bless themselves, you recognize them as people of faith. It can be a very powerful and courageous, statement of faith in these days when the public expression of faith is often frowned upon.

In the time of Jesus and for centuries before him, the Jewish people believed very strongly that there was only one God. The peoples round about them believed in many gods. It was expressed very succinctly in a verse from the Book of Deuteronomy, ‘The Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might’. There is a wonderful description of this one God in today’s first reading, ‘Lord, Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness’. Jesus, a Jew, shared this Jewish conviction that there was only one God. Jesus came to reveal this God more fully. He was able to reveal God fully to us because he himself had a uniquely intimate relationship with God. When he prayed to God, he called on God as ‘Abba, Father’. Jesus was the unique Son of God. The first believers soon came to appreciate that Jesus was God in human form. To see Jesus was to see God. To listen to Jesus was to listen to God. According to today’s gospel reading, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. In sending Jesus into our world, God gave us the greatest gift he could possibly give us, because God was coming among us through Jesus. Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us. This showed God’s great love for the world. In today’s second reading, written only about twenty five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul finishes off his letter to the church in Corinth with the blessing, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and fellowship (or communion) of the Holy Spirit be with you all’. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and this gift was the fullest expression of the love of God for the wold. Very soon, the early church came to realize that we need to speak about God the Father and God the Son. There is one God, but within God there is a relationship of love between the Father and the Son.

In that very ancient blessing, Saint Paul doesn’t just speak about the love of God the Father and the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, he also speaks about the communion of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish people often spoke about the Spirit of God. God was present to his people in and through his Holy Spirit. The first believers came to see that this Spirit of God completely filled the life of Jesus. He was full of God’s Spirit, to such an extent that the Spirit of God was now recognized as the Spirit of Jesus. Just as God gave the Holy Spirit to people, Jesus could give the Holy Spirit to people. Together they could pour the Holy Spirit into our lives. In time the early church came to see that the Holy Spirit had such a close relationship with God the Father and God the Son that the Holy Spirit could also be spoken of as God. This Holy Spirit was the Spirit of the love that God the Father and the Son had for one another. It was the love within God that was being poured into our lives through the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul speaks of the communion of the Holy Spirit. God pours the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we can love one another as God the Father and God the Son love us, and in that way create communion among ourselves. To speak of God as Trinity is to say that there is a communion of love within God. We are given the Holy Spirit to empower us to build communities that reflect the communal life of God. We do that in our families, our neighbourhoods, our cities, our world. That is the calling of today’s feast.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[ktlsofficial]

Lately it‘s been difficult to focus on God and finding time to pray.

Life has been very busy but being completely honest: I wanted to live life the way I want the past weeks.

It took me some time to realize that the enemy is truely working hard on keeping me from my heavenly father and I let him.

But this time is over NOW.

If you‘ve felt the same way lately remeber that God will always take you back. No matter how much you sinned and no matter how unworthy you may feel: He is waiting behind the door, hoping you‘re gonna open it and let him in.

We are really in the last days and I can feel how Satan is working harder and harder (especially if you‘re a christian) to prefend us going the right path.

But guess what: Our God is stronger!

So let‘s pray for protection. Let‘s pray for a deeper connection with Jesus. Let‘s pray for spiritual armour.

Let‘s pray for spending eternity in heaven.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

“The Word of God is the Christian’s chart… he needs not peep at a conjurer or dream dreams.” – William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

[setrija-nibelungenfangirl]

My random thoughts on Harald Reinl’s film adaptation of the Nibelungenlied from 1966/67.

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1966)

Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild’s Revenge) (1967)

More under the cut:

Positives:

- Film starts directly with Worms and thus places it directly as a focus of the film

- Volker's role is expanded as the narrator of the film. And he also goes to Isenstein.

- Even Ortwin is in the film and very briefly Rumolt too

- Great landscape images. I love the wide shots of the Burgundians on their journey to Etzel.

- I really like Rolf Henniger as Gunther: he is so self-confident and charismatic and has Siegfried pretty well under his control: Siegfried seems like the pawn of the Burgundians (Henniger seems like the COMPLETE opposite of Theodor Loos as Gunther xD)

- Karin Dor as Brunhild is also very great. She conveys her cold pride really well.

- It's cool that the film also includes the war against the Saxons. And nice touch, that Siegfried fights in it without armour.

- Dankwart helps Hagen with the hoard sinking (which I like because we see more of Dankwart).

- I find it interesting how Rüdiger and Blödelin are already established in the first film, as well as the bond between Giselher and Dietlind. It's at least a replacement for the Burgundians' stay in Bechelaren, that the film leaves out.

- It’s tragic (in a good way) how Brunhild really falls in love with Gunther after their consummated wedding night, before the secret of her betrayal comes to light.

- I find it interesting and quite cool how it storms during the 1st wedding night and the night Siegfried's body is brought back. It emphasises the impending doom. [In the NL, before the quarrel of the queens, there are several mentions of tournaments (buhurts), some of which take place in illogical places where there is no room for them. They are probably a stylistic device to depict the impending disaster and the coming outbreak of hostility. – The storms in the film seem to be a nice parallel to that.]

- I really like the little scenes where the Burgundians laugh together. They convey their bond with each other well and make them even more human/sympathetic.

- My absolute favourite piece of music in all NL movies is this theme of the huns (it starts at 2:41). It slaps so hard.

- The depiction of the Huns is definetely better than in Lang’s adaptation.

- Dieter Eppler IS Rüdiger to me XD Every time I drew Rüdiger in the past I just drew Eppler. He’s definitely the NL actor that shaped the most how I visualize a NL character in my head.

Negatives:

- The dragon is… ehh.

- Gunther just drops dead because of his wounds at the end! No! At least throw him into the snake pit if he's not going to be beheaded! xD

- Kriemhild seems slightly weaker as an avenger than in Lang’s adaptation or the NL. But there are also good scenes in this film showing her ruthlessness (especially that one scene in which she watches the burning hall).

- It's a shame that Dietrich's fight against Hagen and Gunther isn't shown.

Comments/Nitpicks:

- I love how randomly Hagen just stands there during the two Gunther-Siegfried conversations (at Isenstein and after the 1st wedding night) xD He doesn't even secretly eavesdrop, he's just ignored/not noticed xD

- interesting how Hagen becomes the seemingly last follower of Wotan in Burgundy. And the weird anti-Christian “bond” between Hagen and Alberich xD. ‘Incense makes me sneeze’ was a pretty amusing line from Alberich.

- a bit funny how Siegfried leaves immediately after he frees Brunhild, after he really wanted to free her with the ring (because he doesn't want to bind himself to her in order to continue adventuring). But immediately afterwards he wants to woo Kriemhild…

- Siegfried generally has little self-awareness xD The way he wants to give Brunhild a necklace as a gift for her wedding xD His backstory with Brunhild comes across as kinda awkward without the magic potion that lets him forget everything

- Brunhild's LSD belt xD

- Pretty amusing how Alberich summons the rats to be freed, attacks Hagen on the boat and is killed by Hagen. And Hagen could even have become the owner of the cloak of invisibility had he only learnt the magic words! xD R.I.P. Alberich, you were a weird but amusing character in the film.

- Because Gunther is such a decisive king here (even more so than in the NL), the influence of Siegfried and Hagen seems diminished compared to the NL, especially that of Siegfried. Which makes Siegfried and Hagen seem somewhat weaker to me as characters than in the NL.

- Why is Gunther so often in his sleeping dress (at least I think it is his sleeping dress)? He even receives Rüdiger in it. Is he too lazy to change? Is he secretly in his midlife crisis? xD

- I think the subplot where Hagen and Gunther want to kidnap Kriemhild's son and the child dies in the process is interesting. It shows Hagen and Gunther once again as unscrupulous realpolitikers and leads seamlessly into Kriemhild's decision to accept Etzel's proposal.

- Harald Reinl seems to have taken some inspiration by Fritz Lang. Giselher and Rüdiger kill each other (just like in 1924) and Gernot gets shot showing Giselher’s dead body to Kriemhild. Which is not bad in itself, I just found the parallels interesting between the two adaptations.

Stand-out scenes:

- The scene in which Hagen raises his sword in the stormy night and swears to avenge any harm done to his king is absolutely cool.

- The end of Part 1 is also superbly staged: how Kriemhild swears revenge on Hagen at sunset.

- Kriemhild watching the hall burn is also a great scene.

My personal ranking: 9/10

I think Fritz Lang's film version is a better film from an artistic perspective, but subjectively I like Harald Reinl's film version a little more. Maybe it's because it was more memorable when I was younger or/and because it aligns more with my (modern) viewing habits as a non silent film. It's an entertaining and, in my opinion, well-made film adaptation (even if it does have a few silly scenes) and many of the actors seem very charming to me, especially the Burgundians. The film also scores points with me as an adaptation of the NL, as the Burgundians' march to Hungary and the crossing of the Danube are also shown. But the ending is a bit disappointing, as Gunther's sudden death and Kriemhild's suicide make the ending have a weaker effect on me than in the Nibelungenlied or in Lang’s adaptation.

[thordorfralf]

The Ragnarok war prolouge

During their rise towards the interstellar age humanity completely killed their own home. The capitalistic greed poisoned the air, the seas, the land, their minds, everything. Around the year 2500 of their Christian calendar the population dwindled rapidly, because of famine, drought and the last resources were depleted.

This is why humanity was forced to the stars, building enormous life ships to evacuate as many people as possible. Those crude behemoths barely held together and without any ftl technology they started their long journey towards the planet chosen as their new home: the Ygdrasil system.

So, for many generations humans lived in their self-inflicted colony of ships and their outlook on life and society surprisingly changed. Everyone had expected that the rich would keep their luxurious levels to themselves hoarding knowledge and resources as they had done on earth, but after a few generations they started to share and work towards the good of everyone. Finally, humans left behind their greed and exchanged it with passion and love, knowing they all faced the same fate if the mistakes of the past would be repeated.

Once Midgard was reached a society was in place, that the people from the 21st century would have called solar punk, and the planets Midgard, Alfheim and Vanaheim were settled in a symbiotic way with nature. During this time the intergalactic council reached out to humanity, congratulating them for their advancements and offering them a place among the many species for trade and exploration. The humans agreed, happily sharing their technology, and trading their fine art and the crops they had to share.

The next century went by, and it was a time of prosperity for all the races, until the ksis'tor had a change in their government and decided that their occupied space wasn't enough anymore, and they started conquering the neighbouring systems. When they came closer to the Ygdrasil system, humanity send ambassadors in their beautiful and unarmed ships, but the Ksis'tor just shot them down.

After that incident humanity gave every foreign ship half a rotation to leave their part of space, after that every craft was grounded indefinitely. After that it took only 5 rotations that the human controlled space was inrecognisable. On their planets many concealed bunkers opened and out of there came things that we believe are the remnants of their journey to Ygdrasil: Large and heavy armoured vessels, armed with antique and modern weaponry. The whole system turned into one fortress with no way in or out.

I am one of the few ambassadors that didn't leave. I asked a human general yesterday why they were that good prepared for war and he just said: "We lost Earth... we won't lose another home."

The Ksis'tor don't know what they are getting into.

[yieldfruit]

God does not take up the ax of His sovereignty into His hand to make chips. When He has pruned severely and driven His ax the deepest, His people may expect some beautiful piece of work when all is finished. It is sweet to meditate on Romans 8:28. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." If you should get up some morning and her men on your house tearing off the tiles and taking down the roof with hammers and axes, you might think a gang of vicious enemies had come to destroy your home. But as soon as you understand that these workmen have been sent by your father to mend your house, you gladly endure the noise and trouble. Indeed, you thank your father for his care and expense. The very hope of the advantage that will come from the repairs makes you willing to dwell awhile in the inconvenient rubble of the old house. The promise assures the believer that the heavenly Father intends no harm, only good, as He rebuilds the ruined frame of your soul into a glorious temple. And afflictions have a hand in the work. This insight frees you to pray, "Lord, cut and shape me however You will, that at last I may be framed according to the pattern which Your love has drawn for me!" Some ignorant men fear the fuller's soap might spoil their clothing, but one who understands what refining means will not be afraid. Hope quiets the Christian's spirit when God waits a long time before He comes to perform promises. I have already told you that patience is the back where the Christian carries his burdens, and hope the pillow between the back and the burden. Now patience has two shoulders, one to bear the present evil and another to wait for the future good promised but not yet paid. And as hope makes the burden of the present cross light, it makes the longest delay of promised good seem short.

William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, 1655

[motivateandinspiretoday]

William Gurnall Words of Wisdom #like #freedom #subscribe #facts #love ...

William Gurnall (1616–1679) was an English Puritan minister and author, best known for his devotional work The Christian in Complete Armour. Born in the small village of King's Lynn in Norfolk, England, Gurnall was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, a center for Puritan scholarship.

Key Facts about William Gurnall

Clerical Career: Gurnall served as the rector of Lavenham in Suffolk for most of his life, from 1644 until his death in 1679. This was a turbulent period in English history, marked by the English Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration.

The Christian in Complete Armour: His magnum opus, published in three parts between 1655 and 1662, is a detailed and practical exposition of Ephesians 6:10–20. This work explores the spiritual warfare Christians face and provides encouragement and guidance for persevering in faith. It remains widely read and admired for its depth of biblical insight, devotional warmth, and practical application.

Puritan Theology: Gurnall's writings reflect the Puritan emphasis on Scripture, personal holiness, and reliance on God's grace. However, he was seen as moderate compared to more radical Puritans, avoiding involvement in political controversies of the time.

Legacy: Despite being less well-known than other Puritan authors like John Owen or Richard Baxter, Gurnall's influence endures through The Christian in Complete Armour, which has been reprinted numerous times and continues to inspire Christians around the world.

[psalmonesermons]

Battling our invisible enemies wearing the full armour of God

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...

In various places in the Bible, we catch glimpses of the unseen spiritual realm. A good example of this is found in 2 Kings 6 when the King of Syria send soldiers to capture Elisha and his servant.

2 Kings 6:14-17

There is also a fascinating story over in Daniel 10 in which Daniel has been praying and fasting for three weeks or so.

Daniel 10:12-14

In this chapter we find angels battling through with the answer to a man`s prayer. In the New Testament a passage which gives us great insight into the spiritual realm is found in

Ephesians 6:10-18.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The bad news is that the heavenlies [1] are teeming with a huge host of organized malignant spirits who hate God and his people.

The good news is that Jesus Christ has completely defeated them with his victory on the cross, and by his resurrection and ascension.

Colossians 2:9-15

Verse 15; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

By His victory [2], Jesus has made it obvious that these evil spirits were powerless to prevent his resurrection, and because of this, this verse shows us that we should not fear death as he is able to resurrect each believer in turn. He has also given us a full suit of amour [3] to stand against the devil, which in essence is just living a deliberate holy lifestyle.

So, as we are in a battle with these wicked spirits (they are the ones who stir up persecution and write the scripts that set the standard for what goes in society), we must continue to struggle against them and their influence on individuals and groups.

But let us not forget that Jesus disarmed them by taking away their ability to put the fear of death into God`s people and hence we can stand against them and bring in God`s will into any particular situation.

Amen

Personal Prayer

Explanatory footnotes

[1] The church is engaged in a spiritual war, and its enemy is Satan and a host of unseen angelic and celestial enemies whose power vastly exceeds our own. With a few exceptions, our enemies remain invisible to our eyes, but they nevertheless are real, and so is their opposition. These celestial enemies come in various forms, as is suggested by the variety of terms used by Paul to identify them: “rulers” these are the 5-star generals, “powers,” “world forces of this darkness,” “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”.

In this war Satan employs a variety of strategies to oppose and to defeat the Christian. Paul does not speak of one single “scheme”, but of his many “schemes” (plural), likewise, there are different parts of God’s armour that we must put on to counteract each of them. Satan’s opposition against the church is not a frontal attack, but a subversive attack through intrigue, deception, and trickery, so we must remain prayerful and alert (Eph 6:18, 1 Peter 5:8).

[2] Victory with the devil under our feet

Psalm 110:1The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

Victory over demons

Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Victory over sin and the ability to pull down strongholds

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

[3] When we put on the armour, we are putting on Christ. Of course, the whole armour of God is describing a day-to-day lifestyle lived in the knowledge of all that God has provided to protect us. Please note we should always be praying. Sometimes we can extend the shield of our faith over others, what do you think?

It is important to remember that when we put on the “full armour of God” we are putting on Christ (Rom. 13:14) Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Eph 4:23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our protection against Satan’s attacks is assured only when we take up the full armour of God. Satan’s schemes are many, and he attacks us at any point where we are weak. Our armour must be complete. We cannot pick and choose what parts of the armour we prefer, but rather we must put all of it on. We must be completely equipped, or we will be vulnerable to his attacks.

Amen

Personal prayer

[inevitableisopod]

The Lies of Dead Men

sooooooooo you know how i was writing a somewhat fluid account of historical fiction starting with the Persians and ending with the fall of the Byzantine? Yeah so that's going immensely terribly, and this is the woe-is-me/i'm-a-god section of the post now, we'll get to the rant later! okay so uni, assignments, the very real possibility i'm an alcoholic, people are hot annnddddd you're caught up.

So, what i wanted to talk about today is my favourite authors. i hate them. if i got the chance to meet them, id want to beat them with my fists until they felt bad for the things they did, then crucify them. so who are my favourite authors? well, primary sources fascinate me. they are, generally, at best, unreliable and perhaps even complete lies. take Bernal Díaz del Castillo. never heard of him? same, until last year. Diaz was a conquistador, which today has come to mean some kind of conqueror, but was really an investor, who invested in arms and armour, so they could go to the new world, and steal all its stuff. now, Diaz was not Cortez, but Diaz was standing right next to him as the Nahua people burned, and starved, and were poisoned, and died. and, to cover his own ass, he wrote a book justifying it. for his service he became Governor of Cuba. at this point you may be thinking, "the Aztec did human sacrifice." as if that means anything. i, personally, would argue that this relatively minor and common (romans, Christian tradition, etc. i mean jesus was literally sacrificed) does not warrant that an entire civilisation and culture should quite literally be erased of the face of the earth, and their books burned. the issue is much of the history most of you will be taught is from a European perspective, not a native one. you know why? we killed them, we burned their books, and what they really thought, and in some cases what actually happened have been lost, and will never be recovered. this, as you may note, bothers me slightly, and i do apologise for the slightly more aggressive than normal tone in my ramblings, but, so very few people know of these things and i felt i had to pour my anger out, somewhat.

Whatever the case, i do not necessarily hope you enjoyed my madness today, but i do hope it made you think.

May your edges stay sharp and your points true.

[jazzapples3]

Silly Game Time: We're going to a Renaissance Faire! And I, with my infinite powers and infinite benevolence (so long as I'm kept amused), am supplying you with anything and everything you need to assemble your perfect costume for the event. The only restriction is that it must be vaguely "medieval Europe" (whether history-based or fantasy-based).

What are you dressing as?

Myself, I think I'll go as a Satyr who has disguised himself as a Benedictine monk (despite only having a vague notion of what Christianity is) in order to infiltrate a monastery for shenanigans, capers, antics, and maybe even some mischief.

Man I just love dresses. But then again, I just love swords ans weapons. I think I want to wear armour over a fancy mediaeval dress. Complete with polearm to defeat my enemies:)

[annoyed-at-things]

Saint Barbara is a popular Christian Greek saint, depicted with chains and a tower, and acts as the patron of armourers, artillerymen, military engineers, miners, and others who work with explosives, as well as mathematicians. Her story involves her keeping strong in her beliefs and her faith, even in face of torture. She was martyred by her father, the main instigator of her torture, who was struck by lightning after killing her.

While this isn't a complete representation of the story of Saint Barbara - and I encourage you to look into it yourselves - it's easy to draw parallels between her story and Barbara Gordon's. Her position of patronage over engineers and those working with explosives and associations with towers can be seen in most imagery of her.

Faith is another interesting concept. While most people see faith as a belief in a person, religious faith has more connotations of faith in a concept, in a higher belief which exceeds the bounds of mankind, and people show their faith in different ways. It doesn't mean different expressions of faith are wrong, even though people may believe that.

And faith strong enough to conquer adversity is the strongest of all. Through torture, through repeated pain and suffering, and through a loss of everything she knew, Barbara was able to overcome and I just think that's neat.

[slave-of-the-lord-jesus-christ]

There is a spark of hell in every temptation.

-William Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour