#*fully accepting christ and being saved*

[walkswithmyfather]

Romans 3:23-27 (NLT). “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin.

People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith.”

“The Justice and Mercy of the Cross” By In Touch Ministries:

“Jesus willingly gave His life for us. Have you accepted His gift of salvation?”

“The cross of Christ presents a dilemma. If God is loving and good, why would He let His Son endure the agony of crucifixion? From a human perspective, nothing about that seems loving. But by looking past the obvious, we’ll see an amazing demonstration of love.

To grasp what took place at the cross, we first need to understand that God is righteous and just. He does what’s right and never acts contrary to His nature or Word. On the other hand, mankind is sinful. God’s justice requires that a penalty be paid for sin. However, God is also merciful. So how could He exercise both justice and great mercy?

Before the foundation of the world, He already had the plan in place. So when the time was right, His sinless Son came to earth in human flesh to bear our sins (1 Peter 1:18-20). The Father placed on Him all our guilt and punishment. Since the Savior’s payment fully satisfied divine justice, sinful man could now be declared righteous. Justice punished sin, and mercy rescued sinners.

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, if you accept Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, you will be saved. God’s goodness and love are proved by the cross. This was the sole plan that could save us, and God’s perfect Son was the only one qualified to give His life in our place. What’s more, Jesus did it willingly.”

[willow-asin-winnie]

I am of the correct opinion that songs in languages other than English need more love and for that matter, let me introduce you to: My German Batfam Playlist Project!

And who do we start with? Jason! So here, enjoy the playlist and my elaborations, because I have thoughts and will not keep my mouth shut <333

The masterlist <3

Also on ao3.

Neue Probleme ("New Problems") by Crystal F:

Life takes it course, no matter if you're prepared or not. Nothing ever seems normal, you'll always wait for life to finally make sense. Sound familiar?

Notable lyrics: "I think too often that I am nothing and that I can do nothing, far removed from the man I wanted to be"; "If something good happens, it's the others."; "I'm still afraid they'll forget me"

Durch die Nacht ("Through the night") by Pavel Paloma:

This one, actually, is the robin-anthem and therefore, Jason has his part as well, maybe I'll translate the lyrics fully at some point (there's no official lyrics, so mhmm). Anyway, it's a story of someone literally running through the night with someone else, dancing through it, but something changes over the course of time.

Notable lyrics: "Now I'm running through the city alone, I'm running through the night alone"; "Now I need to see where I stand, it's half past three in the night, please don't come back, please let me to you"

Trophäe ("Trophy") by Paula Carolina:

Being betrayed by the one you loved, feeling you're just a trophy to them. The lyrics explain it better than I could, but it's so angry jason coded.

Notable lyrics: "No, no, I don't want to be your trophy, just one out of many"; "No, no, I won't be your trophy, why don't you hang the others on your wall?"; "Your network, it's always your network, will it save you once you're hurt?"; "Will you notice if I'm suddenly gone?"; "And sometime, once you're alone, in an empty room, sitting in front of your daughter, Maybe you'll think of me, how you forgot my birthday."

Hier raus ("Out of here") by Cédric L'amour:

You look towards the one that wronged you full of anger. You need to get out of there, before you do something you'll regret. Doesn't that sound like his anger towards not only Batman, but also Tim?

Notable lyrics: "The people scream your name and I don't understand the hype"; "I need to get out of here, just out, if I don't leave right now I can't promise anything"; "Why is nobody saying anything? Why is nobody appalled? But I have to accept it?"; "I will get my revenge"

Blut / Leben ("Blood / Life") by REPLEKA:

Basically what the song says is: As long as you would come save me, I can die tomorrow. How is that not Jason coded?

Notable lyrics: "You were what kept me alive"; "I can't see anything, it's foggy, just reflections of neon lights in your eyes"; "Your blood flows through my veins"; "I trusted you blind although you couldn't see"

Wand ("Wall") by Ennio:

This song screams desperation. You built your wall and you kinda want people to try and break it, but oh what if they succeed? Who even am I behind it? But life has to go on anyway, somehow.

Notable lyrics: "I built my wall, people look at it. Will someone come close and try to understand?"; "They say do what's right, but when you do it's not right."; "You're not in the mood [to argue and to mingle], decline the call, and down your drink."

Alles nur gelogen ("It's all a lie") by KAFFKIEZ:

I see this song as the transition period between him not wanting to go home and slowly warming up to the family again. It's rocky, it's all different, but what can you do?

Notable lyrics: "It's all a lie, nothing is as it once was"; "I'm never home, I promise too much [...], I'll be home for Christmas, maybe"; "Whatever I say, it's not fair, I can't be fair enough for us both right now"; "I'd say I miss you, but I'm scared what that means, so I just try to move on and forget who we once were"

Elektronisches Mädchen ("E-girl/Electronic girl", but in a very very literally translated sense.) by Punk Christ:

This one, I can't quite explain. It's actually about people desperately trying to be different from the others, but subsequently being just like everyone else.

How is Batman commiting crimes in the name of justice okay, but not him?

Notable lyrics: "You say you're punk, she says your emo, he says you're just an electronic girl"; "Just admit you're actually like everyone else"

Mein Spiegelbild (hasst mich) ("My mirror image (hates me)") by raumfisch, Liser:

Being very painfully aware of your own flaws, but struggling to do anything against them. Also, what even are the chances Jason never broke a mirror after meeting the others again?

Notable lyrics: "Even the cashier at the corner store knows my life is a lie"; "It's not bad to be alone, I'll just drink for two."; "I count the flaws of the reflection, thoughts swirling. The image laughs, because he knows better. I fall for it"; "No, I'm not hurt, I am fine on my own, even if the shards of my mirror tell a different story."

Warte, warte ("wait, wait") by Subway To Sally:

Jason in his revenge era. Just. Look at the lyrics and you'll get it.

Notable lyrics: "In the streets, on the markets, you hear it quiet then loud, there is a monster in the city"; "a few people disappeared, now the people live in fear"; "in the dark, the werewolf is waiting for you. Wait, wait just a little while, wait, just wait for him."; "Everything around us falls apart, and in midst of the flames sneaks the monster into the light, bites down on your throat, drinks your blood and wishes so much that they'll talk of him in even a hundred years"; "All wolves and vampires, all demons, are just this: Humans that hunt humans"

Mein Kopf ist eine Party ("My mind is a party") by Paula Engels:

A party as a metaphor for panic, basically. It fits. Trust me on this. I think the deeper reason I think it fits is because Jason's arcs don't make sense in my head without panic. The anger and fear after being resurrected, everything that happened after, the "replacement" thing.

There is underlying panic, once the rage is not present enough to distract him from it.

Notable lyrics: "My mind is a party, can't breathe. I haven't felt for too long how it feels to feel nothing."; "My mind is a party, don't want to be here. I'm alone and the room closes in. Is the party winning?"; "The room is too small, all their stares on me, suddenly everything is quiet. They smirk is wide, say: 'You can only lose'"; "And I ask myself 'Is this still normal?'"

deine mama mag mich nicht ("your mother doesn't like me") by Yunus:

Okay, so. This is a hypothetical, okay? It's a great song. In theory it's about the parents of your love disapproving of you. But just. Bear with me.

Notable lyrics: "your mother doesn't like me, she's afraid of losing you, although i was always so friendly to them"; "I stand in front of your family like a sacrifice, don't know if I can do it again."; "I feel their death stares on me, but they can forget me breaking up with you."; "If they knew I'll stay, they'd kick me out"; "I hold back, why don't I ignore it? Where does love start and where does it end?"

...Hear me out. Red Hood Jason as the narrator. With past Jason as the lover.

GUT<BESSER<ICH ("GOOD<BETTER<ME") by TJ_beastboy:

Jason high on confidence. What you can do, I can do better. Nothing else to add.

Notable lyrics: "Didn't you already know? It goes: Good, better, me."

CONCLUSION:

More people need to listen to German music and I will supply you with it. If you enjoyed my ramblings and subpar translation skills, make sure you check out the next playlists once I post them.

Also, if you enjoyed the songs, make sure to check out some of the artists other work! Some of them are still very small and it would mean the world to me (and probably them) if more people got to enjoy their music.

Also, here the link again, in case the one above doesn't work: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5HvMcE3IEO84vgqvNpr3d9?si=8376107780924f79

[minthe-lover]

You know...lore Olympus honestly had a great foundation for a story about how women are effected by the patriarchy(like fully literally) for basically every women in the story.

Christ even thetis story could be shaped to an interesting one after the ten year skip. we see her banished to the mortal realm and then MARRIED OFF. Which is objectively just a fucking terrible thing to happen to anyone but because thetis is a bad person™ it just get fully ignored. It could be used to show how even women who are using the sexist system to their advantage can be fucked over in the end.

Minthe is a women struggling with poverty, and is treated like garbage. Abused by both a close friend and partner. A partner that repeatedly ignores her boundaries and sets her up to financial abuse both by being her boss and by owning her apartment. She struggles with mental health issues and that all is just fully ignored instead just making her a just another obstacle for perse and hades that's given a quick and boring redemption arch.

Demeter is repeatedly fucked over. Her work to become queen is stopped, she is constantly talked shit about behind her back, sees suffered from seeing her sister abuse and mother killed. It's clear she an extremely hard worker probably being the first person to make a business on that scale, and does so much to care for her daughter.

That daughter she's had to save from being sexually assaulted, knows she has the powers people have been abused for having in the past and a daughter that treats her raising her in the mortal realm as a horrendous crime. It's not like she's alone, she has Hermes and Hecate as friends and despite her seeing it as lesser she has hundreds of nymphs that would probably happily be her friend to.

Demeter would have been a great way to show the struggles of motherhood.. but instead rs wanted an evil mother plot line to push hades and persephone together faster then needed.

Leto is similar to thetis, she was completely fucked over by being banished to the mortal realm and forced to hid her face which like it's just a terrible thing to do. Again rs could have made this a point about how even abusive women are abused by society and even if they do terrible things we have to accept that fact to continue to make social progress. Again instead leto is just under used and ignored and all the bad things that happened to her are treated as good because she is a bad person.

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: the last test and proof

Crowley folded his newspaper and accepted, with grim resignation, that he would have to try and save the world. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to do it again; the first time had been bad enough and he’d needed an eleven-year-old to do the hard bit. He didn’t feel any kind of great love towards all living things at the moment, or have any heroic feelings. He simply knew that nobody else would do it. And Aziraphale, who had stumbled his way into the centre of it all, would be trying desperately not to let it happen and failing, because Heaven wouldn’t let him succeed. One more time, and he resolved that it would be the very last time, Crowley would have to fix things for him. Crowley goes on a road trip across America to delay the Second Coming. Aziraphale tries to teach angels about humanity. In between, they talk.

Length: 36,062 words

AO3 Rating: Explicit / Spice Level 🔥

Best for: Safe in Public, Post Season 2

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by lagaudiere

*Minor Spoilers* I feel like every story I post I say is my new favorite, but I do believe this is one of the best post season two imaginings I've read so far. This is honestly riveting and fulfilling for being 36k words. I was fully immersed and engaged in this plot, it's excellently paced. Gets into the plot quickly, but lets us linger when we need to. The characterization flawless, dialogue natural, and is funny as often as it's insightful. The Adam/Yeshua plot I could 100% see happening in Season 3. The way this author handles Christ is so unique and surprising! He's surprisingly much more like Gabriel and the other angels than the kind and forgiving figure we're used to seeing. I do think a big part of my Good Omens obsession comes from being angry with The Church and God. This story delves into that quite a bit, and is part of why I enjoyed it so much. It really understands the themes of Good Omens outside of Crowley/Aziraphale. How humans deserve more than to be judged by black and white standards of morality. It also really knows Crowley and Aziraphale, what their issues truly are and why they have been misunderstanding each other. The hotel scene was just everything to me.

I could go on and on and on about this one, but I want to go back to reading fics. This is a must read for me. Safe in public, but I read this one largely at work and it was painful. All I wanted to do is pay full attention and I kept having to stop. So if you can read uninterrupted at home, that's the best way to experience this. Also shout out to the Marv Bagman scene, just bravo

Read it here, fic by lagaudiere

[rosie-kairi]

You know watching that clip of Roxas wanting to know the truth of his origins I can't help but laugh nervously like oh Roxas sweetheart honeybun trust me you do not want to know because the truth is so much worse than he thinks in canon.

Cause you think it's pretty simple right? Sora gives up his heart thus Roxas is born. Oh but he looks like Ven? Well makes sense Ven was released alongside Sora's heart and made its way to Roxas. But then we have to get to the how and why they ended up like that in the first place. Cause if you think about it too long like I did you realize jesus christ the road to Roxas creation was paved with blood and mass murder O_O

In order for Roxas to be born Ventus has to be in the future (present? whatever time travel is wonky) and he has to end up alone in the keyblade graveyard and be abused for a year by xehanort and then get dumped on the destiny islands to die. But before that we have to go back to the age of fairy tales when Ven is a union leader traps an original Darkness within himself nearly dying in the process and everyone figures out that MoM essentially is using them as live bait to trap the other darkness' and leave the dandelions to die. But before we get to that we have to go back a year to when MoM purposefully sowed the seeds of discord amongst his apprentices so their friendship would fracture and the fissures would go to the unions causing everyone to turn on each other. Tensions start rising and before we know it a full blown war breaks out and thousands of children are sacrificed as they cut each other down and MoM is just off to the side watching all this like, "yeah this is an acceptable turn of events I am absolutely okay instigating the slaughter of thousands of innocent children and destruction of the world to defeat darkness this is indeed a worthwhile and good plan :)"

But before even that we have to go to like 10 minutes before (well 2 years and 10 minutes before I guess) because Strelitzia was meant to be a union leader but she was obsessed with player and wanted to save them from the keyblade war, and Darkness chose her to be a necessary sacrifice by taking advantage of a little boy's pain and loneliness and swapping their places. Had they not done that Ven likely would've died in the keyblade war meaning none of the following events post war would've played out the way it needed to for Roxas to exist.

So going back to Sora his heart joins with a traumatized and dying Ven as a newborn saving him. Then 4 years go by and Ven seeks sanctuary with Sora after almost dying again. This puts Sora within Xehanort's path and Sora's world eventually falls. His love and conviction for his friends keeps him going but he ends up having to fight his best friend seemingly to the death and has to essentially kill himself to wake up the love of his life not even sure if he'll survive what he's about to do. So before he dies he gives one last big grin and prepares to meet his fate like Ven has before him. And it is the release of Kairi and Ven's wounded heart that leads to Roxas being born.

All it took was a megalomaniac keyblade master deciding yeah the painful death of thousands of children and countless worlds plus the death of a few hundred is absolutely worth trapping darkness but his plan goes a bit sideways and the union leaders escape and manage to build back some of the world that inevitably leads Xehanort to his own crazy scheme and the egging on of the hidden 6th apprentice also manipulating things behind the scenes and destroying the innocence and lives of two innocent boys who only ever wanted to be with their friends and live their lives with them. And we still haven't fully touched on Vanitas which is a different can of worms. If even one bad thing deviated or didn't happen no Roxas. So everything had to go perfectly wrong for everyone for him to be here.

So yeah Roxas are you sure you wanna know where you came from or why? Are you sure you want to burden the full knowledge when even the one's who paid the price currently don't? Is it really worth it Roxas? Is it?

The sheer amount of events in the Kingdom Hearts timeline that exists solely due to an insane domino effect the likes of which humanity has never before seen is frankly ridiculous.

What if Baldr never succumbed to darkness and killed every single one of his friends except Xehanort and Eraqus (and BragiLuxu)? Xeha and Eraqus would've never had their views of Darkness vs Light twisted so much that they became extreme extremists. Without Xehanort doing his. thing. the entire plot of "current day" Kingdom Hearts would not have happened. Same thing goes for the what-if of Xehanort never leaving Destiny Islands.

Similarly, what would've happened if the Destiny trio never left Destiny Islands/DI never fell to darkness in KH1?

What if Strelitzia never died and got replaced by Ven? Or, what if one of the other Union Leaders was killed by darkness? What if the Foretellers never fought each other?

Of course, this all leads back to "what if the Master of Masters wasn't who he is as a person."

Roxas is the culmination of hundreds, if not thousands of years of bloodshed and interfered destiny all represented by a singular teenage nobody who eats a lot of ice cream and cares a lot about a lot of different things (most of all, his friends)

[childofchrist1983]

It’s easy to think of God as being distant and far off, too busy to notice the insignificant details of our lives. But God is infinite, so there is enough of Him to notice something as small and common as a sparrow, while still being fully attentive to you and me. Thank God for His presence with us. His love and care for His creation is endless. It brings peace and comfort knowing that He misses no detail and that nothing is too impossible or insignificant for Him to notice or to do. For we know that thanks to His faithfulness and love and care, we will never be forgotten.

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His mercy and grace. May we all accept Him and His eternal gift of salvation and ask that He would transform our hearts and lives and give us a new direction according to His will and ways. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Spirit who saves, seals and leads us. May we always thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His almighty power and saving grace. For He is our strength, and He alone is able to save us, forgive our sins and gift us eternal salvation and entry into His Kingdom of Heaven.

May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world daily. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Holy Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful Lord, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

[theprayerfulword]

August 03

John 15:4 Jesus said, “Abide in Me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

John 7:37-38 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

Jeremiah 25:6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Luke 12:32 It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom

Ephesians 1:5-6 Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

May you remove the foreign influences and get rid of images in your heart that exalt themselves against the Lord, and cast out anything that distracts from true worship of the one and only God. 2 Chronicles 33

May you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and walk in the ways of God, not turning aside to the right or to the left. 2 Chronicles 34

May you seek God when the day is young, and walk with Him in all you do. 2 Chronicles 34

May your heart be responsive and humble before God when you hear what He speaks in your life, for He will hear you when you come in repentance, sorrowing because of sin, seeking to walk in His righteousness. 2 Chronicles 34

May you watch out for those who would cause divisions and put obstacles in your way which are contrary to the teaching you have learned; keep away from them for such people are not serving our Lord Christ but their own appetites, deceiving the minds of naive people with smooth talk and flattery. Romans 16

May you be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil, for the God of peace will soon crush Satan under you feet. Romans 16

My child, you have been entrusted with much. That is why much is being asked of you. My mercy is upon you and yours because you fear Me, giving reverential awe and respectful honor to My Name. As you walk in that mercy, should you not also show mercy to others, so that they, too, may learn to reverence Me? My goodness is great towards you, My dear one. As you take refuge in Me, I bring you to the secret place I have prepared for you, and give you access to the Father, sheltering you from the strife of men's tongues. Rest here and gain strength from Me before I send you forth again to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. As I have comforted you, even so comfort others with My compassion and My goodness. My relationship gives you access as a child, a close family member, to the One who impartially judges all people of the earth. I, Whom the Father loves and accepts fully, plead your case before Him and advocate for you that you may be forgiven and receive another chance. So, also, shall you consider My blood sufficient to repay the injury caused and the debt incurred by those who reject, revile, and abuse your name and character in the world. Do not usurp the role of the One who is the true and righteous Judge, and bring the same decision on yourself. My Presence abides with you, My close one, and My Spirit dwells within you. As you reverentially honor Me and offer respectful awe toward Me, I fulfill your desires, saving you as you cry out to Me. When I do, you are to testify of My goodness to those who have not learned of My majesty and saving grace. By bearing witness of My hand in your life, My strength in your weakness, My mercy in your failures, you will bring hope to others; when in the faith which comes by hearing they turn to Me, they will be healed from the inside out. My compassion and tender care is near when you are broken-hearted; I save you from total desolation when you feel crushed in your spirit. I look upon your distress with love and pour out My balm to salve your bruises and bind up your wounds. As you have been ministered to, My lovely one, so minister to the broken-hearted, the hopeless, the outcast, the rejected, bearing My comforting Spirit as you speak My words of love. Just as you have spoken words of anguish, loss, hurt, and anger to Me in your pain and despondency, do not be surprised if those to whom I send you lash out in their loss. Let them feel your uncritical, non-judging acceptance in the fellowship of your suffering that they may realize they are not alone. These, and so many more blessings have you been the recipient of from My heavenly throne, My child. They have healed you, strengthened you, and stabilized you in My kingdom, and now they are yours to give, gifts for those I am drawing, the fingerprints of My hand in your clay to show as evidence of My existence to those whose eyes have been blinded to other evidences. Be generous, My sweet one, giving even as you have been given to.

May you give glory forever through Jesus Christ to the only wise God, the One Who is able to establish you by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God so that all nations might believe and obey Him. Romans 16

May you trust in the Lord without wavering, for then the Lord will vindicate you. Psalm 26

May you walk continually in the truth of the Lord and keep His love ever before you, for then the Lord can test and try you, examining your heart and mind, and settle you in the truth of His Word. Psalm 26

May you not sit in agreement with deceitful men or consort in approval with hypocrites but abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit in acceptance with the wicked, but rather wash your hands in innocence and go about the altar of the Lord proclaiming aloud God's praise and telling of all His wonderful deeds. Psalm 26

May you love the house where the Lord lives and the place where His glory dwells. Psalm 26

May your feet stand on level ground and in the great assembly may you give praise to the Lord, for as you walk in the righteousness of Christ, clinging to Him and showing His compassion to others, He will redeem you and be merciful to you. Psalm 26

[malimangle]

Pilgrim Aiden + Sentient Volatile Crane

AKA: I have a VERY long and convoluted explanation for how Kyle Crane could be a father-figure to Aiden that I shared with my two buddies, and I am now deeply entrenched in + committed to the bit. So I made father-son content, naturally. It’s mostly senseless gjfkdg

For this story, imagine that we open with Crane’s backstory. His perspective—this whole deal traces his life from Harran and upwards, his various fights and how terribly lonely he is as he travels through the slowly deteriorating world, searching half-heartedly for some half-baked cure for what he’s been reduced to. Like every other man on earth, buddy.

All the while, yes, he’s a Volatile that goes into a fit of what can only be described as insistent monkey brain at nighttime, but he’s still a man, dammit. He craves human connection, and as he always has, he wants to protect + help people. Unfortunately, he can only achieve the latter half. It’s a half-rate substitute for the foremost desire, but that doesn’t change that it’s better than nothing. 

As we go over his backstory, we view as he tries―and fails― to save a settlement. They didn’t listen to his warning about approaching Volatiles, and as a consequence, they get slaughtered, with many dying entirely and a solid third becoming infected. The lot of the survivors become Virals. He sorta leaves them alone after that, counseling the Virals as they, over time, begin to lose their human minds to the virus (there’s some INTERESTING world building where human facilities don’t fully shut down til at least a couple weeks into the virus, and Crane gets to talk people through the transition and watch them OFFICIALLY die.) 

Well. Some days later a kid comes LITERALLY falling into the settlement, provoking all 21 Virals, and Crane has to put them all down prematurely as they wail at him to just kill them so they don’t hurt this kid.

Aiden initially tries to run from Crane and actually gives him a run for his money, but Jesus, this kid can’t be older than 14, so when Aiden finally thinks he’s lost this ‘weird infected motherfucker’, that’s when Crane springs at him, lifts him by the scruff of his shirt, and--immediately uses his weird telepathy to essentially strip Aiden the fuck down for being completely fucking unattended in the wastes at ‘his age’ and demand that he goes back to his Settlement IMMEDIATELY.

(” Listen, kid--stop screaming, dammit, I get it, I know--LISTEN. Jesus Christ. I know I’m some monster to you but the real problem is the reason why your sorry ass is out here ALONE! What the hell are you doing, kid!?”

“...What the fuck are you????”)

Just imagine Aiden hanging there, mid-air, goggling at this fucking Volatile-adjacent man who is standing in broad daylight and chastising him after chasing him several hundred meters.

“I don’t know what fucking girl you were sweet on here, but I guarantee she’s dead now, and I guarantee that going to have a fucking booty call with her in this day and age is NOT worth your goddamn death. Go HOME.”

Eventually Aiden scrambles together some brain cells thru the shock and he ends up squawking, the picture of baffled indignance, “What the hell are you--I don’t fucking BELONG ANYWHERE, let GO of me, asshole!”

Yeah. Crane initially finds that very hard to believe, but eventually as their conversation continues, he’s forced to accept that, no, Aiden’s fucking serious. He sorta…bluescreens over it. What the hell, he thinks. This 13 year old kid only comes up to my fucking elbow, and he’s out here alone??? Trying to ‘find his sister??’ You must be joking. No way in hell am I leaving this little guy to his own devices.

So, obviously, Crane wants to take Aiden to a settlement to settle in and not be in the wastes anymore, because he knows trying to find anyone in this day and age is a Fool’s Errand, especially someone you haven’t seen in a solid decade. 

He feels a bit bad about it, but mostly has zero qualms about telling Aiden so, to which Aiden is like “fuck you no” but either way, Crane eventually “succeeds” in cajoling Aiden into talking to a Settlement. Problem is--Crane didn’t actually succeed. Aiden KNOWS this Settlement is Hostile to Pilgrims. Crane didn’t accept Aiden’s claim that they’d be mean to him because he’s not REALLY a pilgrim (yes he is—Crane doesn’t believe it! The fucking nerve!) and like…”wHoS gOiNg To Be CrUeL tO a KiD, AiDeN??”

Yeah, I’m sure we can guess Aiden’s plan, here. Crane, however, is blissfully unaware of the can of bullshit Aiden’s about to open. This is not going to be softened at all by the fact that, during the travel to the settlement, Aiden and Crane kinda become grudging pals (grudging in that Aiden is softening to Crane over time and VERY angry about it, and Crane is endlessly exasperated by Aiden’s teenagism but also unwillingly(!!) amused by it.)

Soon enough, we’ve got our day of Reckoning. They reach the bigger Settlement. As we and Aiden both expect, they are immediately hostile to Aiden when he reveals he’s a pilgrim—and our poor, previously unaware Crane, in turn, immediately realizes Aiden wasn’t being dramatic, actually, and tries very hard to get Aiden to get the hell out of there and come back over to him without revealing himself to the settlers, because showing himself would cause a panic. Guess who isn’t aware of that because he’s a dumb thirteen year old and the novelty of Crane wore off, like, a week ago? Ding ding ding. It’s Aiden. 

Yeah, so, with rising hysteria Crane is trying to get Aiden to bail. Alas, the teenager in Aiden is coming out HARD and, wanting to REALLY prove his point to Crane, who has NOT been listening to his judgment at ALL, Aiden is very showy about calling out to the settlement guards and basically begs for a crossbow bolt between the eyes while Crane literally screams at him mentally. 

Right, so. Consequences, here we come. Aiden is so busy being a jerkoff thirteen year old that he’s completely blindsided when one of the Settlers does, indeed ACTUALLY shoot Aiden, right in the front of the shoulder.

A stunned silence. The Settlers look amongst each other, wide-eyed and quiet, but then--as one--almost immediately they decide to commit to the bit. Ohhhh FUCK.

Crane doesn’t even hesitate once that group-decision becomes clear— with some unholy shriek, he leaps into action, and not only swipes the guards off the wall, but flings himself off the wall and seizes Aiden by the middle, loping both of them off into the distance while Aiden screams and shouts for multiple reasons, kicking his dumb little feet. 

They have an argument as Crane runs from the Infected he’s accidentally sent into a frenzy between his sudden energy and the smell of Aiden’s blood, and Crane doubles down—he’s like, kid, some people are just assholes, not everyone is like that and no one’ll turn away a KID--especially not one who’s bleeding profusely from the shoulder, now, Jesus Christ, we got to sit down and take care of that soon--and Aiden tells him once more, this time with incredulous insistence, that no, he hadn’t been kidding before and wasn’t kidding now, EVERY fucking settlement this way is hostile as hell to Pilgrims, and after the scene HE made, they were probably going to be on the lookout!

Crane doesn’t want to believe it, but now that truth is starting to actually dawn on him, and he’s just not ready for it. Instead, they eventually lose the Chase and Crane props up Aiden on a car to help him clumsily patch up as best as he can with the materials he’s got on hand from previous finds in hospitals and clinics along the road.

Obviously, it’s a pretty hackneyed job―especially since Aiden botches the fuck out of pulling out the arrow and he can’t give himself stitches. Unnoticed, while Aiden thrashed in pain over the arrow removal, he scrapes the fuck out of his shoulders on the rusty ass car door and gets some minor abrasions—IMPORTANT LATER. 

Story marches on. Crane tries to prove Aiden wrong about people being jerks to teenage pilgrims, but it’s pretty obviously a doomed venture when they reach settlement after settlement, and one by one, all of them box Aiden out. Crane gets increasingly frustrated, which comes to a head when he comes raring out and YELLING at the guards who won’t take Aiden in despite his injuries after the twelfth turn-away, which results in a BIG conflict that ends with Crane breaking in, wrecking some shit, and carting Aiden away over his shoulder. 

Well, Crane’s meltdown is just the precursor to Aiden blowing up on him, because Crane has only JUST understood what Aiden’s been telling him the whole fucking time! Listen--Aiden’s not sure WHY Crane has been so obstinate about getting him into a settlement, but what he DOES know is that he’s in pain, he’s thirsty, his shoulder and head are killing him, he hasn’t eaten in days, and he’s VERY pissed at Crane. So. While Crane tries to find them a place to hole up for the night and check in on Aiden’s shoulder, they get INTO IT.

This is The Fight. Where Aiden hammers home his goals, and how Crane can’t change his mind. This is the broad strokes of how it goes—this is NOT the dialogue, but essentially what is said:

“It’s not my fault you think it’s stupid, and it’s not my fault you don’t have a Fucking goal.”

“You don't think I have a goal? What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time!? Fuck, kid—I’ve been traveling with you for over a month, you think I’ve just been doing that for the hell of it? I want you to be SAFE!” 

“and I’m TELLING you that I REFUSE to be safe until I see this through, and there’s JACK SHIT you can do about it! Either you’re with me, or against me, and there is zero fucking in between. So save yourself the trouble and just LEAVE already! I know you’ve been dying to get rid of me anyway! (stroke of abandonment issue—Crane trying to foist Aiden upon settlements has come across, to him, as an adult he grudgingly trusts trying to abandon him. He thinks Crane is eager to get rid of him)” 

“I’m not—what?! Aiden, I’m NOT fucking leaving you, you’re injured and I happen to give a shit about you! You think I want to up and fucking dump you somewhere, that I’d just leave you for dead like this?! Are you joking?! (Crane has misunderstood, a little, but he sounds so earnest here that it throws Aiden off)”

“Well—! If you really gave a shit the way I NEED you to, you’d know just how fucking important Mia is to me, and you wouldn’t tell me over and over again that my one goal in life, my one reason for LIVING, is STUPID. You’ve been nothing but an asshole about this the entire Fucking time and I’m sick of it!” 

“… (Crane, being the adult, realizes Aiden is right and accepts ownership of his relentless, though inadvertent assholery) …You’re right, kid. I HAVE been an asshole about this. But fuck, man, look around you. EVERYONE is dead. I have lost so many people, people that meant the world to me, and if that’s pain I can get you to avoid—especially when pursuing it might KILL YOU, I just…I wanted to try.” 

“And I want to know what happened.” 

“(Crane realizes getting Aiden to give up on this is going to take a lot more time than a single month, and uneasily settles into ‘agreeing’ to help him, because this is stupid but he cares enough about this punk ass kid to want to stick around.) Okay. Alright. Fine. Then I’ll help you find her. For real, this time.”

With that cleared, they finally chill the fuck out. Crane awkwardly leaves Aiden to mope it out while he goes and gets them dinner, because Aiden hasn’t eaten in awhile and he needs sustenance. He goes and manages to take down a couple rabbits, raids a nearby settlement for veggies bcus they pissed him off, and Crane goes back to Aiden to find the kid miserably dozing in the big master’s bed, smelling like he’s in pain. He clumsily makes a rabbit stew and brings it to Aiden, who says in a surly tone, “I’m not hungry.”

Initially Crane assumes Aiden’s doing that classic teenager thing and—since he’s still feeling like an asshole about earlier—he’s gentle with it. He’s like, “Aiden, listen, dude. I know you’re probably pissed off. I would be pissed, hell, I’d be fucking livid if I were you. But even if that’s true, in this day and age, it’s never a good idea to refuse hot food. You can glare daggers at me the whole time, but please just eat something.”

To which Aiden says, with appropriate shame and a much softer face, “Yeah, you got me, I’ve done that before, but I’m not being a hardass for funsies right now.” He sounds a little troubled as he admits, “I’m actually not hungry.”

“Aiden, you’ve barely eaten these last couple days. I want to believe you, kid, but you’re a teenager--there’s no way in hell you’re not hungry, unless somethings wrong.” The rising anxiousness in Crane’s tone prevents Aiden’s hackles from going up entirely, so he just snips, 

“Didn’t we just argue about you not fucking listening to me? I’m serious, I really don’t want to eat right now.” 

Crane’s heart hammers a bit, “…Do you think something might be wrong?”

“My head just hurts, and my stomach’s in knots, probably over the argument.” Crane feels a distinctly hard twinge of guilt. “I just don’t like fighting. This is  probably nothing special. I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning.”

Crane eventually cajoles Aiden into eating—he pushes the stew around and manages to get down like half of it, which just worries Crane more. He puts it up in the miraculously still-working fridge and goes to settle for the night. Well. Some hours later—when it’s 2am and Crane’s still in stupid-mode (remember: that’s how he is as a Sentient Volatile—he doesn’t get bloodlust. Stupid Insistent Monkey Brain because I can’t handle violent Crane), he’s woken by the sound of his kid hurling over the side of the bed. 

He lopes into the room in a hurry like “!!! What ! The fuck ! hurt?!” and Aiden tries to wave him off like “I just don’t think the rabbit sat well with me.” But he’s trembling, sweating, listing a little bit, and pale as fuck. Crane immediately feels his face—he’s sodden with sweat, and boiling. Oh fuck, he’s feverish. He goes to manhandle Aiden out of the blankets and curls his hand carefully around Aiden’s injured shoulder, avoiding the front—but when he grabs the back of Aiden’s shoulder, the kid nearly Fucking convulses. 

Oh fuck.

Remember that scrape he got on his back from the rusty car door when he pulled the arrow out of the front of the shoulder? 

Yeah. Turns out one of the scrapes was a proper cut, and it got infected with bacteria. Aiden missed it because he doesn’t have eyes back there and, yknow, the front of his shoulder was in such overwhelming pain, and Crane missed it because he was so fixated on the front too. But now there’s visible pus in it and even though Crane is still in stupid-mode, he’s still got the faculties to think to himself a very emphatic, “Fuck.”

He’s like “we need! Pills! Medicine!” and Aiden’s like “so long as it’s not penicillin it’s fine” and Cranes like “?!?!? WHAT.” to which Aiden explains that, for some godforsaken reason, he’s allergic as hell to the one (1) antibiotic that is still around in abundance—penicillin. Cranes like “where! The fuck!! Am I gonna find an antibiotic that’s NOT ! Penicillin! Fuck!”

They start with the first Crane finds—Doxycycline hyclate. It was manufactured in 2022 — it’s 2032. Unfortunately, they don’t really do shit. They went over the expiry for them, and though SOME might still be effective, ultimately they just barely make a dent in the infection. Things are starting to look dire, and the area is starting to clog up with migrating infected and bandits, so they gotta move. 

Crane ends up rigging together, basically, a baby carrier for his back to keep Aiden hoisted securely on him using bungee cords and other materials he raids from a hiking store in a Volatile Hive mall. By this point, Aiden is so feverish he can barely speak, much less travel. So he gets Aiden secured, grabs their shit, and in a last ditch effort makes it to a Very large hospital-turned-hive, and basically sets Aiden up in a room, secures it, and fucking destroys all of the Infected in there while staying in tune with Aiden’s struggling heartbeats and deteriorating mind. 

Eventually the hospital is secure, Crane reboots the UV lights to keep the nasties out, and rifles through what remains. Blessedly, he finds not only proper I.V needles and fluid, but ALSO Ciprofloxacin, which can last 142 months after expiry before it really is dangerous. It was made in June 2024– it’s February 2032. Only 92 months, well within the limit. 

He sets Aiden up with the IV, and with the antibiotics―which he very carefully coaxes the boy into swallowing. By the time Aiden takes these, he’s dangerously close to death’s door, and not altogether there. So at some point he wakes in a hospital room, with shit shoved in his arm, very disoriented, woozy, and hot.

So. Very understandably he loses his absolute fucking shit. Which gives me the opportunity for some VERY heart-wrenching whumpy bullshit wherein Crane gets to cradle a very-nearly wailing Aiden and calm him down from, essentially, a post-traumatic meltdown. Just like I wish my parents woulda done with me, hahaha. 

Jesus Christ.

Well. Anyway. Between the IV keeping him hydrated, the antibiotics finally working to fight the infection and compounding on the mild effect the previous ones had, and the comfortable bed, Aiden’s condition does rapidly improve. By the time two days go by, the fever finally diminishes enough for Aiden to be fully coherent. He’s still absolutely miserable, but at least he’s back with it, right? Mmn. It would be nice if he didn’t have to contend with Crane’s deep and almost frantic doting concern, which was exponentially worsened by his flip-out over simply being in a hospital bed. 

Eventually: “So you, uh…I didn’t want to bring it up too fast, but I don’t know if you remember―you had a pretty strong reaction to being in a hospital bed, buddy. What uh. What’s going on there?”

Aiden puts down his comic book and squeezes his eyes shut. Fuuuck. 

So they’re having this conversation. Awesome. Well. Crane just saved his absolute dick and ass, and went above and beyond to care for him. And like…the guy’s alright. He’s clearly in this for the long haul, so Aiden guesses he sorta owes the dude the full explanation. So he gets into it. Talking about the experiments Waltz was running on the GRE’s dime for some fucking reason, and all the awful shit he was put through. 

Crane is.

AGHAST. 

 ...I’m not even going to comment on,, all of THAT, because there’s jack shit I can say to--well. Y’know. Just, holy fuck. Holy fuck. But uh. Make no mistake kid―not your fault, I don’t judge you for that―I mean, look at me, how am I gonna judge someone?--and--and those people fucking suck. I hope you know you’re getting babied forever now though. Fuck, dude.”

“...”

“ᴺᵃᶦˡᵉᵈ ᶦᵗ”

“Ur not my fucking dad, Crane.”

“Yeah, I’m glad! I got a bone to pick with that dude.”

“Jesus. Whatever, look―is babying me going to involve that weird baby carrier thing you were doing the other day?”

“...Holy shit, you remember that?”

It does, indeed, entail the baby carrier thing, though admittedly it’s more for the hell of it. They both come to realize that Crane can travel a helluva lot faster than Aiden can, and if they can trade off on who’s leading, they can travel way farther and waste less time. So they develop a routine―during the day, Crane helps Aiden scavenge―goes where Aiden cannot―while Aiden works on gathering info on his sister and Waltz, does errands, and basically does life maintenance. 

By the time sunset rolls around, Aiden and Crane pack up, strap Aiden to his back, pad him a lil bit, and essentially just let Stupid Brain Crane jettison through the night and get his zoomies out with Aiden secured to him. Aiden comes to sleep exceptionally well whilst having the Fuck shook out of him, and only really sleep good when Crane’s there. 

Aiden pretends to hate the baby carrier--he tries real hard. Crane figures out pretty quick that he's full of shit. He lets it alone tho lol

Wintering is kinda cute―they make, essentially, a gigantic soft nest to appeal to Crane, and they essentially hibernate together. Just like that, Crane acquires the human connection he craves and like, a weird quirked-up whiteboy of a son. And Aiden gets an adult who protects him and loves him like their own, giving him a parent. So cute. Wow. Love it. 

So obviously this gets a little fucked up once they get to Villedor almost nine years later. Aiden’s 21 now, going on 22. 

Crane has to make a very tough call―he’s not…going into the city with Aiden. At first, Aiden’s really betrayed―he came this far, just to leave him behind here? What the fuck? Crane quickly explains that he’d love to stay with Aiden, but this is a city full of people. There’s no way in hell Crane can fly under the radar here, and…Aiden has finally found where Mia is. But he won’t find her without acceptance from the locals. And the thought that Crane could fuck that up for him without even trying? Hell no. Crane couldn’t bear it.

And, well…Aiden can’t really argue with that. He wants to, desperately, because Crane’s been by his side for like, a third of his life! The thought of being apart from him after all this time feels weird, wrong, and anxiety-inducing. For BOTH of them. So Crane’s quick to assure― 

“Don’t worry, kid. I’m not going to up and lope off into the fucking sunset. You know this radio station we’re in, right now? I’ll just roost here. Make a nice nest and everything. And when you find her, and when you’re ready to either leave or stay, you can just come visit whenever. I’ll work on clearing the metro and putting in UV lights if you leave me any, just so your path out stays open, alright?”

“...And you’ll stay on the radio?” Aiden asks in this small voice. 

“Kid… you know I can’t actually talk, right? All I’ve got is this weird mind-link shit, and once you’re out of range, well…”

“But I can talk to YOU. And you―you can do clicks and stuff, yeah? I’ll just ask yes or no questions―two clicks for yes, one for no.”

And hey, that works. They get Crane set up, and while Aiden sets up the bed and gets ready to sleep for the night, Crane scopes out the metro at sunset and goes apeshit on the Volatiles in there. Sets up some UV lights and secures the area, if only so his boy doesn’t get his ass handed to him. Heads back. Now they usually share the bed―Crane’ll be a warm wall of flesh behind Aiden, cover his back and all. They usually reserve the Whole Ticket for winter when it's too damn cold.

For this last night, they indulge in the winter cuddle. Aiden curls up straight in Crane’s lap, head tucked into his neck, and basically sleeps sprawled across the guy’s chest.

As Aiden sleeps, Crane actually cries a little. Softly, with tear ducts that don’t work anyway. He’s really going to miss this kid, and the reality of not seeing him for awhile―possibly not ever again, if Aiden’s unlucky enough―is really starting to hit the dude. 

It’s hard to let him go the next day, but he knows this means the world to Aiden, so he doesn’t say a word to stop him. He watches Aiden head towards Villedor the next morning after one last hug. His slowly heaving heart fills with dread.

---

I'm not quite sure how I want to approach Villedor in this one: I DO want Aiden to go thru the story and all that, but I'm not sure how or when I want him to get Infected, nor how often I want Crane to come into play.

I DO want there to be a consistent subplot of Crane befriending a shitload of feral cats and becoming the ultimate catdad whilst he mopes about missing his kid. 

I do also really want Aiden to employ diplomacy and get the PK to retreat from Old Villedor without extensive bloodshed since being around Crane has given him the (in Dodger’s words, coconut-sized) balls to defy authority (especially because not being able to try diplomacy in the canon game makes me very sad--so many human lives wasted!)

And I DO want Crane to swoop in and save Aiden from Waltz at the electric car factory and basically scream something to the effect of, "GET THE FUCK OFF MY SON YOU FUCKING ANIMAL." @ Waltz before bailing and forcibly seizing Lawan in one arm, Aiden in the other, as Crane jettisons them to the Central Loop. 

(Lawan flips the fuck out over this random Infected, and it is utterly, comically side-burnered by Aiden reuniting with his 'dad', Crane, despite the objective insanity of the happenstance)

Aiden, sobbing: so much terrible shit has happened, a random man broke my heart, I fucking hate this city, I missed you so much, this sucks 

Crane, soothingly: If you want to bail for now, it's okay, you can come home with me and the cats for awhile and try again later. We have time. 

Aiden: Wait, cats? Cats, plural? 

Lawan:

Last but not least I ALSO know that I want Crane to eventually give up on totally behaving himself and instead venture into Villedor regularly--initially 'just to find cat food' but eventually just to sweep the Infected off the streets, throw useful shit into strongholds, and save as many people as possible. 

An urban legend starts to thrum thru all of the city--there is a talking Volatile man who eats other Infected, throws antibiotics at people, and gives absolutely fuckall 0 shits about UV light. Apparently he is usually toting around cat products--toys, litter, kibble, nip, etc--and is very friendly. People are terrified out of their wits at first, but the more he talks about his alleged four cats and doesn't rip people into ribbons, the more the fear fades. 

Aiden hears about this and, with a very amused nose-exhale, thinks to himself, 'oh man, wonder who that could be. what a mystery. so intriguing. Ah, good on you, old man.'

[steveezekiel]

GOD IS NOT SENTIMENTAL

34 THEN Peter opened his mouth and said: “IN TRUTH I PERCEIVE THAT GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY.

35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

44 WHILE PETER WAS STILL SPEAKING THESE WORDS, THE HOLY SPIRIT FELL UPON ALL THOSE WHO HEARD THE WORD.

45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, BECAUSE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD BEEN POURED OUT ON THE GENTILES ALSO.

46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God."

Acts 10:34–35,44-46 (NKJV)

• God is not a Man or a human (Numbers 23:19). He does not work with sentiment!

- If a supposed instrument of God, a minister of His, whom He wanted to use to accomplish a goal or fulfil a purpose; who should know what He is about to do, and should know better on it, would not understand or comprehend what He, God, is trying to do or get done through him or her, He would not mind or hesitate to sideline or bypass the person—the supposed instrument, the believer or minister—and get His goal accomplished or achieved.

- God wanted to use Peter to reach out to the gentiles in accordance with His plan to bring the whole world to the knowledge of Him, God—through Jesus Christ (Acts 10:9-16; 11:17,18; 15:14-18; Galatians 2:11-14).

- Peter was still sentimental, because of religious bigotry, and he was hesitant in cooperating fully with God in working with Him to get His goal achieved (Acts 10:14,15,28; Galatians 2:11-14).

- God had to move beyond the imagination of Peter and the Jewish believers who were with him; the normal procedure of being saved or born-again and being filled or baptised with the Holy Spirit was bypassed (Acts 10:44,45).

- While Peter was still preaching, God went ahead and baptised the gentiles with the Holy Spirit and with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Acts 10:44-46).

- God will not need anyone's approval before He does whatever He had purposed or intended to do. While Peter and the Jewish believers who went with him to Cornelius house were still recessive, not comfortable around the people, the gentiles, contemplating about the whole thing that was happening, thinking whether God was in it or not, or they had gone too far, or overstepped their boundaries—God went ahead and got the people, the gentiles saved and filled them with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-46).

• There are miracles which God would want to perform but the minister or the instrument He wanted to use would find it difficult to comprehend or agree with Him on it.

- In such a case, If God could get the vessel or instrument or minister to agree and stand to deliver the message or do the speaking, He would go ahead and do whatever the miracle He purposes to do.

- God cannot be boxed in and would not allow anyone's simple mindedness or Unbelief or myopia—the lack of foresight or discernment, the narrow mindedness or view of him or her—to stop Him, God, in fulfilling His purposes or achieving His goals.

- A minister of God who is being used as an instrument should be flexible enough to allow God to move or work in the way He sees or deems fit or necessary to get His goal accomplished or mission fulfilled—doing whatever He intended to do.

- This inflexibility of many believers or ministers had made God unable to do many things He had wanted to do in His work—some of the gatherings of His people.

- If the leader or minister of God over a congregation would not allow Him to move as He had loved or wanted to; His work there, in such a place, would be limited or hampered.

- The cooperation of the vessel whom God wanted to use to get His goal accomplished, or His mission fulfilled, is very important and highly needed—if any significant thing would happen wherever He wanted to work.

• Thus, as a believer or a minister, always put sentiments aside when It comes to work with God or work for Him.

- Put aside your shallow mindedness or thinking and allow God to do or move as He had desired to. This is not only on your work or assignment or ministry but in every area of your life—including the matters of your private life.

WHATEVER you cannot see God do or accomplish in your life, would be found difficult to be accomplished or brought to realization in your life by God.

- Being sentimental or fearful of what people would say, would place a limit on the move of God or His doings in your life and ministry. Sentiment should always be put aside!

• In addition, If God had used you to raise or train someone or people, let God use them as He purposes in His heart to do. Do not cage or put in a box the person or people by trying to stereotype or conform them to a fixed or general pattern; telling them what to do, or telling God how He should use them, the direction their lives or ministries should go or had to go, or not.

- Trying to control contrary to God's wishes, or contrary to the plan which someone believed to have received from God, is tantamount to witchcraft.

- What is a witchcraft?

a. It is an act or an effort of trying to control others, either through manipulation or intimidation.

b. When this is done ordinarily with what you have physically, It is considered as one of the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).

c. But If steps are taking beyond that, you employ the assistance of the supernatural, the demonic power, It means you are a witch or a sorcerer.

- The main goal of witchcraft or sorcery is domination—control through manipulation or intimidation.

- The manipulation or intimidation could be done:

a. either in the physical, with whatever you had in your possession,

b. or in the spiritual, with the help and the assistance of demons or whatever gift or power given to you in the dark kingdom.

• Note: If care is not taken, a minister can turn the gift or the Anointing given him or her by God to an instrument of manipulation or intimidation—in a bid to control or dominate the people under his or her leadership: "DON'T BE BOSSY TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN YOUR CARE, BUT SET AN EXAMPLE FOR THEM" (1 Peter 5:3 Contemporary English Version).

- Some are using the gifts; the prophetic gift or whatever gift they had been given by God to manipulate or coarse or intimidate the people under their leadership to do whatever they want.

- They use the Anointing on them to threaten or intimidate the people, that If they did not do whatever they told them to do, they would pronounce a curse on them or cast a spell on them, yet, such a person or people are supposed to be a minister of God assigned to take care of the fold of God—the people of God (1 Peter 5:2,3; Acts 20:28).

- The gifts which God had given them to bless His people are now being used to oppress and control the people; through intimidation, and sometimes through manipulation or gimmickry.

- If you have found yourself in this trap as a believer or minister, you had better run to the cross and ask for His mercy.

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

- Should there be any ailment in your body, receive your healing now in Jesus' name.

- The hold is completely broken and never to return or rise again in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Peace!

STEPS TO SALVATION

• Take notice of this:

IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).

a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).

b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, Thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).

c. Ask that He will write your name in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).

- If you took the steps As highlighted above, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!

[novelmonger]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we as sub-creators can learn a about our Creator through our own little acts of creation. Particularly in the area of the fates of our characters. When they die, how they die, whether they're "saved" or not (which can mean different things, depending on the context of that particular story).

There are some characters we create for our stories, intending all along for them to die. Characters we create, intending from the first for them to be evil and to never repent and never have any sort of redemption. Because that's what the story needs.

Of course, the analogy kind of breaks down because, unlike our Creator, we are writing under the curse of sin. We can't fully understand or comprehend all of the implications of certain things happening, or why God has chosen to let them happen. So we do our best to mimic what we see, to sub-create in a way that feels authentic to us, but we can never quite reach the perfection that is God's story.

Still, writing about characters and deciding their fates, looking down on the story from the outside and understanding more than the characters in it really helps me get an idea of what that must be like for God. The characters in my stories might shake their fists at me and demand to know why a certain character had to die, or why they couldn't be saved, but I know in a way they never will why it had to happen, for the sake of the story I wanted to tell.

In a way, I find that encouraging for my own life.

(There's more I want to say, but that means spoilers for chapter 8 of TMI, so I'll put it under the cut.)

And yes, I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of Mabel. My poor, dear Mabel, whom I knew from the moment I made her into more of a character than just "Jake's mother" was going to die right in front of her father.

At one point during the writing process, I don't know why it suddenly hit me this way, but I started agonizing over the fate of my characters' souls. I guess it was because I was dreaming up ways that some of the canon characters might come to Christ, and of course that just made me want to save everybody.

But I'd written myself into the tricky situation of having a bunch of babies dying, as well as somewhat older children and an adult. To me, it's somewhat easier to accept adult characters dying, and knowing in the back of my head that, if these people really existed, they would probably end up in hell. After all, everyone is responsible for putting their faith in God, even if they only have a very limited understanding of who He is, even if only through general revelation. As Romans 1:20 says, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

It's harder to wrestle with what happens to babies, especially those who have died in the womb or right after, before they have any sort of capacity to understand right and wrong or who made them. But, being a Calvinist, I believe that God has predestined even them to be elect, or not, according to His will. God is just, and God is good, so all I can do is trust that He knows what He's doing.

But for some reason, my mind just kept sticking when it came to Mabel. Even though I still believe that it's God's will where she ends up, and our salvation is not ultimately determined by us choosing God, but in God choosing us...somehow it felt different. Because she's an adult, but being raised by Hydra has given her no access to the gospel, and not even really any chance to understand how the world really works, and so how can we expect her to even extrapolate truth from general revelation? Everything is stacked against her - because I stacked the story against her that way. So if she ends up in hell...does that make it my fault?

And yes, yes, I know this is a fictional character I'm talking about. But I love her. I love her like she's my own - because she is my own. She is my creation. So I'm responsible for her, aren't I?

But then, taking the analogy of me being to Mabel what God is to me, in a limited way...what determines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? It's God. God ordains who is to live and who is to die, who He chooses to be His own people and who He does not, according to His perfect will and for His own good pleasure. If He wants someone to be saved, they will be saved - whether they've ever read the Bible or heard a sermon, whether they have the mental capacity to understand what sin and salvation mean, whether they've ever drawn a single breath. Ephesians 1:4-5 says that "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will."

And so, if I am in a very small way to Mabel what God is to real people in the real world...and if I want her to be saved...then she is saved.

In this fictional world that I've created, with characters who are real within this fictional context, Mabel is in heaven.

[unlimitedhorsepower]

my thoughts on t&b2 cour2 summarized ngl

huge massive spoilers under the cut:

(following is half copied from me telling this to people who dont know t&b lore)

im genuinely inconsolable over yuri and what happened to him.

its not even that he could or should be saved but he truly deserved something better. killing people... who cares... on-screen his murders have notably included a serial rapist for example which isnt said ig but it was a guy who only kills women he picks up at a club etc...

killing your abusive father and then going on to kill murderers and serial killers isnt a crime he had to pay for with his own life jesus christ. he was a victim in that. and i dont care hes killed people they had it coming and deserved to fucking explode.

and he dies so miserable and alone. and the truth about mr.legend didnt even come out. i guess it might, but it wasnt shown on-screen and i dont care. he never lived to see it. i cant believe it im actually just bawling.

his last scenes gratuitously consisted of his body being controlled by someone else, and before that happened his mother was shot to death. and he hallucinated his shit dad and the hallucination was like i can never be forgiven but youve followed your own sense of justice. goodbye.

yuri begged for the hallucination to not to leave him but even a hallucination of his shit dad couldnt stay to make him feel marginally better because he just didnt want to be alone.

so, alone and miserable, he bawled on the floor on top of the bloodstain where his mother was shot by the criminals who broke into his house.

and he told about his past to kotetsu&barnaby and kotetsu even himself acknowledged he said things yuri probably didnt want to hear. AND YEAH he was kind of a huge fucking dick i dont care what you had to say about mr.legend (he didnt defend him and condemned him but he was like ill definitely never be like him etc)

then in the end yuri stood alone, bleeding to death, after having given the rest of his strength to protect the protags of course, and they half-heartedly tried to convince him to come down from there. but the narrative had no kindness left for yuri whatsoever, only a dramatic moment of him breaking his mask while blood pooled around him.

so he just said hes following his own code of justice, and he earlier acknowledged its not the voice of thanatos he follows but his own voice. and then he pressed his hand on his chest and set himself on fire and jumped down.literally it was worse than if he had just died.

he burnt himself to death and literally enacted my metaphors about him being born from ashes (awful childhood, killing his father with fire) and returning to ashes once he has burned himself up. but it was literal.

and since his mother died... and only kotetsu and barnaby know his story... its so incredibly cruel and callous. he literally disappeared, like his life didnt matter, and he didnt even leave a body behind. mr.legend still has all those mythos around him, and what yuri got was to be a footnote in the line of judicial officials of sternbild and vigilantes killed in action.

im actually devastated. he never got a single piece of happiness.

one of his last interactions as yuri was kotetsu telling him that he will never become like mr.legend because he has a partner like barnaby.

how i understand his last actions is that yuri accepted hes fully alone, and will be alone, forever. he has nobody to support him like kotetsu has, and will never have it, hes too broken, too far gone.

and so, he had to die because there was no saving him. he killed himself for that, because he had no hope left. he thought he could never be forgiven, like his father could never be forgiven, but what yuri ever did was never in any way equal to being evil. to have him equated to anything mr.legend did (within the narrative) is unimaginably horrifying.

im like genuinely just crying i WISH i was joking saying that but im not. im trying to make it into a joke but i cant im just genuinely devastated.

like i know any depth i made up for ryan in my mind is my bad because i think about him way too hard but i was a little disappointed in his actions but thats whatever, my expectations were high since hes my favourite, right?

it wasnt even that bad, im just disappointed he mostly got to interact with karina which i really enjoy as well they have a funny dynamic, but i like him so im like oh! theres sooo much more to him hehe. but again, whatever, hes out there, i can imagine him doing whatever i want. he didnt contradict anything i think of him either.

but yuri... ohhh.... taking this very personally actually. i cant believe the narrative didnt give him any mercy. it was a choice they made, to have him burn up like that.

like have i somehow thought of yuri petrov way too hard?... im just devastated. he was a sympathetic character, i never have ever considered for a single moment he could DIE. and in that sort of way?

did i somehow misinterpret the entire scenario? i dont even know what i couldve misunderstood to make this better in my mind. he didnt die?.. he just uhm... went bungee jumping

like the rest of the cour i liked, there were a lot of fun parts. but i just...this is something i cant get over. it felt so incredibly cruel to him, because to me he has always been the victim.

and i thought... i dont know... that he deserved better. that he deserved to feel happiness, not die feeling thoroughly miserable and alone. i cant even reasonably focus on the parts with ryan even if hes my favourite character. i wish he had died too, for equality, idfc.

i wish LL audun had smashed his head like an egg and this was the last shot i saw of him.

everyone else can “die” and then be fine i guess uh maybe ill just choose to believe yuri somehow is fine despite losing all of his blood and burning up and falling from a great height then thats my choice. they didnt show me anything that contradicts it.

which also just reminds me nobody even remembered him after his death. i thought the last shot would have him with “true heroes” and ill be honest i was crying incredibly hard thinking about yuri but i didnt see any indication he was remembered by anyone in any way.

again, this is a deliberate choice taken by the narrative and just remains so heartless.

does anyone else agree or have some other sort of take on this?! was i simply distracted by the huge amounts of yuri petrov lore i made up in my mind so that i misunderstood half of the season and also didnt see a huge memorial set up for him or something at least.

?????

cant even enjoy anything else in the cour because of how much this bothers me. i would be glad if i just had hit my head and somehow saw a different series in my mind than what everyone else saw

[lexa-griffins]

Can u give us a bit of Clarke and Niylah backstory?. How they met/wedding details/finding out they about to have a baby together?

Clarke and Niylah met at work. Clarke's just started as an actual paid graphic designer (after 2 years of unpaid intership) and Niylah is her bosses secretary. Joking iver the water cooler, lunches together and hangs out after work quickly become a thing.

They were friends for a while, always very touchy type of friends. Clarke was pretty oblivious to shit, focusing on her career it really didn't hit her how hard Niylah was flirting with her until one day they go out for drinks and Niylah basically has to grab her face and tell her she likes her, like christ woman she could /not/ be more obvious!!

They fall into a relationship pretty naturally after that. They enjoy that time a lot, sex and traveling, and enjoying being with each other. If there's anyone that makes Clarke fully accept herself is Niylah, that woman loved Clarke fully. And so did Clarke. Niylah was her best friend.

Clarke proposes at a family function. She asked Niylah's dad even if Niylah found it to be old fashioned, Clarke knows how Niylah was the light or her dad's eye and wanted to be sure he and her mom were involved. Niylah cries so much when she proposes Clarke has to carry her to the couch to take a breath, although kissing Clarke between cries is harder.

They are married at 29. An intimate wedding because Niylah is all about family and friends, and Clarke will do just about anything she asks for, even if her family isn't that close and Niylah's makes up the majority of guests. They honeymoon in Paris and end up not seeing half of the city because they can't part with each other for more than a while, spending a good chunk of it naked in bed, drinking wine and eating and fucking.

They start trying for a baby pretty much from day one. Niylah knows she has health issues, but she wasn't aware of just how much they would affect her fertility. For around five years, they try constantly. After an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage so early, they weren't even aware they were pregnant, they find out Niylah's pregnant with Madi. Its love from day one when they see that little dot on the screen. Clarke cries when they hear the heartbeat for the first time and Niylah will make sure her bump is constantly on display. Theyre so excited about the baby. And then the doctor tells them that the pregnancy can be a massive risk for Niylah, that there's a chance she could die giving birth and that if they want, they can terminate.

Clarke wants to give it a thought, she considers it because as much as she loves this baby, Niylah is here and they aren't and she can't risk Niylah's life but Niylah refuses to terminate. There are a lot of angry tears and sad tears until Clarke relents, although she spends the rest of the pregnancy terrified that any day now she'll have a baby on her arms and her wife will be gone.

By some miracle, Niylah makes it. They do a c-section to raise Niylah's chances and it works. They are oh so happy. Seeing her wife and their perfect little baby makes Clarke so so happy. But Niylah is getting worse, there's no denying it. She gets tired faster, her appetite is low, and she saves any energy for Madi.

Niylah passes away peacefully, at least. She's in hospice, and there is no denying it she's going to die. It's after a good day. She colored with Madi and managed to walk around for a bit. Clarke brought her to the back porch so they could cuddle and watch the stars, even when Niylah was all bundled up despite being mid-August.

She goes to sleep in Clarke's arms. And she doesn't wake up. And Clarke knows it before she even opens her eyes.

[hieromonkcharbel]

If we are not deeply disturbed and agitated by our gospel today, it can mean only one of two things: either we are all saints, having fully embraced the reality of the kingdom in our lives, or we are spiritually deluded, having silenced our consciences to such an extent that we are oblivious to the truth and indifferent to the coming judgment.

For this parable teaches us that while God is merciful and forgiving, he is also a God of justice and truth. He showers his grace upon us, but we are still responsible for how we respond to his actions. Our destiny is in our own hands. "God created us without our cooperation", St. Augustine says, "but he cannot save us unless we cooperate." And nowhere does this become more vivid than in the images of our parable.

First we are shown the nature of the gift we have been given and its value. It is described as a wedding feast. Now as Catholics we know and understand what this means. The book of Revelation calls it the Wedding feast of the Lamb. The Lamb is the Son who, by means of his perfect sacrifice brings about the marital union with the Church. It is the Eucharistic feast, celebrating the union of Christ the heavenly Bridegroom and his Bride the Church. It is God the Father, the king, who gives the supper: "My dinner is ready," he has his servants announce, "Come to the wedding."

The invitation, then, has been given. But this doesn't necessarily mean that everyone will respond or participate worthily. No; in fact, just the opposite. The invitation, we are told can be scorned in a number of ways. Some we are told respond with indifference. They care nothing for the grace that is offered to them and make light of it. They have better things to do - their earthly business is more pressing and more valued. "Do I really want to give up my precious time? I could be sleeping, working, studying, watching the football game."

Others reject the invitation altogether and hold it in contempt. They mock those who take it seriously. Theirs too is a familiar approach: "Religion is a crutch for the weak minded of our world." They take the invitation to be a personal offense - for it suggests a need and a poverty that don't believe they have.

And finally, there are those who accept the invitation, but who come to the feast unprepared morally and spiritually. They have not put on the wedding garment - they have not clothed themselves with virtue - they have not put on the mind of Christ. They stroll into the Eucharistic celebration as if entering a pub, thinking "Why should I get dressed up? The king should be happy that I come at all, that I still communicate, that I bother myself enough to leave my pew to stuff a bit of bread in my mouth." They are present, but don't have the faintest inkling of the grandeur of the event.

None of these responses is without its consequences. The images Jesus uses, I think, make this perfectly clear. We are not simply being invited to a fraternity party, where our rejection of the invitation has no moral or spiritual significance. Neither is our acceptance of the invitation by itself enough to save. Our coming to the banquet, the Holy Eucharist, is not enough. In fact, we may eat and drink to our condemnation if we eat and drink unworthily.

What we are offered here is nothing less than eternal life and a participation in the fullness of God's love. However, this love is not indulgence, or a spinelessness that coddles us in our sin, but a call to embrace that which alone can bring us true wholeness and purity. The Father has given his last and best; he has nothing better. He who scorns this most precious gift can expect nothing more. There is a rigor in God's mercy.

[biblicallyaccuratepigeons]

Angels/demons vs humans let's go

((For clarity: I've referred to them as angels and demons because those are the names we commonly call them. It's important to note that "angel" means "messenger," and the idea of angels and demons that we're most familiar with is Platonic. In the Bible, our spiritual enemy is called "the satan," which means "the adversary." We know that the satan is not just one, but many demons, who hate humanity and try to keep us away from God; and that they used to be with God in the way that the creatures we call "angels" are, because they're the same kind of creature, which is "elohim." Therefore, I've put them into one category for the sake of this "Venn diagram," and will henceforth refer to them under the collective name "spiritual beings.")) (please keep in mind that I am simplifying things quite a bit, because 1. I'm not an expert, and 2. I have work in four hours.)

Ok first let's talk about our similarities:

- made in God's image (aka we're God's kids)

- have the ability to influence others on a spiritual level (truth vs lie, gentleness vs wrath, etc.)

- can be sent from God for an angelic purpose (according to the above-mentioned definition)

- have the capacity for good or evil

- are spiritual beings with form

- are involved in the spiritual war (by virtue of choosing good or evil)

- were made to glorify God

- are called gods and have authority over things on Earth; also have hierarchies amongst ourselves

- cannot easily exist in the physical world without a body to inhabit (2Cor 5:6-8; Mark 5:1-13)

The ways in which humans are unique:

- were given physical bodies and live in the physical world. These bodies are us, and belong solely to us, but also function as houses which we can share with other spirits (note: God has appeared to us in visions in the same form as He's given us, though far more radiant, and became a human to save us)

- can accept co-heirship with Christ, who is above all spiritual beings; though that does include us, it appears to mean that we'll also be over the other spiritual beings (and in fact, we can exercise this authority as an ambassador would even while our bodies are alive, as long as our spirits are) (also this seems to mirror the way Jacob was Isaac's heir instead of Esau, though that's just my brain braining; I'm not sure how much correlation there actually is)

- while our bodies are alive, can still choose whether or not we follow God; this choice appears to be much more flexible than it is for spiritual beings, though it does become irreversible once our bodies die or Jesus returns to bring the new creation

- start our lives spiritually dead because of the Curse (our intended state is fully alive, but we have to choose life)

The ways in which spiritual beings are unique:

- can come in many forms (meaning their specialties appear to have direct correlation with their visual forms: seraphim being healers and fiery snakes with wings; cherubim being throne-carriers and worshippers, with many wings, eyes, and faces, and whose souls are kept within intersecting wheels; demons being described as darkness; etc.)

- in the vein of above, can change forms (taking human shape in multiple recorded places, including other mythologies; a spirit in 1Kings and 2Chron "going out and being a lying spirit," implying that they were not one all the time; etc.)

- are all submitted to God's authority (meaning that though they do have the ability to choose whether they want to continue to be His children, they all fear God.

- In the vein of all above, this choice fundamentally changes them in a way that appears irreversible (this choice to become separate from God contrasts with our choice to become alive from death)

My conclusion: humans are just another kind of elohim, sitting in our own place in the hierarchy and with our own role in this big spiritual war

Ok, that's all I can think of right now. If anyone has any questions or additions, please feel free! Again, I'm not an expert, and I haven't read Enoch, but any opportunity to research is welcome <3

@toytanks my friend, is this what you wanted? Are you happy with the thing you asked for? I give it freely. Eat and be merry.

[walkswithmyfather]

Romans 3:21-24 (TLB). “But now God has shown us a different way to heaven—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.”

“Peace and Confidence” By In Touch Ministries:

“Our heavenly Father wants us to be secure in our relationship with Him.”

“Newborn babies have the wonderful ability to fall asleep anywhere, untroubled by worry or fear. Our heavenly Father intends for believers to have the same sense of security—He wants us certain of our relationship with Him through Jesus and confident of its permanence.

But have you ever noticed how that sense of peacefulness changes by the time babies are toddlers? They often cry over small disturbances and are unwilling to leave a parent’s side. Their situation has not changed. They have the same safety and protection they enjoyed as infants, but they’ve lost their feeling of assurance.

Doesn’t this also describe us on occasion—when we don’t believe the promises of our heavenly Father? From the moment of salvation, we enjoy a permanent relationship with God, one that we will retain forever. But at times, we struggle to fully understand and embrace that gift.

Certainty about salvation doesn’t come from applying human logic. It is a matter of faith. Do we believe what God says or not? Whenever you feel yourself wavering, pray the words of 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

[loversandantiheroes]

Lmao, jesus christ, imagine watching the undeniable shitshow that is WW84 and coming away with the idea that it's Pedro Pascal that ruined the movie. Like I know I'm biased and I fully accept that, but you've got G*l G*d*t's limpest acting, bafflingly awful writing, literal goddamn body snatching s/a that's completely unaddressed as any sort of issue, saving children in the middle east with a rocket shot from a tank, Barbara/Cheetah just sort of being there with barely any solid tie to the plot. Pedro Pascal's performance as Maxwell Lord, a scared wet hamster of a man existing in an 80s flavored PG retelling of Wishmaster that is almost entirely separate from anything else going on in the plot, is possibly the only moderately entertaining thing going on in that film.