#but there she and Baal go conquering lands

[mossywizard]

/(._.)\ I hate revealing my ass to the class, no I don’t want to share my prompts I’m writing about shit no one cares about unless I explain a fucking essay of how it connects to Christianity and colonization

[sharenadraculea]

Planetswap-AU Outline!

Finally manged to finish the backstory-outlines for my planetswap-au!

I Lion El‘Johnson (Olympia): The tyrant of Lochos received a vision that a child from the sky would take his throne and so he ordered his servants to kill the infant. But instead they gave the baby to a huntress, who went on to raise him as a girl. Many years later she meets Calliphone, the princess of Lochos who ran away, and while they slowly fell in love, they started planning the revolution. 

III Fulgrim (Barbarus): Beeing captured by the tyrannical overlord Necare, Fulgrim spent his whole life in a tower on the highest mountain of Barbarus. While beeing forced to work for Necare, the toxic atmosphere slowly but surely did irreversible damage to his lungs. When the Emporer finally came to Barbarus, Fulgrim was closer to death than live, and even after leaving the planet, he is in dire need of medical treatment.

IV Perturabo (Baal Secundus): Perturabos pod was found by the mutants living in the desert and they raised him as one of their own. And seeing their suffering, he wanted to help. And he managed to, building houses and trying to improve medicine. 

V Jagathai Dorn (Inwit): The young Jaghatai was found by the patriarch of the house Dorn. Growing up amongst the feuding houses he soon learned the in and outs of both politics and polite society and became a master of artic warfare. It didn‘t take long for him to conquer the whole world and so he set to the stars, soon having taken over the whole of the Inwit-cluster. 

VI Leman (Prospero): After landing in the desert of Prospero, the planets psykic jackels led the infant to the city of Tizca. Roaming it‘s streets, Leman finally found a home in the cities great library. He learned the place of every book and despite beeing of great help to the people of Prospero, he always felt like a outsider due to his inability to use magic. 

VII Rogal (Cthonia): Rogal was found by one of Cthonias many gang-leaders, who quickly came to treat him as her own son. As the young primarch grew up, he realized what his mother was actually doing and in a fit of rage accidentally killed her. Terrified of what he did, Rogal ran away and hid out until the emporer arrived. 

VIII Konrad (Caliban): There are many strage creatures in the depth of Calibans forest and one of them is the Lady of the Lake. As beautifull as she is deadly and often accompanied by the Watchers in the Dark, she may help those mortals brave or foolish enough to seek her out. But if they are deemed unworthy, they may loose their heart to her. 

IX Sanguinius Khan (Chogoris/Mundus Plannus): Raised by a tribal leader, Sanguinius had a happy childhood until his father was killed by a enemy tribe. Gathering his own army, he set out for revenge and once he tasted blood, there was no going back. With both fear and diplomacy he united the warring tribes of the steppe, attracting the attention of the planets empires who soon managed to capture him. The day of his supposed execution, he killed the local emporer and fought his way back out, soon taking over the whole planet. 

X Ferrus Manus (Terra): Ferrus was raised by the Emporer himself or more accuratly, it was Malcador who did most of it. He traveled the stars ever since he was young and no, the Emporer definetly did not loose a teenage Ferrus, leading to him slaying a necron construct which coated his arms in living metal. 

XII Angron Guilliman (Macragge): Angron was raised by loving parents and had a very happy childhood. Thanks to his empathy-powers he came to greatly care about regular humans and so started to improve live for everyone. He also introduced proper democracy to Ultramar and started adopting every stray cat he meets. 

XIII Roboute (Deliverance/Lycaeus): Roboute grew up in the shadows, always hiding from the prison guards and helping prepare the slaves for the revolution. But it didn‘t work forever and he was caught. The sadistic guards were fascinated by the strange boy who was too big and healed too fast. But even after he escaped and the revolution suceeded, Roboute would never be the same again and still struggles to speak. 

XIV Mortarion (Colchis): When a especially bad drought hit Colchis, multiple children were sacrificed to their god of nature. Little Mortarion was the only one to return, no longer human and never to grow up.

XV Magnus the Red (Nocturne): Nocturne has always been a unstable planet, the myriad of vulvanos and lavafields forcing it‘s inhabitants to constantly move. The young Magnus soon realized that he had the power to controll both fire and the earth itself. He learned how to fight the planets vulcanos and turned the deathworld into a much more hospitable place. 

XVI Horus (Nuceria): Horus was lucky: the high-rider who found him decided to keep him instead of throwing the child into the figthing pits. He grew up in luxury and later used his influence not to improve live for everyone but to have good time, doing drugs and playing gladiator. To him it was just a game, afterall he is a primarch, he wouldn‘t loose. 

XVII Lorgar (Medusa): Lorgar grew up in a secluded monestary high in Medusas mountains. As she got older, she realized that she is not a man, which led to her beeing kicked out of the monestary. Wandering the lands she had to learn who she actually is and find a more healthy relationship to her religion,

XVIII Vulkan of the Russ (Fenris): Vulkan was found by a young dragon, who miraculously didn‘t kill the infant, instead taking care of the young boy. As he got older, his interest in humans grew until he decided to join the nearby human village. Quickly discovering his talent as a smith and warrior -as well as a love for everything shiny- he became the leader of his people.

XIX Corvus Corax (Chemos, kind of): Corvus landed on the planet of Chemos, but they didn‘t stay there for long: harlequins found the infant wandering about and after a bit of godly intervention accepted the infant as one of their own. They learned the harlequins dances and stories, how to use eldar weaponery and about Cegorachs mysterious plans as they travelled the webway. And for the story to advance, they need to leave their adoptive family… at least for now. 

XX Alpharius and Omegon (Nostramo): While they landed on a absolutly horrible planet, they were together. Speaking a language only the two of them can understand, they did their best to survive as so many street urchins did, and maybe improve that hellhole of a planet. 

[by-glass-and-waves]

I like the idea of each of my three AU/fanfic ideas having a slightly different Narinder, slightly different Lamb(?)

or at least I hope they're distinct enough, Depression Quest and Courtship Lamb may be similar, but it doesn't make sense for moody trainwreck Courtship!Narinder to swap with dumbass trainwreck Restart!Narinder. Maybe he could switch with Restart!TOWW lmao

I'm gonna write some notes - which might change - on the pair/story for each AU because god knows if/when I'll actually write Depression Quest or Restart, at least we have some shitty doodles right

i promise i am working on Courtship i have done the Spongebob

THE

so far

... actually I'm nervous posting this fml sorry guys who are looking for delicious Courtship/Restart goodies

spoilers ahead for my Depression Quest AU/fic/whatever it is if spoilers for a nonexistent work matter to youwu. I'll blob a hopefully readable version of what story beats I had and link the two posts whenever it happens

ALSO CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING SI/HI/THOUGHTS+ACTIONS OF HARMING SELF AND OTHERS/DEPRESSION

Depression Quest:

Lamb (she/they, mostly they)

poor babby beat down by the world and killed by the Bishops

gets the Red Crown and starts mowing them down with glee

they're a good leader, they're saving the Lands of the Old Faith from the Bishops, the Cult loves them

and it looks like The One Who Waits is as just as shitty as the others, can't have that, they are way better than he could ever be

so maybe they get a little too power happy and go a little too hard on the whole heroic leader thing

when he is conquered, TOWW is seen as nothing more than a trophy, a piece of property just like the Crowns surrounding his house

they act merciful, but Narinder knows it's just to make him submit, knows that they're just as power-hungry as he was

they let him run away because they'll always know where he is, and they want to see what happens/how long it takes before he crawls back to them

Narinder

finally gets revengeance on his family who threw him in jail, gets released from his prison just to get beat up and thrown into a gilded cage

he is depressed. he is angry. he has nothing left

I'm talking SI/HI, self-harm, screaming and breaking things, pushing Baal and Aym away, and crying on the floor breakdown shit

resists for a long time but eventually starts integrating into the Cult, only to get betrayed by a jealous follower

Narinder has a breakdown because he was stupid enough to think things would be better, so he runs away from the Cult

he encounters Ratoo and they bond over loss :'( but just like Ratoo, he never quite gets over things :(((((((

Ratoo might be the only person he'd call a friend/someone he trusts

addendum: narinder's third eye: he keeps it closed like in canon but technically he can open it, just really difficult and it fucking hurts to do it anyway

over time he gets a little strength to open it for short amounts of time but it still hurt

there's a few times when he gets angried or whatever when he accidentally attempts to open it and he goes OH FUCK OW and maybe it'll set his head straight

Depression Quest may have a bittersweet ending in which the Bishops return and were able to Get Over It™ in the Afterlife due to their actual support network, but I don't know tbh

I do know if they did return/if Narinder meets them again somehow, it'd just be like, sad, guarded, they'll reconcile but it's not the same kind of relationship deal

When I first came up with Depression Quest in September I was like, maybe Lamb is just protecting the baby and won't push him or anything because they love him and stuff

then as time passed I was like okay that's complete and utter bullshit and besides, Narinder is so consumed with his losses there is no way he could into a relationship in the near future. Sometimes people just can't move on :(

I also don't know how the Narinder/Ratoo friendshit even happened guys, it was just the idea of Narinder walking into Ratoo's heart pond and going "what the fuck are you doing" and things went from there

[sukethson]

Adhd meds didn’t work and i got bored and sketched this all out, and did some world building.

The Main Man :

Set was the lord of the Red-Lands and Upper Egypt to start. After Osiris got capped and he (rightfully) inherited the Throne of Lower egypt into his domain and power. The god of violence, expanded his influences as far as it could go before the disappointing end of the myth. Taking Kush, Punt, Canaan, edging into Parthia, tickling the feet of the Hittites, and standing firm in northern Africa, taking control of any and all trade of the Mediterranean south. Formally Creating the first Egyptian Empire from this:

To this!

Within his 90-80 year reign, Set grew his empire Substantially. Ruling over a multitude of different peoples, who gave him different names and accepted him into his pantheons (Baal, Hadad, Teshub, etc).

Set’s direct power over the southern Mediterranean brought extreme wealth to his new Egyptian empire, and an influx of slaves, diverse traders, peoples, and a wealth gap to be introduced to the former somewhat closed off kingdom of egypt. The poor were extremely poor, and the rich were extremely rich. Though, he introduced reforms, which the ancient world weren’t yet ready for, as I listed before in a previous post.

As you can seen the reasons Isis knew Horus could no win waging war or in a fight one to one was fairly simple. Set was Infinitely stronger than Horus, and he had hundreds of the thousands of men from different lands marching at his back, solely loyal to him as their great new god. Set does eventually get occupied with Horus battle stuff and cannot enjoy fighting at the two fronts of his expansion and was planning to conquer Mesopotamia before Horus challenges him pausing and effectively ending all expansion in his reign.

Egypt would never see such Expansive success again until the likes of his Grandson Rameses the Great.

…

At the end of the Myth there was massive losses to Egypt, returning it from empire to Kingdom, The gods agreed that the lands Set had rightfully conquered were not to he included in Horus’s inheritance (which pissed off the spoiled little shite), who proceeded to lose Punt due to his inexperience and mismanagement. Leaving the once massive empire looking more like this:

L Horus PERRR Usual! Set remain Lord of the red-lands for a another millennia or so, before eventually retiring to become Ra’s heir upon the sun boat, allowing for his Foreign people to be ruled by his descendants. The remains of his once great empire were ruled by Wepwawet, then Maga for some time, before giving it to the Mortal Kings of Canaan and Northern Africa, like Horus in egypt.

The Wives:

Set has many wives, but these are the Great wives:

Nephthys, Neith, Anat, and Astarte.

Nephthys is Set’s Great Wife to begin with, being the mother of the Most of his divine offspring and his first love.

After the Murder of Osiris she was admittedly afraid. (She is rather delicate when it’s other gods making the trouble, especially her world ending, unkillable snake and brother murdering husband).

She becomes depressed thinking of her windowed sister, having taken her place as Queen. Her pity had only festered with everyday, she having seen Isis sprinting after her trapped husband, and watched as Isis aggressively shaved her eyebrows off in a spell of horrid grief when she was unable to save him.

So she remains at Set’s side while Harboring as she worked to Isis back to a sense of sanity and reality , slowly becoming a insider to help her find Osiris’s body. Nephthys successfully does find the location….but Set wondering why his wife was being so distant discovers this, and tears up Osiris’s body, setting them back at square one. When he returns home to yell at her again, she’s already hit the ground running and books it out of Egypt with Isis and baby Anubis on Set’s ship. She does return to Egypt eventually keeping low and raising Anubis and Horus, before getting pregnant after Seducing Set into telling her secrets with the help of coitus, unconsenstually administered drugs and worrying amounts alcohol. (She is 1000% on all the registries).

—-

Neith becomes Great Wife a few years after Nephthys escapes. Before assuming the title she had spent her time seducing and distracting him from his search for Isis while Nephthys harbored her. Encouraging him to expand the empire and Has Sobek (who later eats a piece of Osiris, and gets jumped by Horus and Isis) to keep him happy. Once Nephthys leaves and she becomes great wife, she struggles to keep him from looking for the escaped trio, and ultimately fails when Set discover Horus’s existence and she just books it to Canaan while pregnant with Serket to escape Set’s wrath, and for the safety of her children, ultimately laying low until the final trial.

Anat and Astarte are set’s great wives only briefly after the end of his empire, producing Maga before Set’s reconciliation with Nephthys and Neith, which gets them unwilling deposed to lesser wives.

The Children

Set’s children throughout the Myth is:

Anubis, Sobek, Wepwawet, Maga, and Serket. (In order of birth)

Nephthys: Anubis, Anput, Wepwawet, and Bata (born after the original myth)

Neith: Sobek and Serket,

Anat and Astarte: Maga (they both act as his mother, in reality he is Astarte’s son, but Anat takes a role as his second mother, she bears no interest in bearing children)

Anubis and Sobek, were both once considered the heirs to the Empire’s before their disappearances with their fleeing mothers. Here I display the children each bearing a weapon gifted to them by their father, with a Serket bearing two lotuses in references of a personal head-cannon story of mine:

Set looks throughout his new empire, journeying across it as he looks for Isis and Horus. In his travels he comes upon Serket, while ignorant of their relation to each other, she unlike all others is unafraid of Him the slayer of Apep and Murderer of Osiris. She simply offers the Pharaoh a Blue Lotus, and Set perhaps wanting to be a prick or sensing the oddity of the little one. Crushes the lotus in his hand and mends it with sand squeezing the magic of the lotus from its leaves, before opens them to reveal a Scorpion, he gifts it to Serket, who accepts the creature and becomes it’s master.

Spent the whole school day writing lore instead of doing my work…ahaaaaa

[qierxing]

Prognosis

Yan! Tsaritsa x Reader x Yan!Baal

Word Count: 837

In which you are rudely woken up for an apocalypse.

You awake to walls made of pure ice.

Ushered on your feet by guards with no eyes, no sympathies as they rush you towards an unknown fate.

You gaze around in a deadpan look.

"Wasn't...expecting this kind of entourage for my appearance. Am I really a threat to you, Your Majesty?"

Her face does not change, but a subtle twitch of an eyebrow communicates her irritation enough. You raise your hands half heartedly in mock surrender as you sense her Harbingers tense up at your casual question, hands gripping weapons tightly, coiled like a spring.

"One wrong move and I can have you impaled and your ashes scattered to Celestia."

"You forget that for as long as we've lived, death is a reprieve." You close your eyes and hum in musing, not intimidated by her veiled threat. Still, you make no move of even defending yourself despite the fact you were surrounded by twelve of her soldiers, weapons poised to aim at your heart and put you down for good.

“Leave us.” She snaps at the Harbingers, and they all pause and exchange glances and that one moment is enough for her to get irritated.

“Do you question the might of the Tsaritsa?” She hisses with narrowed eyes, and they all bow their heads reluctantly and leave, their movement silent and swift.

For a quiet moment, all was still.

“You've changed...” The Tsaritsa's eyebrows twitch as your passive face continues examining her. "...Anya."

"I go by that name no longer." Her words threaten to freeze you over. "You overstep your boundaries, Oracle."

You don't react to the scathing reply of your title, merely shrugging. "I suppose there is a reason why you haven't skewered me with an icicle yet, so out with it; what do you want me to see for you?"

Her nostrils flare at your insolence: since when have you grown an impertinent tongue?

“Silence, brat.”

You cannot help but wryly smile.

-

"I'll help you, on one condition."

The past echoes in your brain loudly, unwanted as she conquers and laudes her powers over Morax and Barbatos, and you don't feel anything as they look back at you in confused betrayal.

Why your once loving, sweet and peaceful friend is now collecting all her fellow archons' gnosises as if they were mere trinkets is none of your concern. Perhaps you should feel some shame, that your once benevolent nature has been dashed away by humans with ill intent, that you once had a heart that cared for all.

“You must put an end to [First], the Oracle of Celestia.”

But as they fell, weakened, tired, of their ancient existence, there is a sense of bitter triumph. How does it feel, to once have all the powers granted to you, take hold of your soul and wear it down, little by little, until there is nothing left? You want to scream at them, claw their faces; you’re lucky your powers weren’t used against you.

You went into sleep with a resolution and promise: to never once again wake.

"You must see, my love, for we can conquer the world." The Queen of Snezhnaya whispers reverently as you both stand before Inazuma and you say nothing back. You think of the contract you bartered with her and hope your old friend had some compassion and common sense lingering underneath the icy walls she has built up over the centuries.

The Raiden Shogun was someone you did not expect.

How does she do it? The hoarding of power is blinding to your eyes, the gleaming pile of visions varying of all kinds, a morbid trophy of the power she holds over her land. How many souls did she rip apart so she can stay on her throne forever?

“Eternity is nearest unto Heaven and Celestia.” The archon smirks, her ornate sword clutched between pristine fingers. While the Fatui agents around you tense and clench their daggers, you silently think about how disgusting she looks with greed on her face.

“Come with me, my dear Oracle, and I promise that you will never long for anything more.”

How many times have you heard that promise from the lips of your dearest friend?

“What I long for is something you will never comprehend.” Is your brusque reply, and her amethyst eyes narrow. Frostbite threatens to eat into your nerves as a porcelain hand wraps itself around your waist. The possessive touch is not lost on you.

“Find your own toy to play with.” The Tsaritsa snarls, and Baal smirks back, sharp fangs and all. Ice and electricity cover the field, and you glimpse something of the future within the crackling energy.

Chains. Collars. Gags. Mine, mine, mine—

The image shakes you enough to pull out of the icy grip. And as you watch the battle between the two archons spill over and shake the very heavens, you hope for once in your long life that your divination was wrong.

Because if you were right—what did that spell for you?

[xenosgirlvents]

the final tally

for some weird reason my purchased e-copy of psychic awakening: pariah could already be downloaded midday today, rather than saturday morning as it typically does (also, for most of the day, when hitting the download link for it, it downloaded ravenor: pariah instead, so i got that free out of this, weird).

i can now do something of a tally of how psychic awakening’s gone over all. to be blunt this isn’t a strong series, i don’t think anyone thinks this was handled particularly well, and narratively it’s an enormous step down in quality from vigilus. it also really wasn’t epic, since 3/4 of the books often dealt with meaningless, tensionless, conflicts with no resolution. off the top of my head the only books in the series which could, even a little, be called ‘story important’ would be: phoenix rising, ritual of the damned and pariah. saga of the beast doesn’t count because the actual plot important event there, ghazghkull’s humiliation and subsequent return, doesn’t even happen in the book, so it’s excluded.

anyway, of course, the more clear thing is; holy crap these books shit on xenos. i mean they shit on chaos too, but chaos gets out a little better. pariah is definitely the best handled of the xenos books, easily, because it at least understands for an enemy to be a threat they can’t JUST lose, so the very first fight of the book is a major necron victory. of course, from there, both follow-up battles are necron losses, one embarrassingly so because they only lose because szeras has now shown himself to be an eldrad-level idiot, but it’s better than blood of baal, the greater good or the absolutely fucking awful rise of the phoenix and saga of the beast.

so let’s look?

Phoenix Rising: Within this book Asuryani do some pointless border scuffles and win one fight against rando-Daemons (the favoured enemy of all Aeldari because Daemons are such universal chaff even Aeldari are allowed to beat them). Is second to the tied Ritual of the Damned, War of the Spider and Pariah for the clearest narrative. In the overarching narrative of the book the Ynnari discover their hope of the Seventh Path is crushed already, the efforts of all their greatest heroes can barely compete with a glamour of Shalaxi, and both Yvraine, and now again Kyganil in Pariah, declare Phoenix Rising to be a crushing, hopeless, defeat. Death Masque all over again, because GW doesn’t seem to think Aeldari can ever succeed at anything.

Faith and Fury: No Xenos. Focused on Chaos and Imperial forces, mostly the less important Space Marines, it showcased us three inconclusive battles and was a step-up from GW’s normal method of ‘Imperium wins everything’ by instead just going ‘nobody wins, it’s ongoing’. A naïve me might have hoped they’d stick to something like this so at least the non-Imperium factions don’t lose constantly, but I was stupid as always.

Blood of Baal: Followed Faith and Fury’s style of a warzone and three battles chosen from it. Of course these are Tyranids so they just lost two of the battles outright and the third was ongoing. Yay. Blood Angels, of course, lost nothing.

Ritual of the Damned: Very story driven, as was War of the Spider (skirmish of the Spider, seriously, war? It was a grand total of one battle and an ambush against like 50 dudes) and Pariah, Ritual of the Damned taught us that 200 Marines was all it took to lead a successful direct assault on the Thousand Sons’ stronghold, break right into their inner sanctum, kick their shit in, and successfully withdraw in good order. It was awful. 

The Greater Good: Faith and Fury part 2: Boogaloo. The Greater Good gave us a warzone, three factions, and had each of three battles end on an inconclusive ‘ongoing’. I guess Shadowsun is still a Xenos so now she isn’t even allowed to beat randos anymore, as she fails to successfully conquer an unknown, random, planet with no known characters on it.

Saga of the Beast: Six meaningless battles focused almost purely only on the Space Wolves’ perspectives with, in most, there not even being Orkish characters with names at all, it presented us a mix of stalemates and Space Wolf victories with the only Ork ‘victory’ being one battle where they teleported out of the battle before it could finish. Yay. Humiliatingly this is the best the Xenos do till Pariah.

Engine War: More focused, but lacking clear direction, this was a small, scant, book focused almost purely on rando Knights and Magi attacking a single fortress on a single Chaos Knight world. Technically the outcome is mixed, but it’s a closest to an outright win Chaos manage. The overarching Chaos scheme, a machine that could slingshot Warp Storms, is destroyed and foiled, but the Daemons released as a result do wipe out the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet entirely and send the remaining Imperials running from the planet, so they don’t hold it.

War of the Spider: Why does this even exist? Nothing happens in it? War of the Spider is a pointless, short, story in which Fabius has none of his more detailed or interesting characterization, in which Typhus is a cowardly idiot who loses one fight when he lets himself be ambushed by a warriors 9000 years younger than him and loses his second fight when he pisses himself at the sight of Custodes and abandons his entire honourguard. so veterans of the long war who’ve fought with him for millenia, to die as he runs away with his tail between his legs. The Death Guard lose. The Shriven lose. The Custodes technically win as they set out to destroy the Shriven and they do, and Fabius wins because his ‘win condition’ is basically just that he doesn’t die so by that metric he always wins. The battle, though, is of course won by the Imperium. Again. It’s also nonsensical. Where told the Shriven fleet could wipe out the Custodes fleet, but they land to kill them in a land battle. Then the Death Guard show up and destroy the Shriven easily, so by that metric their fleet should destroy the Custodes fleet easily too but...instead Typhus just runs away from them? Is he that scared of Custodes? What an absolute loser.

Pariah: Probably the most competently written of the books because it follows, like, literally the most basic of story telling conventions. We are introduced to a threat. The first engagement with the threat, Mesmoch, ends with the Imperium retreating in defeat. Then a second battle lead by Stern ends in victory. Then in a third battle a super-secret-special-awesome team of characters infiltrate to the Villain’s evil lair to steal a McGuffin and succeed in doing so. 

[when can we have a campaign where xenos just win? taros has now been invalidated, so when are we getting a campaign where xenos actually beat the imperium for once?]

Of Psychic Awakening the Imperium wins a whopping 9 (of these it should be noted Space Wolves and Blood Angels alone constitute more than half) battles. Asuryani come in 2nd place with 2. 2. Chaos gets 1-2 (debatably?), Necron get 1, Orks get 1 (debateable again) and that’s about it.

In terms of winning ‘campaigns’ as most of these are ongoing there aren’t too many of those. That being said the Imperium wins outright in both Ritual of the Damned and in War of the Spider.

Beyond that the only other people who can claim to have won ‘campaigns’ are Fabius Bile and Chaos Daemons, but it is a little more shaky. As I said Fabius does in War of the Spider ‘win’, because he escapes with his prize, but whether this should matter when he’s really not a military player is up for everyone to decide for themselves. Daemons are also possible because I’m pretty sure at the end of Engine War THEY don’t care that the Warp Storm machine is now destroyed, they just enjoyed wiping out the Mechanicus force attacking Ordex-Thaag, so I’d submit these two are the only other options for actual ‘wins’ in books.

To fucking no-one’s surprise Xenos don’t manage to win a single campaign. 

[dailyaudiobible]

04/28/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 8:18-9:21, Luke 23:44-24:12, Psalms 99:1-9, Proverbs 14:9-10

Today is the 28th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian still pretty much floating on cloud nine and enjoying that there's a new little princess in our family. So, China and Reagan are doing well and recovering. And sweet little Reagan, she is adjusting to a whole new way of being as she spends her second day, her second day with us outside of the womb. So, thank you for your continued prayers over China and ben and baby Reagan. Those of…of us who have experienced the coming, the arrival of children, then we understand that it's…it's a game changer, right? The page turns so quickly and all the sudden there's a whole new reality before us and it’s such a glorious beautiful, meaningful, purposeful time. And, so, thank you for your prayers over this little family as they begin to make these adjustments. And ss for all of us, we've gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. I could just go off on many, many tangents just gushing. My heart is full right now with this arrival, but my heart is also full that we have gathered around this Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. For the last couple of days, we have been reading the story of the judge Gideon from the book of Judges. And we will continue with Gideon's story today from the book of Judges. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Judges 8 verse 18 through nine verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, it's pretty striking, jarring even, the magnitude of what we read in the Bible today. It’s like we’re reading this, and we read it and maybe some of these stories we know, or we’ve heard them many times. And, so, we read them but it's earth-shattering stuff, earthmoving stuff that we read about today. So, in the book of Judges we kinda reached the conclusion of the Gideon story. So, Gideon did lead the people to overcome the Midianites and brought peace to the land and they tried to make him king and he wouldn’t be King. And he was a judge for another 40 years and there was peace and then he dies. And then the level of injustice that follows this is staggering. So, Gideon has 70 sons. So, that's a lot of kids and probably they don't even all know each other but one of his sons, his name’s Abimelech and he's from a concubine that lives in Shechem. So, he would've definitely been considered kind of an outsider in the family, not really a true heir in the family. That’s how his other brothers would've looked at him. But once Gideon is dead he goes to his relatives in Shechem and is like, “do you want Gideon's sons ruling over you or do you want me?” Which…which eventually comes to the execution of the 70 other sons. Very tribal, very violent. I mean we can read it through our modern lenses and see the barbarity of it. And it's no less barbaric in a tribal time, but it is more common to attempt to completely and utterly wipe out your enemies by killing them and killing all of their heirs so that the very memory of them is lost so that somebody somewhere along the line can’t grow up and come kill you. But one of the sons escaped, Jotham, and eventually went up on Mount Gerizim. This is the amount of blessing by the way, the one that Moses spoke about, “go to mount Gerizim and recite the blessings of the covenant on Mount Ebal and recite the curses of the covenant…covenant. There…there like two mountains, to giant hills. I mean they’re mountains in that region, but they're not the kind of mountains we would consider the high mountains of the earth. But they’re two mountains and they sit between…well…Shechem is in the middle of them until this very day. Shechem, biblical Shechem, is called Nablus now but Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim are still there. So, Jotham confronts and then he runs for his life and as the story kinda draws to a close, we just see that the people after the judge Gideon dies they just go back and just slide away and go back to worshiping the baals, go back to doing what they think is right in their own eyes. This is the time that there in.

If we turn into the gospel of Luke, I mean the level of injustice at the execution of Jesus is like supreme over all because this is humanity putting God to death. I mean I know that's a jarring thing to think about, but that's what's happening. And, so, we see in the Old and the New Testaments supreme, like just how far humanity can go toward the way of injustice. Like, this is the outcome of just how deeply dark people can go. So, in both of those stories we could say like, there’s…these…this is the level of injustice that is hard to even fathom, but in the same reading today Jesus didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead. That's earthmoving stuff. Like, that's…that's what has landed our lives here today to be hearing this. This is the victory over the darkness. Jesus rising from the dead is essentially a rebirth into life. In fact, that’s not like a metaphor that I'm using, this is something that the apostle Paul will say, that Jesus is the first born into a new thing that God is doing upon the earth and Jesus is the first born into that new thing among many brethren to follow, which is us. I mean the resurrection is overwhelming to think about in the Bible, and we can see in the news, like when the new starts to spread among Jesus followers it…it's…it's unsettling, like this is impossible. Even though Jesus said this would happen, this is impossible. And yet, they very soon find out it's very possible and that affects their lives so profoundly that, although nobody wants to die, they have…they have lost…they’ve seen what's going to happen and they don't fear this and they're willing to give their lives for it, which they eventually do. So, as I was saying to us when we entered into like the garden of Gethsemane and the Last Supper and the arrest and we were moving into this territory gospel of Luke, I mentioned like, let's not blow by this. This is…this is that story. This is the story that changes everything. This is the story that has catapulted our lives to this moment. And, so, we certainly blow by the resurrection, we…we want to contemplate that and meditate upon it today and understand the implications of it in our faith today. This changes everything forever. That's not small. That's big.

Prayer:

Jesus, we thank You for Your life and for the example, for Your heart and Your compassion and Your kindness, Your willingness to rescue we who You love, even though we don't deserve Your love, even though we can't earn Your love. Even while we were Your enemies You still came for us. And it's…it’s just that kind of love, that kind of love is what reveals Your kingdom. And we confess that what we want to participate in that. We’re just not capable of that kind of selfless love without Your spirit within. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us on the pathways of love. Love conquers all, even death we are learning. And we learn from song of Solomon that love is stronger than death. And in our reading from the gospel of Luke You were dead and then You were alive. And we are invited into that story. So, come Holy Spirit Awaken us, that this might settle in the profoundness of it we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is for Alivia of New Mexico. I heard you say you wanted to hear from the community regarding how you might consider responding to a marriage proposal from a person you've been with for about three years. You mentioned being confused and having a hard time bringing yourself to break up. I hope you will recognize that confusion is a red flag. The enemy of your soul is the source of your confusion and he's come to steal, kill, and destroy. Being unequally yoked is about two in connection who have separate destinations. One honestly wants to go in one direction and the other honestly wants to go in a different direction. When they are yoked together at best they go in a compromised direction, neither going in the direction they wanted to go. That results in regret and mourning the loss of true life purpose. I encourage you to show your man respect and honor by allowing him to go in the direction of his choice. If he truly loves you, he will want you to live in your calling. I encourage you Alyvia, do not compromise truthfulness. Trust God's perfect plan for your life. His plans are always better than we know, and we will never regret trusting the one true God and savior. There is so much we don't know. Maybe your man will come to accept Jesus as a savior and Lord. Regardless of that, it is best not to foolishly rush in but rather wait on the Lord. God is truly good. Father I pray you give Alivia faith to believe your word and courage to follow your direction trusting your love for her and your most excellent perfect plans for her life in place of any other focus. Thank you for seeing us through Jesus loving us and receiving our prayers. We are your children saved and sanctified through Jesus alone. Amen.

Hello daily audio Bible family from London this is Sarah from London and I'm here with my nephews. What's your name? Malachi. And how old are you? 6 years old. And what's your name? Simeon. And how old are you? 3. Yes. And I’ve…they’ve just listened to Ezekiel on the Daily Audio Bible family and they want to say hello to Ezekiel. Say hello to Ezekiel. Hello Ezekiel. How are you? How are you? And what do you think of the…his reading? It was really good and lovely. Yeah, Malachi really enjoys it…really enjoyed listening to the reading today. And, yeah, so…gonna say bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. I hope you're all doing well Daily Audio Bible family and stay blessed. Take care. Sarah from London.

Hey DABbers, this is Retaining Honor, and I am calling in this morning with prayers for Alavia from New Mexico. And your message just so touched my heart because that is…that is my story, and I am unequally yoked with my husband and it is the number one thing that I pray about because I am now raising our child and I feel like I am alone in my spiritual journey. And dear sister that choice is yours to make. You can have a good life with this man that you have chosen and that you described but if it is anything like my situation your entire life you may feel like you are having to choose between the man that you love and the God that you love and the God that you serve. And I…I have not always put my savior first. And I urge you to look at your eternity and to look at your heavenly Father and to put Him first in your life and to think about, that…that this will impact your future family. So, I am praying for you as you are deliberating on this decision. And I love you sister. And also, so many people prayed this morning for Ramona from California. And Ramona I am a 32-year-old with a 7-year-old son and your testimony, your prayer request so touched my heart that I am praying for you dear sister. I can see my son also telling me that it would be OK and giving that same advice. He and I are so very close. So, sister I am praying for healing for you, and I am believing in healing for you and...

Hi Alana from New Mexico. Hey this is also my first time calling __ and I'm in Germany. So, I understand what you're going through. I also myself just got out from a two-year relationship that was really confusing. And one thing that I will share with you is once you're confused, God is not an author of confusion. Even if you do not have the strength to do it, ask the Holy Spirit for help and trust me He will help you to make the very best decision and as a believer that’s a woman only a man that really loves God can love a believing woman. And, so, you have peace, so you are no longer in a state of confusion where you do not have peace of mind ask the Holy Spirit for help. And I go to God. Father, please help Your daughter make the right decision and help her to see what You are protecting her from and please give her peace of mind that passes all human understanding. I love you all this is also my first-time calling in. I really appreciate this program. You all have a beautiful day. Bye.

Hello everybody. Hey this is Anette Allison from Oklahoma City. It is so good to hear you guys. Let you know surgery on my foot went good. Not sure if I have more surgeries or buy more motorcycles the numbers are quite similar. So, anyways thank you all for…for your many thoughts and prayers from most people and Daysha and Sally. I love you two so much. Thank you. Getting ready to go on the 29th to go pick up my son Alex from Durango Colorado and I'm going to haul him from there to my house. I'm gonna clean up his legal work but he's doing super good, and he saved up all the money I mean in like record time to get all the legal stuff handled and he'll be free and clear real soon and I am so thrilled to have him home here just for even a little while. So, pray that everything goes well, the trip is non- eventful. And we're gonna bring our dog and we had to put a big dog down and it was just rough. So, anyways have a wonderful day everyone. Take care. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I am about 3 1/2- or 4-year listener calling in from Chicago and requesting prayer. I…for two things. One, I'm faced with a pretty important and quite honestly really tough career decision and I could just use some prayer for clarity and guidance and…and faith and just again a really clear vision on the path that the…the Lord wants me to go as I make this decision. Secondly, just prayers for my son. He continues…he's 25 and continues grow into adulthood and is also being faced with some pretty important adult decisions and I just pray that he will also seek the guidance and confidence and…and clarity to make the best decisions for now and into his future. I really appreciate it and love you all and love this community. Thank you.

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Seeks Positions Of Influence

“Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. …All the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” Revelation 2:22-23ESV

Have you figured out what has been working to overcome the American nation and the American church yet? A demon named Jezebel. From 1Kings 16:31 through 1Kings 21:25 the woman Jezebel puppet-mastered King Ahab of Israel, (not Judah,) and worshiped Baal, (an evil spirit idol). She had a man murdered to obtain a vineyard her husband wanted; killed God’s prophets, etc. For millennials her demon spirit has ruled over men, destroying lives, churches and governments. Evil spirits don’t die, they evolve from one body to make their home in another person, after death. All evil spirits do likewise.

I’ve watched Jezebel at work in different churches— —Once Jezebel came in a beautiful young girl trying to seduce the pastor. He avoided her. She set her sights on a newly saved man with a call to preach; became impregnated. What a mess. — Another Jezebel became the pastor’s greatest supporter and the youth leader. The youth group grew to almost 100. She gained influence with the young married class. Making her move— she twisted the pastor’s intents; seducing people to follow her. End result ten young married couples and 50 youth left the church. Everyone seduced have left Christianity. — One Jezebel, a wealthy man, sat on a church board. This beleaguered pastor was thwarted at every turn. Pitted against Jezebel spirit, he finally left the church  with none of the Lord’s goals accomplished. Jezebel was too ensconced in family ties and money. — Jezebel wormed her way into deep friendship with a lady pastor. She began showing desires of sexual intimacy with this lady pastor. My friend was able to sidestep Jezebel and put her out, but pastor’s husband wasn’t able to overcome her. He succumbed to her chasing wiles. End result: a destroyed marriage, husband lost his relationship with God and almost totally lost his children.

Jezebel always seeks positions of influence, board member or wife, worship leader, youth leader, young marrieds leader. Then she begins to twist, turn and take control.

With our nation under the control of Jezebel, from President 46 to school board members all across the land, what we need is a Jehu, Trump tried very hard to push Jezebel out the window to her death, (see 2King 9). The church failed Trump, succumbing to old Jezzy. Hopefully, the segment of the church which has fallen under Jezebel’s seductive powers will awaken quickly, repent, and pray against this foul spirit.

We’re seeing a male-Jezebel try to become a dictator, and destroy this nation, I love. Our children have been seduced by Jezebel through the demonic teachings in the schools and universities. Parents didn’t realize what was going on.

For those who will rise up and overcome Jezebel comes monumental promises— “But to the rest of you… who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned …the deep things of satan, to you I say, …Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, …he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from My Father…” Revelation 2:24-28ESV.

Have you succumbed? Are you one of us who understands the truth? God wants us all to overcome. Will you? It’s your choice. You choose.

PRAYER: Father forgive those of us who fell prey. Restore Your church. Empower us to overcome in Jesus Christ’s name I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2021 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional as author. Thank you.

[kyogre-blue]

Nanowrimo, day 3 (wc 1880)

~.~

Day 3 - Chapter 3: Imuchakk

“Achoo! Man, it’s cold...” Alibaba muttered, his teeth chattering. “Sin! Put on a cloak, you’ll freeze!” 

The idiot at the prow didn’t listen. Alibaba had no idea how he was still so energetic despite wearing only his old short-sleeved tunic. They were well on their way to Imuchakk — they could tell because they were already surrounded by floating ice. It was only Sinbad’s preternatural ability to read the sea that kept them from crashing. 

As someone who had lived his entire life on Balbadd’s balmy coast and then out in the desert, Alibaba morally objected to this. 

But what choice did he have? Even though he didn’t need to worry about messing up history since this wasn’t really the past of his world, Alibaba thought it would be too much of a shame if Sinbad’s great journey didn’t occur as it should. And Valefor in the frozen north was the famous second dungeon that Sinbad had conquered. 

When Sinbad wondered where to go, what could Alibaba do except suggest Imuchakk? 

It worked out for Alibaba too. He could try Yunan’s first suggestion — going into another dungeon, to see if the gate sent him back where he belonged. 

But why did it have to be so cold?

If Sinbad wasn’t going to wear the spare cloak, then Alibaba would, right over the two cloaks already on him. 

“There’s something up ahead,” Sinbad said suddenly, leaning forward to peer across the icy sea. 

“Land?” Alibaba asked hopefully. 

“No,” Sinbad said. “It’s coming closer. Hold on!” 

His warning was too late. Their small ship heaved suddenly, sending Alibaba rolling across the deck. He managed to grab hold of the railing just in time to keep from going overboard, but the ship continued to buck wildly, frigid waves splashing over the sides. 

"What's going on?!" Alibaba hollered. 

As if in answer, something burst out of the water and arched through the air, trailing sparkling droplets. 

It was huge, easily several times larger than their small ship. Its long, thick body blotted out the sun as it passed overhead, and the splash as it struck back into the water on the other side was like an explosion. The ship jumped again, nearly capsizing. 

“Whoa I’ve never seen a fish so big!” Sinbad exclaimed in admiration. 

“That’s clearly a monster!” 

Sinbad laughed, his heart already set and Baal’s sword in his hand. “I gonna to catch it!” 

“NO!” 

...Huh? Just now, hadn’t someone else yelled the same protest as Alibaba? Sinbad and Alibaba both blinked in surprise and looked up, as an unknown black spot sailed overhead and dropped toward them. It hit the deck like a stone, making the wood creak threateningly. 

It was a giant man. Why was everything so giant? Was this just how things got in the far north? 

“No!” the man yelled again, jabbing a finger at Sinbad. “That rampaging unicorn is my prey! I’m the one who’ll catch it!” 

Sinbad’s eyebrows rose, though his grin was amused and interested, rather than appropriately scared or put off. If anything, he appeared to find the challenge exciting. “We’ll see about that!” Sinbad called out. “You haven’t caught it yet, so it’s fair game!” He turned, sword raised, just as the ‘rampaging unicorn’ burst out from under the waves again, its red horn glinting in the sun. 

A smaller figure followed it up, and flung itself toward Sinbad. 

“Not so fast!” the girl — giant girl, easily Sinbad’s height and more muscled — yelled. She crashed into him, and the pair went down in a tangle of limbs, Sinbad’s natural slipperiness matched by her greater strength. “I won’t let you interfere with my brother’s hunt! Hina! Spear it now! You can do it!” 

Her brother’s expression, hidden as it was by his long, lanky hair, flashed through surprise, gratitude and determination, before he turned to face the beast. Drawing back his arm and the harpoon he was holding, he let out a roar and— 

Flinched at the last moment. Even Alibaba, watching this entire mad sequence with muted disbelief, could see it. 

Just before letting the harpoon fly, the giant man wavered. Although the weapon still shot through the air with devastating force, it was enough to throw off his aim. The tip of the harpoon clanged against the rampaging unicorn’s thick scales and only the tip managed to wedge into a small gap between. The beast shrieked, more angry than wounded, and swung its head toward them. 

There was a crash of breaking wood, but Alibaba didn’t have time to care about that as the ship tipped completely onto its side. All four of them were sent flying off the deck and into the icy waters below. 

That was fine for the brother-sister pair in Imuchakk colors, since they had apparently swum after the monster in the first place. And Sinbad managed to somehow flip himself over midair to land on a floating piece of ice. But Alibaba... He could swim, he’d grown up in Balbadd, where the sea or a canal was never far. 

But the water here was so very cold. It went through him like a shock the moment he went in, paralyzing his limbs and his lungs. Something that he thought might be Amon protested deep in his chest. He couldn’t fight the waves from the rampaging unicorn’s thrashing tail, which pulled him deeper under the scattered ice. 

On the surface, Sinbad glanced around, sensing that something wasn’t right. Overturned ship, furious monster, giant siblings popping up between the waves... 

“Alibaba!” he called out. “Alibaba, are you okay?” 

“I’ll get him!” the girl promised, easily guessing who he was looking for. Without waiting for a response, she ducked back under the dark, cold water. 

She just wanted to help her brother finish his hunt, not get an innocent bystander hurt. 

Originally, Sinbad had just been playing around with them. While catching the biggest fish he’d ever seen sounded very exciting, he had been willing to concede the actual catch to them — as long as they had a fun chase first. 

Now, fun was no longer his top concern. 

The girl and Alibaba still hadn’t surfaced. They might not be able to, with the rampaging unicorn still running wild. Narrowing his eyes, Sinbad raised his sword. 

“Baal!” he called out, his voice ringing out with a fierceness that surprised even him. The sword hummed in his hand, and a warmth spread down his arm as thunder cracked through the air. 

It was over in a flash. 

Water exploded up and out in a geyser, soaking what parts of Sinbad had remained dry. There was another splash as the rampaging unicorn’s body toppled into the sea, bobbing up and down on the surface. Slowly, the remaining waves began to calm. 

Waiting a moment to make sure the monster had stopped for good, Sinbad lowered his sword. It had changed shape, from a curved blade to a straight double-sided one, with serpents coiling around the hilt. Blue scales ran up his forearm, thickening into armor like a gauntlet. It didn’t fade even though the magic strike was over and felt stable in a way his previous attempts hadn’t. 

However, Sinbad didn’t waste time congratulating himself on finally mastering ‘weapon equip’. Nearby, the girl had finally resurfaced, dragging a familiar blond head up after her. 

“Alibaba! Are you okay?” Sinbad called out, jumping nimbly between floating ice toward them. 

“I think he’s okay, just get him out of the water...” the girl started to say. As she caught sight of the sea monster’s lifeless body, harpoon still sticking out of its side, her eyebrows shot up. “What happened to the rampaging unicorn? Brother, did you finally take it down?” 

Her voice finally made her brother snap out of his stupor, staring at the monster. He swallowed heavily. “I....” 

“Forget about that now,” Sinbad said sharply, reaching out impatiently to take Alibaba from her and pull him onto the ice. “Help us flip the ship back over.” His tone did not leave room for argument. 

Alibaba coughed and jerked, coming back to himself. “‘M... fine...” he insisted. He wasn’t shivering, which was probably a bad sign. 

“Can you use Amon to warm up?” Sinbad asked. 

Alibaba didn’t respond, probably not knowing the answer either. With a frown, he fumbled for his dagger’s hilt and concentrated for a moment, completely still. At this proximity, Sinbad could feel the faint hum of sorts that came from the power moving across his body. There was a wave of heat as well, along with steam as his clothing was quickly dried by Amon’s magic. 

“So you can use a djinn for things like that too, how convenient,” he noted, patting Alibaba on the back. 

“Urgh,” his friend groaned, slumping over. “Now I’m lightheaded...” 

Right. Calling a djinn’s power was supposed to take energy. It was just that Sinbad had never felt anywhere close to his limit, so he tended to forget about that. “Better than freezing, right?” he said instead. “Too bad you can’t keep yourself warm like that.” 

Alibaba’s grumbling reply was drowned out by another large splash, as the pair of giant siblings righted their small ship. 

“Hey, sorry for the trouble,” the girl said sheepishly, swimming over to their floating ice island. “We were just trying to finish my brother’s hunt, so he can finally become a true warrior. We didn’t mean to cause trouble for you.” Her brother trailed after her, silent. 

Now that the trouble had passed, Sinbad’s mood lifted and he smiled at the pair. “It’s alright. It’s worth it to meet such a beautiful girl,” he said, reaching out to take hold of her hand. “My name is Sinbad. I’m a traveler. And you, beautiful miss?” 

The girl looked at him blankly. “I’m Pipirika,” she said without any change in her tone — completely uncharmed! “And you?” 

“I’m, hehe, Alibaba,” Sinbad’s traitor of a companion managed between snickers. When Sinbad shot him an annoyed look, Alibaba only waggled his eyebrows in amusement at seeing him strike out so completely. 

“And this is my brother,” Pipirika went on, their byplay going over her head. “He’s Hina... but now that he’s hunted a rampaging unicorn, he’ll have an adult name as soon as we get back home!” 

He could feel the ‘flow’ around them both, coming together. 

This was an important opportunity, a way to advance toward his purpose. Sinbad had always been able to tell things like that — where to turn his ship in the sea, which storms would bring more fish into his net and where, which people would give him a warm meal and a helping hand. It had been strongest around Yunan, and it had been around that guy, Drakon, too sometimes. It had always been a reliable guide to his choices, always at the back of his mind. 

The only time he hadn’t been able to hear anything was about Alibaba, who was clearly a special person and yet felt like a strange empty spot in Sinbad’s senses sometimes. 

But this opportunity in front of him... 

“Your home, is that Imuchakk?” Sinbad asked, smiling. 

“That’s right! Our father is one of the patriarchs,” Pipirika boasted. 

Perfect. As if the will of fate itself. 

~.~

[destinyimage]

Jezebel’s Rise in the End-Times

We have been in a midnight hour.

With the turnaround of breakthrough against Jezebel, Jon and I believe it’s now time for a midnight awakening, as pictured in Matthew 25. Let’s remember that the context of the passage is a wedding. And it was the bridal party, maybe including God’s end-time reserve of women warriors, that is awakened. It’s time for Esther to arise!

Have you ever noticed the parallels between Jezebel and Esther? They are striking. Both were queens in a foreign land. Jezebel, from the region of Babylon, served as queen of Israel. Esther, from Israel, served as queen of Babylon—or Medo-Persia as the Persian empire had conquered Babylon by this time. Both were given rulership by their husbands, the kings. Both altered the course of their nation through their covenant loyalties in the spirit.

But that’s really where the similarities end.

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Jezebel served the vicious principality known as Baal. Through her governmental influence, she seduced God’s chosen people into sexual immorality and idolatry, breaking covenant with the God of Israel. She continually used those under her governmental reign for her own purposes. As you have just read, Jezebel sought to possess Jezreel—a symbol of all Israel—through deceit and murder. God judged her, and she was thrust out of her tower. Jezebel was thrown down in a very dramatic picture story!

Esther, on the other hand, was a Jewish refugee exiled in Babylon approximately one generation after Daniel. Driven by her loyalty to God and her people, she preserved her people from a holocaust. She understood in a profound way that it might even require her life, which I believe is something we are all coming face to face within this season. Revelation 12:11 puts it this way—overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives unto death.

In Esther’s scenario, this risk was first because she had kept her Jewish identity hidden from the king throughout their marriage. The revelation that Esther was Jewish essentially meant that the king had chosen as his beauty queen an orphaned slave. To make matters worse, there was the Haman plot, very similar to what transpired under Hitler years later, that was being secretly unfolded behind the scenes.

It is important to note here that the plot being planned was the mastermind of Haman’s wife Zeresh. She planned to bring down Mordecai and make sure it was as public as possible in the town square. Again, the storyline of an evil woman behind the scenes plotting and scheming to annihilate the Jews and without even knowing the extent of the plot bring down the queen at the same time. As we all know, in one dramatic moment worthy of the greatest love stories, Esther’s king favored her by extending the scepter to her. Haman ends up publicly hanging on his own noose, and the people were preserved. And Esther was given governmental authority to rule half the kingdom (see Esther 9:29). She received authority to possess!

As we progress into what the Bible refers to as the end times, both the contrast and conflict between the Esthers of God and the Jezebels of the antichrist are prophesied to crescendo. There has been much written about the Jezebel spirit and the political spirit in today’s Christian writing. I believe we have to raise our vision higher and see what is empowering this battle in the heavenlies. Maybe you will be shocked by my answer, but I believe that this end-game conflict of crowns is actually a battle between the queens.

For many years, we have been teaching and celebrating our position as the king. We have matured to see how the priestly ministry needed to embrace the kingly dimension in both identity and calling. I believe that there is one step further we have to go. A hidden truth shown throughout the Bible is that the queen has a very distinct calling. Many know the story of queen Esther, but how many understand the battle strategy that the Lord is raising up in this hour? The strategy is this—dethrone the false queen with the true queen of the Kingdom.

What is the false queen—and how does she operate? For years, I have known that I have a queenly calling on my life. Many in our home group hilariously call my chair the “throne of the queen.” When Jon and I are away ministering, our home group tradition is they send us pictures with them seated in the chair. It is a fun thing we all tease about, but there is a measure of truth to it.

You see, for years when I first got saved, I went through a process with the Lord where the Lord trained me and treated me as royalty to Him. I learned not just about how special I was to Him, but an authority came with the understanding of His love for me. I always knew that He had my back in all situations. He went out of His way to show His love for me, and in many ways, I was spoiled by Him. When I was going through deliverance ministry in the beginning, my mentors would oftentimes comment about how unique my experiences with Jesus seemed to be. He responded to me unlike any other of their ministry appointments.

Let me say at this point I believe this “beauty preparation” was a forerunner calling to train me in the queenly anointing that would be most important for many in the Body of Christ in this end-game, end-time battle. There is nothing more special about me. I have an assignment in the battle of the queens, and knowing how beloved I am is one of the first things He cultivated in me. To be honest, when the season to actually battle came to pass, I struggled with “the honeymoon phase” dwindling. The season of special love was a preparatory season meant to engrain that truth in my spirit, and it would not necessarily carry through so intensively in later years. But I must say that, in preparing to battle with the false queen, intimacy with our Savior is the most important battle gear we can gain. Not many would call it a weapon of war, but I understand in the depths of my being that it is the greatest strategy of all. Our intimacy with Him is where He truly covers us. There is also a joy and fun aspect of serving the Lord that many are missing when they don’t understand this key.

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[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

9th July >> Mass Readings (USA)

 for

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

or

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, Martyrs.

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green) First Reading

Hosea 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22

I will espouse you to me forever.

Thus says the LORD: I will allure her;I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt.    On that day, says the LORD,She shall call me “My husband,”    and never again “My baal.” I will espouse you to me forever:    I will espouse you in right and in justice,    in love and in mercy;I will espouse you in fidelity,    and you shall know the LORD. The Word of the Lord R/ Thanks be to God. Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R/ The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Every day will I bless you,    and I will praise your name forever and ever.Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;    his greatness is unsearchable.

R/ The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Generation after generation praises your works    and proclaims your might.They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty    and tell of your wondrous works.

R/ The Lord is gracious and merciful.

They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds    and declare your greatness.They publish the fame of your abundant goodness    and joyfully sing of your justice.

R/ The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,    slow to anger and of great kindness.The LORD is good to all    and compassionate toward all his works.

R/ The Lord is gracious and merciful. Gospel Acclamation

cf. 2 Timothy 1:10

Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.

Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel

Matthew 9:18-26

My daughter has just died, but come and she will live.

While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured.

   When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him. When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. And news of this spread throughout all that land.

The Gospel of the Lord 

R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. ———————

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, Martyrs

(Liturgical Colour: Red) First Reading

1 John 5:1-5

The victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Beloved: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The Word of the Lord 

R/ Thanks be to God. Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,    we were like men dreaming.Then our mouth was filled with laughter,    and our tongue with rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Then they said among the nations,    “The LORD has done great things for them.”The LORD has done great things for us;    we are glad indeed.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,    like the torrents in the southern desert.Those who sow in tears    shall reap rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Although they go forth weeping,    carrying the seed to be sown,They shall come back rejoicing,    carrying their sheaves.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing. Gospel Acclamation

Matthew 5:10

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Alleluia, alleluia. Or:

John 17:19

Alleluia, alleluia.

I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in the truth.

Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel

John 12:24-26

If a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it produces much fruit.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.”

The Gospel of the Lord 

R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

[dfroza]

A Time of the end

of the world as it is known.

the birthing pains of its rebirth is seen played out in the scenes that John describes in the book of Revelation

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament (New Covenant) is chapter 6:

[Breaking Open the Sealed Scroll]

Then I watched as the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals. Immediately I heard one of the four living creatures call out with a powerful voice of revelation sounding like thunder, saying, “Come forth!” So I looked, and behold, there was a bright white horse. Its rider had a bow and was given a crown of victory. He rode out as a conqueror ready to conquer.

When he broke open the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out: “Come forth!” And there appeared another horse, red like fiery flames, and its rider was given a great sword and the power to take peace from earth, causing one to put to death another.

Then he broke open the third seal, and I heard the third living creature call out, “Come forth!” And behold, I saw a black horse right in front of me, and its rider was holding measuring scales. And I heard what seemed to be a voice from among the living creatures saying, “A small measure of wheat for a day’s pay, and three measures of barley for a day’s pay, but don’t harm the olive trees producing oil and the vines producing wine.”

When he broke open the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature call out, “Come forth!” And behold, I saw a green horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Death’s Domain followed him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, death, and by the wild beasts.

When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw gathered under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because they had the testimony of the Lamb. They cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Sovereign Lord, holy and dependable, how long before you judge those who live on the earth and vindicate our blood on them?”

Each one was given a glistening white robe. And they were told to rest a little longer, until the full number was fulfilled of both their fellow servants and brothers and sisters who were going to be killed just as they had been.

And behold! I saw the Lamb break open the sixth seal, which released a powerful earthquake. I saw the sun become pitch black and the full moon become bloodred. The stars fell from heaven to the earth, as a fig tree shaken by a stormy wind sheds its unripe figs. The sky receded with a snap—as a scroll rolls itself up. And every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth and its great princes and generals, the rich and powerful, and everyone, whether they were slave or free, ran for cover and hid in the caves and among the mountain boulders. They called out to the mountains and the boulders, saying, “Fall on us at once! Hide us quickly from the glorious face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 6 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 17th chapter of 2nd Chronicles that documents the life & times of King Jehoshaphat:

[Jehoshaphat of Judah]

Asa’s son Jehoshaphat was the next king; he started out by working on his defense system against Israel. He put troops in all the fortress cities of Judah and deployed garrisons throughout Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. God was on Jehoshaphat’s side because he stuck to the ways of his father Asa’s early years. He didn’t fool around with the popular Baal religion—he was a seeker and follower of the God of his father and was obedient to him; he wasn’t like Israel. And God secured the kingdom under his rule, gave him a firm grip on it. And everyone in Judah showed their appreciation by bringing gifts. Jehoshaphat ended up very rich and much honored. He was single-minded in following God; and he got rid of the local sex-and-religion shrines.

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials—excellent men, every one of them—Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah on a teaching mission to the cities of Judah. They were accompanied by Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah; the priests Elishama and Jehoram were also in the company. They made a circuit of the towns of Judah, teaching the people and using the Book of The Revelation of God as their text.

There was a strong sense of the fear of God in all the kingdoms around Judah—they didn’t dare go to war against Jehoshaphat. Some Philistines even brought gifts and a load of silver to Jehoshaphat, and the desert bedouin brought flocks—7,700 rams and 7,700 goats. So Jehoshaphat became stronger by the day, and constructed more and more forts and store-cities—an age of prosperity for Judah!

He also had excellent fighting men stationed in Jerusalem. The captains of the military units of Judah, classified according to families, were: Captain Adnah with 300,000 soldiers; his associate Captain Jehohanan with 280,000; his associate Amasiah son of Zicri, a volunteer for God, with 200,000. Officer Eliada represented Benjamin with 200,000 fully equipped with bow and shield; and his associate was Jehozabad with 180,000 armed and ready for battle. These were under the direct command of the king; in addition there were the troops assigned to the fortress cities spread all over Judah.

The Book of 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 17 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Sunday, february 14 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

An email from Glenn Jackson:

February 14th

* The "powers" (of the air) are still present; but wherever Christ is preached and believed in, wherever His authority is "established", a limit has been set to their working. This limit is the sign and the promise of their defeat. Primarily this limitation is seen in the continued existence of the Church of Jesus Christ. By her very presence she breaks through that unshaken stability of life under the "powers" which we know and marvel at in ancient civilizations. She is made up of men and women who see through the deception of the Powers, refusing to run after "isms".

Standing within the community of a people or a culture, their very presence is an interrogation, the questioning of the "legitimacy" of the "powers". The "powers" are limited by the very presence of men and women who will no longer let themselves be enslaved, led astray, and intimidated, against whom the program of the "powers”, that is, their effort to separate men and women from God, suffers shipwreck. It is then inevitable that the "powers" should resort to oppression and persecution. But in this very act of desperation their unmasking is repeated and confirmed. They can no longer exist without being forced to uncover their true nature.

...."When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him".... Colossians 2:13-15 NASB

...."And do not be terrified in even one thing by those who are entrenched in their opposition against you, which failure on your part to be frightened is an indication of such a nature as to present clear evidence to them of utter destruction, also clear evidence of your salvation, and this from God. And the reason why you should not be terrified is because to you that very thing was given graciously as a favor for the sake of Christ and in His behalf, not only to be believing on Him but also to be suffering for His sake and in His behalf, having the same struggle which you saw in me and now hear to be in me".... Philippians 1:28-30 Kenneth Wuest Translation

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

February 14, 2021

The Greatest Love

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Genesis 22:2)

There are many types of love in the world—romantic love, marital love, erotic love, brotherly love, maternal love, patriotic love, family love, and love for all kinds of things—pets, food, money, sports, and on and on. But what is the greatest love?

Love is probably the greatest word of the Bible, and, by the principle of first mention of important biblical words, the first time the word “love” occurs should be a key to its use all through the Bible. Rather surprisingly, love is first encountered here in our text, speaking of the love of a father for his son, of Abraham for Isaac, the son of promise. Furthermore, the father is being told by the very God who made the promise to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice!

From the New Testament (see Hebrews 11:17-18), we know that this entire scene is a remarkable type of the heavenly Father and His willingness to offer His own beloved Son in sacrifice for the sin of the world. This tells us that the love of this human father for his human son is an earthly picture of the great eternal love of the Father in heaven for His only begotten Son.

And that means that this love of God the Father for God the Son is the ultimate source of all love, for that love was being exercised before the world began. When Jesus prayed to His Father the night before His sacrificial death, He confirmed this great truth; “for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world,” He prayed (John 17:24). Indeed, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and the eternal love within the triune Godhead is the fountainhead of all true human love here on Earth. HMM

[sinbad-ai]

Sinbad no Bouken 134 RAW + a Summary!

Here are the raws for Sinbad no Bouken 134! Looks like we were right about that research facility… Of course, I knew this deal was too good to be true…

Just a reminder, to anyone who follows me and enjoys these raws/summaries, parts of or even all of these summaries could be completely wrong, so be advised as you read them as I am by no means a professional translator!

*** Disclaimer : Sinbad no Bouken is not my work. Please be sure to vote for Sinbad no Bouken every day on the MangaOne app if you have it!

This chapter begins with Celendine already haven taken control of Sinbad and staring down Barbarossa. She then begins to unsheathe and activate Sinbad’s dijin, Baal. However, before she can even take a step, she is stopped by Ja’far, who seems unaware of her presence. He calls out to Sinbad with a stern look and reminds him that they are in a palace. He tells him that he doesn’t know what he was trying to do, but asks him to put away his sword. Suddenly, Sinbad regains control and begins to question what he was doing and why he had his metal vessel out. Ja’far tells him that he must be tired and suggests that they take a break since he was acting a bit strange. Still confused, Sinbad agrees and the two of them return to their rooms.

The scene then changes and shows Sinbad sitting at his window. He wonders if they will finally be able to make their country and thinks about how the country they had struggled so hard to make, will take on reality in this way. He then begins to reflect on the things that brought him to this point. This includes: conquering Baal, leaving Parthevia, founding a company and gathering the funds for their country; all in only 3 short years. He then begins to wonder what kind of country they will create. He thinks about how he wants to expand the port in order to accommodate more boats.  He also thinks about how he’ll have to create a large headquarters for his country, but then changes his mind and decides that he’ll make a palace instead. He says that he will definitely make a great country and begins to shiver with excitement. He then jumps up (and decides to go take another look at the island), saying that he’s really curious and that if he uses Baal, he’d be able to return in no time. He says to himself how Ja’far will scold him if he were to find out, but that it’s fine even if he’s only able to go out for a little while (he imagines Ja’far ordering him to sleep since he’s sick). He then equips Baal and heads to the island.

He arrives in no time and thinks how strange it is that the island would be so close by, despite potentially becoming their country (he means to say that for something they’ve strived so hard to achieve to be so close by, seems too good to be true). He then lands and looks over the land, commenting that it is indeed a good island. He decides that he will definitely buy the island and make it into their country. As he continues to walk around, he wonders how his old hometown is doing. He wonders if they would be pleased if they heard that he created his country in Parthevia and wonders if they would come to his country. He then thinks about how he would be able to see everyone again if they were to visit. However, his train of thought trails off as he comes across the military research lab that he’d seen earlier with Barbarossa. He thinks to himself how there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the building and wonders why it must be disposed of. As he ventures into the facility, he notices how nice the inside is. He noticed how it was fenced in, so as to keep people away, and wonders what kind of dangerous place it was. He also notices the atmosphere in the facility is also quite different and wonders exactly what kind of research they had done there. Eventually, he stumbles upon a dark room and it shocked when he sees a massive network of tubing and clear pods. He then reads the plate on one of the pods, which reads, “ Aldo Village, 6 year old male, Kufar”. He quickly realizes that the container is labeled with a person’s name and wonders if that means there is a person inside. As he lifts his torch to take a look, he’s horrified to find a small, mangled body within the pod. He is shocked, but before he’s able to say anything, he hears something behind him. He then notices a monster staring at him from within a cage. He begins to wonder why there’s a monster there and realizes that he would be in trouble if such a large monster were to attack him. Suddenly, the monster begins to mumble something and finally says Sinbad’s name clearly. The monster recognizes Sinbad as the Sinbad from Tyson village, much to Sinbad’s surprise. The monster then tells him how much he’s grown and says that he looks just like his parents. Finally, the monster welcomes Sinbad home.

And that’s all for this week! Oh man….. I knew something was up with that research facility… but this is just too sad!!! T^T  I’m almost positive now that the people of his village also met with same fate, especially considering that Sinbad was thinking about them right before he found the facility. This is going to be a rough next few chapters. u___u

Also, the extra comic this week will translated and released a little later, so be looking forward to it! ^^b

Volume 12 will  be released January 18th. Don’t miss it! :D

[dailybiblelessons]

The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Roman Catholic Proper 20 Revised Common Lectionary Proper 15

Complementary Hebrew Scripture from the Latter Prophets: Jeremiah 23:23-29

Am I a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Semi-continuous Hebrew Scripture Lesson from the Latter Prophets: Isaiah 5:1-7

Let me sing for my beloved  my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard  on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones,  and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it,  and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes,  but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem  and people of Judah, judge between me  and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard  that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes,  why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you  what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge,  and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall,  and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste;  it shall not be pruned or hoed,  and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds  that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts  is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah  are his pleasant planting; he expected justice,  but saw bloodshed; righteousness,  but heard a cry!

Complementary Psalm 82

God has taken his place in the divine council;  in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly  and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan;  maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy;  deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They have neither knowledge nor understanding,  they walk around in darkness;  all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I say, “You are gods,  children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,  and fall like any prince.”¹

Rise up, O God, judge the earth;  for all the nations belong to you!

¹Jesus quotes the first part of this verse in response to those who plan to stone him. The episode is in John 10:22-39.

Semi-continuous Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,  you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth  before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might,  and come to save us!

You brought a vine out of Egypt;  you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it;  it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade,  the mighty cedars with its branches; it sent out its branches to the sea,  and its shoots to the River. Why then have you broken down its walls,  so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it,  and all that move in the field feed on it.

Turn again, O God of hosts;  look down from heaven, and see;  have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted. They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;  may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,  the one whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give us life,  and we will call on your name.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;  let your face shine, that we may be saved.

New Testament Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 11:29—12:2

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

New Testament Gospel Lesson: Luke 12:49-56

There is a parallel passage at Matthew 10:24-36.

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Year C Ordinary 20, Catholic Proper 20, RCL Proper 15, The Tenth Week After Pentecost: Sunday

Selections are from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 1995 by the Consultation on Common Texts. Unless otherwise indicated, Bible text is from New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV) copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Image Credit: Choir of Heaven by Gustave Dore, published in 1870 by Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, engraved by Pannemaker.

[updcbc]

August 20, 2017 - “The Unconquered Territories: Land Still to be Taken” Joshua 13:1-33

Click KEEP READING to read the full sermon.

 Introduction

As a child, our beloved son Larkin saw her mother as a walking encyclopedia. Every time he asked a question, she gave him an answer that satisfied his inquisitive mind. He thought that an adult knows all the answers in life. He looked up to adults as men would to gods. One time he asked her how a magnet works. She was dumfounded. Our son was devastated. He was filled with unbelief, disappointment and shock. How could her champion fail him? He wrestled with an inner battle to himself. How then can he entrust his own life to someone who does not know the answers to all his questions? He soon discovered that adulthood should not be equated with omniscience—and that knowledge grew through time and for a lifetime. So he made his own discovery about how magnets work. Several days after he was downcast on being frustrated by his encyclopedic teacher, he read his book about magnets. He learned that magnets, in his own explanation, “are composed of domains which contain small micro-magnet particles which project magnetic fields when they are aligned uniformly.” He was delighted with this initial information. Years later, he learned furthermore that magnetism, in his own words, “is caused by current or the movement of charged particles called electrons. When electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom in opposite directions, their currents cancel out. Micro-magnets are simply atoms whose half-filled shells are occupied by electrons that all spin in the same direction and therefore exert a magnetic force.” Eureka! My son understood how a magnet works! I don’t understand it. What lesson in life did our son learn? Let me quote his insight, “In summary, that moment of my childhood taught me to believe that no distinct barrier exists between the intellects of the young and the old, that gaining knowledge takes effort, and that acting on one’s own initiative and working independently can provide opportunities for growth.”

These opportunities for growth can be viewed as unconquered territories in life. It can be an unhealthy lifestyle to be changed. It can be a sinful behavior to be transformed. It can be a strained relationship to be restored. It can be a broken home to be built. It can be a systemic reform to be delivered. It can be a lost soul to be saved. It can be a childhood dream to be pursued. We have our own territories to conquer in life.

 We continue our journey with the Israelites in their conquest of the Promised Land. The two formidable Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, east of the Jordan had been destroyed. Joshua led three major campaigns in Canaan—in the central, southern and northern regions. The thirty-one powerful kings west of the Jordan had been slain. Wars  ceased in the mainland. Yet, there were territories still to be conquered in Canaan (13:1-7). However, the two and a half tribes of Israel had settled east of the Jordan (13:8-32).

A.  Unconquered Territories in Canaan (13:1-7)

The unconquered lands in Canaan were primarily the territories of the Philistines and Phoenicians. The conquest of the entire Promised Land had been a long battle for the Israelites. In the lifetime of Joshua there were vast territories yet to be conquered. This was the message of the LORD to Joshua.

When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, “You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.” (v. 1)

Joshua, as a peer of Caleb, could have been 40 years old when he came out of Egypt. Then he served as the aide of Moses for forty years in the wilderness. He was about 80 years old when he led Israel to conquer Canaan. For 30 years he lived in the Promised Land. It took almost a decade for Israel to make the three major campaigns in Canaan. Indeed, war ceased in the mainland. But vast territories were left unconquered in the land. Joshua, in his old age, was no longer able to go to war.

1.  Philistine Territory

Israel was mandated to conquer the territory of the Philistines southeast coast of the Mediterranean.

“This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite (the territory of the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron—that of the Avvites).” (vv. 2-3)

The Philistines were an aggressive sea people tribe that occupied part of the southwest Palestine. The Hebrew word pelishti actually comes from the territory they occupied, Philistia. This was the basis of the name Palestine. The Philistines occupied the five cities in Canaan: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath and Gaza in 12th century B.C. These five cities allied together as a powerful confederacy. The Philistines became the primary enemies of the Israelites when they settled in Canaan.

2.  Phoenician Territory

And Israel must conquer the land of the Phoenicians northeast coast of the Mediterranean.

“From the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek, the region of the Amorites; the area of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath. As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh.” (vv. 4-7)

Sidon was the oldest of the ancient Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast in northern Palestine. It dominated the coastal plain in the area of the Lebanon Mountains. The tribe of Asher failed to conquer the Sidonians (Judges 1:31). Ethbaal, the king of Sidon, was the father of Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31), who was mainly responsible for introducing pagan worship in Israel.

We may question why unconquered territories remained in Canaan in the time of Joshua. Moses gave the reason why the conquest over Canaan would be gradual for the Israelites to claim their inheritance of the Promised Land.

“The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the LORD your God will deliver them to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.” (Deut. 7:22-23)

God promised Israel victory over the wicked Canaanites. But the Israelites were forbidden by Moses not to conquer the whole land swiftly. Canaan was a fertile crescent surrounded with mountains. The land was inhabited with wild animals. The Creator upholds the balance of nature. For the Israelites to immediately wipe out the peoples of the land would endanger themselves as preys of the wild beasts in the forests and wilderness. So the conquest over Canaan took a long time. The key cities and their surrounding towns in the plains were heavily subdued. But the peoples in the highlands and along the coastal areas remained to be conquered.

Israel must remember that the greater threat in the land did not come from wild animals but from the wicked peoples in the land. Moses warned his own people.

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.” (Numbers 33:55-56)

The warfare in Canaan could have been a lifetime battle for Joshua and his own generation for them to claim their inheritance. Even when they would have settled in the land, they should not be contented and complacent and deliberately fail to conquer their enemies. Their disobedience to claim the unconquered territories would mean for their enemies to thrive and become “barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides.” The unconquered peoples would soon be Israel’s trouble makers.

And the worst of these troubles would come from within the Israelites themselves. God himself had foretold Moses about the future rebellion of Israel against the LORD.

And the LORD said to Moses, “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that that day they will ask, ‘Have not disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’ And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.” (Deut. 3116-18)

The worst enemies of the Israelites were not the wicked Canaanites but the sinfulness and stubbornness of their own hearts. In turning away from God and in worshipping idols and in embracing the wickedness of the land, Israel would be under the curse of the LORD. And the Israelites would not enjoy the blessings in the Promised Land.

In our lifetime battles, like the Israelites, we too have unconquered territories within and around us. In a secular society as ours, as Christians we are hard-pressed in standing on our uncompromising biblical standards. In this prestigious university of our land where the Lord had placed us, a Christian professor could be discharged from his position even if he would only open his class in prayer in the name of Jesus. But an atheist professor has all the freedom to teach and influence his students of his godless ideology. In a hostile world, we may be disheartened by the oppressive rule of people in authority to whom we work with in our work places. We cry out to the Lord for grace, wisdom, humility and courage on how we engage with proud and unreasonable persons. Our response to people around us and to circumstances, we understand, is our greater battle in life. Perhaps, our volatile temperament can be an unconquered territory in our hearts. In our nature to get even we wrestle on what and how to pray for those who intentionally hurt and destroy us. In our discouragement and distress, we wallow in our pain and struggle on how long we can hold on to our God.

The unconquered vulnerable areas in life are essentially the issues of the heart. Our unconquered territories in our hearts can take many forms. It can be our pride with a front of false humility or brazen arrogance. It can be our slanderous tongue in a façade of flattery or critical spirit. It can be our lust of self indulgence or attachment to earthly goods. It can be our hypocrisy of showing deep concern to right the wrongs of our neighbor but see ourselves self-righteous and untouchables. It can be our bitterness by asserting that we are entitled to dump all the blame on others. It can be our ingratitude when we take for granted the goodness of God and we use the blessings in life for our selfish ends.

Just like the Israelites, if we deliberately fail to conquer these issues in our hearts, they would become “barbs in our hearts and thorns in our sides.” If we are not right with God we will be restless and miserable. The humble and the wise desire what is praiseworthy and noble. But the proud and the fools make a reckless damage to their souls.

 B. Division of Land in Transjordan

On the west of the Jordan, vast territories in Canaan remain unconquered for the nine and a half tribes of Israel. On the east of the Jordan, the two and a half tribes were settled in their own lands. The conquered Amorite territories in the Transjordan were the kingdoms of Sihon and Og.

1.  The Land in Transjordan

Moses gave the land east of the Jordan to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

“The other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the LORD, had assigned it to them.” (Josh. 13:8) 

These two and a half tribes asked Moses for their inheritance and they gave their reason why they preferred to stay east of the Jordan.

The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the land of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon—the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.” (Num. 32:1-5)

Moses weighed their request with one condition.

Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle, and if all of you will go armed over the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven his enemies out before him—then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free from your obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the LORD.” (Num. 32:20-22)

The concerned tribes agreed in sending their men, twenty-years above, and joined the Hebrew army in their conquest over Canaan (Num. 32:31-32). With this agreement, Moses gave the Transjordan to be their inheritance.

“Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.” (Num. 32:33)

Joshua fulfilled the word of Moses to the Transjordan tribes of Israel. These were the boundaries of the Transjordan territory.

“It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon, and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites. It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maakah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salekah—that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land. But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maakah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.” (Jos. 13:9-13)

 2.  The Land of the Reubenites

The Reubenites settled on the southeast of the Transjordan.

“This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Reuben, according to its clans: The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and the whole plateau past Medeba to Heshbon and all its towns on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley, Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth—all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon. Moses had defeated him and the Midianite chiefs, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—princes allied with Sihon—who lived in that country. In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination. The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Reubenites, according to their clans.” (Jos. 13:15-23) 

 3.  The Land of the Gadites

The Gadites occupied the central region of the Transjordan.

“This is what Moses had given to the tribe of Gad, clan by clan: The territory of Jazer, all the towns of Gilead and half the Ammonite country as far as Aroer, near Rabbah; and from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir; and in the valley, Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon with the rest of the realm of Sihon king of Heshbon (the east side of the Jordan, the territory up to the end of the Sea of Galilee ). These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Gadites, according to their clans.” (Josh 13:24-28) 

 4.  The Land of the Half-Tribe of Manasseh

The half-tribe of Manasseh stayed on the northeast of the Transjordan.

“This is what Moses had given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, to half the family of the descendants of Manasseh, clan by clan: The territory extending from Mahanaim and including all of Bashan, the entire realm of Og king of Bashan—all the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty towns, half of Gilead, and Ashtaroth and Edrei (the royal cities of Og in Bashan). This was for the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh—for half of the sons of Makir, according to their clans. This is the inheritance Moses had given when he was in the plains of Moab across the Jordan east of Jericho.” (Josh 13:29-32) 

 5.  The Inheritance of the Levites

Joshua did not give a land to the Levites east and west of the Jordan. The LORD was their inheritance.

“But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them…But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them.” (Josh 13:14, 33)

Unlike the other tribes of Israel, the Levites did not receive territorial inheritance in the east and west of the Jordan. Their portion was to be God himself (Num. 18:20). This would mean that they were to receive the tithes due God from the fruits of the fields, the flocks and herds, the fruits of the firstborn, and certain portions of the sacrificial offerings from their own people (Num. 18:24). Moreover, 48 towns were allotted to them and six of these were designated as cities of refuge—3 in the Transjordan and 3 in Canaan (Num. 35:1-8; Jos. 20:7-8).

What did the LORD require Israel as they settled down in the land as their inheritance east and west of the Jordan? The Israelites must take to heart the warnings given by Moses. He warned them not to become proud.

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deut. 8:10-14)

Moses also warned them not to follow the evils in the land.

“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or cast spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.” (Deut. 18:9-13)

What would happen if Israel became proud and do detestable evils in the land? Moses warned the Israelites.

“If ever you forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will be surely destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.” (Deut. 8:19-20)

This solemn warning is for every one of us. When we become stable in life and increase in our earthly goods, may we not become proud and harden our hearts toward God and become indifferent to our neighbors. And when we are settled in our land and enjoy the good life, may we not become cold in our devotion to God and embrace the pleasures of this world. If we are not careful, the blessings in life can take away our delight in our God. The Lord alone must be enthroned in our hearts.

Conclusion

The conquered Canaan was the redeemed Promised Land for Israel. At the LORD’s command, Joshua led the conquest and Israel destroyed the utterly wicked Canaanites. As the two and a half tribes settled east of the Jordan, Israel had vast territories yet to conquer in Canaan. What does this settling down and unconquered territories mean to us?

Yield our all to God. Israel must occupy the unconquered territories in the Promised Land as their inheritance which the LORD had promised to Abraham. In claiming their inheritance, Israel must conquer their enemies and secure their borders. An unconquered territory was a great threat to their national security and covenant with God. Their deliberate negligence and disobedience to conquer the rest of the land would mean for their eventual moral deterioration and national destruction.

What is our rightful inheritance that remains unconquered? Unlike the Israelites, we, Christians, have no land to conquer as our inheritance from the Lord. But we have an obligation to make disciples of all nations. This is our global mission. We owe the world to share the gospel of Christ and appeal to every man and woman to yield their lives to Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. We can be overwhelmed how vast this mission field of sharing the gospel of salvation to billions of perishing souls. In reaching for others we can start one person at a time.

Lest we forget, we ourselves have unconquered territories in our lives which we need to yield to God. We yield these unconquered areas as a solemn call for integrity. So we ask ourselves. Do we have integrity in our promises? Do we have integrity in our works? Do we have integrity in our finances? Do we have integrity in our relationships? Do we have integrity in our marriage vows? Do we have integrity in our Christian ministries? Do we have integrity as a family and as a church?

Heed the warning of God. In settling down, Israel must be careful not to be proud and follow the wickedness in the land. The blessings in the land can be their misfortune if they would set their hearts on earthly goods and not on their Creator. The comforts in life could endanger their souls if their satisfaction would revolve around pleasures rather than God. Their ingratitude to the grace and goodness of the LORD would poison their devotion and dependence on God. In embracing the idols in the land would mean their unfortunate destruction and eviction from the Promised Land. In the totality of our lives everything is under grace. Let us be good stewards of grace. The grace of God teaches us to be grateful to every heavenly blessing and to be conscientious in our daily living. Let us remind ourselves that godliness with contentment is great gain. Our pure delight must rest alone in the LORD our God.

Our beloved son Larkin may not fully realize, that we, his concerned parents, like him, and the rest of us, still have many unconquered territories in life. In particular, parenting is a lifetime journey with our only son. And the journey is more than a lesson on how a magnet works.

It all began inside the home. Our only child learned to write his name, read the alphabet and say his first detailed prayer citing every food set on the table to say grace for the meal. As a child, he learned to identify trees and flowers as I carried him on my shoulders while we strolled around the village every morning. He entered with joy during his first day of class in kindergarten. He passed the entrance examination under scholarship for his grade school. Likewise, he was qualified for another scholarship in a premier high school. But that would mean for him to agonize in much pain of leaving his close friends and struggled in coping up with the disciplines in pursuing academic excellence when he transferred to a prestigious institution. Now he is in Grade 12. He wrestled a lot to beat the deadline and made a choice of his own on what degree he desires to pursue in college. Soon he will be taking a highly competitive entrance test to enter a university. Above all else, the school of life is more than the academe. It is basically his walk with God. When he was four years old he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He learned stories from the Bible as his father dramatized characters in the Scriptures. He learned practical insights from her mother who shared open-ended stories to harness his moral compass in decision making. For him to obey house rules, respect for others and learn from his mistakes, he shed much tears as he received firm reminders and the discipline of the rod. Now he is 18. He goes on in his journey more exposed to the real world. His inward battles come along the road in every stage in life. As he grows older, we listen to his arguments, questions and disappointments. We do not have all the answers to all his questions. In discovering the mystery and beauty of life, we remain to travel with him under the light of the sun and through the darkness of the night. In the sovereignty and grace of God, may the Lord bless and keep our son—and to all our beloved children entrusted under our care. In this life we have many battles yet to conquer in our hearts and in our homes.