#shout out also to religious converts

[itsagrimm]

Leida Mothma and the struggle for identity

Mon Mothma says about her daughter Leida practicing traditions: "It's weird. It's stronger here than it is at home." And I can't stop thinking about Leida Mothma and her portrayal as a very privileged yet uprooted kid with a migrant background being unusually traditional.

Growing up away from the culture and the people she is supposed to be part of, is challenging and confusing. It is hard to find identity as a teenage migrant, culture and personal access to her people's traditions when removed from it. And it is not surprising that Leida seeks out the most overt and uncomplicated access she can find to her culture and heritage, even if those are conservative and regressive. Those practices are a lifeline for her, simply because she has or knows of no other options.

As someone with a fairly similar background IRL I sympathise deeply with her character. It is a failure of the society she lives in to include her as she is in a way, that would not drive her into dogmatic traditionalism for identity. And it is worryingly normal for kids to feel like they have to hyper-conform in one way or another to have access to their migrant families background or the societal expectations of the place they live in now. It's as if we still haven't figured out how to be inclusive of those we don't understand. And the most vulnerable are the collateral of that.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[johnbrand]

The Basement

With @next-pharaoh

“Richie?” Billy called out into the hazy basement. “Richie, are you down here?”

Billy had never thought of Richie as a religious kind-of-guy, nor a Muslim for that matter. What other reason would he have had to come down into the creepy, old mosque? Heck, Richie’s whole family was Catholic, the stereotypical devout Latin family. Billy’s too, although of a Polish heritage instead. That was probably why they had always gotten along so well–they could bond through trauma.

“Richie?” Billy asked once more. The basement was rather small, just a single room with a twin mattress, a few sheets, and a tiny window shining the bare minimum amount of sunlight into the space. The place was covered in dust, something Billy unfortunately had not noticed until he had patted down his all-black outfit, surprised to find it covered in the pale powder.

“Alright, that’s it,” Billy grumbled. “I can’t even get reception down here anyway.”

That was how this had all started. Billy had received an emergency text with a location from Richie that he had been locked and needed help. However, that text had taken over 24 hours to deliver. Billy had rushed over here as fast as he could, but now he could not find Richie anywhere. Perplexed, he made his way back to the basement’s door, not expecting to find it locked.

“No…” Billy spoke to no one in particular. “No, no no!”

Frantically, Billy pulled at the handle, hoping, praying that it would come off. And yet, no matter how hard he tried, it would not budge. It was times like these that he wished he would have participated in some athletics throughout his schooling career, rather than focusing on communications and the arts. 

“Hello!” Billy shouted, banging on the door. “Can anyone hear me?!” He grabbed his phone and quickly sent out a text to his friend, not surprised when it was unable to go through. Backing away from the door, Billy began to consider what he could do. Someone would have to find him eventually, right? Phones had tracking devices, so it would not take long before people questioned where he was. And the window, maybe from there he could-

“Oh-!” Clumsily, Billy fell back onto the twin bed, so preoccupied in his thoughts that he had not paid attention to his footing. The dust flew up in a cloud around him, slowly cascading over his body. The particles coated his sandy-colored hair and fair skin as if he had been hit by a bag of flour. A bit embarrassed, Billy coughed, inhaling some of the dust.

“Gosh, what is this stuff…?” Billy questioned, his head suddenly a bit dizzy. “Is it…powdered salt…?”

Slowly, Billy’s body fell back onto bed, an encroaching weariness enveloping him. Within moments, he was fast asleep while the dust began carefully absorbing into his being.

———

Rashid unlocked the door to the mosque’s basement. He already possessed the keys to the lock, and he knew not to reopen the door until at least daybreak. Well, at least not while the current convert is awake. It was necessary for Rashid to go in while the convert was resting to provide the necessary materials.

“Ah, I see you are awake,” the strong, proud Muslim announced in Arabic as he swung open the door. “And already studying the analysis of the Hadith book I provided you with.” 

“Yes, thank you brother,” the reply came back, also in Arabic.

“Do the pants fit you alright, Bilal?” Rashid asked. 

“They will carry the load.” With his massive hand, Bilal cupped his mighty Arab meat to emphasize his point. Rashid took a once over of Bilal, taking in the bronzed alpha and confirming the dimensions he had hypothesized in his head. Bilal was tall, muscular, a perfect specimen of Islamic masculinity. His chest would ideally slide into the thobe Rashid had ordered for him, and his wide feet would easily fill the Nike sandals Rashid had set aside.

“Now Bilal, are you ready to promote the genetic Arabization of the world?” Rashid demanded. “To defend Arab interests, to sacrifice individuality for global brotherhood?”

Bilal immediately nodded, his fate had already been sealed.

Rashid smiled, “I assume you have already left your past behind?”

Smirking, Bilal motioned his head towards the drying white splurge behind him. By the afternoon, it would become just another part of the basement’s transformative dust.

With a nod, Rashid ushered Bilal up, and the two made their way out of the basement and back into the mosque. They prayed together, feasted together, and were preparing to leave the mosque just as a frightened Asian-American boy rushed past them.

“Billy? Billy!” His shouts echoed throughout the hall as he dashed into the religious hallways. Rashid and Bilal exchanged knowing smiles. They held hands and bid farewell, the keys transferring between their hands.

[kittyoverlord]

This scene really spoke to me as someone who converted to Judaism. To be fair, I wasn't raised religious at all, so I don't know what it's like to leave one faith and move to another, but I still have thoughts!

I connected with Judaism because of it's emphasis on questioning and doubt, and this exchange also illustrates another key aspect of Judaism that I really identify with - following mitzvot/commandments because it does good right now for yourself and others, not due to some fear of eternal damnation. (that kind of philosphy doesn't work as well in a world where Heaven and Hell are confirmed as real planes lol.)

I also recently took a class (shout out to The Unyeshiva) that focused on the history of Jewish converstion. One thing from that class that I've been thinking about specifically in relation to Kristen's journey is different methods of proseletyzing.

The rabbi said we tend to picture xtian missionary groups that are pushy and make people uncomfortable - "Convert or you'll burn in hell." But there are ways to share information and offer one's faith to others as an option without making it a requirement - such as holding an intro to Judaism class or inviting friends to Jewish celebrations - which could still be considered proseletyzing in a way. She said the idea is: there are some people who would be happier practicing Judaism than not, and if we do some outreach those people are more likely to find Judaism, but not everyone will want to be Jewish and that's ok.

I'm not sure how much Ally is intending to work Jewish philosophy into Kristen's character arc, but I love being able to chew on the subtext anyway. Considering Kristen literally needs to convert a bunch of people to her religion ASAP I'm interesting in seeing how she decides to go about that.

I hope Kristen's journey works out and she and Cassandra are able to make amends. I also get angry at G-d, but at least I'm not in danger of destroying my entire religion because of my frustrations...

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

(This is a reply to this post) @savagepassion well, I’m Christian and was raised in a Christian community and church. Where I live, Christianity is open—it’s not a closed practice. I know that many sects of Christianity want to convert more people to the practice. I don’t know the exact religious practices of all the creators and writers for HH and HB, but I believe a creator has gone on record as saying that Hh and HB are how she has explored her religious trauma (could be wrong, will have to see if I can confirm that). (Reply continues below)

This means they’re making a story reflecting on their own culture and religion. Doing so doesn’t mean that people can’t criticize them for this and it doesn’t mean that other people from that culture can’t also be frustrated with this and criticize the portrayal of their religion.

My main issue isn’t with a religion being depicted in a way that deviates from that religions’ canon—mainly I don’t think it’s good for someone outside of a religion (ESPECIALLY a closed practice) or culture to use whatever they want from that culture without taking the time to understand the significance or importance whatever they are taking has.

I will agree that this could also apply to Christianity, but specifically in places where it is a minority practice and culture. In a place or another culture where Christianity is demonized and Christians are or have been persecuted and have to practice privately or close their practice, then yeah. That could be dangerous.

But I’m from the US where Christianity is the vast majority and is open to all. Again I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the majority of the HH creative team are from the US, so there’s a good chance they also grew up in Christianity and are depicting their own culture. I don’t personally have an issue with aspects of Christianity being discussed and explored and fictionalized b/c my religion is open, and where I’m from it’s the dominant religion, to the point where very few people actually dare to criticize it in some cases.

If a practitioner of Voudou or someone from within the various cultures that come from Voudou wanted to make a series or media about their own culture, that would be different. They would probably also get criticism from within their community for doing so, and that’s fair too. But that is a conversation for the members of /that/culture to have.

You can absolutely criticize Hazbin Hotel for using Christian mythology (and Im /not/ using the word “mythology” as an insult or to insinuate that Christianity is made up—pretty much all religions have mythos—it’s just the word used to describe the stories that make up the history of a religion—whether or not you believe in that mythology as being factual or fiction is up to you). That’s a normal thing to do, and if you’re Christian and are frustrated or upset by the way your religion is being portrayed those feelings are valid, and you are allowed to talk about it.

Regardless of all of that, I think there is a PROFOUND difference in someone taking parts of a minority closed culture and religious practice that has been previously maligned, demonized, and racially discriminated against, for their own uses, and someone examining and criticizing the majority beliefs and opinions of their own culture and religion.

Also this is as surface level as I could get with this reply, there’s a lot more to go into specifically about the racism (general and institutional/systematic) that is a part of this, as well as the MAIN thing that bothers me—black people, and black practitioners of Voudou who are a part of the minority culture in this case have been speaking out about their culture being used inappropriately, and have been largely ignored or shouted down by fans of Hazbin. Apparently the creator has also been blocking them as well?

The whole thing really reeks of cultural appropriation and racism, regardless of if that was ever the intent or not. It’s just been handled really poorly by the creative team and the fandom and I genuinely don’t understand it.

Final note—it’s very frustrating to hear “what about (X tangentially related thing)????” when talking about these issues. My original post wasn’t talking about Christianity, and “but what about Christianity?” doesn’t need to be a part of this conversation. Bringing it up and talking about it definitely diverted some attention away from my initial point on my original post.

But. I genuinely love talking about religion and religious studies—I minored in religious studies and think religion and spirituality can be a beautiful thing—and the ways religion impacts and intertwines with human culture is very interesting.

So I mean. Nah.

But also yah, because the world is huge and complex and what applies to one place does not necessarily apply to the whole world and nothing is ever in a vacuum.

But also. Like. Nah.

[acespaceacepilot]

Genuinely the academia fic makes me want to read every poem you cited!! Oh my god. Obviously I looked up Staying Quiet and I had a moment of stunned silence and wonder that you specifically knew the poem and exactly where it would be at home. Insane. Also reminded me of other great academia AUs in that now I almost want to write my english lit end of semester essays, thank you for the motivation. Anyway I'm here and not in the AO3 comment section because in the author's note at the start you mentioned having planned out what the characters would be doing and since you were on point with what you showed I am so so curious what else you've got for this setting 👀 in any case thank you so much <3

up top, thank you so much!! amongst my friends, i am a known poetry heaux. i go to poetry readings and feel my feelings; my partner got me a necklace that's engraved with a buddy wakefield quote. i have one of his collections signed to me. i fucking Love poetry.

hieu minh nguyen is one of my personal favorites and something was pinging around in my skull being like "hey! listen! there's a poem from them that perfectly fits astarion!" it fell Perfectly into place, shout out to my adhd background thoughts that were So Sure that hieu minh nguyen's poem should be there.

i'm going to put the rest below the cut, because. i have A Lot of thoughts and feelings

let's start with what i directly used in all my visions converted to blurs:

wyll is a low-rung english professor at a state school when he Could be at an ivy league bc of his dad’s nepotism. but wyll doesn't want a position his dad gets him, obvi. i want wyll to want to be out of his father's shadow, damn it.

(ulder is dean of a business school at an ivy league in my mind. it just fits. as a person with an english/linguistics degree: ulder ravengard has hella business major energy.)

astarion has taken a year or four off from school at this point. i hinted at substance abuse being the main reason that it's taken him so long to graduate from the law program? when he was the same age as his classmates, i think he partied A Lot and ended up having to retake some classes during his undergrad. i think i landed on coke being his chosen vice? idk it's vague for a reason. he's trying to get his life back on track

wyll and gale share an office space.

now here's what i left on the cutting room floor:

astarion is Still older than wyll, but not by more than six years

mizora is head of the english department. wyll has to play nice bc he's waiting to defend his dissertation and she'll be on the panel. she uses this to push her work or responsibilities onto wyll

lae'zel is doing her doctorate in anthropology/paleoanthropology. she's researching ancient war strategies and how social norms impacted them.

minthara is lae'zel's advisor because they'd have a Great dynamic. she specializes in biological anthropology. she can ball park which century any given human skull comes from.

shadowheart is working on her doctorate of psychology and specifically writing her dissertation profiling the susceptibility of cult victims mixed with religious studies to compile information about modern worship

1000000000% there are rumors about shadowheart's personal experience with cults. people say she goes by shadowheart so the cult she escaped from can't find her. she's heard every joke in the book about midsommar. there's some frat boy in the greek row that swears up and down that she bit his buddy hard enough to draw blood when they hooked up.

halsin and jaheira do ecology and agriculture, respectively. environmental sciences people. they both have tenure. halsin runs an internship for wetland management in the summer. jaheira is like a leading expert in soil science.

jaheira told mizora she was a bitch during a whole university department head meeting once and that's why halsin's the department head now.

minsc is literally just a coach. he does not teach Any classes and hangs out with the university's mascot Constantly. he coaches rugby and crew in the summer, basketball in the winter.

gale is a double discipline professor for history and cultural anthropology. So Close to getting tenure. his rate my professor score is mid as hell bc students either love or hate him because boy does this man drone onnnnnnnnnn

he's been on like four different digs in egypt and will talk about them at length but does that thing of "my second time in cairo. wait.... no. it was my Third time in cairo."

i posted this on twitter, but here's the couch lore: the couch in their office is a hand me down from gale's apartment because tara scratched it to hell on the corner of the armrests + the reason why the couch doesn't have any throw pillows is because gale didn't want to be tempted to nap and he already has a terrible time maintaining a work life balance

karlach is in sports medicine. she coaches the track team and works with weightlifters that have olympic aspirations. she was good enough to go to the last summer games for weightlifting, but an accident with a treadmill that she doesn't like to talk about prevented her from going.

she still has beef with gortash because he was on the shortlist for open spot availability.

she's Convinced that he's on steroids

[indomitablekushite]

How and why did Africans convert to Christianity? Or what does the Ring Shout mean to this process

“The preceding discussion, while offering a chronology of black conversion to Christianity at some variance with perceptions both popular and scholarly, really begs two fundamental questions: How and why did Africans convert to Christianity, especially in the absence of any measurable pressure to do so well into the nineteenth century? In response, it will be necessary to revisit the ring shout. Other areas of exploration include the relationship of water baptism to conversion, as well as the role of funerary rites in both conversion and the movement toward a collective identity based upon race. Why Africans converted is obviously related to how they did so, and a reexamination of Howard Thurman’s work will shed further light on this query. In addition, a recontextualization of the concept and practice of hoodoo in the colonial and antebellum South will not only help answer the basic questions but also assist in making the connection to the African antecedent more viable. Related to an examination of all these phenomena, of course, is the unfolding of social strata within the black community. What follows attempts to uncover the general contours of this relationship.” “Stuckey effectively makes the case for cultural continuity and attendant transformation within the African-based community in his Slave Culture. Drawing upon folklore and contemporary accounts, he argues that the ring shout was one of the most important vehicles for the perpetuation of West and West Central African religious beliefs. In these regions, ‘an integral part of religion and culture was movement in a ring during ceremonies honoring the ancestors.’ Although the circle’s ‘ancestral function’ was important in West Africa, it was even more so in West Central Africa, where it was ‘so powerful in its elaboration of a religion vision that it contributed disproportionately to the centrality of the circle in slavery.’ In fact, the ring shout was of significance that it is possible to posit that ‘it was what gave form and meaning to black religion and art.’ The ring shout was observed in the 1940s and 1950s in places as widespread as Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia, and can still be observed.” “For all of its significance as a principal medium of cultural transfer, Stuckey is saying something more about the ring shout, something that goes to the core of the present inquiry. For when he writes that the ‘ring in which Africans danced and sang is the key to understanding the means by which they achieved oneness in America,’ he is addressing directly the question of the transition from ethnicity to race and the transformation of the African American identity. That the ring shout could have been so instrumental in the process is intriguing and demanding of further investigation. In addition to the sources employed by Stuckey, the present effort is informed by a reexamination of the WPA interviews, especially those collected along the coast of Georgia.”

“Ring ceremonies associated with religion are commonplace wherever people of African descent are found in the Western Hemisphere. In a study of Haitian religion, for example, Deren points out that it is a composite of West and West Central African influences. Deren then goes on to make a subtle yet crucial comment: ‘At dances for the divinities… there is, to be sure, no ritual choreography apart from the general counterclockwise direction of the floor-movement around the center-post. This reference to a counterclockwise ring ceremony in Haiti recalls Puckett’s earlier discussion of the ‘slavery time ‘shout’’ of southern black culture, which ‘consisted of moving about in a ring, shuffling the feet along inch by inch, sometimes dancing silently, but more frequently singing spirituals.’ Puckett went on to make a conjecture consistent with Deren’s findings: ‘It is possible that the whole ceremony is a relic of some native African dance.’ The comments of these two independent investigations are so similar that it is possible to apply Deren’s analysis to the American South and Puckett’s to Haiti absent significant alterations. That is, the ceremonies were clearly derivative of the same origins.”

“Stuckey has cited numerous examples of how the ring shout functioned in the South. One of the most vivid illustrations was provided in 1862 along the South Carolina coast, where and when Thomas Wentworth Higginson observed what he called ‘the monotonous sound of that strange festival, half pow-wow, half prayer-meeting, which they know only as a ‘shout.’’ Before actually describing the shout, Higginson re-creates the context by employing evocative language to refer to the place of meeting: ‘These fires are usually enclosed in a little booth, made neatly of palm leaves and covered in at top, a regular native African hut, in short, such as is pictured in books.’ Having established, wittingly or unwittingly, Africa as the source of the ceremony, Higginson proceeds to describe how black men filled the ‘tent’ and sang ‘at the top of their voices, in one of their quaint, monotonous, endless, negro-Methodist chants… all accompanied with a regular drumming of the feet and clapping of the hands, like castanets.’ With this accomplished, the shout takes flight: ‘Then the excitement spreads: inside and outside the enclosure men begin to quiver and dance, other join, a circle forms, winding monotonously round someone in the centre; some ‘heel and toe’ simultaneously, others merely tremble and stagger on, others stoop and rise, others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep steadily circling like dervishes, spectators applaud special strokes of skill; my approach only enlivens the scene; the circle enlarges, louder grows the singing, rousing shouts of encouragement come in, half bacchanalian, half devout, ‘Wake’em, brudder!’ ‘Stan up to’em, brudder!’ and still the ceaseless drumming and clapping, in perfect cadence, goes steadily on. Suddenly there comes a sort of snap, and the spell breaks, amid general sighing and laughter. And this not rarely and occasionally, but night after night.’

“Higginson found the entire experience not only strange and amusing but also alarming. His allusion to the African hut reveals his assessment of the ritual’s source, but beyond this boundary he does not cross. Ostensibly repulsed, he was clearly drawn to the overt and subliminal sensuality of the ceremony, as ‘night after night’ the shout ended ‘suddenly’ after a gradual increase in excitement.” “The testimony of those outside of the circle could only be approximate. Contrary to what Higginson believed, black folk were not at all interested in performing the shout for whites. For that matter, the African-based rural community was more closed than open to outsiders regarding most aspects of their lives.” Michael A. Gomez“Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South”Pg. 263 

[automatismoateo]

Telling my mum I'm an atheist was one of the worst mistakes of my life. via /r/atheism

Telling my mum I'm an atheist was one of the worst mistakes of my life. She's not the openly religious type. She doesn't go to church but she has a few crosses hund up on the wall and all. I thought she would just say "ok" when I told her I'm an atheist like what a sane person would respond with but she went berserk. She started saying how in thr name of god I need to be returned or some cultist shit like that and proceeded to cry in the kitchen. And every single day was just her trying to convert me, shout at me, treat me like a lower class sibling to crying in the kitchen. She's gone insane, today she's meeting a priest to talk with her and give her tips to convert me back. Anything I should like, do? Oh and my only sibling is also an atheist and was also to come out but waited till I did, she's not coming out to her, she'll secretly be an atheist. No way she still thinks she's the good person fighting the evil in me, I've been having suicidal thoughts. When will all religion finally be over, I hope it's soon. Edit: I should mention we're in Poland. Who would've guessed the craziest Christians are in here. Submitted August 29, 2024 at 09:52AM by Patroskowinski (From Reddit https://ift.tt/F1rXmO9)

[coffee---bean]

a summary for class

so we have a check-in assignment, where we write around 300 words about our work and share our ideas with the class. i really struggle communicating my idea cos its really wacky and draws from a lot of ideas and pulls them together in a weird way.

but here goes!

i think the title of the work is gonna be "shout out to big jesus". i like the feeling it gives of "big trouble in little china" or something. i like saying "shout out" to stuff that i'm kind of ambivalent to just cos its a sort of stupid and fun thing to say when u don't have anything to say. i think that fits the work, i really don't have a really really strong feeling one way or the other about big jesus, i just wanna point them out. and the idea of "big jesus" is just the various jesuses we have and think about, everyone with a personalized one. idk i think of it like "big tech" or something, like there's some nefarious company producing our jesuses for us at premium prices, and also the nefarious vibes fit the idea of the work being a mind-control device. plus i just feel like the kind of person who says "shout out to..." would also call jesus "big man" or "big guy" or something, which i find really funny. i mean that's basically the exact point of the work, turning jesus into a regular ass weirdo.

anyway that's not the 300 words but it's called

SHOUT OUT TO BIG JESUS

"shout out to big jesus" is made out of plungers and pvc piping and it's a giant contraption kind of similar to a fishing rod which i'm gonna use to convert people to christianity.

i will catch someone in my trap and begin playing them a film with stereo audio, voices and music panned left and right, and a screen showing two images. on the right, quotes from big jesus will flash in muted colours and black-and-white, and on the left, images and videos will flash in brighter stranger forms. when the process is over, the box will be reeled back up.

the work is inspired by lots of things! it's inspired by the outsider art of royal robertson, the editing and animation style of the final episode of neon genesis evangelion, memes, the theory of the bicameral mind, the matrix and h.r. giger's design work, the band "everything everything" and their album "re-animator", the youtubers femboy fishing and contrapoints, my experiences with scientology, my conversations with religious people trying to convert me, the video game series metal gear solid (especially the 2nd and 5th game) and this video:

this work is meant to be an awkward ram-shackle embarrasing experience, at least for me, the person who's doing the fishing, and probably for the person being fished, unless they're really into this sort of thing. it's a work of art that can only be experienced on your own, even i won't really be able to see or tell what you might be thinking or feeling. you won't be able to see the outside world very easily while you're being fished. it's gonna be a weird feeling, i definitely don't wanna encourage anyone to take part if they wouldn't feel comfortable being in that position.

the core of the work is the audio/video presentation inside the box, but the context of the sculpture is vital for the psychological effect i want to create. i want people to wonder what they're gonna see in the box for a while, to build anticipation seeing someone else sitting there experiencing it while they aren't and can't. i want people to not be able to really explain it easily once they have seen it because it's really weird and not closely aligned with anything easily recognisable.

umm i've gone over 300 words, so that's it! there you go.

[carolap53]

The Queen of Heaven

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

11/01/2023

The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven (Jer 7:18). If you want to change the spiritual climate of your city you must address the principalities that rule that city. Such was the case for the apostle Paul when he went to the city of Ephesus. There was a territorial principality that was worshipped by the people of Ephesus named Diana of the Ephesians (also known by her Greek name, Artemis). The people gave money to this false god and it strongly influenced the economy because of this.  The city was also the center for magic and the occult. Her temple in Ephesus was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—the most outstanding and opulent example of architecture in the whole city. Her followers called her "magnificent," "great goddess," "savior," and "Queen of Heaven." Paul preached in Asia for two years and had great success confronting this territorial principality. Paul began to neutralize the Queen of Heaven’s power so much by the gospel that the common people began to notice. They not only stopped worshipping and sacrificing to her, the silversmith’s who were manufacturing idols were going out of business, so they staged a public riot. They filled the huge amphitheater and shouted for two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19:34). Many who were converted burned all of the idols and magic books. "When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.  In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power" (Acts 19:20). Based on the U.S. economy today, the pile of magic paraphernalia that was burned would have been worth four million dollars![1] In order for you to impact your city you must identify and break down the ruling principalities that may be hindering the gospel there. The more common principalities in the western world would include the religious spirit, the spirit of mammon, pride, and freemasonry to name a few. Ask God for wisdom and discernment as you prepare to deal with your local and regional principalities.

[made-of-ghosts-and-fire]

i think about my best friend who was killed this year, 5 days before my birthday.

i wish i could save him.

part of me feels like it is my fault that he is dead

if only i had done this or that... he could have been saved by my love for him

but that's just it... i was in love with him.

and i was trying to let him go...

I met this guy in high school. I was enamored by him: his confidence, his smile, his laugh, his abilities, who he was... He was a sun to my moon. And I believed that I was the sun to his, also.

In high school, I was extremely religious. I would not wear certain clothes if i believed that it held a certain ungodly meaning. I carried a Bible around with me everywhere I went (as a freshman and maybe as a sophomore, thank god lol that it wasnt in my later years of high school). I tried to convert other kids (my friends) because i truly believed that they could be helped if they grew to become Christian.

And this guy was no exception...

Thanks to him, I enrolled into Band my sophomore year and continued playing the saxophone all throughout the remainder of my high school experience. I look back on pictures of myself now and I can say that I was a bonafide, text-book example of a band geek. I was a geek probably since birth but once I met Tyrone, the cool guitar player with the confidence and dreams of a rock star and the smile and laugh of a fucking angel, a laugh so distinct that it couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's and a smile so perky that his cheeks glistened like balls of muscle that exposed his gorgeous (regular) teeth when he opened his mouth to let out a laugh, I couldn't stop myself from wanting to join band too.

In middle school I was pretty reclusive when it came to extracurricular activities.

I tried to join track. But as soon as my friend stopped going to track practice, so did I. Tyrone, on the other hand, was committed to guitar-playing... I didn't know it at the time, but I had a crush on Tyrone.

I wanted to be like him, confident, strong-willed, smart. But I also wanted to change him.

He was a heathen through-and-through and I was a church-goer. Sexual desires were a sinner's paradise and I was born-again.

Tyrone was so confident, so comfortable making sexual jokes and talking candidly. Meanwhile, I often avoided topics of sex because it made me uncomfortable... But I was so cool with sex. I remember pretending to not act like a virgin. I was cool enough to have conversations about sex anytime I wanted. And I craved the knowledge around sex. I wanted to be sexually up-to-date on everything that could be known concerning sex.

I found this one website (shout out to OhJoySexToy.com for being my sex education teacher when I was a kid in high school. I owe my expertise on sex to the knowledge that those great people shared with the world) that I was OBSESSED with as a kid... It opened my eyes to the world of sexuality gradually and also all at once. I consumed comic after comic once I found out about it.

[christian-perspectives]

The Story Of Stephen In The Bible

The believers in the early church rapidly multiplied which also produced some rumblings of discontent. It is at this point we are introduced to Stephen and his short-lived story. Here’s what was happening. The Greek-speaking believers complained, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the apostles decided that the church should choose deacons to handle those such matters. The qualifications were as follows. Brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Acts 6:3 Seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). Acts 6:5 Five of these seven men we never hear about again. We do, however, learn more about Philip’s story and that of Stephen. In Acts 8, God used Philip to start a revival in Samaria. He then ministered to an Ethiopian eunuch. Followed by the Spirit of the Lord “snatching” him away to the town of Azotus.

Stephen, A Man of God

With Stephen, we know he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit, but his story doesn’t stop there. God also gave him a special ministry as well. Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. Acts 6:8 A group of men challenged Stephen one day by starting to debate him. They soon found out that they could not stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. So they persuaded some men to make up a story about him. These men said that they heard him blaspheme Moses and God. And they succeeded in bringing trouble Stephen’s way. This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. Acts 6:12 The high priest asked him if the accusations were true. Stephen didn’t even try to defend himself instead he gave a brief history of the story of Israel. He spoke about when God chose Abraham and also when He called Moses. Then he continued by speaking of the reign of King David. He concluded by talking about the prophets. Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. Acts 7:52 If you are not familiar with the history of Israel, God’s chosen people, then read Stephen’s sermon. Found in Acts 7:2-53, it’s a snapshot of the history of Israel.

The Fury of the Jewish Leaders

Furiously, the Jewish leaders began to shake their fists at him. And at that very moment, Stephen experienced a vision from heaven. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Acts 7:55 Then he told everyone present including the religious leaders his vision. They didn’t want to hear it. So they took immediate action to silence him. Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Acts 7:57-58 Stephen didn’t leave this earth crying out or shouting profanities. He didn’t even try to defend himself. He entered into eternity praying for his accusers and those hurling stones at him. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. Acts 7:59-60

With Stephen, the Story Didn’t End

That day the religious leaders killed Stephen but they didn’t end his story. His story continues every time we read chapters 6 and 7 in the book of Acts. Who do you suppose stood there and witnessed this awful event? None other than Saul of Tarsus who would later be known as the Apostle Paul. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. Acts 7:58 We will never fully understand how or why God does some things. But we must never turn away from the Lord. Even when it seems like everything is going against you keep your focus on Jesus. Stephen has become a wonderful example of that as his life’s story came to an end. God has given each of us a story just like He gave one to Stephen. Continue to tell your story because your relationship with Jesus is the best legacy you have. Lord, thank you for sharing the story of Stephen with us. Help us to keep our focus on you, no matter what comes our way. Check out these other "stories" I have written about. - The Shepherds' Story Was Remarkably Astonishing - The Story Of Lazarus Resulted In An Unusual Plot - The Story Of Gideon And The Angel - The Story Of Daniel In The Lion's Den - The Story Of Hannah In The Bible - The King David And Absalom Story Read the full article

[tresradiossolis]

Sunny's Background

I've contemplated how I should best present this information since it's a sensitive topic, but if I'm going to write Human!Sunny on here, then he needs proper warnings and heads ups, so that people know what they're in for. If these topics listed are difficult for you to partake in, do let me know, and I'll tag things carefully. If it's too much, maybe this blog isn't for you.

Trigger Warnings for Mental and Physical Child Abuse, Homophobia, Cults and Religious Trauma.

Sunny comes from an extremely religious (Christian) household, where his father was abusive, while his mother looked the other way, offering no support to her son. One of the most common punishments Sunny had to face for even slight disobedience, accusations of being sinful, questioning or just not doing something fast enough, was to be locked away in the basement below their house with the power off. This would develop into a lifelong nyctophobia, where he'd risk going through a panic attack from just the sun setting while being outside.

In time, when Sunny was around 9 years old, his parents had gotten involved in a branch of Christianity that was founded by a man who lived in their state. One day they packed up all their things, Sunny said good bye to the few last friends he had that he hadn't lost from his incredibly strict curfew, and they moved out to a community on the countryside where everyone else who followed the same faith were gathered.

His family had joined a cult, of course unbeknownst to him.

Sunny loved the community though. They were providing a family environment he had never had before, and while the abuse didn't stop, and sometimes other adults also seemed to cross the line while nobody seemed to do anything about it... he felt like he belonged. He was happy. Or as happy as he'd ever gotten before, at least.

One day when he was 15 years old, he asked another member why all the women always wore skirts. After being told that skirts were for women, Sunny had smiled and responded with "That's a shame, they're really pretty... I'd like to wear a skirt too."

That little comment snowballed into something that would mess up his perfect picture of the community forever.

Suddenly, rumours were spreading like wildfire. At first he didn't know what it was about, but nobody seemed to want to be close to him anymore. Avoiding him and refusing to touch things that belonged to him, even parents were pulling their children away from him when he came near. When it finally reached his dad, he made sure Sunny knew what the problem was.

Everyone thought that Sunny was gay, something the faith did not look kindly upon. Sunny had never been told what gay even meant, and it took him some time to realise what he was even being punished for.

What followed was years of abuse from not only his dad anymore, but his peers as well. Isolation and ostracisation, some older teens even going so far as to physically assault him and shout slurs at his face, calling him disgusting and a pervert. Slaps from mothers if he touched a child of theirs, be it only to help them if they had fallen.

A priest had came and tried to help him "pray the gay away", and the longer the whole thing went on, the more isolated he became, the more he ventured out into the forest to just be Alone, the more he realised that he couldn't stay anymore.

Even if he "converted" (he wasn't even sure if he was gay at all, he didn't really get a chance to even think about it) the picture perfect image of the community had began to crack, and he realised that he couldn't spend the rest of his life in this place.

When he turned 19 years old, he finally managed to gather the courage to leave the cult. He packed up his things and went out into the forest, and he walked until he couldn't walk no more. Until his food supply ran out, until he finally found a high way on the other side of the greenery.

Sunny changed his name to, well, Sunny. Sunny Dipple. His old name didn't matter anymore, it only brought on bad memories... he'd rather be Sunny. Somebody who could live for a brighter future. It took him a long time to assimilate to modern society, since the community hadn't encouraged the use of modern technology, partly to keep them all unaware of what was going on outside.

He's currently working through all the trauma with a professional psychologist. He's medicated and he's getting help, and he's formed a new life doing the only things he felt like he could truly do back in the community: Look after those younger than him, and to trek through the forest for days, surviving on wisdom alone. The years have been rough and he's still struggling with modern society... but it's so much better than his former life.

As for being gay... the mere thought of being gay is terrifying to him. He knows, he knows it's not a bad thing! He is an activist, he fights for LGBTQIA+ rights, he partakes in rallies and he'd take a bullet for them all, but... the idea that he would be gay... or the mere thought of him wearing a skirt... they're Terrifying.

But also... that's exactly what he wants to be, and what he wants to do. He just won't let himself know it.

[mommybard]

Why do you hate christians

Alright. So you caught me on a bad day, so we're doing this! TW. Just all the religious talk. And not in the fun kinky way. Just had to go off, please standby for your irregularly scheduled smut <3 To start, I don't hate christians anon. I know some people who are christian and are the sweetest people possible. My grandma, for example. Wouldn't hurt a fucking fly, sweetest old lady you've ever met. Had no problems with me coming out as poly, queer, or trans because the woman knows nothing but love. 10/10, amazing person. No you can't adopt her as your grandma, she's mine dammit. Bad enough I gotta share with my siblings and cousins xD I absolutely hate ignorant christians though. The ones who don't even bother to read their holy book and instead cling to the vile nonsense spewed from the mouths of hatemongering, bigoted assholes. Or the ones who have their own conclusions about the world and decide to use their book not to challenge their view, but to support it. I despise the ones who try to shove their religion down peoples' throats, repeatedly, unwelcomed, just because they believe that it's what they're supposed to do. Who make a grand spectacle of trying to shout at people in the streets to convert or risk the fires of hell. And I know that they try to bundle that with that ridiculous nonsense of "Oh, but it's because we LOVE you!" No. Just no. You don't emotionally abuse people you love. You don't threaten and gaslight people you love. You absolutely do not push legislation that would restrict and ban and hurt the people. Those are not loving acts. Those have never been loving acts. Those are the acts of a bigot who wants to hold power and browbeat people into doing what they want them to do. That's not fucking love, that's fucking abuse. You want to show some fucking love? Follow the good parts of your own fucking book. Matthew 6:1-4: When you do good deeds, don't try to show off. If you do, you won't get a reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to the poor, don't blow a loud horn. That's what show-offs do in the synagogues and on the street corners, because they are always looking for praise. I can assure you that they already have their reward. When you give to the poor, don't let anyone know about it. Then your gift will be given in secret. Your Father knows what is done in secret and will reward you. Hebrew 13:2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Luke 3:11: And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

James 2:14-17: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead

Matthew 10:14: And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

And that's just from me grabbing from your book. Ignoring the bastardization y'all have done with the Hebrew Bible and the way you twist that into complete and utter nonsense and then toss most of it aside because somehow someone can "fulfill" a law. Except for some HORRIBLY mistranslated parts of Leviticus that hateful people use to try to shove others down. That can apparently stay. Anon, please, I am begging you, go read your own fucking book. Learn from it, absorb more than the hatespeech spewed by assholes at the pulpit. And don't try to convert other people who have absolutely 0 desire to join it. Since christianity loves taking parts of judaism, I am going to ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE you to copy our conversion process. We don't go door to door, or bribe officials to pass legislation, or try to shove our way into schools. We aren't forcing it down peoples throats, or sending anonymous passive-aggressive nonsense on social media. If someone wants to convert, GREAT! Go talk to a rabbi. They'll probably turn them away a few times, just to make sure they really want to. But if a person genuinely wants to convert, we welcome them with open arms. Because it is THEIR decision, THEIR choice, and no one they were beaten with over and over until they internalized the abuse and convinced themselves it was their idea, not the one forced on them. It wasn't the answer to a threat about being burned and tortured for an infinite amount of time for a FINITE alleged crime.

[forthegothicheroine]

It's hard to reconcile with the fact that it's his idea to use holy wafers and crosses to fight vampires, but I do love the idea of Jewish Van Helsing. The Jewish community of Amsterdam was historically very prominent and successful, and he's also thought to be partially inspired by Arminius Vambery (who he gives a shout out in-text as "my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University"), who was a Jewish man.

(Of course, he could be Jewish by birth but have converted to Christianity, as plenty have done historically, which would reconcile his apparent belief in Christian paraphernalia.)

I should have answered this sooner but I had to formulate a response! I also love the idea of a Jewish Van Helsing, especially since Mel Brooks' performance was one of the only things I liked about Dracula Dead and Loving It. This could be interesting because it brings up the three major ways crosses etc. work in vampire fiction.

1. Buffy: Crosses are the only things that work, and that's just the way it is.

2. Salem's Lot: Crosses only work if you believe; presumably other religious symbols would work for their adherents.

3. I am Legend: Crosses work only on vampires who were once Christians; Torahs work on formerly Jewish vampires, presumeably the list goes on.

Option 3 would allow a Jewish Van Helsing to still wield the cross and communion wafer (and allow for the crucifix to have worked on Jonathan even though as an Anglican he said it made him uncomfortable.) I also like this option because it allows for scenes of Van Helsing frantically trying to determine if Dracula would have belonged to the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Church and bringing along religious symbols from both just to be safe.

[taephilia]

temporary fix

pairing: kim taehyung x fem!reader

genre: smut, demon/angel au (demon!taehyung, angel!reader)

word count: 2,084

warnings: sexual content (fingering, thigh grinding, hickeys), alcohol consumption, religious themes (specific to christianity), corruption kink if you squint, pov switches

a/n: i posted this on tae’s birthday but tumblr is annoying and didn’t let this show up in the tags so ahaha this is a repost :-)

You don’t know what’s gotten into you lately. The elders believe you’re just going through a late bloomer type of rebellious phase. Your friends think you’re just getting restless because of all of the, what they deem, ‘boring’ humans you’ve had to watch over for the past few centuries. You don’t know what it is but what you do know is that it feels like an itch you just can’t get rid of. It continues to come back and you’re constantly scratching at it, wondering when it will finally go away.

The bass from the music sends a thrum through your veins that you’ve never experienced before and the taste of the drink in your hand makes you grimace but the warm feeling you get in your chest urges you to continue drinking. The amount of heat produced from hundreds of bodies crowded together in one building is enough to cause sweat to run down your back and the smoke floating above everyone’s heads makes the air feel even heavier (whether it’s from these ‘vapes’ that you’ve heard so much of or smoke machines, you’re not sure). You’ve never understood why the mortals would willingly wait in absurdly long lines just to be in a club like this for hours whenever you looked down on them from the heavens. But now that you’re here on Earth, blending in with the humans and experiencing it for yourself, you now see that it’s a thrill like no other.

A hand on the small of your back makes you pause during your way back to the dance floor and when you look up, you’re met with the darkest, most beautiful eyes you’ve ever seen. Even in the dim lighting the stranger’s eyes look deep enough to drown in—and it almost feels like you are until they step closer to you and you realize that their eyes are not the only thing beautiful about them. When you refocus, you realize that the beautiful eyes belong to an equally beautiful man with an even more beautiful smile. A smile that’s directed right at you.

“Hey there, angel,” the man greets you, and even with the loud music and shouting, his low voice is clear as day to your ears. “Wanna dance?”

The pet name sends a shiver down your spine and it feels like your head’s about to fall off your shoulders from how eagerly you’re nodding. The handsome man pulls you on to the dance floor and presses his body close to yours, his hands resting on your waist as he helps you dance to the rhythm of the music. If it weren’t for the jarring bass, you definitely would have been able to feel just how hard your heart is pounding in your chest from his proximity and touch. He spins you around so that your back is up against his chest and when you feel his lips press a kiss into the bare skin of your shoulder, you find yourself wondering if this is what it felt like when Eve took that first bite of fruit from the Garden of Eden all those millenia ago.

Taehyung is bored. Humans are just so painfully mundane and predictable; the rich taking from the poor just to stay rich, officials arguing over politics and ethics and good and evil, middle-class people working themselves almost to the point of exhaustion and then consuming absurd amounts of alcohol just to relax. It’s old news, a cycle that they say they’ll break out of—even Taehyung himself said it when he was a mortal centuries ago. So he understands that need to stand out, to seek glory and free the human race from its metaphorical chains. But he’s a demon now and all humans seem to show him is that no matter how much they try to fight it, there will always be a small part of them that will reject the breaking of the cycle. And so it continues; sex, drugs, crime, war. He’s watched empires rise and fall, had roles both in the spotlight and in the shadows, and yet nothing ever changes. It’s comical at this point.

Besides, as much as Taehyung complains about these unfortunately dense humans, they’re the ones that keep him powerful. As long as he keeps bringing back souls or converting people ‘to the dark side’, he can continue to live this eternal life of luxury. Because hey, he’s a demon now so what does he care about breaking the human cycle?

He’s been enjoying his night at his favorite club so far, the large amount of alcohol that he’s already consumed only producing a buzz in his body but the sinful energy tonight is enough to make him feel like he’s drunk. But then something happens; a moment of clarity appears, like a beacon of light passing right by him, and when he looks up, he sees her. An ordinary human to any other ordinary human looking but to his well-trained eyes, he can just make out the very faint light from the halo hovering above her head. The clothing adorning her body only accentuates her innocent-looking features and before Taehyung can even process what his body is doing, he’s making his way over to her and his eyes remain glued to the halo above her head.

Taehyung hopes that by the end of the night, he’ll be able to watch it disappear.

You think you’re getting drunk. You’re not particularly sure since you’ve never had alcohol before but you definitely don’t feel the way you felt at the beginning of the night. But the thrum in your veins could also be because of the handsome man’s hands on your body. Taehyung, he had told you when you asked him his name. When you repeated it back to him, the way it effortlessly rolled off your tongue felt right. Taehyung stays at your side the entire night, offering endless drinks and endless energy to continue dancing with you, and the smile never leaves your face.

Your eyes begin to feel heavy and your body doesn’t feel the same as before but you can’t say that it feels bad, especially with the way that Taehyung’s lips feel on your neck right now. His grip on your hips is tight and when he shoves a leg in between yours and presses his thigh up against you, you experience a feeling of pleasure like no other and can’t help but to throw your head back and gasp.

“Does that feel good, angel?” Taehyung asks lowly in your ear as his hot breath fans out across the side of your face.

All you can do is whimper and nod in response. You want to ask him to do it again, to make that tingling in your body happen again, but the thought of asking for such a thing is enough to bring a warmth to your cheeks. What would the other angels think if they saw you in such a compromising position?

The pleading look in your wide eyes is enough to make Taehyung’s dick twitch in his pants. The crowd is pressing in on the two of you from all sides but Taehyung can’t even bring himself to shove them away. All he can focus on is the feel of your body in his hands and the whimpering sound that he wants to hear again and again. He kisses along the side of your neck, varying shades of red appearing soon after and making him smirk at the possessive marks. You’re like putty in his hands and Taehyung knows that it won’t take much more to push you over the edge and get you right where he wants you.

“Why don’t we go somewhere a little more private,” he suggests, chuckling when you eagerly agree and allow him to lead you to whatever destination he had in mind. That destination being a private bathroom in the back of the club. The guards didn’t even blink an eye when the two of you walked past, perks of having a binding contract with the club owner.

Your hand wraps around his wrist before pulling him towards you, your lips on his in an instant as he picks you up and places you on the counter of the sink. Taehyung shoves the skirt that you’re wearing up your thighs so that it bunches at your hips, the fabric of your underwear on full display—along with your desire that’s soaking through it.

“Please Taehyung, want you to make me feel good,” you beg in an airy whisper. Your grip on his shoulders tightens when he squeezes at your inner thigh and Taehyung has to squeeze his eyes shut to contain the low growl that he was about to let out.

His cock is leaking in his pants but Taehyung pulls away, running his thumb along your jaw before it catches on your bottom lip that’s jutted out in a pout. “Give me a second, angel, I gotta lock the door,” he says as he turns the lock. “Wouldn’t want anyone walking in on us, right?”

When he turns around, he’s greeted by the sight of your parted legs and hooded eyes, your knuckles turning white from just how hard you’re gripping the edge of the counter. Taehyung’s never been to Heaven but if he had to guess, he would guess it feels a little something like this.

He can’t wait to see your fall from grace.

Taehyung’s lips feel too good on your neck. His hands feel too good on your body. He feels too good. Your head is spinning and your heart is pounding and you feel like you can’t breathe because he’s just so close and every bite and squeeze is just too much. Your hands roam around his body, across his broad shoulders, down his toned torso, and land on his hard cock. Even through his jeans it feels warm and just the thought of touching it is enough to make your mouth water.

There’s a voice in the back of your mind telling you to stop what you’re doing, that this is sacrilege, that you can’t turn back if you don’t stop right now—but you don’t want to stop. You want Taehyung to make you see stars, one’s that even God cannot make but he can. His lips detach from yours and you hear him laugh when you chase after them. You want him to keep kissing you, the feeling that you get from it is unlike anything else.

One of his hands slides down your body and lands on the fabric of your underwear, his fingers beginning to rub circles into your clit and you jerk at the feeling. The tingles in your body are stronger than before and the voice in your head telling you to stop gets louder but it’s drowned out by the loud moan that leaves your lips. When you look up at Taehyung, the positioning of his head in front of the bathroom light makes it look like there’s a halo of light surrounding him. But when your eyes meet his, what you see makes you grow cold.

There’s a devilish smirk on his face and a daunting aura surrounding him but his black eyes trigger your fight-or-flight instinct. The voice that was screaming at you in your head is loud, so loud, and you’re wondering if it was a trick of the light but just like that, his eyes are normal.

Two of Taehyung’s fingers enter you and your back arches, your chest pressing against his as he pumps them in and out of you. His gaze is concentrated on you as your face contorts in pleasure, your legs shaking as he brings you to euphoria. His thumb rubs circles into your clit while his other hand shoves your shirt down so that he can lick at your chest. The amount of stimulation is enough to bring you to the edge very quickly, your breath quickening as you approach your orgasm.

When Taehyung looks back up at you, he knows that his eyes are black again but you don’t even notice because your own are closed in bliss. You’re so cute. Taehyung is glad he decided to go out tonight.

“Where is your God now, pretty angel?” he mumbles against your collar, and if you hear him, you give no indication. He has you now. He can’t wait to watch your pretty wings burn.

“Go ahead and fall for me, love.”