#the ancestors taking out the of oppressors one by one this year

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Black Diaspora, if King Charles dies on Black History Month we need to…

TURN IT UP!!!

[iamnmbr3]

One of weirdest disconnects (but far from being the only one), I see from the left in regards to Israel is that jews have no claim to the land, are colonizers and oppressors, but at the same time make long ass rants about how native americans had their land stolen from them, deserve to claim it back and get reparations and all that. And the disconnect here is that jewish people, as a group, are native to the region of Israel, their ancestors literally built a country there after escaping slavery, lived there for a long ass time but were eventually kicked out by the Roman Empire, and after thousands of years of being persecute and not felling safe returned to their ancestral homeland, to reclaim and rebuild what was stolen from them. Isn’t that what people say we owe native americans? Or indigenous groups that were kicked out of their lands in general? Yes, in their thousand year absence other peoples built their lives around the region of Jerusalem. Yes, Palestine deserves to be recognized and it’s citizens to have decent lives like everyone else. Should Israel never have existed, or cease to exist? No! There’s plenty of room for both peoples to have their countries, the jewish people belong there too and history proves they need a nation to serve as a refuge! Their land was returned to them by British after WW2, since they legally owed it after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, and while the partition could have been better, after all the horror’s jewish people had experienced it’s hard to blame to UN for giving it a go. Honestly, this whole situation just shows how dumb, hateful, bigoted, misinformed and disingenuous a lot of people in the left are. It’s easy to say that the Hogwart’s Legacy game is anti-jewish, that supporting it gives power and money to evil people and then harassing people that want to play it (which is dumb all around, as pretty much all the other hot takes and boycott to that game), but when it comes down to actually standing with jewish people and showing empathy? Nah, that’s too hard for them. It’s all performative. It’s easier to jump on the hate train and say they deserved what H*mas did to them, it gives them more likes.

Yeah. So many people on the Left are all "land back" until it's time to say land back for Jews. Kind of like how a lot of the Left shouts "believe all victims" about sexual assault till those victims are Jewish. I mean would anyone on the Left call any of the recognized sovereign nations of indigenous people in North America ethnostates that need to be abolished? Or say indigenous people still trying to get back a piece of their ancestral lands should stop because it was too long ago now? The hypocrisy demonstrates how deeply antisemitic views have seeped into parts of the Left. Which we cannot allow.

Jews are indigenous to the Levant. Both Israelis and Palestinians have a claim to the land. Israel exists. That's a fact that won't change. Any workable longterm peace must find a compromise solution that acknowledges both Israeli and Palestinian needs. Any other solution will simply result in more bloodshed (which a lot of "activists" in the West seem more interested in...probably because it's not their blood being shed).

[fuwaprince]

On May 5th, 1962 Malcolm X said in Los Angeles during his Who Taught You To Hate Yourself speech:

"In order for you and me to devise some kind of method or strategy to off-set some of the events, or repetition of the events, that have taken place here in Los Angeles recently, we have to go to the root. We have to go to the cause. Dealing with the condition itself isn't enough. We have to get to the cause of it all or the root of it all. And it is because of our effort toward getting straight to the root that people often times think we are dealing in hate."

"Excuse me if I say so-called... it's hard for me to just outright say 'Negro' when I know what that word 'Negro' really means."

"Here your mother is being raped and you're not supposed to be emotional. Your women can't walk the street without some cracker putting his hands on her and you're not supposed to be emotional. If you say this, you're fed up"

"Twenty million black people don't even know their own language. Why? Because he took it away from them. Twenty million black people who don't even know the history of their ancestors. Why? Because he took it away from them. And if you're trying to tell them how thoroughly and completely they've been robbed, he says you're preaching hate. That's something to think about. Today you are coming out of college. You are coming out of the leading universities. You're trying to go in a good direction but you don't know which direction to go in. And if somebody tries to take you right to the root of your problem, they say that that man is a hate teacher."

"And then again if we tell you that 'Negros' are being hung on the tree or being shot down illegally, unjustly and those 'Negros' should do something to protect themselves, they say you're advocating violence. The white man is TRICKING YOU. He's trapping you. He doesn't call it violence when he lands troops in South Vietnam... He doesn't call it violence when he lands troops in Berlin. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he didn't say Get Nonviolent. He said Praise The Lord, But Pass The Ammunition. But when someone attacks YOU... When someone comes at YOU with a club. When someone comes at YOU with a rope. When someone comes at YOU with a gun. Despite the fact that you've done nothing... he tells you, SUFFER PEACEFULLY... and how long can you suffer after suffering for 400 years? So I just want to clear up that little point right there, because he says we play on your emotions. And when you turn on your television tonight, or your radio, or read the newspaper- they're going to tell YOU that I was playing on your emotions. Imagine YOU a second class citizen."

"That's not getting emotional, that's getting INTELLIGENT."

"They put Moses in jail. They put Daniel in jail. Why you haven't got a man in the Bible that wasn't put to jail when they started speaking out against exploitation and oppression! They changed Jesus with sedition.

They said he was against Caesar. They said he was discriminating because he told his disciples go not the way of the gentiles- but rather, go to the lost sheep. He discriminated! Don't go to the gentiles, go to the lost sheep! Go to the oppressed... Go to the exploited. Go to the people who don't know who they are. Who are lost from the knowledge of themselves and who are strangers in a land that is not theirs. Go to those people! Go to the slaves! Go to the second class citizens. Go to the ones who are suffering the brunt of Caesars brutality."

"And if Jesus were here in America today, he wouldn't be going to the white man. The white man is the oppressor, he would be going to the oppressed. He would be going to the humble. He would be going to the lowly. He would be going to the rejected and the despised. He would be going to the so-called 'American Negro'"

"Let me tell you something- and I'll tell ya: while you say we hate white people, we don't hate anybody! We LOVE our own people so much they think we hate the ones who are inflicting injustice against them."

[cosmichighpriestess]

Woe to our enemies. Woe to our oppressors. Can you handle the amount of evil eye from all the people who wanted to see us fail? Who looked down upon us for years? Because God is going to make us an example, of what ascended human beings are capable of being. God is going to bless us in front of our enemies. Can you stay unbothered and grateful?

Can you stomach the table that God has made in front of your oppressors in front of your bullies and gaslighters? They laughed at you and talked badly about you behind your back for years. They really thought no one was looking over their shoulder while they obliterated your name in the dirt.

They thought you were a joke because you are not a mindless sheep trying to fit in. You are the real deal. From black sheep to golden child of God. Your authenticity is a trigger for them. You are the generational curse breaker. Your name holds weight in high places and they are just background characters in your story. They are nothing without you in their lives. Their money and status doesn't buy happiness. Their facades don't fool you. There is no one else like you. You are one of none.

They laughed at you while you were going out of your way to help them. They laughed at you because you mentioned the word God. They judged you and thrived off your suffering. They acted like you didn't even exist because your presence exposed their insecurities and lies. Because you could see right through them, through their lies and manipulation. They projected their shame and guilt on to you instead of eating their own shit. You don't have trust issues. They have lying issues. Their whole foundation is built upon lies, they will lose everything they stomped on others to get. They all fall down. The bad guys lose and you will win because your foundation is built upon truth and unconditional love.

They can't handle the mirror you hold up to them. They treated you like you were gum on their shoe. They judged you, they said you were unmotivated and lazy while you were going through heavy spiritual warfare every week and debilitating ascension symptoms. You're not broke your money is just pending, you're a multi-millionaire. You are not sleeping on yourself, you are resting until you shock the world with your presence. The entire time you were leveling up and upgrading, raising the collective consciousness but they perceived it as you being crazy, weak and mentally ill.

Even though you had to drag yourself out of hell a thousand times by yourself. They couldn't walk a mile in your shoes without tapping out. You took their shit and you made flowers, they stomped all over your house with their muddy shoes and you cleaned it up every single day while you forgave them like it was nothing. You forgave them and you gave them the benefit of the doubt because that energy doesn't belong to you.

You were as quiet as a mouse, when you could have humiliated them and exposed them for who they really are underneath their mask. Who will be laughing and unbothered in the end? You. God is exposing their betrayal their lies, they won't have a second of peace from their demons by the time God is done with them.

The demons they sent for you are turning around and causing chaos in their lives. They misjudged you severely. They used and abused you and you never compromised your morals because you are so pure and have always operated in integrity. They literally wished death upon you. They planned for your demise. So some of them may pass away from what they wished for a divine one. The scales are finally balancing out. Feel those feelings of betrayal.

Feel those feelings of anger, rage, sadness and pain. So your angels can take them from you and give you peace and joy. You are supported and loved by all the right ones and envied and hated by all the wrong ones for you. Your ancestors are so proud of you. They feel so much pride right now for you. You won the war. Your pain did not go unnoticed by God. When you wake up tomorrow morning the curses will be gone. Watch how God moves in your life.

Congratulations, you won, you get everything your enemies could only dream of, things they have always wanted. You will never have to worry about your bullies again, they mistreated a real one and they are about to find out who you really are. Do you want to know why it has been so hard for you to speak up? Because it is a spiritual attack and it is not your fault that you have trouble expressing yourself so don't blame yourself. They don't want you to tell your side of the story.

Their opinion of you does not stop God from blessing you. They earned a place out of your life forever. Accept their apologies but remove trust. They showed you who they were the first time, believe them. Anything other than pure authenticity and a genuine apology is a mask they are wearing. Apologies withdon'tout changed actions is manipulation. They left you for dead. They left you for the wolves to devour you. I am not telling you to hate them. I know because of your heart, you love them and always will. Forgive them. Forgive yourself but remember why they are not aligned with you and why you know not to trust them anymore. Love them from afar now.

Just watch and sit still, have some tea and watch the movie while God handles your enemies because that responsibility was never your burden to carry. Stop beating yourself up. You didn't do anything wrong, you reacted to mistreatment like anyone would. Man will condemn you, but God will forgive you. You are protected by demons, respected and protected by Angels. I love you, you are so loved and so perfect in the eyes of God. Be patient while the instructions from Source/God reveal themselves. Thank you cursebreaker for your service to humanity and raising the frequency of the entire planet.

[theerurishipper]

The cruelest and meanest things Zuko did

Show!Zuko

Mocking the culture of his best friend, who is genocide survivor whose culture was destroyed by Zuko’s ancestors, multiple times.

  Rams his ship into the remainder of the Southern Water Tribe. Behaves threatningly toward the SWT inhabitants, even manhandling Sokka and Katara's grandmother.

  Robs from a family who saved his beloved uncle's life and fed him and his uncle, all for free.

  Mocks Ty Lee as a "circus freak" to her face for having the temerity to suggest she knows him and cares about him.

  Tells his beloved Uncle, who has been a father to him, that he is a lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother"

  Attacks Roun Jian for talking to Mai.

  (With Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee) Wrecks Chan's party and burns down his beach house just for the hell of it.

  Punching down at Toph when she attempts to connect with him emotionally, treating her like she's unworthy of his time?

  Implicitly threatening Katara with sexual assault (there's a reason why that scene practically launched the Zvtara ship) while using her mother's necklace as leverage against her (The Waterbending Scroll).

    Firebending dangerously at Aang after he wanted a break from the intense training Zuko put him through

    Calling Iroh "the laziest man in the Fire Nation" to his face.

    Taking out his frustration and impatience by throwing a firebending attack at one of his crew ("Boy in the Iceberg"). People always forget this one.

    Trying to start a fight between Mai and Ty Lee just so he can see Mai be more emotional.

    Unanimously decided to burn a remnant of his family's happier past right in front of his sibling's eyes, without so much as thinking what she might feel about that.

    Told on his sister to his physically abusive father (the guy who mutilated his son for speaking out of turn) that she'd lied to him about something very serious then left her with said abusive father with no warning

    Violently robbed dozens of Earth Kingdom civilians for stuff he didn't need just for the hell of

    Ask Sokka to tell him the story of his mother's murder because Katara was rightfully still suspicious of him and then proceeded to talk Katara into going after the man, stealing Oppa one of the only remaining things of Aangs culture, telling aang to get over it and his cultures beliefs aren't just wrong but stupid and ignorant and not once offering Sokka kind words about his mothers murder or Sokka's grief over it and using him for his own means.

    Trying to get Katara to murder someone so that she would forgive him, since he felt entitled to her forgiveness.

    Viciously mocking Katara as "a big girl now" when she says she's capable of protecting Aang

Hired an extremely dangerous assassin after a group of children who have repeatedly shown him kindness and saved his life.

Took the side of the oppressors solely for selfish reasons after seeing how wrong and harmful the war is, knowing that his beloved uncle could get killed by the enemy as a result.

Yelled at Iroh, after betraying him, "You're a crazy old man! You're crazy! And if you weren't in jail, you'd be sleeping in a gutter!”

Burns down the Kyoshi Village and after reuniting with the survivor that he attacked, gives a half-assed "apology".

After being ordained as the absolute ruler of the nation, was never assed to discharge his ex-partner, who commited treason to save his life, out of prison, or check if she's even alive. Mai was released thanks to her uncle, not Scar

Kidnapped the Avatar during the seige of the North Pole which indirectly entailed Princess Yue's death.

Comics!Zuko

Dangling his mentally ill sister over a cliff while telling her she ruined his life by being born.

  referring to Ursa and the royal family as "my mother" and "my family" right in front of his sister's face several times.

  not visiting his sister for almost two years until he wanted her help finding their estranged mother. (but he did visit their abusive father with tea for advice)

  reassure his mother that their was no need to look for his sister who went missing in the forest because "she can survive on her own."

  abuse his authority and order his ex-girlfriend to come back when she tried to leave him.

  manhandled katara only to say he "doesn't to hurt her”

Calling Ursa 'His mother' to a bound and unwell Azula's face, while he sits on a throne he had brought into the asylum for him to sit on." 

Zuko never mocked Aang's culture. But of course you would see it that way.

And you realize that him doing bad things and then making up for them is the point of his arc, right? You do realize that he worked to make up for what he did and redeemed himself to all the people he hurt and that they accepted his apology and became his friends, right? You do know what a redemption arc is, right? How are some of y'all going on about Azula redemption arcs when you prove that you don't believe people can change, considering you always lambast Zuko about the actions he worked hard to fix and make amends for? Almost like you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

And enough with your weird abuse apologist nonsense when it comes to the comics. He dangled her above a cliff because she attacked him while he was sitting there talking with Aang, and he was trying to get her to stop attacking him. Please look up the definition of "hyperbole." It's never said that he didn't visit her, and even if he didn't, he doesn't have to, considering she's tried to murder him several times and doesn't want anything to do with him anyway. He doesn't have to visit her just to get insulted. He refers to Ursa as his mother because she is his mother, and Azula has always established a facade of not caring about her mother. He didn't go after Azula because she ran away from him, and he doesn't have to chase after someone who doesn't want his help. He "ordered Mai to come back" because he was already stressed and tired and didn't know what he was saying. He obviously said something stupid in the heat of the moment which he never had any intention whatsoever of following through on, and he immediately calls himself an idiot in the very next panel, which must have conveniently slipped by you. He "manhandled Katara" because she was attacking his soldiers. The "throne" you're talking about isn't even that luxurious, and Azula is bound because she's constantly tried to kill him and is a very dangerous person, a fact that she proves everytime Zuko gives her any leeway at all. The comics have some ridiculously OOC characterization, but it still doesn't mean you can go on this victim blaming trip and act like Azula is this poor victim of mean old everybody else. Y'all are one step away from saying Kiyi abused Azula, my god.

And of course, you're that ableist weirdo who's calling Zuko "scar." What a way to show you care about abuse victims, am I right? Do me a favor, stop entering spaces where you are not wanted or welcome, and get a life instead of sending deranged rants to people's inboxes all day long. Also, thanks for sending this to me twice, so I can both respond and also IP block you. Get off my blog.

[briarandhissecretgarden]

Briar, can you tell us some of your culture from the nether? How was your, uh, tribe or community like?

[Below is Briar's response as I felt it would be better written than drawn, though please keep in mind these are my headcanons and they are inspired greatly from theories previously made. These theories are most notably from RetroGamingNow, as I feel his concepts are closest to what I personally believe is true in the Minecraft world, as well as some additions or removals of my own personal ideas. This will also include details from Minecraft Legends, so beware of some spoilers ;0). This will grow and change as I learn and develop my concepts, but it serves as canon for my stories for now. Thank you!]

B: Stories like this one, as they often do, begin many many years ago. The Nether has always been a barren wasteland that very few could survive in, I believe there was more to it than there is now, though I have very little evidence. Either way, our people were divided into factions of piglins with different ideals in mind. These were referred to as Hordes. They are as follows. Horde of the Bastion, these piglins thrived on technology and were strong vibrant piglins. Such honor. Then there were Horde of the Spore. They built their empire upon consumption and food, always providing their people with the best, and they shared this wealth of food with the rest of the Hordes. Although some were a tad greedy, most were beyond generous. They also seemed to have an aversion to illnesses, meaning they could contract plenty, but it would never kill them nor be contagious. Lastly is the horde of the Hunt. These incredibly piglins would be hunting constantly, they were a nomadic Horde, hardly ever stopping. They tamed the first hoglins, giving birth to what is known as our Stable Bastions today. While they are no longer around today, all of us piglins are ancestors of them. For me, I am an ancestor of the Horde of the Spore. Dagger, from what I've gathered and assumed, is Horde of the Bastion. (very lucky) Either way, our people lived very comfortably in our home until our dimension was discovered. From what I understand, a race of humanoid people had come to our land, seeking resources and such, as much as my people tried to be civilized and approach them with caution, they were not too keen on keeping things calm and were more than happy to tear through our society.

We were enslaved by these people, they had us mine for Netherite and Quartz for days at a time, keeping us held down constantly. It was hell for my people, it was torture. It hurts me even now to recount it. Eventually though, we began to rise up against our oppressors. As this happened, we managed to construct Bastions in order to keep our people safe while we fought this war. We won, to cut it short, however, despite our victory, we were left a broken and ruined society. Nothing we had mined out was actually kept. Our Netherite was stolen, our people were dead. We had kept our land but we had effectively lost everything else. This is where gold comes in! We believe there was a god of mercy looking down upon us, wanting to keep us from crumbling, maybe this God had risen from the very lava that covered this land to give us the gift, but we had discovered Gold. Gold could be used very much like the Netherite we had so little of, and we built back our society, worshipping this material. It was a gift to us and we want to keep it all to ourselves. It's the reason why any outsider that comes to mine it or take it from us, is killed. It is our last hope, it is the only thing we have left that is considered ours, it's our salvation. This is also why we consider anyone who dons golden armor as our allies, perhaps that God has blessed them as well and we are kin in that sense.

This leads to the war that took place in the Overworld. I am...not proud of the fact this has happened, and I realize that the Overworld still does hold plenty of resentment toward the Nether and piglins. At any rate, the we launched an assault on the Overworld, we destroyed so much in a fit of anger, rage, retribution and grief. In a way, we wanted our materials back, our resources that were stolen. This lead to wanting justice for those who had died at the hands of those who had come before. But, I do realize, it was used to scar the Overworld much in the same way that we were scarred. We had built stronger Bastions, we had even taken up partnership with Wither Skeletons, using their Fortresses as shelter. Even still, we were destroyed by those in the Overworld. We stood no chance, it was not our dimension after all. Our 4 great leaders had fallen and the Hordes were no more. Despite everything, our lives, our resources and hope were lost. We continued on, many began to rebuild. Without the worry of Hordes, we began to form better, stronger, relationships with each other. We relied on each other in the community to help bring us out of such a depression. This is why we are so incredibly loyal to one another.

I hope this explanation helps you, my friends. My Bastion was a Stables actually, sorry I didn't answer much about me personally. It was complicated. But my Bastion was strong and filled with intelligent piglins, especially our leader. She was a wise older piglin, but despite going to the Overworld herself, it was forbidden for anyone else to go!! I learned so much from her. Suppose I should give a small little explanation of our culture currently, as it's simple. We all have one or two wiser, older or stronger piglins that serve as our leaders. They oversee the work we complete, and help us with medicine and any other troubles we face. We are all fiercely loyal to them and our people who live with us! Piglins are raised communally as well, children stay with their mothers until they are around 6-10 years old, at which point they are taken on trips to learn to hunt and survive in the Nether! After they are grown, they choose to stay in the Bastion and help with general chores, become hunters, or become Protectors, though I'm told you people refer to them as Brutes. Shame. However that seems to be it, I don't have much else to add, forgive me for talking for so long. No ones ever been this interested!!!

[xrgl40]

>>Entry 41, "Monsters and Champions --A Collection of World Folklores (First Edition)".

Published by: Jennamite Media Ltd., Omashu, Earth Continent. Year 60 Post Restitution.

>>Category(s):

Property of Kyoshi Island Public Library. Reserve Material. Antique.

>>Last Inspection:

Year 1341 Post Independence/ 1071 After (Air Nomad) Genocide/ 900 After Harmonic Convergence/ 115 Post Restitution.

"Ten generations back, The Regime dropped a fiendish bomb. Avatar Sheng'shi gave his all to stop it, yet died trying. The Cycle was no more.

Shattered were the Three Portals. The spirit and the physical world, two parts of a whole, severed from each other. Spirits remained transformed, violent, twisted monsters they became. Forty years, ashes covered the sky, blocking out the sun. Millions starved, slaughtered by dark spirits. Survived fewer than one in ten.

The Regime, emerged from their bunkers, tamed the dark spirits to their use. Wielding dark spirits they enslaved us, feeding on our drought ration. Eight generations passed, all hope was lost --or so it seemed.//

Four misfits, fugitives of The Regime, ran towards the desert.

From the east, a brawny man in washed out robes, his beard overgrown but his head shaven clean. The airbender Hao'tian, a descendent of Zaheer. Traversing the world, taking the air away from our oppressors was he. Flying weightlessly over the sky, like wind, like his ancestor did.

From the south, a towering woman in rusty armours, her greying hair secured in a topknot. The firebender Jing'lei. A Colonel she might be, couldn't change her troops' gruesome ways. Desertion she went, white flames she bent, one in each hand, cutting her ties with The Regime.

From the west, a wiry man wrapped head to toe, in cream-coloured fabrics, all but his eyes and nostrils. The earthbender Xuan'tie, a prisoner of war, experimented upon. Bending the purest metal, mowing down a hundred men, gliding seamlessly across the sand was he, to freedom.

From the north, a dwarfish woman, ragged cloak over her robes. The waterbender Gu'yue. Nimble beyond her age, she witnessed the Sozin's Comet passing, thrice. Gazing over the horizon, her blue eyes contained knowledge and secrets of many lifetimes.//

Red lotus flower outshined the moon, destiny brought them together.

'Do you see what I see?'    Said Hao'tian the airbender.

'A red lotus, in the sky.'    Said Jing'lei the firebender.

'So I wasn't insane.'    Said Xuan'tie the earthbender.

'This is a sign.'    Said Gu'yue the waterbender.//

The lotus transformed, into a cyclone of pedals. Emerged was an old monk, translucent was his figure.

'You must be a spirit.'    Said Hao'tian.

The spirit spoke.    'My name is Xai Bao, your ancestor was my disciple.'  

'I am an instrument for your will.'    Bowed Hao'tian.

'You spoke in my dream, claiming you hold the key to immortality.'    Said Gu'yue.

'I lost my ways, now I seek to right my wrongs.'    Said Jing'lei.

'I seek Zong'heng the Tyrant's head.'    Said Xuan'tie.

'Pledge your loyalties to each other, restore balance to the world. You will atone to your past, bring down The Regime, become legends, live forever through the words of people.'    Spoke the spirit Xai Bao, vanishing in a cyclone of red lotus pedals.//

Four masters, sworn their lives over each other, a red lotus branded onto their palms.

Hao'tian summoned a cyclone, Xuan'tie added sand and metal, Jing'lei mixed in the lightnings. A storm with the power of a hundred storms, stroke like ferocious spirits, erasing our oppressors from earth. 

Four Bringers of Balance, one unstoppable force. From the forest of Wulong to the shorelines of Gaoling they travelled. From the mountains of the Fire Isles to the icy tundra of the South Pole they travelled. Thirteen years, nine thousand towns and villages they freed.//

Outside of Caldera they stood, first Stronghold of The Regime, fortified by nature, in the belly of a dead volcano.

'About the crystals, are you certain?'    Asked Hao'tian.

'I saw how it was done, with my own eyes.'    Said Gu'yue.

Xuan'tie moved an arm, a tunnel stretched deep into the mountain. Under the half moon, The Four headed into the tunnel.

In the heart of the Stronghold lied a giant machine, tubes ran all over it, purple lights pulsed from the tubes, a hypnotic rhythm. In this chamber The Four emerged, surrounded by four hundred men.

Gu'yue, who bent their blood, wielded men like puppets. Four hundred men, turned against each other. Four hundred bodies, covering the floor like a carpet.

'How? There isn't a full moon.'    Said the last soldier, in his dying breath.

'With centuries of practice.'    Said Gu'yue, cryptic was her tone, impossible to decipher.//

'Tear off its shells, the crystal is inside the engine.'    Said Gu'yue.

'The entirety of the machine is pure platinum.'    Said Hao'tian, who flew in circles.

'Hah, platinum. I bent it once, I will bend it twice.'    Said Xuan'tie.

A chasm spilt the machine in halves, recovered was a green crystal, the size of human fist. A third of enslaved spirits, free from The Regime's spell.

'Beware, of the Creeping Crystal. One touch, it shall set its root upon you, growing until you are buried in whole.'    Said Gu'yue.

'Shall we destroy it?'    Asked Jing'lei.

'Nay. Take it with us, safely contained.'   Said Hao'tian.//

The second Stronghold, west sector of the Air Archipelagos, hanging downward from the cliff. From the sky The Four stroke. Few hand gestures by Xuan'tie, sealed were the windows and vents. Hao'tian, the guider of wind, drew the air out of the chamber. Four hundred men, without gas filling their lungs, collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.

Two machines destroyed, two-thirds of the spirits freed, as did two-thirds of the world. Two creeping crystals in the collection of The Four.//

The last Stronghold they approached, built upon an ancient ruin. 

'It used to be a city, captial of the United Republics, my childhood home. A shame they left it in this state.'    Said Gu'yue.

'Zong'heng is desperate, we might not survive.'    Said Hao'tian.

'Then we will take him with us.'    Said Xuan'tie.

'We will never get through his army.'    Said Jing'lei.

'You aren't alone.'    Said a voice. 

Four hundreds spirits, four hundred warriors across the world. Eight Hundred Liberators, rallied behind The Four.

'Get to the machine, we will hold back the tyrant's army.'    Said a warrior.

'Xuan'tie, Jing'lei, your ancestors created the Third Portal, you carry the knowledge in your blood. Reconnect the Two Worlds, and the restitution shall be complete.'    Said a spirit.//

The Tyrant Zong'heng, with two thousand men, clashed with the Eight Hundred Liberators. Under the half moon they battled, bodies stacked in piles, the river ran in crimson.

Four Restorers of balance, carving a way from the swarm of two thousand men, approached the last machine.

'Halt, you insolent peasants."    Said The Tyrant Zong'heng.

Four Bringers of Balance, surrounded by two hundred men, led by The Tyrant himself.

Gu'yue, bender of blood, pupteered The Tyrant's troops.

The Tyrant Zong'heng, with one simple move of his arm, stripped Gu'yue's control over his men. With his other arm, he bent the blood of Gu'yue, who struggled to control her own limbs.

'You shall all perish for your transgressions.'    Said The Tyrant Zong'heng.

The tyrant bent the blood of his own men, compelling them to charge. Two hundred men, attacked without preservation.

Hao'tian, guider of wind, summoned a downdraft, holding the men at bay.

'Go, destroy the machine!'    Spoke Hao'tian to his comerades.//

Xuan'tie, wielder of metals, glided to the top of the machine, ripped open its platinum shell, exposing its core, where the creeping crystal lied.

'Jing'lei!'    He yelled.

Jing'lei, master of electricity, shot lightning to the core, a bolt matching the size of a sea serpeant.

Inside the tubes that fed the machine, purple light turned to a blinding white.

Stepping out of the chaos was The Tyrant Zong'heng, hands folded behind his back. He brought his hands forward, one held the head of Hao'tian, one held the head of Gu'yue.

'See this? Your fate is set, when you made the first act of insubordination.'    Said The Tyrant.

Resuming their work, Jing'lei and Xuan'tie glared at The Tyrant. A split second, it carried a thousand words.

Xuan'tie, two boxes he opened, two Creeping Crystals he bent, casted into the machine's core. 

Jing'lei, two lightnings from two arms she shot, hitting the two crystals, front and centre.//

Pure energy, from the machine's core, expanded outward. Everything inside it, vaporized without a trace.

Over the sky, a dome it formed, miles it covered. Then it shrank, condenced into a column of golden light. Birth of the New Portal, reconnecting the Spirit and the Physical world.

Eight Hundred Liberators, two hundred lived to spread the tale--

Four martyrs, slayers of The Tyrant Zong'heng, liberators of men and spirits, bringers of Balance."

--Narrated by Elder Yulduz, performed by the Misty Palm Players at the sunset of Autumnal Equinox. Red Lotus Village Carnival, Si Wong Desert, Year 57 Post Restitution. 

NOTE

The name of each character has meaning:

Shen'shi (盛世) -- "era of prosperity"

Hao'tian (昊天) -- "clear sky"

Jing'lei (惊雷) -- “terrifying thunder"

Xuan'tie (玄铁) -- "black iron" (magnetite)

Gu'yue (古月) -- "ancient moon"

Xai Bao (翟豹) -- "翟, an ancient last name, 豹, leopard"

Zong'heng (纵衡) -- "(acting) without restraint"

[lordgodjehovahsway]

Judges 6: God Chooses Gideon To Deliever The Israelites From The Hands Of The Midianites

1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 

2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 

3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 

4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 

5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 

6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 

8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 

10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 

12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 

18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 

21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 

26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 

32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 

34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 

35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 

37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 

38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 

40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

[johnny-wins]

Initial Thoughts on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 7

For context as to the kind of JJBA fan I am, my favorite parts are:

#2

#6

#4

#1

#3

#5

What can I say, I like Joseph and dislike the parts that end with a fight the protagonist wins by sheer fiat.

Anyway! Part 7 seems great so far. I've read up to chapter 9, so if you don't want spoilers make sure you're caught up to there. Oh also there will be incidental mentions of details from previous parts but I'll try to keep it light since it seems part 7 is really disconnected from them.

So first I'm gonna give my serious thoughts and then I'm gonna attempt to transition smoothly into dumbass ramblings.

We start this part by getting introduced to a native american named Sandman who has been rejected by his community because he possesses books produced by white men, including the holy bible. His peers are enraged, calling him a traitor to his ancestors. He eventually explains to someone who cares for him that he has learned a superior running technique from the white men, and is going to use it to beat them at their own game and win enough money to buy the land that his community has called home for time out of mind, and therefore make it theirs within the structures of the ideology of those who would otherwise take it from them.

Shortly after, in the next issue, we're introduced to an African American man named Pocoloco who dreams of the easy life. He believes he's going to be unbelievably lucky in the next two months, and that no matter what he does things are going to go his way. Therefore, he's simply watching the clouds and spurning his work. Another African American man laboring in the fields argues this is foolish and shortsighted, that "People like me and your dead father... were freed from slavery 25 years ago. But life hasn't changed one bit. We will never live the easy live."

Even afterer than that, we're introduced to the protagonist of this part, Johnny Joestar. Due to some tragic events in his past, his career as a star horse jockey was ended when his legs were severely injured and he was left unable to walk, needing to use a wheelchair.

Everyone I've mentioned ends up making the decision to join a horse race across america, from the west coast to the east, with a fabulous cash prize. I mention all these people so I can say that this story is positioning itself to engage with the idea of the mythical american frontier: A place where anyone could strike it rich if they had skill (like Johnny), determination (like Soundman), and luck (like Pocoloco).

But very deliberately, the characters we're given to engage with are the kinds of people who were actually exploited or left out of that optimistic vision; Native Americans, African Americans, and handicapped people.

And that's neat! I don't know where it's going yet but just on its own it's a great bit of novelty to focus a story of this nature on people of this nature. Johnny frames this as a story of how he "Started to walk... Not in the physical sense, but in an adolescence to adulthood sort of way." So there's probably gonna be a lot of different arcs going on, but I hope this one about exploited people winning the psuedomeritocratic games their oppressors use to justify their imagined superiority has a good one.

Speaking of games, what the fuck are the rules of this race? They seem to have neglected "You need to be riding a horse," because someone brings a camel and someone else brings their 1890s-ass car.

I mean we do learn that you can't change horses midway through so "horse" has to appear in the rules somewhere, I can't believe they managed to "no rule sayin' a dog can't play basketball" their way into this one.

Also Pocoloco seems to have the kind of luck that makes weird short people fall in love with you if you're Dio, and godbless him for it. If this turns out to be his stand power or the fortune teller's stand power, cool, but honestly it's already established that some people are just born lucky in JJBA (Dio and Kira come to mind) so I don't even need that much.

Ah, also, I gotta wonder if Araki was watching Alien before he thought up this panel:

I mean, it's only the second time I've seen someone attack someone else by stuffing a wadded up periodical into their face.

Final note for this post: It seems the unifying traits of all Dios across the cosmos is that they much be Brittish, blonde, and weirdly preoccupied with the machinations of fate.

[smokeybrandcompositions]

Good Sheep

I am not a religious person at all. I find all of that sh*t, every single one, to be semantics. Like, you’re arguing over some made up, imaginary friend, used to either extort you into obedience through fear or absolve you of every sin you’ll ever commit because your messiah died for you. Religion is literally the ignorant alternative to understanding. When you don’t understand something, when the observational knowledge isn’t there, you have to fill the gaps with something and that something usually takes the form of gods. It’s like being afraid of the dark when you’re a kid. You’re not afraid of the dark, you’re afraid of what’s in the dark because you don’t know. Once you understand that there is nothing hiding in your closet or under your bed or in the shadows of your room at bedtime, you’re no longer afraid of the dark. You garnered understanding through observation. That’s literally science. That’s the basis for all things. Observation and understanding. Religion, in all forms, hampers that. It ascribes the natural world to something supernatural, something unknowable. It keeps us in the dark, which is why i am skeptical of all religion just on principal. It’s okay not to understand things. Now that i have been clear about my absolute skepticism, i want to get into Christianity, specifically.

I come from a Baptists family. I’m black and my family has strong ties to the Bible Belt so of course i am. As i understand it, my ma’s family came up from Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma while my Pop’s kin came up through Louisiana and Florida. My family unit, themselves, weren’t openly religious but my extended family were, very much so. We had a church. My cousins were Deacons and Pastors and Ushers and whatever else. I started Sunday School when i was four years old. Church for my family, when i was a kid, lasted hours and was held on multiple days. That’s not including the volunteer expectation. Church for a lot of, probably most of, black people is a whole ass part-time job. I t was in this environment of indoctrination that i spent a good portion of my halcyon days. The fear of hell and the love of Jesus was pounded into me every Sunday for half the goddamn day. I’d get up at six in the morning, be at church by seven, and wouldn’t make it home until two, three, four, or sometimes five in the evening. Sh*t was absurd but, as a kid who was maybe two or three years outside of being an actual toddler, that was normal. It took my grandma dying and my prayers for her salvation going unanswered for me to actually scrutinized what i was being taught from the Good Book. Imagine my utter shock when, the more i looked into sh*t about Christianity, the more my faith waned.

I remember learning about the Crusades and the Inquisition for the first time. Whole ass atrocities committed in the name of God. I learned abut Manifest Destiny, the doctrine white settlers used to cull native peoples across the US as they marched west for resources. I was appalled when i learned how Christianity was used to pacify my African ancestors as they were enslaved, relegated to abused beast of burden and violated chattel, their humanity stripped from them under the promise of a heavenly afterlife. Heaven is promised for those who are good slaves, those who obey their masters. Yes, you are going to whipped. Yes, you are going to be raped. Yes, you family will be shattered, your children stolen, and your men buck-broken, but take it all in stride because there is no brutality in heaven. But you can’t get through those Pearly Gates if you rebel and kill your oppressors. You go to hell for that, where the hell you’re living now will continue for eternity. That sh*t chaffed the f*ck out of me. That sh*t made me realize how perverted the Scriptures had become. It made me realize that, something written two millennia ago, can be perverted so disgustingly as to justify wholesale crimes against humanity. That didn’t sound like Jesus to me. That didn’t sound like the warm love God was supposed to so benevolently bestow upon us, his children. That sounded like some sh*t a man who knows he’s doing wrong, chose to dismiss by attributing his own sins to those of the sacrificial lamb. That sh*t sounded like the justification brutal, disingenuous men in power use to manipulate the masses. So imagine my surprise when i learned about the Council of Nicaea.

That thing i just said? About disingenuous men in power? Yeah, that’s the Council of Nicaea. Back in the year 325, a bunch of Christian Bishops got together with the Roman Emperor Constantine , and decided what was to be canon. See, up to this point, Christianity was just a bunch of separate cults and tribes, each with their own Bible and beliefs. This Council, under the purview of Constantine (Who wanted to unite his massive empire under one banner), decided which Gospels would go into THE Christian Bible. Constantine did this to shore up his borders and quell revolts because, just like those plantation owners who would come hundreds of years later, you don’t get into heaven if you’re not a docile sheep. And if you question the Word, you also go to hell. Even thought the Word is now lost to time because a disingenuous men in power, decided what the Word was going to be. Constantine the Great, in an effort to control his people, to herd his chattel, used Christianity as that divine yoke. He is the reason the Bible you worship from, is the way it is. How can that thing possibly be the unfiltered word of God, if it was edited by a man? A man who had designs on retaining power in perpetuity? A man who effectively used his ambition to manipulate those at the head of the infant Christian Church, into allowing him to shape their entire religion in his own image on the promise of power. A Roman Emperor chose what Books made it into your Bible, strictly to consolidate his power, and your Church went along with it because they became the State Church.

So what happened to all those other Books and Bibles? They didn’t just go away, right? No, they exists and often tell a very different story to the one you know. The DaVinci Code, a fictional book written by Dan Brown and, eventually turned into a pretty okay film starring Tom Hanks, was based on a few of these apocryphal texts. There are some by brand new Apostles who went unrecognized by the Church because their Gospels were too off-brand. There are alternatives to know canon Gospels like Secret Mark or Apocryphal Psalms. The Book of Enoch is arguable the most famous, outside of the Dead Seas Scrolls, and paints a very different picture of Eternity. It addresses incongruities like what happens to all those people who died before Christ was crucified or what of Hell at the end of days. Enoch answers that. More infamous books include the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Mary of Magdalena, both turning the understanding of Jesus absolutely on it’s head. In Judas, Jesus makes light of his Apostles as they worship the wrong god, the evil god, and that they will not listen to the true Word. He gave Judas, and Mary, the secret Wisdom; That there were, in fact, two Gods; The Demiurge and Yaldabaoth. Judas never betrayed Jesus. In fact, he was charged with doing what he did to Jesus BY Jesus. His was the greatest sacrifice as he is painted as the closest to the Holy, outside of Mary. And then there’s Mary’s book. Thee one that redirects everything from a masculine perspective to that of a feminine one. Mary wasn’t a whore but a, heiress from the port city of Magdalene and Jesus’ lawful wife, mother of his children, and prime confidant. Like Judas, she was given secret Wisdom not privy to the other followers and that relationship was perverted once he died. There are a lot of stories like that but the one which really stands out to me is the Book of Barnabas.

Barnabas’ Gospel re-frames the entirety of the Christian belief system. It asserts that Jesus was not divine, that he was simply a prophet and not the Son of God. It basically blows the core tenet of the New Testament out of the goddamn water and goes on to say that he, Jesus, prophesied the coming of Mohammad and that their beliefs were far more similar than they were different. They both preached a very similar message, one of love and understanding. Barnabas went on to say that Jesus was never crucified, that it was Judas on that cross. No, Jesus dies as a man, surrounded by his wife and family. That’s right, Jesus f*cked! And had kids. According to Barnabas, the lost Apostle. I wonder why this Gospel was left out of Constantine’s Propaganda Bible? If the linchpin of your eternal tool of bondage is the fact that your Messiah is the Son of God, Divine in every aspect, born of immaculate conception and killed to absolve all your sins, was just a dude who saw sh*t and f*cked his wife, you’d want to bury that sh*t, too. Guess what? it didn’t stay buried. In fact, the world’s oldest Christian bible, dating back to between fifteen hundred and two thousands years, long before the Council of Nicaea, INCLUDES the Gospel of Barnabas! Once upon a time, before Constantine manipulated the entire Christian religion into becoming the most insidious tool of oppression, ever, Barnabas was considered canon. Not today, mind you. They literal have this Bible on display in a Turkish museum right now and the official word from the Catholic Church, the denomination who partnered with Constantine for that power grab way back when, basically said it doesn’t count and moved on. They do that a lot. Because they have an entire city-state unto themselves. Because that gilded deal with Constantine has paid dividends long after he, and his empire, has fallen.

Let me say that again with my whole ass chest: The oldest Bible known to man, dated back to potentially the actual death of Christ, basically sh*ts on the entire Christian ideology by fundamentally undoing the core belief that Jesus was divine, that he lived as a man and dies as one, too, exists and the Vatican is just like, "Nah. Fake news." This sh*t is wild and the reason why i don't subscribe to all this religious skulduggery

[smokeybrand]

Good Sheep

I am not a religious person at all. I find all of that sh*t, every single one, to be semantics. Like, you’re arguing over some made up, imaginary friend, used to either extort you into obedience through fear or absolve you of every sin you’ll ever commit because your messiah died for you. Religion is literally the ignorant alternative to understanding. When you don’t understand something, when the observational knowledge isn’t there, you have to fill the gaps with something and that something usually takes the form of gods. It’s like being afraid of the dark when you’re a kid. You’re not afraid of the dark, you’re afraid of what’s in the dark because you don’t know. Once you understand that there is nothing hiding in your closet or under your bed or in the shadows of your room at bedtime, you’re no longer afraid of the dark. You garnered understanding through observation. That’s literally science. That’s the basis for all things. Observation and understanding. Religion, in all forms, hampers that. It ascribes the natural world to something supernatural, something unknowable. It keeps us in the dark, which is why i am skeptical of all religion just on principal. It’s okay not to understand things. Now that i have been clear about my absolute skepticism, i want to get into Christianity, specifically.

I come from a Baptists family. I’m black and my family has strong ties to the Bible Belt so of course i am. As i understand it, my ma’s family came up from Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma while my Pop’s kin came up through Louisiana and Florida. My family unit, themselves, weren’t openly religious but my extended family were, very much so. We had a church. My cousins were Deacons and Pastors and Ushers and whatever else. I started Sunday School when i was four years old. Church for my family, when i was a kid, lasted hours and was held on multiple days. That’s not including the volunteer expectation. Church for a lot of, probably most of, black people is a whole ass part-time job. I t was in this environment of indoctrination that i spent a good portion of my halcyon days. The fear of hell and the love of Jesus was pounded into me every Sunday for half the goddamn day. I’d get up at six in the morning, be at church by seven, and wouldn’t make it home until two, three, four, or sometimes five in the evening. Sh*t was absurd but, as a kid who was maybe two or three years outside of being an actual toddler, that was normal. It took my grandma dying and my prayers for her salvation going unanswered for me to actually scrutinized what i was being taught from the Good Book. Imagine my utter shock when, the more i looked into sh*t about Christianity, the more my faith waned.

I remember learning about the Crusades and the Inquisition for the first time. Whole ass atrocities committed in the name of God. I learned abut Manifest Destiny, the doctrine white settlers used to cull native peoples across the US as they marched west for resources. I was appalled when i learned how Christianity was used to pacify my African ancestors as they were enslaved, relegated to abused beast of burden and violated chattel, their humanity stripped from them under the promise of a heavenly afterlife. Heaven is promised for those who are good slaves, those who obey their masters. Yes, you are going to whipped. Yes, you are going to be raped. Yes, you family will be shattered, your children stolen, and your men buck-broken, but take it all in stride because there is no brutality in heaven. But you can’t get through those Pearly Gates if you rebel and kill your oppressors. You go to hell for that, where the hell you’re living now will continue for eternity. That sh*t chaffed the f*ck out of me. That sh*t made me realize how perverted the Scriptures had become. It made me realize that, something written two millennia ago, can be perverted so disgustingly as to justify wholesale crimes against humanity. That didn’t sound like Jesus to me. That didn’t sound like the warm love God was supposed to so benevolently bestow upon us, his children. That sounded like some sh*t a man who knows he’s doing wrong, chose to dismiss by attributing his own sins to those of the sacrificial lamb. That sh*t sounded like the justification brutal, disingenuous men in power use to manipulate the masses. So imagine my surprise when i learned about the Council of Nicaea.

That thing i just said? About disingenuous men in power? Yeah, that’s the Council of Nicaea. Back in the year 325, a bunch of Christian Bishops got together with the Roman Emperor Constantine , and decided what was to be canon. See, up to this point, Christianity was just a bunch of separate cults and tribes, each with their own Bible and beliefs. This Council, under the purview of Constantine (Who wanted to unite his massive empire under one banner), decided which Gospels would go into THE Christian Bible. Constantine did this to shore up his borders and quell revolts because, just like those plantation owners who would come hundreds of years later, you don’t get into heaven if you’re not a docile sheep. And if you question the Word, you also go to hell. Even thought the Word is now lost to time because a disingenuous men in power, decided what the Word was going to be. Constantine the Great, in an effort to control his people, to herd his chattel, used Christianity as that divine yoke. He is the reason the Bible you worship from, is the way it is. How can that thing possibly be the unfiltered word of God, if it was edited by a man? A man who had designs on retaining power in perpetuity? A man who effectively used his ambition to manipulate those at the head of the infant Christian Church, into allowing him to shape their entire religion in his own image on the promise of power. A Roman Emperor chose what Books made it into your Bible, strictly to consolidate his power, and your Church went along with it because they became the State Church.

So what happened to all those other Books and Bibles? They didn’t just go away, right? No, they exists and often tell a very different story to the one you know. The DaVinci Code, a fictional book written by Dan Brown and, eventually turned into a pretty okay film starring Tom Hanks, was based on a few of these apocryphal texts. There are some by brand new Apostles who went unrecognized by the Church because their Gospels were too off-brand. There are alternatives to know canon Gospels like Secret Mark or Apocryphal Psalms. The Book of Enoch is arguable the most famous, outside of the Dead Seas Scrolls, and paints a very different picture of Eternity. It addresses incongruities like what happens to all those people who died before Christ was crucified or what of Hell at the end of days. Enoch answers that. More infamous books include the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Mary of Magdalena, both turning the understanding of Jesus absolutely on it’s head. In Judas, Jesus makes light of his Apostles as they worship the wrong god, the evil god, and that they will not listen to the true Word. He gave Judas, and Mary, the secret Wisdom; That there were, in fact, two Gods; The Demiurge and Yaldabaoth. Judas never betrayed Jesus. In fact, he was charged with doing what he did to Jesus BY Jesus. His was the greatest sacrifice as he is painted as the closest to the Holy, outside of Mary. And then there’s Mary’s book. Thee one that redirects everything from a masculine perspective to that of a feminine one. Mary wasn’t a whore but a, heiress from the port city of Magdalene and Jesus’ lawful wife, mother of his children, and prime confidant. Like Judas, she was given secret Wisdom not privy to the other followers and that relationship was perverted once he died. There are a lot of stories like that but the one which really stands out to me is the Book of Barnabas.

Barnabas’ Gospel re-frames the entirety of the Christian belief system. It asserts that Jesus was not divine, that he was simply a prophet and not the Son of God. It basically blows the core tenet of the New Testament out of the goddamn water and goes on to say that he, Jesus, prophesied the coming of Mohammad and that their beliefs were far more similar than they were different. They both preached a very similar message, one of love and understanding. Barnabas went on to say that Jesus was never crucified, that it was Judas on that cross. No, Jesus dies as a man, surrounded by his wife and family. That’s right, Jesus f*cked! And had kids. According to Barnabas, the lost Apostle. I wonder why this Gospel was left out of Constantine’s Propaganda Bible? If the linchpin of your eternal tool of bondage is the fact that your Messiah is the Son of God, Divine in every aspect, born of immaculate conception and killed to absolve all your sins, was just a dude who saw sh*t and f*cked his wife, you’d want to bury that sh*t, too. Guess what? it didn’t stay buried. In fact, the world’s oldest Christian bible, dating back to between fifteen hundred and two thousands years, long before the Council of Nicaea, INCLUDES the Gospel of Barnabas! Once upon a time, before Constantine manipulated the entire Christian religion into becoming the most insidious tool of oppression, ever, Barnabas was considered canon. Not today, mind you. They literal have this Bible on display in a Turkish museum right now and the official word from the Catholic Church, the denomination who partnered with Constantine for that power grab way back when, basically said it doesn’t count and moved on. They do that a lot. Because they have an entire city-state unto themselves. Because that gilded deal with Constantine has paid dividends long after he, and his empire, has fallen.

Let me say that again with my whole ass chest: The oldest Bible known to man, dated back to potentially the actual death of Christ, basically sh*ts on the entire Christian ideology by fundamentally undoing the core belief that Jesus was divine, that he lived as a man and dies as one, too, exists and the Vatican is just like, "Nah. Fake news." This sh*t is wild and the reason why i don't subscribe to all this religious skulduggery

[andybondurant]

New Post has been published on Andy Bondurant

New Post has been published on https://andybondurant.com/2023/03/03/walk-through-scripture-1-samuel-1/

Walk Through Scripture | 1 Samuel 1

Welcome to a new edition of Walk Through Scripture. Today, I begin walking through the book of 1 Samuel. I encourage you to follow along with me every Wednesday and Friday. Read 1 Samuel for yourself, take notes, and compare what you shear from God with what I see and hear. God’s Word is alive and active. We don’t need to see the same things!

If you are new to reading the Bible, I encourage you to read my post, How to Understand the Bible. It gives you 5 tools to read the Bible, so you understand it. So take a few moments to read that post, and then take a little more times to read 1 Samuel 1.

You can also go back and read through the story of Joseph and his family and all of Luke with me.

Now, let’s jump into it!

From a drop to the drip, drip, drip in God’s ear.

One of my favorite places to visit on a vacation is a large city — the top being New York City. I love the feeling of being a part of a mass of humanity yet being alone at the same time (spoken by a true introvert). Yet, there is actually a downside to being one of millions of people in a small area. While I love visiting big cities, I don’t appreciate begin swallowed up by that sea of humanity day after day. I don’t want to feel like I’m a drop in the bucket.

Image by Mauro Mora on UnSplash

A quick history lesson…

1 Samuel opens as Israel is in a cycle of oppression and pain. You might remember the story of God using Moses to lead Israel out of 300 years of Egyptian slavery. It wasn’t a perfect transition from slave to freedom though. The slave mentality was tough to shake — less than, not enough, victim. Israel wandered the wilderness for 40 years before they were able to enter the Promised Land. Finally, they entered this land promised to their ancestor Abraham, but they stopped short of driving their enemies out of the land. This mistake haunted them for the rest of their existence as a nation. You can read this story in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Joshua.

The book of Judges documents the centuries and decades before 1 Samuel. You can read how Israel would cycle through following and obeying God, and then they would fall away from Him. When the people were obedient, things would go well. But when Israel was disobedient, the wheels would fall off, and God would use a surrounding people group to oppress them until His people came back to Him.

1 Samuel 1: Players: BIG and small.

Every time a down cycle would occur, and the people would humble themselves, God would use a person to help liberate Israel from the oppressor. As the book of Samuel open, we meet both important people and bit players.

Eli is the high priest, and his sons Phineas and Hophni oversee the tabernacle (the precursor to the temple built by Solomon). They are the spiritual head of Israel, and by default, the leaders of the country. They are important. Elkanah was a member of the tribe of Ephraim. He was not an important person, but based on the sacrifice he makes, he was not poor. He was not important but not a “nothing.” Elkanah had two wives — Peninnah, who had several children, and Hannah, who had no children.

As the characters are introduced, you begin to see the pecking order – important down to just another drop in the bucket. Hannah was married but neither rich nor poor. She has no children, and her husband has another wife with children. A childless, married woman was nearing the bottom of the food chain in that society.

Hannah is the drop in the bucket.

Humble over Proud

But Israel needs a hero, and God isn’t worried about status or position. As the book of 1 Samuel will constantly remind us, God prefers the humble and willing over the powerful and arrogant. God chooses the humble, willing and desperate Hannah in this chapter. God’s choice sets up the entire book, and it changes the history of the Israel.

No matter who you are, what position you hold or how much you possess, there are times you feel like a drop in the bucket. It’s how our culture works, but it’s not how God operates. If you are humble and willing (and if you become a little bit desperate) it’s amazing what God will do through you.

From 1 Samuel 1 to Jesus

Hannah was a drop in the bucket, but she chose to be the constant drip, drip, drip that God couldn’t ignore. Jesus could have used Hannah as an example as taught about prayer in Luke 18. He shared the story of a widow who day after day petitions a judge for justice. Jesus said the judge could care less about this woman or even God, but because of this woman’s persistence, he judge relents. He says,

“…this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!”

Luke 18:5

Feel like a drop in the bucket? With humility, become a drip, drip, drip in God’s ear. He promises to hear you and act!

[namsistoum]

Being a woman is not just a feeling inside. Women were conditioned this way and oppressed by society (men) for centuries, you think women woke up one day and decided to wear make up, dresses and be “feminine”? Women have intergenerational trauma and conditioning just like any oppressed group. Little girls around the world grow up being told that their opinions don’t matter, that their whole purpose in life is to get married and have kids, that they should be feminine, passive, silent, that they can’t have this job or that job because it’s a man’s career path, that they should cover their hair (in some parts of the world), that they are not allowed to vote (historically). Women have been conditioned to be “part of the menu” for men alongside money, job, success. Women fought for the rights they have (in the west) now and are still suffering many forms of misogyny such as harrassement, glass ceiling at work where only men (part of the gentleman club) get promoted, etc . Now people are telling them that their identity, their trauma, their history, their suffering, their struggle, is just a feeling that can be appropriated by anyone that pretends so. The oppressor cannot play as the oppressed, men are often always born with privilege (relatively to other females in their social class), a man who benefited from his privilege cannot come after years and say “I’m a woman now because it’s how I feel inside” and then try to take whatever little privileges (not really privileges) (spaces, scholarships, shelters) they fought for for centuries and expect to have access too. Just like a white man cannot pretend to be black and expect to get access to benefits or reparations (scholarships, centers, etc) reserved for black people.

So no, being a woman is not “a feeling” and it’s not something that can be worn. You may think so in whatever little bubble you live in, but it’s not. Go tell a woman who was married off at 15 to some 40 year old, beaten because she didn’t comply, couldn’t go out without her husband because she’d get arrested, couldn’t vote, couldn’t drive, that the source of all her oppression and her female ancestors oppression is just “a feeling”. Maybe if she just identified as a man she’d have avoided that right? Maybe if women identified as men in the 1800s they could’ve gain the right to vote sooner right? I mean it’s just a feeling right? If she felt like she deserved more freedom, respect, and rights she should’ve just identified otherwise, the solution was sooo simple yet none of these females thought about it for 1000s of years, I wonder why, being a woman is just a feeling after all right?

[tuyetanliu]

violence has always been the language of revolution.

you have simply been taught otherwise by the oppressor.

never before has an oppressor stepped back until forced to. never before have marginalized people received their freedom by asking nicely. it has always been through warfare, assassinations, radical violence, and destructive riots.

the only language the oppressor speaks is power and fear. the only way you’ll ever make them back down and understand your demands is through instilling fear into them as they have done to you. there will never be the empathy and compassion you seek in their soul; everything they have reserved is for themselves and those that benefit them. they will always be the self-serving monsters they have been their entire lives. they relish in abusing those they deem lesser than them. they will use any ideology, propaganda, and pseudoscience as justification while encouraging their uneducated supporters to act as a mouthpiece in their daily lives.

the only way to ever escape them is through death or destroying their power from the very foundation it was built upon.

as a child from generations of oppressed people, as a child born from years of ancestors fleeing from persecution, my parents have taught me this well; you will never be free until you treat your oppressors as they treat you. you will never have your freedom until you take it back yourself and do so with violence.

we have forgotten centuries of history.

slaves killed slave owners to escape. suffragettes committed arson. black trans women threw fucking bricks. years upon years of history have taught us the only way to revolutionize is violence. we have been told for years by the most marginalized communities that the only way to ever escape this is through answering the radical violence committed against us with the same force.

do not speak to the oppressed of peace and pacifism when every moment of their lives are infiltrated by the violence of their oppressors.

people speak of violence as if it is always a bad thing but you’ve been ingrained with ideologies cultivated by the oppressors through law, religion, or society. the very same ones who will never hesitate when it comes to using force against anyone else. they will gun you down. they will cut you up. they will gas you in the streets. they will choke you out. they will beat you black and blue.

they will use violence against you for existing.

we have been spoon-fed these thoughts and beliefs from the beginning because it is the only way to ensure the people will not take power back for themselves. it’s to protect people in power from facing the same treatment they have enforced as the standard for all oppressed people. you have listened to your oppressors enough. you have given them too much power and never instilled enough fear.

this violence you weaponize against them is not mindless. it is fundamentally different because this is protection for yourself and others. this is a defensive measure. this is a reaction to an action already done. there are consequences for your fucking actions and it’s about time that they’re reminded of it.

[decolonize-the-left]

Not to be PoC on main but I'm thinking about that anon I got the other day where that person was like "are you implying yt people can't callout WoC even if the WoC is homophobic or transphobic and our oppressor?"

And I didn't really answer. But I'm thinking rn cuz I'm talking about how Absolutely annoying it is when yt ppl make the suffering of their oppression their entire personality and refuse to see how it could be Even Worse for PoC and...

Yeah.

That's wasn't my intention. But yeah, I don't think yt ppl should be calling out PoC.

You need to remember that your whiteness will ALWAYS supercede any kind of oppression you experience. So no, you as white people, should not be policing PoC for any damn thing. Yeah, sure maybe some PoC is being -phobic. But you know who they don't need to hear that from? Their oppressor. The same oppressor who is the Reason that homophobia and transphobia exist on such a huge scale on Native American soil anyway. Y'all know the first thing colonizers did was burn all evidence of our 2spirit people? Followed by forcing natives into residential and boarding schools to have the Indian in us killed? Shoving all that homophobia, abuse, and racism down our throats between beatings and SAs.

We are STILL recovering. And it's NEVER EVER gonna be okay for a white person to tell us to hurry up that kind of healing just because in 2021 you think the negative generational affects of our OWN trauma and oppression at the hands of white people somehow makes you our victim, that it somehow has made us your oppressor.

Take as long as you need to sit with that one.

So sure you may be LGBT but you are also white. And you Never stop having white privilege. That privilege exists even within LGBT spaces. You don't get to say "this PoC is my oppressor." You just dont. Even if they are cishet. Because at the end of the day it's Your voice that will be smothering that PoC's rights regardless of whatever other kind of oppression you experience; neurodivergence, a disability, being LGBT, etc.

You will always be white before you are anything else. Just like we are PoC before anything else. There is not a single universe that exists where a Black or Brown cishet person is being treated Better than an LGBT white person (even more so with a closeted LGBT white person, the closet too is a privilege. We can't hide our skin). Sorry not sorry.

Yes, I personally I think yt folk should stay out of PoC business. Our problems when they arise need to be handled 'in house' so to speak. I don't need some performative white person with a savior complex to come along and try checking me because they saw a single opportunity to do so and had the privilege of ignoring 500+ years of context to follow through.

Especially when it's white folk who are to blame for all the homophobic and transphobic laws anyway. Native people couldn't even vote til fucking 1924.

That wasn't us oppressing you and you're delusional if you think any cishet native is doing it now in 2021.

So you can go ahead and direct your anger to your own fuckin ancestors, white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, and the patriarchy like the rest of us.

And I know some yt victim is gonna read this and think "decol identifies so much with victimhood that they're using it to justify being homophobic and transphobic" and No. That's not what I'm saying.

My point is simply that when PoC need to be educated and corrected it needs to be done by a fellow PoC. Not some white victim screeching "FUCKONG RACIST" in our asks.

[thehollowprince]

Slightly random TFATWS question here, but I'd be interested in your take on it. If the point of the supersoldier serum is that it essentially amplifies your existing qualities and makes you More of what you already were - as Erskine says, good becomes better, bad becomes worse - then how would you say it's affected Bucky? His actions as the WS were the result of Hydra's brainwashing, not the serum, and he doesn't seem to be affected by it in the way Walker or even the Flagsmashers are.

It's difficult to say for a variety of contributing factors.

Factor #1: Steve Rogers (and Johann Schmidt)

It's important to remember that both Steve and Red Skull were the only two that got Erskine's serum directly. And, if Schidmt got the same style of treatment as Steve did, then they were both the only two that we saw who got multiple doses of the serum, as seen below...

Steve was also the only one we saw who got the combination serum + Howard Stark's Hottie Machine, so we don't know what effect that tech might have had on administering the serum.

Every other person that we saw (or didnt see) had a single dosage of a modified serum - an attempt at recreating Erskine's original success. Such as, the Flag Smashers...

... or John Walker...

... or even the five other Winter Soldiers.

The only exception to this that I can remember was Emil Blonsky from the Incredible Hulk (I know we all try to forget that movie), because he had multiple doses over multiple treatments of whatever version of the serum Ross had cooked up trying to recreat Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner.

And much like Steve (and presumably Johann) it required extra steps to administer than just a shot or an IV drip, relying on Gamma Radiation to help "complete" the process.

The bottom line here is that, there have been no two versions of the serum that were the same that were administered in the same way. Steve Rogers was a unique occurrence in more than one way.

I also have a theory that the original serum was derived from the heart-shaped herb from Wakanda, given the similarities between the two when it comes to the enhanced physicality.

Maybe Erskine and Schmidt got their hands on an herb and refined it until it was just the physical (blue), excluding the more mystical attributes (red), such as the aspect that allowed Wakandan kings to communicate with their ancestors. (I have a theory about the heart-shaped herb, too, but I'll save that for another time)

It's also very important to remember that the only super soldier to experience any kind of major side effects was Schmidt.

No other super soldier looked like this

Factor #2: Hydra

Aside from the fact that Bucky didn't receive the same super soldier serum as the others, but whatever concoction that Zola managed to cook up in his attempt to recreate the serum (interesting to note that Schmidt seemed to take a more hands off approach to this, choosing instead to focus on the Tesseract and it's capabilities). As such, Bucky, as we saw him in The First Avenger, didn't exhibit any of the enhanced physical capabilities (or even an enhanced physicality) that Steve did after his experiment. In fact, the only evidence we have to confirm that Bucky had received some version of the serum was the fact that he survived the fall from the train, which we didn't get confirmed until The Winter Soldier.

The combination of Hydra having Bucky for over seventy years and him not presenting any attributes of the super soldier serum until after all says to me that he went through more experiments once he was back in their care, possibly some of the precursors to what they did during the Red Room and Black Widow programs.

Factor #3: Psychological

Now this last one is just my hypothesis, which is what you asked for, but I wanted to get the other variables out of the way first.

My personal opinion here is that, despite what Erskine said, I don't believe there is a psychological aspect to the serum. It is purely physical. The psychological component to these experiments - how the recipients handled their newfound power - was down to the individual. Steve Rogers didn't go through any radical ideology or personality shift. He was the same scrappy kid from Brooklyn who stood up to bullies and refused to back down from a fight, except now he had the muscle to back it up.

Same with John Walker, as controversial as that may sound. We had three whole episodes with Walker before he took the serum, and in that time, we already saw he was quick to anger and had aggressive tendencies. All the serum did was give him the power to back it up.

Earlier, he and Lemar were talking about what they could have done with the serum, saving their fellow soldiers, and we saw in the immediate follow up that Walker was trying to rationalize what happened, telling Sam and Bucky that he had to do it, that he killed a terrorist. That kind of mindset isn't something that can come about over night. That was something conditioned into him by the military, something he later shouted at them during his disciplinary hearing, telling them he was what they made him to be.

The Flag Smashers were fighting for what they believed in, for those the world forgot after the Snap (I refuse to call it The Blip, I'm sorry), and suddebly they had the muscle to stand up against those who would push them down.

Karli in particular was a scared kid backed into a corner, lashing out. Was a lot of what she did was wrong? Absolutely, but she wanted to send a message and used the only means that the governments hellbent on suppressing them seemed to understand. And, as we saw after that first bombing, this extremism wasn't shared by all the Flag Smashers.

It's like all those shows or movies or books where a mousy wallflower is given superpowers or turned into a vampire or werewolf and suddenly they have the power to push back against their oppressors. A great example of this would be the three werewolves introduced in season two of Teen Wolf, those being Isaac, Erica and Boyd, who all went from being shy loners to being cocky and arrogant because they had the power to stand up for themselves physically now.

You give someone power and you'll see who they really are.

To circle back around to the point I've been trying to make (sorry for the scenic route), it's that Bucky never showed any sign of extremism, whether for good or evil. And that had to do with a combination of who he was as a person - he was more or a follower, latching on to Steve and Sam as his guiding star - and Hydra's machinations and manipulations during his time as the Winter Soldier. By the time he was finally free of them, he just wanted to be by himself and deal (or not deal) with his various traumas.

The Bucky that we met at the beginning of The First Avenger was very quickly buried under war and tragedy. Who he was, because of what he went through, changed. And I think that was the point Erskine was trying to make, though he definitely could have worded it better. The serum makes you more of who you really are, shows your true colors, not because of any chemical response, but because of how power has been prioritized in society. The notion that you don't have to fear physical repercussions anymore, because who's strong enough to stop you?