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pokemaniacal · 6 years

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Something that��s been on my mind for a bit that your professional word may be able to help with. Would you happen to know how ethnically diverse the Greek and Roman empires were?

very

next question please

…

…what, you want more? Oh, fine, but for the record this is not the sort of thing people just “happen to know.”

Okay so I’m assuming by “Greek empire” (remember, kids: there was never a politically autonomous and unified state called “Greece” or “Hellas” until 1822) you mean Alexander’s empire (320s BC) and the Hellenistic successor kingdoms (323 BC – 31 BC), and by “Roman empire” you mean Rome starting from the time it becomes a major interregional power (say, following the second Punic War, which ended in 201 BC) rather than just Rome in the time of the Emperors. You could spend like most of a book on each of these just corralling the data that might let us answer this question, but whatevs.

Lesson one: the ancient Greeks and Romans did not think about ethnicity in the same way as we do. In particular, they were not super hung up on the colour of people’s skin – skin colour in ancient art is more often a signifier of gender than race, because women are expected to spend less time outside and therefore have lighter skin (which is another whole thing that we shouldn’t even get into because this is an aristocratic ideal of female beauty and of course lots of Greek and Roman women would have worked outside). Arguably the most important signifier of ethnicity to the Greeks and Romans was actually language, with everyone who didn’t speak Greek or Latin being a “barbarian” (traditionally this word is supposed to come from the Greeks thinking that all foreign languages sounded like “bar bar bar,” although I’ve also heard a convincing argument that it comes from the Old Persian word for taxpayer, barabara, and originally signified all subjects of the Persian king).

In the modern world we have designations of ethnicity that are super broad and grow in large part out of early and long-since-debunked anthropological theory that divided humanity into three biologically distinct races, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid, and don’t really reflect a lot of important components of ethnicity. The thing is, as the internet will happily tell you ad nauseam, race is a social construct. Like, yes, designations of race describe real physical characteristics that arise from variation within human genetics, but the way we choose to bundle those characteristics is arbitrary, and where we choose to draw the lines is arbitrary (like, for a long time in the US, Greeks and Italians weren’t considered “white,” but today they definitely are, even though nothing changed about their genetics). If we today were brought face to face with a bunch of ancient Greeks and Romans, we would probably be pretty comfortable with assigning a majority of them to the big pan-European tent of modern “whiteness,” but if you had asked them about it, they certainly would not have felt any kinship with the pale-skinned people of northern and western Europe from whom most English-speaking white people today are descended. Those people were every bit as barbarian (and every bit as fair game for enslavement, for that matter) as the darker-skinned folk of the Middle East and North Africa. Ancient Greeks and Italians also had loads of internal ethnic divisions – like, the Latins (the central Italian ethnic group to which the Romans belonged) were a different thing from the Umbrians to their east, the Etruscans to the north and the Oscans to the south. In Greece, you had Dorians in the Peloponnese, Ionians in Attica and Asia Minor, Boeotians and Thessalians in central Greece, Epirotes in western Greece, and DON’T EVEN ASK about the Macedonians, because boyyyyyyyyy HOWDY you are NOT ready for that $#!tstorm. The point is, race and ethnicity can be basically anything that you think makes you different from the people in another community.

So yeah, Alexander’s empire. Alexander the Great conquered Persia, which was already the largest empire the world had ever seen at the time and incorporated dozens of ethnically distinct peoples (including many Greeks of Asia Minor, some of whom willingly fought against Alexander) through a philosophy of loose regional governance and broad religious tolerance. Now, here’s the thing: Alexander had no idea how to run an empire of that scale. No Greek did. No one alive in the world did – except for the Persians. Alexander didn’t have anything to replace the Persian systems of governance or bureaucracy, so… he didn’t. Individual Persian governors were usually given the opportunity to swear loyalty to him and keep their posts; vacant posts were filled with Macedonians, but the hierarchy was basically untouched. Alexander himself married a princess from Bactria (approximately what is now Afghanistan), Roxana, and had a kid with her, and encouraged other Macedonian nobles to take Persian wives as well, to help unify the empire. Unfortunately Alexander, of course, had to go and bloody die less than two years after he’d finished conquering everything, and tradition holds that on his deathbed he told his friends that the empire should go “to the strongest,” which was an incredibly dumb thing to say and caused literally decades of war, which we are not even going to talk about because it is the most Game of Thrones bull$#!t in the history of history. All you need to know is that when the dust settled there were basically three major Greco-Macedonian dynastic powers: the Antigonids in Greece, the Ptolemies in Egypt, and the Seleucids in Persia.

In terms of ethnic makeup the Antigonid kingdom is in principle the most straightforward because they’re basically still running the same Greece that Alexander’s father had conquered. Even then, you should bear in mind that a) most Greek cities had legal provisions for allowing foreigners to live there under certain conditions (“foreigners” often meant Greeks from other cities, but in principle could be anyone), and b) the Greeks had a lot of slaves (many of whom were, again, Greeks from other cities, because that’s fine in ancient Greek morality, but a lot of them would have come from all over the place), and even though the Greeks didn’t count slaves as “people” or consider them a real part of a city’s ethnic composition, WE SHOULD. The Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt seems to have had a relatively small Greco-Macedonian upper class ruling over a native Egyptian, Libyan and Nubian peasant majority. Members of that ruling class seem to have been kind of snobbish about any mixing between the two – only the very last Ptolemaic ruler, Cleopatra VII (yes, that Cleopatra), even bothered to learn the Egyptian language. However, the Ptolemaic rulers did make some important cultural gestures of goodwill towards the Egyptians. They took the native title of Pharaoh, which previous foreign rulers of Egypt hadn’t, and adopted a lot of traditional Pharaonic iconography like the double crown. They also worshipped some of the most important Egyptian gods, most notably Isis, and may have kind of… deliberately created a new Greco-Egyptian god, Serapis, by blending together Osiris and Dionysus (Serapis actually becomes super important in the Roman period and is widely worshipped even outside Egypt). And then there’s the Seleucids, an empire that did nothing but slowly collapse from the moment it was established. They have a rough time of it because they have the largest land area to cover and dozens of distinct ethnic groups to bring together, and it doesn’t help that they kinda keep doing the Game of Thrones thing for about two hundred fµ¢&ing years. They often get a bad rap in history and have a reputation for oppressing the non-Greek populations of their empire, but that’s probably at least partly because some of our most important sources for the Seleucids are Jewish, and the Seleucid kings’ relationship with the Jews broke down in a fairly spectacular fashion during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175-164 BC). It’s not clear whether that’s representative of the Seleucids’ normal relationship with their subject peoples, or a worst case scenario. Also, the Seleucids tend to get painted as villains in the historical record by both the other Greek powers and the Romans, and never really get much of a chance to defend themselves because we don’t have Seleucid histories. What is clear is that they inherited all the ethnic and religious diversity of the Persian Empire, and most of their rulers were half-Persian because they followed Alexander’s example by marrying into the Persian nobility. After an initial period of conflict they also seem to have maintained cordial relations with the Mauryan Empire of India, their neighbour to the east, for several decades, and contemporary Indian sources talk about sending Buddhist missionaries into Seleucid lands, so… like, there might have been a bunch of Greek Buddhists running around the empire; that’s a thing.

Whew. Okay, so that is a criminally brief answer to-

OH CHRIST YOU ASKED ABOUT THE ROMANS AS WELL

WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME

Right. Romans. One of the major schools of thought on how the Romans were able to create such an enormous and long-lasting empire in the first place is that their openness to accepting foreigners into their community gave them an enormous manpower advantage over every other ancient Mediterranean state. Greek politics generally operates on the level of cities; even in the age of Alexander, individual cities have quite a lot of legislative autonomy. Citizenship is also something that works on the level of cities: you aren’t a citizen of, say, the Seleucid Empire; you’re a citizen of Antioch, or Tyre, or Babylon, or whatever. But then the Romans happen. The Romans are weird, because they will sometimes just declare that all the people of an allied city are now also citizens of Rome. In the early period of Rome’s expansion in the central Mediterranean, this meant (or so the theory goes) that they could draw upon larger citizen armies and sustain more casualties than their rivals. This is how they beat Pyrrhus, the Greek king of Epirus (r. 297-272 BC), when he invaded Italy in response to disputes between Rome and the Greek colony of Tarentum; this is how they beat Hannibal, the legendary Carthaginian general, even after he annihilated the largest army the Romans had ever fielded at Cannae during the second Punic War (218-201 BC). Now, at this point they are basically still just bringing in Italians, which we might consider ethnically homogenous even if they didn’t, but there’s more.

Once they really start to get going, the Romans enfranchise entire provinces at a time, like when the emperor Claudius (r. AD 41-54) decided to make everyone in Gaul (modern France, more or less) a Roman citizen. The really interesting thing about this particular decision is that we actually have a copy of the speech he made to the Senate in Rome at the time, so we can examine his rationale. Claudius’ argument is basically that being inclusive has always been what has made Rome stronger than its rivals, going right back to their mythological past, when Romulus populated his city with disenfranchised criminals from other communities (and, uh… women that they kidnapped from the next town over). The Romans believed that everything great about their civilisation had originally been learned or borrowed from someone else – metalworking and irrigation from the Etruscans, infantry combat from the Greeks, shipbuilding from the Carthaginians, etc – so it wasn’t a huge stretch for them to believe that all these people should eventually become part of Rome as citizens (well… the ones who weren’t killed or enslaved in the conquest, anyway – no one ever said the Romans were saints).

The reason Claudius feels he needs to justify all this to the Senate is that citizenship (rather than any of the forms of semi-citizen rights that Romans would sometimes grant to their allies) will make rich Gauls eligible to become Senators themselves, and occupy other high-level posts like provincial governorships. The decision affects the ethnic composition of the Senate, so even though he doesn’t actually need their permission to do it, he asks as a courtesy (the emperors’ relationship with the Senate is a weird and complicated thing). Even without being a citizen, you could actually do a great deal in the Roman government in Claudius’ time. Many of the most important jobs in the empire were ones that had existed during the age of the Republic, when Rome was theoretically a democracy, and all of those were restricted to citizens even after they stopped being elected positions – but there was also an imperial bureaucracy that answered directly to the emperor and his aides, and he was free to choose literally anyone to fill those positions. As a result, a lot of emperors deliberately picked slaves and former slaves for loads of senior positions, specifically because their lack of citizen rights meant that they could never be political rivals, and because they were a useful counterbalance to the power of the blue-blooded Roman aristocracy. And, again, slaves can be from basically anywhere. A lot of these administrative slaves were Greeks, because Greek education provided useful skills for running the imperial bureaucracy that the Romans themselves often didn’t have, but emperors could and did commission literally anyone for these positions.

Eventually the emperor Caracalla (r. AD 211-217) just decided it wasn’t worth keeping track anymore and declared that every freeborn person in the entire empire, which by that point stretched from northern England to Morocco to Romania to Jordan, was now a Roman citizen. All of these people are now “Romans,” regardless of their language or culture or religion; the only criterion is that they not be slaves or former slaves (and even if they’re former slaves, their children will be Roman citizens). And these people can move, in ways that were never possible before the Empire existed, because Rome is the first – and so far the last – political entity ever to unite the entire Mediterranean region, which allows them to wipe out piracy almost completely and jump-start trade and travel in ways that would never happen again for over a thousand years. My own research on Roman glass has led me to encounter glassblowers with Syrian or Jewish names working in northern Italy – people who were probably integral to spreading the technology of glassblowing to western Europe. The Roman army also moves people around – like, a lot. You might enlist in your home town in Syria, then serve on Hadrian’s wall and retire in northern England – in fact, we know that this happened because we’ve found stuff like inscriptions in the Aramaic language in Roman Britain.

Also Rome had, like… a whole dynasty of African emperors one time. Septimius Severus (r. AD 193-211) and his successors were part Italian, part Punic (of Carthaginian descent – ultimately Middle Eastern, since the Carthaginians were originally a Phoenician colony) and part Berber (native North African), and Severus grew up in what is now Tunisia. And that wasn’t really a big deal for the Romans, 1) because Severus’ Italian ancestry made him a Roman citizen, which trumps all other signifiers of ethnicity, and 2) Rome had already had a couple of emperors of Iberian (= Spanish) descent by this point who were considered some of the best ever, and the Iberians are just as “barbarian” as the Berbers as far as Rome is concerned. Other Roman emperors of varied ethnicities include Philip (Arabian), Diocletian (Illyrian), the three Gordians (probably Cappadocian), and Elagabalus (Syrian, and incidentally the gayest Roman of all time; like, normally I would warn you to be super cautious about using modern labels like “straight” and “gay” for Romans because they just didn’t think about sexual orientation in those terms, but I make an exception here because Elagabalus was super gay).

Oh, and just because someone will definitely bring it up if I don’t, there was a big fuss in the news a few years back because someone discovered the skeletons of what they claimed were Chinese people living in, of all places, Roman Britain. And to me, one Chinese family in Britain in the first century AD is not particularly a dramatic stretch of plausibility (a handful of people could easily slip through the historical record and just never be mentioned), but the evidence in this particular case falls some way short of “proof.” There’s chemical data that suggests these individuals grew up somewhere far away from Britain, which is well and good, but the thing that points specifically to China is not the isotopic analysis but a study of bone morphology, and trying to determine someone’s ethnicity on the basis of what their bones look like, on the universal scale of things that are sketchy, ranks “sketchy as all fµ¢&.” Again, I’m happy to believe that they exist, because China (Seres in Latin) and Rome (Dà-Qín in Chinese) definitely knew about each other, and we occasionally find Roman artefacts and coins in eastern Asia, or Chinese artefacts in the eastern Roman Empire, but the specific evidence for these individuals isn’t there, in my opinion.

…that was a brief answer. Let it stand as a warning to others.

#QandA #not pokemon

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ccfurryguy · 5 years

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What I learned about God

Since I was neither a pastor or a philosopher, my take on God might seem unprofessional. As a layman thinker my take on God will seem simple to some, but since many who might read this may also be of similar learning, perhaps my insight on the Almighty might have some revelation.

In this world of diversity, we see a lot of people who have different views on God as well as names they believe are his name. Just as there are so many different cultures and races, we also have an assortment of beliefs or lack thereof.

The God I believe in is the one that comes from the Bible; his living word. Some skeptics are willing to say that the Bible is just a fabrication of fallible men and shouldn’t be taken as holy scripture and written through inspiration from God to man. It shouldn’t be a surprise or a shock that people should doubt the bible, despite the fact that it is one of the oldest, most accurate, and best selling book in all of history. Despite this, many still will say that the word of God is nothing but human imagination.

I find that odd cause when I often tell people how the Bible to me is also a source of earthly wisdom, they scoff at the notion as well. When one reads the Bible, even if they are not a believer, the words are alien to our form of thought. There is a great deal that scripture conflicts with what we think or believe such as the concept of forgiving those that hurt us. Jesus himself said, “for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14, Mark 11:25, John 20:23 NIV). Scripture tells us that instead of being bitter and hateful to those who are against us, we should, in fact, forgive them. How on earth can an earthly man consider such a thing? How could fallible men write about something that other fallible men couldn’t comprehend or consider ridiculous? Such a contradiction should be obvious to anyone who tries to read the Bible: If it is not wise to us, then it must be of God. For is it not written: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…” (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV). So if the bible contradicts human wisdom, perhaps it is of a wisdom not of this world, hm?

The truth of the matter is that we all believe in God. Deep down there is that part of us that acknowledges something greater than ourselves. Even an Agnostic or Atheist believes enough in God to attempt to dismiss him. The problem is that our beliefs are as diversified as the cultures, races, nationalities and gender orientation this world carries. We still, however, carry that one tidbit that is ingrained into your psyche: We all acknowledge in some degree to a creator.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that what everyone perceives God is true. Our various religions and beliefs all differ and how we see the world beyond us ranges from the sublime to the strange. Some people believe we all just become reunited with some abstract godhead and become one with the universe. Others believe we just reincarnate and how we lived our past life determines what our new life becomes.

As for me, I see my faith in God a bit differently. Like I showed before when I compare what the bible says about how we should worship God and conduct our lives, some will see that as stupid. The reason why so many people can’t or won’t understand the bible is cause it doesn’t follow our current way of thinking in this earthly world. Maybe that’s why I feel like the God of the Bible is true—because maybe God, who sees all and knows all, thinks in ways we can’t fathom in our earthly intelligence. Maybe cause God is something more than just an abstract force or being, he might know something more than our linear thinking minds can grasp.

God’s Holiness

A lot of argument can be heard regarding certain subjects in the bible. For instance, there was a story in 2nd Samuel about a man named Uzzah. Now according to the story, King David was taking the ark of the covenant, which was the holiest relic to the Jews. Now while they were transporting the ark, The cart it was carried in started to wobble and the ark was about to fall. Uzzah, reached out to grab the ark and kept it in the cart; however, God was angry with Uzzah and he smote him dead for touching the ark. David didn’t like that either and this story tends to see God as rather petty and mean for smiting someone who was just trying to prevent the ark from falling off and being damaged. So why did God do this?

The answer that came to me in my walk comes in the power of God’s holiness. Holiness describes the aspect of God where he is the ultimate embodiment of moral and physical purity. You can wash, disinfect, bleach and scour yourself until your raw and bleeding, and it would not be close to the level of purity that God contains.

Think of Holiness as the sun, a massive burning ball of churning hydrogen in the middle of space. The sun’s light and heat warm and illuminates the earth with life-giving power, which symbolizes the holy energy from God. However, That light and warmth when you get to close to it can wind up both blinding and utterly destroying anyone or anything that comes too close. God is so holy and pure that coming in contact with anything that possesses a shred of that holiness would be destroyed by it. This, in my opinion, is why Uzzah died, not because of his concern for the ark, but because God’s holiness could not be handled without being killed by it.

Moses’ interactions with God are a good example of God’s holiness and its effect on sinful mortals. When God first visited Moses as a burning bush, God told him, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5). God openly warns Moses not to come near because his holy presence would do Moses harm. Further on, when Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, God himself was to come down to write on the stone slabs. When Moses seemed excited to see God face-to-face, God warned instead, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20) Another proof that God could not be seen by mortal eyes without being consequences.

So many would imagine God is being arrogant about not being seen or touched by others, that not being able to see him didn’t make him feel real. The reality of it shows that God is actually doing it for our benefit; rather than having us destroyed by his presence. Of course, that would change somewhat later on, as I will talk about in the next chapter.

God’s Omnipotence and Omnipresence

Omnipotence basically means “All-powerful”, which states that he can do anything. If you really sit back and think of what that means, It really makes you think about who God really is.

As a student of animation, I see God as an artist, and the canvas he paints on is our existence. God exists outside of the canvas and paints upon it, creating and fabricating a beautiful work of art. He is not bound to the confines of that canvas, and the Canvas cannot dictate to God what he should or shouldn’t paint.

“In the Beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth” (Psalms 102:25) Which tells us how God was the creator of the Earth. However in the book of Job “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.” (Job 34:21). Also in Proverbs, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord…” (Proverbs 5:21)

The same goes for God in our universe. He exists outside of the scope of time, space, and existence—primarily because he created them. Because he created it, he can tell it what to do and not the other way around. We cannot dictate to God that we should have been born as Brad Pitt anymore than a fly can tell God it wants to be a man. If God can do whatever he wants to what he creates, then that gives me a good idea about what makes God all-powerful.

This also has the benefit of his Omnipresence, which is the concept that he can be everywhere and anywhere in the universe. It falls back to the same analogy as the canvas. Since God created all of the universes from his perch in heaven, it stands to reason that he also sees and exists in the same space. He can look at that canvas and see the stars and planets, even the minute details of Earth and the creatures that dwell on it. Every brushstroke that he made is there for him to enjoy.

God’s Omniscience

Time to us seems linear and static. We currently exist, and we remember memories of the past and look towards the future. Sometimes we see the future with uncertainty and dread. We are born, lived and eventually die. Such is the nature of Time to us.

As I mentioned in the previous section, I describe as best I can how God sees existence like an artist paints on a canvas. God, in the same way, sees Time somewhat differently than we do since he exists out of time—I mean, he did create time after all. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8) Through this, we see that God states that from the beginning of creation to the end, he is always going to be there since he exists outside the time he created.

Imagine if you will a flipbook: one of those old paper books that when you thumb through them rapidly, creates the illusion of movement. Now imagine that flipbook as depicting your entire life, from birth to death. We as finite beings in that flipbook can only perceive them now and remember what was. We cannot look forward to the end of the book. God, however, existing outside of that flipbook, can. In fact, he probably sees it more as taking the flipbook apart and laying out the individual frames all in a neat orderly set and can see everything from beginning to end.

God once spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”(Jeremiah 1:5 KJV) This can only be possible that God would have an awareness of time that only a being that exists outside of time could have. And if God could do this for one of his children, that means he knows all of us before we were born—He loved us even before we ever were born, and he knows when we will live and when we will die. One who meditates on such a statement must also wonder what an intimate depth God knows about us, as well as makes us aware that God knows what we are going to do in our lives. That is why God loves us so much.

Since God who exists outside of time can see the flow of time in our lives, can he not see the beginning and the end of our world? Though my analogy may seem simple, It makes me think of just how different God perceives all of existence from his God-eye view than from our short-sighted senses. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

#biblestudy

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blessedarticles-blog · 5 years

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Principles for Church Growth

The following are principles that I have discovered for building successful and large churches. I advise you to carefully consider them and allow the Lord to give you a deeper understanding of what I am teaching in this chapter.

14 Principles for Church Growth

1.The principle of the multiplied senior pastor

I have discovered that if you could multiply the senior pastor by twelve, it would mean that you had twelve pastors at work. Logically, you could do twelve times as much work. I taught my assistant pastors to do whatever I do. If I meet people after church, they should also meet people after church. If I am able to counsel ten people and twelve other pastors are able to counsel ten people, that makes it one hundred and thirty people who are being attended to.

There are some churches in which the senior pastor is a “superman”. He is the only one who does anything important – and that is a sure recipe to keep your church small. One person can only attend to a certain number of people. If you try to visit, counsel and help everybody, you will go crazy! There is a limit to what you can do. That is why I have many branches and many pastors. I believe that many of the people I preach to can also preach. I believe that many of the people who are receiving the Word now, are capable of rising up into the ministry.

Do not be an insecure senior pastor. Don’t be afraid to trust people. It is true that many people will betray your trust, but if you live in fear, Satan will have access to your life and ministry. I have been hurt by some people, but I have decided to still trust others to help me. If they betray me one day, I will take it in stride and keep on trusting some others.

One of the reasons why some people cannot trust is because they do not believe that people can do a good enough job. In the medical field, young doctors are being trained all the time. Some people are always attended to by inexperienced student doctors under supervision. As the young doctors are allowed to have a go, they learn and soon they are just as good. It is the same thing in the ministry. People must be trusted with responsibilities under supervision. They must be allowed to do important things. This will multiply the number of capable pastors in the ministry.

2. The principle of maximized Sunday usage

This principle has been stretched to its fullest at the Lighthouse Cathedral in Accra. The principle of using Sunday to its fullest is effective because traditionally, people have dedicated Sunday to both resting and going to church. Since so many of the church members are available on Sunday, it is only wise to use Sunday to its fullest. Sunday is a full working day for me. Jesus worked on Sundays and I would like to follow His example.

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work.

John 5:16, 17

Sunday is a full working day for all lay pastors in our church. We work hard from Sunday morning until late Sunday evening. We are able to accomplish a lot of counselling because people are free on Sundays. Visitation is also very effective on Sundays because many people are at home on Sunday afternoons. We conduct Bible schools for lay people on Sunday afternoons. Many people are able to attend because they don’t have much to do on Sundays.

Decide to utilize your Sundays. I don’t know what pastors are doing in their homes at two o’clock on Sunday afternoon when most of the church members are available to be ministered to. Take advantage of this opportunity. Lay pastors and shepherds will be able to do more work for the Lord.

Although some people find it difficult to accept, I emphasize to all the people I work with, that Sunday is a full working day for me and my church. I am not an accountant or a computer programmer. My working hours are not Monday to Friday from nine to five. I work on Sundays and I rest on Mondays. We do not start work at eight o’clock in the morning. I see no reason to go to work at eight o’clock in the morning. We stay late in the evenings because that is when many lay people are available for us to minister to them.

Our office is usually closed on Mondays, and all of our staff, except the security officers, have a day off. Pastors and churches must not allow the world to impose its schedule on us. When airplane pilots go to work at odd hours no one complains. Everyone accepts that their work demands a different type of work schedule. Pastors and non-pastoral people must realize that the work of the ministry is peculiar and goes with its own special working hours.

Begin to consider what you can do with your Sundays. Think of how many more people you can attend to if your Sundays are used for ministry instead of being used for sleeping and having lunches in the afternoon.

3.The principle of smaller sub-divisions

Smaller sub-divisions within the church allow for better pastoral care, which eventually leads to church growth. Questions that cannot be asked in a large Sunday service can be addressed in the small groups. The small groups become the family units to which church members belong.

I have several smaller groups within the church. I have always believed that every Christian can and should actively serve the Lord. These smaller groups allow for all Christians to get involved.

As your church becomes mega, it will remain small enough to meet the needs of all the people. As it is said, “Large enough to include you, and small enough to know you.”

Some people’s churches are like large convention centres. People come in, hear the Word, and go away. No human being likes to feel that he is not known. People are not numbers they are human beings. Nobody wants to be reduced to a numbered article or a countable commodity. People want to feel important. People want to feel necessary. People want to feel loved. You may preach a powerful sermon but, they still need to belong to a little family.

Your church can be broken into cells, divisions or departments. Our church has chapels, ministries and fellowships. I am always encouraging my members to get involved in one ministry or the other. How can I know all the people who come to church? How can I know what they think or feel? How can I know their problems and how can I help them?

If you think that God is going to give you a word of knowledge about these people everyday, you are making a mistake. God expects you to break up your church into smaller divisions so that the people can receive adequate pastoral care.

4.The principle of the Person X oriented church

What on earth is a “person x” oriented church? I define “person x” as a new convert or a new member. Most churches are oriented towards established members. A “person x” oriented church is very concerned about new people and visitors.

Treat your visitors well. We make song sheets so that the new people can get involved during the praise and worship. After the service, we host a reception to allow our new members to feel at home. We also give gifts to new converts.

Recently, the Lord directed me to direct my most senior associates to handle all new converts. God told me that if new converts were important to me, then I should allow senior ministers to take care of them rather than junior leaders. This has helped tremendously to establish many new people in the church. When a church is “person x” oriented, it is on the road towards increase because, growth will come through new members and converts.

And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour…

1 Corinthians 12:23

Most people think that growth comes because more people visit the church. This is not necessarily the case. Some people also think that growth takes place because more converts are won. History has shown that the population of this world has increased because people are being kept alive and not because more people are being born. If we want our churches to grow, we have to sustain and maintain our new members and converts.

5.The principle of catering for group A and group B members

Every church can be divided into group A and group B members. Group A members are the more reliable people; they attend church twice or more a week. They are often involved in other small group activities in the church life. Thank God for Group A members. We really appreciate their input.

Group B members on the other hand, are the once-a-weekers, non-small group members, early service lovers, short sermon lovers, mind drifters, day dreamers, Bible forgetters, non note-takers, non tithe payers, clock-watchers and the church-near-me attendees.

These group B members will form an important segment of your church, as it becomes a larger entity. You will have to accept them as part of the family. You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your brothers. Not everybody is going to be a prayer warrior.

In fact, in a large church many of the people fall into group B. Love them anyway. Preach sermons that they can also appreciate. Pray for them. The Spirit of the Lord will work on them. Sometimes when you organize a social event like a beach party, the group B members will flood the place. Use such opportunities to minister to them.

If you try to filter out your group B members, you may be left with nothing at the end of the day. Jesus said that the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few. Jesus didn’t say that there were few members, He said that there were few labourers (Group A members).

6.The principle of multiple services

Nobody ever told me that multiple services lead to church growth. I discovered it almost by accident. Well, now I am telling you that multiple services lead to church growth.

We have seven different services every Sunday morning. It is very tiring and draining, but our church attendance is better because of these multiple services. As the church grows, people with all sorts of needs come into the church.

Some pastors give the impression that they conduct multiple services because they have such a large crowd. This is true to some extent. But I do not have multiple services because the building can be filled four times over. Not all the services are full. Each service has a different level of attendance. I have never seen multiple services where all the services have the same attendance. I conduct multiple services primarily to make a variety of convenient services available to my members.

I am always amazed at why people will want to come to church at 6 o’clock in the morning. I always ask myself, “Can’t they come to church a little later?” Human beings are so varied. Once you are dealing with a large number of people you are dealing with variety. If you don’t make variety available, you will lose those for whom you have nothing to offer.

Accept the reality of variety and flow with it. You will notice that different types of people come to each service. Some of the services are more formal whilst others are more relaxed. The type of people who attend each service determines the type of atmosphere you get. We have services for the youth and for the children. We have services for different languages. We have several services for English speaking members. Each of these services is different and there are people to fit into all of these services. God will bless your church as you provide variety for more people.

7.The principle of dynamic church services

You must have a goal for each service you conduct. When determining the goal of the service, you must ask yourself, “What am I trying to achieve with this service?” Are you planning to raise the dead, to heal the sick, or to preach and teach? In the Lighthouse Cathedral, our Sunday morning services are teaching and worship services. We do not usually pray for the sick on Sunday mornings. We pray for the sick on other days.

How much time have you allotted for each service? How long should the service be? Our services are one and a half hours and two hours each. Within two hours, you can do everything that you need to do for a church service.

Many years ago, I attended a church whose services began around eight o’clock in the morning and ended at about three o’clock in the afternoon. After attending twice, I decided that the service was too long. Today, that church is non-existent. When your Sunday services are too long, you will drive away all of your members. You cannot achieve everything on a Sunday morning. We conduct miracle services which can last for several hours. We have camp meetings at which I can preach for more than twelve hours in a day. At the last Shepherd’s Camp Meeting of my church. I preached from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. on one of the days with only two short breaks. I know how to have long meetings, but I’d advise you not to use your Sunday services for such things.

What type of meeting place do you have? Man looks on the outward appearance, so it is important to decorate your church nicely. Even if you do not own a church building, let your place of meeting attain a certain standard. Remember that you have only one chance to give a first impression. Make use of flowers, baskets, curtains or anything that would improve the physical appearance.

Sometimes the pastor does not have very good taste. How can you know if you do not have good taste? He would have to rely on others in the church to help in enhancing and brightening his corner.

It is important that every church tries to acquire its own place of meeting. Owning your own facility introduces more stability to the church.

How do you present yourself? God looks on the heart, but man looks on the outward appearance. Man cannot see your heart. Man can only see your outward appearance. That is why your outward appearance is also important. We must seek to put up a good outward appearance in addition to preparing the right heart for the Lord. Everyone who plays a part in the service must be well dressed. Male pastors must be formally dressed and neatly shaved. Female pastors must be properly dressed and must not wear suggestive or indecent clothing.

In some churches the musicians look like agents from the world who have been temporarily contracted to help God. These instrumentalists often come in with the attitude and culture of secular pop groups. That is why I insist on all my musicians dressing like pastors. If they cannot afford it, we buy clothes for them!

Altar calls should be made at every service. This important and good habit must be maintained at all costs. New converts and visitors must receive a warm welcome. Remember these are the “person x” members. The assisting pastor should take over and briefly emphasize the message of the senior pastor. He should also encourage the congregation to buy tapes.

Pastors must not run off after church. They must stay and mingle with the congregation for some time after the service. I question the call of someone who says he’s a pastor but does not want to mingle with his congregation after the service. The shepherd’s place is in the field amongst the sheep. A true shepherd smells of sheep. I remember meeting a frustrated congregant in a church. This man had travelled many miles to attend a conference. He wanted to have a chance to say hello to the great man of God. He was so frustrated that he became bitter. I met him in a lift and he said to me bitterly, “Is this man a prime minister or a pastor?”

But I have been to other conferences where the men of God made the effort to stay around and mingle with the sheep. Some people just want to shake your hand. Give them the opportunity to get near if you can. A pastor’s wife must help with the interaction and must be seen to be a warm and friendly person. All these things contribute to building the mega church we all desire.

8. The principle of using technology and research

As the number of passengers on different airlines has increased, their efficiency has improved. This is because air line industries have used technology to help them in their work. Whilst the membership of most churches has increased over the past few years, the pastor’s ability for handling larger crowds has not been developed.

In our church, we try to keep an accurate data and statistics department. We maintain accurate counts and figures of everything. We have developed our own pastoral care monitoring system which we call the “Pastoshep”.

In spite of the limitations due to limited addresses and telephone numbers in Ghana, our Pastoshep has become a reliable and technological method of assessing the work of all pastors and shepherds alike. Without being there to physically see what people are doing, my computer tells me what everybody is doing. I decided long ago to allow technology to help me to do the work of God.

Too many pastors say things like, “The whole of the outside was full.” They say things like, “Thousands of people were here today.” Whereas in reality, just a few hundred were present. Let’s have real numbers!

We sometimes do surveys in the church to find out different interesting things. For instance, we did a survey to find out how many members of the church had ever been visited by a pastor. The results of that study were certainly revealing!

9.The 80-20 principle

This rule teaches us that eighty percent of your increase comes from twenty percent of the people. This means that eighty percent of church growth is as a direct result of the work of twenty percent of your members. Therefore, it is important for every pastor to spend more time with the twenty percent who will bring church growth.

Often the leaders, teachers and pastors make up this twenty-percent. They are the most important people in the church. More time, personal interaction and prayer with this twenty percent will give you amazing results that you never expected. Some pastors spend most of their time with the rich and influential. They do not know that they are spending time with the wrong group. Spending time with rich people does not make your church grow. It rather makes the rich people more important than they really are. It can make the rich people stubborn and difficult to pastor!

A church with a future will identify potential leaders and put them to work. When you do

this, you are looking out for the twenty percent who can bring about sustained church development.

When I visit our churches outside the headquarters, I spend more time with the leaders and pastors than with the rest of the church. Often I just minister in one service. Afterwards, I have various meetings, spending several hours with the pastors and shepherds. This style of activity does not come naturally. It is born out of the knowledge of the 80-20 Principle.

When you implement the 80-20 Principle, you may initially think that you are doing the wrong thing, but that is not the case. You will soon discover that this simple principle is a secret of church growth.

10. The principle of the scholarly pastor

By this, I simply mean that pastors should develop themselves academically. I have never been to Bible school; I only attended medical school. Yet, I have learnt so much about the ministry by reading.

I always have several books that I am reading at the same time. I believe in reading, studying and acquiring knowledge. How could I rise above the handicap of having no formal pastoral training? Only by reading!

There is a difference between ministers who read books and those who do not. Those who do not read are no better than those who cannot read! Those who do not read are doomed to be ruled by those who do read. Paul the apostle was a reader of books and parchments. He deemed his books so important that he asked Timothy to bring them to him.

…when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

2 Timothy 4:13

Prophet Daniel read the books that Jeremiah wrote

In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:2

People like Daniel and Paul read books. It is no surprise that they went far in ministry. There are many ministers who also need some secular education. They would do well to educate themselves in important subjects like administration, law, medicine and history. Administration is important in a church because many aspects of the church have to be run in a secular way. Things have to be managed properly. Accounts have to be prepared. Salaries have to be determined and paid. People have to be employed and dismissed. Things simply have to be done properly. A good study of administration and management will do the church of God a lot of good.

The study of law is also important for pastors and churches. Churches enter into contracts and the law of contract becomes important. There are laws that affect property acquisition. The law of property then becomes important to the pastor. There are laws that concern marriage. Pastors have to be well versed in the laws that exist. God does not want His ministers to be ignoramuses. I am not a lawyer, but I know quite a bit about law because I have taken an interest in it for my own sake.

A good understanding of medicine is also important. A pastor, like a doctor, often deals with terminally ill people. There is no use in a pastor not appreciating the conditions of their members. It is important to have a basic understanding of what is going on around you. I have seen pastors declaring healing based on ridiculous and presumptuous premises. How absurd we sometimes look to the professionals of this world! They know we are completely unlearned in certain areas.

Another area that pastors need a bit of education in is history and politics. History shows the rise and the fall of tyrants. It shows trends which keep repeating themselves. The Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun. In fact, the Bible predicts that the past will repeat itself over and over again. For those of you who want to know the future – it is basically the past repeated.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10

11.The principle of having a power ministry

If you cut out all the Scriptures on healing and miracles from your Bible, you will discover that your Bible is totally destroyed! You will be destroying the Word of God. When you take out the Scriptures concerning the power of God, you are left with a book on philosophy.

It is not only the teaching and preaching which helps God’s people. God’s children also want to receive a touch of His power. It is important to add on the power dimension of miracles, healings and deliverance. The Holy Spirit wants to manifest Himself and bless the people of God. You will discover that your people love to be prayed for. It is important for you to pray for your sheep and minister God’s power to them.

12.The principle of pastoral individuality: fulfil your call.

It is very important for every pastor to fulfil his individual call. Don’t look to the crowd. Don’t think about what others are doing.

Many years ago when I started out in ministry, many people laughed at me. One pastor ridiculed me as I encouraged my members to go out and witness door-to-door. He sneered at me and said, “What is witnessing? What is door-to-door witnessing? We have moved on into higher realms of ministry!”

I answered, “It is an important Christian activity.”

I stressed, “No matter how big you become in the ministry, it is important to preach the gospel from house-to-house.”

Today, that pastor who scoffed at me is struggling at the bottom of the ministerial ladder. Please do not allow anyone to drown your convictions. Be a man of conviction. Follow the plan that God has given to you. Comparison is one of the dangerous practices of certain ministers. Please do not compare yourself with anyone else, it is too dangerous.

For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

2 Corinthians 10:12

God told me not to compare myself with anybody. He showed me how certain ministers were uneducated and that His expectations of different people varied. He also showed me that my background of prolonged education made Him give me a different standard. He told me that I would be wrong to compare myself with anyone else. The Lord also showed me that if I used other ministers as a standard, I may do far less for Him than I am supposed to. The Lord showed me that I would mistakenly think that I had “arrived” because I had used certain low standards that had been set by others. It is indeed a dangerous thing to compare yourselves with others. Paul said that he dared not compare himself with others

13.The principle of massive organized prayer

Massive organized prayer involves gathering all of your leaders and/or members for intensive prayer. I do massive organized prayer on three levels. At the highest level, I frequently organize the senior ministers away from the city to pray for a few days.

At the level of cell leaders, we often decree what we call prayer sentences. Sometimes we “sentence” the shepherds to twenty hours of prayer within a three-week period. This means that they have to meet as a group and pray for twenty hours spread over three weeks. This is massive organized prayer – organizing prayer on a massive scale.

Finally, we involve the whole church in prayer. There are times we have all-night prayer and fasting meetings everyday for an entire week. I am always surprised when on a weekday the church is full at 2 a.m. Working people gather to pray intensively for church growth and breakthroughs.

There is no other way to make any progress in the ministry than to work in the realm of the spirit. The Bible says, “Epaphras was always labouring in prayer.” The principle of massive organized prayer is what you need to bring about a breakthrough in your ministry.

Epaphras…always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:12

There are some people who see me as an administrator and a strategist. Anyone who knows me closely knows that as I write this book, I do not even have a desk or an office. But I do have a study where I pray and I do have places where I spend time praying. There is no shortcut in the ministry. There is no other way than that which has been set by the Lord. There is no other example than that which has been set by Jesus. Peter said that he wanted to give himself to prayer and the Word. Prayer and the Word are more important than administration and strategies!

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

Acts 6:4

14.The principle of using lay people to do the work

One of the great secrets of a large church is in the use of lay people or voluntary church workers. These volunteer workers can do most of the church work.

I have several pastors who are not paid a dime for all of their hard work. The Lord pays them Himself. They work very hard on Sundays and other evenings. They make huge sacrifices in their private lives in order to be pastors and shepherds. Many very big churches use this principle and are succeeding. May the Lord give you understanding and revelation concerning this vital principle.

I am always saddened when I see a small church of one hundred people employing seven full-time pastors. I often ask myself, “How much will one pastor be paid? Do the wives of these pastors work? Do they make enough money to survive?” Such environments are the breeding grounds for discontent and rebellious elements! Many church rebellions are related to money. When money is left out of the ministry, people are able to concentrate on the work of the Lord because they love God.

Many pastors in my church are doing well as lay pastors. If some of them were to come into full-time ministry, things may change. The church may be able to pay them enough money, but they may not be at the stage where they are ready for full-time ministry. New problems relating to salaries and income levels may arise. These problems have the potential to disrupt the work of ministry.

I suggest this to every senior pastor: analyze the church conflicts you have ever had. Aren’t most of them related to money? Make use of unpaid people. They are the key to a peaceful and stable church environment!

I see a ministry growing! I see your ministry growing! I see you rising up in the Kingdom of God! I see you taking your place! I know the Lord is going to use you! He has determined to use you! The mega church is for you! The anointing is yours! Rise up with wisdom and possess what the Lord has placed before you!

by Dag Heward-Mills

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canuterex · 7 years

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“Ælfric the monk humbly greets Æthelward the ealdorman. You asked me, friend, that I should translate the book of Genesis from Latin into English for you. It seemed troublesome to me to give this to you then, and you said then that I need not translate any more of the book except up to Isaac, the son of Abraham, because someone else had translated the book from Isaac until the end.

Now it seems to me, friend, that the work [of translation] is very dangerous to me or anyone to undertake, because I fear that if someone foolish reads this book, or hears it read, that someone might wish to think that one might live now under the new law just as the old fathers lived, when in the time before the old law was established, or just as people lived under the law of Moses.

I once knew that a certain priest, who was my teacher at the time, had the book of Genesis, and he could understand Latin in part. Then he said about the patriarch Jacob that he had four wives: two sisters and their two handmaids. He spoke very truly, but he did not know, nor did I yet, how much difference there is between the old law and the new. In the beginning of this world, a brother took his sister as wife, and sometimes a father also had a child by his own daughter, and many men also had more wives for the people. And then at the beginning a man could not take a wife, except for among his relatives.

If anyone wishes to live now, after the coming of Christ, just as people lived before the law of Moses, or under the law of Moses, that one is not a Christian, nor even deserving that any Christian might eat with him.For unlearned priests, if they understand only a little of Latin books, then it seems to them that they might quickly be great teachers, although they do not know the spiritual meaning of them, and how the old law was a sign of things to come, or how the New Testament, after the incarnation of Christ, was the fulfillment of all of the things which the Old Testament signaled toward, about Christ and about his chosen. They also often talk about Peter, why they might not have a wife, just as the blessed apostle Peter had.

And they desire not to hear nor to know that the blessed Peter lived after the law of Moses, until Christ, who in that time came to humankind, began to preach his holy gospel and chose Peter as the first to follow him. Then Peter abandoned his wife right away, and all of the twelve apostles, who had wives, abandoned both wives and their possessions and followed the teaching of Christ to the new law and the purity that he himself upheld. Priests are established as teachers of lay-people. Now it is suitable for them that they know how to understand the old law spiritually and what Christ himself, and his apostles, taught in the New Testament, so that they might direct the people to belief in God and set a good example by good works.We also said before that the book is very profoundly spiritual in understanding and we will write no more than the naked narrative.

Then it seems to the unlearned that all that meaning is locked up in the simple narrative, but it is very far from it. The book is named Genesis, that is “the book of species,” because it is the first book and speaks about each species. But it says nothing about the creation of the angels. It begins thus: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” That is in English, “In the beginning God shaped heaven and earth.” It was truly done so, that almighty God made creation in the beginning, then when he desired. But even so, according to the spiritual meaning, that meaning is Christ, just as he himself said to the Jews: “I say to you, I am the beginning.”

Through this beginning God the Father made heaven and earth, because he shaped all of creation through his Son, who was always born from him, wisdom of the wise Father.Again in the book in the first verse: “And the spirit of God moved over the waters” That is in English, “and the spirit of God was moved over the waters.” The spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, through whom the Father gave life to all the creatures that he shaped through the Son. And the Holy Spirit goes through the hearts of people and gives us forgiveness for sins, first through water in baptism and then through penance.

And if anyone rejects the forgiveness that the Holy Spirit gives, then that sin is always unforgiveable for eternity. Often the Holy Trinity is shown in this book, just as it is said in the Word of God: “Let us make man in our likeness.” When he said “let us make,” the Trinity is signified. When he said “in our likeness,” the true Oneness is shown. He did not speak in the plural, “to our likenesses,” but in the singular, “in our likeness.”Again the three angels came to Abraham and he spoke to them all three just as to one. How did the blood of Abel call out to God, except just as the misdeeds of each one accuse him without words? By these little things, people may understand how deep the book is in spiritual meaning, although it is written with clear words.

Again Joseph, who was sold into the land of Egypt, and he saved that people against the great famine, had signified Christ, who was sold for us to death and saved us from the eternal famine of the torment in hell. That great tabernacle that Moses made in the desert with wonderful skill, just as God himself ordered, had signified the church of God, which he himself established through his apostles with many adornments and pleasing customs. To the building the people brought gold and silver and valuable gemstones and many ornaments. Some also brought goat’s hair, just as God commanded.

That gold signified our belief and our good intentions that we should offer to God. That silver signified the speech of God and the holy teachings that we should have for the works of God. The gemstones signified the great beauty of the man of God. That goat’s hair signifies the hard penance that men repent for their sins. Men also offered cattle of many kinds as offerings within the tabernacle. By that is very much signified, and it was commanded that the tail should always be whole on the beast at the offering, which signifies that God desires that we always do well until the end of our lives; then the tail is offered in our works.

Now is the aforementioned book in many places very narrowly composed, although very deeply in the spiritual meaning. And it is so ordered just as God himself dictated to Moses, and we dare not write any more in England than that Latin has, nor to change the order, except solely when Latin and English do not have one means of ordering speech.

Whenever someone translates or interprets Latin into English, one should always arrange it so that the English has one’s own manner, or else it is very erroneous to read, for one who does not know the manner of Latin.It is also to be known that some were erroneous, who would cast off the old law, and some would have the old and cast off the new, just as the Jews do.

But Christ himself and his apostles taught us to keep both, the old spiritually and the new truly with works. God shaped us with two eyes and two ears, two nostrils and two cheeks, two hands and two feet, and he also desired to have two testaments established in this world, the old and the new, because he does just as he desires. And has no advisor, nor any person need to say to him, “Why do you do as you do?” We should turn our wills to his laws and we may not turn his laws to our desires.I say now that I dare not, nor do I desire, to translate any book after this from Latin into English.

And I ask you, dear ealdorman, that you no longer ask this, in case I might be disobedient to you, or false if I do [translate more]. May God be gracious to you ever for eternity. I ask now in the name of God, if anyone desires to copy this book, that he corrects it well by the exemplar, because I have no control if someone brings it to error through lesser scribes, and it is then his peril, not mine. The bad scribe does much evil if he will not correct his errors.”

Source: https://brandonwhawk.net/2014/07/30/aelfrics-preface-to-genesis-a-translation/

#Aelfric of York #Archbishop of York #11th century #Cnut the Great #Anglo-Saxons #medieval religion

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gldngrl7 · 7 years

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Casting is only skin deep

It’s totally possible I missed something in a line of dialogue or perhaps a scene where Maggie Sawyer was pontificating on the wonders of her grandmother’s Ropa Vieja recipe. But why do people assume that Maggie Sawyer is supposed to be Latina? It seems like they believed (in the first place) that she’s supposed to be Latina because of her dark(ish) skin and because she’s played by Floriana Lima, and then got all pissed when they found out Floriana (despite her name) is mostly European. But still...

MAGGIE SAWYER -- that’s a foine Irish name....

Acting auditions aren’t like job interviews where you may or may not fill out information about your ethnicity for the HR department during the process. As an actor, you provide that information to your agent and they are under no obligation to share it. In fact, since they only get paid if you work, they are incentivized to send you out to audition even if you only barely match the call sheet. Casting Directors don’t typically ask an actor their cultural background in an audition. There isn’t that kind of time (you get a minute, maybe two to make an impression in your reading after which, if you’re lucky, you get a callback). FYI. If they were intentionally trying to hire someone ethic then all they can go by is how the actor looks and the name on the head shot. They can however request a certain look in the audition call sheet that goes out to the local talent agents

Ex: Female, 25-30, slight body type, Latina, Arabic or Asian-Pac ethnicity, Penelope Cruz “type”. Tough as nails outside with a soft, chewy inside.

And then they’ll get a wide range of actors show up at the audition who aren’t any of those ethnicities but can “pass”, either because the luck of genetics, because they’ve change their names to sound ‘more ethnic’, or because their name is legitimately ethnic but they don’t genetically look it (think: Cameron Diaz).

The irony here is that if you aren’t a US citizen or have a green card to work in US productions than you must receive a waiver from the acting unions to work (SAG/Equity/AFTRA) and in order to receive that, they have to present a compelling reason why only this specific actor will suffice for the role, and that final decision on whether to issue the waiver often comes down to one thing -- actual ethnicity.

Bit of a history lesson:

This was seen most famously in 1990-1991, when Cameron Macintosh planned to bring his international blockbuster hit “Miss Saigon” to the New York stage. Jonathan Pryce, an internationally renowned (white) British actor, had created the Eurasian character “The Engineer” to great success on the London stage. But Equity forbade him from performing in the US, calling this an example of “yellowface”. Eventually, Macintosh was able to present his compelling case based on the fact that JP had played an intrinsic role in turning the play into the success that it was. So, Equity came up with a compromise, JP would be allowed to play “The Engineer” on Broadway for a period of six months, after which the production would need to be prepared to pass the role to an American actor of Asian or Eurasian descent. Which they did.

At the time Equity already had Committee for Racial Equality, but this casting case shone a light on the lack of diversity in New York stage casting (And British tbh) not to mention the casting process. In the beginning, CM and company spent more than year scouring Asia for their female lead, finally locating the sublime Lea Salonga in the Philippines, a country with a rich musical tradition. At the time, I don’t think the role of The Engineer was envisioned to be quite the polarizing character that he became -- it could be argued that he only did so because of the life Jonathan Pryce breathed into him.

I’ve seen the play multiple times and sometimes The Engineer is brilliant and magnetic and sometimes he’s just not. It’s all in the performance which, in the end, is all in the hands of the actor they cast.

But I digress:

Hollywood and New York are, by all appearances, working to improve diversity in casting, but this is a business where people are often required to change their names to be a part of the unions -- since it’s like choosing an email address -- your name has to be unique.

Imagine a scenario where there can only be one “Mary Fallon” in SAG, but she’s got dark hair and dark eyes, so maybe she makes the savvy move and changes her name to Maria Fuentes, since it’s available -- that way she can play either white OR Latina characters. That’s the name of the game for an actor -- fit into as many molds as you possibly can.

Also, people go through a lot of trouble to change their look so they fit into certain molds. Casting diversity is a constantly shifting concept these days. How far we’ve come from the time when Margarita Carmen Cansino became Rita Hayworth because she had to be more white, remains to be seen. But in the wake of changes in casting traditions the acting business has become a place where no one can be trusted to be who they say they are or appear to be anymore.

And when it comes to casting diversity...where does the line get drawn? Shall we begin requesting family trees two generations back like Nazi Germany did when trying to determine just how Jewish someone was. Benjamin Bratt frequently plays Latino characters but only his mother is Peruvian, his father is Austrian and German. Oded Fehr frequently plays Jews and Arabics, but in reality only his mother is Israeli and his dad is German. Does their European halves negate their South American/Israeli halves? Should BB not be allowed to play a Latino because he’s half European, or should he be allowed to play a Latino just because he presents the right image? Should Oded be prevented from playing Jafar on Once Upon a Time because he doesn’t have a drop of Arabic blood-- even though he couldn’t look more the part if he tried??

Once that decision is made...how long before a Mexican-descent character can only be played by a Mexican-descent actor or Cuban played by a Cuban. Make no mistake, that will seriously limit everyone’s ability to get employed -- except for the same two guys who always play the Mexican descent and Cuban characters. That’s job security and a big fat target on their backs. But...nice work if you can get it, I suppose.

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medicinemane · 7 years

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I’ve been looking for my copy of one of Asimov’s autobiography for ages (I think he says in there it’s his 3rd), specifically for this one chapter on anti-semitisim. I think it’s brilliant, and I think it has real words of wisdom for any time, but right now in particular. Which is why I’m going to transcribe it below the cut. I’d really recommend give in a read

Anti-Semitisim

This leads me to a more general discussion of anti-Semitisim.

My father told me rather proudly that there was never any pogrom in this little town, that Jews and Gentiles got along. In fact, he told me that he was good friends with a Gentile boy, whom he helped with his schoolwork. After the Revolution, that boy turned up as a local functionary of the Communist Party and helped my father with the paperwork required for emigration to the United States.

This is important. I have frequently had hotheaded romantics assume that our family fled Russia to escape persecution. They seem to think that the only way we got out was by jumping from ice flow to ice flow the Dnieper River, with bloodhounds and the entire Red Army in hot pursuit.

No such thing. We were not persecuted and we left in a quite legal manner with no more trouble than one would expect from any bureaucracy, including our own. If that’s disappointing, so be it.

Nor do I have horror tales to tell about my life here in the United States. I was never made to suffer for my Jewishness in the crass sense of being beaten up or physically harmed. I was taunted often enough, sometimes openly by young yahoos and more often subtly by the more educated. It was something I accepted as an inevitable part of the Universe that I could not change.

I also knew that vast areas of American society were closed to me because I was Jewish, but that was true in every Christian society in the world for two thousand years, and I accepted that too was a fact of life.

What was really difficult to endure was the feeling of insecurity and even terror, because of what was happening in the world. I am talking about the 1930s now, when Hitler was becoming more and more dominant and his anti-Semitic madness was becoming ever more vicious and murderous.

No American Jew could fail to be aware that the Jews, first in Germany, then in Austria, were being endlessly humiliated, mistreated, imprisoned, tortured, and killed, merely for being Jewish. We could not fail to realize that Nazi-like parties were arising in other parts of Europe, which also made anti-Semitism their central watchword. Even France and Great Britain were not immune; both had their Fascist-type parties and both had long histories of anti-Semitism.

We were not safe even in the United States. The undercurrent of genteel anti-Semitism. was already there.The occasional violence of the more ignorant street gangs always existed. But there was also the pull of Nazism. We can discount the German-American Bund, which was an open arm of the Nazis. However, people such as Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin and the aviation hero Charles Lindbergh openly expressed anti-Semitic views. There were also homegrown Fascist movements that rallied round the anti-Semitic banner.

How could American Jews live under this strain? Why did they not break down? I suppose that most simply practiced “denial.” They tried hard not to think about it and went about their normal way of life as best they could. To a large extent, I did this too. One simply had to. (The Jews in Germany did the same thing till the storm broke.)

I also had a more positive attitude. I had enough faith in the United States of America to believe it would never follow the German example.

And, as a matter of fact, Hitler’s excesses, not only in his racism but in his nationalistic saber rattling, his increasingly obvious paranoia, were rousing disgust and anger among important sections of the American population. Even if the United States was, on the whole, rather cool to the plight of Europe’s Jews, it was becoming increasingly anti-Hitler. Or so I felt, and I found comfort in that.

I also tried to avoid becoming uncomfortably hooked on anti-Semitism as the main problem in the world. Many Jews I knew divided the world into Jews and anti-Semites, nothing else. Many Jews I knew recognized no problem anywhere, at any time, but that of anti-Semitism.

It struck me, however, that prejudice was universal and that all groups who were not dominant, who were not actually at the top of the status chain, were potential victims. In Europe, in the 1930s, it was the Jews who were being spectacularly victimized, but in the United States it was not the Jews who were worst treated. Here, as anyone could see who did not deliberately keep his eyes shut, it was the African-Americans.

For two centuries they had been enslaved. Since that slavery had come to a formal end, the African-Americans remained in a position of near-slavery in most segments of American society. They were deprived of ordinary rights, treated with contempt, and kept out of any participation in what is called the American dream.

I, though Jewish, and poor besides, eventually received a first-class American education at a top American university, and I wondered how many African-Americans would have the chance. It constantly bothered me to have to denounce anti-Semitism unless I denounced the cruelty of man to man in general.

Such is the blindness of people that I have know Jews who, having deplored anti-Semitism in unmeasured tones,would, with scarcely a breath in between,got on the subject of African-Americans and promptly begin to sound like a group of petty Hitlers. And when I pointed this out and objected to it strenuously, they turned on me in anger. They simply could not see what they were doing.

I once listened t a woman grow eloquent over the terrible ways in which Gentiles did nothing to save the Jews of Europe. “You can’t trust Gentiles,” she said. I let some time elapse and the asked suddenly, “What are you doing to help the blacks in their fight for civil rights?” “Listen,” she said, “I have my own troubles.” And I said, “So did the Gentiles.” but she only stared at me blankly. She didn’t get the point at all.

What can be done about it? The who world seems to live under the banner: “Freedom is wonderful - but only for me.”

I broke out, under different conditions, once in May od 1977. On that occasion I shared a platform with others, among them Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust (the slaying of six million European Jews) and now will talk of nothing else. Wiesel irritated me when he said that he did not trust scientists and engineers because scientists and engineers had been involved in conduction the Holocaust.

What a generalization! It was precisely the sort of thing an anti-Semite says. “I don’t trust Jews because once certain Jews crucified my Savior.”

I brooded about that on the platform and finally, unable to keep quiet, I said, “Mr. Wiesel, it is a mistake to think that because a group has suffered extreme persecution that it is a sign that they are virtuous and innocent. They might be, of course, but the persecution process is no proof of that. The persecution merely shows that the persecuted group is weak. Had they been strong, then, for all we know, they might have been the persecutors.”

Whereupon Wiesel, very excited, said, “Give me one example of the Jews ever persecuting anyone.”

Of course, I was ready for him. I said, Under the Maccabean kingdom in the second century B.C., John Hyrcanus of Judea conquered Edom and gave the Edomites a choice - convert to Judaism or the sword. The Edomites, being sensible, converted, but, thereafter, they were in any case treated as an inferior group, for though they were Jews, they were also Edomites.”

And Wiesel, even more excited, said, “That was only one time.”

I said, “That was the only time the Jews had the power. One for one isn’t bad.”

That ended the discussion, but I might add that the audience was heart and soul with Wiesel.

I might have gone further. I might have referred to the treatment of the Canaanites by the Israelites under David and Solomon. And if I could have foreseen the future, I would have mentioned what is going on in Israel today. American Jews might appreciate the situation more clearly if they imagined a reversal of roles, or Palestinians ruling the land and of the Jews despairingly throwing rocks.

I once had a similar argument with Avram Davidson, a brilliant science fiction writer, who is (of course) Jewish and was, for a time at least, ostentatiously orthodox. I had written an essay on the Book of Ruth, treating it as a plea for tolerance as against the cruelty of the scribe Ezra, who forced the Jews to “put away” their foreign wives. Ruth was a Moabite, a people hated by the Jews, yet she was pictured as a model woman, and she was the ancestress of David.

Avram Davidson took umbrage at my implication that the Jews were intolerant and he wrote me a letter in which he waxed sarcastic indeed. He too asked when the Jews had ever persecuted anyone.

In my answer, I said, “Avram, you and I are Jews who live in a county that is ninety-five percent non-Jewish and we are doing very well. I wonder how we would make out, Avram, if we were Gentiles and lived in a county that was ninety-five percent Orthodox Jewish.”

He never answered.

Right now there is an influx of Soviet Jews into Israel. They are fleeing because they expect religious persecution. Yet the instant their feet touched Israeli soil, they became extreme Israeli nationalists with no pity for the Palestinians. From persecuted to persecutors in the blinking of an eye.

The Jews are not remarkable for this. It;s just that because I’m a Jew I am sensitive to this particular situation - but it’s a general phenomenon. When pagan Rome persecuted the early Christians, the Christians pleaded for tolerance. When Christianity took over, was their tolerance? Not on your life. The persecution began at one in the other direction.

The Bulgarians demanded freedom for themselves from an oppressive regime and made use of that freedom by attacking ethnic Turks in their midst. The Azerbaijani demanded freedom from the centralized control of the Soviet Union, but they seemed to want to make use of that freedom to kill all the Armenians in their midst.

The Bible says that those who have experienced persecution should not in their turn persecute: “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21). Yet who follows that text? When I try to preach it, I merely make myself seem odd and become unpopular.

-Isaak Asimov

I.Asimov

#Isaak Asimov

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years

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8th January >> Fr. Martin’s Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 3:13-17) - The Feast of The Baptism of the Lord (Ireland): ‘This is my Son, the Beloved’ & (Matthew 2:1-12) - The Feast of The Epiphany of the Lord (USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & South Africa): ‘They did him homage’.

The Feast of The Baptism of the Lord Gospel (Ireland) Matthew 3:13-17 Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. ‘It is I who need baptism from you’ he said ‘and yet you come to me!’ But Jesus replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.’ At this, John gave in to him. As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’ Reflection (1) (i) The Baptism of the Lord It is impossible for us not to have favourites. We invariably favour some people over others. It is normal and natural for us to do so. It is because we favour some and not others that we include some people among our friends and not others. Even among our friends we favour some over others; we have some friends who are especially close to us. Marriage between two people occurs because one man favours one woman out of other women and that woman favours that man out of other men. There are contexts in which showing favour to one over others is not appropriate. Politicians have got themselves into trouble because they used their influence inappropriately to favour someone. The human tendency to show favour sometimes needs to be kept in check. In today’s second reading, Peter, addressing Cornelius and his household, says: ‘The truth I have come to realize is that God does not have favourites’. It sounds as if Peter has only recently hit upon this truth. As a Jew, he would have understood that God did have favourites. The Jewish people were God’s favourites; they were the chosen people who had been blessed and graced by God in a unique way. However, since his meeting with Jesus, and his becoming a disciple of the risen Lord, Peter had come to realize that God does not have favourites. If God had chosen the people of Israel in the past, it was for the sake of all the other nations. God chose Israel not because God loved Israel more than all the other nations, but because God wanted Israel to be the messenger of God’s love to all the nations. According to today’s first reading, God chose Israel to be the light of the nations. Jesus reveals a God who favours all equally. He came as the servant of all people, to give his life as a ransom for all. At the very end of his gospel, Matthew portrays the risen Jesus telling his disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All nations are to be favoured with the gospel. That is why we find Peter in today’s second reading preaching to the pagan centurion, Cornelius, and his household, and then going on to baptize them all. Our own baptism is the direct result of that command of the risen Jesus to baptize all nations. Baptism is God’s gift to us; it is a sign of God’s favour. On the day of our baptism God said to us what was said to Jesus on the day of his baptism: ‘My favour rests on you’. God not only spoke a word of favour to Jesus on the day of his baptism; God actively showed his favour by sending the Holy Spirit upon him. At our baptism God acted to show his favour to us by pouring the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Parents instinctively understand baptism as a sign of God’s favour. That is why they bring their children to be baptized. Today on the feast of Jesus’ baptism, we give thanks for our own baptism, for this very special sign of God’s favour. The baptism of Jesus was not only the day when he had a special experience of God’s favour; it was also the day when he publicly took on the role of God’s servant to all nations. Jesus’ baptism was both a grace and a commission. As Peter announced to Cornelius in today’s second reading, after his baptism Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Today’s first reading, although written long before Jesus was born, describes this mission of Jesus very well. He brings true justice to the nations. By his words and deeds, Jesus makes known God’s justice, the just or right way that God wants us all to take and that Jesus took to the full. In making known God’s just ways, that first reading also declares that Jesus ‘does not break the crushed reed, or quench the wavering flame’. Jesus’ mission was characterized by a heightened awareness of the weak and the vulnerable. Our own baptism, like that of Jesus, was both a gift and a commission. In bestowing favour upon us, God at the same time calls us to become his servants. On the day of our baptism, we are commissioned as servants of God, after the example of Jesus. As God endowed Jesus with the Spirit so that he could bring true justice to the nations, at our baptism we were endowed with the same Spirit for the same purpose. In the power of the Spirit we are called to live in that same just way that Jesus lived. In the words of the first reading, baptism calls us to ‘serve the cause of right’. That will involve for us, as it did for Jesus, taking care ‘not to break the crushed reed, or quench the smouldering flame’. Those who are crushed for whatever reason, whose flame is barely flickering, are deserving of our greatest care and attention. We show that we really appreciate the gift of our baptism when we support the vulnerable and strengthen the weak, in our families, our communities, in our society and our world. —————– The Feast of The Epiphany of the Lord (USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & South Africa) Gospel (UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & South Africa) Matthew 2:1-12 After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him ‘for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah,for out of you will come a leaderwho will shepherd my people Israel.’ Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared, and sent them on to Bethlehem. ‘Go and find out all about the child,’ he said ‘and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward, and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way. Gospel (USA) Matthew 2:1–12 We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel. ” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. Reflections (6) (i) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord. On this feast of the Epiphany our crib scene is complete, with the arrival of the three visitors from the East. Tradition has made kings of these visitors, but the gospel passage which is the basis of this tradition speaks of magi. In that culture, magi were people with a certain set of skills, people possessed of some kind of specialized knowledge. The gospel passage suggests that the specialized knowledge of these magi related to the interpretation of the stars. They were not kings themselves but served the king with their skills. The gospel passage does not say how many of them there were. The number three was simply deduced from the number of gifts that were brought. The evangelist Matthew says they came from the east, without specifying from where. Magi were often associated with Persia, in particular, which corresponds to modern day Iran. They were clearly intended by the evangelist as representatives of the non-Jewish world. Their observation of the rising of a new star led them to believe that a new king of the Jews has been born. There was a widespread belief in that world that the birth of new leaders was marked by unusual events in the heavens. The natural gifts and acquired knowledge of these magi set them on a journey towards the child of Mary and Joseph whose name was Emmanuel, God with us. Their science was not in any way in conflict with their religious search. Rather, their study of the stars was the inspiration for their long journey towards a place of worship, ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage’. Science is never in conflict with faith. Both are different and complementary paths to God. The story of the magi suggests that the study of creation, whether it is the heavenly world or some other dimension of creation, can serve the journey of faith, and help to bring us to the worship of the God who stands behind all created reality and who has become God with us in the child of Bethlehem. In the story we have just heard, the journey of the magi from the East did not bring them to Bethlehem initially. It brought them to the principal city of Judea, Jerusalem, some miles north of Bethlehem. When they reached Jerusalem, they asked, ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ Their expertise in reading the heavens did not make them think that they knew it all. The evangelist portrays these specialists as humble people. They did not have all the answers. They remained people who questioned. They knew they needed the help of others who had a different expertise to theirown if their question ‘Where?’ was to be answered. In the gospel reading it is the chief priests and the scribes, those who had studied the Jewish Scriptures, who provided the information that allowed them to complete the last short leg of their journey. According to the prophet Micah, the shepherd king whom God will provide for his people will come from Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David. The magi’s observation and interpretation of the skies brought them a long way on their journey towards God with us. However, they needed the Jewish Scriptures to complete the journey. Creation is a revelation of God the Creator, but the Scriptures are a fuller revelation of God. These pagan specialists from the east were open to both expressions of God’s revelation. They were receptive to the various ways that God can speak to us. We can learn from them to be attentive to God’s word, whatever form that word may take. There are times in our lives when God seems to speak most powerfully to us through the wonders and beauty of creation. There are other times when we feel the need to listen attentively to the Lord’s word as it comes to us in both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. The magi speak to the seeker within each one of us, that deep core whose longing cannot be fully satisfied by anything in this earthly life. Genuine seekers are always open to the many and varied ways that God communicates with us and seeks us out. The long journey of the magi was finally crowned with an act of worship and an act of generosity, ‘they did him homage… they offered him gifts’. They surrendered themselves and their possessions to the Lord. We believe that our own life journey will be crowned in the same way. At the end of our lives, we surrender ourselves, all we are and have, into the hands of the living and loving Lord. Our own times of worship in the course of our life journey, our own acts of self-giving to the Lord, anticipate and prepare us for that final moment of self-surrender. One element of this inspiring story is the ominous presence of Herod. He too asked the question where the Christ was to be born. However, his motive in asking this question was very different to that of the magi. He wanted to eliminate a perceived threat to his throne. On our faith journey there will often be forces that are hostile to God’s purpose for our lives. Yet, this assures that, in the words of the fourth gospel, ‘the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’. And/Or (ii) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord The gospel story behind this feast is has inspired artists, story tellers, poets and musicians down the centuries. In Mater Dei Institute of Education the music department used to put on a musical event once a year. One year they put on an operetta called ‘Amahl and the night visitors’. It was composed by Gian Carlo Menotti. He was born and reared in Italy but had been living in the United States, in New York for some years. Amahl is a disabled boy who needs a crutch to walk. He lives with his mother in very poor circumstances. One night the three kings stop off at their house to rest the night on their way to Bethlehem. When the boy hears that they are going to visit this special child to bring him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, he asks them to take his crutch as his gift to the child. When he gave his crutch to the kings to give to the child of Bethlehem, he was miraculously cured. He then begged his mother to allow him to travel to Bethlehem with the kings to give thanks to this child for his healing. The composer said he was inspired to write this operetta by his own experience as a child in Italy. In his childhood there was no Santa Claus who brought gifts at Christmas time. Instead, the three kings brought gifts to children on the 6th of January. In the booklet for the opening performance of the operetta he wrote, ‘I actually never met the Three Kings—it didn’t matter how hard my little brother and I tried to keep awake at night to catch a glimpse of the Three Royal Visitors, we would always fall asleep just before they arrived. But I do remember hearing them. I remember the weird cadence of their song in the dark distance; I remember the brittle sound of the camel’s hooves crushing the frozen snow; and I remember the mysterious tinkling of their silver bridles… To these Three Kings I mainly owe the happy Christmas seasons of my childhood’. When he came to live in the United States the presence of Santa Claus everywhere at Christmas time led him to forget about the three kings. In November 1951 he had been commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company to write an operetta for television for Christmas. He wrote in that booklet that he didn’t have an idea in his head. As he walked through the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City one gloomy November afternoon in 1951, he came across the wonderful painting of the Adoration of the Magi by Hieronymus Bosch. He wrote ‘as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift’. Their gift was the inspiration he needed to write his operetta, ‘Amahl and the night visitors’. Perhaps we could ask ourselves, ‘What gift are the magi bringing us this feast of the Epiphany?’ How might their story speak to ours? The gospel story suggests that the magi were prompted to journey westward by the appearance of a bright star they had never seen before. The evangelist Matthew wants us to think of them as people who were used to studying the heavens. They looked upwards in amazement at the wonder of the star filled sky. There was a real contemplative dimension to their lives. They were absorbed by the beauty of the starry sky in all its radiance. Because they were attentive to this powerful and absorbing phenomenon, they noticed a new star when it appeared and were prompted to follow it. One of the gifts of the magi to us is perhaps that contemplative spirit which allows us to step back and really see what is before us. We can look without really seeing, just as we can hear without really listening. It is that contemplative spirit, that attentive looking and listening to the world around us, that can open us up to the signs of the Lord’s presence to us, those stars that leads us to the Lord. The Lord is always drawing us to himself. He is the light who enlightens everyone who comes into the world. We just need to be attentive to the presence of his light or the light of his presence. His light can shine upon us through a whole range of human experiences. For the magi, it took the form of the mysterious star, which launched them on a new journey. For Gian Carlo Menotti, it took the form of that painting in the Art Gallery in New York. His contemplative stance before this painting opened him up to the Lord’s light, launching him on the journey of creating his own work of art that would inspire many others. The Lord can also speak to us and inspire us to take some step through the people that cross our path in life, be it a close friend or even a stranger. The magi in the gospel reading teach us to be attentive to these signals from the Lord. The star that leads us to the Lord is there for all of us if we seek for it with an open heart, and with open ears and eyes. And/Or (iii) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord Today’s gospel reading puts before us two very contrasting responses to the news that the long-awaited Jewish Messiah had just been born. Astrologers from the East were so excited by this news that they set out on a long journey to find the child so as to pay him homage. King Herod in Jerusalem was so perturbed by the same news that he sought to kill the child. Today on this feast of the Epiphany we are asked to identify with the response of the astrologers, the wise men, from the East. They were people who were very observant of God’s natural world, in particular that part of God’s natural world that came into view when darkness descended. They observed and studied the stars. They were fascinated by the stars. Yet, they recognized that the stars, for all their splendour, pointed beyond themselves to some more wonderful reality, to God. So, when they heard that God was visiting our world in a new way through a child who had just been born, they set out in search of that child. These exotic figures from the East show us how being attentive to God’s natural world can draw us closer to God. This can happen in different ways for different people. For the wise men it was their fascination with the stars that led them to the true light of the world. For others, the sea can have a similar impact, revealing in some mysterious way the depth and power of God. The redness of a rose spoke to Joseph Mary Plunket of the redeeming death of Christ. God can speak to us in a variety of ways through the world of nature. The wise men teach us to be attentive and observant of God’s world, so that in and through it we may experience the presence of the living God. There came a point on the journey of the wise men when they needed more that the signs of nature to find the child whom they were seeking. When they came to Jerusalem they had to ask, ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ To make the last short step on their long journey, they needed more than the light of a star. They needed the light of the Scriptures. The chief priests and the scribes who knew the Scriptures were able to point them in the direction of Bethlehem. On our own journey towards the Lord, we too need the light of the Scriptures as well as the light of nature. The Scriptures are a fuller revelation of God than the natural world. It is in and through the Scriptures that we meet God and his Son in a special way. Through the Scriptures God speaks to us in a privileged way. He asks us to listen and to allow our lives to be shaped by what we hear. The wise men allowed themselves to be guided by the Scriptures, as well as by the star. They showed something of that responsiveness to God’s word to which we are all called. Having been moved by the presence of God in nature and in the Scriptures, the wise men came face to face with God in a child. They did not worship the star; they did not even worship the Scriptures. But they did worship the child, because they recognised that here was Emmanuel, God-with-us. We too worship Emmanuel, and we do so in a special way every time we celebrate the Eucharist. As the wise men expressed their worship by offering the child their precious gifts, we express our own worship of the Lord in the Eucharist by offering him gifts, and our most precious gift is the gift of our lives. In the Eucharist we give ourselves to the Lord, in response to his giving of himself to us as bread of life, saying ‘Here I am’ in response to his ‘Take and eat’. The gospel reading tells us that, after worshipping the child, the wise men returned home by a different way. Their meeting with the infant king of the Jews somehow changed them. Our own worship of the Lord in the Eucharist will often prompt us to take a different path too. We come to the Eucharist open to being changed by our meeting with the Lord. We are sent forth from the Eucharist to follow the way of the Lord more closely. We pray on this feast of the Epiphany that we would be as open to the Lord’s path as the wise men were. And/Or: (iv) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord There is a tradition in certain parts of Latin America that on the feast of the Epiphany a small plastic baby Jesus is hidden in a cake baked specially for the feast day. The hiding of the plastic figure signifies the efforts to hide the child Jesus from the evil intentions of King Herod. As the cake is cut, the slicing knife represents the danger posed to the infant Jesus by the cruel king. In some places the tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the small figure of Jesus is obliged to host the next family gathering on February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. In other places, the one who finds the plastic figure in his or her portion receives gifts from those present. These traditions make tangible both the dangers that threatened the child Jesus as soon as he was born and the excitement of discovering the child Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, to be Emmanuel, God-with-us. If the danger posed to the child Jesus is represented by King Herod the excitement of discovering the child Jesus is expressed by the magi from the East who, on arriving to Bethlehem, fell to their knees to worship the infant king of the Jews and then offered him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Charles Dickens wrote a book entitled ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, based on the French revolution. One commentator has entitled the story we have just heard in the gospel reading, ‘A Tale of Three Cities’. There is Jerusalem, the city of Herod; there is Bethlehem, the city, or more the town, of David, where Jesus was born, and then the unnamed city in the East from where the visitors who sought the infant king of the Jews hailed. The word ‘Epiphany’ means a showing forth, a setting in the light. Today we celebrate the good news that God showed forth his Son to all the nations, Jews and pagans alike. It is the pagan visitors from the unnamed city of the East who reveal to us how to respond to God’s showing forth of his Son, God’s gift of his Son. Jesus was born into a Jewish world and these visitors from the East were strangers in that world; they were outsiders. It often takes strangers, outsiders, to show us how to respond to God’s gift of his Son, how to appreciate the great riches of our faith, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and in the other sacraments, the life-giving message of the Scriptures, in particular, the gospels. In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of people coming to live among us from abroad, many of them from the East, from Eastern Europe and from much further East, the Far East, others from the South, from Africa. They often bring an enthusiasm and appreciation for the treasures of the faith, that, perhaps, we have lost somewhat. They have enriched the church by their readiness to share their gifts and energies with the church here in their adopted homeland. Although in the emerging tradition of the church the visitors from the East have become kings and are portrayed as kings in our traditional cribs, they are not called kings in the gospel reading. They are called ‘magi’, translated as ‘wise men’. The term ‘magi’ referred to people who had special knowledge, experts in some field or other, and in the case of our magi, it would appear, experts in astronomy or astrology. The rising of a new star suggested to these ‘magi’ the birth of a new Jewish king, to whom they wished to do homage. They saw a new light and they chose to follow the light, wherever it led them. They represent all those, of whatever creed or persuasion, who seek to follow the light, the light of truth. The magi are the ancestors of all of us who seek the truth. It was their own natural skills of searching and interpreting the skies - their own natural knowledge and wisdom - that launched them on their search. Those natural gifts brought them to Jerusalem, but the gospel reading suggests that they needed the guidance of the Jewish Scriptures to direct them to Bethlehem where the infant king of the Jews would be found. Reason and the revelation of Scripture worked together to bring them to the Lord. Their profile in the gospels reminds us that our natural gifts of mind and reason need never be an obstacle to faith. The magi came to recognize that the brightest star of all was Christ the Lord; he was ‘light from light’, in the words of the Creed. Jesus is God’s gift to all who seek the truth; he is not a gift for a select few. The figure of Herod in the gospel reading can symbolize the forces that work to prevent us finding the one for whom we long. We can encounter many obstacles on our journey towards the Lord of light and truth. Yet, the gospel reading also suggests that the obstacles will not ultimately prevail if we are faithful to our search for the true light. We are about to witness the baptism of John. The light of Christ will shine upon him through this sacrament and the flame of faith will be kindled in his young life. And/Or: (v) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord The planet Mars has been in the news in recent weeks, both for the apparent failure of the European mission to land a probe there and, in contrast, the great success of the American mission. You may have seen on the TV some of the pictures of the Martian surface that the American craft has started to send back. One of the scientists at NASA commented that it is remarkable to look up into the night sky at the planet Mars and to realize that we have now landed a craft on the planet that is sending back pictures from its surface. Men and women have always been fascinated by the night sky with its myriads of stars and planets. Once the Wright brothers took to the air a hundred years ago this year, it was only a matter of time before we succeed in landing on some of these planets. The wise men in our gospel reading today were star gazers. They were closer to modern-day astrologers than modern-day astronomers. It is difficult to look up at a brilliantly lit starry sky and not to be overawed by the wonder, the beauty and the mystery of the universe. That sense of awe in the face of our ever expanding universe can touch what is deepest and most spiritual in us. We can be opened up to the wonder, not only of creation, but of the creator. As one of the psalms puts it, ‘the heavens proclaim the glory of God’. According to our gospel reading, the star gazing of the wise men from the east launched them on a spiritual quest, a search for God’s anointed one, a king in whom God was present in a unique way. Their fascination with one particular star brought them west to Jerusalem and eventually to Bethlehem, where they found the one for whom they were searching. Having found him, they worshipped him and left him their gifts, before returning home by another way. There is something of the searcher in all of us. There is a restlessness in us for what is ultimate and absolute, for what is good and beautiful and true. The busyness of our lives can sometimes cut us off from that restlessness within. We can loose touch with the searcher within ourselves. It often takes a period of enforced inactivity to help us make contact again with the deeper longings within us that get silenced by the pace of life. It was while recovering from the wounds of battle that Ignatius of Loyola began to notice his deepest desires for God, his longing to serve God and to do God’s will. When he recovered from his wounds, he set out, like the wise men, by a different way. Sometimes an opportunity for quiet retreat can do the same for us. We take an opportunity that comes our way to step back from our usual comings and goings, and to focus on those deeper voices within us that can so easily get silenced. In a prayerful atmosphere, perhaps with some guidance, we get in touch with the searcher within ourselves again. We begin to attend to the Lord and his call. Having met the Lord anew, we return home again by a different way, somehow changed. A pilgrimage can have the same effect on us. We find ourselves joining a group that are travelling together to some holy place, some place that has been touched in some way by God, by people of God. There, in this special place, something deep within us is touched. We are helped to see ourselves and others in a different light, in God’s light. We are helped to take a different way, a better way. Today’s feast speaks to the searcher in all of us. We are invited to identify with these wise men from the East who invested time, energy and resources in seeking out the one whom God sent to us. Their search was very much in response to God’s initiative. They came to Bethlehem because God had already visited that place. God had spoken a word which they were alert enough to hear. Our search is always a response to God’s initiative towards us. God seeks us out before we seek out God. Over the Christmas period we have been celebrating the wonderful way God has sought us out in the person of his Son, who became flesh, taking on a human life like yours and mine. God sent his Son to seek out and to save the lost, and that includes all of us. We are already the objects of God’s search. God’s searching love continues to call out to us, and to draw us. Our search is always only a response to that greater search, the search of a love that is greater than any human love. Today’s feast invites us to pause and allow ourselves to be touched by God’s searching love, so that, like the wise men, we can set out on our own search for the Lord who seeks us out. As we set out on that journey, the Lord will provide us with stars to guide us. Those stars will often take the form of people who themselves have been true to their own deepest longings and whose lives are pointing towards God. We need to be alert to the signals the Lord gives us to guide our way towards his great light. As we enter that light and allow that light to shine on us, we too will find ourselves setting out by a different way, one that corresponds more to the Lord’s way. And/Or (vi) Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord The story of the magi from the East that we have just heard has inspired artists and poets down through the centuries. In the last century, the poet TS Eliot wrote a poem entitled, ‘The Journey of the Magi’. It begins, ‘A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter’. We celebrate this feast in the very dead of winter, when the days are short and dark. Yet the feast of the Epiphany is very much a feast of light. The word ‘Epiphany’ means ‘manifestation’ or ‘showing forth’. Today’s feast celebrates the shining forth of Emmanuel, God with us, to all who are seeking the face of God, who are searching for truth, looking for meaning and purpose in their lives. The feast of the Epiphany announces that the Christ child is the journey’s end for all such seekers. The magi from the East are patrons of all who are searching for a greater light and a fuller truth. They are symbols of hope for all who struggle to God by strange routes. The writer Evelyn Waugh wrote a prayer to the magi for one of his fictional characters which catches something of this hope: ‘You are my especial patrons, and patrons of all latecomers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation’. It is likely that by using the term ‘magi’ Matthew intended scholars who studied the stars, and who, in contemplating the heavens, sought the God of heaven and earth. They hoped that the language of the stars would speak to them of God. So it was that when one unusual star appeared, they followed it, believing it would lead them to a new born child who was the long awaited King of the Jews, God’s anointed one. Their journey was driven by a question, which they put to the inhabitants of Jerusalem on arriving in that great city, ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ Often it is our questions that bring us closer to the Lord. The question, ‘Where is Jesus to be found?’ is one of the deeper questions of life. People have always asked that question. They may not ask it in that form, but they ask ‘Where is truth to be found?’ ‘Where is light and life to be found?’ They are, in reality, seeking the one who said of himself, ‘I am the truth; I am the light; I am the life’. The magi are their patrons. They are patrons of us all because we all remain seekers until that day when we pass over from this life and come to see the Lord face to face. As Saint Augustine said, ‘our hearts are restless, until they rest in God’. The magi were led to Bethlehem by a star. There is always a star that guides us towards Bethlehem. The Lord will find ways of drawing us towards himself, if we are genuinely searching for him. The Lord drew the magi to himself from within their own experience; they were stargazers and it was through the stars that he spoke to them. The Lord will speak to us too from within our particular set of experiences, if we have ears to hear. Yet, as the Lord draws us towards himself, there will be other forces that seek to draw us away from the Lord. The magi discovered this for themselves. As they came closer to their final destination, they encountered people who were not genuine seekers after truth, Herod, the representative of the political power, and his allies, the chief priests and scribes. When Herod asked, ‘where is Jesus to be found?’, where the King of the Jews was to be born, it was out of fear that here was someone who might threaten his own status as King of the Jews. His hypocrisy is evident is his invitation to the magi to return to him and tell him all about the child so that he may worship him. On our journey towards the Lord, we will inevitably encounter our own version of Herod and his entourage. That is why Jesus teaches us to pray, ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ When these strangers from the East finally reached the child whom they had been seeking, they worshipped him, and they placed at his service their most valuable treasures. They invite us to ask of ourselves, ‘Before whom do we kneel in worship?’ ‘Do we live worshipping the child of Bethlehem?’ ‘Do we place at his feet our own possessions, our resources and gifts?’ It is said of the magi that, having encountered the child, they returned to their country by a different way. The treasure they received from this child was more precious than the gifts they brought and it changed their lives forever; they went home different people. Any genuine encounter with the Lord will always change us in some fundamental way. The conclusion of Eliot’s poem captures this truth, ‘We returned to our places, these kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods’. Fr Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ieJoin us via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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mrsmonde-blog · 4 years

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yep

People should not be jail in a building, brings confusion, love once they are out and laziness/hooliganism as brothers, people get to help each others even the once you didnt know so teaches you bad precept and thats precisely with USA. People should be put on cars outside in large compound, 1 person per one car to bring about disgust and lack of comfort to make that person hate multitude and be alone as someone.

Open the Facebook interface of signing up the write any name like 1st name write books and surname write swahili and email write swahilibooks56@gmail/yahho.com for example, it will accept not refuse or your friend name still wont refuse- try dude, stop disturbance bro.

Click the link below dude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqYjdaCfgvE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_iWO1kXl_w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWqpphC0rY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDpkBOzLxnE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqtEzthzxuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hm3zc_RRTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESiGhKY0bvM

With all the tumblr names i have provided you, if i didnt give you the link to open on the next bar, just view/see how this link is written the replace with that name.

Click the link/url below

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mcbethnelson

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mondefederor

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/osienelsonmonde

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/andrewanampongolo

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jeremitrup

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/olivertambodoudenam

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mcsleepymonde

click this link bro

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/eberhartnelson

Nyimi mit mochanda kwani e-wiro mooh mane to magdalin othiego mooh mane, ndukle yawa, wajamani. When the pussy of a certain women of a nation is sweet it means they are poor or in a worry and thats how its known and vice versa. Planes should be equipped with bearing machines even on phones and small solar/battery powered motor boat stored on the cargo center and that center once the pilot have alerted a fall opened to let loose all cargo as an entrance from the passenger side to the cargo side to pick the small boat is made like in this song guys- click the link dude below. This is done to know where you are going once a fall happens and parachutes as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7zMD-Finz0

Future song means to the Africans that we have already known what we wanted to know so lets deviate bro, where they are in a place like the moon or desert bro. Who is able to see where a car/gadget is from by directly looking at it in revelation 5 whether from uk, mexico or China. The root of David after putting a bob coin on the palm of his hand and holding it a little while then meditate shortly. Cyber in Africa can build a city after a camera is put to monitor the flow of people where we can count how my minute they have spent as well as printing and photocopying and many in Nairobi have capitalized on this bro to build the city alongside selling of banana, apple, maize choma, sausages and melons.

Tea as well can grow in Homa bay nyanza and that sweet one more than kericho one so why pride yourself dude only two kenya former provinces cant grow tea and that is North Eastern and Coast provinces. They have learnt that they cant get out the comments on youtube once the owner of the post is dead and the email is di-enable so they resort to looking up in that they want to blow off the server of either FB, tumblr or youtube via a plane like the september ny attack for the posts to vanish not knowing some have printed the same so the opt for direct flight then in the final analysis say it was all accident. To avert that trains can be controlled from below once the reach the city of departure, can be made that way to stop silly misconduct bro.

nelsonunderwood or upholsterynelson or vice versa check guys. Nairobi and many cities of Africa or SEA south East Asia are built as well using the money paypal send to your bank or M-pesa one week after you open it. They recruit young men who again after withdrawing that cash send to one recruited collector per group of people then send it to one number to build cities like Nairobi. With M-pesa line they own the company or the bank they will provide you with as long as you remit your weekly/daily target and its a oath and other tribes like luo, youruba, kisii followed suit as well as coasterians or masai and many more. PayPal should be noted not to send people money period.

Gadgets like missiles, some jets and other machines are made from a lofty high but from a gorge, inclination, dug big pool which is deep by sprinkling of saliva, sperms or sewerage water dude.

How to remove phone no or email address from your a/c as well you can write a yahoo a/c when signing up a Gmail a/c, Gmail cant send a notification to yahoo no-matter-what but when you write it, yahoo mail it takes so in recovery you are left only with password or phone no as recovery which you can remove and go to change password option then on another bar like word write your own thing by just pressing letter/numbers randomly which cant be read then you cut then copy paste on new password twice, if you sign out then turn off the computer when you turn it on, you or another fellow cant log into it again- its permanently dis-enabled dude. Click the links below fellows for full information

https://techzillo.com/remove-phone-number-google-account/

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+change+a+new+password+on+a+gmail+account&oq=how+to+change+a+new+password+on+a+gmail+account&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.17310j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Russians are Fulani and most Fulani got kamba blood from mar so most Russians are kamba so they talk like not joking to separate themselves from kamba people. Nebuchadnezzar was Guyana blood, vineyard and worker parable to cement the truth and not enough he was dutch blooded- Netherlands, bro and Argentinian who saw the beauty of Ondingame as babylOnding and migrated to settle there and in Lazarus parable he was the rich-man dude. Get this straight fellows, dont be fooled guys. Most dutch women are guyanians, be warned people who hate progress of others but hidden as Daniel in the den of lion to remind you guys but on the outside like nebu used to visit Daniel they are good to peoples eye.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_107.cfm

Even the German father mother Mr Edom as Esau who Jacob the polish father took his bath right had Guyana blood. The war in Germoney brought the polish into USA 4 us to know their character of wanting or taking peoples things by force like they did to Esau, ES End Signs bro, Empire state, most states were built with 2goinvoice money and the technology most nations have know and is worrying the USA. Guyana people love much sex just like Edom did who was hunting for the women as pursuing/seducing them not real hunter and it was figurative when he brought stew back home 4 Jacob to Eat as have sex with dude and Get this clear, I have lived b4 time.

Nyolo kebi neywak marach ma, kang’amo tong gi ojala madik, says eunice, pamela confirming en-hamano. amanda gi mochanda nini imefanya nyimi yako x 3, halafu owacho ang’omuwiche jokanyama kose lit toakia x3, he couldnt stop that all night at bar kalare b4 the drone took him off plainlands hotel in the middle of the night. If you eat plain rice and give it to meditation when you put the minds of people to your mind, rather the picture of people, you see a cusket in the country they were buried to signify second death and thats how its know. Now what do hindu need, they came here to wait 4 kebi and now wants to get into his logging by wanting the password like an infant? Fuck that dude, it needs a Cain bro to cane not like it did to abel bro. King of the jew to cement the truth.

They again make money via many interview with the bus company if those people to be interview board that bus like Easy Coach and the very people sometimes come from the interview surrounding but forge receipt to be payed as if they came from far and they eat with the people who advertised the job, the bus company sometimes and the people who posses the big man syndrome like the dignitaries. They call many people 4 one job to maximize the profits. Susan jomathindo gi blochawa bwana, we used to partake 3 bottles of black&white but now we can only afford one, so what can we do to maintain the respect they ask? Well susan we will give you everyday an extra 100 shillings 4 this awesome deal, just bring to our desk 3 botles but 2 are of water but when dusk fall you return them 4 the next day 4 respect. Miss Susan is the deal sealed asking achayo mochayo G not acher in Genesis 49 or jeremiah chapter tisa/nine.

They need to make a 1 tonne safe or with holes that you can put bolts to cement on the ground that thiefs cant break into and that why its called a safe not just what they put on papers as safe. It should have a key as well or the 3 digit pascode of taking it forward to rest on 1 number then back in the middle the forward again on a certain number to open the safe box, am championing this and this more than to be the president of kenya, padlocks should also be made not of an opening key but the code system like in the USA shelters bro. How many times should i have to say/explain this. Accept you are poor or poverty then we forge a head kenyans, dont be hard and silly, derails us period.

The tall people had utility of cutting fire wood long time and thats why they used to be tolerated but now techmo-ology has gotten them handy, we go wood cutters which are cheap we can buy and use at home or electricity which is cheap has gotten into peoples homestead to heat/cook and thats why partly they are very upset/rude. If you take an inverter and connect to a motor bike wet cell then to the cutter like in the link below you cut you big log even someone below the age of 10 yrs so over tall people above 6 ft in height think twice. Hindus have now be-friended some other fellow nearby, they even come with their kid but alongside carry fake things like medicine or certain foods they have bewitched to replace with and sell to other fellows. Stop this dude. They include mandazi, sweets, soda, salt, yellow diabetic added flour etc.

https://toolandgo.com/best-electric-saws-for-cutting-wood/

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/eberhartnelson

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mondefederor

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nelsonmcbeth

Click the link above

Second death were one died as a kid then went to hell not fire but brought to the earth via the vent not incarnation. These people disturb, smooth skined and wants big life not wanting progress of others. If they know of this from you they kill you. King of the jew to cement the truth, they are just awaiting the second death described in the book of revelation Bor, aborigins, far, mbali if translated dude. click the link below dudes 4 full data https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_107.cfmhttps://www.tumblr.com/blog/mondefederor Even the German father mother Mr Edom as Esau who Jacob the polish father took his bath right had Guyana blood. The war in Germoney brought the polish into USA 4 us to know their character of wanting or taking peoples things by force like they did to Esau, ES End Signs bro, Empire state, most states were built with 2goinvoice money and the technology most nations have know and is worrying the USA. Guyana people love much sex just like Edom did who was hunting for the women as pursuing/seducing them not real hunter and it was figurative when he brought stew back home 4 Jacob to Eat as have sex with dude and Get this clear, I have lived b4 time. Nyolo kebi neywak marach ma, kang’amo tong gi ojala madik, says eunice, pamela confirming en-hamano. amanda gi mochanda nini imefanya nyimi yako x 3, halafu owacho ang’omuwiche jokanyama kose lit toakia x3, he couldnt stop that all night at bar kalare b4 the drone took him off plainlands hotel in the middle of the night. If you eat plain rice and give it to meditation when you put the minds of people to your mind, rather the picture of people, you see a cusket in the country they were buried to signify second death and thats how its know. Now what do hindu need, they came here to wait 4 kebi and now wants to get into his logging by wanting the password like an infant? Fuck that dude, it needs a Cain bro to cane not like it did to abel bro. King of the jew to cement the truth. They again make money via many interview with the bus company if those people to be interview board that bus like Easy Coach and the very people sometimes come from the interview surrounding but forge receipt to be payed as if they came from far and they eat with the people who advertised the job, the bus company sometimes and the people who posses the big man syndrome like the dignitaries. They call many people 4 one job to maximize the profits. Susan jomathindo gi blochawa bwana, we used to partake 3 bottles of black&white but now we can only afford one, so what can we do to maintain the respect they ask? Well susan we will give you everyday an extra 100 shillings 4 this awesome deal, just bring to our desk 3 botles but 2 are of water but when dusk fall you return them 4 the next day 4 respect. Miss Susan is the deal sealed asking achayo mochayo G not acher in Genesis 49 or jeremiah chapter tisa/nine. They need to make a 1 tonne safe or with holes that you can put bolts to cement on the ground that thiefs cant break into and that why its called a safe not just what they put on papers as safe. It should have a key as well or the 3 digit pascode of taking it forward to rest on 1 number then back in the middle the forward again on a certain number to open the safe box, am championing this and this more than to be the president of kenya, padlocks should also be made not of an opening key but the code system like in the USA shelters bro. How many times should i have to say/explain this. Accept you are poor or poverty then we forge a head kenyans, dont be hard and silly, derails us period. The tall people had utility of cutting fire wood long time and thats why they used to be tolerated but now techmo-ology has gotten them handy, we go wood cutters which are cheap we can buy and use at home or electricity which is cheap has gotten into peoples homestead to heat/cook and thats why partly they are very upset/rude. If you take an inverter and connect to a motor bike wet cell then to the cutter like in the link below you cut you big log even someone below the age of 10 yrs so over tall people above 6 ft in height think twice. Hindus have now be-friended some other fellow nearby, they even come with their kid but alongside carry fake things like medicine or certain foods they have bewitched to replace with and sell to other fellows. Stop this dude. They include mandazi, sweets, soda, salt, yellow diabetic added flour etc.

https://toolandgo.com/best-electric-saws-for-cutting-wood/https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mcbethnelson

Should have an office where what you want to sell or already advertised you take to not just on air. They can quot a % to take out of the one u have posted on the olx or craigslist website. Conman can use it to direct ya to locations they can ambush ya.

The spring water at bar kalare near the triangle facing like ship hills that drains into the bush grass make ya skin brown, smooth and supple but it has made much economies rich while the locals poor but desiring to go to nations the water have made rich leaving their land 4 the citizen of those rich nations to want to come and live near the water coz they know the utility of the spring water.

The repercussion of the said water is huge, as i can say its a curse and Christ was killed out iof this, it gives ya petty theft instinct or gondi, king of the jew and goat & sheep parable to cement de trut bro and it makes ya riwa as insane, good neighbor with yesus and mfalme wa yawhoodi to bring reality . MSOT SOAP AND BEAUTY PRODUCTS are made out of this,so u find the negro women or men got a peculiar character of being 1st,rude and not listening, its the water, infact kebi and many kisii draw dat water in jerrycans and ship them to the usa 4 divas and celebs like Minaj or j-lo to bath with periodically,but kebi of Kb is an alien to kenya,was adopted as i have copy pasted bro from another tumblra/c.

The Hindu have refused to understand as their stay in kenya is overdue, they say they are monitoring folks urinating, puking or defecating on the said water and thats 1 reason they came here but now hope u have know the consequences. The Hindu wheat finding its way into kenya and thats their only strength left, yet they have wounded many, but branded as local ones, to finish them let them brand it in their own name as Canada, SA, Pakistan, Britain, Germany, Greek, Russia 1 or any other nation, we wanna buy from a nation dat dont pride herself and respect the dignity of of persons and where wheat grows cereals like maize of grows and it applies to cornflakes and wheat flakes as maize flour as well.

Even their own car like Mahindra which is made out of another tribe looks more durable and compacted than their own reason being curse out of claiming to making rain yet they open the tap 4 respect but disturb the peace of working people and the fact that they lead people to strangle others and their securicor theft as much Hindu are of kisii blood as well some kisii are of masai blood and masai and trukan are the majority of the guards who still yet masai are trukana blooded as well as luo and kikuyou. Dude open ya eyes and leave, quit bro, feel defeat like the philistine and leave bro

The china houses 4 Africa the white man got along time but did not bring them to Africa,instead left people to degenerate the environment like lumbering, charcoal burning etc yet still they wanna tell us shit, without Kb their could no be justice even with online cash, Beat that mouth,or bring him down and with their women if they give ya fuck and leave,they are full of jealousy,they are of kikuyu blood and nothing good can came out of the kikuyu. Fuck you Mr white men who colonized Africa. Cut even with machete if still want to recruit fellows to go to Sa and perform theft.

With their stupid theory in books deluding people, if they dont change them, they risk finding themselves in hell fire burning- women with barnabas to cement the truth. The earth to not rotate on its own axis or revolved, its their own creation, if u take a flight from Moscow to Kampala, you are on air it it could be rotating like bingo board you could not have landed in Uganda but somewhere else to bring reality of their daytime lie. Fuck that bro, damn it dude!!

The link below rep a photocopier and the eye of the creator God behaves like in that photocopier to illuminate the earth to coz day and night in different spheres. When the light is face in the day it means there was thick cloud above to block the light to defuse to the earth crust and thats it is bro. Get it straight in the below link fellows

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrJ7FwGePhdgnkAtAtXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=photocopier+where+the+light+runs+on+paper&fr=crmas#id=4&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fz%2Fcopier-light-paper-11818880.jpg&action=click

Click the link below 4 cheap houses 4 Africa the whites had along time

https://adssettings.google.com/whythisad?reasons=AB3afGEAAALyW1tbW251bGwsWzFdLG51bGwsbnVsbCx0cnVlXSxbbnVsbCxudWxsLFtudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCwiaHR0cHM6Ly9kaXNwbGF5YWRzLWZvcm1hdHMuZ29vZ2xldXNlcmNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2Fkcy9wcmV2aWV3L2NvbnRlbnQuanM_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-ea-MMNbhcvceiJSUWmnim2ZW9CZxa-Z0cdWEwz1WXoe0Y0pUxngcIXHYIhgexL2AIFv4VuX896oRgvSKpmROUpatsz_iy3ApWZSpCY-dz4iTRoZXyUIv2kA1dNxVkjVAp4JY63LEHprtUP8p3ES8U6L3ZVMjUORY4AX4fq5hiVYXtFE5M7wekRkwH3qjMNcXxn0Hx6ynxq7AwtEF1saTyv9-zqBU_EJdZ_0QMXO8eSXEn0MwlAq9c4pIP4PX8ng,QwrHBJSCpTArMjWHbeY5IQ&source=display

U look strong, and robust in ya speech, says kebi, but in bed u kinda, ejaculate 1st as women u have encounter says, friend strong men overstay and thats the true meaning of a man, stop ya shit and start bending ya head wherever seat 4 people to understand ya, message u r week. Thi kucho x3, End huko x3 saying as if hurling sperm out of ejaculations, take ya swag to ya mother,utters delanu.

1 note Dec 17th, 2019

God dont even leave behind his impotent men behind, now we got the penis gel to expand it and make it works in the below link bro even nyamau with smelly mouth

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geKeNL5_ld6dMAVp9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=gel+applied+on+penis+photos&fr=crmas

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A2KLfSCA5_ldK4gA8ixXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=nyama+tree+name+in+English&fr=crmas

Buy electrical generator EG, for example and you need not electric supply in ya premise/house as you can use solar to charge its battery or willy bird mounted on a car alternator then to a solar charger controller. Click the links below 4 more

Images of no fuel Generator and charge it at no-extra cost

https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/no-fuel-electric-generator.html

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrEzNQr6fld600AvjmJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZ29xY3ZzBHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEc2xrA2J1dHRvbg–;_ylc=X0kDUjhRQTRERXdMaks1ajhKT1hldjMzZ0YyTkRFdU9RQUFBQUNXSlBzVwRfUwM5NjA2Mjg1NwRfcgMyBGFjdG4DY2xrBGNzcmNwdmlkA1I4UUE0REV3TGpLNWo4Sk9YZXYzM2dGMk5ERXVPUUFBQUFDV0pQc1cEZnIDY3JtYXMEZnIyA3A6cyx2OmksbTpzYi10b3AEZ3ByaWQDYjNleU8wcXhRVldMUnQ1MTJ2S1pZQQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDMQRvcmlnaW4DaW1hZ2VzLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMwBHFzdHJsAzMyBHF1ZXJ5A3Bob3RvcyUyMG9mJTIwd2lsbHliaXJkJTIwb24lMjByb29mJTIwdG9wcwR0X3N0bXADMTU3NjY1OTI1MwR2dGVzdGlkA0I4Mjg4?p=photos+of+willybird+on+roof+tops&fr=crmas&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Ai%2Cm%3Asb-top&ei=UTF-8&n=60&x=wrt

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrE1xZO6fldy0gAo9xXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=solar+charger+controller&fr=crmas

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrJ7KBu6fldacAAehpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=car+alternator&fr=crmas

Looking 4 areas with strong purchasing power in cloths,small middle sized economy so they fell on E-Africa as Kenya is the Gateway to sell cloths they have known how to make, The Negros but sadly enough every tribe has learnt the same, The E-Africa got as well big population to buy, With Ghana its far from Nigeria so they cant trade well and Nigeria alone can be diminished anytime coz they economy its 90% oil funded yet many Nations like Germany 10 yrs back had E-vehicles yet they hid it from them that if launch could jeopardize their whole agenda bro. That was the trick or plan dude, Moreover look 4 nations that had swag in their songs mostly seen as competing their interests.

Nigerians like building their houses in puff up or crowded places,they have well ample spaces and thats how they are known. Like in the link below

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrJ7FiG6_ldsV0AhVVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=huruma+flats&fr=crmas#id=12&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5792%2F30746397750_7090e3c6b9_b.jpg&action=click

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrJ61m06_ldOagACohXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=harlem+ny&fr=crmas

Even women like their men insane even so many govt to control the tough head, so use the spring water at bar kalare hinter to achieve the purpose, even European, Asian or any jail and the water is bought 4 that and its utility, even 2pac shower in La that water was pumped and he used it to somehow grow him nuts. Click the link below 4 more

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrE1x.Q7PldKTUAho1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZnQ2Z3BrBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=shakur+tupac+out+of+courtroom+speech&fr=crmas#id=6&vid=a780bff2762f88e23b182fdcd0552ecf&action=view

Tea leave made gadgets are shinny and weak and moreover can land u in hell if u know about such gadgets and still own 1 because that tea plantation is huge while the majority still sleep hungry yet the tea plucked is only plucked from 20% of the land tea is grown meaning 80% is laying idle which could be used to grow cereals or other crops that can grow there like avocado bro

1 note

Check on YouTube dude 4 full data and google what link is bro

Check on my following followers bro, check on you-tube how to locate tumblr following and followers or what is url/link

The link below shows country that have adopted e-buses technology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bus

I left my tumblr open with the email known on the setting tumblr section, i wanted them to buy line send magic link and change anything they wanna but to no avail, so am guessing the email i know not by putting cursor in between the previous 1 and incorporating numbers/letters 1 after another word but tomorrow they will wake up saying they want the guessed email which i know not coz i guessed as explained even if i know the password which i haven’t change. To log in into an a/c u got to 1st know the email address then the email, the former cant do even if u know the latter. Mr Hindu whats the hoot, whats ya want, pack bro, times up. Kiss of death album. Click the down link 4 more, wind up dude, u wanna hit his kisigino even if known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_of_Death_(Jadakiss_album)

Password was pitatheko45

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A2KLfR_BefddcCQAtbNXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=cow+penis+photos&fr=crmas

If you go to the shop and buy meat balls with a piece of such above in the stew ya lips come deep red esp the upper 1 to the point folks think u r diabetic so take heed bro!!!

If u buy used things people leave you alone as you are the market when they are stuck, kinda, you are Jesus in their lives. It came some1 live long if the used gadget was not of theft and kinda you can evade hell as is a big time help to those people when stuck in solving life issues.

If Mr orezo wants my money let him tell WSU to give it to me then in return i give it to him to share among his acquaintances, I can be of help to ya. What do u want to caress my penis, then think twice u have stepped of a wrong stone trying to cross a stagnant water or river that disintegrate while you have left the hard ones so ya mind has fooled ya bro. When they heard kebi is about to chop off his penis they long to play with, kinda, they wanna break out a fight. How silly is this folks!! Chaukwela, gays of SA robbery, me what i got is enaough 4 me and moreover Sa rich get money via carry1st and u can google dat. In www.carry1st.com you play the secrete question option, by just losing and snap shoting as taking photos of the question with another phone many time or as a group or many people then right the asked question down and google them finding the answer,cramming or putting them at ya finger tips then go 4 it again using big money to gain much1st to even buy an automobile the next day or house and evade poverty. Get money off carry1st and do a tattoo they bring swali mingi-kisii, whats the hoot or what u want dude, to live all alone in this world, answer me dude!!

1 note Dec 16th, 2019

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Waters of bara/dala in the bible was omission era, waters of mara. Bar kalare spring water makes ya soft and supple and more brown, this same water is added to cleanser and facial scrab to make ya body or face as sking soft and tender. Company like Johnson and Johnson or Nivea employ this. Same the spring at Bar Kalare is taped from below as I have explained in other tumblr following this tumblr a/c and directed at the ship in the SEA. Processed in the Naval ships then sold, witout dat water state like new jersy or SA firms wont be there or their economy wont be dat larges. U must to crafty to make it, must step on 1 toe to triumph and that’s the rule of the thump. Can stop this by channeling sewer water unto the water where it percolates to the ground or don’t lets it run on the ground pump it and find its use, maybe to a nearby tank coz it aint to much and many other spring waters of the world with different feeling if u use.

As well you can talk to plane company b4 it takes off to allow ya put thermometer mounted with the super glue on the plane window to ascertain if the one behind every seat is reality or just a hoax and they should allow u coz it wont destroy the plane period dude.

Click the link below and see how a dredger that can use siren gas and controlled like drone can be made to dig across the earth surface to the outer space.

https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/hand_torch.html?sti=m7y610xq56xrue5nx0|

The illuminating part is the grinder/drill, the whole of it but stating from the small tip to the end of the rotating shaft while like the battery section slender carrying the gas dat takes it up and down period. New heights New innovations, The Bandwagon Co, Mr Nelly G, They got to know.

Now they are not worried at all, the Nigerian blooded men and kid as earlier wanting good things from u, wanting to get ya in a bind with their women so they come along. Now their kids, kinda, are advising ya showing u all is well with them. Nyasaye okwe joge chien phrase to cement the trut as they have known to make artificial food to blend with their few grown ones. No hungers so their hurts settled, even their miss laughing. Anyway its a plus even women with small bodied are not left behind as we got booty cream even men with disabilities as in sex, smelling mouth we got Overripe pineapple and nyamau respectively to correct de mischief. To be left behind means you have gotten the key to ya plight, I mean u have gotten it right as even body parts can be changed from 1 person to another as u can buy and put a smile on ya face again bro and that’s precisely the meaning, get it straight dude!!

You defecate and just change the panty (many) and boom heavy machinery, big vehicle, plane, drones are made in the dark

The luo blooded men, that person, if u refuse his dirty tricks/ways, he kinda, brand u names or wanna fight u 4 no apparent reason or say u r dirty, sexually weak, we have known them and are now going nowhere as earlier not known, the better.

1 note Dec 16th, 2019

http://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/finance-companies/behind-walmarts-push-to-eliminate-1-gigaton-of-greenhouse-gases-by-2030/ar-AAKa4ar?li=AAFNcqt&ocid=iehp

http://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/topstories/electrolux-to-incur-dollar70-million-charge-for-us-overhaul/ar-AAK9UYR?li=AAFNcqt&ocid=iehp

http://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/topstories/uber-plans-to-double-down-on-bikes-and-scooters-next-year-%e2%80%94-especially-in-europe/ar-AAK9WHU?li=AAFNcqt&ocid=iehp

Am not prepared to live large dude, it belongs 2 the prepared and i aint prepared. Alot of misharps from people in the headline above, kinda they want to like kill u if u dont condon their nature. Rather go to a place where u r ugly and the rest cool than u and it goes well with ya bro. I will burn my money, sure, maybe it will give me rest and live in a small metalic house like in the link below

https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/small-house.html\

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/African-economical-beach-hut-prefabricated-small_60578719263.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.1.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/small-fully-furnished-prefab-houses-for_62037456796.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.26.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Small-House-Plans-Images-Fiber-Cement_60599235227.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.46.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrEwhEYfvRdy3MApCRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=e-tuk+tuk&fr=crmas

https://gzyhmzp.en.made-in-china.com/product/njcJmgTyvHWu/China-Chinese-Wooden-Home-Furniture-Set-Kitchen-Cabinets-Products-Cabinetry-Furniture-YH-KC1007-.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjdOF2MC05gIVYiLTCh0I5g4kEAEYASAFEgJycPD_BwE

Message to the above i did not make u bwana, i aint God if u think am 1 or played part in placing u inside your mothers womb and i know not with me i was born without my concent and luckily came out as handsome gotten from people and true brown mirror found at Sumner county detention center in Kansas not the false mirror u use giving ya dirty information.

Minaj why being mean, send me some bucks iput in my pocket, as a man u need something in ya pocket, Girl what else can i say, send me some cash i put in my pocket to be a man as well. Being mean where will it take u to, answer me Girl, To lodwar or Wichita falls, TX, i guess no dude, then send me some money i put in my pocket Girl.

Give me dat pussy provided clean and i will hit but dont b like u own me dats the fear they come up with.

The masai behaved men out of research are gay, when in no seen position and wid them, kinda, they wanna grab, caress or touch ya manhood bro and thats its dude. no doubt

https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/small-house.html\

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/African-economical-beach-hut-prefabricated-small_60578719263.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.1.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/small-fully-furnished-prefab-houses-for_62037456796.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.26.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Small-House-Plans-Images-Fiber-Cement_60599235227.html?spm=a2700.7724857.main07.46.6ed260afEA5qJ4

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrEwhEYfvRdy3MApCRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybXJsdDUzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkxNDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=e-tuk+tuk&fr=crmas

1 note Dec 14th, 2019

Get to see e-tuk tuk photos in the below link

Google electric tuk tuk from china or japan. College plotting attacks 4 their graduates students, the college should leave you free after your complete study. Lectures are hungry so they want ya cash, infact should be all online or scraped.

Wachana na stima the govt still gets money through dat area, buy, starter comp with a small motor or 2 wet cell 4 motor bike put in the small solar charger controller the to the inverter which u hide so it doesn’t spoil ya eye and light ya house, charge the battery with a 30-20 v solar panel

Govt to ration water so people know the hustle of getting water via a jerican to learn respect that life aint a bed of roses of belittling people. Same to block sewer line so people build their own super drum or sewer tank to see that they cant make it all alone and are part of that smelling sewer coz they use the sewer as well not to be 1st in critics, yet when it blocks they call sam1 to unblock it meaning they hate that person, moreover sewer roughages are used to make fertilizer we use to grow our crop as food we eat so why criticize it in the short run.

Rap Group the jesusnake, which 3 of the members were keneth, kenedy and kebi, jesusnakebi, kenedy or keyneth bro. Jesus in portugues means savior of a life time in ya life or anywhere, so they sang like snakes and their a tires were decorated of snakes.

Masai should be warn to get rid of tradition as it makes them rude, kinda, they want every1 to follow their rudeness, kinda the whites are sponsoring them to overturn the govt, they are skimmers. YES kikuyu/luo are Negros what do you want me to do, well, with oil you could keep ya own in govt but with Electric cars, Vehicle, bicycle it eliminates oil fully to end that sickness of being dat and this, if u are Negro then am not the us or Kenya dignitary to facilitate ya going to the embassy to get a visa, please consult and get 1 to be there, leave me all alone bro. The army should come along to thouroughly cain the masai, if they came with their spear and bow let the army shoot their legs coz they will never understand not.

So many want to get noticed so out of what they see people take photos with women in the media they want to be noticed yet they say their own stuff which resort u to much talking failure to which will not make u sleep if u don’t consult with others. Kinda, they get mad that u wanna join their class yet they get money off the net which if u get kinda, they wanna kill ya. Online money its 2 fold, brings out the unknown side with money which could have not been know and I salute dat and on the other hand funds hooliganism and groups among those who know it and those who know not bro Spoiling the nation with bad kids as women rush to marry such, so its better we have know it that we could not have know to further destroy the earth gene with bad kids- king of the jew to cement de trut.

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with carry1st use small accepted amount to get the question even 20 times and capture them with a camera phone then google their meaning then take a big cash and start the real betting, i guarantee u, u will never miss it and get rich trying many more with less unit. Can even play many people and save the question 4 the benefit of all to increase ya stek of accruing much money.

The link below rep chopi details and the liberation leaders of Mozambique frelimo were of dat tribe. Chopi means cleaver in swahili. Choping means sturding people as well as earnings they like, I got chopi blood.

If they cant provide us with padlocks that open both on the sides with no key so as to cut as the cut is available in the local shops at an extra fee then let us buy seal and put a padlock alongside it, in dat 4 u to open the padlock the seal with serial to identify it coz still 1 can replace another seal with the same serial after cut or buy your own bar-code machine sticker and reader so the the next day u counter check the seal if it was tampered to reduce theft which bring rudeness to other tribes who are involved in replacing stuff for counterfeit in shops or supermarkets.

Even the jew family whom i have described in many following of this tumblr were brought into this Earth planet in dat they were collected who married with other tribes that could infuse the whole tribe with bad kids/people period.

Click the link below 4 more pals

https://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+bar+code+stamper+machine&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUwMvvsK_mAhXF5eAKHTEtCOcQsAR6BAgIEAE&biw=1280&bih=913

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=913&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=rdDxXeagAdWfjLsPqNuQsA8&q=photos+of+bar+code+identifyier+machine&oq=photos+of+bar+code+identifyier+machine&gs_l=img.3…14843.20436..21591…0.0..0.260.2414.0j11j2……0….1..gws-wiz-img.MRvopkgA9iA&ved=0ahUKEwimq5DzsK_mAhXVD2MBHagtBPYQ4dUDCAc&uact=5

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=913&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=xdDxXYjdAoevUOX3magM&q=photos+of+bar+code+reader+machine&oq=photos+of+bar+code+reader+machine&gs_l=img.3…13320.14282..15290…0.0..0.274.1483.0j7j1……0….1..gws-wiz-img.eanDY1ZHYX0&ved=0ahUKEwjI08r-sK_mAhWHFxQKHeV7BsUQ4dUDCAc&uact=5

The masai liasing with the police are terorizing people in a lonely path, they walk as if is them alone who should use the path, even if u stand still or dont ask them their behaviour pattern they stop to start u again that if u continue they box ya or sturb ya wid their knife looking behind u see a motor bike operator come along that incase u fight the marshall up bro. Bad character, the ajab wheat is Canadian, lotus south african we can buy from more countries if u think u only got wheat and flowers can be artificially made, go wid ya Naivasha. They Arabs look upto Iran 4 wheat and Egypt 4 sugar and sold cotton, we are all Arabs lets share unless to sell their gadgets they must be good 4 satan to give them superb gadgets to sell to other nations who have refused to be good and thus their products are of counterfeit like Kenyan products or Hindu period.

1 note

wa kumwaga haraka ni wa kuleta maneno manechache na kuacha but b4 u start again anakuja na the same. The one who overstay is tuned to works and uses staunch warning in his limited speaking once in a while not periodically. Jaoloo piyo ja poke watu indirectly, friends don’t get annoyed now u know dem.

Flowers has no side effect coz they aint being eaten as artificially made flowers used to make paints as well as ripe banana can do the same.

I said the opposite God created people on earth and is the green man who left to planet mars from Earth with other pure tribes leaving mean or disturbing character mixed tribes here on earth out of relevant sources.

Jesusnakeneth was his rap name just like chameleonnaire or octopizzo, Root of David was the Gold locator named after king David to commemorate him. The stonelson was his Rap name and the builder rejected him b4 they went to planet Mars while leaving him here alone 4 many still white to disturb him. The builders was the name 4 green- Engineer Men, he wanted to be the saucer pilot by force so the green man said eat ya rudeness as we are leaving ya and fellows its that way. Just like Manchester or Chelsea, I know not well are called the Gunners not that they own arsenal.

https://www.tumblr.com/policy/en/terms-of-service

The link below with mushroom hse, the white 1 is made with many pile mushroom where in a bucket 2 or a group of people wash/rinsk their head in a bucket but in the dark and boom the house formed.

The brazilian many and latinos got kisii blood so are sponsoring the kisii here to get by and continue wid their rudeness or seen dirty tricks the Jamaica as well bro out of kebis research dude. Get this straight.

No where to turn to rest, inside my belly i did not sleep good, in the morning starts u with words as either wants to grab ya manhood or think u got no money u wanna borrow from them or at lunch time or any time with their food they have eaten engage u in their ways to walk out to take ya food or simply want ya food. Got to be all alone to be happy but it needs some money like in Gambler Kenny Rodgers song.

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The steel window should be replaced with think bank size glass window as the iron one inculcate rude spirit in kids as per research and many welded windows bro. Click the link below 4 more

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Migosi-Primary-School/171086240102654

Paul and Silas, prayed but the door which is remote controlled mistakenly was opened, so many though out of their prayer the door opened. Silaha is ammunition as well in kiswahili. Click the link below 4 more as remote opened door

https://www.aio-eastafrica.com/access-control/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0tTnpqOr5gIVB57VCh0RwQkyEAAYASAAEgLKlfD_BwE

https://www.amazon.com/Wsdcam-Wireless-Anti-Theft-Control-Security/dp/B00PYG7LH0

Check the foundation of houses i.e in Migosi Estate to locate dug holes dat leads to Louisiana facilitating crime and false hope. They hang light on the bottom point of the hole to guide the drone driver to divert upward bro. Lost coin parable and sheep and goat parable to bring out reality dude. Birds chapping ha ha ha and women with Barnabas to lead u to the secrecy bro.

Most luo with girl like big bowl like forehead with triangle like face got greek and kamba blood bro, take heed dude.

My dream house in below link, very simple

https://thedecorlove.tumblr.com/

[email protected]

The soothing head speakers in the link below as well can be made with cattle bones or the corpse of dead of prey animals found in the national parks and thats 1 of the reason the whites come as tourist to pick such but in pretense. Get it straight dude!!!!!

With dough or chaff as offering not Isaac as described in my following tumblr a/c, if u put/stuck many coins into ya pocket like from a table it makes any electric gadget you know, cranes, buses, electric cars, apparatus, jets, planes, drones anything u ask of dude.

I dont wanna sleep with ya women, know with the advance with china e-machines, now they have resorted to my sexuality even women dont look up but down on my manhood hoping its useless, some even cry like in a sexual encounter to boo me not knowing i have done without sex 4 quit a while and i can do wid out it bro. Men and women want to touch it even in public by force dude. Some even say in satire that am weak sexually having it in mind that they made it when i was young just like with Samson and delilia, no-matter de fact that he had delila he was sexual thwarted and weak in that they put in his belly ball bearings at tender age b4 sam1 who transfigure gets into the belly to hide it to avoid being defecated with feces. Christ with little kids parable to cement the truth and parable of the weed. So after long let say 20yrs the transfigure takes it back to the stomach after it has rusted and have much tetanus- ten minas parable to bring reality. The typhoid virus also can transfigure and be directed where to go in-mass like mostly settle in the penis and makes it numb, kinda, like an anesthesia has been injected, this makes u week sexually and gives ya headache and turmoil in ya life as it reduces the sexual pleasure and performance. So women will lough at ya dat u r week not knowing its their creation, if u dont know about it, u can kill ya self as impotent or waste ya money by visiting many doctors on 1 hand

But on the other hand they do it dat way having the total no of kids being born in a nation like in Kenya is between 700, 000 to 1 million, so its a cartel to make money with hope 4 many to believe in witch-doctors as they can resolve their own plan to gain money, fame and respect dat they helped ya. They talk to dat person who transfigure into rodents when u visit their premise, make u stay there 4 long to emphasize reality, take the very very ball bearing they hide to the bell like all then everyday apply medication that can digest rotten metal like mwarubaine to digest it untill all digested they they give u ant-tetenas injection then the vaccine then u get out hating other super natural being but the socerer coz now u r going to pump and enjoy ya woman who will like ya and not complain of you and the govt official in that cartel benefits as well with that cash and they even built mega investment structures like hotel with dat cash. They charge according to ya job if u have gotten 1 or as per the pocket of ya father or even tribal they charge not less than $ 200 but upto $ 500 if you or ya parent r rich dude. See weird character of the heights degree, sometimes many find their way even to India and they do the same. U pay highly then claim India is best in Medicine. Go 4 ex-ray then on the screen of the computer u see the x-ray of ya bones not printed on the sheet as it can be exchanged with 4 som1 to delude u that you r good sexually at dat time coz the same transfiguring person has take them out of the blood system and stored them on the bones to make ya work 4 short time b4 again he takes them back to give u tetenas to seek medical attention again to give them more cash.

Click the link below 4 more

https://www.ballandrollerstore.com/steel-ball-bearings/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrJbxuqm15gIVTETTCh2OIQZzEAAYASAAEgIakfD_BwE

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/x-ray+screen

https://www.instructables.com/id/Computer-Screen-X-Ray-Viewer/

The he show ya how many ball bearing remains and hidden where- parable of the hidden treasure to bring out reality, enmity of all kind it brings if u realize this, so u dont trust on men its a blessing in disguise bro

U can employ anesthesia to cut ya penis if u can do without it, kinda, learnt of it just like ya penis grows numb and u feel no pain at circumcision 4 women and men and their kids to disturb u not. LAUGHING GAS LG, Lord God, little girls etc

Thopi anwak saying “Magdalin ni raracha maber, okawachoni oraracha, dont get me in a bind but ougly masoupu“ Nyathi mararacha maber ni says livondo, mawinjo luth ataro, towyak ka kich, kebi wetugo gi kich, kich blo kayi says delanu. As i have copy paste from another tumblr a/c

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The steel window should be replaced with think bank size glass window as the iron one inculcate rude spirit in kids as per research and many welded windows bro. Click the link below 4 more

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Migosi-Primary-School/171086240102654

https://www.aio-eastafrica.com/access-control/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0tTnpqOr5gIVB57VCh0RwQkyEAAYASAAEgLKlfD_BwE

https://www.amazon.com/Wsdcam-Wireless-Anti-Theft-Control-Security/dp/B00PYG7LH0

Now they got wiered character and they wanna associate u with such yet we got the mother and the dna to assert de truth. Dat mother who gave birth to ya who they say is either masaindian, kisii, kikuyu or trukana blooded. Malachi 4 to cement de trut and women shouting barnabas to cement reality. Hospital will do and at dat time u think about strangling yaself bro. Warn esp the luo tribe to leave me alone

Check on youtube dude 4 full data and google what link is bro

Check on my following followers bro, check ourplighto tumblr and followers as well 4 more

My dream house in below link, very simple

https://thedecorlove.tumblr.com/

[email protected]

Wasechopo podi, dark inside and its 4 long hours bro

Pod onyas oketo aketa timbaland magik kaa mbele? Asking Eunice. To pod jeremy baya baya, sophy wacho ni nonene bangkok airport kose en-ngamatransfigure kaka kevi not kebi wacho.

To minaj podo keto sunga mbele, ambela, asking moreen. Minaj u mean u still ride in harlem or seen in Jamaica walking, u mean u have not settled niki?

After people move out of carli coz rightnow it aint Gold rush anymore, we have known how Gold is artificially made even with brown mafi or fece. Go to the less populated counties coz even mexicans want already built things dat texas and carli was mexico coz its built not knowing it was built with artificially made chemical and foods as oil etc which they can take away and the state got nothing. Anyway its a bad character to people who want free things or already made things from people to the point of putting up a fight. Mexican this a lesson and u r of bad character even sponsoring people to kill people who wanna go to the USA. Shame on u guys!!! Lazarus and Nebuchadnezzar parable. Click the link below 4 more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counties_in_California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ethnic_groups_in_Togo

The people who now terrorize others in secrecy are people with “masikio popo”, keep in mind u r few and many can annihilate ya. Side effect they want people by force, their women, failure they ambush ya not knowing their male kids r of bad character and they want to champion dat as well as turkana blooded tribe like kikuyu and tz, they are know with straight face bone. Tall slander people r of many tribes like togo people or kalenjin or some sa tribes, moreover togo tribes have swollen eyelids and thats the distinction. You wanna eat my food and u got yours, then if i refuse u organise an ambush bro, failure to eat u die, u want the same the masai or trukana blooded tribes like the luo or Gikuyu, big shame bro. Most Ethipians got as well trukana blooded and in kenya they are sponsoring such explained vices above bro out of investigation.

When 1 walk like a toddler with mafi smeared on the booty like squatted it gives u the flashback as bad sides of ya life ya life guilt bro. Click the link below to see the photo which got that picture.

Now they got electric generator EG, where a motor which uses a wet cell rotates the stater and when their is power you charge the battery to be used when the power goes off bro to eliminate the gasoline 1.

The wanting to eat ya food type is so sickening to the point u see yaself in a casket as the beautiful thing, in dat u dont wanna wake up early in the morning thinking now they will spare u but not Or not go to work or any institution, kinda, u wanna stick alone and i bet it equips ya and its a blessing in disguise dude. Click the link below 4 more, the 2 smoking and casket behind bro

Walking in dat position and its used as well to make gadget as another method and cia tell people to employ dat to remember things as flashback

come up with another website which aint known by many to post such photos to bring class where people dont share or known not and its typical for sex and beauty.

Women with slightly not flat forehead or protruding 4head are kisii blooded, dont go 4 pussy as it can be bought but dont change identity as face, the pussy is so sweet such, they as well got malawi blood.

Check on my following followers bro

Youtube check how to find people who are following another tumblr a/c and remember to google url/link to find what it is dude, stop disturbance

This should be introduced to cut fare by upto 80% in all major cities, got solar panel as well on top. Click the link below 4 more

https://zhongyiev.en.made-in-china.com/product/pyPmwEaOhhcg/China-14-Seats-Enclosed-Electric-Sightseeing-Bus-for-Tourism.html

Have gotten ya mini gas mask, Eunice asking kebi, I brought u 1, enyalo mwagas samolo amolo assures his neighbor delanu. Click the link below 4 more

https://www.google.com/search?q=in+house+oxygen+gas+mask&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCwevIvajmAhVwRxUIHThhAzgQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1280&bih=910

https://creativemarket.com/YummyBuum/4376945-Gas-cylinders.-Lpg-propane-container

https://creativemarket.com/account/purchases

Even many Latinos are trukana blooded, women perfectly understand but men wired in character, they are good in their own bro. Just fuck and leave, stop love dat give rise to bad kids lest u r killed.

Click the link below 4 more durable speakers, they had it from long but hid it from us as china unleash theirs, so their is no meaning of hording them

https://theaudiophileman.com/electrum-speakers-news-colibri-labs/

https://theaudiophileman.tumblr.com/post/189467375811/electrum-speakers-from-colibri-labs-the

Check on my following followers bro

Youtube check how to find people who are following another tumblr a/c and remember to google url/link to find what it is dude, stop disturbance

This should be introduced to cut fare by upto 80% in all major cities, got solar panel as well on top. Click the link below 4 more

https://zhongyiev.en.made-in-china.com/product/pyPmwEaOhhcg/China-14-Seats-Enclosed-Electric-Sightseeing-Bus-for-Tourism.html

Have gotten ya mini gas mask, Eunice asking kebi, I brought u 1, enyalo mwagas samolo amolo assures his neighbor delanu. Click the link below 4 more

https://www.google.com/search?q=in+house+oxygen+gas+mask&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCwevIvajmAhVwRxUIHThhAzgQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1280&bih=910

https://creativemarket.com/YummyBuum/4376945-Gas-cylinders.-Lpg-propane-container

https://creativemarket.com/account/purchases

Even many Latinos are trukana blooded, women perfectly understand but men wired in character, they are good in their own bro. Just fuck and leave, stop love dat give rise to bad kids lest u r killed.

Click the link below 4 more durable speakers, they had it from long but hid it from us as china unleash theirs, so their is no meaning of hording them

https://theaudiophileman.com/electrum-speakers-news-colibri-labs/

https://theaudiophileman.tumblr.com/post/189467375811/electrum-speakers-from-colibri-labs-the

Small electric gadgets are made walking with stuck fece on the booty like discman, stereos, small hospital machines, watches etc

With ya rudeness just continue to play ya harp to dat cow or cattle kinda, it means they dont listen or understand but want their own, kinda they wanna direct ya like they know a lot yet none. The time of reckoning is right now bro, eat ya rudeness, or earn points on ya tough headeness bro, speak dude

Google E-bikes, motor bikes and vehicles dude 4 more, stop many words bro

make money link below

https://static.olymptrade.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tdrx9BfqrU

The song in the above link, she gave me dat thing and i did not hesitate, i hit/pump it to my capacity all night and the better part of the morning b4 she reported to her work bro. Wasee nikupiga kupiga, u can even buy all body parts, even to transform ya from white to black and vice versa, no kidding bro. Kebi did exactly dat

Click the dream house above imported from mexico

https://www.situvillage.com/about-situ

https://twitter.com/ContentHouseKe/status/1200421750825259010

Scorpio my month, piyo, first, cold man, scores, scorsica isle

Even big buttock TV are made with dough and the best, so they have that in mind with Negros. Instead of claiming Kansas they wanna come to Kenya to make gadgets wid tea, which are shinny as easy to identify so not bought by grown ups as dough ones are dull liked by grown ups period. They want to pick tea illegally and they know we know dat but still going ahead bro.

The speakers with good mood in the link below are made using Egg shell as well as tiles that dont change your brain or carpet, cassava or potato peel as well as banana or any other peel as waste product bro, fallen wood/tree not cut or Autum leaves in Temperate lands bro and the best for woody products. Click the link below 4 more

https://theaudiophileman.com/electrum-speakers-news-colibri-labs/

Kebi en whoyi madung ma mande otimo yier, says kevin, simdogo tena. Eh x3 utters Magdalin, “mande opongo lwete, basi adwale, nyise“

Rain come past clouds they say and make rain to disturb people with yet them they hide/safe in their business premises yet controlled drone via a computer takes the drone above the cloud like 2-18 km but still the wireless camera on dat drone captures the rain. Question is dat where is the rain coming from past the cloud. Friends lets be real and lenient. They are 3rd world and they cant tell us nothing but now fitina of this and that bro. Stop ya nuisance Mr Hindu.

Click the link below 4 more, it takes less time if the tap below the moon is open to fall on earth as rain but plane run upto 10 km above the earth crust but still inside it when its rainy u see no cloud.

http://distancebetween.info/earth/sky

The baganda people can be more of Guards than Masai or trukana, they think is them alone can stand on 2 feet 4 along time or walk distances

Click the dream house above imported from mexico

https://www.situvillage.com/about-situ

https://twitter.com/ContentHouseKe/status/1200421750825259010

Scorpio my month, piyo, first, cold man, scores, scorsica isle

https://theaudiophileman.com/electrum-speakers-news-colibri-labs/

Kebi en whoyi madung ma mande otimo yier, says kevin, simdogo tena. Eh x3 utters Magdalin, “mande opongo lwete, basi adwale, nyise“

http://distancebetween.info/earth/sky

The baganda people can be more of Guards than Masai or trukana, they think is them alone can stand on 2 feet 4 along time or walk distances

Once u know how to make every gadget there is no developing or developed nation as both can make de same, the only import is original 1 and food that u dont produce. So nations that produce foods which other lacks but its artificial 1 is disatrous as to the teeth or cancerous have the day if the artificial 1 has less side effect is still worse, like artificial wheat denatures the teeth quickly while tea, u must drink when warn same as to when hot destroy the enamel period. Stop ya games dat Africa got the most developing economies. If u were relying on oil as pride like sudan, arabs, Trukana, Nigeria got to think twice we got E-bikes bro

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pastorcowboy · 5 years

Text

Matthew series: week 30

Matthew series: Two sides of the Cross Pt.2

Matthew 27:45-66 (and he breathed his last)

I must resist looking at the other gospels. We should try and focus on what Matthew is trying to say. Yet, the story of Jesus death is seen clearer with all four gospels combined. Regardless, I will try hard to stick to Matthew. We have to think like a first century Jew. Almost everything in Jesus death scene is Jewish in nature. A Jewish child would have known certain verses in the Bible. Matthew goes there to perk their attention.

First, we have 3 o’clock in the day. Some say Jesus died around six pm. Yet, the scriptures point to 3 pm. I have read that the sacrifice was usually offered in the afternoon. It’s by no mistake that Jesus died later in the day. Second, we have Elijah. Everyone and their dog thought Elijah would return with the Messiah. These days we are looking for the two witnesses talked about in Revelation. I believe that Jesus told them that the hour, day, or time is only known by God. We put as much stock in tradition as the Jewish community did in the 1st century.

Jesus did say that Elijah would return. He also hinted that John was Elijah. Those interpretations get a little muddled. Today, scholars are divided bigtime on when, where, and how Jesus will return. Basically, Christians are split into three camps. There is pre-tribulation meaning Jesus will come before God judges the earth, mid tribulation is during the end. While post tribulation is after those Revelation events. Either way, Matthews readers were looking for the Messiah along those lines too.

Matthew 27:45 “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.”

Numbers 28:4 “Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight.”

Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”

Remember that I said at the end of the last lesson that Matthew ends chapter 27 in silence. Why do I say that? Basically, the tomb has a stone rolled over it like the closing of a door. I can imagine the light filtering in on the linen covered body of Jesus. I have been in that area and there are tombs everywhere. I do mean everywhere. They we different sizes. Most of them had alcoves that just fit a body snug. Meaning that tombs were not that big. So, the rolling of the stone would cut off light and sound from the outside world. Jesus lay in darkness and silence.

Back to Matthew. Why is he showing us all this scenery? Isn’t it all about Jesus? It comes back to the 1st century readers. They are Jewish. They know their Bible. Matthew has spent 27 chapters preparing them for the return of the Christ. A case for Jesus, that he is that long-awaited Messiah.

That said, we have this rock over the tomb. Some at the cross talked about Elijah coming back. A few people mocked Jesus to save himself. Then we have the chief priests asking Pilate to seal the tomb. Why all this talk? Because they believed it. There was the off chance they were wrong. Wrong about God? I think wrong about Jesus. I don’t think it ever occurred to them that they were killing the messiah of God. They thought Jesus was the false messiah of the evil one. Everything in the verses below was woven into the fabric of Jewish belief. A belief that their bones would rise to be taken back to be with God. Resurrection was not out of their vocabulary.

Matthew 27:63 ““Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’”

Matthew 22:32 “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

Exodus 3:15 “God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

Genesis 50:25 “And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

See what is missing. The women were at the cross. They were at the tomb with Jesus body. Eventually they return to find Jesus missing at the gravesite. Mary, mother of Jesus was there at the cross. I just realized that the mother of two disciples John and James was there. Mary mangelin was there. Pilate has to deal with Jesus a third time. Twice with Pilate in the Luke account. This mysterious man Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned. Simon of Cyrene. Some dead Saints rose from the dead. Seems nobody is concerned about that. Yet, all within this we have no mention of the disciples. Keep this as a sticky note on your brain. Matthew will deal with the disciples and Jesus in the next chapter. Here in chapter 27 we are to focus on witnesses of death and burial.

Matthew 27:55 “Many women were there, watching from a distance.”

Jerimiah 29:23 “because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness," declares the LORD.'”

Read Matthew 27 again. Look up these verses. You might recognize some of the themes. Jerimiah 29, Revelation 11.

1. Let’s take a quick look at the Temple. In Matthew 24, Jesus is talking with his disciples about the temple being torn down. Later Jesus is accused of saying those words. Obviously, someone heard Jesus talking to his disciples, or someone reported it to them. It’s fascinating that a man asked me once if I believed that the church is a building. He was a church planting leader. He believed that the church is people and not a building. Yet, he builds churches. Here is a key to this temple talk. I was rejected by that man because of how I wanted to build a church community. Jesus was rejected because of how he wanted to build the church. Jesus said, first, I must break it down.

The people under the cross were yelling at Jesus for saying the temple will be destroyed. They did not realize that Jesus was talking about himself. However, Jesus was also talking about an event that would take place 37 years later. Think about it. Jesus mentioned that he must die and rise again. That Jonah is the only story he related. The example of the fig tree too. Israel must be crushed to make a better Israel. Then temple must die to make a better temple (church).

I have mentioned the curtain. That dividing line between God and common people in the temple was ominous. Jesus to many, is either God or a person. He either died or rose from the grave. Two sides of a curtain. One side lets you in and the other keeps you out of the presence of God. A seed dies and then it grows. Pain comes and a movement starts. The temple was destroyed several times in history if you include the original Tent of Meeting. Jesus death and the temples destruction in 70 A.D. are by no mistake.

Matthew 27:51 “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split”

Matthew 24:2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.””

2 Kings 25:9 “And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great man's house, burnt he with fire.”

2. There were so many people in and around the cross. This was the time of the Passover. Thousands of people came to Jerusalem. After the festival people went home. In the meantime, the crowds did not leave all at once. The religious rulers tried to slide Jesus death under the radar. They wanted to have him crucified after the Passover festival. Partly because it was a religious time (don’t offend God). Secondly, the people loved Jesus. It might have gone the wrong way. So, they waited.

That means Simon of Cyrene was there. He was one of the masses still in Jerusalem. Clearly, some people had heard what Jesus had said about the temple. They had heard him claiming to be the Christ. How often did Jesus ask people to be quiet about that? The triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey meant something. I bet the clearing of the temple meant something too. The crowds, religious rulers, and women friends of Jesus waited at the foot of the cross. Waiting for the messiah to rise up. Instead Jesus died right before their eyes.

I want to mention Joseph of Arimathea briefly. Much has been written on him. yet, much is speculation. The Bible does have a few double incidents. One is a prostitute crying at the feet of Jesus. Another is Mary washing Jesus feet with her tears. The same scene? Earlier we have a rich young ruler talking to Jesus in private. In chapter 27 we have a prominent rich man named Joseph who wants to honor Jesus body. Same man? I don’t like speculation because it leads down false claims. Yet, Matthew repeats things for a reason far too many times to just ignore the comparisons.

Matthew 27:37 “Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”

Judges 8:16 “He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.”

3. Have you ever tried to get out of a lie? Sometimes you can and sometimes you cannot. How about getting out of a dinner or homework. Avoiding things seems to be hard work. So, here we have Pilate the governor. He hears about Jesus. His wife hears about Jesus. I bet everyone wanted a piece of the miracle man. The teacher and prophet. I suspect Pilate wanted to avoid Jesus. Jesus meant trouble between Rome and the community.

In those days. A governor was replaced often. A small rebellion would look badly on the man assigned to keep the peace. It’s the middle of the night. A crowd of religious rulers come with a bound troublemaker named Jesus. I’m betting they woke up Pilate. Then he realizes who it is. I bet he became stressed in an instant. Pilate wanted nothing to do with this mess. He tries to let Jesus go but the crowds wanted none of it. His wife pleaded with him to let Jesus Go. Pilate tried to offer another option to the crowds. Yet, they refused, wanting Jesus to be crucified publicly. Won’t this just go away?

So, Pilate washes his hands of the matter. It’s all over and forgotten. Then comes another knock on the door at night. Can’t a man get any sleep? It’s Joseph of Arimathea. I could hear him saying to his wife “what does he want?” Then Joseph asks for the body of Jesus. Right, of course. Pilate just wanted this to end and grants the request. Then there is another knock at the door a few days later. It’s the religious rulers. They want an armed guard at the grave of Jesus. Poor Pilate. Washing his hands of a problem did not work.

Matthew 27:62 “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.”

Isaiah 66:4 “So I will choose their punishments and will bring on them what they dread Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen and they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight."”

4. Let’s talk about three days. So much has been written to unravel the three days. Why was Jesus buried for three days? Is there any significance to it? Basically, it goes like this. A Jewish person traditionally was buried soon after they died. Jesus is special because people generally did not die the first day on a cross. Joseph of Arimathea did it quickly. The women perfumed Jesus quickly. Jesus life was silenced quickly and quietly by the religious rulers.

There was nothing special about Jesus death. Crosses were common. A quick burial was common. His placement in a cave is extremely common. Yet, I feel three things are going on with this common death. One, is that Jesus died. There is nothing to dispute he did not die. People have said he did not die, but the Bible says he did. Secondly, Prophesy is fulfilled. The religious rulers knew their Bible. They were scared of Jesus. What if this man was God? They knew Hosea 6. They knew that resurrection was possible. They were in the promised land. So, they wanted a guard posted. Matthew points out that the Pharisees were there and not the Sadducees. Why? Because the Pharisees believed in the resurrection. Someone did not want Jesus to rise from the dead.

Finally, we have Jesus predictions. They had all heard them. The temple being torn down. The sign of Jonah. The Son of man must die and be raised to life. One side of the cross is killing the God man. The other side of the cross was preparing him to rise from the dead. A Jewish burial was preparing them to rise one day by preserving the body. A guard and stone were there to keep the body in. So, they thought…

Matthew 27:64 “So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

Hosea 6:2 “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”

1 Corinthians 15:4 “That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

What it means?

There are two sides to the cross. Matthew has spent 27 chapters showing us two sides. The one side is the witness. We witness Jesus ministry. We hear his words. We listen to his teachings and parables. Some saw his miracles and actions. I bet the disciples saw many things. I know his mother did too. People saw him die. Then we have the other side. Many people tried to make sure the body was gone. Some buried it. Others wanted him to stay buried. This whole time there is Jesus heading to and from a cross. Seemingly between life and death.

What it means is that people tried to contain the uncontainable. They wanted Jesus to be silent. They wanted him to make no claims. He was arrested. beaten, and crucified to make him silent. All that time they wanted him to admit what he claimed. Then on the other side they wanted the body to remain dead. People wanted the silence to remain. From the religious rulers to Pilate, they wanted it to be over. Things needed to be normal in a volatile Roman rule.

There is a saying that the Spirit will stand. How does a spirit stand? Do we pray on our knees or standing up? Is God in heaven or in everything? How do you contain a divine being? Rosa Parks set off a movement by being arrested. Joseph Mandela set off a movement by being arrested. Jesus set off a movement by being arrested. Can you see a movement? Containing the Spirit of God is ridicules.

Matthew 27:50 “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”

John 12:24 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

#jesus #matthew #bible #cross

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