Podcasts about flatterer

From Lost In Eros – Book 1Another Day of DiscoveryIn 10 Parts By BradentonLarry.  Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. “Do you know where my clothes went?” Don asked  the chamber maid.“They have been collected for the laundry.”“Ah, well, that's fine.”“You may get more from the wardrobe anytime,” Deidre said as she led him toward the door.“That's good to know. So, where did the Lady go exactly?” Don asked. He had seen enough vampire movies and television shows to be wary of hosts that entertain you through the night but are nowhere to be seen in the morning.“She spends time in the garden, goes swimming, and then makes rounds of the Manor with the Lord.”“Swimming?”“In the pool,” Deidre smiled at him.“Of course,” Don said, “I should have guessed there'd be a pool.”“There are three pools that I know of.”“Naturally,” Don chuckled. “So, this garden; I suppose you could take me there?”“Well, I am supposed to take you back to the ballroom,” she said with the hint of a frown on her brow.“But after that, when my friend gets there, could you take us to the garden?”Deidre did frown at this suggestion. “I really should return to my Lady's chambers. In case she needs me.”“I understand,” Don said, “but what about this? It can't take too long to get to the garden, can it?”“Well, probably not.”“Probably not?”Deidre shrugged adorably.Don decided to soldier on with, “Well, say I had slept longer, or we had taken longer to play, ”“You did take longer than I expected,” she pointed out.Don smiled, “Okay, so even longer, wouldn't you then be returning to the Lady's chambers even later than you will now?”Deidre considered this for a moment, and said, “I suppose so, yes.”“So, if it doesn't take long to take us to the garden, it would not be unreasonable for the Lady to think you would be busy for so long.”“You have a point, Don. Very well, if your friend is waiting for you in the ballroom, I will take you to the garden.”“Thank you, Deidre the beautiful and fair,” Don bowed. This made Deidre giggle a little, and Don thought he could develop quite an infatuation for this lovely young woman.All these negotiations were in vain, though, for in the next minute when they came into the ballroom Toshia was nowhere to be seen. Don couldn't see her at the table opposite the doors, or in the alcoves to either side, though there were a number of people still sleeping and otherwise quietly engaged.Don shrugged, and Deidre kissed him again, almost chastely considering their earlier activities, and left him to wait.Don watched as a small troupe of butlers and maids (the latter in French maid outfits, of course) moved systematically through the ballroom, collecting stray bits of clothing, apparently for laundering. Another contingent turned up to clean, sweeping and wiping efficiently and almost mechanically. He saw some butlers heading toward the food tables by the doors, and moved quickly to get there first.“Hold on a moment, guys,” he said as he grabbed an apple, an orange, a couple of bananas and a bunch of grapes. He cradled all of these in his arms and also managed to carry two full glasses of the delicious water over to the big table where he was to wait for Toshia, which had already been cleared of fruit. Setting aside the orange, a banana, the grapes and one of the glasses of water for Toshia, Don ate the other banana, and drank some of his water. Like the night before, he felt strangely invigorated by the water and satisfied by the fruit. Looking around, the only trash bin he could see was back by the doors, so he took his apple and the banana peel and headed over to it. Once the peel was disposed of, he bit into the apple and started to stroll back across the dance floor.He wasn't surprised that the fruit was crisp and juicy, as well as the most delicious apple he'd ever had. Chewing it, he wandered over to the alcove to the right of the big table. Relative to the bright sunlight now flooding the dance floor from the windows high above, the alcoves were now, without the benefit of candlelight, relatively darker than the night before. Don took another bite of his apple, and took a step closer to the alcove. There on the big padded platform at the back of the alcove was a group of naked bodies that were obviously not sleeping. Stepping into the darkness, Don thought he could make out parts for at least four different bodies, all female. Don took a step back, checked to make sure none of the cleaners were heading for the food he'd set aside for Toshia and to see if she herself had turned up. Satisfied, and remembering that he had specified the table or the alcoves to either side, Don decided he might as well have a seat and watch the show.He went into the alcove and quietly took a seat on the side bench to the right, thinking he would see if Toshia came in and approached the table. His eyes quickly adjusted to the shadows, and he saw that there were indeed four women there. Closest to him, with her head toward the dance floor and her legs toward the rear of the alcove, was a woman with a beautiful, exceptionally fit back that looked familiar to Don. He actually suspected it was Suzy from the night before. This woman, possibly Suzy, had her right leg up, bent at the knee. Another woman had her face nestled between the first woman's legs, obviously going down on her. Don could only really see the top of this second woman's head. Beyond this, Don could make out legs and arms but couldn't tell clearly what was going on, other than that there were more hands on “possibly Suzy” than just the woman's between her legs. Don thought the whole scene was incredibly erotic, and his stiffening cock agreed.Don took another bite of his dwindling apple, glanced out to see an utter lack of Toshia, and then decided to get a better look of the shenanigans going on in front of him. He got up and moved across the alcove. As he passed, he confirmed that it was indeed Suzy lying on her side. In front of her, kissing her, was the little brunette, Suki, who had lost both her dress and her red bow. Suki and the girl between Suzy's legs formed a kind of triangle. Suki was small enough that she had her right leg, the one on the bed, bent so that it fit in the middle of the triangle. Her left leg was cast over the waist of the woman going down on Suzy. Laying on her left side behind Suki, with her feet toward the dance floor, and her own face between the legs of the woman licking Suzy, was a woman Don was sure was Sandy, also without her ball dress, intently licking at the unidentified woman's cunt.Don stood there watching for several minutes, chewing his apple and idly stroking his cock. He was just about to sit down and get more comfortable when Suki moved away from Suzy's face to kiss and suck at her tits. As a result, Suzy saw Don standing there. She smiled broadly and said, “Hi Don! Jump in!”Don grinned at her, nodded, and set his apple core down on the bench. He was still chewing his last bite as crawled up onto the big section. He leaned down and kissed Sandy's soft ass, and then lay down on his side, basically perpendicular to her, facing the rear of the alcove. He leaned in again and kissed her other ass cheek. She wiggled it in appreciation, and he reached up with his left hand to squeeze and caress it. He parted her cheeks a little and ran his tongue between them. Don then moved his hand up around her right thigh, and gently nudged it upward. Sandy got the idea right away and lifted her leg just as Suzy and the woman Sandy was licking had theirs, bent at the knee. Don scooted in closer and laid his head gently on the inside of Sandy's left thigh, and, without much prelude, slipped his tongue between her cunt lips and into her delicious, moist vagina. He fucked his tongue in and out of her a bit, and then settled in to tonguing her clit steadily. As he did this, he used both hands to caress and squeeze her ass. This went on for several delicious minutes, before Don could hear the sounds of Suzy moaning and repeating, “Fuck yes! Fuck yes!” about a dozen times. This was soon followed by a more muffled set of moanings, which Don thought must be the woman between Sandy's mouth and Suzy's cunt. Don continued to lavish Sandy's clit with his tongue's affection throughout all of the commotion.Soon, though, there was a general shifting of bodies, as the women struggled to find a new, fun configuration. Sandy reached down to gently push him away, but as soon as he moved far enough, she scrambled around so that her leg was out from under his head, and then she pushed him back down so that he was on his back and straddled his face. Delighted with this turn of events, Don got his hands on her ass again and pulled her cunt down to his eager mouth. He went right back to what he'd been doing, licking and sucking at her clit. Looking up, he could see Suki's perfect little tits as she leaned over to suck on Sandy's tits.Then Don was a little surprised to feel a hand taking hold of his cock, and then less surprised when the hand was followed by a mouth, licking up the shaft, then sucking on the head and then moving up and down on him. He found himself thinking, ‘Okay, so there is a heaven,' as he concentrated on Sandy's clit, trying to ignore the wonderful sensations on his cock. It wasn't long before Sandy was pushing down hard on his tongue, and then she was coming; trembling and moaning as she rode his tongue as long as she could stand. Ultimately, though, shaking and giggling a little, she fell off his face to the side. Suki's upside down face was smiling down at him, and by rolling his head back he could see that while Sandy had been over him Suki had been sitting on Suzy's face.Don's attention was drawn from this erotic sight by the fact that his cock was no longer being sucked, and someone was now straddling him. He quickly looked down, and saw none other than Toshia, who had his hard cock in her hand and was rubbing it between her legs, getting it into just the right position. She grinned at him and said, “Good morning, Don.”Toshia shares the morning fun with Don & the girls.Toshia woke up with a smile on her face. She threw the covers off her and stretched. She looked around a little and saw the morning light coming through the windows into the Lord's bedroom. She felt well rested and physically content. Today she and Don would try to get home, but for right now she would just lie here for a moment and bask in the afterglow of a day and night of intense sex; and lots of it! She sighed happily as she felt warm hands moving over her thighs, pushing them apart. She parted her legs willingly, and shivered a little as she felt hot breath on her exposed cunt. Fingers stroked her, and she knew at once that it was not the Lord between her legs. She thought the appropriate response to this was probably shock and indignation. Certainly this was her reaction the day before when she woke up next to Don and felt his fingers between her legs. Now, though, she didn't really mind who was touching her as long as they kept doing it so well. Besides, she thought, it's probably Don anyway, and I want him to lick me. She felt a mouth on her then, and the fingers opened her up. A soft, strong tongue delved into her and over her. She shuddered and murmured, “That's nice.”She parted her legs further, and felt masculine hands take hold of her upper thighs, holding her against the mouth that was now making love to her cunt and clit. Toshia sighed again, relaxing into the bed. Her hands moved over her own body, caressing it. She held onto her tits and squeezed them. A tremor passed through her and she arched her back a little. Turning her head to the side, she caught a glimpse of the wall through which she could still see the Lady's room. She could make out a woman lying there with her back to the window-wall. The woman had long red hair, so it wasn't the Lady. Toshia could see a man's shoulder and part of his back past the redhead's body. Though he was now with some other woman, Don was still in that room.A moment of anxiety came and went quickly, replaced by curiosity. She looked down to see the beautiful young man who had helped bathe her last night, before she had blacked out from exhaustion. His hair was light brown and cut short. Toshia could see his muscular back and cute ass. He kept licking at her clit, and a shiver ran through her. Toshia decided that she wouldn't protest for another few minutes. Lying back again, she squeezed her tits tighter and let the sensations fill her. Soon a shuddering orgasm racked her body and left her grinning up at the ceiling.The young man took his mouth from her, and climbed up to look down at her. His face was wet with her juices. She laughed and reached up to take his face in her hands. She sat up enough to kiss him on the mouth, playfully licking some of her wetness from his face.“That was wonderful,” she said, “now lie down and let me return the favor.”The young man promptly did as he was told, and Toshia quickly got up into position so she could lean on his belly. She took his cock in her hand and sucked the head of it. It wasn't as big a cock as the Lord's, so she was able to get more of it into her mouth. Toshia thought it was about the size of Don's, and for some reason this made her happy. She thought this might be good practice for later. She liked the feeling of it sliding over her lips and against her tongue. As she worked her mouth up and down on him, she moved her hand up and down on the base of the shaft. She tried to see how far she could get it down her throat, but that didn't work too well at first. She went back to sucking on just the head, and then decided to try again. Other women did it, so she should be able to do it. The angle was good here, and she had control over everything, so she gave it another shot. Deliberately relaxing, she slid down on the shaft. She felt her throat closing around the head, and paused. She breathed through her nose and relaxed. Down a bit further, pause, and a bit further. Soon she found that her hand was caressing the young man's balls, and her lips were around the base of his cock. She squeezed his balls a little and swallowed, which was a very strange sensation; but not an unpleasant one. She slowly pulled back, sucked on the head some more while stroking his cock vigorously. The shaft was now very wet with her saliva, and her hand moved easily up and down on him even though she was holding him very tightly. She went back down, taking him into her throat much easier, pausing only once on the way. The next time she went all the way down in one steady motion.I wish I could see myself, she thought to herself, and then, I wish Don could see me!She backed up off the shaft, and went back to sucking mostly just the head and stroking the shaft intently, almost furiously. Finally, this was too much to resist, and the cock in her fist and mouth erupted with a jet of hot, delicious cum. Toshia swallowed and swallowed again, slowly pumping the cock with her hand and sucking greedily. When she was sure she'd gotten as much as the young man had to give, she reluctantly took her mouth off him, gave the head a parting kiss, and lowered the cock to his taut belly.Toshia sat up on her haunches and looked down at the blissful young man. “Good morning, I'm Toshia.”“Hello, milady,” the young man said, “I'm Jason, the Lord's acolyte.”“Very nice to meet you, Jason,” Toshia grinned. “You sure know how to wake a lady with style.”“Thank you, milady.”“So, where is his Lordship?”“He is attending to his morning duties,” Jason said, sitting up. “He left me to wake you pleasurably, and to escort you back to the ballroom.”“Well, so far so good,” she said. “Where's my dress?”“Your clothes have been taken to the laundry, milady,” Jason said. “You may get more from the wardrobe if you like.”“No, that's alright,” Toshia said as she got up off the bed. “I'm kind of getting used to running around here naked.”“Most people do,” Jason said. He got up and picked up and put on a dark blue robe, much like the one the Lord had worn the night before, only smaller.“So, Jason, while we're going to the ballroom, tell me about these ‘duties' of the Lord's, and explain to me just what an ‘acolyte' is.”Jason's answers to these questions were not much different from the ones Deidre would soon be giving Don. The Lord's morning routine did not include a trip to the garden, though, so she did not try to get Jason to lead her there. In any case, she knew Don was still in bed and not waiting for her in the ballroom.When they got to the ballroom, she said goodbye to Jason, and then paced around the ballroom. She was amused to see the number of garments just cast aside during the night. She looked in on the alcoves in curiosity. There were quite a few bodies there sleeping soundly. She saw a woman giving a man a blow job, and another couple quietly fucking in a corner. Then, in the alcove to the right of the big table where she was supposed to meet Don, she saw a group of women lying there with arms and legs intertwined, making out with each other and with their hands playing with whatever was in reach. Don better hurry, Toshia thought to herself. She looked back over her shoulder to see if Don had come into the ballroom, and while she was looking away, she heard a familiar voice say, “Hey, it's Toshia!”She turned around to see the three women in front of her looking at her. She grinned and said, “Hi, Suzy, Suki and Sandy.”“We've been waiting for you,” Suki said.“Well, not just waiting for you,” Suzy added. “How was your night with the Lord?”Toshia laughed, “It was fun.”Sandy sat up and asked, “Did his big cock break your cunt?”“Um, not that I can tell.”“Well, it sounds like you better bring it over here so we can check it out for you,” Suzy said.Toshia took one last look over her shoulder; still no Don; and then realized this was one of the designated alcoves anyway. With a grin and a shrug she climbed into the alcove. Hands pulled her into the pile of female flesh, and then mouths and hands were all over her. She had someone's tits in her face and, she was sure, someone else's fingers between her legs, and then someone else's fingers between her ass cheeks, teasing her asshole. Then Suzy, asserted some measure of order, saying, “Hold on, girls, we have to check this poor woman's cunt.”“I was working on that,” Sandy said. Apparently it was her fingers inside Toshia at the moment.“Well, you've got to do it right,” Suzy said. “Lie down on your back, Toshia.”Laughing, Toshia rolled over onto her back, almost surprised to find that she didn't land on Suki in the process. She spread her legs to be checked out. Suzy sat up near Toshia's head and stroked her hair.“Okay,” Suzy said, “Since you're so eager, you go first, Sandy. Get down there and have a look.”Sandy happily crouched down between Toshia's legs. After just a moment, she said, “Well, it looks alright.”“Proceed to the next level,” Suzy commanded.Toshia felt Sandy's fingers stroking her labia, and then parting them. She sighed when she felt Sandy pushing two fingers up inside her. Those fingers moved in and out and stroked the insides of her cunt. Toshia writhed a little under the attention. While this was going on, Suki moved around to kneel down by Sandy so she could get a closer look.“Feels Okay, too,” Sandy reported.“It certainly does,” Toshia murmured.“Taste test,” Suzy ordered.Sandy took her fingers out of Toshia, only to replace them with her tongue. She slowly tongued every part of Toshia's cunt and labia that she could reach, and then sucked on her clit. Toshia shuddered.“Tastes very good,” Sandy said, “but I don't think I detect any of the Lord's cum.”Toshia laughed, “He didn't come there.”

Welcome to our class on humility. When it comes to working on and thinking about a specific Middah , there is always a possible danger that something could ruin the Middah or ruin the effort. In the third gate of the Hovot Halevavot, the Gate of Serving Hashem (fourth chapter), he talks about the ten levels of service of Hashem. The ninth level (which is pretty close to the top) is people who serve Hashem for the right reasons, yet lack an important piece of information. שלא נשמרו ממפסידי העבודות, They aren't careful from guarding themselves from the things that could cause their service Hashem to be lacking. He quotes a pasuk from Kohelet (10:1) זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח /The flies of death can ruin the best of oils and quotes one of the pious men telling the students, " I'm afraid for you, for the greatest of sins ." They asked, What is the greatest of sins? And he said, הגבהות (החונף) והגאוה, כמו שאמר הכתוב Feeling exalted, being a flatterer, and having Ga'ava/ arrogance, as it says תועבת ה' כל גבה לב:‏ ,/ An abomination to God is anybody arrogant. This is scary. A person can do everything right and it can backfire, specifically when a person is working on humility. He might say, " Wow, look who I am. I'm working on humility." He ends up becoming arrogant from that! Rav Wolbe, in his letters, (vol 2, page 129), hints to this Hovot Halevavot and says, When a person works on Middot, every step of the way, he feels that his actions are coming from arrogance that's born from the Flatterer, which are almost the exact words of this Hovot Halevavot. And he says, I have a tradition from my rabbis that we should never think we're doing anything. Whatever we do is only to train ourselves. We're apprenticing, we're interning. When I'm trying to be Mechaven in my prayers, I'm just training myself in how to do it. Whatever I'm working on, it's just a training session. He says, Hitlamdut / an internship or training doesn't drag arrogance . In Aleh Shor (vol two, page 194) he says something similar: When it comes to apprenticing, it's impossible to become arrogant. If I'm doing something good, I can become arrogant. But if I'm just training, I haven't really done anything because I'm only in training. When I'm in training mode, I'm always looking to see what I can fix. My critical eye is going over me every step of the way. A therapist, a doctor, whoever's in training, they know they're in training. Like the nine interns following the big professor through the hospital. They're not arrogant. They know that they're interns. He stresses that we must understand this, and that the only success a person will have in working on themselves is if they have this attitude. Otherwise it's just going to backfire. You might say, " Look at me! Not only am I working on Bitachon, not only do I work on Hessed, I'm even working on Anava! Do you know how great I am?!" He says, If a person does not understand this concept that you're in the internship stage , you're just training, you're in the minor leagues, then you're better off not doing this. You'll be a good Jew without it. It's not for you. It's too dangerous. Furthermore, in Aleh Shor (vol 1, page 65) Rav Wolbe says we are supposed to think, "I just want to get a little bit better, or a little bit more truthful in my approach," One should not think, " I made it ," or " I got it ." Like the example of the poor man who knocks on the door and comes in in the middle of the meal. He is served whatever they're up to. He's not going to say, " Ooh, look who I am!" You're just an intern. You're apprenticing. It shouldn't get to your head. Mesilat Yesharim , in chapter 11, talks about different manifestations of Ga'ava . He says there's a certain type of arrogant person who says in his heart that he's so great and so honorable that honor can never separate from him, and therefore he doesn't even need it. To show that, he'll go to the extreme in humility. But in his heart, he lifts himself up and says, I'm so high up and so respected that I don't even need respect . I'm so great, I don't need someone to tell me how great I am . I have so much of it. I don't need anyone else to pat me on the back. A slightly different type of arrogant person says, "I want to be clearly designated as a person with many great qualities. It's not enough that people say for example, that I'm wise, or I'm kind. He want them to add to the list of his great qualities that I'm very humble. He becomes arrogant in his humility! He wants honor for showing that he's running away from honor! He sits in the back of the shul, and he acts in a very humble way to show that he's the ultimate Anav . Don't call me Rabbi, it's okay, he says. But in his heart he thinks, There's no one wiser and more humble than me . אֵין חָכָם וְעָנָו כָּמוֹנִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ" So both the Mesilat Yesharim and Hovot Halevavot are warning us that working on oneself and working on humility can backfire. That's why we go back to Rav Wolbe who tells us an important rule: One must always put on his training cap. He's an intern. He doesn't know anything. He's a humble person in training. The sefer Or Yisrael by Rabbi Yitzhak of Peterberg, in the section Kochvei Or ( (אות י brings down a pasuk from the Gemara in Berachot 61 that says that Yetzer Hara is compared to a fly. And they quote our pasuk זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח / The flies of death can ruin the best of oils. Why is the Yetzer Hara compared to a fly? The Or Yisrael answers, Because as many times as you yell at him, swat at him or blow on him, he doesn't go away. You have to keep sending away. He keeps coming back. That's the Yetzer Hara. He doesn't give up. And that's why even when we're working on something good, and we're trying to send him away, he comes right back. You have to be always aware of him. That's the only way to fight him- to take your fly swatter and keep swatting away. He gives a nice hint- the Gemara in Berachot 10A says that the Isha Shunamit , when describing Elisha, said, I know he's holy. How did she know? One of the reasons is that she never saw a fly on his table. There were never flies around him. He says this is a mashal - There were never flies meant he was able to keep chasing away the Yetzer Hara.

Barbie Lynn's GeneticsIn 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels.  “Nymphomania, while enticing to consider, is still utter madness when experienced.”"Why Mr. Zane, my Barbie Lynn has told us so many wonderful things about you," she sounded so sugary that the honeyed words flowed off her tongue in a manner that was barely coherent. Also, her eyes flickered to the shower where I'd nailed Barbie Lynn repeatedly for forty minutes not all that long ago. Next to me Thomas grunted something that sounded like 'hello'."I'm sure she's exaggerated to my betterment," I pulled that banter out of my tush, my brain was suffering catastrophic blood loss."I can't wait to live in this dorm next year," Laramie came across with a nearly a molasses like drawl as well. "Zane, will you let me use this room next year?""Dude! This is your room?" Jefferson perked up. "Mom, I have to come here next year!""Um, yes Laramie, I'm going to hold this room open to every girl, and perhaps guy, in the dorm. I don't need much space," I said, "so keep out of the way of housekeeping and we are good. Also, you are immune from Handmaiden's Duty while here.""Oh, I was thinking about the game stations, satellite dishes and cable hook-ups," Jefferson added. Jefferson Davis, that name rang a bell."Come on now Honey, a man can't go to a women's," Savannah let that sentence die unfinished. For me, it was keep the lone male status quo; or to get a good night's sleep'."Mrs. Masters, I offer a thin hope for your son; if your daughter could line up some upstanding seniors and juniors, he might slip in under the Zane Exception to the enrollment policy," I told her."You'd do that for Jeff?" Savannah took off her sunglasses and bit one of its arms."Ma'am, I'd wrestle an alligator blindfolded for your daughter. I would certainly put in a good word for her brother," I smiled. I had no idea how tough alligators could be but I knew about crocodiles and those were some mean mothers in their own right. Still, faced with alligator wrestling or no anal-sex with Barbie Lynn, I was getting a belt, handbag and new shoes, damn it.The odds of getting Jeff in were long, Victoria barely suffered Heaven being around, and it would take an act of the Southern Baptist Convention to bring in a male to replace me when I was gone."It would give your Father another option for Jefferson if you could do this Barbie Lynn," Savannah politely replied."That would be great," the kid rejoiced. Yes, he was a fully functioning teenage male."Zane can move mountains when he sets his mind to it," Barbie Lynn winked at me. Thomas saw it but was caught off-guard."Let me show you my bedroom," Barbie offered her kin. They turned and the women sashayed away while Jeff had an almost run-in with Raven and 'company'. Each woman shot a look over their shoulder and smiled at me at some point along their journey which boded trouble."I apologize, Zane," Thomas mumbled. "I thought, deep down, you were weak for submitting to your lusts. Now, I don't, I don't think that anymore.""Don't sweat it," I smiled. "It is only another day for me ending in y.""And don't you be forgetting about me, and how tough it has been resisting Zane," Vivian warned the man she was hoping to marry."A wife should obey her husband," he started, "and a husband should know when to shut up."Lunch and what comes afterI dropped Ms. Reveal's lunch off with just enough sassiness to make her smile and believe that our bad episode was behind us. She sent me to the Vice Chancellor's office a minute later, and while Doctor Victoria Scarlett was conversing over the phone, I felt comfortable to set her meal up in front of her and mine across her desk.Victoria only had this canned ice tea in her mini-frig so I swiped two and set one before her and opened mine. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, it was pretending to be Southern Ice Tea and I pretended to like it. The best thing I could say about it was it was cold. This was our fourth "working" lunch where she would insidiously fill my head with her philosophy and I'd causally remind her that women ran this government, not me; I was a figurehead."What are you doing for New Year's Eve?" she inquired as she daintily cleaned off some crouton crumbs on her cheek. Her look was very intense. I wasn't getting 'quite' sexual signs from her but something, somehow this was personal. That could only mean one thing."I'm spending it with Ms. Rio Talen but no set location has been chosen," I replied."Oh," she paused then, "There is a Science Fiction convention in Seattle that runs from December 29th to through the 1st. My friends and I are attending and Hical asked about you.""Deal but we have to fit Rio in," I agreed."I can send some Universe, TV and movie series and well as costuming information for her to look over," Victoria agreed tentatively."No need, she's a Klingon, a small craft captain whose Father betrayed the Empire and whose survival is a stain on her honor," I told her. "With that barely constrained fury, she's a natural. You teach her how to use that bat-a-rang and,""Batleth," Victoria interjected."Wicked-curved-bladey thing," I continued, "and you'll see. Oh, I'll need an Orion Slave Girl outfit and some green body paint for Mercy and all of her stuff by October 30th, cost is not an object.""I'll call my outfitter when you leave and I must say you are taking this rather well," Doctor Scarlet noted."Why? I had a blast in your office that time," I admitted. "As long as I'm not crawling in, screaming fur-balls, I'm okay. I'll be a human Starfleet Doctor Xeno-biologist who has done surgery on multiple species. A "Doctors Without Borders" kind of guy. I'll get Cordelia to build me an actual tricorder, trust me."We ate, she asked for my sizes, I gave her Rio's and Mercy's sizes; at the Con we were all 'Next Gen' except Mercy who would be Old School for Halloween. She offered me a chance to be a Borg but since they all looked to be in desperate need of a sun tan, I declined. All in all, it barely took twenty minutes."You did a very good job as Mediator this morning," the Vice Chancellor added as I made to leave."It is not so rough," I grinned. "WWKSD?""Wha, oh," she smiled warmly. "What would King Solomon do, clever.""Hell, the Bible has a whole book called Judges. This shit ain't so hard," I laughed as I breezed out the door. Ms. Reveal was waiting, as was Heaven.Heaven had to exert some will to not kiss me on the spot. Christina had lectured us on P D A, public displays of affection, during Homecoming. The more people who knew about us, the more the outcry and the stronger Chancellor's radical decision to keep Heaven on as part as the student body, would be challenged. As it was, our hands would casually brush one another until we got inside my dorm where I chased Heaven up the stairs, pinching her ass every time I caught up.After entering my code, I gauged Heaven's mood deciding we needed some quiet time; there would be too much traffic over most of the floor, and Heaven being too vocal, to get away with sex; and cuddling would be fine anyway. I caught sight of Rio with one of my Marksmanship team mates, Genesis."Hey Zane," Genesis stood up. She was a weird one, going from borderline contempt to grudging respect over the last two weeks. If I didn't know the impossibilities, I'd think she had a boyfriend. "Hope wants everyone at the Amory for an equipment check at seven. We leave at 8:15."Heaven held my hand tightly."Boudoir occopodo," Rio snickered as Genesis made her exit.Heaven's grip nearly crushed my hand, ouch."Babe," I whispered to Heaven, "let me check this out."I disentangled myself and went for the wall of screens that separated my bedroom area from the rest of the floor."Get some popcorn and get ready to sit a spell," Rio joked to Heaven who grumbled. I went around to see who, or whom, were using my room.Inside was not what I expected. Savannah Belafonte Masters had taken off her top (which was peach) and was rummaging with growing frustration through Barbie Lynn's bra drawer. I saw some grape juice splashed on her beige skirt. She saw me, pulled up her shirt to cover her bra-covered assets while looking a bit fearful and upset."What are you doing in here?" she asked softly."It is my bedroom," I replied. "What are you doing in my bedroom?""But, but Barbie Lynn's stuff is in here," she gasped."That would because it is her room too, we sleep together," I answered. That slowed her up for a second. "Can I help you with something?""I, I, I spilled juice on my shirt," she began."And your skirt," I pointed out.""Oh no," she choked back a sob. "What am I going to do? I'm a mess and none of Barbie Lynn's bras, shirts, or skirts are going to fit me." I mused over that for a second."I've stashed some bra extensions around here somewhere and that should allow for the difference is sizes between you and Barbie," I said. "Now give me your skirt and I'll find a replacement." She hesitated so I added. "I'm not going to molest one of my best friends' mom, Savannah. Give me your skirt and I'll take care of everything." This time she did it, though I had to turn my back.I padded back out to Rio and Heaven who had just returned with the popcorn."Rio, Heaven, I need you to break into Chancellor Bazz' residence and steal a skirt like this," I offered up Savannah's."Hell yeah," Rio exulted. "Time for a little Breaking  Entry.""Oh, what the fuck," Heaven shrugged. "Count me in." She gave me a quick kiss and the two miscreants headed out on their nefarious mission. I went back to the bedroom and stumbled into Savannah, now with her bra off, eyeing two of Barbie Lynn's double barreled slingshots. Our eyes locked."Right," I spun away. "Bra extensions.""Zane, do you think I'm attractive?" Barbie Lynn's Mom asked.When women say that, they can mean three things;·         the truth,·         the lure, or·         the lie.Some women want to know if you find them attractive. Others want you to find them attractive for nefarious means. Lastly, a few woman want to be reminded that they are beautiful. Savannah was the latter."If you are asking me if you are as good looking as Barbie Lynn, Mrs. Masters, I'll have to say no but that's because you are a lady who is fully a woman and Barbie Lynn is still leaving some of the girl behind. There is no comparison. You are both hot," I affirmed."I don't know," she sighed. "It is with my husband, then seeing you and Barbie Lynn, in the shower,”What's wrong with you and your husband, if I may intrude?" I asked."He had an accident at work, one of his factories, and he hasn't been the same," she sniffed."Do you love him?" I questioned. "Honestly.""Yes, yes I do," she sighed. "But he's just not there.""Do me a favor; come over and sit next to me and I promise to be as well behaved as a Montana Miner (hey, it is where my family comes from)," I said as I sat at the foot of the bed. Savannah very, very reluctantly came over and sat at my bed, but I said nothing."Yes?" she broke down and inquired finally."I want you to laugh," I related to her softly. "Laugh, laugh like you do with small kids.""But, I'm not sure," she began then I poked her in the ribs. "What?" So I tickled her under her arms. Savannah covered her breasts by mistake so I got some finger in and began making her giggle and squirm."Stop it," she gasped for breath, so I rolled onto my side and tickled her other underarm until she finally flailed in surrender."See Savannah, I'm not the bad guy," I grinned. "I'm not seducing you because I think you love Barbie Lynn's Dad and you simple need to worry a little bit less, and love yourself a little bit more.""How do I do that?" she panted."I want you to try on some of Barbie Lynn's new clothes and see what you like, and what your husband might like," I suggested. "I'm not asking you to dress like a teenager; but not every day is Sunday school either." Oh God, I was talking clothes therapy to someone's Mother."But," she stammered."There is a screen right over there," I pointed out, "that you can change behind and the armoire over here has a mirror.""But I'll be parading around here, in my bra and panties," she worried."Well, that's a bonus for me," I shrugged, "but a lady with a body like yours should be wearing bikini's with less material. Look at it that way.""Well, don't ogle, alright?""Sure," I lied. What was I going to say? 'I'll pluck out my eyes?'After several tentative steps walking to the dresser and looking over her shoulder at me with real worry that I might find her either too attractive or not attractive enough, I gave up. I covered my eyes because they gravitated toward her backside like a plant seeking the sun. A minute later she finally spoke up.

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on the importance of moderating, or placing some limits on frankness of speech (in ancient Greek, parrhesia) within the scope of genuine friendship. These include advice to avoid approaches that are likely to be insulting to the person being criticized, since frankness has room for graciousness. Frank criticism should also be avoided when a person is intoxicated, and one should avoid criticizing a person in front of certain audiences. Criticizing too often or for trivial matters can also make frankness less effective. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on how flatterers engage in imitation of, rather than genuine, frankness of speech with the people that they want to deceive into thinking they are actually friends. Plutarch identifies several ways in which the seeming frankness of flatterers differs from that of friends, and notes a particularly problematic tendency. Flatterers will often criticize the opposite of the vice, problem, or emotion that the flattered person has, which encourages them in that bad disposition or emotion. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on the importance of frankness of speech (in ancient Greek, parrhesia) within genuine friendship. Plutarch argues that we all need friends not only to be pleasant to us and praise us, but also to point out where we are going wrong in our attitudes, words, and actions. He provides advice about how and when we ought to exercise this frankness of speech You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of a number of tricks and techniques that more sophisticated flatterers use to attempt to imitate friendship. Among these are using a fake frankness of speech, imitating similarities with the person targeted, pretending to share the same problems or deficits, praising the person wrongly for their character rather than just their actions, and using a kind of "silent flattery" in actions. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on the role that similarity plays in generating and sustaining real friendships between people, and the deliberate and deceptive imitations of similarity on the part of flatterers. He also notes that flatterers will imitate negative characteristics and actions, whereas friends will generally share similarities in terms of good characters and actions. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of assistance, services, ministering, and courtesies that flatterers and friends provide. Merely providing these or not does not allow us to distinguish flatterers from friends, so we need to look to other characteristics, such as the eagerness that a person shows, the moral quality of the services rendered, and the motivation of the person You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on one area in which we can tell flatterers from genuine friends, namely their attitudes and behavior towards other flatterers and towards our genuine friends. Flatterers will be envious of other flatterers and compete with them, and they will attempt to isolate their target from genuine friends. Real friends, by contrast, will want their friend to have other friendships and not be entirely dependent upon a single friend. Flatterers will also exhibit a two-faced behavior towards genuine friends. Publicly they will praise them and pretend to be respectful of them. Secretly they will attempt to spread slander about the genuine friends You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on criteria we can use to tell flatterers from friends. Early on in the work, Plutarch considers three potential criteria, namely whether a person gives pleasure to the other person, whether a person gives praise to the other person, or whether a person does services and courtesies to the other person. None of these work on their own to successfully differentiate friend from flatterer, and some people mistakenly think that one should swing to the other extreme and be disagreeable and fault-finding in order not to be a flatterer You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend This episode focuses specifically on the vulnerabilities to flatterers and flattery that we have within our own selves and characters. These stem from our own excessive self-love (philautia) which makes us liable to be flatterers of our own selves, and renders us liable to listen to those who confirm what we would like to think about ourselves, even if it is untrue. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's How To Tell A Flatterer From A Friend here - https://amzn.to/43fRQcd To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

Equipping Hour - Caleb

Have you noticed that the number three seems to be a big deal for the apostle Paul in Ephesians? For example, in the first fourteen verses we read of the three-fold role our Triune God has in our salvation: God the Father chose us before the foundation of the world (1:3-6), Jesus the Son made our redemption possible (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit sealed us for the Day of redemption (vv. 12-13). We see it in the way Paul prays for the Ephesian Church: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (vv. 18-19a). I thought one way to help you see this was to reimagine Pauls series of threes as his answer to a series of questions by Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, a character from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, a book first published in 1678 and is currently listed as the fifth most translated book in the world. If you are not aware of who John Bunyan was, all you know for now is that he wrote Pilgrims Progress while in prison for twelve years for preaching the gospel, his book is an allegory on the Christian life. In Bunyans book, the protagonist, Christian Pilgrim leaves his home, The City of Destruction, to embark on a pilgrimage for the salvation of his soul and to find the Celestial City where he can live for all eternity in the company of God. While on his journey he is helped and guided by other characters such as Evangelist, who is known as a preacher of the Holy Word and is eager to help those who are seriously concerned about the state of their souls. Christian also meets Interpreter who shows Christian many wonders and shows Christian many exhortations on the way he should go. There are others who join Christian on his journey such as Pliant who quits the pilgrimage after facing his first obstacle, and Hopeful, a refugee from Vanity Fair, who proves to be a faithful companion to Christian all the way to the Celestial City. There are others who Christian encounters that try to turn him away from the narrow way to the Celestial City who go by the names of Giant Despair, Apollyon, Flatterer, and Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Bunyan described Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, in this way: not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? Imagine what a conversation might look like if Mr. Worldly Wiseman visited the Apostle Paul in prison during the same time the epistle to the Ephesians was written: Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Paul, tell me how you can be sure that you are Christian since you are now in prison? Paul: Regardless of my circumstance, I am a Christian for these three reasons: I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1:4-6), I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ for sins I am guilty of (vv. 7-12), and I am sealed by the Holy Spirit for a full and future redemption (vv. 13-14). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Why spend your years in prison and suffer when you can be free so long as you dont keep blabbing about Jesus in places people dont want to hear it? You know, you can be a Christian and be compliant too! Paul: How can I be quiet about something so important? Jesus commands me not to be quite about my relationship with Him and how he saved me even though I was, Dead to God (2:1), A slave to sin (vv. 2-3a), and A child of the wrath of God because of the sins I committed against Him (v. 3). What this means, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, is that I was once like you: A friend of the world (2:2a), A child of the devil (v. 2b), and A slave to my own flesh (v. 3). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Im not sure if I should feel insulted or pity for you because you believe such rubbish. So, tell me, what is so different between you and me? Paul: Jesus is the difference between you and me! Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that I could never live; He died a death I deserved on a cross for sins I committed, and He validated all of that by rising from death on the third day. What is true of me is true of every real Christian, and this is why I have chosen to follow Him: I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive in Christ (1:7; 2:4) My nature was bound by my sins, but now I have been raised with Christ (v. 6a) I stood condemned by a holy God, but now I am seated with Christ and am covered by His righteousness (v. 6b). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Come on Paul! I am a religious person and I admire Jesus as a great example to aspire to. We need to do our best and let God do the rest, but you have taken your Christianity too seriously! Paul: No one can do enough for the kind of salvation you and I need! The only thing God required of me was a faith that was only possible because of His grace. It is a grace that I could not, nor ever will earn, by anything I could ever do! I am the recipient of, A rich mercy we did deserve (v. 4a). A great love God was not obligated to give (v. 4b). An all-sufficient grace no one could earn (v. 5) All of which is only possible in and through Jesus Christ alone! So, now we come to Ephesians 2:8-10 and are immediately faced with another set of three words and why it is that God saved us in the first place. If you were asked the same questions or interrogated in the way I had Mr. Worldly-Wiseman interrogate Paul, how would you answer? My two points are in the form of two questions that this passage answers for us in a way that should be deeply discouraging or encouraging to you. How Does God Save? Now, considering all that we have studied together, we find ourselves at the threshold of Ephesians 2:8-9. What I want to do with you this morning is to walk you through these verses in light of the context of Ephesians 1:3-2:7. I want us to look at these verses together against the backdrop of my warning at the beginning of this sermon series which was this: Beware of imposing your view and thoughts of what God should be like, upon the text of His holy Word. You must allow the authority of Gods Word to impose its teaching upon your heart for the purpose of shaping it in a way that the eyes of your heart are able to see God more clearly. Now, before I go any further, let me say first and foremost that I want you to make your own conclusion with these verses based on the evidence of what you see in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. I am not concerned if you end up seeing things differently than the way I see them so long as you do not impose what you think the Bible should say upon what it actually says. My only concern before you this morning is that I preach and teach the Bible in such a manner that I am faithful to the Word of God so when I stand before Him, I will do so knowing that I was faithful with what He has entrusted to me. So, here we go! Buckle up because it is going to be a fun ride. Lets start with verses 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The three words I want you to see in this verse are grace, saved (i.e. salvation), and faith. To answer the question, How does God save? we need figure out what is the gift that He gives so that no one may boast. Is grace the gift given by God, or is salvation the gift given by God, or is a persons faith the gift given by God? Whatever the gift is, it eliminates any notion on our part that we did something to get it, otherwise Paul would never have felt the need to include verse 9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. If I am right about what I see in Ephesians 2:8-9, it will open up verse 10 in a way that will encourage you and blow your mind at the same time. So, what have we seen in Ephesians so far leading up to these verses? Permit me to put what Paul lists concerning our salvation in sequential order from spiritual death to life: We were spiritually dead in our offenses and sins (2:1) We know we were spiritually dead because we were slaves to our sin (2:2a) Because we were slaves to our sin against God, we were by nature children of His wrath (2:3). But God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, did three things (vv. 2:4-5): He made us alive with Christ (2:5b). He raised us up with Christ (2:6a). He seated us with Christ (2:6b). As a Christian, you can know that your salvation involved three acts of God Before the foundation of the earth, God chose to adopt you as His child through Jesus (1:4-6). In order to adopt you as His child, God redeemed you through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of all your wrongdoings (1:7-12). Because God will not lose any who He has redeemed, He has sealed you with His Holy Spirit until your redemption and salvation is complete (1:13-14). So, in light of all that Paul wrote concerning what God has done for the Christian, what does he mean by Ephesians 2:8-9? Let me offer up some fair and legitimate questions: If I am spiritually dead, how can a spiritually dead person respond to God in faith? If I am able to respond to God in faith in order to receive salvation through Jesus, then is my faith exempt from the kinds of works Paul is talking about in verse 9? If faith is a gift God imparts on me on some level, then how is my trust in Jesus for the salvation of my soul legitimate? Does your brain hurt from trying to process these sorts of questions? I have wrestled over these verses for nearly 30 years and have understood them in three different ways that I think may help give you some perspective. In my early years, I was convinced that the gift of God was a salvation that could only be received by faith. Sometime after I started reading guys like Jonathan Edwards and St. Augustine, I leaned towards thinking that it was faith that was the gift of God. To be honest, what makes all of this even more confusing is the Greek allows the person interpreting these verses to make either one of these conclusions. Here is where I sit now, and I believe that how I see it fits best with everything Paul has written leading up to these verses, and it fits with the rest of the Bible. So, what is the gift of God? It is His Grace, our faith, and our salvation in that order! The this is Gods grace, our faith, and our salvation. Think about what grace is for a moment. Biblical grace is Gods unmerited favor; it is favor given to someone who does not deserve it. Do you remember what I said in the second sermon I preached in this series on Ephesians 1:4-6? I told you that at the very least, when it comes to God, what we read in these verses leads to the conclusion that God moved first. We see the very same thing here in Ephesians 2:8! At the very least, it is the sheer grace of almighty God that I had reached a point in my life on July 18, 1991, when all that I heard about Jesus made sense and I surrendered my life to Jesus and was genuinely and categorically saved from the wrath of God and forgiven all my sins! Every step and experience leading up to that moment was also the demonstration of a God who pursued me, found me, and overcame my sin because His mercy was rich, His love was great, and His grace sufficient to do what a 16-year-old teenage boy could not do. God made me alive with Christ, God raised me up with Christ, and God seated me with Christ on that summers day on July 18, 1991, but He did not believe for me; I had to believe to be saved. He did the same thing with you Christian, but He did not believe for you! But my believing in Christ for the salvation of my soul, and your believing in Him for the salvation of your soul is not only a testament of Gods grace, but the proof that miracles happen. For What Purpose Does God Save? So, why did He do it? Why did he save you? Why did He choose you, redeem you, seal you, and made you, who were once dead, the recipient of the, boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:7)? After all, what Jonathan Edwards said concerning what we bring to our salvation is the resounding testimony of all of Scripture: You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. God didnt have to do it! God was not morally obligated to do it! But God did it; He saved you and redeemed you for the forgiveness of all your sin according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon you (1:7). But why? The answer is found in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The first word in verse 10 is the word For, which is telling us something. What it is telling us is that considering Ephesians 2:1-9, the following is true! You who were dead in your sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind as a child of the wrath of God (vv. 1-3), God made you alive in Christ, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in those good works. This is exactly why God choose you, Christian, before the foundation of the world; listen to Ephesians 1:4 again: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. What this means, and this is so important to see with the eyes of your heart: We were not saved to coast until we enter into the presence of God in heaven but were saved so that God could reveal His presence through us because of His resurrection power to change us! It is absolute nonsense to think and believe that you can encounter Jesus on the level Paul describes in Ephesians and remain unchanged! It is like saying that you can remain the same after you walk in front of a bus traveling 65 MPH; the force of the bus will change you permanently. Listen carefully, the God who spoke 300 billion suns into existence is the same God who makes alive the spiritually dead through the power of the Gospel of a resurrected Christ! How is it that a person can remain unchanged by a power greater than 300 billion suns? I will tell you; it is because that person has never truly encountered Christ, whose mercy is richer, love is greater, and grace more sufficient than all of our sins and the sins of 8.1 billion people combined! What we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 is that in light of the resurrection power of God through the redeeming work of Jesus the Son, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit who seals us, it is the grace of God that leads to faith in God, for our salvation by God, for the purpose of a life of good works that glorifies God. The work that God is doing in your life is ongoing. I feel that it is fitting to close with something Sinclair Ferguson wrote concerning these verses: Heaven may be the final showroom; but here on earth God is already showing what he can do.. The church triumphant is an art gallery where God displays reflections of his glory. It is a portrait gallery in which the family likeness is seen in countless different individuals who together display his infinite glory. The church visible, here, and now, is a workshop. The Divine Artist is still painting his likeness on the canvas of our lives, the Divine Potter still has the clay in his hands. The time for final exhibition has not yet come. But one day it will. Then all that God has done in us in secret, invisible to the naked eye, will become visible for all to see. What a day that will be![1] [1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 53.

Have you noticed that the number three seems to be a big deal for the apostle Paul in Ephesians? For example, in the first fourteen verses we read of the three-fold role our Triune God has in our salvation: God the Father chose us before the foundation of the world (1:3-6), Jesus the Son made our redemption possible (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit sealed us for the Day of redemption (vv. 12-13). We see it in the way Paul prays for the Ephesian Church: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (vv. 18-19a). I thought one way to help you see this was to reimagine Pauls series of threes as his answer to a series of questions by Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, a character from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, a book first published in 1678 and is currently listed as the fifth most translated book in the world. If you are not aware of who John Bunyan was, all you know for now is that he wrote Pilgrims Progress while in prison for twelve years for preaching the gospel, his book is an allegory on the Christian life. In Bunyans book, the protagonist, Christian Pilgrim leaves his home, The City of Destruction, to embark on a pilgrimage for the salvation of his soul and to find the Celestial City where he can live for all eternity in the company of God. While on his journey he is helped and guided by other characters such as Evangelist, who is known as a preacher of the Holy Word and is eager to help those who are seriously concerned about the state of their souls. Christian also meets Interpreter who shows Christian many wonders and shows Christian many exhortations on the way he should go. There are others who join Christian on his journey such as Pliant who quits the pilgrimage after facing his first obstacle, and Hopeful, a refugee from Vanity Fair, who proves to be a faithful companion to Christian all the way to the Celestial City. There are others who Christian encounters that try to turn him away from the narrow way to the Celestial City who go by the names of Giant Despair, Apollyon, Flatterer, and Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Bunyan described Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, in this way: not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? Imagine what a conversation might look like if Mr. Worldly Wiseman visited the Apostle Paul in prison during the same time the epistle to the Ephesians was written: Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Paul, tell me how you can be sure that you are Christian since you are now in prison? Paul: Regardless of my circumstance, I am a Christian for these three reasons: I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1:4-6), I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ for sins I am guilty of (vv. 7-12), and I am sealed by the Holy Spirit for a full and future redemption (vv. 13-14). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Why spend your years in prison and suffer when you can be free so long as you dont keep blabbing about Jesus in places people dont want to hear it? You know, you can be a Christian and be compliant too! Paul: How can I be quiet about something so important? Jesus commands me not to be quite about my relationship with Him and how he saved me even though I was, Dead to God (2:1), A slave to sin (vv. 2-3a), and A child of the wrath of God because of the sins I committed against Him (v. 3). What this means, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, is that I was once like you: A friend of the world (2:2a), A child of the devil (v. 2b), and A slave to my own flesh (v. 3). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Im not sure if I should feel insulted or pity for you because you believe such rubbish. So, tell me, what is so different between you and me? Paul: Jesus is the difference between you and me! Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that I could never live; He died a death I deserved on a cross for sins I committed, and He validated all of that by rising from death on the third day. What is true of me is true of every real Christian, and this is why I have chosen to follow Him: I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive in Christ (1:7; 2:4) My nature was bound by my sins, but now I have been raised with Christ (v. 6a) I stood condemned by a holy God, but now I am seated with Christ and am covered by His righteousness (v. 6b). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Come on Paul! I am a religious person and I admire Jesus as a great example to aspire to. We need to do our best and let God do the rest, but you have taken your Christianity too seriously! Paul: No one can do enough for the kind of salvation you and I need! The only thing God required of me was a faith that was only possible because of His grace. It is a grace that I could not, nor ever will earn, by anything I could ever do! I am the recipient of, A rich mercy we did deserve (v. 4a). A great love God was not obligated to give (v. 4b). An all-sufficient grace no one could earn (v. 5) All of which is only possible in and through Jesus Christ alone! So, now we come to Ephesians 2:8-10 and are immediately faced with another set of three words and why it is that God saved us in the first place. If you were asked the same questions or interrogated in the way I had Mr. Worldly-Wiseman interrogate Paul, how would you answer? My two points are in the form of two questions that this passage answers for us in a way that should be deeply discouraging or encouraging to you. How Does God Save? Now, considering all that we have studied together, we find ourselves at the threshold of Ephesians 2:8-9. What I want to do with you this morning is to walk you through these verses in light of the context of Ephesians 1:3-2:7. I want us to look at these verses together against the backdrop of my warning at the beginning of this sermon series which was this: Beware of imposing your view and thoughts of what God should be like, upon the text of His holy Word. You must allow the authority of Gods Word to impose its teaching upon your heart for the purpose of shaping it in a way that the eyes of your heart are able to see God more clearly. Now, before I go any further, let me say first and foremost that I want you to make your own conclusion with these verses based on the evidence of what you see in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. I am not concerned if you end up seeing things differently than the way I see them so long as you do not impose what you think the Bible should say upon what it actually says. My only concern before you this morning is that I preach and teach the Bible in such a manner that I am faithful to the Word of God so when I stand before Him, I will do so knowing that I was faithful with what He has entrusted to me. So, here we go! Buckle up because it is going to be a fun ride. Lets start with verses 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The three words I want you to see in this verse are grace, saved (i.e. salvation), and faith. To answer the question, How does God save? we need figure out what is the gift that He gives so that no one may boast. Is grace the gift given by God, or is salvation the gift given by God, or is a persons faith the gift given by God? Whatever the gift is, it eliminates any notion on our part that we did something to get it, otherwise Paul would never have felt the need to include verse 9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. If I am right about what I see in Ephesians 2:8-9, it will open up verse 10 in a way that will encourage you and blow your mind at the same time. So, what have we seen in Ephesians so far leading up to these verses? Permit me to put what Paul lists concerning our salvation in sequential order from spiritual death to life: We were spiritually dead in our offenses and sins (2:1) We know we were spiritually dead because we were slaves to our sin (2:2a) Because we were slaves to our sin against God, we were by nature children of His wrath (2:3). But God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, did three things (vv. 2:4-5): He made us alive with Christ (2:5b). He raised us up with Christ (2:6a). He seated us with Christ (2:6b). As a Christian, you can know that your salvation involved three acts of God Before the foundation of the earth, God chose to adopt you as His child through Jesus (1:4-6). In order to adopt you as His child, God redeemed you through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of all your wrongdoings (1:7-12). Because God will not lose any who He has redeemed, He has sealed you with His Holy Spirit until your redemption and salvation is complete (1:13-14). So, in light of all that Paul wrote concerning what God has done for the Christian, what does he mean by Ephesians 2:8-9? Let me offer up some fair and legitimate questions: If I am spiritually dead, how can a spiritually dead person respond to God in faith? If I am able to respond to God in faith in order to receive salvation through Jesus, then is my faith exempt from the kinds of works Paul is talking about in verse 9? If faith is a gift God imparts on me on some level, then how is my trust in Jesus for the salvation of my soul legitimate? Does your brain hurt from trying to process these sorts of questions? I have wrestled over these verses for nearly 30 years and have understood them in three different ways that I think may help give you some perspective. In my early years, I was convinced that the gift of God was a salvation that could only be received by faith. Sometime after I started reading guys like Jonathan Edwards and St. Augustine, I leaned towards thinking that it was faith that was the gift of God. To be honest, what makes all of this even more confusing is the Greek allows the person interpreting these verses to make either one of these conclusions. Here is where I sit now, and I believe that how I see it fits best with everything Paul has written leading up to these verses, and it fits with the rest of the Bible. So, what is the gift of God? It is His Grace, our faith, and our salvation in that order! The this is Gods grace, our faith, and our salvation. Think about what grace is for a moment. Biblical grace is Gods unmerited favor; it is favor given to someone who does not deserve it. Do you remember what I said in the second sermon I preached in this series on Ephesians 1:4-6? I told you that at the very least, when it comes to God, what we read in these verses leads to the conclusion that God moved first. We see the very same thing here in Ephesians 2:8! At the very least, it is the sheer grace of almighty God that I had reached a point in my life on July 18, 1991, when all that I heard about Jesus made sense and I surrendered my life to Jesus and was genuinely and categorically saved from the wrath of God and forgiven all my sins! Every step and experience leading up to that moment was also the demonstration of a God who pursued me, found me, and overcame my sin because His mercy was rich, His love was great, and His grace sufficient to do what a 16-year-old teenage boy could not do. God made me alive with Christ, God raised me up with Christ, and God seated me with Christ on that summers day on July 18, 1991, but He did not believe for me; I had to believe to be saved. He did the same thing with you Christian, but He did not believe for you! But my believing in Christ for the salvation of my soul, and your believing in Him for the salvation of your soul is not only a testament of Gods grace, but the proof that miracles happen. For What Purpose Does God Save? So, why did He do it? Why did he save you? Why did He choose you, redeem you, seal you, and made you, who were once dead, the recipient of the, boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:7)? After all, what Jonathan Edwards said concerning what we bring to our salvation is the resounding testimony of all of Scripture: You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. God didnt have to do it! God was not morally obligated to do it! But God did it; He saved you and redeemed you for the forgiveness of all your sin according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon you (1:7). But why? The answer is found in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The first word in verse 10 is the word For, which is telling us something. What it is telling us is that considering Ephesians 2:1-9, the following is true! You who were dead in your sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind as a child of the wrath of God (vv. 1-3), God made you alive in Christ, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in those good works. This is exactly why God choose you, Christian, before the foundation of the world; listen to Ephesians 1:4 again: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. What this means, and this is so important to see with the eyes of your heart: We were not saved to coast until we enter into the presence of God in heaven but were saved so that God could reveal His presence through us because of His resurrection power to change us! It is absolute nonsense to think and believe that you can encounter Jesus on the level Paul describes in Ephesians and remain unchanged! It is like saying that you can remain the same after you walk in front of a bus traveling 65 MPH; the force of the bus will change you permanently. Listen carefully, the God who spoke 300 billion suns into existence is the same God who makes alive the spiritually dead through the power of the Gospel of a resurrected Christ! How is it that a person can remain unchanged by a power greater than 300 billion suns? I will tell you; it is because that person has never truly encountered Christ, whose mercy is richer, love is greater, and grace more sufficient than all of our sins and the sins of 8.1 billion people combined! What we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 is that in light of the resurrection power of God through the redeeming work of Jesus the Son, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit who seals us, it is the grace of God that leads to faith in God, for our salvation by God, for the purpose of a life of good works that glorifies God. The work that God is doing in your life is ongoing. I feel that it is fitting to close with something Sinclair Ferguson wrote concerning these verses: Heaven may be the final showroom; but here on earth God is already showing what he can do.. The church triumphant is an art gallery where God displays reflections of his glory. It is a portrait gallery in which the family likeness is seen in countless different individuals who together display his infinite glory. The church visible, here, and now, is a workshop. The Divine Artist is still painting his likeness on the canvas of our lives, the Divine Potter still has the clay in his hands. The time for final exhibition has not yet come. But one day it will. Then all that God has done in us in secret, invisible to the naked eye, will become visible for all to see. What a day that will be![1] [1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 53.

Check out Ralston College's FUNDED MA program: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma !...Plutarch offers some advice on how to choose your friends, and how to be a good one.  Examples include Alexander the Great, Cato, Carneades, Plato, Dionysius the Tyrant, and more.(Here depicted: the monument of Philopappus in Athens, to whom Plutarch's essay is dedicated)

Rund 30 Fledermausarten sind in der Schweiz heimisch. Rund zwei Drittel davon sind potenziell bis ausgesprochen vom Aussterben bedroht. Die Stiftung Fledermausschutz tritt dagegen an mit handfester Hilfe, Aufklärung und Information. Fledermäuse sind die einzigen Säugetiere, die aktiv fliegen können. Das tun sie vorwiegend nachts. Zur Orientierung dient ihnen die Fähigkeit, sich mittel Ultraschall zu orientieren. Die faszinierenden Flatterer sind aber in Gefahr, vor allem durch den Druck der Zivilisation, durch Umweltbelastung und den Klimawandel. Die Zürcher Stiftung Fledermausschutz betreibt ein Nottelefon und hegt und pflegt gefährdete Fledermäuse. Im «Treffpunkt» berichtet Leiterin Katja Schönbächler von der Arbeit.

Watch out for flattery! Proverbs 29:5! Your heart can get stolen away! #podcast #flattery #beware #love #loyalty #Christian #Bible #truth #Friday #subscribe #manipulation

The Flatterer (horse chewing noises unavoidable).

A new MP3 sermon from The Narrated Puritan is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Beware of the Flatterer: Pictures in Pilgrim's Progress Subtitle: Pilgrim's Progress Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: The Narrated Puritan Event: Audio Book Date: 9/12/2022 Length: 14 min.

A new MP3 sermon from The Narrated Puritan is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Beware of the Flatterer: Pictures in Pilgrim's Progress Subtitle: Pilgrim's Progress Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: The Narrated Puritan Event: Audio Book Date: 9/12/2022 Length: 14 min.

A new MP3 sermon from The Narrated Puritan is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Beware of the Flatterer: Pictures in Pilgrim's Progress Subtitle: Pilgrim's Progress Speaker: C. H. Spurgeon Broadcaster: The Narrated Puritan Event: Audio Book Date: 9/12/2022 Length: 14 min.

Yesterday we looked at the Flatterer and the Gospel of Flattery. We continue our study of the same verse in the next portion of the cloke of covetousness. How is covetousness used to lead people astray? Let's study the Word of God to find how to avoid the deception of covetousness.Copyright 2022 Joshua Burks (See About page for full copyright information)

The Manor: Gymnasium - Don & Tascha explore the gym, including the pool & hot tub. (ch. 11)By BradentonLarry.   Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Don and Tascha came out of the ballroom into the foyer with the winding staircase.“OK, so the Player was supposed to help us find the garden, but, obviously he's not here,” Don said, thinking out loud.“Obviously,” Tascha smirked. “So we'll have to find it ourselves.”“Or try to until we stumble upon the Player again,” Don said, looking around. “OK, so the stairs go back up to where we started off, and that corridor leads to the Lord's and Lady's bedrooms. I didn't see any side passages along that way, did you?”“No; so back up the stairs or one of these other two corridors,” Tascha said. The foyer was basically a square, with the ballroom on one side, the Lord's and Lady's corridor on the opposite side, and a corridor on either of the other two sides. The circular staircase came down in the corner to the right of the ballroom entrance, from where they stood with the ballroom at their backs.“There might be secret passages, of course,” Don said, “but worrying about that seems likely to slow us down a lot.”“Right,” Tascha nodded. “If we can't find the garden, or the Player, by trying regular doors, we can always start looking for secret ones.”“OK, so the stairs stop here, so for now we're as low in the Manor as we can get. Anything wrong with us starting at the bottom and working our way up?”“It doesn't seem likely that the door to the garden would be on the top floor, so no.”“I don't suppose you've got a ball of magic string on you,” he smiled.“Nope,” she laughed. “We're on our own here, Theseus.”“Let's hope there's no minotaur. Come along, Ariadne.” Don started off toward the right corridor. They passed a big freight elevator on the right, which indicated that this floor was as far down as it went, and that it went as high as the fifth floor.“So, I found out that something happened to the previous Lord,” Tascha said, walking next to him. “This one doesn't know what, only that the Lady selected him to be the new one.”“Hum,” Don said. “And the Lady doesn't remember anything other than being here, and, apparently as an adult. I didn't think to ask her how she became the Lady, but Deidre said she wasn't in training to be her replacement.”“We do seem to be the only people around here who remember anything other than life in the Manor,” Tascha observed.“Maybe we should start making a point of asking people if they remember anything before they were here.”“Yeah, I can see you now, ‘Miss, before you suck my cock, would you mind answering a few questions?'”“That's exactly what I was thinking,” Don laughed. “Oh, look, there's a door.”The big door on the left had a sign on it that read, “LAUNDRY” and “Staff Only”. It was a swinging door, so Don gave it a shove. On the other side was an enormous room, even by the Manor standards they were becoming used to, with row upon row of large washing machines, dryers and, off to the left, dry cleaning equipment. Moving among the machines, doing a great deal of laundry, were men and women wearing gray overall uniforms. These workers did not look at the two naked people watching them, or, in fact, at anything other than what they were presently working on. They seemed to have no interest in what they were doing or anything else going on.“Not the garden,” Tascha decided.“Nope,” Don agreed. “Still, apparently the laundry doesn't exactly get done by magic.”The next door in the corridor, labeled “CLEANING SUPPLIES”, as well as the next, “LINEN ROOM”, was securely locked. At the very end of the corridor was the only door set into the right wall. This was labeled “GREENHOUSE” and “Staff Only”, and was another big swinging door. Don gave it a shove.“Well this is just ridiculous,” Tascha said.“That's putting it mildly.”This “greenhouse” was more like a rather large orchard, with sprawling gardens thrown in for good measure, all enclosed and covered over with huge panes of transparent glass or plastic. Don could see apple trees and orange trees closest to him.“Don't these require different climates?” Tascha asked.“Yeah, I think they do,” Don nodded. “We're going to have to circumnavigate this sucker, you know.”“'Circumnavigate,' Don? We're not sailing the high seas,” Tascha chided. “But yeah, I think we need to walk around this to make sure there aren't any exits we could try. Good thing this grass is soft.”Don agreed that it did actually feel good to be walking on the grass with his bare feet. As they worked counterclockwise around the vast greenhouse, they saw more of the apparently disinterested overalled workers moving among the trees, pruning and harvesting, and working in the assorted vegetable gardens. No one paid any attention to Tascha and Don.“You know if it weren't for the zombie work force, I'd feel like we were Adam and Eve in here,” Don mused.“A Biblical reference, Don?” she chuckled. “I'm shocked and appalled.”“I like to change things up now and then.”Somewhere around halfway in their circuit, Don said, “What about the fruit anyway?”“You mean how filling it is?”“Yeah,” Don said with a frown.“More magic?”“Well, what we're calling ‘magic' for now, anyway,” he nodded. “I mean, it's one thing for candles and mirror-walls, but I'm not too happy about eating magical fruit.”“Me either, but what else are we going to do?” Tascha asked. “It's got to be the high fruit diet that's making all the men's cum taste so sweet.”“Think you've had a large enough sample to make that generalization?” Don asked with a raised eyebrow.“I'm working on it,” she laughed.“I'm quite happy to help out with your research any way I can.”“Oh, but I've sampled yours now. I need to find other subjects.”Don laughed, “Well, I can tell you this. Way back when, there was this girl I knew who had the sweetest tasting pussy. I used to say you could bottle that stuff and sell it as a beverage. Well, yours and every other pussy I've tasted here make hers taste bland in comparison. Mostly yours though.”“Flatterer,” Tascha laughed.After a bit, Don said, “Plus there's the water!”“Yes,” she nodded, “the water.”“That's not normal water,” Don said firmly.“No, it's certainly not.”“It's got to have some kind of aphrodisiac in it,” he mused.“That can't be all, though. It seems to energize me.”“And like the fruit, we only need a little of it to keep going,” observed Don. “And, I don't know about you, but I should be going through a lot of fluid since I got here.”“No, me too,” she smiled, “though I have been supplementing the water from time to time.”“OK, you're going to have to stop talking like that if you want to keep looking for the garden,” Don laughed.“Aw, now you can't take a little teasing, eh?”“Yeah, well, now that I know it's not all teasing, it's more ,  distracting.”“Suck it up, big guy,” she laughed.Don shook his head, chuckling under his breath.Soon they had completed their long walk around the greenhouse, having found no sign of an exit. As they left, Don said, “Still, a nice place for a walk.”“Yeah,” Tascha agreed. “If we can't find the garden we should come back here for a picnic.”Naturally, enough, Don imagined a naked Tascha lounging on a blanket in the middle of that orchard. Sure, the workers would be a bit of a distraction, but he could work around that.They headed back to the foyer in front of the ballroom, and then proceeded into the opposite corridor. Passing another, smaller, elevator on the left, the first doorway they came to, on the right side of the corridor, was a double pair of swinging doors that opened into a rather large lounge with subdued lighting. Against the right wall, there was a bar, with a flowing water fountain and several bowls of the magical fruit. The rest of the open area consisted of rising levels, each of which was arranged with comfortable chairs, couches, loveseats and low, sturdy tables. The uppermost level had six pool tables spaced out around it. There was actually a group of four naked people, evenly split between men and women, playing pool at one table, while on the next a woman was sprawling on her back and a man knelt at her pussy, orally servicing her. There were several groups of people engaged in various activities scattered about the lounge – here a 69, there a woman bouncing up and down on a man's lap, and there an intense three-way fondle-fest. There was, fittingly enough, lounge music playing.Don noticed that Tascha was watching the people having sex, particularly the couple on the upper level. With a mischievous smile, he asked, “Want to play a game? We could make things interesting.”Tascha laughed a bit, but seemed to seriously consider the suggestion. She shook her head and said, “Maybe later.”The next set of doors they came to was labeled, in big, fluorescent letters, “DISCO”, but these doors were locked. Then came the “THEATRE”, which, they were not surprised to find, was a huge auditorium, with nice soft chairs, and a good-sized stage with a white scrim across it so that, Don guessed, movies could be shown. Moving down one of the aisles far enough to look back and up not only confirmed his guess that the theater was equipped with a projection room, but also showed them that a few people were, again unsurprisingly, using the comfortable seats for sexual liaisons.“They must have movie nights,” Don said as they went back toward the corridor.“Probably just porn, though.”“What? No movie theater fantasies, Tascha?”“What do you mean?”“You know, having sex in a darkened movie theater. I understand lots of women, and not a few men, have them. Having sex in the dark, but where people can see them, sometimes letting anonymous people join in. Some people find that hot.”“I never thought about it before,” she shrugged. Then she smiled, “But I will now. Thanks.”At the end of the corridor was an open area; to either side, climbing upward away from the end of the corridor, were staircases; and in the wall facing back down the corridor was a pair of doors labeled “GYMNASIUM & POOL”. They stepped through these doors to see a cavernous room. There was a clear, carpeted plateau, or shelf, that ran from the door straight ahead to the far end of the chamber.On the left side of this platform, steps ran down to a large area in the center of which was a big swimming pool. The entire area around the pool was a kind of tidy garden, with benches, and piles of towels. At the far end of the pool was a waterfall that fell from near the high ceiling down over a series of stony ledges into the pool. To the left of this waterfall, in the far corner of the pool, up a set of steps leading up from the main pool was a rather large hot tub. There were three people who were swimming laps in the main pool, a couple apparently just talking in the near corner, and several people doing who-knew-what in the hot tub. On one of the benches off the pool deck proper, a woman leaned back while another knelt between her legs.On the right of their platform, up several tiers of steps, were two areas, closest to them was a state of the art gym set up, complete with weight machines, treadmills and stationary bikes. They climbed up the steps to get a better look, for now ignoring two men working out together with the free weights, the mixed set of people working on the treadmills and bikes, and the woman on her back on the one weight bench with a man between her legs fucking her vigorously. On the right wall of this area, was a neatly organized set of compartments that held various sizes of jockstraps, sports bras, slip on running and martial arts shoes, and assorted protective gear. Two nearby laundry bins collected soiled garments.To the left, or moving counterclockwise around the big chamber, was an open area with a padded mat covering the floor. Mirrors covered most of the two walls, except where a set of racks held a prodigious assortment of martial arts weapons and gear. No one was currently using this area.Then, at the end of the central aisle, directly opposite the doors they'd entered through, was a large communal shower room, complete with the now-expected generic toiletries and stacks of towels.“Quite impressive,” Tascha nodded.“Indeed,” Don smiled. “Are you sure we didn't win a lottery for a trip to the best, weirdest sex resort in the world?”“I'm sure I didn't buy a ticket in that lottery, though I'm sure you would have,” said Tascha with a wink. “Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's no place like this in the world we come from.”“You think we're in another world?”Tascha shrugged. “We're sure not in Kansas anymore. Feel like a swim?”Don looked around, then said, “Not just yet. You go ahead and I'll catch up to you in a bit.”Tascha took a step toward the pool, then spun around, came back to him and gave him a quick kiss. Then she sprang off down the steps for the pool.A bit bemused, Don headed back over to the equipment area, and quickly got what he was looking for. Wearing a black jockstrap and a pair of martial arts shoes, Don went back to the open area. After spending several minutes stretching, he began to work through some kung fu forms. It had been some time since he'd been able to work in anything like this open space, and it felt very good to work on his forms freely. After his open hand forms, he went to the equipment rack and selected a good staff, and then after that form, he returned that and got a Chinese saber. Having warmed up now, he was able to concentrate on these sword forms, his favorite. The fact that there were other people in the room, some of whom were having sex, faded away from his attention. As a result, when he finished his third sword form, it came as a bit of a surprise when someone asked, “Feel like sparring?”Don turned to see a very cute and obviously fit young black woman standing there watching him. She was several inches shorter than him, with a nice hourglass body, firm legs and full tits. Her hair was straight and black with gold highlights, and long enough to hang down halfway over her breasts. She was wearing an olive green sports bra, a pair of sparring gloves, a pair of the martial arts shoes and nothing else. She had an open faced headgear tucked her arm, and another in her hands, as well as a pair of sparring gloves.Don considered for a moment, and said, “Sure. Let me put this away.”She followed him over to the rack, and handed him the headgear first, saying, “I'm Shelonda.”“Nice to meet you Shelonda,” he smiled. “I'm Don.”She passed him the gloves, which he slipped on. She then led him out to the middle of the area.“How serious are we going to be?” Don asked.“Well, we'll see how the sparring goes,” Shelonda smiled.“Oh, I like that!” Don laughed. “How about no groin strikes, though?”“Neither of us have protection, so OK,” she agreed, “though accidents do happen.”“Let's try to avoid them, shall we?” Don began to move around Shelonda on the balls of his feet.He was about to move in, when she danced in and sent a roundhouse at his side. Don blocked this easily with one hand and pushed her off with the other. Then, Don brought his left knee up high and snapped his right leg around with a jumping roundhouse that she just barely ducked under. Don landed and skipped in to follow as she scrambled back a bit. He threw out a fast, light jab that caught her square on the forehead. Shelonda shook her head a little and danced back away from him. Don stalked after her, ready to get in close enough to catch her with a combination. She apparently thought he was a bit too close, though. Her left knee came up to her chest and her foot shot out, hitting him with a heel-thrusting kick to the gut.Don stumbled back a bit, with the air knocked out of him. Shelonda pressed her advantage, throwing a fast combination of kicks at him followed by two jabs and a hook at his head. Don had to work hard and fast, but he managed to block each attack. Tossing his right hand up and out to block the hook punch, he stepped through and jabbed hard with his left fist, catching Shelonda on the forehead again but harder than the last time. It was her turn to stumble back, and Don gave her a moment to collect herself.When she started back at him again, Don tried his jumping roundhouse kick again, which she blocked, moving to his left. She stepped in and punched him, rather hard, in the belly with her right fist. Don grunted, but only returned the favor. Shelonda's left arm was then arching down on a collision course with Don's head. He tried to bring his right arm up to block the blow, but it was slowed down by running into Shelonda's left breast. The punch connected, and Don's head was turned sharply to the left. Whether by quick thinking or by reflex from years of training, Don went with the motion, turning to the left. While his upper body was turning, his right foot crossed over in front of his left. As his torso twisted around, his left arm came up as if to guard his head, only to snap out at the last moment to catch the left side of Shelonda's headgear with a backfist blow. At the same time, his left leg hooked around her left leg and pulled it toward him. Unable to back away, she was unable to avoid the hook punch that followed the backfist, and she reeled to the side.Shelonda was obliged to turn to the right, first freeing her leg from Don and then planting it on the opposite side, away from him. This done, she was able to lash out with her right leg, side kicking straight out and connecting with Don's hip, shoving him back away.They backed off and circled, eyeing each other warily. Both of them were smiling. Abruptly Shelonda charged, taking a couple of steps and then launching a flying side kick at him. A flashy but not very practical move. She was kicking with her right leg, so Don turned to the left and stepped out of the way. Shelonda missed him and came down just past him, but Don was ready. He slipped his hand up under her left arm, and around to get hold of the back of her neck, while simultaneously getting his right arm between her thighs. His right foot was crossed in front of her left shin. Stepping forward while lifting up with his right arm and pushing down and forward with his left hand, Don threw Shelonda sprawling on the mat. Before she could get away, he swatted her bare, perfectly tight brown ass.Instead of rolling over or scrambling away, Shelonda said, “Oh!” and wiggled her butt. Laughing, Don smacked her ass again. She pushed her butt up in the air, so Don smacked it a third time. She sighed, and then pulled her head gear off. Don did the same, and pulled off his right glove. He ran his now bare hand over Shelonda's smooth and very firm butt, before smacking it yet again. Then he reached down to run his hand over her bare and dewy lips. She pushed herself back at him, like a cat stretching. He moved his fingers between her lips and probed her pussy with his fingers, and then found her clit and stroked it.She tossed her hair to the side and looked back over her shoulder at him, saying with a broad smile, “To the victor go the spoils.”Don grinned back at her and thought about this for a long moment, while his fingers continued to stroke her. Finally he said, “OK, but come with me to the pool. The victor wants to share the spoils.”“Oh, fun!” Shelonda exclaimed and quickly got up. They dropped off their soiled sparring gear, and stripped off their sweaty garments, and then headed for the pool.Don spotted Tascha over on the steps leading up to the hot tub, so he dove into the pool and swam across to her, most of the way underwater. Coming to the surface, he saw that Tascha was sitting with one arm resting on the top step, or the rim of the hot tub, watching two couples playing. As he and Shelonda swam up, she looked at him and said, “Oh, I see what's been taking you so long.” “Well, sort of,” Don said as he got to the steps and sat on one several steps lower than the one Tascha sat on. “Tascha this is Shelonda; Shelonda, Tascha. She's my spoils,” he offered as explanation.“Spoils?”“Well, you missed us fighting over there. I kicked her butt.”“And spanked it!” Shelonda said with an obviously play pout.“You brute!” Tascha laughed.“Yes, well, I won, so she says I get the spoils, so I thought we'd come join you so you could enjoy some 'spoils'.”Tascha looked over Shelonda, who was now standing on the second step up, her very fit and curvy body with its flawless brown skin glistening with water. “She's a cutie, alright,” Tascha decided. “Did you really beat up on her, Don?”“Believe me, it was a fair fight!” Don protested.“Uh huh,” Tascha said. “Come up here and give me a kiss, Shelonda. Did he tell you he was a black belt?”“No, but he didn't hurt me much,” Shelonda smiled as she came up the steps to give Tascha a long and very affectionate kiss.Tascha turned away from the hot tub to run her hands over Shelonda's body. Don watched the two beautiful women kissing with a happy smile on his face. He noticed that one of the couples in the hot tub got up and headed for the showers. Deciding to move his little party to warmer water, he started up the steps, taking hold of Shelonda's upper arm along the way. Shelonda and then Tascha followed him up and over into the steaming water.Soon the three of them were against the far side of the tub, which was big enough that there were at least two arm-lengths between them and the couple that was still playing there. Tascha and Shelonda were mostly kissing each other, and taking turns kissing, licking and sucking on the other's tits, though Don was getting to kiss each girl when she was having her tits attended to. Hands were busy under the water, and everyone had at least one hand on his or her privates at all times. After quite a bit of this, Shelonda suggested that Tascha sit up on the edge of the tub. Tascha happily complied, and soon was leaning back while the other woman went down on her.Don remembered the scene he and Tascha had seen in the secret passage that had seemed to turn her on so much, so he got out into the middle of the tub and coaxed Shelonda to stand up in the water, bent over at the waist. He got behind her, and gently, but firmly, pushed his thick cock up inside her ready pussy. He saw Tascha watching him and smiled at her. Then he began to fuck in and out of Shelonda, pushing her into Tascha with each thrust. The sound of the nearby waterfall drowned out any noises the women were making, but Tascha certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, and Shelonda was shoving back into him each time he drove into her. Holding onto the athletic girl's narrow waist, Don steadily slid in and out of the tight sheath of her pussy. He watched Tascha holding Shelonda's head to her pussy, and then heard her cry out as she came. Don smiled, thinking he had helped with that orgasm.Tascha pushed Shelonda away enough that she could slip back into the hot tub. She held Shelonda's head in her hands and kissed her, and then Don could tell she was saying something in the young woman's ear. Shelonda nodded and reached back to push him away. Once he was out, she turned to him and said, “Sit up on the edge of the tub.”Don quickly did as he was told. Tascha winked at him, and then Shelonda got up out of the tub and straddled him, her feet on the edge of the tub. Don looked up to admire her perfect ass, which she then lowered, squatting over him. She took his hard cock and put the head between her lips. Then she sank down on him. Don reached up to hold her waist and help support her, and she leaned back some, letting her feet slip into the pool and her weight rest on Don. Then Don felt Tascha's fingers brushing against the base of his cock and his balls, only to be followed by the occasional sensation of her tongue touching him as she began to lick at Shelonda's clit.The woman on top of Don reached back to lean on his chest, which enabled Don to let go of her waist and reach around to get his hands on her beautiful tits. He squeezed them and then began to pinch and pull on her nipples. Soon Shelonda was writhing on top of him, coming hard and long. When she stopped shuddering, Tascha stood up and kissed her again. Then Tascha climbed up onto the deck next to Don and said, “I like your friend.”Shelonda had gotten off Don and was now kneeling on the bench in the tub, facing them and stroking his cock. Don smiled at Tascha, and said, “She seems to like you too. Did you notice that the couple over there has been watching us?”“Oh really?” Tascha looked over her shoulder at them, then back to Don, “They're kind of cute, want me to invite them to join in?”“It's either that or back to searching for the garden,” Don said. Shelonda was now sucking on his cock.“Hum, right,” Tascha said thoughtfully. “Well, we're here, might as well make the most of it.” She twisted around and beckoned to the couple.“Well, if you feel that way, we could just get everyone here over to the mat area, and make a real orgy of it,” Don laughed.“Maybe later,” she said and gave him a quick kiss. Then she was sitting up to greet the new couple and to make introductions.Heather was a gorgeous woman with light brown skin, a cheerful smile, and long black hair hanging down her back, as well as a beautiful body with another world-class butt. Steve was a taut runner type with very light blue eyes and light hair cut very close to his scalp.Tascha slipped into the water with Heather, where the two of them got acquainted. Shelonda got up on top of Don again, but this time facing him, and Steve stood up over Don so that she could suck on his cock. As she did this, Shelonda rode back and forth on Don's body, while he reached up to fondle her tits and tease her nipples.Don could see Heather sitting up on the edge of the tub then, and knew Tascha was between her legs, but before too long the two women had made their way up onto the deck next to Don and the others where they moved into a 69, with Heather on top. Steve pulled out of Shelonda's mouth and went over to kneel behind Heather's upturned ass. While Tascha was licking at Heather's clit, Steve pushed his cock into Heather's pussy.On top of Don, Shelonda was working herself up and down on his cock as well as back and forth on his body. It wasn't long before he felt her pussy squeezing and pulling at his cock, and then she was shuddering with another orgasm. She fell forward on him, kissing his chest, and then lying there on top of him as they watched the other three playing.Steve was really plowing away into Heather, who had her face firmly lodged between Tascha's thighs. Meanwhile, Tascha was there licking and sucking at Heather while Steve's cock and balls moved right over her face. Don heard first Heather and then Tascha coming loudly over the noise of the waterfall. Then Steve was coming up inside Heather.As Don watched this with Shelonda, he got an idea and got her to let him up. When Steve pulled out of Heather, letting a long stream of cum and Heather-juice run down to Tascha's waiting mouth, Don took his place, giving a wink to Tascha, and then promptly pushing his cock into Heather's messy pussy. Heather pushed back at Don, and then lowered her face back down to Tascha's pussy and clit.Steve went over to Shelonda, who greeted him with a mouth that was eager to get him ready for more action.Don could feel Tascha licking at Heather as he fucked in and out of Heather's exceptionally hot and tight pussy. He held on to Heather's waist and fucked hard and deep into her. This time, it was Don's orgasm that set things off. He felt his balls tighten, his cock swell, and then his cum shot out of him in a long hot stream. He held still in Heather, trembling, for a long moment, and then slowly pulled out of her.As soon as Don was clear, Tascha pulled Heather down further, so she could get her mouth on the woman's cum-filled pussy. In another moment, Tascha was shaking and moaning while she kept licking and sucking cum out of Heather, all of which sent Heather over the edge again.Don sat back on his haunches, inordinately pleased with himself. Tascha and Heather were lying in a pile, with Tascha still sucking cum, and Steve had Shelonda on her back with his cock sliding in and out of her pussy. Finally, Tascha let Heather go, and the two women disentangled themselves. Heather grinned at Don, who waved back at her, and then crawled over to make out with Shelonda while Steve kept at it.Don leaned down over Tascha and said, “If you're quite through, perhaps we should hit the showers and get back to work.”To be continued.By BradentonLarry for Literotica

How can the Gospel of Christ be preached with flattery? The Devil is a deceiver and flattery is one of his favorite tools for lost and saved alike. Beware of the Flatterer!Copyright 2022 Joshua Burks (See About page for full copyright information)

The Manor: Gymnasium - Don & Tascha explore the gym, including the pool & hot tub. (ch. 11)By BradentonLarry.   Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Don and Tascha came out of the ballroom into the foyer with the winding staircase.“OK, so the Player was supposed to help us find the garden, but, obviously he's not here,” Don said, thinking out loud.“Obviously,” Tascha smirked. “So we'll have to find it ourselves.”“Or try to until we stumble upon the Player again,” Don said, looking around. “OK, so the stairs go back up to where we started off, and that corridor leads to the Lord's and Lady's bedrooms. I didn't see any side passages along that way, did you?”“No; so back up the stairs or one of these other two corridors,” Tascha said. The foyer was basically a square, with the ballroom on one side, the Lord's and Lady's corridor on the opposite side, and a corridor on either of the other two sides. The circular staircase came down in the corner to the right of the ballroom entrance, from where they stood with the ballroom at their backs.“There might be secret passages, of course,” Don said, “but worrying about that seems likely to slow us down a lot.”“Right,” Tascha nodded. “If we can't find the garden, or the Player, by trying regular doors, we can always start looking for secret ones.”“OK, so the stairs stop here, so for now we're as low in the Manor as we can get. Anything wrong with us starting at the bottom and working our way up?”“It doesn't seem likely that the door to the garden would be on the top floor, so no.”“I don't suppose you've got a ball of magic string on you,” he smiled.“Nope,” she laughed. “We're on our own here, Theseus.”“Let's hope there's no minotaur. Come along, Ariadne.” Don started off toward the right corridor. They passed a big freight elevator on the right, which indicated that this floor was as far down as it went, and that it went as high as the fifth floor.“So, I found out that something happened to the previous Lord,” Tascha said, walking next to him. “This one doesn't know what, only that the Lady selected him to be the new one.”“Hum,” Don said. “And the Lady doesn't remember anything other than being here, and, apparently as an adult. I didn't think to ask her how she became the Lady, but Deidre said she wasn't in training to be her replacement.”“We do seem to be the only people around here who remember anything other than life in the Manor,” Tascha observed.“Maybe we should start making a point of asking people if they remember anything before they were here.”“Yeah, I can see you now, ‘Miss, before you suck my cock, would you mind answering a few questions?'”“That's exactly what I was thinking,” Don laughed. “Oh, look, there's a door.”The big door on the left had a sign on it that read, “LAUNDRY” and “Staff Only”. It was a swinging door, so Don gave it a shove. On the other side was an enormous room, even by the Manor standards they were becoming used to, with row upon row of large washing machines, dryers and, off to the left, dry cleaning equipment. Moving among the machines, doing a great deal of laundry, were men and women wearing gray overall uniforms. These workers did not look at the two naked people watching them, or, in fact, at anything other than what they were presently working on. They seemed to have no interest in what they were doing or anything else going on.“Not the garden,” Tascha decided.“Nope,” Don agreed. “Still, apparently the laundry doesn't exactly get done by magic.”The next door in the corridor, labeled “CLEANING SUPPLIES”, as well as the next, “LINEN ROOM”, was securely locked. At the very end of the corridor was the only door set into the right wall. This was labeled “GREENHOUSE” and “Staff Only”, and was another big swinging door. Don gave it a shove.“Well this is just ridiculous,” Tascha said.“That's putting it mildly.”This “greenhouse” was more like a rather large orchard, with sprawling gardens thrown in for good measure, all enclosed and covered over with huge panes of transparent glass or plastic. Don could see apple trees and orange trees closest to him.“Don't these require different climates?” Tascha asked.“Yeah, I think they do,” Don nodded. “We're going to have to circumnavigate this sucker, you know.”“'Circumnavigate,' Don? We're not sailing the high seas,” Tascha chided. “But yeah, I think we need to walk around this to make sure there aren't any exits we could try. Good thing this grass is soft.”Don agreed that it did actually feel good to be walking on the grass with his bare feet. As they worked counterclockwise around the vast greenhouse, they saw more of the apparently disinterested overalled workers moving among the trees, pruning and harvesting, and working in the assorted vegetable gardens. No one paid any attention to Tascha and Don.“You know if it weren't for the zombie work force, I'd feel like we were Adam and Eve in here,” Don mused.“A Biblical reference, Don?” she chuckled. “I'm shocked and appalled.”“I like to change things up now and then.”Somewhere around halfway in their circuit, Don said, “What about the fruit anyway?”“You mean how filling it is?”“Yeah,” Don said with a frown.“More magic?”“Well, what we're calling ‘magic' for now, anyway,” he nodded. “I mean, it's one thing for candles and mirror-walls, but I'm not too happy about eating magical fruit.”“Me either, but what else are we going to do?” Tascha asked. “It's got to be the high fruit diet that's making all the men's cum taste so sweet.”“Think you've had a large enough sample to make that generalization?” Don asked with a raised eyebrow.“I'm working on it,” she laughed.“I'm quite happy to help out with your research any way I can.”“Oh, but I've sampled yours now. I need to find other subjects.”Don laughed, “Well, I can tell you this. Way back when, there was this girl I knew who had the sweetest tasting pussy. I used to say you could bottle that stuff and sell it as a beverage. Well, yours and every other pussy I've tasted here make hers taste bland in comparison. Mostly yours though.”“Flatterer,” Tascha laughed.After a bit, Don said, “Plus there's the water!”“Yes,” she nodded, “the water.”“That's not normal water,” Don said firmly.“No, it's certainly not.”“It's got to have some kind of aphrodisiac in it,” he mused.“That can't be all, though. It seems to energize me.”“And like the fruit, we only need a little of it to keep going,” observed Don. “And, I don't know about you, but I should be going through a lot of fluid since I got here.”“No, me too,” she smiled, “though I have been supplementing the water from time to time.”“OK, you're going to have to stop talking like that if you want to keep looking for the garden,” Don laughed.“Aw, now you can't take a little teasing, eh?”“Yeah, well, now that I know it's not all teasing, it's more ,  distracting.”“Suck it up, big guy,” she laughed.Don shook his head, chuckling under his breath.Soon they had completed their long walk around the greenhouse, having found no sign of an exit. As they left, Don said, “Still, a nice place for a walk.”“Yeah,” Tascha agreed. “If we can't find the garden we should come back here for a picnic.”Naturally, enough, Don imagined a naked Tascha lounging on a blanket in the middle of that orchard. Sure, the workers would be a bit of a distraction, but he could work around that.They headed back to the foyer in front of the ballroom, and then proceeded into the opposite corridor. Passing another, smaller, elevator on the left, the first doorway they came to, on the right side of the corridor, was a double pair of swinging doors that opened into a rather large lounge with subdued lighting. Against the right wall, there was a bar, with a flowing water fountain and several bowls of the magical fruit. The rest of the open area consisted of rising levels, each of which was arranged with comfortable chairs, couches, loveseats and low, sturdy tables. The uppermost level had six pool tables spaced out around it. There was actually a group of four naked people, evenly split between men and women, playing pool at one table, while on the next a woman was sprawling on her back and a man knelt at her pussy, orally servicing her. There were several groups of people engaged in various activities scattered about the lounge – here a 69, there a woman bouncing up and down on a man's lap, and there an intense three-way fondle-fest. There was, fittingly enough, lounge music playing.Don noticed that Tascha was watching the people having sex, particularly the couple on the upper level. With a mischievous smile, he asked, “Want to play a game? We could make things interesting.”Tascha laughed a bit, but seemed to seriously consider the suggestion. She shook her head and said, “Maybe later.”The next set of doors they came to was labeled, in big, fluorescent letters, “DISCO”, but these doors were locked. Then came the “THEATRE”, which, they were not surprised to find, was a huge auditorium, with nice soft chairs, and a good-sized stage with a white scrim across it so that, Don guessed, movies could be shown. Moving down one of the aisles far enough to look back and up not only confirmed his guess that the theater was equipped with a projection room, but also showed them that a few people were, again unsurprisingly, using the comfortable seats for sexual liaisons.“They must have movie nights,” Don said as they went back toward the corridor.“Probably just porn, though.”“What? No movie theater fantasies, Tascha?”“What do you mean?”“You know, having sex in a darkened movie theater. I understand lots of women, and not a few men, have them. Having sex in the dark, but where people can see them, sometimes letting anonymous people join in. Some people find that hot.”“I never thought about it before,” she shrugged. Then she smiled, “But I will now. Thanks.”At the end of the corridor was an open area; to either side, climbing upward away from the end of the corridor, were staircases; and in the wall facing back down the corridor was a pair of doors labeled “GYMNASIUM & POOL”. They stepped through these doors to see a cavernous room. There was a clear, carpeted plateau, or shelf, that ran from the door straight ahead to the far end of the chamber.On the left side of this platform, steps ran down to a large area in the center of which was a big swimming pool. The entire area around the pool was a kind of tidy garden, with benches, and piles of towels. At the far end of the pool was a waterfall that fell from near the high ceiling down over a series of stony ledges into the pool. To the left of this waterfall, in the far corner of the pool, up a set of steps leading up from the main pool was a rather large hot tub. There were three people who were swimming laps in the main pool, a couple apparently just talking in the near corner, and several people doing who-knew-what in the hot tub. On one of the benches off the pool deck proper, a woman leaned back while another knelt between her legs.On the right of their platform, up several tiers of steps, were two areas, closest to them was a state of the art gym set up, complete with weight machines, treadmills and stationary bikes. They climbed up the steps to get a better look, for now ignoring two men working out together with the free weights, the mixed set of people working on the treadmills and bikes, and the woman on her back on the one weight bench with a man between her legs fucking her vigorously. On the right wall of this area, was a neatly organized set of compartments that held various sizes of jockstraps, sports bras, slip on running and martial arts shoes, and assorted protective gear. Two nearby laundry bins collected soiled garments.To the left, or moving counterclockwise around the big chamber, was an open area with a padded mat covering the floor. Mirrors covered most of the two walls, except where a set of racks held a prodigious assortment of martial arts weapons and gear. No one was currently using this area.Then, at the end of the central aisle, directly opposite the doors they'd entered through, was a large communal shower room, complete with the now-expected generic toiletries and stacks of towels.“Quite impressive,” Tascha nodded.“Indeed,” Don smiled. “Are you sure we didn't win a lottery for a trip to the best, weirdest sex resort in the world?”“I'm sure I didn't buy a ticket in that lottery, though I'm sure you would have,” said Tascha with a wink. “Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's no place like this in the world we come from.”“You think we're in another world?”Tascha shrugged. “We're sure not in Kansas anymore. Feel like a swim?”Don looked around, then said, “Not just yet. You go ahead and I'll catch up to you in a bit.”Tascha took a step toward the pool, then spun around, came back to him and gave him a quick kiss. Then she sprang off down the steps for the pool.A bit bemused, Don headed back over to the equipment area, and quickly got what he was looking for. Wearing a black jockstrap and a pair of martial arts shoes, Don went back to the open area. After spending several minutes stretching, he began to work through some kung fu forms. It had been some time since he'd been able to work in anything like this open space, and it felt very good to work on his forms freely. After his open hand forms, he went to the equipment rack and selected a good staff, and then after that form, he returned that and got a Chinese saber. Having warmed up now, he was able to concentrate on these sword forms, his favorite. The fact that there were other people in the room, some of whom were having sex, faded away from his attention. As a result, when he finished his third sword form, it came as a bit of a surprise when someone asked, “Feel like sparring?”Don turned to see a very cute and obviously fit young black woman standing there watching him. She was several inches shorter than him, with a nice hourglass body, firm legs and full tits. Her hair was straight and black with gold highlights, and long enough to hang down halfway over her breasts. She was wearing an olive green sports bra, a pair of sparring gloves, a pair of the martial arts shoes and nothing else. She had an open faced headgear tucked her arm, and another in her hands, as well as a pair of sparring gloves.Don considered for a moment, and said, “Sure. Let me put this away.”She followed him over to the rack, and handed him the headgear first, saying, “I'm Shelonda.”“Nice to meet you Shelonda,” he smiled. “I'm Don.”She passed him the gloves, which he slipped on. She then led him out to the middle of the area.“How serious are we going to be?” Don asked.“Well, we'll see how the sparring goes,” Shelonda smiled.“Oh, I like that!” Don laughed. “How about no groin strikes, though?”“Neither of us have protection, so OK,” she agreed, “though accidents do happen.”“Let's try to avoid them, shall we?” Don began to move around Shelonda on the balls of his feet.He was about to move in, when she danced in and sent a roundhouse at his side. Don blocked this easily with one hand and pushed her off with the other. Then, Don brought his left knee up high and snapped his right leg around with a jumping roundhouse that she just barely ducked under. Don landed and skipped in to follow as she scrambled back a bit. He threw out a fast, light jab that caught her square on the forehead. Shelonda shook her head a little and danced back away from him. Don stalked after her, ready to get in close enough to catch her with a combination. She apparently thought he was a bit too close, though. Her left knee came up to her chest and her foot shot out, hitting him with a heel-thrusting kick to the gut.Don stumbled back a bit, with the air knocked out of him. Shelonda pressed her advantage, throwing a fast combination of kicks at him followed by two jabs and a hook at his head. Don had to work hard and fast, but he managed to block each attack. Tossing his right hand up and out to block the hook punch, he stepped through and jabbed hard with his left fist, catching Shelonda on the forehead again but harder than the last time. It was her turn to stumble back, and Don gave her a moment to collect herself.When she started back at him again, Don tried his jumping roundhouse kick again, which she blocked, moving to his left. She stepped in and punched him, rather hard, in the belly with her right fist. Don grunted, but only returned the favor. Shelonda's left arm was then arching down on a collision course with Don's head. He tried to bring his right arm up to block the blow, but it was slowed down by running into Shelonda's left breast. The punch connected, and Don's head was turned sharply to the left. Whether by quick thinking or by reflex from years of training, Don went with the motion, turning to the left. While his upper body was turning, his right foot crossed over in front of his left. As his torso twisted around, his left arm came up as if to guard his head, only to snap out at the last moment to catch the left side of Shelonda's headgear with a backfist blow. At the same time, his left leg hooked around her left leg and pulled it toward him. Unable to back away, she was unable to avoid the hook punch that followed the backfist, and she reeled to the side.Shelonda was obliged to turn to the right, first freeing her leg from Don and then planting it on the opposite side, away from him. This done, she was able to lash out with her right leg, side kicking straight out and connecting with Don's hip, shoving him back away.They backed off and circled, eyeing each other warily. Both of them were smiling. Abruptly Shelonda charged, taking a couple of steps and then launching a flying side kick at him. A flashy but not very practical move. She was kicking with her right leg, so Don turned to the left and stepped out of the way. Shelonda missed him and came down just past him, but Don was ready. He slipped his hand up under her left arm, and around to get hold of the back of her neck, while simultaneously getting his right arm between her thighs. His right foot was crossed in front of her left shin. Stepping forward while lifting up with his right arm and pushing down and forward with his left hand, Don threw Shelonda sprawling on the mat. Before she could get away, he swatted her bare, perfectly tight brown ass.Instead of rolling over or scrambling away, Shelonda said, “Oh!” and wiggled her butt. Laughing, Don smacked her ass again. She pushed her butt up in the air, so Don smacked it a third time. She sighed, and then pulled her head gear off. Don did the same, and pulled off his right glove. He ran his now bare hand over Shelonda's smooth and very firm butt, before smacking it yet again. Then he reached down to run his hand over her bare and dewy lips. She pushed herself back at him, like a cat stretching. He moved his fingers between her lips and probed her pussy with his fingers, and then found her clit and stroked it.She tossed her hair to the side and looked back over her shoulder at him, saying with a broad smile, “To the victor go the spoils.”Don grinned back at her and thought about this for a long moment, while his fingers continued to stroke her. Finally he said, “OK, but come with me to the pool. The victor wants to share the spoils.”“Oh, fun!” Shelonda exclaimed and quickly got up. They dropped off their soiled sparring gear, and stripped off their sweaty garments, and then headed for the pool.Don spotted Tascha over on the steps leading up to the hot tub, so he dove into the pool and swam across to her, most of the way underwater. Coming to the surface, he saw that Tascha was sitting with one arm resting on the top step, or the rim of the hot tub, watching two couples playing. As he and Shelonda swam up, she looked at him and said, “Oh, I see what's been taking you so long.” “Well, sort of,” Don said as he got to the steps and sat on one several steps lower than the one Tascha sat on. “Tascha this is Shelonda; Shelonda, Tascha. She's my spoils,” he offered as explanation.“Spoils?”“Well, you missed us fighting over there. I kicked her butt.”“And spanked it!” Shelonda said with an obviously play pout.“You brute!” Tascha laughed.“Yes, well, I won, so she says I get the spoils, so I thought we'd come join you so you could enjoy some 'spoils'.”Tascha looked over Shelonda, who was now standing on the second step up, her very fit and curvy body with its flawless brown skin glistening with water. “She's a cutie, alright,” Tascha decided. “Did you really beat up on her, Don?”“Believe me, it was a fair fight!” Don protested.“Uh huh,” Tascha said. “Come up here and give me a kiss, Shelonda. Did he tell you he was a black belt?”“No, but he didn't hurt me much,” Shelonda smiled as she came up the steps to give Tascha a long and very affectionate kiss.Tascha turned away from the hot tub to run her hands over Shelonda's body. Don watched the two beautiful women kissing with a happy smile on his face. He noticed that one of the couples in the hot tub got up and headed for the showers. Deciding to move his little party to warmer water, he started up the steps, taking hold of Shelonda's upper arm along the way. Shelonda and then Tascha followed him up and over into the steaming water.Soon the three of them were against the far side of the tub, which was big enough that there were at least two arm-lengths between them and the couple that was still playing there. Tascha and Shelonda were mostly kissing each other, and taking turns kissing, licking and sucking on the other's tits, though Don was getting to kiss each girl when she was having her tits attended to. Hands were busy under the water, and everyone had at least one hand on his or her privates at all times. After quite a bit of this, Shelonda suggested that Tascha sit up on the edge of the tub. Tascha happily complied, and soon was leaning back while the other woman went down on her.Don remembered the scene he and Tascha had seen in the secret passage that had seemed to turn her on so much, so he got out into the middle of the tub and coaxed Shelonda to stand up in the water, bent over at the waist. He got behind her, and gently, but firmly, pushed his thick cock up inside her ready pussy. He saw Tascha watching him and smiled at her. Then he began to fuck in and out of Shelonda, pushing her into Tascha with each thrust. The sound of the nearby waterfall drowned out any noises the women were making, but Tascha certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, and Shelonda was shoving back into him each time he drove into her. Holding onto the athletic girl's narrow waist, Don steadily slid in and out of the tight sheath of her pussy. He watched Tascha holding Shelonda's head to her pussy, and then heard her cry out as she came. Don smiled, thinking he had helped with that orgasm.Tascha pushed Shelonda away enough that she could slip back into the hot tub. She held Shelonda's head in her hands and kissed her, and then Don could tell she was saying something in the young woman's ear. Shelonda nodded and reached back to push him away. Once he was out, she turned to him and said, “Sit up on the edge of the tub.”Don quickly did as he was told. Tascha winked at him, and then Shelonda got up out of the tub and straddled him, her feet on the edge of the tub. Don looked up to admire her perfect ass, which she then lowered, squatting over him. She took his hard cock and put the head between her lips. Then she sank down on him. Don reached up to hold her waist and help support her, and she leaned back some, letting her feet slip into the pool and her weight rest on Don. Then Don felt Tascha's fingers brushing against the base of his cock and his balls, only to be followed by the occasional sensation of her tongue touching him as she began to lick at Shelonda's clit.The woman on top of Don reached back to lean on his chest, which enabled Don to let go of her waist and reach around to get his hands on her beautiful tits. He squeezed them and then began to pinch and pull on her nipples. Soon Shelonda was writhing on top of him, coming hard and long. When she stopped shuddering, Tascha stood up and kissed her again. Then Tascha climbed up onto the deck next to Don and said, “I like your friend.”Shelonda had gotten off Don and was now kneeling on the bench in the tub, facing them and stroking his cock. Don smiled at Tascha, and said, “She seems to like you too. Did you notice that the couple over there has been watching us?”“Oh really?” Tascha looked over her shoulder at them, then back to Don, “They're kind of cute, want me to invite them to join in?”“It's either that or back to searching for the garden,” Don said. Shelonda was now sucking on his cock.“Hum, right,” Tascha said thoughtfully. “Well, we're here, might as well make the most of it.” She twisted around and beckoned to the couple.“Well, if you feel that way, we could just get everyone here over to the mat area, and make a real orgy of it,” Don laughed.“Maybe later,” she said and gave him a quick kiss. Then she was sitting up to greet the new couple and to make introductions.Heather was a gorgeous woman with light brown skin, a cheerful smile, and long black hair hanging down her back, as well as a beautiful body with another world-class butt. Steve was a taut runner type with very light blue eyes and light hair cut very close to his scalp.Tascha slipped into the water with Heather, where the two of them got acquainted. Shelonda got up on top of Don again, but this time facing him, and Steve stood up over Don so that she could suck on his cock. As she did this, Shelonda rode back and forth on Don's body, while he reached up to fondle her tits and tease her nipples.Don could see Heather sitting up on the edge of the tub then, and knew Tascha was between her legs, but before too long the two women had made their way up onto the deck next to Don and the others where they moved into a 69, with Heather on top. Steve pulled out of Shelonda's mouth and went over to kneel behind Heather's upturned ass. While Tascha was licking at Heather's clit, Steve pushed his cock into Heather's pussy.On top of Don, Shelonda was working herself up and down on his cock as well as back and forth on his body. It wasn't long before he felt her pussy squeezing and pulling at his cock, and then she was shuddering with another orgasm. She fell forward on him, kissing his chest, and then lying there on top of him as they watched the other three playing.Steve was really plowing away into Heather, who had her face firmly lodged between Tascha's thighs. Meanwhile, Tascha was there licking and sucking at Heather while Steve's cock and balls moved right over her face. Don heard first Heather and then Tascha coming loudly over the noise of the waterfall. Then Steve was coming up inside Heather.As Don watched this with Shelonda, he got an idea and got her to let him up. When Steve pulled out of Heather, letting a long stream of cum and Heather-juice run down to Tascha's waiting mouth, Don took his place, giving a wink to Tascha, and then promptly pushing his cock into Heather's messy pussy. Heather pushed back at Don, and then lowered her face back down to Tascha's pussy and clit.Steve went over to Shelonda, who greeted him with a mouth that was eager to get him ready for more action.Don could feel Tascha licking at Heather as he fucked in and out of Heather's exceptionally hot and tight pussy. He held on to Heather's waist and fucked hard and deep into her. This time, it was Don's orgasm that set things off. He felt his balls tighten, his cock swell, and then his cum shot out of him in a long hot stream. He held still in Heather, trembling, for a long moment, and then slowly pulled out of her.As soon as Don was clear, Tascha pulled Heather down further, so she could get her mouth on the woman's cum-filled pussy. In another moment, Tascha was shaking and moaning while she kept licking and sucking cum out of Heather, all of which sent Heather over the edge again.Don sat back on his haunches, inordinately pleased with himself. Tascha and Heather were lying in a pile, with Tascha still sucking cum, and Steve had Shelonda on her back with his cock sliding in and out of her pussy. Finally, Tascha let Heather go, and the two women disentangled themselves. Heather grinned at Don, who waved back at her, and then crawled over to make out with Shelonda while Steve kept at it.Don leaned down over Tascha and said, “If you're quite through, perhaps we should hit the showers and get back to work.”To be continued.By BradentonLarry for Literotica

As we last noted, the content of the ninth stage of Christian's journey was too large for me to adequately capture in one week. Thus, we previously discussed the first half of the stage, particularly Little-faith, Flatterer, and Atheist. Moving on the second half, we shall discuss the Enchanted Ground, Hopeful's testimony, and Ignorance. For more articles and resources, visit bcnewton.co

The previous stage took Christian and Hopeful into both the heights and depths of life, which very often do occur back-to-back as Bunyan has described. Now, as has been the pattern since the Valley of Humiliation, Bunyan follows a stage of much action with a stage of much conversation. In the ninth stage, which is bookended by their encounters with Ignorance, the two pilgrims tell the story of Little-Faith, are led into a snare by Flatterer, and enter into the Enchanted Ground. This is the largest reading that we have covered yet, and I soon realized that there was far too much to discuss over the course of one week. Thus, we will break our discussion of this stage into two parts. To read more articles and resources, visit bcnewton.co

Subject: Reading Together: The Pilgrim's Progress Speaker or Performer: Cole Newton Date of Delivery: July 1, 2022

Subject: Reading Together: The Pilgrim's Progress Speaker or Performer: Cole Newton Date of Delivery: July 1, 2022

The Book of Proverbs is filled with so much wisdom, it's hard to imagine how so many people miss it. From family to finances, leadership to stewardship, eternal matters to earthly ones, this is one study we would be, dare I say, foolish to miss out on...

A new MP3 sermon from Pastor Nick Holden is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Fickle Flatterer Subtitle: Proverbs Speaker: Nick Holden Broadcaster: Pastor Nick Holden Event: Sunday School Date: 5/27/2022 Bible: Proverbs 22; Proverbs 21 Length: 24 min.

Flattery is often the first step to an adulterous affair. A wise person learns to recognize it and separate flattery from sincere compliments. Flattery is often coupled with lying, as a flatterer is not concerned with whether or not he or she is being truthful.

Na? Wie ist die Stimmung? Regt sich schon der erste nervöse Flatterer vor den Feiertagen? Wer wird diesmal eskalieren, wo kann man überhaupt hingehen und ist es okay, auch nur mal unter sich zu bleiben? In der neuen Folge von Freundschaft plus beschäftigen sich die beiden Christbaumkugeln am unteren Ast Corinna und Christin mit all diesen Fragen. Zu ihnen stößt der fleischgewordene Flattererbesieger aller Weihnachtsverzweifelten: Unser Psychologe Rolf Schmiel hat Tipps, wie wir zum Beispiel mit dem ruppigen Humor des Onkels oder den Erwartungen der Eltern umgehen.

Overachiever, Sam Kingston, and his under-prepared buddy, Edgar, recount the gory, gruesome, grating murder of Roger Fedderer at the hands of his friend John Douglas. Sam would like to thank the documentary, Murder In Thin Air, for allowing him to use their footage for his podcast. This episode features Edd Garcia, Cherry Bomb. Cast (in order of appearance:) Dana Daniele, Libby Genz, Edd Garcia, and Rachel Wilson. Editing and Production by Dana Daniele. Theme Song by Meghan Rose. Artwork by Dave Daniele. Sound effects from PacDV, FreeSound.org, Sound Effects Plus, and Free Music Archive. Soundtrack: Trio for Piano Violin and Viola by Kevin MacLeod; 1910 - The Flatterer by Victor Herbert Orchestra; 1911 - Naughty Marietta by Victor Herbert Orchestra; 1913 - Chanson Triste by Victor Herbert Orchestra; 1909 - It Happened in Nordland by Victor Herbert Orchestra; Sonatina by Kevin MacLeod; IV. Bydlo Sempre moderato pesante by Skidmore College Orchestra

Cecile Chaminade - La Lisonjera (The Flatterer) Peter Nagy, piano More info about today's track: Naxos 8.550141 Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc. Subscribe You can subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts, or by using the Daily Download podcast RSS feed. Purchase this recording ArkivMusicAmazon

10@9 is 10 minutes (approximately) of Zoom Torah study every weekday morning at 9 a.m. Topics range from the weekly Parsha, current issues in Jewish Law, or a Torah perspective on what is happening in the world. Feel free to suggest a topic - just email me: rabbi@adath.ca. Join us on Zoom at: www.adath.ca/page_zoom.html Subscribe to my YouTube channel at: tinyurl.com/adathyoutube And my Instagram: @adathmichael

This is Craig Coile, and thank you for joining me for this episode of Your Encore Life.  Today in episode 46 we are going to continue our discussion from last time on the importance of being in connection. This can be particularly important if you are retired or nearing retirement.  We typically have some connection by default if we have a regular job working with others.  But if you are retired or are a work at home entrepreneur, you need to be intentional about being connected with others.  Regardless of whether you are working or not, we need to be intentional about being in connection with others that is healthy for us.  Today we are going to talk about different types of friendships and how to make sure they are beneficial rather than harmful to our well being.   For the purposes of our discussion today, we are going to talk about 3 categories of friends.  Think about an outside circle with the category of casual friends, a smaller circle inside of that with the category of close friends, and a small inner circle with the category of core friends. The outer circle could consist of people you know casually from work, church, or neighbors. You may spend time with them occasionally mostly due to the nature of your environment. You may enjoy talking with them but only on a casual basis.  The next category are close friends. They are people you spend much more time with than casual friends. You intentionally make it a point to get together from time to time. They may be part of a group you are in such as common hobby interest or a small group bible study. You likely are comfortable talking to them about more personal things, much more so than casual friends. The next category is the small center of your circle that we are going to refer to as your core friends. This is a very small group that you trust with your most personal of discussions. These are the people you call and depend on when you need wise counsel, as accountability partners, and who you could call at 3AM and they would answer if it was necessary.   Let’s look at this from the standpoint of the Bible and those that Jesus invested in the most.  He had a group of 120 that He trained..casual. He had 12 Disciples that He invested a great deal of time with…close. He had Peter, James, and John that He trusted and took with Him to be alone with…core.   The bottom line is that we are wired to be in community - we are better together.   Pastor Rick Warren talks about what to look for and what to avoid in his podcast titled “Daily Hope”.  He gives an illustration about someone standing on a stage and reaching down to grab the hand of another person.  He asks if it is easier for the person on the stage to pull the other person up or for the other person to pull the one on the stage down?  We must take steps and be intentional in spending time with others that can pull us up when we are down and we can do the same for them and avoid people who can continuously pull us down.  He talked about what he refers to as missionary dating and how most often the one that feels they can change the person for the better ends up falling to their level if the relationship continues over time.  This can happen not only in dating, but in friendships.   Here are 6 characteristics that Rick Warren says are in people we should avoid becoming good friends with:   Argumentative: Some just love to argue and will do so about anything.  Often there is no convincing them otherwise even if their argument is unreasonable.  Proverbs 20:3 says 3 It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. Gossip: Someone who loves sharing information about others without solving the problem or having a solution. Proverbs 20:19 says A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much. Flatterer: someone who gives false praise. Proverbs 20:5 says The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out. Proverbs 29:5 says Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet. Psalms 109:5 says They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship. Uncontrolled temper. Proverbs 22:24-25 says Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, 25 or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.  You should even avoid filling your head by listening to people with hot tempers such as talk radio and 24 hour news shows. Someone who steals or shoplifts.  Proverbs 1:13-15 says we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; 14 cast lots with us; we will all share the loot”— 15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; Believers who ignore what God says about sexual sin.   How many of these characteristics do you see in your friends and acquaintances? Remember that it is easier them to pull you down than for you to pull them up.  I would suggest that you continue to love and pray for your friends that you need to pull away from but continue to show them that you care.  You need to guard your heart and be the example for others that you know you can be.   Contact Craig Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope: Forming Healthy Relationships Parts 1-3 Bible Verses about Community

TheGraceLifePulpit.com

TheGraceLifePulpit.com

A new MP3 sermon from The GraceLife Pulpit is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: 21. The Flatterer and the Atheist: A Roadmap to Pilgrim's Progress Subtitle: Pilgrim's Progress Speaker: Mike Riccardi Broadcaster: The GraceLife Pulpit Event: Audio Book Date: 7/13/2020 Length: 19 min.

More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Daniel Esh – Sunday Sermon – Wisdom Series: Part 4

John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Eighth Stage: The Delectable Mountains & the Shepherds; Ignorance; Little-Faith; the Flatterer Click the link above to access the teaching notes!

John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Eighth Stage: The Delectable Mountains & the Shepherds; Ignorance; Little-Faith; the Flatterer Click the link above to access the teaching notes!

Are there some beautiful asses you enjoy kissing and flattering? Do you wish more people would flatter your ass? Well this podcast if for you. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eidonokaruna/message

Lord Conrad Black, First of His Name, The Unedited, King of Columns, Breaker of Laws, Flatterer of American Presidents, and Father of the National Post. Did Canada’s favourite criminal Lord just schmooze his way into a pardon from Donald Trump or is the American justice system to blame? Also, speaking of ancient things, Canada’s dusty old privacy laws are back in the spotlight thanks to the government’s new digital charter. Support CANADALAND: http://canadalandshow.com/join See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our conversation with Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard continues, with more on the great Flatterer, future game-changing stallion Storm Cat and others.

Overview - Beware The Flatterer. Acts 24:1-23. In our sermon today we look into yet another trial that involves the apostle Paul and some angry Jews that are there to try to get him the death penalty for some supposed wrongs. This time the Jews think they are smart and bring a certain orator named Tertullus, who turns out to be nothing more than a flatterer. He is brought into this situation, and begins by speaking some very smooth and soft words to Felix, trying to butter him up so the Jews can have a judgment against Paul, then accuses Paul of some terrible and awful things to give proof of how terrible Paul is. They want Paul dead and they are hoping Felix will grant his execution. Does evil plan and plot against him work? Does Felix just believe the flatterers accusations against Paul? Does Paul get a chance to defend himself? Do the Jews get Felix to give Paul the death penalty? Come and take a listen to this message as I answer all of these questions and more. Come and seek the truth at Gospel Saving Church. May God richly bless you as you diligently seek Jesus Christ Pastor Ed Spagnoli

Aigood Ep2 - Dramas "Back to School" Dans cette 1ère partie de notre 2e épisode, nous parlons cette fois de dramas. Lors de l'enregistrement nous étions en période de rentrée scolaire alors nous avons voulu faire cet épisode sur le thème "Back to School" Timecodes:0:00:00 - 0: 01:30 : présentation du concept Aigoodrama0:01:30 - 0:08:43: bref historique des k-dramas jeunesse0:08:50 - 0:36:30: Discussion 1 sur le webdrama "Nightmare High"/"Nightmare Teacher"/Professeur Cauchemar0:36:31 - 1:06:22: Discussion 2 sur le webdrama "The Flatterer".1:06:23 - 1:10:55: Recommandation de dramas scolaires thriller/psychologique1:10:56 - 1:11:34: Remerciements

- Schaut euch DEA Folge 6 an! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTTYlJxGeXs- Danke an meinen ersten Flatterer!- Vernetzung: Vielleicht erst mal einen Kalender für alle Aktivisten- Minor Shitstorm: Sexismusvorwurf gegen Comic- Und was ist mit E? Wo sind die MDMA-Legalisierer?Like-Befehl! :-)http://www.facebook.com/LogbuchLegalisierunghttp://www.facebook.com/Dampfparade2012http://www.facebook.com/Drug.E.AHör mich auf youtube:oder im Browser:oder auf deinem mp3-player: http://archive.org/download/LogbuchLegalisierungFolge6-UndWasIstMitE/LogbuchLegalisierungFolge6.mp3oder abonnier den podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LogbuchLegalisierung

In SURVIVING THE TOXIC WORKPLACE, business consultant, radio show host, and psychotherapist Dr. Linnda Durré teaches workers how to put a stop to toxic workplace behavior using S.E.S.S.I.O.N.: the Situation, Explanation, and Solution System in Overcoming Nuisances. Using examples of 79 specific “Staff Infections™,” or destructive work personalities, Durré helps readers identify and diagnose toxic behavior, understand why it occurs, and deal with it through direct conversation with the offender. Readers will learn the seven effective communication techniques for dealing with different conflict styles, as well as what to do next and additional resources to turn to when more than a one-on-one conversation is required. Whether dealing with “Frannie the Flatterer,” “Dick the Dictator,” or “Bobby the Boss’s Relative,” SURVIVING THE TOXIC WORKPLACE empowers employees to take matters into their own hands, deal with dissension effectively, and create an environment in which they can thrive. www.survivingthetoxicworkplace.com

In SURVIVING THE TOXIC WORKPLACE, business consultant, radio show host, and psychotherapist Dr. Linnda Durré teaches workers how to put a stop to toxic workplace behavior using S.E.S.S.I.O.N.: the Situation, Explanation, and Solution System in Overcoming Nuisances. Using examples of 79 specific “Staff Infections™,” or destructive work personalities, Durré helps readers identify and diagnose toxic behavior, understand why it occurs, and deal with it through direct conversation with the offender. Readers will learn the seven effective communication techniques for dealing with different conflict styles, as well as what to do next and additional resources to turn to when more than a one-on-one conversation is required. Whether dealing with “Frannie the Flatterer,” “Dick the Dictator,” or “Bobby the Boss’s Relative,” SURVIVING THE TOXIC WORKPLACE empowers employees to take matters into their own hands, deal with dissension effectively, and create an environment in which they can thrive. www.survivingthetoxicworkplace.com