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Title: The Lawyer Vs. The Tentmaker Text: Acts 24:1-21 FCF: We often struggle defending ourselves with wrong motives or beliefs. Prop: Because God's providence includes wicked people accusing His children falsely, we mut not fear for ourselves but defend the gospel against attack. Scripture Intro: ESV [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 24. In a moment we'll begin reading in the English Standard Version starting from verse 1. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. Last time we saw Paul delivered safely from a plot on his life. Now this Roman prisoner has been transported to Caesarea to face his accusers before the governor of Judea, Antonius Felix. But Paul is still not out of danger. What will the apostle face in this trial? Will Felix be reasonable? Will his accusers even show up? Let's look. Stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Creator and Designer of the Universe and all that is within it, we humbly come before You today to seek clarity. We often face the ridicule, mockery, and disdain of those who are deceived. We often are slandered and maligned, labeled with unkind and unfair labels. Yet we confess and believe that You, our Lord, are the Designer and Maker of all that is. We confess that You have promised that all things work for the good of Your people. And so we must confess that even these things are for our good. Help us Lord to learn from Your servant Paul today. Help us to trust Your infallible plan. We pray this in Jesus' name Amen. Transition: Let us get right to the text this morning to find out what happens to Paul in Caesarea. I.) God's providence includes wicked people accusing His children falsely, so we must not fear false accusations. (1-9) a. [Slide 2] 1 - And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor their case against Paul. i. Although the Chief Priests, the Elders, and the Sanhedrin were ready to execute a scheme to kill Paul with very little preparation, to actually bring a Roman suit against Paul would be far more difficult than simply killing him. ii. Paul stayed in Herod's Praetorium for 5 days while Ananias gathered some Elders who would go with him as well as one other important member of their entourage. iii. Although the ESV calls him a spokesperson here, more likely, as other translations indicate, Tertullus was an attorney specializing in Roman Law. iv. His name is Latin, so we recognize that he is probably not a Jew. Certainly not a Jew from Judea. v. So, in the 5 days between Paul's move to Caesarea and his accusers actually arriving, they have been quite busy. vi. They have hired an attorney and have formed their Roman case against Paul. vii. So, what is their case? viii. Well before we get to hear about that, Let's spend some time talking about Felix. Afterall, that is how Tertullus starts his prosecution of Paul. b. [Slide 3] 2 - And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation, 3 - in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude. 4 - But, to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. i. Although it would be easy to see this as Tertullus' attempt to butter up Felix, we should recognize that Tertullus is a professional orator and attorney. Nothing he says in these opening remarks are without some purpose. ii. Certainly, part of that purpose would be to ingratiate Felix to their cause. iii. We actually still have some of this in our legal system. We refer to the judges as “Your Honor” and it is generally wise to be on the good side or at least not be on the BAD side of a judge even in our legal system. iv. But Tertullus has built a legal case against Paul and everything he says to Felix about Felix is designed to bring stark contrast between the judge and the accused. To the extent that for the judge to find Paul guilty is because Paul is the opposite of Felix. v. In the text we see a great many things spoken that present Felix in quite the positive light. vi. But what do we know about this man? Was he really a good governor? How long did he serve? And what was his track record? vii. Much of what we know about Antonius Felix is taken from the Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus. viii. Although their accounts of the man are not completely consistent on some details, the fact of the matter is that largely both historians agree on a few key facts. 1. First, Felix was formerly a slave along with his brother Pallas. a. Pallas was a friend and confidant of the Emperor Claudius and was freed from slavery by Cladius' mother. b. Along with Pallas Felix too was freed. c. So his freedom was given on account of someone else. 2. Second, Felix married three times in his life. And because of those marriages he advanced in power and authority. a. His first wife was the daughter of Marc Antony and Cleopatra and his third wife was Drucilla the daughter of Herod Agrippa the First. b. So, once again, because of others he advanced into positions he did not earn. 3. Third, in the situation we spoke of a few weeks ago where Ananias, the high priest of Israel, was sent to Rome for excessive brutality against the Samaritans – you guessed it, Felix was in the middle of this too. a. The man who was governor of Samaria at that time took all the blame instead of Ananias. He was exiled. And guess who took his place? Yep. Felix. b. Again, he was given a position, he did not earn. 4. Finally, both Josephus and Tacitus agree that Felix' governing of the province was marked by increasing unrest and brutality. a. Tacitus says “with savagery and lust he exercised the powers of a king with the disposition of a slave.” b. In AD 55 he put down an Egyptian man who claimed to be the Messiah. We've already talked about this some since Paul was thought to be that man by Lysias. c. Felix put down this Egyptian with mercilessness and brutality. d. And generally speaking, the Jews hated Felix. He continually did things to frustrate them and took rather liberal approaches to their laws. This infuriated especially the Pharisees who had a rather conservative view of scripture. ix. So, in light of this background, what are we to make of Tertullus' words about Felix? x. He says that they are thankful to Felix because he has brought much peace and many reforms. xi. Either Tertullus is just lying or, what is more likely, is that this just shows us the cunning and wickedness of Ananias and the spiritual leaders of Israel. xii. Even though Felix was merciless, savage, and brutal being recognized by even Roman historians as being barbaric – Ananias had no issues with his rule. And that is kind of that problem, right? xiii. Ananias and Felix are two peas in a pod. xiv. Furthermore, the attributes ascribed to Felix are the exact opposite of the charges they are about to bring against Paul. xv. So, what are those charges? c. [Slide 4] 5 - For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world i. Felix is described as a bringer of peace, but Paul is described as a plague. A blight. One who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world. ii. This first charge against Paul is a rather unfair assessment of Paul's history over his missionary journeys. iii. Paul certainly had been involved in a number of riots and angry mobs but we can accurately say that he never instigated them nor did he perpetuate them. iv. In many cases we see Paul leave a city, many times by his own choosing, in order to avoid further unrest. v. We also would point out that it was actually the Jews in every case who started the aggression then hunted Paul down following him from city to city in order to continue to stir people up against him. vi. So, this first charge is exactly backward. Paul incited no riots… the Jews simply hated what he said so much that THEY stirred up people against him. vii. And there is a good bet that Felix knows that this is actually the way it was. Why? viii. The Jews were notorious for causing riots and issues in the Roman Empire for decades. Since before the Romans even controlled Judea. ix. We should also observe how absolutely insignificant this charge is to Paul or Felix at this particular time. x. Even if it were true that Paul started riots in various parts of the Roman Empire, that really has no bearing on this trial before Felix. xi. Even if Felix wanted to find him guilty, he would have to investigate reports from various locations about these incidents. xii. This is why Paul's defense focuses on what has happened in the last few days not in the last several years. Because that is all Felix can really focus on anyway. xiii. But this charge has done its damage. It has compared Felix the peacemaker to Paul the troublemaker. xiv. Paul is starting riots everywhere and Jerusalem is just another in a long list. xv. As we know, Rome doesn't look too kindly on rabble rousers and riot makers. That he is a riot-starting-plague is a serious charge against him. xvi. What is the next charge? d. [Slide 5] and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. i. A second charge brought against Paul is connected to the first. ii. Paul instigates these riots among the Jews because he is the ringleader or peddler of the heresy known as Nazarene. iii. This charge comes somewhat closer to being an issue Felix must deal with since Rome had granted Judaism a special status among religions that could be practiced in the Roman Empire. iv. If the Nazarene teaching of The Way is indeed a heresy of Judaism, then it would not have the same freedoms that Judaism had been given. v. But is Paul really the ringleader? vi. As Paul will go on to testify in future trials, the ringleader is very clearly the Risen Jesus of Nazareth. He is merely a servant of this Jesus. vii. But the fact that he is the leader of this heresy is actually a secondary matter. Paul will go to great lengths in his response not to combat the idea that he is the leader of this group but to deny that it is a heresy of Judaism. We'll get there in a few minutes. viii. Tertullus said that Felix had, through masterful providence, designed many reforms which reinterpreted cultural and religious laws for the better of the people. But Paul is charged with being a leader of a heresy that leads to nothing but riots and unrest. e. [Slide 6] 6 - He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him. i. Here is the final charge laid to Paul and it is also related to the previous two. ii. Paul is a plague and incites riots among the Jews because he is the ringleader of the Nazarene Heresy and the proof of that is that he tried to profane the temple with his heretical teachings. iii. This is the charge that could really get him killed. iv. Roman practice throughout the empire was to support the worship of local deities and the prevention of the desecration of any temples or gods. v. They were remarkably syncretistic. And although the Romans did not generally allow the Jews to execute their criminals. When it came to temple desecration the Romans would allow them to execute those who violated their law. vi. So here we see the Jews are fighting for their right to protect their own temple and enforce their own religious laws. vii. This is what is at stake. viii. Felix knows this. ix. If this charge is proven to be true, and Felix does not allow the Jews to execute Paul… then tensions would no doubt continue to rise between Rome and the Jews. x. This is as much a political move as it is a legal one. xi. Of course, what they failed to bring with them is evidence and witnesses… something Paul will point out in his defense. f. [Slide 7] [We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. 7 But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands, 8 ordering his accusers to come before you.] i. Every word on the screen is omitted from most modern translations of the bible. Some put the text in brackets with a foot note explaining that there is doubt about the inspiration of these words. ii. It boils down to textual criticism and understanding how we harmonize manuscripts from different times and in different manuscript families. iii. Within the discipline of textual criticism there are several rules or guidelines we follow to determine which manuscripts are closer to the original autographs. iv. [Slide 8] In this particular case, every rule points to this section not being written originally by Luke. v. Most likely it was added in at a later date to attempt to provide commentary on how the Jews may have seen the events unfold. g. [Slide 9] 8 - By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.” i. The final point that Tertullus makes is to abdicate their role as accusers to produce any evidence for their claims and grant that to Felix. ii. This is actually not all that uncommon in Roman cases. iii. As we study Roman culture, Felix would have had absolute authority to not only do the work of Judge and jury but also to do the work of detective. iv. And Tertullus is saying that if Felix cannot substantiate their claims against Paul by interrogating him, then it is Felix's failure to interrogate him properly. v. And here we see some subtle pressure put on a man that everyone knows doesn't deserve the position he is in. h. [Slide 10] 9 - The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so. i. Again, this clues us in to the fact that Tertullus is probably not Jewish. ii. If he was, we are left to wonder who these Jews are. iii. But because he wasn't, the Jews present at this trial are the High Priest and the Elders who had made the journey to Casarea to accuse him. iv. In any case, it seems like the case is closed. v. There are three charges, all of them with serious consequences if they are found to be true. vi. All Felix has to do is say the word and Paul will die. i. [Slide 11] Summary of the Point: What is God's will for Paul? It has been revealed to him by Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus came to him that night in the barracks of the Anatolian Fortress, just after the debacle of the Sanhedrin trial. Jesus told him that he must have courage because just like he bore witness to the gospel in Jerusalem, he must go and do the same in Rome. God is getting Paul to Rome. And yet we see in this text a top-notch attorney has just laid out three charges against Paul all of which could earn him serious penalties and even death. Paul's life hangs on a thread. But we know better. It isn't just that God will prevent this from keeping Paul from going to Rome… but my friends as the weeks go on we will see that these charges will actually serve to get Paul to Rome. Once again, we are reminded that the providential and sovereign hand of God is always working all things according to the counsel of His will. There is nothing that happens that He has not already foreordained. So what does that mean for us? We must not fear what wicked men say about us when they slander us and accuse us falsely. Transition: [Slide 12 (blank)] So what does not fearing men's false accusations look like? If Paul is given a chance to speak, will he just quietly say, “I am trusting the Lord to bring me to Rome safely.” And then sit down? Let's see what Paul does. II.) God providence includes wicked people accusing His children falsely, but we must make a defense of the hope that we have in us. (10-21) a. [Slide 13] 10 - And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. i. Paul is invited by the governor to speak. Felix needs to hear his side of the case, especially since Tertullus invited Felix to examine him. ii. Paul begins by acknowledging Felix's last decade of service in the area. iii. Because he has had such a long tenure, Paul feels confident and even happy to bring his defenses before him. Hoping that he will be reasonable. b. [Slide 14] 11 - You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, 12 - and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. i. Paul pivots and exploits the failure in the first charge against him. ii. Their charge was he had caused riots all over the Roman Empire with Jews. iii. However, Paul points out that he did not do so in Jerusalem only 12 days ago. iv. In this he recognizes that Felix has no jurisdiction or concern about things that have happened in the distant past in other provinces. v. What he is concerned about is what has happened most recently in his province. vi. And most recently, Paul did not cause any issues in the temple, in the synagogues or even in the city itself. vii. Further Paul invites Felix to verify this. viii. There is some question about how to interpret Paul's 12 day comment. We can talk about it more on Thursday, but the best way to see it is as if Paul was saying, “I only spent a total of 12 days in Jerusalem, which isn't enough time to start a riot.” ix. In this way, Paul effectively defeats their first charge. x. They say that I am a plague and a riot maker among the Jews. xi. But I spent 12 days in Jerusalem and neither had time to start a riot nor can they produce one witness to accuse me of stirring up crowds in the temple, the synagogues or even in the city itself. xii. In other words, if this is all related to me being some kind of heretical religious zealot, I am doing a pretty poor job at peddling my beliefs. c. [Slide 15] 13 - Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. i. Paul confronts the other two charges against him with the same general statement. ii. They are unable to prove anything that they have accused him of. iii. They cannot prove that he is the ringleader of the Nazarene heresy, nor can they prove that he attempted to desecrate the temple. iv. But Paul doesn't want to allow them to get away with calling those who follow Jesus, heretics. d. [Slide 16] 14 - But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 - having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. 16 - So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. i. This is actually a brilliant defense used in some of the more famous Roman cases we have documented. ii. The person without admitting to a crime does confess something about themselves that vindicates them. iii. What is Paul saying? iv. Although I am certainly a follower of The Way, The Way is not a heresy of Judaism, but is rather the next step in Judaism. v. It is verified by the law and the prophets which spoke of this time in Judaism where the Messiah would come and give a New Covenant. vi. And a key part of that New Covenant is the belief that both the just and the unjust will be raised from the dead. vii. Now it is clear that Ananias would not believe in the resurrection. He was a Sadducee. viii. But some of the Elders Ananias brought with him no doubt were Pharisees. ix. Really his defense here is that he has not created a heresy of Judaism or another faith altogether, instead he is following what has been prophesied… the real Judaism is following Jesus of Nazareth because He died and rose again just as He said He would. x. And in this way Paul's conscience is clear. He is not doing this for money, for power, or prestige, but because the Fathers of Israel and the prophets spoke of this long ago. e. [Slide 17] 17 - Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. 18 - While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia— i. Again, Paul is just clearly proclaiming that he is Jewish. ii. After several years being away, he came to give to the poor (probably the financial relief package he had collected from Asian and Greek churches to bring to the church of Jerusalem). iii. It was while he was being a good Jew, having been purified, in the temple, a place he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to do, that they found him. iv. And there were no crowds around him or tumults at all. v. Until what? vi. Until some Jews from Asia. vii. But that's the problem right. viii. Paul actually interrupts himself here… f. [Slide 18] 19 - they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me. i. Absent from these witnesses are the Jews who actually stirred up the crowd against Paul. ii. Where are they? iii. Tertullus wasn't in the temple that day. Ananias wasn't in the temple that day. The Elders of Israel weren't there. iv. Where are the Jews from Asia who were there? Why are they not present to make an accusation? v. Why indeed. vi. Paul is aiming for the dismissal of the case here. vii. How? viii. In Roman law, a witness who abandons their responsibility to bring an accusation against someone in court would actually be guilty of a crime themselves. ix. In that case the charges levied without a plaintiff are dismissed and in most cases the trial is dismissed as well. x. But if the charges against him weren't seen personally by the Jews present, what is their experience with Paul? What crimes have they observed him do? g. [Slide 19] 20 - Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council, 21 - other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.' ” i. Paul points out that these men should speak concerning what they found him guilty of at the trial before the Sanhedrin. ii. And there lies the rub. iii. That trial was a debacle. iv. They broke out into a theological dispute and brought NO charges against Paul except for theological disagreements. v. Disagreements where SOME OF THEM even AGREED with Paul. It can't be heresy if some of the ruling religious council of Israel agree with what he says. vi. Certainly, at this trial of the Sanhedrin, they did not mention any of the charges which they brought to Felix this day. vii. The only thing they had against him was what he had said bout the resurrection of the dead. viii. Paul points out that the only reason he is on trial is because they want Rome to solve this sectarian dispute between the Jews and the Christians. ix. And that is a great defense… because Rome has no interest in doing that. x. Paul deftly points out in his defense that none of the charges he has been formally accused with were personally witnessed by anyone present at the trial that day. xi. What does that mean? xii. It means that this should be… case dismissed. It is actually a fairly easy decision for Felix to make. xiii. But… we'll wait until next week to find out what he decides. h. [Slide 20] Summary of the Point: God is working in this trial. God is using the false accusations against Paul and really against Christianity to move Paul down the road to Rome. But Paul does not sit idlily by and trust the Lord passively. Instead, he actively trusts the Lord by giving a defense for the hope he has in him. Tertullus made a huge mistake, guided by God's hand. That mistake was to bring into the trial the reputation of followers of Jesus. If this trial was only about Paul… perhaps Paul remains more passive. But Tertullus makes this about the church and if he makes it about the church, he makes it about the gospel. Paul defends the gospel. He flips the script and explains how the followers of Jesus are rooted in the same scriptures and prophets that the Jews also claim and shows how he has not been the cause of trouble but that these Jews are making accusations that they are unwilling to back up in a trail setting. Thus, Paul provides a positive example that when we are falsely accused, we must give a defense for the hope we have in us. We must contend for the gospel. Conclusion: So, CBC, what have we learned today and how then shall we live? Whare are some basics of faith and practice we should observe through this. Basics of Faith and Practice: In many ways, knowing how the book of Acts ends helps us to understand the primary point of teaching or doctrine that Luke is revealing throughout all the events of Paul's journey to Rome. But verse 11 of chapter 23 is the interpretive guide for how we are to apply that doctrinal truth. God's providential hand is guiding Paul through many twists and turns to arrive in Rome at precisely the right time. Meaning that even this strong case against Paul raised with false accusations by a professional attorney is part of that plan God has for Paul. But Jesus' words to Paul help us to know what to do when we are in situations where we don't know the details of God's plan but do know the end of God's plan. God's plan for us, His children, those who are in Christ, is to save us from death and resurrect us to life eternal in His Son. And so our response to every threat, every false accusation, every bad thing we face must depend on those promises which the Lord has given us. In the text today we recognize two specific responses. First is to not fear false accusations of men. Other New Testament writers encourage us to continue living godly lives so that these accusations will bring shame to our accusers and glory to our God the Father. The second response is to defend the gospel from misrepresentations or false accusations. But let us seek to apply these things more specifically this morning. 1.) Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that God's providence includes false accusations from wicked people. a. Through the church age, the forces of darkness, working in conjunction with man's natural wickedness, have levied countless false charges against God's people. b. Even a cursory reading of John Foxes' book of martyrs displays that through every age of the church wicked men have hunted down and within the legal government system brought to bear against God's children charges which they did not commit. c. Many times, this led to imprisonment, torture, and even death. d. If God is all knowing, He would have known of these plans of the wicked. e. If God is all powerful, he could have orchestrated events to keep His people from being in such a position. f. If God is all good, he would be highly motivated to not allow injustice to be executed upon His people. g. But because all these are true, we must conclude that God's hidden plan, which He has made since before the foundation of the world, even includes when people falsely accuse us of wrongdoing. h. Once again, I won't belabor the point, because it will continue to come up… i. But the only option we have as bible believing people is to affirm that God providentially orchestrates all events in our lives to accomplish His hidden will. j. Because we know He is all powerful, all good, and all knowing, this must be true. k. What does this mean for us? 2.) De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must not fear what wicked men may do through false charges and injustice. a. We as Americans have a particular hatred of injustice, impingement on our freedoms, or being labeled as guilty when we aren't. b. That is why our legal system was designed to assume the innocence of a person unless it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that we are actually guilty. c. Our culture is shifting to declare guilt and innocence by popular opinion rather than by a court of law, but there is still a tenacious desire in us to defend or prosecute those we feel are innocent or guilty. d. Along with this we might grow fearful or even angry when we are accused of something that we did not do. e. We have all heard stories of people who were convicted in a court of law for doing something which earned them a life sentence or even the death sentence, only to discover 20 years later new evidence that the person did not actually commit the crime. f. Stories like these fuel the fear that we might be misrepresented or even slandered for doing something we didn't do. g. But affirming that God providentially moves in all the events of life to accomplish the counsel of His will allows us to take a step back and do as Jesus instructs in the sermon on the mount. h. Rather than expressing fear or anger over false charges, we should instead rejoice for suffering these false accusations against us. We should rejoice for having the opportunity to suffer for the sake of Christ. i. We don't need to fear what men may do to us or what crazy schemes they may concoct to cancel us. j. We need only to trust the Lord who knows all our ways and has a plan that He has already accomplished to save us from this life and resurrect us to life eternal. k. Of course, God's sovereign decrees dwell in the paradox of human responsibility. And that is the nature of our next application. 3.) Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that trusting God's sovereign providential hand means to do nothing. a. Paul rises in defense here. b. We'll get to why he does this in a moment but for now let us just recognize that Paul acted. c. Paul did not sit back and decline to speak because he knew he would get to Rome since Jesus said it would be so. d. If God told us that we would go to Africa tomorrow and lead someone to Christ, but we never booked a flight or did anything to get ourselves there, well that is just plain disobedience. e. God telling us what will be does not give us liberty to do nothing. f. Instead, just like it always does, belief that God is telling the truth requires us to obey as if it is true. g. Because of this, if we are in the same position as Paul we must… 4.) Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must be ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. a. While I cannot say that it is morally wrong or a sin to defend ourselves against false charges, I can say that we don't see that happening here for Paul. b. Not really. c. Paul doesn't debate that he isn't the ringleader of the Nazarene Heresy. He doesn't debate that he was involved in riots. d. But he does debate the charge that Christianity is opposed to God's law. Because that cannot be allowed to go unchecked. e. Paul very clearly outlines how he as a follower of Christ did not start a fight in Jerusalem, he was in the temple following the law. f. He says that The Way is rooted in the same Fathers and prophets that all his accusers believed in too. g. For the sake of the gospel and the reputation of Christ followers, Paul makes his defense. Certainly, this vindicates himself to some degree, but it is obvious his aim is greater than that. h. We too must be laser focused on what is important. i. Again, I do not think it is wrong to defend ourselves or even make a legal defense for ourselves if we are accused falsely. But, our primary goal in every instance in life is to make much of the gospel of Jesus Christ and if necessary, contend for it. j. Sadly, oftentimes we care more about defending ourselves than we do the gospel or our gospel witness. k. Natural man is well equipped to defend himself. And this is often our default setting. l. But it takes a spiritually mature person to defend themselves righteously and also prioritize the Kingdom of God in their defense. m. Paul strikes that perfect balance in our text today. And we must strive to emulate him. 5.) Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” In God's courtroom all men are judged by a perfect and just God. a. Though our courts have some of the fairest rules in place to assure that only the guilty are punished for their crimes, the fact of the matter is that the judicial system, even in this nation, is full of injustice. b. It may happen in our lives that we will be falsely accused and though we make a strong defense we are imprisoned or even killed for something we did not do. c. But the Christian worries little about this life. They know that in God's courtroom, the only courtroom that really matters, they will be declared righteous, not of themselves, but on the account of Christ who became their sin so that they might become the righteousness of God. d. We find comfort in the kingdom that is coming… not in the kingdom that is. 6.) Evangelism: “What about this text points us to Jesus Christ, the gospel, and how we are restored?” The gospel produces a law keeping and blameless church. a. Paul finds it especially necessary for followers of Christ to be known as people who follow the law of God and draw their teachings from the Fathers and the Prophets. b. In our time the gospel has been reduced to a magical prayer that you pray which God is somehow obligated to honor because you said the right words. c. But Paul defends the godly and noble character of the church. Why? d. Because God's true children are godly and holy people. e. In Matthew 7 Jesus talks about those who in the midst of being cast from his presence object on the grounds that they had done mighty works in his name. But Jesus still rejects them because as He says, I never knew you. f. And then the clincher… you lawless ones. Or you lawbreakers. g. You see although the gospel certainly tells us that we cannot earn God's grace or forgiveness and that only Christ can purchase our salvation…. The gospel also clearly teaches us that those who are truly saved are being conformed into the image of Christ. We are, as I said a moment ago, the righteousness of God. h. The fact of the matter is that no man will enter the kingdom of heaven if they purposefully continue to violate God's law. i. So, my friends, if you are here today and you have prayed a prayer – but your life is still lived intentionally violating God's law… then you must realize that you have no hope. j. Those whom the Lord has set free are free indeed. Meaning free not only from the penalty of sin but from its power as well. Let me close with a prayer recorded in the Didache (did-ah-kay) which is a very early record of church worship and teaching. We give thanks to you, Father, for your holy name which you made to dwell in our hearts. Thank you for the knowledge, faith, and immortality which you made known to us through Jesus your Son. To you be glory forever. You, Lord Almighty, created all things for your name's sake, and gave people food and drink for their enjoyment, that they might give thanks to you. And you have blessed us with spiritual food and drink and eternal light through your Son. Above all we give thanks to you that you are mighty. To you be glory forever. Remember your church, Lord, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in your love, and gather it together in its holiness from the four winds to your kingdom which you have prepared for it. For yours is the power and the glory forever. Let grace come and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any one is holy, let them come! If any one be not, let them repent. Maranatha-our Lord, come! We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Benediction: May the Lord of Hosts be with you So that you will become greater and greater still, Until you receive that crown of life Which the Lord has prepared for those that love Him. Until we meet again, go in peace.

Maluma se molestó con Marc Antony porque no se presentó en uno de sus conciertos en Medellín y desde entonces las cosas no andan bien. Pero ahora dicen que el colombiano también habría roto relaciones con el representante de toda su vida.El caso de Pablo Lyle sigue dando de qué hablar, ahora te contamos detalles sobre la nueva prisión donde estará recluido terminando su condena.Y también te contaremos detalles del juicio en contra de P. Diddy y los nuevos nombres de famosos que siguen apareciendo.

Appointed by the Romans as king of Judaea and thanks to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great’ is one of the infamous figures from the whole of Ancient history. So what do we know about this ancient near eastern ruler, who in his lifetime had contacts with a series of ‘goliath’ figures from the ancient Mediterranean World: from Caesar to Cleopatra and from Marc Antony to Augustus. Dan Snow's History Hit podcast available at https://amzn.to/48HlmtH Books by Seth Schwartz available at https://amzn.to/49US5vJ ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Mark's TIMELINE Video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credit: Dan Snow's History Hit podcast (Episode 1337: King Herod with Seth Schwartz, professor of Classical Jewish Civilization at New York City’s Columbia University). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we are getting to know Livia Drusilla, one of Rome's most powerful and influential women. Livia's life began with a solid Roman foundation, but little did anyone know that she was destined to become a woman whose name would echo through history. In this episodes, we'll go from her birth right up to her scandalous second marriage. We'll also re-visit some old Roman besties, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Octavian aka Augustus! Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Content Warning 01:14 Ancient Rome and Livia Drusilla 03:48 Patreon Shoutouts and Cocktail Talk 04:23 Livia's Birth and Early Life 06:56 Marriage and Family Dynamics 16:06 Livia's First Marriage 26:10 The Perils of Fleeing Rome 28:54 Life on the Run: The Harsh Realities 31:38 Return to Rome and New Beginnings 35:40 Meeting Octavian: A New Chapter 39:13 The Scandalous Union of Livia and Octavian 44:39 Octavia vs. Cleopatra: Role Models and Rivals 50:33 Conclusion: Livia's Future Unfolds Sources: The Exploress The Other Half podcast Wikipedia Queens podcast is part of Airwave Media podcast network. Please get in touch with advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Want more Queens? Head to our Patreon, check out our merch store, and follow us on Instagram! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The goal is to challenge folks.” Glenn Davis reflects on his work as an actor, producer, and Artistic Director of Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theater. (Is it possible Marc Antony might just be too good a person?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matthew 2: 13-23 (The Slaughter of the Innocents) Herod (and us): from temptation to possession Five Steps of Sin The temptation (logismoi) occurs.  We are NOT accountable for this. Interaction with the thought – what are the options?  What would it look like?  In his summary of Orthodox Spirituality in Mountain of Silence,  Fr. Maximos (now Mp. Athanasios of Limassol) says that this is not sin, either.  I disagree – a symptom of the disease we have is that it is all but impossible for us to imagine possibilities objectively.   Consent to do the sin.  This is always a sin, even if we do not carry out the action. Defeat to the idea.  Not only is this sin, it weakens us to future temptations. Passion, obsession, or possession by the temptation.   Let's look at Herod's descent into madness. He had an idea to kill all of the male infants.  This was not the only choice he had; others would have been less wicked – some may have even softened his heart enough to meet the Christ with joy.  This was the temptation. What happened when he interacted with this idea?  Moreover, what happened when he considered all the possibilities?  Was it a simple cost-benefit calculation, comparing all the options about how to react to the birth of the prophesied Messiah?    When he did the math, was it purely objective, or was the scale weighted in a certain direction by his feelings, feelings that were driven by his pride and desire to rule?  Remember that, as the King of the Jews, the people of God, he could have brought the Christ child into his palace and raised Him there to rule.  But that option was not the one that drew his attention – it was drawn towards murder.  It was drawn towards regicide and the slaughter of as many lives as necessary to guarantee it.  This was not because it was the best solution – it probably wasn't even the best way to keep himself in power.  But it felt right.  And so of all the ideas, or all the logismoi, both sinful and graceful, he focused on this one.  He imagined what it would look like, how it would work.  Which takes us to consent. He consented to the idea.  He entertained it, not just to imagine whether or not it could work or to figure out the best way to get it done – it was more than that.  He chewed on it.  And somewhere along the way, he made it happen. Next, he was defeated by it.  Not just because he pulled the trigger, but because it came to define part of how he defined himself.  He was a man who did whatever was necessary to keep himself in power.  All other things were defined and valued in relationship to this identity, to this desire, to this obsession. And this is the final step – he was possessed by it.  And here is a difficult truth about his path to possession: this was not the first time he had united himself with this kind of sin.  He had assassinated rivals, to include his own wife, to consolidate his power.  Even before that, he had waged war against his own people in order to capture Jerusalem.  Not to free it from the Romans, but in cooperation with the Roman general Marc Antony in order to put himself in charge.  Do you see how, once he had given in to sin – in this case, violence - for personal gain, it made it easier to do so in the future?  All of his fallen psychology kicked in to make repentance more and more difficult.  For example, the devaluation of the lives of others, the web of justifications and lies that he had to convince himself of in order to keep himself going?  For someone like this, it takes a real wake-up call to get them to change.  He got the call when the wise men came, but he didn't just hit the snooze button, he threw away the clock. “Send word so that I can go and worship Him myself.”  Doesn't that just drip with evil?  How would Herod worship Him; with gifts?  With prostrations?  That is how the kings from the east did!  Not at all.  Quite the opposite. What about us?  The wide road to sin-full-ness Now here is the rub.  I've been describing Herod's descent into madness, but that is the same wide road that beckons to us all.   What sins do we entertain?  What sins do we chew on?  Are we obsessed by?  What wickedness have we justified so fully that we feel its evil as good? And as if it wasn't enough that each of us individually, thanks to ancestral sin, cannot imagine sin without engaging with it, we are surrounded by cultural systems that seek to deaden our instinct for the holy and replace it with other things, like hedonism and power and self-loathing and anything else that the marketers of the powers of the air can distract us with. It's easy to see this happening in others.  We know people who have fallen into all kinds of sin and justified it.  They immerse themselves in an internet subculture and the next thing you know they are defining themselves in new ways that separate themselves from the good, the true, and the beautiful.   But it's so hard to see this in ourselves.  Herod had several baths of purification built into his temple.  He was so far gone that he didn't see the irony of maintaining ritual purity while living such a debauched and self-aggrandizing life.  We should be very concerned lest we fall in the same way. What sins do our own personalities, conditions, and cultures lead us to accept as normal or even good?  How can we get around the unreliability of our feelings – what we like to call our consciences when it comes to seeking the good?   How do we deal with the fact that we are so far from being able to see things as they are and weight alternatives objectively? What then, can we do? The first step is to admit that we have a problem.  To admit that the “old man” we put to death during our baptism is not entirely dead. The second step is to cultivate an instinct of humility, including the willingness to admit that we rarely as right as our self-confidence would have us believe. The third is to build relationships of accountability and discernment.  How do you react when people correct you or offer a version that differs from your own?  Taking criticisms well is a sign of spiritual maturity.  It's one that tyrants, narcissists, and sociopaths don't have.  And it's one that we are missing unless we work on it.  But we need it.  We need to have people in our lives that tell us the things that we miss, the things that we get wrong. Herod skipped all these steps, and he died in his sin. We have given our lives to Christ; we are called to something better than tyranny and the slaughter of innocents.   Let's learn to live the kinds of lives – lives in communities of mutual love, trust, and support – that give no place for temptations to grow. Let's live in Christ, together.  

The panel reads the fourth act, with special attention to the fraught relationship between Brutus and Cassius, the political situation in the late Roman Republic, and the declining fate of the conspiracy in the wake of Marc Antony's speech to the plebs.Continue reading

Send us a textYes, I know that Octavian IS Augustus, but this episode is about how Gaius Octavius became Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, and in doing so replaced the old Roman Republic with a military autocracy masquerading as a republic. This is the conclusion of our three part series on the fall of the Roman Republic. My cohost for all three episodes has been my good friend Dr. Jennifer Paxton of the Catholic University of America.This episode includes two audio snippets:Mark Antony's funeral oration for Caesar, from the 1953 film version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" (with Marlon Brando as Brutus)"What have the Romans done for us?" from "Monty Python's The Life of Brian"Quotations from:Appian on Caesar's Funeral, trans. John Carter (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/appian/appian-caesars-funeral/)Res Gestae Divi Augusti ("the achievements of the deified Augustus"), trans. F.W. Shipley  (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/augustus-res-gestae/)Tacitus Agricola. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (1877)Tacitus, Annals. Loeb Classical Library edition of Tacitus, 1931For another take on the story, I recommend listening to "Marc Antony vs. Octavian Caesar: Ancient Rome's Ruthless Rivals," a two part series on the podcast "Beef with Bridget Todd."As I am posting this a couple of days before Christmas and Hanukkah, I would like to wish you all Happy Holidays. And if you haven't yet listened to it, you might want to try our episode on how Hanukkah and Christmas were celebrated in the Middle Ages (with detours into how Hanukkah became the Jewish Christmas in the United States and why the Puritans tried to suppress Christmas).Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander NakaradaIf you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

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Chrissy's Arts.Based on a post by Quinn_McMullen, in 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.“In a moment.” Her lips returned to mine, the oral sensations driving down my spine and sending extra blood to my crotch. We lay there necking for quite a while. For me, oral and tactile sensations are the strongest and Chrissy was putting those senses into overdrive.She settled lower so that her breasts were pressing into my chest. I moved my hands to her ass. She ran her fingers through my thinning hair, slicking it down with my sweat. “You are a sweaty boy.” She kissed me again, probing my mouth, then gently licking my lips. “Okay, I’m ready.” She dismounted and easily stood.I lay helpless on the blanket, gazing up at her lovely figure, erect nipples highlighting her t-shirt. “I’m not going to be very graceful getting up.”“I’ll help you.”I rolled onto my stomach, then gained my hands and knees. I held up a hand and Chrissy balanced me as I stood. She gathered up the blanket and we folded it together. We held hands again as we crossed the meadow back to the house.I cautioned, “Watch where you step with those bare feet. Some of these weeds have barbs.”Chrissy preceded me into the mudroom, “We should probably leave our clothes here. I have a shirt and jeans upstairs in your dresser.” She stood in front of me. “Let’s get rid of this sweaty shirt.”She pulled my shirt over my head. I pulled my arms out, then threw the shirt in the dirty clothes basket. I pulled hers up and her breasts were free. My tumescent cock was becoming harder. We both kicked our shoes off. We grabbed for each other’s pants like high school kids. I had hers off first and ran my fingers through her dark brown bush and down across her vulva. She stopped and looked at me, her mouth slightly open. I gently touched her clit on the way back and she sucked her breath in a little. Goose flesh stood out on her arms.She shivered, “Look what you did.”She dropped my jeans, revealing my cock at half-mast. She milked a drop of pre-cum, then bent down and licked it off. “That is so tasty.”My jeans were soon around my ankles and I stepped out of them.Chrissy threw her arms around my head and kissed me with an open mouth. I pulled her tight against me and straightened my back, lifting her off the floor. Her breasts pressed against me, her pubes on my stomach.She broke the kiss, “Upstairs.”She took my hand and pulled me toward the stairs. Chrissy released my hand and took them two at a time, racing to the claw-footed tub.When I reached the bathroom, she already had the water running and three towels on the rack. She tested the water. She made a temperature adjustment, then climbed in. This time she was on the showerhead side and I was on the drier side. She closed the shower curtain and stood under the showerhead. She reached out for me and pulled me into the stream of water. She raised her lips to mine. I met her with an open mouth, pulling her tight against me. Chrissy began running her fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp.I reached behind her and grabbed the shampoo. I switched places with her, applied some shampoo to her head, and began washing her hair, massaging her scalp. She got some suds on her hands and began kneading my chest hairs. She took a bit more and started stroking my erection.She said, “Here, switch. I need to rinse my hair.”“I don’t have any conditioner.”“That’s fine.”She rinsed the shampoo out. She grabbed the bar of soap from the dish and knelt before me, the water flowing over her body. She backed me up out of the stream of water and soaped up my cock, massaging my balls before starting to stroke my shaft. She forced her hand between my legs and I spread them for her. She went straight for my asshole. First, she rubbed the outside, then penetrated me with her finger. She started a short probing motion, finger fucking my ass for several minutes while simultaneously stroking my cock. She quickly drove me to the edge.I said, “Okay, you’ve got me close to cumming. You’ve gotta stop.”Chrissy stood and handed me the soap. We switched places again so that I was under the shower. Now I knelt before her and soaped her breasts, kneading her nipples. She placed her hands behind my neck and kissed my forehead. I lathered up her pubic hair, running my fingers through the dark delta. I washed her labia, then focused on her clit. I had that little button as clean as could be. I looked up and she had grabbed the handle, her eyes closed, and her mouth open. I used the same move Chrissy had used and found her asshole. I rubbed her anus, then slipped my finger into her ass. I finger fucked her as she had fucked me. She grabbed my hand that was rubbing her clit and pulled it away.She smiled wickedly, “Let’s go to your bed. Hurry, masturbation party.”Chrissy wrapped her hair in a towel and helped me over the lip of the tub. She pulled me down the hall and into the bedroom. She propped herself on the pillows at the head of the bed. She spread her legs wide, with her coochie pointed at me. She stared lustfully at me as she started playing with herself.I stood before her. I still had an erection, but I was damp and needed some lube. “Rub some of your juices on me.”Chrissy stuck her fingers into her cooch and smeared her fluids on me. Three more times she went to the well, then stroked me a few times. That was all I needed. I stroked myself as I knew best. She was vigorously rubbing her clit, one hand twisting her nipple. It was so hot watching her watching me, her fingers probing her cooch, fingers vigorously rubbing her clit. I stroked myself, but it didn’t take me long.I said, “Bring yourself over here.”Chrissy lay on her back, hung her head over the edge, and opened her mouth. Her hands never stopped pleasuring herself.My first shot of cum landed on her chin and neck, but the rest dribbled into her mouth. She reached up and grabbed me, milking my cock for cum. She wiped the pearl necklace from her neck and sucked her finger. Then she rolled over and grabbed my cock. She wrapped her lips around me and began sucking hard, stroking me, milking me. Then she took me all the way into her throat. Her swallowing action sending shocks up my spine. She pulled off and licked her lips for any cum. Then she knelt back and held her hands out to me. I stepped forward and she put her arms around my neck, then kissed me with an open mouth.I entwined my tongue with hers and was surprised to not find much taste there. “I can’t taste my cum.”“I swallowed every drop. You really taste good.”I kissed her again, “You kind of broke the rules though.”“I know. I got a little carried away. That was hot spreading my juices on your cock. I love watching you stroke yourself. I love you watching me diddle myself. I absolutely love sucking on you. Next to actually fucking, this might be one of my favorite things to do. I feel so open and vulnerable.”I kissed her again, “Perhaps we should dry your hair.”“Or not.”Chapter 8.It was about 7:30 on Sunday evening. I was in the study in my lazy boy, looking at Google News when I heard a knock on the doorframe.“Hey.” Zoë was standing in the doorway smiling. She was wearing a loose-fitting, light blue top with spaghetti straps and a matching horizontally striped mini-skirt. The hem was only an inch or two below her crotch.“Oh, I didn’t hear you. You’re so quiet.”I started to get up from my chair, but she came over and actually stood on the seat. She hesitated for a few moments so I could look up at her exposed vulva. Then somehow she positioned herself on my lap with her silky legs on either side of my torso. She put her arms behind my neck and kissed me. Her skirt was slightly askew giving me a wonderful view of that luscious brunette coochie. I placed a hand on each leg, enjoying the smoothness.Zoë confessed, “I love going commando in a mini-skirt. It’s very exciting.” She leaned forward and kissed me again.“We might have to take you out on the town like that.”“I’d like that, but one of our rules is that we can’t date, remember?”“What rules that we can’t date? I thought we could date.”“Oh. Okay. I would love to have another date with you.”“We could also have a group outing like when all you ladies go out dancing together.”“I’ve worn this outfit to the club! Sometimes I will twirl so that my skirt spins out and anyone watching closely will see I’m not wearing anything underneath. Before the pandemic, we went dancing and I knew these lesbians were watching me. I was twirling all night. Being watched in public turns me on like nothing else."Part of me is that maybe a date might not be a good idea. Friday was so romantic and I don’t think that is good for me. I will fall further in love with you. I fear that someday you are going to break my heart.”“I pray I never do that.”“Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I originally got the dress I wore on Friday for Anders’ wedding. In fact, he picked it out for me so I hope you don’t mind seeing me in it twice.”“Not at all. You are stunningly beautiful in that dress.”Zoë asked, “Can I tell you something?”“Sure.”She took my hands, brought them to her lips, and kissed them. “In all my thirty-nine years I have never had a man bring me to an orgasm like that. Actually, I’ve never had a man bring me to an orgasm, period. All my orgasms have been self-induced.”“If you don’t mind me asking, how many men have you been with?”“You are the fourth. You are the only man I would call a lover. My first time was in college and it was an awful experience. I know I was a virgin, but he rushed it and I was kind of dry. He took my virginity and he really hurt me. I think he tore up the inside of my cooch and I bled a lot, as in copious amounts of blood running down my legs. I think it was a lot like being raped, except technically it wasn’t rape. Guys didn’t worry about things like consent back then. I didn’t get the feeling he cared about me. He was pissed because I was bleeding on everything. I dumped him the next day."The second guy was in grad school. I had been going with this guy for a long time, three months probably. He pressured me into sex. We saw each other for about another three months. Every weekend he wanted to fuck and it was just that; fucking. There wasn’t any love involved. One night when he had had a few too many, he asked me for a blow job, then he grabbed my head and jammed his cock down my throat. I gagged, then bit him hard, and ran out of there. I never saw him again. Sex has been traumatic for me.”I said, “How awful. What about the third guy?”“I think I told you a little about Jared. I dated him for about three years. He’s a really nice guy and all. For a while, I thought he was husband material, but the embers never caught fire. He was sort of attentive when it came to sex, but it never felt intimate. Sex with Jared always felt mechanical. He would lick my lady parts to get me wet, and then it was bang, bang, bang and it was over. Never like what you did on Friday.” She laughed. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but since you’ll never meet him, who cares?”“What?”“I wouldn’t call it a micro-penis, but he was pretty small.”I asked, “How small?”She held her fingers about two inches apart.“I’ve seen a lot of penises over the years, mostly in community showers and locker rooms and that is pretty small. Although, I saw one guy in the Navy that was pretty much all balls. His penis was probably less than an inch, kind of propped up on his scrotum.”“Like Michelangelo’s David?”“Smaller.”Zoë smiled, “What’s the biggest cock you’ve ever seen?”“One of my college roommates was pretty hung. Like around eight inches long or so. He loved to show it off. Walking back and forth to the shower he would use a really small towel. Got a lot of attention from the ladies.”“Well I have to say, I am absolutely in love with your cock; Quinn. It is just right.”I leaned over and kissed her, “Thank you my love, but I’m really just an average guy, who’s completely comfortable with his averageness. Anything else on your mind?”Zoë said, “I want to know the mechanics of how you made me cum like that.”“It kind of loses the romance then.”“I just want to know how my body works.”“I’ll keep it simple: foreplay, erogenous zones, clitoris, and g-spot.”“G-spot?”“On the top of your vagina there’s a spot of tissue that is kind of magical. It’s about two or three inches in. When it isn’t ready, it feels spongy. When you are near orgasm, it begins to feel wrinkly. I try to rub it with one or two fingers and it makes a regular orgasm extra special.”“I’m going to try and find it.”“Well, that could be one of our experiments. By the way, have you given any thought to what you want to learn about your body and mine?”Zoë smiled and kissed my hands again. “Okay, so I have become an internet sex fiend. I have been looking up all these ways to have sex.”“Let me hear about them.”“I know you will never think I’m slutty, but all this makes me feel slutty. It sounds so interesting and sexy and exciting. I have to do this in my room because I want to play with myself. I do play with myself. I have to be careful with Johnny running around.”“So, I want you to do that for me. Play with yourself in front of me.”She smiled, “Would you like that?”“It would be so hot. So what have you been looking at that makes you want to play with yourself?”“So one thing I want to learn about is you. I want to learn about how to give you an amazing blow job.”“I like the sound of that.”“I also want to learn how to deep throat you.”“Okay, that may be a lot harder, no pun intended.”“I will have you know that puns are the highest form of humor. There are all these amazing sex positions that look like so much fun. We’re going to try all of them.”“Okay.”“And…” She held her breath.“What?”“I want to try anal.”“I have to tell you I have no experience there.”She smiled and kissed me, “So, we’ll learn together.” Then she looked at me kind of funny.I asked, “What?”“I think you need to know this, but I will probably have my period next weekend, for Anders’ wedding.”“That’s cool. It’s never stopped me before.”“You’ve had period sex?”“It’s great. You just need to put some old towels down.”“Do you lick me all bloody and everything?”“I’ve always left the tampon in while dining. Do you use tampons?”She nodded.I continued, “I would just pull out the tampon when the time comes for inserting my cock in the cooch. Sometimes you need to use lube though. The tampon sometimes seems to suck up all your juices. At other times all the blood makes things very slick.”“That doesn’t gross you out?”“Not at all.”Zoë was giddy with excitement. “Okay, we can try that. I was also thinking that we could try anal on my period.”“I will do whatever you want to do.”“And something I want to do for you. I want to learn how to massage your prostate.”“Something else I don’t have much experience with. So what do you want to do this evening?”“I know we did this on Friday, but could you make me cum like that again? Chrissy said I was glowing on our hike. I felt like I was walking on a cloud. Then I would like to try a couple of positions.”This entire conversation was amazing. Her sexuality seemed to be blossoming before me. I watched this less-than-confident woman who had described her first time as akin to rape, now getting excited about anal and period sex.I grinned, “You are making me hard talking about this.”“I’m making myself wet talking about everything.”“Really?” I ran my fingers across her coochie, “Oh, you are really wet.”I put my wet fingers in my mouth.“You really like the way I taste, don’t you?”I dipped my finger into her coochie again and brought it out, “Zoë, what you have here will drive a man crazy. You know how Cleopatra seduced Marc Antony? How Josephine seduced Napoleon?”She shook her head.I held up my wet finger. “Right here. Before perfume was invented there was coochie juice. I kid you not. Do you want to drive a man wild? Use your personal perfume. A little dab behind your ears and on your wrist. Maybe a dab between your breasts. Don’t overdo it. This is powerful stuff.”Zoë reached down, dampened her finger, and applied the moisture as I directed.I persisted, “Just like that. Your pheromones will drive anyone attracted to you wild. They won’t know what hit them. Personally, I live for the taste and smell of a woman. My love, you have a taste and smell that is intoxicating. Your taste is making me really hard right now.”“Well, let’s go upstairs!”Zoë stood and stepped off the chair. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I have never seen someone so excited to have sex. Her blouse and skirt were off before we got into the room. She sat on the edge of the bed and went for my fly. She had my shorts off while I pulled my shirt over my head. She jumped onto the bed and held out her hand.The light from outside was fading, so I turned on the end table light.Then I sat down next to her. “So, before we start, you need to know something about me. I’m not a young man. I think I have one good erection and one ejaculation in me per day.”Zoë crawled up on her hands and knees, “Friday night you had two erections. Remember when I got you really hard in the middle of the night so I could sleep with you inside me.”“Okay, so maybe I’m wrong on that account. I just don’t want you to get high expectations of how I am going to satisfy you.”She leaned in and kissed me, “Quinn, I will be satisfied just being with you.”I began fondling her breasts that were just there for the touching. “What would you l

HISTORY This Week returns with new episodes starting September 16th! In the meantime, listen to a favorite classic from the archives. September 2, 31 BCE. Two camps prepare for battle off the coast of Greece. On one side is Octavian, Julius Caesar's heir apparent. On the other, Marc Antony and his lover, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. This battle won't just determine the leader of Rome, but the fate of global civilization. How did Cleopatra wind up in the middle of a Roman game of tug of war? And how did the Battle of Actium change our world forever? Special thanks to our guest, Barry Strauss, author of The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium. This episode originally aired on August 29, 2022. To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of Shakespod dives into the history of theatre in China and when and how Shakespeare made his arrival there. Special Guest: James Lucas performing Marc Antony from Julius Caesar. Sources: SHAKESPEARE IN CHINA Ho Hsiang-Lin The ComparatistVol. 13 (MAY 1989), pp. 11-21 (11 pages)Published By: University of North Carolina Press Shakespeare Reception in China by Yanna Sun Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 9, pp. 1931-1938, September 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. Why China's Love Affair With Shakespeare Endures Enid Tsui, Post Magazine https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/1996061/why-chinas-love-affair-shakespeare-endures Shakespeare in China L.E. https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2017/03/12/shakespeare-in-china/ Royalty-Free Renaissance music provided by:Pixabay --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/svshakes/support

King Herod is probably one of the most, if not the most, ruthless character in the Holy Bible. Brilliant, but evil. And yet, his paranoia that led him to kill several members of his own family and issue an edict to kill all the children under two in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, still wasn't enough to thwart God's plan, the birth of a Savior. This is why Kathie Lee Gifford, TV personality, best-selling author, singer and composer, is fascinated with this character. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Gifford talks about her newest book "Herod And Mary: The True Story Of The Tyrant King And The Mother Of The Risen Savior",  plus her recovering from her health emergency and the faith that is getting her through it all. Gifford researched the historical documents on King Herod and found some interesting swaths of information, like his friendship with Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Rome's power couple. But also, Herod may have occupied a blip in the biblical narrative, but his historical presence was significant, a master architect and powerful politician. But his undoing was his debauchery and derangement. Gifford says Herod's story is a testament to the fact that "When the world thought nothing more evil could be happening in the world, something far more glorious than anything that had ever happened was happening in the womb of a little teenage girl from Nazareth." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zoë, Chris and Quinn settle in with their new arrangements.By Quinn_McMullen, in 8 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 8It was about 7:30 on Sunday evening. I was in the study in my lazy boy, looking at Online News when I heard a knock on the doorframe."Hey." Zoë was standing in the doorway smiling. She was wearing a loose-fitting, light blue top with spaghetti straps and a matching horizontally striped mini-skirt. The hem was only an inch or two below her crotch."Oh, I didn't hear you. You're so quiet."I started to get up from my chair, but she came over and actually stood on the seat. She hesitated for a few moments so I could look up at her exposed vulva. Then somehow she positioned herself on my lap with her silky legs on either side of my torso. She put her arms behind my neck and kissed me. Her skirt was slightly askew giving me a wonderful view of that luscious blonde cunt. I placed a hand on each leg, enjoying the smoothness.Zoë confessed, "I love going commando in a mini-skirt. It's very exciting." She leaned forward and kissed me again."We might have to take you out on the town like that.""I'd like that, but one of our rules is that we can't date, remember?""What rules that we can't date? I thought we could date.""Oh. Okay. I would love to have another date with you.""We could also have a group outing like when all you ladies go out dancing together.""I've worn this outfit to the club! Sometimes I will twirl so that my skirt spins out and anyone watching closely will see I'm not wearing anything underneath. Before the pandemic, we went dancing and I knew these lesbians were watching me. I was twirling all night. Being watched in public turns me on like nothing else."Part of me is that maybe a date might not be a good idea. Friday was so romantic and I don't think that is good for me. I will fall further in love with you. I fear that someday you are going to break my heart.""I pray I never do that.""Also, I hope you don't mind, but I originally got the dress I wore on Friday for Anders' wedding. In fact, he picked it out for me so I hope you don't mind seeing me in it twice.""Not at all. You are stunningly beautiful in that dress."Zoë asked, "Can I tell you something?""Sure."She took my hands, brought them to her lips, and kissed them. "In all my thirty-nine years I have never had a man bring me to an orgasm like that. Actually, I've never had a man bring me to an orgasm, period. All my orgasms have been self-induced.""If you don't mind me asking, how many men have you been with?""You are the fourth. You are the only man I would call a lover. My first time was in college and it was an awful experience. I know I was a virgin, but he rushed it and I was kind of dry. He took my virginity and he really hurt me. I think he tore up the inside of my vagina and I bled a lot, as in copious amounts of blood running down my legs. I think it was a lot like being raped, except technically it wasn't rape. Guys didn't worry about things like consent back then. I didn't get the feeling he cared about me. He was pissed because I was bleeding on everything. I dumped him the next day."The second guy was in grad school. I had been going with this guy for a long time, three months probably. He pressured me into sex. We saw each other for about another three months. Every weekend he wanted to fuck and it was just that,  fucking. There wasn't any love involved. One night when he had had a few too many, he asked me for a blow job, then he grabbed my head and jammed his penis down my throat. I gagged, then bit him hard, and ran out of there. I never saw him again. Sex has been traumatic for me."I said, "How awful. What about the third guy?""I think I told you a little about Jared. I dated him for about three years. He's a really nice guy and all. For a while, I thought he was husband material, but the embers never caught fire. He was sort of attentive when it came to sex, but it never felt intimate. Sex with Jared always felt mechanical. He would lick my lady parts to get me wet, and then it was bang, bang, bang and it was over. Never like what you did on Friday." She laughed. "I shouldn't tell you this, but since you'll never meet him, who cares?""What?""I wouldn't call it a micro-penis, but he was pretty small."I asked, "How small?"She held her fingers about two inches apart."I've seen a lot of penises over the years, mostly in community showers and locker rooms and that is pretty small. Although, I saw one guy in the Navy that was pretty much all balls. His penis was probably less than an inch, kind of propped up on his scrotum.""Like Michelangelo's David?""Smaller."Zoë smiled, "What's the biggest penis you've ever seen?""One of my college roommates was pretty hung. Like around eight inches long or so. He loved to show it off. Walking back and forth to the shower he would use a really small towel. Got a lot of attention from the ladies.""Well I have to say, I am absolutely in love with your penis Quinn. It is just right."I leaned over and kissed her, "Thank you my love, but I'm really just an average guy, who's completely comfortable with his averageness. Anything else on your mind?"Zoë said, "I want to know the mechanics of how you made me cum like that.""It kind of loses the romance then.""I just want to know how my body works.""I'll keep it simple: foreplay, erogenous zones, clitoris, and g-spot.""G-spot?""On the top of your vagina there's a spot of tissue that is kind of magical. It's about two or three inches in. When it isn't ready, it feels spongy. When you are near orgasm, it begins to feel wrinkly. I try to rub it with one or two fingers and it makes a regular orgasm extra special.""I'm going to try and find it.""Well, that could be one of our experiments. By the way, have you given any thought to what you want to learn about your body and mine?"Zoë smiled and kissed my hands again. "Okay, so I have become an internet sex fiend. I have been looking up all these ways to have sex.""Let me hear about them.""I know you will never think I'm slutty, but all this makes me feel slutty. It sounds so interesting and sexy and exciting. I have to do this in my room because I want to play with myself. I do play with myself. I have to be careful with Johnny running around.""So, I want you to do that for me. Play with yourself in front of me."She smiled, "Would you like that?""It would be so hot. So what have you been looking at that makes you want to play with yourself?""So one thing I want to learn about is you. I want to learn about how to give you an amazing blow job.""I like the sound of that.""I also want to learn how to deep throat you.""Okay, that may be a lot harder, no pun intended.""I will have you know that puns are the highest form of humor. There are all these amazing sex positions that look like so much fun. We're going to try all of them.""Okay.""And..." She held her breath."What?""I want to try anal.""I have to tell you I have no experience there."She smiled and kissed me, "So, we'll learn together." Then she looked at me kind of funny.I asked, "What?""I think you need to know this, but I will probably have my period next weekend, for Anders' wedding.""That's cool. It's never stopped me before.""You've had period sex?""It's great. You just need to put some old towels down.""Do you lick me all bloody and everything?""I've always left the tampon in while dining. Do you use tampons?"She nodded.I continued, "I would just pull out the tampon when the time comes for inserting penis in vagina. Sometimes you need to use lube though. The tampon sometimes seems to suck up all your juices. At other times all the blood makes things very slick.""That doesn't gross you out?""Not at all."Zoë was giddy with excitement. "Okay, we can try that. I was also thinking that we could try anal on my period.""I will do whatever you want to do.""And something I want to do for you. I want to learn how to massage your prostate.""Something else I don't have much experience with. So what do you want to do this evening?""I know we did this on Friday, but could you make me cum like that again? Chris said I was glowing on our hike. I felt like I was walking on a cloud. Then I would like to try a couple of positions."This entire conversation was amazing. Her sexuality seemed to be blossoming before me. I watched this less-than-confident woman who had described her first time as akin to rape, now getting excited about anal and period sex.I grinned, "You are making me hard talking about this.""I'm making myself wet talking about everything.""Really?" I ran my fingers across her cunt, "Oh, you are really wet."I put my wet fingers in my mouth."You really like the way I taste, don't you?"I dipped my finger into her cunt again and brought it out, "Zoë, what you have here will drive a man crazy. You know how Cleopatra seduced Marc Antony? How Josephine seduced Napoleon?"She shook her head.I held up my wet finger. "Right here. Before perfume was invented there was cunt juice. I kid you not. Do you want to drive a man wild? Use your personal perfume. A little dab behind your ears and on your wrist. Maybe a dab between your breasts. Don't overdo it. This is powerful stuff."Zoë reached down, dampened her finger, and applied the moisture as I directed.I persisted, "Just like that. Your pheromones will drive anyone attracted to you wild. They won't know what hit them. Personally, I live for the taste and smell of a woman. My love, you have a taste and smell that is intoxicating. Your taste is making me really hard right now.""Well, let's go upstairs!"Zoë stood and stepped off the chair. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I have never seen someone so excited to have sex. Her blouse and skirt were off before we got into the room. She sat on the edge of the bed and went for my fly. She had my shorts off while I pulled my shirt over my head. She jumped onto the bed and held out her hand.The light from outside was fading, so I turned on the end table light.Then I sat down next to her. "So, before we start, you need to know something about me. I'm not a young man. I think I have one good erection and one ejaculation in me per day."Zoë crawled up on her hands and knees, "Friday night you had two erections. Remember when I got you really hard in the middle of the night so I could sleep with you inside me.""Okay, so maybe I'm wrong on that account. I just don't want you to get high expectations of how I am going to satisfy you."

The panel closes discussion of Dryden's All for Love with an examination of the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, how the scene differs from that of Shakespeare, and what role is ultimately played by Octavius, even despite his absence from the stage.Continue reading

Ray Cappo is the singer of Youth Of Today and Shelter, two hardcore bands we grew up listening to. He's now a yoga teacher to the teachers and our new personal guru. His new book, From Punk To Monk, is out now. We chat about Marc Antony, which emails to respond to, moving upstate in 08, never having a real job, celibacy, pulling over on the side of the road to cook rice and lentils, the power of ghee, this missing ingredient in health food, removing low frequencies, how he felt on a raw diet, why is jiu-jitsu a sober man's sport? If he came up with his book's title himself, and we compare colored vinyl to non gold standard currency. instagram.com/raghunathyogi twitter.com/donetodeath twitter.com/themjeans howlonggone.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Passions Podcast LeTara discusses episodes 666-670 of Passions with returning guest host Maria. And be sure to check out our recent interview with McKenzie Westmore! To view the entire interview go to Patreon.com/Passionspodcast and buy the digital download or join any paid tier of the Patreon. Visit our Link Tree to watch episodes of Passions, buy merch, join the Patreon, leave a tip or follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/Passionspodcast Want to support the podcast, but don't want to commit to a monthly contribution? Leave a one time tip here: https://tr.ee/Hpxzzi9JX4 To support this podcast and watch episodes along with us you can visit passionspodcast.com or Join our Patreon Patreon.com/passionspodcast Recap via Soapcentral.com February 18 to 22, 2002 Tabitha told Timmy and Zombie Charity how she ended Luis and Sheridan's love when they lived as Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Brian tried to help "Diana" move on with her life, while Beth and Hank did the same for Luis. A furious TC held Chad responsible for Whitney's condition and attacked the young man when he stopped by to check on her. Later, Chad sneaked into Whitney's bedroom, where a still-drugged up Whitney tried to seduce him. Eve freaked out when she found Chad and her daughter in a compromising position. Miguel, Reese, and Jessica struggled to get inside the cave while Kay subtly thwarted their efforts. Thanks to Miguel and Charity¹s love, Charity's ice block began to melt. Zombie Charity panicked when her powers failed to stop the real Charity from defrosting. Tabitha and the Zombie feared they were about to be discovered, while Timmy rooted for his beloved Charity. Music: Cartoon Bank Heist - Doug Maxwell, Media Right Productions • Cartoon Bank Heist – Doug Maxwell, Me... Soar by Scott Buckley https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckleyCr. Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/passions-podcast/message

The panel discusses the third act of Dryden's most successful play, All for Love, with particular attention to Marc Antony's lack of constancy, and Dryden's artistic reimagining of historical events in order to place Octavia in Cleopatra's palace.Continue reading

Send us a Text Message.Upon the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, the formidable Queen of the Nile, faces her greatest trials yet. The landscape of Ancient Egypt shifts like the desert sands and deception lurks in the shadows, yet again. Cleopatra, joined by her love, Marc Antony, confront the looming shadow of Rome's vengeance while struggling to preserve her Ancient Egyptian kingdom and legacy. The story of two souls, bound by love and ambition, will shape the course of history with their unwavering resolve, and intertwine their destinies with the rise and fall of an empire. Watch the video version here: https://youtube.com/live/yVbdqBgpvewDon't forget, you can watch us live on Tuesday nights at 8PM CST - U.S. on YouTube and Facebook! Support the Show: Patreon (Bonus Content)Follow us on Social Media: YouTube ChannelFacebook Fan PageInstagram Fan Page X (formerly Twitter)TikTok Fan Page"After Dark with EVP" (Use code "AFTERDARK25" for 25% off an annual subscription)https://bit.ly/46GOmAzSubmit Your Story, Comments, or Questions: theevppod@gmail.com

The panel reads the first act of John Dryden's take on the story of Antony and Cleopatra, All for Love, with a focus on Marc Antony's mental state, the military situation with which he is confronted, and whether he is at fault for his circumstances.Continue reading

This week Kelly and Katai read ROYAL DIARIES: CLEOPATRA VII, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE by Kristina Gregory, the touching story of Cleopatra when she was apparently at her most boring. They talk never choosing a Pilgrim-ass bitch, getting turned around which Ptolemy is which, Marc Antony being a perv, being pro-Christ pre-Christ, and more! SUBSCRIBE TO THE TEEN CREEPS PATREON to get ad free and video versions of our episodes, bonus episodes, merch, and more: https://www.patreon.com/teencreeps CONNECT W/ TEEN CREEPS: https://discord.com/invite/FYp4QNhruE https://twitter.com/teencreepspod https://www.instagram.com/teencreepspod https://www.facebook.com/teencreepspod BUY TEEN CREEPS MERCH: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/teen-creeps TEEN CREEPS IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/teen-creeps *All creepy opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Kelly and Katai read ROYAL DIARIES: CLEOPATRA VII, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE by Kristina Gregory, the touching story of Cleopatra when she was apparently at her most boring. They talk never choosing a Pilgrim-ass bitch, getting turned around which Ptolemy is which, Marc Antony being a perv, being pro-Christ pre-Christ, and more!SUBSCRIBE TO THE TEEN CREEPS PATREON to get ad free and video versions of our episodes, bonus episodes, merch, and more:https://www.patreon.com/teencreepsCONNECT W/ TEEN CREEPS:https://discord.com/invite/FYp4QNhruEhttps://twitter.com/teencreepspodhttps://www.instagram.com/teencreepspodhttps://www.facebook.com/teencreepspodBUY TEEN CREEPS MERCH:https://www.teepublic.com/stores/teen-creepsTEEN CREEPS IS A FOREVER DOG PODCASThttps://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/teen-creeps*All creepy opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON for ad free and video episodes, bonus episodes, and more:⁠https://www.patreon.com/teencreeps⁠ CONNECT:⁠https://discord.com/invite/FYp4QNhruE⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/teencreepspod⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/teencreepspod⁠ MERCH:⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/teen-creeps⁠ TEEN CREEPS IS AN INDEPENDENT PODCAST. *All creepy opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denzel Washington stars in this intense drama/thriller as Creasey, a sad, alcoholic ex-CIA assassin who finds a new purpose in life as he forms a special friendship with the precocious Pita played by Dakota Fanning.  Pita is the daughter of a Mexican industrialist played by Marc Antony who has hired Creasey to serve as a bodyguard since there has been a rash of kidnappings in their area.  Tragedy occurs and then Creasey sets off on a brutal mission of revenge where we see his old habits as a trained killer start to manifest themselves.   As directed by the late great Tony Scott, this was a film which saw modest success upon initial release twenty years ago but has since gone to grow a significant following.See below for a link to an alternative ending for this movie as discussed within this review:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5RQWlXoD_s&t=170sHost & Editor: Geoff GershonProducer: Marlene Gershon https://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/

The panel reads the fourth act of Antony and Cleopatra with particular attention to the character of Marc Antony and his worldview of personal honour and prowess, in conflict with the political schemes and grand designs of both Octavius and Cleopatra.Continue reading

The panel discusses the third act, with a focus on the deterioration of the Roman political situation, Marc Antony's skills as a battlefield leader and a political figure, and the sophisticated psychological understanding of both Octavius and Cleopatra.Continue reading

We enter the world beyond the Republic with the first Roman to have earned the cognomen "Germanicus", through blood sweat and tears.  Grandson of Marc Antony, son of Livia, step-son to Octavian, you might think that he was tempted to live in the lap of luxury but instead, Drusus was cut from an older cloth.  Determined to win military glory, and to live an exemplary life, he did so in spades before that life was cut short, but not before he planted some extraordinary seeds.  

Appointed by the Romans as king of Judaea and thanks to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great' is one of the infamous figures from the whole of Ancient history. So what do we know about this ancient near eastern ruler, who in his lifetime had contacts with a series of ‘goliath' figures from the ancient Mediterranean World: from Caesar to Cleopatra and from Marc Antony to Augustus. Dan Snow's History Hit podcast available at https://amzn.to/48HlmtH  Books by Seth Schwartz available at https://amzn.to/49US5vJ WELCOME to our newest Patreon members Leslie, Dennis, Laura, Jack, and Kate at https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, when joining our growing community.  SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america                                                  Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels  Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9  YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica  Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization                                                                Credit: Dan Snow's History Hit podcast (Episode 1337: King Herod with Seth Schwartz, professor of Classical Jewish Civilization at New York City's Columbia University). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Octavian, ready for prime time!  Marc Antony disparaged him, the Senate disregarded him, and the Conspirators ignored him, all at their peril!  Join us as the 19 year old Octavian arrives in Rome with his BFF Agrippa and in 24 short months completes his meteoric ascent.

"The addition of our episode with Marc Antony Mendez makes him the third guest we have had who identifies as autistic, alongside Stephanie Persephone and Eddie Abreu. Marc is a young enthusiast of menswear, a budding writer and much more, and he spoke at length on this his and mine shared interest. One of the unique features of his episode is that he prepared answers to specific questions beforehand and, given the depth and beauty of his responses, I feel that his decision might have been the ideal one for this episode. I certainly hope you feel the same watching our episode." Marc's Bio ( Visit our show Facebook page for full bio.) Marc Anthony Mendez recently graduated from Laguardia Community College with an Associates degree in Human Services Mental Health. The reason why he majored in this field was because he was diagnosed at the age of 18 months with Autism. Marc was bullied for many years, but decided he would use that experience to help other people on the spectrum. Being on the Autism Spectrum has allowed Marc Anthony the ability to do public speaking, work as an advocate, and share his journey with Autism, while helping clinicians, parents. He spoke at the United Nations with delegates from Japan about an educational program named, “The District 75 Inclusion Program.”  Marc is a public speaker, has spoken about the negative treatment some children with Autism face on an everyday basis. Marc was a keynote speaker at Scholastic Bookstore, the Hilton Hotel, Parents for Inclusive Education, Young Adults Institute for people with disabilities, the Arise Coalition, and local public schools in New York City. He enjoys acting and had the opportunity to work for Tony Danza (the actor and sitcom star). Marc is currently writing an autobiographical novel, to guide other members of the Autism Spectrum on how to adapt with Autism and to gain their own sense of empowerment. January of 2020, Marc earned a job with YAI, and was a co- facilitator helping individuals on the spectrum to live independently. He recently graduated from Laguardia Community College with an associate's degree in Human Services: Mental Health. "Despite it all, I was the most improved student and received many awards due to my progress. My mother had to fight the department of education to open a classroom thanks to the Law of “FAPE” which is, Free And Appropriate public Education. By opening those classes I was able to attend Russell Sage Jr. High School. I enjoy the self investment that I do, whether it be cooking, reading, writing, clothing combinating, discovering new neighborhoods, editing my first novel, “Autisymbiosis”.  There have been many teachers in my life that influence me to be who I am, what I am. There is more than one influential person that empowered me, and those people are my God, my visions, both good dream and bad dream, my Mother, my Father, my Sister, my older cousin, my sister's boyfriend, my high school paras, my high school drama teacher, my acting mentor, my college statistic's tutor, every friend that I have ever had, my school crushes, every bully I have ever had, every rival I have ever had, and my Jr High School Inclusion teacher. I wish to personally thank you all and thank you to all advocates, special education teachers, guidance counselors, psychotherapists, and even all members of the disability and/ or learning difference community for your devotion to the better tomorrow.I want to continue to deliver hope, peace, and love.  You! Yes, you are my humanity and the sole reason why I fight for justice and fairness for all! Therefore, It does not matter what deck of cards you have been dealt, there is always a way to win ♠.” Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ eccentric.mendez3696 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/majestic_mendez/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ecentric_Mendez --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/support

"The addition of our episode with Marc Antony Mendez makes him the third guest we have had who identifies as autistic, alongside Stephanie Persephone and Eddie Abreu. Marc is a young enthusiast of menswear, a budding writer and much more, and he spoke at length on this his and mine shared interest. One of the unique features of his episode is that he prepared answers to specific questions beforehand and, given the depth and beauty of his responses, I feel that his decision might have been the ideal one for this episode. I certainly hope you feel the same watching our episode." Marc's Bio ( Visit our show Facebook page for full bio.) Marc Anthony Mendez recently graduated from Laguardia Community College with an Associates degree in Human Services Mental Health. The reason why he majored in this field was because he was diagnosed at the age of 18 months with Autism. Marc was bullied for many years, but decided he would use that experience to help other people on the spectrum. Being on the Autism Spectrum has allowed Marc Anthony the ability to do public speaking, work as an advocate, and share his journey with Autism, while helping clinicians, parents. He spoke at the United Nations with delegates from Japan about an educational program named, “The District 75 Inclusion Program.”  Marc is a public speaker, has spoken about the negative treatment some children with Autism face on an everyday basis. Marc was a keynote speaker at Scholastic Bookstore, the Hilton Hotel, Parents for Inclusive Education, Young Adults Institute for people with disabilities, the Arise Coalition, and local public schools in New York City. He enjoys acting and had the opportunity to work for Tony Danza (the actor and sitcom star). Marc is currently writing an autobiographical novel, to guide other members of the Autism Spectrum on how to adapt with Autism and to gain their own sense of empowerment. January of 2020, Marc earned a job with YAI, and was a co- facilitator helping individuals on the spectrum to live independently. He recently graduated from Laguardia Community College with an associate's degree in Human Services: Mental Health. "Despite it all, I was the most improved student and received many awards due to my progress. My mother had to fight the department of education to open a classroom thanks to the Law of “FAPE” which is, Free And Appropriate public Education. By opening those classes I was able to attend Russell Sage Jr. High School. I enjoy the self investment that I do, whether it be cooking, reading, writing, clothing combinating, discovering new neighborhoods, editing my first novel, “Autisymbiosis”.  There have been many teachers in my life that influence me to be who I am, what I am. There is more than one influential person that empowered me, and those people are my God, my visions, both good dream and bad dream, my Mother, my Father, my Sister, my older cousin, my sister's boyfriend, my high school paras, my high school drama teacher, my acting mentor, my college statistic's tutor, every friend that I have ever had, my school crushes, every bully I have ever had, every rival I have ever had, and my Jr High School Inclusion teacher. I wish to personally thank you all and thank you to all advocates, special education teachers, guidance counselors, psychotherapists, and even all members of the disability and/ or learning difference community for your devotion to the better tomorrow.I want to continue to deliver hope, peace, and love.  You! Yes, you are my humanity and the sole reason why I fight for justice and fairness for all! Therefore, It does not matter what deck of cards you have been dealt, there is always a way to win ♠.” Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ eccentric.mendez3696 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/majestic_mendez/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ecentric_Mendez --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/support

One of the central figures in the drama of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire was Marc Antony. He was a rather odd figure in Roman History. He came from an upper-class, but not necessarily elite, family.  Neither was he wasn't a great general. Yet he was at the right place at the right time, and his actions played a huge part in the republic's collapse.  Learn more about Marcus Antonius, aka Marc Antony, and how he found himself at the center of Roman history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors BetterHelp Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month ButcherBox Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off."  Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    “Friends, Romans, Countrywomen, lend me your ears, I come to bury Valentine's Day, not to praise it." My apologies to Shakespeare for twisting Marc Antony's eulogy for Julius Caesar a bit as I open the Valentine Season with Februa Seasons Beatings with a little Valentine's Day Foreplay to relax your defenses & wake up your senses, including your sense of history, specifically the history of Valentine's Day which begins with Lupercalia and evolves into World Bonobo Day, both blessed by Pan, Lord of the WiLD.  Warning: Explicit Conversations About Politics, Culture, & Sexuality!  Because... If love is going to hurt (as it often does), better to have your buns beaten (consensually) on Lupercalia than your heart broken (badly) on Valentine's Day! Or share the Bonobo Love in The Bonobo Way on World Bonobo Day!  Learn about the ins & outs of the High Holidays of Love as I tell the story of how Lupercalian communal ecstasy, hearts & floggers turned into Saint Valentine commercialism, chastity & candy flowers & is now a celebration of the Make Love Not War Bonobos, as I explore on this FDR podcast with Capt'n Max (my Valentine). Make Kink Not War! Ceasefire Now! And check out more of my prose & amazing Lupercalian Bacchanalian shows: https://drsusanblock.com/fdr-valentine-2024     Need to talk privately? Call Our Therapists Without Borders anytime: 213.291.9497. We're here for YOU.

The younger son of a no-name family from a no-name provincial town, this young man would do more than anyone else (even more than Julius Caesar himself) to establish Octavian at the pinnacle of the Roman power structure, doing everything that needed to be done with supreme competency, and humility.   He vanquished Marc Antony, singlehandedly rebuilt Roman infrastructure, left buildings of indelible beauty, and always had Octavian/Augustus' back, from the day they met in school as teenagers to the day he died. 

When the apostle Paul first came to town, the city of Philippi was famous for its connections to two of the greatest emperors of the ancient world: Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus.Paul came to Philippi in the winter 49/50 AD, to a population of about ten thousand (sizable but smaller than Thessalonica and Corinth), and when he wrote this letter ten years later, I don't think it was lost on Paul how significant it was to be writing to “saints in Philippi.” That is, to Christians alive and well in no obscure city. The planting and growth and endurance of the church in the city of Philippi represented gospel advance deep into the Roman empire.The city, founded about 350 years before Christ, was about 8 miles northwest of port city Neapolis, in the region called Macedonia. The city was named for Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Greece in 338 BC and spread its language around the known world. So, when this city, named after Alexander's father received a letter from Paul, almost four centuries later, in the Greek language, it was, in part, because of Alexander.But long past were the days of Alexander. The Romans took Philippi in 168 BC, and the city's real claim to fame came in 42 BC, at the Battle of Philippi, when armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had assassinated Julius Caesar, were defeated by the coalition of Marc Antony and Octavian (who would become Augustus). After that, Philippi became a Roman colony, and located along the queen of long roads in the Roman empire, the city became the gateway between Asia and Europe. Far more important than history, it was a strategic city in terms of travel. Then enter Christianity in the first century.Today the reason the world knows and remembers Philippi is not because of Alexander the Great, and not because of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony and Augustus. The world remembers Philippi because of Jesus. His apostle Paul showed up there and planted his first church in Europe, and then years later wrote them this letter which we have in the New Testament.Let me just say, I love Philippians. I have a history with this book, and that in my most formative season of life. And I know I'm not alone. Many of us love this book, for a handful of reasons, and what I'd like to do in this sermon is celebrate several of those reasons why so many of us love Philippians — and why the pastors think this book in particular meets us in our life as a church here in the first half of 2024.So let's take this twofold approach this morning, to introduce this Philippians series, which will take us up to Memorial Day, God willing. First, I'd like to answer three questions from verses 1 and 2, and then finish with four reasons why so many of us love Philippians.So, here's three questions from verses 1–2: (1) What do we know about the recipients of this letter? (2) Why is this letter from Paul “and Timothy,” and not just Paul? (3) What do they hope this letter will accomplish?1) Saints in Philippi?First, what do we know about the recipients of this letter?Verse 1 says the letter is “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.”As for Philippi, Acts 16 tells the story of Paul first coming to the city, and the unusual circumstances of his coming there, and the conversion of Lydia and a jailer. But that was ten years before this letter, and I don't think that amazing story actually plays much into this letter a decade later.But it is significant that Paul writes “to all the saints,” that is, to the whole church. He could have written only or mainly to the leaders, but he writes to the whole church, “to all the saints,” as he usually does in his letters. So, we might say this letter is congregational, not presbyterian.Yet, even though the whole letter is to the whole church, Paul does hat-tip the leaders, and mentions two offices, and note both terms are in the plural: “with the overseers and the deacons.”These two offices are the same two specified in 1 Timothy 3, where we find qualifications for both, with “able to teach” being the main difference in the requirements. Overseers = pastors = elders comprise the lead or teaching office in the church, while the deacons are the assisting office.2) And Timothy?Question #2: Why is this letter from Paul “and Timothy,” and not just Paul?The first part of verse 1 says the letter is from “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus . . .”Paul is the apostle. He met the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road. Timothy is a younger associate that Paul picked up in Derbe not long before he first showed up in Philippi. So, why would Paul, the apostle, the one who really matters, it seems, have the letter come from both him and Timothy, his junior partner?First, consider Paul's magnanimous spirit. Rather than highlight his special authority, and exclude his collaborator, Paul is secure enough, and generous enough, to include Timothy with him. Now, Timothy (along with Silas and Luke) had been with him at that first trip to Philippi. So the Philippians knew Timothy. And as we'll see in chapter 2, Paul hopes to send Timothy back to Philippi soon to check in on them (2:19). Timothy also likely served as Paul's assistant in composing this letter. He may have been the secretary as Paul dictated the letter. Ancient letter writing was not anything like writing emails, where you dash something off in a few minutes. Writing an epistle in the ancient world was like publishing a book — it was a long, involved, expensive process. Paul, together with Timothy, would have drafted the letter; then re-read and edited; then re-read again; then carefully written out a final copy. So, Timothy likely was involved significantly in producing the letter, like an editor and publisher would be for an author of a book.But again, Paul is the apostle. And generous as he is to include Timothy in the process, and name him, at the end of the day the letter comes under Paul's apostolic authority. He signs off on everything in it. It represents him, and the risen Christ, from beginning to end. He speaks in the first person in verse 3, and speaks of Timothy in the third person in chapter 2.So, with Timothy listed here with Paul, “apostles” doesn't fit them together. But together they are “servants of Christ Jesus.” Servants here is the same word for slaves (douloi), which pairs with Lord or Master (kurios). For Paul and Timothy to call themselves slaves is to say something about their Lord. Jesus is Lord, he is kurios; therefore they are douloi, slaves.Jesus is said to be Lord at the end of verse 2 — grace and peace come from “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The one who was so clearly fully human, just two decades before walking the roads of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem, teaching with wisdom and authority, performing signs and wonders, suffering and dying, and purportedly rising again — this man is exalted alongside “God the Father” as the divine source of the grace and peace Paul extends to the saints in Philippi. Which leads to our third and final question.Grace and Peace?Third: What do Paul and Timothy want this letter to accomplish?Verse 2: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”As we'll see in the coming months, Paul has some specific manifestations of Christ's grace and peace in mind when he thinks of the present needs in Philippi. We might summarize it as fresh joy in Christ, leading to humility and unity (following internal conflicts), leading to joyful, effective witness in this Roman colony.This “grace and peace” Paul means to come to them through words, through this letter. So, the letter doesn't just begin with a prayer for grace and peace; the letter itself is designed by Paul to be grace and peace to them. Epaphroditus will carry this letter back to his home church (2:25–30). He had brought a gift to Paul from the Philippians (4:10, 14, 18), which was not their first gift to Paul. From the very beginning, the saints in Philippi had supported Paul (1:5; 4:15–16). These are clearly some of his best partners, which explains why this letter gushes with affection and joy. Paul deeply loves this church, and they make him happy. They are his “joy and crown” (4:1). If only all the churches could be like Philippi's!This most recent gift (of perhaps food and supplies) they sent with Epaphroditus while Paul's in prison in Rome, and apparently somewhere along the way Epaphroditus got sick, and almost died. Now, he's recovered, and can go back, so this becomes an opportunity to write to the Philippians, and extend grace and peace to them in several ways: Paul thanks them for their gift, he updates them on his status in Rome, he commends Epaphroditus for his service, he prepares the way for Timothy to come soon, and he addresses the internal tension that has emerged in the church.From the beginning there had been external opposition to the gospel in Philippi. Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned at the get-go. Now, the church in Philippi is about ten years old (about the age of Cities Church!), and conflict is threatening from within. As we'll see in chapter 4, two prominent women in the church are at odds, and likely others as well.So, Paul hopes that this letter, with its exhortations to pursue humility and seek unity will be a means God uses to bring about fresh and greater peace in Philippi, and that Paul's words, his teaching, his letter, will be a means of God's grace to this church, a church with so much to appreciate, and a few things to grow in.So, Paul loved the Philippians. And it's a contagious love. I think that's part of why so many of us love Philippians — how can you not when the apostle Paul loves this church so much and has so much grace to celebrate?Why We Love ItSo, let's close, then, with four brief reasons why we love Philippians, which relates to what we need as a church right now, and why the pastors are so excited for this focus in the weeks ahead.1. Joy!First, this is an epistle of joy. As we will see, this letter overflows with joy, with brightness, with warmth (in contrast with, say, Galatians!). In Philippians we have more explicit mentions of joy, gladness, and rejoicing in such short space than anywhere else in the Bible. From the beginning, the whole epistle is warm and bright. Even with the trouble that comes to the surface in chapters 1, 3, and 4.And yet, in all this brightness and warmth and joy, this letter is written from prison in Rome. What an amazing person Jesus has made the apostle Paul. Singing at midnight in prison, after being beaten by rods. And now, ten years later, singing, in the form of this letter, while sitting in prison in Rome. So, don't mistake the joy of Philippians for the thin pleasures of a carefree life. Rather, the joy of Philippians, Christian joy, the joy of the gospel, is joy deep enough to survive, and thrive, in prison, in conflict, in struggle, in pain, in sickness, in death.Which really should put our lives, and our little problems and big ones, and our complaints and pains into perspective. The pastors' prayer for us as we steep our souls in Philippians in these next five months is that Jesus would make us more like Paul. Beaten with rods, he sings. Imprisoned, he overflows with joy. Why? Not just because he had a buoyant personality, but because Jesus is Lord. The gospel is true. The Spirit is alive and poured out generously on those who love Jesus. God is sovereign. Christ is on the throne. He gives grace and peace, even in the worst of earthly circumstances.And I know it's January, the coldest month. Winter is here, and we're now entering into the thick of seasonal affective time, which is real, and especially in Minnesota. And one of the reasons the pastors chose Philippians, bright, warm, deeply joyful, for such a time as this is to help us through Winter 2024. So, we love Philippians because it's an epistle of such deep joy.2. BriefSecond, we love Philippians because it's relatively brief (in contrast to, say, Hebrews!). Philippians is brief enough for a short, focused but still deep study. Philippians is just 104 verses, which, I promise you, is brief enough for anyone in this room to memorize, if you put the work in over time. In fact, Pastor Jonathan and I plan to memorize Philippians in 2024. Want to join us? Get this, 104 verses. There are 52 weeks in a year. That's just two verses a week. You can do this. What better way to take on the sheer madness of a presidential election year than to memorize this brief epistle of deep, enduring joy? 3. AccessibleThird, we love Philippians because it's so accessible. It's relatively easy to understand (in contrast to, say, Galatians, or Leviticus, or Hebrews — our last three!).Here's our hope as pastors in this season in the life of our church. We've been through a lot. God's grace has sustained us, in finishing the Rooted campaign in 2023, and building out the education space, and losing three pastors last summer. The reason we chose Philippians for the first half of 2024 is that we hope this might be a time to refresh our souls. Listen, y'all have been amazing. The last three books of the Bible have not been easy ones! Galatians, then Leviticus, then Hebrews! Cities Church, you have done well, and it's time for something more accessible. It's time for Philippians, and to take it slow.4. MemorableFinally, we love Philippians because of the memorable passages. From 1:6 to 2:12–13 to 3:12–14 to 4:19, how many remarkable verses and passage there are in Philippians. So I made a list of my top-10 favorite verses in Philippians. It includes the four I just mentioned. It also includes 3:20–21 (on our citizenship being in heaven) and 4:4–8 (on not being anxious and setting our minds on the true, honorable, and just) and 4:11–13 (on all things through Christ who strengthens me), but let me end on my top three.The first two reveal the heart of Paul for Jesus. As Christians, in our best moments, we want to be like this:1:21, To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 3:7–8, Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. In our best moments, when we are thinking our clearest, and our hearts are their purest, this too is what we want: for Christ to be our life, and to see death as gain because to depart and be with Christ is far better than being distant from him. And, with Paul, to count as loss anything else of gain we have in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.And how do we know him? The last memorable passage reveals the heart of Jesus, and leads us to the Table. Chapter 2, verses 6–11. This is our salvation. Hear this for you, for your sin: [being] in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The death he died was not for his sin; he had none. The death he died was for ours. And he went to the cross, as we saw in Hebrews, for the joy set before him. He humbled himself, knowing his Father would exalt him. He was obedient to death, knowing his Father would raise him, and reward him, and honor him, and honor himself in and through him, and that he would win for himself a people who trust in him.

Julius Caesar's legate in Gaul, Titus Labienus was the original Marc Antony, a friend to Caesar in his early days and a critical piece to Caesar's victories in Gaul.  But when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, Labienus sided with the Republic, fighting under Pompey to preserve the government, until one day at Munda he found himself face to face with his old friend Caesar in a fight for his life.  

 Luigi y Santiago Castillo, integrantes del grupo San Luis, conversaron sobre su gira junto a Voz Veis, asegurando que desde que comenzaron sospechaban que venían cosas muy lindas, pero no tan grandes, e insistiendo en que ha sido un viaje maravilloso. Luigi destacó que volver a Maracaibo es volver a su verdadera casa, donde se siente algo maternal «El barbero, el mercado, son las gaitas que cantábamos desde pequeño» añadió. Resaltó que su disco de Navidad, que es de los más vendidos, empezó como un catálogo y donde esperaban demasiado. También recordó que todo el disco se hizo en una cabaña en Boconó, incluso las canciones inéditas. «No imaginábamos todas las cosas maravillosas que vinieron después de ese álbum» acotó. Por su parte, Santiago indicó que crecieron en un ambiente muy musical y artístico donde fueron estimulados. «La experiencia que hemos tenido como compositores en el álbum de Marc Antony, nacieron como una balada muy San Luis, pero al ser arregladas para salsa, vemos la música de otra manera. San Luis es una expresión más íntima» dijo.

All for Love; or, The World Well Lost by John Dryden audiobook. All for Love is widely considered to be John Dryden's finest work, dramatic or otherwise. A tragedy written in blank verse, it retells the story of Roman general Marc Antony's love affair with the alluring Egyptian queen Cleopatra and their eventual double-suicide. Compared to the more famous rendition of the tale by William Shakespeare, however, which is grand and hectic in terms of setting, Dryden chooses instead to focus in on the lovers' last days in Alexandria as the threat of their defeat looms and their legacies are contested. The result is a swelling, elegant, emotional drama that perceptively considers such themes as loyalty and love, fidelity in marriage, the lasting endurance of friendship, and even the tenuous construct of masculinity. In short, it's truly a gem of the Restoration repertoire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the next two segments: number 132 and 133 in the sequence, we repeat a subject that we took up in number 113 and 114; namely the buddha nature versus human nature; some of the sameness and differences between what we refer to as “human nature” and what we refer to in Zen as our “original nature,” or “buddha-nature,” “buddha” meaning “awakened one.” Please bear with the repetition; there is new material here as well. And much of what is to be said about the place of Zen in America bears repetition. As promised in the last segment of UnMind, we will continue examining the social, or “corporate” expressions of human nature — versus what we call “buddha nature” — with an eye to those corporate entities growing out of Zen practice, such as the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and the Silent Thunder Order, as examples. Master Dogen mentions the constructions of humankind, indicating that they, too, are part and parcel of the nature and manifestation of buddha-dharma: Grass, trees, and lands which are embraced by this Teachingtogether radiate a great light and endlessly expoundthe inconceivable profound dharmaGrass, trees, and walls bring forth this Teaching for all beingscommon people as well as sagesand they in accord extend this dharmafor the sake of grass, trees, and walls In India the original Order of monks and nuns apparently camped out in the woods, and when the monsoons came, retired to caves in the mountains. Eventually, patrons built dwellings for them, the first “walls” to house the followers of Buddha's teachings. Somewhere I came across a saying, something to the effect that, when a precious jewel appears in the world, not to worry, a container will appear to protect it. The “precious jewel” is the buddha-dharma, and the container consists of the various temples, practice centers, and monasteries that have been established to protect and preserve it. The Dharma opening verse that we typically chant at the beginning of a discourse says: The unsurpassed, profound and wondrous Dharma is rarely met withEven in a hundred, thousand, million kalpasNow we can see and hear it, accept and maintain itMay we unfold the meaning of the Tathagata's truth Assuming we can “see and hear” the Dharma, it becomes our charge to “accept and maintain” it. In the context of modern society, this means not only providing the physical plant, the “walls” within which followers are invited to practice, but also providing the corporate structure that will enable others to maintain the program of promulgating Dharma teachings and propagating the direct practice of meditation, through their financial and in-kind donations. For this reason, and other related incentives, it becomes necessary to establish a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation in order to maintain Zen practice interfacing with other, governmental corporate entities. But some caveats are in order when doing so in the furtherance of Zen, in light of its skepticism regarding the constructed self. Where Zen calls into question the reification of even the human entity, or being, and its extension to the concept of a self, the soul of theism, or atman of Hinduism; the reification of a corporate entity is seen as equally, or even more, suspect. ASZC was incorporated in 1977 to facilitate the mission of meeting the public demand for what we refer to as genuine Zen practice, in particular its uniquely simple and direct meditation. What we refer to as “Soto Zen” or “Dogen Zen” is different from all the other alternatives on offer. Just as what Buddhism teaches as its worldview is starkly different from the various religions and ideologies dominant in our culture. STO was incorporated in 2011 because the stress and strain on the board of directors and committees of the ASZC had become too much to handle, with the growth of our network of affiliates, which were meeting the increasing demand for Zen practice; and the growing awareness of ASZC and STO as meeting that demand in a uniquely user-friendly manner, stressing the practicality and best practices of householder Zen. BUT We should not be confused as to the reality or unreality of the corporate entities we have “established.” They are no more real than any other corporate entity, though we may feel that their existence as such is much more necessary and based on real human need. The human beings, or sangha, populating the corporate shell are real and existent dharmas, in its connotation of “dharma-beings.” The corporation is real enough, in that it can interact with other corporate entities, but is essentially a real but non-existent dharma being, a construct. In spite of the “Citizens United” ruling of the Supreme Court, corporations are demonstrably not persons and should not have the “rights” accorded to human beings, in my humble opinion. All beings are capable of doing harm; corporate entities may survive their human components and thus become capable of extending the harm, or good, they do to future generations. Real persons, fortunately or unfortunately — your call — pass away eventually, but the harm they do often lives after them; thank you, Marc Antony. Sometimes through the corporations they formed during their lifetime. There is a rather useful trope to apply to your personal relationship to the corporate entity that represents the community of fellow practitioners of Zen. These are some issues that have come up from time to time, phrased in the format of “IF-THEN”: IF you find yourself obsessing over the wellbeing of the ASZC or STO, or your local affiliate center, including the management and succession of their leadership, THEN you may be getting distracted from your own, personal practice, which may be much more difficult to deal with, and less gratifying than engaging the social fray. IF you feel under-appreciated for your efforts on behalf of the organization, THEN a couple of reminders: One — welcome to the club. Two — remember that we support the organizations because they support the practice of Zen. And in Zen there is “no self, and no other-than-self.” Our actions are neither entirely selfish, nor entirely unselfish, when it comes to Zen. Or you could argue that they are both selfish and unselfish. IF you are engaging in certain activities, and feel that you are making sacrifices, for the sake of someone else in the sangha, including myself, THEN, please stop. A sense of emotional indebtedness will only grow, and can never be recompensed adequately. As Master Dogen reminds us, we should not imagine that we are practicing Zen solely for our own sake, let alone for the sake of others. We should practice Zen for the sake of Buddhism itself. The 13th Century Master cautioned his followers not to call it “Zen,” that Zen is a made-up term. It is only Buddhism, he said. But even his nomenclature reifies “Buddhism,” as if there actually is such a thing that needs our protection. Buddhism, like Zen, is also a made-up term. Shakyamuni was not a Buddhist, any more than Jesus Christ was a Christian. Buddha comes from a root word that means “awake.” Buddha means the “fully awakened one.” What he taught, and what his followers practiced — in a culture replete with Hinduism, where one imagines they encountered considerable resistance — came to be called Buddhism. As such, it is also subject to its own teachings of “impermanence, insubstantiality, and imperfection.” IF you find yourself sharing your personal doubts and frustrations with your fellow travelers as to how the sangha is functioning, including its leadership, THEN you may be fomenting confusion, and resultant disharmony, in the sangha, a big “no-no” in Zen. As the story goes, one of Siddhartha Gautama's cohort of cousins, named Devadatta, was jealous of Shakyamuni's revered status, including the lavish support he received from patrons, and repeatedly attempted to have Buddha assassinated. Yet Buddha predicted that Devadatta would eventually realize buddha-hood. If such transgressions against the cohesion of the corporate Order of monks and nuns in those times could be regarded by Buddha as a kind of trial-and-error, coming of age saga, if over several lifetimes — we may be forgiven for the more minor errors in judgment that we may reasonably be expected to make in our efforts at community practice, and any resultant behaviors that may have unintended consequences. In any case, it does not pay to overthink these considerations, certainly not to make them the focus of our personal practice. A monk complained that when sitting in zazen, the rain was dripping on him from leaks in the roof. The Master told him to “move down.” Why spend a lot of time patching and repairing an old temple building, when you should be about the business of your own awakening to Buddha's insight? It is even more likely today that we will become enamored of the corporate entity and all its trappings, and lose sight of what brought us to Zen in the first place. The only thing that will accompany us when we go to our grave is our deeds. We have to leave the chimera of the corporation, along with the walls of the building, no matter how grandiose, behind — as well as the paperwork, thankfully. This realization should be accompanied by an immense sense of relief. * * * Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little

The Brooklyn Cafe Show guests Baxton Sumner singer, Amp2 producer, Zachry Amp2 producer , Mike Goodwin Crazy Uncle Mikes , Reba Rarkin Larney insurance &benefits advisor and constal health benefits group, Johny T Italian made restaurant 239 2936602 ,Sharon Marry K.senior Sales director , '' Becky'' asistant to musician Marc Antony , Spaz producer,sad man cafe; Gary maco trazact card. Jaycee Drisen singer --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebrooklyncafe/support

Patrick Page has earned a reputation as one of the top classical actors in America today and one of the best at playing villains. He's played Iago in Othello, the Grinch, Marc Antony and Brutus in Julius Caesar, Scar in The Lion King, King Lear, and Hades in Hadestown to name very few of his roles in a decades long career. But Patrick has faced off against a classical villain off stage as well, having battled a depressive disorder ever since he was five years old. He talks about his experiences with bipolar depression and substance use disorder and his own efforts to get and remain healthy. He also discusses the emotional toll of taking on very heavy roles and playing them on stage while dealing with his mental health. It's a revealing conversation about mental health and about art.Learn more about Patrick by visiting his website, www.PatrickPageOnline.com. Get tickets to Patrick's newest play, All the Devils Are Here, previews beginning September 29th at the DR2 Theater, by going to www.AllTheDevilsPlay.com.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!Hey, remember, you're part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In this episode, we return to the beach at Actium with author, historian, and academic Barry Strauss as our tour guide. His new book, The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium, discusses the infamous sea battle Marc Antony and Cleopatra fought against Octavian and Agrippa for love, for supremacy, for their very survival. Join us as we deconstruct this battle, paint a vivid picture of ancient war at sea, and tackle the one question everyone's asking: why did Cleopatra flee the battlefield? Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode originally appeared as a Patreon Exclusive episode. Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our episode Cleopatra x Marc Antony: Lovers in a Dangerous Time (Part 3), we alluded to a story about King Herod (yes, that King Herod) and Cleopatra—and an epic feud between them. We didn't have time to go into that story in the bigger arc on Cleopatra and Marc Antony, but we thought it was a perfect topic for a minisode.  Unlike Cleopatra and Marc Antony, Cleopatra and Herod hated each other. And not in a sexy-belligerent-sexual-tension way. They were intractable enemies—and it ultimately led to Cleopatra's downfall.  This is the first Ancient History Fangirl mini-arc--a two-episode series about two colossal personalities from the ancient world--and what happened when their interests collided. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! After the disaster at Actium, Marc Antony's entire army--100,000 strong--surrendered to Octavian. Marc Antony and Cleopatra fled to Alexandria to negotiate the terms of their defeat. Those were dark, foreboding days. Friends and allies fled the palace. Marc Antony fell into a deep depression, while Cleopatra searched desperately for a way out--one that would keep her kingdom intact and her children alive. But the reckoning was coming. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! As Marc Antony and Cleopatra lived and loved in Alexandria, Octavian whipped up a toxic garbage fire of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia in Rome--and then declared war. Not against Marc Antony, but against Cleopatra. Soon, the lovers would be forced to defend their home, their family, and their life together on the shores of the Ambracian Gulf. Find out how it all went down--at a town called Actium. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! After four years of marriage with Octavia, Marc Antony followed Cleopatra to Alexandria—and settled into life there. He oversaw festivals and athletic contests, cheered Cleopatra on as she ruled Egypt, and showered her and their children with honors and territories. For all intents and purposes, he was the consort of Egypt's beloved Pharaoh, the father of her children—and he was home. But the propaganda war between Antony and Octavian was building to a fever pitch in Rome, even as the Parthians loomed threateningly in the distance. Soon Antony would be called to war—and face the biggest battlefield test of his career. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When Cleopatra and Marc Antony met by the River Tarsus, Antony was smitten. And when Cleopatra went back to Alexandria, he forgot about invading Parthia and followed her home. The two then spent a magical few months in Alexandria, where they threw each other lavish banquets, made bets and compacts, played ridiculous practical jokes on each other and the public--and fell in love. But nothing good can ever stay. The real world came knocking, and soon Marc Antony was forced to choose between his heart in Alexandria and his future in Rome. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Great Minds! It's "Da Nile" v. "Daaa Medici" on the latest round of Shots - Cleopatra v. Catherine de Medici!!!Both were Queens, both were Mothers, both were truly Gaslit Titans of History, listen to find out who will win the second Crown of Greatness of Season 4!Key Topics: Cleopatra, Caesar, Marc Antony, Catherine de Medici, Valois France, Wars of ReligionFor more DGMH just head on over to Patreon Land to get access to soooooooo much more Great content here: patreon.com/dgmhhistoryBe sure to follow me on Facebook at "Drinks with Great Minds in History" & Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @dgmhhistoryCheers!Music:Hall of the Mountain King by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3845-hall-of-the-mountain-kingLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Artwork by @Tali Rose... Check it out!Support the show

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Shakespeare wrote about them. Hollywood glamorized them. For thousands of years, they've come down to us as the ultimate star-crossed lovers: the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra, and the Roman commander Marc Antony. In the wake of Caesar's death, Cleopatra fled to Egypt--and began picking up the pieces. Meanwhile, Marc Antony defeated Caesar's assassins in battle, and then set his sights on invading Parthia. But to invade Parthia, he needed the money and support of Rome's richest client ruler: Cleopatra. And Cleopatra had an agenda, too: she needed another Roman protector to shore up her power in Egypt. Find out what happened when these two met on the banks of the River Tarsus. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Thanks HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/fangirl16 and use code fangirl16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Thanks Athletic Greens. Go to athleticgreens.com/fangirl to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Great Minds!Today, we are finally covering Cleopatra VII Philopator, Queen of Egypt, someone that I have been trying to cover for three seasons!  So, how has the popular memory of Egypt's last queen, this Titan of the Hellenistic World,  impacted her legacy?  Were her rather actions justified, pragmatic, or ruthless?   Listen to find out all about the treacherous waters Cleopatra was forced to navigate in her magnificent reign! Key Topics: Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Marc Antony, Ptolemaic Egypt, Roman Empire For more DGMH just head on over to Patreon Land to get access to soooooooo much more Great content here: patreon.com/dgmhhistoryBe sure to follow me on Facebook at "Drinks with Great Minds in History" & Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @dgmhhistoryCheers!Music:Hall of the Mountain King by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3845-hall-of-the-mountain-kingLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Artwork by @Tali Rose... Check it out!Support the show

September 2, 31 BCE. Two camps prepare for battle off the coast of Greece. On one side is Octavian, Julius Caesar's heir apparent. On the other, Marc Antony and his lover, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. This battle won't just determine the leader of Rome, but the fate of global civilization. How did Cleopatra wind up in the middle of a Roman game of tug of war? And how did the Battle of Actium change our world forever?Special thanks to our guest, Barry Strauss, author of The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.