Podcasts about outwardly

AfterPaul shares what he did in verse 8, he continues in verse 9: "And befound in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but thatwhich is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God byfaith." Oh, what a wonderful verse! Paul has just told us that knowingChrist is the greatest treasure in all the world. Now he explains one of thegreatest blessings that comes from knowing Christ. When we trust Jesus, we arenot only brought into a relationship with Him, but we are given a righteousnessthat we could never produce ourselves.  Noticefirst Paul's negative statement: "Not having my own righteousness,which is from the law." Paul knew all about self-righteousness becauseif anyone could have boasted in religious achievements, it was Paul. Verses 4–6already list his impressive credentials. He was circumcised on the eighth day.He was of the nation of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was aHebrew of the Hebrews. He was a Pharisee. He was zealous. Outwardly, he wasblameless according to the law. Yet after meeting Jesus Christ, Paul realizedthat all these accomplishments could never make him righteous before a holyGod. Theprophet Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah 64:6: "But we are all like anunclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags." Whata humbling truth. The best that we can produce in our own strength falls farshort of God's perfect standard. You see, religion always says, "Tryharder." But the gospel tells us that Christ has already done what wecould never do. The problem is not that we need a little improvement. Theproblem is that we need a completely new standing before a holy God. Noticewhat Paul desired instead: "But that which is through faith in Christ,the righteousness which is from God by faith." This is whattheologians often call imputed righteousness. That simply means that when weplace our faith in Christ, God credits Christ's righteousness to our account. Thinkof it this way. On the cross, Jesus took our sin upon Himself. In salvation,God places Christ's righteousness upon us. Oh, my friend, what a gloriousexchange! In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we read: "For He made Him who knew nosin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God inHim." Jesuslived the perfect life that we could never live. He died the death that wedeserved to die. Then, when we trust Him, God declares us righteous in Hissight. Another word for that is justification. We are justified in the sight ofGod. This is not because of what we have done. It is because of what Christ hasdone. Noticehow many times faith appears in Philippians 3:9: "through faith inChrist" and "from God by faith." Faith is simply theempty hand that receives God's gift. We do not earn righteousness; we receiveit. We do not work for it; we trust Christ for it. We do not achieve it; Godgives it. Martin Luther called this "the great exchange." You knowhis struggle with self-righteousness until the day he discovered the truth ofjustification by faith. This truth ignited the Protestant Reformation andchanged the course of human history. Perhapsone of the most important phrases in this verse is found right at thebeginning: "And be found in Him." Everything Paul desired wasfound in Christ. His acceptance was in Christ. His righteousness was in Christ.His salvation was in Christ. His future hope was in Christ. That is still truetoday, my friend. The question is not whether you are religious enough. Thereal question is whether you are in Christ. Have you stopped trusting in yourown goodness, your own efforts, your own religious performance, and placed yourfaith completely and entirely in Jesus Christ? When you do that, at that verymoment, God places you in Christ through the baptism of His Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:13). Then you stand clothed in Christ's righteousness before aholy God.

Paul moves from what he inherited to what he personally achieved. Listento what he says: "As to the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecutingthe church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Thesewere not things that were given to Paul. These were things he worked hard toattain. If anyone could have earned a right standing before God throughreligion, dedication, and moral effort, it was Saul of Tarsus. First,notice that Paul said, "As to the law, a Pharisee." ThePharisees were the strictest religious group in Judaism. There were not many ofthem compared to the population of Israel, but they were highly respected fortheir devotion to the Law. The word Pharisee actually means "separatedone." They separated themselves from anything they believed would makethem spiritually unclean. They carefully studied the Scriptures, observedreligious traditions, and sought to obey every detail of the Law. SoPaul was not merely a religious man. He was a religious leader. In Acts 23:6,he boldly declared, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee." Hehad studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel according to Acts 22:3. Hepossessed the finest religious education available in his day. Yet with allthat learning and all that religious devotion, it could not save him. It ispossible to know the Bible intellectually and still not know Jesus Christpersonally. Many people today know Bible stories, memorize verses, and attendchurch regularly, yet they have never experienced the transforming grace ofGod. Knowledge alone cannot save. Secondly,Paul said, "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church." Thismight seem shocking to us. How could persecuting Christians be considered acredential? But before his conversion, Paul believed Christians were theenemies of God. He thought he was serving God by trying to destroy the church. Acts8:3 tells us that Saul made havoc of the church, entering houses and draggingmen and women off to prison. In Acts 9, he was on his way to Damascus withauthority to arrest believers when he met the risen Christ. In Acts 26:9-11,when he gave his testimony before Agrippa, he said: “I punished them oftenin every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. Being exceedingly enragedagainst them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." Paulwas sincere. He was passionate. He was committed. But he was sincerely wrong. Thisreminds us that sincerity alone is not enough because a person can be sincereand still be lost. A person can be passionate and still be mistaken. The mostimportant question is not how sincere we are. The important question is whetherour faith is based on the truth of Jesus Christ. Today, many people are zealousabout religion, politics, causes, traditions, or philosophies. But zeal withouttruth can lead us far from God. Paul had zeal, but he still needed a Savior. Third,Paul said, "Concerning the righteousness which is in the law,blameless." Notice he did not say sinless. He said blameless. In theeyes of the people around him, Paul lived an exemplary life. No one could pointto some scandalous sin and accuse him of hypocrisy. Outwardly, he appeared tobe everything a religious person should be. If Saul of Tarsus had lived in ourcommunity today, many churches would probably have wanted him to be a deacon, aSunday school teacher, an elder, or a ministry leader. Yet despite all hismorality and religious discipline, he was still lost. Thisis one of the most sobering truths in Scripture. Aperson can be religious and still need salvation. Remember, Jesus said inMatthew 7 that many will come to Him in that day and say, "Lord, Lord,have we not done many wonderful works in Your name?" And Jesus willsay to them, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knewyou." That is sobering. Are you sure—really sure—that you have beenborn again? We need the grace of God and salvation through Christ alone. 

Achiever syndrome affects more entrepreneurs and high performers than most people realize. Outwardly, many business leaders appear confident, driven, and successful, yet internally they often carry persistent stress, self-doubt, anxiety, and the constant pressure to prove themselves. The challenge is that these struggles are frequently hidden beneath productivity, ambition, and professional accomplishments. For many high achievers, success becomes tied to identity. Instead of feeling fulfilled by accomplishments, there is often a lingering fear that success could disappear, that mistakes will expose weaknesses, or that slowing down could cause everything to fall apart. This creates a cycle where achievement no longer feels rewarding because the pressure to maintain it never truly ends. Achiever syndrome is not simply about working hard. It is rooted in the unconscious beliefs people develop over time about worthiness, safety, success, and failure. These beliefs often begin early in life and continue operating beneath the surface long into adulthood, influencing decision-making, confidence, relationships, leadership, and personal well-being. Many entrepreneurs and executives attempt to solve these struggles by focusing only on mindset strategies. They read books, attend conferences, hire coaches, and consume motivational content in hopes of overcoming internal resistance. While these tools can be valuable, they often address surface-level thinking without resolving the deeper emotional patterns driving the behavior. That is why many high performers continue feeling stuck despite outward success. Mental barriers are rarely logical. They are emotional patterns reinforced over years of experiences, beliefs, and internal narratives. People may consciously want growth, confidence, financial success, or healthier relationships while subconsciously carrying fears connected to rejection, failure, abandonment, or not feeling "good enough." These hidden beliefs create internal conflict. One part of the mind pushes toward growth and opportunity, while another part quietly resists change because it associates uncertainty with emotional discomfort or danger. This is why many successful individuals repeatedly encounter the same struggles in different forms throughout their lives. The circumstances may change, but the underlying emotional patterns remain the same. Achiever syndrome often shows up through overworking, perfectionism, procrastination, burnout, imposter syndrome, or difficulty enjoying success. Some people become addicted to proving themselves. Others become trapped in comparison, constantly measuring their progress against others instead of focusing on their own growth. The pressure can become exhausting. Many high achievers operate as though rest must be earned and self-worth must be constantly validated through performance. Even after reaching significant milestones, there is often another target, another challenge, or another level of success required before they feel "enough." Over time, this mindset creates emotional fatigue and chronic stress. Stress itself is not always the problem. In many cases, it is the ongoing internal tension created by unresolved beliefs and emotional patterns. The mind and body remain in a heightened state of alert because success feels fragile and identity feels attached to outcomes. Breaking through mental barriers requires more than positive thinking. Real transformation often begins by identifying the beliefs operating beneath conscious awareness. These beliefs shape how people interpret experiences, respond to setbacks, evaluate opportunities, and perceive themselves. Without recognizing these patterns, individuals may continue repeating behaviors that no longer serve them. One of the most important shifts involves moving from self-protection to self-trust. When people operate from fear, they tend to avoid discomfort, hesitate during opportunities, or emotionally punish themselves after setbacks. This creates a cycle of tension that limits creativity, confidence, and long-term fulfillment. In contrast, individuals who develop stronger self-trust become more resilient, adaptable, and capable of navigating uncertainty without constant emotional strain. Another important factor is the quality of internal questions people ask themselves each day. Questions focused on fear, limitation, or self-criticism often reinforce negative emotional states. Questions focused on growth, possibility, and learning can gradually shift perspective and behavior. Over time, these internal patterns influence how people approach leadership, relationships, health, business decisions, and personal development. Entrepreneurs and executives frequently invest heavily in business systems, marketing strategies, and operational improvements while neglecting the internal systems driving their own behavior. Yet leadership effectiveness is deeply connected to emotional resilience, self-awareness, and mental clarity. The most sustainable growth often occurs when people strengthen both external strategy and internal alignment. Achiever syndrome does not mean someone lacks ambition or capability. In many cases, highly driven individuals developed their work ethic and determination as coping mechanisms designed to create safety, approval, or validation. While those patterns may initially fuel achievement, they can eventually become barriers to peace, fulfillment, and authentic confidence. Breaking through mental barriers requires awareness, honesty, and a willingness to examine the beliefs shaping daily behavior. Growth becomes more sustainable when success is no longer driven solely by fear, pressure, or the need to constantly prove worth. The strongest leaders are not necessarily the ones who avoid struggle. They are often the ones willing to confront the internal patterns limiting their growth, challenge outdated beliefs, and create healthier foundations for success moving forward. Watch the full episode on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/live/xjDJD5er1oE?si=nNiET_v93dJuRRyg Join Fordify LIVE every Wednesday at 11 a.m. Central on your favorite social platforms and catch The Business Growth Show Podcast every Thursday for a weekly dose of business growth wisdom. About Tim Shurr Tim Shurr is a Mind Architect, speaker, and expert in human behavior, subconscious transformation, and performance psychology. For more than three decades, Tim has helped entrepreneurs, executives, and high achievers overcome limiting beliefs, emotional barriers, and subconscious patterns that impact confidence, leadership, and long-term success. Through his coaching, speaking, and transformational programs, Tim specializes in helping individuals break free from achiever syndrome, imposter syndrome, burnout, and self-sabotaging behaviors so they can perform at higher levels both personally and professionally. He is the founder of Indy Hypnosis and creator of transformational tools designed to help leaders strengthen clarity, resilience, and emotional well-being. About Ford Saeks Ford Saeks is a Business Growth Accelerator who has generated more than a billion dollars in sales worldwide by helping companies attract loyal customers, expand brand visibility, and drive innovation. As President and CEO of Prime Concepts Group, Inc., Ford has founded more than ten companies, authored five books, earned three U.S. patents, and advised organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 brands. His expertise spans business growth strategy, customer acquisition, leadership, franchising, and AI-driven content systems that help businesses improve performance in rapidly changing markets. Learn more at ProfitRichResults.com and watch Fordify LIVE at Fordify.tv.

PRIDE TURNS MEN INTO MONSTERS Daniel 4:19-37 In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar receives another troubling dream. He sees a massive tree that provides shelter, fruit, and blessing to the world. Yet a messenger from heaven announces that the tree will be cut down, leaving only a stump behind. Daniel courageously explains the dream: the tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself. The issue is not power, success, or influence. The issue is pride. Daniel warns the king to repent, turn from his sin, and care for the oppressed. God graciously gives Nebuchadnezzar a warning before judgment comes. But pride often refuses to listen. Main Points: Pride Ignores Warnings Daniel pleads with the king to repent before consequences arrive. One of God's greatest mercies is a warning. Before destruction comes conviction. Before collapse comes correction. Before judgment comes an invitation to repent. Pride Turns Men Into Monsters Pride destroys empathy, compassion, relationships, and accountability. God does not turn Nebuchadnezzar into something he wasn't; He reveals what pride had already been doing to him. Outwardly he was a king, but inwardly pride had made him a beast. Pride Takes Credit for What God Built After twelve months of grace, Nebuchadnezzar stands on his palace roof and declares, "Look what I built." Pride shifts our focus from God's provision to our accomplishments. Faith remembers that everything we have ultimately comes from God. Humility Restores What Pride Destroys When Nebuchadnezzar finally lifts his eyes toward heaven, his sanity is restored. Before his kingdom is restored, his perspective is restored. Humility begins when we recognize who the true King is. Key Truth: Pride is fundamentally a vision problem. Pride causes us to look at ourselves. Humility causes us to look at God. Application Questions: • Are there warnings from God that I am ignoring? • Where has pride crept into my relationships, leadership, or decisions? • What am I taking credit for that God has built? • What would it look like for me to lift my eyes toward heaven and surrender control? Bottom Line: Pride makes us forget who the real King is. Humility begins when we lift our eyes toward heaven and remember that Heaven still rules.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM STEPHANIE:I want to share a special invitation with you. You may have heard that I will be releasing my first book with IVP on July 28, 2026. It's a big deal and I am so overwhelmed with God' goodness in allowing me to share such an essential message about delighting in Him as the true essential foundation for all our spiritual growth and maturing. Truly, when we delight in the Lord, He promises to give us the desires of our hearts – namely, more of Himself!So, here's the invitation. If you feel this message is indeed important, and you know people – including yourself perhaps – who need to be encouraged to awaken and cultivate their delight in God, would you consider joining my book launch team? It's a great and super easy way to share the good news of God's love for us in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.**If you're interested, please go to gospelspice.com/awakendelight and find the section about joining the launch team, or email me at contact@gospelspice.com **Together, let's encourage everyone we know with the wonderful news that, in Christ, God delights in us and invites us to delight in Him!In this brand-new series centered around Stephanie's new book, we explore several ways that we lose and can recover our delight in God, rooted in His delight of us. Today, in this first episode in our series, Stephanie explores spiritual fatigue in faithful believers and guides us toward God's invitation to restoration, not just endurance.What if you've lost your delight in God? Or you've never really experienced it in the first place? What if a season of suffering has snuffed out your joy, leaving you spiritually discouraged and emotionally numb? Delighting in God changes everything: how you experience your faith, relationships, and circumstances―and even how you see yourself. You can experience Psalm 37:4 as your daily reality: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."If you're spiritually weary, your fatigue does not prove you're far from God. You're invited to rest in the truth that delight begins by receiving God's delight over you. Come honestly, bring your tired self, and let God awaken delight in your soul again. Your greatest need is not more pressure, but more permission to rest and be restored as His beloved.Many mature Christians find themselves exhausted, faithfully serving God while inwardly feeling emotionally distant. Obedience becomes duty, prayer is reduced to quick requests or guilty silence, and Scripture feels like data instead of bread. Outwardly, they are strong—teaching, leading, serving—yet inside, numbness, irritability, and spiritual dehydration prevail.Our FREE gift to you today! An exclusive 30-day FREE recovery plan to rekindle your delight in God when you are feeling weary and exhausted in your faith: go to https://www.gospelspice.com/awakendelightthepodcast and find the form for Episode 446. Give us your email, and you will receive the full plan in your inbox immediately!Key Symptoms | When Weariness Overtakes Christians—Rediscovering Delight as God's BelovedDuty without delight;Spiritual dryness, despite regular disciplines;Resentment towards expectations and responsibilities;Prayers and scripture reading that feel obligatory, not life-giving.Spiritual depletion rarely stems from bad theology or outright rebellion. Instead, it often results from:Years of faithful overextension;Ignored grief or disappointment;Trying to do more and more to compensate for the sense of lost delight;Living off “old oil”—past experiences with God, not present intimacy;Feeling that delight and intimacy with God are for someone else, perhaps just for earlier seasons.Weariness emerges when we serve God from muscle memory, not fresh encounter, or confuse emotional invulnerability with spiritual maturity.The temptation is to force spiritual disciplines, tightening up routines, and demanding more from ourselves. But a weary Christian doesn't lack discipline. Oftentimes, we lack receptivity. More striving usually deepens the exhaustion and guilt, rather than reviving joy.Instead of seeking restoration, weary believers mistakenly try to manufacture delight by moral strain or performance, but delight is not manufactured by moral strain.The path back is not correction but replenishment. Stephanie urges us to “come nearer, slower, truer,” rather than to “try harder”. Restoration means:Honest lament and silence before God;Allowing ourselves to be ministered to;Sabbath, rest, and simplicity in spiritual practice;Confessing not just sin, but exhaustion, disappointment, and overextension;Even our ache for God is proof that love is alive in us, not that faith has died. Jesus doesn't just forgive; He invites the weary to come to Him for rest.Ultimately, our delight in God is rooted in His delight in us. Before time began, God chose to love and delight in His people, even at great cost to Himself through the cross. Our identity is found not in our ministry, productivity, or others' approval, but in God's unwavering, delighted gaze."Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 isn't a poetic suggestion — it's a promise. But many believers quietly assume it doesn't really work, or it's not really possible here on earth.In Awaken Delight, Stephanie Rousselle invites you to rediscover what Scripture actually means by delight — not emotional hype, not religious performance, but a steady satisfaction rooted in who God is.Delight in God isn't a mood to manufacture; it's a relationship to receive.Through biblical theology and practical rhythms, you'll learn how communion with God reshapes suffering, quiets restless striving, and anchors your identity in something unshakable.Delighting in God isn't sentimental optimism. It's deeply rooted in Christ, Jesus.It's the quiet revolution that reshapes how we endure pain, love others, and understand our own heart.Awaken Delight is a theologically grounded spiritual formation book for thoughtful believers who feel spiritually fatigued and are ready to embrace the reality of Psalm 37:4.More at https://www.gospelspice.com/awakendelight Purchase the book, "Awaken Delight" by Stephanie Rousselle: https://a.co/d/0bqhUb5JKind words from Jennifer Rothschild, Bible teacher, Author, Speaker, Podcast Host, Founder, Fresh Grounded Faith:“Stephanie helps us awaken to and experience true delight. It is a rich mix of God's delight in you and your delight in him. This is the life you were made for, the life your soul deeply longs for. So, the table is set. Pull up a chair and let your heart sit alongside Stephanie. As your delight in God wakes up and becomes fully realized, you'll find a satisfaction in Christ that makes you want more and more.”Kind words from Amanda Jenkins, Lead creator of THE CHOSEN's literary content"I have yet to meet another person quite as eager to intimately know Jesus as Stephanie is. Her enthusiasm for the beauty found inside a thriving relationship with her Savior is downright contagious. Indeed, Stephanie's joy and faith and commitment to growth—along with her love for really good food!—will implant themselves in the hearts of readers. Lucky readers."Kind words from Os Guinness, Theologian, Social critic, Author, The Call "Stephanie addresses one of the greatest needs of Christians today. Knowing God is not knowing about God, but knowing Him genuinely and with desire and delight. She does so practically and helpfully, and in a style that sparkles with a verve and joy that is distinctively French."Kind words from Pippa Gumbel, Pioneer, The Alpha Course; Author, The Bible in one year with husband Nicky"Stephanie's love of God is inspiring and infectious. Her book is an invitation to share in that delight and to come to know God in new and wonderful ways." More at https://www.gospelspice.com/awakendelight Purchase the book, "Awaken Delight" by Stephanie Rousselle: https://a.co/d/0bqhUb5JSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

U.S. Freedom and Liberty Lost (1) (audio) David Eells, 5/31/26  I'm going to share some warning revelations about America losing its freedom to the beast. I believe some of these things are coming to pass now and some are happening very soon.   The Light Is True Liberty Cheri Watson - 06/24/2005 (David's notes in red) In a dream, I saw the Statue of Liberty with a great light behind it. Then I saw the right arm, holding the light, broken and brought down; then the statue crumbled and fell. Then I saw a figure that had been behind the statue. The figure was shaded because the light all around it was so bright that you couldn't make out any details... and the figure said, “I wore the crown of thorns and I AM the light. I tell you, America will be brought low, and I shall be raised up!“ (Considering all of the antichrist leaders of the U.S. who came after, Christians should rethink whether they should pledge allegiance to this Babylonish nation. Our allegiance is to Jesus who tells us to obey its laws.) Shortly after receiving this vision, I saw on the news where Condoleezza Rice (Secretary of State under George W. Bush) had invited Egypt and Saudi Arabia to be equal partners in Israel's peace agreement with the Palestinians, along with the EU, UN, and Russia, and I knew that the Lord must be really upset with America for taking such a strong stance against Israel...God, have mercy! (U.S., UN, and E.U. were increasingly ruled by the D.S. satanists. This is just one step on a long road of turning from the Lord against our own Liberty and Light.) (The Statue of Liberty holds the light, and it has what appears to be a crown of thorns on its head. But in truth it is not so. Many natural and manmade catastrophes will dissolve much false thinking about whose side America is on and Who is true Liberty. Death, burial, and resurrection will reveal the true Jesus hidden behind America. I believe it will start while America, as a harlot, is attempting to gratify herself at great cost to others. She is attempting to divide Israel for her own advantage. In the natural, God said, “I will curse those who curse thee“. In the spiritual, this is true for God's true New Testament, born-again people who are being increasingly crucified in America.) Statue of Liberty Falls to Its Knees Anonymous - 03/17/2012 (David's notes in red) I was awakened at 4:13 am and started praying in the Spirit earnestly and then the Spirit spoke to me, “It has begun“. Then I had a vision of a giant Statue of Liberty tripping over Washington, D.C. (Father will begin to judge the nation. Our freedom will be taken away by the nation stumbling over its foolish leadership.) Its knees hit the ground around the Mississippi River and the ground shook mightily. (The shaking of the New Madrid? Recently the Mississippi dried up and shipping and drinking water to a great extent ceased.) Then it proceeded to place its hands on the ground and bow down, facing west toward China. It looked defeated and tired. (China and its goods and political power have increased greatly in the U.S..) Here is another dream that fits with the U.S. bowing to China: Shelly Lynch (David's notes in red) I dreamed on 9/07/10, I heard an announcement which said, “America has been sold to the People's Republic of China“. “When?“ I asked. “25“, came the answer. I do not know what the dream means, except that there is a coming economic collapse of America, which is even now being sold to China. (As of 2010 USDA data, Chinese entities own approximately 384,000 acres, representing less than 1%of all foreign-held agricultural land in the United States. But now in 2026, if we Google, How much land and agriculture does China own in the US? We get: “This image cannot be generated.“ What are they hiding? Could it be a sign of fear that some states forbid China to own land in their state?) The other dream I had about 25 was on December 31, 2011, at 8:00 a.m. It was similar to the apples being picked in the spring dream. Then, right after that, there was the dream about the large gathering which was to be held on the 25th, where we were feeding pasta to unbelievers who were hungry. This is the verse given: {Isa.45:20} Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. {49:10} They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them. {11} And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. {12} Lo, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim [China]. (How close these verses are to the Statue of Liberty dream verses below. Could this be the wilderness gathering after the quakes and Man-child anointing?) I asked the Father for a scripture to send along with this vision, and my finger was on: {Psa.132:15} I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. This is encouraging to me that even though bad things are coming upon this country, the Father will still provide for us and protect us, even in the midst of it all. Here it is in text: {13} For Jehovah hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for his habitation. {14} This is my resting-place for ever: Here will I dwell; for I have desired it. {15} I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. {16} Her priests also will I clothe with salvation; And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. {17} There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. {18} His enemies will I clothe with shame; But upon himself shall his crown flourish. (The Man-child ministry will soon be anointed to lead the true Zion Bride and Church.) The Spirit told me to look up the word knees in the Strong's in relation to the Statue of Liberty, and the ones that stood out to me are shown in the following text: {Deu.28:33} The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway; {34} so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. {35} Jehovah will smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head. {36} Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. (Could this nation which we have not really known turn against us and plunder us? Jesus said, “Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name sake.“) {Eze.7:15} The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword: and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. {16} But those of them that escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys (The doves or truly Spirit filled shall escape the valley low places to the mountains of high places of God.), all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity. {17} All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. {18} They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. {19} They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity. (Truly, money has been God.) {Eze.21:4} Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north (Great earthquakes breaks loose?): {5} and all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath; it shall not return any more. {6} Sigh therefore, thou son of man; with the breaking of thy loins and with bitterness shalt thou sigh before their eyes. {7} And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah. Statue of Liberty's Nakedness Exposed B.A. - 10/24/2012 (David's notes in red) I saw myself standing on Liberty Island, NY, where the Statue of Liberty is located. I watched as the arm of the Lord Jesus came down out of Heaven and took the crown from off her head and cast it into the sea. (Job.19:9) He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He then stripped her of her garment, exposing her nakedness (her unrighteous acts). Then I saw the arm of the Lord force the Statue's arm holding the torch down into the water and holding it there until the light went out. I watched as the Statue became bright red. (The leftists have become full blown communists and are trying everything, including by force of arms and plagues, to turn us into a red communist nation. Lev.14:37) and he shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish (A nickname for the Statue of Liberty is “The Green Lady“) or reddish (Esau was red, or the color of the earth; beasts of the field with the colors or attributes of Satan), and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall; (38) then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. (Tribulation?) She fell to her knees as her shame was exposed for the whole world to see. (Ecc.12:14) For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Left Wing Brings Death of Liberty Cheri Watson's Vision - 02/07/2006 (David's notes in red) I saw the Statue of Liberty as a huge knife whacked it in half. When the knife sliced through it from right to left, it looked like it just kind of jumped up for a second and then fell back onto the bottom half, slightly off-center. Then, in slow motion, the statue began to slide towards its left and it just plopped into the water. (Leftists are doing all they can to overthrow Christianity for Communism.) In Michael Boldea's dream of The Eagle and the Serpents, the second strike on the Eagle by a red and black diagonal-striped serpent heavily damaged its right wing. Since the first 9/11 brought about the destruction of the left wing, as in his dream, this could symbolize the destruction of the right wing of government through the next 9/11. If so, this would make the government fall hard to the left. This symbolizes the death of liberty, or freedom, in the waters of tribulation. Liberty and Leadership Lost, Take Refuge Gordon Borneman - 02/25/2009 (David's notes in red) Everyone must seek the Lord as they have not done so before, to understand their part in the plan and hold up their families for protection and mercy from the Lord. I listened to the broadcast from Trunews for February 23rd, which I've summarized below. The conjunction of the three guests' visions forms a composite picture of what I was seeing below. To recap: Dr. Igor Shafhid - first speaker - His vision is of the Statue of Liberty lying on the ground. Jesus is holding the wrist of one arm, feeling the pulse, while Satan is holding the other wrist, feeling the pulse. The entire Statue is in a dark shadow, except for the shoulder and arm that Jesus is holding. Then Jesus lets go of the arm, and the arm turns dark as well, signifying Jesus giving the country over to darkness. Nathan Leal had a vision on February 2, 2009, of the Statue of Liberty Decapitated! Last night, as I was seeking God, for a moment in the spirit, He allowed me to taste what is coming to our land. The only thing that I can describe is severe anguish and heartache. As I continued in prayer and waiting on Him for answers, He revealed to me that sorrow and distress are about to arrive here in America. When I asked Him for details, all that He would tell me was that His remnant needs to prepare to minister to one another and to comfort one another. The distress that is coming is going to test all of us in ways that we never imagined. As I went to sleep, I had a night vision. I found myself standing in a large field, and suddenly the Statue of Liberty appeared in front of me. She was on a small hill, maybe 50 to 75 feet high. She was not on Ellis Island. (He later said he thought this was on Capitol Hill.) She was about 500 feet away from me. I was just starting to look at her when suddenly her head fell off. It fell to the ground in front of her and started bouncing down the hill toward me. It stopped at my feet. The dream was over. I woke up and pondered it. I asked myself what this could mean. I wondered, does this mean America will be decapitated? I fell back asleep, and several hours later, I had the same dream again. Everything was repeating itself, but this time I saw a giant hand coming out of the clouds with a large sword. The sword was almost as tall as the statue. It was the hand of God, and this time, the hand with the sword chopped off the head of Lady Liberty! Again, the head bounced down the hill and stopped at my feet. Then I heard the words, “Liberty will be decapitated!“ The second dream was over. Augusto Perez comes on and explains three things the Lord showed him. Word: “They have planned a super-devaluation of the dollar“. (done) Vision: One of multiple Muslim terrorist training camps. They are training for a highly coordinated operation. The leaders are handing the teams two tubes or vials. One has a blue liquid, the other a gray liquid. They explain that they mix the two tubes together for the desired result. The date for the event was given as March 7th, but no year was given. The attacks will occur simultaneously in several American cities. (This bio attack has been prophesied or dreamed several times.) He also saw tens of thousands of white swans taking flight from all over the U.S. to go to the Caribbean Islands. When they did, rats flooded into the areas they left searching for them. (I believe the Caribbean Islands, which are popular paradise vacation spots, represent refuges in the midst of the sea of lost humanity for those in white. In Armenia, the Christians were warned just before the Muslims came over the mountains to slay, to flee to the U.S.. Will the Christians here be warned before it happens here as it has been dreamed?) The Buzzards and the Wrecking Ball Dream Deborah Rennier - 02/28/2009 (David's notes in red) I found myself standing on the sidewalk in front of the White House. Somehow, from this vantage, I could also see that the White House was flanked on either side by the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. I saw the Stars and Stripes flying high up on all the buildings. As I watched, I saw a vast flock of very large birds approaching. At first, I thought they were eagles. However, I soon realized that they were buzzards. As I observed they began to attack and shred the flags. When they were done, the flags atop all three buildings were in unrecognizable tatters. (Freedom gone through those who prey on the dead.) Suddenly, out of nowhere, there appeared a huge wrecking ball. It began to strike and destroy the Washington Monument. Down came the Monument in a heap with bricks and dust flying everywhere. (An obelisk is an insult against God like many religious spires atop churches.) The ball then went to the Capitol building. As it commenced its destruction, I watched people screaming and running around. Then a loud voice spoke, “I do not hear your cries. You do not listen to MY voice“. Then the Capitol Building fell into ruins. Many were crushed as it fell. (This also has been prophesied with the decapitation of the government.) Then the wrecking machine turned to the White House. I again heard people screaming, “Let us escape first!“ It was like whoever was running the machine was not listening as it started its demolition of the White House. Soon, the White House was also a pile of rubble. Then it was over, and I awoke. Michael Boldea, Jr.: I was in a prayer meeting this past Wednesday here in Wisconsin, and as I was praying, I saw the words “a nation in mourning“ written in fire. Last night I saw the same words in the same manner in a dream. As yet, I do not know what or when, but I felt I needed to share it. We are living in truly perilous times, and as such must be more certain of our foundation now than ever before. The huge earthquakes coming.) America's Christians Lose Their Freedom Amos Scaggs - 11/16/2010 (David's notes in red) In a vision, I saw the British soldiers wearing tricorne hats and drab, abstract, black uniforms in an endless line coming against a militia of ordinary citizens, as we had during the Revolutionary War. (London is a seat of the Deep State and they are making revolutionary war on us.) The militia was in whitish trousers and tan shirts of that period. The table was light-colored with dark legs. They had several hard-fought battles. But in the face of an incoming force they could not defeat because of the sheer numbers, they pulled the plans off the table and rolled them up like a scroll to retreat with only the few in number they had left. Those last few escaped without harm as the bullets were flying all around them. (Some in the government are speaking of a golden age because of NESARA but after Revelation 12 and the Man-child anointing comes the mark of the beast in Rev. 13.) I thought, in the first Revolutionary War, we won our freedom from tyrants, but in this last struggle, we lose it to them. (Because of rebellion against God.) It appears from this that the battle for America's independence (freedom) will be lost. There will be some hard battles and hard fighting, but in the end, the militias will have to retreat. They will be simply outgunned and outnumbered. (Because of repentance. This is just as George Washingtons vision of the third great peril.) We know that Many Christians will fight to gain their freedom from an America taken over by banksters and corporate fascism but they will fail because they are disobedient to the commands of God in this regard. In the time of the tribulations in history, when God sent the Man-child to lead the people to freedom, they had become subjugate to the beast kingdoms that swallowed them up for their sins. America is being possessed by the beast nature from the pit for this purpose. In the time of Moses and that tribulation, the people of God had become slaves in Egypt. Only in Goshen was there light in the houses and deliverance from the plagues. In the time of Joseph and that tribulation, the people were at the mercy of the state, begging for food, losing their property. In the time of Daniel, the people were conquered in tribulation and under the authority of ruthless dictators who took their lives at will. In the time of Mordecai, the people in tribulation were under the sentence of death by the beast and fighting for their lives. In the time of Jesus, the people were under the iron fist of the Roman beast tribulation, with no representation or rights of their own. Jesus told them to flee to the mountains -- above the world and its influence. History always repeats (Ecclesiastes 1:9; 3:15). In this time of the end-time Man-child, in whom Jesus lives, a combination of all of the above will happen in tribulation. Christians have been just as rebellious as their predecessors and are in just as much need of crucifixion of self -- in just as much need of new leadership and old truths. Instead, they have insulated themselves only in their minds with lies of dominion, prosperity, once saved always saved, all fly away rapture, etc. America Is Being Conquered By Communism G. C. - 06/14/2009 (David's notes in red) In a dream, I recall being somewhere in the western region of the U.S. I was in the home of a man who was loading up guns and stocking up on ammo. He was worried about protecting his home and property. Something was about to happen, though I am not sure what, but even the most undiscerning person could feel it in the air; we were on the verge of great lawlessness. The man, I thought, was taking the wrong approach in his preparation, and he ridiculed me for not taking up arms. (Militant patriots are preparing to “take the country back“ from the liberal communists who are destroying the Constitution and laws from within.) After this scene, I was in the eastern part of the nation. I quickly realized that I was in Washington, D.C. I was standing and looking at the White House. I saw that it was set in a peculiar position, which was with the back of the building facing a body of water. (The head of Babylon that is sitting on many waters?) I saw the Americans doing something in the water and, as I continued watching, many submerged vessels appeared on the surface of the water. These vessels were not American; they were Russian and they quickly moved ashore. This is where I saw many soldiers run up the shore and proceed to enter the back of the White House. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of these men overtaking the building. (Yes, the waters behind the White House represent the peoples ruled by it. Out of these waters have arisen the leftists who have taken the White House before many times and are very angry they have lost it now. This revelation was when Obama took office. These are ruled by the same principalities that ruled the Russian revolution of communists. It is a spiritual war. The right wing went down in flames -- losing the propaganda war before the coming physical war. A few years ago, we received a dream that the Statue of Liberty was shot at with missiles from a Russian sub and was cut in half, as the country is now. (The Bolshevik revolution was accomplished by very few people.) The top half, containing the head or government, then fell to the LEFT and into the water. At that time, I said this represented the coming of a left-wing government. This has only begun. Even though public sentiment is swinging back toward the right, there will come a stunning reversal of this trend, as God permits, that will bring great persecution to Christians and the mark. The something that was about to happen in the first paragraph above could be the scenario below.) The White House was quickly overrun and taken over by this force. The next thing I recall is that I was underground, beneath the White House itself. What I found was breathtaking; there was an extensive tunnel system underneath the structure. (We have learned that these tunnels were used by the DS to move trafficked children and other satanic evils.) I saw a few Americans resisting but, ultimately, being overcome by multitudes of Russians. (representing like the Bolshevik revolution) The invading force used the weapons systems that were stored down there against the Americans and quickly overcame them. (The underground, liberal, communist left is now taking over America by using its own political weapons against it. One of the weapons the right used to partially turn the country right was a false flag attack [9/11]; now it appears from this and other revelations, like below, that the left will use this method to turn the government left. See The Eagle and the Serpents and Civil War Is Coming.) This whole scene reminded me of a colony of enemy ants invading another colony and overtaking it. After seeing all that I had seen, my heart sank. I said within myself, “The whole country must be under attack! America has fallen!“ (Could this be Babylon spiritually falling near the beginning of the tribulation?) (Yes) But then a word from the Lord was given to me: “The goal of this operation is to weaken the country first; then, once weakened, America will be susceptible to a wave of Muslim terrorist attacks that will come later“. (Speaking of Babylon physically falling in the years to follow.) Just as quick as before, I was ushered off into the heavens. As I looked down, I saw what seemed to be military installations. I saw missile silos somewhere in the country; then I found myself looking down at the Pentagon. I realized that everything I was looking at was still in the hands of the Americans. I had thought the whole country was taken over, but the military infrastructure was uncompromised. (This made me think, even more, that the White House invasion is spiritual.) (Yes, this is an ideological attack by the Reds, a symbol of communists but also one of sinners, as in Isa.1:18.) My body was quickly translated from the heavens to the Pentagon below. I found myself in the presence of a very high-ranking general. I quickly alerted him that there was a Russian siege on the White House: everything was lost, and it was a total takeover. I was taken aback by his response. Although he did confirm to me that he and the other generals were well aware of the invasion, they were confident that the invasion would be contained to only the White House. It seemed to me they had taken steps to ensure that the invasion would not spread, but I was not as confident as him. (I saw the Pentagon and missile silos, and they were not breached, and the general took confidence in that, but look at it like this, friends: The Pentagon represents the muscles of the nation, the arm of flesh. No matter how strong a man is, if he loses his head, then his muscles are good for nothing; they cannot save him.) (Although it is true the U.S. Military is still full of right-wing people and not nearly as leftist/communist as the government, this may also be speaking of something spiritual. The other militant group that, from within, invaded the White House stand opposed to the right-wing militants who now have no access to the White House but falsely think they can still keep the country from being completely ideologically taken over.) If the communist-Russian invasion in the White House was not altogether physical, rather spiritual, then those without spiritual eyes cannot see the truth, or they underestimate the growing danger, due to their blindness. (Pro.22:3) A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on, and suffer for it. It could be that the invading Russians represent communist ideology. The generals may realize that the White House has become socialist, but they remain confident that the military might of the nation will be able to detour any takeover. I was in deep thought about the dream for hours after I had it, and then I asked the Lord what it meant. But all I was getting was the word “infiltration“. This word came to me many times over the course of the day. This is the excerpt from a JFK speech about the NWO, which he warned was a growing threat 60 years ago:   For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence -- on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.   (Before the physical invasion comes the spiritual one will come, according to Revelation 18. Before the physical fall of any nation comes the spiritual fall.) An angel to Dumitru Duduman said, “The Russian spies have discovered where the most powerful nuclear missiles are in America. It will start with the world calling for 'peace, peace'. Then there will be an internal revolution in America, started by the Communists. (The liberal one-worlders.) Some of the people will start fighting against the government. The government will be busy with internal problems. Then, from the oceans, Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Central America, Mexico, and two other countries (which I cannot remember) will attack! The Russians will bombard the nuclear missile silos in America. America will burn“. The Bears Attack Lisette Renaud - 08/16/2009 (David's notes in red) I dreamed I was outside by myself, resting somewhere in a park setting. (I can't say where I was exactly, but I was close enough to my house that I could run to it. I live in Alberta, Canada.) (Those who are resting in the safety of the Lord.) It was a beautiful, cool and fresh day, like a fall day, when I heard people screaming that bears were coming. Something terrible had just happened suddenly (another 9/11 from the left). (Bears could represent Russia as communism, socialism, or an attack on our freedoms as we know them. It could represent a greater economic collapse -- bear representing the bear market. It could also represent a sudden physical attack, like a nuclear bomb or something. Whatever it was, I sensed that it was something very big that had JUST HAPPENED and was affecting everyone.) (I believe the bear attacks represent all of the above calamities, another 9/11 coming upon the U.S. and Canada, because they are turning to the beast principality that ruled Russia/USSR under Communism, instead of God. Most Russians agree that this brought failure to their country's economy, totalitarianism, loss of freedom and many lives. This appears to be a confirmation of G. C.'s dream above.) People were panicking and were so afraid that they were running everywhere, not knowing where to turn. (The terrible calamities Jesus said would come are now here and will continue to increase. Those who called us crazy and said we were all a bunch of “conspiracy nuts and bible-thumping fanatics“ will be running like scared cats with no place of refuge, no hope. The world will be in shock at what is happening.) I did not run. I was confronted with a bear, but believed he could not hurt me because I was under God's protection. All the time he was in front of me, trying to attack me, I kept thanking God for His protection. (The true remnant of Christ will be at peace when this big calamity strikes, knowing that He has everything under control. The remnant will be resting in God, trusting Him, trusting in His Word. Those who are expecting the Man-child, who know they will be here for the tribulation period, yet protected under His wings, those who believe His Word and stand on His Word will be at peace, even though the world around them is turned upside down. They will not fear. They will experience Psalm 91.) When I took a good look at him, he looked like a big teddy bear. Then he finally left. (We have the authority of Christ. He has been preparing His remnant to be overcomers, to stand on His Word, and soon we will be put to the test.) Once he was gone, I ran home to check up on my husband. When I got into the house, I saw my husband sitting down on a chair, talking on the phone. His face was bleeding. He was covered in blood. He looked so distraught. (Concerned for their loved ones, the remnant will go to them and will see that because of these terrible calamities, many believers who had become cold toward God will now be calling on Him for help. The people we have been praying for (family, friends, neighbors) will finally get a sudden realization that they must get in touch with God quickly and get right with Him, if they want His protection.) Somehow, I knew he had not been attacked by a bear, but by thugs. (I realized that two things were going on: regular attacks by “thugs“ [People attacking our freedoms?] which seemed to have been going on for some time, by the comment that I heard later on in the dream, and now this new terrible thing that had just happened.) I then went downstairs, where some members of my husband's family were. I believe I saw his father, who had been deceased for some time. He was also covered in blood. Then I heard someone say, “How much more of this can we take?“ (Those who have some knowledge of God but do not have a relationship with Christ, those who are spiritually dead, will become discouraged, for there will be no hope, no escape, no refuge, only turmoil for them, unless they turn to God.) Then I woke up. Russians Behind Civil War in U.S.  Cheri Watson - 02/03/2008 (David's notes in red) I had a dream this morning at about 6:00 am. I saw the Statue of Liberty; one side of the statue was black and the other side was white. (In the dream, I said that the left side was black and the right side was white.) I knew what the Lord was showing me was division and the civil war coming to America. Anyway, in front of the Statue, there was a tank in the shadows with the cannon facing the Statue. I knew the tank in the shadows to be Russia running the show behind the scenes and provoking the Middle East to do its bidding. (Again this might be spiritual as the rest.) I also believe it has to do with the Christians -- so far as the coming revival and falling away. I also felt that all of these things would do MUCH destruction to our country and that Russia is waiting in the wings/shadows till it's time to make their move. I have no doubt the Russians are fueling fires even now. The Statue of Liberty represents America and its liberties. This division of black and white is somewhat racial, like in the Civil War. Also, it is that the left are the Communists and Democrats, and the right are Republicans and Christians. Cheri started thinking the Left were the guys in black (bad guys), but ended up seeing that the Right was also guilty. This is covertly started by the Bolshevik left in our country to weaken America, so they could militarily conquer her. Cultivating division in order to conquer is something both sides have been good at. I love it when The Lord does this... later in the morning, and every Sunday morning, several of us gather to listen to one of your teachings. This morning's teaching just happened to be Hidden Manna's - “U.S. Covenant, Civil War“!!! God is good! Anyway, David, I felt that this was confirmation for you for some reason and felt I was to share it with you today. Conspiracy Against Christianity  Brent Gearhart -10/23/2009 (David's notes in red) I dreamed on day four of a fast that I saw a man running naked with just a robe on barely covering him. (The false Christian leadership has not “put on the Lord Jesus“. They name “Christ“ as Savior, but they are not living in salvation. Their works do not cover them. They will be cast into great tribulation, as Jezebel --Revelation 2:20-23.) Then I saw a woman running behind him wearing a black, scanty outfit, as they were running to make an appointment somewhere. (The typical church pastor followed by the people. The woman is the harlot church in darkness, following its apostate leadership. Babylon's nakedness will be made known to all the world, as the Word says.) Then, I saw the same man and woman dressed up in formal attire, but now they wore disguises to appear older and distinguished. (Outwardly, they seem respectable in formal, black and white attire, but they profess the “light“ while walking in spiritual darkness. They are white-washed sepulchers full of dead men's bones.) They were trying to enter a formal party of some sort, but for some reason, the invitation they had was fake. (The formal “party“ is the Marriage Feast, where they have disguised themselves as “Christians“. Those who do not have the real wedding garment.) {Mat.22:8} Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.) When they approached the person who collected the invitations, the man started saying something to distract the ticket collector so they wouldn't pay attention to their fake invitation. It worked; they were granted admittance to the party. (Christian pretenders talk the talk so they can gain respect and acceptance. They have experienced only the fake calling, meaning invitation -- accept Jesus as your personal savior-type “invitations“, instead of the command to repent and believe. But this lukewarm Christianity is not dressing up for the seven-day Tribulation Wedding Feast. {Mat.22:11} But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: {12} and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. {13} Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.) (Note: It seems this is turning into the right-wing digging for dirt on the left-wing White House. This lukewarm spirit in Christianity above has bred many who seek change by political warfare instead of spiritual warfare.) When inside, I remember watching them split up right away, and it seemed like the man was looking for some information -- some files, perhaps, or some film from a camera. (They have no interest in the Feast but are conspiracy-chasers of the left-wing, like many apostates.) I remember seeing a little key like for a padlock or handcuffs. (Instead of seeking the key to freedom, they find only captivity.) I then saw them in the basement and I saw the man get caught and was about to be killed, perhaps by the owner of the house. (Possibly a plot that will bring this captivity is being hatched by the elites through the DS to bring disrepute to Christianity. Many spies have crept into the Trump administration and are being caught.) As they were down in the basement, the owner of the house took back what the first man had stolen and then planted a bomb in the utility room. (The Obama/Biden has lost much to the politically-minded, conservative Christians, but the blame put on them for the judgment of America will take back the ground lost. An apparent attack on the left-wing may actually be an attack on the right-wing.) Then he tried to blame it on the first man who got caught. (Called a “false flag“ operation. The owner sets off the thing and blames the Christians.) Right after the bomb went off, security came in. (Martial law) I saw my friend, Terry, from the UPC (he knows martial arts) and he was taking the man down who was being blamed for this false terrorist attack. (Possibly, Terry represents Christians under martial law, betraying other Christians, bringing great persecution to the church.) I remember seeing Terry take this man down with an armlock of some sort, actually; he had one arm spread out and he had the other arm locked in with his legs and it appeared the man who got caught looked like he was in a crucifixion position. (The apostates have always been used by Satan and the beast system to crucify true Christianity.) The man who got caught was looking at me to help him. I said, “Hey, I am staying out of it,“ and I remember picking up some of the pieces of the room that were torn apart. (The true Christians will have nothing to do with patriotic, political, militant Christianity, but will do what they can to repair the damage to the reputation of true Christianity. An attack will come and the blame will be put on “Christians“ who will be “crucified“ by the Law and false-professing Christians.) End of dream. Then a vision and prophecy began Then I lay back down, and I saw myself in a field, harvesting the crop. I felt impressed to go get my notebook and pen and write down what I saw or heard, as I am reaping the crop. I see a man come and talk me into stopping the harvesting and taking a break. I see myself taking a break and eating, drinking, and dancing with others. I then saw the laborers taken up by the Son of man as He came on the clouds for them. I saw the others get put into a winepress and squeezed. I heard, “This is the Day of the Lord, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord“. (This is a day which is a year – Isa 34:8. This year comes after the 7 year tribulation of the saints to judge the wicked who persecuted and killed the saints. See Hidden Manna for the End Times. https://www.ubm1.org/?page=Hidden_Manna_for_the_End_Times-2 I was asked which group I wanted to be in, and I said, “The laborers“. He said, “Then you must die to self without complaining like you were today. There will be many days you will work more than 12 hours and have little time for your family. These days are coming soon“. Thus saith the Lord, You are being called into the harvest field. Your Nintendo Wii is not important; you must bear fruit 30-,60-,100-fold. No murmurers or complainers will make it through the wilderness. Stay out of those negative conversations; spirits are transferred there. Be wise, vigilant; the devil wants to sift you as he did Peter. (During this time, I heard the song, "How He Loves Us" by David Crowder, and then the song switched to "Lose This Life" by Tait.) You must lose your life to self, stick with the unleavened bread; don't let the devil separate you from them. Be patient and kind with your wife; she has gifts that the body will need and use. Be wise in all things. I love you. Try hard to join the marriage feast; join, Brent. Join". Then it ended. Vision to Evangelist A.A. Allen in the 1950s (See The Real Truth About Evangelist A.A. Allen below) As I stood atop the Empire State Building, I could see the Statue of Liberty, illuminating the gateway to the new world. Here, spread before me like an animated map, is an area 60 or 80 miles in diameter. I was amazed that the Spirit of the Lord should so move me, there atop the Empire State building. Why should I feel such a surge of His Spirit and power there? Suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord. It was as clear and as distinct as a voice could be. It seemed to come from the very midst of the giant telescope; but when I looked at the telescope, I knew it hadn't come from there, but directly from Heaven. The voice said, 2 CHRONICLES 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou has done foolishly; therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have wars". Immediately when I heard the voice of God, I knew this was a quotation of scripture, but never before had a thing come to me so forcibly by the power of the Spirit. The ticking of the telescope stopped. The man before me had used up his dime's worth. As he stepped away, I knew that I was next. As I stepped to the telescope and dropped in my dime, immediately the ticking started again. This ticking was an automatic clock which would allow me to use the telescope for a limited time only. As I swung the telescope to the north, suddenly the Spirit of God came upon me in a way that I had never thought of before. Seemingly, in the Spirit I was entirely caught away. I knew that the telescope itself had nothing to do with the distance which I was suddenly enabled to see, for I seemed to see things far beyond the range of the telescope, even on a bright, clear day. It was simply that God had chosen this time to reveal these things to me, for as I looked through the telescope, it was not Manhattan Island that I saw, but a far larger view. That morning, much of the view was impaired by fog; but suddenly as the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, the fog seemed to clear until it seemed that I could see for thousands of miles, but that which I was looking upon was not Manhattan Island. It was all of the North American continent spread out before me as a map is spread upon a table. It was not the East River and the Hudson River that I saw on either side, but the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans; and instead of the Statue of Liberty standing there in the bay on her small island, I saw her standing far out in the Gulf of Mexico. She was between me and the United States. I suddenly realized that the telescope had nothing to do with what I was seeing but that it was a vision coming directly from God; and to prove this to myself, I took my eyes away from the telescope so that I was no longer looking through the lens, but the same scene remained before me. There, clear and distinct, lay all the North American continent with all its great cities. To the north lay the Great Lakes. Far to the northeast was New York City. I could see Seattle and Portland far to the northwest. Down the west coast there were San Francisco and Los Angeles. Closer in the foreground lay New Orleans at the center of the Gulf Coast area. I could see the great towering ranges of the Rocky Mountains and trace with my eye the Continental Divide. All this and more I could see spread out before me as a great map upon a table. As I looked, suddenly from the sky I saw a giant hand reach down. That gigantic hand was reaching out toward the Statue of Liberty. In a moment her gleaming torch was torn from her hand, and in it instead was placed a cup; and I saw protruding from that great cup a giant sword, shining as if a great light had been turned upon its glistening edge. Never before had I seen such a sharp, glistening, dangerous sword. It seemed to threaten all the world. As the great cup was placed in the hand of the Statue of Liberty, I heard these words, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, drink ye and be drunken and spue and fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send". As I heard these words, I recognized them as a quotation from Jeremiah 25:27. I was amazed to hear the Statue of Liberty speak out in reply, "I WILL NOT DRINK!" Then as the voice of the thunder, I heard again the voice of the Lord saying, "Ye shall certainly drink". (Jeremiah 25:28) Then suddenly the giant hand forced the cup to the lips of the Statue of Liberty, and she became powerless to defend herself. The mighty hand of God forced her to drink every drop from the cup. As she drank the bitter dregs, these were the words that I heard: "Should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts". (Jeremiah 27:29) When the cup was withdrawn from the lips of the Statute of Liberty, I noticed the sword was missing from the cup, which could mean but one thing. THE CONTENTS OF THE CUP HAD BEEN COMPLETELY CONSUMED! I knew that the sword merely typified war, death, and destruction, which is no doubt on the way. Then as one drunken on too much wine, I saw the Statue of Liberty become unsteady on her feet and begin to stagger and to lose her balance. I saw her splashing in the gulf, trying to regain her balance. I saw her stagger again and again and fall to her knees. As I saw her desperate attempts to regain her balance and rise to her feet again, my heart was moved as never before with compassion for her struggles; but as she staggered there in the gulf, once again I heard these words: "Drink ye and be drunken and spue and fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you". (Jeremiah 25:37) (The fall of Liberty) As I watched, I wondered if the Statue of Liberty would ever be able to regain her feet, if she would ever stand again; and as I watched, it seemed that with all her power she struggled to rise and finally staggered to her feet again and stood there swaying drunkenly. I felt sure that at any moment she would fall again, possibly never to rise. I seemed overwhelmed with a desire to reach out my hand to keep her head above water, for I knew that if she ever fell again, she would drown there in the gulf. "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday". (Psalms 91:5-6) Then as I watched, another amazing thing was taking place. Far to the northwest, just out over Alaska, a huge, black cloud was arising. As it rose, it was as black as night. It seemed to be in the shape of a man's head. As it continued to arise, I observed two light spots in the black cloud. It rose further, and a gaping hole appeared. I could see that the black cloud was taking the shape of a skull, for now the huge, white, gaping mouth was plainly visible. Finally, the head was complete. Then the shoulders began to appear; and on either side, long, black arms. It seemed that what I saw was the entire North American continent, spread out like a map upon a table with this terrible skeleton-formed cloud arising from behind the table. It rose steadily until the form was visible down to the waist. At the waist the skeleton seemed to bend toward the United States, stretching forth a hand toward the east and one toward the west--one toward New York and one toward Seattle. As the awful form stretched forward, I could see that its entire attention seemed to be focused upon the United States, overlooking Canada at least for the time being. As I saw the horrible black cloud in the form of a skeleton bending toward America, bending from the waist over, reaching down toward Chicago and out toward both coasts, I knew its one interest was to destroy the multitudes. As I watched in horror, the great black cloud stopped just above the Great Lakes region and turned its face toward New York City. Then out of the horrible, great gaping mouth began to appear wisps of white vapor which looked like smoke, as a cigarette smoker would blow puffs of smoke from his mouth. These whitish vapors were being blown toward New York City. The smoke began to spread until it had covered all the eastern part of the United States. (Biological Chemtrails) Then the skeleton turned to the west and out of the horrible mouth and nostrils came another great puff of white smoke. This time it was blown in the direction of the West Coast. In a few moments' time the entire West Coast and Los Angeles area were covered with its vapors. Then toward the center came a third great puff. As I watched, St. Louis and Kansas City were enveloped in its white vapors. Then on they came toward New Orleans. Then on they swept until they reached the Statue of Liberty, where she stood staggering drunkenly in the blue waters of the gulf. As the white vapors began to spread around the head of the statue, she took in but one gasping breath and then began to cough as though to rid her lungs of the horrible vapors she had inhaled. One could readily discern by the coughing that those white vapors had seared her lungs. (Biological chemtrails to take our Liberty.) What were these white vapors? Could they signify bacteriological warfare or nerve gas that could destroy multitudes of people in a few moments' time? Then I heard the voice of God as He spoke again: "Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste and turneth it upside-down and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for the LORD hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away. The world languisheth and fadeth away. The haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant; therefore, hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left". (Isaiah 24:1-6) As I watched, the coughing grew worse. It sounded like a person about to cough out his lungs. The Statue of Liberty was moaning and groaning. She was in mortal agony. The pain must have been terrific, as again and again she tried to clear her lungs of those horrible white vapors. I watched her there in the gulf as she staggered, clutching her lungs and her breast with her hands. Then she fell to her knees. In a moment, she gave one final cough, made a last desperate effort to rise from her knees, and then fell face forward into the waters of the gulf and lay still as death. Tears ran down my face as I realized that she was dead! Only the lapping of the waves, splashing over her body, which was partly under the water and partly out of the water, broke the stillness. (The death of our Liberty) "A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing shall escape them". (Joel 2:3) Suddenly the silence was shattered by the screaming of sirens. The sirens seemed to scream, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Never before had I heard such shrill, screaming sirens. They seemed to be everywhere--to the north, the south, the east, and the west. There seemed to be multitudes of sirens, and as I looked, I saw people everywhere running, but it seemed none of them ran more than a few paces, and then they fell. And even as I had seen the Statue of Liberty struggling to regain her poise and balance and finally falling for the last time to die on her face, I now saw millions of people falling in the streets, on the sidewalks, struggling. I heard their screams for mercy and help. I heard their horrible coughing as though their lungs had been seared with fire. I heard the moanings and groanings of the doomed and the dying. As I watched, a few finally reached shelters, but only a few ever got to the shelters. Above the moaning and the groaning of the dying multitudes, I heard these words: "A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations. He will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth, and the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground". (Jeremiah 25:31-33) Then suddenly I saw from the Atlantic and from the Pacific and out of the Gulf rocket-like objects that seemed to come up like fish leaping out of the water. High into the air they leaped, each headed in a different direction, but everyone toward the United States. On the ground, the sirens screamed louder, and up from the ground I saw similar rockets beginning to ascend. To me, these appeared to be interceptor rockets, although they arose from different points all over the United States; however, none of them seemed to be successful in intercepting the rockets that had risen from the ocean on every side. These rockets finally reached their maximum height, slowly turned over, and fell back toward the earth in defeat. Then suddenly the rockets which had leaped out of the oceans like fish all exploded at once. The explosion was ear-splitting. The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire. The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb somewhere in the South Pacific. In my vision, it was so real that I seemed to feel a searing heat from it. As the vision spread before my eyes and I viewed the widespread desolation brought about by the terrific explosions, I could not help thinking, while the defenders of our nation have quibbled over what means of defense to use and neglected the only true means of defense--faith and dependence upon the true and living God--the thing which she greatly feared has come unto her! How true it has proven in Psalms 127:1: Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Then as the noise of battle subsided, to my ears came this quotation: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. 2. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. 5. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 6. Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. 7. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks. 8. Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 9. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 10. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. (Joel 2:1-10) Then the voice was still. The earth, too was silent with the silence of death. Then to my ears came another sound--a sound of distant singing. It was the sweetest music I had ever heard. There was joyful shouting and sounds of happy laughter. Immediately I knew it was the rejoicing of the saints of God. I looked, and there, high in the heavens, above the smoke and poisonous gases, above the noise of the battle, I saw a huge mountain. It seemed to be of solid rock, and I knew at once that this was the Mountain of the Lord. The sounds of music and rejoicing were coming from a cleft high up in the side of the rock mountain. It was the saints of God who were doing the rejoicing. It was God's own people who were singing and dancing and shouting with joy, safe from all the harm which had come upon the earth, for they were hidden away in the cleft of the rock. There in the cleft they were shut in, protected by a great, giant hand which reached out of the heavens and which was none other than the hand of God, shutting them in until the storm be overpassed.     Printer-friendly version  

Send us Fan MailSometimes People Suck – week 4 Two Faced PeopleHypokrites: Stage actor—One who hides behind a mask.Hypocrites: Do it and act like you don't.Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matt 23:28 NLT1) They don't know God  yet.Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. I John 2:42) They don't know Better yet.…I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 1 Cor 3:13) They do know Both  .For you are free, yet you are God's slaves, so don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 1 Pet 2:16 NLv1. Protect Them  .Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. Gal 6:1…if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. Gal 6:1 NLT2)Protect Myself …If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Gal 6:1Pride comes before a fall! So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Cor 10:123)Check my Blindspot -Whenever you are most condemning is often a reflection of where you are most vulnerable.David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!" 2 Sam 12:5-7If one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20Discussion Questions:When you hear the word hypocrite, what comes to mind?Why do you think hypocrisy is one of the biggest complaints people have about Christians?The Greek word hypokrites refers to an actor wearing a mask. Where do you see people “wearing masks” today?What makes loving “two-faced” or hypocritical people especially hard? Where might your strongest criticism of others actually reflect your own struggle?Have you ever been the one who needed someone to bring you back? Thank you for listening to the Relate Community Church podcast! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. If today's message spoke to you, share it with a friend or leave us a review to help spread the word. To learn more about Relate Community Church, visit us at www.relatecommunity.com. You are always welcome here, and remember—you are loved

Welcome to The Daily. Happy Independence Day to those reading in the U.S.A. Read more about our mission to teach every verse of the bible in what we call Project23. Grab your Hosea Scripture Journal. Our text today is Hosea 8:14: For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds. — Hosea 8:14 That first line is convicting on this date, is it not? "Israel has forgotten his Maker." We could say, "America has forgotten his Maker." That is the root issue. Before national collapse becomes economic, military, moral, or social, it is spiritual. A nation falls when it forgets the God who gave it life, restrained its evil, blessed its labor, and established its boundaries. Israel did not stop growing and building either. They built palaces. Judah, as well, multiplied fortified cities. Infrastructure expanded. Wealth increased. Security systems strengthened. Outwardly, the nation looked stable and successful. But within all this prosperity, there was hidden decay. They were constructing a future while abandoning the foundation that made any future possible. They trusted walls more than worship, economic systems more than surrender, and visible strength more than the unseen God who had sustained them. Then God says, "I will send a fire upon his cities." That is the warning. What man builds cannot stand the burning judgment of God. Everything we can build eventually becomes ashes when people persist in rebellion against the Almighty God. A nation can celebrate freedom while despising truth. It can defend rights while rejecting righteousness. It can grow wealthy while growing hollow. It can advance technologically while collapsing morally. A nation can speak of God in public ceremony while removing God from conscience, law, family, education, and public life. No military can defend a people from internal corruption. No economy can purchase moral renewal. No election can save a nation whose heart is turned from God. And we need the church to wake up and address these issues. The church is the institution called to call a people and nation out of internal corruption, toward moral renewal and repentance to God. The answer is truth, courage, and repentance. The church needs to start preaching the whole counsel of God again. Pastors must stop fearing headlines and start fearing God. Believers must stop blending in and start standing firm. Families must return to prayer. Fathers must lead spiritually. Christians must speak truth with conviction and grace. If judgment begins with the house of God, then renewal can start there, too. Today is Independence Day, and gratitude is right. Thank God for liberty, sacrifice, and mercy shown to this nation. But let this day also be a trumpet blast. If we forget our Maker, destruction is not distant—it is imminent. And if there is hope for the nation, it will begin when the people of God return to God first. DO THIS: Pray today for national repentance, courageous churches, bold pastors, and spiritual awakening in this generation. ASK THIS: Where do you see our nation forgetting God most clearly? How can the church recover courage in this moment? What role has God given you in spiritual renewal? PRAY THIS: God, have mercy on our nation. Wake your church, strengthen your people, and turn our hearts back to you before greater judgment comes. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Revive Us Again"

Who really controls world affairs? What are the belief systems of those who dictate international policy in this world? When you begin to ask these questions, you ALWAYS invariably find occultism and secret societies just beneath the surface veneer. Outwardly, the grand conspirators appear to be something that they are not. So, who are those that we dare not name? (It's not what it appears to be...) This two-part broadcast will break down the hidden history that lies behind world events today. This one is a barn-burner!Part 2 will be available for premium subscribers later this week...www.alchemicaltechrevolution.com

This was the first podcast I did on AI in 2024: https://drlaurendeville.com/podcasts/what-the-bible-says-about-artificial-intelligence And these are the rest of my notes, if you want to visit some of the verses I didn't read... שָׁמַע šāmaʿ: - to hear, listen to, obey, discern, perceive, understand- Listening to God specifically, and obeying: - Solomon's request (1 Kings 3:9): what he asks for is a heart that שָׁמַע šāmaʿ - to hear, listen to, obey, discern, perceive, that he might שָׁפַט šāp̄aṭ - judge, govern, vindicate, punish, and בִּין bîn - discern, understand, consider between good and evil. God gives him a heart that is חָכָם - ḥāḵām - wise, skilful, shrewd, learned, prudent, as well as בִּין bîn - discern, understand, consider between good and evil. - Gen 22:18: Abraham obeys God and was willing to offer Isaac (and now all the nations of the earth will be blessed), and then God reiterates this promise to Isaac (Gen 26:5) - Ex 15:26: If the people will listen and do God's commandments, they will be healed - Ex 23:22: if the people will listen, God will fight against their enemies - Ex 24:27: The people promise they will do what God said - (and many more examples of listening to God and obeying, esp in Psalms)- God's šāmaʿ to our prayers--if He hears, He responds (1 John 5:14-15) - Gen 16:11: He heard Hagar's distress and told her she'd have Ishmael - Gen 17:20: Abraham asks God to bless Ishmael and God agrees - Gen 29:33: Leah's prayers to God for children because she is hated - Ex 2:24: God heard the groanings of the Israelites - (and many, many more)- Listening and taking action (whether the action is good or bad, doing what the other person wanted or not--what is heard just prompts a response): - Gen 3:8: Adam and Eve šāmaʿ God after they ate the fruit, and hid themselves. - Gen 3:17 Adam šāmaʿ Eve (hearkened to): he ate the fruit when she asked him to. - Gen 11:7: God confused speech at the Tower of Babel so that they would not šāmaʿ each other - Gen 14:14: Abram heard (šāmaʿ) Lot was taken captive, and it caused him to gather an army - Gen 16:2: Sarai told Abram to sleep with Hagar, and he listened (šāmaʿ) to her - Gen 18:10: Sarai overhears (šāmaʿ) God's promise of a child... but her response is to laugh - Gen 27:5: Rebekah overhears (šāmaʿ) Isaac's word to Esau and takes matters into her own hands. - (and many, many more) שָׂכַל śāḵal: to be prudent, be circumspect, wisely understand, prosper, skill. Interesting that the same word means the knowledge of how to act, and also to prosper and gain favor - cause and effect are wrapped up in the same word. - Incidentally, the same word (sāḵāl), but spelled with a samekh (סָכָל) instead of a shin (שָׂכַל), means fool (Ecclesiastes 2:19, 7:17, 10:3, 10:14, Jeremiah 4:22, 5:21) - samekh סָ root meaning: a shield, leaning on, "supporting" or, in a negative sense, "blocking" (blocking one from God's wisdom) - vs shin שָׂ: A letter of fire, illumination, light - This is the word used in Gen 3:6, describing the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. It apparently thus also means the ability to choose your allegiance. It is spelled there with a shin... - To understand the bigger picture and act accordingly: - Deut 32:29: "O that they were wise, that they understood (śāḵal) this, that they would consider their latter end!" - 1 Sam 18:5: "And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely (śāḵal): and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants." - Same word twice - for emphasis? 1 Sam 18:15: "Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself (śāḵal) very wisely (śāḵal), he was afraid of him." - Ps 32: 8: "I will instruct thee (śāḵal) and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." - Prov 1:2-3: This is the purpose of Proverbs: - "To know wisdom (hok-maw) and instruction; to perceive (bîn) the words of understanding (bînâ), To receive the instruction of wisdom (śāḵal), justice, and judgment (mišpāṭ), and equity." - This is the action as well as the adjective in most Proverbs translated "wise": 10:5, 10:19, 14:35, 15:24, 16:20, 16:23 (here it was the verb, to teach), 17:2, 19:14 (translated prudent here), 21:11 (here it's the passive verb, is instructed), 21:2 (here it's to consider), 21:16 (understanding here), - Isa 44:18: Jesus quoted this about people not understanding his parables " They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand (śāḵal)" - To prosper or to have favor: - Deut 29:9: "Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper (śāḵal) in all that ye do." - Joshua 1:7-8: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper (śāḵal) whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (śāḵal)." - Also used for this meaning in Proverbs: 17:8- To be skillful: Dan 1:4, 1:17 (describing the Hebrew children) - In Job 34:35, Elihu speaking: "Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom (śāḵal)."- Prophecies of Jesus having śāḵal: Isaiah 52:13 Wisdom: חָכְמָה: (hok-maw):—skilful, wisdom, wisely, wit. - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," Ps 111:10, and "For the LORD giveth wisdom" (Prov 2:6). You can't have wisdom apart from His counsel (Prov 21:30).- God made the earth with wisdom (Jer 10:12, 51:15, Ps 104:24)- Humility precedes wisdom (Prov 11:2)--because fear of the Lord is a posture of humility (Prov 15:33, 1 Pet 5:6-7, Matt 5:3, 5). - If instead you trust in your own heart (reasoning), you are a fool - but wisdom will deliver you from trouble (Prov 28:26). - But too much wisdom can also somehow lead to pride, and pervert: Isaiah 47:10, Eze 48:4-17 (allegory of Satan) - and "knowledge puffs up" (1 Cor 8:1)- It's "the principal thing" (Prov 4:7), better than anything else we can desire (Prov 8:11, 16:16).- It described the Israelites if they followed God's laws (Deut 4:6), leaders anointed by God with the wisdom to lead (Deut 34:9) - For children, physical discipline eventually teaches wisdom (Prov 29:15).- An example: 2 Sam 20:22: the Israelite woman whose city is besieged because Sheba son of Bichri, a rebel against King David, was within. She speaks to Joab, finds out they want Sheba and if they give him up, Joab will spare the city. So "in her wisdom" (hok-maw) she promises they will throw his head to them over the wall. They do so, and Joab and his army departs. This is wisdom: not simply reacting with the typical emotions of anger, fear, etc from being besieged, but instead identifying and articulating both problem and solution. - Elihu says that he will teach Job and his three friends, who accuse God, wisdom (Job 33:33). - He later says that it is God who puts wisdom and understanding in our hearts (Job 38:36), and that he deprived animals of the same ability. A person who lacks understanding can only be controlled with physical consequences, by contrast (Prov 10:13) - and kids have to start out learning by physical discipline (Prov 29:15) as they are inherently foolish. - Numbering our days leads to wisdom (Ps 90:12) - bc we're "redeeming the time bc the days are evil?" (Eph 5:16) This sounds like wisdom is also discerning what truly matters vs what is passing away. - 2 Chron 1:10: in this version Solomon does ask for חָכְמָה: (khok-maw), and knowledge מַדָּע madāʿ- Then 1 Kings 3:28: after Solomon's judgment between the two would-be mothers (where he infers from the story that the real mother will love the child more than herself, and uses that to reveal hearts), the people conclude that he has חָכְמָה: (khok-maw). The Queen of Sheba came and asked him hard questions and there was nothing he couldn't answer (1 Kings 10:1-9).- Jesus displayed this kind of wisdom: - Prophesied: Isaiah 11:2 "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" In the NT: akouō (to hear, hearken, give audience): carries a similar "and to understand and obey/respond" implication as does šāmaʿ: Matt 15:10, 17:5, 18:15, Mark 7:14, Mark 12:29, Luke 8:21, 9:35, 10:16, 11:28, John 6:60, 8:23, 8:47, John 10:20, John 11:41-42- Matt 7:24, Luke 9:47-48: the man who hears and does what Jesus says is like the house built on the rock- John 5:25: those who hear Jesus (and respond) will have life--spiritually and literally (v 28)- If the people in the cities don't hear your words, shake the dust off your feet: Matt 10:14, Mark 6:11 - Matt 10:27: preach whatever you akouō from Me- Matt 12:42, Luke 11:31: The Queen of Sheba went to akouō Solomon's wisdom- Luke 10:39: Mary prioritized hearing Jesus- John 10:3, 16, 27: the sheep hear His voice- John 16:13 The Holy Spirit tells us what He hears from the Father- "He who has ears to hear, let him hear": Matt 11:15, 13:9, 13:43, Mark 4:9, 4:33, 7:16, 8:18, Luke 8:8, 14:35- Those who heard and understood were astonished: Mark 6:2- Luke 16:29-31: Those who hear Moses and the prophets and understand what they hear will also hear about Jesus (because they pointed to Him)- Matt 11:4-5, Luke 7:22: John's disciples were to go back and tell him what they had seen and heard- Luke 10:24: Wise men of old desired to hear what the disciples heard - He speaks in parables bc the people don't have ears to hear: Matt 13:13-18, Mark 4:12, 4:23, Luke 8:10 - The parable of the sower: those who hear but don't understand have nothing to take root. This is the precondition for wisdom. Matt 13:19, Mark 4:15, Luke 8:12 - But if you do understand, you still have to maintain single focus so it's not choked out: Matt 13:20-23, Mark 4:16-20, Luke 8:13-15- "Take heed what/how you hear" precedes "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Mark 4:24, Luke 8:18: what you listen to (and respond to) determines the direction of your life. - Also often used to just mean to hear with your ears (many places) phronimos (intelligent, wise, prudent, i.e. mindful of one's interests)- Matt 7:24: the man who builds his house upon a rock by doing what Jesus says rather than just hearing it is phronimos - Matt 24:45, Luke 12:42: the wise servant is the one whom the Master will find doing what he was told, when the Master returns. - Matt 25: the parable of the wise virgins (also prepared with oil); the parable of the talents right after this seems to imply the same (looking ahead and making the most of what we've been given) though the word 'wise' doesn't appear there. - Luke 12:42-48: describes the foolish servants who know the will of their master but when he returns, he finds them disobeying. - Matt 10:16: wise as serpents, harmless as doves: - AW: This means we aren’t totally defenseless. Wisdom is a powerful force that gives us an advantage. - Luke 16:8: the parable of the unjust steward - he's called wise (shrewd) for looking out for his own interests. (Still not sure what the point of this parable was) Sophia: wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters. The varied knowledge of things human and divine, acquired by acuteness and experience, and summed up in maxims and proverbs, the science and learning, the act of interpreting dreams and always giving the sagest advice, the intelligence evinced in discovering the meaning of some mysterious number or vision, devout and proper prudence in intercourse with men not disciples of Christ, skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth, the knowledge and practice of the requisites for godly and upright living; supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God.- Matt 12:42, Luke 11:31: Jesus used this word to describe Solomon's wisdom - Acts 7:10 same word describes Joseph, and 7:22: Moses - Matt 13:54, Mark 6:2: the people said Jesus had this after listening to his teachings and were astonished- Luke 12:11-12, 21:15: God promises to give His followers such godly wisdom that none of our adversaries would be able to resist it - Acts 6:10: example of this - 1 Cor 1:17, 2:5: and yet Paul says the wisdom of words is insufficient; the gospel needs power to back it. That's because (worldly) wisdom wouldn't receive it--the world considers godly wisdom foolishness (1 Cor 1:19). The wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God are diametrically opposed! (1 Cor 1:20-25) - 1 Cor 2:6-8: Paul again contrasts the wisdom "of this age" with the wisdom of God. (Makes me think of sāḵāl - same word, two spellings, one meaning foolish, depicting that the person is blocked off from God's wisdom, and one meaning wise, and the letter means that he is guided by the light of God's wisdom). Even so, the natural man considers the things of God foolish (1 Cor 2:14), and God likewise considers the wisdom of this world foolish (1 Cor 3:19-20). - Jesus also said God hid Him from the "wise and prudent" (of that age) and revealed them to babes (Matt 11:25).- James 1:5: we can ask God for sophia- Matt 5: The Beatitudes teach an inversion of the world's wisdom: how the world actually works. - It's summed up with Matt 6:33 (and Luke 12:22-34): "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." - Matt 10:27-31 says similar: don't fear men; fear God (trusting that He loves you). Live in single-minded allegiance to Him. And 11:39: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." If you "find your life" apart from Him, you've lost everything: the ultimate foolishness. He repeats this: Matt 16:25-26 - and Deny yourself, take up your cross - if you desire to save your life you'll lose it, and if you lose your life for Him you'll find it (Luke 9:23-27, John 12:25). - As you do this, by abiding in Him, You get whatever you desire (John 15:7-8, 16) - Mary and Martha: another lesson about singleness of focus on Him being the most important thing (Luke 10:38-42). - Luke 11:33-36: it takes light and a receptive eye to see. Jesus is always shining - It’s our eyes that don’t see. Jesus was telling us how to get our eyes opened to His light: we have to be single in our focus on Him. The Greek word that was translated “eye” in this verse is “OPHTHALMOS.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines this Greek word as “singleness of motive.” If our attention is divided, however, we will have the darkness of this world in us instead of God’s light. - So it isn't that we have to have "VIEW" rather than a POINT of view in order to see the bigger picture. Rather, our point of view needs to be fixed on Him, and then everything else will find its proper alignment. - True leaders must serve all (Mark 9:35, 10:43-45, Luke 22:26). Last will be first, and first will be last (Mark 10:31, Luke 13:30). If you humble yourself you will be exalted, and if you exalt yourself you will be humbled (Luke 14:11, 18:14). - What you give, you get back and then some (Luke 6:38, 14:14, 18:29-30) - Luke 12:16-21: Conversely, a fool is one who lays up treasure for himself in this life. - Luke 19:12-27: the parable of the minas: The wicked servant was motivated by fear; he didn't trust the master's heart, and didn't use what he had. So he lost even that. - He draws a hard line: all in or all out (Luke 11:22)-- because this is a war (Luke 9:58-62). You must comparatively hate everyone, even your own life, in comparison to Him (Luke 14:26). No one is neutral. He describes opponents in adversarial language ("lambs among wolves", Luke 10:3), and everything hinges on what people do with the message of the Kingdom (10:11-16). You either love the light or love the darkness (John 3:19-21). - So many parables Matt 24:45, Matt 25, Luke 12:42-48, Luke 13:24-30) are about servants doing what their master wants while he is away so that he will find them so doing when he returns... probably bc the point is "redeem the time bc the days are evil" (Eph 5:16) and numbering our days gives wisdom (Ps 90). It seems the point is, time is short, and the stakes are very high, so be single-minded in your focus on Jesus and the Kingdom. - Luke 14:25-33: Just as a king wouldn’t engage in war without thoroughly considering all the possible outcomes, so no one should attempt to become a disciple of Jesus without counting the cost. It would be better never to start following Jesus than to start and then turn back (Luke 9:62 and 2 Peter 2:20-22). - The rest of the Sermon on the Mount: teaches that what matters isn't actions (as all their teachers had told them), but motive--and ultimately this goes back to allegiance. - Matt 11:28: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden" - with trying to follow the law. So stop both trying to be good enough, and also trying to follow your own wisdom. - Spirit vs flesh: allegiance determines this too. We have to come to Him, and He will give us the Spirit, without which we cannot successfully worship Him (John 4:24). Outwardly keeping the OT was all in the flesh, and it would never work. It was never meant to. Only the Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63).- He repeatedly says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matt 11:15, 13:9), and explains that those who have [wisdom] will get more, and those who have chosen not to hear and see will lose even what they have (Matt 13:10-17) - The parable of the sower: God's word brings wisdom (Prov 21:30), but the people have to hear and understand (šāmaʿ). If they don't, the enemy will steal it right away (13:19). The one who hears, understands, and receives with joy, but has no root--he might šāmaʿ, but if he doesn't śāḵal (act accordingly), he won't bear fruit either. Same with the one who is choked with the cares of the world. But the one who both šāmaʿ (hears and understands) and śāḵal (acts accordingly, is a doer of the word) is the one who will bear a harvest--seeking the Kingdom and letting God bring the supply for their needs and increase. - The parable of the two sons: the one who says he won't do the will of the father but does has truly śāḵal, while the one who says ok and doesn't is just a hypocrite: Matt 21:28-32 - In dealing with the Pharisees: their "wisdom" said good was following the law, and anyone who didn't do so according to their own teachings must be evil. The people surely could have been confused by what is good and what is evil. So Jesus clarifies: - makes the distinction of the spirit vs the letter of the law (Matt 9:11-13, 12:3-8, 12:11-12, 15:17-20, John 7:22-24) -- and also illustrates how they've added their own "letters of the law" and elevated those above what God actually said (Matt 15:3-9) - Uses the logic of motive (a house divided cannot stand): Matt 12:24-30, Luke 11:16-22). - tells the people to judge good and evil by the fruit it produces: Matt 12:33-35 - When they're trying to trap them, He: - turns the tables and asks them a question He knows they won't answer for political reasons: Matt 21:23-27 (John's baptism: from heaven or men), Matt 22:41-45 (how David can call his son 'Lord' - bc He's also God, which they didn't want to admit) - gives them an accurate non-answer: Matt 22:15-22 (the image of Caesar on the denarius) - answers the real question, rather than the one they were asking: Matt 22:23-33 (is there a resurrection of the dead?)- Enigmatic, dark sayings: Matt 8:20-22, 9:16-17, 12:31-32, Matt 13:35 (prophesied that this would be the case, in Ps 78:2) - He seems to jump topics without bothering to explain the connection (Matt 12:38-42: the pharisees ask for a sign. He says they'll get the sign of the prophet Jonah - in retrospect we know this was his death and resurrection. Then because they still won't believe, they will be condemned... and says "this wicked generation" will be like a wicked spirit cast out that then returns and brings more evil spirits, 12:43-45) - He jumps from one metaphor to another without explaining the connection (from the parable of the sower - God's word - to a lamp - God's word too) and then just says "if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:21-22). Then "take heed what you hear" - if you steward and obey the word you have been given, you'll get more. But he never says that this refers to the word explicitly either (Mark 4:24-25) - Luke 12: all over the place: the "do not worry" passage, followed by servants being faithful while their master is away, followed by Christ bringing division on the earth within families, and then "discern the time," and then "make peace with your adversary" -- are these related? - He speaks to John's disciples in a riddle only John will likely understand (Matt 11:2-6) - In what way is the kingdom of God "tiny" only to later grow and become large? (Luke 13:18-21) and what is the point of saying so? - He just changes the subject to what He wants to talk about (Matt 12:48-50): "your mother and brothers are here," and he says, "those who are my mother and brothers are those who do the will of My Father." - Another example: Luke 12:14-15: someone comes to him and asks him to arbitrate inheritance between brothers. He says that's not his job, and then warns the crowd against covetousness. - He clearly understood the foundations of how the world worked--why things were the way they were. Everyone around him saw only the carnal, visible, literal reality, and lived and reacted on that level. He was frustrated by this, and tried to teach: - What matters is not external actions, but the motive of the heart, which eventually comes out in words (Matt 15:16-20) - Reality bows the knee to faith: Matt 16:8-11, 17:20-21, 18:18-20, 21:21-22, Mark 11:22-24 - This is why He was so impressed with the Centurion: he understood that Jesus' authority transcended the physical world (Luke 7:9). Everyone else was so focused on the practical reality that this never even occurred to them. - Jesus met people on this physical level and gave them evidence (Luke 24:38-43) but said that wasn't the highest form of faith (John 20:29) - He understood the big picture: not just what was, but why things were the way they were, God's original purpose, and how He fit in (Luke 4:18-21, 24:25-27) - Because He knew context, rather than just the words and commands of scripture, Satan couldn't twist it to trap Him either (Luke 4:2-12.) - All the prophets that the Pharisees spent their life studying pointed to Jesus, and they missed it (Matt 16:2-4, John 5:38-40, 46-47)... because they were focusing on keeping the literal letter of the law (to the point of physical phylacteries, from Deut 6:8). It seems to never have occurred to them why things were the way they were. - I suspect their focus on minutiae and not on the underlying realities was also what allowed them to stop looking at the Lord as their source, which led to misplaced priorities, and greed (John 2:16 - buying and selling at the temple). I can see how they might have justified this, that it didn't *preclude* prayer and sacrifice to have a little side business going there too. But it revealed the focus of their hearts, and where their trust was, and effectively made God's real purpose for the Temple into a footnote. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Jude 20–25 lays out a steady path for worn-down believers built around three directions: inward, outward, and upward. Inwardly, it calls believers to take responsibility for their faith by building on a solid foundation through prayer in the Spirit, staying rooted in God's love, and holding onto hope in Christ's coming mercy. That kind of hope lifts the heart out of present discouragement and anchors it in future restoration. Outwardly, faith shows up as action—offering patient mercy to those who doubt and stepping in urgently to help those drifting toward danger. Upwardly, the passage reminds believers that God is the one who keeps, strengthens, and ultimately presents them blameless with joy. Together, this creates a simple rhythm: stay grounded in God, reach out to others with compassion, and trust fully in His power to finish what He started.

Today's Reading: Mark 12:28-44Daily Lectionary: Genesis 44:1-18, 32-34; Mark 12:28-44“She out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:44b)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.When you think of role models, poor widows are not the first thing that pops into your mind. Maybe a teacher, someone who goes out of their way to help others, or someone who leads in the face of danger. In Jesus' day, the scribes would be the kind of people you looked up to. Yet Jesus says to beware of them. They are not good role models. Because while they looked good, did all the right things, and knew all the right answers, it was all a show. Their hearts weren't in it. They prayed long prayers with their lips but not their hearts. The widows they should have helped, they instead devoured. Sometimes we do that, too. Outwardly, we look good, but our hearts are filled with sin.But Jesus points to this widow. Maybe they hadn't even noticed her. She didn't look like much. But inside was the most beautiful faith! Faith that took her last two coins, all she had to live on, and gave them to God. Had she not gone to the Temple that day, no one would have missed her or her offering. But it mattered to her. So she went. And she gave. And she mattered to Jesus.As do you. That's why Jesus gave all He had for you. Not just giving all He had to live on, but His very life itself. And He gave not only more than anyone else, but more than everyone else put together, and what no one else could give—a perfectly sinless life to atone for all the completely sinful lives of the world. And while just one life for the countless lives that have lived since the creation of the world may seem as small and insignificant as the offering of the widow, the two small coins that make just a penny, like the offering of the widow, that one life was more than all other offerings. For it was given in the most beautiful faith and love. With perfect faith in His Father, and with perfect love for you. And now, Jesus gives you two little things—a little piece of bread and a little sip of wine, that don't look like much to the eye, but nothing could be bigger. There is Jesus' Body and Blood. There is Jesus and His forgiveness and all His Gifts. All you need to live eternally. So if you're looking for a role model, here's one for you! No one may notice you, and what you do may not seem to matter. But you matter to Jesus. You are precious to Him. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Jesus, thank You for giving all You are for me. Help me live in faith like this widow, knowing that You give me all I need to live on. Amen.

The Dismantling of the Religious Self Four Lenten Reflections on Delusion, Abandonment, and the Life That Remains in God “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 Second Reflection The Violence We Call Righteousness On the Ego That Survives Inside Virtue “They being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3 When the man sees that fulfillment cannot be found in religious life itself, he turns toward righteousness. He disciplines himself. He purifies his conduct. He restrains his passions. He orders his thoughts. He seeks purity. Outwardly, transformation occurs. Inwardly, something remains untouched. The ego survives. It survives inside virtue. St. John Climacus writes that vainglory completes every virtue the man performs. It attaches itself to fasting. It attaches itself to prayer. It attaches itself to obedience.
 It whispers: This is yours. Virtue becomes possession. The man begins to live from righteousness. He experiences himself as stable because he is righteous. He trusts his righteousness. This trust separates him from God. Because union with God requires the loss of trust in oneself as source of life. The Pharisee stands before God and speaks truth. He fasts. He obeys. He lives faithfully. And remains separate. Because he still exists as the center of his own existence. The tax collector possesses nothing. He cannot lift his eyes. He does not trust himself. Christ says he goes home justified. Because justification belongs to the man who has nothing left to preserve. St. Isaac says that until the soul despairs of itself, it cannot rest in God. Not emotional despair. Ontological despair. The knowledge that one does not possess life. Righteousness that preserves the ego prevents union. Because union requires death. Not moral improvement. Death. The man must lose the self that lives apart from God. Virtue cannot substitute for this death. Virtue can conceal it. The ego can survive indefinitely inside righteousness. And remain alone. ⸻ This is the most dangerous stage of the spiritual life. Because sin is obvious. But righteousness can conceal separation. The sinful man knows he is sick. The righteous man believes he is alive. Christ said to the church of Laodicea, “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:17 This is not addressed to pagans. This is addressed to believers. To those who have acquired religious identity. To those who possess righteousness and draw life from it. They do not feel their need. They do not cry out. They do not seek life because they believe they possess it. This is why Christ says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32 Not because the righteous do not need Him. But because those who believe themselves righteous cannot receive Him. They are full. And God only fills the empty. St. Sophrony writes that the greatest tragedy is when man begins to live from himself rather than from God. Even if this life is clothed in virtue, it remains separation. It remains death. Virtue can purify behavior without destroying autonomy. It can cleanse the exterior while leaving the center untouched. Christ speaks with terrifying clarity about this. “You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence.” Matthew 23:25 The outside can be purified. The inside can remain intact. The ego does not resist virtue. It feeds on virtue. It incorporates virtue into itself. It expands through virtue. It becomes righteous. And this righteousness becomes its shield against God. Because God does not come to improve the ego. He comes to crucify it. St. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2:20 This is not metaphor. This is the destruction of the autonomous center of existence. As long as the man lives from himself, even virtuously, he remains separate. Because life belongs only to God. St. Silouan the Athonite saw this with terrible clarity. He had labored greatly. He had prayed. He had struggled. He had purified himself. And yet the Lord allowed him to descend into hell. Not because he was sinful. But because righteousness had not yet been shattered. And Christ said to him, “Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not.” Not because hell was his destination. But because only in the destruction of self trust could union be born. As long as the man stands on his own righteousness, he stands alone. Only when this ground collapses does he begin to stand in God. Archimandrite Zacharias writes that God allows even the virtuous man to see his utter poverty so that he may cease drawing life from himself. This is the blessed despair that gives birth to true life. This despair is not psychological collapse. It is ontological revelation. The revelation that without God, one does not exist. Christ says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 Not less. Nothing. Not even righteousness. When this is seen, virtue loses its power as identity. It remains. But it no longer belongs to the man. It becomes the life of Christ within him. Before this death, virtue belongs to the ego. After this death, virtue belongs to God. This is why the saints do not trust their righteousness. They fear it. They flee from it. Abba Poemen said, “A man may appear to be silent while his heart condemns others. Such a man is talking constantly.” Outward virtue. Inward autonomy. Separation remains. Another elder said that even if a man raises the dead but trusts himself, he has lost everything. Because union is not achieved by virtue. It is achieved by death. This is why the saints see themselves as sinners even when they are purified. Not because they deny reality. But because they do not live from themselves. They live from God. St. Isaac writes that the man who has truly seen himself is greater than the man who raises the dead. Because he has seen the truth. He has seen that he does not possess life. He has seen that all righteousness belongs to God. This vision destroys the ego at its root. And only when the ego dies can God become life. Until then, righteousness remains violence. Violence against truth. Violence against union. Violence against love. Because it preserves the illusion of existence apart from God. The elder Sophrony says that as long as man attributes righteousness to himself, he remains enclosed within the prison of his own being. He cannot escape. He cannot breathe. He cannot live. Only when righteousness is lost as possession does it become life. Only when the man ceases to exist as source does God become his existence. This is why Christ says, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25 Not improves it. Finds it. Because it did not belong to him before. This is the second dismantling. Not the destruction of sinful identity. The destruction of righteous identity. Not the loss of vice. The loss of ownership of virtue. The loss of oneself as the one who lives. Until this death occurs, the ego survives. It survives inside prayer. It survives inside obedience. It survives inside humility itself. It survives inside righteousness. And remains forever alone. --- Text of chat during the group: 01:28:35 Danny Moulton (Lakeside, Ohio): I'm wondering how fear and ego interplay in producing unhealthy religiosity. It seems to me ego and fear are two sides of the same coin. Ego is fed when we think we are righteous and doing religion right, but fear calls the shots when we think we are unrighteous and doing religion wrong. It seems both can lead to obsession with something other than Divine love. The Apostle John says that perfect love drives out fear. I believe this is absolutely true, but fear sure can put up a good fight at times. 01:32:27 Fr Martin, Arizona: What do you think of this? Shortly after arriving at my first parish, I told my spiritual father about all the things I would change. He said, “Check with God. He didn't give you the football and tell you to run with it. What if God send you there to fail?” 01:33:46 Jaden Abrams: Father, bless! I was really impacted by these last two talks, thank you very much. What change can I make today to die to myself and stop sitting next to the vine. 01:35:31 Kate: When you speak about the death of the ego, is it more like a process of dying rather than something that is accomplished once and for all?  And I find my self asking how, how does the ego die?  Is it a simultaneous process of the dying of the ego and the soul growing in union with Christ? 01:40:29 Una: I was a complulsive A-getter in college, too. Thank you for sharing. 01:41:05 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Father, bless! I was..." with ❤️ 01:42:47 Shannon: It feels must bleed out our ego and diappear into the darkness in order for God to turn light.  Not knowing where the next step, but trusting in God.  We disappear into prayer/ looking through window with lamps lite hearts 01:44:16 Fr Martin, Arizona: Today's retreat convicted me. I'm not sure where to begin poking at my sense of self-identity and autonomy. My anxiety reveals to me that I harbor some delusions about myself. I used to visit a Romanian monk who was imprisoned and tortured by communists. Surprisingly, he never complained about that. Rather he said to me once, “Before I was imprisoned, I knew God in my books. After I was alone in prison, I found God in my heart.” 01:45:02 Jaden Abrams: How do I go about finding a spiritual Father? Am I supposed to choose, discern, let him "come to me", combination of all? I have fallen in love with the east in general and am immersing myself as much as possible please pray for me. 01:47:13 Julie: Reacted to "How do I go about fi…" with

Integrity is when your ________________ matches your ________________. [Psalm 15:1-5] Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? [2] Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. [3] Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. [4] Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. [5] Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. The opposite of integrity is ________________. [Matthew 23:25-28] “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! [26] You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. [27] “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. [28] Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. If you __________ integrity, nothing else matters. If you __________ __________ integrity, nothing else matters. [Joshua 6:18-19] “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. [19] Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.” [Joshua 7:13] “Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you. Get to know Jesus personally and ________________ to those you have cheated. [Matthew 5:37 CSB] But let your ‘yes' mean ‘yes,' and your ‘no' mean ‘no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one. Say what you ____________ and mean what you __________. [Proverbs 28:6 CSB] Better the poor person who lives with integrity than the rich one who distorts right and wrong.

What if the hope of what's coming could change how you live right now? In this message, we look at how resurrection hope helps us face the limits and frustrations of our bodies, and how it invites us to live faithfully in the space between the “now” and the “then.”

For more than a decade, Kate Seselja lived a double life. Outwardly, she was a well-spoken suburban mum raising six children. Privately, she was trapped in a devastating poker machine addiction that would cost her more than $500,000, push her family into overwhelming debt, and bring her to the brink of suicide. In this deeply confronting episode, Kate takes us back to the years when gambling consumed her life — the highs of winning, the crushing shame of losing, the secrecy, and the relentless hope that the next spin would fix everything. She reflects on how poker machines are designed to hijack the brain, why addiction thrives in silence, and how stigma keeps people trapped for far too long. Kate also speaks candidly about her rock-bottom moment while pregnant with her sixth child, what stopped her from ending her life, and the long road to recovery that followed. Now an advocate and founder of The Hope Project, she dedicates her life to helping others understand gambling harm as a public health issue and not a personal failure. This episode is a powerful reminder that gambling addiction doesn’t look the way we expect it to and that it can happen to anyone. If this episode brings up anything for you, support is available. You can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Kate Seselja, along with at GHLEE (Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts) are calling for each state and territory to enforce loss limits on poker machines of $100 per day, $500 per month, and $5000 per year. This simple act will literally save lives. You can find out more information and sign their petition here. CREDITS: Guest: Kate Seselja Host: Kate Langbroek Group Executive Producer: Naima Brown Executive Producer: Bree Player Audio Producer: Jacob Round Video Producer: Josh Green Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jon Haley

In today's devotion, we wrestle with an honest and necessary heart-question:Am I a real Christian—or just religious?Jesus answers this through the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–13 (KJV). Outwardly, they all looked the same. They all had lamps. But when the moment came, only some were truly ready—because only some had oil.In Scripture, oil points to the Holy Spirit. Pastor Webster explains the difference between professing Christ and possessing Christ, and why appearances, routines, and religious habits can never replace genuine salvation.This devotion also connects the parable to Romans 8:9 and Romans 8:14, reminding us that the Spirit of God is not something received later, but the defining mark of belonging to Christ. When Jesus returns, He is coming for those who are truly His—not merely those who look the part.If you've ever wondered:“Is my faith real or just tradition?”“Do I truly have the Holy Spirit?”“Am I ready if Christ were to return today?”…this message is for you.

Luke 17:12-19; The Grateful Leper I've included my notes, but I didn't follow them, choosing instead to offer a meditation on the "go show yourself to the priest" part of the Levitical command and noting how we do the same - and will all do the same one day at the Great Judgment. Homily: Healing, Vision, and the Mercy of God Onee of the things that sometimes gives people pause—especially when they encounter it for the first time—comes from the Book of Needs, in the prayers the priest offers for those who are sick. If you have ever been present for these prayers, you may have been surprised by what you heard. We expect prayers like: "O Lord, raise up this servant from the bed of illness and restore them to health." And those prayers are certainly there. But woven throughout are repeated petitions for the forgiveness of sins. And that can feel jarring. "Why talk about sin?" we think. "This person is sick—not sinful." But the Church is very intentional here. Imagine this: a person is lifted up from their bed of illness, restored to perfect physical health—yet still carries unrepented sin within them. Outwardly, they look alive. Inwardly, they are not. They are, in a real sense, a living corpse. On the other hand—and this is harder for us to accept—someone may remain physically ill, yet live in Christ: healed in their soul, united to Him, walking in holiness and freedom despite bodily weakness. That person is truly alive. Our Lord Himself tells us not to fear those things that can harm the body, but to attend to what shapes the soul. We often joke that it might be easier if spiritual states were visible—if holiness and sin showed up like physical symptoms. Imagine walking through the world able to see, immediately, who was struggling, who was wounded, who needed gentleness or prayer. But most sins are hidden. We become very good at concealing them. Some sins, however, are easier to spot. A habitual drunkard, for example, eventually reveals himself. And there is one sin in particular—one we often excuse—that Scripture treats with great seriousness: the sin of speaking badly about others. In the Old Testament, what we translate as leprosy was often not simply a medical condition but a visible sign—a manifestation of sin made public. Not every skin disease fell into this category, but some did. It was a way God taught His people: what you carry within eventually shows itself without. Consider Miriam, the sister of Moses. She was a holy woman, faithful, devoted—yet when Moses acted in a way she did not expect, marrying a foreign woman, she spoke against him. She gave herself over to resentment and gossip. And the consequence was immediate and unmistakable: she was struck with leprosy and sent outside the camp until she was healed. The warning is clear. How different would our lives be if sins like gossip and disparagement were marked visibly upon us? If a sign hovered over our heads that said: "This person cannot speak about their neighbor with charity." "Do not trust their words; they tear others down." We would recoil at such exposure. Yet spiritually, those signs already exist. And in our time, this sin has become not only habitual, but normalized—especially through social media. Even among Orthodox Christians, we see people eager to label one another heretics rather than first seeking understanding. The slow, patient work of charity has been replaced by accusation. To those with noetic vision—spiritual sight—these sins are as visible as white blotches on the skin. So how do we examine ourselves? One test is how we respond to criticism. Another is how we respond to praise—or its absence. But another, deeply revealing test is this: How do I speak and think about others—especially those who have wronged me? Do I love my enemies? Do my thoughts and words reflect what St. Paul describes as the natural fruit of love? Or do I secretly rejoice when others fall? Scripture gives us another powerful image in the story of Naaman the Syrian—a pagan general afflicted with leprosy. He obeys the prophet Elisha, washes in the Jordan, and is healed. More than that, he turns to the God of Israel with gratitude and humility. He even takes soil from the Holy Land so that he may always remember whom he serves. But then we see the tragic contrast: Gehazi, Elisha's servant. Greed overtakes him. He lies. He exploits grace for gain. And the leprosy that left Naaman clings to him instead. Grace rejected becomes judgment. And finally, we see the greatest transformation of all: St. Paul. Raised among God's people, zealous for the law, Paul persecutes Christ Himself. He bears the unmistakable mark of sin—not on his skin, but in his actions. Yet the Lord blinds him, then restores his sight. And what does Paul do? He does not presume upon grace. He repents. He gives thanks. He becomes like the Samaritan leper in today's Gospel—the one who returns to glorify God. This is the heart of the Gospel. We live in a world filled with sin—not only in its dramatic forms, but in the everyday ways we break trust, speak carelessly, and nurture resentment. These are our leprosies. And yet, the Lord sees us in our affliction. He does not recoil. He heals. He restores us to His image. He cleanses us. He sets us free. But healing is not the end. Gratitude must awaken into a new way of life. God is not interested in transactional thanksgiving—"thank You so You'll give me more." That is manipulation, not love. True thanksgiving becomes wonder. To see a cup of water and marvel not only that it quenches thirst, but that water exists at all—that matter itself has been sanctified by Christ. To see every person we meet—not first as a problem to be solved or a sinner to be exposed—but as an icon bearing divine potential. Yes, we notice sin. But we see through it—to the good that can be nurtured. That is how God treats us. If we think we are proclaiming the Gospel by beating people down with their sins, we are mistaken. Repentance requires a vision of the good. People must know what they are called toward, not only what they must turn away from. This is how we pastor one another. We see the best. We bring it out. We pray. We speak truth when the time is right and love is strong. And when we do this, we stand with that Samaritan leper—foreigners ourselves to the Kingdom—yet welcomed, healed, and restored. May the Lord open our eyes—our noetic vision—so that we may see the grace that permeates all things, the divine logoi present in creation, and the glory of God shining wherever we are able to bear it. And may He grant us the strength to see more, day by day. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Conscious Accomplishment: How Inner Growth Shapes What We Create In The World with Scott BrittonWhat happens when you stop treating spiritual growth and achievement as separate pursuits and begin to see them as part of one coherent path?In this week's episode of the Sacred Changemakers Podcast, I'm joined by Scott Britton, entrepreneur, author, community builder, CEO of Conscious Talent, and host of the EvolutionFM podcast. Scott's journey began in the high-pressure world of tech, where he co-founded Troops, later acquired by Salesforce. Outwardly, he had all the markers of success. Inwardly, something else was stirring.Our conversation traces the pivotal moments that led Scott to rethink accomplishment altogether, not as a race to the top, but as a practice of becoming. His work, captured in his book Conscious Accomplishment, offers a grounded, practical way to integrate inner development with the very real demands of building, leading, and making an impact in the world.Together, we explore the patterns that shape us, the disturbances that wake us up, and why the fuel behind our ambition matters far more than we realise. Scott brings a refreshing clarity to the intersection of consciousness and creativity, showing how inner awareness doesn't pull us away from action, but actually strengthens how we move through the world.This is a conversation for anyone who has ever questioned the traditional definitions of success… for anyone who has hit their goals and still wondered, “Is this it?”… and for every coach and changemaker seeking a more coherent way to live, lead, and create.Key TakeawaysWhy the old dichotomy between spiritual development and achievement no longer serves us.How disturbances and emotional triggers can become profound teachers.Why patterns, not circumstances, drive most of our suffering—and how to work with them.The practice of Self Repatterning and its role in shifting consciousness.How to integrate inner work into leadership and daily life without compartmentalising.About Scott BrittonScott Britton is an entrepreneur, author, and community builder. He is the CEO of Conscious Talent, host of the EvolutionFM podcast, and author of Conscious Accomplishment, a book that challenges the belief that spiritual growth and achievement must compete with one another. Prior to this work, Scott co-founded Troops, a software company acquired by Salesforce in 2022. His work brings together personal development, consciousness, and practical execution—helping people create meaningful impact while staying connected to their inner truth.Learn More About Today's GuestConscious Talent website ****→ https://www.conscioustalent.com/Scott's book, Conscious Accomplishment → https://amzn.to/3MgoLsvScott on Linkedin → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jscottbritton/Scott's Podcast, EvolutionFM →

Send me a DM here (it doesn't let me respond), OR email me: imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.comToday I'm honored to have back on the show once again: Satanic ritual abuse, mind control, Stargate Project, Freemason, Jesuit, and organized abuse survivor, overcomer and whistleblower, loving mother, founder, content creator, faithful servant to the most high, gardener, floral design extraordinaire, singer and songwriter, poet, poetry reader, creative writer, and someone I'm so grateful to call my friend: KadayaIn case you missed either of Kadaya's incredible episodes she did here on this show, here is a brief synopsis of her testimony as well as some things we will be talking about today: From the tenderest years of childhood, Kadaya faced unimaginable darkness - trauma-based mind control rooted in MONARCH programming, involving things like electroshock, near-drowning, and ritualistic horrors designed to fracture the soul and form dissociative identities. Whisked away to Masonic lodges, churches, the Vatican, and secret spaces for advanced Stargate conditioning, her extraordinary intelligence and spiritual gifts were weaponized by shadowy forces - Freemasons, Jesuits, and elite bloodlines - for sinister purposes. Outwardly, her life appeared as a picture-perfect childhood, but beneath the veil, her fragmented parts endured unspeakable torment, often cloaked as covert operations.Armed with this sacred strength, she boldly confronted her handlers and perpetrators, shattering the invisible chains that bound her mind and soul. Freedom came at a staggering price - betrayal from family, friends, and even her husband, who obtained a protection order, stripping her of her children, home, and stability. Enduring relentless gang-stalking and targeting, she found sanctuary with Restoration in Christ Ministries, where deprogramming and memory integration became pathways to wholeness. Though a flawed system separated her from her beloved children, Kadaya's unquenchable fire burns brighter: she battles tirelessly for their liberation and shines a bright light on hidden systemic evils.In recent episodes, we've journeyed deeply into Kadaya's powerful testimony - from the depths of programming and rituals, signs and symbols hidden in plain sight, through family trials and breakthrough freedom, to profound healing and beyond.  On today's episode, Kadaya will be revealing and unveiling even more occulted knowledge and personal testimony through disclosure including personal updates on her life, being used as a remote womb, about neuro-linguistic programming, triggers in the news, Presidential rememberings, the black awakening, uniting survivors out of isolation, reuniting with ghosts from her past, more visuals and graphics that will be shown on screen, and even some poetry readings from Kadaya's incredible collection of poems that have been created and written through her healing process. You won't want to miss a moment of this episode. In typical Kadaya fashion, every moment will be gripping, eye-opening, inspiring, and informative all at once. DONATE TO KADAYA'S GOFUNDME: https://gofund.me/cb63137dCONNECT TO KADAYA: IG: https://www.instagram.com/thesongofthelamb/?hl=enTelegram: https://t.me/songofthelambEmail: thesongofthelamb144@gmail.comCONNECT WITH EMMA: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imaginationpodcastofficialEMAIL: imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.com OR standbysurvivors@protonmail.comMy Substack: https://emmakatherine.substack.com/BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theimaginaSupport the show

Quaranteam - Dave In Dallas: Part 12 Consequences.

This conversation is one that hits close to home. Jonathan Domsky isn't just a business and life coach for entrepreneurs — he was my coach during one of the most difficult periods of my life. After losing my dad and watching my business wobble, I felt like I was stuck in neutral. Outwardly things looked fine, but internally, I was spinning. Jonathan helped me reconnect with my core values, rediscover my “why,” and realign the direction of both my business and life.In this episode, we dig into what it really means to grow — not just your company, but yourself. We talk about the hidden tension between external achievement and internal fulfillment, how most people misunderstand their values, and why your next level of success starts inside.Jonathan's approach doesn't stop at goal-setting and accountability. He helps leaders untangle the inner knots that are quietly holding them back. If you're a high-performer who's hit a wall, or just feeling like something's off, this episode might be the reset you didn't know you needed.Are you interested in leveling up your sales skills and staying relevant in today's AI-driven landscape? Visit www.jbarrows.com and let's Make It Happen together!Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/Connect with John on IG: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/Check out John's Membership: https://go.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-membership?ref=3edab1 Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletterConnect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/business-personal-growth-coach/ Check out Jonathan's Website: https://untangled-coaching.com/

Michigan Weather and Women: Part 4 Finding real love, at last. Based on a post by CleverGenericName, in 4 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Connected. Driving home the next day felt like waking up from some kind of dream until I pulled into our driveway and Munchkin came running out to greet me. As I was getting out to reassure him that he hadn't been abandoned, the reality of my life settled right back in. I went inside, and Lane and Mary grunted their hellos without looking up. Ah, home. I texted Erin that I made it back safely, and she replied almost immediately saying what a great night she had, and how much she missed me already. It was going to be a long three weeks until she rotated back to the hospital in Petoskey. Luckily, life was as busy as always, and time flew by. For the first time since I was a child, I could honestly say that I was happy. My happiness lasted until the day before Erin was scheduled to return. I got my first inkling that something might be wrong when I called to see if Wilma wanted me to pick up any groceries for her from town. She didn't answer, which was strange, and the call went to voicemail. Even if she was napping, she was a very light sleeper and would normally answer by the third ring. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I went straight to Wilma's to make sure she was alright. Everything seemed fine when I pulled into the yard, but there was no answer when I knocked on her door. I tried again, but there was nothing but an eerie silence. Fearing the worst, I grabbed the spare key from its hiding place and went inside. I called Wilma's name and, hearing no reply, went quickly through the house trying to find her. When I got to her bedroom, I could hear a low moaning sound from the attached washroom. I ran in and found Wilma collapsed by the bathtub. She had slipped and hit her head, injuring her hip and arm in the process. She didn't have her phone with her when she fell and had been unable to move, so who knows how long she had been lying there. I called 911 for an ambulance and then called Erin and suggested that she meet us at the hospital. It took forever for the paramedics to arrive, and longer still to get Wilma loaded into the ambulance. By the time I got to the hospital, she was already being triaged by their emergency team. I took a few minutes while I waited for an update on Wilma's condition to call the rest of the family and give them the news. Alison came directly to the hospital after class, and Sharon brought Mary and Lane as soon as they got home from school. Erin arrived a few hours later and broke down when she saw me. Finally, just after nine, the doctors gave Erin an update. Wilma was in rough shape; she was badly dehydrated and had a moderate concussion, a fractured wrist, and a bone bruise on her hip. It would take her weeks to recover in the hospital. The good news was that she would make a recovery, given enough time and support. Erin and Mary decided to stay with Wilma in the hospital while Sharon dropped Alison at her dorm and drove Lane back to the house. By midnight, Mary had nodded off in a chair in the corner of Wilma's room, while I waited outside with Erin. "You should go home, Davis. There's nothing else you can do tonight. Thank God, you found her; I am not sure what I would have done if you hadn't. I already lost Grampy; I am not ready to lose Gran as well. They are all I have." I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her close. "You have me, now, too. And the girls. And you know Lane would do anything for you, you just need to ask. I was serious about what I said in Grand Rapids, Erin. I love you." Erin pulled me closer but didn't reply. The following week was a rollercoaster of emotions. Wilma was improving far quicker than the doctors had anticipated, but she would still be in rehab for at least another two weeks. It was impossible to hide Wilma's accident from the rest of the family, and they descended on the hospital like vultures; or, more accurately, their lawyers descended on the hospital while, for the most part, they stayed far away where it was warm. The one exception was Erin's stepfather, who flew in the next day. "For Christ's sake, Erin. Haven't you done enough harm as it is? Do you want your Gran to die alone on the floor of that dingy old shack of hers? It's time for her to move into a care facility that can look after her. Be reasonable!" When he failed to persuade Erin to act on his behalf, his attorneys requested an emergency court order, alleging that Wilma lacked the capacity to make her own medical decisions, that Erin was not acting in her best interests, and that one of Wilma's children should be appointed as her legal guardian. Wilma was furious when she learned of his actions, but there was little she could do to stop him until she was discharged from the hospital. Both sides knew that her doctor's recommendation would hold a lot of weight with the judge, and it was not good news for Wilma when it came. "If Mrs. Anderson is to return home, she will require around-the-clock care and company. If such care can't be arranged, then I recommend that she be placed in a long-term assisted-living facility that can treat any lingering effects from her fall, and from her late-stage cancer." Erin took the news like a physical blow, and she staggered backward to a chair. We didn't have the resources for 24-hour nursing, and it would be impossible to arrange it with such short notice even if we did. "I'm sorry, Davis. I need to be alone for a while to think." She left without looking back or saying goodbye to Wilma, and I just let her go. I wanted to ease her pain, but I knew that there was nothing I could do. She had lost, and her family had won. I was despondent as I made my way towards the exit, so much so that I nearly ran into Alison who was finishing up her shift at the hospital. "You look terrible, Brother, what happened? Is Wilma alright?" I explained to her about the doctor's recommendation and Erin's reaction. "No one has had the heart to tell Wilma, yet. She's recovered from the fall, but this news is going to kill her." Alison looked at me for a minute, before her mouth quirked upwards in a smile. "I'll do it." "What do you mean? "I'll do it. I'll look after Wilma. I am wrapping up my clinical practicum tomorrow, and I was planning on working this summer. I will look after Wilma instead. Mary can move in with us as well, and I can teach her what she needs to know to care for her when I'm not there. Once her school year is done in June, she and I can spell each other off, and I can still pick up some shifts here and there." It was an amazing offer, but I couldn't let her do it. "Alison, I can't ask you to give up your job for the summer. You need that money for your living expenses at school." "You're not asking; I'm offering. And since you've paid for my tuition so far, I am debt-free and can take out a loan to cover my last term." "I didn't cover the tuition, it was your;" "Davis. Really? Our mother, who never met a five-dollar bill she couldn't snort or inject, left me a college fund? Please. I am not an idiot. I love you, Big Brother, and I love what you have done for me and the others, but it's my time to step up now as well. Let me do this." I felt a heaviness lift from my chest as I hugged Alison and lifted her off her feet. I tried to reach Erin to let her know about Alison's offer, but I drove to her apartment, and she wasn't there, and she must have turned her phone off. I figured she must have gone to Wilma's, so I headed that way. I pulled in just as the sun was setting and found her SUV parked in the laneway, crosshatched by the lengthening shadows of the trees. I parked and saw a lone figure at the end of the dock, still wearing her scrubs. I could see whitecaps on the waves as they smashed into the dock, and I knew she must be freezing, so I grabbed my jacket out of the back of the truck and went to join her. The footing was treacherous, with patches of ice hidden by the gloom and spray, but I made my way carefully to Erin and wrapped my jacket around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and leaned back against me. "Am I doing the right thing, Davis? Gran could have died. She would have died if not for you. Can we risk that happening again? Am I just holding on to the past?" When she was finished, Erin lapsed into silence. "You are doing what Wilma asked you to do. I know your stepfather says that she isn't mentally competent, but I tell you, if she's not mentally competent then none of us are." "But it doesn't make a difference anymore. You heard what the doctor said, and I can't go against her recommendation." "You don't have to, Erin. Alison has offered to move in with Wilma to look after her, and she will teach Mary to look after her as well. Between the two of them, Wilma can stay in the house until the fall, at least, and then we can see." Erin turned towards me in her excitement but lost her footing on the slippery dock and fell backward into the water, pulling me with her. Now, in the summer, that kind of accident might be cause for some laughter and an embarrassing story around the dinner table. In late April, however, spending any time in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan could rapidly prove fatal. The shock from the cold when Erin hit the water caused her to gasp involuntarily, and she took in a mouthful. I had a half-second longer to prepare myself and managed to keep my mouth closed as I submerged, but I could immediately feel the cold in my extremities. The ladder that would normally have been at the end of the dock had been taken out for the winter, so we had no choice but to make for shore. Time compressed as I struggled to pull us through the water while Erin coughed and vomited. Finally, we dragged ourselves onto the shore, wet and shivering. I felt clumsy and weak from the cold, and my clothes felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, but I wrapped my arm around Erin's waist, and we started stumbling toward the house. By the time we got there, we were both shivering uncontrollably and my hands were numb from the cold. I knew we needed to get warm, but it was like my brain was in a fog and I couldn't get my limbs to move the way they were supposed to. So, I did the first thing that came to mind, and started feeding paper and kindling into the fireplace, while Erin went to the linen closet and grabbed a stack of towels. She stripped off her wet scrubs while I got the fire started, and then she helped me get undressed as well. When I felt a little feeling return to my fingers, I fed a larger log onto the fire and then went and got a large comforter which I wrapped around us as we shivered in front of the fire. Eventually, our shivering subsided as our bodies warmed up, and Erin laid her head back against my chest. "I'm not ready for her to go. I'm not ready to be all alone again." "You're not alone anymore; not unless you want to be. I love you, Erin." I felt her relax back against me. "I love you too, Davis, and I'm sorry." "For what?" "For pulling you into the lake like a dumbass; fuck, that was cold." Chapter 6. Wilma's family insisted on taking their emergency petition to court, over Wilma's continued objections, but once the judge learned that Alison, a trained nurse, was going to be staying with her, their decision was an easy one. And let me tell you, Wilma's mind was still sharp as ever, and she made it clear both to her doctors and, eventually, to her family and the judge, that she wanted to go home. Erin's stepfather was beside himself with anger after they lost the hearing. "Why do you insist on delaying the inevitable like this? Wilma is dying. We know it, she knows it, the doctors know it. You're the only one who won't accept it. She would get better care in a facility with real nurses here in town, rather than relying on a student, a little girl, and whatever time you can give her at home. The next time she has a crisis maybe we won't get so lucky, and it will be on your head." Outwardly, Erin looked as smooth and unbothered as glass as her stepfather screamed at her, but her hand was squeezing mine so hard that I thought she might break a bone. Luckily, before I could say anything to make matters worse, Wilma intervened. "What is it that makes you so damn sure that you know what's best for everyone else? You're right, I'm dying. There is nothing that anyone can do about that. If I happen to fall again and speed the process along, so be it. But don't you dare pretend that you care one iota about my health or happiness, or your stepdaughter's happiness for that matter. The only thing you care about is getting your wife's inheritance faster. Is your business doing so badly that you can't wait until I die? It seemed like she had scored a direct hit, as his face turned solid red as he started to stammer out a response, but she dismissed him before he could even begin. "Now go away and leave us in peace. You will be back here for my funeral soon enough, and no one wants you hovering around, hoping to speed it up." A week later, Wilma was released from the hospital, and we brought her back home. Alison moved in right away, along with Munchkin, and Mary soon followed. On most days, James would come by to pick Mary up for school and then drop her back afterward. Alison stayed with Wilma during the day, and Mary covered most of the evenings. Erin came by to help whenever she could, and I did my best to keep them stocked with supplies. It wasn't perfect, but it worked and, more importantly, it made Wilma happy. She didn't talk much about her cancer, but it was clear that it was getting worse. Mary noticed that she was eating less and resting more and that she had begun to take her pain pills in the morning as well as in the evening before she went to bed. Wilma was still adamant that she wanted to stay in her home, however, and continued to teach Mary all she could about art and life. In early June, I had stopped by to visit Wilma and the girls late in the afternoon and I was still there when James dropped Mary off from school. He escorted her into the house but then stood awkwardly in the entranceway rather than leaving. "Mr. Crawford, could we talk for a minute, if you have the time?" I shook my head in amusement. No matter how many times I told him to just call me Davis, Mr. Crawford, I remained. "Sure, I was just finishing up with Wilma," I replied as I gave Wilma a gentle hug. She felt more like a bird at that point than a person, just skin hanging on fragile bones held together by her indomitable will. James looked worried as we went outside. "This may not be any of my business, but yesterday, when I got home from school, Calum and my dad were on a conference call with some officials from the county and Wilma's son and one of her granddaughters, the lawyer. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything, but they were on speaker, and it was loud enough that I could hear them in the kitchen. "They were saying that when Wilma dies, her estate is being divided up equally amongst all of the children and grandchildren, but there is a part of the will that states that the land by the lake can't be sold or developed. From the sounds of it, however, once Wilma is gone, the county is going to seize that land, using eminent domain, to create a public boat launch, since Wilma's dock is the only four-season dock for at least ten miles in either direction. They will fix it up and then sell the rest of the land to the McDougals for development. "So, Wilma's family will get their money when the county forces the sale, and the McDougals will get their land. The only person left who might make a fuss would be Erin, but they figure she will fall in line once she sees the big fat check from the county." Listening to James' story made my blood boil. I hated the kinds of rich pricks who used their money and their purchased politicians to run roughshod over the rest of us. I just wasn't sure if there was anything that we could do to stop them. I thanked James for the heads up and went to speak with Wilma once he left. I expected Wilma to be as filled with rage at her family's treachery as I was, but she seemed remarkably calm about the whole thing. "Thank you for sharing this with me and thank James for his candor. He must have been deeply conflicted between his loyalty to his family, and his desire to do the right thing. Now, as to what we are going to do about this, we are going to do nothing. I don't want you to mention this to Erin or Mary, it will just worry them and make them upset. And you have more important things to do than to rage against a bunch of duplicitous assholes. Leave this one with me. "Now, why don't you go outside, take that shirt off, and start chopping some wood or something equally manly? Erin will be here soon, and you know how she likes to see you when you have worked up a sweat." I didn't know exactly what Wilma had planned, but for the next few days, she spent a lot of time on the phone. Towards the end of June, a very well-dressed older man in a tailored suit was leaving her house just as I was pulling in. It was clear that he had been there before since Munchkin ignored him and came over to give me an enthusiastic greeting instead. The man gave me a friendly smile as he put his briefcase in his top-of-the-line Lexus SUV before walking over to introduce himself. "Brantford Sage," he said holding out his hand. "You must be Mr. Crawford. Wilma has told me a lot about you. With everything she said, I was kind of expecting you to be seven feet tall and wearing a cape." I laughed at the image. "It's nice that she thinks so highly of me, but she gives me too much credit. And please call me Davis." "Well, Davis, and please call me Brantford, I have known Wilma for more years than you have been alive, and I have never heard her talk about anyone the way that she talks about you, except for Phillip, of course. And we all know how she felt about Phillip." I knew that it was none of my business why Mr. Sage was visiting Wilma, but my desire to protect her overrode any hesitation on my part about speaking out. "I am sorry if it's rude of me to ask, Mr. Sage, but what is your business here with Wilma? As you may know, her own family, along with a local family of some prominence, have been waging a campaign to get Wilma to sell this land. You are not here on their behalf, are you?" "I can assure you, Davis, that I am only here as a favor to Wilma. I normally split my time between our offices in Detroit, New York, and London, but when Wilma calls, I make it a priority to answer. I am sorry that I can't say more about my business here, attorney-client privilege, but you can ask her yourself if you would like." "It's all good. Wilma is still sharp as a tack, and even if she has lost a step or two, she is still twice as smart and four times as wise as I will ever be." "Well, I should be going. But sadly, I am sure I will see you again, soon enough." By the end of the summer, it was clear that Wilma's adventures were almost done. When she worked with Mary, she would often fall asleep in the comfortable chair in the corner. She had never had a large appetite, but recently, it had dwindled almost to nothing. Erin was very worried and suggested that it was time to move her Gran into hospice, but Wilma wouldn't hear of it. "This house has been my home for more than 60 years; I am not going to leave it now. It would miss me too much, and I can't have my home pining away over me. There is nothing more depressing than a sad home." Even Munchkin, the dog with boundless energy, became more subdued and often sat a quiet watch over Wilma while she slept. Finally, on the last Sunday of August, I got the call I had been dreading. I could hear Mary's voice on the other end of the line, holding back tears. "Gran says she's too tired and it's time to stop fighting. She told me to call you and Erin, and ask you to come;" I could hear the sobs building in her as she spoke, "to say goodbye." "Is James there with you, Mary?" "I called him. He's on his way." "I will call Erin and then go and pick her up. She won't be in any condition to drive." I figured the odds of there being a speed trap on the highway to Petoskey before 7 AM on a Sunday were slim to none, so I made it to Erin's apartment in record time. She must have been watching for me out of her window, as she threw herself into my arms before I was fully out of the truck. "I am so sorry, Honey," was all I could say, and I just held her in silence until the waves of grief that wracked her body had subsided. "We should get going," I said, not knowing what else to say. Maybe I should have told her that "Everything would be alright," but I suspected that it would be a while before that was true. But that was okay. People grieve in their own time. Erin held my hand tightly as we started the drive to Wilma's. "Why don't you tell me some of your favorite memories with your Gran and Grampy?" Erin remained silent for a few minutes, but once she started talking, the floodgates opened wide. She told me about the first time that her parents dropped her at the airport when she was only seven. How scared she was of these strange older people she didn't know. Phillip had seen her fear, and rather than trying to comfort her; how do you comfort a child whose parents have abandoned them; he had taken her for a long walk down by the lake. She remembered the sound of the wind blowing off the lake, as Phillip told her stories about their past. She remembered the summers she spent with Gran and Grampy as a teen. By that point, she had grown into a beautiful young woman, and her parents wanted to show her off to their important friends in Europe and places further afield. But she had already chosen to spend her time with the people that she loved. She spoke of coming to see them when she was in college. Of the awful year that Phillip got sick, and her grief at his passing. She said that her parents came to Good Hart for the funeral, but it felt like she and Gran were the only people to truly grieve his loss. She fell silent as we pulled into Wilma's laneway. "Go and see your Gran. Let me know what you need, Honey. I am here for you." Despite her grief, Erin looked at me as she took my hand. "What about you? What do you need, Davis? You love her too." "People show their love in different ways. I never really got the chance to give or receive love as a child, at least not in the way that most of us think of it. But being with you has made me realize something important about myself; I take care of the people I love. So, let me take care of you, Mary, and Wilma, one final time." By that point, Mary and Munchkin had come outside. Mary's eyes were red, and you could see the tracks that her tears had left on her cheeks. I got out of the truck and just held her for a minute. Erin came up behind me and enveloped her as well. Munchkin, mourning in his own way, stood watch for us, keeping us safe as we grieved. "Mary, you don't have to be here for the end if it's too hard. You can say goodbye, then take the truck and go and meet James. We can let you know when it's over." She just shook her head. "Where is she?" Mary led us into the living room. The wisp that remained of Wilma was in the comfortable chair by the fire. She had been a very small woman when we met less than a year before, but now she looked almost ethereal. Like the wind could slip right through her collecting her stories as it passed. She beckoned me over with one of her curled hands. "Davis, I am glad that you're here. I know I am a greedy old biddy, but I have three favors to ask, and I don't have a lot of time left to do the asking." "Of course, Wilma. You know I would do anything for you and Erin." She closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts. "The first favor is that I need some time alone with my girls. I am sure James will be here in a minute; he is a good boy, don't hold those assholes in his family against him. He loves our Mary. Go outside, and when he arrives, I want you to go down to the lake and set up the five Adirondack chairs, so they are all together and facing out over the water. Then come back up to me." "Of course, Wilma." I went outside and sat on the front steps, scratching Munchkin's ears as I waited. James pulled up less than ten minutes later and I explained what had happened, and Wilma's request. When we were finished at the lake, we walked back up to the house, with Munchkin following quietly on our heels. We let ourselves in and saw Wilma, Erin, and Mary pulled together in an embrace. I was hesitant to interrupt, but Wilma saw us and called us over. "There's your big, strong men. Girls, could you get some of the outdoor blankets for James to carry down to the lake for us? And Davis, my second favor is for you to carry me down to the lake one last time. Would the rest of you give us a few minutes before you follow?" I picked Wilma up from the chair and wrapped her in my arms. She felt almost weightless, but I saw hints of her mischievous smile as we started walking. "You know, the last time a man carried me like this, the journey ended very differently." I couldn't help but smile, even at the end Wilma was still quick with the teasing and innuendo. "I bet you wish it was that other man carrying you now," I joked in return, but Wilma just rested her head against my chest. "No. No, I don't, Davis. I will see that other man soon enough. I am well content to be here with you. I am so proud of you. You are such a good and faithful man. It is a lot to ask of you, but for my third favor, will you look after my girls when I am gone?" By that point, we had reached the shore, and I set Wilma down in the middle chair of the five. "You don't need to ask, Wilma. Of course, I will look after them. Because you asked it of me, and because I love them just like you do." Wilma smiled and reached out to take my hand while she pressed three small objects into my palm. I looked down and saw that she had removed her engagement and wedding rings and given them to me. They were joined by an almost identical wedding band that must have belonged to Phillip before he passed. "You will know when the time is right for these. I would have liked to have been there to see it, though. Through these rings, maybe Phillip and I can continue to be a small part of your love for each other, even once we're gone." James and the girls had started down the path to the lake and would reach us in a minute. Before they arrived, Wilma gave me a final serious look. "All hell is going to break loose when they read my will after the funeral. Be there for Erin, please. The mistakes I made with my children are all my fault, but Erin will be left to bear that weight for a little while longer once I'm gone. It would mean a lot to a dying woman to know that she won't have to carry that weight alone." "I'll share that weight with her, for as long as she needs. For as long as she will let me." Wilma patted my hand. "That's good. I love you, Davis, but I think it's time." Mary and Erin arrived with James, and they made sure that Wilma was bundled in warm blankets as she looked out over the lake. Mary and Erin sat on either side of her and held her hands, while James and I sat at the ends. Munchkin settled against Wilma's feet, to keep them warm. After a while, Wilma started talking. She told stories about her life with Phillip; how they met, when they first came to this place, building a home, and raising their family. She spoke of their success as artists, and their failures as parents. She spoke of her regrets but also about her deep love for Erin and Mary, and how much she appreciated what they had done for her. She paused for a moment as the wind began to pick up, but we heard her last words before the wind carried the rest away. "You are all artists, and you are all worthy of love." She fell silent, and we sat for a long while listening to the wind off the lake. Epilogue. As always, Wilma was right. The reading of her will did indeed set off a firestorm, but she had made sure that we were ready for it. Do you remember Mr. Sage, that man in the suit who came to visit Wilma not too long before she passed? It turns out that he wasn't just an old friend, he was also a named partner at the largest law firm in the state and one of the most powerful firms in the country. It seems that Phillip didn't just paint portraits for the richest family in the state (you would recognize their name from the hospitals, museums, and other cultural institutions where it is featured prominently), but he also became a close family friend. You would never have known it, though, since Phillip refused to even acknowledge their friendship in public so that he didn't inadvertently trade on their name. Mr. Sage was also a good friend of that family and, over the years, became close with Wilma and Phillip, as well. After James told Wilma his story, she called those old family friends and, for the first time in their long friendship, asked for their help. She would never have done so for her own benefit, but she couldn't bear to think that Phillip's legacy would be lost because of the greed and treachery of his children. Within a day, Mr. Sage was working on a solution to Wilma's problem, and everything was signed and sealed well before Wilma passed on. The day of the reading of the will would have been comic if it hadn't also been so tragic. In the weeks after Wilma's death, her remaining children and grandchildren had gathered to express their deep sadness at her passing. Many black outfits were worn, and many sad faces were made. Not surprisingly, the entire McDougal family also showed up both to the funeral and to the smaller gathering at Wilma's house afterward. James stood with Mary, his arm around her shoulder, both to comfort her and to protect her from his own family, as best he could. The rest of the McDougal clan stood with Wilma's family and made sure to avail themselves of the free wine and hors d'oeuvres. As per her wishes, Wilma was cremated, and her ashes were scattered from the deck behind her house so that the wind could carry them towards the lake. Again, as per her wishes, the will was read immediately thereafter. The first surprise of the day came when Mr. Sage, who everyone thought was there merely to express his condolences at Wilma's passing, informed the family lawyers that the will in their possession had been revoked earlier that year. Both Wilma's family and their lawyers began to protest until the man formally introduced himself as a named partner at Sage, Bentley, and Carstairs, and as the new executor of Wilma's estate. The second surprise was the size and extent of that estate. The property by the lake was considerably larger than anyone had known and included a number of additional houses and cottages that Wilma and Phillip had acquired over the years. Unlike the previous will, however, that had left an equal share of the land to each of Wilma's descendants, the new one protected the entire property, in perpetuity, as part of a land trust that was established for the benefit and use of artists, local residents and even the Fudgies, when summer came to the lower peninsula. As part of the land trust, the dock was to be extended and reinforced and a public boat landing and park were to be built and maintained on the land, again, in perpetuity. Erin and I were named as trustees of the land trust, along with Mr. Sage and Mary, when she came of age. Given Michigan's strict laws around the use of eminent domain for private gain, there was no chance that the McDougals and the county would be able to move forward with their plans to seize the land. The third and final surprise was that Wilma and Phillip had done much better with the sale of their art and with their investments over the years than anyone had thought or expected. In addition to the property that was now in the trust, they had amassed a fortune in the low eight figures. Most of that money was left to manage the land trust, but a not inconsiderable amount was set aside to fund the college education of my brother and sisters and to pay off Erin's considerable student debt from medical school. The will also stipulated that the estate would pay for any costs that Wilma's family had incurred to attend the funeral (with receipts, of course.) Wilma's paintings were left to the public gallery in Grand Rapids and galleries further afield, with a few notable exceptions. Mary was given three paintings of her choice from the collection, that weren't otherwise named in the will. After much thought and consideration, she chose both the first and last works that Wilma had painted, both of which had been hanging in the living room, along with a small study of the house that Wilma kept in her bedroom beside a picture of Phillip and her on their wedding day. Erin was given Phillip's portrait of her as a young woman, and that portrait still hangs above our mantelpiece alongside his portrait of Wilma as a young woman, which she left to me. The only time they left our mantelpiece was when they were featured in a retrospective exhibit of their work at a museum in New York, but the house felt strangely empty when they were gone. Erin's family was furious at the changes in the new will. They threatened to fight it with every resource at their disposal. They tried every dirty trick they could think of, questioning Wilma's mental capacity in the months before her death, fighting the legality of the land trust, and trying to impugn our characters implying that we were gold diggers who wormed our way into Wilma's life to steal the family inheritance. In the end, though, the family's lawyers were no match for Brantford and his firm. When none of their ploys worked, Erin's family and the McDougals turned on each other, and the ensuing lawsuits are still ongoing to this day. I would love to say that that was the end of the McDougals, or that Erin's family came around in the end. Unfortunately, they are still just as terrible as ever. But at least their arrogance and corruption are now far enough away that we can safely ignore them. On a similar note, my mother is still absent from our lives. I don't honestly know if she is even still alive, although I assume that someone would have tried to find her next of kin if she had died. Sometimes, I am charitable and hope that she managed to face her demons and turn what's left of her life around. But most of the time, I am just glad that she is no longer able to hurt the people I love. After things settled down, Alison finished her schooling and became a nurse practitioner, as she had always dreamed of. In her last year of study, while she was doing a clinical practicum at a hospital in Detroit, she met a lovely internist who fell madly in love with her. Luckily for him, his feelings were reciprocated, and they are now married and living in Grand Rapids. They split their holidays between our family and her husband's family in Detroit, and they stay with us for a few weeks each summer. Their son is as thick as thieves with our daughter, and their imagination carries them through endless adventures together. Sharon was successful in her ambition to leave the peninsula and see more of the world. She finished her undergraduate degree in creative writing in Chicago before setting out to see the world, and she is still out there wandering. But she sends us lots of pictures when she gets the chance, and recently, Erin noticed that many of her pictures have the same very attractive woman smiling in the background. I think it was probably a coincidence, but Erin thinks otherwise. I sure hope Erin's right. There is nothing I want more than for my family to find love and happiness. When the spirit moves her to come home to us (with or without her friend), she will be very welcome. Mary spent months grieving her loss, but rather than turning inward, she channeled her emotions into a triptych of paintings that firmly established her as an upcoming talent in the world of art. She lived with us for several years until James proposed, at which point they moved into one of the cottages owned by the trust. Unfortunately, James' family found out that he told Wilma about their plans, and they disowned him. He had a few tough years, but Mary helped him through, and when he turned eighteen, I took him on as an apprentice. He now runs one of my crews. I used to worry that he loved Mary more than she loved him and that the imbalance would lead to heartache. My worries were put to rest when she painted her first portrait. James was her subject, and I have never seen a painting more suffused with love and desire. A few years later, a collector offered her an eye-watering amount of money for it, but she politely declined. As for Lane, well who knows what he will do with his life, but he is carrying a 4.0 GPA, and the world is his oyster. He was sure impressed by the lawyers who rained hellfire down on the McDougals, though, so I suspect that he might be leaning that way in the future. He is also building quite a following as a DJ, combining classics from the 40's and 50's with new beats. He recently started dating a new girl, and she is a real sweetheart. We haven't told her about the day that he met Erin for the first time; yet. But trust me, that time will come. But until it does, Lane is more than happy to keep up with his chores and help out around the house. But what he loves more than anything is to carry his rod out to the end of the dock and fish, while the wind off the lake plays through his hair. And then there is Erin and me. I have to say that things have worked out pretty well for us, in the end. It took less than a year for me to make use of Wilma's last gifts, and Erin and I were married the next summer in the new park down by the dock. Wilma left her house and a few acres of land to Erin, separate from the land trust, and we spent several years fixing it up and expanding it so that my brother and sisters know that there is always a place for them if they need it; for a day, a week, or a lifetime. I am still not the best at taking orders or following instructions; but gentle requests from the woman that I love, sealed with a kiss on my cheek? It turns out that I am more than fine with those. And I am still not always sure what a beautiful doctor sees in a plumber like me. But rather than let my insecurity get the better of me, I have learned to accept my good fortune with a smile. One tradition that we've adopted as our own is that we make time to dance together every Friday night. If we have guests, or family who are home, they know that they will be joining us as well; Wilma's 'no wallflowers' rule is still in full effect. Now that she is old enough, I am teaching our daughter to dance, and her favorite thing in the world is to twirl around the living room in her mommy and daddy's arms. Some nights, when it's just the three of us and our daughter has gone to bed, we let the soft crackle of Wilma's old 45s take us back. We dance together with the lights down low, the music threading through the quiet night like a whisper from the past. And when the music fades, we hold each other close and listen to the voices of those we have loved, as they linger in the wind off the lake. Based on a post by CleverGenericName, in 4 parts, for Literotica.

Last time we spoke about the fall of Wuhan. In a country frayed by war, the Yangtze became a pulsing artery, carrying both hunger and hope. Chiang Kai-shek faced a brutal choice: defend Wuhan to the last man, or flood the rivers to buy time. He chose both, setting sullen floodwaters loose along the Yellow River to slow the invaders, a temporary mercy that spared some lives while ripping many from their homes. On the river's banks, a plethora of Chinese forces struggled to unite. The NRA, fractured into rival zones, clung to lines with stubborn grit as Japanese forces poured through Anqing, Jiujiang, and beyond, turning the Yangtze into a deadly corridor. Madang's fortifications withstood bombardment and gas, yet the price was paid in troops and civilians drowned or displaced. Commanders like Xue Yue wrestled stubbornly for every foothold, every bend in the river. The Battle of Wanjialing became a symbol: a desperate, months-long pincer where Chinese divisions finally tightened their cordon and halted the enemy's flow. By autumn, the Japanese pressed onward to seize Tianjiazhen and cut supply lines, while Guangzhou fell to a ruthless blockade. The Fall of Wuhan loomed inevitable, yet the story remained one of fierce endurance against overwhelming odds.   #174 The Changsha Fire Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the summer of 1938, amid the upheaval surrounding Chiang Kai-shek, one of his most important alliances came to an end. On June 22, all German advisers to the Nationalist government were summoned back; any who refused would be deemed guilty of high treason. Since World War I, a peculiar bond had tied the German Weimar Republic and China: two fledgling states, both weak and only partially sovereign. Under the Versailles Treaty of 1919, Germany had lost extraterritorial rights on Chinese soil, which paradoxically allowed Berlin to engage with China as an equal partner rather than a traditional colonizer. This made German interests more welcome in business and politics than those of other Western powers. Chiang's military reorganization depended on German officers such as von Seeckt and von Falkenhausen, and Hitler's rise in 1933 had not immediately severed the connection between the two countries. Chiang did not share Nazi ideology with Germany, but he viewed Berlin as a potential ally and pressed to persuade it to side with China rather than Japan as China's principal East Asian, anti-Communist partner. In June 1937, H. H. Kung led a delegation to Berlin, met Hitler, and argued for an alliance with China. Yet the outbreak of war and the Nationalists' retreat to Wuhan convinced Hitler's government to align with Japan, resulting in the recall of all German advisers. Chiang responded with a speech praising von Falkenhausen, insisting that "our friend's enemy is our enemy too," and lauding the German Army's loyalty and ethics as a model for the Chinese forces. He added, "After we have won the War of Resistance, I believe you'll want to come back to the Far East and advise our country again." Von Falkenhausen would later become the governor of Nazi-occupied Belgium, then be lauded after the war for secretly saving many Jewish lives. As the Germans departed, the roof of the train transporting them bore a prominent German flag with a swastika, a prudent precaution given Wuhan's vulnerability to air bombardment. The Japanese were tightening their grip on the city, even as Chinese forces, numbering around 800,000, made a stubborn stand. The Yellow River floods blocked northern access, so the Japanese chose to advance via the Yangtze, aided by roughly nine divisions and the might of the Imperial Navy. The Chinese fought bravely, but their defenses could not withstand the superior technology of the Japanese fleet. The only substantial external aid came from Soviet pilots flying aircraft bought from the USSR as part of Stalin's effort to keep China in the war; between 1938 and 1940, some 2,000 pilots offered their services. From June 24 to 27, Japanese bombers relentlessly pounded the Madang fortress along the Yangtze until it fell. A month later, on July 26, Chinese defenders abandoned Jiujiang, southeast of Wuhan, and its civilian population endured a wave of atrocities at the hands of the invaders. News of Jiujiang's fate stiffened resolve. Chiang delivered a pointed address to his troops on July 31, arguing that Wuhan's defense was essential and that losing the city would split the country into hostile halves, complicating logistics and movement. He warned that Wuhan's defense would also be a spiritual test: "the place has deep revolutionary ties," and public sympathy for China's plight was growing as Japanese atrocities became known. Yet Chiang worried about the behavior of Chinese soldiers. He condemned looting as a suicidal act that would destroy the citizens' trust in the military. Commanders, he warned, must stay at their posts; the memory of the Madang debacle underscored the consequences of cowardice. Unlike Shanghai, Wuhan had shelters, but he cautioned against retreating into them and leaving soldiers exposed. Officers who failed in loyalty could expect no support in return. This pep talk, combined with the belief that the army was making a last stand, may have slowed the Japanese advance along the Yangtze in August. Under General Xue Yue, about 100,000 Chinese troops pushed back the invaders at Huangmei. At Tianjiazhen, thousands fought until the end of September, with poison gas finally forcing Japanese victory. Yet even then, Chinese generals struggled to coordinate. In Xinyang, Li Zongren's Guangxi troops were exhausted; they expected relief from Hu Zongnan's forces, but Hu instead withdrew, allowing Japan to capture the city without a fight. The fall of Xinyang enabled Japanese control of the Ping-Han railway, signaling Wuhan's doom. Chiang again spoke to Wuhan's defenders, balancing encouragement with a grim realism about possible loss. Although Wuhan's international connections were substantial, foreign aid would be unlikely. If evacuation became necessary, the army should have a clear plan, including designated routes. He recalled the disastrous December retreat from Nanjing, where "foreigners and Chinese alike turned it into an empty city." Troops had been tired and outnumbered; Chiang defended the decision to defend Nanjing, insisting the army had sacrificed itself for the capital and Sun Yat-sen's tomb. Were the army to retreat again, he warned, it would be the greatest shame in five thousand years of Chinese history. The loss of Madang was another humiliation. By defending Wuhan, he argued, China could avenge its fallen comrades and cleanse its conscience; otherwise, it could not honor its martyrs. Mao Zedong, observing the situation from his far-off base at Yan'an, agreed strongly that Chiang should not defend Wuhan to the death. He warned in mid-October that if Wuhan could not be defended, the war's trajectory would shift, potentially strengthening the Nationalists–Communists cooperation, deepening popular mobilization, and expanding guerrilla warfare. The defense of Wuhan, Mao argued, should drain the enemy and buy time to advance the broader struggle, not become a doomed stalemate. In a protracted war, some strongholds might be abandoned temporarily to sustain the longer fight. The Japanese Army captured Wuchang and Hankou on 26 October and captured Hanyang on the 27th, which concluded the campaign in Wuhan. The battle had lasted four and a half months and ended with the Nationalist army's voluntary withdrawal. In the battle itself, the Japanese army captured Wuhan's three towns and held the heartland of China, achieving a tactical victory. Yet strategically, Japan failed to meet its objectives. Imperial Headquarters believed that "capturing Hankou and Guangzhou would allow them to dominate China." Consequently, the Imperial Conference planned the Battle of Wuhan to seize Wuhan quickly and compel the Chinese government to surrender. It also decreed that "national forces should be concentrated to achieve the war objectives within a year and end the war against China." According to Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, Hirohito authorized the use of chemical weapons against China by specific orders known as rinsanmei. During the Battle of Wuhan, Prince Kan'in Kotohito transmitted the emperor's orders to deploy toxic gas 375 times between August and October 1938. Another memorandum uncovered by Yoshimi indicates that Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni authorized the use of poison gas against the Chinese on 16 August 1938. A League of Nations resolution adopted on 14 May condemned the Imperial Japanese Army's use of toxic gas. Japan's heavy use of chemical weapons against China was driven by manpower shortages and China's lack of poison gas stockpiles to retaliate. Poison gas was employed at Hankou in the Battle of Wuhan to break Chinese resistance after conventional assaults had failed. Rana Mitter notes that, under General Xue Yue, approximately 100,000 Chinese troops halted Japanese advances at Huangmei, and at the fortress of Tianjiazhen, thousands fought until the end of September, with Japanese victory secured only through the use of poison gas. Chinese generals also struggled with coordination at Xinyang; Li Zongren's Guangxi troops were exhausted, and Hu Zongnan's forces, believed to be coming to relieve them, instead withdrew. Japan subsequently used poison gas against Chinese Muslim forces at the Battle of Wuyuan and the Battle of West Suiyuan. However, the Chinese government did not surrender with the loss of Wuhan and Guangzhou, nor did Japan's invasion end with Wuhan and Guangzhou's capture. After Wuhan fell, the government issued a reaffirmation: "Temporary changes of advance and retreat will not shake our resolve to resist the Japanese invasion," and "the gain or loss of any city will not affect the overall situation of the war." It pledged to "fight with even greater sorrow, greater perseverance, greater steadfastness, greater diligence, and greater courage," dedicating itself to a long, comprehensive war of resistance. In the Japanese-occupied rear areas, large armed anti-Japanese forces grew, and substantial tracts of territory were recovered. As the Japanese army themselves acknowledged, "the restoration of public security in the occupied areas was actually limited to a few kilometers on both sides of the main transportation lines." Thus, the Battle of Wuhan did not merely inflict a further strategic defeat on Japan; it also marked a turning point in Japan's strategic posture, from offense to defense. Due to the Nationalist Army's resolute resistance, Japan mobilized its largest force to date for the attack, about 250,000 personnel, who were replenished four to five times over the battle, for a total of roughly 300,000. The invaders held clear advantages in land, sea, and air power and fought for four and a half months. Yet they failed to annihilate the Nationalist main force, nor did they break the will to resist or the army's combat effectiveness. Instead, the campaign dealt a severe blow to the Japanese Army's vitality. Japanese-cited casualties totaled 4,506 dead and 17,380 wounded for the 11th Army; the 2nd Army suffered 2,300 killed in action, 7,600 wounded, and 900 died of disease. Including casualties across the navy and the air force, the overall toll was about 35,500. By contrast, the Nationalist Government Military Commission's General Staff Department, drawing on unit-level reports, calculated Japanese casualties at 256,000. The discrepancy between Japanese and Nationalist tallies illustrates the inflationary tendencies of each side's reporting. Following Wuhan, a weakened Japanese force confronted an extended front. Unable to mount large-scale strategic offensives, unlike Shanghai, Xuzhou, or Wuhan itself, the Japanese to a greater extent adopted a defensive posture. This transition shifted China's War of Resistance from a strategic defensive phase into a strategic stalemate, while the invaders found themselves caught in a protracted war—a development they most disliked. Consequently, Japan's invasion strategy pivoted: away from primary frontal offensives toward a greater reliance on political inducements with secondary military action, and toward diverting forces to "security" operations behind enemy lines rather than pushing decisive frontal campaigns. Japan, an island nation with limited strategic resources, depended heavily on imports. By the time of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan's gold reserves,including reserves for issuing banknotes, amounted to only about 1.35 billion yen. In effect, Japan's currency reserves constrained the scale of the war from the outset. The country launched its aggression while seeking an early solution to the conflict. To sustain its war of aggression against China, the total value of military supplies imported from overseas in 1937 reached approximately 960 million yen. By June of the following year, for the Battle of Wuhan, even rifles used in training were recalled to outfit the expanding army. The sustained increase in troops also strained domestic labor, food, and energy supplies. By 1939, after Wuhan, Japan's military expenditure had climbed to about 6.156 billion yen, far exceeding national reserves. This stark reality exposed Japan's economic fragility and its inability to guarantee a steady supply of military materiel, increasing pressure on the leadership at the Central Command. The Chief of Staff and the Minister of War lamented the mismatch between outward strength and underlying weakness: "Outwardly strong but weak is a reflection of our country today, and this will not last long." In sum, the Wuhan campaign coincided with a decline in the organization, equipment, and combat effectiveness of the Japanese army compared with before the battle. This erosion of capability helped drive Japan to alter its political and military strategy, shifting toward a method of inflicting pressure on China and attempting to "use China to control China", that is, fighting in ways designed to sustain the broader war effort. Tragically a major element of Chiang Kai-shek's retreat strategy was the age-old "scorched earth" policy. In fact, China originated the phrase and the practice. Shanghai escaped the last-minute torching because of foreigners whose property rights were protected. But in Nanjing, the burning and destruction began with increasing zeal. What could not be moved inland, such as remaining rice stocks, oil in tanks, and other facilities, was to be blown up or devastated. Civilians were told to follow the army inland, to rebuild later behind the natural barrier of Sichuan terrain. Many urban residents complied, but the peasantry did not embrace the plan. The scorched-earth policy served as powerful propaganda for the occupying Japanese army and, even more so, for the Reds. Yet they could hardly have foreseen the propaganda that Changsha would soon supply them. In June, the Changsha Evacuation Guidance Office was established to coordinate land and water evacuation routes. By the end of October, Wuhan's three towns had fallen, and on November 10 the Japanese army captured Yueyang, turning Changsha into the next primary invasion target. Beginning on October 9, Japanese aircraft intensified from sporadic raids on Changsha to large-scale bombing. On October 27, the Changsha Municipal Government urgently evacuated all residents, exempting only able-bodied men, the elderly, the weak, women, and children. The baojia system was mobilized to go door-to-door, enforcing compliance. On November 7, Chiang Kai-shek convened a military meeting at Rongyuan Garden to review the war plan and finalize a "scorched earth war of resistance." Xu Quan, Chief of Staff of the Security Command, drafted the detailed implementation plan. On November 10, Shi Guoji, Chief of Staff of the Security Command, presided over a joint meeting of Changsha's party, government, military, police, and civilian organizations to devise a strategy. The Changsha Destruction Command was immediately established, bringing together district commanders and several arson squads. The command actively prepared arson equipment and stacked flammable materials along major traffic arteries. Chiang decided that the city of Changsha was vulnerable and either gave the impression or the direct order, honestly really depends on the source your reading, to burn the city to the ground to prevent it falling to the enemy. At 9:00 AM on November 12, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed Zhang Zhizhong: "One hour to arrive, Chairman Zhang, Changsha, confidential. If Changsha falls, the entire city must be burned. Please make thorough preparations in advance and do not delay." And here it seems a game of broken telephone sort of resulted in one of the worst fire disasters of all time. If your asking pro Chiang sources, the message was clearly, put up a defense, once thats fallen, burn the city down before the Japanese enter. Obviously this was to account for getting civilians out safely and so forth. If you read lets call it more modern CPP aligned sources, its the opposite. Chiang intentionally ordering the city to burn down as fast as possible, but in through my research, I think it was a colossal miscommunication. Regardless Zhongzheng Wen, Minister of the Interior, echoed the message. Simultaneously, Lin Wei, Deputy Director of Chiang Kai-shek's Secretariat, instructed Zhang Zhizhong by long-distance telephone: "If Changsha falls, the entire city must be burned." Zhang summoned Feng Ti, Commander of the Provincial Capital Garrison, and Xu Quan, Director of the Provincial Security Bureau, to outline arson procedures. He designated the Garrison Command to shoulder the preparations, with the Security Bureau assisting. At 4:00 PM, Zhang appointed Xu Kun, Commander of the Second Garrison Regiment, as chief commander of the arson operation, with Wang Weining, Captain of the Social Training Corps, and Xu Quan, Chief of Staff of the Garrison Command, as deputies. At 6:00 PM, the Garrison Command held an emergency meeting ordering all government agencies and organizations in the city to be ready for evacuation at any moment. By around 10:15 PM, all urban police posts had withdrawn. Around 2:00 AM (November 13), a false report circulated that "Japanese troops have reached Xinhe" . Firefighters stationed at various locations rushed out with kerosene-fueled devices, burning everything in sight, shops and houses alike. In an instant, Changsha became a sea of flames. The blaze raged for 72 hours. The Hunan Province Anti-Japanese War Loss Statistics, compiled by the Hunan Provincial Government Statistics Office of the Kuomintang, report that the fire inflicted economic losses of more than 1 billion yuan, a sum equivalent to about 1.7 trillion yuan after the victory in the war. This figure represented roughly 43% of Changsha's total economic value at the time. Regarding casualties, contemporary sources provide varying figures. A Xinhua Daily report from November 20, 1938 noted that authorities mobilized manpower to bury more than 600 bodies, though the total number of burned remains could not be precisely counted. A Central News Agency reporter on November 19 stated that in the Xiangyuan fire, more than 2,000 residents could not escape, and most of the bodies had already been buried. There are further claims that in the Changsha Fire, more than 20,000 residents were burned to death. In terms of displacement, Changsha's population before the fire was about 300,000, and by November 12, 90% had been evacuated. After the fire, authorities registered 124,000 victims, including 815 orphans sheltered in Lito and Maosgang.  Building damage constituted the other major dimension of the catastrophe, with the greatest losses occurring to residential houses, shops, schools, factories, government offices, banks, hospitals, newspaper offices, warehouses, and cultural and entertainment venues, as well as numerous historic buildings such as palaces, temples, private gardens, and the former residences of notable figures; among these, residential and commercial structures suffered the most, followed by factories and schools. Inspector Gao Yihan, who conducted a post-fire investigation, observed that the prosperous areas within Changsha's ring road, including Nanzheng Street and Bajiaoting, were almost completely destroyed, and in other major markets only a handful of shops remained, leading to an overall estimate that surviving or stalemated houses were likely less than 20%. Housing and street data from the early post-liberation period reveal that Changsha had more than 1,100 streets and alleys; of these, more than 690 were completely burned and more than 330 had fewer than five surviving houses, accounting for about 29%, with nearly 90% of the city's streets severely damaged. More than 440 streets were not completely destroyed, but among these, over 190 had only one or two houses remaining and over 130 had only three or four houses remaining; about 60 streets, roughly 6% had 30 to 40 surviving houses, around 30 streets, 3% had 11 to 20 houses, 10 streets, 1% had 21 to 30 houses, and three streets ) had more than 30 houses remaining. Housing statistics from 1952 show that 2,538 houses survived the fire, about 6.57% of the city's total housing stock, with private houses totaling 305,800 square meters and public houses 537,900 square meters. By 1956, the surviving area of both private and public housing totaled 843,700 square meters, roughly 12.3% of the city's total housing area at that time. Alongside these losses, all equipment, materials, funds, goods, books, archives, antiques, and cultural relics that had not been moved were also destroyed.  At the time of the Changsha Fire, Zhou Enlai, then Deputy Minister of the Political Department of the Nationalist Government's Military Commission, was in Changsha alongside Ye Jianying, Guo Moruo, and others. On November 12, 1938, Zhou Enlai attended a meeting held by Changsha cultural groups at Changsha Normal School to commemorate Sun Yat-sen's 72nd birthday. Guo Moruo later recalled that Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying were awakened by the blaze that night; they each carried a suitcase and evacuated to Xiangtan, with Zhou reportedly displaying considerable indignation at the sudden, unprovoked fire. On the 16th, Zhou Enlai rushed back to Changsha and, together with Chen Cheng, Zhang Zhizhong, and others, inspected the disaster. He mobilized personnel from three departments, with Tian Han and Guo Moruo at the forefront, to form the Changsha Fire Aftermath Task Force, which began debris clearance, care for the injured, and the establishment of soup kitchens. A few days later, on the 22nd, the Hunan Provincial Government established the Changsha Fire Temporary Relief Committee to coordinate relief efforts.  On the night of November 16, 1938, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Changsha and, the next day, ascended Tianxin Pavilion. Sha Wei, head of the Cultural Relics Section of the Changsha Tianxin Pavilion Park Management Office, and a long-time researcher of the pavilion, explained that documentation indicates Chiang Kai-shek, upon seeing the city largely reduced to scorched earth with little left intact, grew visibly angry. After descending from Tianxin Pavilion, Chiang immediately ordered the arrest of Changsha Garrison Commander Feng Ti, Changsha Police Chief Wen Chongfu, and Commander of the Second Garrison Regiment Xu Kun, and arranged a military trial with a two-day deadline. The interrogation began at 7:00 a.m. on November 18. Liang Xiaojin records that Xu Kun and Wen Chongfu insisted their actions followed orders from the Security Command, while Feng Ti admitted negligence and violations of procedure, calling his acts unforgivable. The trial found Feng Ti to be the principal offender, with Wen Chongfu and Xu Kun as accomplices, and sentenced all three to prison terms of varying lengths. The verdict was sent to Chiang Kai-shek for approval, who was deeply dissatisfied and personally annotated the drafts: he asserted that Feng Ti, as the city's security head, was negligent and must be shot immediately; Wen Chongfu, as police chief, disobeyed orders and fled, and must be shot immediately; Xu Kun, for neglect of duty, must be shot immediately. The court then altered the arson charge in the verdict to "insulting his duty and harming the people" in line with Chiang's instructions. Chiang Kai-shek, citing "failure to supervise personnel and precautions," dismissed Zhang from his post, though he remained in office to oversee aftermath operations. Zhang Zhizhong later recalled Chiang Kai-shek's response after addressing the Changsha fire: a pointed admission that the fundamental cause lay not with a single individual but with the collective leadership's mistakes, and that the error must be acknowledged as a collective failure. All eyes now shifted to the new center of resistance, Chongqing, the temporary capital. Chiang's "Free China" no longer meant the whole country; it now encompassed Sichuan, Hunan, and Henan, but not Jiangsu or Zhejiang. The eastern provinces were effectively lost, along with China's major customs revenues, the country's most fertile regions, and its most advanced infrastructure. The center of political gravity moved far to the west, into a country the Nationalists had never controlled, where everything was unfamiliar and unpredictable, from topography and dialects to diets. On the map, it might have seemed that Chiang still ruled much of China, but vast swaths of the north and northwest were sparsely populated; most of China's population lay in the east and south, where Nationalist control was either gone or held only precariously. The combined pressures of events and returning travelers were gradually shifting American attitudes toward the Japanese incident. Europe remained largely indifferent, with Hitler absorbing most attention, but the United States began to worry about developments in the Pacific. Roosevelt initiated a January 1939 appeal to raise a million dollars for Chinese civilians in distress, and the response quickly materialized. While the Chinese did not expect direct intervention, they hoped to deter further American economic cooperation with Japan and to halt Japan's purchases of scrap iron, oil, gasoline, shipping, and, above all, weapons from the United States. Public opinion in America was sufficiently stirred to sustain a campaign against silk stockings, a symbolic gesture of boycott that achieved limited effect; Japan nonetheless continued to procure strategic materials. Within this chorus, the left remained a persistent but often discordant ally to the Nationalists. The Institute of Pacific Relations, sympathetic to communist aims, urged America to act, pressuring policymakers and sounding alarms about China. Yet the party line remained firmly pro-Chiang Kai-shek: the Japanese advance seemed too rapid and threatening to the Reds' interests. Most oil and iron debates stalled; American businessmen resented British trade ties with Japan, and Britain refused to join any mutual cutoff, arguing that the Western powers were not at war with Japan. What occurred in China was still commonly referred to in Western diplomatic circles as "the Incident." Wang Jingwei's would make his final defection, yes in a long ass history of defections. Mr Wang Jingwei had been very busy traveling to Guangzhou, then Northwest to speak with Feng Yuxiang, many telegrams went back and forth. He returned to the Nationalist government showing his face to foreign presses and so forth. While other prominent rivals of Chiang, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and others, rallied when they perceived Japan as a real threat; all did so except Wang Jingwei. Wang, who had long believed himself the natural heir to Sun Yat-sen and who had repeatedly sought to ascend to power, seemed willing to cooperate with Japan if it served his own aims. I will just say it, Wang Jingwei was a rat. He had always been a rat, never changed. Opinions on Chiang Kai-Shek vary, but I think almost everyone can agree Wang Jingwei was one of the worst characters of this time period. Now Wang Jingwei could not distinguish between allies and enemies and was prepared to accept help from whomever offered it, believing he could outmaneuver Tokyo when necessary. Friends in Shanghai and abroad whispered that it was not too late to influence events, arguing that the broader struggle was not merely China versus Japan but a clash between principled leaders and a tyrannical, self-serving clique, Western imperialism's apologists who needed Chiang removed. For a time Wang drifted within the Kuomintang, moving between Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, and Chongqing, maintaining discreet lines of communication with his confidants. The Japanese faced a governance problem typical of conquerors who possess conquered territory: how to rule effectively while continuing the war. They imagined Asia under Japanese-led leadership, an East Asia united by a shared Co-Prosperity Sphere but divided by traditional borders. To sustain this vision, they sought local leaders who could cooperate. The search yielded few viable options; would-be collaborators were soon assassinated, proved incompetent, or proved corrupt. The Japanese concluded it would require more time and education. In the end, Wang Jingwei emerged as a preferred figure. Chongqing, meanwhile, seemed surprised by Wang's ascent. He had moved west to Chengde, then to Kunming, attempted, and failed to win over Yunnan's warlords, and eventually proceeded to Hanoi in Indochina, arriving in Hong Kong by year's end. He sent Chiang Kai-shek a telegram suggesting acceptance of Konoe's terms for peace, which Chungking rejected. In time, Wang would establish his own Kuomintang faction in Shanghai, combining rigorous administration with pervasive secret-police activity characteristic of occupied regimes. By 1940, he would be formally installed as "Chairman of China." But that is a story for another episode.  In the north, the Japanese and the CCP were locked in an uneasy stalemate. Mao's army could make it impossible for the Japanese to hold deep countryside far from the railway lines that enabled mass troop movement into China's interior. Yet the Communists could not defeat the occupiers. In the dark days of October 1938—fifteen months after the war began—one constant remained. Observers (Chinese businessmen, British diplomats, Japanese generals) repeatedly predicted that each new disaster would signal the end of Chinese resistance and force a swift surrender, or at least a negotiated settlement in which the government would accept harsher terms from Tokyo. But even after defenders were expelled from Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan, despite the terrifying might Japan had brought to bear on Chinese resistance, and despite the invader's manpower, technology, and resources, China continued to fight. Yet it fought alone. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In a land shredded by war, Wuhan burned under brutal sieges, then Changsha followed, a cruel blaze born of orders and miscommunications. Leaders wrestled with retreat, scorched-earth vows, and moral debts as Japanese force and Chinese resilience clashed for months. Mao urged strategy over martyrdom, Wang Jingwei's scheming shadow loomed, and Chongqing rose as the westward beacon. Yet China endured, a stubborn flame refusing to surrender to the coming storm. The war stretched on, unfinished and unyielding.

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An essential and empowering guide for women who struggle—often silently and alone—with the challenges of ADHD. ADHD in women is often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or entirely overlooked, leaving millions silently fighting an internal, invisible battle. Outwardly, they can be labeled flaky, intense, dramatic, or unreliable, while inwardly they're juggling severe overwhelm, emotional chaos, chronic stress, catastrophic thinking, and the unshakable feeling of being misunderstood—by everyone. In Invisible ADHD, Shanna Pearson—founder and director of the world's largest one-on-one ADHD coaching company, shares what actually works for women in real life. Drawing on insights from hundreds of thousands of coaching sessions, and her own turbulent ADHD journey, Shanna reveals the never-before-published strategies and solutions that have transformed thousands of lives for over two decades!

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Listen to JCO's Art of Oncology article, "A Fight Bigger Than Myeloma” by Dr. Adeel Khan, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UT Southwestern. The article is followed by an interview with Dr. Adeel Khan and host Dr. Mikkael Sekeres. Dr. Khan shares the story of a patient whose multiple myeloma diagnosis and treatment serves as a reminder of the civil liberties progress we've made and that we have more to go. TRANSCRIPT Narrator: A Fighter Bigger Than Myeloma, by Adeel M. Khan, MD, MPH, MS  I met her during the early part of my clinical training in hematology/oncology. She was in her late 70s, dressed in a rust-colored cardigan and a headwrap with patterns that reminded me of Ghanaian kente cloth. Her eyes were sharp, her tone polite but direct. You could tell from the moment she spoke that she had lived a life where she had to advocate—for herself, for her family, for her place in rooms that were not always welcoming.  Her chart said “multiple myeloma, R-ISS II,” but it did not say that she had first come to an emergency room at least a year earlier complaining of back pain and fatigue and had been told it was probably arthritis or old age. It did not mention that she had seen three different doctors before someone ordered the laboratory tests that finally began to work up her anemia and increasingly compromised kidney function. It would take another trio of doctors to eventually order a magnetic resonance imaging whose ghostly lytic lesions led down the path to a bone marrow biopsy and her cancer diagnosis. When I brought this up gently during one of our early appointments, she looked at me and said, “They don't hear pain the same when it comes from someone like me.” As a Black woman from the Deep South, she had grown up learning how to navigate a health care system that did not always believe her. She told me stories about being dismissed, misdiagnosed, and interrupted. She was born into an era of structural violence where she would be ignored at best and mistreated at worst. She carried the weight of those moments, but she also carried strength, and clarity, and the kind of dignity that made people sit up straighter in their leather chairs when she entered the room. She was one of the most quietly revolutionary people I have ever known, having grown up during a time of civil rights activism. She had even taken part in bending Dr King's long arc of the moral universe toward justice and could share story upon story from her glory days. Her myeloma treatments were not easy. Chemotherapy rarely is. She shared that there were days when her body was tired of fighting, when her bones ached, her blood counts dropped, and her neuropathic pain throbbed. In the back of my mind, I thought how tragic it was that her delayed diagnosis added unnecessary complications and whether she too thought of that. She was fully mindful of the issues people with her skin color faced in our American healthcare system and society as a whole and revealed how that motivated her to carry forward. “If I don't take up space here,” she told me once, “then someone else like me won't either.” Over the course of our visits, I came to understand that she did not see her myeloma as the hardest fight of her life. Not by a long shot. Her primary struggle was centered on life in Birmingham in the 1950s where separate but equal was still the law of the land; her mother cleaned houses, her father worked odd jobs, and her own prospects were uncertain. She admired the writings of Richard Wright and Jean Toomer and was not shy in sharing her passions. One day, during a particularly tough visit—her disease had progressed and we were down to limited options—I found myself meandering. We went through the usual workup and discussions: laboratory test results, symptoms, and treatment options. I offered the prospect of clinical trials, but she shook her head gently and said, “I've done my time in experiments—I can't give myself to a system that gave my people so little.” I paused. It was the first hint of what would become a larger conversation—not just about medicine, but about history. She was well aware of the atrocities of the Tuskegee syphilis trials in her home state, the Kligman experiments on incarcerated Black men, and the forced sterilization of women of color. As dependent upon medicine as she was in her old age, it carried a bloody stain of dehumanizing racism that soured her against it. Outwardly, I had little in common with her. As a young South Asian man growing up in times more conscious of racial injustice, I was far removed from these historical crimes. Although I learned of them during my education, I did not internalize their impact on the patients in front of me in clinic. But through her I came to comprehend just how scarring and enduring these events can be and how they can rob someone of trust. And the truth is the health care system had not treated her well. She had personal stories of doctors who did not believe her pain, nurses who assumed she was uneducated,  and being passed over for better options, better care, and better answers. “But I kept showing up,” she said. “Because that's what we do. We show up even when we're not wanted.” Her stories to me were revelations. In her younger years, she had helped organize teachers at her school when they tried to fire a fellow Black teacher who seemingly spoke too loud in a meeting. She had lived through redlining, through the crack epidemic, through watching young Black men vanish into prisons, and still she rose every day and worked as a public school teacher for decades. She worked for a system that largely did not work for her. I came to admire that about her—that in simply living day-to-day life with plain dignity and acute awareness of society's issues, she promoted change by living it. “You want to talk about cancer?” she once said, half laughing. “Try walking into a bank in 1972 with a good credit score and a Black face. That's a disease this country still hasn't cured.” Curiously, she did not say these things with bitterness. Not even anger, really. Just clarity. Like someone who had long ago made peace with the truth, even if it was sharp. In clinic, she challenged my every assumption—about treatment tolerance, about compliance, about who is difficult, and who is “advocating.” And she taught me to look differently at the ways bias lingers in medicine. Not just in data or policies, but in subtle moments: the tone we use when explaining options, the hesitations in our tests and referrals, and the assumptions we may not even realize we are making. And she did not just expect good care—she demanded it. She told me early on, “Don't you treat me like I'm anything other than your mother.” That landed. And in seeing patients before me now, I remind myself to wonder who they were in their past lives, what baggage burdens them, and how it all shapes their perspectives. So from my view, she fought multiple myeloma with everything she had, but from hers, she fought something bigger: an entire system shaped by inequality. And ultimately, she made me better to realize that, not just as a doctor, but as a human being. In my years since knowing her, completing my training, and beginning my practice, I reflect on her grace. I think not just about her life, but what it means to practice medicine in a world that often forgets what patients carry with them into the clinic—generations of weight, of injustice, of strength. Mikkael Sekeres: Welcome back to JCO's Cancer Stories, The Art of Oncology. This ASCO podcast features intimate narratives and perspectives from authors exploring their experiences in oncology. I'm your host, Mikkael Sekeres. I'm Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami. I am so happy that today we are joined by Adeel Khan, who's Assistant Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UT Southwestern in Dallas to talk about his Journal of Clinical Oncology article, “A Fight Bigger than Myeloma.” Our guest's disclosures will be linked in the transcript. Adeel, thank you so much for contributing to JCO and for joining us to discuss your article. Adeel Khan: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Mikkael Sekeres: Adeel, I don't want to be disingenuous to our readers by acting as if we've just met. You and I have known each other for a decade since you were still in your training. I wonder if for our listeners you can tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you from and and walk us through your career so far. Adeel Khan: More than happy to. So, I grew up mostly in Oklahoma, but I've sort of lived around in the Northeast and here in the Southwest where I am currently. I did college at the University of Oklahoma. I did medical school at the University of Michigan. I did residency with good fortune at the Cleveland Clinic where I happened to get to know you and have continued to know you since. I did my fellowship then in hematology oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess in the Harvard system and along the way of all that I did a Masters of Public Health at Harvard and a Masters of Science and Epidemiology at Columbia, and that pinball finally settled here to UT Southwestern here in Dallas which I am very happy to make my second home. Mikkael Sekeres: That's great. I will say just for our listeners you've been a superstar since the moment you were a resident. It's been a real treat for me to get to know you over the years. Adeel Khan: Thank you so much. Mikkael Sekeres: Can you tell us a little bit about your own story as a writer? You're a good writer. We get submissions from some really good writers every single week. It's a real privilege to be an editor for the Art of Oncology section and it's always reinvigorating to me to see how many good writers there are in medicine. How did you start your journey as a writer and how long have you been writing reflective narrative pieces? Adeel Khan: I would say if I went back to let's say high school, you know, people tend to be divided into kind of like the sciency types versus the literary arts types and you're kind of an either/or, you know, you didn't really have as much crossover then. But you know, I actually didn't mind when we had an essay due and I liked writing back then, and when I entered college I did a minor in English because I actually did enjoy that and I just liked the idea of being able to put your thoughts on paper in a way immortalizing them. Adeel Khan: And then as I sort of pursuing medicine more and more, publishing is really- it has all kinds of flavors to it and scientific publishing is obviously what has been emphasized, but you know, there's so many things to talk about within medicine. There's the science and the art of the field, and as I've moved along, I've written different pieces focusing really on patient stories and interactions. And I think my motivation has always been that as I have gotten particularly nowadays increasingly busy, I've had the fortune and misfortune of becoming more and more busy, it's easy to lose the opportunity to really connect with people that makes what we do meaningful. And so in those times when you know, and they can be rare, but when you really get to connect with someone in front of you who you're helping to care for, it's really refreshing and it's rejuvenating and I've tried to keep that with me as long as I can as I've gone through my journey. Mikkael Sekeres: There's a lot of jumping off points from what you just said, Adeel. I wonder if I can start with do you consider yourself an English major who's good at science or do you consider yourself a scientist who's a good writer? Adeel Khan: I think I'm too humble to say either. I think I was really a science major who just happened to like writing and reading and kept that as a part of myself. Mikkael Sekeres: Because I think there are a cadre of doctors who are actually English majors and have learned to turn science into storytelling and that's their entrée into science and medicine. I remember I talked for a while with David Scadden about this. He's a brilliant translational scientist who's based at Mass General who also teaches a writing course to the Harvard undergrads and who was an English major when he was an undergrad at Case Western. We've talked about this, about how there are people, I'll include myself in this, who just think different, who probably have these liberal arts brains and they figured out a way to convert science into a way a liberal arts person can understand it. Adeel Khan: Yeah, I mean narrative medicine has been I think around all along and it has only kind of been recently named as a field, but I mean it very much speaks to that that there's so much more than just G proteins in medicine. Mikkael Sekeres: I'm thrilled to hear that by the way. You mentioned you were an English minor. Are there particular writers who are an influence on you or can you talk about what's the most recent book or article you've read? Adeel Khan: Oh, that is a great question. Paulo Coelho is someone I've liked for a long time, The Alchemist. I really liked it because I read it after I had lived in Egypt. I lived in Egypt between college and med school as a study abroad program, and I had actually been to the Faiyum Oasis where the protagonist in that story ends up. And so it was just a fascinating story to me that I could trace some of the steps that are discussed in the book and it's so much- it's a story about self discovery which at that phase of life that I was in was you know, very much a theme of my own life. And so that's one that definitely stands out in my head. Mikkael Sekeres: Do you think reading pieces outside of medicine makes you a better scientist? Adeel Khan: I think absolutely. I think it makes you a better human being. In some ways I lament that so much of what I do reading now is so much just about what's in the field, what's new in myeloma, what's new in hematology oncology and I sort of miss the escape to reading other things and being able to pursue it. And even broader than just what a novel really offers. I mean, I grew up reading comic books too and I've always loved superheroes and fiction whether it's Star Wars and other things. And really they're just stories and the medium- there might be connotations whether it's a comic book or a or a novel, but they're just different mediums, but the fact that they're just stories is fundamental. I actually think to myself that it's so fascinating that the earliest piece of writing that we've really retained as human beings is we believe, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is really a story of a superhero when you think about it, you know, and it's it's fiction, it's phantasmic in so many ways. But it speaks to how stories are just vital as people. Mikkael Sekeres: And what is it about graphic novels or my kids now of course call them graphic novels. We're not allowed to call them comic books. Adeel Khan: As they've been renamed, yeah. Mikkael Sekeres: What is it about graphic novels or comic books or the story of a hero that appeals to us in medicine? Adeel Khan: I think it's in some ways a parable of what we're doing. There's something so powerful and fundamental about this idea of good-evil and we can rename it in different ways, but that you're trying to overcome something that's an issue, an obstacle. And when you think about what we do in- particularly in oncology, that's very much what we're trying to do. We're trying to overcome an illness, a disease, to try to help the person in front of us. And it has different aspects to it. It could be someone pursuing something in a lab, it can be treating someone in front of you in clinic, but that simple dichotomy of there's something good about what you're doing because there's something bad in front of you is just the fundamental that runs through it all. Mikkael Sekeres: It's fascinating. I wonder if 30, 40, 50 years ago people would have said, “Oh, it's because the doctor is the hero,” but we don't view ourselves that way anymore. The patient is the hero. I love how you posit this as a good versus evil, the evil of course being cancer and the good everything that our patients do and that we try to to help to do to overcome that. Adeel Khan: For sure. Mikkael Sekeres: You wrote a really great essay about a woman who was a patient of yours. Can you tell me a little bit about what inspired you this time to make this connection and to write about this woman? Adeel Khan: Within the past year or so as I had been just really- the fortune and misfortune of getting busier, I lamented that I just wasn't able to spend as much time with patients in the way that I used to. One of the beauties of medical school and you know, to some degree residency and certainly fellowship is that you just have a little bit more time as a trainee, student and trainee where you can really bond with your patients I think a little bit more. And so in trying to kind of refresh my motivation, I was thinking about just kind of randomly some stories that I've kept in the back of my mind and this patient's story is one that stood out to me as I was recalling things. It was so fascinating to me because she had the disease which I now focus on. And the way that she viewed it and the way that she viewed it as a part of her life was just so different than what I think most people think of. And in that way it was very revitalizing that her focus in her life was part of a broader theme of the way that I think she viewed society. And this was just one piece of her own part of that much, much larger puzzle. Mikkael Sekeres: You really write lovingly about her and about how meaningful her context was in how you cared for her and what her experience was in the medical system. I wonder if I can read a little bit of what you wrote because it really did grab me as well. I'm going to start out by quoting you where you say, “Outwardly, I had little in common with her. As a young South Asian man growing up in times more conscious of racial injustice, I was far removed from these historical crimes. Though I learned of them during my education, I did not internalize their impact on the patients in front of me in clinic. But through her, I came to comprehend just how scarring and enduring these events can be and how they can rob someone of trust.” Wow, there's a lot there. Could you start with what was your perspective as a young South Asian man growing up in Oklahoma and what your view was of racial injustice compared to what her experience was of racial injustice? Adeel Khan: Yeah, I have to admit I don't know that I thought that much of it back then and I think that that's part of what it is. You know, being someone who was South Asian, I'm Pakistani, I have Indian roots, and coming into American history and as we learned about it there's so much about slavery and the theme of slavery unfortunately and and the struggles that enslaved peoples have. And you know, as a relatively recent immigrant, I didn't see myself in that narrative. I didn't see myself in that historical reality. But I knew about it intellectually, you know, I knew about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, you know, I learned about all these things and and you learned about how atrocious so much of it is. But again, not being so directly connected, I did not put myself in that same role as someone to view it so close to myself. I will say it hit a little bit more after 9/11 when you know, I was randomly stopped at airport security a little bit more often in those days and again, I think that speaks to racial injustices, you know, I was certainly profiled looking back then, I've been held by TSA in the past, but even that is very minor compared to what African Americans have dealt with here. And this patient in just kind of sharing her tidbits during our time together, I was not directly asking her so much of this. She was really offering a lot of it to me as we would talk and she would be very generous in sharing parts of her story. And over time I kind of understood the broader narrative of her life. You know, it was clear how much of all that was actually in the forefront of her head. Adeel Khan: And I think she might have been a little bit more unique in the way that she kept it there, but she was hyper vigilant of issues of society and the roots that brought a given society to where it is here. I kind of got to know her, this is during the COVID pandemic and this was after the injustice of what happened to George Floyd and so it was a theme that I think people were talking about more and so I think she felt comfortable in saying really what was quite a bit that was stewing in the back of her head seemingly at all times. Mikkael Sekeres: It's so interesting you talk about what you endured after 9/11 as being, I'm going to quote you now, “minor” compared to what she's been through, but even a minor affront like that can really compromise your trust. You write about her, “As a Black woman from the deep South, she had grown up learning how to navigate a healthcare system that did not always believe her.” Can you expand on that a little bit? How is it that the healthcare system didn't believe her and what can we do going into interactions with patients from different backgrounds where we're incorporating that there's a compromise of trust and we have to make up for that? Adeel Khan: Yeah, and I think you know, it's so unfortunate that so many people have stories like this where, in her case really it was back pain that was her presenting symptom. This is long before she knew me. And she'd had the back pain for quite some time, but being an older woman, she was in her 70s at that time, she was not in phenomenal health for other reasons. It sounds like she was just kind of ignored, told that it was old age, tendon changes, she did not have meaningful imaging for some time. When she finally did after seeing a slew of different providers, that's when it was revealed like there's something more significant here. And then when you kind of piece that a little bit retrospectively and I think she certainly sensed this and I did when I- hindsight's always 20/20, when I looked through things, it's like, well, this probably could have been caught much earlier. It's just that no one really I think listened to what she was speaking to with her pain and the gravity that was actually behind it. And it just speaks to the fact that I think we have to be more thoughtful in what we take away from patients and not to ignore even small comments because they might be revealing of something much bigger behind them. Mikkael Sekeres: You quote her, you have some really great quotes in your essay where you just listen to what she says and transcribe it because what she says is very meaningful. And one of the quotes you provide from her is, “They don't hear pain the same when it comes from someone like me.” Wow. “When it comes from someone like me,” someone like her, how was it that people weren't hearing her description of pain, something that was different that was going on in her body and how can we be more attentive to people when they complain about things like pain? Adeel Khan: It's unfortunate that there's even known data to show how depending upon a patient's melanin content in their skin, how likely they are to get pain medications and what happens to them is different and this is an unfortunate example of that where I think she just wasn't heard properly. And so it wasn't addressed properly and she was not shy about saying that. I mean I think she sensed that. She was very clear in feeling that herself and in wanting to have better care, she was still prevented and hence why she had to go from provider to provider. Mikkael Sekeres: You've lived in a bunch of different places in the country. I mean, following your path, you've been in Oklahoma, you've been in Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, and now Texas. Do you think that we as providers have to have different levels of sensitivity depending on where in the country we're practicing and how some of our patients' trust in healthcare may have been compromised in those different parts of the country? Adeel Khan: I think absolutely. I mean this particular patient was from Alabama which has a heavy history that she was again very aware of and for those of us reading history books are also very aware of too. And it's interesting how, while the U.S. is in some ways- has some aspects that are monolithic, but it's very much not so. It's very patchy and people are different, you know, if I take one theme that we're talking about here is obviously racial injustice, but if you take something like obesity, you know, prevalence rates are very different throughout the country and attitudes surrounding it are also very different. And I think we do- ought to be mindful that in treating the patient in front of us, it's not done without context. And so how they view their illness and their situation is going to be different depending upon the state, depending upon the city, depending upon actually even the era that they grew up in. So I would say now, if you took actually a similar patient, but you put her in a very modern context post-year 2000, she's likely to have different feelings of the situation around her than someone who was born in this case in the 1940s. And that just speaks to the fact that circumstances change and we should be recognizing that as providers, even though it's not always easy to. Mikkael Sekeres: Well, it just emphasizes how very important it is to know the history of the place where we practice and how it's affected our patients' perceptions of healthcare and trust and being cared for, particularly now as there's such a movement to whitewash that history and eliminate it from major institutions like the Smithsonian. It has been such a pleasure to have Adeel Khan here. He is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Public Health at UT Southwestern in Dallas and wrote just a great JCO article called “A Fight Bigger Than Myeloma.” Adeel, thank you so much for submitting your article and for joining us today. Dr. Adeel Khan: Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure. Mikkael Sekeres: If you've enjoyed this episode, consider sharing it with a friend or colleague or leave us a review. Your feedback and support helps us continue to have these important conversations. If you're looking for more episodes and context, follow our show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen and explore more from ASCO at ASCO.org/podcasts. Until next time, this has been Mikkael Sekeres for JCO Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.   Show Notes Like, share and subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave a rating or review.  Guest Bio: Dr Adeel Khan is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UT Southwestern.

The Knotek residence appeared unremarkable to outsiders. A modest home, needing a bit of work from years of rain, rested quietly on a tree-lined street. To neighbors, it was just another house, just another family. Behind its doors, however, was a living nightmare—meticulously orchestrated by Michelle Knotek, with the complicity of her husband, David. Outwardly, Michelle seemed maternal, warm, and inviting. In truth, her hospitality was a trap. At first, life with the Knoteks appeared normal, but the facade didn't last long. Michelle's cruelty emerged gradually, each act more deliberate and sadistic than the last.  Join Cam and Jen on this episode of Our True Crime Podcast entitled ‘From Mother to Monster: The Knotek Family.' Listener Discretion by @octoberpodVHS All Music by our EP @theinkypawprint Make sure to check out the promo from our friends at The Final Trace https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-final-trace  Sources: https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Tell-Unbreakable-Sisterhood-ebook/dp/B07Q5TL9SQ https://books.google.com/books?id=5ahTxAEACAAJ https://www.chinookobserver.com/news/local/raymond-murderer-crazy-shellie-released-from-prison/article_539f6e46-61f3-11ed-99c6-433b5a338fd0.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-court-of-appeals/1430291.html https://ftp.spaceneedle.com/browse/mL1FD1/600976/Knotek%20Daughters%20Their%20Story%20Unveiled.pdf http://web.kitsapsun.com/archive/2003/08-14/228867_couple_charged_with_murder_in_d.html https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20030817/raymond17m/something-unspeakable-now-the-talk-of-two-towns http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Woman-gets-22-years-in-deaths-of-boarders-1152156.php https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/photos/episode-19-michelle-knotek https://www.shortform.com/blog/michelle-knotek-shane-watson/ https://www.magersandquinn.com/product/AMER-MOST-EVIL-MOM-SHELLY-KNOT/26348146 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1657267/ https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/suspect-s-relatives-contacted-police-in-2001-1121929.php#page-1- https://tdn.com/business/local/raymond-couple-charged-in-murders/article_944e373c-9fbd-5bfb-8650-2501a09a53aa.html http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Dog-adds-twist-to-Raymond-case-1121726.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a fading Irish house, two sisters live with their reclusive aunt. Outwardly clever, even charming, they are burdened by secrecy, shabby finery, and a restless need to keep appearances intact. What follows is a tale of genteel decay, of objects that carry more weight than they should, and of a past that refuses to stay silent. “Hand in Glove” first appeared in 1952 and has since been recognised as one of Elizabeth Bowen's most disturbing short stories. It is reprinted in her collection A Day in the Dark and in numerous anthologies of twentieth-century ghost stories. Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, short story writer, and critic, celebrated for her precise psychological portraits and her haunting depictions of Anglo-Irish decline. Her work includes ten novels, more than a hundred short stories, and some of the most accomplished supernatural fiction of the twentieth century. Get ad free stories by signing up to my site: www.classicghost.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Consider how precious a soul must be, when both God and the devil are after it.” The story of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19 shows us just how true that is. This young man approached Jesus with a pressing question: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”What followed was a conversation that revealed not only his heart but also the way possessions can grip any of us more deeply than we realize.A Revealing QuestionAt first glance, the man seemed sincere. But notice his words: “What good thing must I do?” He assumed that eternal life could be earned—checked off like an item on a list. Jesus, however, had just finished telling the crowd that the Kingdom belongs to those who receive it like children, wholly dependent on God's goodness. The man either missed or resisted that truth.When Jesus pointed him to the commandments, it wasn't because those could save him. It was to reveal what held the highest place in his heart. Outwardly, he looked moral. Inwardly, his wealth had become his god.When the man pressed further, Jesus cut to the core: “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:22 records the heartbreaking result: “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions.”The issue wasn't money—it was devotion. Jesus loved him enough to name the one thing keeping him from life. For him, it was wealth. For us, it might be something else—career, reputation, control. Whatever we prize above Christ must be surrendered.What This Means for UsDoes this mean every believer is called to sell everything? Not necessarily. As the NIV Study Bible notes, Jesus's command applied directly to this man's spiritual condition. But the principle still stands: anything we cling to more tightly than Christ can become a barrier to faith.After the man walked away, Jesus warned His disciples: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Wealth is not evil, but it has the unique power to enslave us.So the question for us is this: What competes for your devotion? What gives you a sense of identity or security apart from Christ?Jesus's words to the Rich Young Ruler are both sobering and full of hope. Wealth can blind us to our need for God, but surrendering to Christ leads to true life. The invitation is the same today: Will we cling to temporary treasures, or embrace the eternal treasure of knowing Him?Because the problem isn't wealth, the problem is worship.———————————————————————————————————————At FaithFi, we often talk about being “rich toward God,” a phrase Jesus used in Luke 12 when warning about the Rich Fool. It means treasuring Christ above all else, practicing generosity, and holding our resources with open hands.That's why we've created the Rich Toward God study, designed to help you see money and possessions from God's perspective and reorient your heart toward eternal treasure. You can order a copy—or even place a bulk order for group study—at FaithFi.com/Shop.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:My husband and I have a blended family with some grown kids and some still at home. How should we set up the beneficiaries on our term life insurance?Our bank suggested that we keep our HELOC open even after the mortgage is paid off, as protection against fraudulent title transfers. Is that sound advice?I have savings bonds that have matured, and I'd like to add a co-owner. Since banks no longer handle this, how can I update the registration?I'm trying to help my 81-year-old mother understand reverse mortgages, and also explain to my siblings how it would work if she gets one—especially what happens to the home's value after she passes away.Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)TreasuryDirectUnderstanding Reverse: Simplifying the Reverse Mortgage by Dan HultquistMovement MortgageWisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Introduction If you're returning to the series after our break, let me extend a warm welcome back as we begin this new season. As you may remember, we're preparing to launch the multi-pronged release of our next project, The NeuroHarmonic Method: Harmonize Your Intelligence – Transform Your Life. This work represents several years of focused effort to create a personal growth resource that the everyday person can understand and apply. It weaves together timeless insights from what has long been called the Wisdom of the Ages with the powerful findings of modern neuroscience, presenting it with enhanced scientific credibility. It is designed to spark meaningful, positive shifts in awareness that elevate every part of a person's life, regardless of previous training or time constraints. And critically, everything in the NeuroHarmonic Method is rooted in what I have studied and practiced for over fifty years. So, this is not just a set of abstract theories; it is verified by practical experience, tested across decades of living through diverse circumstances, and it only grows stronger with time, especially in the areas that matter most. We'll be exploring it in episodes throughout this new season and as a basic introduction, we're going to offer a few of its fundamental ideas for your consideration. As always with our podcast, take what resonates, set aside what doesn't, and notice what changes arise within, because the path of real inner growth is always based on individual self-discovery. Childhood Memories and the Power of Film Personally, in my own life, I've often found that the extraordinary reveals itself within the ordinary. With that in mind, let's look at some ordinary childhood memories of mine, which eventually revealed a set of questions to me that helped form the foundations of the way I began to look at life. So, when I was a boy—maybe six or seven—my older brother would take me to the Saturday matinees at a big neighborhood movie theater called the Benner, which was an easy walk from our house. Now, this was a very different time. For a quarter you could spend the afternoon wrapped in an adventure on the big screen, and for another dime, you could top it off with a generous box of popcorn. The ritual never changed. The music swelled, the house lights dimmed, the curtains parted, and suddenly we were transported into another world—larger than life in every way. Remember, this was still the fairly early days of television, which we watched on a little black-and-white 17-inch screen. And even that was seen to be a marvel! By contrast, in the theater, the images were enormous, the sound powerful, and each year the technology seemed more impressive. In that simple setting, with popcorn in hand and my feet barely reaching the floor, without knowing it, I absorbed certain themes that would shape me for the rest of my life. Yes, there were plenty of cowboy serials and cliffhangers, but every so often a real cinematic treasure would slip into the Saturday lineup. Even though I was far too young to understand them, I sat through classics like Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, Witness for the Prosecution, and Anatomy of a Murder. Most of it was over my head, but the searing drama, augmented by the scale of the image, the light and the sound, created a total immersion that left quite an impression. Three Science-Fiction Masterpieces Among the countless movies I'd seen, three science-fiction masterpieces stood apart, striking me in a way that went far deeper than the rest. Looking back, I realize they were planting seeds within me — seeds that would eventually grow and inspire a lifelong quest for higher meaning. Those three films were Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. In this episode, we're going to take a closer look at Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We'll save the other two films for a later time. But as we do, I invite you to see them not just as vintage sci-fi relics from a bygone era, but as vehicles that ask profound questions like: What is it that truly makes us human? Do we have an authentic self,  capable of bringing lasting fulfillment, or are we merely personas we construct to navigate the world? And is there something more to us than just body and mind — something connected to a greater reality, beyond time and space? The Story Unfolds So, Invasion of the Body Snatchers begins in a quiet California town, where people begin to suspect that some of their close friends and relatives suddenly don't seem to be quite themselves anymore. Nobody can quite describe the phenomenon but it's very strange. Outwardly, everything seems normal: people have the same faces, the same voices, the same routines. Yet something essential seems to be missing. Then, a troubling secret is revealed to the audience — the unsettling difference is that these oddly changed people actually have no emotions. No joy, no sorrow, no anger, no happiness — no feelings at all. None. Then an even more sinister revelation is revealed. Alien pods have begun appearing in garages, backyards, and basements. Over a short time, each pod morphs into an exact replica of the person it lies near. Once the replication process is complete and the targeted human falls asleep, the replicant executes a complete takeover. It absorbs everything — memories, thoughts, opinions, habits, even the most intimate gestures. By morning, the original human is gone, replaced by the replicant double. In a seamless transition, it steps into the former person's life as though nothing had changed. Everything is the same except the replicant feels nothing. Although it is hard to tell, the chilling truth is that it is, in essence, a living robot. The Replicant World As the replicant population grows, these new beings begin to communicate among themselves. They proclaim how much better life has become now that all inner feeling has been erased. To them, the truth is obvious: without emotions such as anger, jealousy, greed, lust, and fear, life runs more smoothly. With those troublesome impulses gone, they believe order can finally be established in the world. As the plot unfolds, some of the remaining humans begin to grasp the terrifying truth. Determined not to lose themselves to the emotionless replicants, they fight desperately against the spreading invasion. The tension escalates as the struggle becomes a battle for the very essence of humanity. In the original 1956 film, the story ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that the humans might prevail after all. But in the 1978 remake, the conclusion is far darker. There, the replicant doubles are shown to be unstoppable, destined to take over the world — leaving the human race, as we know it, doomed. Reflections and Questions When I first saw the remake, I was surprised — even unsettled — by the change in the ending. Why would the studio alter the story so drastically? What had shifted in those twenty-two years to move the perspective from hope to despair? Perhaps it was nothing more than market dynamics — after all, fear always sells better than hope. As the old newspaper adage goes: if it bleeds, it leads. But perhaps the shift points to something deeper — a reflection of the cultural mood at the time, or even a stage in the unfolding evolution of human consciousness. Maybe one day that perspective will shift again, back toward hope, as awareness continues to grow. Who knows? Anyway, for me as a child, even through the eyes of a seven-year-old, the film stirred something deeper. It made me begin to wonder about the phenomenon of inner feeling — and what it truly means to be human. Of course, without the burden of negative emotions like anger, jealousy, or fear, life might seem easier. But what about the positive feelings? Would they have to be erased as well? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! In essence, the peace the replicants proclaimed was deeply chilling. It painted a picture of a society where routines and order remained intact, but individual personhood quietly disappeared. Yes, such a world might look peaceful, quiet, and orderly — filled with well-behaved, human-like figures. But the “peace” being offered was really the peace of the grave: a world of perfect appearances, populated by flawless facsimiles. In reality, they were the walking dead. Fast Forward to Today So, given the warning sounded back in 1957, fast forward to our world today. Where are we now? We may not have alien pods growing in our basements, fashioning replacements for our bodies, but what have we become? And even more importantly, what are we becoming? Look around. So many of us have been absorbed — not by alien doubles, but by the ever-present glow of screens, from the smallest in our hands to the largest on our walls. Meanwhile, our attention is consumed by endless scrolling, fed by social feeds of sound bites, emojis, and dopamine-driven clicks. And all of this is fueled by the constant bombardment of commercial messaging designed to sell us products — a barrage that has now gone completely off the charts. Back in 1957, the average person was exposed to about 350 ads per day, or roughly 25 per hour. Of those, about 20% were problem-solving in nature, framed with a negative bias, while the other 80% were aspirational or lifestyle-based. Now today, the numbers have spiraled out of control. We are now hit with between 8,000 and 10,000 ads per day — about 600 ads per hour. Even more disturbing is the shift in tone: nearly 70% of these are negative, problem-solving ads built on anxiety and fear, while only 30% lean toward the positive. Put another way, each of us is now exposed to about five negatively framed ads every single minute of every waking day. That is a lot of negative messaging. And we don't even have time here to fully explore what that does to our thoughts, our feelings, and ultimately our sense of truly being human. The Human Question So, back to the two questions – what have we become? And what are we becoming? With this tech invasion the bottom line is that we seem to be less and less able to think for ourselves. And less able to feel the positive inner feelings that are at the very essence of our being. Oh sure, we have incredibly easy access to feelings – like anger, fear, outrage, cynicism, and frustration. We're so good at feeling bad that we can get into any negative state at the literal drop of a hat. But tenderness? Compassion? Wonder? It seems like they've been filed away in a dirty room in the basement. It has almost become a way of being — drifting into the haze of robotic conformity, marching to the beat of an overwhelmingly negative bias, and losing touch with the higher understandings that define what it truly means to be human. After all, both timeless wisdom and modern neuroscience remind us of the immense value of being touched once again by the better angels of our nature. The Remedy So, what's the remedy for this modern day invasion of the body snatchers? It is not more noise. Not more programming. Not more frantic searching. The remedy is rediscovery. Rediscovery of our higher nature. Rediscovery of positive thoughts and feelings. Rediscovery of the simple wonder of being alive in the now. And rediscovery of the Indwelling Presence that is always within you, waiting to be uncovered. This is not just poetry. Neuroscience confirms that practices of awareness and presence change the brain itself — strengthening circuits of compassion, focus, and resilience. Here the sages and scientists meet: the truth is that you are more than a body, more than a mind. You are consciousness itself, capable of awakening to your true nature. But of course, knowing this is not enough — it must be experienced. And this is where NeuroHarmonics enters the picture, with its blend of simple but profound understandings paired with practices that are clear, natural, and incredibly easy to integrate. Remember, this path isn't about hard work. This is about transformation. Closing Well, so much for science, as well as science fiction. We'll end this episode here. As always, keep your eyes, mind, and heart open, and let's get together in the next one.

“Our names are the stories we carry into the world.”“名字，是我们带入世界的故事。”My Chinese name is Li Zi-Jin (李姿锦), and my father said he personally chose it for me. Li is an extremely common surname—you can find people with the same family name everywhere in Taiwan. Yet, as a child, I felt different because of this name, since the great Tang dynasty poet Li Bai also carried the surname Li. That connection gave me an extra sense of pride and belonging. As for Zi (姿), my father chose this character because it contains both “second” (次) and “woman” (女), symbolizing that I am his second daughter. The last character, Jin (锦), is made up of “gold” (金) and “silk” (帛), representing his wishes for me to have a rich and beautiful life. As a little girl, I often felt that my name carried a mission—that my father's hopes and expectations were all packed into those thirty-two brushstrokes.我的中文名字是李姿锦，爸爸说这是他亲自为我取的。李是一个极其普遍的姓氏，在台湾到处都能遇到同姓的人。然而，小时候的我却因为唐代大诗人李白也姓李，而觉得自己与众不同。这样的联想，让我对这个姓氏多了一份骄傲与归属感。至于“姿”，爸爸选这个字，是因为它的结构里有“次”和“女”，象征我是他的第二个女儿。而“锦”由“金”与“帛”组成，代表他对我的期待——希望我能拥有富足而美好的生活。小时候的我常觉得，名字就像一个使命，爸爸的心愿和期待全都压在这三十二划里。When I was in elementary school, my name became the subject of jokes among classmates. They loved to mimic the sound of “Li Zi Jin” saying it sounded like “ni zi ji” (“yourself” in Mandarin). Outwardly, I laughed along, but inside I felt embarrassed. What's more, the last character of my name, Jin, was often misread as Mian (It means cotton in Chinese). Eventually, to avoid awkwardness, I let some teachers or strangers call me “Zi-Mian” instead. Looking back, those jokes were probably harmless, but they did plant a seed in me about the connection between names and identity.小学时期，我的名字常成为同学的玩笑。他们喜欢模仿“李姿锦”的发音，说听起来像“你自己”。表面上我会跟着笑，心里却觉得尴尬。特别是名字最后一个字“锦”，常常被误读成“绵”。后来，为了避免尴尬，我干脆让一些老师或陌生人叫我“姿绵”。现在回头看，那些玩笑或许没有恶意，但确实让我开始思考名字与身份的关联。In the fifth grade, I got my first nickname—“Spider.” Back then, it was trendy in class to change the last character of someone's name to “Pig.”(猪） So Zi-Zhu (姿猪) became “Spider” (蜘蛛). My good friend Yashi even designed a spider logo for me: an oval with a smiling face, a bow on its head, and eight little legs. That time of my life was filled with pure joy. We always signed each other's cards with this little spider, as if it was a secret code and a symbol of our friendship.五年级时，我有了第一个绰号——“蜘蛛”。当时班上流行把名字最后一个字改成“猪”，于是“姿猪”就变成了“蜘蛛”。我的好友雅诗甚至帮我设计了一个蜘蛛签名：一个椭圆里画着笑脸，头上戴着蝴蝶结，还有八只脚。那段日子充满了单纯快乐，我们总会在彼此的卡片上画上这只小蜘蛛，就像是一种友情的暗号和象征。After graduating from high school, I left my hometown of Kaohsiung and moved north to attend Fu Jen Catholic University. My entire social circle changed. I became obsessed with fashion and makeup, copying styles from the Japanese magazine Cawaii: heavy eyeliner, bleached blonde hair, and miniskirts to class. But my attempts made me the subject of ridicule for some Taipei classmates. They secretly gave me a nickname, “Xiao Baihe” (Little Lily), because they thought I looked like a hostess from a nightclub, and those who works at the nightclub always have a flower name. Still, I didn't mind at all. In fact, I thought “Xiao Baihe” was beautiful, and I even enjoyed being called that. Looking back, that experience taught me to stop caring too much about others' opinions and instead focus on my own preferences and self-expression.高中毕业后，我从高雄北上到辅仁大学，生活圈完全改变。我开始迷上时尚与化妆，模仿日本杂志《Cawaii》的风格：浓浓的眼线、染成金色的头发、穿着迷你裙上课。但这些尝试却成了部分台北同学取笑的对象。他们私下给我取了个花名“小百合”，因为觉得我打扮得像酒店小姐——而酒店小姐总会用花名。尽管如此，我一点也不介意，反而觉得“小百合”很好听，甚至乐于被这样称呼。回头看，这段经历让我学会不再过度在意他人的眼光，而是专注于自己的喜好与表达。My first English name was Josephine, chosen by my very first English teacher. But I quickly felt it was too long and changed it to Joyce. It wasn't until I started teaching English myself that I finally decided on the name I still use today—Lily. I liked the simplicity and grace of “Lily,” which brings to mind the pure lily flower and also echoed my college nickname. Some students who knew my Chinese surname would sometimes call me “Lily Li,” but I didn't like that combination—it felt too plain. After my engagement, I began using my fiancé's surname, Wong, and became “Lily Wong.” Even after our divorce, I insisted on keeping this name. For me, it was not only a way to remember that love, but also a way to redefine my own identity.我的第一个英文名字是 Josephine，这是我第一位英文老师帮我取的，但我很快嫌它太长，就改成了 Joyce。直到我开始教英文时，我才决定用现在这个名字——Lily。我喜欢“Lily”的简洁与优雅，让人联想到纯洁的百合花，也与我的大学绰号呼应。有些学生知道我的中文姓氏，会叫我“Lily Li”，但我不喜欢这个组合，觉得太普通。订婚后，我开始使用未婚夫的姓氏“Wong”，成了“Lily Wong”。即使离婚之后，我仍然坚持保留这个名字，因为它不仅是对那段爱情的纪念，更是我对自我身份的重新定义。Nowadays, almost no one calls me by my Chinese name anymore. As I've traveled the world, a few friends have tried to learn it, but pronunciation has always been a challenge. So they prefer to call me Lily—simple, convenient, and making our interactions much easier.如今，几乎没有人再叫我的中文名字了。随着我走遍世界，虽然有些朋友尝试学会它，但发音始终是一个挑战。所以他们更习惯叫我 Lily——简单、方便，也让交流更轻松。Today, my name has become part of my personal brand, Fly with Lily. From “Li Zi-Jin” to “Lily Wong,” each version of my name reflects a stage of growth and transformation. I've come to see that a name is not only a label but also a vessel of stories, carrying the ways we draw strength from the past and choose to live authentically in the present. In the future, whether my name changes again or not, I hope it will continue to convey my values: love, gratitude, freedom, exploration, and abundance.如今，我的名字已经成为我个人品牌 Fly with Lily 的一部分。从“李姿锦”到“Lily Wong”，名字的每一个阶段都反映了我的成长与转变。我发现，名字不仅是符号，更是承载故事的容器，见证我们如何从过去汲取力量，并选择真实地活在当下。未来，无论名字是否再改变，我都希望它能继续传递我的价值观：爱、感恩、自由、探索与丰盛。我的网站是flywithlily.com

In this message, Nic introduces the Orthopraxy series by teaching from Matthew 7:24–27, where Jesus contrasts the wise and foolish builders. The focus is not only on right belief (orthodoxy) but on right practice (orthopraxy), showing that hearing Jesus' words must lead to putting them into action. Outwardly, lives may look similar—prayer, fasting, generosity—but the true foundation is revealed in whether these flow from religious duty or from being deeply loved by God. Spiritual practices are not meant as checklists but as ways to shape our hearts and align our loves with Christ. The call is to live with intention, building on the foundation of Jesus through obedience born out of love, so that faith is not surface-level but transformative, leading us to become people who reflect God's kingdom in every part of life.

“Outwardly, creatures are an illusion, but, inwardly, they are an admonition. Thus, the soul looks at the illusory exterior while the heart looks at the admonitory interior” Hikam 85 page 142 from The Book of Wisdoms https://www.whitethreadpress.com/products/the-book-of-wisdoms-kitab-al-hikam-with-ikmal-al-shiyam The aphorism explains the constant battle between the differing perspectives of the self ego and the inner heart. The ego wishes to partake in any worldly pleasure, whilst the heart looks beyond immediate pleasure and calls for self restraint. The Shaykh mentions the importance of self discipline and three ways which will safeguard one from falling prey to the ego. Link to donate - https://www.whitethread.org/whitethread-centre/

Too often, Christian leaders find themselves coasting—living by habit, not conviction. Outwardly, everything looks fine: church attendance, leadership roles, and a respected title. But beneath the surface lies a shallow, cultural Christianity that lacks true transformation. In this powerful episode, Ron shares his personal journey from cultural Christian to authentic follower—and how that shift reshaped not just his personal walk with God, but every aspect of his leadership. Drawing from Revelation 3 and Peter's transformation in Acts, this episode invites Christian leaders to examine their motives, align their values with Scripture, and lead from a place of surrendered faith. You'll learn: What separates cultural Christianity from authentic discipleship Why Christian leaders are especially vulnerable to spiritual drift How your leadership values, behaviors, and decisions change when rooted in Christ Five practical steps to help you move from comfort to conviction in your faith This isn't just a call to believe—it's a call to follow. Because real faith always leaves a mark on how you lead.

Jeff Halevy has lived many lives. After surviving a childhood brain tumor and living with undiagnosed PTSD, he poured himself into achievement – becoming an award-winning, multi-exit entrepreneur in health, wellness, and technology. He built businesses at the intersection of fitness and behavior change, served as a correspondent for NBC's Today Show, hosted the internationally syndicated Workout From Within with Jeff Halevy, and advised on Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” campaign. Outwardly, he was thriving. Internally, he was struggling.The pressure to produce and the need to stay in motion became unsustainable. Jeff eventually hit a spiritual bottom that forced him to reassess how he was living – redefining how he channeled his energy and passion in a healthier, more sustainable way. Not long after that shift, tragedy struck: his wife died by suicide following severe mental health challenges compounded by postpartum, leaving Jeff to raise two young children alone.In this conversation, Jeff shares the pain and trauma that shaped him, the emotional cost of high achievement, and how fatherhood became the anchor that kept him grounded. He also reflects on how his journey – through undiagnosed trauma, success, loss, and recovery – inspired the founding of Continuum, where he now serves as founder and CEO. Continuum is a luxury wellness club that uses biometric data and AI to deliver individualized, precision-based wellness – with the mission to make the practice of wellness as precise and intentional as the practice of medicine.This episode is about trauma, sobriety, grief, and turning pain into purpose: how one man's healing journey became the blueprint for helping others.Topics include:Emergency brain surgery as a teenager and its lasting psychological impactLiving with undiagnosed PTSD while building a wellness careerWhen overachievement becomes survival – and how that is not sustainableLosing his wife to suicide and raising two infants aloneBuilding and exiting multiple companies in fitness and healthFounding Continuum: precision wellness through biometric data and AIHow Jeff has come to view success through the lens of fatherhood and being emotionally present For more information about Jeff's new wellness company, Continuum, please click here: ContinuumConnect with Zachttps://www.instagram.com/zwclark/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-c-746b96254/https://www.tiktok.com/@zacwclarkhttps://www.strava.com/athletes/55697553https://twitter.com/zacwclarkIf you or anyone you know is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact Release:(914) 588-6564releaserecovery.com@releaserecovery

“He who has ears, let him hear.” – Matthew 13:9Those were Jesus' closing words after telling the Parable of the Sower—a story that invites us to listen carefully, not just with our ears, but with our hearts. Today, we'll look at this story and what it reveals about the heart behind our finances, especially the warning about “the deceitfulness of riches”.The Parable of the Sower and the State of Our HeartsThe Parable of the Sower appears in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. It begins with a farmer scattering seed, which falls on four types of soil. Jesus later explains that the seed is the Word of God, and the soils represent different heart conditions. Some hearts are hard, others shallow. Some are fertile and ready. But one soil in particular draws our attention today: the seed that fell among thorns.In Matthew 13:22, Jesus says,“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”Understanding the Thorns: Worry and WealthLet's break that down.First, Jesus points to "the cares of the world"—the daily anxieties and distractions that can crowd out our trust in God. Then, He adds “the deceitfulness of riches.” It's not wealth itself that's the issue. It's the lie wealth tells: that more money will bring more peace, that possessions equal security, and that success means significance.The Bible consistently warns us about that lie:Proverbs 11:28 — “Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.” 1 Timothy 6:17 — “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.”Wealth deceives us by offering the illusion of control and independence. It tempts us to believe we're self-sufficient. And when we buy that lie, we slowly stop depending on God. Like thorns in a garden, worldly cares and the lure of wealth take root in our hearts, slowly crowding out our affection for God. The space once reserved for trust and obedience becomes overrun with distraction and self-reliance.As C.S. Lewis put it:“Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is 'finding his place in it,' while really it is finding its place in him.”Time for a Heart CheckYou might be saving diligently, investing wisely, and even giving regularly. But if you're trusting in your portfolio more than God's promises—or if your finances have become a source of anxiety—then it may be time to do a heart check. What kind of soil are you cultivating?When unexpected expenses hit, what comes first—prayer or panic? When you think about the future, is your hope grounded in your retirement account or in the One who holds all things together?Jesus said the seed among thorns becomes “unfruitful.” The Word doesn't lose its power, but when wealth and worry take over our hearts, we stop responding to it. Outwardly, we may look faithful, but inwardly, our love for Him is being choked out. So, how do we respond?Jesus points to the solution just a few verses later. In Matthew 13:23, He says:“The good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit and yields.”Receiving God's Word deeply isn't a one-time event—it's a lifelong process of cultivating the soil of our hearts. It means creating space where God's truth can take root, thrive, and grow, without being overtaken by competing desires.Three Practices to Cultivate “Good Soil”Prioritize Your Giving—Start with generosity, not as an afterthought, but as an act of worship. Giving reminds us that money is not our master and that we trust God to provide for us. Check Your Emotional Temperature—If your peace rises and falls with your financial circumstances, that's a signal to lean into God's Word more than your wallet. Rethink Your Financial Goals—Ask Yourself: What Am I Building? And why? Is your financial plan aligned with Kingdom purposes, or is it just chasing comfort or status?As Dallas Willard said, “The main thing God gets out of your life is the person you become.” That includes how you handle money. Generosity, peace, and contentment are fruits of a life rooted in Christ, not one choked out by wealth.What Are You Trusting In?Remember that the condition of your heart matters more than the condition of your accounts. If you want to be fruitful in your finances and faithful in your walk with God, start by asking: What am I trusting in?Let the answer lead you back to Christ, because only in Him will your life bear lasting fruit.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I own a two-flat apartment building valued at around $650,000. We've received an offer and are considering buying another building listed at $640,000 in a different area. Since I've never sold a property before, I'd like to understand the full costs involved in selling my current one and purchasing a new one.I recently learned that one of the index funds I invest in holds companies involved in things I don't ethically support. As someone trying to invest according to my values, is it wrong to stay in that fund?I have an IRA that's set up as an annuity, but I'm not sure what the advantages are. Is there a real benefit to holding an annuity within an IRA, or would I be better off moving it into a different type of investment?I've had a sealed monster box of Silver Eagle coins for a while now. Should I hold onto it, or would it be smarter to sell them and reinvest the money elsewhere?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Military expert Col. Dave Grossman discusses not only African and Middle Eastern child soldiers but also the experience of youthful draftees in Viet Nam. Along the way, we cover Ukraine's fighters, PTSD, video games, female child soldiers, sleep deprivation, chaplains, and how Grossman supports his own deployed grandson. Alert: some troubling content. 2d alert: we're not saying that the U.S. draft system in 1974 is comparable to the kidnapping and conscription of 13-year-olds in Kenyan militias. Hear us out. Translations of the two clips that are not in English are written below or can be viewed on YouTube.Additional resources: Books by Dave Grossman: --On Killing--On Combat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynUzqNiMk4"Helping One Child Soldier at a Time" World Vision, World Vision Canada, 2012https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2018/2/12/what-is-behind-the-rising-number-of-child-soldiers/"What is behind the rising number of child soldiers?" Inside Story, Aljazeera,2018https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxjLDSJxfgg "Iraq: Yezidi Child Soldiers Who Survived ISIS Tell Their Stories" Amnesty International, Fat Rat Films, 2022https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/56-the-grand-theft-of-our-kids-w-dave-grossman/id1620044176?i=1000656382367Conversation Balloons Podcast, Episode 56: "The Grand Theft of Our Kids" with Col. Dave GrossmanTranslation of clip 1:“So this particular day, we were all dressing up to go to the market. Then we realized the rebels wereall over our compound. They caught up with me and brought me home. My mother had just delivered a baby. They told her they wanted one million shillings or else they would kill me. So they brought 2 big bundles of sticks and they began beating me. They beat me until I was unconscious. They said that I would become a good soldier now that they had taken the civilian spirit away from me.”Translation of second clip not in English:“For 4 years, we did whatever they told us to do just to keep them satisfied. And to try to make them trust us so they would not kill us and we could escape from captivity. But in our hearts, nothings was changing. They would teach us that the people we loved were Kafir (infidels). And that we should fight them. Outwardly we were acting like them. Inside, though, we were still holding on to our religion. But they knew that we hadn't converted to their religion, so they put us in prison. They told us, ‘You are still Yezidis.'” And they hit us with sticks. It was difficult. I begged them, ‘Show mercy. I am young; I cannot handle this beating.' But they continued to beat me.'…--When you were released from captivity and got back home,why did you get the tattoo of your mother on your arm?I love my mother a lot and I want her image to be with me always. ISIS took her away from me and separated us.--You were so young, you were 13 or 14 years old. I want her to always be with me. That's why I got this tattoo.”

They Said It: Even Red Sox players are outwardly saying they stink

In a season of Stillness—but I'm still here. ❤️‍

Today, I interview Joan Perry, who once built a life filled with achievement, only to realize she was climbing the wrong ladder in the wrong building. Outwardly, everything looked perfect—career success, recognition, and status—but inwardly, she felt disconnected from herself. Joan shares how, for years, she followed the path that culture and family laid out for her, without ever stopping to ask if it was truly her own.Growing up in a high-achieving family in the Midwest, Joan learned early on that visibility and accomplishment were rewarded. Her voice, however, was often silenced. In a household where airtime was earned and expression was measured, she became an achiever—excelling in sports, academics, and later, in a groundbreaking career on Wall Street. Yet behind all the success was a deep longing for something more real, something that felt alive inside her.The breakthrough came when everything she had built began to fall apart. A divorce she never saw coming stripped away the vision she had constructed. It forced her to pause for the first time and listen inward. Joan realized she had shaped her entire life around survival, not authenticity. Stability had come at the cost of her true voice. This disruption marked the true beginning of her Heroine's Journey—the journey back to herself.Today, Joan Perry is the founder of The Heroine's Journey and a bestselling author, helping women everywhere reclaim their voice, self-worth, and authentic path. Through her writing, coaching, and her podcast The Heroine's Journey, she teaches that real success starts when we stop performing and start listening within. Her story is a powerful reminder that it is never too late to rewrite the story and become the Heroine of your own life.__________________Joan Perry is a cultural luminary and advocate for women becoming the heroines of their own lives. Her credits include bestselling author, business owner, securities trader, high-performance coach, pioneering high-net-worth investor, philanthropist, and publisher.Her deepest joy comes from sharing her epic work, The Heroine's Journey to True Wealth, with other women who are also trying to rewrite their heroine's story.She is an international bestselling author, host of The Heroine's Journey Podcast, and founder of The Heroine's Journey. She is also the author of The Heroine's Journey: The Art of Becoming the Heroine of Your Own Life.__________________Find Joan here:https://www.facebook.com/TheJoanPerrylinkedin.com/in/the-joan-perrywww.WalkTheJourney.comSupport the showI'm Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

When 57-year-old Janine Sutphen disappeared in January 2003, friends and family were baffled. Outwardly, Janine's life appeared fine. She had recently married, and the only hardship she experienced was losing a job. Janine had turned things around in her career, learning a new role. But behind closed doors, a dark story was unfolding. Janine's new husband had a criminal history of fraud and forgery- the couple was in deep debt. Mountain Murders peels back the case where money and betrayal turned deadly.Intro music by Joe Buck YourselfHosts Heather and Dylanwww.mountainmurderspodcast.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mountain-murders--3281847/support.

We can't keep living like this. We've got to wake up. We've got to become better. We're never going to make it if we don't awaken to the reality of our circumstances, both as individuals and as a collective. Reading by Tim Foley.

In December 1989, 37-year-old Susan Simoni clocked out from her job as a medical secretary. A simple plan lay ahead: pick-up dog from the groomer and daughter from ballet. A fairly typical evening. Or so she thought. Outwardly, Susan had it all. But beneath the veneer of a perfect life, a hidden darkness lurked. Susan's marriage of 15 years was falling apart. The previous night, Susan had finally broached the subject of divorce with her husband Brian. She'd even handed Brian a pamphlet, a guide to navigating the painful process with minimal damage to their three children—ages 14, 11, and 9. When Susan failed to pick up her daughter, Alicia, from ballet and never arrived home that night, Brian called police to report her absence. The next morning, Susan was found dead in her SUV. It didn't take police long to identify a suspect, and his identity surprised everyone …everyone, that is, but those who knew Susan best. Subscribe to Jami's YouTube channel @JamiOnAir: https://www.youtube.com/@jamionair Sponsors Lumen: Visit lumen.me/MURDERISH to get 15% off your Lumen. Shopify: Visit shopify.com/murderish to sign up for a $1/month trial period. ASPCA Pet Health Insurance: Visit ASPCApetinsurance.com/murderish to explore coverage. Spot & Tango: Visit SpotandTango.com/murderish & use code MURDERISH for 50% off your first order. Wildgrain: Visit Wildgrain.com/MURDERISH to get $30 off your first box + free croissants. Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirty-money-moves-women-in-white-collar-crime/id1619521092. Research and writing by: K. Brant. Want to advertise on this show? We've partnered with Cloud10 Media to handle our advertising requests. If you're interested in advertising on MURDERISH, please send an email to Sahiba Krieger sahiba@cloud10.fm and copy jami@murderish.com.  Visit Murderish.com to learn more about the podcast and Creator/Host, Jami, and to view a list of sources for this episode.  Listening to this podcast doesn't make you a murderer, it just means you're murder..ish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his 2023 report "Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation", the US Surgeon General at the time, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared loneliness and social isolation a public health epidemic.Aside from feelings of ennui and lacking support structure, loneliness can trigger or increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and even premature death!So, while he doesn't quite come out and say it, and he might not have been thinking exactly along those terms when I spoke with him, Steve Fales might have had a brush with death.Steve grew up in a single-parent home. Although he had a brother, his brother was 11 years older and serving in Vietnam while Steve and his mom were living in what he repeatedly describes as “a dead end street in a quiet town with lots of kids and dogs around and playing all the time and other stuff kids do”.He started out working on the floor in a grocery store before he applied for a job in their advertising department – and got it. His experience eventually drove him to start his own advertising agency, where he carved out a niche in the air conditioning industry. Things were going fine… until his growing firm was selected as a provider of choice for a major manufacturing firm.But Fine is a 4-Letter Word… and what some might call Steve's ship coming in gave him panic attacks. For months he started his days by wretching and dry-heaving into the toilet. Outwardly, he was the envy of his peers and the idol of his friends… but he carried this dark secret. Does this sound familiar, by the way?Join Steve and me on a deep dive into the impacts of loneliness on our society. There's a reason it's an epidemic. With surveys showing one in 4 people reporting they eat alone every day, and everybody wandering down the sidewalk with their eyes on their phone… we're surrounded by people yet frighteningly disconnected.Not to reveal the takeaways before you even hear the episode, but the solution to your loneliness and disconnection comes not from being around other people, as much as it comes from within you. Steve lays it all out for you. Steve's hype song is "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" by The Moody Blues.Resources:Steve Fales' website: https://www.stevefales.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenfales/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.fales.18 Claim your copy of Steve Fales' book, “Loving Your Neighbor: A Practical Guide” (plus the group discussion and journal prompts), at https://www.stevefales.com/books/loving-your-neighbor/Invitation from Lori: This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit. Smart business leaders know trust is the foundation of every great workplace. And in today's hybrid and fast-moving work culture, trust isn't built in quarterly town halls or the occasional Slack message. It's built through consistent, clear, and HUMAN communication. Companies and leaders TALK about the importance of connection and community. And it's easy to believe your organization is doing a great job of maintaining an awesome corporate culture. Because you've got annual all-hands and open door policies, and “fun" team-building events.But let's be real. Leaders who are serious about building real trust are finding better ways to strengthen culture, create connection,...

ABOUT THE EPISODE:Lynne's first clue that her son might be using substances was finding a Google search: “marijuana for anxiety.”Outwardly, there was nothing particularly concerning about his behavior - at first. He had always made good grades, even as an elite athlete headed for college play. But inside, the looming life changes were causing a lot of anxiety. The first time he tried marijuana, he knew it was exactly what he had been looking for and it worked…for a while.Once he got to college, his use of marijuana was compounded by other substances, his grades plummeted, and Lynne's family had to make the difficult decision of no longer paying for school. After a psychotic episode and an automobile accident, Lynne's son was finally able to embrace treatment and sustain recovery.Meanwhile, Lynne demonstrated the resilience innate to her personality and became certified as a Mayo Clinic Health and Wellness Coach, Invitation to Change parent coach, and meditation instructor. In this family story episode, she shares her process of learning how to see the journey without regard for the outcome, the benefits of learning to set boundaries, and shares the key to her strength to help her son recover his life.EPISODE RESOURCES:The Stream CommunityThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream CommunityLearn about The Stream, our private online community for momsFind us on Instagram hereFind us on YouTube hereDownload a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and AlcoholHopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

Welcome to Day 2579 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2579– Prophetic Literature - God's Call to Repentance and Restoration – Ezekiel 34_22-24 Putnam Church Message – 03/02/2025 Sermon Series: Old Testament Orientation Message 8: Prophetic Literature – God's Call to Repentance and Restoration Last week, we continued our Old Testament Orientation series and dove into  Historiography, Conquest, Kingdom, and Exile. We will also tie in how the ancient Israelites experienced and would have understood them. This week and next, we move on to the books of prophecy in a message titled Prophetic Literature – God's Call to Repentance and Restoration. Since it covers the same timeframe as the historical books, some of the information will be similar to the past two weeks, but from a prophet's perspective. Opening Prayer Heavenly Father, You have spoken through Your prophets to call Your people back to You. As we explore Your prophetic Word today, open our hearts to understand Your call to repentance, Your warnings against idolatry, and Your promises of restoration. May we not harden our hearts as Israel once did, but instead turn toward You in faithfulness. May Your Spirit guide us as we learn from the voices of Your prophets. In Jesus' name, Amen. Introduction Picture yourself living in ancient Israel during a time of great prosperity. Solomon was the King. The country was at peace, and the economy was good. The fields are full, the markets are bustling, and the temple stands tall in Jerusalem. Outwardly, everything seems well. But as you walk the streets, you see people bowing to the gods of other nations, offering incense to Baal, and engaging in corrupt business practices. You see leaders oppressing the poor, and despite the outward religious activity, you sense that something is deeply wrong. Then, a prophet appears in the city square. He lifts his voice and proclaims: Isaiah 29:13 And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. In other words, God is saying through Isaiah: You have turned to other gods, and judgment is coming! Repent and return to Yahweh before it is too late!” How would you respond? Would you listen? Would you scoff? The prophets were sent by God during Israel's most critical moments—calling the people to repentance, warning of coming judgment, and declaring a future restoration. Today, as we study prophetic literature, we must ask: Are we listening to God's call today, or are we ignoring His voice like Israel once did? The prophetic books—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets—carry a unified message: (Bulletin Insert) The Prophets Warned of the Dangers of Worshipping Other Gods Repentance Was the Only Path to Restoration Judgment Came to Purify, Not Destroy Hope Remained—The Promise of Restoration     Main Points The Prophets Warned of the Dangers of Worshipping Other...

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