Podcasts about when heaven

April 18th 2025 – When Heaven's plan collided with Earth's Brokenness – Luke 23:32-49 by Exchange Church Shepparton

In Jackson as it is in Heaven is a vision and a declaration—that the kingdom of God isn't just something we wait for, it's something we carry. Just as Heaven broke out of Jesus, the heavenly man, and transformed everything around him, so it does through us. This isn't just spiritual—it's supernatural, sociological, physical, and deeply personal. When Heaven breaks out, neighborhoods change. Bodies are healed. Relationships are restored. Systems shift. Hope rises. In this message, we explore what it looks like when the reign of Jesus breaks into Jackson, MI—through ordinary people filled with extraordinary love and power. Heaven isn't distant. It's breaking out.

When Heaven and Nature Sing Part 4 by Real Life

When Heaven and Nature Sing Part 3 by Real Life

When Heaven and Nature Sing Part 2 by Real Life

When Heaven and Nature Sing Part 1 by Real Life

We are privileged to welcome Le Ly Hayslip, whose memoir, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, was the first to bring the story of a former Viet Cong and Vietnam refugee to American readers. Oliver Stone later made the book into a major motion picture starring Tommy Lee Jones. Ms. Hayslip is the founder of the East Meets West Foundation, now known as Thrive Networks. Her story is one of unimaginable trauma somehow matched by powerful resilience and a will to thrive. She was born in poverty in a village near Da Nang as the First Indochina War neared it height. What Americans call the Vietnam War followed, and her village became a frontline for the conflict between the Viet Cong and South Vietnamese government forces, backed by the United States. As a teenager, Le Ly joined the Viet Cong, primarily as a result of her village's political leanings and the influence they held over the area. Her role involved basic support tasks such as cooking and transporting supplies, but she also set booby traps and planted mines. She was arrested and tortured by South Vietnamese forces, who suspected her of espionage for the Viet Cong. This experience was traumatizing, and after her release, she faced suspicion from the Viet Cong as well, who questioned her loyalty. The double scrutiny and resulting abuses left her isolated and vulnerable. To escape the violence and constant threat of harm, Le Ly left her village and found work in Da Nang, where she encountered new struggles. She took on various jobs to survive–many of them illegal–and became involved with American soldiers, which brought a degree of financial stability but exposed her to new risks. In the early 1970s, Le Ly met Ed Munro, an American civilian contractor who eventually became her husband. Their relationship offered her a way out of Vietnam, and she emigrated to the United States with him. Upon arrival, Le Ly faced a new set of challenges: culture shock, language barriers, and the struggle to adapt to an entirely different way of life. Although safe from the violence of war, she was haunted by the trauma of her past and had to navigate the demands of her new life as a mother and immigrant. After settling in the United States, Le Ly worked a variety of jobs to support herself and her children. Though she and Munro eventually divorced, Le Ly persevered, working to provide for her family and find stability. Her journey gave her a unique perspective on both Vietnamese and American cultures, and over time, she began to process her experiences by writing her memoir, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, published in 1989. In it, she shared her personal account of life during the Vietnam War, her family's struggles, and her journey to America. Her story offered an intimate view of the human cost of war, aiming to bridge understanding between Americans and Vietnamese. Le Ly's memoir caught the attention of American film director Oliver Stone, who was moved by her story and its focus on the impact of war on civilians, especially women. Stone had already explored the Vietnam War from an American perspective in Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. With Heaven and Earth, released in 1993, he completed his Vietnam War trilogy, this time focusing on the Vietnamese experience. The film, adapted from Le Ly's memoirs When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, follows her journey from Vietnam to America, highlighting her experiences with violence, survival, and resilience. Beyond her writing, Le Ly became a humanitarian and advocate for peace and reconciliation. In 1988, she founded the East Meets West Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving relations between Vietnam and the United States and aiding Vietnamese communities in need. The foundation has supported various projects, including medical assistance, educational programs, and infrastructure development, helping Vietnamese people affected by the war rebuild their lives. Through her humanitarian work, Le Ly sought to bridge the gap between her two worlds, fostering understanding and healing across cultures. Le Ly Hayslip's life story reflects the complexities of war, survival, and adaptation. Her work as an author, film collaborator, and humanitarian has contributed to greater awareness of the Vietnam War's impact on civilians and helped foster cross-cultural understanding. Through her story and her efforts, she has become a powerful advocate for peace and a testament to resilience amid the devastation of war. We're grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!

7-year-old Heaven was brought into the Budha House to be healed. The neighbors who brought her in tried to explain - she had been playing and hanging onto a bar when she fell and hit her head. She is now unconscious.  But the healers could just take one look at Heaven and know - the little girl is dead.  When Heaven's mom finally sees Heaven's little body - she finds something even more puzzling. Her mouth is filled with cement. Her autopsy shows she was assaulted “front and back” and had these weird little cuts all over her body.  On her neck, you could almost make out the 5 fingers that were wrapped around her. Suffocating her.  It feels like all the neighbors are in on some big conspiracy. Why do they keep insisting that she fell when it's so clear she did not. What are they hiding? Heaven's mom is going to figure out what the hell happened to her daughter.  https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-heaven-and-her-mother Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new MP3 sermon from Maple Hill Missionary Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Part 1: When Heaven is Silent Speaker: Dwight McClure Broadcaster: Maple Hill Missionary Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 6/2/2024 Length: 49 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Maple Hill Missionary Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Part 2: When Heaven is Silent Subtitle: When Heaven is Silent Speaker: Dwight McClure Broadcaster: Maple Hill Missionary Baptist Church Event: Sunday - PM Date: 6/2/2024 Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Length: 42 min.

When Heaven is Silent (3 of 3) | Pastor Shane Idleman Watch our services live at http://wcfav.org/ Free Downloads of Pastor Shane's E-books at https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/teachings/ Donate to Westside Christian Fellowship here: https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/give/ Free speech is being severely compromised. This new FREE SPEECH platform is amazing - many solid voices are moving over. You can follow Pastor Shane here on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Westside Christian Fellowship is a non-denominational Christian church that meets every every Sunday at 8:30 am 11:00 am in Leona Valley, California (9306 Leona Avenue). For more info, or to read our statement of faith, visit westsidechristianfellowship.org/about-wcf/statement-of-faith/ To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1055/29

When Heaven is Silent (2 of 3) | Pastor Shane Idleman Watch our services live at http://wcfav.org/ Free Downloads of Pastor Shane's E-books at https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/teachings/ Donate to Westside Christian Fellowship here: https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/give/ Free speech is being severely compromised. This new FREE SPEECH platform is amazing - many solid voices are moving over. You can follow Pastor Shane here on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Westside Christian Fellowship is a non-denominational Christian church that meets every every Sunday at 8:30 am 11:00 am in Leona Valley, California (9306 Leona Avenue). For more info, or to read our statement of faith, visit westsidechristianfellowship.org/about-wcf/statement-of-faith/ To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1055/29

When Heaven is Silent (1 of 3) | Pastor Shane Idleman Watch our services live at http://wcfav.org/ Free Downloads of Pastor Shane's E-books at https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/teachings/ Donate to Westside Christian Fellowship here: https://westsidechristianfellowship.org/give/ Free speech is being severely compromised. This new FREE SPEECH platform is amazing - many solid voices are moving over. You can follow Pastor Shane here on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Westside Christian Fellowship is a non-denominational Christian church that meets every every Sunday at 8:30 am 11:00 am in Leona Valley, California (9306 Leona Avenue). For more info, or to read our statement of faith, visit westsidechristianfellowship.org/about-wcf/statement-of-faith/ To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1055/29

Have you ever wondered why it feels like God sometimes ignores our prayers? We just can't wrap our heads around God's ways. I've been there, wondering why things don't seem to be going as planned. But there is one prayer that God always answers: the prayer for mercy. In this episode, we're exploring the unwavering presence of mercy in the Bible and embracing the abundant mercy God offers us each day. Lamentations 3:222-23 puts it this way: Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.  I want to remind you that nowhere in scripture when anyone prayed for mercy were they denied, not one person.  I wrap up the episode with a heartfelt prayer, asking God to remind us that he showers His mercies upon us. Get the full show notes at realrelationshiptalk.com/220.   Resources and Links in this Episode:  Listen to Episode 170: When Heaven is Silent: The Truth Behind Unanswered Prayer Listen to Episode 171: Why Do I Still Feel Anxious After Praying? Download your Speak Life Audio Affirmations here.   Leave a Review and Subscribe to the Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify  Remember, sharing is caring! Share this episode via email or social media. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Think of a group so hooked on the idea of leveling up in the universe, they planned their own mass departure. Heaven's Gate, led by the duo Applewhite and Nettles, was not your average cult. They mixed doomsday vibes with UFO lore, promising a ride to the next level via a comet. The catch? A tragic mass suicide in '97 that rocked the world.For bonus content, ad-free and early episodes, archived episodes, a private Discord community, and more, subscribe to @fthatpod on Patreon!Don't forget to check out the website!www.fthatpod.com If you liked what you heard today, give the podcast a like, review, and subscribe.Follow F**k That on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter @fthatpod Instagram @fthat_pod YouTube Channel: @fthatpod Thank you to this week's sources: www.bibleref.com/Revelation/11/Revelation-11-3.htmlBonnie NettlesWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Nettles Heaven's Gate (religious group)Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group) www.heavensgate.com How and When “Heaven's Gate” (The Door to the Physical Kingdom and Level Above Humanity) May Be EnteredAn anthology by Representatives from the Kingdom of Heaven This is the first edition of the Heaven's Gate official book that they published before their “exit” Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/f-k-that--5741034/support.

Think of a group so hooked on the idea of leveling up in the universe, they planned their own mass departure. Heaven's Gate, led by the duo Applewhite and Nettles, was not your average cult. They mixed doomsday vibes with UFO lore, promising a ride to the next level via a comet. The catch? A tragic mass suicide in '97 that rocked the world.For bonus content, ad-free and early episodes, archived episodes, a private Discord community, and more, subscribe to @fthatpod on Patreon! Don't forget to check out the website!www.fthatpod.comIf you liked what you heard today, give the podcast a like, review, and subscribe.Follow F**k That on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter @fthatpodInstagram @fthat_podYouTube Channel: @fthatpodThank you to this week's sources: www.bibleref.com/Revelation/11/Revelation-11-3.html Bonnie NettlesWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Nettles Heaven's Gate (religious group) Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group) www.heavensgate.comHow and When “Heaven's Gate” (The Door to the Physical Kingdom and Level Above Humanity) May Be Entered An anthology by Representatives from the Kingdom of HeavenThis is the first edition of the Heaven's Gate official book that they published before their “exit”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/f-k-that--5741034/support.

Fighting for the weekend.A Spring Break 14-part Novel.By FinalStand. Listen to the complete episode at Steamy Stories.*Giving can make you richer while keeping leaves you only with what you have*Before we departed Rio raced back to the room to make some last minute adjustments to her attire. When she came back out all the conversation stopped and every one of us stared. Where could I begin? Rio had three earrings in her left ear and two on her right, the bottom on both sides being ivory skulls with red ruby eyes. She had an obsidian gem glued to her forehead just above her eyebrows.Her right eyebrow had a simple silver ring, but the one in her left nostril was a tiny pentagram. Her lip ring was a on the left side; a double loop. She'd taken off her bra and her nipple piercings, linked together by a chain, were clearly visible underneath her shirt which she'd tied tightly right below the breast line; her bra was now AWOL.Her belly button ring has an onyx teardrop attached. As she walked up to the group she stuck her tongue at the others exposing her pewter tongue barbell. She skipped over, breasts bouncing, and hugged me before leaning back and pumping her fist up in the air.“Free at last!”“Ten, eleven, twelve,” counted off Chastity quietly.“I have fourteen,” Rio grinned lasciviously to Chastity. More than one girl began doing the physiological implications of that claim and I doubted they were thinking about her toes.“At least if we all end up being arrested one of us will be unrecognizable,” Christina commented.“Is, is that one of your classmates?” Jill muttered, clearly blanking out the old Rio from her mind.“For better or worse she's one of us,” I boasted. Barbie Lynn, sticking close to my other arm, gave me a desperate, quizzical expression.“She's one of my students,” Barbie told Jill. “She's one of ours still seeking redemption.”Before Rio could be more of a smart-ass I gave her hand a hard squeeze and while she grinned mischievously, she did hold her tongue.“Okay, ladies, let's go,” I announced. We all started migrating toward the door.“Where are you going?” Jill asked.“There is a party next door,” Christina provided.“The Wiccan lesbians?” Jill gasped.“I was wrong, Jill,” I evaded. “They are a sorority house, not Wiccan lesbians. They invited us over tonight for a little school mixer.”“Well, as long as it is just you girls,” Jill hoped. I nodded and headed out the door.“That wasn't very nice,” Christina scolded me once we had gathered outside and began moving toward the Kappa Sigma house.“If I told her it was a sorority house she would have worried but been unable to do anything. This way she didn't have to worry,” I explained.“You have the Devil's Tongue,” Christina chided, but she had that smile and gleam in her eye.“And how,” Barbie Lynn snickered. Something passed between Barbie Lynn and Christina but I missed it. My group spilled through the trees that separated the properties and headed for the front door.Storming the GatesTwo guys had parked their car and were coming up the walkway when they saw us. They did a double-take before looking at each other utterly confused. We lined up at the door first and after I knocked a bright-faced girl, most likely a newly-minted pledge, answered. She took a look at me, smiled, then that smile faded as she saw the passel of women behind me.“Hi, I'm Zane; we were invited,” I offered.“Oh!” he eyes lit up,”you are that Zane. I thought, well, we heard you were bringing a guest or two. I, can I check with someone?“ she babbled.“Sure. Can we wait inside?” I suggested. She nodded and we all started filing in.Our arrival sent ripples through the house. Apparently not many girls crash a sorority function and since most of the guys present were expecting unfavorable odds, the social dynamic had shifted.“Zane,” Tawny Flores greeted me. Being the Sorority President it was her burden to figure out what our fate would be. “When you said you could bring some friends, you weren't kidding.”There was a pregnant pause before I remembered my manners.“This is Christina Buchanan, Senior Class President of F F U,” I presented our ‘Queen'. She and Tawny shook hands, two alpha females testing each other. I started further introduction but was cut off by Tawny's question.“How do you know the Senior Class President of F F U, Zane?”“Zane didn't tell you?” Christina marveled. “I figured he would have bragged about it.” Seeing Tawny's uncertainty, Christina gave a clever smile and clarified,”Zane is a freshman at F F U.““But that's a, All, how did that happen?” Tawny inquired.“Zane's turning out to be a very clever boy,” Christina grinned knowingly to Tawny who nodded back as if I was a mere mortal amongst titans.“Please enter, ladies,” Tawny said. “Come meet the Alpha Kappa Alpha president, Christina,” she continued. “The rest of you, have fun.”It took all of five seconds before the first AKA hit on one of my companions. By the time I made my way to the pool in the back where the music was starting up, it was just me, Barbie Lynn, and Iona. When a tall athletic black student came up and asked Barbie to dance, she turned for my approval which I quickly gave.“Iona,” I whispered to my final F F U lady,”you are here to have fun so relax.“"Can't I stay with you?” she said softly.“You are with me every other day of the week,” I pointed out. No sooner had I said that when another guy came up and asked her to dance. She left me looking somewhat fearful.I went over to the ‘bar' and got a cup of beer but before I could turn around a pair of hands from behind covered my eyes.“Hey stranger,” the female voice addressed me,”I see you delivered on all the hotties.“"I'm glad you appreciate them, Leigh,” I replied as I reached up and took hold of her hands.I turned around, keeping her hands high so that when I faced her I could place them on my shoulders. I let go and snaked my arms around her waist. While Leigh was still taking in her circumstances, I leaned down and kissed her. I pulled back a quarter-step and her lips parted slightly in surprise which allowed me to kiss her again in greater depth, this time lasting several seconds.“Wow,” she panted when our kiss ended,”you don't waste much time.“"That was a ‘thank you' for the invite,” I informed her. “Somehow I didn't think a card would suffice.” Her eyes grew smoky like awakening volcanic pools of desire.“Show me how well you can dance,” Leigh asked playfully. She led me to the pool's edge and I did my best to not look foolish while she came off as devastatingly seductive.I was having a lot of fun with Leigh until a second girl, Carly by name, tried to break in. A little tug of war broke out and Leigh staggered back over the lip of the pool. I grabbed her at the last moment and kept her from falling in. Tipping there at the lip of the pool, I smiled and said,“That was close,” to which Leigh smirked and pushed me in.I reached out and snatched her arm as we both tumbled into the water. Leigh squealed as she plunged into the cool water while most of the other students laughed at us. I helped Leigh out and followed her up so that we were both standing, dripping wet, in the warm late summer air.“Come with me,” Leigh urged, as she took my hand and led me into the house. “I'll get you something dry to wear.”We squished up the back stairs past several amused couples until we dodged into Leigh's room. She immediately started to strip down so I did the same, soon leaving us naked. Leigh walked up to me, rubbing her hands along my hips and chest.“Why didn't you come by for a swim?” she inquired.“I had some home issues to work out,” I admitted. “Aunt Jill is a bit uptight, but she's getting better, and thank you for that too.” Of course, having her so naked and so close wasn't doing my attempts at sexual control any good.“Is that for me?” she said with a toothy grin, looking at my crotch.“Actually, I'm turned on by your roommate's 'Hello Kitty' comforter,” I joked. “I'm a freak that way.” She pouted and started to stroke my cock shaft with one hand while circling my head with two fingers from the other.“Are you sure about that?” she teased.Words clearly weren't working so I decided to use the hands-on approach. I started by kissing her, wrapping my hands around her ass and picking her up off the ground against me. When Leigh reached her hand up around my neck to steady herself I rested her cunt on the tip of my penis.“Oh,” she gasped but didn't protest, so I slowly lowered her down, easing my penetration to a comfortable rate.“Holy Crap, you're filling me up,” she murmured as her legs squeezed around my waist. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she chanted as she slid down my length until she was nestled tightly against me. For a minute we remained joined and unmoving as her vagina contracted and expanded against me as she sought equilibrium between my girth and her control.When Leigh was prepared she gave me a nod signaling her readiness. I squeezed her ass firmly and slowly brought her up to the top then slid her down again. I repeated this several times before something occurred to me and I broke the silence.“Leigh, I totally spaced on a condom,” I apologized, but still kept penetrating her.“Screw it,” Leigh breathed huskily. “I'm good and if you give me something, I know where you live.” I began picking up the pace, lifting her quickly and letting her bounce back down hard. “Zane,” she added,”I just want you to know I don't normally do this; ah, fuck!“"I, oh, well, I'm sort of a slut, Leigh. I do this a lot,” I responded.“You had better be good at sex, then,” she sighed.“I'd like to think so,” I answered.“That was, rhetorical Zane. I saw the way those girls looked at you, like we Kappa Sig girls were poaching on their territory,” she moaned playfully. “It is really sexy.”Slap, slap, slap; by now our rhythm included me rocking my hips up and her squeezing me on the downs stroke with her thighs. Leigh was gasping out every curse word I'd ever heard in every conceivable combination plus some words I didn't know existed as our sex intensified. Finally she slammed me into her closet door so that every time we ground together the door creaked.Somewhere along the line the burn in my thighs and arms began to register with my hormone-stoked mind but the fires of lust kept me standing and humping. I was beginning to think I'd crash to the floor when Leigh's face lit up with passion and fear.“Put me down, Zane, put me down,” she urged quietly.It took me a second to register the request and another to start maneuvering so that I could disconnect us, but that turned out to be a moment too long. Leigh hadn't been in pain; she had been on the verge of orgasm, and my jolts were the final straw. Leigh screamed loudly and in a way that could not be confused with anything but a woman coming to fruition.“Zane!” she howled in a wall-shaking sonic explosion. Damn, she had to use my name, didn't she? We spun around and collapsed on the bed, Leigh on top for the nonce. She was still going off so I figured 'what the hell' and rolled over on top of her and went back to pounding away. Leigh's head was thrashing from side to side violently while her body trembled with the aftershocks of her detonation.“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, harder,” she rasped out. As Leigh looked at me hungrily and began tearing kisses from me with bestial fury, I was beginning to think I'd short-circuited her higher brain functions. Her motor control skills were a function above par as her tongue, fingers, and vagina could attest.“Oh damn,” she gasped, ”oh fuck, oh damn, ah, ah, ah, ah , . Ah! Fuck!“ she groaned out before screaming her lungs off, shouting out my name again.She was driving her pelvis up against me, clawing at my shoulders and back, and kissing the hell out of me yet I still couldn't come. Leigh's eyes blinked then focused on me."Are you trying to kill me?” she panted. I shook my head. “Why haven't you come?” she tried next. I had no good answer to that but Leigh rolled me over and started a slow but accelerating bounce, Cowgirl style.“I'm going to make you cum, you Bastard,” she grinned ferociously. I admire a girl who likes a challenge but seriously, Leigh had seemed like such a sweet girl.“I'm going to own you, Zane Braxton,” she growled as she continued to rock my world. “You can fuck the rest but you are coming home with me,” she declared. Huh? Where did that come from? “Make me your bitch!” Ex-squeeze me?“Leigh?” called a worried female voice from outside the door, accompanied by a sharp knock.In a life approaching normalcy, this would be the point where we wrapped up in the sheets before the door opened; unfortunately, I was in Crazy Town. Leigh kept pounding me hard enough to make the bedsprings squeak.“Oh, God,” gawked a fellow sorority sister as she opened the door and looked inside.“I ,” had nothing that came to mind that would obfuscate the situation."He is so fucking good,” gloated Leigh as she kept riding me. Her 'sister' stepped into the room and shut the door.“Hey, can I get up now?” I inquired.“NO!” they both shouted at me.“You need to keep it down,” the newcomer insisted. “They can hear you over the music by the pool,” which meant they could hear Leigh, not me.With her message delivered I would have expected the second lady to leave but she didn't.Trying to change things up, I grabbed both of Leigh's wrists and pushed them behind her back. Leigh toppled forward allowing me to push her arms together and grip them in one of my hands. I used my now free hand to bring one of her breasts to my mouth and I took a nibble.“Make me scream,” she begged. Been there; done that; been warned from doing that again.“You,” I addressed the as-of-yet-unnamed sorority sister,”get me the sash from her bathrobe and her pillowcase.“ She looked at me with confusion. "Do it!”We kept going at it like wild animals until the girl came back with the sash and shook the pillow free from the pillowcase.“Here you are. What do you want me to do with this? And by the way, I'm Paris,” she got out.“Paris, bind her hands behind her back with the belt,” I instructed. Paris looked skeptical.“What about the pillowcase?” she questioned.“I'm going to gag her with it,” I explained. Leigh looked frightfully turned on by the prospect.“I'm not sure about this,” Paris worried.“Do it and then you can join us,” Leigh offered; Paris almost bound my hand to Leigh's wrists, she was moving so fast. Paris gave me the pillowcase and I held it up for Leigh to bite down on which she promptly did allowing me to tie it behind her head. If nothing else, this was a learning experience for having fun with Barbie Lynn later.“What do I do?” Paris asked eagerly.“Strip,” I commanded. As she was doing so I pulled Leigh off and positioned her at the head of the bed, face down and knees propped up on her pillow. Paris came to me; I pulled her into my lap and we started kissing.First Leigh growled in frustration, then she started groaning in arousal as Paris and I got into it. When I felt Paris was ready I bent her over and directed her toward Leigh's rear end.“What?” Paris wondered.“Taste her,” I told Paris. She leaned forward and gave Leigh's pussy a good solid kiss, followed by a lick as Leigh moaned in response.Paris put a hand on each of Leigh's buttocks as a prelude to diving into her sister's favors. They developed a back and forth vocalization as Paris pushed Leigh forward before rebounding back.That part of the threesome off to a rocking start, I took an identical place behind Paris. She shuddered and spread her legs a little wider as I took my first taste of her.“Um ,” she exhaled as I went from teasing her lips to dipping my tongue into her depths and twisting it among her folds, inserting a finger into her cunt just below. The clitoris came next, followed by slowly darting my tongue toward her anus."Ah, wow,” she moaned as I first touched it. When I went back down she actually twitched her butt and tried to lower herself down to catch my action.Ahead of me I could hear Leigh starting to go off again, muffled somewhat by her gag. Paris was preoccupied so I figured it was an opportune time to kneel behind her and insert my penis into her nicely snug pussy; for a moment I was afraid she was a virgin. I tried to moderate my progress into her but when I passed the halfway mark, Paris shoved her ass back against me.“Ugh, ah, that's,  fantastic,” Paris moaned as I flexed my member inside her vagina. Leigh mumbled something that I assumed was in the affirmative. A series of pushes and shoves were getting us into a good cadence to the point I finally felt my gut beginning to tense in preparation of my own climax; then the door opened.“Zane,” Tawny stated with steely resolve. Both Leigh and Paris separated and rolled to their sides, staring warily at their Sorority President. I was sort of left on my knees with my pecker at attention.“I told you,” Christina retorted smugly to Tawny, as if I was some prized pet.“Thirty-three minutes,” Tawny noted on her watch. “It took him thirty-three minutes to bed two of my girls. That has to be some kind of World record.” I had to think fast.“It's all my fault. I fell into the pool, pulling Leigh in with me, and when Paris showed up,” I fumbled through.”, She fell into bed with you while simultaneously losing all her clothing as well?“ Tawny taunted me."That explanation works for me,” I shyly agreed.“Zane, why is Leigh tied up and gagged?” Christina noted.“Rumor has it that Leigh is a screamer,” Tawny informed Christina.“Oh, I think we can chalk that rumor down as confirmed,” Christina smiled.“Can we get dressed and forget this ever happened?” I suggested.“The girls can get dressed, Zane, but what are you going to wear?” Tawny smirked as she kicked my pile of wet clothes.“Leigh, why don't you go over to Zane's place and ask his Aunt to give you a fresh set of clothes,” Christina asked.Paris was rapidly getting redressed but when I crawled around her to free Leigh's hands she turned on me, pressed me to the mattress and gave me a serious oral assault. Leigh removed her gag, Paris sat up to resume dressing, and then Leigh took her turn kissing me before I could rise.“Enough,” snapped Tawny to her two horny sorority sisters. Soon enough both ladies had left, but not before Leigh turned and mouthed 'catch you later' to me; I was left trying to decide if that was a promise or a threat.“Do I get something to wear now?” I pleaded.“No,” Tawny responded, taking a seat at Leigh's desk and looking me over. Christina came over and sat at the head of the bed (I was still down by the foot).“So, Zane,” Tawny mused,”does this happen to you often?“"No, well, actually, yes,” I muttered in embarrassment,”though this is my first three-way since coming back to the States.“"We could have another one right now,” Christina stated, her voice husky with desire as she reached for my hand.I'm not sure what look of surprise/horror must have come over my face because both Christina and Tawny burst out laughing.“At least you don't assume you are 'all that,'” Tawny chuckled.“Oh, he has his egotistical moments,” Christina informed her,”isn't that right, Zane?“I took that moment to cover my crotch with Leigh's pillow, which seemed only polite. Tawny waved her hand majestically."Huh?” I wondered, which only had her make the same dismissive wave with her hand. “You have got to be kidding me?” Tawny looked to Christina who nodded her assent. “I,” the protest began but I realized it was pointless so I removed the pillow exposing my still hard and as yet unrelieved cock.“To answer Christina's earlier question, I do have my moments but I think most of Christina's problems with me relate to the fact that I'm going to put her through a moral realignment,” I related.“Oh?” Tawny looked surprised. “Do tell.”“You saw that girl with more metal than sense that came in with us? Zane has gotten it into his head that he needs to defend her,” Christina explained.“She deserves a chance here just like everyone else,” I countered.“She's a thief, drug user, vandal, and generally violent to those around her; she's a felon,” Christina lectured me.“You used to wear diapers; do I call you a bed-wetter?” I lashed back, followed by a moment of silence.“I see what you mean, Christina; he's very defensive of her. She must be pretty good in bed,” Tawny observed.“As far as I know, they've never slept together; they are only friends,” Christina informed her.“That's charming,” Tawny remarked softly.“I found it quite grating at first but I confess his attitude has grown on me,” Christina admitted. “You would think that given his living circumstances, he'd be more self-centered,”"Or gay,” Tawny finished.“Don't you have boyfriends you should be meeting, or discovering?” I questioned.“I'm happy where I am,” Christina answered.“Me too,” Tawny added. I got up and headed for the door when Tawny stopped me. “Where do you think you are going?”“I need a wash cloth,” I answered. “I'm a bit of a mess,” I indicated my cock with a flicker of my eyes. Of course, my sneaking down the hall, naked, in the middle of a party would cause its own problems.“I'll take care of that,” Tawny grinned. I had this sudden vision of Tawny going down on her knees and cleaning my penis with her lips and tongue but in reality, she headed to the door, called over a sister, and sent her on the errand.I flopped back on the bed with a sigh then let my eyes wander around the room. They came to rest on Christina who was studying me. I leaned over, propped myself up on my tortured knees and leaned in to kiss her because it was something I wanted to do since I first met her.“No,” she responded. I kept leaning in until she raised a finger to my lips to stop my progress. “No,” she repeated, but a playful fire danced in her eyes.I stopped and rocked back onto my ass. Tawny had watched the exchange with interest and now came off the chair and stood before me. I was looking into the cleavage of her burgundy shirt and nice, if not Barbie-licous, tits. I rose up, put my hands on her elbows, and started to pull her toward me but she shook her head.Tawny took my hands, untangled them from my hold on her, and pressed them behind my back. This has the unwelcome effect of propelling her pubic area onto my over-eager cock. I had the strangest feeling Rio had scrawled 'Lil Bitch' on my forehead with red lipstick because I was being freaking abused by these two.She drew me into a kiss that rolled into another like waves crashing upon the beach. By the end we were both panting, our bodies pressed tightly together. Tawny rested her head against my chin (she's tall with heels) and looked upon Christina.“Aren't you worried about someone taking him away?” she teased her fellow Alpha female.“He'll be there when I want him,” Christina stated smugly.“I think we need to clarify our relationship,” I mutter to Christina through Tawny's hair. “I was leaning more toward making you my sex toy and keeping you in my basement.”“Truly, Zane, would you ever restrain me?” Christina asks seductively.“Physically or emotionally?” I ask.“Emotionally,” she answered.“No. I could never do that to you, Christina. It would kill you inside,” I respond truthfully.“See?” Christina told Tawny,” He loves me.“ Tawny's reaction is not what I expected. She turned back so that our eyes are only inches apart."If you ever need help getting over that heartache, you know where to come,” she breathed into me.“Ah, thank you?” I managed to get out. A girl knocked on the door, breaking our embrace as Tawny had to go to the door and get my wash cloth and towel. By the time I was done Leigh had come back breathless with a fresh set of clothes for me. While I got dressed Tawny and Christina left, dragging Leigh along with them. I hadn't been here an hour but I already felt like I'd been through three rounds of a prize fight.Reaching HeavenSliding through the halls I ended up near the game room when someone backed into me. It was Heaven being aggressively advanced on by a tall, slender guy in an AKA jacket, so I side-stepped Heaven and placed an arm around her waist. Heaven's head flashed toward me first in anger, then in surprise.“Hey, Heaven,” I greeted her, and since she was still looking at me, I kissed her lightly on the lips. Fortunately, Heaven actually managed to look grateful for the intervention but things weren't over yet.“Hey, buddy,” the guy smiled with not a hint of friendliness as he pushed my chest,” I'm working here.“"Hey, buddy,” I grinned right back,” she came here with me.“"Ha,” he snorted,” this is an AKA; Kappa Sig function. If you crash the party, you should expect to share,“ as if my ladies were a candy bar or a pack of gum. As he spoke, he reached for Heaven's arm to pull her away but I caught his wrist."We were invited too so you should back off and find someone else more appreciative of your charms,” I warned him. He shook his wrist free and gave us an evil grin as he backed off.“She's not worth it,” he sneered.“Loser,” Heaven shot right back, giving him a palpable slap to his ego.I caught sight of Chastity watching the whole exchange, giving me a quick nod before feigning attention for a blonde, buff AKA brother; Heaven had another guardian but I'd interfered before she'd come into play.“Zane, you can let go of me now,” Heaven muttered.“No. You have to kiss me first,” I whispered into her ear.“Not going to happen,” Heaven declared softly. I waited for her to shrug me off but she didn't.“Do you want to go out back?” I asked.“No,” was her monosyllabic response.“Listen, we can go outside and have a good time, or I can take you upstairs and fuck your ass until,” I whispered into her ear ”, you beg me to stop.“"I'm not afraid of you,” she defied me, at which point I steered her to the stairs heading up. We found the linen closet open and unoccupied so we slipped in, shut the door, and turned off the light so the only illumination came from the slats in the door.I pressed Heaven's back against the wall and dove into her tasty lips. Heaven responded hungrily, wrapping her arms around my neck and running her hands through my hair. I had to remind myself that this woman had been painfully cruel to me on multiple occasions.“Thank you, Zane,” Heaven whispered up to me, her dark eyes glimmering in the pale light seeping in from the door. I decided to not ask what she was thanking me for.“You aren't trying to get out of having sex with me, are you?” I taunted her back. My first instinct was to force her to turn around facing the wall and having my way with her; there was still a bit of lingering hate on my part going on but,“Turn around,” I requested. Seeing her hesitation,  "I really want you right now.“"Oh,” she exhaled, then she giggled and turned around, taking little steps and rubbing against me.“Let me know what you like,” I whispered into her ear. I let my hands coast along her throat until my fingertips touched, then I withdrew them back around and down her shoulders. I felt a slight flutter course through Heaven before I worked down her back to linger at her ass.I knelt behind Heaven and began massaging each cheek in turn, moving them together then pulling them apart. I kept the massage going for two minutes before Heaven began slipping her high heels farther apart and pushing back against me. I let my hands slide down to the bottom of her short red dress, then began hiking it up to the small of her back.She had on a thong which I imagined made strapping down her own cock a little difficult. I kissed her left cheek first; Heaven trembled so I kissed the other, inducing a tiny moan. I rested my hands on her hips and pulled her back into my kiss, swiveling her hips sensually around so that I could bring them to my lips.In the dim light I could see Heaven ball up her fists and claw the wall in sexual tension. I pulled her butt floss aside and began to dart my tongue from the top of her ass and working my way down. Heaven pushed up on her toes eagerly, trying to move my tongue to her anus.F F U sisters rescue Zane, as party turns into a brawl.“Do you want me to stop?” I asked Heaven.“Stop and I'll beat you back into high school,” she growled in a throaty voice. I'm not sure how hard you would have to stomp someone to beat them back a whole school year but I definitely decided to not find out. I began slowly probing her ass with my tongue, occasionally licking up to the cleft and down to the cloth covering her balls.“Ugh, ugh, ugh, ah, ah, ah, ah,” Heaven panted. “Oh, yes, fuck yeah, right there,” she went on and on. I sneaked a hand between her legs and brought it up subtly to her contained penis and began to rub it, causing her to jolt, clench her teeth, and stifle a yelp.“Am I better than Christina?” I asked. Heaven shimmied in agitation before responding.“No, but you are good,” she allowed. I answered that with a finger coming up and pressing into her ass. I alternated between tongue and finger until she was good and slick. I stood up, unzipped my pants, and pulled them down with my underwear.“I hope you are ready,” I informed her, with my need evident as my penis came free and rubbed up between her butt cheeks. Heaven started trying to reposition herself to capture me inside her.“Are you going to make me your lover?” I whispered into her ear.“Shut up,” she gasped back. I drew back even as she pushed up as far as she could go and tried to wiggle her asshole onto my cock.“I don't want this to be some random fuck, Heaven. I want to do this again. Make me your lover,” I repeated. Heaven groaned loudly.“No,” she choked back a sob. I pressed the tip of my cock against her opening and she responded by slowly pushing against me. “I, I'm, Zane, I'm,” she whimpered with self-doubt."You are beautiful,” I told her softly.“Ah,” she gasped as her resistance collapsed and my prodding head popped in. "Zane,” she purred, ”so good.“ I was sure it was painful but Heaven wouldn't show it."Make me your lover,” I said yet again as I slid a bit more of me into her rectum.“No,” she moaned, so I stopped myself and held us there. “Don't pull out,” she begged.“I'm not going to,” I promised her,” but say it anyway.“"You are my lover,” she whispered. “You are my lover,” she repeated a little louder.“Now tell me you're my bitch,” I taunted her.“You are my bitch,” she teased me right back between sobs of pleasure.“I'll take that,” I told her, before nibbling on her earlobe. I kept tantalizing he ear, neck, and shoulder as I let her gently adjust to my cock as it entered her.“Oh, God,” she exhaled softly,” is there more?“"Yes, but you are over half way,” I calmed her. “We'll take it easy.”“Oh, oh, oh, God, fill me up, you bastard,” she panted. “I can take it, oh, God, I can take it.” She was psyching up for the extreme sensations she was going through. She wasn't losing her anal virginity; she was losing it again but in her way, on her terms.I slowed my entrance when I heard her choked sobs. I pressed down on her until my head was beside hers. It was left unspoken that I was here if she needed to express herself.“Ah, ah, ah, ah,” then she noticed how I was positioned and she fell silent for a moment. "Zane, I'm, okay.”“Damn, Heaven, you are so sexy right now,” I groaned, ”so damn tight.“"Fuck me like you mean it,” she replied, ”like I'm your woman.“"I'm not all the way in yet,” I cautioned her.“Oh, well, get to it. I, I can take it,” she ground out somewhat fearfully.“Promises, promises,” I playfully scolded her, accentuated by short jabs deeper into her ass.“Oh, fuck you,” she gasped. “I can, I can do this, I can do this, oh, God.” On the last 'oh God,' I finally pressed as tightly to her butt as I could and settled there.We remained locked together until Heaven reached back and ran her fingers through my hair.“I'm ready,” she whispered to me.“Heaven, I'm going to do what I promised; I'm going to fuck you until you can no longer stand,” I reminded her.“You don't, have, what it takes, freshman. Give it, your, best shot,” she panted.I didn't rush to her challenge right away, taking it nice and slow at first. My cock withdrew until my cockhead was at the point it distended her anus.“Ah, perfect,” she whimpered and started to tremble uncontrollably. I started returning to her, letting her vibrations rise and crash as I made my way back down.On that last inch down Heaven suddenly pushed back against me and cried out,”Yes!“ This made me smile. Sex is good, but sex when your partner is totally into the sex is fantastic. It still baffled me that people would want to use sex as pain; to punish. It is like cooking a five-course meal and eating the ashes of your campfire instead.I moved my hands from her hips to her breasts, caressing them as I repeated the process of receding then plunging in deep. Heaven reacted by thrusting my cock home and grunting from her gut as she did so. Our pace and tempo increased until I was slamming her hard, the sweat on her ass and my thighs enhancing the 'slap, slap' as we went at it.Heaven shuddered, then she desperately reached out and fumbled among the towels. A hand towel came flying my way and I noticed she grabbed another one and began shoving it between her legs; she was about to orgasm."Don't let me scream,” she hissed.Since one hand was down below and the other was keeping me from pumping her through the wall, I figured she wanted to be muffled. I got there right on time as Heaven made seven sharp intakes of breath then cried out. I reveled in her anal ring spasms around me, the heat of her body burning my penis with her intensity.When Heaven began to slump as she coasted down from her high I released her breast and wrapped an arm around her waist and held her against me. Heaven's knees wobbled but she didn't fall so it was time to turn up the screws.“Round two, Heaven,” I warned her as I picked up my piston-like motion once again and released the towel on her shoulder.“Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, you bastard,” she gasped. Now I rested my hands on her hips once more to maintain our rhythm. I could feel Heaven struggling to keep up her breathing with her diaphragm constantly disrupted by her sexual aftershocks. My pounding into her weak flesh caused her tight, firm ass to ripple and brought forth more animalistic noises from Heaven.“What a great piece of ass,” I praised her. “I want you, Heaven, and I'm not going to stop loving your body until you can't take it anymore.”“Fuck you, oh, yes, God,  God yes, I'm,” and I muffled her once again as the second eruption came quickly after the first.I remained merciless in my assault, to the point I had pushed her fully against the wall, still on the tips of her toes. I wouldn't stop; I felt this was a challenge we should both meet."Ah, Zane, tell me, you, love me,” Heaven wheezed.“I love you, Heaven. You feel so right in my arms,” I gasped. She sighed lustfully and I kept thrusting.“I, I can't take anymore,” she begged with bated breath.“I want to hear you say that you surrender to me,” I growled as I let my cock reach its farthest penetration, then gave one might shove entering new territory. Heaven's mind and body collapsed at that moment.She hit her orgasm as she lost total emotional and physical control. She was flopping against me until she retreated from her third climax and she was pretty much at my mercy. I pulled her off me, slowly rolled her over on the wall and let her slide down. Heaven's crotch was covered with a towel. I stepped forward with my cock pressing toward her face.“Suck it,” I demanded of Heaven. She looked up at me defiantly, then to my cock with fatigued breaths. My cock had just come out of her ass and here it was within tongue's reach of her lips. Heaven looked over her options and right at the point I was sure she would refuse, two trembling hands rose up and took hold of my shaft and balls.Her tongue licked the tip of my cock; Heaven judged the taste and she went back down to take in more of my cock. One hand stroked the staff while the other began massaging my balls. After several efforts to swallow most of my chock she started talking.“You Bastard,” she gulped. “Next time cum in my ass, but right now I'm thirsty.”I took my hands to her head and began fucking her face at a steady pace. Heaven pressed her hands against my thighs to stop me then started bobbing her head instead. She wasn't the best yet but she was improving wonderfully, learning more patience as well as becoming a better judge of my reactions to what she was doing.Gobbling and slurping noises followed as her uncertainty faded and she began to bask in the power she had over me.“Ready to cum, Zane?” she said with a sloppy wet smile. I nodded vigorously. “I'm not done with you yet,” she laughed,”so you had better keep it together.“"Crap,” I gasped, as she took in more of me than previously done. She let my cockhead rub against the back of her mouth repeatedly before finally pushing it past her gag reflex. She couldn't do it for long but she kept at it until I couldn't take the throat contractions anymore.“Cumming,” I gasped. Heaven grabbed my ass cheeks and pulled me in as far as she dared.She didn't press her nose to my stomach but she came close. I grabbed her head and began shooting off into her throat. Heaven choked and sputtered, drinking me down in several gulps. She ran her tongue along my shaft as she languidly withdrew me to her lips. She sealed her blowjob with a final kiss and lick to my head, catching that last drop of semen.Heaven slumped against the wall panting heavily, licking her lips and letting her hands fall to her lap.“Is this what it is like?” she whispered more to herself than me. I lifted her up onto her shaky legs and pulled her tightly to my chest.“No,” she muttered, but then her tone changed and she wrapped her arms around my waist,”Fuck it,” she sighed, and put her head on my chest. “I can hear your heartbeat,” she commented.“Your breath against my chest feels pretty good too,” I whispered to her.“Let's get dressed,” she responded after a moment. “We should get back to the party.”“I hate you,” Heaven declared as we were cleaning up.“Why?” I wondered. Had I accomplished nothing?“You are fun,” she snapped, as if she was declaring me to be a Satanist.“That is a bad thing?” I questioned.“Yes, no, damn it, I want to spend time with you and that's not right,” she explained desperately. Seeing that her message wasn't getting through,”You are a man,“ she added."I have no idea what you have against my gender but can't you take a chance and believe that I'm not like other men who have been in your life?” I suggested.“See, that is why you are bad for me,” she sounded exasperated. “I want to believe you and I know you only want me for the sex.”“Yes, absolutely; I want to have sex with you. Heaven, you are a terribly attractive woman and what is wrong with wanting to make love to you?” I countered.That brought her up short as she looked deeply into my eyes.“Zane, I'm not a woman; I'm a guy,” Heaven whispered.“Did we just make love?” I reposed. I could see her struggle with that and then I knew; she'd been fucked and used like some; piece of meat but a man had never made love to her until now.“Yes, Zane, yes, we did,” she said softly. “We made love.”“Good, because I'd like to do it again. Can I expect to see you once a month?” I requested.“Once a month,” Heaven told me with a sweet smile on her face,”I'm far hungrier than that.“"We may have to work something out with Barbie Lynn,” I pointed out.“Barbie Lynn can kiss my ass,” Heaven declared, and to emphasize her point, she grabbed my cock through my pants, saying “Mine!” with a shark-like snarl.“Weren't you kicking my ribs in three days ago?” I reminded her.“Oh, don't be a wimp,” she snapped, but like lightning flashing across the horizon, she changed tack. “I promise I'll make it up to you,” she moaned as she rubbed her body against me.“I'd like for you to make it up to Rio too,” I hinted.“Hell, no!” Heaven growled. “There is no way I'm going to fuck Rio.”“Damn right; if Rio knew she was going to have sex with you, she'd go out and buy the biggest strap-on possible and you wouldn't walk straight for a week,” I nodded.“You would like to see that, wouldn't you?” she suspiciously accused me.“No. That would hurt like a bitch and I don't want to walk funny for a week,” I replied straight-faced. For a millisecond Heaven got angry, then she let it bleed away and laughed instead. Maybe Rio taking my ass with a dildo was something Heaven found amusing.“Fine, Joker. Let's get back to the party before Christina realizes I'm missing,” Heaven told me.“Turn around,” I asked her. Heaven glared at me then rolled her eyes in mock disgust, turned around, and thrust her ass back. I leaned down and bit each cheek once more. I was rewarded with another sharp intake of breath by Heaven which she attempted to hide.“Can't get enough?” she purred while looking at me over her shoulder and smiling.Heaven was clearly enjoying herself, which was kind of neat, but I didn't want her getting too cocky. I stood and spanked her hard on the ass causing her to jump.“Ow!” she got out before I took her jaw in hand and kissed her. Our tongues wrestled and entwined deeply before we separated and made for the door.We stepped out to mild applause from a gathering of eavesdroppers before making it to the stairs. Out of the blue, Heaven reached out and interlaced her fingers in mine as if it was the most normal thing in the world. As we walked into the kitchen Hope detached herself from some guy who was busier staring at the cleavage of her strapless white dress than actual conversation.“Where have you guys, oh, my God,” she giggled as she looked into Heaven's blushing face. “Shit, Zane, how many girls do you plan to nail tonight?”“It's not like I have some Grand Plan, Hope,” I shrugged helplessly.“When is my turn?” Hope joked as the guy she'd been talking to came up. Heaven gripped my arm tighter but I had the feeling that had more to do with Hope's comment.“October twenty-second at eight-thirty,” I tossed back to her. Hope smiled at us before pulling Heaven to her. “Let Zane go for a while,” she told Heaven softly. “We know where he lives, and where he sleeps.” Together, the two ladies turned to face the 'guy', allowing me to head out in search of Iona.Oh, So This is How I Got HereI found Iona corned by some dark-haired stocky man against the bar. Iona had 'victim' written all over her face and he was coming across as a pit bull with the scent of blood.“Zane!” Iona squeaked as she forced herself past him and into my arms.“Hey, Babe,” I responded with real affection, stroking her hair gently for emphasis.“I told you my boyfriend was coming for me,” Iona told the AKA man scowling at me. He skulked off for greener pastures and Iona wrapped her arms around my waist. “I prayed you'd come back for me. You left me and I couldn't find you,” she pleaded.“Iona, why didn't you simply text me using '911'?” I questioned her. “I'd have come running.” Iona, our tech-genius, blushed in embarrassment at my simple suggestion to her dilemma.“Oh, yeah, I could have done that,” she mumbled. We spent several minutes rocking slowly to the music, Iona pressing with her back to me and my arms around her. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she told me quietly. “Come with me?”“Girl's bathroom, here we come,” I smiled down at her.We made our way to the middle of the house to one of two lower bathrooms, this one devoted to girls for the night. As Iona gave me a quick, shy grin and disappeared behind the door, I realized some asshole was giving me the once over. It was the AKA who had been scoping out Heaven. I met his glare until he turned away and left.Cappadocia gave me a friendly bump as she slipped past me and went into the bathroom as well. “Oh, Zane,” giggled Cappy, mimicking Leigh's earlier outburst which led me to groan and slump against the wall. Iona came out and beamed with pleasure, maybe dreading that I would have abandoned her again.Something caught her eye that caused that smile to fade into concern. I looked her way and saw the pit bull, and he'd gained a buddy. Fortunately, the hall ran both ways so I took Iona by the arm and turned to go the other direction; where I saw Heaven's old beau and he'd grown two AKA clones. With pain so imminent on the horizon I had to wonder if I'd been such a total bastard."Get help,” I hissed to Iona before pushing her away from me. I moved so my back was to the bathroom door.“Zane-boy,” mocked the Heaven guy, ”let's go out back and talk.“"No, thanks,” I smiled, ”I may be a horny fucker but you are too much of a pussy for me.“As you might guess, that didn't go over well. I weighed my responses and decided my best option was to drag things out until a few F F U ladies could come to my rescue so I let them grab hold of me. What I had underestimated was their sense of entitlement. They didn't feel the need to hide my beat-down. They shoved me through the girl's bathroom door and poured in after me, ready for an immediate infliction of my punishment.The one silver lining was that they'd thrown the first punch so I was free to lash out. I kicked the first guy coming for me, knocking him back into the wall beside the door. I snaked a punch past the second man's guard but then they overwhelmed me and slammed me into the far wall. I blocked with my thighs and forearms until they pinned my arms, then the body blows began."Hold him up,” the Heaven butthole growled to his buddies,”I'm going to kick his ass.“"Since your fist is as tiny as your penis, that's hardly a threat,” I gasped. My dumb comment earned me a crunching blow to the ribs. Right then, the stall beside us opened up revealing Cappadocia as she stepped out.“Get out of here, bitch,” the guy closest to her snapped. Cappadocia had a moment to assess the situation.“I kick ass for the Lord,” she stated clearly.“Huh?” the guy had just enough time to say before Cappadocia's spin-kick caught him along his jaw line, slammed his face into the tiled wall, and re-arranged his dental work.At the same time, my main assailant hammered me again but Cappadocia rapidly became a primary diversion. It was a real pity; they should have been watching the door because Heaven came storming through and kidney punched the first (non-me) bastard she came across. A third guy managed to raise his arms fast enough to partially deflect Cappadocia's next punch.As they released me, I slumped half-way down the wall before Heaven's bastard launched another kick at me. I was able to block it with my arms. He hauled back again with a snarl on his face when Heaven blazed up behind him, grabbed the back of his head, and pummeled it into the wall. Heaven spun around as Cappadocia yanked me up.Against us, the last three AKA's were gathering themselves for our rush. Another frat-boy opened the door.“Guys, is everything,” he began before Rio smashed that nice looking vase I'd last seen in the entryway over the man's head.The guy staggered and fell to one knee so Rio kicked him in his butt and sent him sprawling on the floor. Before she could get off more than one war-whoop, yet another AKA yanked her into the hall. Heaven was fierce and I knew Cappadocia could fight but I was far less certain of how well Rio could defend herself; we charged.Now, please understand that F F U does not turn out super-commandos. It stresses physical fitness and discipline but that doesn't overcome the basic advantage of height, weight and reach of the average AKA brother. Add to that, we were outnumbered two to one and things were looking bad.One unforeseen advantage we possessed was that if you were F F U, every guy was the enemy (some were still a little conflicted by my existence). The same did not hold true for Alpha Kappa Alpha. Nearly half the girls were Kappa Sigma. All it really took was Iona being a smart little camper.Iona found Christina and Tawny and rapidly brought them up to speed with the crisis. Christina quickly moved to get her girls out while Tawny rallied her troops to break up the fight. It was inevitable that some confused AKA punched out a Kappa Sig, at which point chaos broke out. In the midst of this, Rio and I bolted for the back in order to gather all the girls in the back of the house.Heaven and Cappadocia did the same, heading up to the front. The plan was, we'd make for my house with as many as we could gather. With some effort I made it out the back gate with eight of my ladies and we ran for the wood line separating the properties. As we broke through into view of Aunt Jill's house, we ran into Christina and the rest of our expedition.A quick check showed that though we were bloody and torn, we were all accounted for. The look Christina gave me was scathing and I accepted it with shame because I'd promised my school mates a fun time, not a melee. I was figuring this was the end when Heaven came up and took my hand, smiling up at me."That was fun,” she laughed. Charity, Faith, and Hope nodded, along with more than half of the other girls.“What the fuck?” I muttered. Rio laughed and slapped me on the back.“Just like old times, minus the gunshots and sirens,” Rio declared ecstatically. On cue, the sirens began in the distance. As we raced to the house, Heaven couldn't stop grinning like a maniac“Damn it, Zane, you stapled a smile to her face,” Christina glowered at me once we got inside and, with the quartet, we separated from the rest. “You fucked her, didn't you?”“What makes you think that?” I evaded. It wasn't like she was either of our parents.“Assume for a moment I haven't known her like she's my own twin sister; no, wait, you can't because she is like my twin sister,” Christina pointed out. She reached out and took Heaven by the arm.“Tell me you didn't let him fuck you,” she pleaded with her friend.“I, uh, yes, I dragged him into a closet and let him fuck me up the ass until I could no longer stand, and I loved it, and he wants to do it to me again,” Heaven fought back,”and again.“"Zane, why did you do this to her?” Christina turned back to me.“Duh!” I grumbled, ”She's hot and she likes sex. I wasn't aware I needed any more motivation.“ Chastity lost it and began giggling, which brought down Hope's iron exterior as well. Christina shot them a glance but Chastity wouldn't stop."Christina, I think we have a bigger concern,” Chastity stated.“What is that?” Christina responded cautiously.“I'd worry about which one of us Zane nails next,” Chastity explained between snickers.“Wow,” I sighed, ”you make it sound like I'm some sort of sexual predator.“"Zane, you are a sexual predator,” Hope pointed out.“I prefer the term service provider,” I quipped. Heaven snuck up on me and took my hand. I immediately suspected a judo throw was in my future but instead, she snuggled around my arm like a mini Barbie Lynn. I was suddenly missing the Heaven who wanted to kick me because I knew that personality, where this new one was a mystery.“Heaven?” Christina questioned her, clearly as confused as me.“Hey, I've never had a boyfriend before,” Heaven shrugged. “I want to get some use out of him.” Christina had no comeback for that. I'm thinking 'boyfriend?'“You do realize you are going to have to share him?” Hope pointed out.“As long as those other girls know their place, I'm okay with that,” Heaven stated matter-of-factly.“On that note, I'm going to go look for some ladies that actually appreciate me,” I announced as I untangled myself from Heaven. As I broke free, Heaven made a grab for my elbow.“Can we, you know, get together tomorrow?” she asked. I stroked her cheek around her ear and into the hair at the back of her head, bringing her head to me so that we could kiss.“Sure. I'll pick you up around five. We can hit a restaurant then can catch a movie,” I outlined. Heaven blinked with uncertainty.“I, what?” she muttered.“Heaven, Zane is asking you out on a date,” Christina explained to her friend. Heaven looked over to me for confirmation so I nodded.“Say 'yes',” Chastity goaded Heaven, who had been rendered speechless.“Yes,” Heaven said to me.“I'll pick you up in the parking lot at five,” I told her before departing in search of Rio, Iona, and Barbie Lynn.(How much sex can one guy have in twenty-four hours and still get to church?)*The world is a dirty place; from its darkest hole to the most beautiful idea*Running Away From the Fight“Zane,” Barbie Lynn greeted me happily and swept into my arms. Rio couldn't stop grinning like a lunatic and even Iona looked pleased. I was getting ready to do some serious tonsil hockey with Barbie when,“Zane,” called out Aunt Jill sounding worried and confused. I took a deep breath and headed to the stairs were she was standing, still groggy from sleep, in her dressing gown.“Hey, Jill, the party is over and we'll be heading out soon. There is nothing to worry about,” I soothed her.“Is that sirens I hear?' she inquired."I'll go out and check,” I promised her and with her nod I whispered good-bye to my closest girls and headed for the front door.As I opened the door Christina moved to my side with a questioning glance.“I need to find out how much trouble I've caused the Kappa Sig's,” I explained.“I agree; we need to go find out how bad the trouble is and apologize to Tawny,” Christina corrected me.We walked once more across the lawn, this time in silence. As we crossed into Kappa Sigma property we noted that most of the cars had departed already but two Sheriff's Deputies had arrived. Tawny Flores (the Kappa Sigma Chapter President), Leigh (a sister) and some guy I didn't recognize were talking to them.“That is Richard O'Fallon, the President of the AKA Chapter,” Christina informed me in a hushed tone. They all flashed us looks as we stopped close by, the lead deputy looking our way.“That is Christina Buchanan from F F U; she's was a guest at our party, and the boy next to her is Zane Braxton, our next door neighbor,” Tawny introduced us.I waited for the other shoe to drop but it didn't. No one was pressing charges and after taking our statements the Deputies left, somewhat perturbed. Richard gave the briefest of nods before departing himself. From inside the Sorority house we could hear the noises of the sisters cleaning up.“Well?” Christina asked of Tawny.“I'm still thinking it over,” Tawny responded. “It isn't like a bunch of frat boys are going to admit some girls from a Christian school kicked their asses. Now I need to decide

Enjoying Faith, Hope, & Charity. While Facing Expulsion.A Spring Break 14-part Novel.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.*Birds are made beautiful by their plumage but divine by their flight*  (Yes, this tale is supposed to be somewhat humorous and outrageous too. While not always comedic I'd like to think it is mostly a good-natured romp.)Sharing UmbrellasTuesday: My schedule which the Chancellor had been set in stone, had me in sole custody of the fifth-floor bathroom from five forty-five until six, so I was grateful that only six girls were waiting for me when I arrived. At some level I was sure they expected me to say something and I was pretty sure they hadn't really articulated what they wanted. I said nothing and edged past them.The bravest one, Opal, followed quickly after me, though I had that special moment of taking off my robe in front of her as I readied for my shower. Somehow the blood of Homer's Amazons had entered this school's student body because Opal met my bluff with her buff (body) and crawled under her own water stream once the water was steamy.As I started washing my hair, I caught sight of another girl moving in on my far side. I did my best to remain nonchalant and managed to get my hair clean before they made their move.“Zane,” Opal asked innocently, “would you wash my back?” I smiled, nodded, and took the bottle of liquid soap from her hands.I poured some into my palms before placing the bottle on the closest shelf. I started rubbing it onto her shoulders and down her back. The placement of our bodies was complicated by my emergent erection. I worked my way down her back until I touched, then parted and cupped, her ass. I pressed my body against her back with my penis taking a few moments decide on whether it would go up, in, or in between. Finally it slipped up until my cock rested warmly on her back.Opal was totally overtaken by events and simply stood there as I slowly rubbed my body up and down against her back. She looked over her shoulder speculatively as I reached past her for more liquid soap and poured some into my hand. Bottle put aside, I shared the soap with the off-hand before starting to rub down the front of her shoulders.“Put your hands behind your back,” I whispered into Opal's ear. She was initially hesitant, then started putting them behind her back where she brushed against my cock, and again before she wrapped her hands around it and began slowly stroking it with a soapy grip. While she was working on my morning wood, I made slow circles down to her breasts.Her nipples came alive under my fingertips. I first coaxed them, then plucked them, and finally pinched them tightly as I handled the rest of her breasts roughly. Opal began panting, moaning, and undulating her whole body against mine. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her on the crux of her jaw and neck.“Oh, Oh, Oh,” Opal began to gasp. I felt her body start to tremble under my touch so I hunted for that most sensitive place with my tongue and bit into that spot on her neck sharply. Opal slammed hard into me, bouncing up and down on her toes like some sudsy, hot vibrator against my penis, if only I had the time.“Ah,” she sobbed in joy. Even after the orgasm settled, Opal kept gyrating against me.“This wasn't what I had in mind,” Opal moaned. Whoops!“My apology,” I told her, and started separating from her, but she held firm.“Oh, no, you don't. Maybe you misunderstood me. This was more, much more than I expected. I'm glad you are superior to your hype. Can we do this tomorrow morning?”“Hum, how about we see what comes up then?” I evaded. As I backed away, the girl on the other side held out her soap bottle expectantly. “Sorry, but I need to get out of here before girls, other girls show up,” I explained to her.“Brigit; my name is Brigit,” she filled me in. “Can we do, that, tomorrow?” By ‘that,' I assume she meant my version of the soapy body rub.“Okay,” I said, “how about calling Iona and figuring out how you ladies want to handle my shower visits, though I would like to point out the Administration believes I'm in here alone.”“Do you want us to stay away?” Opal asked cautiously.“Opal, Brigit, I would rather go through life minus one testicle than miss spending time with any of you ladies but I don't want anyone unwittingly getting into trouble because of me,” I answered.“Since you need to be going,” Opal teased, “let me help.”“I'll help too,” Brigit insisted.I'm going to be a while deciding exactly how I rate being shaved by one girl while getting a blowjob from another at the same time.My facial expression caused Rio to laugh at me as I came back down to answer the door. It was around six thirty and I had only recently gotten back and put my school uniform on.“Either you've been hit by the world's softest two by four or you've already had sex at least once this morning,” she chuckled.“Hey, Rio, Iona, come on in. It isn't like I could stop you,” I joked.“So, did you take her temperature, kick up her heels, or give her an attitude adjustment?” Rio teased as we headed up. Iona looked confused and expected me to be either equally confused or give her an explanation. I was confused, which made Rio laugh louder.“Taking her temperature equals blowjob; kicking up the heels is straight-up fucking, and attitude adjustment is anal sex, jeesh, people,” Rio berated us. Once we came to my island of civilization in the wilderness of the Solarium, Iona looked around curiously; this may have been the first men's bedroom she'd ever seen. Rio walked over to my bed, was about to plop down in it, then studied it for a second and gawked at me.“Damn, Zane, what happened last night? How many girls did you have up here?” she grinned maniacally. I sighed and rolled my eyes.“One,” I admitted. “How did you know?”“Peach lip gloss and teeth marks on the pillow, several sets, so, You Go Boy!” she explained.“Plus, your bed smells of Vaseline, baby oil, sweat, Secret deodorant, and a good deal of fuck juice, the female variety. Then there is the matter of, ”she drew forth a long blonde hair, "you not being blonde.”“This was not on the list!” squawked Iona. “Lip gloss, teeth marks?”“That means he fucked her ass long and hard, Iona,” Rio explained to her far less experienced classmate, “and she came back for more, and more.”Iona stole a look my way, hoping I'd deny everything, but I made eye contact with her and nodded. She looked disappointed in me, which oddly made me feel bad inside.“Snap out of it, Iona,” Rio snorted. Iona still looked hurt. “What is more likely, Zane went trolling the lower levels for a girl to sex up, or a girl snuck up here and jumped him in his bed?”“Oh,” Iona gasped, now more pleased. Apparently, me being nearly raped in my own bed was okay with her. From my point of view, I can try to understand women or I can appreciate them for what they willingly offer me. If a woman wants me to treat her like a Sphinx, I'll leap at the challenge. One day I'm sure I'll find a woman not worth this kind of effort but I'm not there yet.I had finished getting dressed and was making toward the stairs when the door at the bottom opened and Barbie Lynn came bounding up. She took in my two companions without missing her stride before bouncing up to me.“Hey, Zane,” she purred. “I wanted to make sure you hadn't overslept.”“Thanks, I appreciate the concern, but I slept great last night. Waking up feeling that good is always a pleasure. How did you sleep?” I responded.“I tossed and turned,” she pouted. “I was missing something I couldn't put my hands on. If I can't figure out what that is I'll be up pacing the halls well past midnight tonight.”Rio stepped behind Barbie and made a gagging motion.“So, Barbie Lynn,” Rio requested, “do you have any lip gloss I could use?” Barbie turned around and pulled a micro-jar that she handed to Rio.“Um, peach flavored,” Rio revealed vindictively. At some point I am sure Rio will show restraint; my challenge now is living long enough to see it.Rio spanked Barbie Lynn hard on the ass and the Dorm Mother yelped in surprise and pain.“Ow,” gasped Barbie Lynn, glaring at Rio. I moved an arm around Barbie and pulled her close, a gesture she comfortably molded into.“I'm sorry,” Rio snickered, “but you have such a wonderful posterior BLT, I know it is a sin if no one appreciates it.”“BLT?” I cautioned Rio, and by that I intoned that the next spanking was likely going to be administered to her by me.“Barbie Lynn Tease,” Rio grinned, daring me to step up. As I handed my book bag to Iona, Rio squealed in delight and raced down the stairs. I was right behind her and I would have undoubtedly caught and punished her on the fifth floor if not for one thing.“Zane, I'm here for your breakfast duty,” a sophomore I was to learn was named Emanuela commanded, Handmaiden's Duty. Technically she should wait until I was outside, but, eh. They nailed Rio seconds before she could turn and gloat at me.“Front or back?” I politely requested of Emanuela, who was thankfully on my schedule.“Front or back?” she wondered.“Do you want me to carry you like this?” I asked, as I swept her up in my arms. She was light enough, including book bag, for me to make it to the Dining Hall without too much effort.“What is back?” she gasped.“Piggyback,” I explained.“Oh. I like this way much better,” she informed me. I started making my way through the crowd when I caught sight of Barbie Lynn and Iona coming down the stairs. Seeing my situation, Barbie put an arm around Iona and whispered something to her. Iona was already carrying my books and I had the feeling that Barbie knew I liked Iona so she was going to look after the small freshman for me.Breakfast came and went and I found myself cornered and ‘forced' to escort another girl to Assembly. She asked me if I'd prefer being covered with whipped cream or honey. I reminded her that whipped cream was cold but honey left a sticky residue, I suggested trying icing. At Assembly, the heavens broke and a hard rain set in as we got ready to disperse.The problem came when it was realized that many girls hadn't packed an umbrella. The answer for most was to take an umbrella from a freshman, which I found unsatisfactory. I had a sudden burst of insight as the first freshmen girls paled at the thought of being soaked through to the bone. I grabbed Iona and then made a beeline for Christina.None of what followed would have been possible without the understanding of a girl I didn't know, Pandora Jaspers. Her plan was for me to take my umbrella and cover us both as we went to class, but when I told her ‘I have a plan,' she nodded and went along for the ride. Certainly we were a strange group that approached Christina Buchanan.“Yes?” questioned Christina with her bemused expression as I came to a halt before her and her court. Chastity smiled, Heaven seethed, Faith looked uncertain, and the fifth girl was a cipher.“I think I can do something about this rain,” I said urgently. Christina didn't laugh but I had a feeling Pandora wanted to strangle me.“Go on,” Christina commanded.“We make a covered walkway of umbrellas, held by freshmen, to protect everyone going to the various halls,” I explained. Iona didn't need to be prodded, working on phone to figure out the diameter of each umbrella and the length of each walkway. She'd be the final arbiter of 'it could be done' in the same way Christina was the mistress of 'it will be done.'Christina hardly missed a beat.“Faith, you and,” she looked to Pandora."Pandora,” the sophomore provided eagerly.“, Pandora go to the East door and get the plan rolling. Heaven and Hope, take the West door. Zane, you, Chastity, and Iona are going with me to the South.”In the back of my mind was the fact that I had to humble Christina. Had she been overly arrogant, stupid, or indecisive, I might have worried less, but I took comfort in the saying that a man is known by the quality of his enemies. You couldn't get much higher quality than Christina.I almost missed the “Hey Zane” the fifth and highly captivatingly and exotic girl of Korean ancestry said to me as she headed off with Heaven.“That is Hope,” Chastity explained, as we headed the other way.“She seems friendly enough. Does she like me?” I said, fishing for information.“If you mean does she want to punish you for challenging Christina then the answer is yes. If you mean is she angling for a way to relive everything you did with Barbie Lynn last night, then the answer to that is yes as well,” Chastity grinned. “If you are asking if she is even more turned on by this latest little stunt of yours, then I think she shares that reaction with the rest of Christina's merry little band.”“Amen,” Iona mumbled.“What was that?” I asked Iona.“Nothing, Zane. I've run the figures and we are only going to be able to cover one path out of each door,” Iona responded by redirecting the conversation.“Chastity, call Hope and tell her she'll open a path to Mesmer first, then Clegger. I'll call Faith,” Christina directed. At this point, as freshmen, Iona and I pretty much had zero pull so we served best by staying out of the way. Once the orders began disseminating, I realized my part in events was over so I stashed Iona's mildly protesting form behind Christina and took my place in the freshman umbrella line; Iona was working her ass off for me, the least I could do was keep her high and dry.We were somewhat wet and late for class but the freshmen class had done something as a group, giving us the vaguest sense of an identity. While getting lunch, Iona stormed up to me and nearly wept over the fact that I was getting almost no credit for the morning's event; it was all going to Christina. I told her to not worry about it, I did it for my fellow first years so what did I care.I managed to get a quick lunch before applying a shoulder/back massage to a sophomore who'd traded three hours using her car for this, so I tried to make it worth her while. While slipping her out of her bra at the table was tricky, holding a conversation with Ms. Goodswell while kneading both my client's breasts until the girl was biting her fist, stifling her moans, and squirming all over the chair in anticipation of what couldn't happen next was the real accomplishment.I was pretty sure I was golden until I stepped out of Calculus for Dummies and received Ms. Goodswell's text telling me to come to her office. I gave my Mistress of the Moment the option of coming with me or figure out with Iona when we could meet again. It was a testament to my obscure magnetism that she followed me so we passed the time with me reciting Thai love poetry to her, some of which was actually safe to translate into English.“Ms. Goodswell?” I said as I lightly tapped on her door and stepped in. Sabrina, my Mistress, patiently waited outside. She had told me that no guy had ever read poetry to her before, which I found utterly tragic.“Shut the door, Zane,” Virginia ordered me in her sugary Southern drawl.“What am I going to do with you?” she sighed heavily when the door shut. “All we wanted you to do is behave and keep your head down. Stapling a permanent smile to your Dorm Mother's face and organizing the freshmen into an independent action was not what we meant.”“To the first point, I have no excuse but she's still a virgin, I swear. I won't apologize for the second thing. Besides, anyone you ask will tell you it was Christina's idea,” I countered.“Zane, do I need to worry about you further deflowering my girls?” Ms. Goodswell sounded exasperated.“Yes,” I truthfully responded. “I am definitely temptation, but I promise you I won't try to seduce anyone, if that helps?”“It pleases the Lord for our young ladies to remain pure,” Virginia stated. “It is one of the cornerstone principles of this school.”“If you say so,” I sighed.“You don't believe in the purity of the body and the sanctity of the marriage bed?” she pressed.“Ms. Goodswell, I'll vocalize the party line if that is what makes you happy. If you honestly want me to believe, give me a reason that goes beyond something some old, bitter, single, virgin guys said two thousand years ago. Otherwise, bring back animal sacrifice and slavery because the hypocrisy can be smothering,” I informed her. I figured she was about to blow up at me.“Okay,” Virginia breathed easily.“Okay?” I wondered.“You are easy on the eyes, Zane, and the girls like you. Tell me, how many girls could you have made violate their Pledges?” she drew me out.“Four in the past twenty-four hours,” I admitted.“Yet you didn't. Why is that?” she kept coming.“It is a big deal here and I wouldn't want to screw up the way they think unless they are the ones wanting to change,” I finally articulated, which made Ms. Goodswell smile.“You can go, Zane. I'll keep tabs on you so be careful,” she dismissed me and turned back to the work on her desk.“That's it?” I inquired. My spiritual advisor nodded without looking up, leaving me even more confused. I retreated in haste and thanked the Almighty that I was about to be shooting guns at something.Marksmanship Team tryouts reintroduced me to Team Captain Hope Song. She totally ignored me through most of the process. I forgot the safety, missed everything I shot at, and repeatedly let the recoil beat the crap out of my shoulder, at which point I figured I'd put forward an honest effort and blown it. I could live with that.On the last round of the event I patiently waited my turn. The girl closest to me (who was doing rather well) informed me that I was getting better. I told her this was my first time shooting a gun and she chuckled; she'd been hunting since she was nine. I knelt down for that final shot when I felt a warm body envelop me from behind.“Breathe easy,” Hope whispered into my ear. “Imagine you running your hands over Barbie Lynn's breasts, light touch, that's good, take the time and be gentle the way she brags you can be, good, now touch the nipple like you love it, feel the nipple get harder and longer, yes, feel your heart beating louder,”she kissed my earlobe ”, feel that nipple at the sweet spot, when you are ready for the orgasm, twist that nipple,” Bam!Bull's eye! Hope remained intimately close.“How was that for foreplay?” she whispered seductively.“Makes me want to get a bigger gun with a lot more bullets,” I replied. Hope scoffed lightly in my ear.“From what I hear, you don't need a bigger gun. Stand up; I have work to do,” she informed me.I stood up and surreptitiously looked around, only to find that no one, no one at all, was looking at us. For some reason the dirt, trees, and birds up in the sky had developed keen religious significance. I thought they were being polite until I recalled one student telling another that Hope regularly drilled kill shots at five hundred meters.Hope went around to some of the other applicants, helping them with their final shots, but not in the same way she helped me. At the end of tryouts we had ten shooters and ten spotters, I was a spotter. Spotters do a lot of things, mainly going over terrain and atmospheric conditions for their paired shooter. We also carry most of the gear (everyone carries their own rifle).“Do you understand what is required of you, Zane?” Hope made a point of asking me.“One hundred years ago you were the Great White Hunter (being Korean and all) and I was the bare-chested native guide giving advice while carrying a townhouse worth of gear on my back,” I joked.“You forgot the loincloth, the native guide always has a loincloth,” Hope purred like a panther toying with her next meal. “We already know you have a finely muscled body capable of great, effort; now can I expect some of that effort here on the team this year?”“Absolutely,” I affirmed. “I'll do what you tell me to do.”“That's good, because you are my partner this year. Watch my ass, don't fuck up, and show initiative,” she instructed me. In my mind I had three contradictory orders; was I supposed to watch her ass, or not fuck her, or was I supposed to come on to her? It was cold comfort that if I did screw up somehow, she could put a bullet through my left eye from anywhere on campus, killing me painlessly.“You were on one of the opposite roofs last night,” I blurted out. Hope looked demurely to the ground but flashed me a wink. “That is how you know what I look like naked.”“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said putting away one of those telescopic sighting devices a spotter would use. Nothing more was said on the subject.The Riddle of HeavenA feeling of accomplishment, nay, a feeling that I might actually be fitting in, ran right into Heaven, Team Captain of the Orienteering Squad. I wasn't afraid she would toss me off the team for merely existing. Hell, I was afraid I'd automatically get on the team despite my lack of skill; after all, how else could Heaven lure me out and murder me in the State Forest bordering the campus if I wasn't on the team?The first half of the entrance process found us in a classroom doing math; figuring out angles and areas. We also had to study some Solar and lunar charts so we could figure out the position of the Sun given the day and time, as well as what phase the Moon was in and what it would be like in, say, one hundred days. I rocked at that which gave me a leg up going into round two.I knew precisely what a map and compass were. I'd used a few maps, and I'd never actually held a compass before but I'd seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies so I knew how compasses worked, NOT! I wasn't alone in this way of thinking. Several girls giggled over the fact. One laughingly pulled up the app on her phone.“That's great. Can I see it?” Heaven said, deceptively cool. The idiot girl handed it over with a smile. Heaven grinned, then hurled it against a large boulder close by, smashing it into a thousand pieces. She went over to it and stomped on the remains for a few seconds while the younger student gasped, then wept.“Okay,” Heaven said soothingly, “your phone is now destroyed. How do you survive long enough to get back to civilization?” We all developed a case of the 'smarts' and kept our mouths shut.“Really, no one?” Heaven taunted us.“You go downhill,” I spoke up. Heaven glared, not at my answer but at the fact that I spoke at all.“Why is that, Mr. Braxton?” she asked in a hostile manner.“Water, you go downhill to find a source of water. Nothing else matters if you die of thirst,” I explained.“Would any one of you follow this idiot downhill?” Heaven sneered.One girl immediately raised her hand while the rest looked around nervously. Right before Heaven spoke again, a second girl raised her hand.“Well,” scoffed Heaven, “most of you will probably die because, while being an utter failure at the rest of his life, Zane guessed this one correctly.”“Your priorities are water, food, and shelter. Where you find moving water, you will most likely find something to eat too. You will also find small trees that are the easiest things to use for shelter. Unless rescue or egress is expected quickly, you must find a means of survival,” Then as an afterthought she addressed me,"Zane, you get a cookie,” and she tossed me a ginger cookie which I hesitantly bit in to. The class went on like this for ten minutes before she teamed us up for a little treasure hunt in the woods. I was teamed up with Heaven, making me wonder if they'd find my body after the deed was done. A few false starts later I began to get a feel for this orienteering stuff; if I headed one way and Heaven secretly smiled, I was going the wrong direction, and if she scowled, I was going the right way.We were the second team to complete the task on top of a large rock outcropping some distance into the state park. Heaven dismissed the others but put a hand on my chest when I made to leave. Once the sound of the rest moving through the underbrush died down she turned to me, clearly pissed. Her fist balled up and she shook slightly as if she was barely able to contain the rage she directed my way.I had three options: flee, confront, or submit. I sat down on the floor of the forest and waited. I could tell my reduction in stature confused her Why do you think most Buddhist monks prefer to conduct their business while in the lotus position?“Can you tell me why you hate me?” I inquired softly.Heaven stormed up to me and I was afraid she was going to boot me down the cliff. I don't think either of us knew why she stopped just short of me.“You don't belong here,” she choked out. “You are perverse and filthy. You are going to ruin everything.”“I'm not your enemy, Heaven. I'm not going to take any of your friends away from you. If I get in your way, let me know and I'll back off. The one thing I can't do is leave,” I explained. Heaven kicked me in the thigh, then kicked me again, so I scrambled up and faced her. She wanted to do this the hard way.Heaven came up right as soon as my feet were planted on the ground. I got in a block, another block, then I grabbed her wrist and put a leg behind hers. She toppled backwards while I rolled us into a side impact which allowed me to grab her other wrist as well. Heaven proved to be surprisingly strong as she thrashed about but she couldn't stop me from getting on top of her.For a moment we lay still but I was getting aroused and Heaven could sense it. I saw a look of near-terror come across her face before she went berserk beneath me. I struggled to keep on top until she finally wore herself down.“Would you just fucking talk to me!” I yelled at her. Heaven slowly ceased her efforts.“Get off of me,” she whispered intently. I rolled us over so that she was on top and released her wrists. Heaven quickly brought her knees up, straddling me with her palms on my chest. She was more than halfway off of me when she stopped and seemed to see me for the first time. I started pulling myself from under her when Heaven settled back down onto my stomach.“Hey, I'm sorry we fought, Heaven,” I got out before she French kissed me. Heaven's whole body pressed into me. I settled down and began working my hands over her waist and hips. When I went for her ass, Heaven arched her back pressing her tits against my chest so that she could grab my hands in hers and pull them back to her waist."Hands above the hips,” she panted lustfully to me between kisses.“Fine, but show me your tits,” I said. Not wasting a moment, Heaven scooted up so that she was sitting on my stomach once more and together we pulled her shirt free and unbuttoned it. I slipped my hand up around the bra and pushed it above her breasts before pressing her delicious orbs down to me to suckle on.It took me a few minutes to find out she had an arousal zone on her lower back that tingled with electricity whenever I caressed it. I had to coax Heaven into getting on all fours but when I pressed my lips there, her stiffness evaporated and she was putty in my hands. I was kneeling beside her with one hand stroking her far side while my closer hand alternated between each breast.When Heaven's breathing became more erratic and desperate she bolted upright on her knees, slipping one leg backward between mine and pressing her ass into my pelvis. I now cupped both tits, gently rubbing each nipple as I began nibbling her shoulder. I was still getting into it when Heaven suddenly spasms against me, then she repeats the process four more times before she trembled uncontrollably in my embrace.“Shush,” I reassured her. "I've got you. You are safe here with me.”“I, we, I, we need to be getting back,” she stammered. I got the feeling that she wanted to pretend this whole thing hadn't happened. I rolled up, then Heaven fixed her bra while I handed Heaven's shirt to her.We exchanged no further words until we were almost back to the campus wall when I turned to make sure she was okay. She was a little out of it but that wasn't my problem; this other thing was.“Heaven, hold on,” I told her. She looked contemplative and suspicious but did so.“You are, Um, jeesh, stay still; I'll take care of this,” I worked out.“What?” she asked cautiously.“You have cum dripping down your legs, Heaven,” I informed her. Heaven's eyes grew large and she took a half-step back but at the same moment she realized with utterly hopelessness that she had virtually no other choice.“What are you going to do?” she whispered. I had to think that one over for a second. I handed her my orienteering gear and took off my shirt, which didn't make Heaven any more comfortable.I knelt before her and used my shirt to wipe up the strands of semen going down the inside of each thigh. It was soon evident to me that she'd cum extensively and I had to work my way up under her skirt or more cum would simply drip down. For reasons I still don't understand, Heaven ceased resisting. Maybe she was tired of the whole charade.The first pair of underwear came down, then the second, and I cleaned them both with my now ruined shirt. I even went so far as to wipe her ass-crack where some had been forced up. Once I was satisfied that Heaven's underwear was as passable as I could manage, I 'fixed' her in place and dressed her again without comment. The really sucky part was that I had to put my sticky, cum-splattered shirt back on. There was no way I could explain going bare-chested.Neither one of us spoke as we walked back, put our stuff up, and parted ways. It wasn't that I thought the matter would go away but I realized that my most pressing concern was doing what my school required. I was happy that I could sneak away before dinner and get a fresh shirt.A Taste of Brandi“What is my duty today, Brandi Sanders?” I started to say with a warm smile on my face. Brandi turned out to be a girl with thin, deep brown hair hanging loose, freckles, and a slender face. Her body was lithe, nothing out of proportion, though it turned out her ass was a prize; compact but with an enticing ability to project beyond the back and thighs.“I need you to help change the lights in my room,” she grinned. I had to reciprocate that look because I liked her creativity. I made a move for her chair then stopped myself.“That chair doesn't look safe,” I mused. “I imagine I'll have to lift you up to each bulb,” I leaned right, then left, taking in her gentle womanly curves which earned a salacious smile."I think it would be more efficient for me to lift you by the front. Is that okay?” I asked softly, even somewhat hesitantly. Brandi nodded eagerly so I placed me in front of her, bent way down until my head was facing her covered belly button, and then I had snaked my arms around the top of her thighs.I made a half-attempt to lift her, then set her down.“Huh?” she gasped, “What's wrong?”“Brandi, some of your buttons are pressing into my face. Can I move them aside?”“Oh, okay,” then, “if you have to,” Brandi protested falsely.I used some slow seduction in pulling her shirt out of her skirt, doing my best to ignore our growing audience of young ladies. I opened the lowest button to see the top of the skirt behind it, but the next one was much more rewarding. Her soft stomach flesh felt warm beneath my lips and her intake of breath was its own reward.I didn't stop there, though. Buttons opened and kisses were given until I reached the bra, then I licked my way down to her belly button, which I sucked and licked for fifteen seconds. By this time, Brandi was breathing deeply and pressing her stomach against my lips. I reached up to massage her pert, firm ass with my hands while working on her belly button with my tongue.When I lifted her up by grabbing her thighs, she gasped slightly. She hovered next to the ceiling light for several seconds before realizing she didn't have a bulb.“Zane,” she started to say, but I was already starting to sweep her down into a horizontal position, stomach down, with her hands in easy reach of the box of light bulbs."Wow, thanks, Zane,” she giggled. She took one bulb, despite there being four fixtures we need to change the bulbs in. I didn't mind; after all, every time I swung her down, I flipped her skirt artfully out of the way, and her panty-covered ass was laid out before me at chest level. I missed the first opportunity but I kissed a cheek on the second drop and took a nibble on the third and fourth drop, each time earning a low moan.During the periods when I was holding her upright, I took sadistic pleasure in sucking on her stomach, giving her two hickies as proof of our amorous encounter.“Thank you, Glenda,” she murmured into my chest as I let her down that last time, using my 'enrolled' name.“I hope I have pleased you but I sadly have to be going,” I sighed, “I have a foot massage upstairs with Easter Valentine,” Brandi looked at me petulantly, then pushed past me to the door and Iona, who stood just outside in the hall.To Be Continued.By FinalStand for Literotica

Solving the riddle of Heaven.A Spring Break 14-part NovelBy FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.“Oh, oh, oh, baby…that hurts; that hur-…” she whispered hoarsely until I relented. That didn't stop her from hugging me tightly to her chest though.“Barbie Lynn, go over to my kit and get the Vaseline,” I ordered her after a bit.“Why do I have to do it?” she teased me.“I love to watch your ass wiggle when you leave and the way your bare breasts bounce when you come back,” I confessed. Once more she came on with this deep kiss and a winning smile, then she did as I asked and the view was definitely as delicious as I'd hoped.She quickly resumed her position over me, shimmying to the point I was afraid I'd actually press my cock too far into her vagina.Barbie was biting her lip while we played with her virginal fire; I knew I had to do something and that was to pop the top of the lubricant and rub two fingers deep into her back door.“Here we go,” I cautioned her, “I'll be slow and gentle. We are taking our time so don't worry about tensing up – I'll deal.” She gave me a nod, then went back to tempting fate.I was finding more and more to lust over with Barbie. When my right index finger brushed her pink star, she didn't flinch one bit. She kept her rotation going and I slipped in a finger without much protest or resistance. I let this finger slip in and out for a minute, sinking in deeper every few thrusts. To distract her, I moved my left hand between us and slipped two fingers into her pussy.That, along with the touch of my penis, got her off. Barbie bounced harder so I was forced to put a third finger in the way of my cock penetrating her, plus I pressed the knuckle of my thumb against her clit. For a second Barbie Lynn seemed at a loss of what to do, but one look at my parted lips, panting from the excitement, convinced her to feed one magnificent nipple into my mouth while she played with the other one before my eyes.She teased me so I stuck a second finger up her ass. Barbie bucked and moaned but if she was in any pain, she hid it well.“Do you want to know something?” she struggled to say, hovering over me. I nodded. “It took a grand total of seven minutes for the last two boys I was with to cum all over my tits. I don't know how long we've been going at it but Lord Almighty, I'm so happy I was given this dorm. This is going to be the best year ever.”“I'm working on it,” I gasped as I twitched and pushed my fingers around. “I'm glad you are my Dorm Mother.”“Oh, oh, oh, oh…the other girls are so jealous that I have you,” she panted. “They wanted to know what it would take to steal you away.”“I hope you understand that I want to stay here with you,” I groaned.Barbie Lynn stopped moving for a moment, accepting me and my honest desire.“Put it in,” she begged.“It will hurt,” I assured her.“I don't care,” she looked at me hungrily. I pulled my hand out of her cunt and rolled her to my side while still keeping my other fingers pumping in her ass.Maneuvering around so that I had her head on my pillow and ass sticking up took some thought. I pushed a third finger in quickly. Barbie gasped audibly, pulled away instinctively, then caught herself and pushed back against my hand. She whimpered and choked back a sob. I withdrew my fingers and covered my cock with some hastily scooped glob of Vaseline.Barbie looked back to me in quivering anticipation. Before she spoke I lined my cock up with her anus and started pushing. Barbie Lynn shut her eyes, bit her lower lip and smiled lustfully.“Oh!” she groaned, as I slipped past her anal ring. I knew enough to hesitate before the next push, then the next.“Please,” she whimpered. I stopped moving. “Please give me all of it,” she completed. “Don't hold back.” I pushed harder not waiting for her to adjust.“Aaahhh!” she cried out. I stopped and she responded with a, “No, no, no, Zane…please don't stop.”“I don't want to hurt you,” I groaned.“It hurts a lot but I like that you are the one doing it to me. Please, I want you inside of me, all the way in,” she whimpered. I pushed all the way in steadily until my crotch pushed her scrumptious ass cheeks apart. As I rested for a moment, I felt Barbie Lynn's fingers reach between her legs and start to massage my balls.I pulled back while she moaned loudly, her cries echoing throughout the massive glass covered chamber. Despite the low lamplight around my bed, I realized now that we could be seen from the solariums on the roofs of the other dorms. There wasn't much I could, or would, do about that now.I started a slowly intensifying pace in and out of Barbie's ass and she met me with the thrust of her hips and a sensual moaning from her throat. I could tell she was pushing one set of fingers into her snatch while the other worked over her clit. Once we were in total symmetry I slapped her playfully on one ass cheek.“Oh, God…Zane, do it again. I've been bad,” was Barbie's lusty declaration. I smacked down across the other cheek. “Harder, Zane, I've been really bad.” Another spank and, “I've been much worse than that,” she panted. SMACK! and a yelp. “That's it!” she gasped. I kept up the spanking and each blow made her anal muscles contract, virtually grabbing and twisting my cock inside her.“Ah…Jesus Loves Me!” Barbie Lynn squealed as her strongest orgasm to date overwhelmed her and then me. I'd never felt that kind of empathy with another lover like I was feeling with this blonde enchantress. Barbie bucked up against me, slamming her ass against my crotch with painful ferocity as my seed plunged into the depths of her bowels.Barbie Lynn, now virtually sitting in my lap, crested orgasm after orgasm as the heat of each burst of my semen burned new pathways of ecstasy inside her rectum.“Oh…oh…oh…oh,” she stammered as her fluids flowed down our legs in a slow steady stream. “Please, Zane …”“Yes?” I panted.“Promise me…promise me we'll do this again,” she gasped as she now pressed her sweat-slick back against my upper body.“Again,” I thrust into her, “and again, and again,” I promised. Barbie Lynn put one hand around to the back of my neck and the other, leaning forward.She drew me into her and we slowly arched forward until the weight of our bodies tumbled us to the bed. Barbie's outstretched arm touched the mattress first and absorbed most of our momentum. Still, I ended up pressing on her and I soon propped myself up so my weight wouldn't suffocate her.As I stationed myself there, panting along with her from our mutual exhaustion, Barbie rolled over so that we were once more face to face. She had this beatific happiness about her that I doubt I'll ever forget.“I…I was afraid I'd regret this…and you,” she grinned lazily.“Do you?” I questioned.“Yes. I regret I didn't take you back to my room and do this yesterday. I regret that we have to go to early classes tomorrow. I regret having to share you with nine hundred other women. And I regret you weren't here with me two years ago,” she murmured heartily.“I'm going to sit here and bask in my over-stuffed sense of accomplishment,” I faux-gloated. “You do a guy's ego good.”“Speaking of over-stuffed…can I please, please have one more…please?” she begged playfully.“You are my Dorm Mother and I really should try to keep you happy, so…” I related with feigned reluctance.“That's right,” she giggled, “you really need to keep me happy. Please show me how you plan to do that.”After another serious exploration of our sexuality, Barbie Lynn curled up against my chest, making this deep cat-like rumbling noise.“Do you always talk to Christina over breakfast?” I inquired.“Yes, I always do. If she asks about you…I…I'm going to tell her the truth,” she answered. I didn't ask what that would be so she did. “Aren't you worried about what I will say?”“No. I trust you, Barbie. You'll tell her what you need to tell her; truth, lie, or evasion, it is all your business, not mine,” I explained.“Well, I'm going to tell her in every minute detail what you did with, to, and for me tonight, and I promise you she's going to race back and change her panties,” she sighed happily.“Absolutely,” I affirmed. “I'll do what you tell me to do.”“That's good, because you are my partner this year. Watch my ass, don't fuck up, and show initiative,” she instructed me. In my mind I had three contradictory orders; was I supposed to watch her ass, or not fuck her, or was I supposed to come on to her? It was cold comfort that if I did screw up somehow, she could put a bullet through my left eye from anywhere on campus, killing me painlessly.“You were on one of the opposite roofs last night,” I blurted out. Hope looked demurely to the ground but flashed me a wink. “That is how you know what I look like naked.”“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said putting away one of those telescopic sighting devices a spotter would use. Nothing more was said on the subject.The Riddle of HeavenA feeling of accomplishment – nay, a feeling that I might actually be fitting in – ran right into Heaven, Team Captain of the Orienteering Squad. I wasn't afraid she would toss me off the team for merely existing. Hell, I was afraid I'd automatically get on the team despite my lack of skill; after all, how else could Heaven lure me out and murder me in the State Forest bordering the campus if I wasn't on the team?The first half of the entrance process found us in a classroom doing math; figuring out angles and areas. We also had to study some Solar and lunar charts so we could figure out the position of the Sun given the day and time, as well as what phase the Moon was in and what it would be like in, say, one hundred days. I rocked at that which gave me a leg up going into round two.I knew precisely what a map and compass were. I'd used a few maps, and I'd never actually held a compass before but I'd seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies so I knew how compasses worked – not! I wasn't alone in this way of thinking. Several girls giggled over the fact. One laughingly pulled up the app on her phone.“That's great. Can I see it?” Heaven said, deceptively cool. The idiot girl handed it over with a smile. Heaven grinned, then hurled it against a large boulder close by, smashing it into a thousand pieces. She went over to it and stomped on the remains for a few seconds while the younger student gasped, then wept.“Okay,” Heaven said soothingly, “your phone is now destroyed. How do you survive long enough to get back to civilization?” We all developed a case of the ‘smarts' and kept our mouths shut.“Really…no one?” Heaven taunted us.“You go downhill,” I spoke up. Heaven glared, not at my answer but at the fact that I spoke at all.“Why is that, Mr. Braxton?” she asked in a hostile manner.“Water…you go downhill to find a source of water. Nothing else matters if you die of thirst,” I explained.“Would any one of you follow this idiot downhill?” Heaven sneered.One girl immediately raised her hand while the rest looked around nervously. Right before Heaven spoke again, a second girl raised her hand.“Well,” scoffed Heaven, “most of you will probably die because, while being an utter failure at the rest of his life, Zane guessed this one correctly.”“Your priorities are water, food, and shelter. Where you find moving water, you will most likely find something to eat too. You will also find small trees that are the easiest things to use for shelter. Unless rescue or egress is expected quickly, you must find a means of survival.” Then as an afterthought she addressed me,“Zane, you get a cookie,” and she tossed me a ginger cookie which I hesitantly bit in to. The class went on like this for ten minutes before she teamed us up for a little treasure hunt in the woods. I was teamed up with Heaven, making me wonder if they'd find my body after the deed was done. A few false starts later I began to get a feel for this orienteering stuff; if I headed one way and Heaven secretly smiled, I was going the wrong direction, and if she scowled, I was going the right way.We were the second team to complete the task on top of a large rock outcropping some distance into the state park. Heaven dismissed the others but put a hand on my chest when I made to leave. Once the sound of the rest moving through the underbrush died down she turned to me, clearly pissed. Her fist balled up and she shook slightly as if she was barely able to contain the rage she directed my way.I had three options: flee, confront, or submit. I sat down on the floor of the forest and waited. I could tell my reduction in stature confused her Why do you think most Buddhist monks prefer to conduct their business while in the lotus position?“Can you tell me why you hate me?” I inquired softly.Heaven stormed up to me and I was afraid she was going to boot me down the cliff. I don't think either of us knew why she stopped just short of me.“You don't belong here,” she choked out. “You are perverse and filthy. You are going to ruin everything.”“I'm not your enemy, Heaven. I'm not going to take any of your friends away from you. If I get in your way, let me know and I'll back off. The one thing I can't do is leave,” I explained. Heaven kicked me in the thigh, then kicked me again, so I scrambled up and faced her. She wanted to do this the hard way.Heaven came up right as soon as my feet were planted on the ground. I got in a block, another block, then I grabbed her wrist and put a leg behind hers. She toppled backwards while I rolled us into a side impact which allowed me to grab her other wrist as well. Heaven proved to be surprisingly strong as she thrashed about but she couldn't stop me from getting on top of her.For a moment we lay still but I was getting aroused and Heaven could sense it. I saw a look of near-terror come across her face before she went berserk beneath me. I struggled to keep on top until she finally wore herself down.“Would you just fucking talk to me!” I yelled at her. Heaven slowly ceased her efforts.“Get off of me,” she whispered intently. I rolled us over so that she was on top and released her wrists. Heaven quickly brought her knees up, straddling me with her palms on my chest. She was more than halfway off of me when she stopped and seemed to see me for the first time. I started pulling myself from under her when Heaven settled back down onto my stomach.“Hey, I'm sorry we fought, Hea…” I got out before she French kissed me. Heaven's whole body pressed into me. I settled down and began working my hands over her waist and hips. When I went for her ass, Heaven arched her back pressing her tits against my chest so that she could grab my hands in hers and pull them back to her waist.“Hands above the hips,” she panted lustfully to me between kisses.“Fine, but show me your tits,” I said. Not wasting a moment, Heaven scooted up so that she was sitting on my stomach once more and together we pulled her shirt free and unbuttoned it. I slipped my hand up around the bra and pushed it above her breasts before pressing her delicious orbs down to me to suckle on.It took me a few minutes to find out she had an arousal zone on her lower back that tingled with electricity whenever I caressed it. I had to coax Heaven into getting on all fours but when I pressed my lips there, her stiffness evaporated and she was putty in my hands. I was kneeling beside her with one hand stroking her far side while my closer hand alternated between each breast.When Heaven's breathing became more erratic and desperate she bolted upright on her knees, slipping one leg backward between mine and pressing her ass into my pelvis. I now cupped both tits, gently rubbing each nipple as I began nibbling her shoulder. I was still getting into it when Heaven suddenly spasms against me, then she repeats the process four more times before she trembled uncontrollably in my embrace.“Shush…” I reassured her. “I've got you. You are safe here with me.”“I. we. I. we need to be getting back,” she stammered. I got the feeling that she wanted to pretend this whole thing hadn't happened. I rolled up, then Heaven fixed her bra while I handed Heaven's shirt to her.We exchanged no further words until we were almost back to the campus wall when I turned to make sure she was okay. She was a little out of it but that wasn't my problem; this other thing was.“Heaven, hold on,” I told her. She looked contemplative and suspicious but did so.“You are… Mmm… sheesh, stay still; I'll take care of this,” I worked out.“What?” she asked cautiously.“You have cum dripping down your legs, Heaven,” I informed her. Heaven's eyes grew large and she took a half-step back but at the same moment she realized with utterly hopelessness that she had virtually no other choice.“What are you going to do?” she whispered. I had to think that one over for a second. I handed her my orienteering gear and took off my shirt, which didn't make Heaven any more comfortable.I knelt before her and used my shirt to wipe up the strands of semen going down the inside of each thigh. It was soon evident to me that she'd cum extensively and I had to work my way up under her skirt or more cum would simply drip down. For reasons I still don't understand, Heaven ceased resisting. Maybe she was tired of the whole charade.The first pair of underwear came down, then the second, and I cleaned them both with my now ruined shirt. I even went so far as to wipe her ass-crack where some had been forced up. Once I was satisfied that Heaven's underwear was as passable as I could manage, I ‘fixed' her in place and dressed her again without comment. The really sucky part was that I had to put my sticky, cum-splattered shirt back on. There was no way I could explain going bare-chested.Neither one of us spoke as we walked back, put our stuff up, and parted ways. It wasn't that I thought the matter would go away but I realized that my most pressing concern was doing what my school required. I was happy that I could sneak away before dinner and get a fresh shirt.A Taste of Brandi“What is my duty today, Brandi Sanders?” I started to say with a warm smile on my face. Brandi turned out to be a girl with thin, deep brown hair hanging loose, freckles, and a slender face. Her body was lithe, nothing out of proportion, though it turned out her ass was a prize; compact but with an enticing ability to project beyond the back and thighs.“I need you to help change the lights in my room,” she grinned. I had to reciprocate that look because I liked her creativity. I made a move for her chair then stopped myself.“That chair doesn't look safe,” I mused. “I imagine I'll have to lift you up to each bulb.” I leaned right, then left, taking in her gentle womanly curves which earned a salacious smile.“I think it would be more efficient for me to lift you by the front. Is that okay?” I asked softly, even somewhat hesitantly. Brandi nodded eagerly so I placed me in front of her, bent way down until my head was facing her covered belly button, and then I had snaked my arms around the top of her thighs.I made a half-attempt to lift her, then set her down.“Huh?” she gasped, “What's wrong?”“Brandi, some of your buttons are pressing into my face. Can I move them aside?”“Oh… okay,” then, “if you have to,” Brandi protested falsely.I used some slow seduction in pulling her shirt out of her skirt, doing my best to ignore our growing audience of young ladies. I opened the lowest button to see the top of the skirt behind it, but the next one was much more rewarding. Her soft stomach flesh felt warm beneath my lips and her intake of breath was its own reward.I didn't stop there, though. Buttons opened and kisses were given until I reached the bra, then I licked my way down to her belly button, which I sucked and licked for fifteen seconds. By this time, Brandi was breathing deeply and pressing her stomach against my lips. I reached up to massage her pert, firm ass with my hands while working on her belly button with my tongue.When I lifted her up by grabbing her thighs, she gasped slightly. She hovered next to the ceiling light for several seconds before realizing she didn't have a bulb.“Zane…” she started to say, but I was already starting to sweep her down into a horizontal position, stomach down, with her hands in easy reach of the box of light bulbs.“Wow, thanks, Zane,” she giggled. She took one bulb, despite there being four fixtures we need to change the bulbs in. I didn't mind; after all, every time I swung her down, I flipped her skirt artfully out of the way, and her panty-covered ass was laid out before me at chest level. I missed the first opportunity but I kissed a cheek on the second drop and took a nibble on the third and fourth drop, each time earning a low moan.During the periods when I was holding her upright, I took sadistic pleasure in sucking on her stomach, giving her two hickies as proof of our amorous encounter.“Thank you, Glenda,” she murmured into my chest as I let her down that last time, using my ‘enrolled' name.“I hope I have pleased you but I sadly have to be going,” I sighed, “I have a foot massage upstairs with Easter Valentine.” Brandi looked at me petulantly, then pushed past me to the door and Iona, who stood just outside in the hall.“Iona, when is he free again?” she demanded to know.“Sorry, Brandi, I can only book him one week in advance. I don't know what his study workload will be like or what things his team captains will require,” Iona grinned, somewhat emboldened with her newfound power and popularity.“Brandi,” I said, because I must be the Devil, “I couldn't help but notice how silky smooth and toned your legs are. Maybe in a few days they might be a tiny bit less so. You could demand that I shave your legs for you.”“Have you ever done this before?” she mused over the implications.“No, I haven't,” I confessed, “but you could teach me no matter how long that took.” Brandi spun on Iona and grabbed her by the shoulders.“You have to let me know when a slot opens up!” was Brandi's impassioned plea. Iona agreed nervously. When we finally got out of Brandi's room and headed off to my next stop, Iona bumped into me.“You are evil,” she whispered like some secret conspirator, “and I've never wanted to be a year older in all my life.” One year older, she could demand Handmaiden duties from me as well, but then it would be far less likely that we would be united as we are now.“Iona, you are proving to be a true friend,” I stated. “With you, it wouldn't be a duty.” Iona stumbled because clearly that idea hadn't occurred to her.In Case it was UnclearThe only thing that surprised me when I came up to my room, naked except for my gym shorts, fresh from my evening bathroom visit, was the look of shame on Barbie Lynn's face when I saw the rest of them.“Hello, Ladies. Before you lay into me, let me have a moment with Barbie Lynn,” I requested.“Barbie Lynn is leaving now,” Christina countered. I shrugged and walked back downstairs.“Come back here,” Christina commanded me.“Nope,” I shot back as I reached for the door.“Zane, where are you going?” Chastity inquired politely.“The Chancellor's house,” I answered. “Apparently I have some stuck up bitches in my room past curfew, plus Barbie Lynn.” I opened the door.“Please come back and talk to us,” Chastity requested. I was a bit angry but Chastity made a habit of being nice to me so…I went back upstairs.“Barbie Lynn, why don't you have a quick chat with Zane on your way out,” Queen Christina allowed. Barbie shot Christina a worried look, then shuffled over to where I was standing.“Zane…” Barbie started to say but I put a finger to her lips.“It's all good. I was hoping that after this is resolved you will want to come back tonight. Is that going to happen?” I revealed my desire for her. Barbie hugged me tightly then kissed me on the cheek before skipping down the stairs. I had the strange impression she thought I might have been angry with her.“We need to talk about what happened this afternoon,” Christina began once Barbie had shut the door downstairs.“No, we don't,” I responded, and headed for my bed; since I don't yet have walls, it is tough calling it a room.“I don't think you appreciate how important this issue is to me,” Christina stated heatedly.“Actually, I don't care how important this is to you, Christina. This is between Heaven and me,” I retorted.“You are going to satisfy my concerns or I will guarantee that you will be gone by the end of the week,” she snarled.That was enough for me; I spun around and got right in her face.“Do you remember when I said you could apologize to Rio or I'd make you do it and you would regret me having to force you?” I snapped right back. Christina glared defiance at me. “Well, this has nothing to do with that. I'll get you without fucking anyone else over and because you would even think I'd do that to Heaven, I'm going to make sure you cry too.”“What?” Christina, Chastity, and Heaven said all at once.“I'm going to nail Christina's ass to the wall, Heaven, but I'm not going to abuse the trust you put in me. What kind of fucker do you all think I am?” I asked bitterly.“How can we trust you?” Christina demanded. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Heaven, taking her by the hand which confused the hell out of her.“Heaven, come with me,” I requested. I dragged her toward my bed but she resisted.“What are you doing?” she inquired desperately.“Heaven, I'm a guy dragging a girl to my bedroom. If your first guess is Parcheesi, there is something seriously wrong with you.”“It is…you know…how can you…I can't,” Heaven evaded.“Don't worry about someone spying on us; Hope is here with us tonight,” I grinned.“Zane, this isn't a good idea,” Heaven pleaded.“Zane, let her go,” Christina told me as she stepped to Heaven's side, and by the body language I was clearly not getting in the front door.“Heaven, if I hurt you, what are the odds of my taking an impromptu flying lesson through one of these panes of glass?” I joked dryly. Chastity and Hope exchanged a look.“I think we can make the fountain from the Southeast corner,” Hope assured us both.“This is not a joking matter,” Christina snapped at the two of us. I'd rarely seen someone so ferociously defensive of a non-relative.“I wasn't joking,” I said.“I wasn't joking,” Hope said at the same time.Christina was about to drag Heaven out of the equation; time for the Hail Mary.“Heaven, do you want to have sex with me again?” I hammered away.“Again,” gasped Faith, silent until now. “You can't have sex with Heaven; she's…”Now it was all but out in the open.“Anyone who thinks that is fucking nuts,” I shouted as I grabbed Heaven's hand away from Christina and took her to my bed.I swung Heaven onto the bed so fast she bounced. Before she could organize herself, I was on top of her. I had one leg between hers but she slammed them together so hard it hurt. I landed over her, our faces inches apart. My eyes kept boring into her until her lips opened and a small moan escaped. I knew I fell on her first but her hands were all over me so fast that I could hardly be seen as molesting her.Peripherally aware that we had an audience, Heaven and I pressed, pulled, and aroused one another for several minutes. We had her top and bra off and her legs pulled up so far, her knees were just below my armpits.“You go, girl,” I heard Chastity playfully whisper when Heaven rolled me over so that she was on top. She didn't break up her actions but I could see Heaven smiling for the first time.“I don't get it,” Faith whispered to someone. “Does this mean Heaven likes guys, and if she does, does that mean she's…you know…”“Homosexual?” Hope clarified.“Technically, that makes Heaven gay,” Chastity added.“There is nothing wrong with Heaven,” Christina stated. “She is fine being who she is…unique and special.” In the arena, I was busy letting my hands slide down to the forbidden zone without any resistance. I hooked her underwear and started working them up until…“OW!” Heaven gasped. Everyone looked at us. “That wedgy hurts,” she sobbed, as she ran a hand over her offended rear end.“If it really bothers you, take off your panties,” I taunted Heaven. She looked angry but instead of acting out, she kissed me and bit my lip until it was my turn to cry out in pain. As I rubbed my lip she rolled to the side and quickly pulled down her underwear. Heaven remounted me and for a moment she looked uncertain, so I grabbed her head in both hands and pulled her into a lip-lock.All she had on was her white socks and pleated skirt which had ridden up around her waist. Heaven wedged a hand down to my cock and began lightly stroking it with her fingertips. I reached down and cupped one ass cheek before discovering her anus and playfully rubbing against it.Heaven began loudly moaning and bucking against me.“I think we can be pretty sure she likes guys,” commented Hope.“She hasn't sucked his cock yet,” Faith countered, but she might as well have raised a red flag in front of Heaven because in seconds, Heaven had left my lips and was kissing down my throat to my chest.Before I let her get out of reach, I took my free hand and put it on Heaven's meat and started to stroke it next to mine. Heaven flinched, then looked up at me with an unreadable expression. We began tandem stroking our cocks, my knuckles brushing my cock and her hands brushing hers. Unable to reach my lips, Heaven began kissing and biting my nipples.“Ever done this before?” I gasped, indicating our mutual masturbation. Heaven shook her head in the negative. I tried to taunt her one step further. “Why don't we stop this and just cuddle?” Heaven lurched forward and stopped stroking me long enough to slap me across the face so hard I could taste blood; a reminder of Heaven's anger issues.“You started this,” she insisted, “so don't you think you can get out of things now.” She then resumed her actions as if nothing happened.“Shouldn't we do something to make sure she doesn't break him?” Hope asked her female cohorts.“I know CPR,” Faith volunteered, and here I thought she didn't like me. I was digesting that tidbit when Heaven slipped below my reach leaving my hands free to play with her hair.“Mmm…” Heaven purred as she took in the bulbous head of my penis. There wasn't too much foreplay there, just a hungry need on Heaven's side to take on my cock.She was working over past issues and confronting some internal barriers experience had scarred her with. Heaven was hesitant, sloppy, and used too much teeth; for me it was not a mind rocking blowjob; the best I could do was soldier through it and concentrate on encouraging her as much as possible.I was selling my enthusiasm hard and Heaven was certainly getting into it, making wet slurping noises as she vigorously bobbed farther and farther down my shaft. It took me a moment to register Christina sitting beside us. She was smiling down at Heaven and running her hand through Heaven's hair intertwining with mine.“Use your tongue to manipulate his shaft,” was one of Christina's whispered suggestions and encouragements to Heaven. As I was enjoying the new sensations, I also registered the fact that Christina seemed to know a great deal about portions of the male anatomy the Purity Pledge put on the No Fly list.Christina began rubbing one hand over my chest which felt real good – incredibly good, but there was something I had to do.“I need to see Heaven,” I told Christina. She regarded me quizzically and Heaven all but stopped her activities as she studied me. “You are all I need right now,” I told Heaven.In some cultures what happened next would be considered cannibalism; Heaven did her damnedest to swallow my entire length in one push. I have had girls with a lot more experience fail on the first try. On the second attempt she didn't get as far but she was sucking with greater force.“Oh, fuck!” I grunted. Heaven flashed me with a devilish look in her eyes before pumping my shaft rapidly with one hand while sucking in and out the head and first inch. Note to Self: if this whole Christian Chick thing doesn't work out for Christina, bankroll her in creating self-help sexual instruction videos.“Close,” I panted, “real close.” If Heaven had raised her head and jacked me off onto my stomach, I would have been perfectly happy. Girls did that all the time; the taste of semen is not for everyone. Heaven made her own decision and kept doing what she was doing. Ten seconds later my hands tensed in her hair and I began shooting ribbons of my seed into her mouth.It took a few moments for Heaven to decide to swallow but when she did she was grinning like the Cheshire cat up into Christina's eyes. Both of them started crying and I hadn't a clue as to why. Sometimes another person's baggage is not your business and this looked to be one of those times.“Okay,” I choked. “I only wanted one of you bitches up here tonight so Heaven can stay but the rest of you have to go.” No one responded instantly.“You don't tell me what to do, freshman,” Heaven said as she smacked me across my thigh. “Christina, let's get out of here; I feel like getting something to eat…something else that is,” she told the Queen.In the time it took Heaven to gather her clothes and get dressed, the group was gone, and I was left wondering what the hell I'd stepped into. I figured one guy and nine hundred girls, and I'd be living the dream. Only an idiot would have assumed there would be no existing power structure, competing sexual desires, or people less than happy with my cleverness. Suddenly, having to survive three more days to the weekend seemed too much to ask.To Be Continued.By FinalStand for Literotica

If we're honest, we all deal with jealousy from time to time. Have you ever wondered how not to be consumed by jealousy when you see others enjoying what you desire? Welcome to another Faith Friday episode of Relationship Talk. In today's episode, we're diving back into the topic of jealousy and how to overcome it. Last week, we talked about handling jealousy from others, but today, it's all about what to do when we find ourselves struggling with jealousy. Scripture on Jealousy  James 4:1-3: What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don't have so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong - you want only what will give you pleasure.  What do you do when you're jealous of something or someone in your life? Maybe it's someone else's relationship, career, or blessings. The first antidote to jealousy is simple: ask God. But ask with the right motives. Reflect on why you desire what you're asking for. If your motives are purely self-serving, it may not align with God's plan for you.  Check out the full show notes at realrelationshiptalk.com/196 and learn the two antidotes for jealousy.   Links Mentioned in this Episode:  Ep. 194: Haters Gon' Hate - Dealing with Jealous People Ep. 170: When Heaven is Silent - The Truth Behind Unanswered Prayer Sign up for my brand-new “From Conflict to Connection” course Get your FREE “Speak Life” audio affirmations download here   SUBSCRIBE | SHARE | RATE | COMMENT  To ensure you never miss an episode, be sure to subscribe or follow on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Remember, sharing is caring! Thank you for sharing these episodes with your friends and family via email or social media. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

We started a new sermon series called Jesus People. When we look at the Bible we see what Jesus is really like. In this message we learn about the Kingdom of God. When Heaven meets Earth we get the opportunity to live in and represent the Kingdom of God wherever we go. To experience the Kingdom of God we have to surrender everything we hold to make room for God to move.

Jon shares jaw-dropping testimonies of miracles and the presence of God from right there in his business. He starts with a story of how my teaching impacted him! Make sure you go back and catch part one if you missed it! His journey is incredibly inspiring.BIO:Landscape Designer by trade, Jon George is often caught tending Father's creation on a small farm that he shares with his wife, Kim, their five children, and numerous chickens. Jon started Cottage Gardens after traveling the world working and doing missions and has since incorporated design ideas of 'heaven on earth gardens' taken from his travels in France, Hong Kong, and Japan.GOLD NUGGETS:- Approaching prayer from top down participation- Gold dust manifesting and miracle healing- Gemstones from heaven- Overcoming poverty and performance mindsets with childlike faith- Covered his business presentation with spiritual gold- When Heaven participates, there's no room for our own limitations!- The Lord gives one person a key, and another person can ask how they can use it too.- Holy Spirit really wants to show off in this season!- Part of being a business is building and mending bridges of trust and being Jesus to the clients- Ask the Lord if a difficult client is a ride He wants you to take - He may have a bigger plan than you think- Flowers have their own frequency and they play in symphonies together- Being “cloaked” in your business to be able to minister to your clients without them knowing itLINKS:- Check out Jon's gorgeous gallery of work: TheCottageGardener.com- Follow him (and see more stunning pix) on Facebook: search Jon George- Take our FREE Business Assessment:SpiritCenteredBusiness.com- Join the Activation Ekklesia for Business: http://SpiritCenteredBusiness.com/activation- Join the SCB Tribe: http://facebook.com/groups/scbtribeBe sure to answer the membership questions so we know you're legit! ;-)Copyright 2023 - Bralynn Newby Int'l. All rights reserved.

When Heaven and hell Collide Part II excerpt from Rick Joyner's Epic Battles of the last days --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buster-holzer/support

When Heaven and Hell Collide Part 1 excerpt from Rick Joyner's Epic Battles of the Last Days --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buster-holzer/support

When Heaven shouts, creation can't help but listen. Join Pastor Hank Meadows this week as he takes a look at what causes Heaven to break the silence and how we should respond. Thanks for stopping by!

In preparation for the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Scholars Academy's annual Roots of Social Justice: Alabama Civil Rights Tour spring break trip, Dean Jordan conducted a remote interview with Reverend Alan Cross, a native Southerner, Baptist pastor, and expert on race and religion in the American South. For more about Cross's work and the topics discussed in this episode, see this NPR story from July 2020: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/883115867/white-supremacist-ideas-have-historical-roots-in-u-s-christianity. Cross is a contributor to The Bulwark, and his writing there can be found at https://www.thebulwark.com/author/alan-cross/. In 2019, he published an essay in the New York Times on religious freedom and the death penalty (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/opinion/alabama-domineque-ray-death-row.html), and he has also written on the dangers of “Great Replacement Theory” (https://thedispatch.com/article/christians-too-must-oppose-great/) and the role of Black slave preachers in setting the stage for the Civil Rights movement (https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/why-we-should-be-thankful-for-caesar-blackwell-the-alabama-baptist-slave-preacher/). His book When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus, can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/When-Heaven-Earth-Collide-Evangelicals/dp/1603063501.  

WITH JESUS IN ISRAEL PART 3 – WHEN HEAVEN CAME TO EARTH JAKE STIMPSON | ISRAEL | WORD MADE FLESH | MESSIAH | PROPHECIES | CHRISTMAS | BETHLEHEM Follow along in this series as Jake shares some of the things that impacted him the most about his recent trip to Israel. When Heaven came to earth […]

Join Kelsi and author Hannah Anderson in their discussion about the way in which we join with nature and the creation of all things in long for Christ's return during the season of Advent. Show Notes: To purchase When Heaven and Nature Sing Follow Hannah on Twitter For more info, visit: https://www.1517.org/podcasts Subscribe Now: Youtube Apple Podcasts Spotify

In today's episode, the guys discuss what it means to walk in joy. To begin, they clarify the difference between happiness and joy. While happiness is fleeting and comes from circumstances, joy is objective and transcends circumstances. When Heaven is the prime object of our rejoicing, it is impossible for anything to steal our joy. A perfect example of this is in Luke chapter 10, when the apostles were rejoicing even though the demons were subject to them, because their names were written in Heaven. We can never know what tomorrow on this earth will bring, but we can rejoice nevertheless knowing that our salvation lies in Heaven. We must remember not to be governed by circumstances, but instead by what is written in God's Word.  For anyone in our lives who may currently be experiencing immense suffering, the guys advise that we lend a listening ear and a helping hand to that person. This can be as simple as picking their kids up from school or dropping off a meal for them. Then, when the time is right, it is important that we give them the opportunity to speak up. Rather than asking someone if they have moved on yet, we should instead ask what they have done to move forward or how we may be able to help them along their journey. People need to be reminded that there are always others thinking about them and caring for them.  It is not only circumstances that can rob us of our joy. Sometimes, Ray shares, it can be for no reason at all. This is when we must be almost mechanical in pulling our soul up by its bootstrings and remembering all of the blessings we have in our lives.  It is easy to become distracted by the busyness of our lives that we forget that we have ultimately been adopted by God into the Kingdom of Heaven. We are reminded that the pathway to joy is through God's presence and remembering our standing in the eternal. Through the blood of Jesus Chirst, we have been adopted by God as heirs to His Kingdom and are in need of nothing. We must fight for our own joys in life by pursuing the Lord and entering His presence. When we truly rejoice in our own salvation, we can't help but want to tell others about that same thing.   Thanks for listening! If you've been helped by this podcast, we'd be grateful if you'd consider subscribing, sharing, and leaving us a comment and 5-star rating! Visit the Living Waters website to learn more and to access helpful resources!You can find helpful counseling resources at biblicalcounseling.com.Check out The Evidence Study Bible and the Basic Training Course.You can connect with us at podcast@livingwaters.com. We're thankful for your input!Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.Ray ComfortEmeal (“E.Z.”) ZwayneMark SpenceOscar Navarro

Fighting for the weekend. (part 6)A Spring Break 13-part Novel.By FinalStand. The player above contains the intro section. Listen to the complete episode by clicking here, at Steamy Stories. *Giving can make you richer while keeping leaves you only with what you have*Before we departed Rio raced back to the room to make some last minute adjustments to her attire. When she came back out all the conversation stopped and every one of us stared. Where could I begin? Rio had three earrings in her left ear and two on her right, the bottom on both sides being ivory skulls with red ruby eyes. She had an obsidian gem glued to her forehead just above her eyebrows.Her right eyebrow had a simple silver ring, but the one in her left nostril was a tiny pentagram. Her lip ring was a on the left side; a double loop. She'd taken off her bra and her nipple piercings, linked together by a chain, were clearly visible underneath her shirt which she'd tied tightly right below the breast line; her bra was now AWOL.Her belly button ring has an onyx teardrop attached. As she walked up to the group she stuck her tongue at the others exposing her pewter tongue barbell. She skipped over, breasts bouncing, and hugged me before leaning back and pumping her fist up in the air.“Free at last!”“Ten, eleven, twelve,” counted off Chastity quietly.“I have fourteen,” Rio grinned lasciviously to Chastity. More than one girl began doing the physiological implications of that claim and I doubted they were thinking about her toes.“At least if we all end up being arrested one of us will be unrecognizable,” Christina commented.“Is, is that one of your classmates?” Jill muttered, clearly blanking out the old Rio from her mind.“For better or worse she's one of us,” I boasted. Barbie Lynn, sticking close to my other arm, gave me a desperate, quizzical expression.“She's one of my students,” Barbie told Jill. “She's one of ours still seeking redemption.”Before Rio could be more of a smart-ass I gave her hand a hard squeeze and while she grinned mischievously, she did hold her tongue.“Okay, ladies, let's go,” I announced. We all started migrating toward the door.“Where are you going?” Jill asked.“There is a party next door,” Christina provided.“The Wiccan lesbians?” Jill gasped.“I was wrong, Jill,” I evaded. “They are a sorority house, not Wiccan lesbians. They invited us over tonight for a little school mixer.”“Well, as long as it is just you girls,” Jill hoped. I nodded and headed out the door.“That wasn't very nice,” Christina scolded me once we had gathered outside and began moving toward the Kappa Sigma house.“If I told her it was a sorority house she would have worried but been unable to do anything. This way she didn't have to worry,” I explained.“You have the Devil's Tongue,” Christina chided, but she had that smile and gleam in her eye.“And how,” Barbie Lynn snickered. Something passed between Barbie Lynn and Christina but I missed it. My group spilled through the trees that separated the properties and headed for the front door.Storming the GatesTwo guys had parked their car and were coming up the walkway when they saw us. They did a double-take before looking at each other utterly confused. We lined up at the door first and after I knocked a bright-faced girl, most likely a newly-minted pledge, answered. She took a look at me, smiled, then that smile faded as she saw the passel of women behind me.“Hi, I'm Zane; we were invited,” I offered.“Oh!” he eyes lit up,”you are that Zane. I thought, well, we heard you were bringing a guest or two. I, can I check with someone?“ she babbled.“Sure. Can we wait inside?” I suggested. She nodded and we all started filing in.Our arrival sent ripples through the house. Apparently not many girls crash a sorority function and since most of the guys present were expecting unfavorable odds, the social dynamic had shifted.“Zane,” Tawny Flores greeted me. Being the Sorority President it was her burden to figure out what our fate would be. “When you said you could bring some friends, you weren't kidding.”There was a pregnant pause before I remembered my manners.“This is Christina Buchanan, Senior Class President of F F U,” I presented our ‘Queen'. She and Tawny shook hands, two alpha females testing each other. I started further introduction but was cut off by Tawny's question.“How do you know the Senior Class President of F F U, Zane?”“Zane didn't tell you?” Christina marveled. “I figured he would have bragged about it.” Seeing Tawny's uncertainty, Christina gave a clever smile and clarified,”Zane is a freshman at F F U.“"But that's a, All, how did that happen?” Tawny inquired.“Zane's turning out to be a very clever boy,” Christina grinned knowingly to Tawny who nodded back as if I was a mere mortal amongst titans.“Please enter, ladies,” Tawny said. “Come meet the Alpha Kappa Alpha president, Christina,” she continued. “The rest of you, have fun.”It took all of five seconds before the first AKA hit on one of my companions. By the time I made my way to the pool in the back where the music was starting up, it was just me, Barbie Lynn, and Iona. When a tall athletic black student came up and asked Barbie to dance, she turned for my approval which I quickly gave.“Iona,” I whispered to my final F F U lady,”you are here to have fun so relax.“"Can't I stay with you?” she said softly.“You are with me every other day of the week,” I pointed out. No sooner had I said that when another guy came up and asked her to dance. She left me looking somewhat fearful.I went over to the ‘bar' and got a cup of beer but before I could turn around a pair of hands from behind covered my eyes.“Hey stranger,” the female voice addressed me,”I see you delivered on all the hotties.“"I'm glad you appreciate them, Leigh,” I replied as I reached up and took hold of her hands.I turned around, keeping her hands high so that when I faced her I could place them on my shoulders. I let go and snaked my arms around her waist. While Leigh was still taking in her circumstances, I leaned down and kissed her. I pulled back a quarter-step and her lips parted slightly in surprise which allowed me to kiss her again in greater depth, this time lasting several seconds.“Wow,” she panted when our kiss ended,”you don't waste much time.“"That was a 'thank you' for the invite,” I informed her. “Somehow I didn't think a card would suffice.” Her eyes grew smoky like awakening volcanic pools of desire.“Show me how well you can dance,” Leigh asked playfully. She led me to the pool's edge and I did my best to not look foolish while she came off as devastatingly seductive.I was having a lot of fun with Leigh until a second girl, Carly by name, tried to break in. A little tug of war broke out and Leigh staggered back over the lip of the pool. I grabbed her at the last moment and kept her from falling in. Tipping there at the lip of the pool, I smiled and said,“That was close,” to which Leigh smirked and pushed me in.I reached out and snatched her arm as we both tumbled into the water. Leigh squealed as she plunged into the cool water while most of the other students laughed at us. I helped Leigh out and followed her up so that we were both standing, dripping wet, in the warm late summer air.“Come with me,” Leigh urged, as she took my hand and led me into the house. “I'll get you something dry to wear.”We squished up the back stairs past several amused couples until we dodged into Leigh's room. She immediately started to strip down so I did the same, soon leaving us naked. Leigh walked up to me, rubbing her hands along my hips and chest.“Why didn't you come by for a swim?” she inquired.“I had some home issues to work out,” I admitted. “Aunt Jill is a bit uptight, but she's getting better, and thank you for that too.” Of course, having her so naked and so close wasn't doing my attempts at sexual control any good.“Is that for me?” she said with a toothy grin, looking at my crotch.“Actually, I'm turned on by your roommate's 'Hello Kitty' comforter,” I joked. “I'm a freak that way.” She pouted and started to stroke my cock shaft with one hand while circling my head with two fingers from the other.“Are you sure about that?” she teased.Words clearly weren't working so I decided to use the hands-on approach. I started by kissing her, wrapping my hands around her ass and picking her up off the ground against me. When Leigh reached her hand up around my neck to steady herself I rested her cunt on the tip of my penis.“Oh,” she gasped but didn't protest, so I slowly lowered her down, easing my penetration to a comfortable rate.“Holy Crap, you're filling me up,” she murmured as her legs squeezed around my waist. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she chanted as she slid down my length until she was nestled tightly against me. For a minute we remained joined and unmoving as her vagina contracted and expanded against me as she sought equilibrium between my girth and her control.When Leigh was prepared she gave me a nod signaling her readiness. I squeezed her ass firmly and slowly brought her up to the top then slid her down again. I repeated this several times before something occurred to me and I broke the silence.“Leigh, I totally spaced on a condom,” I apologized, but still kept penetrating her.“Screw it,” Leigh breathed huskily. “I'm good and if you give me something, I know where you live.” I began picking up the pace, lifting her quickly and letting her bounce back down hard. “Zane,” she added,”I just want you to know I don't normally do this; ah, fuck!“"I, oh, well, I'm sort of a slut, Leigh. I do this a lot,” I responded.“You had better be good at sex, then,” she sighed.“I'd like to think so,” I answered.“That was, rhetorical Zane. I saw the way those girls looked at you, like we Kappa Sig girls were poaching on their territory,” she moaned playfully. “It is really sexy.”Slap, slap, slap; by now our rhythm included me rocking my hips up and her squeezing me on the downs stroke with her thighs. Leigh was gasping out every curse word I'd ever heard in every conceivable combination plus some words I didn't know existed as our sex intensified. Finally she slammed me into her closet door so that every time we ground together the door creaked.Somewhere along the line the burn in my thighs and arms began to register with my hormone-stoked mind but the fires of lust kept me standing and humping. I was beginning to think I'd crash to the floor when Leigh's face lit up with passion and fear.“Put me down, Zane, put me down,” she urged quietly.It took me a second to register the request and another to start maneuvering so that I could disconnect us, but that turned out to be a moment too long. Leigh hadn't been in pain; she had been on the verge of orgasm, and my jolts were the final straw. Leigh screamed loudly and in a way that could not be confused with anything but a woman coming to fruition.“Zane!” she howled in a wall-shaking sonic explosion. Damn, she had to use my name, didn't she? We spun around and collapsed on the bed, Leigh on top for the nonce. She was still going off so I figured 'what the hell' and rolled over on top of her and went back to pounding away. Leigh's head was thrashing from side to side violently while her body trembled with the aftershocks of her detonation.“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, harder,” she rasped out. As Leigh looked at me hungrily and began tearing kisses from me with bestial fury, I was beginning to think I'd short-circuited her higher brain functions. Her motor control skills were a function above par as her tongue, fingers, and vagina could attest.“Oh damn,” she gasped, ”oh fuck, oh damn, ah, ah, ah, ah , . Ah! Fuck!“ she groaned out before screaming her lungs off, shouting out my name again.She was driving her pelvis up against me, clawing at my shoulders and back, and kissing the hell out of me yet I still couldn't come. Leigh's eyes blinked then focused on me."Are you trying to kill me?” she panted. I shook my head. “Why haven't you come?” she tried next. I had no good answer to that but Leigh rolled me over and started a slow but accelerating bounce, Cowgirl style.“I'm going to make you cum, you Bastard,” she grinned ferociously. I admire a girl who likes a challenge but seriously, Leigh had seemed like such a sweet girl.“I'm going to own you, Zane Braxton,” she growled as she continued to rock my world. “You can fuck the rest but you are coming home with me,” she declared. Huh? Where did that come from? “Make me your bitch!” Ex-squeeze me?“Leigh?” called a worried female voice from outside the door, accompanied by a sharp knock.In a life approaching normalcy, this would be the point where we wrapped up in the sheets before the door opened; unfortunately, I was in Crazy Town. Leigh kept pounding me hard enough to make the bedsprings squeak.“Oh, God,” gawked a fellow sorority sister as she opened the door and looked inside.“I ,” had nothing that came to mind that would obfuscate the situation."He is so fucking good,” gloated Leigh as she kept riding me. Her 'sister' stepped into the room and shut the door.“Hey, can I get up now?” I inquired.“NO!” they both shouted at me.“You need to keep it down,” the newcomer insisted. “They can hear you over the music by the pool,” which meant they could hear Leigh, not me.With her message delivered I would have expected the second lady to leave but she didn't.Trying to change things up, I grabbed both of Leigh's wrists and pushed them behind her back. Leigh toppled forward allowing me to push her arms together and grip them in one of my hands. I used my now free hand to bring one of her breasts to my mouth and I took a nibble.“Make me scream,” she begged. Been there; done that; been warned from doing that again.“You,” I addressed the as-of-yet-unnamed sorority sister,”get me the sash from her bathrobe and her pillowcase.“ She looked at me with confusion. "Do it!”We kept going at it like wild animals until the girl came back with the sash and shook the pillow free from the pillowcase.“Here you are. What do you want me to do with this? And by the way, I'm Paris,” she got out.“Paris, bind her hands behind her back with the belt,” I instructed. Paris looked skeptical.“What about the pillowcase?” she questioned.“I'm going to gag her with it,” I explained. Leigh looked frightfully turned on by the prospect.“I'm not sure about this,” Paris worried.“Do it and then you can join us,” Leigh offered; Paris almost bound my hand to Leigh's wrists, she was moving so fast. Paris gave me the pillowcase and I held it up for Leigh to bite down on which she promptly did allowing me to tie it behind her head. If nothing else, this was a learning experience for having fun with Barbie Lynn later.“What do I do?” Paris asked eagerly.“Strip,” I commanded. As she was doing so I pulled Leigh off and positioned her at the head of the bed, face down and knees propped up on her pillow. Paris came to me; I pulled her into my lap and we started kissing.First Leigh growled in frustration, then she started groaning in arousal as Paris and I got into it. When I felt Paris was ready I bent her over and directed her toward Leigh's rear end.“What?” Paris wondered.“Taste her,” I told Paris. She leaned forward and gave Leigh's pussy a good solid kiss, followed by a lick as Leigh moaned in response.Paris put a hand on each of Leigh's buttocks as a prelude to diving into her sister's favors. They developed a back and forth vocalization as Paris pushed Leigh forward before rebounding back.That part of the threesome off to a rocking start, I took an identical place behind Paris. She shuddered and spread her legs a little wider as I took my first taste of her.“Um ,” she exhaled as I went from teasing her lips to dipping my tongue into her depths and twisting it among her folds, inserting a finger into her cunt just below. The clitoris came next, followed by slowly darting my tongue toward her anus."Ah, wow,” she moaned as I first touched it. When I went back down she actually twitched her butt and tried to lower herself down to catch my action.Ahead of me I could hear Leigh starting to go off again, muffled somewhat by her gag. Paris was preoccupied so I figured it was an opportune time to kneel behind her and insert my penis into her nicely snug pussy; for a moment I was afraid she was a virgin. I tried to moderate my progress into her but when I passed the halfway mark, Paris shoved her ass back against me.“Ugh, ah, that's,  fantastic,” Paris moaned as I flexed my member inside her vagina. Leigh mumbled something that I assumed was in the affirmative. A series of pushes and shoves were getting us into a good cadence to the point I finally felt my gut beginning to tense in preparation of my own climax; then the door opened.“Zane,” Tawny stated with steely resolve. Both Leigh and Paris separated and rolled to their sides, staring warily at their Sorority President. I was sort of left on my knees with my pecker at attention.“I told you,” Christina retorted smugly to Tawny, as if I was some prized pet.“Thirty-three minutes,” Tawny noted on her watch. “It took him thirty-three minutes to bed two of my girls. That has to be some kind of World record.” I had to think fast.“It's all my fault. I fell into the pool, pulling Leigh in with me, and when Paris showed up,” I fumbled through.”, She fell into bed with you while simultaneously losing all her clothing as well?“ Tawny taunted me."That explanation works for me,” I shyly agreed.“Zane, why is Leigh tied up and gagged?” Christina noted.“Rumor has it that Leigh is a screamer,” Tawny informed Christina.“Oh, I think we can chalk that rumor down as confirmed,” Christina smiled.“Can we get dressed and forget this ever happened?” I suggested.“The girls can get dressed, Zane, but what are you going to wear?” Tawny smirked as she kicked my pile of wet clothes.“Leigh, why don't you go over to Zane's place and ask his Aunt to give you a fresh set of clothes,” Christina asked.Paris was rapidly getting redressed but when I crawled around her to free Leigh's hands she turned on me, pressed me to the mattress and gave me a serious oral assault. Leigh removed her gag, Paris sat up to resume dressing, and then Leigh took her turn kissing me before I could rise.“Enough,” snapped Tawny to her two horny sorority sisters. Soon enough both ladies had left, but not before Leigh turned and mouthed 'catch you later' to me; I was left trying to decide if that was a promise or a threat.“Do I get something to wear now?” I pleaded.“No,” Tawny responded, taking a seat at Leigh's desk and looking me over. Christina came over and sat at the head of the bed (I was still down by the foot).“So, Zane,” Tawny mused,”does this happen to you often?“"No, well, actually, yes,” I muttered in embarrassment,”though this is my first three-way since coming back to the States.“"We could have another one right now,” Christina stated, her voice husky with desire as she reached for my hand.I'm not sure what look of surprise/horror must have come over my face because both Christina and Tawny burst out laughing.“At least you don't assume you are 'all that,'” Tawny chuckled.“Oh, he has his egotistical moments,” Christina informed her,”isn't that right, Zane?“I took that moment to cover my crotch with Leigh's pillow, which seemed only polite. Tawny waved her hand majestically."Huh?” I wondered, which only had her make the same dismissive wave with her hand. “You have got to be kidding me?” Tawny looked to Christina who nodded her assent. “I,” the protest began but I realized it was pointless so I removed the pillow exposing my still hard and as yet unrelieved cock.“To answer Christina's earlier question, I do have my moments but I think most of Christina's problems with me relate to the fact that I'm going to put her through a moral realignment,” I related.“Oh?” Tawny looked surprised. “Do tell.”“You saw that girl with more metal than sense that came in with us? Zane has gotten it into his head that he needs to defend her,” Christina explained.“She deserves a chance here just like everyone else,” I countered.“She's a thief, drug user, vandal, and generally violent to those around her; she's a felon,” Christina lectured me.“You used to wear diapers; do I call you a bed-wetter?” I lashed back, followed by a moment of silence.“I see what you mean, Christina; he's very defensive of her. She must be pretty good in bed,” Tawny observed.“As far as I know, they've never slept together; they are only friends,” Christina informed her.“That's charming,” Tawny remarked softly.“I found it quite grating at first but I confess his attitude has grown on me,” Christina admitted. “You would think that given his living circumstances, he'd be more self-centered,”"Or gay,” Tawny finished.“Don't you have boyfriends you should be meeting, or discovering?” I questioned.“I'm happy where I am,” Christina answered.“Me too,” Tawny added. I got up and headed for the door when Tawny stopped me. “Where do you think you are going?”“I need a wash cloth,” I answered. “I'm a bit of a mess,” I indicated my cock with a flicker of my eyes. Of course, my sneaking down the hall, naked, in the middle of a party would cause its own problems.“I'll take care of that,” Tawny grinned. I had this sudden vision of Tawny going down on her knees and cleaning my penis with her lips and tongue but in reality, she headed to the door, called over a sister, and sent her on the errand.I flopped back on the bed with a sigh then let my eyes wander around the room. They came to rest on Christina who was studying me. I leaned over, propped myself up on my tortured knees and leaned in to kiss her because it was something I wanted to do since I first met her.“No,” she responded. I kept leaning in until she raised a finger to my lips to stop my progress. “No,” she repeated, but a playful fire danced in her eyes.I stopped and rocked back onto my ass. Tawny had watched the exchange with interest and now came off the chair and stood before me. I was looking into the cleavage of her burgundy shirt and nice, if not Barbie-licous, tits. I rose up, put my hands on her elbows, and started to pull her toward me but she shook her head.Tawny took my hands, untangled them from my hold on her, and pressed them behind my back. This has the unwelcome effect of propelling her pubic area onto my over-eager cock. I had the strangest feeling Rio had scrawled 'Lil Bitch' on my forehead with red lipstick because I was being freaking abused by these two.She drew me into a kiss that rolled into another like waves crashing upon the beach. By the end we were both panting, our bodies pressed tightly together. Tawny rested her head against my chin (she's tall with heels) and looked upon Christina.“Aren't you worried about someone taking him away?” she teased her fellow Alpha female.“He'll be there when I want him,” Christina stated smugly.“I think we need to clarify our relationship,” I mutter to Christina through Tawny's hair. “I was leaning more toward making you my sex toy and keeping you in my basement.”“Truly, Zane, would you ever restrain me?” Christina asks seductively.“Physically or emotionally?” I ask.“Emotionally,” she answered.“No. I could never do that to you, Christina. It would kill you inside,” I respond truthfully.“See?” Christina told Tawny,” He loves me.“ Tawny's reaction is not what I expected. She turned back so that our eyes are only inches apart."If you ever need help getting over that heartache, you know where to come,” she breathed into me.“Ah, thank you?” I managed to get out. A girl knocked on the door, breaking our embrace as Tawny had to go to the door and get my wash cloth and towel. By the time I was done Leigh had come back breathless with a fresh set of clothes for me. While I got dressed Tawny and Christina left, dragging Leigh along with them. I hadn't been here an hour but I already felt like I'd been through three rounds of a prize fight.Reaching HeavenSliding through the halls I ended up near the game room when someone backed into me. It was Heaven being aggressively advanced on by a tall, slender guy in an AKA jacket, so I side-stepped Heaven and placed an arm around her waist. Heaven's head flashed toward me first in anger, then in surprise.“Hey, Heaven,” I greeted her, and since she was still looking at me, I kissed her lightly on the lips. Fortunately, Heaven actually managed to look grateful for the intervention but things weren't over yet.“Hey, buddy,” the guy smiled with not a hint of friendliness as he pushed my chest,” I'm working here.“"Hey, buddy,” I grinned right back,” she came here with me.“"Ha,” he snorted,” this is an AKA; Kappa Sig function. If you crash the party, you should expect to share,“ as if my ladies were a candy bar or a pack of gum. As he spoke, he reached for Heaven's arm to pull her away but I caught his wrist."We were invited too so you should back off and find someone else more appreciative of your charms,” I warned him. He shook his wrist free and gave us an evil grin as he backed off.“She's not worth it,” he sneered.“Loser,” Heaven shot right back, giving him a palpable slap to his ego.I caught sight of Chastity watching the whole exchange, giving me a quick nod before feigning attention for a blonde, buff AKA brother; Heaven had another guardian but I'd interfered before she'd come into play.“Zane, you can let go of me now,” Heaven muttered.“No. You have to kiss me first,” I whispered into her ear.“Not going to happen,” Heaven declared softly. I waited for her to shrug me off but she didn't.“Do you want to go out back?” I asked.“No,” was her monosyllabic response.“Listen, we can go outside and have a good time, or I can take you upstairs and fuck your ass until,” I whispered into her ear ”, you beg me to stop.“"I'm not afraid of you,” she defied me, at which point I steered her to the stairs heading up. We found the linen closet open and unoccupied so we slipped in, shut the door, and turned off the light so the only illumination came from the slats in the door.I pressed Heaven's back against the wall and dove into her tasty lips. Heaven responded hungrily, wrapping her arms around my neck and running her hands through my hair. I had to remind myself that this woman had been painfully cruel to me on multiple occasions.“Thank you, Zane,” Heaven whispered up to me, her dark eyes glimmering in the pale light seeping in from the door. I decided to not ask what she was thanking me for.“You aren't trying to get out of having sex with me, are you?” I taunted her back. My first instinct was to force her to turn around facing the wall and having my way with her; there was still a bit of lingering hate on my part going on but,“Turn around,” I requested. Seeing her hesitation,  "I really want you right now.“"Oh,” she exhaled, then she giggled and turned around, taking little steps and rubbing against me.“Let me know what you like,” I whispered into her ear. I let my hands coast along her throat until my fingertips touched, then I withdrew them back around and down her shoulders. I felt a slight flutter course through Heaven before I worked down her back to linger at her ass.I knelt behind Heaven and began massaging each cheek in turn, moving them together then pulling them apart. I kept the massage going for two minutes before Heaven began slipping her high heels farther apart and pushing back against me. I let my hands slide down to the bottom of her short red dress, then began hiking it up to the small of her back.She had on a thong which I imagined made strapping down her own cock a little difficult. I kissed her left cheek first; Heaven trembled so I kissed the other, inducing a tiny moan. I rested my hands on her hips and pulled her back into my kiss, swiveling her hips sensually around so that I could bring them to my lips.In the dim light I could see Heaven ball up her fists and claw the wall in sexual tension. I pulled her butt floss aside and began to dart my tongue from the top of her ass and working my way down. Heaven pushed up on her toes eagerly, trying to move my tongue to her anus.F F U sisters rescue Zane, as party turns into a brawl.“Do you want me to stop?” I asked Heaven.“Stop and I'll beat you back into high school,” she growled in a throaty voice. I'm not sure how hard you would have to stomp someone to beat them back a whole school year but I definitely decided to not find out. I began slowly probing her ass with my tongue, occasionally licking up to the cleft and down to the cloth covering her balls.“Ugh, ugh, ugh, ah, ah, ah, ah,” Heaven panted. “Oh, yes, fuck yeah, right there,” she went on and on. I sneaked a hand between her legs and brought it up subtly to her contained penis and began to rub it, causing her to jolt, clench her teeth, and stifle a yelp.“Am I better than Christina?” I asked. Heaven shimmied in agitation before responding.“No, but you are good,” she allowed. I answered that with a finger coming up and pressing into her ass. I alternated between tongue and finger until she was good and slick. I stood up, unzipped my pants, and pulled them down with my underwear.“I hope you are ready,” I informed her, with my need evident as my penis came free and rubbed up between her butt cheeks. Heaven started trying to reposition herself to capture me inside her.“Are you going to make me your lover?” I whispered into her ear.“Shut up,” she gasped back. I drew back even as she pushed up as far as she could go and tried to wiggle her asshole onto my cock.“I don't want this to be some random fuck, Heaven. I want to do this again. Make me your lover,” I repeated. Heaven groaned loudly.“No,” she choked back a sob. I pressed the tip of my cock against her opening and she responded by slowly pushing against me. “I, I'm, Zane, I'm,” she whimpered with self-doubt."You are beautiful,” I told her softly.“Ah,” she gasped as her resistance collapsed and my prodding head popped in. "Zane,” she purred, ”so good.“ I was sure it was painful but Heaven wouldn't show it."Make me your lover,” I said yet again as I slid a bit more of me into her rectum.“No,” she moaned, so I stopped myself and held us there. “Don't pull out,” she begged.“I'm not going to,” I promised her,” but say it anyway.“"You are my lover,” she whispered. “You are my lover,” she repeated a little louder.“Now tell me you're my bitch,” I taunted her.“You are my bitch,” she teased me right back between sobs of pleasure.“I'll take that,” I told her, before nibbling on her earlobe. I kept tantalizing he ear, neck, and shoulder as I let her gently adjust to my cock as it entered her.“Oh, God,” she exhaled softly,” is there more?“"Yes, but you are over half way,” I calmed her. “We'll take it easy.”“Oh, oh, oh, God, fill me up, you bastard,” she panted. “I can take it, oh, God, I can take it.” She was psyching up for the extreme sensations she was going through. She wasn't losing her anal virginity; she was losing it again but in her way, on her terms.I slowed my entrance when I heard her choked sobs. I pressed down on her until my head was beside hers. It was left unspoken that I was here if she needed to express herself.“Ah, ah, ah, ah,” then she noticed how I was positioned and she fell silent for a moment. "Zane, I'm, okay.”“Damn, Heaven, you are so sexy right now,” I groaned, ”so damn tight.“"Fuck me like you mean it,” she replied, ”like I'm your woman.“"I'm not all the way in yet,” I cautioned her.“Oh, well, get to it. I, I can take it,” she ground out somewhat fearfully.“Promises, promises,” I playfully scolded her, accentuated by short jabs deeper into her ass.“Oh, fuck you,” she gasped. “I can, I can do this, I can do this, oh, God.” On the last 'oh God,' I finally pressed as tightly to her butt as I could and settled there.We remained locked together until Heaven reached back and ran her fingers through my hair.“I'm ready,” she whispered to me.“Heaven, I'm going to do what I promised; I'm going to fuck you until you can no longer stand,” I reminded her.“You don't, have, what it takes, freshman. Give it, your, best shot,” she panted.I didn't rush to her challenge right away, taking it nice and slow at first. My cock withdrew until my cockhead was at the point it distended her anus.“Ah, perfect,” she whimpered and started to tremble uncontrollably. I started returning to her, letting her vibrations rise and crash as I made my way back down.On that last inch down Heaven suddenly pushed back against me and cried out,”Yes!“ This made me smile. Sex is good, but sex when your partner is totally into the sex is fantastic. It still baffled me that people would want to use sex as pain; to punish. It is like cooking a five-course meal and eating the ashes of your campfire instead.I moved my hands from her hips to her breasts, caressing them as I repeated the process of receding then plunging in deep. Heaven reacted by thrusting my cock home and grunting from her gut as she did so. Our pace and tempo increased until I was slamming her hard, the sweat on her ass and my thighs enhancing the 'slap, slap' as we went at it.Heaven shuddered, then she desperately reached out and fumbled among the towels. A hand towel came flying my way and I noticed she grabbed another one and began shoving it between her legs; she was about to orgasm."Don't let me scream,” she hissed.Since one hand was down below and the other was keeping me from pumping her through the wall, I figured she wanted to be muffled. I got there right on time as Heaven made seven sharp intakes of breath then cried out. I reveled in her anal ring spasms around me, the heat of her body burning my penis with her intensity.When Heaven began to slump as she coasted down from her high I released her breast and wrapped an arm around her waist and held her against me. Heaven's knees wobbled but she didn't fall so it was time to turn up the screws.“Round two, Heaven,” I warned her as I picked up my piston-like motion once again and released the towel on her shoulder.“Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, you bastard,” she gasped. Now I rested my hands on her hips once more to maintain our rhythm. I could feel Heaven struggling to keep up her breathing with her diaphragm constantly disrupted by her sexual aftershocks. My pounding into her weak flesh caused her tight, firm ass to ripple and brought forth more animalistic noises from Heaven.“What a great piece of ass,” I praised her. “I want you, Heaven, and I'm not going to stop loving your body until you can't take it anymore.”“Fuck you, oh, yes, God,  God yes, I'm,” and I muffled her once again as the second eruption came quickly after the first.I remained merciless in my assault, to the point I had pushed her fully against the wall, still on the tips of her toes. I wouldn't stop; I felt this was a challenge we should both meet."Ah, Zane, tell me, you, love me,” Heaven wheezed.“I love you, Heaven. You feel so right in my arms,” I gasped. She sighed lustfully and I kept thrusting.“I, I can't take anymore,” she begged with bated breath.“I want to hear you say that you surrender to me,” I growled as I let my cock reach its farthest penetration, then gave one might shove entering new territory. Heaven's mind and body collapsed at that moment.She hit her orgasm as she lost total emotional and physical control. She was flopping against me until she retreated from her third climax and she was pretty much at my mercy. I pulled her off me, slowly rolled her over on the wall and let her slide down. Heaven's crotch was covered with a towel. I stepped forward with my cock pressing toward her face.“Suck it,” I demanded of Heaven. She looked up at me defiantly, then to my cock with fatigued breaths. My cock had just come out of her ass and here it was within tongue's reach of her lips. Heaven looked over her options and right at the point I was sure she would refuse, two trembling hands rose up and took hold of my shaft and balls.Her tongue licked the tip of my cock; Heaven judged the taste and she went back down to take in more of my cock. One hand stroked the staff while the other began massaging my balls. After several efforts to swallow most of my chock she started talking.“You Bastard,” she gulped. “Next time cum in my ass, but right now I'm thirsty.”I took my hands to her head and began fucking her face at a steady pace. Heaven pressed her hands against my thighs to stop me then started bobbing her head instead. She wasn't the best yet but she was improving wonderfully, learning more patience as well as becoming a better judge of my reactions to what she was doing.Gobbling and slurping noises followed as her uncertainty faded and she began to bask in the power she had over me.“Ready to cum, Zane?” she said with a sloppy wet smile. I nodded vigorously. “I'm not done with you yet,” she laughed,”so you had better keep it together.“"Crap,” I gasped, as she took in more of me than previously done. She let my cockhead rub against the back of her mouth repeatedly before finally pushing it past her gag reflex. She couldn't do it for long but she kept at it until I couldn't take the throat contractions anymore.“Cumming,” I gasped. Heaven grabbed my ass cheeks and pulled me in as far as she dared.She didn't press her nose to my stomach but she came close. I grabbed her head and began shooting off into her throat. Heaven choked and sputtered, drinking me down in several gulps. She ran her tongue along my shaft as she languidly withdrew me to her lips. She sealed her blowjob with a final kiss and lick to my head, catching that last drop of semen.Heaven slumped against the wall panting heavily, licking her lips and letting her hands fall to her lap.“Is this what it is like?” she whispered more to herself than me. I lifted her up onto her shaky legs and pulled her tightly to my chest.“No,” she muttered, but then her tone changed and she wrapped her arms around my waist,”Fuck it,” she sighed, and put her head on my chest. “I can hear your heartbeat,” she commented.“Your breath against my chest feels pretty good too,” I whispered to her.“Let's get dressed,” she responded after a moment. “We should get back to the party.”“I hate you,” Heaven declared as we were cleaning up.“Why?” I wondered. Had I accomplished nothing?“You are fun,” she snapped, as if she was declaring me to be a Satanist.“That is a bad thing?” I questioned.“Yes, no, damn it, I want to spend time with you and that's not right,” she explained desperately. Seeing that her message wasn't getting through,”You are a man,“ she added."I have no idea what you have against my gender but can't you take a chance and believe that I'm not like other men who have been in your life?” I suggested.“See, that is why you are bad for me,” she sounded exasperated. “I want to believe you and I know you only want me for the sex.”“Yes, absolutely; I want to have sex with you. Heaven, you are a terribly attractive woman and what is wrong with wanting to make love to you?” I countered.That brought her up short as she looked deeply into my eyes.“Zane, I'm not a woman; I'm a guy,” Heaven whispered.“Did we just make love?” I reposed. I could see her struggle with that and then I knew; she'd been fucked and used like some; piece of meat but a man had never made love to her until now.“Yes, Zane, yes, we did,” she said softly. “We made love.”“Good, because I'd like to do it again. Can I expect to see you once a month?” I requested.“Once a month,” Heaven told me with a sweet smile on her face,”I'm far hungrier than that.“"We may have to work something out with Barbie Lynn,” I pointed out.“Barbie Lynn can kiss my ass,” Heaven declared, and to emphasize her point, she grabbed my cock through my pants, saying “Mine!” with a shark-like snarl.“Weren't you kicking my ribs in three days ago?” I reminded her.“Oh, don't be a wimp,” she snapped, but like lightning flashing across the horizon, she changed tack. “I promise I'll make it up to you,” she moaned as she rubbed her body against me.“I'd like for you to make it up to Rio too,” I hinted.“Hell, no!” Heaven growled. “There is no way I'm going to fuck Rio.”“Damn right; if Rio knew she was going to have sex with you, she'd go out and buy the biggest strap-on possible and you wouldn't walk straight for a week,” I nodded.“You would like to see that, wouldn't you?” she suspiciously accused me.“No. That would hurt like a bitch and I don't want to walk funny for a week,” I replied straight-faced. For a millisecond Heaven got angry, then she let it bleed away and laughed instead. Maybe Rio taking my ass with a dildo was something Heaven found amusing.“Fine, Joker. Let's get back to the party before Christina realizes I'm missing,” Heaven told me.“Turn around,” I asked her. Heaven glared at me then rolled her eyes in mock disgust, turned around, and thrust her ass back. I leaned down and bit each cheek once more. I was rewarded with another sharp intake of breath by Heaven which she attempted to hide.“Can't get enough?” she purred while looking at me over her shoulder and smiling.Heaven was clearly enjoying herself, which was kind of neat, but I didn't want her getting too cocky. I stood and spanked her hard on the ass causing her to jump.“Ow!” she got out before I took her jaw in hand and kissed her. Our tongues wrestled and entwined deeply before we separated and made for the door.We stepped out to mild applause from a gathering of eavesdroppers before making it to the stairs. Out of the blue, Heaven reached out and interlaced her fingers in mine as if it was the most normal thing in the world. As we walked into the kitchen Hope detached herself from some guy who was busier staring at the cleavage of her strapless white dress than actual conversation.“Where have you guys, oh, my God,” she giggled as she looked into Heaven's blushing face. “Shit, Zane, how many girls do you plan to nail tonight?”“It's not like I have some Grand Plan, Hope,” I shrugged helplessly.“When is my turn?” Hope joked as the guy she'd been talking to came up. Heaven gripped my arm tighter but I had the feeling that had more to do with Hope's comment.“October twenty-second at eight-thirty,” I tossed back to her. Hope smiled at us before pulling Heaven to her. “Let Zane go for a while,” she told Heaven softly. “We know where he lives, and where he sleeps.” Together, the two ladies turned to face the 'guy', allowing me to head out in search of Iona.Oh, So This is How I Got HereI found Iona corned by some dark-haired stocky man against the bar. Iona had 'victim' written all over her face and he was coming across as a pit bull with the scent of blood.“Zane!” Iona squeaked as she forced herself past him and into my arms.“Hey, Babe,” I responded with real affection, stroking her hair gently for emphasis.“I told you my boyfriend was coming for me,” Iona told the AKA man scowling at me. He skulked off for greener pastures and Iona wrapped her arms around my waist. “I prayed you'd come back for me. You left me and I couldn't find you,” she pleaded.“Iona, why didn't you simply text me using '911'?” I questioned her. “I'd have come running.” Iona, our tech-genius, blushed in embarrassment at my simple suggestion to her dilemma.“Oh, yeah, I could have done that,” she mumbled. We spent several minutes rocking slowly to the music, Iona pressing with her back to me and my arms around her. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she told me quietly. “Come with me?”“Girl's bathroom, here we come,” I smiled down at her.We made our way to the middle of the house to one of two lower bathrooms, this one devoted to girls for the night. As Iona gave me a quick, shy grin and disappeared behind the door, I realized some asshole was giving me the once over. It was the AKA who had been scoping out Heaven. I met his glare until he turned away and left.Cappadocia gave me a friendly bump as she slipped past me and went into the bathroom as well. “Oh, Zane,” giggled Cappy, mimicking Leigh's earlier outburst which led me to groan and slump against the wall. Iona came out and beamed with pleasure, maybe dreading that I would have abandoned her again.Something caught her eye that caused that smile to fade into concern. I looked her way and saw the pit bull, and he'd gained a buddy. Fortunately, the hall ran both ways so I took Iona by the arm and turned to go the other direction; where I saw Heaven's old beau and he'd grown two AKA clones. With pain so imminent on the horizon I had to wonder if I'd been such a total bastard."Get help,” I hissed to Iona before pushing her away from me. I moved so my back was to the bathroom door.“Zane-boy,” mocked the Heaven guy, ”let's go out back and talk.“"No, thanks,” I smiled, ”I may be a horny fucker but you are too much of a pussy for me.“As you might guess, that didn't go over well. I weighed my responses and decided my best option was to drag things out until a few F F U ladies could come to my rescue so I let them grab hold of me. What I had underestimated was their sense of entitlement. They didn't feel the need to hide my beat-down. They shoved me through the girl's bathroom door and poured in after me, ready for an immediate infliction of my punishment.The one silver lining was that they'd thrown the first punch so I was free to lash out. I kicked the first guy coming for me, knocking him back into the wall beside the door. I snaked a punch past the second man's guard but then they overwhelmed me and slammed me into the far wall. I blocked with my thighs and forearms until they pinned my arms, then the body blows began."Hold him up,” the Heaven butthole growled to his buddies,”I'm going to kick his ass.“"Since your fist is as tiny as your penis, that's hardly a threat,” I gasped. My dumb comment earned me a crunching blow to the ribs. Right then, the stall beside us opened up revealing Cappadocia as she stepped out.“Get out of here, bitch,” the guy closest to her snapped. Cappadocia had a moment to assess the situation.“I kick ass for the Lord,” she stated clearly.“Huh?” the guy had just enough time to say before Cappadocia's spin-kick caught him along his jaw line, slammed his face into the tiled wall, and re-arranged his dental work.At the same time, my main assailant hammered me again but Cappadocia rapidly became a primary diversion. It was a real pity; they should have been watching the door because Heaven came storming through and kidney punched the first (non-me) bastard she came across. A third guy managed to raise his arms fast enough to partially deflect Cappadocia's next punch.As they released me, I slumped half-way down the wall before Heaven's bastard launched another kick at me. I was able to block it with my arms. He hauled back again with a snarl on his face when Heaven blazed up behind him, grabbed the back of his head, and pummeled it into the wall. Heaven spun around as Cappadocia yanked me up.Against us, the last three AKA's were gathering themselves for our rush. Another frat-boy opened the door.“Guys, is everything,” he began before Rio smashed that nice looking vase I'd last seen in the entryway over the man's head.The guy staggered and fell to one knee so Rio kicked him in his butt and sent him sprawling on the floor. Before she could get off more than one war-whoop, yet another AKA yanked her into the hall. Heaven was fierce and I knew Cappadocia could fight but I was far less certain of how well Rio could defend herself; we charged.Now, please understand that F F U does not turn out super-commandos. It stresses physical fitness and discipline but that doesn't overcome the basic advantage of height, weight and reach of the average AKA brother. Add to that, we were outnumbered two to one and things were looking bad.One unforeseen advantage we possessed was that if you were F F U, every guy was the enemy (some were still a little conflicted by my existence). The same did not hold true for Alpha Kappa Alpha. Nearly half the girls were Kappa Sigma. All it really took was Iona being a smart little camper.Iona found Christina and Tawny and rapidly brought them up to speed with the crisis. Christina quickly moved to get her girls out while Tawny rallied her troops to break up the fight. It was inevitable that some confused AKA punched out a Kappa Sig, at which point chaos broke out. In the midst of this, Rio and I bolted for the back in order to gather all the girls in the back of the house.Heaven and Cappadocia did the same, heading up to the front. The plan was, we'd make for my house with as many as we could gather. With some effort I made it out the back gate with eight of my ladies and we ran for the wood line separating the properties. As we broke through into view of Aunt Jill's house, we ran into Christina and the rest of our expedition.A quick check showed that though we were bloody and torn, we were all accounted for. The look Christina gave me was scathing and I accepted it with shame because I'd promised my school mates a fun time, not a melee. I was figuring this was the end when Heaven came up and took my hand, smiling up at me."That was fun,” she laughed. Charity, Faith, and Hope nodded, along with more than half of the other girls.“What the fuck?” I muttered. Rio laughed and slapped me on the back.“Just like old times, minus the gunshots and sirens,” Rio declared ecstatically. On cue, the sirens began in the distance. As we raced to the house, Heaven couldn't stop grinning like a maniac“Damn it, Zane, you stapled a smile to her face,” Christina glowered at me once we got inside and, with the quartet, we separated from the rest. “You fucked her, didn't you?”“What makes you think that?” I evaded. It wasn't like she was either of our parents.“Assume for a moment I haven't known her like she's my own twin sister; no, wait, you can't because she is like my twin sister,” Christina pointed out. She reached out and took Heaven by the arm.“Tell me you didn't let him fuck you,” she pleaded with her friend.“I, uh, yes, I dragged him into a closet and let him fuck me up the ass until I could no longer stand, and I loved it, and he wants to do it to me again,” Heaven fought back,”and again.“"Zane, why did you do this to her?” Christina turned back to me.“Duh!” I grumbled, ”She's hot and she likes sex. I wasn't aware I needed any more motivation.“ Chastity lost it and began giggling, which brought down Hope's iron exterior as well. Christina shot them a glance but Chastity wouldn't stop."Christina, I think we have a bigger concern,” Chastity stated.“What is that?” Christina responded cautiously.“I'd worry about which one of us Zane nails next,” Chastity explained between snickers.“Wow,” I sighed, ”you make it sound like I'm some sort of sexual predator.“"Zane, you are a sexual predator,” Hope pointed out.“I prefer the term service provider,” I quipped. Heaven snuck up on me and took my hand. I immediately suspected a judo throw was in my future but instead, she snuggled around my arm like a mini Barbie Lynn. I was suddenly missing the Heaven who wanted to kick me because I knew that personality, where this new one was a mystery.“Heaven?” Christina questioned her, clearly as confused as me.“Hey, I've never had a boyfriend before,” Heaven shrugged. “I want to get some use out of him.” Christina had no comeback for that. I'm thinking 'boyfriend?'“You do realize you are going to have to share him?” Hope pointed out.“As long as those other girls know their place, I'm okay with that,” Heaven stated matter-of-factly.“On that note, I'm going to go look for some ladies that actually appreciate me,” I announced as I untangled myself from Heaven. As I broke free, Heaven made a grab for my elbow.“Can we, you know, get together tomorrow?” she asked. I stroked her cheek around her ear and into the hair at the back of her head, bringing her head to me so that we could kiss.“Sure. I'll pick you up around five. We can hit a restaurant then can catch a movie,” I outlined. Heaven blinked with uncertainty.“I, what?” she muttered.“Heaven, Zane is asking you out on a date,” Christina explained to her friend. Heaven looked over to me for confirmation so I nodded.“Say 'yes',” Chastity goaded Heaven, who had been rendered speechless.“Yes,” Heaven said to me.“I'll pick you up in the parking lot at five,” I told her before departing in search of Rio, Iona, and Barbie Lynn.(How much sex can one guy have in twenty-four hours and still get to church?)*The world is a dirty place; from its darkest hole to the most beautiful idea*Running Away From the Fight“Zane,” Barbie Lynn greeted me happily and swept into my arms. Rio couldn't stop grinning like a lunatic and even Iona looked pleased. I was getting ready to do some serious tonsil hockey with Barbie when,“Zane,” called out Aunt Jill sounding worried and confused. I took a deep breath and headed to the stairs were she was standing, still groggy from sleep, in her dressing gown.“Hey, Jill, the party is over and we'll be heading out soon. There is nothing to worry about,” I soothed her.“Is that sirens I hear?' she inquired."I'll go out and check,” I promised her and with her nod I whispered good-bye to my closest girls and headed for the front door.As I opened the door Christina moved to my side with a questioning glance.“I need to find out how much trouble I've caused the Kappa Sig's,” I explained.“I agree; we need to go find out how bad the trouble is and apologize to Tawny,” Christina corrected me.We walked once more across the lawn, this time in silence. As we crossed into Kappa Sigma property we noted that most of the cars had departed already but two Sheriff's Deputies had arrived. Tawny Flores (the Kappa Sigma Chapter President), Leigh (a sister) and some guy I didn't recognize were talking to them.“That is Richard O'Fallon, the President of the AKA Chapter,” Christina informed me in a hushed tone. They all flashed us looks as we stopped close by, the lead deputy looking our way.“That is Christina Buchanan from F F U; she's was a guest at our party, and the boy next to her is Zane Braxton, our next door neighbor,” Tawny introduced us.I waited for the other shoe to drop but it didn't. No one was pressing charges and after taking our statements the Deputies left, somewhat perturbed. Richard gave the briefest of nods before departing himself. From inside the Sorority house we could hear the noises of the sisters cleaning up.“Well?” Christina asked of Tawny.“I'm still thinking it over,” Tawny responded. “It isn't like a bunch of frat boys are going to admit some girls from a Christian school kicked their asses. Now I need to decide what to do with you. Zane, who threw the first punch?”“I don't know his name but he was the AKA brother who had been hitting on Heaven earlier. He and four of his brethren shoved me into the downstairs women's bathroom. Earlier he had made a grab for Heaven so I grasped his wrist, but that was as far as that encounter went and that was over an hour before the fight,” I related.“Kappa Sigma has had a relationship with Alpha Kappa Alpha for nearly fifty years. They say you started it. Why should I believe you?” Tawny persisted.“You may not know me well and I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but do you really thi

Vietnamese-American memoirist and humanitarian Le Ly Hayslip tells her incredible story about surviving the horrors of Vietnam, translating those memories to the page and striving to change the world. Her first memoir, "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace," chronicles her experiences as a young girl growing up during the Vietnam War. It was adapted by Oliver Stone into the groundbreaking "Heaven & Earth" war drama starring Tommy Lee Jones. The third film in Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, "Heaven & Earth" followed "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July." Her second book, "Child of War, Woman of Peace," continues her life story into the United States. As a humanitarian, Hayslip is the founder of two charitable organizations providing emergency assistance to the needy in Vietnam: East Meets West Foundation and Global Village Foundation.

BOOM! BOOM! And everyone looked to the sky to find the jet airplane that had just broken the sound barrier. It gets everyone's attention because they know something big is happening in the atmosphere above them. The world around us is filled with so much noise and clutter that we can hardly pay attention to anything else. We call it white noise, noise that we don't listen to; it's just they're filling all the decibels in our hearing range. However, another sound barrier gets everyone's attention; it's when God speaks to a generation, and he generally does it suddenly. When the disciples were together in the upper room in the second chapter of Acts, it tells us that suddenly they heard a great sound. It was like a great wind, and it filled the whole room. I tell you this; God is ready to give us a 'suddenly' experience. And I believe it will fill the whole room and soak up all the white noise the world has been making around us. When Heaven's voice speaks, there is always a massive change in the world's direction, and you and I have been going. When the disciples experienced this voice from Heaven, their lives were changed forever, and they were endued with power from on high. Can you hear it? YOU CAN GIVE HERE=http://www.georgewatkinsministries.com/help-us.html WEBSITE= http://www.georgewatkinsministries.com/home-page.html FACEBOOK=https://www.facebook.com/FaithProducerstv/ Faith Producers address: PO Bx 1006 Mt Vernon, WA 98273 FAITH PRODUCES AN INTERNATIONAL PODCAST https://faithproducers.podbean.com/

When Heaven sings a new song Learn the power of a new song. The singing started with God! #newsong #propheticsong #songsofdeliverance  Donation: https://paypal.me/tonifrancisleb Blog: www.healednations.com Digital Store: https://payhip.com/francistonyshop Christian Apparel & Accessories: https://tonyfrancis.store/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyfrancispage/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Majed_Francis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Xy93x795IaAD7wuol0-ug --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tonyfran6/message

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Steelmanning Divination, published by Vaniver on the LessWrong. [This post was primarily written in 2015, after I gave a related talk, and other bits in 2018; I decided to finish writing it now because of a recent SSC post.] The standard forms of divination that I've seen in contemporary Western culture--astrology, fortune cookies, lotteries, that sort of thing--seem pretty worthless to me. They're like trying to extract information from a random number generator, which is a generally hopeless phenomenon because of conservation of expected evidence. Thus I had mostly written off divination; although I've come across some arguments that divination served as a way to implement mixed strategies in competitive games. (Hunters would decide where to hunt by burning bones, which generated an approximately random map of their location, preventing their targets from learning where the humans liked to hunt and avoiding that location.) But then I came across this striking passage, and sat up straight: One performs the rain sacrifice and it rains. Why? I say: there is no special reason why. It is the same as when one does not perform the rain sacrifice and it rains anyway. When the sun and moon suffer eclipse, one tries to save them. When Heaven sends drought, one performs the rain sacrifice. One performs divination and only then decides on important affairs. But this is not to be regarded as bringing one what one seeks, but rather is done to give things proper form. Thus, the gentleman regards this as proper form, but the common people regard it as connecting with spirits. If one regards it as proper form, one will have good fortune. If one regards it as connecting with spirits, one will have misfortune. This is from Eric L. Hutton's translation of a collection of essays called Xunzi (presumably written by Xunzi, an ancient Chinese philosopher who was Confucian with heavy Legalist influences). The book was overall remarkable in how much of Xunzi's brilliance shone through, which is something I very rarely think about authors. (Talking to another rationalist who was more familiar with Chinese philosophy than I was, he also had this impression that Xunzi simply had a lot more mental horsepower than many other core figures.) By the end of it, I was asking myself, "if they had this much of rationality figured out back then, why didn't they conquer the world?" Then I looked into the history a bit more and figured out that two of Xunzi's students were core figures in Qin Shi Huang's unification of China to become the First Emperor. So this paragraph stuck with me. When Xunzi talks about the way that earlier kings did things, I registered it as an applause light and moved on. When he talked about how an important role of government was to prevent innovation in music, I registered it as covering a very different thing than what I think of when I think about 'music' and moved on. But when he specifically called out the reason why I (and most educated people I know) don't pay much attention to astrology or other sorts of divination or magic, said "yeah, those would be dumb reasons to do this," and then said "but there's still a reason", I was curious. What's the proper form that he's talking about? (Sadly, this was left as an exercise for the reader; the surrounding paragraphs are only vaguely related.) In his introduction, Hutton summarizes the relevant portion of Xunzi's philosophy: In this process of becoming good, ritual plays an especially important role in Xunzi's view. As he conceives them, the rituals constitute a set of standards for proper behavior that were created by the past sages and should govern virtually every aspect of a person's life. These rituals are not inviolable rules: Xunzi allows that people with developed moral judgment may need to depart from the strict dictat...

(00:00-16:43): Dr. Robert Tracy McKenzie is a Professor of History at Wheaton College and Author of “The First Thanksgiving” joined Brian and Aubrey to talk about his new book, “We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy.” Check out Dr. McKenzie's blog at faithandamericanhistory.wordpress.com (16:43-25:54): Why do we villainize people and view them as one-dimensional caricatures instead of viewing them as flawed people with good and bad qualities? Brian and Aubrey discussed this and commented on the Quick to Listen Podcast episode, “Did We Get Tammy Faye Wrong?” (25:54-44:59): Alan Cross, Lead Pastor of Petaluma Valley Baptist Church and Author of “When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus,” joined Brian and Aubrey to talk about his book and his article at The Bulwark, “Securing the Border Without Hardening Our Hearts.”   Connect with Alan on Twitter at @AlanLCross See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weekly worship with the Blue Army1st Age- "When Heaven meets earth"                    "The story is just this; He says it is good."2nd Age- "You pour out Your blood."                      "Living life free."

God On Mute Part 4: When Heaven is Silent - Mike Andrea by Global Generation Church Podcast

298 And God Said, Let There Be Light, A Guided Christian Meditation on Genesis 1:1-5 with the Recenter With Christ app I'm Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be changed by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina: Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization. Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes. Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation: Breathe and direct your thoughts to contacting God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate. Bible verses for Meditation: Genesis 1:1-51 KJV In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. NABRE 1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth— 2 and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters— 3 Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first day. Meditation on Scripture: The verbage used for the kingdom of God is one that evokes familiarity. As we ponder what Heaven will be like I think it will feel extremely familiar when we get there. Not because it exactly like our earth, but that God has created our souls with the intention of bringing us to Him. The Home of God is coming among mortals. What a powerful thought. Jesus often declared that the Kingdom of Heaven could be brought to earth as we believe in Jesus and follow him. When this happens it will not be something to fear but something to cause Joy. God will be our ruler in every sense of the word. When Heaven comes to us we will rejoice and it will be a time of reflection on our life and how grateful we are to God for the mercy He extends to us. When we are with Him there ill be no more pain, no more crying. He will heal all our wounds. As it says in Isaiah, with His stripes we are healed. This could be compared to the separation from light and darkness, yet he has more he wants to do with us before we come back Home. I have stood many times at the threshold of death and watched people silently pass over and can affirm that God’s spirit is present when His children pass to the next life. Many people fear death, we fear the unknown but this scripture clearly points out that it will be glorious to be with Him. This doesn’t mean we should rush to get there. God has goals and intentions for us here. As we are apart from God we learn and grow through the hardship we dislike so much. This all forges us to become like him. As it says in 1 John 3:2, when he appears we will know him because we shall be like Him. When our turn comes it will be a glorious reunion. Meditation of Prayer: Pray as directed by the Spirit. Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him. Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm: I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own faults and trials. Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life: This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast Updates: Final Question: Where do you see the light of creation in your life? Final Thought: The demonstration of God’s creation shows his power. The rest of scripture shows his concern for our growth. Creation of God’s universe took multiple acts from the most powerful being in the universe. Instead of snapping his fingers and materializing a fully formed world, God demonstrates both in Genesis 1 and 2 different focuses on creation. His work on you is also complex. Overcoming the effects of sin could be compared to separating the light from the darkness, yet there is much more that God does in our lives. He continues to move in our lives even after offering us redemption from sin, eternal grace moves us to the image of God. FIND ME ON: Download my free app: Recenter with Christ Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com Voicemail - (602) 888-3795 Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com Apple Podcasts - Christian Meditation Podcast Facebook.com/christianmeditationpodcast Youtube.com/christianmeditaitonpodcast Twitter - @ChristianMedPod

296 I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, A Guided Christian Meditation on Revelations 21:1-4 with the Recenter With Christ app I'm Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be changed by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina: Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization. Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes. Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation: Breathe and direct your thoughts to contacting God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate. Bible verses for Meditation: Revelations 21:1-4 NIV 1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” NRSV 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Meditation on Scripture: The verbage used for the kingdom of God is one that evokes familiarity. As we ponder what Heaven will be like I think it will feel extremely familiar when we get there. Not because it exactly like our earth, but that God has created our souls with the intention of bringing us to Him. The Home of God is coming among mortals. What a powerful thought. Jesus often declared that the Kingdom of Heaven could be brought to earth as we believe in Jesus and follow him. When this happens it will not be something to fear but something to cause Joy. God will be our ruler in every sense of the word. When Heaven comes to us we will rejoice and it will be a time of reflection on our life and how grateful we are to God for the mercy He extends to us. When we are with Him there ill be no more pain, no more crying. He will heal all our wounds. As it says in Isaiah, with His stripes we are healed. I have stood many times at the threshold of death and watched people silently pass over and can affirm that God’s spirit is present when His children pass to the next life. Many people fear death, we fear the unknown but this scripture clearly points out that it will be glorious to be with Him. This doesn’t mean we should rush to get there. God has goals and intentions for us here. As we are apart from God we learn and grow through the hardship we dislike so much. This all forges us to become like him. As it says in 1 John 3:2, when he appears we will know him because we shall be like Him. When our turn comes it will be a glorious reunion. Meditation of Prayer: Pray as directed by the Spirit. Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him. Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm: I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own faults and trials. Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life: This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast Updates: Final Question: What can you do to prepare for the Kingdom of God coming to earth? Final Thought: The scriptures provide different scenarios of how people experience God’s presence. In some respects it is an overwhelming experience. Even as Angels appear unto people one of the things that they seem to consistently say is for the people to not be afraid. In some ways it will likely be an awe inspiring and intense experience, but I also trust that the Goodness, Grace, and Love of God will overwhelm any fear we may feel. As we look into Jesus’ eyes and see an unending well of Love and we in turn worship God. FIND ME ON: Download my free app: Recenter with Christ Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com Voicemail - (602) 888-3795 Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com Apple Podcasts - Christian Meditation Podcast Facebook.com/christianmeditationpodcast Youtube.com/christianmeditaitonpodcast Twitter - @ChristianMedPod

Tao Te Ching Verse 67translated by Ellen Marie ChenAll under heaven say that my Tao is great,That it seems useless (pu hsiao).Because it is great,Therefore it seems useless.If it were useful,It would have long been small.I have three treasures (pao),To hold and to keep:The first is motherly love (tz'u),The second is frugality (chien),The third is daring not to be at the world's front.With motherly love one can be courageous,With frugality one can be wide reaching,Daring not be at the world's front,One can grow to a full vessel (ch'i).Now to discard motherly love, yet to be courageous,To discard frugality, yet to be wide reaching,To discard staying behind, yet to be at the front,One dies!One with motherly love is victorious in battle,Invulnerable in defense.When Heaven wills to save a people,It guards them with motherly love.Photo by N. on UnsplashThe CycleNot gonna lie, I’ve done this whole verse backwards for most of my life. Which I guess is OK, given that the nature of the Universe is cyclical! Here’s what I mean: Lao Tzu says that there is a divine order to things. It starts with compassion, then leads to contentment, then continues with humility. If one lives life in placing these virtues second, one courts disaster. When things are confusing, he says, remember to just start with compassion.Right now, in where I’m at, If I were to sum up the Tao Te Ching, I’d use this verse as the cover page. Of course, I love how it is ensconced about 80% of the way through, mostly because of the reason Lao Tzu cites in the very first part - that it’s great and all but doesn't seem to have anything to do with real life. So in my pain, I became receptive to the first 80% of this teaching and practiced it as best I could along the way. This has made me even more receptive to what is for me in this moment the crux of the Tao Te Ching. I mean we’ve talked about the different ways and aspects of compassion. We’ve talked about not judging, we’ve talked about fighting and then mourning the fight, we’ve talked a bout that do-nothing thing.We’ve talked about contentment. Becoming aware of desires and abandoning them, attending to no-affairs, and non-competition.We’ve talked about humility, too. Abandoning identity, service others and giving, and being vulnerable.I feel like Lao Tzu sums up all these things for us in this verse. And not only does he say that these are the main things we’ve been discussing, he also presents the cycle, so if people like me have done it backwards, I can use the light to guide me back home. It starts with compassion, he says. Practicing that will lead me to contentment and practicing contentment will lead me to humility. When I am close and connected with these three things, I then discover that life seems to be worth living. I find limitless opportunities to take advantage of being in human form. Once I am connected - and I can reconnect any time by practicing - I move back into Harmony and can really begin consciously participating in the Divine Infinite.

Amidst all the activity of Christmas in our culture, it’s easy to miss the real significance of the holiday: The Son of God born as a human baby. When Heaven came to Earth. When God became one of us in order to save us. Don’t let Christmas pass you by without celebrating Christ.

Links from Sawyer himself: Ti and Do's start: https://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/88-update-the-ufo-two-and-their-crew/ Sawyer's bio: http://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/sawyers-storyraptured-by-the-rev-11-two-witnesses-bo-dojesus-and-peeptifathers-second-coming/ TI and DO and Crew's Position AGAINST SUICIDE: https://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/our-position-against-suicide-by-do-and-crew-posted-on-heavensgate-com/ Additional important Links to the story overview: Sawyer's (free) book 'TI and DO The Father and "Jesus" Heaven's Gate UFO Two Witnesses' posted on his blog: https://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2020/11/23/index-to-sawyers-book-posts-ti-and-do-the-father-and-jesus-heavens-gate-ufo-two-witnesses/ Ti and Do speaking about Adam/Eve and Lucifer's prison on earth https://youtu.be/MoVa4KsXT-Q In the 1990's DO felt He and His remaining Students needed to "Be Who We Are" - as the same Souls who were in the bodies named Jesus and His disciples: https://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/undercover-jesus-surfaces-before-departure/ To see some of what DO wrote about the Space Aliens in an informational ad placed in USA Today on May 27 1993: http://sawyerhg.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/usa-today-adstatement-may-27-1993-by-do-the-rev-6-applewhite-horse/ The Heaven's Gate Book; 'How and When "Heaven's Gate" (The Door to the Physical Kingdom Level Above Human) May Be Entered' is available to read and/or download: Http://www.heavensgate.com (Though Sawyer knows well his two former classmates who still maintain that website, He has no affiliation). Sawyer's commentary on Pineapple Street Media's Heaven's Gate Podcast: https://sawyerhg.wordpress. com/2020/02/26/sawyers- commentaries-to-heavens-gate- podcasts-by-pineapple-street- media/

In today's teaching, we learn from Pastor Ben that in order to grow in our faith to God we should pray for "Hunger for God's Word". Every day, we are under attack by the enemy, so we need to intentionally guard our hearts. Today, we learn that we don't use carnal weapons for spiritual war. Our weapons are: to put on the full armor of God, Bible reading, praying, fasting (not just from food, but from other crutches such as internet, social media, Facebook, etc.) When Heaven becomes real in our lives, everything becomes clearer. Our desire to go to Heaven, is because of the Love of Jesus.

In today's teaching, we learn from Pastor Ben that in order to grow in our faith to God we should pray for "Hunger for God's Word". Every day, we are under attack by the enemy, so we need to intentionally guard our hearts. Today, we learn that we don't use carnal weapons for spiritual war. Our weapons are: to put on the full armor of God, Bible reading, praying, fasting (not just from food, but from other crutches such as internet, social media, Facebook, etc.) When Heaven becomes real in our lives, everything becomes clearer. Our desire to go to Heaven, is because of the Love of Jesus.

This week, Ali talks to Alan Cross, lead pastor at the Petaluma Valley Baptist Church in northern California and author of “When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus.” Raised in Mississippi, Alan has preached in churches across the South. Alan and Ali spoke about the complicated history of the region, how his faith led him to immigration advocacy, and the role of Christians in fighting for justice.

Columns of Mongol rider, armed with bow, lance and mace, march through the dark defiles and narrow valleys of the Yan mountains, a confined route for warriors used to the open steppe. Here, the valleys were marked by towns and villages in close proximity, a track for their army to follow, falling upon terrified settlements whose newly collected harvests now fed hungry Mongols. After days of this claustrophobic territory, of surprising and outwitting the garrisons of the forts blocking their path, the mountains suddenly gave way, opening up to the Northern Chinese Plain: low, open country, marked by the great Yellow River, farmland and the capital of the mighty Jin Empire: Zhongdu, modern day Beijing. Northern China was now open to the Mongol horde, and the Mongol conquests were about to begin in earnest. I’m your host David and welcome to Ages of Conquest: a Kings and Generals Podcast.  This is the Mongol Conquests.   After returning from the Tangut Kingdom in early 1210, and shortly thereafter disrespecting the envoys of the new Jin Emperor, Wei Shao Wang, Chinggis Khan began his preparations, reviewing his forces and gathering intelligence. Alongside Muslim, Uighur and Ongguds  merchants and travelers who brought him information on the Jin, a few Khitan and Chinese officials had already defected to Chinggis, bringing him detailed intelligence and urging an attack. Though still mighty, the 13th century had not been kind to the Jin Dynasty. The 1190s saw a huge flood of the Yellow River, so severe it changed its course; once entering the ocean north of the Shandong peninsula, it now spilled to the south, a drastic shift which displaced entire villages, destroyed cropland and sowed discontent. War with the Song Dynasty from 1206-1208 drained Jin finances, and inflation caused the paper currency of the Jin to be near worthless.  The Jin armies, though large and their horsemen still fierce, were past their prime, many having become quite sinicized and lost the biting edge of their grandfathers. The time was as good as any for an assault upon the Altan Khan, the Golden Khan, as the Mongols called the Jin Emperors.    At the start of 1211, the Qarluqs (Kar-luk) of Almaliq (alma-lik) and Qayaliq (kaya-lik) submitted to Chinggis Khan, providing their own Turkic horsemen as auxiliaries. Chinggis positioned his son-in-law, Toquchar, in the west of Mongolia, doubtless with Qarluq forces, to act as a guard against roaming tribes or the Naiman prince Kuchlug (whooch-loog), who usurped power in Qara-Khitai that year. Feeling himself secure and that he had the favour of Eternal Blue Heaven, Chinggis Khan was ready. He marched south early in the spring of 1211 with as many men as he could muster, around 100,000 split into two armies, one commanded by himself, the other by his three oldest sons, Jochi ( Джучи, Зүчи, Züchi) Chagatai (Цагадай) and Ogedai (Өгэдэй). By May 1211, they had crossed the Gobi desert, entering what is now modern Inner Mongolia, the band of steppe between the Gobi and the Yanshan mountains which shield north China.    You may be anticipating the Mongols cinematically bursting through the Great Wall of China, or the popular internet variation wherein the Mongols ‘just went around it.’ But the Great Wall of China as it exists today was built by the Ming Dynasty in the 15th and 16th centuries, well after Chinggis’ invasion. There had been sections of walls built prior, most notably in the Qin and Han dynasties a millenium prior, but the 1000 odd years between the Han and the Ming saw only sporadic building, generally of rammed or stamped earth, which erodes comparatively quickly over time in unmaintained. The Jin Dynasty in the late 12th century had ordered the creation of several dozen kilometres of wall built in Inner Mongolia, a ditch before a rammed earth wall, marked by gates and a few forts. The base of this is still extant, a long, low, grass covered ridge which today doesn’t even block the wanderings of sheep. This wall was manned by whichever people inhabited the local area, largely from the Onggud tribe, a Turkic Nestorian people who had been on friendly terms with Chinggis Khan since 1204. The Naiman Khan had tried to urge them to attack Chinggis’ southern flank, which they refused, alerting the Mongol Khan to the scheme.    When Chinggis Khan arrived, the Onggud wisely opened the gates and submitted voluntarily to him: it was a fair assumption he may have forced his way through them had they refused. Rather than conquer the Great Wall, or go around it, we might better say that it was  opened to him. For their part, the Mongols treated the Onggud well, and a daughter of Chinggis Khan married into their ruling family- she would effectively rule the Onggud in her own right, the direct representative of Chinggis Khan. The Mongols spent the summer in Onggud territory, resting, fattening their horses on the local pasture, and taking the few Jin towns in the region- the first to fall was Fu-zhou, stormed after a brief resistance in late August 1211.       The Jin Emperor, Wei Shao Wang, was bolted awake by the news of the Mongol arrival on his doorstep. To his credit, he did not sit idle-  two large armies were mobilized and sent to the most likely route. Dividing the Northern Chinese plain from the steppe was the Yan Mountains, relatively low mountains with numerous towns and villages nestled in its many valleys. The primary defile which provides access from the steppe through the northern side of these mountains is the Yehuling, the Wild Fox Ridge, just south of Fu-zhou.    The army led by Chinggis’ sons was making its way into the Ordos to the west, but Chinggis himself was certainly to try passing through Yehuling (ye-hu-ling), a route which would lead him only a few days away from the Jin’s central capital of Zhongdu. It was here, the Jin leadership rightly supposed, that the determining battle should be fought with as much might as possible; kill the Khan, and the princes would certainly withdraw.  As Chinggis stormed Fu-zhou, a major force of crack Jurchen and Khitan cavalry, supported by Chinese infantry, all under the Jurchen commander Hushahu (hoosh-a-hu), was sent to Yehuling (ye-hu-ling). Hushahu was an unpopular, arrogant individual but influential with the Emperor, and had shown himself a cunning figure during the war against the Song Dynasty. Just a small note here; Hushahu is known by a dozen variations of Heshihlie Jiujun Hushahu (hesh-ee-hlee djioo-jun hoosh-a-hu), with some sources just calling by one of these names. Hushahu is the easiest to say, so we’ll stick with it here.   Supporting Hushahu was a smaller force under Wanyen Ho-Sha, who was sent ahead to repair the fort of Wo-shao-pao, between Fu-zhou and the entrance to the Yehuling. Together, this was a massive mobilization, given in the sources as anywhere from 300,000-500,00 men- though a good many of these were probably labourers, who would be tasked with digging ditches and building defenses along the passage.       Before the Wu-sha-pao fortifications could be completed, Chinggis sent his commander Jebe (Зэв) to surprise this smaller army in August shortly before the fall of Fu-zhou. Ho-sha escaped with much of his army, making his way to Huihebao, a fort south of the Yehuling, all before Hushahu could even reach Yehuling. Once within the defile, Hushahu set up at the narrow point within the Yehuling known as Huanerzui (Huan-er-zui), the Badger’s Mouth Pass. Here,his labourers were put to work, digging ditches and defences. His Khitan scouts informed him of the fall of Fu-zhou, and that the Mongols seemed occupied with looting the city, but Hushahu declined advice to immediately attack them. Wary of Mongol cavalry in the open field, he was hoping to use the narrow Huanerzui to protect his flanks.    A Khitan officer who had previously been sent as embassy to Chinggis Khan, Shimo Ming’an, was sent to speak to the Khan, officially to reprimand him for his actions but intended to gather intelligence and stall for time. Ming’an, a proud Khitan who admired the Mongol Khan, promptly defected and told Chinggis of Hushahu’s battle plans.  Alarmed, Chinggis’ scouts confirmed his statements.    The Jin had sent a great army to crush the invasion in one fell swoop, and Chinggis had only a part of the total Mongol force, his sons still in the west. Ming’an’s information, and Hushahu’s caution was to the Khan’s advantage. As one, the Mongols  moved into Yehuling, approaching the Jin army at Huanerzui. Jin scouts informed Hushahu of Chinggis’ sudden advance, and the Jurchen general ordered his huge army into position- wings of Jurchen and Khitan heavy cavalry and horse archers in the front, supported by a large group of Chinese infantry and the labourers who had started the fortifications. In the narrow defile, Hushahu’s army was tightly packed, unable to maneuver or envelop the smaller Mongol army.       Mongol archers got to work first, sending volleys of deadly arrows into the thick rows of Jin warriors, who had nowhere to move under the hail. One of Chinggis’ commanders, the tireless Mukhali ( Мухулай) saw opportunity, and his lancers led the first charge into the injured enemy- Chinggis followed with the imperial bodyguard, the Keshig. The Jurchen and Khitan horsemen buckled, and fell back, right into the dense rows of Chinese infantry behind them, who were trampled and crushed under the panicking horsemen. Discipline and command broke down, and the army disintegrated in the confusion, the Mongols cutting through them like a hot chainsaw through butter. As they ran, the Mongols pursued: bodies lined the road for kilometres, and the Secret History of the Mongols repeatedly described the fallen ‘heaped like rotten logs.’ Hushahu and Ho-sha met up at Huihebao (hwee-he-bao) fort several kilometres south, and put up another stand, only to be overwhelmed by the end of the day.        Huanerzui was long remembered by the Mongols as their greatest victory. Ten years later, a Taoist monk travelling through the region to meet with Chinggis Khan passed through and found bones still piled high throughout. Perhaps the finest warriors of the Jin fell that day, and the chance to nip the Mongol conquest in the bud had been ripped bloodily from their hands.       Hushahu fled to Zhongdu with nothing but bedraggled, bloody remnants of his great army. Mongol forces were briefly halted by the fortified pass of Juyongguan (joo-yong-guan), which guarded the narrow, 18 kilometre long Guangou Valley, the final barrier before entry into the North China plain, some 53 kilometres north of Zhongdu. During the Ming Dynasty, the famous Badaling section of the Great Wall was built at the north end of this valley. Badaling is the most popular tourist site of the entire wall, due to its preservation and proximity to Beijing. Indeed, it was this proximity to the capital that made it such a strategic pass, the final chokepoint before the open space of the Chinese plains. Therefore, even in the 13th century Juyongguan (joo-yong-guan) was strongly fortified with a large garrison, and the Mongols lacked any weapons to force it. So, Jebe Noyan fled before its impenetrable gate, and the defenders, eager to avenge their fallen comrades, sallied out to pursue. 30 kilometres from Juyongguan, Jebe (Zev) turned about and destroyed them. The mighty Juyongguan surrendered shortly thereafter.       By the end of October 1211, Chinggis Khan was on the North China Plain, and all hell was let loose. Chinggis made a brief effort to besiege Zhongdu itself, but this great city was far too well defended, its walls defiant and unbreachable. Leaving a force to blockade Zhongdu, Chinggis sent his armies to ravage across the plain. One army captured the imperial horse herds, depriving the Jin of much of their cavalry.  From the Jin’s western capital, Xijingto (Shi-jin-to)their eastern capital, Dongjing (dong-jing) in Manchuria, those are modern Datong and Liaoyang respectively, Mongols armies pillaged and raided. Dongjing fell to Jebe Noyan through another expertly executed feigned retreat, while Xijing stood firm against the Mongols.       Mongol armies withdrew back to Onggud territory in February 1212, loot and animals in tow, eager to give horses and riders a well deserved rest. The border passes they had fought so hard for were, somewhat surprisingly, left unoccupied. Why the Mongols chose not to garrison them is unclear- some suggest Chinggis had no ambitions beyond that initial raid, while others note that with the Mongols’ lack of administrative experience, attempting to hold territory at this point was foolish with the Jin still strong. The Jin, meanwhile, were left bloodied but still unbroken. The defeats at Huanerzui (Huan-er-zui) were horrific for the Jin, decimating their prized cavalry, but reinforcement Jurchen were called upon from Manchuria. Wei Shao Wang appointed Hushahu as Deputy Military Commander of the Empire and sent him to reoccupy the border forts, Juyongguan (joo-yong-guan) in particular.    Suspicious that the Khitan population of Manchuria may align themselves with the Mongols, Jurchen colonists were sent amongst them, an act which ironically prompted the large Khitan revolt the Jin so feared. Led by Yelu Liuge (ye-lu liu-ge), within a few months he had not only submitted to Chinggis Khan, but also declared a new Liao dynasty with himself as king. The Tangut began to raid the Jin’s western frontier, the Song ended their tribute payments to the Jin, and famine began to break out in several provinces.  To top it off, the Mongols returned in autumn 1212 after resting their horses for the summer, but this campaign was cut short when Chinggis was injured by an arrow to the leg at Xijing, and forced to withdraw.        Famine, Tangut attacks and insurrection did not abate, and only continued to spread in 1213. In July or August of that year, a healed Chinggis Khan returned to Jin China. In the valleys south of Yehuling, towns and settlements fell or surrendered with alarming speed. On the road towards Juyongguan, at modern Huai-lai, Chinggis was met by a large army under the commander Zhuhu Gaoqi. Supposedly a force of 100,000, in the narrow valley they had no room to maneuver and were crushed by the Mongols. The survivors fled to the refortified Juyongguan, where the ground for almost 50 kilometres was said to be covered by caltrops. For a month, Chinggis waited before the fort, trying to lure the garrison out. Finally he withdrew and wisely, the garrison stayed in the fort. A small Mongol force was left to watch the northern mouth, while Jebe was sent through the hills, finally coming out south below the Juyongguan, where the fortifications had not been improved. Surprising the garrison, its Khitan commander panicked and surrendered, and by the end of October 1213, the road to Zhongdu was once more open.    Things had developed rapidly in Zhongdu in the meantime. Hushahu had been ordered to remain in the city to defend it, though had spent the weeks before the Mongol return in 1213 hunting. When the Mongols returned to Juyongguan in September, a messenger had arrived from Wei Shao Wang to reprimand Hushahu for inactivity, but the panicked general killed the messenger. Now forced to act, he made his way to Zhongdu, overwhelmed the palace guards, captured and executed the emperor. He appointed Wei Shao Wang’s nephew, the 50 year old Wudubu, as Emperor, expecting him to be submissive. Hushahu’s arrogance and disrespect to the new emperor made him no allies in the court. He succeeded in defeating two Mongol raiding parties outside the walls in November, but fell ill. In Hushahu’s absence, Zhuhu Gaoqi was ordered to repulse the Mongols, on pain of death should he fail. Gaoqi failed, and hurried back to the palace before Hushahu could learn of it. Hushahu was captured and decapitated by Gaoqi, who was pardoned by Wudubu and made Vice-Commander of the Empire.    The course of this political upheaval left the Jin leadership paralyzed for two valuable months as the Mongols broke through Juyongguan. With the Mongol army before Zhongdu, the new emperor sent Chinggis a peace offering in December 1213. Recognizing the weakness of the Jin, Chinggis left a small force to blockade the Jin, and then unleashed a massive onslaught across the north China plain, a three pronged assault across the whole of Hebei province, into Shanxi and western Shandong. “Everywhere north of the Yellow River there could be seen dust and smoke and the sound of drums rose to Heaven,” was how one Chinese writer described the offensive. Almost 100 towns fell to the Mongols, farmland was destroyed, and the Mongol reputation for both invincibility, and cruelty, blossomed. The Jin had been hamstrung, unable to retaliate. By February 1214, Mongol forces were converging on Zhongdu.       While the Mongols had shown frightening success in the field and against less fortified settlements, Zhongdu was a different beast altogether. The Jin’s central capital since the early 1150s, now the site of modern Beijing, it had been keenly designed to withstand assaults. Built in a rough square, the city had almost 30 kilometres of stamped earthen walls 12 metres high. Over 900 towers were said to line these walls, lined with various types of defensive siege weapons. Before the city were three lines of moats, as well as four forts outside the main city, each with their own walls, moats, garrisons and supplies, connected to the main city by underground tunnels. The surrounding countryside had been stripped bare of not just food stores, but even stones and ties which could have been for projectiles. Each fort held 4,000 men, with another 20,000 manning the walls of the city itself. Zhongdu was well stocked, well fortified and well prepared for a siege.       The Mongols, with their siege knowledge still in its infancy, were not without their own cards to play.  They had near total freedom of movement outside of the city, and now had begun to have their forces bolstered by desertions, especially among the Chinese and Khitans in the Jin military. Some of these deserters had brought along their own catapults, and captured engineers provided knowledge to construct more. At one point, the Mongols burst through a gate of Zhongdu, or were perhaps allowed in, as they found themselves surrounded, the street behind them set on fire. That party only escaped with heavy losses. Another assault was repulsed by the garrisons of the forts. It seems some sort of disease was spreading among Chinggis’ forces as the siege dragged on, and they must have started to become frustrated. In April 1214, Chinggis sent an embassy under a Tangut officer in his service with terms, entailing the submission of the Jin and the Emperor relinquishing his title. Wudubu refused to be demoted. Since Wudubu had no bargaining position beyond ‘we haven’t starved yet!’ Chinggis sent his envoys again, with the message:     “the whole of Shandong and Hebei are now in my possession, while you retain only  Zhongdu; God has made you so weak, that should I further molest you, I know not what  Heaven would say; I am willing to withdraw my army, but what provisions will you make  to still the demands of my officers?”       Wudubu was finally convinced to come to terms, noting the reality of his situation. In May, 1214, the Jin Emperor capitulated. A daughter of Wei Shao Wang was sent in marriage to Chinggis, with 500 boys and girls for her retinue, and 3,000 horses, 10,000 liang of gold and 10,000 bolts of silk, which would have been a mighty caravan of tribute. For reference, 1 liang is equal to 50 grams. The Jin, who had once held the forefathers of Chinggis Khan in such contempt, were now his vassal, and Chinggis Khan withdrew back to Onggud territory, doubtless proud of his work.        What Chinggis Khan’s plans were from this point we will never know- perhaps he was to turn west, pursue those final few enemies like Kuchlug? Allow his men to grow fat and soft off the tribute from the Jin and enjoy his own retirement? Or perhaps, with his new vassals, march south against the Chinese Song Dynasty. But we’ll never know. For in June 1214, the anxious Wudubu, fearing himself too close to Chinggis Khan, made the ill-fated decision to abandon Zhongdu and flee to his southern capital, Kaifeng, in territory untouched by the Mongols and shielded by the mighty Yellow River. Shortly after his departure, he began to have misgivings over the 2,000 Khitans in his retinue, and tried to take their horses. The Khitans, like the Mongols, were skilled horsemen who prized their mounts. To take their horses was to take their legs, and they abandoned the fleeing Emperor, riding all the way north to Chinggis Khan in inner Mongolia.        When the Khan learned of this, he was incensed. This was the Jin Emperor breaking his word, violating the treaty in an action tantamount to preparation for future hostilies. South of the Yellow River, he would be beyond the authority of Chinggis Khan where he could plan further troubles. Zhongdu was left with a much smaller garrison and would now pay the price for Wudubu’s cowardice. In late summer the general Samukha, with Shimo Ming’an, and the 2,000 Khitans who had abandoned Wudubu marched to Zhongdu with perhaps 50,000 men. The city was reached around September 1214, and placed under siege. The garrison, forlorn but proud, stoutly manned their doomed walls. Even with it defenders reduced, an assault on the city’s mighty fortifications would be costly, so Samukha aimed to starve it out.        Wudubu hadn’t completely abandoned the city, and belatedly in early 1215 sent relief columns bearing foodstuffs and reinforcements to Zhongdu. The Mongols overcame these columns with ease, and sated their own hunger with the supplies meant for the people of Zhongdu. The noose only continued to tighten around the city. Those communities in the region still untaken were reduced: most of the Jurchen homeland in Manchuria had fallen to the Mongols and their vassal Khitan kingdom. One Jurchen commander in Manchuria, upon learning of Wudubu’s flight, deserted and founded his own kingdom in the far east of Manchuria. In the Shandong peninsula, a long simmering local uprising erupted quickly, commonly known as the Red Coats, who proved themselves staunch foes of the Jin government. Whatever Jin forces that remained had either joined the Mongols, or were already destroyed. North of the Yellow River, only a strip along it, and around Xijing in the west, remained under Jin rule.    For Zhongdu, these happenings made the chance of reinforcement grow ever dimmer. Starvation was severe in the city. All possible animals were eaten, and accusations of cannibalism seem unfortunately probable. At one point, thousands of the city’s virgins were said to have thrown themselves from the walls, rather than suffer fate at the hands of the Mongols. The city’s leadership began to fight each other, with one top commander committing suicide, while another made his way through the blockade, arriving in Kaifeng where he was executed for desertion.        In June 1215, Zhongdu finally surrendered. Mongol troops let out their pent up frustration on the poor souls still within the city. Many thousands were slaughtered, every home and shop looted. Parts of the city were said to have burned for a month. So terrible was the slaughter that a Khwarezmian embassy passing the city a few months later was horrified to see piles of human bones surrounding the city, the ground greasy with human fat and disease rampant. Some of their embassy even fell ill and died as a result.        For the Mongols, it is interesting to note what anecdotes they took away from this tragedy. Chinqai, an officer of importance in the decades to come, climbed one of Zhongdu’s towers and sent an arrow in every direction. When Chinggis learned of the feat, he was so tickled by it that he granted Chinqai ownership of everything within the range of arrows. Chinggis Khan always found a particular joy in these sorts of acts. The event most fondly reported by the Mongols was when several officers attempted to bribe Chinggis’ adopted son, Shigi Qutuqu, in splitting the loot of the city between them. He declined, stating he could not take it, as it was all the possessions of the Khan. Such loyalty to the Khan was prized greater than all the treasures of China.       There can be little doubt that the flight of Wudubu and destruction of Zhongdu a year later was an irreverseible blow to the prestige of the Jin Dynasty, alongside the obvious territorial losses. To many, coupled with years of natural disasters, disorders, and poor governance, the Mongol invasion and Wudubu’s abandonment of the north must have looked like the Jin had lost the Mandate of Heaven, the supernatural approval necessary to rule China. When Heaven rescinded its Mandate, it always awarded it elsewhere, and it seemed that Chinggis Khan had received its blessing. It should not be a surprise that the following years saw the desertions to the Mongols turn into a flood, and they were now able to staff their newly taken territory with loyal Chinese, Khitan and even Jurchen officials. Entire armies of Chinese were soon fighting for the Mongols to aid their conquest of China, something we will explore in detail in future.       Zhongdu was left a shell of its former self, and was renamed ‘Yen’ or ‘Yenching’ by the Mongols. It remained an important command centre, but only began to return to real significance again when Chinggis’ grandson Kublai built a capital near the site. But that’s a few decades ahead of us. In the meantime, Chinggis Khan returned to his homeland and found himself distracted by uprisings and the pursuit of old enemies- a path which brought him, unintentionally, into a collision course with the Khwarezmian Empire to west.        In the next episode we will explore the first western movements of the Mongols, so be sure to hit subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast and to continue helping us bring you more outstanding content, please visit our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. Thank you for listening, I am your host David and we will catch you on the next one!

Secret Provision Hidden In The Supply. When spiritual warfare and push back doesn't makes any sense we can rest assured something is hidden in our breakthrough that has the capacity to shift realms. Deana shares a revelation given to her during corporate intercession 25 years ago that changed the way she prays for provision and supply. As God reminded Israel that the battle wasn't done until all of Israel received their inheritance, so the church needs to contend for one another, for that last bit of ground may be guarded by an enemy with iron chariots! Yet, what is that to the Lord? When Heaven's provision comes in, we often see the spoil transferred out of darkness and into the light, measured out in souls for the Kingdom! Many times hidden in the cargo is a payload that explains the fury of the battle at breakthrough.

When Heaven & Nature Sings - Christmas at Heartland. We exist to to awaken a diverse community to Jesus.

Two episodes and a wake-up are left! This time around, I take one last trip to Vietnam at the movies by looking at the final film in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy, 1993's Heaven and Earth. I review the film and also take a look at its source material, two memoirs by Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War Woman of Peace.

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 9am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 11am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

Two episodes and a wake-up are left! This time around, I take one last trip to Vietnam at the movies by looking at the final film in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy, 1993's Heaven and Earth. I review the film and also take a look at its source material, two memoirs by Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War Woman of Peace.

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 11am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 11am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 9am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

"When Heaven splits everything SHIFTs". Listen to the 9am service of our 9 year anniversary with Bishop Mark Chironna. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @fullturnchurch

I've gotten new material by Robert Rich and Scott Lawlor. Enjoy this episode as much as I have putting it together. On broadcast 87, come with us as we feature new material by old artists. We'll also talk about some other artists of interest as well. Set 1: Jami Sieber, Secret Heat Jasmine Brunch, Snow reel Jeff Wahl, Spanish ballad Jesse Manno, Bali Child Set 2: Scott Lawlor, Awake in the Dark Gaelynn Lea, Dark to Light and Dark Again Matthew Schoening, Emotional Clockwork Peter Davidson, Calling Tim Neumark, Adam's Lullabye Sylvia, When Heaven's Calling You Set 3: Scott Lawlor, A Moth at the Porchlight Emancipator, Afterglow Josh Vietti, Got Money Maccabeats, Les Misérables Medley Robert Rich, Heat Island Effect Robert Rich, Richsleep3.3 Set 4: Scott Lawlor, There is no remembrance of people of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them Magic Carpet, End of the Road Scott Lawlor, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom Margaret Maria Tobolowska, Enchanten Scott Lawlor, Vanishing in Mist Matthew E Sargent, Meleah's Beautiful Words Scott Lawlor, For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten This will complete the program today, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have putting it together for you. Thanks for listening!

新学期，美语早班车给莘莘学子们的寄语 When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, harasses him by troubles and setbacks so as to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature and enhance his abilities.天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。 Language points 语言点1.place /pleɪs/ 放置△place the words in alphabetical order 按字母顺序来排列单词2.frustrate /frʌ'streɪt; 'frʌs-/挫败，阻挠，受挫to make sb feel annoyed or impatient because they cannot do or achieve what they want 使懊丧；使懊恼；使沮丧Eg.The rescue attempt was frustrated by bad weather.拯救行动因天气恶劣受阻。3.frustration /frʌ'streɪʃn/ 挫败4.exhaust /ɪɡ'zɔst/ 耗尽，使筋疲力尽to make sb feel very tired 使筋疲力尽；使疲惫不堪Eg.Even a short walk exhausted her. 即使走一段短路，她也疲惫不堪。5.expose to 接触到, 暴露于Eg.The more you expose yourself to our show, the better your English would be.多收听我们的节目，一定会提升你的英语水平。6.harass /'hærəs/使困扰，骚扰to annoy or worry sb by putting pressure on them or saying or doing unpleasant things to them 侵扰；骚扰△harassment /hə'ræsmənt/Eg.African-Americans have been complaining about police harassment for years.美国黑人多年来一直抱怨受到警察的骚扰。 7.stimulate /'stɪmjʊleɪt/to make sth develop or become more active; to encourage sth 促进；激发；激励Eg.Parents should give children books that stimulate them.父母应给孩子能启发他们的书。 8.toughen 使......坚固，坚韧to make sb stronger and more able to deal with difficult situations 使更坚强；使坚韧△toughen up 坚强起来9.enhance /ɪn'hæns/ 提高to increase or further improve the good quality, value or status of sb/sth 提高；增强；增进Eg.This is an opportunity to enhance the reputation of the company.这是提高公司声誉的机会。

新学期，美语早班车给莘莘学子们的寄语 When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, harasses him by troubles and setbacks so as to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature and enhance his abilities.天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。 Language points 语言点1.place /pleɪs/ 放置△place the words in alphabetical order 按字母顺序来排列单词2.frustrate /frʌ'streɪt; 'frʌs-/挫败，阻挠，受挫to make sb feel annoyed or impatient because they cannot do or achieve what they want 使懊丧；使懊恼；使沮丧Eg.The rescue attempt was frustrated by bad weather.拯救行动因天气恶劣受阻。3.frustration /frʌ'streɪʃn/ 挫败4.exhaust /ɪɡ'zɔst/ 耗尽，使筋疲力尽to make sb feel very tired 使筋疲力尽；使疲惫不堪Eg.Even a short walk exhausted her. 即使走一段短路，她也疲惫不堪。5.expose to 接触到, 暴露于Eg.The more you expose yourself to our show, the better your English would be.多收听我们的节目，一定会提升你的英语水平。6.harass /'hærəs/使困扰，骚扰to annoy or worry sb by putting pressure on them or saying or doing unpleasant things to them 侵扰；骚扰△harassment /hə'ræsmənt/Eg.African-Americans have been complaining about police harassment for years.美国黑人多年来一直抱怨受到警察的骚扰。 7.stimulate /'stɪmjʊleɪt/to make sth develop or become more active; to encourage sth 促进；激发；激励Eg.Parents should give children books that stimulate them.父母应给孩子能启发他们的书。 8.toughen 使......坚固，坚韧to make sb stronger and more able to deal with difficult situations 使更坚强；使坚韧△toughen up 坚强起来9.enhance /ɪn'hæns/ 提高to increase or further improve the good quality, value or status of sb/sth 提高；增强；增进Eg.This is an opportunity to enhance the reputation of the company.这是提高公司声誉的机会。

Susanne von Wille - "When Heaven comes" www.Lebenvertiefen.de

City transformation is possible when protecting our way of life is no longer our top priority. In this episode of the For Our City podcast, Alan Cross helps us recognize attitudes and biases that keep us from loving our neighbors and helping the most vulnerable people around us, and then offers a way forward. Alan is a writer, pastor, advocate for racial unity, and champion of the stranger. Few people provide a clearer Gospel lens for serving the vulnerable than Alan Cross. He is the author of When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus. Alan also gives leadership to the Evangelical Immigration Table, a broad coalition of evangelical organizations and leaders advocating for immigration reform consistent with biblical values. Follow Alan on Twitter here. This episode is sponsored by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. "Wherever you're going, Southeastern can help you get there." Please visit For Our City for more resources, to listen to previous episodes, or to subscribe to the podcast. You can also subscribe at iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. And feel free to comment on this episode in the comments section below.

When Heaven and Earth Collide Pastor Jeff Benson

When Heaven and Earth Are One (Revelation 21:1-22:5) May 29, 2016 AM Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan Pastor Ken Pierpont

How should Christians think about immigration, the refugee crisis, and race? Today, my friend Alan Cross joins me to discuss these important issues. Alan is a Southern Baptist pastor in Montgomery AL, an author, blogger. He's the author of a great book When Heaven and Earth Collide.  Listen to this week's episode Show Notes: Twitter: @alanlcross…

How should Christians think about immigration, the refugee crisis, and race? Today, my friend Alan Cross joins me to discuss these important issues. Alan is a Southern Baptist pastor in Montgomery AL, an author, blogger. He's the author of a great book When Heaven and Earth Collide.  Listen to this week's episode Show Notes: Twitter: @alanlcross…

Revelation 8-9 The post When Heaven is Silent appeared first on Calvary Bible Church - Wrightsville, PA.

I. Classical Illustrations: Propitiation in Action We continue in our study in Romans and we are going to be looking, again, at Romans 3:21-26, what I call, "The glowing heart of the center of the Gospel." Now, last time, we looked at justification, the way that God declares us, we who are sinners, declares us to be righteous on judgment day. He gives us a righteousness that is not ours by faith, a righteousness from Jesus Christ, and He will not count our sins against us. That's incredibly good news and it's described right here: Justification. Today, we're going to talk about propitiation. You may have no idea what propitiation is, but when we get done today, I hope you will. You will understand propitiation, the removal of the wrath of God from us, the wrath that we rightly deserve for our sins, the removal through faith in Christ. And next time, we're going to talk about demonstration, namely, how God's justice is demonstrated in the cross. Justification, propitiation, and demonstration; these three sermons on the focus of our faith. Romans 3:21-26. Beginning at Verse 21, it says, "But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Propitiation. In order to begin to get a handle of it, I'd like to go back to 400 years, 400 years before the birth of Christ, in Greece. There was a philosopher there named Socrates. I'm sure you've heard of him. Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers in human history, gathered around him a number of young disciples and was teaching them his philosophies, many of which are still with us today. And as he did this, he went on, and started to accumulate some enemies, powerful enemies in the city council where he was. And before long, he was dragged before them, and there was a trial, and he was accused of teaching false doctrines, and using those false doctrines to pervert the young people that he was teaching. The trial went on, and his enemies prevailed, and he was declared guilty, and through a turn of events, he was sentenced to death. Death, for him, meant that he would have to drink poison; he'd have to drink a cup of hemlock. And when the day came for him to do that, he had his disciples with him. He had to drink it before the sun went down, and his disciples were gathered around him, and they were begging him to not drink it, but that rather, he should escape from the city. They would help him to escape. Others had escaped and there was no careful guard over him. It was considered a matter of honor that he would drink this hemlock, and so he really didn't have to do it, he could escape. He said, "No." He was actually very happy to do it. He had no fear of death, whatsoever. He just wanted to spend his final hours teaching his disciples, making the most of the time. So he did that, and when the time came, without any fear, without any hesitation, he drank that cup of hemlock down, and died. Now, if you take that and contrast it with Matthew 26, the Garden of Gethsemane, we see quite a difference. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and it says, "Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane and He said to them, 'Sit here, while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' Then going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken away, yet not as I will, but as you will.'" He prayed that same prayer three times. He said, "Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away, unless I drink it, may your will be done." And He prayed with such great earnestness, and such great zeal, that Luke tells us that drops of blood fell from His forehead to the ground. Some people have hypothesized that the intensity and the pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane was so great, that the little blood vessels right below the surface of the skin were bursting from the pressure. Whether that's true or not, you can see the intensity and the pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He faced a cup. Now, as I set these two stories side by side, I get puzzled, in a way. I say, "Here's Socrates, and with no fear at all, he just drinks this cup right down." And then we've got Jesus in Gethsemane, and there's a cup, and He is shrinking from it. He's overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. And I would say, "What's the difference? Was Jesus not a man of courage?" Oh, I would say, "There's never been anyone with the courage of Jesus Christ." I think, actually, Gethsemane proves it. Jesus had the most courage of any man that ever lived, and if you look at the Gospel of John, and all the times that He faced opposition, did He ever, once, shrink from telling somebody the truth, because He was afraid? Never once. He was the consummate man of courage. Then what's going on here in Gethsemane? Well, I would say the difference between those two stories, is the difference in the content of the cups. In Socrates' cup, was physical death, but in Jesus' cup, was the wrath of God, and there's a big difference between the two. I believe that Jesus drank a cup of God's wrath for us, and He drank it to its dregs, and He knew very well that that's what He was doing. It was not death He was afraid of; it was the wrath of God. Second story I would use to illustrate this, also comes from Greece. You've heard of Homer, he wrote "The Iliad." "The Iliad" was a story of a war over Helen of Troy. You remember that story, the face that sailed a thousand ships. She was so beautiful that the Greeks went after her to get her, and as they embarked, they ran into some difficulties. I'd like to read an account of this story from JI Packer's book, "Knowing God." "Prince Paris had carried off Princess Helen to Troy. The Greek expeditionary force had taken ship to recover her, but was held up halfway by persistent contrary winds. Agamemnon, the Greek General, sent home for his daughter and ceremonially slaughtered her as a sacrifice, to mollify the evidently hostile gods. The move paid off; west winds blew again, and the fleet reached Troy without further difficulty. This bit of the Trojan War legend, which dates from about 1000 BC, mirrors an idea of propitiation, on which Pagan religion all over the world and in every age has been built. The idea is as follows. There are various gods, none enjoying absolute dominion, but each one with some power to make life easier or harder for you. Their temper is uniformly uncertain. They take offense at the smallest things. They get jealous, because they feel that you're paying too much attention to other gods, and other people, and not enough to themselves. And then they take it out on you, by manipulating circumstances to your hurt. The only course, at that point, is to humor and mollify them by an offering. The rule with offerings is, the bigger the better, for the gods are inclined to hold out for something sizable. In this, they are cruel and heartless, but they have the advantage, so what can you do? The wise person bows to the inevitable, and makes sure to offer something impressive enough to provide, or to produce the desired result. Human sacrifice, in particular, is expensive, but effective. Thus, Pagan religion appears as a callous commercialism, a matter of managing and manipulating your gods by cunning bribery. And within Paganism, propitiation, the appeasing of celestial bad tempers, takes its place as a regular part of life, one of the many irritating necessities that one cannot get on without. Now, Packer goes on to say that the gods of the Greeks, like gods in Pagan religions all over the world, behave a lot more like Hollywood movie stars, than like the God of the Bible. They bicker, and they complain, and they have little feuds with one another. And in this way, we begin to think, or get the idea that, propitiation must be about as far removed from true faith, and from true Christianity, as we can imagine. But the shocking thing is, propitiation's at the center of what happened at the cross. Paul puts it right here in Verse 25, that, "God presented Him as a propitiation." The Greek word, 'hilastérion,' a propitiation, a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. And so we need to come to understand this message. We need to come to understand how propitiation, the removal of the wrath of God through Christ, is accomplished. II. Controversy: Is God a God of Wrath? And on this, we are in in somewhat of a controversy. Liberal theology denies that God has any wrath whatsoever against sin, no wrath, no anger. Basic assumption of liberal theology, in terms of the disagreement, or the problem between God and man, is that it's all a misunderstanding. If we would just know how loving God is toward all of us, how willing He is to accept us back, how gracious, and loving, and forgiving He is, then all would be well. So the real change that needs to occur is in us. We have to somehow understand this message that God is a God of love and we need to come back to Him. In this way, humanity's sins do not alienate God at all. He's not concerned about that. He's big enough to overlook all that, certainly, not angry about it. We just need to come back to God. And therefore, the cross ends up being some kind of an example of God's love, or some kind of a moral influence to win our hearts over to Him. If we just look at the love of God in the cross, our hard hearts will be broken, we'll see that God is a God of love, and we'll just come back to Him. Is that Christianity? I would say it's not, because God is, in fact, a passionate being. And yes, He loves people. He loves them with a love you can't even measure or imagine. It's a powerful love, it's a strong love, but God loves more than just people. He also loves righteousness, He loves holiness, He loves His law, He loves commands, He loves obedience, and He created us for His glory, as we have seen. We were created for the glory of God, and when we take the glory of God, and remove it from the center of our lives, and put some earthly idol there, God is angry about that. He's a passionate being, and there is, in fact, a great deal of wrath in God's dealing with human beings, and their sin. Now, you have seen, perhaps, a bumper sticker or something, saying "Guess who moved?" The faulty line of reasoning works this way: If there's a separation between you and God, “guess who moved?” The implication is that God never moves, that He loves you all the time, that it’s you who've moved away from God. They say if you just know that God loves you and you just come back... Well, that's true for a Christian…But a problem arises when the idea is extended to the whole world. They say, “God never moved, He's always loved us, and this way, there needed to be no change in God for our salvation, no rectification on His end. He's ready any time, if we would just come back to Him.” Well, all of this swirling discussion in the 20th Century started to bear its fruit in Bible translations, and in 1936, one particular man, CH Dodd, focused on a word that we have here in Verse 25, just look down at it. Romans 3:25, "God presented him as," NIV gives us, "Sacrifice of atonement," with a little footnote. Footnote says, "One who would turn aside His wrath, taking away sin." They avoided the word 'propitiation,' because they figured that nobody knows what it means. Other translations, King James has 'propitiation' in there, but as they were writing new English translations, they wanted to understand it theologically properly, so they thought. And CH Dodd said this, "The meaning conveyed here is that of expiation, not propitiation." Well, I would contend that just as many people know the word 'expiation,' as know 'propitiation.' It's equally difficult, so you haven't really gained anything there. But the real issue is not the word, the issue is the meaning behind the word, because what Dodd is doing is, he's changing the translation theologically. Now, that's a problem, especially when we're in the glowing heart of the Gospel, as I contend we are. Shortly thereafter, after Dodd's work, the RSV…You pick up an RSV and look at Romans 3:25, you will see the word 'expiation,' instead of 'propitiation.' Dodd himself was the chief translator of the New English Bible in 1961. Guess what word he put in Romans 3:25? 'Expiation.' You say, "What's the big deal?" There is a big deal. 'Expiation,' basically means cleaning or cleansing from sin, a cleansing, a purification from sin, covering, putting away, rubbing out sin, so that it's no longer an obstacle of fellowship between man and God. 'Expiation' is, in fact, cleansing. 'Propitiation' is all of that, plus the removal of the wrath that has come, as a result of that alienation. So what did Dodd leave out? The wrath. He said, "It doesn't exist. God is not a God of wrath." And so they changed from 'expiation' to 'propitiation.' John Owen’s Four Points in Propitiation Now, a Puritan theologian, John Owen, said that there's four points in propitiation, four things that we're looking for. 1. There has to be an offense that is taken away. 2. There has to be a person offended who needs to be pacified. 3. A person guilty of the offense. 4. Some kind of sacrifice or means to accomplish the atonement. And all four are there in the cross of Christ. Is there an offense to be taken away? Is there an end to the offenses to be taken away, immense quantity of sin to be removed? Is there a person offended who needs to be mollified? Yes, God. God is offended by sin. He is Holy and He needs to be pacified. Is there a person guilty of the offense? Oh, yes, if you'll admit it, if you'll come and recognize that you need a Savior. Oh, yes, there's a person that needs to be forgiven. And is there a sacrifice, or a means for the removal of the wrath? Yes, His name is Jesus Christ. It's all there and that is the heart of the Gospel. Now, what is this word 'atonement?' If you ever look at the word 'atonement' and pull it apart, what would you get? You'd get a little prefix 'at,' what's the next word? 'One,' and then that 'ment' ending, which means the way by which we can become at one with who? With God, right? That's what 'atonement' is. It's at-one-ment. We were separated from God and we needed to be brought to Him. This is 'atonement,' at-one-ment. And we are estranged from God, because of our sin, apart from Christ. Isaiah put it this way, in Isaiah 59:1 and following, "Surely, the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have separated you from God and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." You see, there is a problem on God's side, He won't hear. And why? Because of the sin. "For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt, your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things." God is, in fact, offended with sin. He's greatly angered by it. And I would contend that, for a non-Christian, for an unbeliever, somebody who has not come to faith in Christ, the wrath of God constitutes the biggest problem in their life. Whether they feel it or not, it is the biggest problem, the biggest threat in their life. III. Clear Biblical Doctrine: God’s Wrath a Past, Present and Future Reality Imagine if you lived, for example, in the ancient city of Sodom or Gomorrah. You wake up in the morning, and you've been having some marital problems, squabbling with your wife, and you've got kids that are rebelling, and it's just not going the way you want, and your job is not the kind of job you want, and you feel a sense of purposelessness to your life. If only you could just have... Just some purpose, some meaning to your life. Nowadays, when we preach the Gospel, Jesus comes and does all those things for you. You see? He'll create harmony in your home. He will give you a sense of purpose. He will, perhaps, help you with your training of your children. He'll help you at the job, all of these earthly benefits. I don't deny any one of them, but is that what that resident of Sodom needs the most that day? No, he needs the removal of the wrath of God; that's his biggest problem. Suppose he worked things out with his wife. Suppose he suddenly realized that his job had meaning and there was a purpose to his life, would all be well with him? No, he's got a big problem, though he knows it not. The wrath of God; it must be removed. And I'm saying to you today, "It is removed, but it is removed only in one place: The cross of Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is removed in the cross of Christ." Now, God's wrath is plainly a Biblical doctrine. I don't really have any idea how anyone can read through the Bible and not understand that God has wrath against sin. There are over 20, in the Old Testament, over 20 different Hebrew words used for God's anger or wrath, over 20. And if you take all of those, and add up all the times that God expresses wrath, you're at 580 occurrences, 580. Now, I've often said that, "People treat the Bible like Kroger or Winn-Dixie." You get your cart, and you just walk through, and you just see what you want. You just see what you want. You want a little of this, a little of that, and put it in your cart. Now, everything in the cart, is it from the Bible? Well, yeah, the love of God, His favor, His grace, and mercy, and forgiveness, those are there. But there's other things that you left up on the shelf, they're there too. And I don't know how you can walk through the Bible, and miss this one: 580 occurrences. Our God is a God of wrath. He hates, and He's angry about it, and He must be pacified. It is a great danger to us. I don't need to quote illustrations from the Old Testament, just read the stories. Read the story of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram, who led a revolt against Moses, and the Earth swallowed them up. Did Moses make the Earth open up? Did Moses have that kind of power? Isaiah described it this way, Isaiah 30:27-28, "See, the name of the Lord comes from afar with burning anger, dense clouds of smoke. His lips are full of wrath. His tongue is a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction." The past reality of God's wrath, it's back there, just read the history. It's in the Bible; it's back there. It's also a present reality, although we don't have the interpretive skill to say, "This was the wrath of God," or, "This was." Psalm 7:11, it says, "God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses His wrath every day." And Psalm 38:3, David put it this way, "Because of your wrath, there's no health in my body. My bones have no soundness, because of my sin." But even greater, is the wrath to come, the future wrath. Colossians 3:6, "Because of these sins, the wrath of God is coming." It's coming, just like it came on Sodom. It's coming and you must be ready. There is a place of safety from the wrath of God; you must find it by faith. Now, what is the cause of God's wrath? It's always the same. What is it? What causes the wrath of God? Sin. Sin, unrighteousness. Amos 1 and 2, just look at Amos 1 and 2, "For three sins of Judah, and even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Sin brings God's wrath. God’s Wrath is His “Alien Task” And yet, I will say this, that God's expressions of wrath, He calls His 'alien task.' It's alien to His central core nature. I'm not making the attributes of God argue against one another. Where there is sin, God responds with wrath and with justice. But sin is alien, isn't it? Isn't sin an interloper, an intruder into the universe that God made? As sin is alien, so also is the wrath of God alien to His original purpose. Isaiah 28:21, speaks of it this way, "The Lord will rise up, as He did at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself, as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and perform His task, His alien task." That's what I'm talking about. Our God is slow to anger, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness. And God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Ezekiel 33:11, "'Say to them, as surely as I live,' declares the Sovereign Lord, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather, that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?'" That's coming straight from the heart of God. He is slow to anger and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God's wrath is so much different than ours. His anger's so different from ours. What makes you angry? Think about it that way. Think of the times you've expressed anger in the last week. Bumper to bumper traffic on Interstate 40, is that true? It's personal annoyance and irritation that produces wrath and anger, isn't that true? When you're put out, standing in line. Let's talk about Kroger: Standing in line, and somebody were to come and cut in front of you, what would you feel, what emotion, at that moment? How would you characterize that emotion? Could we call it anger? Maybe just small anger, so then we call it a different name, irritation. And why? Because you have been inconvenienced. Our anger is nothing like God's, nothing. And that's why we think God can't have wrath. His wrath is just different than ours; it is His passionate response to evil, and it is good, and I'm glad that He has it. I wish that I could get rid of mine, that's unrighteous, but God's anger is perfect. Now, there is nothing we can do, whatsoever, to remove God's wrath. What can you do? Where will you go? What will you use to remove God's wrath? Therefore, God must remove it Himself. God must instruct us how His wrath is to be removed. And in the Old Testament, He does that. Remember they made the Ark of the Covenant? Remember what the Ark was? It was a golden box. And what was inside the box? Well, the 10 Commandments, the stone tablets were in there. And on the top of the box, was an atonement cover, with these cherubim with wings. And at the center, between there, is what was translated in the King James, 'the mercy seat,' the atonement cover. And in that place, God would meet with Israel. He would speak from between the cherubim. He would speak to Moses. Furthermore, the priest would go and pour out the blood of the offering. He'd pour out the blood of the sacrifice on the atonement cover between the cherubim. And so blood atonement for sin was established, and it was poured out there, at that one place. God was instructing on how His wrath could be removed. Leviticus 16, a great chapter. You may think, "What could be in Leviticus, that I'd want to read?" You want to read Leviticus 16 concerning the day of atonement. For there, a bowl was offered for the priest, and the blood was poured out right on that atonement cover. His blood or his sin was atoned for through the blood of that beast. And then there were two goats, you remember? One of them would be slaughtered and the blood again applied to the atonement cover. One of them, however, would be the scapegoat, and the sins would be transferred onto the head of the goat, and he would be taken a distant journey away from Israel, and released. And so, a picture, a beautiful picture, of the separation from Israel and sin. God will separate sin from us, so that His wrath can be removed. It's beautiful. A Threefold Lesson From the Sacrificial System And so we have three lessons, a threefold lesson from the sacrificial system. 1. All sin deserves the death penalty. Well, you couldn't miss that, when you brought your offering and that beast was killed, you knew right away that sin equaled death. It was that way in the Garden of Eden, "The day you eat of it, you'll surely die." Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." There's a connection between sin and death. 2. The death penalty could be paid for by a substitute. You'd bring your offering and you'd go home that day, you'd eat dinner, you'd go to sleep, you survived; the substitute died. 3. The substitute cannot be an animal. It was just a picture. That's the third lesson, it was just a picture. Can the blood of bulls and goats take away human sin? No, of course not. It pointed ahead to a sacrifice that would work. And what was that sacrifice? Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Now, He could do it. He could take away sin. And so God was teaching Israel, and teaching us through Israel, how His anger can be removed, and it's removed by sacrifice. It's removed by blood. IV. Context in Romans Now, that's the context in the Bible. If we look in Romans, we've seen, as we move through Romans 1:2-3, an accumulation of wrath. Have you seen it? We've been picking it up, as we've been going along. Where do we get rid of it? That's the question. We finally get to dump it down here, in the middle of Romans 3, on the cross of Christ. You look at the start, Romans 1:16, it says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God, for the salvation of everyone who believes." Salvation from what? Verse 18 describes that, "For the wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness and wickedness of men." There's a direct connection between Verse 16-17 and Verse 18, We need salvation from the wrath of God. Did you miss that? That's what we need salvation from, from sin and from the wrath of God. And God has a decree, in Romans 1:32, "Even though they know God's righteous decree, that those who do such things deserve death... " The word 'death' is not just physical death, but eternal separation in hell. They not only continue to do those things, but approve of those who practice them. Romans 2:5 talks about the storing up of wrath, "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed." In Verse 8, "For those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there'll be wrath and anger." How can we read this and say that, "God is not a God of wrath?" You can only do it by not reading the Bible. And therefore, if you read this, and come up with a construct in your mind of God who isn't this way, you have made what? An idol. Do you see that? Now, what's the difference between that and somebody in Irian Jaya bowing down to some statue? There is no difference. You become an idolater, a worshipper of a false God. You're saying, "Okay, but this is heavy. What do we do with it?" There is a place for the wrath of God, it's the cross of Christ. There is a place for it. But we don't come at this problem by saying, "There is no wrath. It doesn't exist." It does exist. It's real. And we will see it. In Romans 3:5-6, "But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us?" Is God ever unjust? When He brings His wrath, it's deserved. It's just and it will come. And therefore, in Romans 3:9-20, we see our universal danger. We are under danger from this, because Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." And so we need a savior, don't we? We need to be saved from the wrath of God. We need to not play games and say, "There isn't wrath." We need to say, "There is wrath and we need a savior." V. Completed Atonement! Four Key Phrases And that salvation is available in Verse 25, "God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He'd left the sins committed before Him unpunished." Propitiation. Now, there's four phrases here that explain our salvation. The first, "God publicly displayed Him." The second, "Displayed Him as a propitiation." The third phrase, "Through faith," And the fourth, "In His blood." Each of these four components show us how we are saved. 1. God publicly displayed Him. When did God display Jesus as a propitiation? Well, He did it in space and time, in history, outside the walls of Jerusalem one day. It was a day of Passover, a Friday, and Jesus was nailed to the cross that day, and on that day, His blood was poured out, His hands and feet nailed to wood, and His blood poured out. And there were people watching that, weren't there? There were crowds that passed by and saw it. It was a public thing, a public display. It happened in space and time, in history, and there are records of it; we have them here in the Bible. It actually occurred. Paul put it this way, in Acts 26:26, he said to King Agrippa, "These things were not done in a corner." What does that mean, "These things were not done in a corner"? God didn't tuck His Son away in the middle of a jungle and He died for sin, He did it very publicly, in the middle of everything, in Jerusalem, so everyone could see. It was not done in a corner; it was done obviously, so we could see. "Publicly displayed Him." But He also publicly displayed Him a different way. He publicly displays Jesus Christ as crucified every time some faithful servant of the Word preaches the Gospel. Every time someone gets up and explains this, God, again, publicly displays Jesus Christ. I get that from Galatians 3:1. Paul says there, "Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified." Well, if you look at a map, you'll see how far Galatia is from Jerusalem. They didn't see it, they weren't there, they weren't standing at the foot of the cross. Well, how then was Jesus publicly displayed before the Galatians as crucified? When Paul preached the Gospel to them. I just put the picture in your mind, didn't I? I talked about the Son of God with His hands stretched out on rough wood, and nailed, hands and feet, and His blood poured out. Do you get a picture in your mind? Doesn't it come into your mind? "Publicly displayed." Now, next week, we're going to talk about the reason for the public display, so that we could see the justice of God, but the display was public. 2. Propitiation The second phrase, we've already talked about, and that is propitiation. The Greek word is 'hilastérion.' There's no missing it; it is a sacrifice which removes the wrath of God. And that's what Jesus is, Jesus absorbed our wrath. There was, as we've been saying all along, a transfer of guilt from us to Jesus, and then the punishment we deserve poured out on Him. God made Him, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might, in Him, become the righteousness of God. The transfer happened, and then the punishment came down. Jesus knew that would happen; that was the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, the cup of God's wrath. He knew it would happen. He knew that's exactly what was going on. Isaiah 53 knew as well, "But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Oh, what blessed verses, that our sin can be lifted from us, the guilt, all that wrath, all of it, and put on Jesus, and extinguished forever. Jesus, therefore, is like a lightning rod, which attracts the lightning bolt and draws it safely away from the one it will protect. He is our lightning rod to attract the wrath of God away from us. Well, I just made an assumption, didn't I? I said, "He is our lighting rod." Is that good for the whole world, if every single solitary person's wrath removed? If so, then there's no hell, right? If the wrath is all gone, then there is no hell. Is there a hell? Oh, yes. Will there be people? Oh, yes. So the wrath is not removed from everyone. Well, who was it removed from? For those who, what? Believe. Those who believe. 3. Through Faith It says, "Through faith." Through faith, we are connected to Him by faith. We are in Christ by faith, by simple trust. Don't bring your good deeds; they have no business being here. Do you think your good deeds can remove the wrath of God? Absolutely not. But by faith alone, we are connected to Jesus, and what a strong connection it is. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Do you see Paul's connection there by faith? "Jesus died for me. My wrath was poured out on Him; it was my sin that He suffered for, through faith." Are you connected to the propitiation today? Are you connected to the one safe place in all the universe, when the wrath of God will be poured out here? When Heaven and Earth melts away in the heat, will you be safe, because you're connected to Jesus by faith? Oh, I pray so, through faith, simple faith, simple trust. 4. In His Blood The final phrase: "In His blood." He's a propitiation of blood. Now, the blood, I believe, represents life taken violently, life taken by force, life given up. It's not just life itself, but life poured out. And so it says in Exodus 12-13, "The blood will be assigned for you on the houses where you are, [this is the Passover], And when I see the blood, I will pass over you." Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I've given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." Blood atonement must be poured out. Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Why? Why is it true that, without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness? Because all sin deserves a death penalty. There must be a death. And the death is paid through Jesus Christ. Jesus' blood represents the full payment of the death penalty for all those whose places He took. Has He paid your death penalty? You have a court date and we knew that. I told you that last time. Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed for men to die once, and then face judgment." We all have a court date. We had, at least at one time, a death penalty. Have you given it over to Jesus by faith? Has He taken it from you, the wrath paid for by His blood? I pray so. VI. Consequences Consequences of this doctrine: What comes out of this? First of all, human inability. There is nothing you can do to remove the wrath of God. Nothing, it's been done for you already. It's already done. It's already finished, through Jesus Christ. You must believe, simply believe, and you'll receive forgiveness. Second of all, Christ's central purpose. Why did Jesus come? He came to die, this death, the Romans 3:21-26 death. He came for this, for justification, for propitiation, and to demonstrate God's justice. He came for this. He came to drink your cup, and if He drank your cup, is there any left for you? Is there anything left for you to drink from the wrath of God? No, it's gone. The wrath is gone forever. Rejoice and be glad. The wrath of God against you for your sin is gone through your faith in Jesus Christ. There's nothing left. God will save you on the day of wrath. There will be no wrath. You will not drink and you'll not even taste it, an incredible piece of faith. John 20, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, and stood among them, and said, 'Peace be with you.' And after He said that, He showed them His hands, and His side." Why did He do that? This is the price of peace that has been paid. "Peace be with you," He said. No more wrath, at-one-ment. It's been done. No believer in Christ need ever fear the wrath of God. It's totally gone. Jesus drank it to the bottom. Since we have now been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:9, "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him?" Future salvation, brothers, because the day of wrath has not come yet, but when it comes, you'll be safe. Romans 8:1, "There is, therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And 1 Thessalonians 1:10, "Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath." Oh, what good news, an incredible peace of faith. But then, the incredible danger of unbelief. Do you see it? Do you see it in this doctrine? The danger of unbelief, the danger to your co-workers, the danger to your unsaved neighbors, the danger to people on the other side of the world who haven't heard of Jesus, the danger of unbelief. Do you see it? And what is the one thing that can rescue us? The Gospel. They must hear; we must tell them. If you don't know for certain that you have come out from under the wrath of God, will you come talk to me after the service? You'll have an opportunity when I finish. God will grant you life, I pray, for a few moments, to bow before Him, and to acknowledge your sinfulness, and simply say, "Lord Jesus, take my sin away. Take my sin away." Don't fail to do that. Let's pray.

Mời các bạn cùng tham gia với Kenneth Nguyễn và cô Phùng Thị Lệ Lý (tác giả When Heaven and Earth Changed Places) và chị Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (tác giả The Mountains Sing) thảo luận về những câu chuyện xung quanh ngày 30 tháng Tư.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vietnamese-with-kenneth-nguyen/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy