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Mk 6:53-56 BEGGING FOR GOD
"(Click here for readings)"
Just a couple of days ago I mentioned that we long to see God; that is, we long to have his presence in our daily lives. We need him in this heart breaking world we live in and contribute to. I am sure that all of us would settle even for the scraps that fall from the Master's table. For this reason, we can see why Christ's tassel is so important. Why were the people satisfied just to touch his cloak? Are the evangelists, such as Mark, exaggerating the people's reaction to Jesus? Hardly. It is clear that everything the Lord touches is blessed; is made holy; is made good again.
"In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was as formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters." (Gen 1:1)
Due to a severe drought, the people of the world will begin to witness the horror of an agonizing death upon the people of eastern Africa, particularly Somalia. All the resources in the world appear to be impotent in stopping the drought "of love" or healing "the scars of terrorism and war" in this part of the world. This deadly drought is totally man made. It is not a result of global warming or because of a shortage in water or resources (over-population), but because man continues to use man as a pawn and continues to use food as a weapon. This part of the world has been without a central government for years! And the world refuses to do anything about it.
The world was not created in such a way. It was created out of love. It was created with order. In the Old Testament, whatever is last is great. Jesus said, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first. The creation of man came last, for he is God's greatest creation. A world without man would be a beautiful waste. A world without God is a world that is formless, a wasteland, where darkness and winds sweep away all that gives life! We do not want to go back to a world without God! We need God. We need to start begging for Him!
But I am afraid that as long as we have false idols in the world, we will not beg for the One and only One. Worshipping the Lord does not mean bowing down to pressure; or sounding "unenlightened", or praying out of fear. It means giving glory to the One who desires all the glory. It means giving glory to the one who reached out and wanted to be touched!
Recently, I saw some old clips of Elvis Presley in concert. Before the King dropped dead, and in one of his last performances, he was seen throwing towels, wrapped around his neck and dripping in his sweat, to fans that were reaching out to him. The crowd went wild; young ladies were crying. These counterfeits will all turn to mold. However, the relics of the Saints, their bones, hair or what they wore and used remain fresh, clean and alive.
When the Lord touches us, and he allows us to touch him, we are no longer the same. Blessings, beauty and goodness flow from him and into all of us. Let us never settle for less, until we can settle with Him. After all, that is the reason for the blessing of his presence.
Source: http://master-of-tarot.blogspot.com
Black Diamond started as a coal mining town in the 1800s. Now, it is considered a ghost town inhabited by two spirits sharing the same nickname, Mary and Sarah.
There's conflicting stories about Mary though I believe the second one. The first states she was hired by a family to be their nanny, but she didn't disclose to her employers that she practice witchcraft. When they found out, they immediately fired her. The next day she was found dead in the mines. How she died is still unknown.
The other has her not only a nanny but one that looked after all the children in the town of Nortonville. Then, all the children died suddenly of mysterious illnesses. The town quickly accused her of witchcraft and was hanged.
Many witnesses over the years have reported seeing a floating bright white apparition near the entrance of the mines. It is believed that she protects children from the dangers inside it. The reports on physical features differ but the similarities have always been that she is either dazzling or bright white. This is how she got the name "White Witch".
Another "White Witch" is said to occupy the Rose Hill Cemetery located on top of a small hill just west of the main entrance to the Black Diamond Park preserve. Sarah Norton, a midwife who died tragically when the carriage she was riding in turned over and crushed her while on her way to deliver a baby, is said to haunt this location. She wasn't know to be a spiritual person and even rejected ceremony.
Her children tried to obey her wishes for no funeral but the towns people decided otherwise. Since she was greatly admired, the entire town of Somersville tried twice to give her a public funeral, but failed when unnaturally fierce storms struck. A third attempt was made, and on this day another fierce storm hit town, but the determined townsfolk decided this time to suffer through the storm and hold the ceremony as planned. And so it was that Sarah Norton was publicly laid to rest within the gates of Rose Hill Cemetery - against her wishes.
Since that day, have reported seeing a white apparition floating between the headstones scattered throughout the cemetery. Sarah Norton hopelessly wanders the cemetery looking for a way to leave. Thus, she shares the nickname "White Witch" with Mary.
The Contra Costa Historical Society does have on record an obituary for one Sarah Norton. The date of death is listed as October 11, 1879 with no cause of death provided.
Sources: East Bay Paranormal and Real Haunted.com
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::Community Announcement::
Reposted from the MPRC
The MPRC returns to it's monthly discussions. Upcoming:
Topic: Humanity's Quest for Enlightenment/Ascension
Date: Thursday February 4th, 2010
Location: At the MPRC in the Melange Magic Store 1928 Ste-Catherine West, Montreal
Time: 6h45-8h45pm
Cost: Free! Donations always welcomed
Many People today and throughout history have been on a quest for spiritual or religious enlightenment/ascension. The meaning behind this process has so many variations for different people.
Do you relate to ascension as being the shift of consciousness to another level; finding the true relationship with oneself; or the reuniting with the "source of all"?
Are their stages of evolution that we must go through prior to reaching higher levels of consciousness? Does enlightenment come with the ascension into higher "realms"? Is ascension a process of "grades" to go through or simply a moment in which we claim "I'm ready, the time is now."?
What are your opinions on Christopher's Penczak's theories of Ascension (from his book Ascension Magick) such as:
- Literal Ascension: The literal shift of our bodies and souls from this physical plane of existence (3D) to another plane of reality?
- Posthumous Ascension: Occurs when one completes all necessary "levels" of this world and no longer required to return to the cycle of reincarnation?
- Enlightenment: A continuous state of consciousness and in communion with the divine. (ego ascension)
- Next Age Ascension: What does it mean to enter a New Age? Leaving the zodiac Age of Pisces into Aquarius... how do you relate?
- Returning to
- The Unknown and Unknowable: It's a perception thing. Ascension an enlightenment cannot be truly known through our current perceptions or at it's opposite will be known "depending" on our perceptions...
- Symbolic Ascension: Ascension is not about going anywhere, but about a deeper expression of the spiritual life on a daily basis. Influencing the world around us simply by living a better life. A combination of the personal initiation and the unknowable. Inner and Outer realities being reflections of each other. What separate the two are our perceptions.
Come share with us your opinions, comments and arguments!
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I often refer to my refereeing style as "just in time," which is to say, I only try to come up with stuff - locations, NPCs, history, cosmology, etc. - as I need it in the course of play. Until that happens, I try to remain as agnostic as possible. Now, it's true that, in between game sessions, I sometimes piece together the ideas I've thrown out there into something resembling coherence, but that's not always the case. A lot of the time I actively avoid doing so, both because, fundamentally, I'm lazy and that's work I don't need to do and because every rough edge I pound smooth is one I can't use later in order to prick my imagination.
A case in point is the Animal Kings. I invented them on the spur of the moment in order to deal with Brother Candor's clever use speak with animals, an often overlooked spell. The Cat King proved popular enough that, over time, I elaborated on the idea, establishing the existence of other Animal Kings, such as the Dog King (whose name will, of course, be "Rex") and the Rat Boss. Within the context of the overall setting, there's still no explanation for the existence of the Animal Kings; they simply are. Their origins, their relationship with the gods (if any), and so forth have no answers and won't have any until such time as it becomes necessary to have them and, even then, I may well punt and keep things uncertain, because, frankly, that's more fun.
In the past, assuming I'd ever even come up with something like the Animal Kings, I'd have worked out an extensive backstory for them in advance and made sure that it fit with everything else established about the setting. Nowadays, I just don't care. Making "sense" is a very minor consideration for me. Indeed, I've come to see such concerns to be the hallmarks of bad setting design. I mean, the real world doesn't make a lot of sense most of the time, so why should a fictitious one, especially one where magic is a reality? I'm reminded of the way that most constructed languages are much too regular in their grammar to ever be mistaken for natural languages. I feel much the same way about most imaginary settings.
On the blog, I've occasionally caught flak for not knowing things as simple as "What's the name of your campaign's world?" From my perspective, unless the characters are regularly traveling to other worlds - which they might well do someday - it's not really something I need to worry about. That's why I can't tell you the location of every major city on the continent where the PCs are adventuring or whether the gods are real or innumerable other little questions that a lot of gamers seem to think are absolutely vital to running a successful campaign. To each his own, of course, but I'm here to tell you that, after nearly two years of weekly/biweekly play, I simply haven't found a need to answer questions like that.
Honestly, I think that's the secret of the campaign's longevity: there are still questions to be answered and they're not persnickety, esoteric tidbits of the sort you'd find in the six volumes of Postage Stamps of Flanaess or whatnot. I fully understand the appeal of that kind of detail; I used to be addicted to it in my early days. But no more. Give me a sketchy, hodgepodge setting with lots of holes and unmapped areas and incoherence and I'll give you a campaign to remember.
Credit: http://candle-magic.blogspot.com
Jesus Culture - Awakening Live from Chicago 2011 English Christian Worship Songs
Awakening Live from Chicago is the latest American Christian Live Worship Album released by American Christian Praise ">Jesus Culture. This album was released on November 29, 2011 and released under the label Jesus Culture Music.
Album Details ::
Album :: Awakening Live from Chicago
Artist :: Jesus Culture
Release Date :: November 29, 2011
Genre :: Praise ">Christian, Gospel, Rock
Label :: Jesus Culture Music
Location :: Redding, CA, USA
Jesus Culture - Awakening Live from Chicago 2011 Huge Congregation gathered in a stadium
History ::
In the summer of 1999, the youth group led by Banning Liebscher at Bethel Church in Redding, California, launched the first Jesus Culture conference. The heart of these gatherings was to serve other churches and lead young people to experience the radical love of God. At each conference there was a strong presence of the Lord, and the youth and young adults were going back to their homes, schools, work places and churches, completely impassioned and transformed.
A few years into hosting conferences at Redding, the Lord began to speak to us about a new breed of revivalists that were emerging throughout the earth to answer the cry of God's yearning for nations. Our mandate was defined: to raise up, mobilize, equip, encourage, resource, and send these burning ones to fulfill the call of God on their lives, and see entire cities saved, campuses revolutionized, and nations discipled. The Lord revealed they would be marked by four main characteristics:
1. They would be connected with spiritual fathers and mothers and aligned under their covering.
2. They would be passionately in love with Jesus - encountering His extravagant love for them daily.
3. They would give their lives to prayer and know how to win the war in the heavens.
4. They would walk in the supernatural - demonstrating the Kingdom of God through power.
It soon became very clear to us that worship was to be a significant part of our movement. Kim Walker-Smith, Chris Quilala, and Melissa How were worship leaders at our local youth group, and the Lord began to use them to bring an entire generation into whole-hearted worship.
Shortly after God commissioned us to mobilize this new breed of revivalists, we began taking Jesus Culture conferences to different regions, and currently hold them in Redding, Orange County, Dallas/Ft Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, and multiple cities through Australia and England. Also, in response to our mandate, Jesus Culture Music and Campus Awakening have been inspired and birthed out of Jesus Culture.
Jesus Culture Music ::
Jesus Culture Music exists to ignite revival in the nations of the earth. Our heart is to compel the Body of Christ to radically abandon itself to a lifestyle of worship, motivated by a passion to see God receive the glory that is due His name. We long for Jesus to be exalted in the nations and for His manifest presence to invade this world. Although we aspire for people to sing great worship songs, we are primarily committed to see them come into His presence through worship... to encounter His extravagant love and raw power...
[CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS]
Tracklisting ::
01. Awaken Me - Chris Quilala
02. Father Of Lights- Kim Walker-Smith
03. Perfect Love (Father Of Lights Reprise) - Kim Walker-Smith
04. Break Every Chain - Kristene DiMarco
05. Glorious - Katie Torwalt
06. My Everything - Chris Quilala
07. Nothing But The Blood - Chris Quilala
08. Dance - Kim Walker-Smith
09. He Is Faithful - Bryan Torwalt
10. Burning Ones - Chris Quilala
11. Holy Are You (Burning Ones Reprise) - Chris Quilala
12. I Surrender - Kim Walker-Smith
13. We Are Hungry - Chris Quilala
14. Fill Me Up - Kim Walker-Smith
15. Holding Nothing Back - Chris Quilala
16. The Anthem - Jake Hamilton
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS ::
Website
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Every year on Halloween conservative Christians publish their views on the danger of celebrating what they consider a Satanic holiday. Their basic argument is pretty straightforward - Halloween is a pagan holiday that was never co-opted by Christianity the way Christmas and Easter were, and the univalence of Christian theology means that anyone following a religion that is not Christian such as paganism is worshiping devils and demons.
While I and billions of Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims all over the world disagree with that perspective, Christians who adhere to it are entitled to their beliefs. Every once in awhile, though, one of them puts forth something that's so over-the-top it makes me wonder what sort of world they imagine themselves to be living in.
An example is this article by Kimberly Daniels. It starts out with the basic argument laid out above, like most articles of its type.
The word "holiday" means "holy day." But there is nothing holy about Halloween. The root word of Halloween is "hallow," which means "holy, consecrated and set apart for service." If this holiday is hallowed, whose service is it set apart for? The answer to that question is very easy-Lucifer's!
However, it quickly begins to drift away from a mainstream theological perspective.
Lucifer is a part of the demonic godhead. Remember, everything God has, the devil has a counterfeit. Halloween is a counterfeit holy day that is dedicated to celebrating the demonic trinity of : the Luciferian Spirit (the false father); the Antichrist Spirit (the false holy spirit); and the Spirit of Belial (the false son).
This is essentially Manicheanism, the root of the Albigensian Heresy that was stamped out during the Middle Ages. It actually originated in Zoroastrianism, which according to Christian theology is just as demonic as any other non-Christian religion.
This next bit made me laugh out loud.
During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.
I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.
I've heard of seasonal employment during the Christmas season, but if this is really going on us magicians must be missing out on all those jobs praying over candy assembly lines during the Halloween season. Does anybody know what they pay? I wouldn't mind picking up some extra cash every fall. Or maybe the author has no idea what she's talking about.
Gathering around bonfires is a common practice in pagan worship. As I remember, the bonfires that I attended during homecoming week when I was in high school were always in the fall. I am amazed at how we ignorantly participate in pagan, occult rituals.
Because never in history have Christians gathered around bonfires, I suppose. The "purity" argument that is put forth by denominations like the Jehovah's Witnesses has never made any sense to me - for example, you can't celebrate birthdays because at some point in history pagans did it too.
The word "occult" means "secret." The danger of Halloween is not in the scary things we see but in the secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes. These activities include:
* Sex with demons
* Orgies between animals and humans
* Animal and human sacrifices
* Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
* Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
* Revel nights
* Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
* Release of "time-released" curses against the innocent and the ignorant.
Another abomination that goes on behind the scenes of Halloween is necromancy, or communication with the dead. S'eances and contacting spirit guides are very popular on Halloween, so there is a lot of darkness lurking in the air.
I will grant that I've cast spells on Halloween and communicated with spirits. As for the rest, though, I would love to know where all of this is supposed to be going on. As with the accounts of "Satanic Ritual Abuse" from the early nineties, if any significant number of people were engaging in acts like child sacrifice there would be this little thing called "evidence" that would show up.
If Christians believe that it is sinful to celebrate what they consider a pagan holiday, as I said in the introduction they are welcome to that belief and probably shouldn't celebrate Halloween. On the other hand, it's pretty ridiculous to assert that anyone who does celebrate it must be engaging in or at least supporting depraved criminal activities that any reasonable person would condemn.
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This past Sunday we began our worship by all sharing one to three words that described our manifestation of the church here. Here they are:
thankful...hope...community...authentic...inclusive...socialized...friendship...peace...fellowship...
informal...caring...justice-oriented...flexible...party...comfortable...open-minded...
loving...public...home-coming...inside out, upside down...
welcoming...family...fun...free...forgiving...worshipful...nexus...connecting...saying please/permission-giving...interactive...experiential...images...attentiveness...
original...destiny/purposeful...non-competitive...personal growth...respectful of persons...chaotic.
And we put a big X to stand for all those that we knew would come to mind, and perhaps be more fitting even, than the ones we came up with immediately in a few minutes.
Then I said that a church should be an image of God. Basic Intro to Theology: What you imagine God will affect how you imagine the cosmos/universe/nature which affects how you imagine human nature which affects how you imagine evil/sin which affects how you imagine salvation/christology/ which affects how you imagine the church as a people growing out of the Christ or Saving Event...which finally affects your vision of the Blessed Community in the Fullness of Time-ish.
So, given these were how we imagined and experienced church...what does that say about our image and experience of God? If we are fulfilled by church then maybe that will help us re-experience God in a deeper more satisfying and sustaining way as we see and feel around us God embodied. If we are not experiencing the church as life-affirming, then maybe we, individually and as church communities, should undertake the theological work together of considering our image of God and the resulting other theological touchstones mentioned in the paragraph above, and see where the image of God is getting block and changed on its way to being realized as the church.
It challenges our default mode or old tapes running in our minds of God. For those words we chose to describe us as the church are active, communal, emotional, etc. not exactly in synch with the God of the Unmoved Mover, or Omnipotent and Omniscience and Perfect in a classic sense, more grassroots and relational than Top-Down. So it allowed us to talk about different ways to imagine and be moved by God, and to understand how we are all in some ways atheists to one another, so therefore those who identify as atheists and agnostics are also welcome within us too (then we all joined and said The Lord's Prayer, and there's a parable of the congregational free church in that) and we discussed our grounding in covenant and freedom and growth and openness, and yet how all of our words that ground us and give us meaning can also be taken to an extreme and begin to work against our very intentions.
A missional church is sent to live its existence outside itself, and through that process, and due to it, to find itself most deeply; likewise it embodies a missional God. A missional God is one whose Spirit will not stay contained within itself but lives outside its own existence, thus always creating, and through all the loving and freedom and suffering and redemption that happens as a part of that "God living beyond God's self" God also takes back into God's very being all that there is, now and forever, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant or no matter how "un-Godly" it may seem to us.
So when we worship we freely use the words that have been touchstones of the church universal and of our tradition, and those words theological have a purpose in themselves too for how they create a counter culture of words of value that go against the grain of the words that the entertainment marketplace empire seeks to impose on us, and we grow into those words deeper and deeper and richer and richer the longer and more intimately and more liberally we become with them.
Then, since it continues to be Eastertide, we watched a wonderful DVD about progressive Christian understandings and ways to interpret the stories of resurrection, and how to practice resurrection in our lives, and that it is okay to have a wide range of current understandings about Jesus and Resurrection, and acknowledging that we do have such a range, and that making room for others means we make room for our own change and growth.
In that way, even what we do when we celebrate communion in worship on Sunday mornings, is all a part of living beyond ourselves, missionally, and not something separate from what we primarily do as church the rest of the hours of the week.
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