I was in Tolamay when I received word of someone abusing their knowledge of the arcane in Chirapher. I booked passage with Captain Sara aboard her ship, the Silver Slipper. Two other individuals also booked passage. Upon boarding the Silver Slipper, I met Vod. Vod is a human monk carrying a great-sword. I am sure there is quite a story behind that combination. Shortly, we were joined by Tifa (Teefa? I am unsure of how she spells it). She is a well dressed Elvish woman (something about her suggests that perhaps she is only Half-elven, but she definitely looks Elvish). While her clothes are of the finest craftsmanship and cut, they nevertheless appear quite practical.
Shortly after the three of us had made acquaintance with each other, the crew loaded a large, heavy object into the hold. Fabric draped over the object completely obscuring it, but I suspected that it was a statue of some sort. As soon as the crew had the object secured in the hold, the captain set sail.
Once the captain had things settled, I approached her and began asking her some questions about the tools she uses to navigate. We spoke about her various travels. She primarily makes the Tolamay to Chirapher run, but occasionally takes a load to Golotha and even the mainland. I was surprised to learn that she had changed her mind about stopping in the Elvish port **Look up and include name**. However, it made sense when she revealed that party shipping the statue paid close to twice her normal rate for her to take the statue to Chirapher for trans-shipment to the mainland.
On the first night out of port, Tifa revealed that she is a courier, while Vod revealed that he is seeking an artifact in order to gain vengeance against the Red Shadows of Agrek. Vod rose early the following morning and began working with the crew. This strikes me as a bit of a bonus for the captain as Vod had paid full fare for the trip, but wishes to learn how to run a ship.
On the second night, Vod joined the crew in a drinking game, while Tifa and I played some friendly hands of cards. Tifa got out a very fine set of Tarot cards and offered to do readings for the crew, but the crew was adverse to such activity.
Just as we settled into a routine, one of the crew got up in the middle of the night and danced energetically, and noisily, on the deck until he collapsed. The following morning he had no recollection of doing so. The following day, the captain yelled orders for one of the crew, who could not initially be found. After a short search of the ship, we found him in the hold staring at the statue, from which he had removed the shrouding fabric. Once again, the crewman could not, or would not, explain his actions, claiming to have no recollection of what had happened. The captain was out of sorts after these two events. When I checked with the crew, they expressed the thought that this was atypical for the captain, even considering the strange actions of the two crewmen.
On the next day at about midday, I spotted a dark blot on the horizon which was not a cloud. When the captain looked at it through her spyglass (I should get myself one of those) she declared that it was six separate flocks of seagulls. After watching them for a few minutes, it became obvious that they were heading straight for the ship. The captain ordered the crew to let out the anchor and then take cover.
When the birds reached range, I summoned my weapon (a longbow this time) and began firing. Vod retrieved his short-bow, as did the captain. Tifa initially sheltered in our cabin, but when she realized that the crew was having trouble getting the anchor to set she went down into the hold and examined the statue. I agree with her thought that there was likely a link between the birds and the statue although we were unable to determine what that link was. After concentrating our fire on one of the flocks at a time we were able to eliminate two of them before they reached the ship. Before the remaining birds reached the ship I cast darkness in the path of three of the flocks. The captain, Vod, and myself were able to eliminate the remaining flock. When the birds completely closed the distance, Vod was able to strike at them with fire from his fingers that appeared almost as claws of fire. When the final three flocks emerged from my darkness (fortunately, two of the flocks were disoriented in the darkness and thus even further delayed) Tifa stood by the crewmen attempting to get the anchor to set and defended them. She used a shortbow at range and a rapier up close. Vod and the captain took some injury before we were able to dispatch all of the birds, but no real harm came to any of us.
That night and the following day were uneventful. However, a fog rose up late in the day and remained into the night. Fortunately, Tifa had taken to spending nights on the deck and thus was on deck when pirates attempted to take the ship. Tifa woke Vod and myself. This time I summoned my weapon as a rapier. The pirates consisted of some kind of fish humanoid, another powerful humanoid of some sort and three human thugs. The thugs were able to incapacitate the crew, killing three of them, while we fought off the other two. The pirate’s second in command was able to incapacitate, almost killing, the captain before Vod, Tifa, and myself were able to defeat their commander, the fish humanoid. Even that was touch and go. I was almost convinced that we were done for when their commander finally went down. Once we took out the two officers we made short work of the thugs. Strangely enough, the pirates’ ship disappeared as soon as the second in command was killed.
The captain wished to toss the statue overboard immediately, but we convinced her that we should wait until everyone had recovered from the combat. After tossing the statue overboard we were able to complete our trip to Chirapher with no further incidents.
For our aid in protecting her ship, Captain Sara refunded our cost of passage and offered us one free ride any time we seek passage to a port she is heading to.
November 13, 2018 Bible Study — God Or Man? Who Are You Going to Follow?
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6.
We have two accounts about the religious leaders who were Sadducees having Apostles arrested, the first time it is Peter and John, the second time it is all, or at least most, of them. On both occasions those arrested were held overnight. On both occasions Peter continues to show his tact by telling them that they were the ones who had crucified Jesus and that God raised Him from the dead. This was doubly offensive since those who was speaking to explicitly disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead. On both occasions the Jewish leaders ordered them to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. And on both occasions the Apostles responded by saying that they would obey God rather than man. On the second occasion the Jewish leaders wanted to kill the Apostles, but were talked out of it by one of their own, Gamaliel, who pointed out that if the Apostles were merely echoing the teachings of a man, they would soon lose heart. Gamaliel further pointed out that, on the other hand, if the Apostles were teaching things from God all attempts to silence them would fail. I believe that the message we should learn from Gamaliel is that the best way to defeat bad ideas is with better ideas, not with force or violence.
More importantly than what Gamaliel said and the lesson we can draw from it is the response of the believers to the threats levied against them. When the believers heard of the harsh threats which the authorities had made they gathered and prayed. We can learn a lot from what they prayed for. They did not pray for protection, or for God to overthrow the government. No, they prayed that they would boldly proclaim God’s word and that the Holy Spirit would work great wonders through them. They were not afraid of what the authorities might do to them. They sought God’s aid to stand up for Him in the face of these threats.
The Adventures of Surac–Introduction
Ever since I started this blog it has been my intention to write entries other than my daily Bible Study, but I never got around to doing so for various reasons. However, I play Dungeons & Dragons and have wanted to keep a log, in story form, of the campaigns I play in in order to keep track of what is going on in the campaign (and because I think it might be fun). This also has never happened until now for various reasons. So, now I am introducing “The Adventures of Surac”.
The characters involved are: Vod, a human 3rd level Barbarian/3rd level Monk (conceived by the player as being from an order of monks who harness their rage), Tifa (I am unsure of the spelling), a half-elven/fey 6th level Rogue, and Surac, a human 6th level Warlock. The adventures will be told from the perspective of Surac (my character). I have not yet told those I am playing with of my intention to post my summaries of our gaming sessions here, but they certainly deserve partial credit for the stories which result.
November 12, 2018 Bible Study — Do We Need to Be Afraid of Offending People?
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 1-3.
When Peter proposed that someone be chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, he did so to a group of about 120 believers. That group nominated two men from among them, men who had started following Jesus when He was baptized by John and were still among His followers. Then they prayed for God to show them which of the two should be selected and cast lots. This was all done at one meeting. This suggests to me that perhaps we spend too much time selecting people for leadership roles in the Church. However, what I really wanted to point out by discussing this is that 120 believers represented to bulk of Jesus’ followers when the Holy Spirit came upon them. I have confidence that Peter would have wanted the overwhelming majority of Christ’s followers to have a say in who was selected to replace Judas. The importance of this number is that it puts what happened on the Day of Pentecost into perspective. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit added more than ten new followers for each person who was following Christ that morning. When we ask the Holy Spirit to work, this is the sort of results we ought to be prepared for.
In today’s passage we have two examples of Peter’s outreach sermon. One on the Day of Pentecost, when we are led to believe that the Holy Spirit was specifically guiding his words. The second a few days/weeks later in the Temple after healing the cripple. In both cases, Peter made no attempt to sugarcoat the guilt of those to whom he was preaching. In both cases, he declared that his listeners were guilty of Jesus’ crucifixion. He made no attempt to avoid offending them. In no uncertain terms he told them that they were guilty of rejecting and sending to His death the one whom God had sent as the Messiah for whom they claimed to be looking. There may be times when we are called to use softer techniques, but this passage, and other passages in the New testament, make it clear that most of the time we should confront sinners with their sin (as long as we remember that we are no better than they). Perhaps a better way to express the lesson I take from these two sermons by Peter is that we should not be afraid of offending people.
November 11, 2018 Bible Study — Just Because Someone Else’s Sin Is Greater Does Not Mean That You Are Not a Sinner
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 19-21.
When Jesus was before Pilate He told Pilate that he only had the power to crucify Him because it had been given to Him from God. The same thing applies to us and the authorities. Jesus did not answer to Pilate and we do not answer to the authorities of this world either. Jesus answered only to the Father and Pilate, the authority of this world, only had the power over Him which the Father had given him. Now, as I was re-reading this in order to compose the above thoughts, something new struck me. Jesus told Pilate that he was going to order His crucifixion even though Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent of the charges. By doing so, Pilate would be sinning, even by Pilate’s own moral code. When those in authority break the rules to mete out punishment on the innocent (whether they know they are innocent or not), they are sinning and God will hold them accountable. I wanted to point out that Jesus’ statement about those who turned Him over to Pilate had the greater sin still implied that Pilate sinned because all of the commentaries I remember on this verse tend to make you think otherwise. Those who bring punishment down upon those who they know have been falsely accused sin, but those who bring the false accusations commit a greater sin.
I have often wished we knew more about Thomas because he is the one of the Twelve I most identify with. Thomas was not willing to take the word of the other disciples on Jesus’ resurrection. He needed to see for himself. He was skeptical of the testimony from the others because it seemed to him like wishful thinking. In many ways Thomas represents the answer to those who question why, if Jesus did the things the Bible says He did, so few non-Christian sources mention Him at all. How could someone see what Jesus had done, even before the resurrection, believe that He was someone significant enough to mention, and not become His follower? If you saw what Jesus had done and were skeptical of His miracles, then He was just another rabble-rouser, and not a particularly significant one since He made no attempt to raise an army to overthrow the Romans. Only those who believed He was the Messiah would have viewed Him as significant until His followers numbers in the 10os of thousands. I want to circle back to Thomas before I end. Thomas shows us that God will provide convincing evidence for those skeptics who genuinely seek the truth.
November 10, 2018 Bible Study — God’s Word Is Truth
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 17-18.
My focus today will be on what John writes in this passage about truth. God’s truth will make us holy. That is not quite right. God will make us holy by His truth. Jesus gave His disciples God’s word, which is truth. And the reciprocal of that is true as well. Truth is God’s word. God’s word will reveal to us what is true, and as we learn what is true we hear God’s word more clearly. The world hates those who listen to God’s word because the world does not want to accept His truth. Which brings me to Pilate’s response to Jesus, “What is truth?” The world does not want to accept that there is objective truth. The world defines as true that which they desire to be true and feels threatened by those who acknowledge that truth is not a matter of opinion. Jesus sends us into the world to testify to God’s truth just as He was sent into the world for that same purpose. The final point I want to make is that Jesus talks about desiring His followers to be in unity with one another. Unity is only possible when we stand fully in God’s truth. IF we allow ourselves to be deceived by lies we will be separated from each other because each of us will insist that what we want to be true is true. We can only live in unity when we agree that God’s truth is the only truth.
November 9, 2018 Bible Study — If We Seek God, the Holy Spirit Will Show Us That Jesus Is the Way
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 14-16.
Many people believe that there are many paths to God, even some people who consider themselves Christians. There are indeed many paths to God. However, they all lead to Jesus. When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He was expressing a basic truth about the Universe. Those who truly seek God will find Jesus, some sooner, others later. The same thing applies for those who seek truth or meaning in this life. The saddest thing I ever witnessed was someone who had been genuinely seeking God who turned away when that search led them to Christ. They had been so conditioned to believe that Christianity was a scam that they refused to accept Jesus when their search led them to Him. Jesus and the Father are one, so it is clearly impossible to know God without knowing Jesus. However, I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit will use the Satanic Bible to reveal Jesus to the individual who is genuinely seeking God if that is where they are looking.
I was going to go on to Jesus telling us that we can ask anything in His name and He will do it (and I may still write something about that) but as I read the verses around that I was struck by what Jesus had to say about the Advocate whom God will send us (has sent us). Jesus tells us that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it is not looking for Him and does not recognize Him. The Holy Spirit will teach ever greater truth to those who receive Him, but only those who are looking for Him will receive Him. However, we must not only look for the Holy Spirit, we must also recognize Him when He comes to us. In order for us to be capable of receiving the Holy Spirit we must love Jesus and love God. If we love Jesus and love God we will do as they have commanded. If we do not do as He has commanded we do not love Him. But we must be looking for the Holy Spirit as well. There are things which we need to know which are not wholly contained within the Bible.
I could go on and on writing about what John has written in today’s passage, but I am running out of time. I will wrap up by mentioning that the Holy Spirit will live in us, if we let Him. By doing so He makes us one with Christ and one with God. Which is really the same thing, since they are One. Part of the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of peace, a peace which the world can never give us. If you find yourself troubled or afraid, call out to the Holy Spirit and embrace Him. As you learn to recognize that all that happens in this world comes from God, and that God causes all things to work together for those who love Him, you will find the presence of the Holy Spirit giving you the peace of which Jesus speaks. Iam going to use an old story about not worrying to sum up this lesson:
If you love God there is no need to worry because in life there are only two things to worry about: either you are well or you are sick. If you are well, there is nothing to worry about. If you are sick there are only two things to worry about: either you will get better or you will die. If you get better there is nothing to worry about. If you love God and you die you will go to Heaven, so there is nothing to worry about.
This is much easier said than done, but the doing is related to where Jesus earlier told us that those who lay down their lives will save them. The more we focus on doing God’s will at the expense of ourselves, the more we will have the peace which Jesus promised us.
November 8, 2018 Bible Study — Seeking Opportunities To Serve Others
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 12-13.
One of the themes which is throughout the Gospel of John is the idea that people saw the miraculous signs which Jesus performed but still did not believe in Him. John seems to be saying that most of the people who witnessed Jesus ministry here on earth viewed it as great entertainment but did not take His teachings seriously. However, John points out that there were those who believed, even among the leaders of the Jewish people. Most of even those who believed were not willing to say so publicly because they did not wish to face the opprobrium they would receive from their peers for doing so. I wrote all of that as the setup for what I think is the central point of today’s passage and I still failed to actually set it up.
Jesus tells His listeners in today’s passage that on the Day of Judgement it will not be Him, or even God the Father, who judges people. Rather, it will be the truth which Jesus has made known to us which will judge us. On the Day of Judgement all of the lies which we have used to shield ourselves from the truth which we do not want to acknowledge will be stripped away and we will be exposed naked to the cold, hard light of that truth. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to expose us to God’s truth in this life, the less harsh that day will be.
Repeatedly throughout His ministry Jesus told His disciples that in order to be great in the Kingdom of God they needed to be a servant to others. In today’s passage He illustrates the meaning of this in a very profound way. As they prepared for their Passover celebration, Jesus took on the role of servant and washed each of His Apostles feet. If Jesus could do this for them, and, by proxy, us, how can they, and we, do any less? Jesus did not wait for an opportunity to serve others, He sought one out. Let each of us do likewise.
November 7, 2018 Bible Study — Listening to the Voice of the Good Shepherd
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 10-11.
The account here of what Jesus said about the Good Shepherd, the sheepfold, and the sheep is a very mixed metaphor. In this metaphor Jesus is the shepherd, the gate, and the gatekeeper (OK, perhaps the gatekeeper is the Holy Spirit). First, Jesus is the gate, those religious leaders who do not come through Him and lead the sheep through Him are thieves and robbers. They do not have the best interest of the sheep at heart. Further those sheep who go in and out of the fold through the gate will find safety and comfort. Those who seek another way in or out of the fold will fail to get into the safety of the sheepfold and suffer hurt and injury when they attempt to go out for food and water. But Jesus is also the Good Shepherd. Those who are His sheep recognize His voice and follow His lead to good pasture and safety. The key understanding here is that those who do not follow Jesus’ voice are not part of His flock and thus will not gain entry into the Kingdom of God. He was willing to sacrifice His life for His sheep, those shepherds (Church leaders) who truly follow His lead will do likewise. Those leaders who are in it for the money and/or prestige will abandon their followers when trouble/persecution arises.
We typically remember the Apostle Thomas as “Doubting Thomas” for his response to being told that Jesus had risen from the dead. However, in this passage he encourages the rest of the disciples to accompany Jesus back to Judea even though they all might face death for doing so. This is not the braggadocio of Peter during Passion Week, but a genuine call for the other disciples to stand with him at Jesus’ side in the face of perceived danger. I don’t want to make too much of either what Thomas did here or what Peter did later. Thomas is calling for the disciples to stand together with Jesus while Peter was claiming that he would stand alone with Jesus.
Mary and Martha represent the faith challenge that most of us experience. We believe in Jesus, we believe in God’s power, but when it comes down to it we doubt that He will act. Here Mary and Martha believed that those who believed in Jesus would have eternal life, but doubted that their brother would rise from the dead.
November 6, 2018 Bible Study — Contrast Between Jesus’ Approach To ‘Sinners’ and His Approach To the ‘Righteous”
I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.
The story of the woman caught in adultery is not in the earliest, most reliable manuscripts of the Gospel of John, which means that it was unlikely to have been in the original. However, since God allowed it to remain in the Bible for as long as He did before this was discovered I believe that it provides material we can learn from. At the end, when all of her accusers had left, Jesus told the woman that He would not condemn her either and she should go and sin no more. Thus the passage provides us with a model for dealing with sinners. It is not our place to condemn them for their sins, but we should encourage them to stop sinning.
In the next section Jesus’ interactions with people remind me of a friend of mine who is sometimes a jerk. Reading this it seems to me as if Jesus is intentionally antagonizing his audience. It is worth noting that John introduces the exchange by saying that Jesus told those who believed in Him that the truth would set them free and that they responded by saying that they had never been slaves. From there, Jesus starts a process where He says that they are not the children of Abraham, but are rather the children of the devil. He antagonizes them to the point where they want to stone Him. My point here is that there are times when it is appropriate to antagonize those who think they are righteous by attacking their assumptions about themselves.