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This is the second installment of "BEWARE THE CAPTIVE INNOCENTS". It's best to start with the beginning before proceeding with the continuation of the story below.
Jackson set the buckets of food scraps and water down at the foot of the steps. A couple of rats, waiting for their chance to feast, seemed perturbed at his presence and moved slowly into the shadows as he reached for his keys. His eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the dimness, but as Jackson's hefty body shoved open the creaky, heavy old door, a putrid odor made him stop short with a sneer and hold his breath.
He had made this trip to the cellar too many times to remember over the past couple of months, taking turns with William and Marcus. He loathed having to deal with the heathens, held captive inside, even more than he hated the smell of unwashed human flesh and waste. Why they didn't just hang the Witches and be done with them seemed senseless to him, but he dared not speak against the King's Law.
"FILTHY WITCHES!" he cursed in a deep, gravelly voice. "DON'T KNOW WHY WE FEED THE LIKES OF YOU WHEN OUR OWN GO HUNGRY!".
Jillian looked up at Jackson just in time to watch him snort and spit into the bucket of food scraps he was about to serve them. Her stomach fought between pangs of hunger and the urge to vomit. As it flip-flopped, a bit of bile rose in her throat as she swallowed back extra spittle and painfully held it there - with her throat closed off - til the nausea passed.
Her dizzying lack of iron made her head ache as tiny, swirling black and white spots moved before her eyes. The sensation was cut short by the jerk of her arms as Jackson pulled at her chains. "HERE WITCH!". He dumped some of the bucket of food onto a filthy tin plate at her feet and sloshed water from the other bucket into a battered drinking cup. She watched as the food scraps spilled out, hoping they wouldn't fall onto the dirt floor that was soaked with her own urine. Jillian's dress, now a mere scrap of tattered and dirty green fabric, shifted off of her shoulder as she reached for her meal. The waistline hung near her hip as if the dress had been two sizes too big. Shaking, she reached for a cold slab of ham as Jackson moved toward old Simone.
Jackson peered oddly at the old woman as he grabbed a handful of her matted, long gray hair and began to lift her slumped head. "Resistance". Rigor mortis was already beginning to set in. He kicked at her calf. Nothing. All at once, Simone's head jerked upward - staring up blankly toward Jackson's face with her own dead eyes - from her folded position on the floor, the twist of her neck was unnatural. Two hundred and sixty pounds of burly weight jumped backward as quick as a frog might leap from a snake to avoid becoming its' meal. Jackson stood, trembling and sweating. "THE OLD WOMAN IS DEAD!" His thoughts screamed in his head as he tried to convince himself. Just then, a throaty whisper came - without benefit of movement from Simone's bluish lips..."THEESE ARE NOT WITCHESSS. WITCHES ARE NOT EEVIL - LOOK WITHIINN". "Before Jackson could remember to breathe, the old lady's head returned to its' slumped position. His heart pounded violently in his chest. He glanced round the cell and realized he had been the only one to witness the event or hear the voice.
Sarah looked at him queerly from across the shadowed cellar. Jackson turned and left abruptly, fumbling with shaking hands to lock the cellar door securely behind him. His legs, heavy as tree trunks, shook violently making it hard to scale the steps to the safety waiting above-ground. He emerged into the sunlight, breathing heavily and trying to compose himself. He nearly plowed into William. "WHAT'S GOT YOU RILED? DEM WEETCHES CURSE YA, DID THEY?", William chuckled at his own joke. "LOOKS LIKE YOU SEEN A GHOST JACKIE BOY". Recovering slightly, Jackson wiped the sweat off his upper lip and replied, "WE GOT US A DEAD ONE. NEED TO GIT 'ER OUT". He was surprised his throat could produce any sound as he spoke. Abruptly, Jackson left William to assess the situation and made his way quickly across the courtyard to the barracks. He collapsed onto his bunk with a thud. The front of his trousers were soaked - he had pissed himself without even realizing it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jillian's hunger, for the time-being, had been satiated. Her senses had returned to near-normal by the time she had finished the dried bread and ham. The only drawback being that as her consciousness returned, so did her awareness of the pain in her body. Her thoughts swarmed around the recent death of her beloved chamber-mate - her body long-since removed from it's shackles by two of the guards, the trials - and probable executions - scheduled for Jillian, Mary and Sarah the following day, and the sensations building within her since her plea on the previous afternoon. She recalled some of the visions which had faded in and out of her sleep during the night..
...an enchanting woman in white-flowing robes riding a high-stepping, sleek, black horse; the brightness of sunshine - in the usually dim-gray rainy weather of England - nearly blinding her with it's reflection; and the sound of hundreds of people yelling, crying and gasping at once.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Visions raced through Jackson's mind. His brain was stuck somewhere between the stages of sleep and being awake. Unable to move and unable to escape, images of childhood memories, the lessons he had learned about evil beings, and his promises to God to obey His will flashed by...
Jackson fell asleep with images of the flames of Hell licking up his body...higher...hotter. Held prisoner to his nightmare, the ghostly forms of all those he'd seen tortured and killed - in the name of Witchcraft - looking upon him and laughing...
READ THE CONCLUSION OF "BEWARE THE CAPTIVE INNOCENTS" HERE:"JUSTICE IS SERVED Known in the Pagan Community as the "Green Witch", POLLY TASKEY is descended from Mary Bradbury (Perkins). She shares her interests through the PAGAN BY DESIGN BLOG and MESSAGE BOARDS. If reprinted, this byline and links shown here must be included."
Credit: wiccancommunity.blogspot.com
A writing from an author I like. I just "expect" to shower in the morning, as most of us in my country and social class do, but I always think of how good it would feel to so many people who have nothing. I don't really feel guilty because I have these nice comforts of "civilization" but I do feel very lucky and grateful. And I honor very much, those who have to deal with extreme poverty beyond anything I can imagine. Are they unhappy? I can't say that necessarily because gosh I can be unhappy and look at how little I have to worry about -- compared to people with problems involving their very survival. The same respect goes for the very sick as well; for whatever your reason, if you're at the bottom looking up, things look a little different.
In almost all of history, the vast majority of people understood the view from the bottom due to their own life circumstance. Most of the people who have ever lived on this planet have been oppressed and poor. But their history was seldom written except in the Bible (until very recently in such books as Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States). Only in modern times and wealthy countries do we find the strange phenomenon of the masses of people having an establishment mentality! This relatively new thing, called "the middle class," gives many of us just enough comfort not to have to feel the pinch or worry about injustice for ourselves. Only by solidarity with other people's suffering can comfortable people be converted. Otherwise they are disconnected from the cross--of the world, of others, of Jesus, and finally of their own necessary participation in the great mystery of dying and rising. Most of us in the Northern Hemisphere have a view from the top even though we are nowhere near the top ourselves. The mass of people can normally be bought off by giving them just enough "bread and circuses," as the Romans said.
In the early Christian Scriptures, or the "New" Testament, we clearly see that it's mostly the lame, the poor, the blind, the prostitutes, the drunkards, the tax collectors, the sinners--those on the bottom and the outside--that really hear Jesus' teaching and get the point and respond to him. It's the leaders and insiders (the priests, scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the law, and Roman leaders) who crucify him. Check this out, if you do not believe me. How did we miss such a core point? Most of Christian history kept the point from hitting home by blaming the Jews. Power was the problem, not the Jews. When Christians have all the power, they do the same thing, and we also would have crucified Jesus if he had critiqued the Catholic Church or any church the way he did his own religion.
After Jesus' death and resurrection, the first Christians are largely "underground." They are the persecuted ones, meeting in secrecy in the catacombs. During this time, we see a lot of good interpretation of the Scriptures, with a liberationist worldview (i.e., a view from the bottom). You could say that at that time, we were largely a Church of the poor and for the poor.
The turning point, at which the Church moved from the bottom to the top, is the year 313 when Emperor Constantine thinks he's doing us a great favor by beginning to make Christianity the established religion of the Holy Roman Empire. That's how the Apostolic Church became Roman Catholicism. We got all linked up with imperial world views, and our perspective changed from the view from the bottom and powerlessness (the persecuted, the outsiders) to the view from the top where we were now the ultimate insiders (power, money, status, and control)--and Emperors convened (and controlled?) most of the early Councils of the Church, not bishops or popes. That is verifiable history. Sadly, most did not see the problem with that (and many still don't). Many saints along the way still tried to be a Church for the poor, but from a somewhat "superior" and safe stance. It is only in some form of actual solidarity with the outsiders/sinners/little ones that we fully get the message of the Gospel. It is only then that we understand our own poor soul and its neediness.
by Richard Rohr -- Adapted from Scripture as Liberation; and Gospel Call for Compassionate Action (Bias from the Bottom)
"HEY WITCHIES!"
"FIRST GOT TO START BY APOLOGIZING TO THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW MY PAGE AND FOLLOW MY BLOGS SINCE IV PRETTY MUCH STARTED ON THIS SITE :( FORGIVE ME. IT HAS BEEN ONE BIG ROLLER COASTER THE LAST 6 MONTHS AND I HAVE BEEN VERY MIA THROUGH MOST OF IT WHAT WITH BEING ILL BEING BUSY WITH ALOT OF NON WITCHY RELATED THINGS THAT ITS TAKEN UP SO MUCH OF MY TIME AND ENERGY ESPECIALLY THE WORRYING WHEN I WAS ILL WHICH STARTED JUST OVER A YEAR AGO BUT I CAN SAY IM NOW 100% FIT AND READY TO ROCK THIS YEAR AND MAKE IT A MUCH BETTER YEAR."
"FIRSTLY I AM NOW GOING TO BE BACK ONLINE PRETTY MUCH EVERYDAY AS OF TOMORROW AS I AM FINALLY SETTING UP MY WORK AREA/DESK SPACE TOMORROW ALL KITTED OUT WITH LAPTOP, EXTENDED LAPTOP BIG SCREEN, PRINTER, SPEAKERS ETC WHICH I GOT TO SAY THE BEST THING IM EXCITED ABOUT IS THE FACT I CAN NOW START MAKING VIDEOS AGAIN ! THE SET UP I HAVE HAD OF MY LAPTOP HAS MADE IT VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE VIDEOS BUT AS OF TOMORROW IM ALL SET TO GO =D *DOING A DANCE* !"
"VIDEOS I HAVE PLANNED COMING UP IS A BOOK OF SHADOWS UPDATE VIDEO WHICH WILL BE AMAZING AS IM GOING TO BE GOING THROUGH IT STEP BY STEP SHOWING YOU ALL PAGES OF WHAT I HAVE SO FAR =)"
"ALSO EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NOT BEEN ON HERE AS MUCH AS ID OF LIKED I HAVE NOT BEEN NEGLECTING MY CRAFT EITHER AND HAVE BEEN DOING ALOT OF MY OWN CREATIONS IN THE MEAN TIME READY FOR WHEN I DO SET UP MY ONLINE STORE, WHICH INCLUDES OILS, INCENSES AND ALSO BEEN WORKING ON TINCSURES AND ALSO A HERBAL PLANT FEED OF MY OWN CREATION WHICH I SHALL BE DOING VIDEOS ON ALL OF THEM TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU."
"I WILL ALSO BE FOCUSING ON CONTINUING MY BLOGS WITH MY CREATIONS AND ALSO VIDEOS OF MY CRAFT MY OPINIONS AND UPDATES ON THE KITCHEN WITCHY SPACE WHICH HAS CHANGED CONSIDERABLY SINCE THE WITCHY ROOM BLOG I DID WHEN I STARTED, WHOLE NEW ALTAR SET UP ETC =) "
"SO AS I SAID AS OF TOMORROW ONCE EVERYTHING IS SET UP I SHALL BE BACK IN FULL SWING AND POWER AND AS ALWAYS I AM HERE TO HELP AND GIVE ADVICE SHOULD IT BE NEEDED AND HAPPY TO CHAT =) MUCH LOVE AND LIGHT TO YOU ALL"
"
Credit: just-wicca.blogspot.com
Discernment Ministries receives many requests from believers seeking to understand truth from error in these perilous times. Exercising discernment is something that each believer is required to do according to Scripture. But exercising discernment can be quite troublesome in our era of mixed and confusing messages.
The other day we ran across an 1844 vintage sermon by J.C. Philpot entitled "Trying the Spirits." This sermon was delivered well over 150 years ago. It has none of the modern influences of psychobabble or psychoheresy. It has none of the encumbrances of modern lingo, postmodern theology, or New Age buzz words. As such it is a refreshingly pure message about how to discern truth from error.
Philpot's sermons are written in a slightly older form of English which a few readers may find daunting. But blessings come to those who persevere through the older text and discover precious nuggets. We have excerpted a few portions of this sermon today, and will post a few more tomorrow, but the reader is exhorted to read this sermon through in its entirety, perhaps as part of your morning devotional. Or, if you are churchless or attending a church where the Word of God isn't being preached, consider reading an old sermon like this one so that you may be enriched and fed.
TRYING THE SPIRITS
J. C. Philpot
Preached at Zoar Chapel, Great Alie Street, London, on Thursday evening, August 1, 1844
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God."-"I John iv.1.
...The Apostle John living at a late period of the Apostolic age, and writing his Epistle, but a short time before his decease, seeing how many of these seducing spirits then were abroad, warned the believers to whom he was writing against a superstitious reverence to all who stood up in the name of the Lord: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because," he adds, "many false spirits are gone out into the world."
The injuction, then, is not to believe every spirit, but to "try the spirts whether they are of God." You will observe, the Apostle does not enjoin his beloved brethren to try men's words, but to try their spirits. It is not words, so much as the spirit in which words are spoken, that really act upon the mind. Words come and go, according to the vulgar saying, "they come in at one ear, and go out at the other;" they leave no abiding impression; but the spirit, either for good or evil, that is, the working of God the Spirit on the heart, or the working of Satan, the evil spirit, in the carnal mind, leaves an abiding impression for good or evil. John, therefore, does not bid us watch men's words; for a man may say anything, and the baser and blacker a hypocrite he is, the more boldly and confidently can he speak. Nor does he bid us weigh men's actions, though actions are often great indications of men's minds; but he carries us beyond both words and actions, and, by bidding us watch men's spirits, takes us into the secret chambers from which words flow, and to the hidden springs by which actions are influenced.
"Try the spirits." Weigh and examine the spirit of a man, whether it be of God. Now, in doing this, a man taught of God will first try his own spirit; and when he has tried his own spirit, he will be in a proper situation, and not before, to try the spirits of others....
Pastor Philpot then lists eight points which "show how a child of God is called upon not to believe even his own spirit, but to try it, whether it is of God." It is only after the believer examines his own self that he can then "go forth with these scales that have been suspended in his own heart, and try the spirits of others." Today's excerpt below, then, pertains to self-examination:
...6. Again. Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is in the soul, He is there as the Spirit of a sound mind; as the Spirit speaks to Timothy (2 Tim. i. 7.) "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." And it is a mercy, a great mercy, to have a sound mind. A sound mind is one not attracted by every passing novelty, that does not receive every wild doctrine, is not caught by every rushing blast of enthusiasm, is not turned aside by the deceptive powers of Satan as an angel of light. The Spirit of the Lord being in the soul as a spirit of a sound mind, receives only sound truth, such truth only as is commended to the conscience, and such as only the spiritual understanding sees, spiritual faith embraces, spiritual hope anchors in, and spiritual love enjoys. What a mercy it is for people where the minister has the "spirit of a sound mind;" who is not caught by every doctrine that comes floating forth on the wings of novelty, not attracted by every false light that Satan may raise up, not deluded by delusive experiences, nor the blaze and glare of fleshly holiness; but in the "spirit of a sound mind," discovers the real from the counterfeit, and brings forth that which he has tasted, felt, and handled of the word of life. This spirit of a sound mind will keep him steady and upright amid all the delusions of the day, and preserve him single and sincere amidst all the tossings to and fro of the winds of error.
7. Again. Wherever the Spirit dwells in a man's heart, He will be there a Spirit of love, for "the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost." This will produce love to Jesus, as the only hope of salvation; love to the people of God, because the heart is united to them in the bonds of sympathy and affection; love to the truth, because it is brought with power into the conscience, and a sweetness found in it more than of honey and the honeycomb.
8. Again. Wherever the Spirit of truth dwells in a man, He is there a spirit of uprightness and integrity. Such a one will never call evil good, or good evil; will never put light for darkness, or darkness for light; will never mistake bitter for sweet, or sweet for bitter. But there will be in him a spirit of honesty, integrity, and godly simplicity, whereby, whether in himself or others, that which is right is known to be right, and that which is wrong is known to be wrong. So that no artificial coverings, no false glossings, no hypocritical designs, no enthusiastic pretensions, can long hide from him what truth is and what error is, whether working in his own mind, or manifested in that of others. By this spirit of integrity, when he errs or falls, it is acknowledged; when he backslides, he deeply bewails it; and when he is entangled in Satan's snares, he mourns and sighs on account of it....
...Now this does not imply any great boasting or confidence on the part of him that tries; nay, rather, he cannot try the spirits himself until he is clothed with humility. It is only so far as he is possessed of a broken heart and contrite spirit that he is able to try them aright; for he has to try them not in the flesh, not as thinking himself a man of wondrous judgment, not with carnal ideas of his own discernment, to say, "I will try this man or that." But covered with humility, having godly fear powerfully at work, feeling the spirit of contrition in the soul, he goes forth tenderly, warily, and watchfully; and in that secret court of conscience where God has tried him, and in that heart where God the Spirit dwells, does he try the spirits whether they are of God. There is much harsh judgment, and hasty, rash cutting off in many persons that springs from bad temper, envy, jealousy, pride, suspicion, want of love, a morose and sullen disposition, vanity and self-conceit. A man may cut and slash on the right hand and the left, and call this "trying the spirits," when he is only giving vent to his own pride and self-importance, and is but an instrument in the hands of Satan to harass and distress God's people. This is not the "trying of the spirits" that John speaks of....
Tomorrow's excerpt from this same sermon will "look at some marks of that spirit which is not of God" in others.
