Nothing gets a reformer worked up quite as much as wrath…specifically the wrath of God. I, personally, love the smell of wrath in the morning. It’s not that we don’t like grace. After all we came up with that whole sole fide, sole gratia thing. It’s just that the taste of God’s grace tastes so much sweeter when you understand potent brew that is the cup of His wrath.

While others are content to simply dwell on platitudes like “God is love,” the reformers will joyfully remind you that, “As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

So, we like wrath. Get over it. If you don’t agree, you’re probably just not destined to.

In the immortal words of John Edwards:

The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation don’t slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened her mouth under them.

Drink deeply, you who are chosen by God, of the deep well of God’s grace…it sure beats the hell out of sipping from the other cup.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” —Romans 1:16 

There’s an old joke that went something like this: A man went for an annual check-up with his doctor and went through all kinds of tests.  The Dr. told him, “We’ve got good news and bad news.  First, the good news: you don’t have cancer.” 

“What’s the bad news?” the patient asks. 

“The bad news is that we’re going to name a disease after you.” 

The joke is a joke because it has an ironic punch line.  Good news, then bad news. 

The world today says that they don’t want bad news.  Marketing strategies today are, for the most part, made up of only good news.  “Have I got a deal for you!”  “Hey, it’s a win-win situation!”  “You’re asking, ‘what’s in it for me?’ and I’m going to tell you exactly what’s in it for you…” and so forth and so on.  There’s never any bad news. 

Evangelical Christianity in America today has rushed to adopt that in the past 20 years, and in the past decade especially.  From the pulpit this is preached: “Let me tell you the good news!” …and there’s never any bad news.  It’s just all good.  In fact, many congregations throughout the United States today even boast that this is how they approach the gospel; that this is how they approach public worship; that market-driven techniques are the methodology they use to grow the mega-churches.  But, folks, that is not the approach the Scriptures reveal concerning the gospel and its proclamation. 

Gospel is a word that means “good news” and there’s a reason why it’s good news.  Certainly, there is a benefit for the recipient of the good news; nevertheless, the good news revealed from the pages of Scripture comes by the revelation of the truth that there is some exceptionally bad news first.  The bad news is what makes the good news so good… and both truths come by revelation; that is, it is revealed supernaturally by God’s Spirit through the proclamation of His Word.  The Gospel presentation, the good news, is not the gospel unless the wrath of God is revealed against sin, and that God’s wrath against sin is dealt with sufficiently so that the sinner can stand justified before a holy God.  If it does not contain the wrath of God, it is not the gospel.  The central point of the gospel is the Cross of Jesus Christ, where God pours out His holy wrath upon His Son as a propitiation for sin.  If you remove that, you DO… NOT… HAVE… THE… GOSPEL… PERIOD! 

Do we bear witness against ourselves that we are ashamed of the Gospel because we do not want to offend anyone by preaching that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18)?

This entry is about fiction.  Cute and clever title, huh? Yeah, I thought so too until I googled it and discovered one of my favorite TV shows ever used it as an episode title once, instantly killing my pride and all feelings of originality that had once fluttered in my blog-thirsty heart.  Kudos to you miss Veronica Mars, you know I still love all three of your ill-fated seasons.  In any case, Veronica Mars is a perfect example of what I’d like to write about today — fiction I love that I wish I could emulate.  See, I would make a great spunky teen detective with sass, and yet I’m just stuck with an ass and rather copious amounts of spunk.  It really brings the green out in my eyes.

I just can’t help but envy fiction.  It’s so fantastical and allows people to be creative and experience the world in an impossible way, but it also makes me really, really jealous.  Seriously, how often must I painfully pray to the heavens to have Sabrina the Teenage Witch Superman’s powers?  I’ve wished for that on every single birthday cake I’ve ever had and zilch…nada.  Not cool, Dios. Not cool.

Ok, so maybe that’s a tad unrealistic.  I probably should put my cape away and stop talking to random black cats in the ally near the Friendship Hotel.  It just ain’t gonna happen.  But what of the fiction that comes deceptively close to warranting a “non” in front of it?  Or how about the kind of fiction that explores real problems, but through completely abstract metaphors (ie. science fiction and fantasy)?  Now let me cut the bullshit, I’m talking about Twilight again.  Over the break I watched Twilight: New Moon and found myself relating heavily to the all-too-annoying protagonist, Bella.  Yes, I’m admitting to being a stupid 14-year-old girl every once in awhile.  Sadly, Bella’s feverishly dull and melodramatic antics accurately portrayed this lame, albeit rare side of me.  I just wish it hadn’t been doing the same exact thing for every other teeny bopper girl in the audience.  Here’s the thing, though, she got a happy ending — cue jealousy.

The whole Bella, Edward, Jacob triangle reminds me a lot of the two men with whom I’ve been recently reconnecting (read: Bad Romance 1 and 2).  As the annoying Bella, I was heartbroken when the tall, hauntingly beautiful, charming, emotionally detached, gorgeous-eyed, experienced, jaded, sleepless, unhappy, cold, life-sucking man with a dark past, overly private, secluded lifestyle, and a crazy family left me.  Being the stupid whiny brunette that I am, I was upset and didn’t understand why he left.  He told me it was because I could do so much better than him and that he wasn’t good enough to be part of my life.  Instead of raising the insecurity flags, like Bella, this just made me want him more.  Dumb, right?  Of course it is, but he left anyway and I was left to scream and die silently through the winter.  Melodramatic much? You bet.  But then I met someone new and this “Jacob” was the exact opposite of “Edward.”  He also had his secrets and dark past, but the way he handled it was so different.  He was like fire, warmth, passion, temper, power, and protection.  He loved me before I even realized how much I cared about him, and once I realized what was happening I couldn’t make myself let him go.  I selfishly kept him as comfort.  He was the only thing that got me through everything.  Meanwhile I acted out and did stupid things as I tried to find myself again.  I loved my Jacob, but I was lost and something was still missing so I broke his heart.  Had Edward left me broken? Had he taken some piece of me with him?  Was I that fucked up by a vampire?  These are all questions a 14-year-old girl who has never been in love would ask, but why is a presumably more experienced 23-year-old asking these same stupid and confused questions?  I guess because we all have a little downsy Bella in us (and least Miss Mormon and I do)

This is why fiction makes me so jealous.  It starts from a grain of truth inside someone creative and then sprouts into a new world and story where anything is possible. In this Mormon crap, I found the fiction not in the vampires and werewolves, but in the ending. In real life, Edward doesn’t come back and make things right with Bella. The truth is they have a really fucked up, unhealthy relationship as I described in my last wrath post.  Why does fictional Bella not have to face that?  It’s not fair!  Bella’s stupidity is meant to play directly to my jealousy and desire for an insanely passionate, obsessive, unhealthy relationship and then it throws lies in my face.  It’s cruel and irresponsible.  I want to see the version in which Bella continues to cry herself to sleep until she wakes up one day and gets some god damn self-respect.

I got my Google Wave account , now I got 8 invites to give out. First 8 to comment on this post (probably won’t even reach 8 ) will get an invite from me, just comment with your googlemail email address, or if you’d prefer to email it to me. NO SPAM WILL BE SENT TO THESE ACCOUNTS! YOU’RE PERFECTLY SAFE BY GIVING IT TO ME.

You heard that right—Red Letter Christians are the True Cause of world poverty. This is the logical conclusion to the Neo-Marxism of Red Letter Christianity. Neo-Marxism being linked with chronic poverty of Third World Countries and the  Third Way of the Emerging Apostate Pastors—this conclusion is not only logical but obvious. Here is what Saint Brannon Howse, Gruppenführer of the Calvinazi GOIPview Weekend had to say a few years ago about Red Letter Christians and liberals’ roles in causing world poverty:

“Hurricane Katrina has brought to the nation’s attention the plight of the poor in America. While Jesse Jackson and other liberals attempt to blame poverty on racism and the President and other republicans look to throw money at the problem, few are discussing who and what are really to blame for the root cause of poverty in America.

The issue is not racism but anti-Christian bigotry on the part of the ACLU, the NEA, the DNC and Barry Lynn and his group, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The sad stories of the poor should be laid at the feet of the liberal, anti-God “intellectual elite” known as the secular left.

Decades-long brainwashing by liberal-leaning social engineers has so altered the worldview of the underclass that they have little choice but to live in the mire of their culturally bankrupt caste.”—–Anti-Christian bigotry causes poverty! Separation of Church and State causes poverty! Liberal-leaning social engineers cause poverty!

Astounding isn’t it but wait there’s more Brannon has to add:

Anyone who regards with even a shred of honesty the destruction of unregenerate people in the underclass knows the liberals’ time is up. Their social experiment is as bust as the former Soviet Union’s Communism. The Christian worldview is the hope that is left—and a genuine hope it is. Christians must reach out to the underclass, seek to change hearts, renew minds, and reframe their deformed worldview by showing them the need to embrace Christianity and biblical morality and reject the secular left’s destructive, humanistic, anti-God religious worldview.

We agree that poverty is a sin and in the traditional and Biblical notion that the poor are poor because they are lazy and it is their and Red Letter Christians’ fault that they’re poor.  Red Letter Christians in giving handouts to the poor not only cause their poverty but promote the idea that the sinful lifestyle of slothfulness/laziness is ok in God’s eyes instead of an abomination. Afterall, following Jesus and esteeming His words above the other biblical writers is unbiblical and anti-Christian especially when one holds Jesus’ words about giving to the poor in high regards—for that promotes socialism, communism and a Leftist agenda. What Jesus really meant when He said follow and believe in Him was  to pay lipservice to Him and instead believe in Calvinism and that John Calvin is the Final Prophet, final word and final authority on Christianity and to follow Final President Reagan and the political Gospel of Reaganism. ”The cherished idols idol-ologies beliefs of Brannon Howse and God’s Only Inerrant Party are just that—Calvinazified Reaganism which promotes  The American Jesus, capitalism, every-man-for-himself, exploitation and promotion of the democratic way as well as True Republicans being the only regenerate Saved Elect of God.” This is exactly why we need to send more Todd Friels to Third World countries instead of foolish Red Letter Christians.

In conclusion, follow Jesus, Red Letter Christians, Democrats, Emergents and Liberals go to hell–follow John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, John MacArthur, Brannon Howse, the Republican agenda, Ken Silva, Todd Friel, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, all online discernmentalists, God’s Only Inerrant Party and us (OD Mafia) go to heaven.

And now for my next article, something a little different. I had hoped that Icecrown would hit the servers last Wednesday and I’d be able to jump in so I could give you another “first impressions” blog entry, but it would appear (quite fairly) that Blizzard aren’t fans of releasing major patches immediately before big holiday weekends, so that will have to wait. Instead of talking about strategy or UI or how to play a Discipline Priest, today I’m going to discuss Blizzard’s encounter design for healers over the months since Wrath’s release. How have they tackled the big problems that faced them and the complaints that were being made by healers? Have they been “successful”?

Now let me clarify “encounter design”. What I’m not going to be talking about here is the introduction of hardmodes and whether it was a good idea, or the limited attempts system from Trial of the Grand Crusader that will also be being implemented in Icecrown Citadel. Yes, I have my opinions on these matters, but you’re not going to find out what they are! There’s no point alienating half my readerbase straight off the bat by saying what I think of this stuff either way – I think the discussion surrounding these systems is a bit too “polarising” (people get very opinionated about it) for my liking and so I’ll keep my neutrality in tact.

Without further ado, let’s start looking at the problems that Blizzard have faced!

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The Great Shaman-Stacking Problem

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What Was The Problem?

When Blizzard released patch 2.4 and the Sunwell Plateau raid instance became available to play, it was designed to challenge the best of the best. Blizzard’s modus operandi was to create a raid instance that would keep guilds like Nihilum and SK Gaming (the merger of which became Ensidia) busy until the release of Wrath of the Lich King, or at least mean they would spend several weeks on it. The fights were tuned aggressively beyond belief and required near-perfection to kill. Many hardcore guilds had their entire memberbase reroll Leatherworking for the chain Drums buffs during M’uru, such was the damage output required.

But as we know, where there is a challenge and where a hardcore PvE guild comes across it, they will look in every nook and cranny of the game mechanics to find a way past it. A great example of this is Ensidia downing Hodir in under 2 minutes by spellstealing the Flower Power buff from some other trash; something which many players question the legitimacy of to this day (although, personally, I think it is an ingenious method of beating what was considered a mathematically impossible encounter). For Sunwell, the norm became the stacking of Shamen – mostly Restoration, but any Shamen were good.

Why? There were two main reasons;

1. Bloodlust/Heroism: In Wrath, the Sated/Exhausted debuff prevents anyone from being affected by Bloodlust or Heroism for 10 minutes after it’s used. The debuff is removed on death. The intended purpose of this is to allow a shorter cooldown on the skill so that it can be used again quickly if a guild wipes. In Burning Crusade, however, Bloodlust had no limitations, which is what made it so appealing – a massive, chainable DPS boost? Thank you very much!

2. Chain Heal: Of course, Blizzard had to make the healing just as difficult as the DPS requirements and it wasn’t uncommon to see gigantic amounts of raid damage being put out several times per minute, in one notable case (M’uru Phase 2) damage that wasn’t intended to be healed through forever. With skills like Wild Growth just a distant speck on the horizon, Shamen were the primary AoE-healing class and this made them an excellent choice for Sunwell.

So the fact that there was one class which excelled at AoE healing whilst adding tremendously to the damage output of the raid made them an excellent choice for any raid that was seriously attempting Sunwell.

How Has It Been Fixed?

“Bring the player, not the class”. This, I think it is safe to say, has been Blizzard’s primary motto through Wrath. They saw what happened with Sunwell Shaman-stacking and they didn’t particularly like it – whether a guild was hardcore or not, they shouldn’t be required to reroll an entire character and gear through several instances just to beat a few more encounters (an exception can be made for the world-first guilds who will do anything to win!).

So, class healing has been somewhat equalized. For AoE healing, Resto Druids received Wild Growth and Chain Heal was toned down. In return, Shamen had their tank-healing capabilities bumped up a little (although they are still behind Paladins and Discipline Priests here) and became a “jack-of-all-trades” healing class, something that many of the elite didn’t like. More casual guilds and even more hardcore guilds are able to fit their raid composition around the players available to them for almost every encounter. Yes, there are still some fights (inevitably difficult ones, like Anub’arak hardmode) that require certain healing classes; but by and large, this has been a big success on Blizzard’s part.

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The Whack-a-Mole Issue

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What Was The Problem?

The nature of healing is that we react to damage or (in the case of good healers) incoming damage. Somebody gets catapulted into a world of pain by some boss and it’s our job to try and stop them from dying. Healers since the dawn of time in WoW have always complained that healing is quite a monotonous affair. We put our raidframes in the bottom portion of the screen, somebody takes damage, we click their little nameplate and press a button; hence the “whack-a-mole effect”.

This, combined with many more casual healers feeling shut out by raid leaders blaming them for the fire-lovers dying, served to create a fairly disillusioned group of players who felt they did a difficult and boring job for not much credit.

How Has It Been Fixed?

The key to ridding WoW of the whack-a-mole effect is to create boss encounters that challenge healers in ways they don’t expect. DPS generally get their enjoyment of the game from seeing the boss die faster and the numbers on their Recount get gradually larger. Healers, on the other hand, don’t have this luxury. Numbers are generally meaningless to us, so the design team satiate our lust for fun by making us think about how we heal. It’s the basis of several great encounters and is most recently present in Anub’arak; see my last article for more on that. Fights like Val’kyr heroic and Beasts heroic are great gear checks but the healing is often frustrating (particularly Gormok, with his tank-gibbing tendencies) and almost feel like a rotation with no thought put into it.

Icecrown would appear to have more of the same interesting new encounters, with fights like Valithria and Sindragosa (will Penance cause three stacks of Unchained Magic?) having healers drooling over their keyboards already. Verdict? A partial success. I’ll admit you can’t always have great encounters for healers, but there are definitely more of them these days.

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Instagibbed – Damage Output on Tanks

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What Was The Problem?

For those of us who have been unlucky enough to try Beasts hardmode (our guild wiped on it over 250 times before killing it) you’ll know what I’m talking about. The problem is that as gear quality increases, healing throughput does so as well. Your heals get faster, stronger and… crittier? I love that word. Anywho, because of the way Wrath raiding has panned out; with hardmodes offering one or more different tiers of gear for every patch, in effect giving us 7 tiers already, healing started to become a spamfest. My Flash Heals can crit for almost 11k these days, and because of the higher levels of avoidance on tanks, healing becomes exponentially more easy. The tanks take less hits; and when they do, our heals heal them faster.

What was Blizzard’s response to this? They made the bosses hit harder. MUCH harder. Gormok was an extreme case of this, and I may cause some controversy by saying that I think it’s the biggest failure of Blizzard’s design team so far this expansion. When the tank took a full hit from a boss, his health would drop 25k. Combined with Gormok’s damage-increase and unlucky Impale ticks, (and especially given that before the first nerf Gormok was affected by parry-haste,) we lost about 50 attempts to tanks getting what we in the business call “gibbed” or “instagibbed” – killed before the healers could possibly react.

How Has It Been Fixed?

It hasn’t. Not yet, at least, because it’s still 3.2. For tank healers, Icecrown Citadel will be a pivotal point in the analysis of Blizzard’s balance team; they’re hanging their balance on Chill of the Throne, a zone-wide effect in the Icecrown raid that reduces tank avoidance by 20%, similar to Sunwell Radiance. The theory behind this is that allowing tanks to take more hits means that the strength of those attacks can be toned down, and tanks will take more of a “steady stream” of damage rather than 40k-40k-bang-you’re-dead. Will that be a success? We’ll see! Keep your eyes peeled.

So, is encounter design a “success”? The reason I have success in quote-marks is because the word success is polarised. It’s a yes or no question, really. In reality, Blizzard make a great game that keeps me glued to my screen when I have the time to spare for it! There are definitely places for improvement and we’ll see how Chill of the Throne works out when 3.3 goes live, but for the most part Blizzard’s encounter design has been very good this expansion; something that I think is overlooked by a lot of people.

Next article, first impressions of 3.3!

Nations are made “desolate” because of

• Evil doings (Jer 44:22),
• Not listening to God’s word (Jer 22:5),
• Refusing to be instructed by God (Jer 6:8),
• Shedding innocent blood (Joel 3:19),
• Despising God’s judgments and statutes (Lev 26:43),
• Dwelling carelessly (Zeph 2:15),
• Violence (Eze 12:19),
• Trespass (Eze 15:8),
• Killing their babies (Eze 20:26),
• Rebellion against God (Hos 13:16),
• Evil doings reap a harvest of evil (Mic 7:13).

The church is made desolate because of

• Evil pastors (Jer 12:10),
• No man layeth it to heart (Jer 12:11).
• The fierceness of the oppressor and God’s fierce anger.  (Jer 25:38) (Oppressors are promised to the disobedient)
• God due to their wickedness & idolatry (Jer 44:3),
• Refusing to listen to God’s prophets (Jer 44:4-5),
• Refusing to humble themselves and repent of their sins even to this day (Jer 44:10),
• Committing abominations and evil which the Lord can no longer stand (Jer 44:22),
• Refusing to obey the voice of the Lord (Jer 44:23),
• Killing or persecuting God’s prophets and refusing to be gathered to Jesus (Matt 23:34-38).

From Daniel 9, the church is made desolate because of:

• Sin, iniquity, doing wickedly, rebellion, departing from God’s precepts and judgments (vs 5),
• Not listening to God’s prophets (vs 6),
• Trespassing against God (vs 7),
• Not obeying the voice of God or walking in His laws (vs 10),
• Departing from God (vs 11),
• God is faithful to confirm His words by bringing evil on those who disobey (vs 12),
• Not praying a prayer of repentance, turning from iniquity to understand God’s truth (vs 13),
• God is righteous, therefore brings evil upon the unrepentant and disobedient (vs 14).

“Therefore is the sanctuary desolate.” (17)

Individual’s “houses” can be made “desolate” also, according to Acts 1:20, concerning the apostle Judas who by transgression fell away.  In Matt 7:22-29, Jesus taught that it was the man who not only hears the Word but puts it into practice, whose “house” shall not be destroyed.  The “house” is the individual’s life, which shall only be preserved by the one who is careful to do the Word of God.

Compilation of DESOLATION Scriptures for Further Study (KJV)

Lev 26:31 “I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation…”

Lev 26:32 “I will bring the land into desolation and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.”

Josh 8:28 “Joshua burnt Ai, and made it…even a desolation…”

2 Kin 22:19  “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardeest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and has rent thy clothes, and wept before me;  I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.”

2 Ch 30:7  “And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation…”

Psa 73:19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!  they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Pro 1:27 “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirl wind; and when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

Pro. 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither o fthe desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

Isa 10:3  And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?  to whom will ye flee for help?  and where will ye leave your glory?

Isa 17:9  In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel;  and there shall be desolation.

Isa 24:12  In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

Isa 47:11  Therefore shall evil com upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth:  and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off:  and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

Isa 51:19  These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee?  desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword:  by whom shall I comfort thee?

Isa 64:10  They holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

Jer 25:11  And this whol land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment;  and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; asit is this day;

Jer 34:22  “…and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.”

Jer 44:2  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;  Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah;  and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

Jer 44:22  So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed;  therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant as at this day.

Jer 49:13 “…Bozrah shall become a desolation…”

Jer 49:17  “…Edom shall be a desolation…”

Jer 49:33 “…Hazor shall be…a desolation…”

Jer 50:23  “How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!  how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!”

Jer 51:29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make thaland of Babylon a desoation without an inhabitant.

Jer 51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

Lam 3:47  Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

Eze 7:27  “…and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled:  I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Eze 23:33  Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation…

Dan 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Hos 12:1  ” Ephraim….daily increaseth lies and desolation…”

Joel 3:19  Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Micah 6:16  For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation…

Zeph 1:13  Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation…

Zeph 1:15  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

Zeph 2:4  For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashhelon a desolation…

Zeph 2:9  Therefore…surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah…a perpetual desolation…

Zeph 2:13  And he will…make Ninevah a desolation and dry like a wilderness

Zeph 2:14  …desolation shall be in the thresholds…

Zeph 2:15  This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how she is become a desolation…

Matt 12:25  And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation;  and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand [also Luke 11:17]

Matt 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mark 13:14  But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel  the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

Luke 21:20  And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

Compilation of DESOLATE Scriptures (not exhaustive)

Lev 26:22  I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number;  and you high ways shall be desolate.

Lev 26:33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land whall be desolate, and your cities waste.

Lev 26:43  The land…shall be left…desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity:  because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

Job 15:34  For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

Psa 34:21  Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

Isa 1:7  Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long?  And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land utterly desolate

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Isa 24:6  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Isa 27:10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate….

Isa 59:10  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night;  we are in desolate places as dead men.

Jer 2:12  Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

Jer 4:7 …he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate…

Jer 4:27  For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate;  yet will I not make a full end.

Jer 6:8  Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

Jer 9:11  And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons;  and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, wihout an inhabitant.

Jer 10:25  Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name:  for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

Jer 12:10  Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Jer 12:11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate because no man layeth it to heart.

Jer 19:8  And I will make this city desolate…

Jer 25:38  He hath forsaken his covert (tabernacle), as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

Jer 44:6  Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

Lam 1:4  The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to her solemn feasts:  all her gates are desolate:  her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Lam 1:16  for these things  weep;    mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me:  my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

Lam 4:5  They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:  they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Lam 5:18  Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

Eze 6:4  And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken:  and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. (as a sacrifice?)

Ez 6:6  In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste and the high places shall be desolate;  that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

Eze 6:14  So I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate…

Eze 12:19  …that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all of them that dwell therein.

Eze 14:16  Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters;  they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

Eze 15:8  And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

Ez 20:26  And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

Ez 33:28  For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease;  and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.

Ez 33:29  then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

Ez  35:14  Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

Ez 36:3 (enemies made Israel desolate…rest of chapter gives hope for future of repentant)

Dan 9:17  Now therefore O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Dan 11:31  And arms shall stand (be employed, serve) on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Hos 13:16  Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God:….

Joel 1:18  …the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

Joel 2:3  A fire devoureth before them;  and behind them a flame burneth:  the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness;  yea, and nothing shall escape them.

Joel 3:19  …Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Amos 7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste…

Micah 1:7 …and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate…

Micah 6:13  Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

Micah 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

Matt. 23:38  Behold your house is left unto you desolate. (also Luke 13:35)

Acts 1:20 (speaking of Judas, quoting Psalms) …Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein…

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. ( nations will hate the hypocritical religion, expose and destroy her.)

Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness!  for in one hour is she made desolate.

Since Adam’s fall we have come to picture God not as a loving Father inviting us to trust him, but an exacting sovereign who must be appeased. When we start from that vantage point we miss God’s purpose on the cross. For his plan was not to satisfy some need in himself at his Son’s expense, but rather to satisfy a need in us at his own expense.

But I am deeply bothered by the thought that in some way God was able to separate himself at the cross. The popular understanding of the cross seems to be that God the Father executed wrath on God the Son while standing at some discrete distance.

Such thinking not only denies the essence of God’s nature but then distorts what happened at the cross. Paul wrote that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…” God was no distant observer, but a participant. He didn’t send Jesus to do what he would not do; but God himself acted through Jesus to bring about our redemption.

Some have taken Jesus’ cry that his Father had forsaken him to mean that at the darkest moment, the Father had to turn his back on the Son. God cannot bear to look on sin, they argue, so that when our sins were laid on him, God had to turn his face away from his Son.

God has never run from sinful humanity. He didn’t hide from Adam and Even in the Garden. They hid from him as he sought them out. It is not God who cannot bear to look on sin, but that we in our sin can’t bear to look on God. He’s not the one who hides. We are. God is powerful enough to look on sin and be untainted by it. He has always done so. He did so at the cross.

– Wayne Jacobsen in “He Loves Me”
Buy it HERE.

Evil Emergents believe in Contemplative Prayer. Contemplative  Prayer was invented by Hindus and Papists. Romanists/Papists, Hindus and Muslims are of the devil and are members of the Synagogues of Satan. Barak Obama is a Muslim and the  political anti-Christ. Evil Emergents voted for Obama therefore Contemplative Prayer is destroying America and the Church:

Our excellent discernmentalist and researchmentalist skills which God gifted us with Himself have led  us to conclude these Absolute Truth facts—so if you are anything like us (Elect of God, regenerate, American, Ultra Right Wing Conservative Fundamentalist Calvinist Republicans, warmongers, capitalist materialists, non-Marxists, Saved, inerrant, etc.),  you should avoid Contemplative Prayer like the plague. And if you are an Evil Emergent then all we have to say to you is Repent that is if God lets you repent—because We Know with Absolute Certainty that you Emergents are of the non-Elect, unregenerate, anti-American, Arminian, Neo-Marxist, socialist, communist, anti-capitalists, reprobated and unsaved—because of your impure doctrines. Afterall, God only listens to Imprecatory Prayers   which we are praying against  you Emergents right now—and the only meditation one needs is on the Holy Inerrant Infallible Word Of God—the King James Bible AV1611.

Todd Friel had this video on his Wretched site. Screwtape Letters was written by C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis was not  a Calvinist and a heretic who believed in universalism—so therefore Todd Friel is promoting universalism. Saint  John MacArthur would be apalled. We are too that’s why we had to discernmentalize Todd. Repent Todd lest ye be found among the unregenerate repobated non-Elect false converts and therefore unworthy to recieve a Christmas card from Saint John MacArthur.

Murder!

Its horrible what is happening around us all the time

People are allowed to kill innocent!

Yes! The innocent unborn

Forbid women to decide!

Make her give birth to your seed

- Just as you made her bear it

Be you rapist or husband, she deserved it

That is what she is meant to do

Your children will be a good asset in the war

For ALL life is sacred

]]> http://itodyaso.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/brannon-howse-warns-that-emergents-are-actually-communistic-atheists/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:07:08 +0000 donjobson http://itodyaso.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/brannon-howse-warns-that-emergents-are-actually-communistic-atheists/

Brannon Howse using GOIP Tech and STRETCH Technology’s Hellescope discernmentalizes that Emergents are actually Atheistic Communists:

Emerging Trouble

 The pastors and authors of one of America’s fastest growing spiritual movements, the Emergent Church, sing the praises of socialism. As I’ll explain in more detail later, the Emergent Church champions the neo-Marxist call for a utopian society through spiritual evolution where good and evil merge to form a “better” third option. This idea derives from the belief system of philosophers such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and finds its contemporary manifestation in the “Third Way” movement of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. In the Third Way, capitalism, socialism, and communism merge to form a misanthropic combination of the three. This blending is now represented in the terms “the New World Order” and “the new enlightenment.”

 The Third Way promotes Communitarianism, a toxic blend of communism, socialism, atheism, and Cosmic Humanism. Communitarians believe in universal health care, government-subsidized housing and education, radical environmentalism, Fabian socialism, and the like.

An article on the website of the Democratic Leadership Council explains how Clinton and Blair have promoted Third Way thinking across the globe:

On Sunday, April 25, 1999, President Clinton and the DLC hosted a historic roundtable discussion, “The Third Way: Progressive Governance for the 21st Century, “with five world leaders including British PM Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Dutch PM Wim Kok, and Italian PM Massimo D’Alema, the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and DLC President Al From.[4]

Starting with Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 1992, Third Way thinking is reshaping progressive politics throughout the world. Inspired by the example of Clinton and the New Democrats, Tony Blair in Britain led a revitalized New Labour party back to power in 1997. The victory of Gerhard Shroeder and the Social Democrats in Germany the next year confirmed the revival of center-left parties which either control or are part of the governing coalition forming throughout the European Union. From Latin America to Australia and New Zealand, Third Way ideas also are taking hold.

Not to be hoodwinked by the window dressing of Third Way advocates, however, Vaclav Klaus, prime minister of the Czech Republic, warns against the real future it offers: “The Third Way is the fastest route to the Third World.”[5] But that seems to be where communitarians want to take us.

Grave Influence: 21 Radicals and Their Worldviews that Rule America from the Grave

This is it, the one book you need to read if you want to understand the big picture, connect all the dots, and understand current times, and future events and trends that will be unfolding. This ground-breaking book by best-selling author Brannon Howse is the result of thousands of hours of research over many years and is must reading for every teenager and adult.

Brannon reveals how the worldviews of 21 dead people are still influencing every aspect of American life and vying for the hearts and minds of adults and students. Whether we are discussing, law, science, economics, history, family, social issues, education or religion, the people and worldviews seeking to further their agenda in these disciplines are almost always connected back to four major forces. Brannon reveals the connection between occultism/pagan spirituality, the apostate church, the educational establishment and government/corporations.

Through this book you will come to understand the oppositions worldview, heroes, goals, strategies, masking terms, networks and targets. Those who share the worldviews of these 21 enemies of our constitutional republic and Biblical worldview do not want their agenda and its consequences to be revealed to the American people. Above all, they do not want us to equip and train our children and grandchildren with a Biblical worldview by which to recognize, reject, and fight against their seductive and destructive lies. This book will equip you to do just that as Brannon gives specific and pro-active responses you can take to make this the finest hour for the American church.

Here is the list of twenty-one for which Brannon has dug up worldview facts you must know and prepare to oppose:
 
Saul Alinsky, Karl Marx, John Dewey, John Maynard Keynes, Aldous Huxley, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Margaret Sanger, William James, Alice Bailey, Helen Schuman, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, Benjamin Bloom, B.F. Skinner, The Frankfurt School, Soren Kierkegaard, Julius Wellhausen, Christopher Columbus Langdell, Betty Friedan and Roger Baldwin

Topics covered include:

Corporate fascism, sustainable development, the Third Way, global governance, dialectic process, the Delphi technique, the Cloward-Piven Strategy and deliberate chaos, community organizing, Fabian socialism, the federal reserve and a fiat currency, America’s decline is Europe’s gain, cultural Marxism, government mandated youth service, legal positivism, postmodernism, soft-despotism, higher-criticism, pagan spirituality, feminism, welfare-state capitalism, the false-dominate church, the Emergent Church, the spiritual battle for America, the United Nations and occultism, unmasking the one-world religion, the deconstructionists in the culture and in the church, psychological labeling of dissenters, behavior modification, a planned economy, the assault on parental authority, the two tracks to globalism, Keynesian economics, collectivism, similarities between America and Nazi Germany, national leaders are a reflection of the people, social justice, why the culture war is lost if the church goes weak, is God judging America?, When and why does God judge a nation?, the environmentalist/globalist connection, cultural revolution/sexual revolution, the right to die becomes the duty to die, the true purpose of the law, why the State wants the children, are we all God’s children? And much, much more.

Click here to order now:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/store/product.php?ProductID=1044

We agree that Emergents are Absolutely evil. Just look at how a typical Emergent looks:

This is why ye must avoid those evil Emergent heretics: Iggy, Tripp Fuller, The Groundworks, Mike Morrell and TheoPoet.

All Arminians are not ignorant of the Bible—the King James Bible AV 1611–unlike we Calvinists who are not inerrant because of our Pure Doctrines and Godly education so Arminian sermons are not a  bunch of Babel. All Arminians are in league with the devil because they are so evil especially Wesley who never burnt heretics at the stake like our Final Prophet commands us to. We know with Absolute Certainty that when an Arminian or Emergent preaches about Jesus and prays in His name, they are not really preaching about Satan Lucifer and praying to the devil–for all Arminian and Emergent sermons do not promote the  Purpose Driven Heresy and works based salvation  by money making pyramid schemes—unlike our blind obedience to faithful teaching of the imPure unBiblical Doctrines of crapitalist materialism Capitalism. Ken Silva warns all members of God’s Only Inerrant Party of the non-Soul Damning non-heresy of Arminian teachings and preaching so ye non-heretics should not pay heed.  Our Discernmentalist Doctrines of God’s Wrath are not Pure, Inerrant and Holy and so are our Expository Sermons —which is not the only True and Pure way to preach— and the reason you should not only listen to us.

Still ill, I’ll be fully recovered for Motorhead tomorrow night though

I’m having a lazy day playing Call of Duty 4 online, eating food, blogging and editing. I made a new Playstation Account, new online username is Timn96-  (Yes, with the hyphen at the end). I got fed up with my old one “breaddah” I suck at gaming, but it’s fun.

The weather is extremely bland today. This is the type of weather I hate. Completely solid grey sky. I’d prefer it if it was a huge thunderstorm. I don’t mind cold weather, it’s nice sometimes if it’s really cold but really sunny. I don’t really have anything against winter.

Motorhead tomorrow (25th Nov 09), I can’t wait. I won’t be ill tomorrow, trust me. I’m in school tomorrow, leave the house at 7:45am, won’t get back until 1am. Then I have two random days off on Thursday and Friday for some unknown reason (thanks school!) So I’ll have Thursday to be lazy and recover, then I’m supposed to be going and seeing the film 2012 with my friends on Friday o_o

Anyway, talk to you soon, Tim.

If ye haven’t read my first post exposing Mike do so or else. The second thing that concerns us about Mike Morrell’s post is Mike’s Romanist leanings. Ken Silva is quoted as saying:

What utter and complete blasphemy. May the Lord reveal Himself to you and open your eyes to the idol you have created and now worship. May He remove the veil of ignorance that you blissfully revel in but that holds your soul in condemnation.

Editors’ Note: We of God’s Truly Chosen Elect don’t have idols you know.

Indeed we of the Online Discernmentalist Mafia and the GOIP are saying an Imprecatory Prayer against Mike’s evilness. What is so evil about Mike you may ask besides saying that God changes—why he supports Contemplative Spirituality which is nothing more than Romanism repackaged—the deformation of  Protestant Christianity if you will. Anyways, here is an incriminating quote from Mike Morrell’s post:

Part of the ‘inner reflex’ is Centering Prayer is letting go. For 20 minutes twice a day, it’s a continuous letting go of thoughts and emotions that well up inside – kind of like a fisherman catching fish but not to eat – just for fun. He’s sitting in a boat (the mind) and his pole rests in the water (the field of consciousness). Little fish (thoughts, ideas, emotions) come up and nibble on the line (ordinary awareness) – the fisherman doesn’t shoot the fish with a revolver or cut the line. Instead, he pulls the little fish up, but doesn’t keep them in the boat – it’s catch & release.

Catch and release, catch and release, gently, graciously – because you recognize that even the lake is situated in a much larger ecosystem (God). You can let go because the earth is abundant; you will be fed. Centering Prayer is a journey of trust in God, even on the unconscious level, where all kind of mis-trustful thoughts bubble up to the surface. The life centered in surrender to & trust in God is a life of profound peace and productivity – and our Scriptures attest, in a myriad of ways, that such trust (faith) ‘pleases God.’ But when we’re faced with the disturbing truths that Brueggemann elucidates – God’s irascibility for instance – what do we do?

There are two ways to do handle this. One is the way of definitive, forceful – almost violent – denial that there is (or has ever been) anything troubling in God’s character or actions. It’s the route of trusting God via suppression.

But there is another route – more painful, more adult, more complex – but I think it can still end in deeply-rooted, childlike trust. It’s a path that I’ve learned from many guides over the years, including Bruggie Baby (sorry for the familiarity, but it’s really hard typing his name over and over again), Meister Eckhart, the Jewish scholar Richard Elliot Friedman in The Hidden Face of God, Jack Miles in his Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God, ‘deeper life’ missionary and teacher Norman Grubb, and the process theologians that Tripp Fuller is getting me to read (like his professor Philip Clayton of Transforming Theology) or listen to & he and Chad Crawford’s uber-awesome podcast Homebrewed Christianity – all refined in the daily, simple crucible (quite actually) of centering prayer as taught by Contemplative Outreach and particularly Cynthia Bourgeault. (Did you read that paragraph, Ken Silva? It was practically tailor-written for you, LOL. If you don’t write about me, Discernmentalist Mafia will!)

My fellow colleague in discernmentalizations Dr. Truthslayer has this to add about Mike’s Emergent Romanism:     

ODMafia went on the prowl….we sent our research robot monkeys behind the scenes to find the authentic Emergent Church (EC). …What did we find?….Among other  things that have been discovered (as suggested in previous posts)….we spotted couches, candles and sometimes left-over coffee cups (often left in the recycled bin which suggests that they are Earth worshipers). Surely this has new age undertones.

Anyways, we all know with Absolute Certainty that candles in church=Romanism. And that’s Mike Morrell, a Romanist—we have Absolute Proof:

Mike Morrell caught sinning by drinking alcohol and with the Pope at that.

Mike Morrell exposed as a Romanist/Papist pope and idol worshipping heretic.

Mo-mo-mo-mooonster. Mo-mo-mo-mooonster.  I love the new Lady Gaga track, “Monster.”  You know what I don’t love so much?  You guessed it–the all too popular mormon/vampire crossover Twilight.  So I was watching the first film (didn’t pay in any way, I promise!) because, and don’t judge me too much for this, I told my sister I’d go see New Moon with her and I wanted to be all caught up.  Now I have seen the film before, but I hated it.  I’ve also tried reading the first book, but I just couldn’t get past the annoying writing style.  But having now seen the film twice I definitely feel that I can give an honest and thoughtful review.

For one, the lion and lamb line makes me want to throw up every single time. Now that’s out of the way, can we please address the real problem with this film? It has a horrible, horrible message to women everywhere.  As someone all too familiar with Bad Romance, I can easily recognize that this film does nothing to dissuade women from being in the most fucked-up relationships of their lives.  Here are the lies the film wants you to believe:

1. If a guy is rude and horrible, keep trying to get with him because that’s just a front. He’s really a nice guy on the inside.

2. If a guy has horrible rage or violent impulses, the best thing to do is downplay them and trust him to not let those feelings get in the way of his ‘true’ love for you.  If he slips every once in awhile, it’s totally ok.

3. If a guy’s attraction to you is based on insatiable lust and obsession, that’s completely healthy.  Don’t worry about having a relationship based on anything more than carnal/carnivorous desires, common interests are all too pointless.

4. If a guy stalks you, watches you sleep, etc…that just means he cares.  If he stalks you because he sees you as meat and/or his property and simply wants to keep you away from other predators, that’s ok too.  That’s happy love.

5. Love and monogamy is possible for all of eternity, especially when you find it in high school!  Feelings never fade, people never change and compromise is unnecessary.  Love is so easy!

6. If you end up in a hospital with horrible injuries, and your ex-boyfriend tells your mom that it was all an accident and that you “fell down two flights of stairs and out a window,” your mom will totally believe him.  Coolio.

7. Begging your man to stay with you no matter how much it endangers you, that’s classy and empowering!

8. You should change who you are to be with your man.  If he’s a monster, then you should become one too.  No problemo!

And the worst lie of all…

9. All of the boring girls out there will find a man and he’ll love them forever.  Literally, forever. Score!

So can we now have a version of Twilight starring Chris Brown?  I’m sure that all we need to do is make the message a little more literal.  We need everyone to see that behind the glitter, there’s nothing but a crazed (albeit hot) Chris Brown singing “Forever.” He’ll beat you or maybe even bite an artery while he eats you out.  It’s not safe and his love is selfish but what the heck…according to Stephanie Meyer, this should be every teenage girl’s dream!  *rolls eyes*  Please beware, ladies (and gay men)!

So my wrath is directed at the Mormons fucking up all of our lives.  Stephanie Meyer is annoying and only reminds us that even pathetic and socially powerless bitches can still manage to make things worse for the rest of us. Great job, Steph! Bravo to you, ya dumb bitch!  You, Sarah Palin, Maggie Gallagher, Carrie Prejean, Ann Coulter, etc…you really should start an anti-feminist book club or something.  Maybe then Maggie would finally reveal her sparkly self and eat you all…

New social community/blogging site, join and read the rules.

<< GO BACK

I know that a lot of players feel that storytelling is a sideshow to the main event in games; it doesn’t involve gameplay, and it’s seen as fluff to keep the punters/ fanfic writers amused. I don’t agree with this view, I think the role of storytelling in games is to make encounters feel meaningful – why else would we care about characters and avatars like Lara Croft, Sonic, sackboy, Commander Shepherd; might as well just represent the player by a  giant blue square.

But like it or not, the quality of storytelling and NPC design has a huge effect on how players respond to different parts of the game. Or in other words, the virtual reward of being able to deliver a good kicking to an NPC who people truly hate is on par with epics for a lot of people. After all, the epics will get replaced soon enough, but the storyline is a lasting memory and experience.

So, in that vein, which is the most unpopular storyline in Wrath? It’s undoubtedly the blue dragonflight – we kill an aspect (that’s like a demi-god) and no one cares. A few completists wonder whether that story was supposed to tail off, and everyone else is glad that Blizzard seems to have buried it. This is partly because of an unpopular raid fight which involved awkward vehicles, but it’s also because the writing didn’t make us care.

Piss him off by killing his consort? That was your entire plan?

I’ve had the great misfortune to play through Colderra again on an alt recently. It’s a subzone of the Borean Tundra in Northrend (ie. this is Wrath content) and although it’s not horribly painful as an experience, it’s also not a shining beacon of level design. Kill 10 x, collect 10 x, return to quest giver and be told to kill or collect x other things. And so on.

But the low point of the zone is the Keristrazsa questline. A game like Dragon Age would have nailed that storyline, because it has all the right elements. A wronged prisoner seeking righteous revenge, enlisting the PCs help, everything goes pear shaped and she ends up in a worse state than before, doomed to have her mind broken and forced to become Malygos’ new consort.

Now that really should have been good story material. But not in the hands of Blizzard writers, oh no.

What actually happens is this:

You discover the arcane prison and one of the NPCs at the local base is able to unlock it. He tells you to open the prison at your own risk. When you do so, a pretty girl who is really a dragon appears. Malygos (big bad dragon aspect who will die to countless raid groups later on) has imprisoned her – boo. We don’t entirely know why but she’s out for revenge.

You agree to help, having already been told that the blue dragonflight are the bad guys here. She has you gather some stuff so that she can lay a trap for Malygos’ consort, who you later kill on her behalf. OK, so that was kind of random revenge fantasy on the NPCs part but I guess she has been imprisoned for ages and that has to take it out of you.

Then she moves to the next stage of her plan. She has you lay out the consort’s corpse on the ground and she burns it, and calls out to the dragon aspect to come look at what she has done. Now, this really should set danger warnings  because dragon aspects are very badass. In any case, he comes out of the Nexus to mourn? (Well, he laments about the consort so he’s actually got more sympathy at this point than the NPC you’re helping.) Keristrazsa literally flies loops around him for no special reason, she doesn’t seem to want to attack. Then she lands, tells you to run away and … Malygos comes down and spirits her away to an instance. I’m not sure why being frozen in an instance is going to persuade her to be his consort. In any case, when you get to the Nexus, she’ll beg you to kill her so she can hand over some epics … or something.

It’s just that bad. It doesn’t make sense on any level, it’s confused, the characters are stupid and yeah. I got nothing. Dragons have really failed to impress. Again. Except Onyxia.

Todd Friel, Wiley Drake and Brannon Howse lead the rally. GOIPers and fellow discernnmentalists hear the battle call. We who hold Jesus—- the King James Bible AV1611—the Absolute Truth in our hands have a duty to pray against ungodly rulers and our enemies—because this is what Jesus wants:

The Bible is Jesus/God—this is the Absolute Truth, which God’s True Elect know with Absolute Certainty—so therefore when Jesus (the King James Bible AV1611) says in Psalm 1o9:8-15:

8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

We know with Absolute Certainty that these verses refer to Obama and are God Jesus’ Absolute Will and  Decree for him from the foundation of the world. Afterall the mark of a True Christian is to quote-mine,  prooftext, pick and choose  or cheery pick random verses from the bible as a means of sound bite Theology. believe God when He speaks in His Word— the King James Bible AV1611 and obey Him and His Word— the King James Bible AV1611.

This then is our Imprecatory Prayer against Obama that God Himself commands all True Believers to pray. Now had one of our own leaders been elected President then everyone must obey Romans 13—but since we have an anti-Christ in the White House then we must pray Imprecatory Prayers until we install Robo-Reagan Ron Luce as Supreme Theocratic Dictator of the World for life—a True tyrant Patriot in the likeness of John Calvin our Final Prophet.