My son is graduating high school in 2 weeks. I personally had some turmoil at that age so I didn’t graduate and had to get my GED a few years later, didn’t go to college, so I am incredibly proud of him and all he accomplished in school. He also got into an Ivy League for college, which made me even prouder.
Here is the problem. My wife and several family members, including her brother and father, all went to this same Ivy school. So my wife really pushed for him to go there. An unhealthy amount imo. She has always run a tight ship with his schooling over the years, while I’ve been more lax and said that if he is legitimately trying his hardest between school and extracurricular and social life then all is ok even if he struggles sometimes. Now that the “payoff” is here, wife was insistent that he goes to this school. I’ve told him he could go anywhere he wants and go into whatever field he wants, or he could even take a gap year or go straight to work; whatever makes him happy. He got into an Ivy. He showed he’s good enough, now let him follow his dreams. My son did two visits to this school and confided in me that he did not want to go there because of both the culture, and he felt like the program he was interested in was better at another school. He was scared to tell his mom to disappoint her. The three of us sat down and talked about how he was feeling. Wife was clearly disappointed but accepted his decision, although we did get into an argument a week later about how he might regret this years from now.
Once the news broke that he would not be going to the Ivy, wife’s family expressed their disagreement with the decision. I laid down the law with how this was his choice and he’s still going to an excellent school and he’s pursuing his passion, so I will not tolerate any harassing him or telling him that he’s making the wrong choice. Most did not put up much of a fight, but my wife’s brother is being a real jerk about it. All three times that we’ve seen him in the past two months since this all started, he has made comments to my son about how the Ivy is much better and such. I yelled at him last time when I saw it and he lamely apologized.
So my son’s graduation is in 2 weeks, and his party with family and friends will be a few days after that. My son told me privately that he does not want his uncle to be there because he is uncomfortable around him and doesn’t want to feel that way at his party. I said ok, no problem, and texted BIL that he needs to sit the party out because he is making my son feel bad for his choices. As can be expected, I am now under fire from my wife’s family. Everyone’s mad I’m excluding him from celebrating my son’s accomplishments and that my son can toughen up and whatnot, and my wife is mad that I went over her head. I felt like my wife would not be willing to cut out her brother, so I made the decision myself. I can accept partial blame for going over her head, but I have no regrets otherwise. AITA?

My mum was an alright mum growing up I guess - she fed us, sent us to school/activities, did the best she could. When I got pregnant she seemed so excited to have a grandchild, bought a set of baby goods for her home saying it’s so we can spend time at her house too without troubling ourself to lug everything to her home. We live about 15 minutes away from her. She is WFH but offered to take care of my son when I was still pregnant, saying she didn’t want her grandson to be sent to daycare so early (My ML was only 60 days). We didn’t want to burden her so still looked at a few daycares, but she insisted so we stopped the visits. Fast forward to when I gave birth and things couldn’t be more different than what we expected. Her initial excitement died down, and I still remember how she treated me during my most sensitive time postpartum. We stayed at her place the month after I delivered as she invited us to so she could help with baby (which was the biggest mistake ever). The first thing she said when I came home wasn’t to give me a hug saying the normal “you’ve done well”, but she looked at my postpartum belly and said “why is it still so big? Mine wasn’t this big”. The first night as clueless parents we struggled with latching and my baby cried the whole night, not once did she come in to check on us. But the next morning she said “wow what a fussy and difficult baby”. She then without any apology, said she can’t take care of my son and he’s “too difficult”. He wasn’t btw, napped like a dream for 2 hours each time, drank his milk (we switched to Exclusive pumping) without issues and was even on a good 3 hourly feed schedule with regular nap times in between. So we panicked and had to find a daycare last minute, and luckily we managed to get into one last minute.
I confronted her then, she apologised and I thought things would improve.
Fast forward now my son is 18 months old, and she seems to have no desire to want to be involved in his life. We have always made an effort (as we don’t get along with my husbands side, so wanted my son to at least have 1 grandparent in his life). We have always been the one to initiate meals, we have always tried to spend weekends at my mums place. But when we show up, she sometimes leaves us at home as she has other plans (lunch/massage plans/ her latest hobby which is filming YouTube videos). I understand she has her own life, but I started to get more and more upset that she just didn’t want anything to do with us. She has never on her own initiative said she wanted to spend time with us, and if we didn’t come over to hers she would never come over to ours. My son would be calling out for her to play with him, and she would be glued in front of the computer screen editing her videos the whole day.
Anyway one month ago I had enough so confronted her again and quit all family WhatsApp groups. She never never once reached out to me despite knowing why I was upset, and today I found out she blocked my phone number on WhatsApp.
It is just so frustrating to be in this situation, is there just no hope to her changing.

Hi. You guys might remember that I posted in here and the cancer family support group not long ago looking for some advice about looking ahead at my dad's treatment and care. Please let me know if I should change the flair, but support and advice is definitely wanted.
To revisit, he was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell lung cancer, metastases virtually everywhere in his body except brain and spine. We found out at the end of March/maybe very beginning of April. They told him 4-6 months without treatment, up to 18 months with treatment. So.. what happened?
I flew out to be with him and got here on the 15th of April. I took over his full time care. He declined so fast. Tuesday the ​30th, we had an interview with a home based palliative care nurse and he recommended that we send my dad to the hospital. Dad had been getting more and more foggy mentally and having a lot of difficulties communicating, tremors, etc. I questioned this very much and was told throughout the two weeks that I was here that it was probably the pain medication and we alternated through a couple options for pain management up until Tuesday. When the nurse was asking him questions, my dad couldn't remember the date or his address. So we made the call to send him to the hospital because the nurse thought it was more than just the pain medication. He was a complete angel on earth, he stayed with me the entire time until after the EMTs left with my dad and he made sure I was okay.
The doctors found out my dad had hyper calcemia, high calcium levels, which can happen in cancer patients. He had every single symptoms. They tried to give him a bunch of fluids and he got a bit better on day 2. But day 3, Thursday, he was much worse. The physician said, in the kindest way possible, that he didn't think my dad would get better. He tried one more option for a diuretic to help get fluid flowing because dad was having very wet/rattling breathing by that point. It didn't work. I had to make the hardest decision of my entire life to switch my dad to comfort care. It was what he would've wanted and made clear he would've wanted in his advanced directive/polst/etc. He told me for my entire life that if he ever was incapacitated, he wouldn't want to be a vegetable or prolong his suffering, he'd want it to end. Over the past ~month since his diagnosis, he made it clear through his legal forms and telling me/his other family that he would not want to suffer longer for no reason. He was a DNR and he chose "limited intervention" for his preferences. So I did what he wanted, I didn't prolong his suffering since it didn't look like it would help. The doctors and nurses were the most incredible I could've asked for and they gave him a lot of pain medication and meds to help him relax and be comfortable. They were wonderful to me and brought m​e and my family food and water and were just there the whole way through. He passed around midnight Friday morning. He was peaceful and at rest.
I know that I was true to what he wanted. But I'm struggling so fucking much. My heart hurts beyond words. I don't know how to live the rest of my life without him. I'm mourning that he will never get to see my boyfriend and I get married, that he'll never be able to do a first look with me or walk me down the aisle, that he'll never see my boyfriend and I finish our advanced degrees or see my boyfriend's son graduate high school. I had dreams of getting to have an inlaw sweet at our future house to have him with us. Even after getting his diagnosis, I had thought we had so much more time. I feel so lost. What do I do now? How do I cope? I already got his ashes back because he wanted to be cremated, having a celebration of life this weekend. Waiting on death certificates to close out accounts and get things taken care of. I don't know what to do with myself. I felt like I was treading water before, barely staying afloat. Now I feel like I'm at the bottom in the silt, running out of air. It hurts so much. Please share any advice or even words of comfort. I'm trying to make sure I have a list of everything that needs to get done. Thank you. So sorry you're along for this journey too ❤️🫂

Hi. You guys might remember that I posted in here not long ago looking for some advice about looking ahead at my dad's treatment and care.
To revisit, he was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell lung cancer, metastases virtually everywhere in his body except brain and spine. We found out at the end of March/maybe very beginning of April. They told him 4-6 months without treatment, up to 18 months with treatment. So.. what happened?
I flew out to be with him and got here on the 15th of April. I took over his full time care. He declined so fast. Tuesday the ​30th, we had an interview with a home based palliative care nurse and he recommended that we send my dad to the hospital. Dad had been getting more and more foggy mentally and having a lot of difficulties communicating, tremors, etc. I questioned this very much and was told throughout the two weeks that I was here that it was probably the pain medication and we alternated through a couple options for pain management up until Tuesday. When the nurse was asking him questions, my dad couldn't remember the date or his address. So we made the call to send him to the hospital because the nurse thought it was more than just the pain medication. He was a complete angel on earth, he stayed with me the entire time until after the EMTs left with my dad and he made sure I was okay.
The doctors found out my dad had hyper calcemia, high calcium levels, which can happen in cancer patients. He had every single symptoms. They tried to give him a bunch of fluids and he got a bit better on day 2. But day 3, Thursday, he was much worse. The physician said, in the kindest way possible, that he didn't think my dad would get better. He tried one more option for a diuretic to help get fluid flowing because dad was having very wet/rattling breathing by that point. It didn't work. I had to make the hardest decision of my entire life to switch my dad to comfort care. It was what he would've wanted and made clear he would've wanted in his advanced directive/polst/etc. He told me for my entire life that if he ever was incapacitated, he wouldn't want to be a vegetable or prolong his suffering, he'd want it to end. Over the past ~month since his diagnosis, he made it clear through his legal forms and telling me/his other family that he would not want to suffer longer for no reason. He was a DNR and he chose "limited intervention" for his preferences. So I did what he wanted, I didn't prolong his suffering since it didn't look like it would help. The doctors and nurses were the most incredible I could've asked for and they gave him a lot of pain medication and meds to help him relax and be comfortable. They were wonderful to me and brought m​e and my family food and water and were just there the whole way through. He passed around midnight Friday morning. He was peaceful and at rest.
I know that I was true to what he wanted. But I'm struggling so fucking much. My heart hurts beyond words. I don't know how to live the rest of my life without him. I'm mourning that he will never get to see my boyfriend and I get married, that he'll never be able to do a first look with me or walk me down the aisle, that he'll never see my boyfriend and I finish our advanced degrees or see my boyfriend's son graduate high school. I had dreams of getting to have an inlaw sweet at our future house to have him with us. Even after getting his diagnosis, I had thought we had so much more time. I feel so lost. What do I do now? How do I cope? I already got his ashes back because he wanted to be cremated, having a celebration of life this weekend. Waiting on death certificates to close out accounts and get things taken care of. I don't know what to do with myself. I felt like I was treading water before, barely staying afloat. Now I feel like I'm at the bottom in the silt, running out of air. It hurts so much. Please share any advice or even words of comfort. I'm trying to make sure I have a list of everything that needs to get done. Thank you. So sorry you're along for this journey too ❤️🫂

Successor : u/Intel81994
Hi,
I first found this subreddit and Neville's works in 2018 so I thought I'd share my success/experiences.
I've never posted here, only lurked... daily. I often see people post tiny wins in here like manifesting a test result or a few hundred dollars. I don't see many huge wins except occasionally, or multi-year life changing creations.
Well, I'm not where I want to be bc my goals have gotten a lot bigger, but I've come a long way and finding this work in 2018 changed my life so I want to share with you how.
Not to discourage, but small wins are nothing compared to the deep life changes and incredible abundance you can create in knowing who you really are - just think - there are people out there, several, who own $10M+ houses, multi-millionaires, many came from nothing.
I'm not saying that's the only thing worth striving for or even the source of joy, of course. But my point is anything you want, someone else out there has done it, they are just humans like myself and you.
So here's how my life turned around since 2018 and what I created. The HOW I did so is no different than what you already read on this sub every day.
Neville has been my favorite teacher and this is the MAIN sub I have read over the last few years. I own all of his books and have read them several times.
I regard his methods as most influential for me. This may come off as some motivational story but truth is I use Neville's methods daily and always try to understand and control my beliefs to grow.
Here is how my life changed completely after DOING the work:

• MONEY/TRAVEL : I went from -50k in debt running my own online fitness coaching business at my lowest point not knowing how I would pay rent (long story but I was young and not skilled enough in business at this time to really build a team and 7 figure business like I wanted),

to acquiring amazing skills being an intrapreneur working in a small startup online with a terrific mentor (I manifested this exact position with SATS), traveled the world a crazy amount in the exact places I had wanted to and met a ton of cool people (SATS), over 27 countries now, and grew my net worth to over 250k from 2018-2021.
To my current goals, this is really nothing now and I now surround myself with people doing a ton more than me. So I'm not preaching here, it's just levels to the game right.
I now work professionally in the crypto industry, but also have skills and knowledge to a few types of online businesses in the consulting & marketing space, as well as make money from markets/trading, which is a great vehicle because there are effectively no limits.
I can live anywhere I want, have plenty of cushion and money to live mostly how I want (have larger goals now), have time freedom as well, and most of all, love growth and feel great striving for more. I did SATS to get my current gig.
I've also been trading the last 2 years and no it's not easy, in fact you're competing against algorithms and the best minds in the world so the learning curve is quite steep.
Trading is not easy money, but the potential is there. Besides, trading is just one vehicle, it's not value-additive to the market like businesses are, so I believe it's best used in conjunction with a business/job, and investing longer term is better.
Anyway I turned <40k into ~350K in crypto, and a separate stock portfolio last year.
And yes a lot of that crypto growth was market timing and luck with everything going on, monetary policy and all, and I know people who turned less into several million and also plenty who got liquidated and lost millions. I still spent a lot of time and skill to create that, point is I created all of it in various forms.

• FITNESS/HEALTH: I achieved a more fit and better body than 98% of men have. This was a result of hard work plus these methods and was in 2018 when I decided to undergo a bodybuilding prep for a photoshoot. Great size, leanness, abs, I had been lifting for years but never gotten this in shape.

It was not easy, but I looked incredible, and the exact city/water background scene I had visualized for the photos happened. You can scroll to my IG posts from early 2018 for pics proof.
My health is impeccable and I've for sure made other physical changes, and I think I somehow changed my gf's looks to become better over time too. She was always quite cute though. I'm still very much in shape but now do yoga daily for last few years, as well as lifting.

• LOCATION/LIVING: I manifested the EXACT view I used to visualize in the center of my major city, with a gorgeous view of the ocean and city both, for a great price and have lived here for last 3 years now. In a luxury high rise. I can see ships and yachts right outside my balcony every day. It's literally grander than I even knew to imagine just 5 years ago.
  
• MORE FINANCE: Over the last 2 years my investments and more were doing so well sometimes - not always - that I often was able to have some months making 20-40k, point is I was not worried about work.
  

I also believe parallel realities are real and I used to visualize Bitcoin going to 50k back in 2019 when it had stayed below <10k for 2 years. This was not all due to bitcoin, but rather all sorts of investments, but yes crypto as well.
Some was luck, some was skill and work. All was my creation. I also got quite decent at trading and managing a portfolio that I not only managed to publicly call the exact day of the market TOP in november 2021 but also sniped the bottom in July. Intuition plus knowledge.
So I kept this money, it is not bleeding out in my portfolio with the market. I've devoted a LOT into mastering this craft but again, self concept and Neville helped.
I got hacked for 60k-70k a few months back and chose to give it new meaning and manifested a career change to crypto industry, landing a position making over 10k per month (I'm not happy with this at my current standards of income, but I'm grateful), that I am growing to 20k per month of active income now with other streams.
What's interesting in my recent career manifestation is I decided I want a position that basically pays me to do what I already do (I was independently researching and managing a multi-6 figure crypto portfolio... over a quarter million dollars combined money that I was managing. )
I now get paid a full time 6 fig salary to do nothing extra from what I was already doing and barely work on the actual job with plenty of time for other stuff.
I just decided it was done and that's it. Also of course it's remote... knowing what I know, I will only consider remote jobs (never worked in a physical office and I've actually never had a w2 job before this, always doing sales and stuff or my own thing).
I have been working on increasing my standard to 25k per month minimum of active income generation. Had a lot of ideas come through. I’m just not the type to have a job I think but I have to figure out what I can build again.
Compared to who I want to be at a later date that’s also nothing much. Again, levels to the game.
Now also working on growing a business in this space. This hack event was pretty traumatic but I now see how I 100% manifested it. And I can choose to also create something far greater out of the event now.
With every job I've ever had, I've never worked in an office. I've only ever been remote or online because this is the only thing I was willing to accept. Being a digital nomad has been my norm since I graduated college.
Be specific in what you want and do not settle.
I went to a top 5 US public university and even manifested myself to lead a large pre-med club on campus (I was a pre med student) before I knew Neville. I'm now very glad I chose to go my own route instead of medicine for several reasons beyond scope of this post but anyway.

• SP: Manifested my SP (gf) back in 2018 and we have a great relationship going on 6 years now (together since 2016). I focus more on self love and feeling I AM God rather than seeking it externally. My consciousness and inner connection is my source of sustenance.
  
• Honestly there are so many other crazy little things I can't possibly keep track. Every day I have synchronicities like crazy still. I don't give them much meaning but just take it to mean that I am aligned.
  

My best mental model/tips

• Delude yourself into knowing that imagination is MORE real than the 3d. The 3d is 'old news.' Meaning it's a shadow world. The real creation is happening in your imagination, and there is a time lag in this physical world.

Live in your imagination and tune out anything that does not serve keeping you in an optimal state where you feel in control. The more you focus on things that are meant to distract you or displease you, which state do you create from?

• I do SATS during the day, works fine for me, I don't think it matters much if day/night, but you need to do it. Follow a guided hypnosis session to get deeper into trance first if it helps.
  
• Act and trust deeply that life is leading you to what you want, and the meaning you give to events is literally what molds your future. Choose empowering meanings. Stop being a victim.
  

Make a resolve to never think of yourself as a victim of forces out there, the economy, evil people, whatever it is. You want to control your reality then act like it internally.

• Make a daily routine checklist and stick to it so you internally feel in control of your reality. Mine is: SATS or revision, meditate or breathwork, EFT or writing, cold shower, no phone in the morning, wake at 6am, and of course I exercise daily in some form. I use a spreadsheet to make sure I hit my routines for the day so I don't be a victim but rather stay in control. This is critical for me.
  
• As long as you occupy the realms of consciousness that you want, the result WILL come via downloads and hunches and thoughts, and insane physical things will happen that will 'seem like it would have happened anyway' so don't worry about the how.
  

Random Musings
The thing with manifesting is we sometimes take a passive route and wait for things to happen to us (and sure this is fine and still works), but think- if you don't grow your mental, emotional, skills container to deal with large amounts of money, or a team, or skills to sell and market and manage money... if you suddenly get 500K or 1M, how are you going to hold on to it?
If you lack personal power and execution skills, say you suddenly win 5M from the lottery, do you have the skills to keep it and make decisions at a level that can fluctuate several millions? It's stressful and requires thinking completely differently.
You have to 'stress test' your consciousness and expand your container.
I know that because I got hacked (stolen) ~70k it means nothing because the version of me who makes multi-7 figures a year deals with fluctuations of multi-6 figures in his portfolio all the time, it's part of the game. and I HAVE dealt with 6 figure fluctuations in my portfolio before this hack so it wasn't super new in that sense.
You know time is not real, it's all happening now, Creation is already finished, so you should also know that the way to 'hack' time is making decisions from a place of the future version of yourself you already are.
Make a commitment to stop playing small and settling for crumbs. Why would you get hung up on the one limited way your ego thinks that abundance has to manifest in your life, or love, instead of just feeling the emotions themselves, knowing it's done, and letting your life color it in in grander ways than you could have imagined.
Funny little manifestations and things happen literally every day that I just take it as reflections of me being in my creative power.
Something crazy/funny that happened was on our last trip, I told my girlfriend 'hey, how funny and weird would it be to see a parrot meowing?' - then next day we sit at a cafe and there is a parrot in a cage outside, meowing loudly. The most bizarre manifestation, I didn't even intend for it, just asked hey would it not be funny. Things like this happen so often, I can't keep track.
There is nothing new to learn. Just do the techniques and do self care rituals and get lost in your work. Feel the feeling of utter abundance and freedom now and it will happen.
We live in an advanced economy with the internet, it has never been easier to start or fund a business compared to even 50 years ago (see interest rates), distribution has never been easier, so if you know these tools, why would you not create the biggest dream you can imagine? Why settle for a free $200?
I realize there are levels people go through however so I don't mean to belittle, but now that I have been through so much and grown, I know there is nothing separating myself from multi millions and VC's and creators of large companies except belief, work, and time in this reality.
I have the knowledge, belief, and skills to not need a job if I don't want one. I can instead offer something to the market and be independent.
I'm telling you this stuff works and is sustainable. You can be as specific as you want and get whatever you want, and trust that with the turns life takes you through, it is a BRIDGE meant to turn you into the person to get and sustain what you say you want. Decide it and it is so.
I am someone who is a first generation American immigrant, my parents moved to the US from India when I was 5 and we had very little here. I grew up 'lower' middle class, and didn't have the best money programming from parents, but I always did well in school.
I KNOW I am going to be the first multi millionaire in my family. It's all in how you think about yourself/self concept and the work you do from that mindset. Do actions and shift your environment in accordance with who you want to be.
I always splurge on self care now and do things like fly business class or pay more for a better room because that's who I internally am. Just find a way to produce more and let it flow instead of shrinking yourself to be someone you’re not in your 4D
I don't try to scrimp and penny pinch, I let money flow. Even though getting stolen 70k was traumatic, oh well, I chose to give it a better, empowering meaning and my reality shifted.
That's all I have to say. Do the work. Stop procrastinating with learning. All the teachers, scripture, it's all the same Truth at the core. Learning is fine because you learn different mental models at different points of your life but you need to do the work.
I've been fortunate to not only have explored TONS of teachers and books in this realm, you name it I've probably read it or have a copy, I've also HAD mentors and WORKED directly under multi millionaires older and more experienced than me who know this work very well and knew Neville specifically, and it's the real deal. I did sales for someone in the online coaching space was was very well off and had decades of success and spoke of Neville very often, it was really cool.
Proof of the Law
I don't know what more proof you need that the Law is real. All religions throughout eternity have known this, Neville just distilled the same Truth through his own methods that work really well in my opinion and I personally love his interpretation of scripture.
The most successful people in the world are usually consciously (and some unconsciously) doing these same actions. Just do the work and focus on it coming from a good place of knowing that it's done. You don't need to know HOW but you just need to know the plane is going to somehow land one day.
I just come back to Neville every time, because his methods are simple and philosophies work well for how I think. I've done tons of psychedelic mushrooms over the years which luckily made me very open to this sort of thinking, before that I was very rigid and too '3d scientific' minded in my thinking. Keep in mind there is actually nothing 'unscientific' about the Law... modern science has its own limitations in that we cannot measure many things.
What used to be called magic in years past is now under the realm of science right? I'm not saying I don't value logic and science... I have a science degree from a top 5 university.
I'm just saying your ego mind which wants to keep you stuck and surviving uses the excuse of logic and science when that's actually not the full scope of how reality works, we are incredibly limited in our conscious understanding of reality.... we don't even know what we're doing here on a floating rock in infinite space and we can hardly see much of the light spectrum as it is.
So remember that when your ego tries to believe in your limitations and the 3d reality only. You being here is magic that even the most advanced science does not know the answer to. Do scientists know fundamentally why there is something at all instead of nothing?
Anyway, one more thing is I've never been shy of making relatively bold and fast decisions, investing in a mentor (for business) and just generally betting on myself.
Because getting around people who think bigger than you and don't settle is a hack and it's worth every penny. There is a reason millionaires hang with other millionaires.
I'm not saying to cut people out of your life (unless toxic) but rather to seek proximity and get around winners or pay to join some mastermind in business or whatever you need to do to network in your realm.
Just last week I invested 7.5k for get into a network of high performing young male entrepreneurs just because I want a better network in real life and work on business tactics and execution. When I was 23 I invested 25k that I did not have at the time (I made it happen and earned it back) to get a business mentor. So I use all of this in combo with Neville's methods primarily. I really like revision method as well.
The act of DECISION literally creates a parallel reality and becomes the new bridge to your manifestation.

Hello. This is gonna be a long one but if you can offer any advice for my family please do. My Uncle is trying to take the house that my Grandmother helped pay for and lives at. It’s really all she has.
I’m a Nineteen year old female and my grandfather passed somewhat unexpectedly from lung cancer when he was in his 60’s. He hadn’t drawn out a will yet. Back in 2012 my great grandmother passed and she willed her house to her 3 sons and my grandfather bought his two brothers out of the house. The living situation with that side of the family had always been very weird. When he was alive, my uncle lived at the house and paid rent to him. My Grandfather also owned a business and my Uncle worked there. When we found out my Grandfather had cancer, my Uncle started taking care of the business for him. By the time we found out the cancer had spread to his brain so he couldn’t make clear decisions and neither could any of my adult family. No one ever mentioned a will. We were all focused on taking care of him.
Then when he passed, my Uncle just took over the business and continued to live at my Grandfather’s house. My Granny has always been mentally unstable (I don’t mean to sound rude) but she has never been able to make clear decisions and now that my Grandfather has passed he’s not there to stand up for her. From what I know, my Uncle started begging my Granny to put the house in his name for whatever reason. I was against this but being a middle schooler I wasn’t allowed to say anything and my parents didn’t say anything either.
When the time came to pay taxes on the house, no one did. My mom got a call saying the house was still in my Grandfather’s name and someone could be in trouble. Somehow the taxes got paid on the house and no one got into trouble but the house to this day is in my Grandfather’s name.
Flash forward to now, my Uncle is 40 with a wife and a 3 year old child living in the house along side my Granny who they treat like trash. I think they want to take the house and put her in a nursing home. As for the business, it closed this year. My Uncle does not pay rent to my Granny and she pays all the bills and the taxes as far as I know. He did pay the taxes a few times that I know of and uses that to say he has claim to take the house. My Granny doesn’t have the mental capacity to fight against or even really know where to start sorting out ownership of the house. She also can’t drive. No one is doing anything because they want to have a relationship with my baby cousin and my Uncle and Aunt. But I fear that this really needs to be sorted out soon because I don’t think it’s legal to have the house in a dead person’s name. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
I’m pretty sure in my state (Georgia) if there is no will all property gets split 50% to my granny then split evenly between the kids in the other 50%. How can I help my Granny get full ownership of the house and what steps do I help her take? I hate seeing her be used like this especially since this man has been living with my grandmother non-stop for 40 years and he hasn’t been paying rent for 6. He thinks he deserves everything my Grandfather owned. He has no intention of moving out or paying anyone for anything. The house is worth 300,000 on zillow btw but that’s probably a bit off since it’s a very old house built in like the 60’s I think.
I know for a fact my Grandfather is rolling in his grave and is ashamed of this crap. There is so much more to this fuckery that isn’t worth putting in this post.
Oh and I don’t know if this is worth saying but I’m the oldest grandchild and me and my sibling are the only adult grand children. But we were 13 and 12 at the time of his passing. He now has 6 grandchildren.
I will appreciate any advice or knowledge anyone can share with me as I am young and still need to do more research and get a plan on how to go about this.
Edit: I can’t edit the title but I meant HIS name. So sorry. It was midnight when I published this. I reread the post but somehow skipped over that till posting.

Hey everyone, so I'm currently pregnant with my second and my fiancés first. I had a super small shower (four people total) with my first and didn't think I would do one this time around but my fiance wanted one so this is more of a shower to celebrate the first grandbaby on his side and celebrate him becoming a dad. Recently he switched jobs to something lower paying (went from 20/hr to 17/hr plus 25% commission) due to being laid off, so we've been working on adjusting to the change. When it came to planning the baby shower I've been pretty much on my own for it since he's been hands off with the planning.
This evening I sat down to double check the budget for the month to see how much we could spend on food for the shower (we bought the decorations and invites last month) and I noticed that after the upcoming bills we'll have around $88 total even if his check is as large as I'm estimating it. This is before even calculating gas and groceries to last till the next check.
I realized after looking at this, that it wouldn't make sense to continue with the baby shower since we'd have decorations but that's about it. I spoke with my fiance about this and he volunteered his parents to buy the cake and food for the baby shower but I don't think that's possible since they are hosting his brothers graduation the day before the shower and already spent money on food for that party (we planned the shower close to the graduation due to family from far away only being able to come up then and only planned after getting permission from his brother since this is his graduation)
To my brain the only logical solution was to cancel the shower (if we postponed most of the guests wouldn't be able to make it) , and when I brought it up to him he said that his parents could just cover the food and not to worry. I don't think that's fair to throw this on his parents with less than a week till the shower, and during his brothers graduation. Am I wrong?
Should we actually cancel the shower? It just doesn't seem smart to throw people under the bus as well as not smart to spend our last pennies till the 2nd on food for the shower ignoring our own needs (gas and groceries)
This is rambling but I'm just upset and don't know what to do in this situation. I've tried to make so many things perfect for my fiance this pregnancy especially since we're stopping after this one but it seems like everything is against us.

I (20F) was seeing someone (21M) casually for 3-4 months. He was the one to say it was casual and told our mutual friends it was casual. I kept myself very distant to protect myself because I was often hurt from casual situations. He was very affectionate with me and often was the one who initiated coming over. He would also be very quick to help with things like helping me move furniture and other errands. We often went home together from clubbing and he would take off my shoes, feed me, and get me water. My friend called him down bad but still ensured me that it was just fun for him. So I interpreted it as him just being nice because of our mutuals. We never communicated about our feelings or what we were. I was in denial of how deep my feelings were on top of the fact that we are both graduating soon and that he said he wanted casual. People are always saying if a guy says he wants casual then it’s just casual. We saw each other multiple times a week and usually slept over.
Eventually, he became distant and he graduated but still comes back waiting for commencement. We both went to the same festival and we were in the same group because of mutuals. He acted like he didn’t know me but when i ended up having to stay at his airbnb he held my hand 2 hrs before we left the place.
after the event, i told my friend and she told me that he told her that he was moving on but didn’t want to be straight up with me. we don’t speak for 3 weeks until he texts me a week after my birthday to say happy belated. my friend said he asked if he should apologize and she says yes but he never ends up apologizing and we stop speaking again.
I have been reflecting a lot about what happened between us. I realized that on valentine’s day he had asked what would have happened if he had shown up with flowers and I said why would you. He said just for fun. He also said so we are going to pretend to not know each other tomorrow right? In reference to that we were clubbing for mutual's bday. We hooked up a couple more times that week and then it was silence for 2 weeks. I initiated and he came over for what would be the last time we had sex.
I realized now that maybe he was trying to initiate a conversation with the flowers and was trying to fish for a sign. Originally, I had gotten upset because it felt like he was rubbing our noncommital status in my face. Also, that he was upset that he thought I didn't want to be seen with him. It has been 3 weeks since bday text and another 3 weeks since we last saw each other. over the last 6 weeks, I was angry and sad he didn't end things with me properly. Eventually, I accepted my feelings were deeper than I wanted to admit. I do realize we should have just communicated with each other and I regret that I didn't. I was scared because of my past experiences and felt mixed signals because of him saying that it was casual and that he told our friends he didn't like me. I realized though I also told them I didn't like them.. I want to talk to him but I am not sure if it's worth it anymore. He might have fully moved on or deny that he ever had feelings (or he just never did). He's also hooked up with someone else and we will be leaving our college town in a month.
tdlr: I realized I might have been the more avoidant one (i think he is avoidant too) and that I pushed him away. He gave up because he didn't think I wanted more.

Cigarettes and rebellion have always gone hand-in-hand, and in an age of cigarette packet-sized health warnings, now more than ever, smoking a fag says: 'I do not give a fuck.' But if Brandon Flowers is hoping to strike a seditious pose by sparking up at the start of the interview, it's not going according to plan. The Killers' frontman is on all fours rooting through the junk that carpets the anteroom at the band's rehearsal space. "Has anyone seen my lighter?" he asks, rocking back on his heels. The question hangs in the air while Brandon cocks his head, waiting for an answer like a meerkat listening for a predator. Twenty-five years old and with a delicate bone structure, there's something almost dainty about him. Receiving no response, he returns to his search. "Oh, Jeez," he sighs. "I had it just a minute ago."
It's a scene that emphatically does not suggest a rebel without a cause. The mess isn't helping. The Killers' HQ - an industrial unit sandwiched between a construction supplier and the offices of a housing development just off Dean Martin Drive in West Las Vegas - is ankle-deep in designer clothing. A Dior Homme suit lies crumpled by the door; there's a pile of shoes topped like a sundae by a pair of Marc Jacobs trainers; and anyone wishing to enter the shoebox room the band use as an office must negotiate a mountain of discarded jeans. Many items are identifiable as coming from the wardrobe of Hot Fuss, The Killers' hugely successful 2004 debut album - triple platinum in the UK with two weeks at Number One and five million sold worldwide. Look! There are the shirts, ties and suit jackets they wore when they thrilled Glastonbury 2005 with indie rock anthems Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me. That was the crowning moment of a two-and-a-half year tour that finally concluded in October of last year. It seems that after playing that final date in Miami, they returned to Vegas and shrugged off their image onto the floor of this bland white box.
Now a fine layer of dust covers the dead clothes. The Killers have no further use for white tuxedos on their second album, Sam's Town. Today, Brandon wears a black polo shirt, black pin-stripe waistcoat, black jeans and black boots. Where there used to be a layer of foundation, there is now a beard - an untrimmed beard at that. Dave Keuning (30, guitar), Mark Stoermer (29, bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (29, drums) all echo Brandon's black ensemble. Ronnie has added Aviator shades and a handlebar moustache for a dash of motorcycle cop, Dave's frizzy bubble of hair gives him a Marc Bolan-ish air, and there's something very teenage about Mark's scuffed Vans.
Short of walking around wearing sandwich boards saying, "Our new record is a bit heavier than the last one," The Killers couldn't hope to communicate that message more effectively. And they have gained some musical girth on Sam's Town. The pop hooks that made Hot Fuss so irresistible survive intact - see the ringing guitar riffs on first single When You Were Young - but there's a newfound punchiness, coupled with an epic sweep. The minor-to-major uplifts on Bones are fabulously dramatic, the coda to Why Do I Keep Counting? thrillingly intense. Comparisons to Bruce Springsteen have been made. If they overstate the case a little, they are at leaset qualitatively accurate. The Killers are back and this time it's serious - they've got the bootlace ties to prove it.
"Hey, it says here that Springsteen's headlining Glastonbury next year," shouts Ronnie, who's flicking through the NME. He nods sagely at the page without looking up.
"Really?" asks Dave, nicknamed Crazy Dave on account of his alledgedly volatile nature.
"The Boss is headlining one night, we're playing second on the bill the next night and Kylie's headlining the Sunday," says Brandon, charging like a bull through Michael Eavis' as-yet-unannounced line-up with what subsequently proves to be a characteristic gaucheness.
But that lighter is proving elusive. This being America, none of the people hurrying to-and-fro prepping the world for the release of Sam's Town smokes. Manager Robert Reynolds - Bobby Rey to the band - barks into his mobile, booking his band onto eye-wateringly demanding tours. "We're going to make a lot of money," he cackles to himself before switching calls to make a series of stern pronouncements on legal matters. Dave, Mark and Ronnie disappear for a jam session. Artwork is approved, B-sides are decided on and schedules are hammered out.
"I can't find it," Brandon says, finally. But he's not going to be denied the opportunity to underline The Killers reinvention with a puff of smoke. "Let's go to the gas station. I'll have to buy one. It's too busy to talk here anyway."
+
Brandon's black (of course) Volkswagen Touraeg four-wheel drive is barrelling down West Flamingo Road into town. "I was a bell boy there," he says, pointing out of the driver's window at the stucco facade of the Gold Coast casino. "I was working there when we were signed."
Coming from Las Vegas, it is perhaps inevitable that casinos play a big part in The Killers' story; not only is Sam's Town named after one, it was recorded in one, too.
The band began writing songs while on the road with Hot Fuss, turning up early for soundchecks to run through new ideas. On a trip home to Vegas, George Maloof, a hotelier known for cultivating famous friends, invited them to record the album in the new studio he'd built at The Palms, his flagship hotel-cum-gambling den. When the tour finished in October 2005, they returned to Vegas and spent five month finessing the songs they'd sketched out on the road. Then, in February, they decampled to the third floor studio at The Palms and recorded Sam's Town over 11 weeks.
Producer Flood (U2, Depeche Mode) encouraged them to experiment. They overdubbed, fiddled with synthesizers and played with new equipment. It took them five weeks to get the backing vocals right. The band sang the harmonies, then double-tracked them four times. The end result recalls Queen wondering, "Is this is the real life? Is this just fantasy?" When Ronnie, a trained classical percussionist, brought some kettledrums down, eyebrows were raised; but the fabulously bombastic coda on Why Do I Keep Counting? vindicates his indulgence.
"That's kind of the Ben Hur of the album," he says. He's not wrong. Sam's Town is a record on an epic scale. "Yeah, it has drama," he continues. "But, at the same time, I think it's a little more exposed than Hot Fuss. It's a little more naked. Last time it was about a lot of fictional things." By "fictional", Ronnie means that Hot Fuss wore its predominantly British influences for all to see. Brandon's taste in music is rabidly Anglophile - he constantly references The Smiths, The Cure and Joy Division - and it showed. By contrast, Sam's Town is an unequivocally American record. The lyrical imagery is pure American dream - cars, girls, wide-open spaces and escaping to a better life. "We're burning down the highway skyline/On the back of a hurricane that started turning/When you were young," sings Brandon on When You Were Young. That's the basis of the Springsteen comparisons then, though the lack of pathos more closely recalls another blue-collar rocker from New Jersey - Jon Bon Jovi.
The phrase "this town" recurs throughout the album, and it's always receding into the distance as The Killers escape to a new life. "This town was made for passing through/I never did get along with everybody else," sings Brandon on This River Is Wild. On Read My Mind he "never really gave up on breaking out of this two-star town", while on the title track he offers something of an explanation: "Nobody ever had a dream round here."
"With the first record, there was this feeling that there was this world out there that we didn't know," says Mark later in the day. Before The Killers, he studied philosophy: now he's their quiet one. "We wanted to get out and away from this and be somewhere else. We hadn't had a lot of experience - hadn't travelled much - then we were gone for three years. We didn't sit down and say that we wanted to make a record about how we're glad to be home, but that's what happened naturally."
It's not an angsty record. The Killers have already escaped with Hot Fuss, and, having done so, they view the experience fondly now they're back. There's a mistiness to Brandon's eyes as he explains how the album got it's name.
"Sam's Town is a casino on the edge of Vegas," he says. "I grew up in Henderson, which is out on the way to the Hoover Dam. My mom and dad lived in a trailer park, and my dad used to hitchhike up and down Boulder Highway, which is the only way you could get to Vegas. Sam's Town was the first thing you saw on your way in to town. So, when you're driving down Boulder Highway from Henderson, I always thought you finally knew you were getting somewhere when you saw Sam's Town. It was kind of like a beacon."
"It's not a completely American album," contines Brandon. "We still have our English influence, but we're also from the Wild West. Somehow we've managed to unify all that on this album. it's just such a perfect resemblence of what we are."
At the petrol station, Brandon rummages through the glove box looking for change to buy a lighter. "This is a great album," he says, pointing at Highway Companion, the latest from iconic American rocker Tom Petty. "I've always been a big fan of his. He's such a great American artist."
Yes, Brandon: we get the point.
+
When Brandon finally lights his cigarette, he smokes it awkwardly, like a child mimicking something he's seen the grown-ups doing. However, when he cheerfully admits that, "I feel the same mentally as I did when I was 12," it's not a knowing nod to the fact that he sometimes behaves like a loveably precocious child, but a reference to an unusually comprehensive grounding in pop music at an early age.
When Brandon sings about "this town", he doesn't mean Las Vegas. He means Nephi, Utah or Henderson, Nevada, where he spent his childhood. His parents are Mormon and he is the youngest of six children. "I was a surprise," he says. "I've got a 42-year-old sister." If he was issues about his "surprise" status, he chooses to gloss over them. "It turned out perfect because my brother was a teenager when I was a kid," he says. "He would bring home things like Rattle And Hum by U2 and I would watch it. I remember he bought Live In Dallas by Morrissey. It was always him watching these things, or his door was shut and you'd hear The Head On The Door by The Cure blasting through the house and rattling the walls."
The Killers were formed when Brandon answered an advert Dave had placed in a local paper in late 2002. Dave cited Oasis as a big influence; Brandon had seen them play recently and responded; and, as Dave has said in previous interviews: "He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn't a complete freak." However, the band was born in Brandon's brothers bedroom.
"His room was like a shrine," enthuses Brandon. "It was a holy place. I wish I could show you a picture of it. It was covered in posters. There'd be a big picture of Elvis wearing a bow tie that just said 'The Smiths' [the artwork for The Smiths 1987 single Shoplifters Of The World Unite]. You had The Cure wearing face paint [the artwork to The Cure's 1985 single In Between Days] - all that kind of stuff. I remember Morrissey being on the cover of the NME, with the halo [from 1985] - stuff like that. You just wanted to know about these people 'cause they were so cool. My brother seemed like such a cool person. But he was a teenager, so he wasn't going to be that nice to me, a kid."
Brandon was fascinated by his brother's collection of music, magazines and posters, but he was denied access to them - officially, at least. "I would sneak in," he says. "I knew he'd be angry if he found out, but I would go in as soon as he left the house." For a long time Brandon was too scared to actually play anything. "That didn't come 'til later. I just used to go in there because I liked it. Then I got to the point where I'd actually take a tape out and put it in. It took more guts to do that."
It was a life-changing moment. "I was ten and the first song I played was Sing Your Life by Morrissey. I remember dancing about to it."
The lyrics to Sing Your Life include the lines, "Sing your life/Just walk right up to the microphone/And name all the things that you love/All the things that you loathe." It's intriguing to wonder what Morrissey makes of the neophyte he inspired with these lines.
Eventually, Brandon inherited his brother's tape collection. "It was around the same time CDs started coming out in a big way. He started buying CDs and gave me his tapes. And that was it: it took off from there. I got a hundred of the best albums - all the New Order, all the Morrissey, all The Smiths, The Beatles. I started buying posters. I went to see The Cure in concert. It was just kind of a continuation of my brother. And it was nice because, though my parents were strict, they were already used to it from him. There was no, 'My dad doesn't understand me,' or any of that kind of stuff. My mum likes The Smiths."
Brandon was 13 and his favourite band was late-'70s/early-'80s American new wavers The Cars, and particularly their jaw-droppingly catchy 1979 single Just What I Needed.
"I wouldn't exist without that song," he says. "That was the one. I remember driving around with my mum when I was 13, and we're living in Nephi - a really small town - and I felt so cool when I put that song on. Like: 'I have something that none of these kids I'm going to middle school with tomorrow have.' That excitement is what music's about, isn't it? That's why I understand the mentality of people that don't like us because we've sold so many records. I used to like it when no one else knew about a band. So I get that - I do."
+
Brandon's first band was called Blush Response. It was never going to work out. Not because he refused to move to Los Angeles with them, but because he is utterly - comically - shameless. He's given to making outrageously boastful statements like: "It's not like the '60s, '70s and '80s now. There are only a few bands around that are really good, that just do it. I mean, there's what, five or six of us?"
For the record, in Brandon's estimation, those bands are Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, of course, The Killers.
"I don't want people to think I'm lumping myself with other people just to make us sound cool," he says. Really? It sort of sounds like you are. But he just steamrolls through it. "Yeah, but you know what I mean," he says, grinning at his own cheekiness. He's so disgracefully forward you can't help but laugh along with him - Oh you are awful, Brandon! But joking aside, The Killers are the most commercially successful of all the bands he mentions.
Later, back at the rehearsal space, the band run through Sam's Town at deafening volume in preparation for the forthcoming tour - first the US, then the world. The infectious, almost contagious, chorus of When You Were Young sounds fabulous, as do the U2-like guitars and Twin Peaks synths of Read My Mind. Meanwhile, Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me benefit from the newfound harder edge.
They somewhat heavy-handedly underline the new direction by playing Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Get It On by T Rex. That's the thing: The Killers are not a subtle band. Their songs are like a wet kiss from a girl who's a bit too drunk. They are big and brash, and not everyone loves them for it. Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me might go down as well at hip nightclubs as they do on the festival circuit, but the DJs play them with the same guilty look they wear when playing a pop record.
"I hate that," says Brandon. "Like writing a song you can hum somehow cheapens it? It makes me think of this quote by Morrissey. Everybody knows how he read Oscar Wilde, Keats and Yates when he was growing up and that he wanted to be a writer. He was talking to this journalist who asked why he hadn't become a writer, and Morrissey said: 'What I do is more powerful than what you do because I can write down these words and you get it to a melody. How can you beat that?' I'm of the same opinion. I don't understand why a good melody that's memorable is a bad thing."
Being dismissed as pop particular aggrieves Ronnie. "When we first came out we got compared to Duran Duran all the time. Jesus Christ! We got a keyboard player now all of a sudden he's Nick Rhodes! Come on!"
"The people who criticise us for being too poppy don't get it," agrees Mark. "I think that's the problem with a lot of rock music. People are afraid to write a song any more. Either that or they can't. And that attitude hurts music in general. The best bands ever have all written great songs. You can still do it and do it intelligently and it can be original. This isn't a studio creation with a producer writing these songs for us. We're not Avril Lavigne, or something like that. We're a real band writing real songs, just like a punk band would do, except that we write pop songs."
You get the impression that The Killers knack for showboating pop hooks that border on vulgar is inextricably tied up with the brazen side of Brandon's personality. But while his ebullient charisma, not to mention the songs themselves, mitigates his outrageousness, there is a less attractive side to his ego. He has a combative streak. He can't resist taking pot shots at emo bands, notably Fall Out Boy, whith whom The Killers share an A&R man.
Has he heard how many emo kids it takes to change a light bulb? "No." None. They just sit in the dark and cry. It's a full 30 seconds before he stops laughing. When he does he admits: "Yeah, we've had problems with other bands. You know, when you walk in the room it's like..." He whistles the theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. "We're like gangs."
And while the other members of the band are diplomatic on the subject of Brandon, you don't have to read too deeply between the lines to conclude that there have been internal issues, too.
"Some people will think Brandon's the big genius," says Dave, visibly bridling. "There are songs, such as Why Do I Keep Counting?, where he's written every note. But there are others, like When You Were Young, that were more of a collaboration - like Mr Brightside, where I had some of the music and Brandon came up with the lyrics. We always have arguments about who wrote what. The truth is that we all help in that process."
When asked how success affected them, Ronnie says: "There were certain things that needed adjusting. When you're on tour for two years, people can get a little needy. It doesn't help that you're surrounded by yes men and everybody's working for you. At times we've had to say, 'Who do you think you are?' to people. No one wears the trousers, but some people would like to. I think if it wasn't for the people in the band kicking each other in the ass... Let's just say there was some ass-kickin'."
It doesn't take a genius to work out whose ass needed kicking most often.
+
It's the following day and The Killers are back at their rehearsal space. The topic of discussion is what to wear in the video for Bones, the second single. It's a big deal: the director is Tim Burton. "I feel like Frank Sinatra when I sing it," announces Brandon. "With maybe a little bit of Morrissey and a little bit of Elvis, too."
Of course he does. But if securing the services of Tim Burton tells you one thing, it's that The Killers are about to get even bigger, perhaps even make the leap to the same level as Coldplay et al. Already stars, they are about to become superstars. Brandon can hardly wait.
"Do you know that Rolling Stone didn't want to put us on the cover last time," he says indignantly. "They didn't think we were stars. We sold five million albums! What more do they want from a band?"
Whatever was required, Brandon would be happy to do most things. "I'll do stuff that some people don't want to do, 'cause I want people to hear the music," he says. However, even he has limits. "The Rolling Stone thing made the record label think: 'What can we do to make them stars?' If I go on vacation with my wife, do they have to send somebody to be there to take pictures of me? Is that how you become a star? I don't want that. I walked down the red carpet one time and I realised I don't like it. But you don't have to walk down the red carpet for people to hear your music. We do still have some of that indie blood running through our veins."
He heads off at a tangent: "When you walk around Liverpool, you think of The Beatles, or you go to Manchester and you think of The Smiths or Oasis. I want you to come to Las Vegas and think of Sam's Town. And I think we've started to capture that, which is a truer version of The Killers, 'cause that's where we're from."
He pauses.
"I used to live across the street from Sam's Town. Maybe it'll be like our Abbey Road where people go to take pictures."
Is that what he'd like?
"I wouldn't mind it," he says, desperately hoping it will come true.
He puts a cigarette between his lips, looks down at his trouser pockets and pats them in search of the lighter he bought yesterday.
"Hey, I don't suppose you've got one?"

Today at swim we had an assistant coach come help coach our team, all the kids get a turn practicing for all positions. Well when it came time for my kid to go he overheard this assistant coach tell the head coach that he wasn't that good and that one of his teammates was way better my wife and I didn't hear this but we instantly noticed our son's behavior and morale go way down. He stopped trying and from the look on his face we knew he wanted to cry. After practice we told him how great he did and then asked what was wrong he kept blowing it off and then lead with he hurt his leg. We knew that wasn't the whole truth but we told him we were here if he needed to talk to us. About an hour later he confessed he had overheard the assistant coach and that it made him feel down because he felt really good about practice today. My wife doesn't want to say anything but I feel like as a coach he should make sure kids don't overhear him putting their ability down and also want my son to make sure he knows we will always have his back if someone makes him feel less than. Once my wife told me I told her I want to know exactly what he heard before I speak with the coach about this assistant and she said she doesn't want to do anything right now i tried to tell her in a couple days the people involved might not even remember the conversation and that we should make sure he's aware that our kid heard him. She continued with the fact that she doesn't want to. As the stepparent I feel like I didn't have much say but I wanted to tell her how I felt and that I didn't agree and when I did I can tell she was upset. I tried to tell her that we might not get the chance before our kids next game and I don't want our kid feeling down if this coach is there again, she kept shutting me down and I said as a mother you should want to fix this for him right away. And when I said this I knew I crossed a line in her eyes. I tried to explain that I as the stepaprent wanted to handle it so I felt like she should too. (I'm not hot-headed or anything like that our kid is just way to hard on himself and I wanted to fix it cuz I know it'll affect his next game) but that line was already crossed in her eyes nothing i said was gonna fix it and now we weren't even focused on our kid anymore it was what I said. Am I the asshole?

When I was around 13 years old, I was a young stupid teenager, and hanging out with my friends, and we were all saying inflammatory things, and I said, "Yeah, if I turn 30, and I haven't accomplished anything, I'll probably just kill myself." It was an awful thing to say, and I can't believe I said it.
Well, I turned 29. I had probably close to 50 jobs, and had a complete discontentment with my life and civilization, and was contemplating suicide, and then I had a full-blown spiritual awakening, saw a vision of Jesus, God and Satan, and went through an immense dark night of the soul and personal transformation of the heart.
I just have this verse on my heart right now thinking about it, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits, [Psalm 18:21]" and it just reminds me of what I said when I was a teenager.
I know God heard that and knew that he wasn't going to let me die of suicide. He was watching me the whole time, and he cared about me, and he didn't want to lose me.
Three years ago, I was a 29-year-old man whose life had become defined by isolation. Once curious and engaged with the world in my youth, I had slowly withdrawn into myself from depression, retreating into the comfort of my room in my mother's house. My agnostic atheism left me without a guiding light, and the mundane realities of life, from my dozens of failed jobs to my ongoing struggles with addiction, weighed heavily on my spirit. I found solace instead in the company of strategy games and suffered deeply in the rabbit hole of conspiracies on the internet.
My addictions had become an ever-tightening grip on my life. I found myself reaching for cannabis, alcohol, video games, fast food, and pornography to fill the void that had grown in my heart over the years. My life had become a series of hollow habits, each one leaving me feeling emptier than before. I could no longer deny that something was deeply wrong.
One day, while browsing online, I stumbled upon a post that claimed Thoth, the ancient Egyptian deity of knowledge and wisdom, could help those who asked for his assistance. Intrigued, I wondered if reaching out to Thoth could provide me with the help I needed.
Weeks passed since reading the post, and as I stood in my shower, my thoughts drifted to the crossroads my life seemed to have come to. I asked myself why I was stuck in a cycle of self-destructive behaviors and why I felt such a profound sense of emptiness. The steam from the shower enveloped me as I said aloud, "Thoth, if you are real, I really need your help right now. I don't want to live like this anymore; I don't want to die yet." As I spoke the words, my hand moved from the side of my body, and then to my forehead and heart, while making a hand-sign and I felt at peace.
I was stunned, realizing the hand-sign I had made was eerily similar to ones I had seen in paintings of Jesus. I was stunned but felt an unusual calmness wash over me. As I dried off and dressed, I pondered what had just happened. I went to the full-body mirror in my room, looking at myself. I saw someone I no longer recognized, someone I no longer wanted to be.
Once more, I said, "Thoth, if you are real, will you help me? This isn't who I want to be anymore." I stared at myself in the mirror, and slowly a vision began to form in my eyes. It wasn’t Thoth I saw, but Jesus.
Jesus appeared with long brown hair, a brown beard, brown eyes, and light brown skin. Half of his face was illuminated by light, while the other half was cast in shadow. The vision of Jesus was so vivid that it left me both in awe and at peace. As the vision of him faded, I remember reaching out to him because I didn't want him to go, I could tell he was here to help.
As night fell, I lay in my bed, lost in deep contemplation. I revisited the events of the day, focusing on the vision of Jesus. The clarity of the vision was imprinted on my mind, and I couldn't shake the feeling that it held a deeper meaning. I pondered the nature of good and evil, and how they were intertwined in a complex dance of duality. I found myself questioning whether the traditional view of evil as something to be hated and shunned was truly the right approach. Instead, I began to entertain the idea that perhaps evil people and perhaps even evil itself, could be understood with compassion and empathy, instead of hatred and disgust.
As I continued to ponder, I experienced a peculiar sensation in my head. It was as though something shifted in the center of my brain, around the area of my third eye or pineal gland. There was a slight pop like a tearing or crunching sound, it was not painful, but surprising nonetheless. I then felt a fluid movement from the left hemisphere of my brain to the right hemisphere, using the third eye as a bridge or something. This shift brought me a sense of balance and calmness I had not felt before. I realized I had been living predominantly in the logical part of my brain, instead of emotional side.
As I embraced this newfound state of relaxation, I began to see another vision in my mind. This time, it was God who appeared. God had long white hair, a white beard, and wore white robes and sandals. Then God began dancing, moving with joy and lightheartedness.
Before I could fully process what I was seeing, another figure appeared alongside God. It was Satan, with red skin and horns. Satan seemed curious and playful, attempting to imitate God's dance moves with enthusiasm. The sight of these two seemingly opposing forces dancing together struck me as surreal.
As I watched them dance, I found myself smiling, and really enjoying the moment. Then, my mind wandered to the Russian squat dance, a thought that seemed to come out of nowhere. To my amazement, God began performing the Russian squat dance, his movements precise and fluid. I couldn't help but laugh. It was awesome and hilarious.
Slowly, they both faded away, leaving me in a state of awe and wonder. I realized that my third eye had opened, granting me access to a deeper level of perception and understanding.
I lay in my bed for a few moments, attempting to grasp the profound implications of the vision I had just experienced. The reality of the spiritual world was undeniable now. God, Jesus, Satan, and other spiritual beings were real, their presence deeply embedded within my new understanding. This stark realization overwhelmed me, and I felt an immense fear wash over me, it was like the Eye of Sauron was upon me, or the eye of Satan.
I began pacing frantically around my room, gasping for air as I tried to process the magnitude of my new awareness. My mind felt as if it were on the brink of shattering; I couldn't comprehend what was happening. The very foundation of my reality had shifted, leaving me teetering on the edge of my sanity.
Despite my racing thoughts and heart, I managed to steady myself using deep breathing techniques I had learned in the past from Wim Hof. My frantic pace gradually slowed, and I returned to my bed, trying to make sense of everything.
I deduced that the condition commonly known as schizophrenia might not be what people thought it was. Instead, it could be an individual's heightened sensitivity to the spirit world, a world most people never perceived.
As I lay in bed, still reeling from my panic, I suddenly saw a vision of Satan. He had red skin and horns, and spoke directly to me, expressing admiration for my deduction. Satan confirmed that what I thought was true: many people were speaking to demons, believing themselves to be schizophrenic. This deceptive world was, indeed, a harsh reality.
I tried to take in Satan's words, but a sensation of something being pulled out of me struck me. It felt as though my very soul was being drained from my body. My energy depleted rapidly, and I was overcome by a sense of impending doom. I lost control of my bodily functions, believing that I was moments away from death.
At the moment when I thought I was succumbing to death, I caught sight of an Easter lily I had bought earlier that day, sitting on my desk. The sight of the beautiful lily sparked a powerful desire to live within me. Fueled by a newfound will to survive coursing through me, I leaped out of my bed, and began pacing back and forth in my room once more, gasping for air.
As I walked, I experienced a series of visions featuring characters I admired and found inspiration from—Master Yoda from Star Wars, Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Neo from The Matrix. I realized that God had shown me these characters because they were a source of moral guidance and strength in my life.
My thoughts then turned to the physical pain I was experiencing. My awareness of the spirit world had heightened significantly, causing my brain to start heating up, and I felt a piercing pain and ballooning sensation near my right temple, which deeply concerned me.
Every time I had a thought, I could feel my brain stem wiggle and I would feel pain in my right temple, so I had to learn to still or quiet my mind. Recognizing that I needed to take action to cool my head and relieve the pain, with a sort of just knowing of what I had to do, I resolved to get a large bowl of ice water and head to the basement.
I quietly left my room so as not to wake my mother, who was sleeping in her room nearby, and ventured downstairs to the basement
At this point you could say I was "possessed" by spirits, Thoth, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I was able to rest my consciousness in my third eye, and the Holy Spirit, Thoth, or Jesus could help me and take move my body to keep me alive. There was no way for me to survive without help.
The holy spirit showed me a specific breathing technique to diffuse the energy in my brain by inhaling through my mouth deeply, and then exhaling through my nose in the water. The vibration of exhaling through my nose into the water would cause my brain to feel soothed for a little while, likely stimulating my vagus nerve too, and I believe it was doing something with the fluid in my brain. When I was able to not be at the water, I had to keep pressure on the center of my forehead to rest in my third eye so they could help me.
I remember pacing between the two sections of my basement, and Thoth was helping me breathe just to stay conscious. One half of the basement was bright with light with concrete floors, which is where the bowl of water was, the washer and drier, a sink, and four litter boxes. On the other side of the basement was dark with a carpeted floor and a wood fireplace. The basement's light was painted in the duality of light and dark.
I remained in the basement until the sun rose, soaking my head in icewater, and pacing back and forth between the dark and light rooms because i would become overly sensitive to one particular room, and I was just trying to breathe to stay conscious. I was battling the spirit of fear the entire night. The fear from my initial awakening and the fear of death over and over again, hundreds if not thousands of times.
I soaked my head in the ice water all night, getting momentary breaks from the water, and certain I was going to die hundreds of times from a brain hemorrhage, I stood on the hard pavement for hours, I remember Jesus was my legs at one point, I could feel him focusing through me to keep me standing. I continuously soaked my head in the ice water to combat the piercing pain and ballooning sensation in my right temple. Throughout the night, I heard voices speaking to me—some belonging to what I would call demons and others to angels.
The demons tried to instill fear in me, convincing me I was going to die. While the angels offered comfort and reassurance, telling me I would be okay. Despite the torment I endured, I found profound inner strength and refused to give up. I remember squeezing my Celtic cross necklace so hard during this time.
The sun rose on the second day, I had been awake all night, I was beyond exhausted. I don't remember all of the specifics of this time, my awakening was very traumatic, but several hours passed and I remember being told that I needed to grab a book and go outside down the street and sit by a tree. I refused, and Satan said, "Do you want to die?" I said "No," and grabbed a book and went outside and walked down the street to a tree and sat with my back leaned against it.
I read my book for about 10 minutes when two women carrying their babies in slings approached me, and asked me what I was reading. I told them the name of the book, Inner Engineering by Sadghuru, and they said that they were doing a prayer walk, and wanted to share the gospel message with me. I knew this was a divine appointment. This was meant to happen.
They shared the gospel message with me, and then offered to let me join their community of house churches, and gave me the number of one of their husbands so I could call and get connected with them.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing, but was unable to sleep and barely ate anything, and once the night fell, I was in the basement again, soaking my head in ice water. I would often get relief during the days when the sun was out, and then at night, it was a brutal spiritual battle all night in the basement where I was fighting for my life.
On the second day, I was in the kitchen, and I had the right side of my head in the ice water, and was moving my head up to breathe in through my mouth, and then I would tilt my head back down and exhale my entire breath out through my nose. I didn't know what I was doing, I was just listening to guidance from what I believe was the holy spirit.
After around 15-20 minutes of intense exhaling through my nose, a ton of white viscous liquid started coming out of my nose, and filling the bowl, it wasn't painful at all, it was a massive relief, and the excess fluid in my head was somehow being drained out. When the process was done, I remember I felt amazing, incredible actually, like my head was clear of all confusion, and I was so very much alive and conscious.
I went outside and was swinging a stick like a sword and having fun, and I think I got a little overzealous and jumped the fence behind my house, and started going on an adventure. After around 3-5 minutes though, the fluid started building back up, and I had to soak my head in a puddle to keep my brain cool. When I returned home, I went back to the water to soak my head. I still hadn't slept.
That night was brutal, and I was suffering badly, and I remember I was sitting on the dark side of the basement, but I had turned on the lamp. I was sitting on pillows, and I had just been soaking my head in the water. Satan then told me that in order to save the world, I would have to die by popping my third eye. I don't know why I believed him, I didn't have discernment at the time, and I was just following whatever guidance was coming my way, but I know that I had to do that to find my true strength.
I sat for a moment and contemplated. I grabbed a wooden walking stick that was nearby, and I moved it to my forehead, and pushed it into the center of my head as hard as I could until my arms literally gave out. I thought of my mom and sister, and I wanted the world to be free from suffering, but I wasn't meant to die that day. I cried very hard, and I learned that the human skull is very strong. I got up and went back to the ice water, and my forehead was numb.
Eventually, after three days and nights of this suffering, following the path God laid out before me, I reached my complete breaking point. I declared to the spirits that I had had enough. I was done soaking my head in ice water and I slowly and bravely removed my head from the bowl of water.
I was shivering so badly. These weren't just cold shivers, these were spiritual shivers, they shake you to your very core. I felt awful. Those who have been delivered will know what I am speaking about when I saw spiritual shivers. I spread out pillows on the floor, and lay down to rest. As I settled in, I pulled the blanket over me, and I remember I felt the comforting presence of Jesus, he was tucking me in.
I slept for just a few hours and awoke up early on Saturday morning. I remember my head hurt and it felt like the left side of my head was full of fluid. I grabbed the bowl of ice water, and this time, however, I decided to sit outside. The pain in my head was still excruciating, and I thought I might die.
My mother saw me outside, and concerned about my well-being, approached me to check if I was okay. I told her to call the ambulance because I needed help, and she quickly complied. When the paramedics arrived, they took me to the hospital, where I hoped I would receive the medical care I desperately needed, but that wasn't what was in store for me.
I got to the hospital, and the medical establishment, unfortunately, has no empathy or concern for people's mental sufferings. I asked them for water to drink because I was so dehydrated, and they wouldn't give me water.
Then, I got admitted to the hospital, and they finally gave me some juice and a snack, and I was starting to relax, but then a voice came into my head, it was Satan, and he made me think I needed to soak my head in the icewater again and expel the white viscous fluid again, so I started panicking a bit and had them bring me a bowl of ice water, and I began soaking my head.
They had probably never seen anything like what I was doing, and thought I was just crazy, because they basically came after me and tied me to the bed, and forcefully injected me with something to make me calm down or sleep, and then they didn't talk to me at all anymore throughout the night.
I am claustrophobic, so being tied down was absolute torture for me. They left me in the dark hospital room suffering all night, tied to the bed, thinking I was going to die the entire night, and then finally the sun rose on the horizon, and when the nurse came in to draw my blood in the morning, I asked them to request security to release me from the restraints. They have no empathy for people. Something is deeply wrong with the medical system.
Anyways, they finally sent me to an in-patient mental health clinic which is honestly just a warehouse for people to take meds, sleep, and eat, away from society. It was honestly a welcome respite, but there's no therapy available at these places. Which means no real internal healing is taking place for people suffering.
Once I got to the in-patient mental health clinic, I spent the first day mostly just relaxing, but there was a man there that was definitely possessed by a demon. He would be shouting a bunch of biblical verses about the kingdom of God, and a lot more, and then he would be on the floor the next, flailing around, being tortured by a demon. One of the other patients there told me he is being tortured by something, and I see what she means now.
I spent the rest of my time there recovering the best I could, and just taking the meds to calm down, and try to get some sleep, and spent time listening to people's stories. One of the girls there told me that the wound on my forehead from when I pushed the wooden staff into my forehead, looked like a cross, and she was right.
When I got out of the in-patient mental health clinic, I called the number that I had received during my three days and nights dark night of the soul.
I joined their community of house churches, and was studying the Bible with them for several months and meeting with them frequently, and I thought I had found my forever friends. We would go on prayer walks, and I was eventually baptized at a lake, and thought that I had a new life of faith waiting for me with new friends.
They were concerned about my well-being and cared about me, but a small part of me felt like I was being controlled by them too, like they wanted me to conform to all of their beliefs and everything in the Bible as fact, and the word of God, and I have always been very sensitive to manipulation since I was a child, and I could tell they were manipulating me. They never left room for me to be myself, and share my beliefs without condemnation, which is a major red flag.
Recognizing this, I distanced myself from them, and went on my own spiritual journey where I spent months conversing with the spirit world in my backyard. walking in circles. I spoke to God and Satan/Lucifer and was trying to come to understanding why Satan would reject God's will.
After some time, I realized I was just being tortured, and I needed help. I was suffering from a lot, and I needed deliverance. Satan had taken up a seat in my mind because I let him, and I had demons hurting me. I reached out to the Christian group again after several months of being distant from them, and they said there was an opportunity to move in with some Christian brothers and live with them, so I jumped on the opportunity. I was so excited. I was on fire for God.
I got to the house, and moved my stuff in, and then the night fell on the first night, and the enemy was not having it. The demons and Satan were not having it. They did NOT want me living with my brothers in Christ because they knew I was detached from all the boxes of thought control, and I was living in the spirit, wasn't a slave of mind or spirit. They wanted to destroy our relationship, between us, the brothers of Christ, and they did.
I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I was entirely in the spirit at the time, I was detached from my body in a way, and just following the path laid out before me. I could feel that I needed to go outside and walk the neighborhood as a part of my spiritual path, so I left the house, and walked barefoot throughout the neighborhood.
While walking the neighborhood, I was in full spirit mode, I was communicating with God and Jesus, and they were guiding me on my path. I saw visions of them sitting beside a tree and trimming off rotten fruit, which I think was symbolic of them removing rotten fruit from my mind. I also saw them sweeping out a room and cleaning it, as if symbolic of my mind, and them cleaning my mind and purifying it. I also remember seeing a symbolic vision of myself holding up a golden gemstone encrusted goblet to God.
During that night, I declared war on the principalities of darkness. Against the forces of darkness. I saw skulls in the clouds, and could tell they were communicating with me as they are spirits of the air.
My feet were bloodied from walking around the neighborhood barefoot, I was completely lost all night, I was new to the neighborhood too, and had no idea where I was, so I wandered for hours throughout the night, so hungry, tired, and thirsty, and just physically and mentally exhausted, but I endured. That night made me realize how strong I really am when I let go of everything and trust in God. When I completely become the spirit instead of the body. The human body is incredible and capable of withstanding far more than we know.
Finally, I found my way to the house, and my footsteps were spilling blood on the front porch. The door was locked, and I knocked, and one of the brothers let me in, and I went to my bedroom. I couldn't sleep at all, my mind was very active, it was very similar to when I had my spiritual awakening, I was just unable to sleep because of how active my mind was. I spent the whole night awake.
The next day, I was suffering horrible spiritual attack, my head was in pain and I was holding my head just to feel comfortable, and one of the brothers called a friend of theirs to come and do a deliverance. I remember them being very bold, but gentle... firm, but kind to me, as they expelled some of the demons through prayer. It wasn't a painful deliverance or too exhausting, it was gentle by comparison. I felt much better after the deliverance, hungry and thirsty again, and wanted to nourish my body. I spent the rest of the day relaxing a bit, and listening to the other believers talk about the Bible, and their beliefs.
That night, I was delivered again, and it was awful. My brothers in Christ shouldn't have done the deliverance, but I don't know if I even would have made the rest of the night it if they didn't. I think the holy spirit guided them to do the deliverance, but it went out of control.
I was in my room, suffering deeply, holding my head, and all three brothers who lived there came up to my room to check on me, and pray for me. Their prayers turned into a full blown deliverance, and demons were screaming out of me for around half an hour straight. They were casting them out in the name of Jesus, but it was awful, it's one of my most traumatic memories. I was suffering so badly, and honestly I could tell the demons were suffering so badly, and my brothers in Christ had zero empathy for me.
After speaking with demons, the brothers wanted to speak with me again, so I came to, I asked them for water, and they denied me, and they just continued the deliverance without giving me a break. I had been suffering for around 45 minutes straight, with demons screaming out of me, and I was beyond exhausted, I was so dehydrated, and I just needed to stop. They didn't care, they kept going.
They kept shouting at these demons in the name of Jesus to leave, and eventually after another ten minutes, I realized, nothing was happening, we weren't getting anywhere, the demons weren't coming out, and they asked to speak with me again, and I came to the forefront and regained control, and tried talking to them, but they were gone. The demons had got into them somehow, and they were filled with hatred and revulsion for me. They all had the same facial expression of hatred and revulsion for me.
I went around the room and pleaded with them that it was me, but they didn't believe me, they were gone, checked out, I tried bringing up memories of what had happened between us that were specific to each person to bring them to understanding that it was me, and in fact not a demon speaking, but they thought I was a demon speaking.
They all grabbed ahold of me, and pinned me down on the bed, but I knew where this was going, the demons in them were going to flood me with fear and fill me with demons again, and I wasn't going to have that, I wasn't going to let them win.
I flailed out of their grasp, told them to get off me, and ran down the stairs and out of the house. I remember as I was running out, Satan told me, "You are the most free person on the planet."
I ran outside, and even the weight of my clothes felt like too much, I was panicking from the trauma of the deliverance and the attack from my brothers, and I stripped off all my clothes and ran down the alley way in the middle of the night and got away from the house.
There were no light, and no one around, and no one followed me, so I just ran down the alley way, and found an abandoned car to sit on for a few minutes until I got a message from God that it was time to go grab my clothes and put my clothes on.
I put my clothes back on, and started walking away from the house because I needed to get some air. That is when one of the other brother's in Christ, the one that I had called initially to join their community of house churches, was there. I think he was guided by the holy spirit to show up there that night.
Anyways, we walked back to the house, and when we got there, there was a cop car and an ambulance there. I guess the brothers had called for a wellness check on me. They wanted to bring me to the hospital to have me evaluated. I protested, but just wanted them to leave me alone, I went with them, and went to the hospital.
Much to no one's surprise, they did nothing for me at the hospital. They just put me in a room where I waited around for 6-8 hours, until I was finally released. I didn't go back to the brother's house though. When they offered me an uber, I went back to my mom's house. I wasn't going to live with them anymore after what they did to me...
A couple weeks passed and two of the brothers who did the deliverance called me, and wanted to schedule a time to meet up so they could minister to me. They came over to my house, and basically told me that I was still demon possessed, and made me feel like there was something wrong with me, and then when I confronted them and asked them if they had a problem with me, they lied to my face, and said that they didn't have a problem with me.
About a month passed and the last brother that was a part of deliverance contacted me and invited me to go to church with him. I told him how that experience made me feel, how I was claustrophobic from childhood trauma and that being pinned down by everyone was horribly traumatic, and he said, "Do you feel better now?" in a sarcastic tone. He completely dismissed how I felt, that hurt me badly.
I went to church with him once, but never went with him again, I also never reconnected with any of the other brothers, and then my life started to become very spiritual. God had a path of understanding laid out before me that most people will not tread.
I began to try to become friends with demons and minister to them and try to turn them to Christ. I had a lot of visions during this time, and I cried a lot. I would walk around my neighborhood and see visions of demons sitting on top of the apartment buildings.
When I would go home, I would have visions of demons in my basement, and would have to drive them out in the name of Jesus. I would speak to them too, and wait and listen for them to telepathically communicate with me.
I remember I was suffering badly though, and I needed to go to in-patient mental health again for help. I needed the meds and a place where I could rest and relax.
During my time there, I was communicating with a spirit named Jezebel, and during that time I was suffering very badly. I won't get into all of the details, but I was becoming friends with her, and we shared a deep laugh about something that I cannot remember anymore, but I remember the laugh. It felt so good to laugh after suffering so badly.
During my time while I was there I was seeing visions of my own death. I was seeing people suffering from demonic attack and spirits of confusion. They couldn't remember who they were, or who other people were.
I prayed for a woman to be delivered that night in her sleep, and the next day she was bright and fresh and happy, and doing so much better. God performed a miracle on her, and saved her. She was a normal person again after entering the hospital in a complete state of confusion. It was miraculous. I was honestly jealous, because I was suffering so badly, and she was delivered overnight in her sleep in a relaxed way, while my time had been so intense.
While I was there though, I was under heavy attack, but I pulled through, God pulled me through too, but when I got home, the journey wasn't over though. I was in a spiritual state for a while, and was seeing visions. I could rest in my third eye, and see the spirit world. It was exhausting, I saw a lot of demons, and had to drive them out in the name of Jesus.
Then one night, I was downstairs, and I was with Satan, Lilith, and a spirit calling itself Baal. I remember Baal was sitting in the middle in front of the fireplace, and Satan was to my left, and Lilith was to my right.
I don't remember what we spoke about, I just spent time with them, and I drank a beer with them, the air was heavy with demonic energy, and then I remember Lilith went over to Satan and kneeled before him, and grabbed him by the hand tenderly and asked him to turn away from his evil ways.
Satan neither accepted nor refused, and then I remember maybe 5 minutes passed and I was doing a full-blown deliverance on Lilith. I was praying for her, and I could see visions of her on the ground flailing around, it was awful, and I hope she is okay.
I don't know how long after that passed, but I was delivered many times during this phase. I was around demons a lot and they would get into me, and I would have to expel them out through vomiting, and it was excruciating.
Several months passed after that where I was okay, I spent months just relaxing and recovering, playing video games, smoking weed, and just relaxing. It was nice, but it wasn't the end of my journey.
My next journey was against Thoth. While he was a great help at the beginning of my spiritual awakening, he is not a perfect being like God, and he tried to overtake me. It's really hard to explain what he did, but he was viciously attacking me spiritually, and I sought help to go to the in-patient mental health clinic again. That was where I went when things got too spiritually charged. I had Medicaid, so I was able to go as needed.
They didn't send me to in-patient this time though, they sent me to a crisis pivot center, which is basically a residential house that is being used to treat people suffering from mental illness, where you can receive meds and sleep in a sort of half-way house between in-patient mental health and being back in the world at home.
Anyways, I was suffering grotesquely from Thoth, he is a VERY powerful entity, perhaps one of the strongest I have faced, and has been more cruel to me than even Satan, and I remember having a conversation with one of the people working there about how I had asked a false God at the beginning of my spiritual awakening for help to fix my life, and how that had caused a bunch of problems.
Eventually, I realized I was not receiving the care that I needed while at the crisis center, so I had them transfer me to hospital. All I wanted to do was sleep. I had been awake for days, and I just wanted sleep, so I was looking for Ambien when I went to the hospital, and that's what I got.
I remember they had admitted me to the emergency, but it was so full that every room was full, so they had me in the hallway, and I was just exhausted, and in a very tired state, but my third eye was opened, and I could sense spirits around me, and Satan, Lilith, and Jezebel were there for me that night.
They were hovering over my bed, and speaking to me telepathically, and asking me if I was okay, they were genuinely concerned for me, and wanted to know if I was okay. It was kind of shocking to be honest. These entities are not known for being nice in any way, but they were there for me that night, and God let them be there for me that night, instead of Jesus or someone else, which i find interesting.
This moment and seeing Lilith kneel before Satan made me realize that entities that we think are pure evil, are more dynamic than just evil. They may have evil in them, or have the ability to evil actions, but they can also be good and support others, like they did with me when I was in such an exhausted and vulnerable state after being delivered from Thoth.
I made it back home, and some time passed and I was in a very spiritual moment. My third eye was very awakened. It seems to happen in cycles. That night was a blizzard, and the air was heavy with demonic energy. This time it was the demiurge.
I remember I had dozens if not hundreds of demons in my room, and they were swirling above my bed, and I kept trying to lay down because I was so exhausted, and I kept being told to not lay down because I would squish a spirit, so I chose to not lay down.
I was whistling the avatar theme for the spirits to uplift them and make them feel better, and during this time I was being possessed by spirits. The room was heavy with spiritual energy.
So much happened that I don't want to get into, but it all lead to me being outside in the blizzard, in the snow storm, naked, and laying down in the snow. I had to be very cold for some reason while interacting with these demons, to keep them from overtaking me, and I remember I had to leave my house behind entirely.
My mom came outside before I left the house and I could feel demonic energy, evil spirits, all around her. There was a presence of wrath around her, and she was angry with me, because I had flooded the bathroom of the house while trying to get cold in the shower.
I left the house, there was a foot of snow on the ground, and I was naked and wandering down the street. I would check in with what I thought was God every once in a while to figure out what was happening with the demons in my bedroom.
For some reason when I would have a thought it would affect them in my room. That's really complicated to get into, and I don't understand it, but regardless, I wandered down the street and around the corner, and that is when the police got me.
They handcuffed me, and put me in the back of the police cruiser, and I remember telling God that the Matrix has me. The police called an ambulance, and they came to get me, I remember they transferred me to the ambulance, and they covered me with blankets, but I didn't want to be warm, I didn't have any control over this situation.
My body started to shut down, and I was struggling to even breathe, and that's when the demiurge appeared. They started speaking to me, and controlling my body to keep me breathing, and that's when I submitted to them, thinking that I was on my own, and God had abandoned me. I told them to fill me with demons, and that I would become a demon lord.
As I would breathe, I could feel demons entering me, spirits. When I got to the hospital, I was possessed by a lot of spirits, and my body was in agony. It's very hard to explain what it feels like, but just imagine discordant energy in your body that makes you feel awful, and physically hurts.
I struggled the entire night, and was in absolute agony. After 6-8 hours I was recovered and feeling better, they had admitted me to the hospital at this time, so I was able to rest in a room and eat plenty of food and recover.
My experience with the demiurge was really traumatic though, but that wasn't the end of my experiences with him.
... to be continued...

TLDR: I feel like I’m being treated cruelly by my boyfriends parents but he dismisses it as them just looking out for him. Looking for advice on how to broach the subject with him
My boyfriend (23M) still lives with his parents (40s-50s?) for context, I (24F) live in his city for university away from my family.
When I got into a relationship with my boyfriend in October I was introduced to his parents by the end of the month. We used to spend at least every other day there and I felt close to his parents. When my mum had cancer his family supported me, one of the last times I saw his mum she was talking about getting him a more comfortable mattress so that I could sleep over.
My boyfriend has been mentally ill since before I started dating him. I encouraged him to speak to his parents about it so that he would have a bigger support network and my impression of his parents made me think this would be a big help in his recovery. However, because he made them aware of his mental health issues when he was going out with me, and the easiest issues for him to talk about were insecurities about me (that were irrational, things like me not loving him when I am extremely physically and verbally affectionate), they immediately started blaming me for the decline in his mental health and I was iced out pretty quickly and am no longer welcome in their house. This was a really stark difference from our previous closeness, I had been present at all family nights, invited for dinner, invited for birthdays, etc. so at first I chalked it up to being an easy scapegoat and that this would pass as they came to terms with their sons mental health issues. I believed that part of this would be denial as a huge part of his mental health problems that existed long before me is his lack of fulfilment about where he is in life (regrets about career, education, lack of independence, feeling lost) which they contributed to.
Now it has been months, they are vocal and controlling about wanting him to break up with me, his mum makes a fuss when he comes to mine, etc. I feel like they have villanised me to the point they no longer see me as a human being with feelings. My boyfriend tells me that they don’t hold any hatred towards me, only that they see me as “damaging”.
My boyfriend has done his fair share of damaging things to me and my mum still treats him with compassion and empathy. He tore his tendon punching a hole in my shower and my mum had him over at ours the next night, as I had went home that day after immediately forgiving him and going to the hospital with him. He spoke to his ex for a week in secret, which he knew was a boundary for me as I had previously asked him to block her multiple times, confiding in her about me, and I only found out because he came to me for sympathy about the possibility that she may have cheated on him, I saw holes in his story and he didn’t realise iMessages could be recovered. He is still welcome in my home and our relationship is supported by my mum. This is because we see him for who he is, not his mental health issues that are making him act up.
However, I have never even received so much as a “hi” from them when he visits me. I have never been treated with such little compassion by people I thought I was close to. Despite how long me and my boyfriend have been together, I am really serious about him and see him as long-term. I am ready to be with the man I am going to marry and would not waste my time on someone who I thought wasn’t him, I see these people as my future in-laws which makes this hurt even more. They have never given any thought as to how I might have felt watching my partners mental health plummet, when my shared rental shower was destroyed, when I had to postpone my exams following the mental breakdown that ensued when I found out about the week long secret conversation with his ex that reeked of cheating 2 days before my first, when I was isolated by the people I thought were my family away from home. I feel demonised and dehumanised.
To blame me for all of this has been awful, for both me and my boyfriend. The cognitive dissonance it has caused has affected both of our mental health problems greatly, and the “volatility” his mother accuses me of sounds like a much bigger trait in her than in myself from what my boyfriend has told me. Her treatment of him growing up is what has caused him to be such an awful communicator. Their home environment is highly unhealthy, it is a high emotional effective environment, characterised by hostility, critical comments, and emotional over-involvement which predicts depressive episodes and relapse.
We have discussed moving out together as we agree that the push and pull is going to destroy our relationship, which they are highly against and are actively trying to talk him out of it. He would be moving 5 minutes away and this would have no financial implications on me if we were to break up and is for a year maximum so it seems very low risk. It will also tell us whether I can move with him to university next year so will determine the next 4 years of our lives. He was very excited about this at first, but when he spoke to them, he changed his mind and couldn’t give me a straight answer until he got them on side. He is now saying that he will do it regardless but I am apprehensive now as I cannot see a future with someone whose family views and treats me like this, and with him allowing it. They have offered alternatives such as him moving to the city he will go to university in early, but have never mentioned anything resembling making amends with me.
My boyfriend dismisses all of this as “they are just worried for my (his) mental health”, but I am deeply hurt by this treatment. I don’t even know if I’m in the right for feeling like this so I have absolutely no idea how to broach this topic with him. I am looking for advice in doing so. How do I talk to him about this?

As the title says, due to me deciding to go NC with my abusive NDad, my mom told me "I hope in 30 years he (my son) decides you weren’t a good enough mom and cuts you out of his life" due to her saying now she cannot be in my life cause she has to choose sides and chooses my fathers. I feel my story is like so many others - the last straw came from an incident that happened on Christmas Eve. I decided after that I no longer wanted my NDad in my life as I will not subject my son to intergenerational abuse. His response was a to-the-tee NDad response gaslighting me, calling me names, taking no accountability, all the norm. I tried to keep a relationship with my mom but it felt strained/awkward since.
Fast forward to three weeks ago, even though I have made clear I want NC with my NDad, my NMom asks if she and him can come up to the house to see my son. I then had to lay it out again but this time as clear as possible I want no contact with him. No response..shocker. I followed up a few days later asking her if she wanted to talk more about it, she said nothing just she was busy at work which is why she didn't reply or call me back which has never happened with her. I then asked her if she would like to meet us at a park for Mother's Day, to which she replied "that sounds nice as long as your father can come and see (sons name) too". At this point, I felt like there was a clear message being sent so I explained again why I am standing firm in my boundary and that this whole situation has not only brought back to the surface my own experiences with my NDad but my sisters/hers as well + the realization of how much abuse we have swept under the rug.
She then proceeded to send a text that she would give anything to see her mom on Mother's Day and since they are alive I should make the effort. Since I am not, she will no longer be in my life, and then proceeded to say quote above. Honestly, I feel I needed to write this out so I can continue to process what has happened (anyone reading this, thank you). I think the part that gets to me the most is the "I hope"...I feel like all I have been doing since Christmas is telling them the pain and toxicity they add to my life while they both do nothing but gaslight me and still right in front of our faces show that toxicity and abuse. I am now almost one week full NC with my family. I know eventually I won't think about it as the life I am creating with my husband and son is one I have always dreamed of. I will no longer have anxiety about when they will reach out and ask to see my son or having to meet expectations for birthdays or holidays. I know it will feel lighter and behind me soon, it just feels a little heavy right now.

I’m a 25 year old man. I was brutally bullied in high school and called a slave n***** boy any time I came across the dude who found joy in my suffering. He has given me black eyes which I had to go to the hospital to get checked, lifted me in the air while I was dizzy and slammed me on my stomach, body slammed me, put me in submissive head locks, spread rumours about me, called me the n word like it was nothing, and done a lot of other shady things behind close doors that I don’t know even since he had his group of friends supporting him.
He had my number back in high school and I have been receiving the same messages looking for the same "Karl" and "Kyle" every single month from 2016-2019. It was in 2019 where I received an apology from him (his 5th apology) about what he did to me in high school and said he already knows I hate my guts but wishes me the best. The messages stopped (but I changed my number the same year and deleted all my social media accounts). The bullies name Is Liam.
He has caused a lot of internal issues I still face every day of my life but now I realize he was still harassing me after high school because he didn’t have the chance to lay hands on me again because we never saw each other after grad.
I decided to check on Liam’s socials just to see and he’s deleted his instagram where he use to post pics of vacations with his girlfriend, videos of him shoulder pressing 90 lbs dumbbells on each arm and other ego filtered content. He only has Facebook and runs a business with a guy who he grew up with. This Liam kid graduated with marketing in 2023.
What do I do? For reference, I never received support throughout the bullying, I was isolated and further mocked. One of the reasons I have no friends

For thousands of years, and to this day, Christians of various kinds have tried to demonstrate the truth of Christianity by claiming that Jesus was prophesied about specifically in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is argued that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies about the Messiah in the OT and, therefore, is the promised one. Only Jesus could've fulfilled these Messianic prophecies, so they say. Additionally, Christian theology, building off the NT paradigm of quoting the OT, has claimed that the OT looks forward to the founding of Christianity and the formation of the Church.
What this post will argue is that this is anachronistic and that Christians are incorrect in their claims about the OT. The OT prophets do not look forward to a supposed Messiah figure who would arrive hundreds of years later in 1st century Roman Palestine or that this Messiah figure would crucified and raised from the dead. Nor do they prophesy the establishment of the Christian religion. Instead, the OT looks forward to an imminent, glorious, material restoration of ancient Israel meant to happen in their day, not centuries later when Christianity was founded. Nor is the OT looking forward to supposed events that have yet to happen, like the second coming of Jesus or a future restoration of the land of Israel. These were supposed to happen in ancient Israel but did not occur.
Before I begin, I would like to say that this is the consensus of biblical scholars and historians. This is not just my opinion or the opinion of secular skeptics. All critical scholars of the OT, including Jews, Christians, and non-religious ones, agree that OT needs to be understood in its ancient Israelite context. They agree that these texts and oracles are not about Jesus or the Church. If you want to read an excellent scholarly resource, I highly recommend John J. Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, 2018. He is a leading OT scholar at Yale and a Roman Catholic. The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible is also a beneficial resource, giving a critical scholarly introduction and notes to the Hebrew Bible.
For this post, I will look at some of the principal prophetic literature of the OT. I cannot analyze every single relevant passage.

Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah is among the most popular books in ancient Judaism and Christianity. I could be wrong, but I believe it is the most cited book in the NT after Psalms. This is relevant to this discussion because Christians cite many passages in Isaiah, believing them to be predictions about Jesus. This precedent is set in the NT, for example, in Matthew's or Luke's gospel. However, Jesus/Christianity is not prophesied in the book. Instead, Isaiah predicts the imminent restoration of the Kingdom of Israel and the gathering of the twelve tribes.
Let's examine Isaiah 7:14, a passage often misconstrued as a prophecy about Jesus. In reality, it's not a prophecy about the Messiah at all. The passage states, 'Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.' This is not about a virgin giving a miraculous birth. The word used here is 'almah ', which simply means young woman. If Isaiah intended to convey that this woman was a virgin, there was a word for that, 'betulah '. Matthew's use of the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14, which is a mistranslation of the Hebrew, as a prophecy about Jesus's virgin birth is a misinterpretation. The context of Isaiah 7 is an oracle of consolation given to King Ahaz, promising him a sign through the birth of a son that Jerusalem will be preserved from the Assyrian crisis.
'For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria. On that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks and on all the thornbushes and on all the watering holes. On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.'
So, Isaiah 7:14 refers to the Assyrian crisis in the 8th century BCE and the preservation of Jerusalem, not events that occurred hundreds of years later. Matthew's misquotation of the OT is a clear example of misinterpretation. It's quite ironic and even amusing that the most famous and well-known prophecy about Jesus's virgin birth, cited every year at Christmas, is quite literally not about that. This highlights the importance of understanding the historical context and the original intent of the texts.
There is a cluster of oracles in Isaiah 9-11 that Christians cite as a prophecy about Jesus. But when we look at the context of Isaiah 7-12, we see that these are about the restoration of Zion and the re-establishment of a Davidic king who would rule in the ancient Near East in Israel, not in 1st-century Judea.
Let's look at some of the famous passages.
'For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Great will be his authority, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.' 9:6-7
This is not a prophecy about Jesus. The text presupposes that this son is already born and will fulfill this vision in Isaiah's day. Again, the passages surrounding this one set the historical context for fulfillment in the ANE. This Davidic King would preside over the physical restoration of a united Kingdom of Israel and the unification of the twelve tribes.
'On that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return.' 10:20-22
'On that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. On that day, the Lord will again raise his hand to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.' 11:10-11
The King, through Yahweh, on that day will also,
'raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. ¹³ The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart; the hostility of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile toward Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west; together, they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.'
So, it's clear what these oracles were intending to describe. Isaiah predicted that after the Assyrian crisis of the 8th century BCE, Yahweh would raise up a Davidic ruler who would preside over a literal Israelite Kingdom that would become the dominant power of the ANE. This was expected to happen in the ancient world, but it did not occur. The historical context of Jesus and the first-century Church is not the fulfillment of these oracles. These oracles are failed. Isaiah's vision of an eternal, glorious Israelite Kingdom did not come to pass.

Jeremiah

There are two passages in Jeremiah I would like to discuss.
Jeremiah 29:10 promises that after 70 years, the Jews will return from the Babylonian exile, and God will restore Israel to its former glory.
'For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then, when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.'
This never happened historically. Yes, some of the Judeans in exile did return to Israel. Israel was rebuilt with the help of the Persians. But, this was not the glorious restoration predicted by the prophets. Israel would continue to be dominated by foreign powers until the establishment of the secular state of Israel in 1948, which, of course, has no relevance to this ancient oracle. Further, while some Judeans did return, this promise of a gathering of Jews from all the nations did not happen. After the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, Jews have remained permanently dispersed in the diaspora. This is another failed oracle. It cannot be interpreted exegetically as being fulfilled in the 1st century with Jesus and Christianity.
More famously, however, is Jeremiah's prediction of the establishment of a 'New Covenant.' (31:31) Christians see this New Covenant as being fulfilled in the Church, and indeed, the New Testament frequently refers to the New Covenant being fulfilled in the Christian community and Jesus's work. However, the historical context of this passage is surrounded by a cluster of oracles in chapters 30-31 that were meant to be a consolation to ancient Israel. The passage itself is clear that this is not talking about Christianity or events hundreds of years later, but is a word of consolation to Jews who experienced the Babylonian conquest:
'The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.' 31:31
What is the context?
'At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.' 31:1
'The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.' 31:38-40
'For the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they shall take possession of it' 30:3
Then, it is clear what prophesy about the New Covenant means. It's about the imminent restoration of the ancient Kingdom of Israel and its ascent into power and glory. Again, these oracles remained unfulfilled and precisely falsified.

Micah

There is one famous passage in Micah 5, quoted in Matthew and frequently cited by Christians as "proof" that Jesus's birth location was prophesied about hundreds of years prior. The idea that Jesus was born in Bethlehem is, of course, historically dubious. Matthew and Luke's accounts are contradictory and rife with historical problems. Mark and John assume Jesus has always been a native of Nazareth (Mk 6:2-3, Jn 1:46, 7:42). It seems then that Matthew and Luke invented their passages about Jesus being born in Bethlehem to give him more Davidic status. But this is beside the point, even if Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It is not a fulfillment of this passage.
'But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who is one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.' 5:2
What is the historical context of this oracle? Again, the context of the chapter and the book is Israel's restoration and the Israelite kingdom's imminent establishment.
'Then, the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many peoples, shall be like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not depend upon people or wait for any mortal. ⁸ And among the nations the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many peoples, shall be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, with no one to deliver. ⁹ Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.'
On that day, says the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots; ¹¹ and I will cut off the cities of your land and destroy all your strongholds; ¹² and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more soothsayers; ¹³ and I will cut off your images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; ¹⁴ and I will uproot your sacred poles^\)g^\) from among you and destroy your towns. ¹⁵ And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.
What about this future King? Again, I find it amusing that Christians cite this text to show that Jesus fulfilled it. It shows they have not read and understood the historical context of the oracle. The text goes on to say that this King will conquer the land of Assyria, the land of Nimrod.
Micah 5:5–6
'When the Assyrians come into our land and tread upon our soil, we will raise against them seven shepherds and eight rulers. They shall rule the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword; he shall rescue us from the Assyrians if they come into our land or tread within our border.'

Conclusion

I've, of course, been very selective. There are many more examples of this that could've been pulled from. I hope you will see what I've briefly tried to show. The Prophets of the OT predicted that in their own time, they would see the salvation of Yahweh as their God. A Davidic King would be raised, and Israel would be restored to glory after the Assyrian crisis in the case of Isaiah or the Babylonian crisis in the case of Jeremiah and Micah. The same goes for the other prophets. My thesis, then, is that historically understood, not only did these oracles fail in their prediction, but they are demonstrably not about events in 1st century Roman Palestine or the wider Greco-Roman world. They're not about establishing the Church or a dying and rising messiah figure who brings spiritual salvation. Yes, the NT does interpret passages in the OT as being fulfilled in Jesus. But they are taken out of their historical context. The NT and early Christians were not novel in this practice. This was standard Jewish exegesis of the OT. Because Christians and Jews believed that the OT writings were sacred scripture that couldn't be wrong, they reinterpreted them in the light of their situations. The Essenes at Qumran, like the early Christians, also thought that their community and Teacher of Righteousness was the fulfillment of the bible prophecy, and the Rabbis in the Rabbinic literature frequently apply ancient scripture to their community.

Aenar, Astaraxes, and Naerys had departed on Valyria’s Pride three days past, their retinue of guards and servants alongside them. Leaving Summerhall near empty with only Laena, the man, and Rhaenys herself remaining, their evenings were hardly boring, however quiet the palace was.
As Rhaenys dressed herself for flight, putting on her gloves, she called out into the open sky,

“Meraxes, māzigon naejot issa!”

She could only hope the she-dragon heard the call, or more accurately felt the call. She did not need to speak with her always, some of the magic the ancient Valyrians had employed still flourished, the link between a rider and her dragon something that did not require a physical component.
As Rhaenys turned around to embrace the man, before placing a kiss on his lips, holding it until she was interrupted by the sound of leather in the sky. My sister.
Her head spun from the man’s lips and onto the silver in the skies before she touched down. The thud and subsequent dust sent into the air, surrounding the three in the courtyard. Rhaenys began to walk towards Meraxes before saying, “Ao sagon jurnegēre gevie tubī!” She placed her hand on Meraxes lowered snout before petting it, “It's going to be a long flight, but we're going to be nearer Balerion then. We have that to look forward to.”
Meraxes’ head perked up, before she laid down, ready for Rhaenys and Laena to mount her. “There’s just something else I must do and then we can leave,” Rhaenys said before turning back to the man.
“You are to keep this palace in good order, and I know you will, but I figured I should mention it. Can’t hurt can it?” she said with a smile.
“Of course I will, I’ll be going over the tables for a majority of the time, send a raven if it goes long, I will be rather lonely without both of my women here.”
Laena rolled her eyes at the statement, walking over to Meraxes and mounting her. Rhaenys’ smile intensified, “we’re a bit old for these jokes no? Not like I’d stop you from making them, but we are a bit old are we not?” As she spoke, Rhaenys pulled a vial from her belt and removed the stopper, before pouring the contents into the cup the man held.
Inside it was dreamwine, and the vial had contained poppy that had now mixed in with the dreamwine. “Any for you Laena?” Rhaenys asked, taking the cup in her own hand. Upon seeing the shaking head Rhaenys drank, and deep, before placing the cup back in the man’s hand. She leaned over and stood on her toes, planting a kiss on his lips, leaving him with a few last words, “take care of yourself. And no matter what, if I am dead you serve Aenar. He will need you.”
As the man nodded, Rhaenys walked to Meraxes and mounted her, sitting behind Laena. “A long day of travel and then we will be there. Aenar’s throne is within our grasp.”
“Sōvegon," she whispered as Meraxes stood, the power in her steps nearly shaking the ground below her, gaining speed before her wings struck the air. Once, twice, and they were airborne. The lurch as Meraxes found her stream of air pulled Rhaenys back, as Laena’s back touched her own chest. “Careful now, I’m the one that’s dreamdrunk, not you.”
Rhaenys pulled Laena’s hood to the side as the woman looked behind, Rhaenys pulling down the mask of her hood before planting her lips on Laena’s, her hands which held onto the reins of Meraxes wrapped themselves around the reins, before landing on Laena’s waist, pulling her in closer, and closer still as their lips locked. Their hoods were less secure but with little wind, but that did not much matter to the Queen, her mind slowly succumbing to the dreamwine and poppy mixture.
Her head swam more and more with each moment, before she let her lips separate from Laena’s, barely able to hold onto the reins she shoved them into her belt before managing, “Dārys tegorīr, Merakses,” as she drifted off to a gentle sleep.
As she came to, she could smell the difference in the air. The sun was no longer rising but almost gone, hidden by the horizon until it rose again the following day. Below she could see in the distance the candlelight of King's Landing, thousands of them lighting up the small spot on Blackwater Bay.
Here was where she, Aegon, and Visenya had first touched Westerosi soil to begin their conquest, leaving thousands dead and thousands of years of tradition dead in their wake. They had done what none had for hundreds of years, bend an entire people to their will purely by dragonfire. It was once again the Andals who faced the wrath of the Valyrians, bent to their servitude, though this time it was not slavery, that was a sentiment of a different world, they were quasi-equals now.
As Meraxes flew above the Red Keep, high in the air above the capital, Rhaenys leaned down closer to the head of her sister in arms.

“Ivestragī zirȳ gīmigon iksi kesīr!”

Searing white light along with a roar that woke any unlucky enough to have gone to bed early began above the city, Rhaenys making her presence known.
“That's sure to make you unpopular today,” Laena said as she watched the flame, her eyes closed due to the light.
Rhaenys’ own face was much different, a child-like smile shining from ear to ear. The white hot flames were bright even on the sunniest of days, pure moonlight on the darkest of night. “I don’t care, I have a cause again, they shall remember the old me or die for it. I may no longer be young, but there were three conquerors, and only one of us never forgot what that meant.”
“Tegun, Merakses,” Rhaenys uttered, pointing Meraxes in the direction of the Red Keep, a freshly built new castle for the Targaryen power to impress those who looked up at it. Atop Aegon’s Hill, they built a keep for all to admire. Atop Rhaenys’ Hill, they built a pit for the dragon who had come to conquer Westeros. Atop Visenya’s Hill, they built… a monument to false gods.
Meraxes’ claws gripped the red bricks of the Red Keep as she landed, a few falling down the hill. Rhaenys slid down her wings and waited for Laena to do the same, where Rhaenys waited holding her hand out so that she might grab it, the same as a knight might do with a lady. Beneath the mask of her hood, she smiled before looking at one of the guards, taking the mask and hood off, and letting Laena pull her hair out from the hood.
Rhaenys brushed past the guard as Meraxes leered at the man, she preferred lamb but crownlander would do just fine. As Rhaenys walked down the stairs descending from the walls, she looked to one of the captains, “it seems a few of the bricks off the wall came loose, you might want to look into that. We wouldn’t want the Red Keep to be vulnerable,” as a sinister smile appeared on her face.
“Laena, I’m a bit tired after all of that I believe, maybe I should find myself a seat,” she said, walking up to the throne room, the Iron Throne looming over them. She stood for a moment, looking at the metal monstrosity as images of the Field of Fire displayed themselves in her mind, a good day if still distasteful. The smell of burnt flesh was never quite as fun as seeing the swirling of flame on an open field, and yet one couldn’t have one without the other.
“Place a pillow on the throne, I’ve a sore arse after this travel, send a message that I will arrive at the hunt on the morrow,” Rhaenys let out to one of the servants in the throne room, desolate except for a few guards and servants.
As the man disappeared and reappeared, placing the pillow in its place, before bowing to Rhaenys, she shouted out, “LEAVE! All of you! I need a moment in the memory of my brother.”
As the sound of feet across the stone grew quieter Rhaenys approached the throne, Laena a few steps behind her, before looking up at the throne. She took each step carefully as she ascended, before taking her seat and looking out across the room.
“Come, join me, you’re tired as well after this entire day.”
Each sword was a man, and there were enough swords to make this monstrosity. What they had done would be remembered by the Westerosi for all time, regardless of the dynasty that sat at the top of them all. As Laena sat in her lap she cut her hand ever slightly, the blood disappearing into the creation, almost as if the throne had drunk it. Though she winced, Rhaenys did not notice, too lost in thought, her eyes fixated on a point and yet seeing nothing.
You gave me a son who would have been your heir, yet they took you from me. I may fill my bed with others and fill my belly with wine, but the only one who has ever filled my heart was you, she thought. A tear fell onto Laena’s dress as Rhaenys seemed to be in a world of her own.

Get comfy, this will a long ride. I (41f) am the middle of three daughters, ‘Shannon’ (43) and ‘Carrie’ (27) and well mom, we’ll call her ‘Brenda’.
I consider myself the quintessential “middle child”, constantly forgotten, not taken seriously and outright ignored. I got my sister’s hand-me-downs growing up, and don’t dare I ask for anything and actually get it, meanwhile, Carrie was given everything. In high school, Shannon got a tailored dress for prom, I got one off the rack. Shannon got a brand new Focus, I got a 1990 Cougar. Years later, Shannon wanted a newer car, so mom upgraded her to an Explorer. When my car fell apart at the seams, I went out and purchased an Accord. I will admit, mom did co-sign for me because I was only 19, but I was given hell for her doing so.
Shannon dropped out of college after an earthquake hit the area, then she moved in with her boyfriend at the time. I was living at home with mom, working and going to college. My paychecks every two weeks were going to mom to take care of my car note and insurance, all the while mom was paying Shannon’s car note, insurance, giving her money for bills AND Shannon had one of mom’s credit cards “for emergencies”.
While I was working and in college, I was expected to help with Carrie, who was in elementary. I would drop whatever I was doing to pick her up from school, take her to tutoring, cook dinner and help with homework. Mom was an administrative assistant for a private firm, she worked 7am-7pm. One night leaving college, I was involved in a serious accident on the way home, my car was totaled. I eventually was able to get another car from my settlement money, this time I didn’t need a co-signer. Around this same time, I was dropped from college because my grades suffered being spread so thin. I continued working full time, still giving mom money for our bills.
I eventually made the decision to enlist in the Air Force, this decision caught my entire family off guard. Most of the comments I received didn’t surprise me, most thought I wouldn’t succeed. The ones that were supportive, congratulated my decision. I prepared myself to leave home; I made an agreement with mom I would send money for my car note, with the understanding that when the time comes, I will come back for it. Well, that time came and I was met with hostility. Mom decided she wasn’t going to give my car back, it was hers, she “was making the payments”. By this time, mom had moved to Vegas with Carrie, unfortunately developed a gambling problem and I felt helpless since I was so far away.
We’ll fast forward a bit, Shannon is now living in Tennessee. I was medically discharged from the Air Force and after talks with Shannon, I went to live with her. We both worked and shared the bills, I got to reconnect with our older sister from our father’s side (we’ll call her Veronica), everything seemed great. Until… Mom called saying that my car is about to get repossessed, that helpless feeling came back. I ask mom for the information for the finance company, reach out to them, made a payment to stop the repossession, then called her back to let her know she’s caught up. Months go by, Shannon comes home early from work, only to say she was fired for a physical altercation with a coworker. Shannon goes on to say, this is the perfect time to work on her music career. I began working double shifts to cover the bills, all while Shannon is going to the studio. Mom calls one night frantic and furious, the car was repossessed and she was on the bus going to work. This causes a huge blow up between the three of us, because mom and Shannon believe I called and had the car voluntarily repossessed (I did not). Shannon bursts into my room cursing/screaming over how I wronged mom, she grabs me by a leg and drags me out of our apartment and outside into the cold. Veronica picks me up, and I go to stay with her until I got my own place. Things begin to level out, forgive and forget and I start communicating with mom again.
After some time, I found out I was pregnant with my first child and make the decision to move to Vegas with mom. During this time I get to see first hand how badly her gambling habit truly is. I would watch her cash her checks, then immediately push money in a machine and loses it in minutes, this goes on for some time. I eventually have my son and months later start working. I save up to buy myself a car, as well as save up for his first birthday party. I was so excited, planning to go all out! That is until one day I get a call at work from my aunt who lived in our building, she’s noticed my mom coming and going frantically. I didn’t have a bank account at the time, and was keeping my money in a safe hidden in my room… well she found it! When I got home, my room was disheveled and money was gone, all but a few hundred. I took what was left, found a one bed one bath for my son and I and left mom’s apartment.
Enough back story! I’ll bring you to the present! We’re now living in Vegas; I purchased a home in 2015, Carrie moved to Arizona for college, mom, Shannon, Shannon’s 3rd baby daddy (Paul) and 4 kids had a rental home across town. Last summer, they all get evicted. Yes, it was for nonpayment, yes they ALL were gamblers. I allow everyone but Paul to come stay with me, this was not well received. Shannon eventually leaves with her kids, to stay with our cousin Candace, who allowed Paul to be there too. Mom eventually is sent to live with Carrie, because we kept bumping heads. I’ll save you the guess work, Candace gets tired of them being there (rent free) and tells them to leave. Shannon blames ME for Candace putting them out, and gives me an ear full on Mother’s Day. Shannon tells me I’m a heartless b***h, she wishes we weren’t related and karma will eat me alive. I called mom to tell her what has transpired, her reaction was “why can’t we all just get along”. I lose it! She was so flippant and dismissive! No comment about Shannon living rent free in someone else’s home, or the uncalled for and hurtful words to me. So I told mom I needed some space and time, I won’t reach out to her and please don’t reach out to me, then I ended the call.
AITAH?

Let's assume there are 2 people "Sam" and "Matt" both are 24 year olds with similar personalities (Kind, humorous, friendly) but different upbringing and life experience....
Sam is from an upper middle class family, was an average student through out his life. he dropped out of a local college where he was studying computer science and starts free lancing and day trading with money borrowed from his parents. By 24 He earns well above the average of the people of his age and eventually returned the borrowed money from his parents. He spends money liberally on somethings he likes but he still plans carefully about spending, saving and investing his money. He plans on setting up a business soon.
Matt is from a poor family, he studied hard and got into a very prestigious college, where he chose to study business administration. He graduates with high grades but fails to get high paying job due to the situation in the job market so he takes up an average paying job. By 24 He earns average for the people of his age. A part his income goes to pay his student loan from college and he avoids spending money on non essentials. He is saving up money to go for higher education.

Alaska…my son’s car was stolen. He was like, 20 days past due when stolen. Filled a police report and with insurance. Months later, he receives a letter from a tow company that they have his car because it was reported stolen. (He got the letter today). He goes to tow yard (still today when he got letter) to see what condition it is in. They said the finance company repossessed it and it’s not there. Called finance company and they said he owes about $2800 on it to get it back now and the lady was “snarky” that he talked to. He’s 21 and still lives at home so I’m going to help him escalate it. Insurance still hasn’t paid the claim either. Took about 30 days for a police report to get to them to even start the claim. I can’t even fathom that they needed a hard copy and not the police report number.
So now he still doesn’t know what condition it is in to decide if he wants to pay it. Is it trashed? Did they drive it till it ran out of gas and left it? Did they use it as an everyday driver until they couldn’t? We don’t know (although it’s probably trashed, let’s be realistic). I also don’t want him to have a repo on his record when his car WAS STOLEN!
Should he have kept paying once he filed the report? His previous car was totaled by someone trying a guaranteed left with a trailer and decided to back into him (all paid by guy who hit him). They just wanted him current before they cut check to finance company and all was good.
Any wisdom/advise/ideas?

The thing is, we were in a long-distance relationship (ldr), like he was in another country. We've been together for 2 years, but in March, he left the Philippines to review for his med school. I couldn't help but to overthink, especially when he didn’t call me for weeks. Because I kept asking, he finally confessed something that happened in the first week of May.
His mom and he went to the beach because it was his mom’s birthday. I couldn't understand why he needed to be dared to take pictures and be kissed by white girls. Yes, his mom dared him to do that. He even sent me the pictures because I was curious. When I saw the pictures, I was deeply hurt because why would his mom do that when she knew her son was committed to me? I tried not to think negatively, but I was really hurt. It would have been okay if it was just a simple picture, but no, one of the girls kissed him on his left cheek. I couldn't understand why his mom would do that to her own son. Just seeing him with someone else hurt me, what more being kissed.
I cried so much, to the point where my hands were shaking from anger, and I didn't talk to him. I broke up with him for my own peace of mind. I couldn't handle this kind of situation, especially knowing that it was his mom pushing him to do such things. My boyfriend told me that I always make everything an issue and that it was nothing but just a dare. He didn't seem guilty for what he did, since he kept it from me for a few days before telling me. He didn't even apologize right away but blamed me for making it an issue. I'm so hurt, I don't know what to think anymore. He could have refused, why didn't he? I can't trust him anymore, not even his mom.